Trivia Quiz #35: Answers

1. Who thought Americans were all gum-chewing gangsters?

Hansi's girlfriend, in Hansi, the Girl Who Loved the Swastika.

2. What Daredevil villain does the Batman villain the Masquerader resemble? Update: Resemble is the wrong word here; what I'm looking for is the DD villain that the Masquerader has the most in common with.

Both the Masquerader and the Gladiator started out as costume makers/tailors.

3. Whose favorite dish was Korala Stew?



Hawkgirl, aka Shayera Hol, loved her some Korala Stew.

4. What do the Blue Bowman and the Trapster have in common?

Both villains started out with different names. The Blue Bowman was originally the Signalman of Crime, while the Trapster was initially dubbed Paste-Pot Pete.

5. What happened during the Great Evolution?

This one goes back to one of the very first posts on the blog, about the Martian Manhunter's arrival on Earth in Detective #225:



As you can see, during the Great Evolution, all crime was supposedly wiped out on Mars. However, subsequent Martian Manhunter adventures cast doubt on that historical fact, as several of his stories featured criminals from Mars.

Jim got #1 right, while Kyle correctly answered #4, as did Blaze, who chipped in the answer to #2.

Justice League of America #16

I saw that this comic was mentioned in Tony Isabella's book as one of the 1000 Comic Books You Must Read, and thought it would be worth reviewing in some detail. As you can see, my copy of JLA #16 is not quite mint, so I don't think I'll be sending it off to CGC anytime in the near future.

The story starts with the various members of the JLA heading towards a meeting. Wonder Woman is flying there in her invisible plane, while Green Arrow is taking the Arrow Plane, and they meet, as usual, over the town of Three Corners. But they notice something odd down below.

When they exit their planes, they find themselves compelled to dance along with the rest of the civilians, as does the Atom, who emerges from a local phone line that has been tapped into by a repairman. Things get a little more interesting as a group of crooks target the local bank while everybody's busy. But Green Arrow spots a chance to grab Wonder Woman's rope and tosses it into her hand. Then WW lassos GA and forces him to stop the crooks.

Meanwhile, Green Lantern, Batman and the Martian Manhunter have similarly met up along the way to their meeting, and stop to break up a payroll robbery. Once again the weird music compels them to dance, and once again the group teams up to defeat the crooks. Batman frees some silver iodide crystals from his utility belt, and MM sends them up into some nearby clouds. As the rain pours down around GL's feet, J'onn freezes it, making it impossible for Green Lantern to dance. Thus freed from the spell, Hal is able to capture the crooks.

Superman, Aquaman and the Flash have a similar adventure, and again team up to defeat the crooks. It appears that all of the gangs have been using the musical abilities of the Maestro to pull off their robberies. As they compare notes, the Atom sadly muses:

They head off in search of the Maestro, whom they have located in a general area of caves. Sure enough, they find him at his keyboard, but this time they are wearing earplugs so that his music should have no effect. But:

The Maestro reveals that the bubbles he has the JLA trapped within are specially devised for each member. Superman's bubble contains Kryptonite, while GL's bubble saps his willpower and Aquaman's prevents him from telepathically summoning his finny friends, etc. It appears he has finally won, and as we go to the third chapter of the story, the JLA looks defeated. But:

Yep, it was all a bit of fan fiction by "Jerry Thomas". Of course, Jerry Thomas is a composite name, created from two big fans of the Justice League, Jerry Bails and Roy Thomas. So the JLA spends much of the third chapter trying to figure out how they might have been clued into the real scheme of the Maestro. And, not too surprisingly, it is the Atom who figures it out:

Armed with the knowledge that the music was not the real means of hypnotizing the JLA, they would have approached the Cavern of Deadly Spheres with a secret weapon of their own:

And sure enough, they would have defeated the Maestro.

Comments: Although I am not usually a fan of these kinds of "trick" stories, I must confess that I enjoyed this one thoroughly, especially now that I know a little more about the Bails/Thomas/Julius Schwartz relationship.

Tough Silver Age Trivia Quiz #35

This is really, really tough, so I make no apologies:

1. Who thought Americans were all gum-chewing gangsters?

2. What Daredevil villain does the Batman villain the Masquerader resemble? Update: Resemble is the wrong word here; what I'm looking for is the DD villain that the Masquerader has the most in common with.

3. Whose favorite dish was Korala Stew?

4. What do the Blue Bowman and the Trapster have in common?

5. What happened during the Great Evolution?

Showcase #6: Challengers of the Unknown

Jack Kirby had created a few memorable series for DC in the Golden Age, including the Boy Commandos and the Newsboy Legion, before moving back over to Timely/Atlas. For awhile in the later 1950s he worked again for DC, creating the Challengers of the Unknown, who quickly graduated to their own long-running series.

As the story begins, four men are winging their way towards a radio program. Rocky Davis is an Olympic wrestling champion, Prof Haley is a master skin (scuba) diver, Red Ryan is a circus daredevil, and Ace Morgan is a war hero and fearless jet pilot. However, their plane runs into some rough weather, and:

Despite Ace's efforts, the plane crashes. Miraculously the four men emerge from the wreckage uninjured. Red notices that even his watch is still working, and Ace comments that the men are "living on borrowed time". This phrase becomes the signature of the Challengers series. Figuring that they should be dead anyway, the four men decide to band together and take risks that nobody else would. And in short order, they become famous for their daring.

They fly to northern Canada, where they are greated by a mysterious man named Morelian. He's obviously quite wealthy, having had a castle disassembled brick by brick in Europe and brought to North America and reassembled. Morelian reveals that he's a descendant of the original Merlin, and that he too dabbles in black magic. He explains their task:

It is obvious that danger awaits within the box, or else Morelian would open it himself. The Challengers confer:

They decide to open the box on a deserted island, to minimize the risk to humanity, and settle on a small isle near the Bikini Islands. An aside: Did you know that the name of the bikini swimsuit was based on a pun? From Wikipedia:

Bikini Island is well-known for being the subject of nuclear bomb tests, and because the bikini swimsuit was named after the island in 1946. The two-piece swimsuit was introduced within days of the first nuclear test on the atoll, and the name of the island was in the news. Introduced just weeks after the one-piece "Atome" was widely advertised as the "smallest bathing suit in the world", it was said that the bikini "split the atome".

Rocky gets first crack at the box. The Challengers' safety precautions are not exactly impressive:

Inside the first chamber, Rocky discovers a giant egg. Translating from Ancient Greek, Prof reveals that an inscription says something about a dragon seed. Ace speculates that this may have something to do with the Greek legend of Cadmus, who supposedly planted dragon's teeth in the ground and grew a crop of fighting men. The men decide to let Prof continue attempting to translate the innscription, while they break for the night. But while they are sleeping, the egg begins to crack open.
They discover the egg has opened and a giant has emerged, which grabs Red:

Ace and Prof fly off in pursuit of the giant, leaving Rocky behind to safeguard the box. But Rocky finds the temptation to open another chamber irresistible. As Prof machine-guns the giant, it lets Red go in frustration. He's picked up in a lifeboat of a ship that had been abandoned when the giant came upon it. The men on the lifeboat row Red to the island where the box is located. Red discovers Rocky frozen on the ground. As he explores the island, he discovers:

Red tricks it into following him:

He slips out the side, then seals the sun inside, trapping it.

Meanwhile, Prof figures out how to defeat the giant:

Despite the great dangers they have barely defeated, the Challengers are determined to open the final two chambers of the box. The third chamber contains a "whirling weaver" which quickly spins a cocoon around Ace, then takes off for the mainland. When the Challengers follow, they discover the weaver has already hit Australia:

Note that atypically for DC in this era, a real city is named. Prof notes that there's a dial on the container that held the weaver, and deduces that it's actually a control device. With the weaver under their power, the Challengers head back to the island, where they discover Morelian has already arrived:

But when he flies away, his plane suddenly veers out of control and crashes into the box, killing Morelian and destroying the box. The Challengers realize that the box itself granted immortality, not the ring.

Comments: An interesting and entertaining story. Kirby's art still looks like his Golden Age work, and not like the Silver Age style he made famous. It's notable that the story is broken into five "chapters". This was unusual for comics in the Silver Age; about the only other comic series that had that same format was the early Fantastic Four (which Kirby also drew and plotted).

Oddities: At one point, Rocky is referred to as "Rod" by Prof. And it seems unusual that there is no real villain per se in the story; although Morelian is clearly something of a strange duck, there's none of the usual "Bwahahaha, you fools, you have given me the key to eternal life! Now I shall kill you!"

Fantastic Four Fridays: Return of Subby

In the Golden Age of Comics, Marvel (or Timely as it was known back then) had three major heroes: The Human Torch, The Sub-Mariner, and Captain America. Having brought back the first as a significantly different character (a teenager, not an adult, and a human, not an android), Stan and Jack decided to resuscitate the Sub-Mariner pretty much as he had been back in the 1940s: an anti-hero who, despite positive qualities always had an ambivalent relationship with the land people.

As the story begins, the remaining members of the Fantastic Four are searching for the Human Torch. This results in some comical moments as Sue drinks a soda while invisible, spooking the customer on the next stool. And Mr Fantastic, spotting some motorcyclists, decides to ask one if he's seen Johnny in his own way:

But Ben comes up with the correct idea of checking one of Johnny's usual hangouts; a garage where he likes to work on hot rods. Only his idea of how to handle the situation when he finds the Torch there isn't quite as brilliant:

But in the middle of the fight, Thing is startled to note that he's changing back into Ben Grimm, and Johnny flies off while he's distracted. But the reversion to a normal human only lasts briefly.
The Torch heads for the Bowery and spends the night at a flophouse. While there, he notices an old comic mag:

Noticing Johnny reading the old comic, one of the bums mentions that there's another guy in the flophouse who's as strong as the Sub-Mariner used to be. After a brief skirmish, the strong man laments that he can't remember who he used to be, so Johnny plays a little flame-barber:

Johnny flies the Sub-Mariner to the ocean and drops him in the salt-water. Sure enough, that restores his memory. But when he returns to fair Atlantis:

He visits Johnny just long enough to let him know that he's declaring war on the humans. Faced with this threat, the Torch has no alternative to summon his former teammates and alert them.

Using an ancient horn, Namor summons a creature from the depths that looks something like a whale with giant arms and legs. It attacks New York City, but the Thing manages to destroy it by strapping a nuclear bomb to his back and doing a Jonah imitation. Meanwhile, Sue tries to steal the horn, and Namor catches her:

Namor seems genuinely surprised she doesn't eagerly accept his offer; but if he really felt his love was so desirable, why would he attempt blackmail right off the bat? But Johnny, using his flame power summons up a whirlwind that deposits the Sub-Mariner back in the water, while the horn that gave him such power is lost forever in the deeps. But Namor vows to return.

Comments: This is the issue where it becomes obvious that something special is going on with the Marvel line. Namor is the first of the villains with some admirable qualities, although by no means the last (as we shall see in the next issue).

As a reminder, Silver Age Gold is doing a similar series on the Thor stories in Journey into Mystery. And here's another blogger doing the same thing with the Doctor Strange stories.

Our Army At War #104

In honor of Veteran's Day, I thought I'd pull out one of my older war comics (March 1961). As I have discussed in the past, Sgt. Rock was the undisputed star of Our Army at War; eventually the comic was renamed after him. No surprise, the crusty old Sarge isn't much on dames:

His men speculate that perhaps he'll feel different when he falls for a girl, but others doubt that he'll ever love anything more than his sub-machine gun. Later, the kid mooning over the photo nearly gets killed trying to win a medal for his Millie; only Rock's quick thinking saves the youngster.

Then, in the midst of a battle, Rock spots a live grenade in the trench with him and the guys. He rips off his helmet and covers the "potato masher". When he regains consciousness:

Pleased to meet you Nurse Jane, but don't call me 'Honey'. Turns out that the enemy has made a breakthrough and the hospital he's in is now in German-controlled territory. The two of them evacuate the hospital, and although Rock insists that he's headed back to the front lines, Nurse Jane isn't leaving him. And amusingly, as she outranks him, he cannot insist. Rock holds off the enemy with her help until Easy Company makes it there. And then Sarge really gets embarrassed:

Comments: A fun little story with terrific characterization for Nurse Jane. I don't know if she ever returned, but I'd love to see her again. Story by Kanigher; as usual, the terrific artwork is by Kubert.

Incidentally, Nerdy Bird has the latest on the long-rumored Sgt Rock film, which apparently is not going to be set during World War II. I concur with her assessment:

I'm no Sgt. Rock expert but isn't that like, oh I don't know, the entire point of the character?

The second story, My Rival, the Jet, tells of an odd romantic triangle, between Army nurse Sally Bell, her boyfriend Bill Gage (a Korean War aviator), and his plane, (named by its previous pilot) Suzie. Sally is jeaolous of the plane and hopes for it to be destroyed while sparing Bill's life. But when word comes that Suzie's been hit, Sally prays for it to save Bill. But when it does, she's still upset:

But when Bill's in danger again, Sally prays that Suzie will bring him back safely. And in the end:

Comments: The rivalry between Sally and Suzie is a little silly, but I found the ending very effective (if predictable). GCD credits the script to Bob Haney and the artwork to Irv Novick.

The third story is Combat Racket. A rookie infantryman can't stand the noises of war, but his Sarge has some advice:

While on patrol, they hear the sound of a gun bolt behind them, and firing at the sound, they kill two snipers. Then they hear the hissing of two "potato mashers" (grenades), and bat them away with the butts of their rifles. The Sarge puts his ear to the ground and hears the rumble of an approaching tank. Then they duck as a mortar shell whistles overhead. And in the end:

Comments: A simple and very effective little story by Hank Chapman, with art by Russ Heath.

Book Review: Boys of Steel

I recently received an email from Marc Tyler Nobleman, the author of this book, and tracked down a copy of Boys of Steel at my local public library.

The book tells the story of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's effort to get publishers to accept their Superman character. It's aimed at youngsters from 8 years old and up (although it is suitable to be read to even younger children), but the book entertained and charmed this middle-aged comics fan.

Nobleman creates sympathy for Siegel right from the first page, where we learn that Jerry preferred being at home, with his friends, rather than in high school. Siegel's "friends" were the pulp heroes of his time, like Tarzan and Doc Savage. Eventually he finds another buddy who shares his interest in those types of adventure stories, an aspiring artist named Joe Shuster.

The idea for Superman came to Siegel one night while tossing and turning in bed. He got up to write down some of his thoughts, and the next morning dashed over to Shuster, who shared his excitement in the character. But publishers turned out to be less enthusiastic, and it was only after the S&S boys became established in the comics industry (creating characters like Slam Bradley and Dr Occult) that the company that would become DC published Superman in its first issue of Action Comics. And the rest, as they say, is history, with Superman rocketing to stardom in comics, newspaper strips, cartoons, radio, TV and the movies.

Nobleman has an engaging writing style that makes the book a quick read and he clearly loves his topic. Each page features the retro-30's-style illustrations of Ross MacDonald, which supplement the text perfectly. This is a beautiful book that gives an inspiring message to kids that success may not come easy, but it does come with diligence and persistence. At the end, there are three pages of text only that give the story behind the story, detailing the longstanding efforts by Siegel and Shuster (and their heirs) to retrieve the rights to the character.

Although I was familiar with much of the background, the book did provide some surprises. Siegel's father died of a heart attack while being robbed at his clothing store. This created an additional motivation for Jerry to create a hero who would fight crime and injustice.

Boys of Steel has received numerous positive reviews and awards, which you can see at Nobleman's blog. It is an American Library Association Notable Children's Book for 2009 and A Junior Library Guild Selection. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. If you'd like to buy it (the book would make a great Christmas gift), consider getting it from my Amazon store:



Marc mentions that he is currently working on a similar biography of Bill Finger, the writer who co-created Batman. I look forward to that volume with great anticipation!

Lois Lane #73

This cover attracted attention due to Craig Yoe's recent book on (Superman co-creator) Joe Shuster's rather R-rated cartoons, and so I thought I would go through the issue.



As the story begins, the US is sending out an unmanned probe outside the solar system. It lands on another world and gathers samples of the soil, atmosphere, and vegetation. But it encounters an alien life form, who hitches a ride on the vehicle as it heads back to Earth:

As the probe returns, Lois and Lana are battling for a scoop. Since Lana's a TV reporter, her story will go out over the airwaves before Lois can even file her copy But Lois decides to sneak closer to the craft to get a photo while it's being decontaminated, a process that will take a few hours, so that she can beat Lana to the story. Unfortunately for her, the alien being chooses this moment to exit the craft:

Using Lois' body, the alien steals a jeep and heads for a nearby lake, where he does some quick chemistry:

When poured into the lake, the chemicals provide fuel to strengthen the alien's force power. However at that moment, the police arrive in search of the stolen jeep, so the alien drives higher into the mountains to escape. But the altitude has an unexpected side effect, as it weakens the alien and he is forced to exit Lois' body. The police give Lois an alibi:

The alien follows Lois as she heads back to the Planet to develop her film. Realizing that she might have caught him in her photo, he takes control of a nearby reporter:

Clark quickly destroys the film, ruining Lois' scoop. Lois chalks this up to professional jealousy, but for some reason does not remain angry at him for long. Meanwhile, Jimmy is having trouble landing the flying newsroom, and attempts to summon Superman with his signal watch. While the alien can hear the signal, he doesn't know what to do, and so the helicopter collides with the building. Annoyed at the sound, he takes the watch from Jimmy's hand and shuts it off.

Perry assigns Clark to judge a beauty pageant for one of the Planet's advertisers, but the alien, not knowing what Earth standards of beauty are, makes a funny mistake:

Pretending to be in love with Clark, Lois kisses him, but surreptitiously picks his pocket and finds the signal watch. Say what? Why would she pick his pocket to find out why he's acting so strangely? The alien pretends to lose his footing and falls off a cliff into the sea, intending to kill Clark and take over another body. But when he crashes onto the rocks below he discovers that Clark's really invulnerable and has a different uniform underneath. Lois uses the signal watch to call Superman and the alien responds:

But while flying Lois back to the Planet, the alien goes too high and conks out again, releasing Superman from his control. Superman mentions to Lois that he blacked out and remembering her own experience, she deduces what has happened. Superman does some research on demonic possession and we get the explanation for the cover:

As the alien enters the Fortress, he sees that weird scene. The puppet apparently comes to life:

But it's all a trick to convince the alien to take over the puppet's body, where he can be trapped. Superman quickly beams the alien and the puppet into the Phantom Zone.

Comments: Sweet mother of mercy, this is a wacky story! It's pretty obvious that this was one of those issues where Weisinger came up with a cover idea, and then told Leo Dorfman to create a story based on it. As is quite common with these crazy puzzle covers, the answer to the riddle is "They did it to fool an alien."

The backup story is Lois Lane's Fairy Godmother. While volunteering at a local hospital, Lois encounters the title character (also known as Dody), who displays astonishing magical powers:

Magical powers? Why do I get the sneaking suspicion this is not a fairy godmother, but someone whose name begins with M and has no vowels?

After dinner at Lois' apartment, where the fairy godmother provides the food, we see that the girl reporter is on the same wavelength as she suggests a game of Scrabble. But the fairy godmother is having none of that, and suggests that Lois and Superman go out on the town. She changes Lois into an elegant gown and forces Superman to arrive at the door:

Superman heads back to his lecture, while Lois quarrels with Dody. Some very positive characterization here:

The next day, Superman has completed the new stadium for Metropolis, but when he uses his heat vision to inscribe a plaque dedicating the stadium to the local Olympic heroes, Dody forces him to write "Superman loves Lois Lane" instead. This infuriates the Man of Steel, who comes to the logical if erroneous conclusion that the girl reporter was behind it all.

The next day, Dody causes Superman and Lois to become manacled together, and because the effect is magical, Supes is unable to separate them. He is convinced she did this to learn his secrets so she could blackmail him into marrying her. But Lois comes up with a good solution; she drinks some of Jimmy Olsen's Elastic Lad serum in order to slip out of the handcuffs. Later, she finally convinces Dody to play some Scrabble:

Okay, so it wasn't Mxyzptlk himself, but his girlfriend. There is an overly long explanation as to why she did it, which essentially is that she hoped to get Mxy to marry her. Superman apologizes for doubting Lois:

And of course she gets her wish even without magic.

Comments: A cute, if predictable story, again written by Dorfman. As with the opening story, the artwork is by the always wonderful Kurt Schaffenberger, one of my favorite artists of the Silver Age.