Again With the Comics covers the Jimmy Olsen Helmet of Hate story, with some appropriate sarcasm. It is amazing to consider the wild schemes Superman came up with to avoid breaking his word.
Captain America's 1960s version of the I-Phone gets covered (along with the rest of the story from ToS #92) by Jared at Blog Into Mystery.
All recovered from the L-Tryptophan buzz, Jacque Nodell pens a post on why she loves romance comics from the 1960s and 1970s. I would just add one more reason: the characters in romance comics are generally better realized than those in the superhero books.
Comic geeks do not live by the Silver Age alone. Bronze Age Babies covers the first issue of FOOM (Friends of Old Marvel) here.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Jor-El's Life Story
Although the story is well-known to us today, kids in the 1940s and 1950s would be forgiven for not knowing it by heart, as it was seldom mentioned in the comics. Indeed, the first detailed origin of Superman beyond the very basics came in Superman #53, the tenth anniversary issue.
Well, that is if you ignore the Superman radio program, from which the Krypton part is largely copied. It was on the first episode of that program, in February 1940 that Jor-El's name first appeared.
The origin is pretty much as we know it today; Krypton was doomed, Jor-El was the only one to understand this, and other scientists scoffed at his prediction. In the origin as of Superman #53, we first learn the detail that the core of the planet consisted of uranium, and thus:
This seems obviously inspired by the actual atomic bomb which had been dropped on Japan only three years earlier. Interestingly, when Jor-El suggests rocket ships to Earth, another scientist laughs at the primitive Earthlings and points out that "They do not even have X-Ray vision."
This highlights a common problem with researching Krypton; at this point the writers and editors had not settled on exactly how Superman got his powers. There are stories which indicate that the Kryptonians were super even on their own planet, although this causes obvious problems (like why they didn't just fly away under their own power when the planet exploded).
Jor-El tries to coax Lara into joining their son in the rocket, but she insists on staying with her husband, and they launch their baby into space as their world ends.
In Superman #61, Superman finds himself suddenly experiencing weakness whenever he's around a pair of meteorites. He tracks them into the past and discovers they came from the planet Krypton. He sees a man who looks a lot like him, explaining to his wife that the planet is doomed. He follows the rocket to Earth and is stunned to realize when the Kents come upon the baby that it is his own past he is viewing. This is the first that he knows his own origin (and his first experience with Kryptonite).
Of course, both those aspects of the story were later retconned, as Superboy often encountered Kryptonite and (it was explained) he had nearly perfect memory and could recall many significant details of his life on Krypton.
In Superman #65, we learned that Jor-El was the leader of the Science Council which governed Krypton:
Although making Jor-El a leader was a natural desire for the writers and editor, it does cause some cognitive dissonance. Does it make sense that warnings of doom from such a respected elder would be greeted with the hoots of derision that Jor-El faces?
Note as well the Saturn-like symbol on his chest. This was pretty much the symbol for Jor-El before Weisinger standardized things in the Silver Age, although the colors of his uniform often changed. This story introduces one lasting element of Jor-El's mythos: the banishment of criminals into space in suspended animation:
Until the advent of the punishment ray (aka Phantom Zone projector) this would be Krypton's method of dealing with major criminals. Again, this is problematic from a logical standpoint; if Krypton had developed rocketry, why were they unable to send more than one baby boy off into space before the planet exploded?
In Superman #74, we see the first of Jor-El's many dangerous inventions. Luthor invents a ray that will pull objects from Krypton to him. Of course, his intent is to get a giant chunk of Kryptonite, but by chance he gets Jor-El's weapon cache. Included are a ray that turns people into stone (including Superman himself), levitation bombs, invisibility spray, a lightning projector, a magnet that attracts humans, and a weapon that will give anyone power over all men. This last dread device is finally used at the end of the story, but:
Up to this point (1952) Jor-El had been used sparingly, but afterward he became a frequently recurring character, appearing in many stories. In Superman #77, he met Professor Enders, an Earth scientist whom he teleports to Krypton and who reveals:
In many other stories, however, it is common knowledge among Jor-El and other scientists that they would have super-powers on Earth, although this does appear to be the first mention that some of the powers would come from the sun. And the story does raise more questions than it answers; if Jor-El is able to teleport Professor Enders back to Earth (as he does), then why doesn't he do the same with his family?
In World's Finest #69, Jor-El appears only in a brief flashback, but we learn that he had sent a will along with the rocket ship that his son traveled in. In that will he describes many inventions which Superman soon realizes (after testing them) are too dangerous for Earthlings. But one invention is a nuclear fission tester. When Superman builds it, he learns that Earth is undergoing the same reactions that destroyed his home planet, and he takes steps to quell the coming explosion. Thus, even though Jor-El was unable to save Krypton, he does prevent Earth from suffering the same fate.
Jor-El created many other inventions, including his famous land, sea, air and underground vehicle:
We don't know much about Jor-El's youth. In Superman #141, we learned that his father was named Jor-El I. His brother Zor-El of course is well-known as the father of Kara, aka Supergirl. But did you know he had another brother? Nim-El appeared in Adventure #304, in which we learned that he was the keeper at the Armory of Forbidden Weapons.
Many of the stories in the Jor-El canon concern his courtship of and marriage to Lara. These stories tend to be wildly inconsistent. In Lois Lane #39, we (apparently) learn that Lara got him to stop paying attention to his computer and pop the question by cooking him a rainbow cake:
However, at the end of that story it's revealed that this was just a dream that Lois had, and thus we don't really know that's how they became engaged.
In Lois Lane #59, Lois travels in time and space on a mission of mercy, with plans from a scientist who has invented a device to prevent a nuclear explosion. She hopes to save Krypton from destruction and, using Professor Potter's experimental time machine, she brings the blueprints to Jor-El. But inevitably fate intervenes as it happens that Jor-El constructs the device in Kandor and it disappears with Brainiac's abduction of that city. When Lois discovers that the time machine is out of order, she decides to make the most of a bad situation by stealing Jor-El from Lara:
Yuck. Terrible characterization for both Lois and Jor-El there, especially when Lois reacts to the stealing of Kandor by splitting in the time globe, which suddenly works again.
Of course, Lara got even worse characterization in Superman #170. In that story, Luthor goes back to Krypton, and woos and wins Lara. As they are about to be married, however, fate intervenes as a battery wears down on a device Luthor is wearing to prevent him from being crushed by Krypton's greater gravity. He confesses that he had lied about his planet of origin and (after the battery is replaced) flees. Lara marries Jor-El on the rebound:
In Superman #123 we learn that Jor-El and Lara, as a young couple not yet married, worked as agents for the KBI (Krypton Bureau of Investigation) and had infiltrated a plot to install a dictator on Krypton:
Note the reversed swastika on the wall and the name of the dictator; Weisinger and Otto Binder weren't much for subtlety.
However, as always seems to happen in such stories, the only person who knew they were playing a role has died, and thus they are sentenced to 100 years in suspended animation in a prison satellite. Superman frees them, defeats Kil-Lor, and provides them with proof they were working against the dictator. Flush with victory, Jor-El proposes:
Superman sends them back to Krypton with his best wishes, apparently not realizing that this will result in their deaths.
Even after their marriage, things occasionally got rocky for the young couple, as when Krypto got shot into space:
Although in the original Krypto story in Adventure #210 she was much more understanding about the need to test his rocket ship.
Jor-El won several awards during his scientific career. For starters, he was awarded his seat on the Science Council for inventing the Phantom Zone projector (aka Punishment Ray). His greatest award however was described in Adventure #323:
Of course, even a busy scientist must take some leisure time, and when Jor-El wanted to relax he enjoyed a game of Interplanetary Scramble:
And when he played Robot Wars with his son, he let the tyke win:
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the Grand Comics Database, without which this post would be much less comprehensive. I also thank several friends who were kind enough to scan in copies of the issues I was missing.
Well, that is if you ignore the Superman radio program, from which the Krypton part is largely copied. It was on the first episode of that program, in February 1940 that Jor-El's name first appeared.
The origin is pretty much as we know it today; Krypton was doomed, Jor-El was the only one to understand this, and other scientists scoffed at his prediction. In the origin as of Superman #53, we first learn the detail that the core of the planet consisted of uranium, and thus:
This seems obviously inspired by the actual atomic bomb which had been dropped on Japan only three years earlier. Interestingly, when Jor-El suggests rocket ships to Earth, another scientist laughs at the primitive Earthlings and points out that "They do not even have X-Ray vision."
This highlights a common problem with researching Krypton; at this point the writers and editors had not settled on exactly how Superman got his powers. There are stories which indicate that the Kryptonians were super even on their own planet, although this causes obvious problems (like why they didn't just fly away under their own power when the planet exploded).
Jor-El tries to coax Lara into joining their son in the rocket, but she insists on staying with her husband, and they launch their baby into space as their world ends.
In Superman #61, Superman finds himself suddenly experiencing weakness whenever he's around a pair of meteorites. He tracks them into the past and discovers they came from the planet Krypton. He sees a man who looks a lot like him, explaining to his wife that the planet is doomed. He follows the rocket to Earth and is stunned to realize when the Kents come upon the baby that it is his own past he is viewing. This is the first that he knows his own origin (and his first experience with Kryptonite).
Of course, both those aspects of the story were later retconned, as Superboy often encountered Kryptonite and (it was explained) he had nearly perfect memory and could recall many significant details of his life on Krypton.
In Superman #65, we learned that Jor-El was the leader of the Science Council which governed Krypton:
Although making Jor-El a leader was a natural desire for the writers and editor, it does cause some cognitive dissonance. Does it make sense that warnings of doom from such a respected elder would be greeted with the hoots of derision that Jor-El faces?
Note as well the Saturn-like symbol on his chest. This was pretty much the symbol for Jor-El before Weisinger standardized things in the Silver Age, although the colors of his uniform often changed. This story introduces one lasting element of Jor-El's mythos: the banishment of criminals into space in suspended animation:
Until the advent of the punishment ray (aka Phantom Zone projector) this would be Krypton's method of dealing with major criminals. Again, this is problematic from a logical standpoint; if Krypton had developed rocketry, why were they unable to send more than one baby boy off into space before the planet exploded?
In Superman #74, we see the first of Jor-El's many dangerous inventions. Luthor invents a ray that will pull objects from Krypton to him. Of course, his intent is to get a giant chunk of Kryptonite, but by chance he gets Jor-El's weapon cache. Included are a ray that turns people into stone (including Superman himself), levitation bombs, invisibility spray, a lightning projector, a magnet that attracts humans, and a weapon that will give anyone power over all men. This last dread device is finally used at the end of the story, but:
Up to this point (1952) Jor-El had been used sparingly, but afterward he became a frequently recurring character, appearing in many stories. In Superman #77, he met Professor Enders, an Earth scientist whom he teleports to Krypton and who reveals:
In many other stories, however, it is common knowledge among Jor-El and other scientists that they would have super-powers on Earth, although this does appear to be the first mention that some of the powers would come from the sun. And the story does raise more questions than it answers; if Jor-El is able to teleport Professor Enders back to Earth (as he does), then why doesn't he do the same with his family?
In World's Finest #69, Jor-El appears only in a brief flashback, but we learn that he had sent a will along with the rocket ship that his son traveled in. In that will he describes many inventions which Superman soon realizes (after testing them) are too dangerous for Earthlings. But one invention is a nuclear fission tester. When Superman builds it, he learns that Earth is undergoing the same reactions that destroyed his home planet, and he takes steps to quell the coming explosion. Thus, even though Jor-El was unable to save Krypton, he does prevent Earth from suffering the same fate.
Jor-El created many other inventions, including his famous land, sea, air and underground vehicle:
We don't know much about Jor-El's youth. In Superman #141, we learned that his father was named Jor-El I. His brother Zor-El of course is well-known as the father of Kara, aka Supergirl. But did you know he had another brother? Nim-El appeared in Adventure #304, in which we learned that he was the keeper at the Armory of Forbidden Weapons.
Many of the stories in the Jor-El canon concern his courtship of and marriage to Lara. These stories tend to be wildly inconsistent. In Lois Lane #39, we (apparently) learn that Lara got him to stop paying attention to his computer and pop the question by cooking him a rainbow cake:
However, at the end of that story it's revealed that this was just a dream that Lois had, and thus we don't really know that's how they became engaged.
In Lois Lane #59, Lois travels in time and space on a mission of mercy, with plans from a scientist who has invented a device to prevent a nuclear explosion. She hopes to save Krypton from destruction and, using Professor Potter's experimental time machine, she brings the blueprints to Jor-El. But inevitably fate intervenes as it happens that Jor-El constructs the device in Kandor and it disappears with Brainiac's abduction of that city. When Lois discovers that the time machine is out of order, she decides to make the most of a bad situation by stealing Jor-El from Lara:
Yuck. Terrible characterization for both Lois and Jor-El there, especially when Lois reacts to the stealing of Kandor by splitting in the time globe, which suddenly works again.
Of course, Lara got even worse characterization in Superman #170. In that story, Luthor goes back to Krypton, and woos and wins Lara. As they are about to be married, however, fate intervenes as a battery wears down on a device Luthor is wearing to prevent him from being crushed by Krypton's greater gravity. He confesses that he had lied about his planet of origin and (after the battery is replaced) flees. Lara marries Jor-El on the rebound:
In Superman #123 we learn that Jor-El and Lara, as a young couple not yet married, worked as agents for the KBI (Krypton Bureau of Investigation) and had infiltrated a plot to install a dictator on Krypton:
Note the reversed swastika on the wall and the name of the dictator; Weisinger and Otto Binder weren't much for subtlety.
However, as always seems to happen in such stories, the only person who knew they were playing a role has died, and thus they are sentenced to 100 years in suspended animation in a prison satellite. Superman frees them, defeats Kil-Lor, and provides them with proof they were working against the dictator. Flush with victory, Jor-El proposes:
Superman sends them back to Krypton with his best wishes, apparently not realizing that this will result in their deaths.
Even after their marriage, things occasionally got rocky for the young couple, as when Krypto got shot into space:
Although in the original Krypto story in Adventure #210 she was much more understanding about the need to test his rocket ship.
Jor-El won several awards during his scientific career. For starters, he was awarded his seat on the Science Council for inventing the Phantom Zone projector (aka Punishment Ray). His greatest award however was described in Adventure #323:
Of course, even a busy scientist must take some leisure time, and when Jor-El wanted to relax he enjoyed a game of Interplanetary Scramble:
And when he played Robot Wars with his son, he let the tyke win:
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the Grand Comics Database, without which this post would be much less comprehensive. I also thank several friends who were kind enough to scan in copies of the issues I was missing.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Some Weird Silver Age Kisses
Okay so Lois is pretty sick in the head:
But check out what turns Superman on:
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
But check out what turns Superman on:
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Star Spangled War Stories #84
This is another example of the women who began to pop up in the DC magazine line during the late 1950s and early 1960s; I still don't quite understand the sociological reasons for this although I suppose it could be just as simple as the publishers realizing that there was a huge untapped market.
Mademoiselle Marie became a mildly significant character in the DC Universe. In the early 1980s it was disclosed that she had been a lover of Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne's butler, and had borne him a daughter, named Julia Remarque. Julia had a continuing presence in the Batman line and became a brief romance interest for Bruce. Of course, this illustrates once again the problems with tying continuing characters to historical events. Back then it would have put Alfred at (say) 60 years old and established a girlfriend for Bruce of about 35 years old. Now it would mean that Alfred is pushing 90 and Julia would be eligible for Social Security.
But all that was far in the future as this August 1959 story was published. A paratrooper is about to land in occupied France. He expresses frustration here:
Eventually the lights appear briefly, but his parachute gets tangled in some trees and it looks like he's going to be snuffed out by a Nazi patrol, until:
She quickly impresses him with her competence and fighting ability. And when he destroys a tank that is about to kill her, he gets a little taste of her softer side:
But then she chastises him for disobeying her order to escape. Later, they attempt to blow up a bridge, but she delays pressing the plunger:
He wants her to come back to England with him, but she knows where she belongs:
Marie was featured in SSWS for the next year, before being bumped for the War that Time Forgot (aka Dinosaur Island) series. She made irregular appearances in several of the DC war comics features of the Silver Age, including Sgt. Rock, the Haunted Tank, and Johnny Cloud. In Detective Comics #501-502, it was revealed that she was shot and killed by a Nazi collaborator shortly before the end of WWII.
There are two backup stories. The first is a Mort Drucker treat called Blind Bomber. As the title implies, a Korean War bomber pilot is blinded by flak, but he still manages to deliver his "eggs" to market:
The final story is No Flag for a Sand Flea. A squad of US infantry is dying of thirst in the desert of North Africa, when they come upon an oasis. But you can probably guess the problem:
The flag has six stars on it, indicating that the Nazis are a crack outfit, having defeated six Allied units. Determined not to be the seventh, the infantry squad manages to take the flag and the oasis. Afterwards they come up with their own flag:
Friday, November 12, 2010
Maybe Karen Deserved It?
After all, how much more thoughtless can you be than to have a picture of yourself framed with the inscription, "All my love, Karen," and give it to a blind man?
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
The Short Life of Mike Murdock
One of the more bizarre sagas from Marvel in the 1960s concerned Matt (Daredevil) Murdock's "twin brother", Mike. As I have discussed in the past, most superheroes are also only children, and as it happens, Matt is no exception to that trend.
The story begins in Daredevil #16. DD's enemy, the Masked Marauder, comes up with a novel idea on how to tie up two superheroes at once. He creates an army of Daredevil knockoffs and instructs them to attack Spiderman, who recently foiled one of his schemes. After the initial attack, they are to fade away, leaving the wall-crawler angry and frustrated.
The plan works to perfection. When Spidey encounters the real Daredevil, he lashes out angrily. While they are battling, the Masked Marauder pulls of a spectacular robbery. This convinces each hero that the other was in cahoots with the MM. By a bit of coincidence, Spiderman happens to be swinging by the law offices of Nelson and Murdock awhile later, and his spider-sense alerts him to the presence of Daredevil. He makes the obvious deduction that DD cannot be a blind man, and thus accuses Foggy:
Matt and Karen eventually convince Peter of the error he's made. In the following issue, DD and Spidey team up to defeat the Masked Marauder. A few issues later, Peter sends a letter to Matt Murdock, revealing that he knows that Matt is really Daredevil, but not to worry, he won't disclose the secret to anyone. Unfortunately, Matt disappears shortly afterward and Karen remembers a special delivery letter and:
This sets the stage. In DD #25, Karen and Foggy confront Matt with the letter:
Of course, Foggy points out the obvious: that he roomed with Matt at college and never heard anything about a twin brother. So Matt prevaricates some more and Karen says what does it matter now that Matt's back, but Foggy still wants to meet this mysterious sibling and so:
And for the next year and a half, Mike became a regular character in the DD universe. It's an insane plot twist but Stan manages to pull it off with some credibility because a) he acknowledges that it's crazy and b) Daredevil's abilities mean that he's able to pass Mike off as a sighted person despite being blind.
It's safe to say that most adult readers today find the storyline unbelievable and a low point. However, I remember reading these issues as a young teen and enjoying the heck out of them. Mike was the opposite of Matt in every way; confident where Matt was tentative, arrogant instead of sensitive and relishing letting Foggy and Karen know he was Daredevil. He flirts outrageously with Karen and teases Foggy abut his weight. What teenaged boy wouldn't want to try being a new person, confident and breezy, especially with the understanding that he could always go back to being the meek and mild-mannered guy if things didn't work out?
Again this is not to deny how ridiculous the stories are. Because Matt and Mike couldn't appear together, Matt was forced to rely on a series of increasingly implausible ruses to keep the imposture going:
And he apparently enjoyed being Mike so much that he began to get some decidedly weird ideas:
For a lawyer, Matt doesn't think things through very carefully.
In Daredevil #41, Mike (as Daredevil) is "killed" while destroying a machine that moves people into another time dimension. Is this the end of the superhero as well? Umm, no, as Matt tells the Jester (plus Foggy and Karen) in the next issue:
Blog into Mystery covers one of the early Mike Murdock stories here. There were two oddities that I noticed while reading the stories in this run:
1. The villain from last month's issue is frequently rescued by this month's villain. This happens to the Gladiator (rescued by the Masked Marauder in DD #19), the Leap-Frog (attempted rescue by the Stilt-Man in DD #26) and the Stilt-Man (rescued by the Masked Marauder at the end of DD #26).
2. The villains often attempted to blind (temporarily or otherwise) DD. The Masked Marauder hits him with an "Opti-Ray" blast that had briefly blinded Spiderman. The Gladiator threw sand in Daredevil's face in #23. The alien invaders in #28 use a "sight-stealing ray". The Cobra and Mr Hyde actually succeed in eliminating DD's extra senses with a potion intended to blind him in #30-32. And Dr. Doom's hynoticon in #37 fails precisely because ol' Horn-Head is sightless (just as the Ringmaster's hat was unable to hypnotize him in Amazing Spiderman #16).
The story begins in Daredevil #16. DD's enemy, the Masked Marauder, comes up with a novel idea on how to tie up two superheroes at once. He creates an army of Daredevil knockoffs and instructs them to attack Spiderman, who recently foiled one of his schemes. After the initial attack, they are to fade away, leaving the wall-crawler angry and frustrated.
The plan works to perfection. When Spidey encounters the real Daredevil, he lashes out angrily. While they are battling, the Masked Marauder pulls of a spectacular robbery. This convinces each hero that the other was in cahoots with the MM. By a bit of coincidence, Spiderman happens to be swinging by the law offices of Nelson and Murdock awhile later, and his spider-sense alerts him to the presence of Daredevil. He makes the obvious deduction that DD cannot be a blind man, and thus accuses Foggy:
Matt and Karen eventually convince Peter of the error he's made. In the following issue, DD and Spidey team up to defeat the Masked Marauder. A few issues later, Peter sends a letter to Matt Murdock, revealing that he knows that Matt is really Daredevil, but not to worry, he won't disclose the secret to anyone. Unfortunately, Matt disappears shortly afterward and Karen remembers a special delivery letter and:
This sets the stage. In DD #25, Karen and Foggy confront Matt with the letter:
Of course, Foggy points out the obvious: that he roomed with Matt at college and never heard anything about a twin brother. So Matt prevaricates some more and Karen says what does it matter now that Matt's back, but Foggy still wants to meet this mysterious sibling and so:
And for the next year and a half, Mike became a regular character in the DD universe. It's an insane plot twist but Stan manages to pull it off with some credibility because a) he acknowledges that it's crazy and b) Daredevil's abilities mean that he's able to pass Mike off as a sighted person despite being blind.
It's safe to say that most adult readers today find the storyline unbelievable and a low point. However, I remember reading these issues as a young teen and enjoying the heck out of them. Mike was the opposite of Matt in every way; confident where Matt was tentative, arrogant instead of sensitive and relishing letting Foggy and Karen know he was Daredevil. He flirts outrageously with Karen and teases Foggy abut his weight. What teenaged boy wouldn't want to try being a new person, confident and breezy, especially with the understanding that he could always go back to being the meek and mild-mannered guy if things didn't work out?
Again this is not to deny how ridiculous the stories are. Because Matt and Mike couldn't appear together, Matt was forced to rely on a series of increasingly implausible ruses to keep the imposture going:
And he apparently enjoyed being Mike so much that he began to get some decidedly weird ideas:
For a lawyer, Matt doesn't think things through very carefully.
In Daredevil #41, Mike (as Daredevil) is "killed" while destroying a machine that moves people into another time dimension. Is this the end of the superhero as well? Umm, no, as Matt tells the Jester (plus Foggy and Karen) in the next issue:
Blog into Mystery covers one of the early Mike Murdock stories here. There were two oddities that I noticed while reading the stories in this run:
1. The villain from last month's issue is frequently rescued by this month's villain. This happens to the Gladiator (rescued by the Masked Marauder in DD #19), the Leap-Frog (attempted rescue by the Stilt-Man in DD #26) and the Stilt-Man (rescued by the Masked Marauder at the end of DD #26).
2. The villains often attempted to blind (temporarily or otherwise) DD. The Masked Marauder hits him with an "Opti-Ray" blast that had briefly blinded Spiderman. The Gladiator threw sand in Daredevil's face in #23. The alien invaders in #28 use a "sight-stealing ray". The Cobra and Mr Hyde actually succeed in eliminating DD's extra senses with a potion intended to blind him in #30-32. And Dr. Doom's hynoticon in #37 fails precisely because ol' Horn-Head is sightless (just as the Ringmaster's hat was unable to hypnotize him in Amazing Spiderman #16).
Monday, November 08, 2010
Quick Bits
That wish could be interpreted in more than one way:
How strong is the Hulk?
Strong enough to defy gravity.
How strong is the Hulk?
Strong enough to defy gravity.
Thursday, November 04, 2010
Secret Six #1
As the 1960s drew to a close, DC began to experiment more. Whereas previous titles had almost always required a tryout issue or two in Showcase, Secret Six debuted in their own magazine. The only earlier Silver Age title I can think of given that treatment was Captain Storm.
The first part of the story is tied up with introducing our six characters. King is a Hollywood stuntman, Crimson is a top model, Carlo is an escape artist, August Durant is a physicist, Lili is a cosmetologist and Tiger is a former pro boxer. We learn that a mysterious person called Mockingbird has a hold over them, and wants them to defeat criminals that the law cannot touch.
The hold he has over them is somewhat like blackmail, although in each case it does not appear to be something the Secret Six member did wrong:
With the arguable exception of King. I point this out because while the idea of the "anti-hero" was very popular at the time, DC was not quite ready to present their readers with characters that were more than a teensy bit flawed, although that would soon change.
To add an element of suspense, it is indicated that one of the members of the Secret Six is probably Mockingbird operating incognito. He (or she) uses his control of the group to force them to attack criminals who are outside the reach of the law. Their initial misson:
Crimson seduces and drugs one of the financiers. Lili then makes up Tiger to look like the drugged moneyman. Carlo uses his escaping abilities in reverse to find a way into the evil genius' hideout.
They succeed in rather undramatic fashion; in the end the criminal dies by his own gadget as is cliche in these stories.
Overall the story (by E. Nelson Bridwell) is entertaining but nothing special. The art by Frank Robbins (Correction: Frank Springer, as pointed out in the comments by Dan) shows some promise; if I recall correctly, this is an early work of his for DC. The series is obviously inspired by the very popular Mission Impossible show on TV at the time.
Update: I read through the next several issues in this series and I have to say that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Although the individual stories are not all that strong or unique, I like the way the series develops. As time goes by we learn more about the background of the Secret Six and the people responsible for the problems that Mockingbird exploits to force them to do his bidding--the crooks that wanted Tiger to throw a boxing match, the charmer that conned Crimson out of the family fortune, the torturer who forced King to reveal army secrets, etc.
Update II: Commander Benson's take on the Secret Six series is here. Commander Benson discusses the logic process that led to his deduction of the identity of Mockingbird here. I should mention that in my reading of the series, I noticed that while there were six issues after the first, and that each issue revealed more about the backgrounds of the characters, the only character whom we did not learn more about was the one that Commander Benson identified.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Trivia Quiz #41: Answers
What do they have in common?
1. Stone Boy, the Blob and Metamorpho?
All turned down the opportunity to join one of the superhero teams. Respectively, they passed on the Legion, the X-Men and the Justice League.
2. Batman, Aquaman and Green Arrow?
As usual, my readers came up with one that I hadn't thought of: All were backup features in World's Finest at one point. The intended answer was that all three had caves that they used as their headquarters.
3. Tommy Tomorrow, Congo Bill and the Legion of Super-Heroes?
Ditto with this one. Yes, they were all backups in Action Comics. But they were also bumped to make room for Supergirl. Tommy Tomorrow was bumped with Action #252's introduction of the Lass of Steel, while Congo Bill got the heave-ho in order to expand her feature effective with Action #262. The Legion left Adventure Comics to the Maid of Might in #381.
4. Jimmy Olsen, Robin and Alfred?
They all knew Batman was actually Bruce Wayne. I talked about the big reveal to Jimmy Olsen here.
5. The Joker, the Blue Bowman and the Clock?
All of them had fought Batman originally in different identities. The Joker was the Man in the Red Mask, the Blue Bowman was the Signalman, and the Clock was an ordinary criminal named Kyle.
Jim came, he saw and he conquered all five questions. Michael Rebain got the first four right. Ed got #2 and #3 correct.
1. Stone Boy, the Blob and Metamorpho?
All turned down the opportunity to join one of the superhero teams. Respectively, they passed on the Legion, the X-Men and the Justice League.
2. Batman, Aquaman and Green Arrow?
As usual, my readers came up with one that I hadn't thought of: All were backup features in World's Finest at one point. The intended answer was that all three had caves that they used as their headquarters.
3. Tommy Tomorrow, Congo Bill and the Legion of Super-Heroes?
Ditto with this one. Yes, they were all backups in Action Comics. But they were also bumped to make room for Supergirl. Tommy Tomorrow was bumped with Action #252's introduction of the Lass of Steel, while Congo Bill got the heave-ho in order to expand her feature effective with Action #262. The Legion left Adventure Comics to the Maid of Might in #381.
4. Jimmy Olsen, Robin and Alfred?
They all knew Batman was actually Bruce Wayne. I talked about the big reveal to Jimmy Olsen here.
5. The Joker, the Blue Bowman and the Clock?
All of them had fought Batman originally in different identities. The Joker was the Man in the Red Mask, the Blue Bowman was the Signalman, and the Clock was an ordinary criminal named Kyle.
Jim came, he saw and he conquered all five questions. Michael Rebain got the first four right. Ed got #2 and #3 correct.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Word Count
I did a pair of posts a year or two ago on the number of punches thrown in Batman versus Spiderman, on the basis that Marvel Comics were often perceived as more violent in the Silver Age. What I found surprised me; Batman actually had a slightly higher punch count per page than Spidey.
Another common belief is that Marvel Comics were wordier than DC Comics. Certainly Stan Lee seemed to have been vaccinated with a fountain pen. So I picked an issue of Spiderman at random (ASM #56 as it happens) and actually counted the words. There were 3,288 words on 20 pages, or an average of 164 words per page.
Then I picked the nearest Batman issue chronologically to ASM #56. That turned out to be Batman #197. Ironically, the issues have a common theme: the teaming of the hero with one of his longest-running villains. In Spidey's case, he has amnesia and is conned by Doctor Octopus into helping him steal a critical part for a nullifier that has the power to shut down anything mechanical. In the Batman story, Catwoman joins forces with him in an effort to win his love.
But the word count isn't significantly different in Batman: 3,455 words on 23 pages or about 150 words per page. I noticed a few other things:
1. Word counts went way down during fight scenes. In ASM #56, Spidey and Doc Ock have a battle from pages 14-16; those three pages have the fewest words in the entire comic (with the exception of the splash page). Who needs words when you've got real conflict going on? Ditto with Batman. Here's page 7 of that story:
Excepting the splash page for ASM #56, that page had the fewest words in the two issues.
2. For some reason, Spiderman was wordier in the front end of the comic (1,727 words in the first ten pages) than in the back (1,561 words in the last ten), while Batman had the exact opposite trend with 1,570 words on the first twelve pages and 1,885 words on the last eleven.
3. The most verbose pages had to do with scene transitions. Page 15 of the Batman issue has Batgirl explaining her inability to defeat some crooks (it turns out that the Catwoman had disoriented her), followed by a sequence where Selina Kyle is autographing her new book to adoring crowds. That page had 287 words. Spiderman #56's page 7 starts with Harry and Gwen paying a visit to Aunt May to check on Peter's whereabouts and then cuts to some military men (including JJJ's son) discussing the new threat of Spiderman and Doctor Octopus.
Another common belief is that Marvel Comics were wordier than DC Comics. Certainly Stan Lee seemed to have been vaccinated with a fountain pen. So I picked an issue of Spiderman at random (ASM #56 as it happens) and actually counted the words. There were 3,288 words on 20 pages, or an average of 164 words per page.
Then I picked the nearest Batman issue chronologically to ASM #56. That turned out to be Batman #197. Ironically, the issues have a common theme: the teaming of the hero with one of his longest-running villains. In Spidey's case, he has amnesia and is conned by Doctor Octopus into helping him steal a critical part for a nullifier that has the power to shut down anything mechanical. In the Batman story, Catwoman joins forces with him in an effort to win his love.
But the word count isn't significantly different in Batman: 3,455 words on 23 pages or about 150 words per page. I noticed a few other things:
1. Word counts went way down during fight scenes. In ASM #56, Spidey and Doc Ock have a battle from pages 14-16; those three pages have the fewest words in the entire comic (with the exception of the splash page). Who needs words when you've got real conflict going on? Ditto with Batman. Here's page 7 of that story:
Excepting the splash page for ASM #56, that page had the fewest words in the two issues.
2. For some reason, Spiderman was wordier in the front end of the comic (1,727 words in the first ten pages) than in the back (1,561 words in the last ten), while Batman had the exact opposite trend with 1,570 words on the first twelve pages and 1,885 words on the last eleven.
3. The most verbose pages had to do with scene transitions. Page 15 of the Batman issue has Batgirl explaining her inability to defeat some crooks (it turns out that the Catwoman had disoriented her), followed by a sequence where Selina Kyle is autographing her new book to adoring crowds. That page had 287 words. Spiderman #56's page 7 starts with Harry and Gwen paying a visit to Aunt May to check on Peter's whereabouts and then cuts to some military men (including JJJ's son) discussing the new threat of Spiderman and Doctor Octopus.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Some Random Thoughts
Did you ever notice that the superheroes that Julius Schwartz resurrected in the Silver Age were the All-American heroes? DC actually was two separate companies for awhile in the 1940s: National, which published Batman and Superman (among others), and All-American, which published the Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Atom and Hawkman (among others). It was not until the Spectre returned in 1966 that Julie brought back a National superhero.
I've talked in the past about the reverence that DC showed for scientists in the Silver Age, with Jor-El as the high priest. Barry Allen and Ray Palmer were also known to wear lab coats on the job. But what about Marvel? Reed Richards, Hank Pym, Bruce Banner and Tony Stark all had slide rules strapped to their belts, and Peter Parker originally went to Empire State U on a science scholarship.
I've talked in the past about the reverence that DC showed for scientists in the Silver Age, with Jor-El as the high priest. Barry Allen and Ray Palmer were also known to wear lab coats on the job. But what about Marvel? Reed Richards, Hank Pym, Bruce Banner and Tony Stark all had slide rules strapped to their belts, and Peter Parker originally went to Empire State U on a science scholarship.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Trivia Quiz #41: What Do They Have In Common?
1. Stone Boy, the Blob and Metamorpho?
2. Batman, Aquaman and Green Arrow?
3. Tommy Tomorrow, Congo Bill and the Legion of Super-Heroes?
4. Jimmy Olsen, Robin and Alfred?
5. The Joker, the Blue Bowman and the Clock?
2. Batman, Aquaman and Green Arrow?
3. Tommy Tomorrow, Congo Bill and the Legion of Super-Heroes?
4. Jimmy Olsen, Robin and Alfred?
5. The Joker, the Blue Bowman and the Clock?
Thursday, October 21, 2010
My Romantic Adventures #138
I've said it before and I'll say it again; ACG is the great unknown comic book publisher of the Silver and Golden Age. It's unknown because they (mostly) didn't put out any superhero books. But some fine art, and terrific stories featuring quirky characters put Richard Hughes' mags on the top shelf for me.
This is the final issue of My Romantic Adventures, which lasted a total of fifteen years, from 1949-1964. The opening story is It's Never too Late to Love, and illustrates perfectly why I love the ACG line so much. Meg Foster had grown up plain, unlike her older sister, Dulcy. Dulcy married and moved overseas, where she had a daughter. Meanwhile, Meg started working in a department store as a sales clerk. But she had ideas:
She is soon promoted to head of the department. But when she returns home that evening, she gets bad news. Dulcy and her husband have died in a car crash, and their daughter, Clarice, is coming to live with her. Meg sacrifices herself to make sure that her niece gets everything:
Fortunately the promotions just keep coming for Meg, so she's able to agree when Clarice wants to go to an expensive prep school. But there's still one thing missing in her life, and Meg realizes what it is:
It turns out that Stanley is impressed with Meg's work and her softer side as well, and they begin dating, and become engaged. Clarice comes home for a vacation and Meg realizes that she's developed into a lovely woman. But you can probably see the fly heading towards the ointment here:
Sure enough, Meg comes home from getting fitted for a wedding dress to find:
Clarice insists that she loves Stanley and that they plan to get married, so Meg buries her own dreams and starts to help plan things. But:
And the wedding dress has to be the most expensive and the flowers and the gifts for the bridesmaids, etc. Meg soon realizes that her niece is likely to bankrupt her with the lavish plans. And is she really in love with Stanley, or does she just want him for his money? So she lays a trap:
She plays the recording for her niece, pretending it's coming over the radio. The "news" is that Stanley has been fired from his job over losses in the stock market and is now penniless. Sure enough, Clarice announces haughtily that she's dumping him, until she realizes that the recording was just a trick. But when Meg announces that she's going to fight for Stanley, she claims that he never really loved her and that he thinks of her as an old maid. Just then:
So Meg and Stanley are on again, and Clarice isn't heading back to that exclusive boarding school:
Comments: Wow! What a total beeeyatch Clarice is; Meg should have given her the old heave-ho years ago, although you could argue that she was partly to blame by spoiling her niece as a youngster. Overall a very entertaining story, and the ending is very satisfying due to the terrific characterization of Meg.
The second story is a brief advice bit:
Nothing objectionable in there, and note that it even suggests that the woman stand up for herself; not bad by 1964 standards.
The next story is the cover feature, and it's a weird one. A man and a woman fight over a taxi (a classic plot-starter), but agree to share the ride when the cabbie points out they're both going to Grand Central Station. The cabbie decides to push things forward a bit:
But when he plays some music on the radio, they both reminisce about a romance in their past where they were jilted. Ah, they have something in common! The next stage for the cabbie is to show them that he has a TV they can watch, featuring the story of a man coming home to his wife:
What the heck? That's the end of the story; they never do explain how the couple ended up on the television, or the whole bit with the cab apparently flying around erratically. I can only assume that we're intended to see the cabbie as some sort of magical being who could make anything happen.
The last story is about women who are just begging to be jilted by their boyfriends, taken from the files of a marriage consultant. The first girl is too much of a manager:
The second one is a spendthrift:
The third is a liar, while the fourth continues to flirt with other men after her engagement. The moral of the story?
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