Wonder Woman Record -- Stories for the Kids, Cover Art for Dad!

Here we have “three exciting all new action-adventure stories!” featuring everyone’s favorite Amazon, Wonder Woman!

Just between us friends, I have these two images labeled “Wonder Cheesecake.” In a nice way, of course. As a friend said last week, “That gal is certainly all there!”

You might note that the front cover mentions three exciting tales. As you can see, the back cover mentions “four all new stories,” and then lists only THREE stories.

Ah, well, the lithe, trim figure of the personification of beauty makes up for a lot.

About the artist … my first guess would be Dick Giordano.

And, take a second look at the bad guys in the front cover. The second from the left, with the long brown hair and glasses, reminds me of how Elliott S! Maggin comported himself in the mid-70s. And, is there any chance that the baddie on the far right, with the glasses, bowtie, and receding hairline, is intended to represent DC editor Julius Schwartz?

One never knows, do one?

Well, that’s all the fun for this year. See you some time after the 2nd of January. Have a Super New Year!

Songs and Stories About the JLA!

Here we have “Songs and Stories About the Justice League of America,” copyright 1975 by “Periodical Publications, Inc.” – according to the record label.

Say, wasn’t that supposed to be NATIONAL Periodical Publications? By golly, it WAS supposed to be that way, because the back side of the LP says so!

*sigh* This is just another of those classic albums I haven’t had time to listen to. You do know I was kidding about the “classic” bit, huh?

Anyway, here are the answers to yesterday’s Super-Trivia question. In Superman: the Movie, the other two actors re-voiced by Christopher Reeve are Jeff East, the actor who played teenaged Clark, and the Metropolis Tower, the “voice on the ground” heard over the airplane’s radio when Air Force One is hit by the lightning.

In one of the 14 discs of the big fat Superman DVD Collection, Jeff East speculates that perhaps his voice was looped because his voice (and therefore young Clark’s voice) was deeper than Reeves’s (post-teen-age) voice!

In Ilya Salkind’s commentary on the theatrical cut to the first movie, he reveals that Reeve provided the voice of Metropolis Tower.

Have a Super-Duper day, campers!

A Record as Pretty as a Picture

Here we have the front and back of a 1975 Superman LP that tells three stories: “The Best Cop in the World,” “Tomorrow the World,” and “The Myyzptlk-Up Menace.” Nope, I haven’t listened to this one either.

Since the art is by the great Neal Adams, and since the back cover features Supes without the three insets, I’ve cleaned it up, fixed the discoloration and scratches, and otherwise gussied it up.

It kinda looks like Superman is giving you a good-guy chuck on the chin, doesn’t it?

Oh yeah, the trivia. Can you name the two voice-over roles Christopher Reeve played in Superman: The Movie ? That is, besides Clark/Supes, Reeves provided voices for two other actors.

You can guess today, and I’ll provide the answers tomorrow, along with another exciting LP cover!

Gosh, they didn't mean to be over melodramatic....

...or maybe they did!

It's a Superman Spectacular, and it's from 1981. As you can see from the cover, it pits Terra-Man and Luthor against -- Superman Red and Superman Blue?!?!

Yep, "plotter" Bob Rozakis and "scripter" Paul Kupperberg --- um, borrowed -- the concept of the Superman Split, and even used a similar title: "Startling Saga of Superman Red & Superman Blue!"

I really couldn't stand to re-read the whole thing in detail. There's Terra-Man. Luthor uses Red K against Supes and is ticked off when the split gives him TWICE the do-gooder to fight. Somehow Luthor gets "magical" powers that nearly do in Lois Lane.

So at the ending Superman has reunited, thwarted the bad guys, and then gloms onto Lois, who is maybe-alive, maybe-dead through Luthor's villainy, and prays to Rao to spare her life.

Then something spiffy happens, and Lois wakes up. Superman gets all edgy and *almost* turns Lex into jelly, before stopping himself with Super-willpower.

It's the "gosh aren't we impressive" writers' attitude that really bugs me as I look over the thing now. It's sad to realize that evidently there are lots of "creative types" in comics who, by the evidence, value flash over substance. And I thought John Byrne started it in the Superman books!

At least some of the art isn't bad. I mean, Lois looks pretty, as opposed to a slut, which is how she's drawn half the time nowadays.

Tomorrow, some Super-Trivia (not too hard I hope)!

The Son Who Came to Save Us

Merry Christmas to all my friends, "real" and "online-only." The friendship and love in my heart are only possible through the presence of Jesus, the template for all true heroes, who was sent to Earth by His Father as our only hope. I share this image with you (art by Neal Adams) in fun and joy. Don't forget that the love of God is freely open to all. As the short story title says, "You Could Look It Up."

You could look it up in the behavior of my parents, in the "I'm trying my best" attitude of three-year-old Jazra and 50-year-old me. Merry Christmas!