My Favorite Batman Story

Well, actually I have two of them, and although they appeared within nine issues of each other, one of them is in the Golden Age (Detective #211's The Jungle Cat-Queen) and the other is in the Silver Age (Detective #220's The Second Batman and Robin Team).

They're both terrific stories but while The Jungle Cat-Queen has been reprinted numerous times, The Second Batman and Robin Team has not appeared in print for 53 years. And that's a shame because it's a gem of a story.

It begins 700 years in the past, when famed scientist of the Middle Ages, Roger Bacon, notes a curious coincidence. He discovers that two strangely-garbed males (Batman and Robin) had appeared three times in the past and excited much comment. The oddity is that the places were separated by thousands of miles geographically and centuries in time; once in Ancient Greece, once in Ancient Rome, and a third time in the medieval Viking era.

Of course, he is referring to three Golden Age Batman stories; It Happened in Rome from Batman #24, Peril in Greece from Batman #38 and Batman and the Vikings from Batman #52.

Bacon deduces from these three appearances that Batman and Robin must be from the future, and further that this indicates that scientists in the future have learned how to travel through time. He puts his mind to the task and shares the results with two of his pupils, brothers Marcus and Guy Tiller (who happen to resemble Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson:



Arriving in the future Gotham City, Marcus and Guy gape a bit at the skyscrapers and cars, and mistake a plane for a dragon. But they quickly realize that they are the only people dressed in strange costume. A policeman advises them that the Bat-Signal is in the sky and tells them to go to police headquarters. Commissioner Gordon notes that the pair talk a little oddly and have medieval weapons with them, but... well, he's learned not to ask too many questions, I suppose.

Meanwhile, the real Batman and Robin arrive just in time to see their counterparts entering Police HQ. Changing quickly to Bruce and Dick, they rush inside to see what the fake Batman and Robin team are up to. Commission Gordon tells the ersatz duo that the Speedboat Bandits are going to rob the Dock Street Bank, and that they should apprehend the mob.

The medieval pair head off in search of the Dock Street Bank, with the real Batman and Robin trailing behind. They are sure that the fake duo must be intending to help the crooks, but sizing up the situation quickly Marcus and Guy decide to foil the robbery. They succeed but are kayoed in the effort by a blast. Batman and Robin take the pair back to the Batcave, where they learn the true story. The Great Question comes up again:



This is a form of foreshadowing, of reinforcing in the reader's mind that they want to hear the Great Question. We sense that a climactic moment in the story will be when the Great Question is finally revealed.

Batman and Robin suggest to their new friends that they remain in the Batcave while the Dynamic Duo wrap up the case of the Speedboat Bandits. But:



As it turns out, Batman and Robin had tricked the crooks, and the medieval pair end up alerting the villains, who were hiding out in a lighthouse. With the dual teams trapped nearby, they turn to the old methods, using a trebuchet (similar to a catapult) and a mantelet (a covering to prevent fire from above) to attack the lighthouse, and eventually defeat the villains. And in the end we learn the Great Question:



Wow. Now that is a Great Question, and a great answer. And the final panel does not disappoint either:



Note that despite the obvious "fish out of water" plot, the focus is not on what a pair of buffoons Guy and Marcus are. They are not played as the Beverly Hillbillies, but as good men from another time whose knowledge and experience may be different from ours but valuable nonetheless.

GCD tentatively credits the script to Bill Finger. The artwork of course is by Dick Sprang at his absolute peak.

Update: I'm going to tentatively credit the script to Edmund Hamilton. Note the very similar sentiments expressed by Batman in that panel and by Bruce in this one:



That's too close to be coincidental. That comes from The Caveman Batman in Batman #93, which GCD says was by Hamilton.

Single Issue Review: Doom Patrol #86

I have previously discussed the origin of the Doom Patrol, a team of freaks and outcasts which debuted in My Greatest Adventure #80. The DP continued to be featured in MGA through #85, when DC decided to award them their own magazine, which started with issue #86.

As you can see, the cover is a classic DC 1960s "Open Me" issue, with the heroes watching the villains on a giant-screen TV. That the villains include a talking ape with a submachine gun and a bubbling vat of fluid just makes it even cooler, and you can imagine how this comic must have flown off the shelves in March 1964, when it appeared.

The splash page is even better. I'll just transcribe the dialogue to you:

Elastigirl (thinks): "The Brain, the guiding spirit of the Brotherhood of Evil, has sent a giant robot to steal the Statue of Liberty! It's the most brazen theft in history!"

I mean, a giant robot, the Statue of Liberty, and the Brotherhood of Evil... how can you go wrong for 12 cents?

The story begins with the three members of the Doom Patrol (Negative Man, Elastigirl and Robotman) preparing gifts for the Chief. Since they don't know his birthday (indeed, he refuses to tell them anything about himself), they have decided to make today his birthday and give him gifts. We also learn that Larry (Negative Man) has scarred features:



Clearly a Dr Doom swipe; as I discussed in the prior post, the Doom Patrol ripped off Marvel's Fantastic Four while arguably Marvel's X-Men ripped off the Doom Patrol. We later learn that Rita (Elastigirl) is in love with Larry (Neg Man).

The story itself does not hold together very well. The Chief designed a giant robot named Rog (as in Roger?) for work on the moon that was stolen by a crook named Morden who used it to commit senseless acts of destruction. But it turns out that Morden was really trying to get into the Brotherhood of Evil.

We learn that the BoE is run by the Brain, a disembodied brain that lives in a jar of liquid. So smart is he that he trained the gorilla shown on the cover (Monsieur Mallah) to be a genius with a 178 IQ and a criminal. Now that Morden has the giant robot under his control, the Brain decides to execute a heist of the Statue of Liberty, but Rita has other plans:



Monsieur Mallah, featured so prominently on the cover, ends up with a very minor role in the story aside from a dramatic introduction. He ends up landing one punch on Cliff (Robotman) and gets decked in the payback. He never carries a submachine gun or straps on a few hundred rounds during the story, either.

Overall: Good art, good premise for the story, but mediocre and cramped execution.

Although the name of the comic had changed to Doom Patrol, there was a backup feature with nine pages of Howard Purcell art and story. Purcell was a DC artist from the Golden Age, perhaps best known for his work on Sargon the Sorceror, but his art here actually looks more like the 1970s than anything anybody else was doing in 1964:



Note the detailed coloring; very unusual for that era. In the story, the astronaut had been exposed to radiation from an atomic bomb blast, resulting in a mutation of his body into the whirlwind form shown on the splash. But in actuality, it turned out that he was not Major Reed, but an unrepentant Japanese war criminal from World War II, who had taken his place after splashdown (and who had actually been caught in the atomic bomb blast). The Japanese war criminal is greeted as a hero in the US, but he plans to seek revenge for "his emperor" for the humiliation of their defeat in World War II.

A historical side note: There seemed to be regular reports at the the time about Japanese soldiers who had gone into the jungle on various deserted islands during World War II and continued to labor on, unaware of the war's end or unwilling to accept surrender. How true these stories were I have no idea, but it was sufficiently well-known that it inspired an episode of Gilligan's Island. Update: Wikipedia reports that two Japanese holdouts were captured on Guam in 1960 and another in 1972. See also this terrific Gunner & Sarge story on the same theme.

Major Reed escapes from where the war criminal imprisoned him and decides the only way to stop the villain is to gain similar whirling super-powers. So he drapes himself in seaweed (the Japanese had been gathering seaweed when the atomic blast transformed him), and canoes a log to near a new atomic test site. Then a waterspout gets him twirling, and presto-change-o, he's another human top.

As dueling whirlwinds, they have a battle climaxing atop the Washington Monument (yet another landmark backdrop for a fight), and eventually the Major defeats the war criminal:



Comments: Although the story is nothing special, the artwork really stands out.

Overall Doom Patrol #86 is an entertaining issue. My chief criticism is that the Doom Patrol story should have been longer, and the interesting Monsieur Mallah character given more of a role. What's the point of giving a gorilla a 178 IQ if you're not going to use him as anything more than a fighter?

Counting Words

By the mid-1960s, both Marvel and DC were starting to reduce their page counts of story and art. Marvel pretty much settled on a standard page count of 20 starting around 1964 and stuck with that, while DC more commonly had 23-26 pages and gradually reduced that to a standard of about 23 pages by the end of the Silver Age.

But what about the number of words? Surely with all the anguished thinking going on in the minds of Marvel's tormented souls, Marvel comics had far more words per page than DC, thus making up for their lack of pages?

It's an interesting argument, and one I do not propose to settle with this post. But I thought I'd add a few data points to the debate, so I went back and picked (reasonably at random) Avengers #19 (August 1965) and counted the words on each page. Since the comparable DC comic is the Justice League of America, I picked JLA #37 (also August 1965) and performed the same task.

The results were somewhat surprising to me. The Justice League of America story had quite a bit more words than the Avengers tale, approximately 4,000 words compared to around 3,300, or about a 20% difference. The difference is largely caused by the additional pages in the JLA story; through page 20 (where the Avengers issue ended) the JLA story was only a little over 100 words longer, or about 3% more verbose.

Some other effects which are probably not surprising, but interesting nonetheless:

In both comics, the fewest words to appear on pages other than splashes or partial pages (the JLA story had three 2/3rd story and art pages with 1/3 page devoted to advertising) were the fighting sequences. In the JLA story, pages 12, 20 and 21 were the only pages aside from the splash not to have over 100 words, and those were the major combat pages. Who needs words when you've got one guy punching another? Ditto with the Avengers, where pages 4, 13, 16 and 17 featured characters more using their jaws to block fists rather than to talk.

I did not differentiate between dialogue and those scene-setting boxes at the top of panels, which was probably a mistake. Dialogue is always more interesting to the reader than exposition, and from a quick look it certainly appears that Marvel had more of the former and less of the latter than DC. Looking at the stories again quickly, the Avengers book had only 42 panels with scene notes, while the JLA story had 65.

Overall conclusions? There's not reall a significant difference between the number of words in Avengers #19 and JLA #37 beyond the obvious four additional pages of story and art. If I'd chosen two other issues I might have found something different.

On the Dividing Line Between the Silver Age and Modern Comics

This came up tangentially in the most recent quiz. What is the Silver Age and what is the Modern Age?

I tend to go with the 1955-1970 timeline for the Silver Age, although there are numerous reasons why this doesn't always work. The key factor in my mind about Silver Age Comics is the influence of the Comics Code Authority, for the simple reason that it ceased to be a major factor after about 1970.

As evidence, consider the famed "drug" issues of Amazing Spiderman #96-98 (May-July 1971). They were the first comics by a major publisher to ship without the CCA seal of approval:



The series was almost ludicrously anti-drug, with the young man shown on the cover above falling off a roof because he was high on something (we are not told what). Harry Osborn becomes addicted (heh) to LSD by a guy who gives him his first batch for free. Stan clearly had about as much understanding of drug effects and distribution as Lawrence Welk did.

Contrary to expectations, the world did not end. Distributors still distributed the books, newstands (remember those?) still sold them, and the CCA was exposed as a paper tiger. And only a year later, DC would publish its famed Speedy on Smack series, with a much more nuanced plotline that managed to garner the CCA's approval.

So we can see that within a very short period of time, what the CCA was willing to endorse changed significantly.

Another indication comes in the kinds of comics issued towards the end of the Silver Age. For example here are the new comics that DC published in 1968 and the genres they fit into:

Secret Six (Adventure)
Beware the Creeper (Superhero)
Anthro (Adventure)
Hawk and the Dove (Superhero)
Brother Power the Geek (Superhero)
DC Special (Variety Reprints)
Bat Lash (Western)
Captain Action (Superhero)
Angel & the Ape (Humor)
Binkie's Buddies (Humor/Teen)
Date With Debbi (Humor/Teen)
Witching Hour (Horror)

(Note: Publication date used to determine whether the comic was published in 1968, not the cover date)

As you can see, a variety of titles were launched, but the focus still was on superheroes. Now let's look at the titles DC initiated in 1971:

Mister Miracle (Superhero)
Ghosts (Horror)
Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love (Horror/Gothic Romance)
Spirit World (Horror)
Weird War Tales (Horror/War)
In the Days of the Mob (Crime/Detective)
Sinister House of Secret Love (Horror/Gothic Romance)

Quite a difference there; only one new superhero book launched, and that was part of Kirby's Fourth World series. By contrast, the horror genre, which had been virtually eliminated during the CCA's heyday, returned with a vengeance. And even that doesn't tell the whole story; several DC mags also reverted from superhero to horror or other genres, including House of Mystery, House of Secrets and Strange Adventures.

To give a better idea, consider this: In 1968, DC published 365 comics, of which 206 or 56% were superhero. In 1971, DC published 352 comics, of which 169, or 48% were superhero.

Similar things were happening at Marvel, although I don't have as good a database of Marvel Comics to do the numerical comparisons. However, once again, here are the comics that Marvel initiated in 1968:

Captain Savage (War)
Captain America (Superhero)
Doctor Strange (Superhero)
Groovy (Humor)
Incredible Hulk (Superhero)
Iron Man (Superhero)
Mighty Marvel Western (Western Reprints)
Nick Fury, Agent of Shield (Adventure)
Pussycat (Humor)
Silver Surfer (Superhero)
Spectacular Spiderman Magazine (Superhero)
Sub-Mariner (Superhero)

And 1971:

Creatures on the Loose (Monster Reprints)
Kull the Conqueror (Adventure)
Marvel Feature (Variety)
Marvel Spotlight (Variety)
Monsters on the Prowl (Monster Reprints)
Savage Tales (Adventure)
Special Marvel Edition (Superhero Reprints)
Western Kid V2 (Westerns)

Again, a very decided move away from superheroes. Indeed, all of Marvel's long-running superhero mags had been introduced by 1968, and all of their major long-running features (the solo series heroes/teams as well as Captain America, Sub-Mariner, Dr. Strange, Hulk) had been introduced before that. The only new series Marvel launched in 1970 that had any staying power was Conan the Barbarian, which I'd classify as an "Adventure" comic with horror themes.

Now it's true that all these things happen in a continuum; it's not like people woke up one day and the comics had changed from Silver Age to Modern. But if you have to draw a dividing line, I'd be much more inclined to point to Amazing Spiderman #96 as marking the true beginning of Modern comics than ASM #121, which others have argued for. The death of Gwen, while shocking was not all that new--see Ferro Lad, Alfred the butler (temporarily), Lightning Lad (temporarily), Proty I, Frederick Foswell, Captain Stacy... the list goes on.

Trivia Quiz #15 Answers

1. In Detective #336, Batman was bewitched. Who was the witch, and who was the real mastermind behind her?

As I discussed previously, Zatanna was the witch, and the man behind the scenes was the Outsider.

2. Although vampires were prohibited, the CCA allowed two stories featuring a villain who stole the life force from people, battling (and battering) Superman. What was the name of this villain?



The Parasite.

3. Who was the original Green Goblin?

Peter Parker discovered in ASM #40 that the Green Goblin was actually Norman Osborn, the father of his (later) college roommate.

4. What was the name of Marvel/Atlas' late 1950s ripoff of Casper, the Friendly Ghost?

Marvel tried amusing the kids with Homer, the Happy Ghost.

5. Although werewolves were banned as noted above, one key DC character turned into a wolf in a mid-1960s comic. Name him.

Superboy turned into a wolf in Superboy #116:



Well, a Wolf-Boy, anyway. As usual with these really amazing situations, it's all a plot to fool some aliens:



Michael Rebain got all but #4 although he was thinking of a later Superboy story than #116. Dan M scored 100%, and gets extra credit for pointing out that Jimmy Olsen turned into a Wolfman in April 1961. On #2, George C notes Starbreaker, a villain who appeared in JLA #92, but the story was published in 1972, when the CCA had very much relaxed its standards regarding horror themes--for example, Spiderman battled a vampire-like creature named Morbius in ASM #101-102, which came out in October/November 1971. Mike P came up with all but #4.

New 1950s Batman Blog Debuts

I heartily recommend checking out I Believe in Bat-Mite, a new blog dedicated to discussing Batman stories of the 1950s. As many of you know, Batman is my favorite comic book character of all time and so reading these posts was a real treat for me and I'm sure you will enjoy them as well.

Single Issue Review: Thor #159

In Thor #158, Marvel reprinted the origin of Thor story from Journey into Mystery #83. While on vacation in Norway Don Blake had heard strange stories of an alien invasion. Investigating, the lame doctor found himself being pursued by the aliens. He managed to find his way into a cave, where he found a cane. He discovered that by tapping the cane, he was suddenly transformed into the mighty Thor, with extraordinary powers and abilities. He repelled the alien invasion and began fighting crime while maintaining his secret identity.

While it is certainly a very unusual origin, it presented some problems, especially since early on Stan introduced the concept of Asgard, where Thor was a god with his father Odin and numerous friends and enemies. It wasn't long before the fans noticed the problem with this. If Thor had existed all along, who was Don Blake? What had happened to the mighty Thor that his magic hammer/cane was sitting in that cavern?

This was the subject of an almost endless series of letters to the editor speculating on possibilities, and in Thor #159, Stan decided to finally settle the matter. Thor had been exiled to Earth by Odin as a punishment for his lack of humility. We learned that Don Blake had only actually existed for a few years, having been created by Odin with a lame leg in order to humble the Thunder God.

Of course, the idea that he had learned some real humility is rather silly; if ever there was a character who was full of himself, it was Thor. This is part of his character as a god, so maybe Odin was grading on the curve.

The story is solid, with new details about the origin of a major character in the Marvel Universe. At last we understand why Don Blake himself has no life aside from his doctor's office. Indeed, Blake had no friends or continuing characters from his earthly life, with the exception of Jane Foster, who of course was gone by then.

On the art side, I am not a huge fan of Jack Kirby's Silver Age work, but I must acknowledge that this issue was terrific. Check out this full-pager:



What's not to like there? Simply beautiful, as is the rest of the book.

Friday Trivia Quiz #15: Hallowe'en Treat

Unfortunately, the Silver Age of Comics was undoubtedly the worst for horror comics. The Comics Code Authority basically arose to ensure that America's youth did not read comic books with horror elements. Consider these requirements from the CCA:

1. No comics magazine shall use the word horror or terror in its title.

2. All scenes of horror, excessive bloodshed, gory or gruesome crimes, depravity, lust, sadism, masochism shall not be permitted.

3. All lurid, unsavory, gruesome illustrations shall be eliminated.

4. Inclusion of stories dealing with evil shall be used or shall be published only where the intent is to illustrate a moral issue and in no case shall evil be presented alluringly nor as to injure the sensibilities of the reader.

5. Scenes dealing with, or instruments associated with walking dead, torture, vampires and vampirism, ghouls, cannibalism and werewolfism are prohibited.

That pretty much does it for the more interesting forms of horror, and as a result, the "horror" comics of the Silver Age were pretty tame fare, mostly featuring monsters like Frankenstein. By the end of the 1960s the cracks in the CCA wall were becoming obvious, and in the 1970s horror with vampires and all returned with a vengeance.

So here's a little quiz about some of the moderately horrific comics of the Silver Age:

1. In Detective #336, Batman was bewitched:



Who was the witch, and who was the real mastermind behind her?

2. Although vampires were prohibited, the CCA allowed two stories featuring a villain who stole the life force from people, battling (and battering) Superman. What was the name of this villain?

3. Who was the original Green Goblin?

4. What was the name of Marvel/Atlas' late 1950s ripoff of Casper, the Friendly Ghost?

5. Although werewolves were banned as noted above, one key DC character turned into a wolf in a mid-1960s comic. Name him.

Trivia Quiz #15 Answers

1. Who was Ace the Bat-Hound's original master?

Bat-Hound's original master was John Wilker, an engraver who had been kidnapped by criminals planning to force him to create phony bonds.

2. Superboy's dog, Krypto, joined an organization of super-powered dogs. What were the initials of the organization, and what did they stand for?

Krypto joined the SCPA, the Space Canine Patrol Agents, in Superboy #132.

3. What gave Streaky, Supergirl's cat, its super-powers?

Streaky got its superpowers from X-Kryptonite, a variant of Kryptonite that Supergirl created while experimenting in an effort to eliminate the weakness to Green K that she and Superman were afflicted with.

4. Supergirl also had a pet horse with super abilities named Comet. What famed sorceress gave him his powers?

Comet was given his powers by Circe, in part to atone for a mistake she made in turning him into a horse (he was originally a centaur). Comet was arguably the most powerful creature in the DC universe during the Silver Age of Comics; he had all the powers of Superman and Supergirl, with no vulnerability to Kryptonite.

5. What was the name of the Martian Manhunter's pet dog?

The Martian Manhunter's pet dog was known as Jupiter during his only appearance in Detective #232.

Dan M and Michael Rebain got the first four; Michael Sensei chipped in the answer to the last question (and I suspect knew the other answers as well).

Worst Criminals of the Silver Age

It's an ill wind that blew this crook into the Marvel Universe:



Meet the Whirlwind, aka the Human Top. Clearly a charter member of the "my incredibly stupid-looking helmet gives me no peripheral vision" club, along with Magneto and others.

He's an exceedingly rare type of supervillain; one that had superpowers from childhood, as shown here:



Powers far beyond those of mortal men? Is Stan (or Roy Thomas) swiping a little of the Superman intro? Anyway, the Human Top faced Ant-Man during the latter's run in Tales to Astonish, then returned in Avengers #46. Of course, you may wonder, having been bested by a bug boy, how the newly-renamed Whirlwind thought he could tackle the entire team. Well, you guessed it:



This was a well that Marvel kept going back to: Hero defeats villain, then villain gets more powerful (and hero loses power or is sick/injured), so we have another matchup.

Friday Trivia Quiz #15: The Pets

1. Who was Ace the Bat-Hound's original master?

2. Superboy's dog, Krypto, joined an organization of super-powered dogs. What were the initials of the organization, and what did they stand for?

3. What gave Streaky, Supergirl's cat, its super-powers?

4. Supergirl also had a pet horse with super abilities named Comet. What famed sorceress gave him his powers?

5. What was the name of the Martian Manhunter's pet dog?

When I'm the Evil Genius...

I will not suddenly see it all clearly:



For the rest of the Evil Genius series, click here.

The Great Races

Get this letter and response from Superman #141 (November 1960):



It was indeed an excellent request, and yet despite Weisinger's promise, nothing came of the Superman-Flash race for almost seven years.

Finally, in Superman #199, the race came off. Supes and the Flash agree to a race for a UN benefit, with a "sweepstakes" (i.e., legalized wagers). One very interesting aspect to the race was that it emphasized the difference between Superman and Flash's powers, even though this was nominally a footrace. Superman was able to beat the Flash in some places, but when it comes to the sand dunes of the Sahara, the Scarlet Speedster has the advantage:



Making the race a little more interesting is that a US crime syndicate has bet on Supes, while a European cartel has bet on the Flash. This seems to be a swipe. Some may not be aware that there was another iconic series of races in American pop culture; in the early 1940s, Warner Brothers produced three separate cartoons featuring the Tortoise (Cecil B. Turtle) Against the Hare (Bugs Bunny), and oddly enough, the storyline for the second instalment, Tortoise Wins By a Hair, includes a subplot of gamblers sabotaging one of the racers:



And such was the case here:



Hilariously, though, the other syndicate has laid out the Flash as well, and substituted a ringer. Given the order for both of them to lose, the inevitable happens:



But in the meantime the two heroes have freed each other and they rocket towards the finish line, where they carefully break the tape together, in order to foil the gamblers (and presumably the sweepstakes ticket holders as well).

The rematch came in Flash #175. A pair of alien gamblers want the race rerun, and this time they add a little incentive: If the Flash loses, Central City will be wiped out, whereas if Supereman fails Metropolis will be leveled. Despite this, both heroes find themselves helping each other overcome obstacles. Predictably, perhaps, the outcome is inconclusive:



We learn that the two alien gamblers are actually the Reverse-Flash and Abracadabra, who have set this up in order to unleash some death traps at the Central City Comet, but they are eventually foiled.

The rubber match came (appropriately enough) in World's Finest #198-199. Superman is summoned to Oa by the Guardians, who advise him that a race of faster-than-light robots is moving through the galaxy and the only way to prevent them from destroying the time/space fabric is for Supes and the Flash to run in the opposite direction. This time the race will take place in outer space, so they give the Flash an amulet which protects him and also creates a track for him to run on.

The alien robots turn out to be a plot by the Phantom Zone criminals to escape from their prison. Superman and the Flash are wounded, with their legs useless, so they must crawl to a control room to turn off the robots:



And in the end, the story doesn't cop out:



It's hard to believe Weisinger would have allowed this during his reign as editor, but Julius Schwartz had taken over the reins of World's Finest effective with #198, and Schwartz was naturally a Flash partisan, having guided the Scarlet Speedster since his initial (Barry Allen) appearance in Showcase #4.

Trivia Quiz #14 Answers

1. Who was the Ductile Detective?

The Elongated Man

2. Who was Horn-head?

Daredevil

3. Who was the Pinioned Policeman?

A pinion is the wing of a bird, so the Pinioned Policeman is Hawkman.

4. Who was "Stretcho"?

Stretcho is Reed Richards, aka Mr Fantastic.

5. Who was Goldilocks?

Goldilocks was this fella:



Lots of entrants this week. The Groovy Agent submitted all five correct answers, as did Dan, Jehingr and Michael Rebain. Checking in with four right responses were Mike P, Lito S, and Ralph C. Congratulations to all; you really know your Silver Age Comics!

Friday Trivia Quiz #14: Nicknames

1. Who was the Ductile Detective?

2. Who was Horn-head?

3. Who was the Pinioned Policeman?

4. Who was "Stretcho"?

5. Who was Goldilocks?

Weddings Bells Are Breaking Up That Old Gang of Mine...

Initially, almost all superheroes were single. This is quite common in fiction as it allows for additional storytelling elements like romance and physical attraction.

But the negatives of not being married became apparent when Dr Wertham published Seduction of the Innocent, with its implication of gay themes in Batman's relationship with Robin. So when the Silver Age started, many of the new DC heroes had longterm girlfriends. Ray Palmer had Jean Loring, Barry Allen had Iris West, Hal Jordan had Carol Ferris (more or less; she was mostly interested in Green Lantern). Hawkman and Hawkgirl broke new ground for the Silver Age; they were a married couple right from the beginning.

Aquaman did not have a girlfriend in his Silver Age debut, but he rectified that situation with Aquaman #11, when Mera debuted:



When she returns in Aquaman #13, the Sea Sleuth is not shy about expressing his feelings:



Nor is she timid about pushing matters forward a bit:



And for once there was no extended engagement:



I believe that Aquaman and Mera were the first superhero couple to get married in a comic book; as noted earlier Hawkman and Hawkgirl were married when they first appeared in the Silver Age and the Elongated Man and Sue Dibney were married just prior to their appearance in Detective #327.

However, they were not the only couple to wed during the 1960s. Reed Richards and Sue Storm tied the knot in the pages of Fantastic Four Annual #3 (1965):



The final major wedding of the decade was announced rather tastefully:



In two of the stories, there was a usurper to the groom. The Flash's mortal enemy, Professor Zoom attempted to marry Iris in Barry's place as shown here:



And in the Aquaman story, Oceanus kidnaps Mera and attempts to make her his bride. Oddly, there is no similar effort by the Submariner to prevent Sue Storm from marrying Reed Richards.

Why so many weddings in the mid-1960s after none before? I suspect that the comics writers were taking their cue from TV shows, which had discovered around the time that a marriage (and/or a new baby) gave sagging programs renewed ratings.

Update: Turns out there was another wedding which the baddies tried and failed to break up.



And there actually was one wedding that failed to come off due to the actions of the villains; in Hulk 124 Bruce Banner and Betty Ross were standing at the altar when the Leader's ray transformed Bruce back into the Hulk:

Trivia Quiz #13 Answers

1. What was the name of Richie Rich's butler?

Cadbury, or to be more specific, Herbert Arthur Runcible Cadbury. IIRC the butler in Richie Rich #1 had a different name; Cadbury became more prominent in the mid-1960s as Richie started branching out into spy stories.

2. Fatso, Fusso and Lazo were better known by what collective nickname?

The Ghostly Trio; they were like the Three Stooges of the ethereal set.

3. In the early 1960s, DC had some success with the Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, based on the popular TV series of the time. Near the end of the Silver Age, DC reused the stories and much of the art (simply erasing the heads) to create what "new" comic?

The Way Out World of Windy and Willie.

4. What long-running DC comic featured the adventures of two toddlers?

Sugar and Spike, created by longtime DC editor Sheldon Mayer, ran for 98 issues.

5. The longest-running comic title today is Detective Comics, but until 1962 that record was held by what comic featuring Woodie Woodpecker, Oswald the Rabbit, and Andy Panda?

New Funnies (originally just The Funnies) was the longest running comic book in history when it published its final issue (#288) in April 1962. After it passed, the title of longest-running comic moved to Adventure Comics (which had undergone name changes from New Comics to New Adventure Comics). When that title folded in 1983, Detective Comics (from which DC gets its name) inherited the mantle.

Joe Bloke kicked major butt on this quiz, correctly getting all five answers. Great job, Joe! Lito S came up with the correct answers for #1, #4 and #5 and also earns our applause.

Friday Trivia Quiz #13: Kids

As a break from the superhero routine, here are some questions about Silver Age comics featuring youngsters:

1. What was the name of Richie Rich's butler?

2. Fatso, Fusso and Lazo were better known by what collective nickname?

3. In the early 1960s, DC had some success with the Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, based on the popular TV series of the time. Near the end of the Silver Age, DC reused the stories and much of the art (simply erasing the heads) to create what "new" comic?

4. What long-running DC comic featured the adventures of two toddlers?

5. The longest-running comic title today is Detective Comics, but until 1962 that record was held by what comic featuring Woodie Woodpecker, Oswald the Rabbit, and Andy Panda?

Single Issue Review: X-Men #8

X-Men had continued to specialize in one-off stories, but much like the Avengers, and the Fantastic Four, they quickly found their major antagonist. Magneto (who appeared in the first issue) and his evil mutants (popping up in #4) became regulars in the early issues of X-Men, much like Dr Doom had a few years earlier in FF, and Zemo and the Masters of Menace in the Avengers.

But there really had been little development of the individual characters. Yeah, Bobby (Iceman) and Warren (Angel) had a little feud going and yes, we knew that Scott and Jean were in love with each other, but the team still really hadn't been fleshed out much beyond that.

X-Men #8 (November 1964), while still a one-off story, offered some interesting developments that would characterize the team for the rest of their history.

The book starts with what by now had become somewhat cliche in X-Men stories; an introduction in the Danger Room, where the drills were being ordered by Scott:



Later that page was the end of the snowman-looking Bobby, as he adopted the chiseled ice sculpture look that would characterize the rest of the series. It was a good move.

We had always heard that the outside world distrusted the mutants. Now we found out just exactly how much. While on a break in Greenwich Village, the Beast saves a little kid who has climbed up on a water tower. But the crowd quickly turns ugly:



This was a theme that would recur over and over in the X-Men, and clearly Stan is drawing parallels to racial prejudice here. Angered over his treatment by the crowd, Hank quits the X-Men and becomes a pro wrestler. Of course, he was the second Marvel character to enter the ring; Spiderman had a brief career as a grappler as well.

The Beast discovers the newest menace facing humanity: a fellow wrestler named Unus the Untouchable. Unus' power lies in his ability to fend off any attack:



Hank observes the Mastermind, one of Magneto's minions, in the audience. Afterwards, we learn that Unus has asked to join up with the Evil Mutants. He comes across a bank robbery in progress and steals the money from the crooks. When the X-Men face him they discover his invulnerability. Returning to the school in Westchester County, they discover that Hank is back.

But is he on the side of good or evil? He is using his scientific knowledge (previously undiscussed) to create a ray that will dramatically increase Unus' powers. At first the X-Men fight to prevent him from using the ray, but he succeeds in bathing the villain in its beam, and it turns out that he was acting for good, as Unus discovers his uncontrollable powers prevents him from doing certain necessary things, like eating:



This idea of a villain so powerful that the only way to defeat him is to make him more powerful is one that would recur many times over the years. The Beast reverses the ray's effects and Unus agrees to go back to the wrestling ring (apparently the authorities don't want him for the bank robbery).

Overall issue comments: A solid story with some movement forward in the characterization of the X-Men, especially the Beast and featuring beautiful sequential art from Jack Kirby. Unus did not go on to become one of the major villains in the Marvel pantheon, but aside from that this is an excellent example of the Marvel magic.

Trivia Quiz #12 Answers

1. Blackhawk, Stanislaus, Andre, Olaf, Chop-Chop, Hendrickson, and _______?

Chuck. Actually Chuck was originally the American of the group, as Blackhawk himself was Polish in the early stories (although that eventually changed).

2. What was the real name of Lady Blackhawk? What villainess did she become for several years during the 1960s?

The real name of Lady Blackhawk was Zinda Blake; she currently is featured in Birds of Prey. She became Queen Killer Shark for a number of issues in the 1960s.

3. Name the villain:

The Sniper

4. What kind of bird was Blackhawk's mascot, Blackie?

This was supposed to be the trick question, because my impression had always been that he was a raven or a blackbird, but it turns out he is indeed a black hawk:



5. Name the villain:

King Condor had several appearances in the Silver Age; he used mechanical birds to help him with his robberies.

Michael Rebain got the first question, while Michael Sensei got all but #3.

Single Issue Review: Blackhawk #148

This issue (May 1960) would seem very familiar to Batman fans because the editor at the time, Jack Schiff, was also in charge of the Caped Crusader's books. Check out the cover:



Not substantially different from the September 1961 issue of Batman:



In the opening story, Four Dooms for the Blackhawks, the Blackhawks visit a space research center, where scientists are attempting to recreate conditions in space and on other planets. The plot and setting for this story are direct swipes from Detective #208 (June 1954). Here's the cover of that issue:



And the similar situation in Blackhawk #148:



In the story the bandits are trying to steal a force field projector, but Blackhawk foils the scheme cleverly.

The second story, is another obvious swipe from an even earlier Batman comic. Here's the origin, complete with another classic "Suddenly something snapped in his mind" bit:



From Batman #55 (Oct-Nov 1955), we met another guy who couldn't stand bells:



In a memorable scene from that issue, the Gong lowers Batman and Robin onto a bell buoy where he assumes they will eventually tire and fall off; so too it is with the Bellmaster:



In the cover story, Blackhawk faces the Secret of the Flying Serpent. In this case the story appears original. Blackhawk and his men discover a hidden valley where the Aztecs still remain, now ruled by a corrupt archaeologist pretending to be Quetzalcoatl who has discovered a flying serpent (whose mutation was caused by radiation). The radiation angle is interesting; I'd have to look to see if there's an earlier example of radiation imparting superpowers. Certainly this predates the Marvel Silver Age, where seemingly every character under the sun got his powers from radiation (Spiderman, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, the Sandman, etc.).

The Blackhawks eventually defeat the phony Quetzalcoatl and the flying serpent dies in the battle. As noted earlier, a fairly similar story came up in Batman again a year later, with a flying serpent, a hidden valley (Mayan instead of Aztec).

Overall the stories are entertaining even if two were borrowed from earlier Batman adventures. The artwork, by Dick Dillin and Chuck Cuidera, is solid if uninspired; I'd much rather read these stories with their artwork than with Sheldon Moldoff, who did most of the Batman stories of the time.

Friday Trivia Quiz #11: Blackhawks

1. Blackhawk, Stanislaus, Andre, Olaf, Chop-Chop, Hendrickson, and _______?

2. What was the real name of Lady Blackhawk? What villainess did she become for several years during the 1960s?

3. Name the villain:



4. What kind of bird was Blackhawk's mascot, Blackie?

5. Name the villain: