Can't Always Tell A Book By It's Cover! by Dave Goode

 

You often hear about how DC comic book stories back in the Silver Age were built around the images on the cover. I don't know how often this was done. You would think it would be easier to take a strong image from a story and use it on the cover. But the editors at DC decided it was a comic's cover that sold the book. And that made it the most important part of the comic. And in truth the cover was the selling point. It was the cover that induced the reader to part with their ten or twelve cents. So the editors , writers and artists came up with a striking cover and then wrote a story to go with it. Sometimes the story had very little to do with the cover. That quite wasn't the case with Superman No. 174 (January 1965). Though it could have used the disclaimer that read, "No Scene Like This To Be Found Inside!".

The great Curt Swan/George Klein cover is followed by an equally great splash page by the same artistic tag team. And of course I had wished the whole story was illustrated by them. But Al Plastino does a more than competent job on the story written by Edmond Hamilton. Some might consider that after Swan, Plastino was the definitive Silver Age Superman artist. The story has Adam Newman, a previously unknown character, visiting Clark Kent at the Daily Planet. He reveals to the mild mannered reporter that he and not Kent is Superman. The rest of the story revolves around Kent trying to prove that he's the Man of Steel. And failing miserably.

You know that Clark Kent is Superman. But gosh darn it until those last pages you really start to believe he's suffering from an incredible delusion. And then Hamilton reveals how the hero has been tricked. Sorry no spoilers.Just let me say it's an interesting story. One that doesn't rely on Superman being super. And you even get a cameo by Batman. As a Silver Age kid I for one miss the days When Superman and Batman were best friends. And shared their every secret.

 

KENT TO THE RESCUE by Dave Goode

 

One of the cool things about growing up in the Silver Age was that you not only had Superman comic books. But you had reruns of The Adventures of Superman starring the great George Reeves. One  of my favorite episodes was JUNGLE DEVIL from the second season. The episode written by Peter Dixon and directed by Thomas Carr featured your standard B - Jungle Movie plot with intrepid heroes in search of a lost scientific expedition in a hostile jungle. In this case it was Daily Planet reporters Clark Kent ( George Reeves ) , Lois Lane ( Noel Neill ) and Jimmy Olsen ( Jack Larson ). And it's one of those episodes that shows just how cool George Reeves as Clark Kent was. Sure Superman gets to fight the " jungle devil " of the title. A runaway gorilla played by veteran ape - suit actor Steve Calvert. But Kent also gets all the best lines and scenes. 

It was also in this episode that Superman performs a super stunt that has became a major part of the Superman mythos since Action Comics No.115 ( Dec. 1947 ) where the Man of Steel squeezes a piece of coal into a diamond. I can say without hesitation that this is the first place that I saw this trick performed. Also in the cast of this episode are Damain O'Flynn as Dr. Ralph Harper and Doris Singleton as his wife Gloria. If you are a fan of 50s television than you'll recognize Doris Singleton as Caroline Appleby , the Ricardo's neighbor on I Love Lucy. Specifically from the episode where George Reeves appears as Superman.

 

During my 20s and 30s I had this recurring dream of riding the subway to a comic book shop in Brooklyn where they sold rare old comics that you could only dream of. One of those comics that I remembered most vividly was a Sheena Of The Jungle comic that featured photo covers of Irish Mc Calla in a leopard bikini. Sort of like the Dell Comics Tarzan comics with photo covers of Lex Barker and Gordon Scott. The other was an Adventures of Superman comic that was based on the Superman from the television series. With the characters drawn to resemble the actors who portrayed them on the series. Plus you got stories featuring alien invasions and monsters created by mad scientists. Indeed the stuff that dreams are made of.

 

 

From the fertile imagination of super-creator Dave Goode and the super-pen of Vance Capley comes this retro comic cover...

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JIMMY OLSEN, JUDO EXPERT by Dave Goode

JIMMY OLSEN, JUDO EXPERT by Dave Goode

Thanks largely through Jack Larson's performance as Jimmy Olsen on The Adventures of Superman television series the powers to be at DC Comics decided the character was popular enough to receive his own comic book title. So Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen No. 1 would premiere in 1954 cover dated September/October. The title was originally a bimonthly. But would become a monthly feature. And would run for 163 issues until March 1974.

One of the best remembered episodes from the Superman television series was from the second series and titled Semi-Private Eye. A spoof of hard boiled detective fiction it featured the immortal Elisha Cook Jr. as private detective Homer Garrity. After Garrity and Lois Lane (Noel Neill) are kidnapped by gangsters Jimmy dons a fedora and trench coat to do a hilarious Bogart ala' Chandler impersonation as he bumbles his way through the episode. The climax has Garrity and Olsen using judo to overcome the two kidnappers while Superman carries Miss Lane to safety.

During the Silver Age of Comics Jimmy Olsen was depicted as being a judo
expert. He used the martial arts from time to time in both his own comic book and World's Finest. One of my favorite examples of Judo Jimmy in action was in a story titled The Dragon Delinquent in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen No. 91 cover dated March 1966. The story written by Leo Dorfman and drawn by Pete Costanza  freely "borrows" from the cult film High School Confidential (1958). The story also, aside from Superman, features DC's resident judo experts Batman & Robin.

Of course by the Bronze Age Jimmy had added karate and other martial arts styles to his bag of tricks. The thing I've wondered about for years was what rank Jimmy held in judo. Was it ever mentioned. The reason that I wonder about it is that in the Silver Age Bat-Girl was introduced as a "brown belt" in judo. And Batman himself says in issue of the Justice League as being able to qualify as a "black belt". Not that he was a black belt. Only that he could qualify as one. At the start of the Bronze Age Robin , the Boy Wonder was described as being a "brown belt in karate ". Wouldn't it have been amusing if Superman's pal was ranked higher than any of them.

THE STRONGEST MAN IN THE WORLD? REALLY? by Dave Goode

  THE STRONGEST MAN IN THE WORLD? REALLY? by Dave Goode

My 2nd favorite giant ape movie , after the original King Kong of course, is MIGHTY JOE YOUNG (1948). A fun flick to be sure. But my favorite scene is when the giant gorilla, as part of a nightclub act, has a tug-of-war with ten professional strongmen/wrestlers. The strongmen, all dressed in leopard skins and Roman sandals,  perform feats of strength before they compete with the gorilla, who appears to be twice the size of an average gorilla. But there is no mention of Joe's abnormal size. Still a normal 5' 8", 450 lb. gorilla is about as strong as 12 men.

  In order the strongmen were Sammy Stein who breaks a chain. "Killer" Karl Davis bends a crowbar. Rasputin, the Mad Russian breaks a pair of manacles. "Bomber" Kulky lifts a heavy barbell with one hand. Sam Menacker tears a telephone book in half. Mac Batchelor bends a railroad spike. "Wee" Willie Davis bends a steel rod. Man Mountain Dean bends a horseshoe. The Swedish Angel breaks a 4x4 over his head. And the former heavyweight boxing champion of the world Primo Carnera snaps metal bands on his arms by flexing his biceps. Sadly no one breaks a chain through chest expansion.

All of these feats of strength had been performed in carnivals and circuses by professional strongmen who billed themselves as the "Strongest Man In The World". When Sam Menacker tears the phone book in half it reminds me of an episode of  The Adventures of Superman. In The Girl Who Hired Superman (Season 4 Episode 7) Superman is performing at a dinner party for charity. At one point he tears a phone book in half. One of the guests is unimpressed remarking that he has seen other strongmen perform the same trick. Superman then takes the two halves , puts them together and tears them in half. The guest then says he has never seen anyone do this before because it's impossible. Another guest tells him the Man of Steel just did it. But he says he doesn't care. It's still impossible. Which brings up something I've pondered for years. How do professional strongmen in a comic book universe bill themselves as the Strongest Man In The World? Especially when the world they live in might have someone who can literally "change the course of mighty rivers" among the populace. Or even someone who just has the proportionate strength of a spider?

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Yet Another Lost Opportunity by Dave Goode

Yet Another Lost Opportunity by Dave Goode

For my money the best Superman feature film made was the first. SUPERMAN AND THE MOLE MEN was released on November 23, 1951 and starred George Reeves as the caped crusader from Krypton and Phyllis Coates as Lois Lane. This flick led to production of THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN television series. A series that holds a special place in the hearts of many a Silver Age fan boy. With the success of the television series there was some talk of a sequel to SUPERMAN AND THE MOLE MAN. But it wasn't to be. Instead after the second season of the series, in which Noel Neill replaced Phyllis Coates as reporter Lois Lane there were several compilation movies made from episodes of the series with new bridging segments. Of course Noel Neill was the first live action Lois Lane appearing in Columbia's two Superman serials SUPERMAN (1948) and ATOM MAN VS. SUPERMAN (1950). Both serials starred Kirk Alyn as the Man of Steel and his alter ego mild mannered reporter Clark Kent.

The cool thing about ATOM MAN VS. SUPERMAN is that it featured Superman's arch enemy from the comic books, Lex Luthor portrayed by character actor Lyle Talbot. Sadly Talbot never got a chance to reprise the role on the television series. More's the pity. But the truth is the television show's half hour format was too limiting for a villain of Luthor's magnitude. And I'm sure no one wanted to see Luthor just appearing as someone working for a crime boss. But what if that sequel to SUPERMAN AND THE MOLE MEN had been made. Might not criminal scientist Lex Luthor have been Superman's antagonist in such a movie? Just last week I had a dream in which I was watching such a flick with Luthor performing experiments on gorillas. Increasing their strength a hundred fold and outfitting them with mind control helmets to do his bidding. Insert your own story line to fit your tastes.

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A SILVER AGE SUPERMAN FAVORITE by Dave Goode

A SILVER AGE SUPERMAN FAVORITE Dave Goode

Born in 1957 I came to comic books by way of reruns of The Adventures of Superman starring George Reeves as the Man of Steel. One of my favorite stories from the Silver Age of DC was The Tyrant Superman from Superman No.172 (Oct. 1964). This was a 3- art story written by Edmond Hamilton and illustrated by one of my favorite tag-teams, Curt Swan (pencils) and George Klein (inks). The chapters in this story were The New Superman, Clark Kent- Former Superman, and The Struggle of The Two Supermen.

This story is one of the S.W.O.P (Superman Without Powers) tales from the era.
The story begins with a deadly green comet threatening the Earth ,which sort of reminds you of The Adventures of Superman episode Panic In The Sky. Realizing that the comet might kill him he tests two men from the Bottle City of Kandor to see who would make the best replacement as the new Superman. A blond Kandorian named Ar-Val wins the competition. The comet doesn't kill Kal-El. But it does take away his "powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal man".

Soon after taking over his role as the new Superman Ar-Val proves to be an egotistical glory hound. He refuses to go after the Braniac-Luthor team who have kidnapped both Lois Lane and Lana Lang. He begins building monuments to himself and the narcissist even demands a law be passed that no one else can wear a Superman costume or use the name "Superman". Clark Kent is temporarily given the powers of three members of the Legion of Super-Heroes (Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Invisible Kid) and Elastic Lad to become the "Former Superman".

The Former Superman's new super-powers are no match for Braniac and Luthor and he's captured. Ar-Val finally gets around to acting like a hero (only after being blackmailed by Jimmy Olsen). The Former Superman sacrifices himself to save Ar-Val. In gratitude Ar-Val transfers his powers to Kal-El, but is transformed into living stone in the process. The story ends with Kal-El resuming his role as Superman and vowing to someday restore Ar-Val to life.

What always made this story stand out to me was all the Silver Age tropes that were included in this story. There was a flashback to Krypton where we see young Kal-El and his parents Jor-El and Lara. There's the Bottle City of Kandor. There is mention of the Justice League of America and Superman borrowing Green Lantern's power ring. There is the Braniac-Luthor team and both Lois Lane and Lana Lang. There is the Legion of Super-Heroes. All in one comic book. You know if this story was done today it would end up being told in a six issue mini-series.

Dave Goode and Vance Capley discuss their favorite episodes of the classic Adventures of Superman TV show:

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How Do You Not Get The Flash? by Dave Goode

HOW DO YOU NOT GET THE FLASH?!

by Dave Goode

 

Some time back some fan-boy friends of mine and I were talking about the Silver Age of Comics and the consensus that it began with DC Comics' Showcase No.4 (Oct.1956) and the introduction of the 2nd Flash in a story written by Robert Kanigher, illustrated by Carmine Infantino (pencils) and Joe Kubert (inks) and edited by Julius Schwartz. An actor friend of mine was with us and couldn't understand why the Silver Age would begin with the Flash. We gave him the short version. And he seemed to grudgingly accept it. Grudgingly. Another time my friends and I were making  how lame is Aquaman? jokes. And my actor friend interjected "you know the Flash is pretty lame too". My fellow fan-boys turned and looked at my friend like he had two heads. He had this insane idea that all the Flash could do was run fast. As if all he knew the character from was the Super Friends cartoons (more likely THE SUPERMAN/AQUAMAN HOUR OF ADVENTURE (1967) which featured Flash cartoons-editor)

About a week later I lent him a copy of Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane No.74 (May 1967). If you're a Silver Age DC Comics fan you know why. And my friend got a better understanding of what the Flash could do. I still can't understand why he never got the Flash to begin with. He epitomized a childhood fantasy. When you were a kid you imagined being the strongest kid on the block or the fastest.

And speaking of being the fastest kid on the block. Do you remember the Silver Age Quicksilver from Marvel Comics and how he compared to the Flash? That's right. He didn't. He still doesn't. Marvel maniacs like to say how Quicksilver can run at Mach 10. Guess what? That makes him about 165 times slower than the Flash. In the Silver Age Quicksilver was often described as moving as fast as an "express train". The Silver Age Flash once ran around the Earth 8 times in the space of a second. As Muhammad Ali would say "no contest". Look at how the young Muhammad Ali defeated his  opponents with hand and foot speed. Now imagine if he was 165 times faster than that.

Back in the Silver Age fan-boys quite often cast teen heartthrob Tab Hunter as the "Fastest Man Alive" in an imaginary Flash or Justice League movie. As for his girl friend Iris West I thought either Natalie Wood or Jill St.John. With possibly Tim Considine as Wally "Kid Flash" West.

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MONSTER MAGAZINE NO.2 Creature Creature Feature

Gee Mr. Weisinger... Could Superman Beat A Wrestler? by Dave Goode

When I first started watching professional wrestling in the early 1960s my favorite grappler was Antonino Rocca. A great athlete and sensational showman Rocca was one of the top box-office draws of the day. And his matches were frequently broadcast on television. But as popular as he was I never expected to see him on the cover of a Superman comic book. But there he was on the cover of Superman No.155 (August 1962) tossing the Man of Steel out of the squared circle to the shock of Lois Lane , Jimmy Olsen and an arena full of wrestling fans.

 The Downfall of Superman was a seven and a half page story written by Superman's co-creator Jerry Siegel and illustrated by the tag-team of Curt Swan (pencils) and George Klein (inks). The story begins with pro wrestling star Antonino Rocca giving a press conference before an exhibition bout that evening with Superman. He demonstrates a few wrestling holds on the Man of Steel's alter-ego Clark Kent.Kent feigns an injury so he has a reason not to be in attendance at the match when Superman wrestles Rocca.

My favorite part of the story has Rocca equipped with an aqualung pinning an octopus to the bottom of a huge water-filled tank. After that exhibition Superman flies into the ring at the Metropolis Arena for his bout with the wrestler. No one in attendance believes Rocca will last more than a second against Superman. And you have to wonder why anyone  would think this match would be competitive. So everyone is shocked when Rocca tosses Superman from the ring.

It turns out that Mr. Mxytpilk has used his magic to make Rocca stronger than Superman to annoy his old adversary. And to further prove his point the 5th dimensional imp materializes both Hercules and Samson from the past to face Rocca who pins both the famous strongmen at the same time with his pinkies. But since this is a Silver Age Superman story everything isn't quite what it appears to be.

 

Of course the coolest thing about it all was having Superman face off against the popular wrestling star. The story goes that Superman editor Mort Weisinger often asked the neighborhood kids what kind of stories they would like to read. This seems like one of those stories. " Gee Mr. Weisinger. Who would win in a fight? Superman or a wrestling champion?

My buddy Vance Capley and I paid homage to this comic several years ago when we had our masked wrestling hero Mr.Incognito take on Superiorman.

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