posted June 06, 2002 03:19 PM    

The cover to this one starts things off weird. With a full moon hanging in the night sky, Superman flies into the open window of his apartment at 344 Clinton Street, thinking "Time for me to resume my secret identity as CLARK KENT!"Simultaneously, just two flights up, what looks like a giant purple toad with a tail is streaking OUT an open window, thinking "Another night for me to go out on the PROWL!" A plump doorman resembling (to me, at least) Alfred Hitchcock stands below, oblivious to it all, while a caption breathlessly asks ""Which one of SUPERMAN'S NEIGHBORS leads a secret life as a MONSTER?". Ah, for the days of covers like these, which basically summed up the entire "hook" of the story within, yet gave no spoilers away....

(Surprisingly, the monster in question is NOT the mysteriously unseen "Mister Xavier" from earlier stories... even though it later turned out THAT mysterious neighbor was ALSO an alien menace!)

******

We begin with Superman standing on a late-night Metropolis street, just as the sidewalk cracks and "the FOURTH small quake to hit METROPOLIS in the past two weeks" subsides beneath his feet. Since Metroplis is in a geologically stable area (is that consistently the case?) the tremors can't be natural, and "FOUR tremors spell SUBTERRANEAN SABOTAGE!" Even stranger, there have been sightings reported of a strange flying creature those same nights. Superman is sure that this creature, which he calls "The Quakerer", must be causing the rumbles. At that moment, the Man of Steel spots a shadowy, inhuman figure streak past the full moon and takes off in aerial pursuit. As they zoom through the sky, the Quakerer suddenly flies into a thick cloud of pollution belching forth from a factory smokestack... and stays inside it.

Just as Superman realizes he'll have to "smoke out" the creature, it flees... and the smoke cloud suddenly forms itself into a giant smoggy hand that seizes Superman in a solid grip somehow able to neutralize his super-strength! Thinking fast, he dives DOWN the smokestack, causing the "hand" to funnel itself downward after him. At super-speed, he bursts from the factory's furnace, flies back outside, and twists the entire smokestack into a giant metal pratzel, trapping the animated smoke within. (Then he just flies off! Even if he could bend the smokestack like that without shattering it, wouldn't the build-up cause a massive explosion?!? Oh, well...)

Anyway, Superman's telescopic vision catches up with the fleeing Quakerer, and he's shocked to see it turn intangible and fly right through the wall of a building... the SAME apartment building where HE lives as Clark kent! So shocked that he fails to track it to a specific room with his X-ray vision. When the creature doesn't leave, he returns to his own apartment, wondering if his enemy might even have a secret identity of its own, disguised as one of his fellow tenants. All of them LOOK normal now, but he knows full well that the Quakerer may be able to duplicate a human body perfectly enough to fool even his super-senses. So he changes into his Clark Kent clothing, and broods quietly in a chair through several frustrating late-night hours. "My nightmarish foe is no more than a few elevator stops away... but it might as well be a MILLION MILES!" Suddenly, a voice from his television set calls out for Clark Kent, declaring that "We know you are SUPERMAN... and we need your HELP!" Naturally, Clark is agape.

(By the way, I really love something about this sequence... the way that Curt Swan's artwork really excels drawing Clark at home. Although he is alone in his apartment, and not wearing his glasses, everything about his body language and facial expressions suggests CLARK KENT, not Superman... or, at least, something BETWEEN the usual mannerisms of the two. You kind of have to see it on the page to get what I mean, but trust me, it's THERE. If only all artists caught this subtle difference.)

Confused, Clark watches as ablurry image forms on his TV screen, and a droning voice announces "WE will control all you see and hear for the next few moments!" The message is being broadcast through time, from the people of an era 400 centuries into the Earth's far-future. The image becomes that of a giant, greenish-brown lizard creature with a long tail, hunched back, and bulbous eyes... which he recognizes as the Quakerer, but which the future voice describes as a "chameleon". Superman knows that a chameleon is merely a small, harmless lizard with the ability to camouflage itself so as to blend in with its surroundings. He guesses (correctly) that the Quakerer is an example of what chameleons will be like after 40,000 years of evolution. "It's evolved into a biped standing 200 centimeters tall", continues the voice, "with a shrewd and cunning INTELLIGENCE the EQUAL of any HUMAN'S... along with a savage KILLER INSTINCT! But most alarming of all--it's CAMOUFLAGING ability has evolved to the UTMOST! The 420TH CENTURY CHAMELEON can assume ANY APPEARANCE it wants!" The transmission continues to explain the history of this future era. In the 420th Century, mankind dwells in vast underground cities, while flying chameleons control the entire planetary surface, determined to destroy the human race. The Quakerer has traveled back in time to test an earthquake-triggering weapon (powered by elements found only in the past) that the lizards hope to use to wipe out the human cities utterly. Since the lizards have disabled all the human-built time machines to prevent pursuit of their agent, it is up to Superman to find and stop the fiend. The broadcast signs off with the warning that "The FUTURE of the HUMAN RACE rests in your hands!"

posted June 06, 2002 07:06 PM    

Super-Peeping Tom runs down the list while spying on each in turn with his x-ray vision:

"NATHAN WARBOW...a pure-bred Apache Indian who's also a top-notch industrial engineer! But WHAT ELSE is he?"

"MARTIN THORPE...a retired executive who spends most of his time caring for his many exotic plants! Wonder what he does the REST of the time?"

"MAY MARIGOLD... unlike her identical twin sister, APRIL, she's long had a crush on ME as CLARK KENT...or is it all an ACT? The CHAMELEON might be devious enough to mask itself as a WOMAN!"

"And JONATHAN SLAUGHTER...a black-belt KARATE expert, but very quiet and easy-going! Or so he SEEMS!"

The only problem is, as Clark is getting closer to uncovering his quarry's double-identity, he worries that the Quakerer might also have become suspicious of HIS... and set a trap.

On Monday morning, the 8:33 bus pulls up at the curb outside. Clark Kent gets on board with several of the other tenants, including all four suspects and an elderly woman named Mrs. Frumel. The bus pulls away, but as it turns the corner, it seems to gradually "erase" itself and disappear into thin air. Actually, it has been transported into the middle of a grassy clearing, at the edge of a thick jungle. The landscape seems eerie and alien, with distant volcanoes spewing wisps of smoke into a hazy yellow sky.

The bus driver cautions the astonished passengers not to panic, and soon everyone steps slowly and nervously off the bus "onto the flowing grass of a world never before seen by mortal man". Outside, the beauteous May Marigold (wearing a breathtaking Seventies minidress--thanks, Curt!) dives right into Clark Kent's arms. "Oh, Clark, Clark! I'm so frightened! I feel SAFER with you...please, PROTECT me!" I get the feeling Cary Bates was not beloved by women's libbers. Anyway, Clark nervously says he'll do his best, but insists that he's as in the dark as anyone else as to what happened. The bus driver then remembers he "saw a TV show once where a whole TRAIN-CAR of people was teleported to another planet...all because the aliens were after ONE special passenger!"

This causes Martin Thorpe to interrupt and reveal that he saw Superman flying into their building just a few nights ago. Couldn't that mean Superman is living among them in his secret identity...and, Nathan Warbow asks, couldn't that mean he's here in disguise as one of them right now? Jonathan Slaughter is in complete agreement. (And not one of these guys recognizes Supes standing right there, all thanks to a PAIR OF GLASSES... well, no sense going over THAT one yet again.)

"Bah!" insists Thorpe. "If Superman had any guts, he'd UNMASK himself and rescue the rest of us!" (But he doesn't WEAR a mask, Martin... confusing him with another JLAer, or are you just reluctant to say "He'd TAKE HIS CLOTHES OFF and rescue us"?)

Clark has, of course, taken all of this in, and is looking very uncomfortable indeed, despite holding the lovely May Marigold rather closely. May sweetly asks Clark if he thinks the others are right about Superman being there... and if they are...

"WHO do you think he is?"

I guess we'll have to find out when I get to the next issue!

***ACTION # 430 also has a fairly unremarkable Atom back-up story by Elliot S! Maggin and Dick Dillin, where the Atom poses as an action figure of himself to capture some spies. The letter column prints letters from Clint Thomas (who points out that Clark Kent has gone back to wearing only blue suits all the time), Lester Boutillier (who notes that there is an actual TV newscaster named Steve Lombard), Robert Kent (no relation to Clark), and some guy named Bob Rozakis in Elmont, NY (wonder whatever happened to HIM? Maybe I should ask the Answer Man!)

posted June 07, 2002 07:54 PM    

quote:

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Originally posted by Continental Op:
(By the way, I really love something about this sequence... the way that Curt Swan's artwork really excels drawing Clark at home. Although he is alone in his apartment, and not wearing his glasses, everything about his body language and facial expressions suggests CLARK KENT, not Superman... or, at least, something BETWEEN the usual mannerisms of the two. You kind of have to see it on the page to get what I mean, but trust me, it's THERE. If only all artists caught this subtle difference.)

---

I can almost picture what you mean. Ahh, the great Curt Swan!

quote:

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...a blurry image forms on his TV screen, and a droning voice announces "WE will control all you see and hear..."

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And this is different from real life TV programming how, exactly?

quote:

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Outside, the beauteous May Marigold (wearing a breathtaking Seventies minidress--thanks, Curt!) dives right into Clark Kent's arms.

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posted June 08, 2002 12:09 PM    

This issue's cover is dramatic to be sure, but also a bit of a "cheat" since it isn't that close to the interior scenes it represents. A group of Clark Kent's horrified neighbors look on as, in the foreground, Clark is wrestling mightily with a blond man in a brown suit. Clark has shredded his foe's shirt and artificial "skin", revealing a scaly purple creature underneath. Clark exclaims "I've finally unmasked you for the MONSTER you really are!" But at the same time, the creature has also torn away Clark's shirt, revealing the emblem and cape of Superman. "You exposed MY secret... but sacrificed yours!" sneers the monster. "Now the whole world knows CLARK KENT is...SUPERMAN!"

*****

Cary Bates gives the first four-and-a-half pages of the story over to a recap of the previous issue, complete with slightly altered dialogue. This was, of course, essential for a continued story at the time, when newsstand distribution was the only game in town for comics, and could be erratic from month to month.

Then we snap back to the "present", and a persistent May Marigold is still asking Clark who he thinks Superman might be in his other identity. Clark fidgets and says,"Er...that's not an easy question to answer!" Nathan Warbow and Jonathan Slaughter provide him a respite of sorts, though. Nathan points out that Clark is well-known as a friend of Superman's, and Jonathan suggests that Clark just might not want to "FINK on his SUPER-PAL!"

But wait! No sooner are these words spoken than "a fantastic display of VEGETATIVE VIOLENCE" begins! Trees and vines from the nearby jungle stretch themselves toward the stranded commuters in the clearing, and form into grasping, clawed tendrils. The passengers huddle together in fright, "as Clark SCENTS PANIC all around him..." (Isn't that more of a job for Krypto?)

Terrified, May hugs close to Clark, even as the bus driver and Mrs. Frumel are yanked right off the ground in the clutches of the mutated plants. Clark knows that the Quakerer is trying to flush him out by using its power to animate the jungle. And so, he dramatically shoves May away to arm's length (sometimes I'm so disappointed in you, Clark!) and discards his suit and glasses, standing revealed to all in full costume as... well, you know who.

May gapes in astonishment, cooing:"Ooooo! Even in my wildest dreams, I NEVER suspected! NO WONDER I was attracted to Clark!" The stoic and string-tie wearing Nathan Warbow murmurs: "I SEE it... but I'm not sure I can BELIEVE it!" And Jonathan Slaughter says: "Wee-oo! And to think the MAN was our neighbor all this time!" (Hey, what kind of dialogue would you expect from a black character in a Seventies comic? At least he didn't say "Sweet Christmas! That JIVE TURKEY is Superman!")

Before the exposed Man of Steel can even act, the vines withdraw, gently depositing their two captives back onto the grass. Having achieved its objective, the Quakerer seemingly is unafraid to reveal its own secret now, as Martin Thorpe cries out "G-great suns! Look at JONATHAN SLAUGHTER! He's turning into a MONSTER!" Sure enough, Slaughter morphs into the loathsome, hunched form of a bulgy-eyed humanoid lizard. Superman wastes no time launching his attack, and bowls the creature right off its feet with a literal "flying tackle" to the stomach. The downed Slaughter begs Superman to help him up, reaching out a scaly arm. Superman is almost pulled off balance by the creature's fantastically strong grip, but the Action Ace quickly reacts by flipping Slaughter straight over his head and dumping him roughly on the other side of the clearing. Superman admits he's surprised that a karate-master would be so easily outmaneuvered, but Slaughter protests that he ISN'T the monster he appears to be. He was merely unused to the strength his body took on when it transformed. Having forgotten that the Quakerer could alter the appearance of others as easily as its own, Superman realizes he'd been momentarily tricked... and that MARTIN THORPE, who had slyly touched Slaughter on the shoulder to trigger his transformation, is the real Quakerer.

Just then, the other passengers yell out to Superman, alerting him that Martin Thorpe had rushed back onto the bus during the confusion and driven away. Superman flies after the bus, but it begins fading away with Thorpe at the wheel. Managing to grab the rear bumper before the fade is complete, Superman is pulled along while "the speeding bus passes into a STRANGE REALM of eerie temporal forces". Utilizing his knowledge of 420th Century science, the true Quakerer has figured out that the bus is actually a disguised TIME-MACHINE constructed by Superman himself, to transport the group of suspects millions of years into Earth's prehistoric past. With Superman climbing along the roof like Dirty Harry, the unsuspecting Quakerer sends the bus hurtling onward through the time barrier, passing through an era where early men and mammoths are visible outside.

Suddenly, the Metropolis Marvel bursts right through the metal roof to confront his foe. Rising from the driver's seat, the Quakerer resumes his true lizard-like appearance in preparation for their one-on-one battle. The Quakerer brags that it will squash Superman as easily as his lizard-kin will wipe out all humanity of the future. What's more, Superman HAS underestimated his opponent, who needs not rely on strength alone to back up the threat. Grasping his enemy with both hands, the Quakerer uses his matter-altering power to transmute Superman LITERALLY into "a flimsy man of straw", who is almost spilling out of his super-uniform like a scarecrow's stuffing! In the next panel, the Quakerer contemptuously slaps around a giant, gasping GOLDFISH in a familiar red and blue costume! Battering his opponent mercilessly, the Quakerer continues to scamble his Kryptonian molecules, first into brittle glass, then into the form of a human-sized sparrow. Bent almost double across the driver's seat of the bus, the "Man of Tomorrow" seems hopelessly outmatched by the Lizard FROM Tomorrow.

And yet, Superman desperately reaches out with one bird-wing, and manages to find the "time acceleration lever" near the bus controls, throwing it all the way forward. The bus surges ahead through the time barrier at top speed. This sudden acceleration causes the Quakerer to strangely weaken and drop to its knees, unable to concentrate its power, while Superman, "accustomed to the stresses of ULTRA-FAST TIME TRAVEL", rises and resumes his normal shape.

He grabs the defeated Quakerer, who is nonetheless still strong enough to break free. It leaps from the bus doorway, and vanishes from sight into the swirling maelstrom of the timestream outside. Superman knows that even he would never be able to find the Quakerer now. Even if his foe survived somehow, he must have become stranded in any one of countless eras of time. "How ironical!" muses Superman, "He was BORN in the FUTURE... and DOOMED to DIE in the PAST!"

But hold on... hasn't Supes blown his double identity for good? In the Epilogue, he returns to the prehistoric clearing and ushers his remaining neighbors back onto the bus for their return to the 20th Century. They admit to being confused that Superman seems so unconcerned about losing his secret.

The bus materializes back in 1973... a mere INSTANT BEFORE it had first disappeared from Metropolis in the previous issue. And amazingly, both Clark Kent and Martin Thorpe get off the bus at the next stop. With "Thorpe" lost forever in the timestream, how is this possible?

Glad you asked. Not long after, back at 344 Clinton Street, "Thorpe" is busy removing his clothes in Clark's apartment, while Clark happily relaxes in a comfortable chair. But no, don't get any filthy ideas. All is not as it seems. "Thorpe" asks Clark HOW he managed to make the other tenants forget that their trip through time had ever happened. "Simple!" answers Clark, examining a pair of glowing windshield-wiper blades."When I time-traveled to 1973 to pick you up, I also took these special WIPER-BLADES back with me into the PAST!" After I installed them on the bus, they lulled everyone into a MASS-HYPNOTIC TRANCE so I could command them to FORGET the entire episode!" (Get it? Wiper blades? He WIPED their memories? What a super-comedian. Oh well. Anyway, the two have a good chuckle about mentally violating a half-dozen innocent people.)

Of course, the plan only worked because one of Superman's friends disguised himself to replace the missing Martin Thorpe. "Glad I could help you keep your secret identity a SECRET, pal!", he laughs as he warmly shakes Clark's hand. Naturally Clark replies "Thanks again... BATMAN!"

(Yes, this story is from back when Superman and Batman were still good buddies. Batman was then capable of regarding other costumed heroes as loyal friends, instead of subservient "soldiers" under his command or, at best, uneasy "allies". Don't we have much more enjoyable stories now that such a silly concept is gone?)

*****

Despite the often convoluted plot, this two-parter is actually a fun read, even today. It's full of little touches I really enjoy, especially the sequence where the Quakerer is inflicting one bizarre transformation after another on poor Superman. When our hero takes on the appearance of a gasping, bulgy-eyed fish or a hapless giant sparrow, the finely detailed artwork by the Swanderson team makes him look both pathetically funny and strangely unsettling. The image of the fishy superman's "face" in one panel is priceless; you really need to see it. And besides, you can never get enough Swanderson. Unfortunately, this was one of their last regular team-ups before Murphy left ACTION. It was also the last appearance of the Quakerer, who seemed like a villain with more than enough potential for a return engagement to me... didn't Cary forget all about the earthquake-triggering weapon, after all?

The "mystery" must have been fairly obvious to regular readers, since Martin Thorpe was the only suspect who hadn't appeared before in any pre-Quakerer story. And I wonder why Superman needed to recruit Batman, instead of merely hypnotizing the other tenants into forgetting Thorpe had ever lived there at all!

It's no mystery to me, though, that Cary Bates was paying tribute with this two-parter to the old science-fiction TV programs of his childhood in the early 1960s. They were the same campy, black-and-white shows I stayed up late to watch, in syndicated reruns, during my own childhood twenty years later. In one memorable TWILIGHT ZONE episode, "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street", a crowd of suburban neighbors is manipulated by aliens into suspecting each other of being monsters in disguise. In another episode, a group of bus passengers is forced to stop at a roadside diner, and learn that one of them is a Martian spy passing itself off as human. And in another, an airplane full of passengers is somehow hurled through the time barrier millions of years into Earth's prehistoric past. All of these must have influenced Cary in plotting this story. The scene with the future humans contacting Clark through his television set is, of course, lifted almost whole from the classic intro to the OUTER LIMITS series ("Do not adjust your sets... WE are in CONTROL").

The concept of a group of people trying to figure out which one among them is a mostrous entity duplicating the body of a human is even older... it goes back at least as far as John W. Campbell's 1939 science-fiction story "Who Goes There?", which was filmed as THE THING (And I wouldn't be surprised if a young Cary Bates caught that one on the Late Late Show as well).

*****

ACTION #431 also has a Green Arrow back-up story, "The Case of the Runaway Shoebox!" (by Elliot S! Maggin, Dick Dillin and Dick Giordano), which is basically about as interesting as its title. In the letter column, E. Nelson Bridwell supplies replies to, among others, the once-prolific Guy H. Lillian III, and the recently deceased amateur comics historian (and DC Message Board regular) Rich Morrissey.

posted June 08, 2002 06:11 PM    

C-Op, that was great. I only wish I could read the actual comic books. A nice tie-in with the SF heritage.

I never liked the idea that, at any time, Superman could just hypnotise somebody (or a group of somebodies) into forgeting something. Cary was one of the worst writers for completely disregarding continuity when it suited him (I've said this before on this board). I like Cary's stories, for the most part, but really -- if Superman can, at any time, induce a "mass-hypnotic trance" and make people forget they'd seen Kent become Superman, WHY is he so worried about hiding his secret identity in a myriad of other desperate situations in other stories?

And as far as the old Superman-Batman friendship goes, I think their friendship and mutual admiration did belong to another era. Although I think Superman gains from the friendship (as a character), Batman loses. I do have very mixed feelings on the issue. I'm not entirely sure one way or another. I love Batman as he was early on -- dark, menacing, scary, a little too brutal. To have him running around in daylight, disguising himself to help his garishly-coloured super-chum save face, is not fair to the things I like about The Batman.

posted June 10, 2002 06:06 PM    

quote:

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Originally posted by India Ink:
E. Nelson Bridwell--he signed himself ENB in his letter column responses and I still don't know what the E. stood for (Encyclopedia?)--"was the first longtime comics fan to get a job at DC Comics--as Mort Weisinger's assistant editor on the seven Superman titles. The date was January 13, 1964." [Quoted from Roy Thomas, Alter Ego No. 7, Winter 2001]. Bridwell wrote some sci-fi for Jack Schiff, did little extras panels on Krypto or Superman, was a creative consultant on the Shazam TV show, created the Global Guardians, wrote the Secret Six, Shazam!, Captain Carrot, and was a major contributor to Amazing World of DC Comics.

But it is as editor of many Giants and Super-Spectaculars--including most of the Superman family titles--that we should consider the Big E. here.

We tend not to think about reprints when considering a particular era. It's as if they don't exist. Only the "new" material counts. Yet when I was a kid I made no distinction between what was "old" and what was "new." It was all new to me.

What's more, I would gladly buy the reprints (sometimes they were better than the original material)--in the 60s you could get 80 pages for a quarter as compares with 32 regular pages for 12 cents; in the earlier 70s you could get 100 pages for four bits as compares with 32 regular pages for two dimes. The Giants and Super-Specs appeared on the same stands in amongst the regular size books. There was no "wall" between reprints and regular comics as there seems to be today. Today, reprints are packaged in high end books, and even when a facsimile 80 or 100 pager appears it's packaged to look different from the regular comics.

In the early sixties, when the Giants first appeared, they were Annuals and numbered as such. Then they were 80 page Giants and numbered as such (G-1, G-2, G-3, ...), but soon enough they became part of the regular run of a title--Superman 196 was a regular size issue, 197 (G-36) was 80 pages, 198 went back to regular size. Same deal with the Super-Specs--they started out with their own numbering as a separate run (DC-1, DC-2, DC-3), but soon became part of the run of each title--Superman 244 is a regular 48 pager, 245 is 100 pages (all reprints), 246 is back to a regular 48 pages.

Did I say 48 pages???

Yup. In 1971 and 1972, DC was printing all their regular books in a 48 page size (52 pages if you count the covers). The books were filled out by putting 12-16 pages of reprint material in them.

As he had been responsible for the Giants and Super-Specs (for the Superman family, but increasingly for other titles as well), Bridwell had the duties thrust upon him of finding reprint stories that would fill out those 48 pagers.

And while the Giants of old mainly stuck with 50s and 60s stories, in the early seventies readers were treated to a lot of rare tales from the 40s and even the 30s.

In the Superman title itself, Bridwell mainly selected Superman stories from either 1940-47 or 1958-66. While with the remaining family titles, tales of family members were mostly selected from the 60s or late 50s.

Then with the April-May, 1974, issue (No. 164), Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen, was now Superman Family--a 100 page book (including covers and ads) that usually spotlighted one family member in the lead all-new story, but filled the rest of its pages with reprint tales selected by Bridwell (although Murray Boltinoff and Joe Orlando shared the official editing chair).

Eventually the size of Superman Family shrank, and then with the March-April, 1977, issue (No. 182) it became a Dollar Comic featuring all-new material. But during that period of reprints, Bridwell was able to choose the stories he wanted--those that best exemplified the Superman world.

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I posted this all the way back in January. Like the man who threw his alarm clock out the window, I've seen time fly.

AS I've now posted on several reprints edited by the Big. E., I think I'll try and wrap this theme up within one or two posts (since I've only about fifty minutes to post all this, I may have to come back to it with another post at another time), but darned if I didn't misplace my piece of paper with some relevant data listed on it!

If I had that paper in hand I'd list the entire run of the Giant numbers for all the DC books through the sixties and into the seventies. And if you studied that list you'd see that there's a pattern that repeats itself over and over with only a few blips--most notably during the Batmania craze when there were slight changes in the scheduling of Batman Giants. But essentially there was a pattern of publishing Giants on a cycle that repeated every year, with Superman, Batman, JLA, WF, Superboy, Action (featuring Supergirl, later Adventure featuring Supergirl), more Superman, Batman, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Our Army at War featuring Sgt. Rock's Prize Battle Tales, and Flash all in this continual loop.

When the 48 page partial reprint comics start, and then the 100 Page Super-Specs, this throws the Giants into chaos, and they're soon gone. I understand that Martin Goodman over at Marvel kind of fooled Carmine Infantino into thinking that Marvel would go with the 48 page format. Then Marvel pulled back on the idea, but DC was left printing all these 48 page books at 25c, while Marvel's 32 page books were priced at 20c. Still, I thought DC's deal was the better one for the consumer And if they hadn't published who knows where a lot of us would be--where James Robinson would be, since I'm sure those reprints influenced his work on Starman.

Soon enough though, the Super-Specs took up where the Giants had left off. While some books fell out of the repeating pattern, the repeating pattern for Superman continued for some years, until eventually DC's reprints became a mixed bag of special books and Limited Collector's Editions.

Although I don't have my list with me, I can tell by looking at the numbers for the Giants I've mentioned before on this thread that the numbers for Superman were G-72, then G-78. One Giant in the Spring, and another in Autumn--or rather one at the beginning of the Summer season and one at the end, with about six other Giant collections of other characters coming somewhere in between.

I've mentioned some of the Super-Specs, like Superman 245 and 252, which follow the same alternating pattern. Then after a bit of confusion about just what DC was going to do with the Super-Spec format (with one Superman Spec being published on its own out of the numbering of the regular title), DC published 100 pagers with ads in issues 272 (Feb.--released in late Autumn), 278 (Aug.--released in Spring), and 284 (Feb.--released in late Autumn) of Superman.

272 was a "Special All-Magic Issue!" I have to say that my favourite story in the book was not a Superman story, but a Green Lantern story--"The Other Side of the World"--and "Co-Starring Zatanna." By Gardner Fox, Gil Kane, and Sid Greene. One of the most beautiful looking stories I've ever seen. Perhaps the highest compliment I can pay to the Kane and Greene team is that they draw wonderful bums!

This story was sorta forced into the book, because the Zatanna search for her father stories had been reprinted in a series of Super-Specs, of which this was just the latest (and I read them all, except sadly for the first one which was reprinted in Supergirl no. 5, which I never got, and still don't have--boo hoo). The rest of the stories were all Superman, but with a magic theme.

From the 40s there was a Mr. Mxyztplk story (not Mr. Mxyzptlk), illoed by John Sikela; a story set around a "Magician's Convention" (of Mandrake and Zatara look-alikes) featuring Hocus-Pocus; and a gothic fantasy about an "Enchanted Mountain."
While rounding out the collection were two from the sixties--"Beauty and the Super-Beast" (featuring Circe, with art by Swan and Klein), and a Schaffenberger Jimmy Olsen jaunt called "The Demons from Pandora's Box!"

The next Super-Spec--278--was all Superman, and led off with a "Brand-New Novel." By this time several DC books were all 100 pagers, while others like Superman had the special treatment. But the lead stories in all of these were brand-new. Of course the price was higher, too, at 60 cents.

posted June 11, 2002 12:31 AM    

I forgot to mention some of the other neat stuff about that Super-Spec in addition to the stories themselves. There was an ad promoting the (Famous) 1ST Edition of Action Comics no. 1, a Super-Puzzle by Bob Rozakis, some really great house-ads (too many to mention here), and a hilarious two-page piece in which, using a basic outline sketch of Superman and Clark (bald heads, no glasses), several top talents were asked to "Play the Graffiti Game with Superman."

Swan gives Superman an afro, while his Clark looks like a 1930s gigolo with his slicked back parted in the middle hair and pencil thin moustache. Tarzan artist Kubert has Superman looking like that Burroughs creation while Clark is a be-spectacled Great Ape.

The Neal Adams one is a real riot. Superman is bald with a black beard and a ring through one ear ("I can lick any man in the house! Supermacho" it says), while Clark looks like Cecil from A Room with a View with his pinz nez glasses and starched collar ("I wish I could tell Pricilla that I am in reality Supermacho (*sob*) signed: Clarky").

The lettercol, while dominated by comments on the match-up of Superman and Batgirl in Superman 268, does have a missive from Phil Castora on the last Superman Super-Spec (DC-18). Phil complains of the re-inked work, and asks why Wayne Boring didn't get a credit for "I Sustain the Wings." ENB answers that the reprints are not re-inked, just touched up where necessary, and he's not sure just who did the art on "I Sustain the Wings," but he seems to know that it wasn't Boring and he suspects that Al Plastino may have done some panels.

Also in this book is an ad for the Menomonee Falls Gazette--"The World's Greatest Weekly All-Star Line-up!" and the long list of comic strips featured therin (The Spirit, Batman, Superman, Tarzan, The Phantom, Ben Casey, Scarth AD 2195, Friday Foster, Modesty Blaise,...). So of course I subscribed!

This was my great age of subscriptions. Amazing World of DC Comics, The Spirit (from Warren), various comic books. Every week when I was on summer vacation I would listen for that familiar sound of magazines and comics dropping through the letter slot. Sometimes a big mailer of a tabloid comic would come special to the door.

And this is sorta a point I wanted to make. The whole thing about the cycle of Giants, the regular timing of Superman reprints, the weekly and monthly treasures coming through the mail. There was a certain predictable excitement back then.

Now, there are times of great change--times of chaos--and then there are times of pleasant predictability--times of order. And it's not that one is better than the other, but both epochs grant different experiences to us.

Chaos offers excitement. The time of the Sad Superman, when O'Neil was writing him--those were times of controlled chaos--we knew that there was a strong creative team working on the series, but we had no idea just what was going to happen next. After that, with a bit of trying to find themselves, a new creative team settled into place (Maggin and/or Bates with Swan and eventually Oksner), and there came a time of predictable and pleasant order.

I like the chaos, but it can put me on my nerves end. I look for the order. That's what I really want from comics. There's enough chaos to be found elsewhere, but comics can offer a feeling of stability even in times when the world seems mad. Of course there's never any real danger that the predictable order will stand. Eventually, and sadly, it passes. Another period of chaos comes with all its highs and lows, but we live in hope of a new order when every month will offer the same standard of quality.

By the mid-seventies not only had the creative team settled in, so had the ensemble cast. They're the real stars of the series--Clark, Lois, Steve, Lola, Morgan, Perry, Jimmy, all the tenants at 344 Clinton, and the regular villains. The all-new lead-off story for 278 (August, 1974) examples this brilliantly. Terra-Man makes his return in "Super-Showdown at Buzzard Gulch!" (by Bates/Swan/Oksner) which sees Clark Kent mysteriously transported to a seemingly Old West town. All the ensemble cast (Lois, Steve, Lola, Morgan, Perry, Jimmy) think they're Old West characters and act as such. Only Clark realizes that this is all wrong. Of course, by story's end order is restored, all's well that ends well. And that's why the story is so good, because it puts the same characters into a new situation where we get to see them play their parts.

The reprints featured were: "The Compass Points to Murder" (Superman 33, March-April '45), "The Seven Secrets of Superman"(World's Finest 62, Jan-Feb '53), "The Superman Spectaculars" (Action 211, Dec. '55), "The Mermaid from Atlantis" (Superman 138, July '60, featuring Lori Lemaris and a cameo by Aquaman), and "Clark Kent, Coward" (Action 298, March '63).

posted June 11, 2002 01:19 AM    

Which brings us to Superman 284, February, 1975 (which would have been released in 1974). The last 100 Page Super-Spectacular. But you have to understand, we didn't know that at the time. One expected that it might ever be so, Super-Specs twice a year, the same dependable creative team with the same dependable cast of characters.

I remember this absolute feeling of serene happiness as I read 284. A feeling that everything was as it should be. I had my Shazam with fun new stories and great reprints. I had my Spirit magazine. I had my Menomonee Falls Gazette. And I had this. My $30.00 a month from delivering papers each morning (at 5 am) afforded me everything in life I could possibly need or want, wrapped in the warmth of family, lazing on a Sunday with my comics.

This perfect comic begins with an all new tale by the ever dependable Bates/Swan/Oksner (and of course Uncle Julie overseeing it all). This one brings Clark back to Smallville, and turns its attention to some supporting characters that didn't get a lot of panel time in the seventies (what they got they made the most of)--Pete Ross, Lana Lang, with Chief Parker in a bit part.

Clark, Pete, and Lana are having a little reunion in their hometown (as friends sometimes do). Lana has been away overseas, as a foreign correspondent, but on returning to Smallville she noticed the absence of any real crime in the little village. Doing some research through the old papers, Ms. Lang realized that bad news has not visited the town for years.

What's happening? As it turns out, years ago, Superboy ordered all his youthful robots to destroy themselves in the sun, as he was preparing to leave for Metropolis University. Unlike Superboy, the robots are not immune to the intense heat of the sun. However Superboy Robot-6 didn't see this as right--it's evil to kill, according to his programming, and Superboy was evil by ordering the robots to kill themselves. Robot-6 saved itself and haunted Metropolis for all those years, invisibly maintaining order at super-speed. In the end, Superman convinces the robot that it has done something evil and it destroys itself by speeding into the sun.

After another "Super-Puzzle," it's time for "The Interplanetary Olympics!" (art by Swan & Klein, from Action 304, Sept. '63). Lana Lang plays an important part in this story, too. Although the real reason this story tickled my funny bone is Borko! Borko bests Superman at these Olympics. Meanwhile in high school, a fellow also named Borko was always besting me in our gym classes. He was an arrogant fellow who went around the school in his Adidas track pants thinking he was so great. Borko in the comic book is just a lunkhead and I had great fun thinking of my school adversary in the same light.

After this are two 40s stories--one about a comic book character named "Geezer--the Strongest Man on Earth," and the other about "A Modern Alice in Wonderland." Then there's a two page feature on "Gate-Crashers in the Fortress of Solitude," Followed by another delight from the sixties called, "Superman Owes a Billion Dollars" (Swan & Klein, from Superman 148, October '61).

This last story has Superman owing the I.R.S. a billion dollars. It's the kind of cute story that Will Eisner could've written. In fact, I think there was a Spirit story like this with Denny Colt owing back taxes despite being legally dead. Rupert Brand, revenue agent, doesn't care who Superman is--everyone must pay their taxes! And Superman, always trying to play fair, does everything he can to raise the back taxes (short of getting a bunch of celebrities to stage a benefit for him). The story concludes with Brand's boss telling the overzealous agent that Superman has "over two billion dependents!" (the population of the Earth).

posted June 11, 2002 05:11 AM    

quote:

---

While rounding out the collection were two from the sixties--"Beauty and the Super-Beast" (featuring Circe, with art by Swan and Klein)

---

More about this, please, India. I only have one Circe story, if I remember rightly -- the "Lady and the Lion" one, with art by Boring, I believe. This sounds like a remake(?) or a sequel(?).

quote:

---

The all-new lead-off story for 278 (August, 1974) examples this brilliantly. Terra-Man makes his return in "Super-Showdown at Buzzard Gulch!" (by Bates/Swan/Oksner) which sees Clark Kent mysteriously transported to a seemingly Old West town.

---

I really like this story. I'd intended to talk about it one day. I still might.

quote:

---

"The Interplanetary Olympics!" (art by Swan & Klein, from Action 304, Sept. '63).

---

I love this story!

quote:

---

This last story has Superman owing the I.R.S. a billion dollars.

---

posted June 12, 2002 02:50 PM    

Thanks for continuing your discussion about the old Giant issues. Back then part of the fun must have been not knowing WHAT they would be reprinting next. It might not be much of a surprise to see a Justice Society or Seven Soldiers of Victory reprint in JLA,or a Jay Garrick or Johnny Quick in FLASH... but who would have bet on seeing a Green Lantern / Zatanna story or a Black Condor tale in a SUPERMAN Giant? (Even though GL didn't have a title of his own at the time.) The DETECTIVE COMICS Giants of the 1970 were even more unpredictable... they had Plastic Man, Hawkman, even Golden Age Green Lantern and Doctor Fate stories reprinted. Apparently solving any kind of crime qualified you as a "detective" ...

And about that "Superman Owes a Billion Dollars" story... I'd heard of it before but never seen it. It sounds like Weisinger-logic at its wackiest. Why did the IRS decide Superman owed any back taxes if, technically, he doesn't have a paying job and therefore NO income? Supes always turns over any rewards to charity. Besides, President Kennedy could have pardoned him because he knew he pays his taxes as CLARK KENT! "If you can't trust the President of the United States..."

Finally,I can clear up at least one mystery for you (something we Continental Ops are pretty good at). The "E" in ENB's name stood for "Edward".

posted June 12, 2002 03:02 PM       

quote:

---

Originally posted by Continental Op:

Thanks for continuing your discussion about the old Giant issues. Back then part of the fun must have been not knowing WHAT they would be reprinting next.

---

This is one of the charms I've always enjoyed about the Giant issues. I liked exploring some of the more obscure corners of DC's Golden and Silver age when I read reprints of characters like Captain Triumph, Air Wave or even SUPER CHIEF (reprinted in Superman 100 pg. Super Spectacular...or Superman #245...same thing). Sure, some of it was basically just "filler", but to a new fan exploring the rich history of comics, it was like striking oil.

------------------
Mark Engblom
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"We may be orphans, but we have each other now! I'll take care of you like a big brother, cousin Kara!"

posted June 12, 2002 03:02 PM    

<More about this, please, India. I only have one Circe story, if I remember rightly -- the "Lady and the Lion" one, with art by Boring, I believe. This sounds like a remake(?) or a sequel(?).>

I'll let India field this one, but I will say THIS-- it has one of the most hilarious,overcomplicated "Weisinger plots" I've ever read. "Circe" is not the real Circe in this one. And the villains are punished at the end in a way I can guarantee no other villains were ever punished in a Superman story... or any other story.

<I really like this story. I'd intended to talk about it one day. I still might.>

I reckon I'll be a-waitin' ta hear it,Pardner!

<I love this story!>

Good, because I think they recycled the plot about a half dozen times!

posted June 13, 2002 11:20 AM       

I've got a good one for you.

You know how most of the 80 pg. Giants and 100 pg. Super Spectaculars are tied into the regular numbering of the character's regular titles?

Well, this one isn't...and it seems pretty rare. I hardly EVER see this one at ANY of the conventions I go to...or on eBay for that matter (although I just saw one up there earlier today....snap it up!).

It's a SUPERMAN 100 pg. Super Spectacular published in 1973, simply numbered "DC-18" and it's theme is a celebration of Superman's 35th anniversary

I've included a scan of the snappy Nick Cardy cover for you to check out:
-
http://image.inkfrog.com/pix/mengblom/100_pg_superman.jpg

Here's a run-down of what's inside:

1. Superman in "I Sustain the Wings", a reprint of Superman #25 (1943) in which Clark Kent joins the army (sort of)...his only service in WWII! A wonderful story by Mort Weisinger himself that applauds the efforts and efficiency of America's armed forces. A few "cameos" by Superman, but the star of this story is definitely the American soldier!

2. The Golden Age Atom in "Murder on a Star" (Flash Comics #90, 1947). A run of the mill mystery. Nothing big (pardon the pun).

3. The Atom in "Lockup in the Lethal Lightbulb" (The Atom #8, 1963). A classic Silver Age tale in which Ray Palmer fights the ever-available Dr. Light. Gimmicky fun by Gardner Fox, Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson (!).

4. Superboy in "Superboy's Last Day in Smallville" (from Superman #97, 1955). A classic story illustrated by Wayne Boring (who seemed to rarely do Superboy stories....am I right?), chronicling Superboy's final weeks in Smallville. This story includes the immortal scene of Superboy delivering the giant cake to Smallville and the single piece preserved under glass as a memorial! Silver Age GOLD!

5. In their first published appearance in 31 years, the Golden Age duo of T.N.T. and Dan the Dyna-Mite battle The Crime Clown (from World's Finest #5, 1942)

6. Hourman and the Minutemen of America (one of the first in a long line of helpful "kid gangs") star in a reprint from Adventure Comics #57 (1940) and battle Dr. Droog. Great Bernard Baily artwork.

7. Captain Triumph in a tale reprinted from Crack Comics #42, 1946 (you'd never get away with THAT title NOW!). Here's the set-up: "When Lance Gallant touches the magic mark on his wrist, he combines with the ghost of his twin brother Michael to become the invincible Captain Triumph!" For such an eerie sounding premise, the feature had a surprisingly light-hearted feel. Cap's dry, sardonic dialogue was similar to Superman's in his own Golden Age adventures!

8. Last but not least is the reprinting of the notorious Silver Age tale "Superman Red and Superman Blue", from Superman #162 (1963). Written by Leo Dorfman and illustrated by Curt Swan and George Klein, this story showed us what happens when Superman wears (get this) a "Brain Evolution Machine" powered by every variety of Kryptonite known to man! He splits into two beings, of course! Surreal Silver Age fun breaks out as the two Superman, with their "super double-brain power" solve every problem facing mankind. With everything hunky-dorey, the Supermen then turn their attention to an even MORE important quest: "Who gets to marry Lois and who gets to marry Lana?" In one of the most entertaining panels of comic book history, they attempt to solve the question by each of them standing at the summit of a mountain during a storm holding up a huge letter "L" made of iron to see which would be hit by lightning first. The one hit by lightning would then get "first pick" of the two women. Absolutely hilarious. They eventually decide on a less....insane....way of picking their mates...but this sequence alone shows why this tale is so loved (or HATED) by Superman fans.

All in all, a great example of DC's much-loved GIANT books. We got all of this for "ONLY 50¢"...what a bargain....even THEN!

Any of you have this beauty in your own collections?

------------------
Mark Engblom
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"We may be orphans, but we have each other now! I'll take care of you like a big brother, cousin Kara!"

posted June 13, 2002 08:40 PM    

quote:

---

Posted by India Ink:
I've been thinking about listing a selection of favourite Swoksners, and if y'all talk about your favourites, then that leaves less work for me! Which is mighty dandy, I'm thinkin'.

---

Swoksners?!

Well, one of my favourite Swoksners is the aforementioned Buzzard Gulch, so I'll stick with my plan to talk just a little about it. (I don't have time now.)

I'm too fast fer yuh, Superman!
I beat yuh to the draw --
six guns to none!

posted June 14, 2002 06:39 PM    

Apart from Buzzard Gulch, I also want to mention, "Who Was That Dog I Saw You With Last Night?"

I have this comic as an Australian reprint from around (maybe) the mid-to-late 70s. For some ungodly reason, there are no credits for the story. I think they have been removed by the Australian publisher. But the art is Swan-Oksner, and the script is probably Maggin or Bates.

The front cover has Superman about to fly out of a window on some super-errand, and he is shocked to see a dog flying through the night sky, backlit by the moon. "This is a job for... SUPERDOG?!?"

Splash page, we have a young and very beautiful Lois. (You know, when Oksner draws Lois, you can see why Superman can't get her out of his mind.) This story is basically about the editorial return of Krypto, and is another favourite from my boyhood.

Maybe I should start telling you guys about these Aussie comics and what they contained. They were/are absolute TREASURE TROVES of material. In this issue I have the Krypto story, then The Private Life of Clark Kent, "The Tattoo Switcheroo!" with writer M. Pasko, artists J.L. Garcia-Lopez & V. Colletta. Then Ralph Dibney in "The Magical Mystery Mirror," by writer Mike W. Barr, and artist Ernie Chua. (I loved Ernie Chua's Batman.) Then a VERY old, undated Superman story, "A Modern Alice in Wonderland." Writer and artist unnamed. Then an absolutely MARVELOUS JLA story by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky & Bernard Sachs. "The Super-Exiles of Earth!" It's a terrific tale. I love that classic era of the JLA, and, thanks to these old Aussie reprints, I have lots of those stories.

Now, if someone could tell me the writer of the Superdog story, and tell me the issue and date, I'd be grateful.

posted June 15, 2002 09:41 AM    

The story is from SUPERMAN #287 sometime in 1975. It was written by Elliot S! Maggin. Actually, it continues Krypto's story from (of all places) a Green Arrow and Black Canary story in ACTION COMICS that Maggin wrote. GA and BC find a stray dog they don't realize is Krypto (he lost his cape and memory). After he rescues them from thugs and flies off, they realize who he is. Ollie says something like, "Better call Clark and tell him his dog got out of the yard!"

India Ink--
Don't know if I would call them "Swoksners", but you're welcome to. "Swanderson" sounds so perfect because the two names combine naturally.

posted June 15, 2002 01:28 PM    

The title itself appearS like this, running down the right side of the splash page...

"Who
Was
That
Dog
I
Saw
You
With
Last
Night
?"

and then the pink credit caption:

A DC QUALITY MAGAZINE
EDITED BY: JULIUS SCHWARTZ
WRITTEN BY: ELLIOT S! MAGGIN
ART BY: CURT SWAN &
BOB OKSNER

The back-up story was a Private Life of Clark Kent tale called "Bogus Batman" by ENB, Swan, and Blaisdell--about Clark's encounter with a bogus Batman.

And I agree that Swanderson so perfectly flows, I don't mind that contraction (although even the overuse of that can get irritating), whereas formulations like Infanderson (Infantino and Anderson) or Swoksner seem forced.

BUT, the Swoksner contraction was suggested by some letter writer back in those seventies letter columns and it was fairly much in use in various letters of the day. When I use Swoksner (or Swanderson or Infanderson) I'm being cute, giving a Clark Kentish wink to the old guys out there who remember those contractions (same with ish, 'Tec, mag, lettercol, and LoCer).

posted June 15, 2002 01:57 PM    

quote:

---

Originally posted by Continental Op:
Aldous--

<More about this, please, India. I only have one Circe story, if I remember rightly -- the "Lady and the Lion" one, with art by Boring, I believe. This sounds like a remake(?) or a sequel(?).>

I'll let India field this one, but I will say THIS-- it has one of the most hilarious,overcomplicated "Weisinger plots" I've ever read. "Circe" is not the real Circe in this one. And the villains are punished at the end in a way I can guarantee no other villains were ever punished in a Superman story... or any other story.

---

Check out my posts concerning this story over on "Superman in the Sixties." Be warned, there are SPOILERS.

posted June 15, 2002 04:18 PM    

The story begins on "GARDEN AVENUE in METROPOLIS, 5:31 P.M., on the MONDAY when SOLOMON GRUNDY WON..."

A man wearing a pin-striped suit and fedora is about to enter his car, when three "soldiers" in green uniforms and helmets zoom out of the sky using jet-packs and prepare to shoot him down. Suddenly, the ground shakes and our hero SUPERMAN (tm) lifts the entire chunk of concrete beneath car, attackers and intended victim high into the sky. Superman is amused when the gunmen actually try to kill him with mere laser rifles, and he melts their weapons with heat vision. He says they're wasting their time not just attacking him, but going after a "small-time hood" like Samuel Simeon (No, not the gorilla detective from ANGEL AND THE APE. But maybe Gerry was thinking of that when he named the character). Superman deposits the concrete slab, car, crooks and all, right at the front door of police headquarters, and explains to the dumbfounded booking officer that his captives are "members of an ultra-secret organization called SKULL, Sergeant! Apparently, SKULL has a plan to take over the crime cartel in METROPOLIS now that INTER-GANG is out of business...". Sam Simeon angrily interrupts and threatens to sue Superman for libel if he tries to accuse him of anything. Superman flies off while calling out, "You're a BIG MAN, Simeon! But by the time your crime connections are exposed...I promise you, you'll be a SMALL ONE!" That's tellin' him!

Meanwhile, a cool double-tiered layout has been going on across these pages. The bottom tier displays an "Interlude" to "Slaughter Swamp" at "The Other Side of Space". A handy caption explains that we are seeing "The dimension occupied by EARTH-TWO... a world much like our own, existing on another vibrational plane". In the fetid bog called Slaughter Swamp, we find a brutish giant who wears an ill-fitting, ragged black jacket and pants with brown boots, and has skin and hair white as chalk. He is pounding vainly against an impenetrable green force field, mainly with his head. "Not real life--only a weird DISTORTION of it-SOLOMON GRUNDY is said to have been created by the strange chemical REACTION of sunlight on swampland! After numerous rampages, he was IMPRISONED in this swamp by the GREEN LANTERNS of EARTH-ONE and EARTH-TWO."

Suddenly, Grundy stops and actually has an "historic" moment of forming an idea. "WAIT!...I remember hearing TWO GREEN LANTERNS... TWO FLASHES... TWO EARTHS! TWO EARTHS... maybe TWO SOLOMON GRUNDYS?" He decides to go to the other earth and find his own counterpart. So he shuffles off deeper into the bubbling swamp and gradually fades away into the shimmering zone between worlds.

(Incidentally, this was the very first time I had ever heard of the multiple Earths, multiple same-name heroes concept. I was 6 or 7 years old at the time, but after TWO OR THREE whole panels of explanation, I understood it completely. So much for the excuse that multiple Earths and too much DC continuity was hopelessly confusing to new readers. This story made me a fan of the concept for life! I wanted to know who these other heroes were!)

Back on Earth-One, Superman makes a neat-o "time-lapse" mid-air change to his Clark Kent clothing and swoops in through his office window at the WGBS building. Just in time for Steve Lombard to come knocking at "Clarkie's" door with a visitor! In typical arrogant jock style, Lombard introduces the bell-bottomed beauty: "The girl's name is TERRI CROSS...and she says you turn her ON... though I can't see WHY or HOW!" (Frankly, if I were Clark I'd be GLAD to hear Steve Lombard say he didn't have the hots for me, but it still seems like a strange way to phrase it... ) Terri met Steve at lunch and insisted he introduce her to Clark. He asks if she works at GBS. "No, actually, I'm a GROUPIE... I just LOVE getting next to STARS!"

"STARS?", gulps Clark. Steve can't stand it that Terri is throwing herself at Clark and ignoring him. It must be his secret aftershave...

Meanwhile, Solomon Grundy materializes on the streets of downtown Metropolis, and starts terrifying pedestrian crowds in his search for another person who looks like him. News of the creature soon reaches WGBS studios just as Clark Kent is about to go on the air. How can Clark get away as Superman while he's anchoring the news? Wait... there is one way...

While Grundy is hefting a car with a terrified man inside, Supes comes hurtling out of the sky to the rescue. When he tries to ram Grundy, though, he bounces right off "like a rubber ball" without even knocking Grundy off balance. Trying again, Supes runs face first into a double fisted punch that sends him careening off a skyscraper roof, and nearly into orbit. "Never been hit like that in my entire LIFE-NEVER! However he's gained it, GRUNDY now has tremendous POWER... perhaps even more than I have!" He muses that this might be a job for the entire Justice League, but since they're all off on a space mission, it's up to him.

(Yeah right. I'd like to hear THAT phone call. "We're all heading off on a dangerous space mission, Clark, but YOU stay behind.")

posted June 15, 2002 04:44 PM    

Meanwhile, Terri Cross and "Clark Kent" arrive on the increasingly swampy scene. "Clark" is acting even more wimpy and nervous than usual, but Terri insists it's all an act. Still, when Superman comes bursting up from below the murky water, "Clark" shrieks like a scalded cat. Superman realizes he'll have to wrap the fight up soon before "Clark" arouses too much suspicion from Terri. He recalls how, in the studio earlier, he grabbed Steve Lombard at invisible super-speed and zapped him with super-hypnotism, making him believe that HE was Clark Kent. Then, Superman "applied a liberal amount of MAKE-UP and a VOICE-MODIFIER to complete the job" on Steve's disguise. (We are treated to a creepy flashback panel where Clark is super-swiftly stripping Steve down to his underwear! I swear I'm not making any of this up! Do all network studios come complete with such perfect "voice-modifiers"? And what the hell does Supes consider a LARGE amount of make-up, if this is "liberal"??? )

Anyway, Superman tries a long-range attack, zapping the swamp water Grundy stands in with a "nova-hot" (yeah right) blast of heat vision that makes the Marshland Marauder yell out in pain. They slug it out again for awhile, and Superman realizes that his foe is seeking an Earth-One duplicate of himself. "Grundy's always been alone-and LONELY!" He theorizes to himself that the waters of Slaughter Swamp must "somehow" have given Grundy the ability to cross dimensions and infect Metropolis with the growing swamp-blight. (Okay, whatever...)

Soon he tricks Grundy into getting off balance by running after him, then circles around and grabs him under the arms again. This time it works and he hoists Grundy (screaming "I KILL! I KILL!") high into the air, then dumps him into the waters of Metropolis Bay. The sinking Grundy is cunning enough to grab onto a ship's anchor chain. Somehow, instead of pulling himself up, he capsizes the ship, and Superman has to go shatter the chain above water. "While he saving ship-GRUNDY go FREE!" thinks the Hulk-er, I mean Grundy. Superman takes himself to task for losing to Grundy at every turn, since he's been relying on brawn instead of brains. But now he thinks he's got the perfect solution...

Soon, the Hul-er, Grundy clambers out of the Bay onto a nearby pier... and finds himself face to face with a second Grundy identical to himself. Grundy is happy to at last have found a friend, and a mirror image Grundy no less. But this Grundy has a much better vocabulary. He asks the original to come with him someplace where they can be alone, and not hunted. "Like a child, SOLOMON GRUNDY accepts his friend's suggestion without question..." (not even caring that this Grundy is able to fly). "And so, he soon finds himself in the midst of a gray wasteland called LUNA...the MOON!"

Grundy, naturally, needs no air or sustenance to survive there, but when he turns to ask what they will do next, he sees his counterpart flying away back to Earth..."leaving the MARSHLAND MONSTER heart-broken-and once more, ALONE!". Removing his Grundy disguise, Superman (for of course, it was he ) reflects silently. "GRUNDY won the BATTLE... but I won the WAR! So why do I feel so ROTTEN? GRUNDY was a MENACE who had to be disposed of for the public GOOD... WASN'T he? Sometimes being a SUPERMAN isn't such a fun job!"

By next morning (a Tuesday--remember?) both Steve Lombard and Metropolis are back to normal. The swamp blight is over, but the Metropolis Saniatation Department is working nonstop to clean away the muck from the streets. Clark watches them from his window and wonders what would have happened if Grundy had been right, and an Earth-One Grundy DID exist. As the swamp water pours into the sewers of Metropolis, a closing caption says that maybe someday soon we'll know... and maybe Solomon Grundy simply arrived TOO EARLY....

******

This was one of the dozen-or-so earliest Superman stories I read. Although I didn't know it at the time, it began a gradual shift in the storytelling of the main SUPERMAN title. Julius Schwartz moved the tag-team of Bates and Maggin off the book (Bates stayed with ACTION COMICS and Maggin disappeared from writing for a few years) and brought in two newer writers: Gerry Conway and Martin Pasko. I'm sure we'll get to Pasko a lot more eventually. Conway, although he never became the "regular" writer on any Superman book, continued to write many Superman stories well into the Eighties.

Conway was lured from several successful years at Marvel, and I think he brought a lot of Marvel sensibility to the book. While hero vs. villain battles at DC tended to resemble a choreographed dance or a super-chess match, with both hero and villain using their powers in (at times unneccessarily) creative ways, Conway was more at home with Marvel-style battles and two opponents slugging it out. I think that, as long as you view your comics as good old fashioned escapism, both approaches can be fun. Like Denny O'Neil, Conway never seemed quite comfortable with Superman's planet-flinging level of strength, but, while Denny felt compelled to actually reduce the Man of Steel's power, Conway simply tended to downplay it enough to give his opponents a chance. (Or maybe Conway just got sloppy a lot plotwise. Or both.) Conway's Superman, though, was no dummy. He simply tended to rely on his common sense and logic, instead of a byzantine, Weisinger-esque scheme relying on some pseudo-scientific lore, to win his battles. This is illustrated here where Superman meets an enemy who has him completely outclassed on a physical level. At first he tries slugging it out, resulting in some dynamic fight scenes, but by being observant he soon figures out a way to triumph that the reader him(or her)self probably would have come up with.

Also, the use of ongoing subplots and slightly tighter, issue-to-issue continuity that had mostly been discarded since the early 70s Sandman Saga returned with #301, although this took awhile. Samuel Simeon, Terri's interest in Clark, the spawning of Earth-One Grundys, and especially SKULL(who Martin Pasko would soon make a constant thorn in Superman's side) would all be followed up on to one degree or another in the next year. Possibly Julie noticed that this kind of stuff was successful at Marvel and decided to try it again; within the next few years, it was standard on most DC books, and by the 80s it was pretty much required.

Another shift is on the artistic side. Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez does his first major Superman work here and proves he is one of the best artistic discoveries of the later 70s. It was the Garcia-Lopez design for DC's icons that soon became omnipresent in their merchandising. For a decade, when a kid bought a lunchbox or a coloring book or a T-shirt featuring Superman or Batman or Wonder Woman, it was based on the Garcia-Lopez version. His characters looked both human and larger than life. He brought a dynamism to drawing Superman that, while not at all lacking in Curt Swan, was more direct and obvious. His pages had power. Swan was an extremely versatile artist, and the ultimate visualizer of Superman, but when I think of Swan I tend to think of medium shots and occasional close-ups or over-the-shoulder angles, rooted in the traditional Silver Age artistic sensibilities. His Superman brings to mind a seasoned adult in his mid-30s. Jose's characters practically burst off the page because of his extreme use of forced perspective; creative layouts and border design; wide angle shots; and detailed, accurate anatomy and backgrounds. Earlier artists of Jose's generation, like Neal Adams and Mike Grell, had subtracted years from Superman's appearance, but Jose's barely looks 25 to me. And he added not just youth but muscle. Swan's Superman is an athlete; Garcia-Lopez's is a bodybuilder. Yet he still seems sleek and agile in battle and in flight. (Today's Superman, in contrast to the "athlete" and the "bodybuilder", is a steroid-saturated "East German Olympic Committee medical experiment".)

Like almost every 70s artist, JLGL was obviously influenced by Neal Adams, but he also combined this influence with the sensuality of European and Latin American artists and was able to make scenes seem equally dramatic in, I think, a more natural way. (Adams' photorealistic approach was terrific but his figures often seemed to be striking deliberate poses. )

posted June 16, 2002 01:25 AM    

quote:

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Posted by India Ink:
and then the pink credit caption:

A DC QUALITY MAGAZINE
EDITED BY: JULIUS SCHWARTZ
WRITTEN BY: ELLIOT S! MAGGIN
ART BY: CURT SWAN &
BOB OKSNER

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That whole credit caption is missing from my splash page.

Thanks, C-Op and India, for the info.

posted June 16, 2002 01:36 AM    

quote:

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Posted by C-Op:
He recalls how, in the studio earlier, he grabbed Steve Lombard at invisible super-speed and zapped him with super-hypnotism, making him believe that HE was Clark Kent. Then, Superman "applied a liberal amount of MAKE-UP and a VOICE-MODIFIER to complete the job" on Steve's disguise.

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This is the piece of abysmal S*H*I*T that relegates this comic to near the bottom of the whole Superman comic book realm. It's what makes this comic one of my LEAST favourite Superman comics.

This tripe should never have made it past the editor.

There's another tale I'd have to find amongst my collection (it may also be written by G.C.) where Kent interviews Superman in front of a TV camera in a mocked-up set (Superman has been enlarged to giant size), and the reason he can do this is he is moving back and forth between each identity (including, of course, changing clothes) at super-speed, making it seem to the human eye that Kent and Superman are, in fact, sitting together in the room.

posted June 16, 2002 02:04 PM    

For a while the credit captions on DC stories often said "A DC QUALITY MAGAZINE" with the DC in a circle like the DC bullet at that time.

Yes the "Bogus Batman" had the back-flip in the story--inked by Blaisdell.

Thinking about inkers like Blaisdell, et al, I went looking through my comics last night, compiling data on what inkers worked on what issues. So far I've only compiled a list for Action, which only covers the issues from 393 - 502, Oct. 1970 - Dec. 1979. I've yet to go through my issues of Superman.

Some interesting things came to light. I realized that I misremember a lot! I've pretty much believed that Anderson inked Swan for a couple of years, then Colletta for maybe a year, then Oksner. And then after a shortish gap, Chiaramonte. Not true. And I seem to have completely forgotten just HOW MUCH of Swan's work was inked by Tex Blaisdell (at least in Action--as I say, I've yet to compile data on Superman).

For most of these issues, of course, Curt Swan was the penciller on the lead story. The team of Anderson and Swan begins with 393, Oct. '70. I don't have complete data for much of the Action run prior to that, but I know that George Roussos inked Swan on most of the stories that Curt pencilled in 1970. The two issues prior to 393 have no Swan art except on the covers, which are inked by Anderson (the lead stories in 391-392 are a Super-Sons two-parter with art by Andru and Esposito, while the Legion appears in the back-ups illustrated by artists I've yet to determine). But with 393, Oct. '70, Swan began a run as penciller on the lead (always a Superman story) that went uninterrupted through issue 473, July '77!

If you count cover art, since Swan pencilled the covers for issues preceding 393, then Swan did art on Action for an uninterupted run that went back much further in time--since I don't have a complete collection going back into the sixties, I couldn't even guess how long that streak lasted!

But on issues 474-476, Schaffenberger was the penciller. Swan returns on 477--484 (484 is the 40th anniversary, June 1978 issue), 485 has a framing sequence by Swan and Rubinstein around the story from Superman 233 (by Swan and Anderson). George Tuska pencils the lead story in 486. Then Swan finishes the decade from 487 through 502, Sept. '78 - Dec. '79.

For inkers on the lead story, pencilled by Swan (unless otherwise noted), it breaks down like this for issues 393-502: