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...

Do remember when our hero met Lucy? We do! Artist Vance Capley goes wild on this design now available at https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/2450490-my-hero-2018?store_id=140005

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:

https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/2450490-my-hero-2018?store_id=140005

And Who Disguised As Clark Kent.... by Dave Goode

Born at the tail-end of the "baby boom" I grew up on reruns of The Adventures of Superman.As such there really isn't any other Superman to me other than George (no relation to Steve) Reeves. Long before the Ilya Salkind produced movies Reeves made us all believe that "a man could fly". And more importantly he taught us to believe in "truth , justice and the American way". But as great as he was as Superman, Reeves may have been even cooler as Clark Kent. 

 

As a kid you watch a show titled The Adventures of Superman to see the titled hero fly, smash through walls, have bullets bounce off him and punch out bad guys. It was as I grew older I began to appreciate Reeves performance as Kent. It was Kent who carried the show. He did the leg work. And he was private eye cool doing it.No one looked quite as casual cool as Reeves acting with his hands in his pockets. Watching Reeves as the investigative reporter you could easily imagine him starring in a series of detective movies for Monogram.

The Clark Kent as written for Reeves was respected by the police , who in the form of Metropolis police inspector William Henderson , often sought out his advice. His employer Perry White , editor of the Daily Planet completely trusted and respected him as well. Someone else who respected Kent were the members of the underworld who feared that he would figure out and expose their nefarious schemes. The only person that didn't seem to respect Kent was fellow Daily Planet reporter portrayed by Phyllis Coates in the shows 1st season. In subsequent seasons when the character was played by Noel Neill she respected Kent as much as everyone else. Though they were rivals.

George Reeves was far from the Clark Kent created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster for the comics. But you have to remember they created him at a time when comic books still had a comic quality. Many adventure features had comic relief sidekicks. The Superman comic books had Superman as his own comic relief in the form of Clark Kent. Kirk Alyn and Christopher Reeve portrayed Kent in that manner. But as for myself and the millions who grew up with George Reeves we prefer our Clark Kent mild-mannered not wimpy.

Judo Johnny Weissmuller by Dave Goode

I've mentioned in the past that though I first knew Johnny Weissmuller as Jungle Jim he would become my favorite movie Tarzan.And I actually prefer him as Jungle Jim.I suppose that's because as Jungle Jim,Weissmuller was using judo/jiu jitsu techniques in fight scenes.In his post Tarzan movies you could see him using various armlocks and wristlocks as well as the ippon seoi nage, tomoe-nage and osoto-gari.

 

In the Jungle Jim flick SAVAGE MUTINY there is a scene in which Weissmuller teaches members of the jungle patrol some judo self-defense techniques.Re-watching that recently got me to thinking.Did Weissmuller ever take any lessons himself?

Of course the Olympic swimming champ swam to keep in shape.If not Tarzan shape.After all during the filming of the Jungle Jim series

Weissmuller was still appearing

in a number of aquacades and water shows. 

But playing an action/adventure

movie hero it just made sense to

me that he might have taken some

judo or jiu jitsu classes.Though

that may not have been the case.

Like George Reeves had practiced judo with Gene LeBell during the run of The Adventures of Superman television series perhaps Weissmuller had taken some classes with John Halloran.You might remember Halloran as the evil Captain Oshima in the James Cagney movie Blood On The Sun.Halloran was a former LAPD officer and judo instructor who was Cagney's instructor for this movie. And served as the movies technical advisor for the judo scenes. In any case it would be interesting to find out if Weissmuller had any formal instruction.

Order your copy of Dave Goode's Judo Comics: