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.

 

THE ACCELERATED GENTLEMEN by Dave Goode

 

One of the best remembered comics of my youth was The Brave and The Bold No.67 (Sept. 1966). And it wasn't just me. I remember a couple of years after the story was published and I was in junior high when comic book fans got together this comic often came up. Even a lot of non comic book fans remembered this specific teaming of Batman and the Flash written by Bob Haney , penciled by Carmine Infantino and inked by Charles Paris and Murphy Anderson. The cover was penciled by Infantino and inked by Joe Giella.

 

The story concerns a crime wave that's struck Gotham City by a group of super - speedsters in sneakers known as the "Speed Boys" that are running circles around Batman. Since this is an issue of B&B and not Batman or Detective, the caped crusader can't figure out how to stop them so he calls in his Justice League teammate the Flash. But here's the fly in the buttermilk. Years of running at super-speed has taken a toll on his body. And he's literally running himself to death. But hero that he is the Flash goes to Gotham (by train) to help his friend. Long story short the good guys win and the Flash is cured.

 

One thing I've wondered about for years is just how fast were the Speed Boys supposed to be? They are able to outrun the Batmobile. And a rocket propelled Batman. They seem to be on the same level as Silver Age speedsters Quicksilver and Lightning. Neither of who was on the level of the Silver Age Flash. The Flash had to be given a severe handicap to make this story believable. Up until the point Batman finds out what's ailing the scarlet speedster hasn't rounded the entire gang in a matter of seconds.

 

I always thought that what made this story so memorable was the image of the Speed Boys a.k.a the "Accelerated Gentlemen". They wore what appeared to be simple stocking masks with dress suits (tuxedos?) and high top sneakers. Simple. But striking.

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MASTERING TIME IN THE SILVER AGE by Dave Goode

 

Just how many pre-Fantastic Four quartets did DC Comics have? Of course there were the Challengers of the Unknown. And then there were the Sea Devils. And sandwiched between these teams was Rip Master and his team of time - traveling adventurers who made their first appearance in Showcase No.20 (May 1959). Hunter and his quartet would have the same team dynamic of the later Sea Devils and Fantastic Four. The stalwart leader, his best friend, female love interest and the love interest's kid brother. Rip Hunter, Time Master would appear in Showcase 21, 25, and 26 before graduating to his own comic book series that ran for 29 issues from 1961 to 1965. The series was cool comic book psychotronica. But I sort of lost interest after the heroes started wearing costumes/uniforms with the sixteenth issue. Obviously the editorial staff at DC thought the time travelers needed costumes to boost sales in the superhero crazy 60s. But I thought it took something away from the feature. I also thought the first story, Prisoners of 100 Million B.C, would have made a good B-Movie. And that story came pre-costumes. When Rip dressed like Doc Savage.

The characterizations of the heroes are razor-thin. They all could have come out of central casting.

I see Rip played by Troy Donahue whose blandness would not have worked against him in this case.

Mark Goddard could have been his best friend Jeff Smith.

Annette Funicello would have been Rip's girl friend Bonnie Baxter.

And for Bonnie's younger brother Corky Baxter I'd cast Billy Mumy. Hmmm. That's two actors from the cat of 60s sci-fi series Lost In Space.










As far as the story itself the quartet used their "time spheres" go back to the Mesozoic Age. A perfect time setting for a comic book about time travel. Nothing was cooler to Silver Age kids than stories featuring dinosaurs Well except for stories featuring intelligent gorillas or robots.

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Sinew & Sandal Comics by Dave Goode

I'm a huge fan of " sinew & sandal " flicks. Or if you prefer "sword and sandal " movies. It's just that in my favorites from the genre the heroes rarely use swords. Just their muscles. Or like Steve Reeves in HERCULES (1957) the very chains the villain thought to bind him with. I'm talking about the movies starring the strength heroes Hercules, Maciste, Ursus, Samson and Goliath.

It was during the muscleman movie cycle (1957-1967) that the urban myth that George Reeves and Steve Reeves were brothers sprung up. After all George played Superman and Steve played Hercules. It seemed believable to anyone incapable of searching for facts. In any case during this period Superman met both Hercules and Samson on several occasions in DC Comics. Over at Marvel Comics Hercules became a supporting character in the Thor and Avengers features.

Charlton Comics published a Hercules comic book beginning in 1967 by Joe Gill and Sam Glanzman. The comic ran for 13 issues and focused on the hero's legendary twelve labors.

Dell Comics had previously published adaptations of the Steve Reeves' movies HERCULES and HERCULES UNCHAINED illustrated respectively by comic book legends John Buscema and Reed Crandall. For the latter they used the poster art from the movie for the comic's cover. One of the coolest things about the sinew & sandal genre was the poster art for the movies. They could have easily been used as covers for comic book adaptations of the movies.

Faux cover idea by Dave Goode art by Vance Capley

One of those things that I don't understand, and there are many, is why no American publisher looked at how popular these flicks were and thought to put out a Maciste comic book. Nope. Nothing. More's the pity.*

*Maciste has appeared in various Italian comic books for many years but sadly never in the U.S. He appeared in a Turkish comic adaptation of of the film Cabiria (1914).

A version of Maciste more accurate to the 1914 film from Albi of Audacia no. 28, 1938

 

The Bartolomeo Pagano silent Maciste films established the character as someone who could appear at any place and at any time. A series of comics in the 1940s presented a version much like these films.

   During the mid 60s, the grandson of Maciste, Kolosso who is "Kolosso nipote di Maciste più forte di Ercole" ( grandson of Maciste stronger than Hercules - most U.S. websites mistranslates it to "nephew to Maciste and nephew to Hercules"), and like the silent era films, Kolosso's stories could take place anytime and pretty much anywhere.

The Cave of Slaves with Maciste from  Albi of Audacia no. 38 1938

THE MAN OF ACTION by Dave Goode

There was a wonderful bit of dialog between Uma Thurman and John Travolta in PULP FICTION that was unfortunately cut from the final film. It was about being an Elvis or Beatles fan. You can actually like both. But in the end you are going to like one more than the other. The same can be said about G.I.Joe and Captain Action as well. I'm sure there were many G.I.Joe guys who thought Captain Action was pretty neat. I say this in full confidence because I was one of them.

Captain Action was an "action figure" introduced in 1966 as the Ideal Toy Company's answer to Hasbro's popular G.I. Joe. Strangely enough both were created and designed by Stan Weston. Originally the good captain was to be called  "Captain Magic" a hero who I suppose could magically transform into other heroes.For whatever reason I'm glad they decided to go with the name Captain Action. Captain Action came with a pretty neat black & blue costume,skipper's hat,ray-gun and extremely cool lightning bolt sword. Separate Aquaman ,Batman , Captain America , Flash Gordon , Lone Ranger , the Phantom , Steve Canyon ,Sgt. Fury and Superman costumes and accessories were available. In 1967 Buck Rogers , the Green Hornet , Spider-Man and Tonto were added to the line-up. And Captain Action was given a teen sidekick Action Boy who could be changed into Aqualad , Robin the Boy Wonder and Superboy. There was even a blue-skinned , bug-eyed alien scientist known as Dr.Evil that served as Captain Action's arch-enemy. The Captain Action figure was as much a part of the Silver Age of Comics as re-runs of The Adventures of Superman or the Batman television series starring Adam West. At least in my opinion.So it was appropriate that Captain Action received his own comic book series. If only for a brief run.

      

Captain Action No.1 (Nov.1968) published by DC Comics dropped the multi-hero idea from the toy-line largely because DC didn't own the rights to such heroes as Captain America or the Phantom. So an entire new origin was created for the comic book Captain Action written by the teenaged Jim Shooter , illustrated by the great Wally Wood and with a cover credited to Carmine Infantino and Irv Novick. On an archaeological dig Clive Arno and his associate Krellik discover a lost city that was once home to alien visitors who were the "gods" of mythology. These space-gods called the  "Elders of Arsu" left their powers in coins before they departed from Earth. Arno decides to the use the powers granted by the coins to fight evil. Krellik decides to use the power granted to him for evil. Arno's son would join his father as Action Boy to thwart Krellik's plans. Shooter would also write the second issue. But Gil Kane would replace Wood as the penciller on the feature. Though Wood would ink Kane's pencils in issue two. Thereafter Kane was credited as both writer and illustrator of the feature. Though Wood would return to ink Kane's pencils again in Captain Action No.5. In issues 2 ,3 and 4 from the series Captain Action and Action Boy would face off against their arch-foe from the toy-line Dr.Evil.

In a twist Dr.Evil was Arno's father-in-law who was turned into the bug-eyed evil scientist by a lab experiment gone wrong. Just how many times has this happened in a comic book? In the 5th and final issue Captain Action and Action Boy went up against a demagogue. Not an "evil" that comic book heroes were usually seen struggling against.

 

 

 

 

There was another Captain Action comic that was published in the Silver Age. It was produced by Ideal and came with the Captain Action figure and was illustrated by comic book artist Chic Stone. It told the story of a young boy who receives the Captain Action and Action Boy figures and their accessories for his birthday. He then dreams of an alien invasion of Earth that is halted by the two heroes using their ability to turn into other heroes. Of course even though I enjoyed the story I couldn't help but wonder why they couldn't stop the invasion by simply turning into Superman and Superboy.

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FOUR MEN LIVING ON BORROWED TIME! The Greatest Comic Book Movie Never Made!! by Dave Goode

If you're a comic book enthusiast I'm not telling you anything new when I say the Silver Age's original "fantastic four" came from DC and not Marvel. Though both were co-created by Jack Kirby. Appearing in Showcase No.6 cover date Feb.1957 (Holy Spit! The Challs are 60 next month!) the Challengers of the Unknown were the first great super-team of the Silver Age. Though not possessing "powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal man" the original team would hold their own against foes that might give the Justice League of America a moment's pause.

There was Ace Morgan,test pilot and Korean war ace. It would be revealed in the 60s that former military man Ace was the leader of the Challengers. Prof. Haley was an expert skin-diver and overall scientific genius. Rocky Davis was the former Olympic wrestling champion and strongman of the team. In later years Rocky in a world not populated by strange visitors from another planet Rocky might have been considered the world's strongest man. And finally there was Red Ryan, a circus daredevil and mountain climbing expert.

I always thought that a Challengers movie in the 50s or early 60s when the heroes were still wearing purple jumpsuits would have been perfect from the era that gave fan-boys movies like The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Mole People and Worlds Without End. I would have cast Richard Denning as Ace. But a friend on FB suggested Dean Fredrericks who played Steve Canyon on TV as the fighter pilot. John Agar is my pick for Prof.Haley. Gordon Scott would be Rocky. And Edd "Kookie" Byrnes would be Red Ryan.

The storyline for this movie would follow the origin from Showcase No.6. But it would have the team going to one of those "land that time forgot" islands that always turn up in pulp fiction and B-movies to rescue some millionaire's daughter. There they would face a couple of stop-motion Ray Harryhausen dinosaurs. And Rocky would get to fight the champion of a lost city in the arena. The island would sink into the ocean after a long dormant volcano erupts and our heroes would escape in their plane.

  Whatever Happened To The Female Challengers?

On the first page of Showcase No.6 there was a mention of four female adventurers who were appearing on a radio show. As far as I know these ladies were never to be seen again. I imagine they were to be counterpart to the Challs. My guess one would be an Olympic swimming champ and archeologist. Another a circus acrobat. Ace's counterpart would be a stunt pilot modeled after "Pancho" Barnes. And Rocky's counterpart would be based on "Rusty" Kanokogi. Kanokogi was a woman judoka. She first began studying the martial art in 1955. And in 1959 cutting her hair and taping her breasts down to disguise herself as a man she won a medal at a YMCA judo competition. Below is what a female Challengers comic might have looked like as illustrated by artist Vance Capley:

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