2001 Is Over!

As a wrap-up to a couple of weeks’ worth of 2001 items, here’s the front and rear covers for a self-assembled compilation CD of various versions of “Also Sprach Zarathustra.”

Most are either imitations or variations of Deodato’s pop-hit arrangement, or attempts to be all classical-sounding.

A couple are included because of sound effects or synth overlays.

When I purchased Rhino’s great 2001 soundtrack CD a few years ago, I was amazed to realize that the version of “Daybreak” (the familiar name of the theme) in the film was DIFFERENT from the recording and orchestra featured on the original “soundtrack” album and repeated on the “Inspired By” LP. So, I opened my compilation with the “real” version from the film, and closed it with the version from the soundtrack album, the one that I’ve hardwired into my consciousness Lo! These past 29 years or so.

SPECIAL DELIVERY! For the first three people to email me, I’ll mail you a copy of this CD FREE. Just send me your mailing address in your email.

(You know, it took me MONTHS to give away the free copies of the SUPERMUSIC CD. Here’s hoping you guys have sped up since then.)

See you next week with a brand-new show!

The End of the Spread

Here are the last four pages of LIFE magazine's gorgeous spread on 2001: A Space Odyssey.

More from LIFE in 1968

Take a look at more of this spiffy layout.

Lavish Photo Layout from LIFE

Here are the first four pages of a big ol' spread about 2001 from 1968.

What LIFE Had to Say About 2001

Here we have our fearless movie reviewer explaining how wise Kubrick was to cut 20 minutes out of the film after its first couple of weeks' release.

Since the film was originally panned but now is becoming popular, the guy says that Kubrick's cuts must have been the magic touch.

Or, (this is just Mark's idea here). Maybe the popularity of the film was more about word-of-mouth and repeat attendances! Of course, a shorter film probably helped by making more showings per day possible too!

Boy, is it just me, or do all of these LIFE and Newsweek and Time articles just REEK of self-consciousness and pretense? You can just imagine these guys sitting down every morning at their typewriters so that they can educate the Great Unwashed out there in Cornland or Horseland.

Me? Thank God I know what a horse looks (and smells) like.

Anyway, ruminate over this semi-review of dat ol' wonder-inducing film, 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Coming this week -- LIFE magazine's ten-page color spread on the film!

Before He Was a Sir

Here's a Time magazine profile of Mr. Clarke and his (very optimistic) outlook on man's technological prospects.

No doubt this was a little cross-promotion with MGM and the 2001: A Space Odyssey publicity machine.

See you next week!

2001: What Newsweek Had to Say

From its April 15, 1968 issue, here's what Newsweek had to say about 2001.

Since it's my theory that 2001: A Space Odyssey is both less complicated and MORE complicated than most of us think, who can blame the folks of 1968 for scratching their heads.

I mean, it's not as if this were a WWII movie or a Burt Lancaster western!

Inside the 2001 Soundtrack LP

Medical bulletin: If all goes well, we should be able to bring Joyce home tonight. I'm waiting until the doctor makes his evening rounds and, we hope, OKs her to come home.

So, feel free to also look at the inside of the LP package. As you can see, MGM records was pushing "the wonder of it all."

Enjoy your own wonders, and we'll chat again soon. Thanks for your prayers!

Wore That Sucker Out!

Since my wife was rushed to the hospital this afternoon, I'm only going to take a second to say, the title for today's post applies to the 2001 soundtrack album (see the scans) and NOT to sweet Joyce's heart!

The docs say that with a little blood thinning she should be fine. The pains she felt were NOT a heart attack at all.

Pray for us as you also wonder HOW MANY TIMES I must have played this record, judging by the worn-out center hole!

Sit Down, Take a Stress Pill, and Think Things Over

SPOILER ALERT:

Over the next week or so I'll be presenting all manner of important and trivial things concerning the entity (some book, mostly movie) 2001: A Space Odyssey.

So let me warn you right now: Rosebud was the Space Pod.

When I received my first stereo phono as a Christmas present from my wonderful Mom and Dad, the first thing I did that Christmas Morning of 1968 was slap on the soundtrack to 2001, and blare Strauss's homage to the no-god ubermensch across the chill of Jesus' birthday.

With my Christmas money, I went to Montgomery Ward soon after and purchased the record Music Inspired by 2001. As a kid I didn't understand the concept of cynical marketing ploys. It had a picture of the Starchild on the cover, and opened with "Also Sprach Zarathustra," so I was set.

I've never asked my Mom what she thought of those odd shrieks of Gyorgi Ligeti's Requiem or Volumina coming from my speakers.

I can tell you that music from the first 2001 album and this one became background sounds at several youth-group haunted houses (along with the "Free-Form Guitar" screeches on Chicago Transport Authority).

Anyway, inspired by the recent (FINALLY!) DVD "deluxe" 2001, I dug out the old "inspired by" album and played it, dubbing it onto cassette. Then I walked the tape across the study to the cassette deck sitting above the computer and "ripped" the music into mp3s.

And then the gruelling editing work began. I've discovered that most skips and pops can be covered over in an LP recording by pulling a Byrne "pocket universe" trick: I copy a fragment of sound from a fraction of a second AFTER the pop, and paste it on top of the offending occurrence. Most of the time, it works!

So, anyway, I now have a semblance of the album on CD. Above is a scan of Mike Curb's liner notes on the back. Here is a scan of my CD rear and front inserts. The two pictures are scanned from the back of the record jacket. The track listings are also direct scans from the record jacket, with the columns separated enough for track numbers to be inserted.

Notice the last paragraph of Curb's "insightful" liner notes. It amazes me that linguistic stupes have been MISUSING the word "hopefully" for almost 40 years!

Three-Part Thursday – An Imaginary Classic Tale

From the November 1961 issue of Superman, number 149, a tale ripped from yesterday’s headlines, comes now “The Death of Superman!”

Yep, the Great Carlini was about 35 years late on this idea, kiddies. Of course, the 1995 storyline also wasn’t written by Jerry Siegel and penciled by Curt Swan, like our featured story today. No wonder it took them a year and a half to fall short of this ONE ISSUE.

Our Imaginary Tale, which may not happen, but again, MAY), begins when Lex Luthor discovers a fascinating mineral in the penitentiary rock pile. He calls it “Element Z,” and soon wangles a trip to the prison infirmary and whips up a cure for cancer.

When Superman, thrilled by Luthor’s altruism, speaks up for the scientist at a parole hearing, the entire world is turned on its ear when the Man of Steel sponsors Mrs. Luthor’s boy with a spanking new lab and a pat on the back.

Of course, the underworld decides that the friend of their enemy is now THEIR enemy, and a couple of lugs head out to bump off Superman’s newest pal. End, Part I!

As Part II begins, Superman arrives just in time to save Luthor’s bacon, and in the next days, many more super-rescues ensue after Lex triggers his new Signal Watch in several narrow escapes. After conferring with Supergirl (his unannounced Secret Weapon, you’ll recall), Supes finally builds a shielded orbiting space platform for Luthor’s research.

So Superman doesn’t suspect a thing when Luthor sets off an emergency signal. The Man of Tomorrow waltzes right into a Green Kryptonite trap set by a certain non-reformed criminal mastermind. Yes, gloats Mr. Sadism Incarnate, “I discovered that cancer-cure, in order to be released from jail! I pretended to have reformed, so I could lull you into a false sense of security! The purpose? To catch you off-guard and lure you into this death-trap!”

Then … in front of his best friends from the Daily Planet, kidnaped to serve as witnesses … Superman dies. Luthor dumps the Planet staffers and the body on Earth and ascends into orbit above Earth, gloating, “Soon, I’ll be King of the Earth!” End, Part II!

Part III, called “The Death of Superman,” covers the universe’s mourning of Superman, and his legacy. The Curt Swan art is great throughout the tale, but especially in these final Imaginary pages, the varied expressions of shock and sadness on familiar and new faces, coupled with (temporarily) non-florid expressions of grief penned by Superman’s co-creator Siegel, lend a real and emotionally moving pathos to the narrative.

The whole world, and extraterrestrial races from worlds yet unknown, come to pay tribute to the late Man of Steel as he lies in state in Metropolis Chapel.

Meanwhile, Luthor has descended Earthside to gloat and preen before adoring mobsters and other such lowlifes. When one of the mugs asks, “Tell us EVERYTHING!” Luthor crows, “He wriggled and twisted like a worm on a hook! He sweated and turned green! The last thing he ever saw was my grinning face!”

Then, as all of Metropolis’s gangland toasts him, the glee is interrupted as … Superman bursts through the wall! “To the astonishment of the cringing gangsters, the super-powerful form flexes mighty muscles, then …” Supergirl appears to the world for the first time!

In the name of Krypton, she arrests the criminal genius for murder, and swiftly drags him to appear before the only extant Kryptonian court of justices, in … Kandor!

The last pages of this mighty tale alternate between damning testimony (as if it were necessary) to Luthor’s deviltry, alternating between panels where we readers can tell the smug scientist is sure that he’s got something up his sleeve that will save his butt, no matter the verdict.

Sure enough, Luthor is found guilty, and he offers to enlarge Kandor in exchange for his freedom. Imagine his shock when he finds that justice, however delayed, cannot be purchased! The judge says, “We Kandorians don’t make deals with murderers! – Executioner, send this wretch into the Phantom Zone, immediately! He is the greatest criminal since Adolf Eichmann!”

Back on Earth, Krypton joins Supergirl on Earth patrol, and they fly by Superman’s tomb, drawing inspiration from the great heart of Krypton’s last son.

Wow, what a story! If they couldn’t have gotten Alan Moore to write the last adventure of Superman in 1986, they could have reprinted this thundering tale. If you’re not moved by this story, then I will have to award you a No-Heart Prize!

See you next time. Do good, and you too can be a Superman.

A Super-Review of a Semi-Super Book

Today, here’s a look/review of a new book (DC-authorized of course) by Kevin J. Anderson, entitled The Last Days of Krypton.

In it Anderson looks at about the last couple of years of Krypton. He covers Brainiac and Kandor, Zod, Zor-El and Argo City, and more.

But how uninspired it all is! Anderson must have done five tons of timelines and planning, but somehow it all seems somehow even MORE depressing than the subject – a planet blows up and nearly everyone dies – requires.

Another thing that shows a distinct lack of creative impulse (and sloppy editing) is the constant use of EARTH TERMS, as spoken by people ON ANOTHER PLANET. It’s kind of irritating to read about “drawing the line” and pursuing your enemies to “take them out.”

On page 175 we hear about someone who “had a vested interest in the status quo.” Latin phrases on Krypton?

But the pièce de résistance of moronic writing/editing comes on page 230, when Zod – a guy living on Krypton – says to Jor-El – another guy living on Krypton – “I need to present my city as a new capital, a fait accompli – and soon.”

Wow! A study of English-French phrases must be an elective course at good ol’ Krypton University!

The point of all this is how jarring such out-of-place idioms are. Am I the only person to be distracted by such inelegance? Editors and copy-editors are paid to catch sore-thumb, dumb, out-of-place things like this!

Oh, I forgot to mention the part where Zod digs up Jax-Ur’s “Nova Javelins” and reads “Kilroy was here” on the casings. (Just kidding about that one.)

I also take issue with Anderson’s inability to decide which Krypton he’s telling us about. I mean, almost all of the stuff he mentions has its origins in the comics, of course, but he takes a lot of effort to include situations and characters that *could be* characters from the Chris Reeve movies.

Zod = Zod. Aethyr = Ursa. Nam-Ek = Non. That part’s easy. So, we’re following the movies, eh?

Then you have Zor-El being the underground researcher, while Jor-El has his head in the clouds. We’ve got somebody named Jax-Ur who blew up a Kryptonian moon. But it was centuries ago, and the name of the moon isn’t Wegthor (I forget the “new” name).

And the only people in the Phantom Zone are a bunch of political enemies of Zod.

And … and …

I think they call stories like these “Imaginary.”

Because by golly such a mish-mash of indecisive logorrhea certainly shouldn’t be “official.”

Where’s Elliott S! Maggin when you need him? He would’ve done us proud!

Another Neat Thing I Have Never Used

At a bookstore somewhere I found these Superman note cards with envelopes.

I guess it'll be no surprise that I've never used them!

They're just sitting around increasing in value (yeah, right!).

Secrets of the Fortress of Solitude

From Superman Annual #1, here's a double-page spread covering Superman's Arctic Fortress.

You can tell it's Swanderful art.

I took the liberty of blurring the appearance of the page crease at the center of this two-page spread.

I've got a question for anybody interested. Would you prefer these scans to be "as-is" colorwise -- complete with the slight yellowing of 40 years -- or a little bit "color-corrected" -- with a little more blue to look less "old"?

For example, the next image is "color-corrected.

From a later page in the Annual, here's the accompanying text piece.

Let me know what you think!

PS I bet that, unlike the "secret hideout" in Watchmen, Superman's Fortress didn't smell like a locker room and dirty socks, just because it was a "man cave."

I'd Rather Build Models than Get Prizes, Thank You

In #97, the Nov-Dec 1966 issue of The Adventures of Jerry Lewis, "Batman Meets Jerry!" with art by Bob Oskner.

I confess that the story is so disjointed that I gave up trying to follow it.

But check out the rear cover, more ads for great Aurora models! And only 98 cents to boot. Now, I had The Forgotten Prisoner once. I always figured that the name was made up to sound like it was a scene from some movie.

Somebody agrees with me. According to http://members.aol.com/thebananasplits/forgottenprisoner/ ,
"Actually there never was a movie for this character but there certainly could have been.
If you're at all familiar with the Forgotten Prisoner, imagine the possibilities of a movie.
The concept of this character was actually a combined effort between Aurora and
Famous Monsters of Filmland."

The other Jerry Lewis issue for today is #105, dated April 1968. It too is a marvel of dizziness to my very linear brain, so I gave up around the time that Lex Luthor crawled through Jerry's window in a Superman suit (or something like that).

On the back cover is a less fun ad, but one very familiar to Silver Age memories. "Make Money! Get Prizes!" Well, I'm proud to say that I never fell for it. Probably because I didn't want to cut up a comic for the coupon!

Not the Super-Ball I Grew Up With

OK. When I was 8 or 10, Wham-O merchandised the Superball. Now widely available as knock-offs abound (and rebound), the originals were a dull purplish color and about halfway between the size of a golf ball and a tennis ball.

This Super-Ball, on the other hand, is bigger than a softball! Under the "E" in Superman, is a fragment of a "Look! Up in the Air!" headline. Under the "M," kind of upside down, is a smaller headline, "Superman and Parasite Battle in City Sewers."

The image of Superman is kind of like a Grummett face, do ya think?

See ya next time!

A Tale of Two Pin-Ups

Here's an illustrated side-by-side look at Superman, as drawn by perhaps the two most influental Super-Artists (after Daddy Joe Shuster, of course).

The one with a brown frame around it, set in bright daylight, is by Wayne "women waver" Boring. I nicknamed him that because one of Boring's characteristic traits is to draw women with both hands flung up before them about shulder-height, as if somebody had told them "This is a stick-up."

This Boring pin-up is from the cover of Superman Annual #1.

The other one, with a dramatic "lightning striking again" backdrop, is by the great Mr. Swan. It was the centerfold of Action #340, which also introduced the Parasite to DC.

Boy, such Super-Manliness! It's enough to give Lois Lane the vapors!

I’m in a Model State of Mind!

(with apologies to Billy Joel)

Here are a couple of more simply fab comic-book ads for Aurora model kits.

My first guess is that Murphy Anderson drew the art for this ad for the Batman model. As you can see from the price, this kit was part of the “second wave” of models. All the original monster kits were 98 cents. Then the price jumped for them (and more recent monster kits such as King Kong and Bride of Frankenstein) to $1.49.

The new DC superhero kits like Superman, Superboy, and this Batman model were also $1.49.

But, hey! When a kid could make almost half a dollar in one afternoon by turning in abandoned pop bottles for 2 cents’ deposit each, even a rise in the cost of model-building could be coped with.

I mean, it’s not like we wanted to spend our money on *yuck* girls or anything!

I never managed to buy a Big Frankie, but he looks pretty cool from the ad. And read the tagline at the top of the ad! “Make a friend” – pretty neat, huh. But for five bucks, this was an investment that would probably have to wait until Christmas or Birthday came around – unless you could talk your big brother into buying it and building it, then letting you play with it!

Monsters Today, 3-Part Thursday Next Week!

Whew! I'm pooped. Hallowe'en is over for another year, and I'm regrouping my mental forces.

Unlike previous years, last year the visitors were pretty slim. In 2006, for instance, we had 85 ghouls, goblins, and other critters shamble to our door Trick-or-Treating.

This year, only 35.

Anywho, another fun thing about Aurora's monster models was the "Monster Customizing Kits' -- I think there were two instalments -- you could buy to "dress up" your models. The kits included spiders, rats, skulls, bones, and the like, to ceate your own diorama of deviltry.

The ad shown here was printed on the back of Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #75, featuring a monster customizing contest.

Ah, the pleasures of childhood, when we knew that the worst monsters were imaginary!

Have a Weirdo Wednesday Hallowe’en!

Our final Weirdo Wednesday entry of 2007 features a story written by Big Blue’s co-creator, Jerry Siegel; penciled by the Action Ace’s best penciler, Curt Swan; and inked by a great scribe, George Klein.

Yes, it’s “The Voyage of the Mary Celeste II!” from Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #75, cover-dated March, 1964.

After Mr. Action writes a hit feature article about the mystery of the abandoned Mary Celeste, found adrift in the Azores December 15, 1872, he’s contacted by a rich industrialist, Jeff Conway. “The Mary Celeste mystery has always fascinated me,” Conway tells the reporter, “and so, I built this duplicate ship! It’s an expensive hobby, which I can well afford!”

Yes, it’s a full-scale replica of the famous ship, but also loaded with sonar and radio. Conway’s dream is to sail the replica along the same course as the original, just to see what will happen!

But Conway hasn’t been able to scare up (ha ha) a crew amongst the superstitious seamen of Metropolis Harbor. So it’s up to Conway’s appointed skipper, “Captain” James Bartholomew Olsen, to find a crew. Five seadogs volunteer, and the voyage sets out just fine, until …

Jimmy finds out that his five brave sailors are on the FBI’s Most Wanted list, and were maneuvered aboard the ship by Conway, whose shipping concern doesn’t mind a little smuggling (human and otherwise) on the side. And when the lugs make it to the nearest foreign shore, then it’ll be lights out – for good -- for Mrs. Olsen’s favorite son. They take his signal watch and set him to swabbing the decks.

Their plan is to hide in a secret compartment belowdecks so that it’ll seem that they, too, have fallen victim to the Mary Celeste’s curse.

But resourceful Jimmy turns the tables, grabs a gun, and orders the quintet topside, just as the ship crosses the last known coordinates of the original Mary Celeste. Then … a giant sea monster rises from the deeps and snatches the criminals with green scaly tentacles. Superman arrives, just in time, to rescue Jimmy from the gruesome creature.

The only thing that makes this story less than delicious is Superman’s inane word balloon, “No, no! Mustn’t touch! Leave Jimmy alone” I mean, really. Five other men have just drowned at this critter’s tentacles, and Superman talks to it like he’s scolding a three-year-old?

Still, Jimmy theorizes that this critter must have been aroused nine decades before by the original Mary Celeste’s passing, and was reawakened by her sister ship. Of course, how a sailing ship could make enough racket to awaken a creature that lived in a fissure at the bottom of the sea – I just can’t “sea” it!

Still, when I was seven, this tale made a deep impression. I remembered it for years, because of my anti-authoritarian interest in unexplained things – UFOs, sea serpents, Bigfoot, Atlantis, and strange disappearances.

It took twenty years or more before I discovered this story again, tracking it down in this here comic book.

Thanks for sharing some Weirdo Wednesdays with me. And, on this All Hallows’ Eve, remember what the butcher told me when he sold me the empty hot dog:

“Happy Hollow Weenie!”