You’re probably
familiar with the episode in question. An old friend of Clark
Kent,one Gary Allen is visiting Metropolis and is making plans to
meet up with the mild-mannered reporter. What no one is aware of is
due to exposure to kryptonite radiation Allen has become invulnerable
to everything except kryptonite which has the same effect on him as
it does on the Man of Steel. There is no real explanation for this.
We just except it. Allen’s vulnerability to the “deadly rock”
of the title leads to a case of mistaken identity and he is kidnapped
by criminals who plan to use the kryptonite to kill him. Lois and
Jimmy blunder into the picture and are also threatened with death. Of
course the real Superman arrives on the scene to save the day.
This is a pretty
mundane episode of the series and only the use of kryptonite and
reference to the 2nd season episode Panic In The Sky make
it stand out. But it could have been so much more. You see the actor
who portrayed Gary Allen in this episode was none other than B-Movie
leading man Robert Lowery. The same Robert Lowery who a few years
earlier had portrayed Batman in a movie serial. What an opportunity
wasted. I’m not suggesting that Lowery should have worn the cape &
cowl in this episode.Though how cool would that have been? I’m only
suggesting that the writers could have made the Gary Allen character
Bruce Wayne from Gotham City and made some reference to his ward Dick
Grayson being unable to make the trip to Metropolis. Shazam...instant
cult classic.
By the way this
episode wasn’t the 1st project Reeves and Lowery worked
on together. During the 2nd World War while in the service
the pair made a sexual hygiene training film.
Fawcett and then
Charlton Comics would publish a series of Nyoka comics based on the
Nyoka character from the serial THE PERILS OF NYOKA(1942) starring Kay
Aldridge as Nyoka Gordon. Frances(no relation to Frank)Gifford had
previously played jungle girl Nyoka Meredith in the serial JUNGLE
GIRL(1941). So I ask again,why no Masked Marvel comic book?
In that alternate
universe I sometimes find myself inhabiting there was a Masked Marvel
feature starring the hero from the Republic serial. Republic itself
instead of just licensing their popular characters to Fawcett or some
other comic book company they would publish the comics themselves
churning out comics starring their own galaxy of western stars. But more
importantly they would have put out a comic titled MASKED DETECTIVE
COMICS featuring the continued adventures of not only the Masked Marvel
but the Copperhead as well.Heaven knows the Copperhead deserved a sequel
after THE MYSTERIOUS DR.SATAN(1940).
There would be a
comic book sequel to the Masked Marvel serial in the world. It came in
1990 from AC Comics. It was featured in CLIFFHANGER COMICS 1A and was
written by Jodi Ensign and illustrated by Mark Heike and John Dell with a
cover utilizing a still from the original serial.
Showcase
No.66 told the origin of B'wana Beast.After graduating from an American
university,Rupert Kenboya the son of the great Kilo of the Zambesi tribe
of Africa is determined to return home and go into government service
to help his people. Kenboya's friend and classmate Mike Maxwell declined
his millionaire father's offer to join the family business to go to
Africa with his friend to become a game warden.When the private plane
Maxwell is piloting is struck by lightning it crashes on Mt.Killmanjaro.
Kenboya drags the injured Maxwell into the cavern home of an oddly
colored gorilla. Kenboya tries to aid his friends recovery by giving him
rainwater that had been filtered through the cavern walls. Attacked by
the gorilla Kenboya attempts to protect Maxwell from the creature and
gets tossed around the cave like a rag doll for his trouble. A recovered
Maxwell,who has mysteriously grown six inches and gained ninety-five
pounds of muscle,subdues the gorilla with the same wrestling hold he
used to win a college championship with.
Acknowledging
the American as his master the gorilla retrieves a stylized helmet from
deep inside the cave and places it on Maxwell's head. Through the
helmet Maxwell can now communicate with the animal and learns his name
is Djuba.He also finds that through the helmet he can communicate with
and control all animals. Maxwell theorizes that the helmet was created
by "some ancient civilization with knowledge and science beyond ours".
The helmet also gives Maxwell the strange ability to combine two animals
of different species into one large mutated creature which exhibits the
greatest strength of both. Kenboya and Maxwell agree that Maxwell's new
abilities should be used for the good of the African continent and
Maxwell creates the costumed identity of B'wana Beast to become Africa's
super-powered trouble-shooter. In his only Silver Age appearances in
Showcase No.66 and 67 he battles villain Hamid Ali and his minions. By
the end of issue 67 he also acquires a Lois Lane-like romantic interest
in the person of Eve Corstairs,a reporter for the All-Africa Press.
The sci-fi
aspects made the story different enough from other jungle heroes to make
B'wana Beast interesting. But the story seemed kind of rushed.And felt
like like they were making it up as they went along.And then there was
Mike Sekowsky's art which is an acquired taste.I've grown to appreciate
his style over the decades. But the ten year old me really wish the story
had been illustrated by Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson.If
nothing else it would have given Infantino the opportunity to draw Djuba
the mutant gorilla. To a lot of comic book readers B'wana Beast is
pretty much a joke.But I kind of like him .Even if he never got the
chance to fight gladiator style in an arena. He had a really cool
costume. And his alliterative name had a ring to it. It fairly sings.
Given a better story and a different artistic team he could have been a
contender.
Funny thing
is as a ten year old I thought the name B'wana Beast and his costume
would have been perfect for a professional wrestler. Years later when
the character's origin was revamped for the Batman:The Brave & The
Bold television series the writers in fact made Mike Maxwell a pro
wrestler before he became the Jungle Master.
As cool as it
was to read a comic book where a super-hero went up against a
prehistoric predator there were some other dinosaur-fighters who were
just as cool.
Turok,Son of Stone was one. The character first appeared in
1954 in FOUR COLOR No.596 from Dell Comics. His second appearance came
in FOUR COLOR No.656 in 1955. Finally the character would receive his
own title in 1956 and the feature would run for several decades. First
published by Dell. Then by Gold Key. Then finally by Whitman.
The feature
told the story of Turok and Andar to Native-Americans trapped in a deep
canyon in the Carlsbad section of New Mexico where they encounter
prehistoric forms of life that had disappeared from all other parts of
the world. Except for maybe Dinosaur Island.
I imagined a Turok movie
starring Jay Silverheels and featuring stop-motion dinosaurs courtesy of
Ray Harryhausen. Heck! I'd have settled for a Turok movie that starred
Michael Ansara and Sal Mineo as Turok and Andar.
Borrowing a
bit from Edgar Rice Burroughs' book THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT writer
Robert Kanigher along with artists Ross Andru and Mike Esposito created
what would become a cult classic among comic book readers.The War That
Time Forgot first appeared in Star Spangled War Stories in 1960 from DC.
It ran for eight years until 1968. The stories featured groups of
American soldiers stranded on an uncharted island in the Pacific during
World War Two that was populated by dinosaurs. This island was sometimes
called Monster Island. But most of the time it was known as Dinosaur
Island. As a boy I made several "shadow boxes" inspired by the covers
of these comics using toy dinosaurs and those bags of green plastic
soldiers that have been a part of every boy's childhood for years. But
most of the time we just created our own Dinosaur Island adventures in
our backyards.
