It's Not Spinach, So Don't Say the Hell with It!

You know, I wrinkled my forehead in dismay when I heard about this project. I would have wrinkled my lip, but I'm no good at doing Elvis.

But I went ahead and bought the two-disc set (audio CD + audio DVD) and listened to the 2nd disc on my DVD player in 5.1 Dolby.

Fun! For the young and the old, as I discovered when Jazra came in and started jam-dancing to "Lady Madonna."

It all sounds pretty good, and the idea of cross-overlaying songs is nothing new. The Beatles Remixers Group has been doing it for years, with Astounding Results!

Anyway, I'm thankful that crass commercialism (the Circus del Yuppie) led the way to a fun re-interpretation of my friends. Come on, it ain't blasphemy. You'll always have the originals. And if you don't, you can get them at Target.

KEY TO REFERENCES IN THIS POST:
BLOG ENTRY TITLE: "It ain't Spinach" etc refers to the James Thurber cartoon wherein a kid is refusing to eat whatever his parents have set before him. With his arms crossed and a scowl on his face, he announces, "I say it's spinach, and the hell with it!" Later this line was used as a song by Mr. Irving Berlin
1) "wrinkled lip/Elvis" refers to the most common visual imitators' attempt to look like Mr. Presley, the Elvis "sneer"
2) "Fun for the young and the old" is a reference to the Bill Gaither song "Plenty of Room in the Family" which has a line, "room for the young and the old"
3) "with Astounding Results" is an imitation of the old-fashioned way advertising posters used capitalization seemingly on a whim, specifically the Mr. Kite poster used by John for the song lyrics
4) "re-interpretation of my friends" is a reference to getting by "with a little help from my friends"
5) "You'll always have the orginals" etc -- a reference to Rick Blaine's lines to Ilsa in Casablanca that they would "always have Paris" in their memories

Don't Worry About the Lines

Despite what the number on the cover (next to the price)implies, this book is from 1980, not the 19th century. I discovered it at a local thrift store, and rescued it from oblivion. It's one of Jazra's favorite educational books.

Long ago I decided that people are more important than "things." This means that since this book wasn't in great shape when I got it, the heck with "preservation." If somebody (especially my grandkid) gets some fun out of coloring in it, by gosh that's what it was made for!

What do you expect? She's only 3 (four in April).

Farewell, Lily !

With a sad smile of nostalgia, we say "Fare Well" to Lily Munster, aka Yvonne DeCarlo, who has just died at the age of 84.

I sometimes got the feeling that DeCarlo felt put-upon in the role, being a serious movie actress before being shoehorned into this madness.

Or maybe it was just her art in acting, because her role was having to put up with a big green doofus of a Frankenhusband!

You can read a fine appreciation of her life and career ad Brian's Drive-In Theatre, at http://www.briansdriveintheater.com/yvonnedecarlo.html .

Farewell, Lily!

Now, Anyone Can Draw Superman!

Thanks to good ol' Curt's instructions, anybody can now prove how good or bad they are at following instructions.

To be honest, all the guidance in the world wouldn't help me draw Supes! *sigh* Some of us were born to be merely admirers of some of the arts.

How All Those Folks Made It to Earth

Just follow the dotted lines, and you'll see that all spaceways lead to Earth. Whether you're a rock, a dog, a baby, or if you live in a city in a bubble -- if you're from Krypton, odds are you're gonna end up on Earth!

This scan is from The Amazing World of Superman, published in 1973 to celebrate Metropolis, Illinois' commencement of the Superman tourist trade.

You don't know about Super-Menace? Shame on you! Get thee to a reprint!

Creepy Is in the Embrace of the Beholder

My friend Tamara, who with her husband Mike has an extensive web presence at www.flooby.com, made a post concerning this 30-inch "Superman Returns" figure.

Can you believe that she thought this guy looked a little creepy?

I was given one of these vinyl wonders for a Christmas present from my new bosses. I got the thing out of the packaging, and Jazra, who will be 4 in April, thought it was fun to dance with him, although she is about a foot taller.

All of this was OK until the wife & I came home after New Year's with some friends to find ol' Supes exiled to the "Fortress of Markitude."

Come to find out that Julie, Jazra's mom, said she had come into the living room and found Jazra smooching it up with Super-loverboy here. I thought it was kinda cute to hear, but Julie swears that in her opinion the kid was desiring things a little past her age level from Big Blue.

Although I've got no reason to doubt my dear daughter's word, I really can't imagine sweet little Jazra "humping Superman," as her mom so delicately put it.

I think the S-Man will rest securely on a high shelf from now on. Happy New Year!

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!

No, I'm Not. It's Just a Song

OK, so who remembers this silly song by The Clique called "Superman"? It's a metaphorical comparison of the jealous lover's perceptions of his girlfriend, who's seeing another guy.

"I am, I am Superman, and I know what's happening." He uses his stalker-ray vision to "see" that his girlfriend really doesn't like the guy she's going out with.

Kinda like the Beatles' "I'm looking through you, you're not the same."

Or like whoever-it-is "Is she really going out with him, is she really gonna take him home tonight?"

Anyway, create your own "Sing Along with Kal-El" over the weekend!

Weatherspoon's Catalyst Record

...Being a depiction of a story record. As you can see, it's from 1975, the period just before the filming began on Superman: The Movie. No, I haven't played it...yet.

More Super-records coming!

Free Supermusic CD! Act Now!

OK, here's the deal. To the first five Super-Fans who post a comment to this entry, I'll send you a FREE copy of the CD Supermusic, an anthology I've created of one-hit wonders, covers, and original songs referring to the Man of Steel. It contains things like songs from the 1960s Broadway musical, the movie serials, the Superboy & Super Pup pilots, and more!

Check out the complete tracklist below. And I'd love to hear from YOU!

Eight-Track Super-Fever!

As the more experienced of us know, Eight-Track Tapes were a short-lived format (only 20 years or so) which lost the consumer marathon, to the audio cassette. You can still find a fair selection of eight-tracks at your neighborhood thrift store. These are statistically likely to contain country music, or to be bootlegged knock-offs of actual albums.

You can see from the examples here that Eight Tracks were also current in the late 1970s when Superman: The Movie commercialism was at a peak. While the tape above has only one Super-selection (but track 2 is a Battlestar Galactica knock-off!), the tape pictured below has only Super-songs on it.

Sad to say, my access to eight-track technology has waned over the years, so I haven't heard these lovely paeans to Krypton's son.

But stay tuned tomorrow for more Super-music, and learn how YOU can hear some!

Gold Key Got It Right!

In 1964, Gold Key put out a one-shot TV tie-in for Jonny Quest. It's a straightforward adaptation of the first episode, "Mystery of the Lizard Men." The interior art is an interesting combination of good and ... eh ... OK.

Some panels appear to be almost tracings of film cels. Other are a lot looser "interpretations" of the characters.

Here's the interior front cover.

The script is not word-for-word, however. For example, in the final minutes when Dr. Quest's computer "Unis" suggests "Laser experiments by foreign powers," Dr. Quest responds, "In my primitive way, I arrived at the same answer, Unis!"

And the TV episode's final scene, the return to the beach, isn't present in the comic. Instead, in the last panel Race and Jonny lead into a text piece about the Sargasso Sea that appears inside the read cover, thusly:

There was never a second issue from Gold Key. Not until 1986 and Comico's brilliant run did Jonny Quest return to comics.

See you after the weekend!

Ha-Ha, Very Funny (not)

Did you know that, in April 1968, Superman met Jerry Lewis? The proof is right here!


One of the dumb things about this issue is that the cover features some Cagliostro-looking goon with an oversized Tommy gun has caught Jerry wearing a Superman costume. But it can't be Superman's real costume, because you can see an imitation -Boring Superman flying past in the background.





However, the story inside contains Jerry finding and wearing THE COSTUME. And the bad guy that finds Jerry wearing it is none other than the greatest criminal mind of our time, Lex Luthor.

Wouldn't have that made a better cover?

Of course, in the story that genius Luthor is so stupid that he thinks that Jerry Lewis REALLY IS Supes's identity. So much for that great criminal mind, huh!

The art is a creepy mix of Jim Mooney-meets-Al Plastino. And the writing is a quality that makes me think that it was written by somebody full of derision for anybody above a first-grader's critical faculties.

Anyway, as Carole King sang, you've got to take the bitter with the sweet. Or, in this case, the dumb with the daring!

It Was Thirty Years Ago Today ... Sort Of ...

Thirty years ago, America celebrated its Bicentennial! Woo-Hoo!

At DC, Superman "saluted" it with a big oversized reprint of old Tomahawk stories, "hosted" by Superman. Seeing as how Tomahawk was so influential in American Independence and all.

Ain't the cover art great? My first guess was Fred Ray as the artist, but I don't know.

The first couple of pages feature Superman in his fortress, tuning in his time viewer, through which he "watches" the Tomahawk tales.

The Superman art is by Saint Curt, but the inker (unnamed) wasn't *quite* in sync with catching the right line to ink.

Stay thankful for the privileges and responsibilities of American life! As they say, the American way is the worst system on Earth ...except for every other one.

Super Solutions

Here are the answers to all those *brainbusting* puzzles from last week. As I said earlier, they came from the 1981 magazine-style Daily Planet published in conjunction with the release of Superman II.

My dear friends, pray for me. In my viewing-in-order of the 14-disc Superman DVD set, next in line is Superman III. Pray that I emerge with a little consciousness intact.

A Couple More Super-Puzzles

These are very difficult, but I know you guys can figure 'em out.

Answers to this week's trio of brainbusters Monday!