Plastino Plagiarizes Personally Proprietary Poses

            The legendary Superman artist Al Plastino (1921-2013) worked for DC Comics from 1948 until the 1970s, even contributing to the 1996 Superman’s Wedding Album.  He drew Supergirl’s origin story in Action #252.

            His style is distinctive, but more “cartoony” Curt Swan or Wayne Boring.

            Our topic today is Plastino’s penchant for self-plagiarization.  You see, he liked to repeat himself.



            Take for instance, two issues of Action Comics.

            Action #306 is cover-dated November, 1963.  While this fine cover art is by Curt Swan, the story inside is drawn by Al Plastino.

          Action #340, cover-dated August, 1966, introduced DC villain, the Parasite.   This time the cover art is by Plastino.



            For my argument, I’ll let the graphics do the convincing.

            Above:  From “The Great Superman Impersonation!” page 3, panel 4.

            Above:  From “Power of the Parasite!” page 12, panel 3.



            Another pair of images:

            “The Great Superman Impersonation!” page 3, panel 5.

            “Power of the Parasite!” page 14, panel 2.

            Let’s rotate the image for extra sarcasm:

            Pair number three:

            “The Great Superman Impersonation!” page 11, panel 3.

            “Power of the Parasite!” page 9, panel 1.

            Your honors, I rest my case.  Mr Plastino retraced his own art sometimes.  A crime?  No.  Something funny to notice?  Heck yeah!

            And this wraps up April Foolishness – 2019 Edition, campers.  Thanks for stopping by.  Please come back on Monday, May 6, for the beginning of the musical Month of May, which will feature a new music compilation every Monday and Thursday!
  

More Adventures in Proofreading

            As a nitpicker from way back, I can’t help but notice typos or misspellings which have slipped past human or computronic watchers.

            The above is from the May 27, 1973 New York Times.  Some might call it Freudian to misspell “movement” as “movemeat.”

            This misspelling is not evident in the original article’s headline.  It’s only “entertianment” online.

           Speaking of lines (on and head), the wizardly Cal Thomas misstepped in October, 2018.  Although boats or other things may be towed with a line (rope), the phrase is figuratively referring to a footrace.  When the contestants are getting ready to run, they line their feet up at the starting line.  Everybody toes the line.

            In the 2014 book Marketing the Moon, we have the deplorable confusion of “pour” and “pore.”  You POUR (decant) a glass of water.  You PORE over (study or intensely scrutinize) something important.



            The last example is a case of “headline blindness.”  It’s not uncommon to notice a howler of a typo or misspelling in a headline.  You wonder, “How in the WORLD did somebody miss that?”  I think there’s some kind of switch in the proofreading mind which isn’t tripped when the font is big enough.

             Yes, in this frame-up of the ne’er-do-well James Ray, James Johnson wasn’t referring to NBA basketball player Nick Collison or to NBA basketball player Darren Collison.  Nope, it’s just a boneheaded misspelling of “collision.”

            As you can see from this screen caption from January 2019, typos never end!



            Feel free to parse the Super Blog for misspellings I may have made, until next Monday, our next installment in April Foolishness – 2019 Edition!
 

Acrostics, Dune, and Stranger in a Strange Land

            My college years were like most peoples’ in many ways.  I entered brief, intense friendships which now have cooled; I skipped a lot of sleep; I discovered friends who still influence my life today; I met my life’s mate.

            A less-common circumstance involves my roommate, Curt Gebert.  I’ll always be thankful for that farm kid’s accepting frinedship for this long-haired, introverted loudmouth.

             I took this Polaroid snapshot on the afternoon of Sunday, August 24, 1975, in the room I shared with Curt.  Left-to-right are Curt, his wife-to-be Sherri Vasey, and OCU law student Ray McMahon.

            By the Spring semester of 1976, Sherri was falling behind on some schoolwork.  And so it happened that I perpetrated my only act of scholarly fraud:

            I wrote a paper for Sherri, about the concepts of water and religion in Dune and Stranger in a Strange Land.

            These are the paperback editions we read at the time, the mid-1970s.

            And here is the scandalous script.

At least Sherri got Honors Credit for it!

            You may ask, “Why is this worthy of an APRIL FOOLISHNESS mention?”

            Because as a bit of fun, I wrote the thing so that the first letters of each sentence spelled out something wonderful.

           That’s right, just for fun I made the first letters spell M-A-R-K  A-N-D  J-O-Y-C-E.

           And now you know the rest of the story.

            See you next Monday for more April Foolishness!
 

Welcome to the Complaints Department

            As a prized state employee, I have travelled through many offices.  I rejoice in the personal touches which show evidence of humanity in the system.  Here are a few creative aspects of the age-old problem of employee or customer complaints.

            Here’s a fairly common trick.  You figured out that this label is on a shredder, didn’t you?

            This is a lot more subtle.  This is a three-story building.  NOW you get it!

           This sign appears in the same office.  Kind of reminds me of the bar sign that says “Free Beer Yesterday.”

           This one is my favorite.  In the hallway leading to the Oklahoma Emergency Management offices, there is this handy-dandy building directory.

            By the way, travelling 300 miles in the direction of the arrow would put you on the far side of Amarillo, TX.


            See you next Monday for more April Foolishness!
 

Welcome to April Foolishness: 2019 Edition! – Mark the Headbanger

            You can’t have a real celebration without having some skin in the game, they say.  In my case, it’s not skin, but blood . . .



            In April of 1971 I was fifteen years old.  I was a member of the UMYF (United Methodist Youth Fellowship), and we had a meeting every Wednesday night which was called Bible Study, but often our talk was general “stuff,” some of which was spiritual.



            As was my wont, I had brung a record from home, to listen on the “big sound” of the console stereo in our church’s Youth Room.  It was Wednesday, April 14.  I brought my copy of Badfinger’s Magic Christian Music.  Before “Bible Study” began, I decided to get a Dr Pepper from the pop machine in the basement.  From the ground-floor entrance, I took a back way, down a narrow flight of stairs.

            At the top of the door frame was a roll-down fire door, similar to the above.  It had a lip so that anybody on either side of the door could pull it down.

           The above picture is the only one I could find online which shows the kind of pull-down lip I’m talking about.  Now, back to 1971 ...



            I was invincible (aren’t all 15-year olds?).  Without thinking, I decided to leap from the top of the steps to the bottom.  This seems doubly silly because at the time I was carrying that Badfinger album.  There was a BANG! and suddenly I was on the floor at the bottom of the steps.  Blood was dripping from my head onto floor, onto me, and onto the record cover.



            I hit my head on the fire door!



            Luckily the Boys bathroom was right where I landed.  I grabbed some paper towels to hold against my head.  I picked up the album, bought my five-cent Dr Pepper, and went back to the Youth Room.  Although several other kids kept telling me to call home for help, I refused until after Bible Study was over.  When Mom picked me up, she drove straight home with me.  She and Dad drove me to the Emergency Room.  We got there at 11PM.  My 2-inch “laceration of the scalp” was stitched up by good ol’ Dr Denyer.

             Recently I came across the emergency-room receipt in a bundle of papers.  That’s how I can pinpoint the date, campers!  If you were here, you could take a finger and feel the permanent ridge in my skull which persists, yea these forty-plus years later.

            Postscript:  I used to have several hundred LPs.  Most are gone.  But this puppy is still a prized possession, bloodstains and all!



            And that, Dear Readers, is why I can legitimately claim to be a headbanger.



            See you next Monday for more April Foolishness!

 

March Mazeppa Madness Ends ... NOW

Another side of the great G. Ailard S. Artain is exposed in the above Tulsa World article from November 5, 1972.

The owl in the photo may be the one used in the commercial title card captioned, "The Uncanny Film Festival Continues."

And, while I've never met the man, I probably would have been another one of those "smart alecky teenagers who, in an effort to be funny, succeed in just being obnoxious."  Those who know me best will assure you that this characteristic is not native to only teens.

Regarding the film-TV career boom, I must confess that I haven't seen Nashville or Hollywood Knights.  I can tell you that Sartain should have received a Supporting Actor Oscar for his portrayal of the Big Bopper in the 1978 The Buddy Holly Story.

And so we reach an end to this year's March Mazeppa Madness.  Rest assured, trembling fans, that there are plenty more Mazeppa scrapings -- I mean, press clippings -- where these came from.  You'll have to wait until 2020 to see more ("see more" -- "20/20" -- get it?).

Come back Monday, April 1st, for the commencement of 2019 April Foolishness!  Until then … happy Lawzees, Turkeys and Turkettes!

  

No Longer Lost!

This article is from the October 10, 1992 Tulsa World.

I must say that I am a shameless possessor of all four volumes.  But them now!  You can't go wrong!

You may purchase from Mazeppa.com.  In case you wondered, these "tapes" are now DVDs.

Do it now.  Your children and descendants yet unborn will thank you!

Lawzee, you turkeys!  Come back on Friday for the final round of this year's March Mazeppa Madness!

Markzeppa Must Not Die!

The latest appearance of the dread Markzeppa happened last year, at SoonerCon 27.

Who can say which has faded more -- the costume-wearer or the costume!

You will notice the slight upgrade, the boxing gloves -- a new purchase at an area purveyor of slightly used merchandise.

See you back here on Wednesday for more Mazeppa history!
 

Mazeppa's Catalog of Delights

When I bought the first of the Lost Tapes of Mazeppa on VHS in 1994, they also included this boffo, socko catalog.

You can do online ordering of the Mazeppa videos here.

See you back here on Monday, campers!
 

Halloween, 1970: Mazeppa Haunts the Airwaves!

In 1970, Halloween providentially fell on Saturday.  That made marketing meat for Channel 6 in Tulsa.

 Instead of beginning "whenever" the 10:30PM movie ended, ol' Mazeppa had the whole evening to hisself!

As you can see by my markings in the TV Guide, there were PLENTY of scariffic movies to choose from that Saturday night.

And yes, you little turkeys, that is a weird Mazeppa Pumpkinzoidi art in each corner of the half-page Mazeppa ad.  Cleaned up a little for you here:

See you back here on Friday, turkeys and turkettes!