Better Than the IN-active Book of Fun.

One of the tie-ins with the 1984 Supergirl movie was this book of word-finds, coloring, and easy puzzles.

You know, no wonder Ethan the gardener was so easy for Selena to mis-direct into serving her (Selena) instead of his true love, Linda Lee. Ethan has a thing for older women, as suggested by the name of his business. It's right there on the side of his truck, "Ethan's Mother Earth Landscaping Service." Oh, also note the cute "23 1/2 hr. service" also -- I guess a guy should get a half hour for lunch.

By the way, Helen Slater looked pretty good as Supergirl. Too bad it was such a pathetic story.

But hey, don't forget the lovely Jerry goldsmith score!

What Do You Think?

Well, the great Filemaker "inventory" of "Mark's Books" has rounded the back turn, and with a little more than 1800 books (in the same room) listed, it's all downhill from here!

I've gotten around to inclduing all the "Super" coloring books I've come across over the years. The one shown here is from around 1989.

Look at the signature. Looks like "Fred Carillo '89" to me. But look at everything about Superman and Lois -- their faces, their body language, the way Lois's knees are together, how Superman's left knee is directly below his left elbow --

Doesn't something about this piece of art just SCREAM "Dave Gibbons!" Dave Gibbons!" a la Watchmen, 1986.

Or is it just me?

Can't Fly? Wrestle a Shark Instead

Here we have a 1981 book called The Superman Book of Superhuman Achievements, by a guy named Shep Steneman.

It's all about all the wonderful things "mere" humans have done, like crosscountry ballooning or gliding 900 miles unpowered or walking 478 miles in only 101 days.

The funny thing is the Andru/Orlando art that decorates various pages. The marathon page includes Lois & Jimmy in jogging suits. Or check out Supes creating a hot-air balloon.

Or, is this really how hang-gliding works?

Lots of silly fun.

And don't forget the subtext .. who needs to be able to outrace trains or leap an eighth of a mile, when you can be like Hugo Zacchini, the original Human Cannonball!

Not Bad for 15 Years in the Freezer

In 1993, my friend John Hunter, then co-owner of Planet Comics in Oklahoma City, came back from a Comicon with not only a "undercover" video of ABC's promo for its fall series Lois & Clark -- he also brought a present *just* for me.

It's a chocolate Lois & Clark bar! As you can see by the Skybox logo, it was probably a promo for some trading cards issued by Skybox in tandem with the new series.

It's a shame it's cracked into pieces, but here it is in all its not-too-destroyed glory. It's on its way to outlasting two freezers. It's withstood at least a couple of multi-day power outages.

Not bad for a 15-year-old chocolate bar!

Nerdy enough for ya?

A Seasonal Observation

Each season has its own perfume
It carries for its own --
The Winter has his special scent --
Like taste of snow on tongue --

Or like the wind sucked through a scarf --
Chill flannel -- holly -- sleighs --
Or steaming cider -- chestnuts split --
The first thaw -- icy trees --

Sweet Spring dabs sachet at her ears --
The scent of greening hills --
Of rain-swept air -- and sun-drenched grass
And teeming daffodils --

The Summer’s scents are fireworks --
Ice cream -- mimosa too --
The nights she brings are full with scent --
Of new-cut grass and dew --

Are You a de Camp Follower Too?

L Sprague de Camp and his wife Catherine were guests at a Pseudo/PsurrealCon (I forget which) in Norman, OK, about 20 years ago. By the way, the "L" stands for Lyon, his first name.

They were very nice, elderly people, very goodnatured about being surrounded by SF nuts, and possibly thankful that they were remembered at all!

Besides SF & fantasy, de Camp wrote nonfiction, such as his bio of good ol' Eich-Pee-Ell. Also a LOT of historical speculation and research, as in

this book, cowritten with his wife, Citadels of Mystery. They cover things like Macchu Pichu, El Dorado, and such.

de Camp wrote another noteworthy book solely on Atlantis, Lost Continents: The Atlantis Theme. It's also a fine read.

Be advised, de Camp is dry-witted, urbane, and restrained. He doesn't ramble on in florid prose with wild speculations.

But he's a fine researcher, and (given the time of the writing) the books are in-depth and insightful.

The Sociological Aspects

As with any obsessive interest, the UFO/alien viewpoint has attracted the attention of analyzers and categorizers.

The Gods Have Landed, edited by James Lewis, looks at the UFO-type groups that have become religionlike, like the Saucerians and George King of England, who suddenly heard a voice that announced, "Attention! You are to become the voice of the Interplanetary Parliament."

If you can't give a sociolgical analysis, you can always have a conference and transcribe the words of wisdom, as in UFOs and the Alien Presence. Of course, in many instances the "alien presence" is in the back of a turbulent mind.

It's So Scary, or Is It?

Barbara O'Brien's Operators and Things sounds like a paranoid fantasy of monsters, evil beings, and Men in Black.

And it is. However, the operative words are "paranoid fantasy." This fascinating little book is actually a first-person narrative of paranoid schizophrenia. The "operators" of the title are the unseen presences who were trying to control O'Brien.

The "things" are nothing more than the everyday contacts she encountered -- people, circumstances. In other words, the "not-me" in the duality of "Me" and "Not-me."

It's a creepy. interesting, sad, and ultimately uplifting tale of "the real-life adventure that is stranger than science fiction!"

Speaking of paranoia, there's also this. "Edited" by Kate Tuckett, Conspiracy Theories is another one of those tongue-in-foot meldings of the "everything's conspiract-related to an absurd degree" books. I describe it as "tongue-in-foot" because it's tongue-in-cheek ALL THE WAY DOWN.

If you want to read self-conscious silliness that was actually a lot of work to "tie together," this is one of those books.

Lookie Lookie, A Flying Saucer Man!

Kevin Randle, the same fellow who co-wrote UFO Crash at Roswell and a few other tomes, edited this book, Faces of the Visitors, which shows

dozens of sketches of alien critters as described by their breathless witnesses. The only thing to say is, Either there are multitudes of alien races all "happening" to drop in on li'l old Earth, or they're all a bunch of danged shapeshifters, mebbe.

David Knight's book, UFOs: A Pictorial History from Antiquity to the Present, is a nifty compendium of sketches, photos, engravings (from newspaper reports of the 1897 Great airship Scare), and lots more.

Again we are left with the unbelievable conclusion that poor insignifcant Earth is on the receiving end of hundreds of differently shaped space vehicles.

Theories abound, from hogwash to complete acceptance of all comers. I myself tend to side with Jacques Vallee and John Keel, what's called "the Ultraterrestrial theory."

...Not the same as Ultra Tide.

Some Small Mysteries

Here are a few more covers to paperbacks about UFOs, Atlantis, and such.

According to this Charles Berlitz book, we've already been in the afterlife for the past nine years. Of course, Berlitz himself departed this earthly realm a few years ago, so now he knows for himself.

Of course, maybe the world won't end until it collides with another one, vide Velikovsky.

No matter what you think of Professor V's theories, it's downright boneheaded and stupid the way the "establishment" scientists bullied this book's "original" publisher into dumping the manuscript, AFTER accepting it.

William Corliss's books, unlike many "weird stuff" tomes, is just as it states, "a sourcebook."

Corliss documents truly strange occurrences, from freak weather to odd archaeological finds, and cites the original publications, NOT quoting Bob smith who quoted Joe Jones who read about it in Betty Barnes's book.

Reading books like these with an open mind can reawaken you to the wonders of God's creation, and how little we understand of most of it.

Of course, just as with the news or gossip, you should evaluate your sources.

I said an "open" mind, not a credulous one!

July 4th -- The World Turned Upside Down!

I hope you had a wonderful Independence Day, and celebrated the ideals of freedom and equality to which we aspire.

We went with some friends to Mustang's Wild Horse Park, where you can set off your own fireworks. Later on, after exhausting our resources, it was fun to sit back and watch everyone else's explosives.

Since I was worried about the overhanging trees blocking the view of the aerial celebrations, I tried to come up with a different angle, as captured in these two photos.

Talk to you again soon!

7-11 Cups (4): A Pair of Snappy Redheads

Here's the Daily Planet's "Mr. Action" taking it easy. About five seconds after this, he's going to be stumbling to his feet after being shouted out of that chair onto the floor. Jimmy will be dusting off his butt and saying, "Umm, sure thing, Chief! I mean, Sir Chief!"

Now, the la belle femme of ths twosome is the lusciously portrayed Lana Lang, now (in 1973 that is) a co-news anchor with Clark Kent on WGBS-TV news.

Such wonderful Swan art was selected for these cups!

7-11 Cupes (3): The Happy CUP-ple

Here are the 1973 versions of Clark and Lois.

Wow, how mod is Lois Lane in her mini-shorted jumpsuit! Everything about her screams LIBERATED. (Also SEX OBJECT, but don't tell her!)

And in contrast, view the traditional depiction of Clark Kent ripping apart his shirt to reveal the famous S-shield. We know it's Swan, but ... that inking style means only one thing -- the completion of the Swanderson team by Murphy Anderson, artist and inker extra-ordinaire.

Boy, doesn't our Superman look chiseled and buff!

7-11 Cups (2): The Brainiac-Luthor Team!

Well, OK, the cups are separate -- but if the title "The Brainiac-Luthor Team!" was good enough for Jim Shooter and DC, it's good enough for me!

Note the great Curt Swan source art for both cups. And especially note the flat-out evee-yill (that's how you pronounce an evil THIS EVIL) depiction of Mrs Luthor's least favorite son.

Brr!

Attendance at SoonerCon?

In response to Paul C's question/comment about SoonerCon attendance -- did we have more attendees in 2008 than 2007? -- Soonercon Chair Jerry Wall told me,

Yeah. I think it seemed like less because we didn't have that ultra crowded area near registration... so it seemed less full there. But the exhibitor's hall was fairly busy. We also had more per day (more 3 day memberships vs 1 day, so people came more often). Rocky Horror was also totally full this year, while last year we had plenty of room, and SinnerCon was packed. Since some of those folks didn't spend much time in the con during the day, that may also have made it look less crowded.

Jerry

7-11 Cups (1)

Welcome back after SoonerCon 2008!

I don't know if we cracked a thousand people, but the place was more abuzz than any previous year!

And in the Exhibitor's Hall, I found some more nifty Super-Stuff that I never even knew about before!

Seems in 1973, DC put out a whole line of cups through the 7-11 convenience store chain. One SoonerCon vendor had about twenty different ones. And just like somebody who keeps coming back for another handful of peanuts, I kept drifting on back by, until he finally made me a package deal on all of 'em!

Here are a few of them. Let's call these the Smallville Run.

Note that these characters and descriptions are firmly Silver Age.

In a later batch of cups, you'll see a few concessions to the '70s.

I'd say that the Superboy is from Curt Swan art, and the Kents are from George Papp's work.

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!