WHAT'S A PERFECT NUMBER FOR A TEAM OF HEROES? by Dave Goode

Being born a year after the Silver Age of Comic Books began I was just three when the Justice League of America premiered. It was a re-imagining of the Justice Society of America feature from the Golden Age of Comics. And like the Justice Society,  the Justice League was a collection of All-Stars that first appeared in The Brave and The Bold No.28 (March 1960). Written by Gardner Fox it had a cover illustrated by Mike Sekowsky and Murphy Anderson with interior art by Sekowsky. The cover featured Aquaman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman in combat with Starro, a giant starfish. Both Superman and Batman made cameo appearances in this first story. But were not featured on the landmark cover.

I was one of those people that the editorial staff at DC was trying to entice with the all - star team format. Hoping that someone who was a fan of the Flash would buy a copy of the Justice League and find Green Lantern was pretty neat and start buying that hero's title as well. Though at this time in my life as a young comic book reader I couldn't understand why Captain America wasn't a member of this team. It seemed like a natural. If nothing else he and Wonder Woman would look great in scenes together.

 

The JLA had some of the coolest covers going. Some, like the cover for JLA No.1, would become iconic. And most of these covers displayed the "super friends" using teamwork to defeat an enemy. Though it always seemed to me while reading these stories that if any of the villains they fought had turned up in any of these heroes' individual titles they would be handily beaten as well. I also preferred the earlier stories where Superman and Batman only made cameo appearances. And the action was carried by lesser known characters. After Green Arrow joined the team I thought that he and Martian Manhunter would have made a good substitute for the "World's Finest Team". To me four or five was the perfect number for a group of superheroes. But seeing that this was an all-star squad I could see them having a few more.

Below is a cover from the Goode Guy Comic Book universe illustrated by Vance Capley. It features the heroes Dr. Judo, Mr. Incognito, the Phantom Gorilla, and the Judo Twins (Judo Jim & Judo Jenny) with a guest appearance by El Tigre.

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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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SECRET - AGENT MAN by Dave Goode

During the Silver Age of Comic Books there was only one Marvel Comic Book hero that starred in two separate series. Nick Fury was the star of Marvel's " war comic for people who don't read war comics " , SGT.FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS. He also starred in NICK FURY , AGENT OF S.H.I.E.L.D A series that first ran as a feature in STRANGE TALES before graduating to it's own title. I never gave much thought to a Sgt. Fury flick. We already had more than enough John Wayne war movies. But a Nick Fury ,Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D movie made during the height of the spy-craze would have been bosso-keeno.







It was in Strange Tales No.135 (Aug.1965) that ex-World War Two hero Sgt. Fury , now a colonel , was recruited to be the director of a new counter-espionage agency in a life or death struggle against the forces of Hydra. But much like Captain Kirk on the original STAR TREK , Colonel Fury never learned to delegate. He wasn't just S.H.I.EL.D's director. He was the organization's No.1 field agent. But who to cast as the combat veteran turned secret agent? For the longest time I had thought Dean Martin. Dino had portrayed secret agent Matt Helm in a series of campy spy spoofs and may have been good as artist/writer Jim Steranko's version of the character. And it was Martin who played opposite Daliah Lavi in the best of the Matt Helm movies THE SILENCERS (1966).

Lavi was the only real choice to play the part of Valentinia Alegra de la Fontaine (Val to her friends). The stunning Israeli actress/singer had appeared in a number of Euro-Spy movies. And reportedly Val was inspired by the actress. I thought she would have made a great Modesty Blaise as well. But that's another discussion.

 

Someone suggested to me a better choice to play Colonel Fury may have been Robert Lansing. And I had to agree. Lansing would have been perfect as the S.H.I.E.D agent created by Jack Kirby and later drawn by John Severin. And if your a fan-boy of a certain age you remember him as Gary Seven on the STAR TREK episode Assignment:Earth. Watch it again. That was Nick Fury. In either case I wouldn't have put Fury in that skintight bodysuit that Steranko eventually did. Too much like Steranko's Spyman from Harvey Comics. Too campy.

Where Would You Place Him? by Dave Goode

I think most people enjoy Top 10 Lists. It's fun to see where exactly your favorites fall. And they're usually the subject of spirited debates when your favorites don't make a list. Or aren't as high as you think they should be. For instance when it comes to the subject of television theme songs a dozen from the western genre pop into my head before I can think of any other genre. There are the themes to RAWHIDE and BONANZA at the top. And they're followed by themes from HAVE GUN , WILL TRAVEL and Warner Brothers westerns like CHEYENNE , MAVERICK , SUGARFOOT, BRONCO and LAWMAN. And let's not forget the songs Happy Trails and the William Tell Overture. In the end these lists are just the opinion of the people who compile them. If you agree with one cool. If you don't the sun will still come up tomorrow. As for myself there's only one list that bothers me.And largely because it omits Adam West as Bruce Wayne / Batman.

To me Adam West as Batman / Bruce Wayne was the epitome of cool. Sinatra use to say of Dean Martin that an H-Bomb could go off in back of Dino and the coolest member of the Rat Pack would just shrug and ask , " What was that? " . That was Adam West's Batman. Nothing phased him. Think back to the 1966 BATMAN movie starring West.Think of all the scenes with West in a tuxedo. He was Euro-Spy cool. Maybe he wouldn't have been a great James Bond. But I can imagine him as a Bond type. I'm surprised that he never turned up in a Bond movie as C.I.A agent Felix Leiter.

But I'm getting away from my original thought. My apologies. The list that Adam West never seems to appear on no matter who compiles it is for the Top 10 Television Fathers. My own favorites are Hugh Beaumont as Ward Cleaver and Chuck Connors as Lucas McCain. But I think there should be space on a list like that for Bruce Wayne / Batman. As I grew older one of my favorite parts of the old BATMAN television series was when Bruce Wayne and his young ward Dick Grayson played by actor Burt Ward were seen at stately Wayne Manor. Bruce was always giving teen-aged Dick some life lesson. Or he was teaching him some skill , mind expanding experiment or moral lesson before they were summoned by police Commissioner Gordon to solve some crime perpetrated by one of Gotham City's seemingly endless supply of super-criminals.

I'm just hoping that the reason that Batman is omitted from these lists is because Bruce Wayne was Dick Grayson's guardian and not his biological father. Sometimes a foster parent can be a better parent than a biological parent. Or maybe it was because of something we never gave much thought to as comic book reading or television watching kids. We all identified with Robin , the Boy Wonder. We wanted to be him fighting a war against crime alongside Batman. But the truth was Batman was committing a crime with the "reckless   endangerment of a minor"  every time they went into action.

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Casting A Saturday Morning Favorite! by Dave Goode

 

Saturday mornings back in '66 and '67 were very cool if you were a comic book loving kid*. Aside from cartoon shows featuring comic book stand-bys like Superman and the Fantastic Four you also had new characters created just for TV. Birdman,the Galaxy Trio,Mighty Mightor even a Super President. At the top of my list was Space Ghost. A sort of Batman in outer space. But running a close second was The Herculoids. The show was created and designed by Alex Toth for Hanna-Barbera Productions and featured the adventures of Zandor, the Tarzan-like ruler of the jungle planet Amzot (later renamed Quasar) and his allies the Herculoids.

The Herculoids were 5 alien creatures. There was Tundro a rhino/triceratops hybrid that shot "energy rocks" from his horn. Zok was a space dragon who could not only breathe fire but could shoot laser beams from both his eyes and tail. Gloop and Gleep were two protoplasmic shape-changers who were able to absorb and deflect energy rays. And then there was my favorite Igoo,a great stone ape who I couldn't help but imagine being brought to life in a live-action Herculoids movie by Ray Harryhausen. Harryhausen could have taken care of bringing the Herculoids to life.But who to cast as Zandar and his wife and son Tara and Dorno???

Truth be told Zandor and his family always reminded me quite a bit of Tarzan,Jane and Boy from the Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan movies from MGM and RKO. In fact Zandor was originally going to be called Zantor (Which is Tarzan spelled sideways...sort of). So if I'm casting an alien Tarzan in the 1960s my first choice for the role is Ron Ely who portrayed Edgar Rice Burroughs' jungle hero on television.

When I first thought of casting a Herculoids movie the first actress I thought of to portray Zandor's wife was Marissa Mell who became a cult figure appearing in Italian B-Movies in the 60s including DANGER:DIABOLIK.

 

As for Dorno that becomes a bit more difficult. Jay North would have been 16 in 1967. A wee bit too old to play Dorno. So maybe Tommy Norden who played the younger brother on FLIPPER.

 

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editor's note* If you were a kid growing up in the early 1980s, you might recall the Herculoids on Saturday mornings. They were featured, along with Space Ghost, in new adventures on NBC's Space Stars. For many of us "monster kids", this was the gateway into the world of HB superheroes.
 

The Deadliest Man Alive?? by Dave Goode

 

I don't remember where it was that I first saw the famed Count Dante ad. Strangely enough I don't believe it was in a comic book. Possibly a pro wrestling periodical or a men's sweat magazine. I do know that I thought that he was one of the coolest looking characters that I had ever seen in my young life. With his black martial arts gi and stylized hair and beard, to paraphrase Jim Kelly, he looked he came straight out of a comic book. Maybe a space pirate.

Or a mercenary on the

Red Skull's payroll. But I knew

he couldn't be real. Could he?

A couple of years after first seeing the Count Dante

ad for his booklet  " World's Deadliest Fighting Secrets " I found an article on Dante in one of my older brother's Black Belt magazines. It seemed that he was real afterall. And he was one of the original masters of "alternate facts". Born John Keehan in 1939 he boxed and wrestled in high school.After graduating high school he joined the Marine Reserves and later the Army. It was while in the service he began studying the martial arts. With first judo and jiu jitsu.And of course hand-to-hand combat techniques. Later he studied karate under Robert Trias earning his black belt. He would later develop his own system that he would promote as being "street effective". He would also promote full-contact karate tournaments in the early 60s.

In 1967 Keehan legally had his name changed to " Count Juan Raphael Dante " and claimed he was Spanish royalty. He also began promoting his booklet through ads found in magazines and comic books. In his ads he proclaimed himself the "deadliest man alive" and  to have fought in " death matches " in China and Thailand. He reportedly was connected to the Chicago mob and owned several adult book stores, beauty salons, used car lots and of course martial arts schools. He claimed to have taught karate to both Playboy bunnies and Chicago's notorious street-gang the Blackstone Rangers. He also famously challenged Muhammad Ali to a no-holds-barred fight.

 

There are other stories. Some true and of

course some that are utter bull-bleep. It's very hard to find the truth about someone who totally reinvented himself like Count Dante did. Dante died in 1975 of internal hemorrhaging caused by a bleeding ulcer. But his ads have made him a cult figure of sorts. There has been a film in the making for several years now. And I for one would like to see it completed. Count Dante may have been a charlatan and fraud. But he might just as well have been the most interesting man in American martial arts history.

Faux comic cover art by Vance Capley

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The Amazing Amazon...Wotta Woman by Dave Goode

I have to say as a kid back in the Silver Age I never bought a Wonder Woman comic book. I'm not saying I never read one. I did. But only when nothing else was available. But this super-hero loving kid wasn't spending 12 cents on a Wonder Woman comic book. Not when there were alternatives and there were.And I'm quite sure that other "little boys" from that era felt the same. Wonder Woman was a "comic book for girls". And if I wasn't reading a Justice League of America comic book in which Wonder Woman was appearing I had no use for the Amazing Amazon. That is until Lynda Carter came along to play the part on television in 1975.

There had been a Wonder Woman television pilot shot during the Batmania era. But the less said about this the better. And then there was a made-for-television movie starring Cathy Lee Crosby in 1974. This flick seemed to be based on the Wonder Woman comic books that were published from 1968 to 1972 when Wonder Woman was stripped of her powers and fought crime as an Emma Peel type character. The pilot movie for THE NEW ADVENTURES OF WONDER WOMAN was a tongue-in-cheek retelling of Wonder Woman's origin from Sensation Comics No.1 written by William Moulton Marston and illustrated by Harry G.Peter. And truthfully this was one of the most faithful adaptations of a comic book story put on screen. And Lynda Carter was perfectly cast as the Amazon princess fighting evil in the man's world.

Sometimes though I imagine a 1940s big screen Wonder Woman movie starring MGM's MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID Esther Williams.With maybe Van Johnson as her love-interest Steve Trevor. Miss Williams had all the same qualities that made former Miss U.S.A Lynda Carter so perfect in the role. Tall,statuesque and with a sweet sexiness that's hard to define. Plus Miss Williams who had set multiple regional and national swimming records in her late teens was a lot more athletic.

Here's a video by my buddy Vance Capley drawing Wonder Woman in the original costume she wore back in  Sensation Comics No.1 back in 1942.