How Orella's Mightiness Backfired

As we near the end of our page-by-page trip through Superman 180, we wrap up the tale of "The Girl Who Was Mightier Than Superman."

Turns out, not only did the ladies from Matrion trick Superman into coming to their island refuge; one of them, Orella, almost cheated Superman into marriage by stealing some of his super-powers.

But Supes figured things out and rewired the power-siphoning device to overload Orella.  She messed up the marriage rituals and now everything is being revealed.

In this last page of the story, we get contrition from the cheaters and a real downer of an ending when Superman glances skyward with his Super-vision and discovers that the women's home planet is a planet of the dead now.

Take a smart-alecky look at the top leftmost quadrant of the first panel on this page.  Orella is ejecting a Super-Sneeze.  Is it just me?  Without the sound-effect "achooo!" I think the picture looks a lot more like Super-Projectile-Vomit.

Note the bit of 1960s slang when, in the penultimate panel, Superman thinks about having barely escaped "doing the bridegroom bit."

At the bottom of the page we have a reversible ad for Tottsie Roll Pops.  When you turn the page upside down, you have to wonder why the kid's head has been cut off and balanced on top of a cereal bowl?

One the next page we have a house ad and a truncated Metropilis Mailbag.

This particular letters page is a fine example ot the give-and-take between readers and DC staff.  (Probable) Mailbag writer E Nelson Bridwell actually apologizes for a livestock goof in the first letter.  Note the reference to the SPCA, because according to the story referenced, "The Revenge of the Super-Pets" from Superman 176, the actions in the story actually INSPIRED the foundation of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Otgher letters project a timeline of future Super-Book anniversaries, try to catch errors in previous stories, and highlight Superman's pervasion of popular culture by noting a contemporary Jeopardy! TV reference.

The in-house ad that take up the bottom of the page highlights an accidental trilogy of silly (or at least light-hearted) comic issues.

While Kurt Schaffenberger's Lois Lane art is really impeccable, there's something about his depiction of Superman (rearing back on his heels, hand to forehead) that reassures us that both Lois and Lana will be wide-awake and catfighting over Superman by story's end.

On the right side, we have another of the famous/infamous tales of when Superboy was Super-Tot, this time in the prizefighting ring.

And in the middle, we have the jaw-dropping fun of the Krypton Crawl, from Jimmy Olsen's time-travel-tale, "The Red-Headed Beatle of 1,000 BC!"  Yeah, yeah, yeah!

See you again soon for the wrap-up of this classic ish!

This Is What Happens to Cheaters, Orella!

Ever since being lured to the island of Florena by a bunch of sneaky women, Superman has been manipulated at every turn.  Now he has been told the ladies' real plan:  He is to father a new generation of girls who will be hardy enough to return to their home planet, Matrion, where all the women are strong, and the men are subservient.

Orella bested the Man of Steel in three ceremonial contests, and now has begun the Matrionettes' (is that right?) marriage ritual.  First up, she was to build a honeymoon cottage.  But somehow when she started to drive the nails into the wood, she hit them so hard that they shot out the other side of the beams like bullets.  And that's where we are at the top of the above page.  The nails, like red-hot bullets, puncture a bunch of cocoanuts and give everybody a cocoanut-milk shower!

Ummm, it's not supposed to work out that way.  Orella didn't SEEM to have been THAT strong, although she DID best Superman in those feats of strength . . .

Next, while Orella prepares the wedding feast, Superman goes off into the jungle and returns with some natural cosmetics.  He offers some of the face powder to Orella, and she powder-puffs her already-lovely face.

Vanity, thy name is Orella!  The stuff acts like sneezing powder, as (through a thought balloon) we read that Superman intended.  But she gives off a SUPER-sneeze that flattens the dinner table!  Man, this is getting to be an awkward wedding.

Next up, we have the last feat, where Orella must remove a magnetic sword from its stone scabbard, to prove that she is worthy to lead the women back to the home planet, Matrion.

Or, as Maxwell Smart would say, "Ah yes.  The old sword-in-the-stone trick."  Or, perhaps, "That's the SECOND biggest sword I've seen this week."

Well, Orella's bad luck holds true.  She yanks the hilt so hard that the sword dissolves.  And Superman was expecting it . . .   Hmmm.

So, having messed up the three rituals, surely Orella can perform the last, cutting off a bit of her hair to give to her groom as a symbol of love.

Note that Orella wants to shed her bracelet, but Superman asks her to keep it on.  Hurry up things, people, he says.  He's anxious for the wedding to start!  (Boy, is he mean!)  Soon we will find out why . . .

Sure enough, when they try to cut Orella's hair, the scissors shatter, just as when somebody tries to give Superman a trim.

And now comes the revelation.  Earlier in the story we saw how Orella, scheming minx that she is, cheated on the matrimonial sweepstakes so that SHE would be the Matrion to become Superman's bride.

Now we find out that she cheated again.  When she gave those three ceremonial gifts to Superman on his arrival, they were booby-trapped with superpower-stealing technology . . . powers absorbed by Orella through that bracelet.

Rember our cover image of Orella giving Superman the old heave-ho?  Well, you'll remember that in the story his aerial ride ended against a palm tree, where Orella's gifts fell from his cape pouch.  Now, in flashback, we see that at the time Superman took a closer look at them, and discovered Orella's trickery.

So, using his heat vision, he rewired the gizmo to make it a little TOO effective.  Orella's borrowed super-strength became super-DUPER-strength, and she couldn't control it.

Now, Orella did this all in secret.  Sophroni, the older woman who is the last survivor of the original colony of Matrionettes, didn't know anything about this.  Even though offworlders, they share our sense of decency and fair play.

So, Orella has been revealed to all as a cheat and a liar.  A darned pretty one, though!  What will be Superman and Sophroni's next move?  Will there be a wedding with the space girl?

Tune in after the weekend to find out!

Let the Marriage Contest Begin!

On these two pages we see Superman get into a bit of a pickle.  He must marry the lovely offworlder Orella if she can best him in a few tests of strength.  The reason is that these beautiful gals are of an Amazon-like race of space warriors.  Regrettably, they are the weakest of their race.  They hope that introducing a little fresh blood into the gene pool, they can raise up a new generation of stronger women and be worthy of joining their race again on their home planet of Matrion.

The last of the original generation of spacefarers, Sophroni, will act as referee for the three contests of strength.  And, as depicted on the story's splash panel, Supes is immediately dragged across the "line in the sand" in the tug-o-war.

Now what?  If not for the giveaway of the story title and splash/cover pictures, we would never have expected something like this.  Man, if these are the WEAKLINGS of their race, what are the strong gals like?!?!?

Now we see more embarrassment for the Man of Steel, but also, when those items fall out of his cape pouch, there's a "Hmmmm" moment.  The wheels start to turn in the ol' Kryptonian noggin, and the more contemplative of us begin to remember that, besides his super physical powers, this guy is also a Kryptonian scientist and the offspring of two Kryptonian scientists . . .

Well, the three tests are over, and Supes is now bound to marry Orella.  So, in the first of the wedding rituals, she is to build their first home.  What's this?!?!?  She's TOO strong now?

And what's with that smug smirk on Superman's face?

We'll have to wait until next time for more information . . .

We Interrupt Superman 180 with This Important Discovery!

While cleaning out all the accumulated crap of 35 years of cassette tapes and dubbing a small percentage to mp3, I came across  the tapes used in my Adventures of Superman TV CD -- the one that had about an hour's worth of music from the 1950s series that was not on the commercial Varese Sarabande CD.

The name of the company was Vintage Soundtrak, and I couldn't find anything about them on the web.  These are scans of the typed notes they included in their catalog (I made my own cassette inserts).

Does anybody know any more?

As I said when posting this at Spock's Record Blog, this is all the info I have.

Back to our story from Superman 180 in a day or two!

More Words from our Sponsors

Don't you love those 80-Page Giants?  The comic advertised was 80-Page Giant #15, the last Giant that was issued with that term as the publication name.  There were lots more of them, but they were issued and numbered as issues of the individual comic book whose stories they featured.  For instance, the next eighty-pager to be released featuring Superman-Batman stories was part of the World's Finest title.

One of the great things about this series was how we sixties kids could read these new stories.  And they WERE new to us, because they weren't accessible, really, anywhere else, unless your uncle or dad happened to have a stack of musty old comics in the attic somewhere.

The bottom third of the page is for Tootsie Rolls.  There used to be a jingle from the TV commercials that would also apply to this ad.  "Long time, long time!  Chewy chewy Tootsie Rolls last a long time! Last a long time, mmm-mmmm!"

The second page of today's post is a full-page subscription ad.  Actually it was a pretty good deal -- ten issues for $1, when the cover price would be $1.20 -- plus, they would be mailed to your door!

Being a flighty eight-year-old, I just skipped over those ads.  However, in my later quest to "fill in" my collection of comics, I have come across many copies that appear to have been folden in half, top-to-bottom.  My guess is that that's how the comics were mailed, folded in half vertically.

Look at that price -- a dollar for a year's worth -- and consider how nowadays DC is praised for "holding the line at $2.99" AN ISSUE!

Back to our story next time!

Space Girls Are Tricky

Now, along with Superman, we find out the mystery behind the lovely ladies of Florena -- who they are, and how they came to be!

We get a clearer look inside that lead-lined cavern and see a spaceship!  Also, Orella explains the "super" gals who had lured Superman here.  Plus, they just happen to have whipped up a Kryptonite force-shield to make him stay put!

As Orella says, Superman must best her in combat to escape; otherwise, he's goin' to the chapel, and ... you get the idea.

And now the origin story.  Orella and her crew hailed from the planet Matrion.  In a style similar to the legendary Amazons, they were an all-female society who bred by choosing mates from the men they'd defeated in battle.

As an aside, take a look at that top, page-wide panel!  Didn't our Curt (the artist) do a great job of visually explaining the caption?  On the right you've got a crashed space ship, then the defeated men -- some brave, some hanging their heads in shame -- then the women of Matrion.  Get a gander of the pair of warrior women giggling and pointing as they make their choices!

The reason Orella and the ladies of Florena are here on Earth? Well, they're the puny ones.  Some of the Matrionettes (is that the word?) grew weaker physically, but much smarter.  Since they couldn't cut the battle mustard, they were booted offplanet.

So here they are on Earth, trying to toughen up their stock.  By mating with Superman!

Why the heck is Superman protesting?  Why doesn't he just demand a "group marriage"?

Oh, I forgot.  This is a kid's comic. 

See you next time!

Who Knew How Attractive a Wimple could Be?

So, Superman lets the girl (who had seemed to be at BOTH ends of his cross-continental super-speed flight) just walk away.  However, his super-vision (or MICRO-vision, as Smallville would have it) confirms that her clothing is treated so that it COULD theoretically resist the friction of super-speed motion.

But he's due at the U.N. to talk about how scientifically invalid global warming is, so he has to rush away.

But, at the U.N., he sees yet another remarkable woman, who is stabbed without harm.

What is it with these gals?  Is there a whole race of super-powered women running around he didn't know about?  Either this is going to turn into a Shaggy Girl (a la Shaggy Dog) story . . . Or Superman's dating pool just got a LOT larger.

Wait, what?  The gal is NOT wearing the armored vest that she said had protected her against the assassin's knife?

Look!  the gal dropped a scrap pf paper with the name of her tiny island country, Florena, and now Superman recognizes that each of the mysterious women had been wearing brooches with the same palm-tree insignia.    He decides to investigate . . .

And now we see that Supes has fallen for an intricately-planned scheme, all set up to get him to come to the island of the women of Florena.  Bum-bum-BUMMM!

And, we see it's a scheme to get Superman hitched with one of them.  A gal named Orella, whom we recognize from the cover art and this story's splash page, cheats in the selection process and thereby wins the right to make Superman hers.

But . . . did anybody tell Superman about this South Seas Sadie Hawkins Day?

Evidently not.  The gals had been using some sort of advanced super-scope to track him, but have hidden it in a lead-lined cavern.  Evidently they have high technology, but when Superman arrives, they show no evidence of it.  They give him gifts, like a primitive tribe honoring a strange visitor.

We'll see if Superman is ensnared by their plot, next time!

By the way, does Curt Swan know how to draw gorgeous women, or what?!?




 

Welcome Back to the Land of the Living

Hi there.  It's great to be alive.

It's even greater to go five minutes without expectorating what appears to be mulched manila envelopes.

To continue, the second story of Superman 180 is our cover feature, "The Girl Who Was Mightier Than Superman," written by Leo Dorfman (according to the DC wiki).  Our favorite artist Curt Swan, assisted by trusty inker George Klein, puts pictures to the story.

First off, read the text box in the splash panel.  Why, it's the famous "Faster than ..." speech!  Now compare that with the actual image shown.  A "mere slip of a girl" is dragging a reluctant Man of Steel across the line in a good ol' tug-of-war.  Of course, when I was in grade school (the last time I played tug o' war) we used a piece of rope, not what appears to be ten-inch-linked anchor chain!

Now, unless (as I can) you can slip into a 1960s mindset, it may seem odd to you that on what appears to be a South Seas isle, we only see Caucasian women.  Good-hearted soul that I am, I can view this as unintentional and not offensive, because I know that God makes beautiful people in ALL colors.  So let's not be taken aback by this mindest, but go on with the story.

Superman, on patrol, sees a lady being mugged in a Metropolis park.  Before he can rescue her, she give the guy a heave-ho into a parkbench, dooming him forever to be mocked by his fellow louts as the guy who got beat up by a woman.

She doesn't even want to press charges!  She's named Stella Strand, and she says learned her judo moves in the Marines. Va-Va-Voom for the Marines, I say!

Next day, a different girl impresses Superman by seemingly being at BOTH ENDS of a cross-continental TV broadcast.  Both "versions" of her scoff at the idea that he could outrace his own TV image.  She's not the same girl from the park the night before, just another beautiful but intriguing gal.

Note that the "TV race" involves Superman outspeeding a TV signal on a CROSS-CONTINENTAL CABLE.  I bet that this was probably a delay of a few seconds.  I am kind of surprised that writer Dorfman didn't use the more modern idea of a TV satellite, which had its beginnings 1963-1967 (after being depressingly predicted by Arthur C Clarke in "I Remember Babylon" around 1960).

Anyway, this is the setup for our story, as Superman becomes aware of some smart and lovely women who appear to have some supra-normal abilities.

See you again soon!

The End of the Story

Here is the last page of “Clark Kent’s Great Superman Hunt” from Superman 180, along with the next page in the comic.



That little bit about teasing the reader to guess whether Clark or Superman was the TV imposter is a great little lagniappe, a little extra for the reader, or as they used to call it on the Borscht Belt, a bit of “chicken fat” to improve the flavor.



The bottom half of the page is an exemplary model of “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” In 1965, a very low-tech approach was used (crossing your eyes) to demonstrate how you got one treat into another one (a Tootsie Roll into a Tootsie Pop). Nowadays, they use computer graphics to put a pretzel into an M&M. Same idea, eh?

The next page features Rocky and Bullwinkle touting Cheerios. Every one of these ads featuring Moose and Squirrel had the same formula, with Rocky as the straight man and Bullwinkle blundering into SOMETHING and, in the last panel, saying, “…but they should watch where they’re going!”



Don’t you wish Congress could learn that trick?





In our next post we will begin the thrilling tale of “The Girl That Was Mightier than Superman!”

It's Starting to Come Together Now -- um, What??

Superman?  The mobster known as "The Wheel"?

It can't be . . . but that's what "Clark Kent's Great Superman Hunt" has revealed. 

Or has it?  Oh, now we get it!  This was all a desparate ruse by Superman (and by Clark Kent nudge-nudge-wink-wink-say-no-more) to get Herb Farr's gang to THINK the Man of Tomorrow was Farr, so they would show him the way to safely release Lois from her booby-trapped hiding-place.

Man!  But Farr has escaped, and just as Superman is going to key the remote-control detonator so he can rescue Lois, the REAL Farr shows up, and smashes the control!

Now Lois is doomed.  She can't be released by the crook's method, and, we've all been told, she's in a location that will explode if Superman tries to break her out.

Look at Farr's evil face as the cops drag him away.  He's the epitome of Snark, ain't he?  But he's given Superman one clue, direct from the reporter in the 1951 film The Thing:  Keep Watching the Skies!

Sure enough, Lois is in a robot plane.  But how can the big guy get her out?

Well, if it worked in Superman Returns, why can't it work now?  Super-Breath, to the rescue!

Whew!  Now Lois is saved, barely, and all Superman has to do is explain his ruse to the world. 

Since the heavy media coverage of this plan was pitched by Clark to Perry White as a circulation booster, I wonder how many, if any, new subscribers are going to cancel because Clark and Superman LIED TO THEM?!?!?

Anyway, we'll wrap up this story and see what's next in Superman 180 next time!

Separate Blog for Music and Stuff

Starting today, you can visit a separate Blog for various uploads.  We will start with the items previously listed here, and go on from there.  I hope to post one-a-day of the "older" links, and we will go from there. 


The new Blog is named after my first pet, my wonderful friend Spock, 1978-1991.

http://spocksrecordround-up.blogspot.com/

Back to Our Story

Here are the next three pages from "Clark Kent's Great Superman Hunt," the first story of Superman 180.

Here we see that, at least, the stated goal for Clark's wild crusade has come to pass -- The Daily Planet's circulation is skyrocketing!  Meanwhile, our reader stand-in, Jimmy Olsen, is worrying about "that skunk," Clark Kent, ruining Superman's life by exposing the Secret Identity.

I like the depiction of Clark's mental image of Lois in captivity.  She's holding out her arms, pleading for her hero to rescue her.  And he's doing the best he can!  If only she KNEW how hard he's trying.

Meanwhile, building on the staged autograph collection of the days before, Clark has isolated the letters F and H as the probable initials of that Secret Identity.  (We, the readers, can't help but wonder what the heck is going on.  We know, of course, that Superman's initials are CK.)

Therefore, Clark has announced that since Superman has super-teeth, maybe he doesn't need a dentist.  So Clark, using super-speed, cross-references dentists' records and the phone book to narrow down "FH" guys who haven't seen a dentist recently.  Clever, huh?  Of course, the super-speed stuff gets done off-camera...

Well, Clark announces that four guys fit the criteria he has manufactured.  Trailing a camera crew, he goes to each man's address, building the suspense.

(When I read the couple of panels about Fang Hogan, I first wonder about the marketability of the trade name "The Human Beaver."  Human TERMITE, maybe.  Secondly, I wonder that, even in comic-book land, somebody could make a living by biting into telephone poles.)

With three "suspects" eliminated, we now turn to "FH" Number Four.  Herb Farr, come on down!

Now things begin to come together for us.  Herb Farr, the guy fingered by Clark Kent's investigation, is also "The Wheel," the guy who kidnaped Lois Lane and has held her under a death watch while telling Clark Kent to expose the Man of Steel's identity.

(In Creative Writing in college, our professor Val Thiessen summed up this turnaround plot twist by naming it "the biter, bit.")

So when Farr, "The Wheel," shows up at his mob hideout, his cronies are wise to things -- they think!  But consider the absurdity of the situation.  They think their boss, a big-time mobster, is Superman.

SO THEY PULL A GUN ON HIM.

Is it just me, or does this seem a bit silly?  Especially when his skin bends a pinprick, and his hair breaks a pair of scissors.

What is up?  Obviously either Superman has had a third identity all along, or he is pretending to be Herb Farr.  But why?

Come back next time to learn more!

The Man from O.R.G.A.N.

In 1965, virtuoso keyboardist Dick Hyman ventured into the spy business with his LP, The Man from O.R.G.A.N.

Here is my version of that album.

If you like it, leave a comment and say so!

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IW55JV8W

Note that this version of the "UNCLE" theme copies the first season's use of 5/4 time.  Enjoy!

Words from Our Sponsors

The next three pages of Superman 180 are ad pages.

The first of the three features a half-page Cocoa Puffs ad.  In case you didn't know what to call him, he is "The Cuckoo Bird."  Now, I don't know about "a laugh a minute," but the Bird's crack to his Gramps about picking on a guitar not the Bird is at least as funny as some of my jokes. 

Most of my jok --

OK, OK!  ALL of my jokes.  He's as funny as ALL OF MY JOKES!  Anyway ...

The bottom half of the page features an ad for send-away blueprints for various wheeled contraptions.  Man, in my opinion it would be really bad to build a unicycle and not be able to ride it.  That would be just about my speed.

I bet the put-put motor bike uses a lawn-mower engine.

Our second page of ads is a public-service announcement.  I think this character had a name, Pee-Wee, but I'm not sure.  Whatever his name is, the point certainly comes across effectively.  (Now if about a zillion percent of the people who read the thing would actually change their behavior.)

The next page from our 1966 comic features a familiar ad for that world-famous amusement park.  Good Ol' Whats-Its-Name!  (just kidding, with a riff on an old Peanuts gag)  Do you recall that song from the 1960s with the line "You'll never know how a kiss can feel 'til you're stuck at the top of a ferris wheel, that's when I fell in love, doan at Palisades Park!" ?

Well, that song referred to this place.  Also, did you know that the Gong Show guy, Chuck Barris, wrote that song?!?! It's true!

Now, this kid from Oklahoma never made it to Palisades Park.  Whenever I would read these ads, I would wonder why somebody would cut up a perfectly good comic book, just for a coupon.

Now, the George Barris features in the bottom half of this page IS NOT the same Barris as the Palisades Park guy.  He was a famous car customizer, and has been hired to help shill some car models for AMT.

The only models I ever owned by AMT were the Star Trek ships.  Everything else for me was the Aurora Monsters, Man!

See you later on in the week for the continuation of our story, "Clark Kent's Great Superman Hunt!"

1966 - Swingin' Sounds for Secret Agents

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7TNOOP36

Need it be said that, by the standards of the time, "Swingin' " was in the ear of the beholder? 

If you like it, let me know.

Ze Plot, She Thicken

Here are the next three pages from Superman 180 and "Clark Kent's Great Superman Hunt."

Clark Kent, giving the reason of boosting Daily Planet's circulation, has taken to the TV airwaves in his attempt to discover Superman's secret identity.  He's asked TV viewers to send in their sightings of Superman in the hopes of coordinating dates and flightpaths for a clue to the areas Superman frequents.

Jimmy Olsen (correctly) points out that revealing Superman's identity to the world *might not* be that friendly a thing to do.  Clark's boss, Perry White, simply brushes aside Jimmy's protests with a breezy, "We won't reveal Superman's identity without his permission."

And Lois?  Well, she's on an overseas assignment, and isn't around to boff Clark on the back of the head with a rolled-up copy of yesterday's paper to express what a doofus he is.

So, Clark takes to the airwaves, and responses start flooding in.

But, why exactly is this even happening?  There must be a plan we don't know about, because we know Clark is Superman!

With this page we not only learn WHY Clark is doing it, we also learn that we nine-year-old readers have been drawn in to the story by a milennia-old literary device.  It's been commented on since Roman times. (The literary device, not this Superman tale!)

It's called in medias res, which is Latin for "in the middle of things."  Such storytelling brings the reader into the midst of the action, and them, once the reader is hooked, we "flash back" to the events that STARTED this whole ball rolling.  Homer used this trick in the Iliad and the Odyssey, friend.

The most extreme example of the in medias res technique in my recent memory is the pilot of NBC's The Event, where almost every other scene was subtitled "one hour ago" or "zix months ago" or "fifty-three years ago" or some such.

Now that our World Literature lecture is complete, let's simply observe that NOW WE KNOW why Clark is (to all outward appearances) trying to expose his own Secret Identity.  It's to save Lois's life!

Yes, this creepy thug, "The Wheel," kidnaped her on her way to that overseas assignment, and is holding her hostage.  She'll die unless Clark, known friend to Lois and Superman, exposes that Big Secret.

Look at Jimmy Olsen's face in the second panel of the above page.  Now, story artist Al Plastino might not have the most technically refined art style, but it accomplishes his goal.  Jimmy is HOT under the collar!  As a narrative stand-in for us, the readers, we don't get WHY our friend Clark is betraying our other buddy, Superman.

Now, on the next page of our tale, we see Superman's actions to steer his own investigation.  We knew Our Hero would save the day!  The fun is in seeing just how the Caped Wonder will outsmart "The Wheel" and save Lois's life, while preserving his TRUE alternate identity.

On TV, Clark asked local Metropolis viewers to get Superman's autograph and mail them to the Planet, in the hopes of finding a commonality.

QUESTION:  If you got the personalized autograph of the most powerful being since Jesus -- would YOU get rid of that autograph?  I know, I know, it's just a story.  Still -- I bet the Planet had a heck of a postage bill mailing all of those autographs back to their senders.

On the third page of this instalment we finally see Lois.  Buy, even though she's crying her eyes out, she sure looks pretty.  Note the box helpfully labeled "FOOD."

In the old style of cliffhanger serials and continuing today in the (very artless) smash-cuts of recent "action" movies, we are shown the heroine in peril lamenting her situation, and the efforts of the hero to find her, bouncing back and forth in a familiar storytelling trope.

In Clark's next step in his Superman Hunt, he's analyzed the thousands of Superman autographs and come to the pre-arranged observation that -- due to the style of writing the F and the H in the various autographs, Superman's civilian initials are probably those two letters.

So, we're treated to a couple of panels featuring the logical playing out of these possibilities.  My favorite is the last panel of the page, where a bum and a cop square off, each daring the other one to be Superman, because of their names.

See you again in a few days!

PS -- I've rearranged this Blog a bit.  Now you can access my various music downloads on a separate page that shows the covers of the albums.  You can flip between this page and that in the white strip at the top of the blog, just under the "Mark's Super Blog" header.

We Interrupt Superman 180 . . .

Welcome to my visiting friends from over there at Channel D, the Yahoo! chat group for anybody who loves The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Here is Al Hirt's album, The Horn Meets the Hornet, ripped from mine very own vinyl copy.  Here is the link:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9TGP57R0

"Uncluded"  (get it, UNCLE fans?) are front & rear CD insert art & the above-shown disc art for use on a printable CD.

In another day or so we will return to Superman 180.

Clark Kent's Great Superman Hunt!

Here we are with the first three pages of Superman 180, October, 1965 (I was nine years old at the time).  Our first story is "Clark Kent's Great Superman Hunt!"  According to the DC wiki, this tale, illustrated by Al Plastino, was penned by Leo Dorfman.

This fine splash page lays it all out for us.   Clark Kent is on TV and triangulating Superman's flights to narrow down the hero's locale.  In the splash page, as throughout the story, his Pal, Jimmy Olsen, also stands in for us, the reader.  Why is Kent, one of the Man of Steel's closest pals, back-stabbing Superman this way?

Our tale begins with an often-repeated opening scene, set in Perry's office.  Clark and Jimmy are there; Lois, we're told, is on a foreign assignment (not to Qurac, I hope!).  How can the staff increase circulation?  Give away statuettes of our Super-Friends?

It's Clark the idea man who comes up with the winner.  Investigate Superman's secret identity.  Go on TV with it.  Involve the public.  That's the ticket!

Now let's see how Clark will go about such a thing.  As shown on the splash page, he's asking TV viewers and Daily Planet readers to send in where, and when, they saw Superman fly overhead in Metropolis.

As you can see, it's a pretty clever idea, morality aside.  Something tells me that this mysterious gangland czar is going to be seen again in this story.

When I see the call letters on the TV camera, "CWZ," I wonder why Plastino and Dorfman didn;t use the already established WMET-TV name.  Oh, well. Down, Fan-Boy!

Wait a minute!?! Why would Clark (who is Superman) want to expose his own alter-ego's identity!?!  We'll have to see why, next time.

Let's Read Superman 180

Superman 180 is cover-dated October, 1965.  We're going to read through it together, but not at a page-a-day.  A little faster this time.

First off, feast your eyes on that gorgeous artwork by Mr Swanderful.  Just look at these (Caucasuian?!?!?) island beauties.

It simply astounds me that the women's faces drawn by Curt Swan were not considered beautiful enough, sometimes, by the DC powers-that-be.  For certain "presigious"-type tales, Lois Lane main artist Kurt Schaffenberger was drafted to provide faces for Swan-drawn figures of Lois and Lana.  For a prime example of this, scope out the classic tale of Superman Red/Superman Blue in Superman 162.

As you can see on this cover, Mr Swan was perfectly capable of drawing beautiful women "all the way up."  Va-va-VOOM! as they used to say.

Here we see our luscious unadorned (except by clothing, darn it! -- just kidding) island girls looking fresh from San Francisco, complete with flowers in their hair.

Let's read the cover text box.  It really seems to be a lot of words, huh?  But I think all that verbiage is consciously used for dramatic effect to lead up to the boffo title, "The Girl Who Was Mightier Than Superman!"

The dialogue tells us the name of this mere slip of a girl who has knocked Our Hero cattywampus, and that, due to this single judo throw, the Mighty Stranger is now obligated to marry Orella.

But read Superman's comment.  Is he concerned that he is now engaged?  Is he worried that Lois Lane's lock on his affections has been snipped with bolt-cutters?

No.  It's the SHAME of it all.  He's been beaten by a girl.  Man, don't you know -- that's when the FUN begins!

All seriousness aside, take a look at the staging of this dynamic cover.  Our cover girl Orella is swinging Superman around like a shot-put.  She's got an appropriate stance, with has feet planted, her hip turned one way and her shoulders slanted like a Louisville Slugger.

But look at Superman.  It's a dramatic pose, but in your mind's eye, try to "rewind" from his current supine position.Was Superman standing next to her when Orella grabbed his arm?  If so, then her grip would be reversed as she reached down to grab his wrist.  About the only way she could grab ahold of him with this grip is if she were standing on a ladder above him, or if  he were already flat-out on the ground, simililar to the sequence in the Superman II film when Crhsitopher Reeve spins Terence Stamp (Zod) into the Coke sign.

To quote Yul Brenner, "Tis a puzzlement."

Still, just from the cover alone, it's no wonder that this is an issue of the "World's Best-Selling Comics Magazine!"

On the inside front cover we have this great GI Joe ad.  Who among us remembers the GI Joe TV commercial jingle?  To the tune of "The Caissons Go Rolling Along," a mighty male chorus sang, "GI Joe, GI Joe, Fighting man from head to toe!" and I forgot the rest.

Yes, the original "Action Figure" was a big draw for boys who wanted to play army.  Also, he was way more rough-and-tumble than those girly Barbies.  I mean, GI Joe had ball-and-socket wrist-elbow-shoulder assemblies.  Not for him those wimpy, plastic-covered "Ken joints."

I never had a GI Joe myself, my army men were always the three-inch-high injection-mold plastic kind.

However, I DID somehow acquire a GI Joe footlocker.  I still have it.  I use it to keep my model-building stuff in:  my Testor's paint and brushes, model glue, and old Aurora instruction sheets.  Some of those little paint bottles are forty years old.

The Dead Travel Fast

This book is something like a pop culture history of the vampire.

It’s light and breezy, readable and engaging, but definitely not a “history.” Don’t read this book if you want trustworthy information. Read it for something like your goofy brother’s tale of a vacation. It’s lots of fun, but not really trustworthy.



Nuzum decided to investigate the proliferation of the vampire image in our modern world. He met with lots of “pretend” and “pretender” vampires, who come across as mostly either pathetic fanboy wannabes, or creepy (possibly sociopathic) intendees.



He talks about his Dracula tour of Eastern Europe, and it is loads of fun to read. The emphasis throughout the book is on fun and wry commentary, which is the intent of the book I suppose.



Here are three things that stuck out like bloody necks to me – mistakes of a sort. (Or mis-STAKES, bwah-ha-ha!)



1) In Nuzum’s quest to understand vampires, he decides to watch every vampire movie he can. In his comments, he says that although Dracula’s Daughter (1936) is a sequel to Universal’s 1931 Dracula, it doesn’t say what happened to the King Vampire. I guess Mr Nuzum must have missed the five-minute-long sequence where Gloria Holden burns her father’s body, hoping to give his soul peace.



2) Mr Nuzum says that there’s no evidence that the Countess Elizabeth Bathory bathed in blood trying to stay young. Umm, yes, those little things called court documents, they do say that, along with other descriptions and testimony contemporaneous with her trial and conviction on murder charges.



3) In his discussion of the long, sad decline of Bela Lugosi’s personal and professional life, Mr Nuzum mentions “During Lugosi’s lifetime, only one other actor attempted to portray Dracula in a film (John Carradine in 1945’s House of Dracula).” Mr Nuzum has evidently missed the 1944 House of Frankenstein, where Carradine FIRST played Dracula; as well as the 1943 film Son of Dracula, in which Lon Chaney, Jr played the King Vampire (reversing the name to present himself as Count Alucard).



So, as I said, this is a breezy and fun-to-read book, but read it for its atmosphere. Don’t use it as a fact-check reference. The $5 price I paid at Half-Price Books was about right.