RorschWEEK Number 3

OK, this is going to be longer than a week, until we share all the workings of my benighted little brain, at least in regards to the infamous set of Rorschach images.  They're infamous not only because they were the inspiration for Alan Moore's character, but because they were DELIBERATELY intended to provoke the viewer to see "things" whose mentioning would make the viewer seem deeply disturbed, to tne analyst well-trained in their use.

Don't forget, you can't have "analysis" without "anal."

Here is Rorschach blot number three.  Look deeply at it and decide what you see in the image.

Then see if you don't agree with me that, at first glance, Rorschach blot number 3 reminds you of:

some tribal folks who've been shopping for new purses!

Until next time, ruminate on Rorschach blot number four.  What do you see?

(Surely not Wonder Warthog!?!)

RorschWEEK Number 2

Well, by now you should not have expected profundity.

If you knew we had a seven-year-old kid in the house, then you might have expected something like this.

Also, if you had known in advance the Rorschach blot.

So, starting now, I'll show you the ORIGINAL blot for our next post so that you can discover your own twisty little subconscious imagery!

Here is Rorschach Blot "Plaat III" (Plate 3 for unGerman-types).

Cool DVD Alert!

I'm happy to share the news that  the 1994 FOX series M.A.N.T.I.S., which died after one season in the Friday-night "death slot," has been released on DVD!

I just ordered mine.  I understand that there aren't any special features included (ARGHH!) but on the four discs are the pilot and all of the produced episodes, including some that weren't aired.

We now return you to your thoughts about ink blots.

RorschWEEK Number 1

Henh-henh.

You thought this would be about Watchmen's Rorschach!

Actually, a recent thrift-store find was a book on how to show-and-grade the ten Rorschach cards.  It is probably a symptom of my own mental sicknesses that, while reading the book,  I needed the authors' help to find all the penises and female parts that some of those respondents gave.

To give a Rorschach test properly, you (the Mental Health Guru) also have to learn/memorize a lots of code initials so you can make rapid notes concerning your test subject.  You make notes about whether the person "sees" humans or animals, or various forces of nature; and whether the image is perceived as moving or not; and whether or not an inanimate object is "natural" or not; and lots of other stuff.

You know, when I briefly saw a child psychiatrist in my grade school years, I was probably given a Rorschach test.  Considering how deviant some of the "common" responses are -- according to the book -- I must have passed muster or just acted innocent --, because after a year or so I didn't have to see Dr Coutant (spelling?) any more.  Mostly I recall how fun it was to be allowed to play with the set of Lincoln Logs he had in his office.

Anyway, RorschWEEK entries will be about what the Rorschach blots look like to me.  I hope you agree, or at least consider my ideas a brief diversion.

What do YOU see?

A (exceedingly) Small History Lesson

Some of you, my friends, hang about because you know me. Some have droppeth as the manna rains from Heaven.

Anyway, a few of you guys might have some interest in STAR OKC, central Oklahma's SF/Fantasy Club (now defunct).

After my pal (and fellow STAR OKC survivor)Larry Nemecek (see his Blog Listing to the right) asked if there were any STAR OKC records online, I took the bit into my (figurative) teeth and figured I would just throw up a STAR OKC blog about it.

STAR OKC started in 1973 as part of the Star Trek Association for Revival movement. Some of you may recall a time when the ONLY STAR TREK was local syndicated reruns, ususally trimmed for time as desired by local stations.

So, the S.T.A.R. groups decided to change all that.

As far as actual influence, I figure maybe .005% is a generous estimate of our "push power". But we sure felt vindicated when the gears began grinding exceedingly slow towards a movie -- now, a series -- no, a movie.

Anyway, if you was to see a drip-by-drip posting of some Fandom Days Gone By in Oklahoma City, then check out the blog at http://starokc.blogspot.com/

Stay tuned right here in a couple of days for

RORSCH-WEEK, Day One

Shake It Shake It Baby

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In about 1975, you could pop into your local Thrift-T-Wise and pick up one of these salt-and-pepper shaker sets, for 39 cents.

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I'm not sure in which Provinces these were marketed, but these were bought in Oklahoma.

I am pretty sure that "Table Size" means that these are the right size to go on your table. They are NOT the size of your table.

Unless you're Captain Action, maybe.

In case you wondered, these fine shakers with stylized Gypsies and elaborate "S" and "P" symbols did not come with the seasonings inside. So you could be a very subversive seven-year-old and put salt in the "P" shaker and pepper in the "S" shaker and wait for Dad to get mad.

Random Consumer Item

If you are "of a certain age," you will remember when it was a luxury to have an icemaker in your refrigerator.





If you are MORE of a certain age, like me, you will remember when it was not even imaginable to have an icemaker in your refrigerator.





That is when you had ice trays in your freezer. Not PLASTIC ice trays, they did not yet exist.





But, aluminum ice-cude trays. What you did was, you filled 'em with water and put 'em into the freezer. Simple, henh?





The trick was getting the ice OUT of the trays after freezing!

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The first thing you would do was turn the frozen tray over and run cold water from the sink onto the bottom of the tray. The idea was to loosen the ice from sticking to the bottom of the tray. Then you'd turn the tray right-side-up.



The thing running left-to-right was a handle to grip. You'd set the tray on your kitchen counter and try to hold it down with one hand while you lifted up on the handle with the other.



You see, the handle was hinged and when it was pulled up, the ice-cube dividers, which were hinged together with the handle, would turn a little and thus break the ice into the cubes formed by the dividers.



That was the theory. In my house, the next step was knocking the partial pieces of ice loose from the aluminum dividers and trying to find the biggest pieces for your drink. In other words, it didn't work too good.

You also had to be strong enough to crack the ice!

Captain Kirk vs Dick Tracy?

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From Superboy #86 and January 1961, we have an Amazing Wrist Radio!

Of course, unlike Dick Tracy's 2-Way Wrist Radio and the wrist-banded Communicators from Star Trek TMP and STII, these were receive-only.

Don't you bet, though, that lots of kids PRETENDED, by talking into them?

And, what exactly is a "permanent germanium diode"? Well, according to http://www.reuk.co.uk/Germanium-Diodes.htm , they "are a very important component of most alternative energy generating systems" -- and lots of stuff like that. They're also pretty delicate. So you wonder how long these things would have lasted on the wrist of a kid on a set of monkey bars or riding through a meadow on his Schwinn Sting-Ray bike.

And speaking of pretending, one of my favorite pretend-spy things, when I could get it, was a simple spring-loaded measuring tape. I would pull out the tape about eight or ten inches, stick the tape straight up, and talk into the case like it was a walkie-talkie. Then I could sign off and hit the RETRACT button, making my "attenna" disappear automatically!

Now, THAT was cool!

PS a shout-out to Paul Howley for his kind words. Read through the links on the right-hand sidebar and check out his blog, "My Life with Comic Books."

Did You Know What a Hessian Was, When You Read This Ad?

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I did, because I'd read The Adventures of Bob Hope #89, in which Bob Hope and his talking dog (who was kind of like Peabody to Hope's Sherman) time-travelled to the Revolutionary War and messed up a bunch of Hessian mercenaries' plans to attack General Washington on Christmas Eve.

As far as the ad goes, I like how the "204" is filled with red, white, and blue stars. Any bets on which of those "2 complete armies!" might win? I would guess that the "up to 4 inches long" probably refers to the field cannon.

Anyway, this is the back cover of Superman 171 and the end (did I hear a "FINALLY"?) of our page-by-page stroll through a representative copy of a sample Silver Age comic.

Since we began, I've lost my Mom and my job. I hope that you, my friends, haven't fared the same.

My plan for this was to make folks acquainted with all the components of a Silver Age comic book. We had three stories, plenty of ads, a text piece, a letters page, and the like. Lots of those ads are for things not around any more (Tootsie Roll Fudge, anybody?) but some are still with us (Lucky Charms, Cheerios, Silly Putty).

I think it's a shame that my kids and grandkids won't have the chance to "Make Money! GET PRIZES!" or to order some Roman Warriors from a comic book. A comic book that could be bought with the change you earned while walking to the grocery store to buy it! That's because if you found six pop bottles along the way (as I did more than once in the 1960s), you could turn them in for the 2-cents-each deposit and -- buy a comic book!

Personally, I think it might take more skill, talent, and/or craftsmanship to write a six- or eight-page comics tale, as opposed to "arcs" and such which are spread across several months or years.

I also think you're a lot more likely to pick up a casual reader with self-contained stories.

Thank you and good night. Soon we'll look at a little Super-Avon, a few book reviews, and -- who knows what?!?

aka "Make Money! Get Prizes!"

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You know, this is the first time after reading a million comics that, along with all the other come-ons from this ad for the Junior Sales Club of America, "You can get this OFFICIAL J.S.C.A. BADGE."

Now, what would you do with this badge, anywho? Show it to your teacher as an excuse for being tardy? Tell your mom that you were late coming home from school because of OFFICIAL J.S.C.A. business?

Or maybe you could just show it to the cranky lady at the end of the block after she threatens to call the police because you rang her doorbell.

Now, the cards are $1.25 per box (a little steep for 1964, I think) but yet making 50 cents off each box sounds like a good deal. Assuming that twenty other kids at your school weren't pitching in the same neighborhoods!

I can just imagine some little old lady or man with an inability to say no, and with a closetful of greeting cards with nobody to send 'em to. *sniff*

Soldiers and Romans, Oh My!

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I never sent off for anything by mail from a comic-book ad.

I would guess that the Toy Soldiers were pretty much the same army men that most of us played with, and like the ones imitated in the Toy Story movies.

The footlocker-type case was probably made from card stock, wouldn't you imagine?

If you'll read the text for the Roman Armies, you'll see that one set is blue and one is yellow -- 66 of each, I suppose. And while they look pretty bloodthirsty in the illustration, I bet opening the box and finding little yellow and blue injection-molded guys *might* have been a let-down for some.


The ads, while for similar products, list different companies and addresses. That's more evidence that once upon a time, there were a lot more businesses and manufacturers in this great country of ours.

Metropolis Mailbag and Fudge -- mmmm!

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Here is the "Metropolis Mailbag" for Superman 171, which you'll recall is cover-dated August, 1964.

Here readers asked questions, pointed out errors, and otherwise interacted not only with the world of Superman, but the world of ADULTS.

Taking the letters in order ...

The first refers to Sally Selwyn, a beautiful heiress who had appears in Superman 165 and 169. Chalk up the editorial reply to "empty promise," because Sally didn't appear again. Of course, maybe a story was in the pipes but didn't make it into print.

Next we have the exposure of a prank letter, where a reader asks about somebody's previous request to have plastic surgery to copy Superboy's face. The reply admits as much and says, in effect, at least we got a story element from the affair.

The third letter proves editor Mort Weisinger's theory that the comic-book audience would rotate every few years. The writer -- probably about ten years old -- has never heard of the Superman radio show. So the editorial reply confirms that To Tell the Truth's TV host Bud Collier DID play the Man of Steel on the radio.

Next we have a smart-aleck who tries to tie up DC in a wrangling over tetanus/lockjaw, regarding Mr Mxyzptlk's recent appearance when he couldn't talk. In turnabout fashion, the smart-aleck editors reply that Mxy's docter in Zrfff made the mis-diagnosis, not DC.

The last letter also tries to catch the staff in a wrong-side-of-the-road snafu, which is easily slipped out of.

In between is a letter asking DC to reprint its stories featuring JFK. Besides the cover story, "Who Is the Mystery Masquerader?" which appeared in Action 309, there were several others, such as "Superman's Mission for President Kennedy!" which appeared in Superman 170, the issue immediately preceding this one. Also, JFK welcomed Supergirl to the White House in Action 252. (There are surely others.) The editors wisely reply that "it's too soon after Mr Kennedy's tragic death to reprint them."

Now, notice two things about this reply. First, the editors call him "Mr" not "President" Kennedy. I wonder if this were intentional. Secondly, the publishers of today would have rushed out a reprint "Special Memorial Edition" of those stories before the last assassin left Dallas city limits!

The bottom third of the page has an ad for the now-defunct "Tootsie Roll Fudge." Nowadays you can't buy the stuff. It was crowded from the marketplace by Tootsie Rolls and Tootsie Roll Pops.

Superman Looks Like My Dad

In the first panel of this, the last page of "The Nightmare Ordeal of Superman" from Superman 171, a bearded, unkempt Superman peers out of his darkened cave at the reader, and also at his rescuers -- Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, and Dr Luring.

When I came to see my Dad in the emergency room (after the VA nearly killed him) at Jane Phillips in Bartlesville, he looked similar to this. It's sad and scary when somebody you have known for your whole life as always neat and clean -- suddenly they're scruffy and unshaven and their hair is all messed up.

Unlike my wonderful Dad, Superman will recover from being laid low like this. He has recovered from his delerium and figures that it's a cinch that Lois and Jimmy will recognize his unpowered self as plain Clark Kent.

Obviously, there's no reflective surface in that cave! Because as we can tell from that selfsame first panel, our hero does NOT look like good ol' "CK."

It is kind of funny that supposedly "his hair and beard have grown tremendously!" but that same short Super-haircut has stayed, despite enough passage of time to allow a super-scruff.

Next, how to retrieve that costume from Krypton? Well, brash Jimmy Olsen volunteers to do that -- and is stuck for a way to do it, until inspiration arrives with a glance at that red sun.

Whether or not you believe it would work on these savages, Jimmy's method is a slick piece of psychology. Red hair = red sun!

Of course, Jimmy takes the opportunity to let Superman think that he beat up the troglodyte to get the costume back!

(Parenthetically, I get Supes was glad to get his old threads back on!)

In our last panel, we're on our way back to Earth. Superman's powers are restored as they exit the red sun's influence, and more adventures lie ahead.

Next -- Metropolis Mailbag!

How Low Can a Superman Sink?

When last we visited the Man from Krypton, he was marooned on a red-sun world and falling into a delerium from a strange infection or flu. One of the natives has taken away his costume after giving him a good thrashing, and Superman has slunk off to wait for rescuers from Earth.

In his mental funk, he tried punching his way out of his cave shelter, only to be reawakened to reality: All he's done is torn up his knuckles.

He's been wearing his Clark Kent glasses to try and keep the blowing sand out of his eyes, but he realizes now that his rescue party from Earth might recognize him if he leaves them on. But, he's now too weak to do anything but drop down into a delerium-induced fever.

So he remains for days, until ... help arrives! Guided by Superman's automated radio-distress calls, Lois, Jimmy, and the scientist, Dr Luring, land on this faraway planet and track down Superman's sheltering cave.

But now what? Dressed only in that ratty cast-off loincloth, he thinks, "Oh-oh ... I'm sunk! Without my Superman costume, they'll recognize me at once as ... Clark Kent!"

Will they? Stay tuned for the last page of the tale!

More Ironic Super-Powered Memories

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Alanis Morissette would have had a field day by now.

Superman, having been stripped of his powers (by the red sun) and stripped of his costume (by a big hulking troglodyte), has taken refuge in a cave not far from the natives' village.

It's also not far from the research package that got him into this predicament. Him and his ding-dang willingness to help deliver this radio-controlled package of experiments by Super-Shuttle. Little did anybody know that the reason for this sun's strange attributes was, it likes to turn RED once in a while.

Now Superman knows, and he hopes that the changes he made to the package's radio sender allowed a morse-coded "SOS" to reach to Earth. All he can do is sit tight in his cave and hope.

As he digs for water, his memories flash back to other times when his super-abilities allowed him to easily bring water to millions at a time through Super-Irrigation. As he forages for berries, he remembers past times as a Super-Errand Boy of food and other aid packages.

Oh, great! now he's come down with some kind of alien flu bug that's making him hallucinate. And he's getting shaggy as his hair and beard begin to grow out. And, Supes old buddy, never try to punch your way through a stone wall when you're on a Red-Sun world. Ouch!

What's next? The last page of our tale from Superman 171 next time!

Me Tarzan, You Arbo Zil!

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Well, those cave guys beat Superman up after stealing his costume. Now the big lug wearing the Kryptonian long johns has figured out there's a pocket in the cape!

Mr Ooga-Booga has given Clark Kent's clothes to his main squeeze. Clark Kent's glasses fall to the ground unnoticed, as a dust storm blows in.

While the primitives enter their rawhide huts, Superman gropes for the glasses, using them as barely effectual goggles against the dust. He finds a cave and arranges some rocks in an "S" shape and an arrow pointing inwards, and prepares to wait out the storm.

As is usual for this kind of thing, Superman reflects on his normal super-powers and contrasts them with his current predicament. Where before he smashed planets together to reignite a sun, now he's having a hard time striking a spark to start a fire.

And this is where we leave our hero, trying to get a fire started, driven away from the natives, alone in a cave on an alien planet, wearing a hand-me-down loincloth.

See you next time!

Excedrin Headache Number 171

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If you stop to think about it, it's kind of amazing how people who steal the Super-costume -- cavemen, imposters, Kryptonian lookalikes -- all seem to fill out the duds so well. Prpbably the Kryptonian cloth is super-formfitting.

Anyway, after being mugged for his threads, Superman wakes up buck nekkid, and is forced to don his assailant's *used* loincloth. Yuck.

When he finds the fabric filcher, Supes gets another surprise. He already knew he was un-super on this planet of the schizophrenic sun. But he didn;t know the natives were so strong!

This cave guy could give a Mexican masked wrestler a run for his pesos! He simply picks up our hero with one hand and flings him like a proverbial sack of potatoes.

Then a ringer comes in and re-enacts the cover scene, sort of. On the cover, the costume thief is belting Superman. On this page, the mugger is in the background while a second caveman pounds away at the Man of Bruises.

What new indignity will be visited on our hero while he's marooned on this planet? Stay tuned!

What a Come-Down!

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Well, Superman never suspected that amongst the strange properties of this sun was CHANGING COLORS TO RED!

Let's leave aside all sniffy, grown-up questions about how a mere change in color could denote an actual change in radiation. And never mind that even under a red sun, if this were an Earth-size planet, Supes should STILL be able to leap 1/8 of a mile and shrug off bursting shells.

Nope, somebody took a cosmic crayon and colored this star red. And, in an instant, the mighty, flying Superman takes a dive into the dust.

But, don't count this scientist's son out! He rewires some of the intruments in the survey package and sends a Morse code plea for help.

Back on Earth, it looks like that super-missile is going to come in handy after all! All Superman has to do is find a way to survive until help comes.

Then our hero sees a village of humanoids and figures he can maybe make friends. Famous last thoughts!

Just like Little Rabbit Foo-Foo, a cosmic caveman sneaks up on Superman and clonks him on the head. Uh-oh, now ol' Handsome Hairy wants some new duds ...

Stay tuned for our next chapter, "The Costume Cape-r, or: What's My Loin(cloth)"!

Your Sun Has the Measles!

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To save the scientists some time (and fuel costs for the super-missile), Superman goes for the idea of personally delivering the research package to the interesting faraway planet.

Isn't it nice of Lois to recap the Yellow/Red sun-superpowers dichotomy? Keep that in mind. Yellow sun GOOD, red sun BAD (as Boris Karloff might say).

Package delivered, Superman heads back toiwards Earth, until ... by a strange twist of fate ...

Uh-oh, check out the final panel of this page. A yellow sun that looks like it's catching the measles cannot be good!

One hint ... reread the title of this comic-book story!

Superman 171 Will Return Soon!

Dear friends, SoonerCon 2010 swept upon me with a total lackof disregard for sleep and spare time.

When I went back to worktoday for a new week, I was blessed with the chance to work 7AM-9:30PM nonstop, so I'm pooped again!

However, let me share this with you about next year's SoonerCon in Oklahoma City:

Yes, for next year we will welcome legendary fantasy artist Darrell Sweet, and welcome as our writer guest Tim Powers, author of Dinner at Deviant's Palace, The Drawing of the Dark, and many others, including a little book called On Stranger Tides, which happens to be the basis for the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides.

Thus SoonerCon 20, "Strange Tides."

More Supermanisms soon!

A Nightmare Ordeal for Superman

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Here's the first page of our cover story from Superman 171, "The Nightmare Ordeal of Superman!"

Once again, Supes has ended up on a planet where his powers are negated. The good news is, Lex Luthor isn't here to beat him up. The bad news is, some Cro-Magnon creep is willing to step in and pinch-hit. And do we mean, HIT!

If you'll recall the cover art by the incomparable Curt Swan, the sun in the background was RED. Why is it shown as yellow here? Maybe the story will tell us.

By the way, the splash scene here, when compared with the Swan-Delicious cover, shows a stark contrast between the styles of Al Plastino and Sir Curt. One thing I have noticed is how many times Mr Plastino repeated a character's pose, almost as if re-tracing it from an earlier story.

Anyway, as to THIS story ...

Deep-Space Scientists are intrigued by the strange radiations sent forth from a faraway star. They would love to send a research rocket closer, but are afraid that the strange emanations might cease before the rocket is ready.

(But what if that star is many light-years away? Maybe the star's emanations stopped a decade ago, and the change hasn't yet been detected here. And besides, what makes them think that a mere solid-fuel 1960s rocket can make it to a far solar system? wait, it's a super-speed missile. That explains everything.)

Burning questions, indeed! Stay tuned!

A Quick Interruption -- Forwards or Backwards?

We interrupt this page-by-page parsing of Superman 171 to make a note of the last episode of this season on Smallville.

Did you also notice something fishy, optical-effectswise, in the teaser?

Look at this screencap and tell me what's wrong with this image of Clark's eye as he beholds the costume Martha Kent made for him.

That's right! The "S" should have been REVERSED as a REFLECTION in Clark's eye. Since the "S" shield appears normal in this REFLECTION, the only logical deduction is that Martha Kent sewed a Bizarro costume for her son. Because only a backwards "S" would reflect "correctly" in Clark's eye.

Oopsie!

Never Had a Chance to Use These Coupons ...

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Several times a year, this ad would appear in the DC titles. I knew that these parks were far away from ol' everyday Oklahoma.

Looking at the ad now, I see that the bottom coupon was also good at "Uncle Cliff's Familyland" in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where my Dad's folks lived for 20 years or more. Man! I wish I'd noticed that in 1964. My economy-minded Dad might have gone for it!

As far as "Palisades Park," I would have loved to have seen a giant Superman holding up the resort. A bit of trivia:

If you are familiar with the song "Palisades Park," sung by Freddy Cannon about this actual place --- did you know that the song was written by Chuck Barris of "Gong Show" fame?

Next -- the beginning of this issue's cover story!

They're Magically Delicious!

After Superman wraps up "The Curse of Magic" with a resounding "Le-Lak!", we have another full-page ad for cereal in Superman 171.

As you'll notice in the "fine print," our Leprechaun's name is "L.C. Leprechaun." We can all figure out what those initials stand for, eh?

As you can see both from the text and the depiction of the box, in August 1964, Lucky Charms cereal was NEW.

I think the devilish brats in the comic strip must be the great-grandkids of the Katzenjammer Kids, ja? They don't look cute, they look like the bullies that tried to knock off my glasses on the playground at recess.

Sic 'em, L.C.!

What a Relief!

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Now, let's review. That goofball Mr Mxyzptlk zapped Superman with "The Curse of Magic," causing every little off-the-cuff remark made by the Man of Steel to come literally true -- as when he foolishly sang "London Bridge Is Falling Down" with some kids and made it happen in real life.

Now, he tried to shut up child star Baby Darlene's tantrum by reading to her. Unfortunately, when he said, "Twinkle twinkle little star," she started to!

A super-brainstorm ensued, when Supes recalled how reverse naming cancelled Mxy's magicks. So he tried, "Namrepus!"

D'oh! That didn't work either! But wait ... The Source of Magic probably knows our Super-Guy's REAL name -- Kal-El.

Let's try THAT backwards -- ding-ding-ding! We have a winner!

And, Superman muses as he flies away, once again a pair of "L"s has figured in his life, as he ruminated the day before at the beginning of this story.

The bottom half of the page is an ad for Tootsie Roll Pops. Yum!

Oh, Just Great! What Else Can Go Wrong Today?!?

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Well, it looks like a certain child star is a little bit spoiled. If you think she's crying now, wait a few years until she figures out that Mommie Dearest has snooted and drunk up all the salaries earned by Baby Darlene.

Crying kid? Enter Superman the kindly uncle! With the child actress's nurse out of commission, the Babysitter of Steel kindly agrees to sit in. Oops!

Speaking of "oops," notice the book Supes is reading from. Somehow the title of the book is on the back cover, not on the front.

And what's with the "Gloop!" anyway?

Well, what do you know? The child star becomes a five-pointed one! And look out, Superman! The head of the film crew threatens a complaint to the Director's Guild! Ooh, shaking in his boots, Superman is!

To somebody who cares about people, like our hero, this wisecrack from the director is kind of like being threatened with a parking ticket after your car explodes with your wife and child in it.

Anyway, Superman has a brainstorm and tries to reverse the effects of this "Curse of Magic" by doing what Mxy does -- saying his name backward. "Namrepus!" he shouts.

What happens? Check in next time to find out if this ploy works, or if Superman boots this whining child star into the heavens!

Superman (Doesn't) Make It Rain on Their Parade

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Oh, come on, now! Even a cheerful "Good Morning!" backfires on the hapless Man of Steel.

Note the doll the child actress is carrying. Artist Curt Swan is very careful to dress the doll in a British Colonial uniform, which makes sense since this film is being lensed on location in India.

Surely the child's name, Darlene Curtis, CAN'T be a play on the name of our penciller, Darling Curtis -- or can it?

Once again the Action Ace improvises a solution to the quandary he inadvertently caused. Now, anybody could freeze a lake and melt it above the film crew (as in Superman III). As Superboy, Superman made a giant rubber hose from waste tires to channel a river to his whim. But now we're getting fancy!

A giant atomizer to spritz the water over the film scene! That's too much, baby!

Time to Pay the Bills!

Yes, after Superman fixes London Bridge's imminent downfall and flies away, we now pause for this brief message from a sponsor, Trix.

Is it an artist's mistake that the groceryman's clamp goes "CLANK!" around The Rabbit's neck, but in the next panel it's around The Rabbit's ears? That clamp looks a lot less like a choking hazard when it's around the ears.

The bottom quarter of the page is taken up by one of DC's recurring text boxes of background info. Who wrote these? My first bet would be E Nelson Bridwell, DC's resident brain trust when it came to Super-Lore. Of course, perhaps I'm saying that because ol' ENB was from Oklahoma City!

The art for this text piece is by Wayne Boring, proof again that Boring's art could be more cartoonish than Curt Swan's.

And, don't forget that here again we have the CORRECT pronunciation of Mxyzptlk. Not a "Spit-lick" to be found, unlike some mispronunciations I've heard on TV.

At Least He Didn't Say "Ashes, All Fall Down"!

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Next, Superman flies to England and again shoots his mouth off. It is a great and charming touch that the Man of Steel finds the time to play kiddie games with some little ones.

Still, it looks as if once again Supes didn't watch his Ps and Qs. We should be happy that he didn't sing about a dish running away with a spoon, or Tolkien's poem, "The Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon"!
But what is he going to do? He keeps forgetting about "The Curse of Magic" and, with a mere slip of the tongue, creating a mishap that only quick Super-Action can fix.
Boy, wait until Superman catches that Mr Mxyzptlk, he's going to give him such a pinch!

That Rascally Rabbit! -- umm, Imp!

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Aha! Now we know why and how Clark Kent was walking on air (unintentionally that is). It was that demented goofball from the Land of Zrfff in the 5th Dimension, Mr Mxyzptlk! Doesn't it do your heart good to see somebody who really enjoys his work? NOT!

Once again, notice how Curt Swan's art enlivens this story. Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel, who wrote this story's script, probably did not specify HOW Mxyzptlk would look when he popped in on Superman in the first panel of this page. No, it was probably Sir Swan who decided that Mxy would fly out doin' the ole flappy-ears schtick.

OK, so now Supes has "The Curse of Magic," and since the Imp is who he is, Superman can't use that power intentionally. He can't simply decree, "Forest fire die away," or, "Bank robbers walk to the police station and surrender." No, it only works when Superman makes an unintentional, off-the-cuff remark.

And somehow, when Mxyzptlk voluntarily says his name backwards and is yanked home to the Fifth Dimension, his magical curse remains.


Like, "I'm as hungry as a horse!" Ummm, oopsie. The story doesn't tell us what Superman did with the horse. Maybe put him to pasture on the dark side of the moon ...


We leave the Man of Steel in the final panel once again zooming around the world "on patrol," and wondering what in tarnation he's going to do.


Tune in next time to see if Supereman can figure out a way around dem ol' vocalizin' blues!

Chief Parker Reminisces!

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After fixing that ol' Double-L sign for the Shakespeare Festival, Superman as Clark Kent reports to work at the Daily Planet, to find he's been assigned to ... investigate himself!

Actually, it's more of an "untold story" kind of assignment. Perry White figures there's a market for a series of reminiscences about Superboy from Smallville residents. So, it's off to Smallville for Lois & Clark, to interview first retired Chief of Police Parker, and then the current residents of Lex Luthor's boyhood home.

All of this is prelude to an excuse for CK to win an award and become so happy he's "walking on air" -- oops! for real! Yes, suddenly Kent is airborne, accidentally! Only his quick action in whipping up a mini-tornado with his super-breath gives him an excuse for that inconvenient levitation.

What next!?! What's behind this? Stay tuned.

Inter alia ... Please pause to enjoy the fine Curt Swan art. Chief Parker looks just as Swan portrays him in Superboy, only even more codgerish. And the folks living in Luthor's old home are great examples of Curt Swan's talents for portraying everyday, salt-of-the-Earth types. The guy's in his everyday suspenders, and the Mrs. looks pleased as punch that they're getting attention from these big-city reporters.

And Lois never looked more lovely! In the first panel, her curves -- va-va-voom! And in the next-to-last panel, as the cocks one eyebrow and looks over her shoulder towards Clark -- this is one smart gal who knows something's a little wonky with this guy.

See you again soon!

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Well, I had to type that Photobucket link by hand, so I hope it's right!

Today, in our page-by-page survey of Superman 171, we begin the second of its three stories. According to the Comic-Book Database, Jerry Siegel wrote it. As you can tell by the masterful lines, Curt Swan provided the art. What a team!

Here we have the beginning of "The Curse of Magic," with the splash panel providing a pretty good clue what's going on.

In a pretty similar fashion to those extraterrestrial creeps from the first story, ol' Mxyzptlk just swoops in with his own agenda, and damned be the consequences.

Our story begins with Superman swooping by to perform a small service for a theatre owner whose sign was damaged in a wind storm. Hmmm, the two "L"s in "William" were dislodged. What a strange twist of fate!

This provides Superman with the chance to ruminate on that weird ol' double-L confluence that he notices so much.

Next time, we'll get into the meat of the tale, with a visit from a little ol' sociopath from the 5th Dimension!

The Wonder Toy of the Twentieth Century!

No, it's not a PC or a Corvette, it's Silly Putty!

Now, while you or I may not be able to break a part and reassemble, or bounce high when thrown, I bet Proty, Chameleon Boy's pet, could!

PS 1st post on the new computer. Anybody know why it will not let me paste thePhotobucket link to the image, as in the past? Remember, on previous posts I had the Photobucket link directly below the image.

Sound Advice from Bullwinkle!

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The next page in our survey of good ol' everyday Superman 171 is a full-page ad for Cheerios, starring our good friends, Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Bullwinkle J Moose.

Our pal Bullwinkle is as usual a little prone to running off faster than prudence would allow. But he's just so darn energied-up by the goodness of Cheerios and milk that he just can't contain himself!

Which leads to the inevitable denouement: If you're gonna be full of pep, vim, and vigah, then you should watch where you're going!

Notice there's none of this "part of a complete breakfast" crap. You can eat only Cheerios, or Cheerios and milk. This is America. You can eat the empty box if you want to!

Another shameful difference between then, and today's nanny state.

Workin' on a Groovy Thing

Well, I hope so! Our page-by-page survey of Superman 171 has been paused by many things. Right now, I'm in the midst of a switchover from Windows XP to Windows 7, and a different computer that has multi-generations of RAM improvements. So while I learn one and clean out the other, please bear with me.

This little jewel came into the Thrift Store a couple of weeks ago. In my online searches for what the heck it's called, I came across the term "hand-drum." As you can imagine, you hold the stick and with your fingers spin the thing rapidly in opposite directions. Centrifugal force pulls the little balls out and when you reverse direction on the spin, the balls strike the membrane, hends the term "drum." This Super hand-drum was made in Eduador, as declared by its sticker. Wow, our hero is known around the world, eh!?!

Hope to scan and share more from Superman 171 soon!

So Ends the First Story in This Issue

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The last panels of the story answer the burning question I mentioned in our last post. If Rokk and Sorban mentally erased memories of Superman's "kill somebody" dilemma including his murder of Clark Kent -- how would the world account for that missing time?

Actually, Superman just says, "Don't worry, folks. Everything is fine" when Professor Potter notices his Personal Petrifier has been tampered with.

And, strangely, Superman just lets the two aliens gallivant away into space to torture some other hapless planet full of people.

Now, if I were Superman, I just might wait until those two clowns were near an uninhabited but livable planet, and "accidentally" use long-distance heat vision to make them crash and maroon them there.

Vindictive little tyke, ain't I?!?

At the bottom of the page is an ad for Tootsie Rolls. You know, in TV versions you could actually sing this as a jingle:

Long time, long time!

Chewy chewey Tootsie Roll last a long time, long time, long time ....

Mmm-mmm!

And this was only the first story in our page-by-page sharing of Superman 171, an at-random selection of how cool comic books were in the Silver Age of American childhood.

Don't Look Deep into Sorban's Eyes!

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Actually, it doesn't matter if you do or don't. He'll make you forget ... forget ... FORGET !

To take Sorban at his word, he is selectively deleting ONLY Earth peoples' memories of his and Rokk's coming to Earth and their visit's effect on Superman -- including the murder of Clark Kent.

Hmmm -- so, a news reporter would have hours or days of missing memories, while somebody out camping somewhere for the whole time would not have any holes in their memories?

That's probably reading a little too deep into a kids' story.

Well, it looks like things are winding down satisfactorily. We'll read the denouement of this story next time, as we march page-by-page through Superman 171.

Wuxtry! Wuxtry! Superman Snuffs Clark Kent!

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OK -- to satisfy those amoral aliens' decree that he kill someone or they will destroy Earth, Superman has tried to kill himself with Kryptonite; his friends have tried to kill themselves for him; and now Superman's Clark Kent persona has been sacrificed, in front a a worldwide TV audience.

Will that satisfy the outworlders?

Evidently so, even though we also discover that they knew Superman was Kent all along.

The whole thing was a bet between Sorban and Rokk over a lucky Prothey Tail, whatever that is. The bet was whether or not they could force Superman to kill somebody, thus breaking the Superman Code. Yes, these evil psychos caused all this grief and emotional torture for Superman and company over for a wager over a good-luck charm!

Not only that, but Sorban, the winner, is victorious because he bet that Superman wouldn't commit murder.

Over such a silly, worthless thing, Superman's Clark Kent disguise is now history.

What next? Stay tuned ...

Superman, the Hypocritical Heel!

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After sprinkling fairy dust -- oops, I mean cactus juice -- over Lana Lang and rescuing her from the fatal crystalline effects of Professor Potter's flawed suspended-animation device, Superman is running out of options, and time.

The Earth only has a few hours left before the mind powers of the evil aliens Sorban and Rokk crush it into cosmic dust.

The only way to stop that outcome, they've told Supes, is if he -- the defender of life on Earth -- if he kills somebody!

Well, he's tired of endangering the lives of his friends, and risking the lives of all Earth's people, by dithering around. There's one option left.

Thus it is that the world soon sees Clark Kent chained to a petal pole at Ground Zero of an A-Bomb test. Moreover, the automated cameras are wired for sound, and pick up Kent's howls that it was Superman who chained him there!

The last panel of this page from Superman 171 depicts an awed TV audience seeing Kent swallowed up in the explosion.

Now, you and I, dear reader, know that CK is really Superman. But what will the aliens do next? Has this ruse satisfied their dictate?

See you soon for the answer!

A Baptism Into the Andes Cactus Church?

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When last we left Superman, Sorban and Rokk had thwarted his attempts to kill himself to fulfill their demands that he slay somebody -- anybody -- on Earth, or else they willblow up our world. When Superman tells his Planet pals about the evil edict, Lois gets the idea to sacrifice herself by using a new suspended-animation invention of Professor Potter's.

As you can see in today's page from Superman 171, Lois is too late! Lana had beat Lois to the punch as sacrificial lamb -- only to be expected, perhaps, since Professor Potter is, after all, Lana's uncle.

And, as with many of Potter's inventions, this one has a slight problem -- instead of slipping you into a short century-long nap, it instead turns you into a very-dead crystalline statue of yourself. Professor Potter's Perfectly Petrifying Panjandrum!

Of course, both Lana and Lois knew that the device was a one-way ticket to eternity -- how else could they fulfill the aliens' death wish?

However, Superman's super-vision reads through Potter's notes to discover the antidote to crystallization, a certain rare Andes cactus. Just look at Superman squeeze that cactus!

And look at Superman baptize Lana with cactus juice. Well, he has saved her -- but still needs to produce one dead body or Rokk and Sorban will blow up Earth! What next!?!

Stay tuned!

Superman Comes to His Senses -- But Now What?

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Superman comes to his senses just before strangling Rokk the alien. After all, the guy and his friend Sorban DID tell him to kill somebody!

Only when Superman's Code comes back to his mind that the Man of Tomorrow -- reluctantly -- lets loose of Rokk's scrawny neck.

Even Superman's super-brain is temporarily stymied. He's got to have some time to rethink things -- time which the aliens will scarcely grant.

Still, he returns to the Planet and tells his friends his predicament. They obligingly destroy the farewell letters he'd left for them that morning.

Jimmy Olsen, living up to his press as "Superman's Pal," volunteers to die to save Earth. The Man of Steel immediately demurs, but the proposal sparks an idea in Lois's little bean.

What will Superman's Girl Friend do? Stay Tuned!

PS -- our next post will be next week. My dear Mom's funeral is Thursday. After several years of missing Dad, she finally got to go home to be with Charles. And the Lord!

In the midst of life, we are in death. Are you ready? Sinner, do you know my Jesus?

We'll talk after the weekend!

Kill Somebody? Why, Sure!

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Those psychopathic aliens, Sorban and Rokk, have demanded that Superman kill somebody, or they will destroy all of Earth.


So, Superman reasons, his own death should satisfy these offworld creeps! After leaving farewell notes at the Daily Planet for his friends, he flies to a desert area where a huge cache of Green Kryptonite lies buried.


The noble Man of Steel burrows into the pile of deadly ore, taking comfort in the thought that at least he is saving all the inhabitants of his adopted world in this way.


But, wait! what's this! Superman's honorable solution to the aliens' dilemma is ruined. Not only can their mental powers destroy faraway worlds at a glance, they can also ... transmute Kryptonite! Superman can't even kill himself!

This is the last straw for Superman. These giggling, evil idiots have put him through the emotional wringer for long enough. Kill somebody?!?


Why not start with THEM!

A Mind-Blowing Threat!

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(Those alien demons Rokk and Sorban have ordered Superman to kill somebody -- anybody -- on Earth.

Nertz to you, says Superman. You can't make me!

Oh, yeah? reply the cosmic bullies...)

They tell Superman to watch with his Super-vision, as they use a mental blitz to wipe out a couple of planets on demand, demonstrating the brain power of their ancient race.

OK, OK, the Man of Steel now believes them. What to do? He can't just kill somebody to please these fiends!

Wait a minute ... they didn't say WHO had to die. The noble hero will sacrifice HIMSELF. It's the only way out!

With this sad decision made, Superman writes farewell notes to his Planet pals, and heads to the newsroom to leave on their desks.

What's next in this page-by-page explication of Superman 171? Stay tuned and see!

The Aliens' Condundrum!

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Now, Superman steps in to answer the military's alert about the alien ship that's zoomed into Earth orbit.

What the heck!?!? as Cecil the Sea-Sick Sea Serpent used to say. These creepy, bug-eyed aliens have come from wherever-land for him? One's named Rokk, and the other Sorban. Sounds like a law firm.

But these clowns don't want to play around. They simply order Superman to kill somebody on Earth. They don't care who, and they won't say why. They seem to know all about him, too, putting up pictures of the Daily Planet staff on their viewscreen.

Of course, the Man of Steel refuses. Kill somebody? That's exactly what the Superman Code prohibits. Superman does not kill. And they can't make him!

Or can they? Tune in tomorrow for the next page of Superman 171, and see how these alien creeps intend to make sure that Supes does indeed snuff an Earthling.

Superman's Sacrifice!

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With art by Al Plastino, the first story in Superman 171 is called "Superman's Sacrifice!"

In the splash section of the page, we see a couple of creepy aliens threatening to destroy the Earth unless Superman selects somebody to die.

Do you suppose these alien guys were influenced by the 1962 Topps cards Mars Attacks! ? I think it's possible.

As the story opens, Earth defences notice a rocketship-type spacecraft on its way towards Earth. Shades of ST:TMP and Vejur 25 years later, Earth tries linguacode messages on all frequencies, to no avail.

So they try sending up interceptor rockets, but the craft has a forcefield around it that rebuffs all attempts to bring it down.

Last resort: send for Superman or Supergirl!

Say -- don't you think it's kinda keen that we poor Earthlings at least TRIED to solve the problem ourselves, before asking for help?

Finally for today ... read the "fine print" at the bottom of the page. This is the obligatory copyright notice, etc, found on the first page of all comics. We find that Superman is published monthly, except for March, June, September, and December. Mort Weisinger is the Editor. Subscription price is given, and the standard disclaimer about the contents being fiction and not intended to resemble anybody living or dead.

Printed in U.S.A.

A Public Service Tip

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The inside front cover of Superman 171 featured this public service announcement, "Rx Against Accidents!"

These were several of these one-page features. I remember one had a panel debunking the "put a steak on a black eye" myth. Another had a gal (Miss Teen USA perhaps?) explaining how smoking doesn't make a guy look tough, just stinky & dumb.

"Hey!" exclaim the would-be cool cats. "If a kitten like Miss Teen USA doesn't like cigarettes, who needs 'em!"

This particular page simply presents the case for thinking first before doing something risky. The slight storyline ends with the kid who learned the lesson passing it on to others as if it were his own.

Wow -- the idea that actions can have unforeseen consequences. What a concept! Of course, it's been a while since I've heard someone use the term "fellers."

Tomorrow ... the first page of "Superman's Sacrifice"!

Welcome to a Dynamite Concept!

You know, when I was growing up as a kid, in the mid 1960s, hundreds of comic book titles were being published by Marvel, Dell, Golden, Archie, Disney, and DC.






Every month (bi-monthly in some cases) a complete issue of several stories, ads, and letter columns would appear, as if by magic, to gravitate into the sweaty mitts of any kid with 12 cents.





Pretty much at random, I have selected Superman 171, cover-dated August 1964, for a little experiment.





Over the next week or two we will look at EVERY PAGE of this comic in sequence, from cover to cover, with my observations thrown in. When we're done, perhaps we all will have a little more appreciation for what an undertaking such an everyday thing as a comic book was in the 1960s.





And, in my opinion, how much the poorer we are today, in not having such common treasures kicking around as part of our children's lives.



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Well, on this cover we have a fistfight portrayed by the great Curt Swan. Did you know that Curt was a boxer in his youth? You can tell it here in the way Superman has his hands held up in the "put-'em-up" position, while that caveman lays into him with a mean right cross.
Everybody but Supes is smiling.
Those big domes in the background are supposed to be tipis or some such. But look how huge they are! They must be ten feet tall or higher. There must be some big critters on this planet.
For anybody who didn't know about the effects of a red sun's rays on a Kryptonian, the thought balloon lays it out for us. Superman doesn't have any powers here, and so he's getting his teeth handed to him.
Note the postage-stamp-shaped box in the top right-hand corner, which announces that this issue was approved by the Comics Code Authority. Do you think that the CCA is behind Superman's missing nipples and lack of chest hair?
Tomorrow, we'll dive into this stack of everyday miracle called Superman 171.