What a Come-Down!

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Well, Superman never suspected that amongst the strange properties of this sun was CHANGING COLORS TO RED!

Let's leave aside all sniffy, grown-up questions about how a mere change in color could denote an actual change in radiation. And never mind that even under a red sun, if this were an Earth-size planet, Supes should STILL be able to leap 1/8 of a mile and shrug off bursting shells.

Nope, somebody took a cosmic crayon and colored this star red. And, in an instant, the mighty, flying Superman takes a dive into the dust.

But, don't count this scientist's son out! He rewires some of the intruments in the survey package and sends a Morse code plea for help.

Back on Earth, it looks like that super-missile is going to come in handy after all! All Superman has to do is find a way to survive until help comes.

Then our hero sees a village of humanoids and figures he can maybe make friends. Famous last thoughts!

Just like Little Rabbit Foo-Foo, a cosmic caveman sneaks up on Superman and clonks him on the head. Uh-oh, now ol' Handsome Hairy wants some new duds ...

Stay tuned for our next chapter, "The Costume Cape-r, or: What's My Loin(cloth)"!

Your Sun Has the Measles!

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To save the scientists some time (and fuel costs for the super-missile), Superman goes for the idea of personally delivering the research package to the interesting faraway planet.

Isn't it nice of Lois to recap the Yellow/Red sun-superpowers dichotomy? Keep that in mind. Yellow sun GOOD, red sun BAD (as Boris Karloff might say).

Package delivered, Superman heads back toiwards Earth, until ... by a strange twist of fate ...

Uh-oh, check out the final panel of this page. A yellow sun that looks like it's catching the measles cannot be good!

One hint ... reread the title of this comic-book story!

Superman 171 Will Return Soon!

Dear friends, SoonerCon 2010 swept upon me with a total lackof disregard for sleep and spare time.

When I went back to worktoday for a new week, I was blessed with the chance to work 7AM-9:30PM nonstop, so I'm pooped again!

However, let me share this with you about next year's SoonerCon in Oklahoma City:

Yes, for next year we will welcome legendary fantasy artist Darrell Sweet, and welcome as our writer guest Tim Powers, author of Dinner at Deviant's Palace, The Drawing of the Dark, and many others, including a little book called On Stranger Tides, which happens to be the basis for the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides.

Thus SoonerCon 20, "Strange Tides."

More Supermanisms soon!

A Nightmare Ordeal for Superman

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Here's the first page of our cover story from Superman 171, "The Nightmare Ordeal of Superman!"

Once again, Supes has ended up on a planet where his powers are negated. The good news is, Lex Luthor isn't here to beat him up. The bad news is, some Cro-Magnon creep is willing to step in and pinch-hit. And do we mean, HIT!

If you'll recall the cover art by the incomparable Curt Swan, the sun in the background was RED. Why is it shown as yellow here? Maybe the story will tell us.

By the way, the splash scene here, when compared with the Swan-Delicious cover, shows a stark contrast between the styles of Al Plastino and Sir Curt. One thing I have noticed is how many times Mr Plastino repeated a character's pose, almost as if re-tracing it from an earlier story.

Anyway, as to THIS story ...

Deep-Space Scientists are intrigued by the strange radiations sent forth from a faraway star. They would love to send a research rocket closer, but are afraid that the strange emanations might cease before the rocket is ready.

(But what if that star is many light-years away? Maybe the star's emanations stopped a decade ago, and the change hasn't yet been detected here. And besides, what makes them think that a mere solid-fuel 1960s rocket can make it to a far solar system? wait, it's a super-speed missile. That explains everything.)

Burning questions, indeed! Stay tuned!

A Quick Interruption -- Forwards or Backwards?

We interrupt this page-by-page parsing of Superman 171 to make a note of the last episode of this season on Smallville.

Did you also notice something fishy, optical-effectswise, in the teaser?

Look at this screencap and tell me what's wrong with this image of Clark's eye as he beholds the costume Martha Kent made for him.

That's right! The "S" should have been REVERSED as a REFLECTION in Clark's eye. Since the "S" shield appears normal in this REFLECTION, the only logical deduction is that Martha Kent sewed a Bizarro costume for her son. Because only a backwards "S" would reflect "correctly" in Clark's eye.

Oopsie!

Never Had a Chance to Use These Coupons ...

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Several times a year, this ad would appear in the DC titles. I knew that these parks were far away from ol' everyday Oklahoma.

Looking at the ad now, I see that the bottom coupon was also good at "Uncle Cliff's Familyland" in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where my Dad's folks lived for 20 years or more. Man! I wish I'd noticed that in 1964. My economy-minded Dad might have gone for it!

As far as "Palisades Park," I would have loved to have seen a giant Superman holding up the resort. A bit of trivia:

If you are familiar with the song "Palisades Park," sung by Freddy Cannon about this actual place --- did you know that the song was written by Chuck Barris of "Gong Show" fame?

Next -- the beginning of this issue's cover story!

They're Magically Delicious!

After Superman wraps up "The Curse of Magic" with a resounding "Le-Lak!", we have another full-page ad for cereal in Superman 171.

As you'll notice in the "fine print," our Leprechaun's name is "L.C. Leprechaun." We can all figure out what those initials stand for, eh?

As you can see both from the text and the depiction of the box, in August 1964, Lucky Charms cereal was NEW.

I think the devilish brats in the comic strip must be the great-grandkids of the Katzenjammer Kids, ja? They don't look cute, they look like the bullies that tried to knock off my glasses on the playground at recess.

Sic 'em, L.C.!

What a Relief!

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Now, let's review. That goofball Mr Mxyzptlk zapped Superman with "The Curse of Magic," causing every little off-the-cuff remark made by the Man of Steel to come literally true -- as when he foolishly sang "London Bridge Is Falling Down" with some kids and made it happen in real life.

Now, he tried to shut up child star Baby Darlene's tantrum by reading to her. Unfortunately, when he said, "Twinkle twinkle little star," she started to!

A super-brainstorm ensued, when Supes recalled how reverse naming cancelled Mxy's magicks. So he tried, "Namrepus!"

D'oh! That didn't work either! But wait ... The Source of Magic probably knows our Super-Guy's REAL name -- Kal-El.

Let's try THAT backwards -- ding-ding-ding! We have a winner!

And, Superman muses as he flies away, once again a pair of "L"s has figured in his life, as he ruminated the day before at the beginning of this story.

The bottom half of the page is an ad for Tootsie Roll Pops. Yum!

Oh, Just Great! What Else Can Go Wrong Today?!?

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Well, it looks like a certain child star is a little bit spoiled. If you think she's crying now, wait a few years until she figures out that Mommie Dearest has snooted and drunk up all the salaries earned by Baby Darlene.

Crying kid? Enter Superman the kindly uncle! With the child actress's nurse out of commission, the Babysitter of Steel kindly agrees to sit in. Oops!

Speaking of "oops," notice the book Supes is reading from. Somehow the title of the book is on the back cover, not on the front.

And what's with the "Gloop!" anyway?

Well, what do you know? The child star becomes a five-pointed one! And look out, Superman! The head of the film crew threatens a complaint to the Director's Guild! Ooh, shaking in his boots, Superman is!

To somebody who cares about people, like our hero, this wisecrack from the director is kind of like being threatened with a parking ticket after your car explodes with your wife and child in it.

Anyway, Superman has a brainstorm and tries to reverse the effects of this "Curse of Magic" by doing what Mxy does -- saying his name backward. "Namrepus!" he shouts.

What happens? Check in next time to find out if this ploy works, or if Superman boots this whining child star into the heavens!

Superman (Doesn't) Make It Rain on Their Parade

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Oh, come on, now! Even a cheerful "Good Morning!" backfires on the hapless Man of Steel.

Note the doll the child actress is carrying. Artist Curt Swan is very careful to dress the doll in a British Colonial uniform, which makes sense since this film is being lensed on location in India.

Surely the child's name, Darlene Curtis, CAN'T be a play on the name of our penciller, Darling Curtis -- or can it?

Once again the Action Ace improvises a solution to the quandary he inadvertently caused. Now, anybody could freeze a lake and melt it above the film crew (as in Superman III). As Superboy, Superman made a giant rubber hose from waste tires to channel a river to his whim. But now we're getting fancy!

A giant atomizer to spritz the water over the film scene! That's too much, baby!

Time to Pay the Bills!

Yes, after Superman fixes London Bridge's imminent downfall and flies away, we now pause for this brief message from a sponsor, Trix.

Is it an artist's mistake that the groceryman's clamp goes "CLANK!" around The Rabbit's neck, but in the next panel it's around The Rabbit's ears? That clamp looks a lot less like a choking hazard when it's around the ears.

The bottom quarter of the page is taken up by one of DC's recurring text boxes of background info. Who wrote these? My first bet would be E Nelson Bridwell, DC's resident brain trust when it came to Super-Lore. Of course, perhaps I'm saying that because ol' ENB was from Oklahoma City!

The art for this text piece is by Wayne Boring, proof again that Boring's art could be more cartoonish than Curt Swan's.

And, don't forget that here again we have the CORRECT pronunciation of Mxyzptlk. Not a "Spit-lick" to be found, unlike some mispronunciations I've heard on TV.

At Least He Didn't Say "Ashes, All Fall Down"!

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Next, Superman flies to England and again shoots his mouth off. It is a great and charming touch that the Man of Steel finds the time to play kiddie games with some little ones.

Still, it looks as if once again Supes didn't watch his Ps and Qs. We should be happy that he didn't sing about a dish running away with a spoon, or Tolkien's poem, "The Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon"!
But what is he going to do? He keeps forgetting about "The Curse of Magic" and, with a mere slip of the tongue, creating a mishap that only quick Super-Action can fix.
Boy, wait until Superman catches that Mr Mxyzptlk, he's going to give him such a pinch!

That Rascally Rabbit! -- umm, Imp!

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Aha! Now we know why and how Clark Kent was walking on air (unintentionally that is). It was that demented goofball from the Land of Zrfff in the 5th Dimension, Mr Mxyzptlk! Doesn't it do your heart good to see somebody who really enjoys his work? NOT!

Once again, notice how Curt Swan's art enlivens this story. Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel, who wrote this story's script, probably did not specify HOW Mxyzptlk would look when he popped in on Superman in the first panel of this page. No, it was probably Sir Swan who decided that Mxy would fly out doin' the ole flappy-ears schtick.

OK, so now Supes has "The Curse of Magic," and since the Imp is who he is, Superman can't use that power intentionally. He can't simply decree, "Forest fire die away," or, "Bank robbers walk to the police station and surrender." No, it only works when Superman makes an unintentional, off-the-cuff remark.

And somehow, when Mxyzptlk voluntarily says his name backwards and is yanked home to the Fifth Dimension, his magical curse remains.


Like, "I'm as hungry as a horse!" Ummm, oopsie. The story doesn't tell us what Superman did with the horse. Maybe put him to pasture on the dark side of the moon ...


We leave the Man of Steel in the final panel once again zooming around the world "on patrol," and wondering what in tarnation he's going to do.


Tune in next time to see if Supereman can figure out a way around dem ol' vocalizin' blues!

Chief Parker Reminisces!

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After fixing that ol' Double-L sign for the Shakespeare Festival, Superman as Clark Kent reports to work at the Daily Planet, to find he's been assigned to ... investigate himself!

Actually, it's more of an "untold story" kind of assignment. Perry White figures there's a market for a series of reminiscences about Superboy from Smallville residents. So, it's off to Smallville for Lois & Clark, to interview first retired Chief of Police Parker, and then the current residents of Lex Luthor's boyhood home.

All of this is prelude to an excuse for CK to win an award and become so happy he's "walking on air" -- oops! for real! Yes, suddenly Kent is airborne, accidentally! Only his quick action in whipping up a mini-tornado with his super-breath gives him an excuse for that inconvenient levitation.

What next!?! What's behind this? Stay tuned.

Inter alia ... Please pause to enjoy the fine Curt Swan art. Chief Parker looks just as Swan portrays him in Superboy, only even more codgerish. And the folks living in Luthor's old home are great examples of Curt Swan's talents for portraying everyday, salt-of-the-Earth types. The guy's in his everyday suspenders, and the Mrs. looks pleased as punch that they're getting attention from these big-city reporters.

And Lois never looked more lovely! In the first panel, her curves -- va-va-voom! And in the next-to-last panel, as the cocks one eyebrow and looks over her shoulder towards Clark -- this is one smart gal who knows something's a little wonky with this guy.

See you again soon!

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Well, I had to type that Photobucket link by hand, so I hope it's right!

Today, in our page-by-page survey of Superman 171, we begin the second of its three stories. According to the Comic-Book Database, Jerry Siegel wrote it. As you can tell by the masterful lines, Curt Swan provided the art. What a team!

Here we have the beginning of "The Curse of Magic," with the splash panel providing a pretty good clue what's going on.

In a pretty similar fashion to those extraterrestrial creeps from the first story, ol' Mxyzptlk just swoops in with his own agenda, and damned be the consequences.

Our story begins with Superman swooping by to perform a small service for a theatre owner whose sign was damaged in a wind storm. Hmmm, the two "L"s in "William" were dislodged. What a strange twist of fate!

This provides Superman with the chance to ruminate on that weird ol' double-L confluence that he notices so much.

Next time, we'll get into the meat of the tale, with a visit from a little ol' sociopath from the 5th Dimension!

The Wonder Toy of the Twentieth Century!

No, it's not a PC or a Corvette, it's Silly Putty!

Now, while you or I may not be able to break a part and reassemble, or bounce high when thrown, I bet Proty, Chameleon Boy's pet, could!

PS 1st post on the new computer. Anybody know why it will not let me paste thePhotobucket link to the image, as in the past? Remember, on previous posts I had the Photobucket link directly below the image.

Sound Advice from Bullwinkle!

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The next page in our survey of good ol' everyday Superman 171 is a full-page ad for Cheerios, starring our good friends, Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Bullwinkle J Moose.

Our pal Bullwinkle is as usual a little prone to running off faster than prudence would allow. But he's just so darn energied-up by the goodness of Cheerios and milk that he just can't contain himself!

Which leads to the inevitable denouement: If you're gonna be full of pep, vim, and vigah, then you should watch where you're going!

Notice there's none of this "part of a complete breakfast" crap. You can eat only Cheerios, or Cheerios and milk. This is America. You can eat the empty box if you want to!

Another shameful difference between then, and today's nanny state.

Workin' on a Groovy Thing

Well, I hope so! Our page-by-page survey of Superman 171 has been paused by many things. Right now, I'm in the midst of a switchover from Windows XP to Windows 7, and a different computer that has multi-generations of RAM improvements. So while I learn one and clean out the other, please bear with me.

This little jewel came into the Thrift Store a couple of weeks ago. In my online searches for what the heck it's called, I came across the term "hand-drum." As you can imagine, you hold the stick and with your fingers spin the thing rapidly in opposite directions. Centrifugal force pulls the little balls out and when you reverse direction on the spin, the balls strike the membrane, hends the term "drum." This Super hand-drum was made in Eduador, as declared by its sticker. Wow, our hero is known around the world, eh!?!

Hope to scan and share more from Superman 171 soon!

So Ends the First Story in This Issue

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The last panels of the story answer the burning question I mentioned in our last post. If Rokk and Sorban mentally erased memories of Superman's "kill somebody" dilemma including his murder of Clark Kent -- how would the world account for that missing time?

Actually, Superman just says, "Don't worry, folks. Everything is fine" when Professor Potter notices his Personal Petrifier has been tampered with.

And, strangely, Superman just lets the two aliens gallivant away into space to torture some other hapless planet full of people.

Now, if I were Superman, I just might wait until those two clowns were near an uninhabited but livable planet, and "accidentally" use long-distance heat vision to make them crash and maroon them there.

Vindictive little tyke, ain't I?!?

At the bottom of the page is an ad for Tootsie Rolls. You know, in TV versions you could actually sing this as a jingle:

Long time, long time!

Chewy chewey Tootsie Roll last a long time, long time, long time ....

Mmm-mmm!

And this was only the first story in our page-by-page sharing of Superman 171, an at-random selection of how cool comic books were in the Silver Age of American childhood.

Don't Look Deep into Sorban's Eyes!

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Actually, it doesn't matter if you do or don't. He'll make you forget ... forget ... FORGET !

To take Sorban at his word, he is selectively deleting ONLY Earth peoples' memories of his and Rokk's coming to Earth and their visit's effect on Superman -- including the murder of Clark Kent.

Hmmm -- so, a news reporter would have hours or days of missing memories, while somebody out camping somewhere for the whole time would not have any holes in their memories?

That's probably reading a little too deep into a kids' story.

Well, it looks like things are winding down satisfactorily. We'll read the denouement of this story next time, as we march page-by-page through Superman 171.