Yes, It's a Wham-O!

Well, here's a Super Frisbee my boss gave me today.

It's so big it overshot the edges of my scanner, as you can see.

Sorry about not being "springtime fresh" with more new stuff, but we've been in the countdown to Soonercon (www.soonercon.com) -- which is this weekend! -- and I've been trying to organize a new 100,000-plus address list at work, so I've been preoccupied.

Right in front of me I have Lois Lane 51, "The Three Wives of Superman!", but it'll have to wait until next week.

See you after Soonercon!

At Least I Can Copy ...

Well, I've had this hanging on the wall for a while, and decided to pull it down and scan it for you hep cats.

I was in 11th-grade art class when I produced this gem. If I recall, I copied it (minus the word balloons) from a panel on the 80-page giant which reproduced the story where Bats revealed his identity to Joe Chill. A page from that tale was on the cover, with Batman reminding Robin that this changed his life forever, or some such.

The caption was somthing like, "It's risky, and it might end my career! But I've got to do it!" -- referring to unshucking his face before the murderer of his parents.

Well, if you had a black light, and shew it onto the original piece (which earned an A, thank you), you'd find out that although Batman's flesh tones were done with colored pencil, his blue cowl is ZAP! POW! BAM! black-light paint.

See ya next time!

The Mystery of Sorcery Boy

Here we have the cover of Superboy 108, cover-dated October 1963. Typically wonderful Curt Swan art shows Superboy's suspicions about the Kents' glassy-eyed denials of "Mighto" the super-kid.

Turns out Mighto was a mean motor-scooter and a bad go-getter, to quote the lyrics of "Alley Oop."

But the main memory of this issue is the back-up story, whose splash is presented below. "The Mystery of Sorcery Boy" is one of those time-travel stories exemplified a LOT more often in the Supergirl stories in Action : A relic from the past provides a super-mystery, so the hero travels back in time to investigate it, thereby involving themselves in the creation of the mystery.


Superman did it in the Action with the caveman skeleton in the Super-outfit. Supergirl did it in the Action tale where she investigated a rock carving depicting her fighting a dragon.

And, in "The Mystery of Sorcery Boy," the McGuffin is a couple of silver coins dated 1680 found among the Kent family heirlooms. They bear an inscribed portrait of the Boy of Steel, S-shield and all!

Hmmm ...



So Superboy flies back into time and meets some foster-ancestors, Jonas and Maria Kent. They take him into their hearts. He helps them out, raising the ire of a pompous judge, who (unwigged) is revealed to be the highwayman Bald Pate, and who bears a striking resemblance to a certain modern follically-challenged baddie whose initials are LL.

But before he gets caught, Bald-Pate -- I mean, Justice Grimm -- accuses Superboy of being a magician, and sets up an execution. He "personalizes" the bullets by having a smith inscribe a portrat of "Sorcery Boy" (Superboy in his heroic duds) onto each of the "silver bullets."

So the "silver coins" were actually the flattened bullets bouncing off Superboy's chest before he streaked back to the present. They were found by the Kents, and passed down over the years.

I must've liked this tale a lot as a kid. Because, at the ripe old age of seven, I wrote my first fan letter to DC, about that story.

My mom even addressed an envelope for me -- but never mailed it. She doesn't remember WHY she didn't mail it.

I CAN tell you, though, that my handwriting in this note is better than the handwriting I use now!


Anyway ... see you next Super-Time!

The Return of the Kryptonite Kid

A year later, in Superboy #99, The Great Green Lummox returned. As shown in this Swanderful cover, the Kid and hos mutt aren't just Dreams of Doom, they're here and now!

Check out the interior art by George Papp. The splash page shows the Kid "Kryptonizing" the trap door into the Kent home.






But our story begins at a beach party at Lana Lang's beach home. And -- get this -- the beach home is "near Smallville." Umm, OK -- in the Silver Age, Smallville wasn't even given a home state -- the Kansas thing began with Byrne -- but, still -- a beach home?






Maybe it's just a big lake.






Anyways, all of a sudden, Clark is confronted by the terrible teen, who promptly turns a globe green. You see, his term in Zrrff's 5th dimensional jail was over, and he was simply booted out into the cold. Booted, my dear Baron! (as Dr Pretorious says in Bride of Frankenstein)





Then -- it's Pete Ross to the rescue!




Yes, this is the original Pete Ross, who discovered Clark/Superboy's secret on that campout in the thunderstorm. He's never let on to Superboy that he knows the secret. So Pete bumbles in with a hastily donned blindfold, and "accidentally" kicks the Green-K globe out of the open door.




Even though Pete is blindfolded, the K Kid says, "Oh-oh someone's approaching! Must flee! My Kryptonite power can't harm him!" Yeah, Pete should just kick this pink-dressing guy's butt!
Note how in the last panel of the "globe rescue" sequence, each boy is congratulating himself on fooling the other.
The story is resolved after a comedy of errors involving super-robots of both Superboy and of Krypto, each tangling with the Kryptonite Kid and the Green Growler.

Eventually, the Kid's space capsule is lured into a Red Kryptonite cloud, which (of course) turns the bad guys good, because Superboy remembered how a previous baddie was changed good by the same cloud.
So our reformed bad guys fly off into the sunset, with "no hard feelings" between the deadly foes.
Yeah, right!

The Kryptonite Kid!

Does anybody remember station wagons? If you can imagine this car as baby blue, then this is the car that I grew up riding around in, a 1962 Chevrolet.

And, in those more carefree days, my best friend Tommy Hefner and I loved going with Mom to the grocery store or driving downtown to pay the bills. Why?

Because we could ride "in the back," the four-square-foot rear of the station wagon, where we entertained ourselves by sitting on one side and sliding to the other side when Mom turned a corner.

We also read a lot of comics back there.

One of the comics whose first memory links it to the back of the station wagon is Superboy 83, which introduced The Krytonite Kid.

Now here was a one-trick guy. He and his dog, which was a lab aninal never given a name in the story, were shot into space by their planet Blor and then mysteriously passed through a Green Kryptonite cloud before being deflected to Earth.

Now he and his pet can radiate Kryptonite Rays! Meanwhile, being telepathic, they boy and his dog send dreams to Superboy & Krypto to flee Earth or get their butts kicked.

Just for fun, compare the beautiful Curt Swan art on the cover with the corresponding panel in the story, drawn by the fine (but not-as-good) George Papp.

On their arrival, the Kid and his mutt torment the Boy of Steel and the Heroic Hound (I made "Heroic Hound" up -- sounds pretty cool!) by using their Midas-like transmutatory powers to turn Smallville High into a Green-K building, and other mean-type things.

When Kal & Krypto flee to an abandoned trailer park, they're hunted down and tortured. Imitating his dream life as Broderick Crawford in Highway Patrol, the Kryptonite Kid throws the book at Superboy! A phone book, that is.

Then, when all seems lost, a very literal Deus ex Machina arrives ... "Master" Mxyzptlk, who has peeked in from Zrrff and doesn't want this rank amateur to take away his super-plaything.

So, he uses his 5th-Dimensional magic to zap the Kryptonite Kid and his Green Growler (I made "Green Growler" up too!) into the 5th Dimension. Also, Mxy reverts all the Kryptonite artifacts to their original states.

Just think about it. The only thing the Kryptonite Kid and friend have going for them is their threat to Kryptonians. If they use their powers to drive Superboy and Krypto from Earth -- or kill them -- then in what way are they a danger or threat to the rest of Earth?

Think about it. Sure, in the story, the Kid says that after chasing Superboy away he will build a giant ray gun and rule the Earth. But have you priced Giant Ray Gun components lately? Sheesh!

Imagine. The Kid and his mutt have killed Superboy in that trailer park. He walks into Smallville Square and announces his deed.

Then Lana Lang grabs a two-by-four and brains the Kid, killing him instatly, and Pete Ross and Chief Parker stomp the dog to death.

Problem solved!

About that Zod Guy...

A question from an old friend, Myron Moody:

Hi Mark, I've a question for you as a Superman expert. In both the television show Smallville and the second Superman movie with Chris Reeves they have a character named General Zod. I don't remember a General Zod in the comics but I could be wrong. Could you clarify this for me? Myron

Well, Myron, up until this morning-- when I took the time to look Zod up -- I would have said that Zod was invented for the Superman movies. But I'd have been wrong because my memory was on the fritz.

The Silver Age had a General Dru-Zod, from the 1960s, who tried to take over Krypton (before it exploded) with an army of robot guys that were drawn to look like Bizarros. I had forgotten about him!

It's also interesting that while Zod, played by Terence Stamp, appeared in Superman: the Movie and in Superman II looking like --well -- Terence Stamp, the General Zod re-introduced into DC comics still looked a lot like the Silver Age Zod.

Compare the 1961 comics panel with this 1983 jigsaw puzzle and you'll see that the Zod-clones are wearing a green version of the same uniform Zod wears in lavender in the puzzle.

Yes, the uniformed guy in the puzzle is Zod.. The guy in the puzzle who LOOKS LIKE Terence Stamp is another Phantom Zone baddie.

So, the producers of the 1978 Superman movie picked Zod from the comics and made him a big-big Superman villain instead of a minor one. Thus the minor Silver Age character Dru-Zod has now become the Adolf Hitler of the DC universe. Who'da thunk it?

Go Meet Arlen! (if you're in New York)

Artist friend Arlen Schumer will be speaking on comics at the New York Public Library this Saturday!

Here's what his email told me:

Saturday, May 10th @ 2PM

The Silver Age of Comic Book Art

A Lecture by Comic Art Historian Arlen Schumer

Many of the industry’s most important artists--Carmine Infantino, Steve Ditko Jack Kirby, Gil Kane, Joe Kubert, Gene Colan, Jim Steranko, and Neal Adams among them--created their greatest works during The Silver Age of Comics (circa 1956-1972). They not only drew definitive versions of the medium's iconic characters--Spider-Man, Batman, The X-Men, The Hulk, Iron Man--but also set trends in the art of comic book storytelling.

The New York Public Library invites you to join comics historian and illustrator Arlen Schumer, whose Silver Age of Comic Book Art won the Independent Book Publishers Award for Best Popular Culture book of 2003, as he explores the superhero tradition and its changing portrayal of American ideals and values from the Eisenhower years through the turbulent decade of the 1960s. You'll see where Hollywood's current love affair with superhero movies comes from--and you'll see comics like you've never seen them before!
Enthusiasts of all ages welcome!!

Seward Park Branch
192 East Broadway
New York, New York 10002-5597
(212) 477-6770

Arlen Schumer is one of the foremost historians of comic book art, named by Comic Book Artist magazine in 1998 as "one of the more articulate and enthusiastic advocates of comic book art in America." He’s written articles appearing in Print magazine, including "The New Graphics of Comic Book Art" in 1988; presented multimedia shows for the New York Art Directors Club, 1992's Superhero to Antihero: Comic Book Art in the 1960's, and ComiCulture in '95; and created exhibit designs for the Words and Pictures Museum in Northampton, Massachusetts, The Graphic History of Batman in 1997 and The Art History of Superman in '98.
In the Fall of 2002 he presented a 4-session lecture series, Superheroes in the ‘60s: Comics & Counterculture, at The CUNY Graduate Center in New York City; he reprised the lecture series in the Fall of 2003 for CUNY, this time titled, The Silver Age of Comic Book Art, to tie-in with his coffeetable art book of the same name, released in December 2003 from Collectors Press (www.amazon.com/Silver-Age-Comic-Book Art/dp/1888054867/ref=dp_return_2/102-3932749-3481757?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books), and winner of the Independent Book Publishers Award for Best Popular Culture Book of 2003. He continues to lecture on The Silver Age (www.wolfmanproductions.com/comics.htm) at colleges.

Schumer’s first book, Visions From The Twilight Zone, published by Chronicle Books in 1991 (www.amazon.com/Visions-Twilight-Zone-Arlen-Schumer/dp/0877017255), was based on the classic TV series, treating its images like art photography and its words like poetry. He based a multimedia presentation on the book, which he still tours around the country (www.wolfmanproductions.com/twilight.html).
As founder of The Dynamic Duo Studio (www.dynamicduostudio.com), Schumer is one of comic book art’s most idiosyncratic practitioners, creating award-winning illustrations for the advertising and editorial markets the past two decades. He currently writes a comics and pop culture blog, ComiColumn, at www.nycomiccon.com. Other books and projects include:

The Flintstones: Anatomy of a Pop Culture Classic (Hanna-Barbera, 1994)
Neal Adams: The Sketch Book (Vanguard Productions, 1999)
Streetwise (TwoMorrows Publications, 2000)
The Amazing World of Carmine Infantino (Vanguard, 2000)
Curt Swan: A Life in Comics (Vanguard, 2002)

More Covers of Mystery

In 1953, Frank Scully's Behind the Flying Saucers was published. It told the tale of a flying saucer crash in the American desert, a tale that many debunker types assume was the origin of the Roswell crash "myth."





At another end of the saucerian rainbow, we have the breathless tales reported by Timothy Green Beckley, such as this pasteurization of saucer rumors, MJ-12 and the Riddle of Hangar 18.

After a certain point, the saucer books begin to reinforce each other with a strange resonance. Well, Joe Blow said this and that, so Moe Schmoe quotes it. Then Joe Blow quotes Mo Schmoe in HIS next book!

To quote Mr Vonnegut, and so it goes ...

The Mystery of the Lizard Men!

In conjunction with the premiere episode of Jonny Quest on TV in 1964, Gold Key Comics published a comic-book adaptation.

The comic is NOT labeled as monthly in the indicia. It's simply Jonny Quest No. 1.

Here's the front and the back of the comic.


See that little box in the lower right hand of the comic cover? That's a cool little JQ logo, labeled "File-037." It could almost be a model sheet from the show.


Notice that Hadji and Jezebel Jade, both absent from the "Lizard Men" episode, are shown in the "File-037" logo.

He Is Iron Man!

Well, last night Matthew and I became the last two people in OKC admitted to the sneak preview of Iron Man.

Well, it's pretty darned good.

It was amusing seeing Jeff Bridges, the long-haired ranter against corporate greed in the 1977 King Kong remake, epitomizing corporate greed in this film.

Robert Downey, Jr did a fine job as a slovenly, rich jerk who is suddenly confronted with the effects that his selfish actions have on others. He was also pretty good as tony Stark, aka Iron Man.

Gwyneth Paltrow was so good I didn't know who she was for a while. She would be gorgeous if she had some meat on her bones.

Overall, a fine film for the would-be hero in us all. The special effects were "believable" over all, if over the top.

So, go see Iron Man!

Fisher Price's Super Car -- Who Is that Cute Kid?

Here, fresh from my wife's shopping bag, is a new Fisher Price toy for "DC Super Friends."

You shake the car to "energize" it and it runs for a while, all the while chirping heroic phrases.

While the car is cute, check out the back side of the packaging. Jazra looked at it and said, "That's Calvin!"

The boy, indeed, resembles Jazra's bestest play buddy, Calvin Hodge. See a picture from a couple of years ago to compare.

Now, if only we can get Jazra a modeling job too ...

Super Vans!

Here we have a couple of "Corgi Juniors."

The "Daily Planet" van, obviously newer, is labeled "Leyland Courier" on the bottom. The silver one, with more wear, is labeled "U.S. Van" on the bottom. As with all Corgis, they're "Made in GT Britain."

Ask and You Shall Know!

Have you ever wondered why there are high-altitude cooking directions on cupcake boxes? or what the Tooth Fairy does with all those teeth?

If so, ask Professor S O'Terrick! He's got all the answers! (All that matter anyway)

You may post your ruminations about life by visiting http://soterrick.blogspot.com/ -- or by e-mailing the Professor directly at sot@starokc.org.

Illumination awaits!

Darn Ol' Flame-Dragon!

This issue of Superman is cover-dated February 1962, and includes three stories featuring the Man of Steel.

First up is "The Three Tough Teen-Agers," with art by Al Plastino, in which a trio of toughies are shown that they aren't really hot snot after all.

The second story, with fine Curt Swan art, is "The Man Who Trained Supermen!," in which Supes (undercover of course) investigates a gym which claims to be able to make its clients into (physical) supermen, through a snake-oil-type Magic Elixir.

The third story, also with fine art by Curt Swan, is all about that bad ol' Flame-Dragon shown on the cover. However, in the book, the story is called, "Superman's Greatest Secret!"


Because, you see, the story isn't as much about the havoc wreaked by this potentially world-wrecking beast. No, the "real" drama and suspense are all in another ride around the "Lois-tries-to-prove-Clark-is-Superman" merry-go-round. Hey, Lois, go watch a Looney Toon! That merry-go-round broke down a loooong time ago.


Y'see, as shown on the cover, the Flame-Dragon takes a li'l ol' nip out of Superman's hand. So Lois spends several pages in maneuvering Clark's hand into her own, to check it for Flame-Dragon bites. Sheesh!


Then after Lois gives up and hasn't found aforementioned punctured Super-extremity, we find out how Superman pulled it off. It wasn't a Kryptonian imposter's hand Lois scoped out, nor that of a robot. It wasn't a dummy hand or some such.


No, Superman had taken advantage of a little ol' healing ray invented by a Kandorian scientist named -- are you ready? -- Re-Gen! As in Tissue Regeneration!


Oh, by the way, Superman just flew the Flame-Dragon into the past and dropped him off with Titano.


Another interesting thing about this issue is the full-page notice inside the front cover. (I've played with the contrast here because my copy has some water damage.) In this notice, DC basically apologizes for raising their cover price from a dime to 12 cents. Well, read it yourself.


See ya in the funny papers!

Great Bosses, Huh?

Around Christmastime, I was presented with a fine gift of thoughtfulness by my bosses, Richard and Margarette. While shopping at a competitor's thrift store, they came across this gem, a "First Printing" of the Return of Superman trade paperback, autographed by Jurgens, Bogdanove, and Breeding. Cool, Huh?

Now, I paid them back for buying it for me.

Where's the "gift of thoughtfulness"?

They know me well enough to notice something I might like, and they called me to ask if I would like it!

THAT's where the thoughtfulness comes in!

Thanks, Boss and Bossette!

The Superboy Legend!

From Superboy 163, cover-dated March 1970, we have an end-of-Silver-Age exposition of Super-Powers.

The art is most likely by Bob Brown, the penciler of this issue’s cover story, “Reform School Rebel!”

The text, also uncredited, is probably by E Nelson Bridwell, the great DC trivia honcho and assistant editor.

Here we have the “final” exposition of super-powers, with some arising from Earth’s lighter gravity, and others bestowed by Earth’s yellow sun.

Well, I Sure Liked It!

With a theme by Danny Elfman, Mark Hamill as the Trickster, and lots of fun and suspense, what was NOT to like about the TV series The Flash?

Here's a TV Guide spread from the time.

Who's That Knocking on My Door?

Here is a selection of book covers concerning the whole "entity" question, from a religious views to extraterrestrial ones.

Space Aliens Are Our Brothers! No, They're Evil! Or ...

The Ultraterrestrial presences manifested as UFOs and Aliens choose to appear in different lights. Sometimes they're our wonderful, benevolent Space Brothers, who arrive to give warnings about the dangers of atomic research. They may represent a Galactic Conference, much like Klaatu in The Day the Earth Stood Still.

Of course, there are also the Bad Seeds, who zip around abducting people, making military and civilian planes diappear in midflight, and other not-nice kinds of things.

All you have to do is select the "encounters" which bolster your opinions of the day, and le voila! You have books about nice space guys, and books about bad ones.

The same dichotomy obtains in comics too, dontcha know. For every Superman there's a Super-Menace. For every J'onn J'onnz there's a bunch of "White Martians."

Which reminds me of something Captain Jim Kirk tells Spock in Star Trek VI, when talking about some action Spock had taken: "Spock, everybody's human."

Which means, to me, that we are all individuals made up of petty ambition and noble ideals, of good will and selfishness.

Why don't you share your thoughts on such topics with us? See you later.

Bill Bazhaw Figures Out the Pyramids

As I said a few days ago, a book by W.A. Bazhaw, called The Search for Cheops and His Treasure, contains the only believable idea for how the Egyptians might have constructed the Pyramids -- especially the Great Pyramid -- using the technology of the day.

Bazhaw, a geophysicist by trade, brought a little engineering insight to the idea. Also, I would suggest, he had a flash of inspiration, much akin to Jonny Quests's suggestion as to how to see "The Invisible Monster," -- "Well, paint it!"

The simple but awesome idea for Pyramids didn't involve paint, but water. Hydraulic engineering, in fact.

With a watertight causeway built from the nearby Nile, all those stones weighing many tons could be floated on reusable barges.

You would build the outside perimeter of the the first level and then flood it. You would then float the stones into position and pry them off the barge, using poles and strong backs.

To feed the water, you would have a sloping shaft -- a hydraulic elevator -- up one side of the rising pyramid , building it higher as the walls rose higher.

All this was within the technological bounds of the Eqyptians of 2500 BC or whatever, and living next to the Nile, with its anuual floods, they certainly had the opportunity to observe the lifting power of water.

You should borrow or buy this book, if you want to learn more about this believable, possible method of pyramid-building.

It can be an aha! moment for you too!