This episode is a week late because I had a cold Christmas week, but this story is more appropriate for New Year's than Christmas. The Adventures Of Superman #474, cover dated January 1991, was published on November 28, 1990. It contained 32 pages and sold for $1.00. The Superman editor was Mike Carlin at this time. The cover was pencilled by Dan Jurgens, who also wrote and pencilled the story, and was inked by Art Thibert, who also inked the story. The letterer was Albert De Guzman and the colorist was Glenn Whitmore. There is no reprint information available for this story.
Face To Face With Yesterday opened with Superman flying toward Lowell County Hospital in Kansas. The front page of the Small County Bulletin blew by in the winter wind. The top headline stated, Judge Rules In Right To Die Case.
Clark Kent walked into the hospital and inquired at the Information Booth about the location of patient Scott Brubaker's room. He was directed to the fourth floor Special Care Unit. A middle aged nurse at the booth recognized Clark and commented on his involvement in the tragedy that landed Brubaker in the hospital. Apparently the newspaper headline referred to Scott's parents, as the other hospital employee remembered that they had made an unspecified decision. At the fourth floor nurse's station he was directed to Brubaker's room. Clark paused at the door and flashed back to high school football practice. Pete Ross got clobbered when doing a running back drill, then Clark proceeded to run through the defense until Scott Brubaker, who was the last defender, tackled Clark. Scott commented that he almost thought Clark let him tackle him, but thanked him for sparing the defense from having to run wind sprints.
Clark opened the door and introduced himself to Scott's parents, who at first thought Clark was there for a newspaper story. He assured them that an article was the last thing on his mind. He was only there to say goodbye before Scott died. His parents had finally decided to pull the plug and had taken their case to court.
Clark flashed back to that afternoon after football practice years earlier, when Scott, "a towner" gave Clark and Pete, two "farm boys" a ride home. Scott was smoking a cigarette, and had a bad boy vibe. In the hospital room the Brubakers and Clark begin to open up to each other about their regrets about the tragedy that landed Scott in a coma. On New Year's Eve years ago Clark, Pete and Lana were invited to Scott's house for a party, which he hid from his parents. They were celebrating the new year with their friends and had no idea what their son had planned. Lana aked Clark to keep an eye on Pete, who seemed too eager to fit in. Inside were all of Scott's frineds drinking from a beer keg, who looked down on the farm kids who had joined their party. Eventually Clark gave in to Pete's pressure took a glass of beer.
Three hours later the party had begun to wind down and everyone, including Pete and Lana were drunk, but not Clark. Scott offered to drive them home, but Clark offered to drive since Scott was also drunk. Scott refused, because noone but he drove his car. During the drive he offered some whiskey after taking a swig himself. Scott ran a stop sign, forcing a car to run into a fire hydrant. Further down the road Scott drifted over to the wrong lane and crashed head on into a semi and came to a stop against a tree. Clark ws the first to crawl from the wreck and pulled out Lana and Pete. They were alright, but Scott was unconscious. He would never wake up.
In the hospital room Clark confided to the Brubakers that he felt the accident was his fault for not forcing Scott to let him drive. The Brubakers refused to allow Clark to accept the blame. Unaware of his secret identity, they reminded Clark that he had darnk at the party and may not have been as sober as he thought.
Clark's thoughts flashed back to that night years ago, when he had to face his parents over the party and the accident. Clark commented how he didn't feel the force of the impact. Pa Kent brushed it off as luck. This may have been before they came to realize that Clark was developing special abilities.
Before he paid his final respects to Scott he told the Brubakers that the tragedy had a profound impact on him. It taught him that he always had to do the right thing. The world was full of tragedies, and an individual had to keep as many from happening as possible. They thanked Clark for paying his final respects to their son, and assured him that they did not hold Clark responsible for the accident that destroyed their son's life.
As Clark left the hospital he saw a drunk couple walking to their car to drive to another New Year's party. As Superman flew away, the man was shocked to find his tires melted during a snowstorm. One less tragedy.
What I liked about this story was that, while it was another "message" story, this time about drunk driving, it's not heavy handed with platitudes but let the story itself make the point. It showed Clark not being perfect without becoming Emo Clark (We've had enought of that with Smallville). Teen-aged Clark seemed more of a real person, having to learn from his mistakes, as opposed to the silver age Superboy stories when Clark was almost perfect.
Next episode: Superman: The Year In Review!
Christmas Week: A double feature: Superman #64 Metropolis Mailbag & The Adventures Of Superman #487 Christmas In Suicide Slum.
Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com .
Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comics Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com.
My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/ . Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com .
Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanpodcast.
Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics.
Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Episode #105: Superman Vs Captain Marvel!
The reason I chose this topic for the episode was because, on December 14, 1972, DC Comics published its first Captain Marvel comic book with Shazan #1, cover dated February 1973. On the cover Superman introduced this new addition to DC's superhero pantheon. Captain Marvel was not created by DC, however. He was created by Fawcett Comics a few years after Superman's creation spawned the superhero genre and a legion of imitators.
DC, then known as Detective Comics, was quick to defend their smash hit superhero from all copycasts they deemed copyright infringements. One of the earliest was Wonder Man, published by Victor Fox's studio. Wonder Man was actually created by the Eisner & Iger comic book packaging house. DC took Fox to court, which ruled in DC's favor, and Wonder Man was retired after only one issue. DC also sued Fawcett over their character Master Man. He lasted six issues in his own title before Fawcett dropped him in the face of legal action, replacing him with Bulletman in Master Comics beginning with the seventh issue.
Captain Marvel was created by writer Bill Parker and artist C. C. Beck, and based the Captain's facial features on the actor Fred MacMurray. Originally called Captain Thunder, he was published in two ashcan editions, Flash Comics and Thrilling Comics, both #1's, for establishing copyright. (An ashcan is a publication that is printed in limited copies for legal reasons like establishing copyright, and is usually not widely distributed.) Fawcett found that they could not copyright Captain Thunder, Flash or Thrilling Comics because those names were already in use. Fawcett renamed their character Captain Marvel and he first appeared in Whiz Comics #2, so numbered because it followed the numbering of the original ashcan edition. Jack Kirby and Joe Simon helped produce the stories for Captain Marvel Adventures #1, and then the Fawcett staff produced the stories for subsequent issues.
The World's Mightiest Mortal, as Captain Marvel was called, quickly became Fawcett's flagship character, and became the best selling comic book superhero ever, by most accounts. That may have been one reason that DC filed suit against Fawcett over Captain Marvel, beginning with a cease and desist letter, in June 1941. The Big Red Cheese's popularity (as Captain Marvel was also known) was probably why Fawcett decided to fight DC in court instead of dropping the character, as they had done Master Man.
While both Superman and Captain Marvel are superheros with powers, costumes and capes, many of their superpowers are different. While Superman's powers were based in science fiction, Captain Marvel's abilities were based on magic. As noted in the beginning of Superman #1, Superman could leap an eighth of a mile, lift tremendous weights, run faster than a speeding train, and nothing less than a bursting shell could pierce his skin.
Billy Batson was Captain Marvel's human identity, who became the world's mightiest mortal by shouting the magic word SHAZAM!
S: the wisdom of Solomon
H: the strength of Hercules
A: the stamina of Atlas
Z: the power of Zeus
A: the courage of Achilles
M: the speed of Mercury.
In September of 1941 Detective Comics filed a lawsuit against Fawcett Comics. Legal action ensued until 1948, when the case went to trial. DC's case focused on the similarities between Superman and Captain Marvel, super strength, speed, invulnerability, a skin tight costume with a cape and a news reporter secret identity. Fawcett highlighted the differences between the two characters. Captain Marvel's alter ego waa child, not an adult, his powers were magic based, not science fiction. The ruling was a mixed result for both companies. While Fawcett was found in violation of Superman's copyright, but DC was found to have lost Superman's copyright because some of the Superman comic strips had not been copyrighted.
Detective Comics appealed the decision in 1951 to the U. S. Court of Appeals 2nd Circuit, presided by Judge Learned Hand, one of the most quoted lower court judges in U. S. legal history. IN 1952 Judge Hand upheld the violation of copyright ruling but rejected the other ruling that DC had allowed its Superman copyright to lapse. He sent the case back to the trial judge for an assessment of damages.
Fawcett instead decided to settle the case instead of fighting it further. Perhaps one overriding reason was the fall of the popularity of superhero comics in favor of other genres. Fawcett agreed to pay DC $400,000.00 in damages and agreed to stop publishing Captain Marvel comic books. The supporting character Hoppy the Marvel Bunny was sold to Charlton Comics and became Hoppy the Magic Bunny. Fawcett closed its comic book publishing business entirely, focusing on its magazine publishing division and expanding into the growing paperback book market of the 1950's. Captain Marvel's last appearances were in Captain Marvel Adventures #150, November 1953, published around November 7, 1953, and Marvel Family #89, January 1954, published around January 7, 1954. The world's mightiest mortal would disappear for the rest of the 1950's and the entire decade of the 1960's.
In the U. K., the British publisher of black and white Captain Marvel reprints adapted the character into Marvelman, which has had his own tangled legal history, and was in turn reprinted in the States as Miracleman. Earlier in 2009 the U. S. rights were bought by Marvel Comics. There is no news yet about any Miracleman reprints through Marvel.
In 1972 DC licensed Captain Marvel from Fawcett. However, in 1967, through a legal loophole, Marvel trademarked the name Captain Marvel and began publishing their own version of the hero, which probably was more similar to Superman than Fawcett version, since he was an alien from another world who had traveled to Earth as an adult. While DC could still call the character Captain Marvel, they could not publish him in a comic book with the same name. That is how Shazam #1 came to be published. The series ran for 35 issues until 1978 and would reprint some of the original Fawcett stories from the 1940's - 1950's. In 1980 DC bought the character from Fawcett outright, and in 1987 pubished the mini-series Shazam: The New Beginning. These first DC Captain Marvel stories have been reprinted in two editions, Shazam: The Greatest Stories Ever Told and Showcase Presents: Shazam! vol. I.
Captain Marvel would never become as popular for DC as he had been for Fawcett, but has continued to be a recurring member of DC's pantheon ever since, through various versions of his own title and Justice League.
Superman and Captain Marvel did battle in the comic book pages, decades before the mini-series Kingdom Come. But the conflict was not printed in a comic book published by either DC or Fawcett Comics. That honor went to Mad Magazine #4, April/May 1953. I bought a reprint of the story in Tales Calculated To Drive You Mad #2, Winter 1997. DC Comics, which now owns Mad Magazine, has reprinted it in a hardbound edition in Mad Archive, Vol. I, which collected the first six issues of Mad. To read the story on the internet go to: http://kitscomics.com/captain/34.htm.
For any updated information about reprint editions to Captain Marvel, Marvelman or Miracleman, or Superman go to the Collected Comics Library podcast and blog at http://www.collectedcomicslibrary.com/.
Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League Of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comics Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com./
Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com .
My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/ . Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com .
Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanpodcast.
Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics.
Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
DC, then known as Detective Comics, was quick to defend their smash hit superhero from all copycasts they deemed copyright infringements. One of the earliest was Wonder Man, published by Victor Fox's studio. Wonder Man was actually created by the Eisner & Iger comic book packaging house. DC took Fox to court, which ruled in DC's favor, and Wonder Man was retired after only one issue. DC also sued Fawcett over their character Master Man. He lasted six issues in his own title before Fawcett dropped him in the face of legal action, replacing him with Bulletman in Master Comics beginning with the seventh issue.
Captain Marvel was created by writer Bill Parker and artist C. C. Beck, and based the Captain's facial features on the actor Fred MacMurray. Originally called Captain Thunder, he was published in two ashcan editions, Flash Comics and Thrilling Comics, both #1's, for establishing copyright. (An ashcan is a publication that is printed in limited copies for legal reasons like establishing copyright, and is usually not widely distributed.) Fawcett found that they could not copyright Captain Thunder, Flash or Thrilling Comics because those names were already in use. Fawcett renamed their character Captain Marvel and he first appeared in Whiz Comics #2, so numbered because it followed the numbering of the original ashcan edition. Jack Kirby and Joe Simon helped produce the stories for Captain Marvel Adventures #1, and then the Fawcett staff produced the stories for subsequent issues.
The World's Mightiest Mortal, as Captain Marvel was called, quickly became Fawcett's flagship character, and became the best selling comic book superhero ever, by most accounts. That may have been one reason that DC filed suit against Fawcett over Captain Marvel, beginning with a cease and desist letter, in June 1941. The Big Red Cheese's popularity (as Captain Marvel was also known) was probably why Fawcett decided to fight DC in court instead of dropping the character, as they had done Master Man.
While both Superman and Captain Marvel are superheros with powers, costumes and capes, many of their superpowers are different. While Superman's powers were based in science fiction, Captain Marvel's abilities were based on magic. As noted in the beginning of Superman #1, Superman could leap an eighth of a mile, lift tremendous weights, run faster than a speeding train, and nothing less than a bursting shell could pierce his skin.
Billy Batson was Captain Marvel's human identity, who became the world's mightiest mortal by shouting the magic word SHAZAM!
S: the wisdom of Solomon
H: the strength of Hercules
A: the stamina of Atlas
Z: the power of Zeus
A: the courage of Achilles
M: the speed of Mercury.
In September of 1941 Detective Comics filed a lawsuit against Fawcett Comics. Legal action ensued until 1948, when the case went to trial. DC's case focused on the similarities between Superman and Captain Marvel, super strength, speed, invulnerability, a skin tight costume with a cape and a news reporter secret identity. Fawcett highlighted the differences between the two characters. Captain Marvel's alter ego waa child, not an adult, his powers were magic based, not science fiction. The ruling was a mixed result for both companies. While Fawcett was found in violation of Superman's copyright, but DC was found to have lost Superman's copyright because some of the Superman comic strips had not been copyrighted.
Detective Comics appealed the decision in 1951 to the U. S. Court of Appeals 2nd Circuit, presided by Judge Learned Hand, one of the most quoted lower court judges in U. S. legal history. IN 1952 Judge Hand upheld the violation of copyright ruling but rejected the other ruling that DC had allowed its Superman copyright to lapse. He sent the case back to the trial judge for an assessment of damages.
Fawcett instead decided to settle the case instead of fighting it further. Perhaps one overriding reason was the fall of the popularity of superhero comics in favor of other genres. Fawcett agreed to pay DC $400,000.00 in damages and agreed to stop publishing Captain Marvel comic books. The supporting character Hoppy the Marvel Bunny was sold to Charlton Comics and became Hoppy the Magic Bunny. Fawcett closed its comic book publishing business entirely, focusing on its magazine publishing division and expanding into the growing paperback book market of the 1950's. Captain Marvel's last appearances were in Captain Marvel Adventures #150, November 1953, published around November 7, 1953, and Marvel Family #89, January 1954, published around January 7, 1954. The world's mightiest mortal would disappear for the rest of the 1950's and the entire decade of the 1960's.
In the U. K., the British publisher of black and white Captain Marvel reprints adapted the character into Marvelman, which has had his own tangled legal history, and was in turn reprinted in the States as Miracleman. Earlier in 2009 the U. S. rights were bought by Marvel Comics. There is no news yet about any Miracleman reprints through Marvel.
In 1972 DC licensed Captain Marvel from Fawcett. However, in 1967, through a legal loophole, Marvel trademarked the name Captain Marvel and began publishing their own version of the hero, which probably was more similar to Superman than Fawcett version, since he was an alien from another world who had traveled to Earth as an adult. While DC could still call the character Captain Marvel, they could not publish him in a comic book with the same name. That is how Shazam #1 came to be published. The series ran for 35 issues until 1978 and would reprint some of the original Fawcett stories from the 1940's - 1950's. In 1980 DC bought the character from Fawcett outright, and in 1987 pubished the mini-series Shazam: The New Beginning. These first DC Captain Marvel stories have been reprinted in two editions, Shazam: The Greatest Stories Ever Told and Showcase Presents: Shazam! vol. I.
Captain Marvel would never become as popular for DC as he had been for Fawcett, but has continued to be a recurring member of DC's pantheon ever since, through various versions of his own title and Justice League.
Superman and Captain Marvel did battle in the comic book pages, decades before the mini-series Kingdom Come. But the conflict was not printed in a comic book published by either DC or Fawcett Comics. That honor went to Mad Magazine #4, April/May 1953. I bought a reprint of the story in Tales Calculated To Drive You Mad #2, Winter 1997. DC Comics, which now owns Mad Magazine, has reprinted it in a hardbound edition in Mad Archive, Vol. I, which collected the first six issues of Mad. To read the story on the internet go to: http://kitscomics.com/captain/34.htm.
For any updated information about reprint editions to Captain Marvel, Marvelman or Miracleman, or Superman go to the Collected Comics Library podcast and blog at http://www.collectedcomicslibrary.com/.
Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League Of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comics Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com./
Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com .
My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/ . Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com .
Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanpodcast.
Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics.
Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Episode #104: Superman In Exile, Part V: End Of Exile!
This episode concludes our look at the Superman In Exile storyline in the Superman line of DC titles from 1989, which was published by DC Comics in the trade paperback Superman:Exile.
NOTE: For the previous parts of this series refer to the following episodes:
#66: Superman In The Pocket Universe!
#69: Superman Goes Gangbusters!
Superman Fan Podcast Special Blog: Superman In Exile Checklist!, posted on April 25, 2009, lists all of the issues discussed in this series of podcasts so you can read them for yourself!
#71: Superman In Exile, Part I, Free Comic Book Day & The State Of Superman Comics!
#72: Superman In Exile, Part II & Free Comic Book Day!
#90: Superman In Exile, Part III!
#103: Superman In Exile, Part IV: Action Comics Annual #2, 1989!
The Superman issues that will be discussed in this episode are:
Cover dated June 1989:
Superman #32 and The Adventures Of Superman #455.
Cover dated July 1989:
Superman #33, The Adventures Of Superman #456 and Action Comics #643 (its first monthly issue since the end of Action Comics Weekly). The editor for all of these issues was Mike Carlin.
Superman #32, June, 1989, published on April 18, 1989, cover price 75 cents. The cover was pencilled by Kerry Gammil and inked by Dennis Janke.
Gladiator was written by Roger Stern, pencilled by Kerry Gammil, inked by Dennis Janke, lettered by John Costanza and colored by Glenn Whitmore. Listed as co-conspirators (plotters?) were Jerry Ordway and George Perez.
The issue opened with a brief history of Warworld and its ruler, Mongul. Warworld conquered star systems to grow its empire, killed the intellectuals and enslaved the strong for their gladiator games. Then there was a brief recap about how Superman was captured and brought to Warworld, and forced to become a gladiator. The story begins at the conclusion of Action Comics Annual #2, when Superman defeated Mongul's champion Draaga but refused to kill his opponent, as he had refused to do in all of his other gladiator battles. Mongul answered Superman's defiance by teleporting to the arena planet to kill both Superman and Draaga himself. After being knocked back by Mongul, Superman keeps the dictator from killing Draaga. This impressed the Cleric, who followed the battle through his telepathic link with Superman. Mongul finally knocked out Superman and ordered some soldiers to take the Man of Steel and Draaga to a prison cell on Warworld. The Cleric decided to rescue Superman from certain death at the hands of Mongul.
In Metropolis Matrix, who has shapeshifted to look like Clark Kent, woke up from sleeping on an apartment building doorstep. Matrix/Clark was found by Jimmy Olsen, who believed that Clark's confusion came at the hands of Intergang in revenge for his expose on the criminal organization. Jimmy hailed a taxi to get Clark off the street before Intergang could attack Clark again.
Superman and Draaga were shackled on Warworld. Superman melted the ray gun that Mongul was going to kill Draaga with, then broke out of his bonds to knock out Mongul in their rematch. But when Superman turned his back to release Draaga from his chains Mongul revived and zapped Superman with his energy weapon on his chestplate. Draaga thought Superman had been disintegrated and Mongul acted dishonorably, which fueled his own rebellion from his ruler.
The Adventures Of Superman #455, June 1989, April 25, 1989. The cover artist was Jerry Ordway.
Heritage was written by Jerry Ordway, pencilled by Dan Jurgens, inked by Art Thibert, lettered by Albert DeGuzman and colored by Glenn Whitmore. Jonathan Peterson was the assistant editor on this and the following issues discussed in this episode.
Riots erupted all over Warworld because of Mongul's interference with the gladiator games. The destruction was of grave concern to the Overseers, who are revealed for the first time in this issue. Their ancestors built the artificial Warworld, and they were concerned that if the riots lasted long enough the damage would be too much to repair. The history of the alliance between the Overseers and Mongul was revealed. Theirs was a match made in hell, Mongul's desire to rule an empire and the Overseers desire to commandeer worlds to develop (asquire)technologies. They wished Draaga could survive because he would serve them better now instead of Mongul as the figurehead ruler of Warworld.
At the Cleric's asteroid, he awakened Superman, who recognized the Eradicator from his earlier telepathic link with the Cleric. The Cellkeeper returned to his duties on Warworld, and to see to the safety of Lentra, leaving the Cleric and Superman in private.
Jimy Olsen took Matrix/Clark Kent to Inspector Henderson's office at the Metropolis Police Department. Lois called Henderson's office in return to Jimmy's call and spoke briefly to Clark. Cat Grant went to Lois' apartment and revealed that she was Clark's inside source to Morgan Edge's connection with Intergang.
The Cellkeeper returned to the chaos of Warworld (we saw an alien wearing Superman's boots), only to find Lentra's dead body holding Superman's superhero uniform. She had been killed by Mongul who pounced on the Cellkeeper. He was saved by Draaga, who fought Mongul to regain his honor and become the new ruler of Warworld, as promised by the Overseers.
On the secluded asteroid Superman bonded with the Eradicator. His skimpy gladiator garb was transformed to the then traditional Kryptonian clothing, influenced by the Cleric's desire to atone for his past guilt in a small way.
Dragga's battle with Mongul continued until Draaga ripped the weapon off Mongul's chest, as the Overseers had revealed Mongul's secret to him. The apparatus actually helped keep Mongul alive. Mongul snatched it out of Draaga's hand and escaped in a spaceship.
Superman touched the Eradicator again and his Kryptonian costume was transformed to his Superman costume, complete with cape.
Superman #33, July 1989, May 25, 1989. The cover was pencilled by Kerry Gammil and inked by Dennis Janke.
Two Destinies was written by Roger Stern, pencilled by Kerry Gammil, inked by Dennis Janke, lettered by John Costanza and lettered by Glenn Whitmore.
Draaga, the new figurehead ruler of Warworld, demanded that Superman be found so that they could battle and Draaga could regain his honor either by victory or his own death. The Overseers ignored his order and reminded him who really ran Warworld. Their concern was to restore order on Warworld and do an inspection tour of their empire to concolidate their power. As Warworld moved out of the star system to jupm into hyperspace Superman attempted to catch up with the artificial world. Warworld flew into hyperspace before Superman could catch it, so he had to return to the asteroid.
On Earth, Luthor had the Milton Fine Brainiac, still kept unconscious medically, finally settled in at the Rocky Mountain facility he had bought from S.T.A.R. Labs through a takeover attempt, setting up a future storyline in the Superman titles.
On the asteroid, the Cellkeeper had improvised a set of reflectors to focus the local star's sunlight onto Superman to recharge his superpowers.
In Kansas Ma and Pa Kent made final preparations to leave the farm and search for Matrix/Clark, when she/he called them from Perry White's office. The Planet staff thought Clark had been brainwashed by Intergang.
Then he and the Cleric telepathically link with each other through the Eradicator and relive each other's darkest moments, from the Cleric's shame at the accidental deaths of his Kryptonian followers to Superman's remorse at executing the Kryptonian criminals from the pocket universe. The Cleric identified with Superman's remorse, but reminded the Man of Steel that his exile had deprived his planet of their greatest hero. He then encouraged Superman to take sole possession of the Eradicator. When Superman did, the Cleric collapsed and aged rapidly. Since the Cleric now longer physically possessed the Eradicator, it no longer preserved his life as it did over the eons. The Cleric's last request before his death was to see Superman's beardless face. Superman took a panel from the Eradicator to reflect his heat vision and shave his beard. After the Cleric's death Superman buried him on the asteroid and carved a Superman"S" on the headstone.
The Adventures Of Superman #456, July 1989, June 1, 1989. The cover artist was Jerry Ordway.
Redemption was plotted by Jerry Ordway, written and pencilled by Dan Jurgens, inked by Art Thibert, lettered by Albert De Guzman and colored by Glenn Whitmore.
The issue opened with Superman paying his final respects to the late Cleric and saying goodbye to the Cellkeeper. The Man of Steel then used the Eradicator to teleport himself back to Earth.
In Metropolis, after Morgan Edge got a medical examination in his GBS office, he received a secret call from Mannheim, head of Intergang. He informed Edge that he was sending Turmoil to deal with the Daily Planet reporters who wrote their Intergang expose.
At the Kent farm Ma and Pa Kent are releived that Matrix/Clark is being cared for by the Daily Planet staff, but can't help but wonder about their adopted son somewhere in outer space.
Matrix was sitting in a Metropolis park, eating Bib Belly burgers, when he was attacked by the giant robot Turmoil. He is found by Cat Grant, who called Professor Hamilton. Jose Delgado, wearing the LexCorp armor as his new Gangbuster costume, left Hamilton's lab to go to the rescue. Gangbuster met Turmoil as it attacked Lois Lane. They became trapped in the rubble of a building destroyed by Turmoil. Lex Luthor, in his LexCorp office, was notified by his new Rocky Mountain facility that Brainiac had awakened and kept repeating, "He's back!", referring to Superman.
The final issue of this storyline was published in Action Comics #643, July 1989, June 8, 1989. The cover was an homage to Joe Shuster's cover to Superman #1 in 1939, drawn by George Perez.
Superman On Earth was written and pencilled by George Perez, inked by Brett Breeding, lettered by Bill Oakley and colored by Glenn Whitmore.
As the title suggested, Superman returned to Earth and landed on the Daily Planet roof. He took a few minutes to soak in the sights, sounds and smells of Earth before being reunited with the Daily Planet staff. He flies off before Cat Grant can bring Matrix/Clark Kent to meet him. Luthor sees Superman flying over Metropolis once again, just as the Milton Fine Brainiac warned. Superman returned to his Clark kent apartment, placed the Eradicator on a shelf, and took a much needed shower.
Lois called the Daily Planet office from her car phone, under the rubble of a collapsed building. After the building collapsed further she stayed by Jose Delgado's side, as he was trapped in the rubble.
Before he can finish his shower, Superman was summoned by Jimy Olsen's emergency watch. He battled and destroyed Turmoil, rescued Lois and Jose, and found Morgan Edge for the hat trick. Instead of taking Edge to prison, he had to take him to a hospital after he had a heart attack.
It was revealed that instead of Darkseid being the ultimate head of Intergang, it was a disguised Desaad.
At the end of the day Clark Kent returned to his apartment to find his front door open. Before he could enter, an explosion occurred inside, where he found the unconscious Matrix/Clark holding the Eradicator. This story would be continued in Superman #34.
Next episode: Superman Vs. Captain Marvel!
Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comcs Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com./
Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com .
My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/ . Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com .
Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanpodcast.
Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics.
Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
NOTE: For the previous parts of this series refer to the following episodes:
#66: Superman In The Pocket Universe!
#69: Superman Goes Gangbusters!
Superman Fan Podcast Special Blog: Superman In Exile Checklist!, posted on April 25, 2009, lists all of the issues discussed in this series of podcasts so you can read them for yourself!
#71: Superman In Exile, Part I, Free Comic Book Day & The State Of Superman Comics!
#72: Superman In Exile, Part II & Free Comic Book Day!
#90: Superman In Exile, Part III!
#103: Superman In Exile, Part IV: Action Comics Annual #2, 1989!
The Superman issues that will be discussed in this episode are:
Cover dated June 1989:
Superman #32 and The Adventures Of Superman #455.
Cover dated July 1989:
Superman #33, The Adventures Of Superman #456 and Action Comics #643 (its first monthly issue since the end of Action Comics Weekly). The editor for all of these issues was Mike Carlin.
Superman #32, June, 1989, published on April 18, 1989, cover price 75 cents. The cover was pencilled by Kerry Gammil and inked by Dennis Janke.
Gladiator was written by Roger Stern, pencilled by Kerry Gammil, inked by Dennis Janke, lettered by John Costanza and colored by Glenn Whitmore. Listed as co-conspirators (plotters?) were Jerry Ordway and George Perez.
The issue opened with a brief history of Warworld and its ruler, Mongul. Warworld conquered star systems to grow its empire, killed the intellectuals and enslaved the strong for their gladiator games. Then there was a brief recap about how Superman was captured and brought to Warworld, and forced to become a gladiator. The story begins at the conclusion of Action Comics Annual #2, when Superman defeated Mongul's champion Draaga but refused to kill his opponent, as he had refused to do in all of his other gladiator battles. Mongul answered Superman's defiance by teleporting to the arena planet to kill both Superman and Draaga himself. After being knocked back by Mongul, Superman keeps the dictator from killing Draaga. This impressed the Cleric, who followed the battle through his telepathic link with Superman. Mongul finally knocked out Superman and ordered some soldiers to take the Man of Steel and Draaga to a prison cell on Warworld. The Cleric decided to rescue Superman from certain death at the hands of Mongul.
In Metropolis Matrix, who has shapeshifted to look like Clark Kent, woke up from sleeping on an apartment building doorstep. Matrix/Clark was found by Jimmy Olsen, who believed that Clark's confusion came at the hands of Intergang in revenge for his expose on the criminal organization. Jimmy hailed a taxi to get Clark off the street before Intergang could attack Clark again.
Superman and Draaga were shackled on Warworld. Superman melted the ray gun that Mongul was going to kill Draaga with, then broke out of his bonds to knock out Mongul in their rematch. But when Superman turned his back to release Draaga from his chains Mongul revived and zapped Superman with his energy weapon on his chestplate. Draaga thought Superman had been disintegrated and Mongul acted dishonorably, which fueled his own rebellion from his ruler.
The Adventures Of Superman #455, June 1989, April 25, 1989. The cover artist was Jerry Ordway.
Heritage was written by Jerry Ordway, pencilled by Dan Jurgens, inked by Art Thibert, lettered by Albert DeGuzman and colored by Glenn Whitmore. Jonathan Peterson was the assistant editor on this and the following issues discussed in this episode.
Riots erupted all over Warworld because of Mongul's interference with the gladiator games. The destruction was of grave concern to the Overseers, who are revealed for the first time in this issue. Their ancestors built the artificial Warworld, and they were concerned that if the riots lasted long enough the damage would be too much to repair. The history of the alliance between the Overseers and Mongul was revealed. Theirs was a match made in hell, Mongul's desire to rule an empire and the Overseers desire to commandeer worlds to develop (asquire)technologies. They wished Draaga could survive because he would serve them better now instead of Mongul as the figurehead ruler of Warworld.
At the Cleric's asteroid, he awakened Superman, who recognized the Eradicator from his earlier telepathic link with the Cleric. The Cellkeeper returned to his duties on Warworld, and to see to the safety of Lentra, leaving the Cleric and Superman in private.
Jimy Olsen took Matrix/Clark Kent to Inspector Henderson's office at the Metropolis Police Department. Lois called Henderson's office in return to Jimmy's call and spoke briefly to Clark. Cat Grant went to Lois' apartment and revealed that she was Clark's inside source to Morgan Edge's connection with Intergang.
The Cellkeeper returned to the chaos of Warworld (we saw an alien wearing Superman's boots), only to find Lentra's dead body holding Superman's superhero uniform. She had been killed by Mongul who pounced on the Cellkeeper. He was saved by Draaga, who fought Mongul to regain his honor and become the new ruler of Warworld, as promised by the Overseers.
On the secluded asteroid Superman bonded with the Eradicator. His skimpy gladiator garb was transformed to the then traditional Kryptonian clothing, influenced by the Cleric's desire to atone for his past guilt in a small way.
Dragga's battle with Mongul continued until Draaga ripped the weapon off Mongul's chest, as the Overseers had revealed Mongul's secret to him. The apparatus actually helped keep Mongul alive. Mongul snatched it out of Draaga's hand and escaped in a spaceship.
Superman touched the Eradicator again and his Kryptonian costume was transformed to his Superman costume, complete with cape.
Superman #33, July 1989, May 25, 1989. The cover was pencilled by Kerry Gammil and inked by Dennis Janke.
Two Destinies was written by Roger Stern, pencilled by Kerry Gammil, inked by Dennis Janke, lettered by John Costanza and lettered by Glenn Whitmore.
Draaga, the new figurehead ruler of Warworld, demanded that Superman be found so that they could battle and Draaga could regain his honor either by victory or his own death. The Overseers ignored his order and reminded him who really ran Warworld. Their concern was to restore order on Warworld and do an inspection tour of their empire to concolidate their power. As Warworld moved out of the star system to jupm into hyperspace Superman attempted to catch up with the artificial world. Warworld flew into hyperspace before Superman could catch it, so he had to return to the asteroid.
On Earth, Luthor had the Milton Fine Brainiac, still kept unconscious medically, finally settled in at the Rocky Mountain facility he had bought from S.T.A.R. Labs through a takeover attempt, setting up a future storyline in the Superman titles.
On the asteroid, the Cellkeeper had improvised a set of reflectors to focus the local star's sunlight onto Superman to recharge his superpowers.
In Kansas Ma and Pa Kent made final preparations to leave the farm and search for Matrix/Clark, when she/he called them from Perry White's office. The Planet staff thought Clark had been brainwashed by Intergang.
Then he and the Cleric telepathically link with each other through the Eradicator and relive each other's darkest moments, from the Cleric's shame at the accidental deaths of his Kryptonian followers to Superman's remorse at executing the Kryptonian criminals from the pocket universe. The Cleric identified with Superman's remorse, but reminded the Man of Steel that his exile had deprived his planet of their greatest hero. He then encouraged Superman to take sole possession of the Eradicator. When Superman did, the Cleric collapsed and aged rapidly. Since the Cleric now longer physically possessed the Eradicator, it no longer preserved his life as it did over the eons. The Cleric's last request before his death was to see Superman's beardless face. Superman took a panel from the Eradicator to reflect his heat vision and shave his beard. After the Cleric's death Superman buried him on the asteroid and carved a Superman"S" on the headstone.
The Adventures Of Superman #456, July 1989, June 1, 1989. The cover artist was Jerry Ordway.
Redemption was plotted by Jerry Ordway, written and pencilled by Dan Jurgens, inked by Art Thibert, lettered by Albert De Guzman and colored by Glenn Whitmore.
The issue opened with Superman paying his final respects to the late Cleric and saying goodbye to the Cellkeeper. The Man of Steel then used the Eradicator to teleport himself back to Earth.
In Metropolis, after Morgan Edge got a medical examination in his GBS office, he received a secret call from Mannheim, head of Intergang. He informed Edge that he was sending Turmoil to deal with the Daily Planet reporters who wrote their Intergang expose.
At the Kent farm Ma and Pa Kent are releived that Matrix/Clark is being cared for by the Daily Planet staff, but can't help but wonder about their adopted son somewhere in outer space.
Matrix was sitting in a Metropolis park, eating Bib Belly burgers, when he was attacked by the giant robot Turmoil. He is found by Cat Grant, who called Professor Hamilton. Jose Delgado, wearing the LexCorp armor as his new Gangbuster costume, left Hamilton's lab to go to the rescue. Gangbuster met Turmoil as it attacked Lois Lane. They became trapped in the rubble of a building destroyed by Turmoil. Lex Luthor, in his LexCorp office, was notified by his new Rocky Mountain facility that Brainiac had awakened and kept repeating, "He's back!", referring to Superman.
The final issue of this storyline was published in Action Comics #643, July 1989, June 8, 1989. The cover was an homage to Joe Shuster's cover to Superman #1 in 1939, drawn by George Perez.
Superman On Earth was written and pencilled by George Perez, inked by Brett Breeding, lettered by Bill Oakley and colored by Glenn Whitmore.
As the title suggested, Superman returned to Earth and landed on the Daily Planet roof. He took a few minutes to soak in the sights, sounds and smells of Earth before being reunited with the Daily Planet staff. He flies off before Cat Grant can bring Matrix/Clark Kent to meet him. Luthor sees Superman flying over Metropolis once again, just as the Milton Fine Brainiac warned. Superman returned to his Clark kent apartment, placed the Eradicator on a shelf, and took a much needed shower.
Lois called the Daily Planet office from her car phone, under the rubble of a collapsed building. After the building collapsed further she stayed by Jose Delgado's side, as he was trapped in the rubble.
Before he can finish his shower, Superman was summoned by Jimy Olsen's emergency watch. He battled and destroyed Turmoil, rescued Lois and Jose, and found Morgan Edge for the hat trick. Instead of taking Edge to prison, he had to take him to a hospital after he had a heart attack.
It was revealed that instead of Darkseid being the ultimate head of Intergang, it was a disguised Desaad.
At the end of the day Clark Kent returned to his apartment to find his front door open. Before he could enter, an explosion occurred inside, where he found the unconscious Matrix/Clark holding the Eradicator. This story would be continued in Superman #34.
Next episode: Superman Vs. Captain Marvel!
Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comcs Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com./
Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com .
My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/ . Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com .
Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanpodcast.
Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics.
Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Episode #103: Superman In Exile Part IV: ACTION COMICS ANNUAL #2, 1989!
NOTE: For the previous parts of this series refer to the following episodes:
#66: Superman In The Pocket Universe!
#69: Superman Goes Gangbusters!
Superman Fan Podcast Special Blog: Superman In Exile Checklist!, posted on April 25, 2009, lists all of the issues discussed in this series of podcasts so you can read them for yourself!
#71: Superman In Exile, Part I, Free Comic Book Day & The State Of Superman Comics!
#72: Superman In Exile, Part II & Free Comic Book Day!
#90: Superman In Exile, Part III!
Action Comics Annual #2, 1989, was published on April 11, 1989. It contained 64 pages for the cover price of $1.75, which is a big jump from Action Comics #1 in 1938 for 10 cents. Mike Carlin was the editor at this time, and the cover was pencilled by George Perez and inked by Jerry Ordway. The title of the story was Memories Of Krypton's Past. Since it was a 64 page issue several creative teams worked on several separate plot threads. Writer and penciller Jerry Ordway and inker John Statema did the Warworld/Arena story, writer Roger Stern, penciller Curt Swan and inker Brett Breeding did the Superman/Attendant Lentra story and the Jor-El flashbacks, and writer and inker George Perez and penciller Mike Mignola did the Cleric story. This issue continued the events that occurred in The Adventures Of Superman #454, May 1989, published on March 28, 1989. Action Comics Annual #2 was the first issue of Action to be released after the final Action Comics Weekly issue, #642 (discussed in episode #92), which was published several months earlier on January 24, 1989.
The spaceship that had captured Superman landed on the barren prison planet near the artificial Warworld, which was somewhat like Star Wars' Death Star. After a brief skirmish with a guard, Superman was brought to Warworld's ruler Mongul, who knocks the Man of Steel unconscious with an energy beam from a weapon on his chestplate. Superman was then taken to processing to be prepped as a gladiator for Warworld's gladiatorial contests. When he was identified as a Kryptonian, previously thought to be extinct, a slug-like Cellkeeper called for the four-armed Attendant Lentra to care for Superman until his first battle. The Cellkeeper snuck away from his duties to fly a small space shuttle to a barren asteroid, to deliver the news of this new Kryptonian to a secluded being known only as the Cleric.
Lentra helped Superman dress for the gladiator games, removing the remnants of his Superman uniform for skimpier gladiator garb. Superman wore his tattered cape as a sash, which managed to strategically cover his crotch and rear. Superman then defeats his first opponent, an alien with rock-like skin, but then saved him from death by keeping him from falling into an acid-like pool of liquid. He refused the calls to kill his defeated opponent and was transported back to his cell, to wait for his next opponent. Superman then briefly told Lentra about his origin.
The Cleric reminisced to the Cellkeeper about his own journey to Krypton, many eons ago in Krypton's past. He was a missionary of an intergalactic religion simply called the Holy Commune. He preached against the planet's tradition of cloning as a means of preserving life (as detailed in the World Of Krypton mini-series published in 1987). While he attracted the ire of the Science Council establishment, he also attracts many disciples, among them Syra and her friend Sen-M.
Superman's thoughts conveniently follow similar lines as he told Lentra about Sen-M's League Of Life, who chose natural deaths over prolonging their lives by using replacement organs from clones grown from their own cells. They considered cloning a type of slavery. Superman also told her about the terrorist group Black Zero, who twisted Sen-M's teachings to justify their attacks, and destroyed the capital of Kandor with an atomic weapon and lead to a long civil war.
He then faced his next opponent, a pig-like being with a snout similar to an elephant. Using his microscopic vision, Superman discovered that his opponent was composed of may tinier beings. He kept hitting it until they could no longer hold together. Again Superman refused to kill his opponent and was teleported back to his cell.
The Cleric told the Cellkeeper about the temple he had built for his followers. Syra entered to warn the Cleric that the Science Council had constructed a weapon called the Eradicator (which would figure prominently in future stories, but that's the subject of a future episode). She volunteered to lead a preemptive assault on the Science Council, but the Cleric's words on nonviolence failed for the first time.
Superman's thoughts were along similar lines, on his father Jor-El, who noted that the hyper-drive and Kal-El's birthing matrix resembled a "legendary machine" constructed in Krypton's fifth epoch. Lentra informed Superman that his next opponent would be Mongul's champion Draaga.
The battle was a bad time for Superman's thoughts to become jumbled as his mind is linked with the Cleric's. The Cleric learned about the genetic material taken from Jor-El and Lara and injected in the birthing matrix. Superman learned about the attack on the Science Council by some of the Cleric's more extreme followers. The Cleric tried to defuse the situation by offering to take his followers off planet. His offer was answered by an energy blast from the eradicator, activated by one of the Science Council soldiers, but it did not kill him. He was only rendered unconscious. The battle commenced and the Eradicator's operator mishandled it, causing it to fire an uncontrolled burst.
Superman cleared his thoughts enough to rally against Draaga, to Mongul's admiration. Superman's thoughts returned to the Cleric's reminisce to the Day Of Intolerance, as the battle was referred to in the annals of Kryptonian history. Sen-M, not part of the attack, flew in a Kryptonian vehicle to the scene of the battle looking for survivors, only to find many dead and wounded bodies, among them the lifeless Syra. The Cleric recovered and took possession of the Eradicator, not trusting to leave it in the hands of Kryptonians. He took his followers off planet in his space ship, except for a small group of followers who would serve as apostles of the Holy Commune on Krypton, led by Sen-M.
Superman continued to battle Draaga while these thoughts bounced around his mind. His father Jor-El, Marlon Brando style, informed his son about the Clone Civil War, inspired by Sen-M's writings in spite of his non-violent beliefs. Jor-El spoke of a legend that Sen-M himself was a follower of an alien holy man who was lost to history.
The Cleric furnished the final details of his Krypton mission. Too late he discovered the fatal link that his followers had to their home planet, as they all died once the space ship left the atmosphere. The Cleric examined their bodies to discover the reason they died. In Superman's mind, Jor-El explained that Kryptonians had a genetic flaw that would cause them to die if they left the planet. He took some treatments so that his son would be free from this flaw, his last gift to his son before Krypton's doom.
The Cleric could not return to the Holy Commune after such a disgrace to the faith. He banished himself to this same asteroid, kept company only by the Eradicator. He realized his destiny was to reunite the last Kryptonian with this relic of the long lost history of the planet.
Superman's thoughts cleared enough so that he could rally one final time to defeat Draaga at last. When Superman defied Mongul's order to kill Draaga and take his place as champion, Mongul decided to go to the arena and kill both of them himself. That story would be continued in Superman #32, which would be published the following week. The conclusion of the Superman In Exile storyline will be detailed in next week's episode.
In the back of Action Comics Annual #2 were Who's Who entries for the Matrix Supergirl and Cat Grant, and George Perez's recreation of the cover of Superman#1 from 1939, which would serve as the cover for Action Comics #643 as it returned to monthly publication.
The final feature was a two page article written by George Perez, titled How I Spent My Super-Summer Vacation, which included some character development sketches by Jerry Ordway and Mike Mignola of the gladiator Superman, Cleric, Cellkeeper and Lentra.
George's reminisces began at the Superman Expo, in Cleveland, Ohio, which took place on June 16, 1988 to celebrate Superman's 50th birthday. He had agreed to Superman editor Mike Carlin's offer to write a new Superman title. The offer appealed to George because of his interest in writing comics, which he had done for a year at that point. George met his idol, artist Curt Swan (lucky guy), as well as the current Superman creative team. They gave George an overview of the current storyline as they began a discussion about where a good jumping on point for George would be, and how his book would have its unique vision different from Jerry Ordway's or Roger Stern's.
Perez recalled the introduction to the 1950's Superman TV show:
- strange visitor from another world who came to Earth.
- mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper.
- Truth, Justice and the American Way!
He felt Roger Stern's title explored the idea of "Truth, Justice and the American Way". Jerry Ordway put an emphasis on the "mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper" with his emphasis on Clark Kent. George decided that he would focus on the "strange visitor from another planet who came to Earth", and Superman's Kryptonian heritage. Superman reminded him of Bob Hope. What could they have in common? Both are American icons, but Superman came from Krypton and Bob Hope was born in London.
George explained this to the rest of the creative team and they bought into the idea and began brainstorming., which led to the basic premise of this annual. After another meeting a few months later George developed the basic plot, a talent he developed while working with writer Marv Wolfman on the classic DC title The New Teen Titans. Fellow writers Roger Stern and Jerry Ordway fleshed out their parts of the story and the artists drew their parts of the story. When Jerry Ordway inked George Perez's pencils for the cover he was the first inker to do so in four years.
Ordway would mover over to Superman as writer/penciller, George would plot and ink The Adventures Of Superman and also layout the art for Action Comics for co-artist Brett Breeding. However Geroge Perez's run on the Superman titles would be even shorter that John Byrne's, lasting only from Action Comics #643, July 1989 through issue #652, April 1990, a nine month span. He would return as a contributor for the special Superman: The Wedding Album, December 1996.
Next Episode: The fifth and final episode on the Superman In Exile storyline, exploring Superman #32, The Adventures Of Superman #455, Superman #33, The Adventures Of Superman #56, and Action Comics #643.
Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comcs Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com./
Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com .
My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/ . Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com .
Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanpodcast.
Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics.
Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
#66: Superman In The Pocket Universe!
#69: Superman Goes Gangbusters!
Superman Fan Podcast Special Blog: Superman In Exile Checklist!, posted on April 25, 2009, lists all of the issues discussed in this series of podcasts so you can read them for yourself!
#71: Superman In Exile, Part I, Free Comic Book Day & The State Of Superman Comics!
#72: Superman In Exile, Part II & Free Comic Book Day!
#90: Superman In Exile, Part III!
Action Comics Annual #2, 1989, was published on April 11, 1989. It contained 64 pages for the cover price of $1.75, which is a big jump from Action Comics #1 in 1938 for 10 cents. Mike Carlin was the editor at this time, and the cover was pencilled by George Perez and inked by Jerry Ordway. The title of the story was Memories Of Krypton's Past. Since it was a 64 page issue several creative teams worked on several separate plot threads. Writer and penciller Jerry Ordway and inker John Statema did the Warworld/Arena story, writer Roger Stern, penciller Curt Swan and inker Brett Breeding did the Superman/Attendant Lentra story and the Jor-El flashbacks, and writer and inker George Perez and penciller Mike Mignola did the Cleric story. This issue continued the events that occurred in The Adventures Of Superman #454, May 1989, published on March 28, 1989. Action Comics Annual #2 was the first issue of Action to be released after the final Action Comics Weekly issue, #642 (discussed in episode #92), which was published several months earlier on January 24, 1989.
The spaceship that had captured Superman landed on the barren prison planet near the artificial Warworld, which was somewhat like Star Wars' Death Star. After a brief skirmish with a guard, Superman was brought to Warworld's ruler Mongul, who knocks the Man of Steel unconscious with an energy beam from a weapon on his chestplate. Superman was then taken to processing to be prepped as a gladiator for Warworld's gladiatorial contests. When he was identified as a Kryptonian, previously thought to be extinct, a slug-like Cellkeeper called for the four-armed Attendant Lentra to care for Superman until his first battle. The Cellkeeper snuck away from his duties to fly a small space shuttle to a barren asteroid, to deliver the news of this new Kryptonian to a secluded being known only as the Cleric.
Lentra helped Superman dress for the gladiator games, removing the remnants of his Superman uniform for skimpier gladiator garb. Superman wore his tattered cape as a sash, which managed to strategically cover his crotch and rear. Superman then defeats his first opponent, an alien with rock-like skin, but then saved him from death by keeping him from falling into an acid-like pool of liquid. He refused the calls to kill his defeated opponent and was transported back to his cell, to wait for his next opponent. Superman then briefly told Lentra about his origin.
The Cleric reminisced to the Cellkeeper about his own journey to Krypton, many eons ago in Krypton's past. He was a missionary of an intergalactic religion simply called the Holy Commune. He preached against the planet's tradition of cloning as a means of preserving life (as detailed in the World Of Krypton mini-series published in 1987). While he attracted the ire of the Science Council establishment, he also attracts many disciples, among them Syra and her friend Sen-M.
Superman's thoughts conveniently follow similar lines as he told Lentra about Sen-M's League Of Life, who chose natural deaths over prolonging their lives by using replacement organs from clones grown from their own cells. They considered cloning a type of slavery. Superman also told her about the terrorist group Black Zero, who twisted Sen-M's teachings to justify their attacks, and destroyed the capital of Kandor with an atomic weapon and lead to a long civil war.
He then faced his next opponent, a pig-like being with a snout similar to an elephant. Using his microscopic vision, Superman discovered that his opponent was composed of may tinier beings. He kept hitting it until they could no longer hold together. Again Superman refused to kill his opponent and was teleported back to his cell.
The Cleric told the Cellkeeper about the temple he had built for his followers. Syra entered to warn the Cleric that the Science Council had constructed a weapon called the Eradicator (which would figure prominently in future stories, but that's the subject of a future episode). She volunteered to lead a preemptive assault on the Science Council, but the Cleric's words on nonviolence failed for the first time.
Superman's thoughts were along similar lines, on his father Jor-El, who noted that the hyper-drive and Kal-El's birthing matrix resembled a "legendary machine" constructed in Krypton's fifth epoch. Lentra informed Superman that his next opponent would be Mongul's champion Draaga.
The battle was a bad time for Superman's thoughts to become jumbled as his mind is linked with the Cleric's. The Cleric learned about the genetic material taken from Jor-El and Lara and injected in the birthing matrix. Superman learned about the attack on the Science Council by some of the Cleric's more extreme followers. The Cleric tried to defuse the situation by offering to take his followers off planet. His offer was answered by an energy blast from the eradicator, activated by one of the Science Council soldiers, but it did not kill him. He was only rendered unconscious. The battle commenced and the Eradicator's operator mishandled it, causing it to fire an uncontrolled burst.
Superman cleared his thoughts enough to rally against Draaga, to Mongul's admiration. Superman's thoughts returned to the Cleric's reminisce to the Day Of Intolerance, as the battle was referred to in the annals of Kryptonian history. Sen-M, not part of the attack, flew in a Kryptonian vehicle to the scene of the battle looking for survivors, only to find many dead and wounded bodies, among them the lifeless Syra. The Cleric recovered and took possession of the Eradicator, not trusting to leave it in the hands of Kryptonians. He took his followers off planet in his space ship, except for a small group of followers who would serve as apostles of the Holy Commune on Krypton, led by Sen-M.
Superman continued to battle Draaga while these thoughts bounced around his mind. His father Jor-El, Marlon Brando style, informed his son about the Clone Civil War, inspired by Sen-M's writings in spite of his non-violent beliefs. Jor-El spoke of a legend that Sen-M himself was a follower of an alien holy man who was lost to history.
The Cleric furnished the final details of his Krypton mission. Too late he discovered the fatal link that his followers had to their home planet, as they all died once the space ship left the atmosphere. The Cleric examined their bodies to discover the reason they died. In Superman's mind, Jor-El explained that Kryptonians had a genetic flaw that would cause them to die if they left the planet. He took some treatments so that his son would be free from this flaw, his last gift to his son before Krypton's doom.
The Cleric could not return to the Holy Commune after such a disgrace to the faith. He banished himself to this same asteroid, kept company only by the Eradicator. He realized his destiny was to reunite the last Kryptonian with this relic of the long lost history of the planet.
Superman's thoughts cleared enough so that he could rally one final time to defeat Draaga at last. When Superman defied Mongul's order to kill Draaga and take his place as champion, Mongul decided to go to the arena and kill both of them himself. That story would be continued in Superman #32, which would be published the following week. The conclusion of the Superman In Exile storyline will be detailed in next week's episode.
In the back of Action Comics Annual #2 were Who's Who entries for the Matrix Supergirl and Cat Grant, and George Perez's recreation of the cover of Superman#1 from 1939, which would serve as the cover for Action Comics #643 as it returned to monthly publication.
The final feature was a two page article written by George Perez, titled How I Spent My Super-Summer Vacation, which included some character development sketches by Jerry Ordway and Mike Mignola of the gladiator Superman, Cleric, Cellkeeper and Lentra.
George's reminisces began at the Superman Expo, in Cleveland, Ohio, which took place on June 16, 1988 to celebrate Superman's 50th birthday. He had agreed to Superman editor Mike Carlin's offer to write a new Superman title. The offer appealed to George because of his interest in writing comics, which he had done for a year at that point. George met his idol, artist Curt Swan (lucky guy), as well as the current Superman creative team. They gave George an overview of the current storyline as they began a discussion about where a good jumping on point for George would be, and how his book would have its unique vision different from Jerry Ordway's or Roger Stern's.
Perez recalled the introduction to the 1950's Superman TV show:
- strange visitor from another world who came to Earth.
- mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper.
- Truth, Justice and the American Way!
He felt Roger Stern's title explored the idea of "Truth, Justice and the American Way". Jerry Ordway put an emphasis on the "mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper" with his emphasis on Clark Kent. George decided that he would focus on the "strange visitor from another planet who came to Earth", and Superman's Kryptonian heritage. Superman reminded him of Bob Hope. What could they have in common? Both are American icons, but Superman came from Krypton and Bob Hope was born in London.
George explained this to the rest of the creative team and they bought into the idea and began brainstorming., which led to the basic premise of this annual. After another meeting a few months later George developed the basic plot, a talent he developed while working with writer Marv Wolfman on the classic DC title The New Teen Titans. Fellow writers Roger Stern and Jerry Ordway fleshed out their parts of the story and the artists drew their parts of the story. When Jerry Ordway inked George Perez's pencils for the cover he was the first inker to do so in four years.
Ordway would mover over to Superman as writer/penciller, George would plot and ink The Adventures Of Superman and also layout the art for Action Comics for co-artist Brett Breeding. However Geroge Perez's run on the Superman titles would be even shorter that John Byrne's, lasting only from Action Comics #643, July 1989 through issue #652, April 1990, a nine month span. He would return as a contributor for the special Superman: The Wedding Album, December 1996.
Next Episode: The fifth and final episode on the Superman In Exile storyline, exploring Superman #32, The Adventures Of Superman #455, Superman #33, The Adventures Of Superman #56, and Action Comics #643.
Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comcs Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com./
Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com .
My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/ . Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com .
Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanpodcast.
Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics.
Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Episode #102: Happy Birthday, Noel Neill!
I would like to thank my friend Melissa Abrahamsen for allowing me to borrow her autographed copy of the book Truth, Justice, & The American Way: The Life And Times Of Noel Neill, The Original Lois Lane, An Authorized Biography by Larry Thomas Ward, published by Nicholas Lawrence Books in 2003. This book is probably out of print but is available from a vendor at Amazon.com, other internet source or a used bookstore.
Neill was born on November 25, 1920, on Thanksgiving Day! Her mother, LaVerne Binger, was a war widow whose first husband killed on a French battlefield during WWI. She made the heartbreaking decision to send her infant son, Eugene Binger, Jr., to grow up with his paternal grandparents. (Noel would not meet her half-brother until they were adults. He served in the Merchant Marine, and lived for many years in Alaska.) Noel's father was a journalist and later editor Her parents married in 1919 and moved to Minneapolis. As a single woman LaVerne had been a vaudeville singer and dancer. She enrolled her young daughter in the Seton Guild of Dance and Dramatic Arts in Minneapolis. Noel would attend six similar schools for the next decade. As a child performer Noel would be in a variety of stage presentations, and would perform for radio beginning in 1928, although she is unawate of any recordings of those broadcasts.
Her first paid performance was in the 1930 vaudeville production Kid Nite Follies, which was billed as a miniature music comedy, at the RKO Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis. Noel was part of a child song and dance trio with two male performers. Young Noel would meet another child performer, Rose Marie, who would achieve her greatest fame as Sally in the 1960's sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show. They would meet again seventy years later at a Hollywood Reunion at Studio City, California.
Noel described her mother as a typical stage mom, but in the best sense of the word. She encouraged her daughter to stay in the theater. While Noel enjoyed performing, it wasn't the whole world to her as it was to her mother. This was the era when children never questioned their parents, but Noel maintained a close relationship with her mother. Noel developed a lifelong love of athletics.
As a teen Noel sang, danced and performed at various State Fairs, and made her professional solo singing debut at the Blue Ribbon Nite Club in Albuquerque, New Mexico, escorted by her mother. Noel's career didn't interfere with her ability to be an excellent high school student. She was the secretary for the student council and the assistant business manager for her high school newspaper.
Her father's influence as a writer was passed on to his daughter, as she published a short story in the book Venture (maybe a high school publication?) and would later earn some money when the magazine Women's World Daily published an article she wrote.
After graduating from high school Noel and her mother took a car trip to Mexico and California. With her first taste of the California beaches she fell in love with the state and would eventually live there most of her life. Noel loved the beach and enjoyed tanning, surfing and playing beach volleyball. Acting on a neighbor's tip, Noel auditioned for, and was hired as, the job of singer at the Hotel Del Mar. Bing Crosby heard her perform and hired Noel and the band to play at his night club across the street, the Del Mar Turf Club. Noel performed there for two seasons. She found Bing always nice to her and upbeat. Once, when she did not feel well, Bing arranged for Noel to be taken to his beach house where his wife welcomed her and had the maid bring Noel herb tea.
In 1938 she applied for a job as a contract actor at Paramount Studio. She eventually hired Jack Pomoroy as her agent, for a 10% commission. He would later become agent for Jack Larson, who would play Jimmy Olsen on the 1950's Superman tv show. Noel's first film performance was an uncredited role in Monogram's Henry Aldrich For President. Her role in 1943's Lady Of Burlesque won Noel her first big studio contract with Paramount Studios for $75.00 per week. She would often be loaned to other studios, as was the practice at the time. One of her first roles under contract was in The Road To Utopia, one of the Hope and Crosby Road pictures. One day on the lot she heard someone behind her singing the Christmas carol Noel. It was Bing Crosby. He asked her if things were going well for her, and said that if she had problems with anyone to let him or his brother know, and they would take care of the situation. Noel never needed his help in that regard and felt his offer was genuine and his concern sincere.
Her biography credited Noel with 89 film roles in every genre. During WWII Noel was also a photographic model, and her biography credits her as being the second most popular pinup after Betty Grable. Noel acted in a number of Sam Katzman productions, which was how she won the role of Lois Lane in the Superman serials, Superman (1950) and Atom Man Vs. Superman (1950) for Columbia Studios. Harry Cohn, the studio head, stated that the Superman serials saved the studio from bankruptcy. At the end of her Paramount contract Noel had a role in the last Charlie Chan film, 1950's Sky Dragon.
Of the actors who portrayed Sueprman, Noel felt that Kirk Alyn, of the serials, was the most athletic, but also had the biggest ego of the Superman actors. She did say that, even though Alyn would get bruised from the stunts he had to perform on set, she felt safe on the set, and he was careful when he had to carry her. Jimmy Olsen was played by Little Rascals alumnus Tommy Bond. Noel performed more physical stunts in the second serial that the first one. (Listen to episode #43 for more about the Superman serials and actor Kirk Alyn.)
After the serials she continued in minor film roles. Among the more notable films she appeared in were, American In Paris, starring Gene Kelly, and Submarine Command, starring Bill Holden, both in 1951, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) which starred Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell. One of Noel's best dance routines ever was cut from the film because Russell felt the female dancers were too good and had them replaced with beefcake.
Noel's earliest TV performances were not for the Advnetures Of Superman series in the 1950's, but back in 1943 while she was under contract for Paramount Studios. TV pioneer Klaus Landsberg produced an early TV show, Variety Hour in one of Paramounts older studios with rondown dressing rooms. Klaus trained kids from the mail room to run the cameras and other equipment in exchange for their help. Noel MC'ed the show and also sang and danced. She expressed her athleticism by hosting an exercise program.
She returned to the role of Lois Lane with the second season of the TV series. Phyllis Coates (subject of episode #56), Lois for the first season, had taken a job with a TV pilot that would not be picked up. Whiney had called Noel himself to ask her to join the show. The production had a very tight budget. After wardrobe Noel had to fix her own hair because there was no money for a haridresser. She also had to bring her own stockings and shoes from home. Noel did not meet George Reeves until rehersal for their first scene together. Director Tommy Carr kept having Noel repeat a line because he wan't satisfied with her delivery. Noel became frustrated because she knew that she was delivering the line right, but the director would not let it go. George came to her defense and told Tommy, "Why don't you give the kid a break. It's hard to come into an established family and do this just the way you want her to." Carr backed off and this seemed to be the only problem she had with Carr for the rest of the production.
George and John Hamilton (Perry White) had a racy sense of humor and would sometimes flub a line in a naughty way to relieve the stress on set. Then they would nail their lines on the second take. George and John would trade blue humor off the set, but not in Noel's presence. Noel liked Hamilton, who was a private and aloof man off the set and preferred to be called Mr. Hamilton. but he was great to work with on the set. Noel became very close friends with Jack Larson, who she had a lot of respect for his talent as a writer.
Kellogg's was the series sponsor, so the cast would supplement their meager salaries from the show with the more lucrative comercials, except for Noel. The situations depicted in the commercials, showing the actors having breakfast together, would imply that someone spent the night at someone else's house. It would not be appropriate, the sponsors felt, for Noel to possibly have spent the night at an unmarried man's house, which did not help her bank account. Noel's favorite episodes were The Tomb Of Zaharan, The Wedding Of Superman and Panic In The Sky.
After the end of production in 1957 Noel joined George Reeves in a song and dance troupe he financed. She sang while George and others played instruments, and George did a wrestling skit with another member of the troupe. It was not a success. George felt his agent did not promote it enough and they performed to dwindling crowds. Eventually the troupe broke up and went home. Noel convinced George to keep her fee because she knew that he lost a lot of money in the venture.
Some time after John Hamilton's funeral, the TV show was scheduled to resume production for a seventh season. Noel met with Reeves and director George Blair. Reeves looked forward to directing more episodes and appeared very upbeat. Two days later Noel received the news that George was dead from a gunshot wound to the head. While his mysterious death was ruled a suicide Noel and Jack Larson became resigned to the fact that the whole truth around his deise would probably never be learned.
She retired from full time acting around 1960 and bought a home at Santa Monica Canyon, where she lives today, near Jack Larson. She became a world traveler, and indulged her love of the beach and beach volleyball. In the late 1960's Noel became bored and decided to go back to work. She joined a temp service and eventually was hired by the United Artists Studio, not as an actor but as part of the staff of the publicity department. She would later join the television division, selling programs to stations west of the Mississippi River.
In 1974 Noel Neill received a call from a student of Monmouth College inviting her to speak at the college about her years of portraying Lois Lane. After agreeing on an appearance fee she was surprised on the turnout for her presentation. That led to over fifty appearances at colleges and universities across the country in the next four years. The travel became a grind and was interferring with her job, so she stopped making appearances.
She would make a cameo appearance in Supernan: The Movie, in the train scene portraying Lois Lane's mother. Kirk Alyn also had a cameo as Lois' father. Noel Neill became the only performer to appear in all three film versions of Superman, the 1940's serials, the 1950's TV show and the 1970's motion picture. She would also portray the dying widow Luthor married to scam her fortune in 2006's Superman: Returns.
Noel Neill would be laid off from United Artists when the movie Heaven's Gate almost banrupted the studio. An old friend contacted her about a young actor who needed someone to coordinate his fan mail. He was Tom Sellick, star of the TV show Magnum, P. I. She continues in this role at least part time. Noel describged Sellick as hardworking, considerate and loyal.
She has made many appearances, often with Jack Larson, promoting and remembering the TV show. Noel has appeared at many Superman Celebrations in Metropolis, Illinois (subject of episode #26). Both actors have also appeared in many documentaries, and even co-starred in an episode of the Superboy TV show, starring Gerard Christopher, in 1992.
Her travels in the last several decades have included Tibet, the Great Wall of China, the Great Pyramid of Giza, the waterways of Alaska and the Galapagos and Komodo islands. She also enjoys playing golf and bridge.
Next week: Episode #103: Superman In Exile, Part IV: Action Comics Annual #2, 1989!
Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comcs Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com.
Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com .
My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/ . Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com .
Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanfan.
Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics.
Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
Neill was born on November 25, 1920, on Thanksgiving Day! Her mother, LaVerne Binger, was a war widow whose first husband killed on a French battlefield during WWI. She made the heartbreaking decision to send her infant son, Eugene Binger, Jr., to grow up with his paternal grandparents. (Noel would not meet her half-brother until they were adults. He served in the Merchant Marine, and lived for many years in Alaska.) Noel's father was a journalist and later editor Her parents married in 1919 and moved to Minneapolis. As a single woman LaVerne had been a vaudeville singer and dancer. She enrolled her young daughter in the Seton Guild of Dance and Dramatic Arts in Minneapolis. Noel would attend six similar schools for the next decade. As a child performer Noel would be in a variety of stage presentations, and would perform for radio beginning in 1928, although she is unawate of any recordings of those broadcasts.
Her first paid performance was in the 1930 vaudeville production Kid Nite Follies, which was billed as a miniature music comedy, at the RKO Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis. Noel was part of a child song and dance trio with two male performers. Young Noel would meet another child performer, Rose Marie, who would achieve her greatest fame as Sally in the 1960's sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show. They would meet again seventy years later at a Hollywood Reunion at Studio City, California.
Noel described her mother as a typical stage mom, but in the best sense of the word. She encouraged her daughter to stay in the theater. While Noel enjoyed performing, it wasn't the whole world to her as it was to her mother. This was the era when children never questioned their parents, but Noel maintained a close relationship with her mother. Noel developed a lifelong love of athletics.
As a teen Noel sang, danced and performed at various State Fairs, and made her professional solo singing debut at the Blue Ribbon Nite Club in Albuquerque, New Mexico, escorted by her mother. Noel's career didn't interfere with her ability to be an excellent high school student. She was the secretary for the student council and the assistant business manager for her high school newspaper.
Her father's influence as a writer was passed on to his daughter, as she published a short story in the book Venture (maybe a high school publication?) and would later earn some money when the magazine Women's World Daily published an article she wrote.
After graduating from high school Noel and her mother took a car trip to Mexico and California. With her first taste of the California beaches she fell in love with the state and would eventually live there most of her life. Noel loved the beach and enjoyed tanning, surfing and playing beach volleyball. Acting on a neighbor's tip, Noel auditioned for, and was hired as, the job of singer at the Hotel Del Mar. Bing Crosby heard her perform and hired Noel and the band to play at his night club across the street, the Del Mar Turf Club. Noel performed there for two seasons. She found Bing always nice to her and upbeat. Once, when she did not feel well, Bing arranged for Noel to be taken to his beach house where his wife welcomed her and had the maid bring Noel herb tea.
In 1938 she applied for a job as a contract actor at Paramount Studio. She eventually hired Jack Pomoroy as her agent, for a 10% commission. He would later become agent for Jack Larson, who would play Jimmy Olsen on the 1950's Superman tv show. Noel's first film performance was an uncredited role in Monogram's Henry Aldrich For President. Her role in 1943's Lady Of Burlesque won Noel her first big studio contract with Paramount Studios for $75.00 per week. She would often be loaned to other studios, as was the practice at the time. One of her first roles under contract was in The Road To Utopia, one of the Hope and Crosby Road pictures. One day on the lot she heard someone behind her singing the Christmas carol Noel. It was Bing Crosby. He asked her if things were going well for her, and said that if she had problems with anyone to let him or his brother know, and they would take care of the situation. Noel never needed his help in that regard and felt his offer was genuine and his concern sincere.
Her biography credited Noel with 89 film roles in every genre. During WWII Noel was also a photographic model, and her biography credits her as being the second most popular pinup after Betty Grable. Noel acted in a number of Sam Katzman productions, which was how she won the role of Lois Lane in the Superman serials, Superman (1950) and Atom Man Vs. Superman (1950) for Columbia Studios. Harry Cohn, the studio head, stated that the Superman serials saved the studio from bankruptcy. At the end of her Paramount contract Noel had a role in the last Charlie Chan film, 1950's Sky Dragon.
Of the actors who portrayed Sueprman, Noel felt that Kirk Alyn, of the serials, was the most athletic, but also had the biggest ego of the Superman actors. She did say that, even though Alyn would get bruised from the stunts he had to perform on set, she felt safe on the set, and he was careful when he had to carry her. Jimmy Olsen was played by Little Rascals alumnus Tommy Bond. Noel performed more physical stunts in the second serial that the first one. (Listen to episode #43 for more about the Superman serials and actor Kirk Alyn.)
After the serials she continued in minor film roles. Among the more notable films she appeared in were, American In Paris, starring Gene Kelly, and Submarine Command, starring Bill Holden, both in 1951, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) which starred Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell. One of Noel's best dance routines ever was cut from the film because Russell felt the female dancers were too good and had them replaced with beefcake.
Noel's earliest TV performances were not for the Advnetures Of Superman series in the 1950's, but back in 1943 while she was under contract for Paramount Studios. TV pioneer Klaus Landsberg produced an early TV show, Variety Hour in one of Paramounts older studios with rondown dressing rooms. Klaus trained kids from the mail room to run the cameras and other equipment in exchange for their help. Noel MC'ed the show and also sang and danced. She expressed her athleticism by hosting an exercise program.
She returned to the role of Lois Lane with the second season of the TV series. Phyllis Coates (subject of episode #56), Lois for the first season, had taken a job with a TV pilot that would not be picked up. Whiney had called Noel himself to ask her to join the show. The production had a very tight budget. After wardrobe Noel had to fix her own hair because there was no money for a haridresser. She also had to bring her own stockings and shoes from home. Noel did not meet George Reeves until rehersal for their first scene together. Director Tommy Carr kept having Noel repeat a line because he wan't satisfied with her delivery. Noel became frustrated because she knew that she was delivering the line right, but the director would not let it go. George came to her defense and told Tommy, "Why don't you give the kid a break. It's hard to come into an established family and do this just the way you want her to." Carr backed off and this seemed to be the only problem she had with Carr for the rest of the production.
George and John Hamilton (Perry White) had a racy sense of humor and would sometimes flub a line in a naughty way to relieve the stress on set. Then they would nail their lines on the second take. George and John would trade blue humor off the set, but not in Noel's presence. Noel liked Hamilton, who was a private and aloof man off the set and preferred to be called Mr. Hamilton. but he was great to work with on the set. Noel became very close friends with Jack Larson, who she had a lot of respect for his talent as a writer.
Kellogg's was the series sponsor, so the cast would supplement their meager salaries from the show with the more lucrative comercials, except for Noel. The situations depicted in the commercials, showing the actors having breakfast together, would imply that someone spent the night at someone else's house. It would not be appropriate, the sponsors felt, for Noel to possibly have spent the night at an unmarried man's house, which did not help her bank account. Noel's favorite episodes were The Tomb Of Zaharan, The Wedding Of Superman and Panic In The Sky.
After the end of production in 1957 Noel joined George Reeves in a song and dance troupe he financed. She sang while George and others played instruments, and George did a wrestling skit with another member of the troupe. It was not a success. George felt his agent did not promote it enough and they performed to dwindling crowds. Eventually the troupe broke up and went home. Noel convinced George to keep her fee because she knew that he lost a lot of money in the venture.
Some time after John Hamilton's funeral, the TV show was scheduled to resume production for a seventh season. Noel met with Reeves and director George Blair. Reeves looked forward to directing more episodes and appeared very upbeat. Two days later Noel received the news that George was dead from a gunshot wound to the head. While his mysterious death was ruled a suicide Noel and Jack Larson became resigned to the fact that the whole truth around his deise would probably never be learned.
She retired from full time acting around 1960 and bought a home at Santa Monica Canyon, where she lives today, near Jack Larson. She became a world traveler, and indulged her love of the beach and beach volleyball. In the late 1960's Noel became bored and decided to go back to work. She joined a temp service and eventually was hired by the United Artists Studio, not as an actor but as part of the staff of the publicity department. She would later join the television division, selling programs to stations west of the Mississippi River.
In 1974 Noel Neill received a call from a student of Monmouth College inviting her to speak at the college about her years of portraying Lois Lane. After agreeing on an appearance fee she was surprised on the turnout for her presentation. That led to over fifty appearances at colleges and universities across the country in the next four years. The travel became a grind and was interferring with her job, so she stopped making appearances.
She would make a cameo appearance in Supernan: The Movie, in the train scene portraying Lois Lane's mother. Kirk Alyn also had a cameo as Lois' father. Noel Neill became the only performer to appear in all three film versions of Superman, the 1940's serials, the 1950's TV show and the 1970's motion picture. She would also portray the dying widow Luthor married to scam her fortune in 2006's Superman: Returns.
Noel Neill would be laid off from United Artists when the movie Heaven's Gate almost banrupted the studio. An old friend contacted her about a young actor who needed someone to coordinate his fan mail. He was Tom Sellick, star of the TV show Magnum, P. I. She continues in this role at least part time. Noel describged Sellick as hardworking, considerate and loyal.
She has made many appearances, often with Jack Larson, promoting and remembering the TV show. Noel has appeared at many Superman Celebrations in Metropolis, Illinois (subject of episode #26). Both actors have also appeared in many documentaries, and even co-starred in an episode of the Superboy TV show, starring Gerard Christopher, in 1992.
Her travels in the last several decades have included Tibet, the Great Wall of China, the Great Pyramid of Giza, the waterways of Alaska and the Galapagos and Komodo islands. She also enjoys playing golf and bridge.
Next week: Episode #103: Superman In Exile, Part IV: Action Comics Annual #2, 1989!
Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comcs Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com.
Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com .
My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/ . Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com .
Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanfan.
Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics.
Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Episode #101: The Death Of Superman!
This episode does not explore the plot of the Death Of Superman story itself. For that, listen to episodes 86 and 89 of this podcast. Instead, the focus is on the creation and the ultimate publicity frenzy that erupted after its publication.
1992 was a big year in comic book history. That was the year that the top five artists at Marvel left to form their own comic book publishing company, Image Comics.
Over at DC, in the Panic In The Sky crossover, Superman led a team of DC super heroes against Warworld, led by Brainiac and Maxima, which threatened Earth. Other Superman plot threads of that year included Lucy Lane being hit by stray gun fire as police attempted to arrest Deathstroke. Jimmy Olsen rejoined the staff of the Daily Planet after being laid off the previous year. Superman rejoined and helped reform the Justice League. Lex Luthor II's secret of being a clone of the original Luthor was revealed to the Metropolis public. Senator Pete Ross was involved in some political intrigue with the right wing hero Agent Liberty. Superman was involved in the Eclipso crossover Annual event (not my favorite). Superman teamed with Robin against a vampire villain (which would be a perfect story today with the vampire craze. Who knew the Superman comics would be ahead of their time in that regard?) The Blaze/Satanus war occurred. Clark and Lois became involved with an abusive situation of one of their neighbors, and one story reprised a scene from Action Comics #1 where Superman stopped an abusive husband. That story was given a modern conclusion.
The Superman titles had begun including a "triangle number" on the cover to help readers follow the story through each Superman title in order, because at this point the story progressed very tightly from one title through the next every month. To keep the crative teams of the various Superman titles coordinated through the year, they began gathering at DC's New York offices every year to plan out that year's worth of stories. They had developed Clark and Lois' relationship to the point where they fell in love and Clark revealed his secret identity. Originally, they planned for them to marry in Superman #75. But the new ABC TV show Lois & Clark: The Adventures Of Superman wanted to marry them on the show first.
Left without their original plot, the Superman creative team had to regroup. Writer and artist Jerry Ordway used to joke every year that they should kill Superman for the major plot. This time they decided ot take it seriously. Through this story they wanted to show how important Superman was and why readers should care about him. The ultimate media frenzy caught him by surprise.
As the release date approached, interest built to the point that comic book retailers kept increasing their orders for Superman #75. Some stores had customers lined up around the block the day the issue was published. Some stores sold 10,000 copies just on the first day. The issue was reprinted for several months, eventually selling over 3 million copies. The death of Superman seemed to be the only news item happening that week. There was at least one report of a mock funeral for Superman, complete with a closed casket.
Members of the creative team were in heavy demand for public appearances and autograph sessions. Jerry Ordway remembered one appearance where he stayed four hours past his scheduled time, until the mall closed, because of the public demand. Dan Jurgens has said over the years that at various appearances he has had at least one person tell him that the death of Superman got them back into comics.
Not everyone was thrilled over the story. There were some critics who felt the story was just a publicity stunt just to boost sales. Others felt betrayed when Superman's death was only temporary.
Chuck Rozakis of Mile High Comics posted an essay on the store's web site expressing his opinion that the death of Superman story helped usher in the bust of the comic book boom of the early 1990's. The industry was filled with undercapitalized and ill informed retailers who ultimately did not survive the bust. Readers who hoped to sell their copies of Superman #75 for a profit found that only the first printing had any real value. He also noted that the comic book industry of today is only about 20% of what it was in 1992.
It seems naive to me for people to think that a character that was such an American icon as Superman would be killed permanently. While I believe the creative team when they say they weren't just planning a publicity stunt, but wanted to tell a good story (which it was), I also believe the marketing departments of DC and Marvel took advantage of the market to sell more comics, which any good business should do. but like any other industry, sometimes long term planning takes a back seat to short term gain.
While the comic book industry seems steady, the flux of comic book based movies has not increased readership, and digital technology has the industry at another crossroads. But that's a topic for the year in review episode.
Next week: Happy Birthday, Noel Neill!
Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comcs Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com.
Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com .
My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/ . Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com .
Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanfan.
Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics.
Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
1992 was a big year in comic book history. That was the year that the top five artists at Marvel left to form their own comic book publishing company, Image Comics.
Over at DC, in the Panic In The Sky crossover, Superman led a team of DC super heroes against Warworld, led by Brainiac and Maxima, which threatened Earth. Other Superman plot threads of that year included Lucy Lane being hit by stray gun fire as police attempted to arrest Deathstroke. Jimmy Olsen rejoined the staff of the Daily Planet after being laid off the previous year. Superman rejoined and helped reform the Justice League. Lex Luthor II's secret of being a clone of the original Luthor was revealed to the Metropolis public. Senator Pete Ross was involved in some political intrigue with the right wing hero Agent Liberty. Superman was involved in the Eclipso crossover Annual event (not my favorite). Superman teamed with Robin against a vampire villain (which would be a perfect story today with the vampire craze. Who knew the Superman comics would be ahead of their time in that regard?) The Blaze/Satanus war occurred. Clark and Lois became involved with an abusive situation of one of their neighbors, and one story reprised a scene from Action Comics #1 where Superman stopped an abusive husband. That story was given a modern conclusion.
The Superman titles had begun including a "triangle number" on the cover to help readers follow the story through each Superman title in order, because at this point the story progressed very tightly from one title through the next every month. To keep the crative teams of the various Superman titles coordinated through the year, they began gathering at DC's New York offices every year to plan out that year's worth of stories. They had developed Clark and Lois' relationship to the point where they fell in love and Clark revealed his secret identity. Originally, they planned for them to marry in Superman #75. But the new ABC TV show Lois & Clark: The Adventures Of Superman wanted to marry them on the show first.
Left without their original plot, the Superman creative team had to regroup. Writer and artist Jerry Ordway used to joke every year that they should kill Superman for the major plot. This time they decided ot take it seriously. Through this story they wanted to show how important Superman was and why readers should care about him. The ultimate media frenzy caught him by surprise.
As the release date approached, interest built to the point that comic book retailers kept increasing their orders for Superman #75. Some stores had customers lined up around the block the day the issue was published. Some stores sold 10,000 copies just on the first day. The issue was reprinted for several months, eventually selling over 3 million copies. The death of Superman seemed to be the only news item happening that week. There was at least one report of a mock funeral for Superman, complete with a closed casket.
Members of the creative team were in heavy demand for public appearances and autograph sessions. Jerry Ordway remembered one appearance where he stayed four hours past his scheduled time, until the mall closed, because of the public demand. Dan Jurgens has said over the years that at various appearances he has had at least one person tell him that the death of Superman got them back into comics.
Not everyone was thrilled over the story. There were some critics who felt the story was just a publicity stunt just to boost sales. Others felt betrayed when Superman's death was only temporary.
Chuck Rozakis of Mile High Comics posted an essay on the store's web site expressing his opinion that the death of Superman story helped usher in the bust of the comic book boom of the early 1990's. The industry was filled with undercapitalized and ill informed retailers who ultimately did not survive the bust. Readers who hoped to sell their copies of Superman #75 for a profit found that only the first printing had any real value. He also noted that the comic book industry of today is only about 20% of what it was in 1992.
It seems naive to me for people to think that a character that was such an American icon as Superman would be killed permanently. While I believe the creative team when they say they weren't just planning a publicity stunt, but wanted to tell a good story (which it was), I also believe the marketing departments of DC and Marvel took advantage of the market to sell more comics, which any good business should do. but like any other industry, sometimes long term planning takes a back seat to short term gain.
While the comic book industry seems steady, the flux of comic book based movies has not increased readership, and digital technology has the industry at another crossroads. But that's a topic for the year in review episode.
Next week: Happy Birthday, Noel Neill!
Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comcs Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com.
Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com .
My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/ . Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com .
Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanfan.
Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics.
Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Episode #100: ACTION COMICS #100 & SUPERMAN #100!
This episode continues the tradition I began with episode #75, to look at the corresponding issues of Action Comics and Superman every 25 episodes. This time the issues featured are the 100th issues of Action and Superman.
Action Comics #100, the September 1946 issue, was published around July 16, 1946. The issue contained 48 pages for a dime. Jack Schiff was the editor at this time. The cover, featuring the Superman story for this issue, The Sleuth Who Never Failed, was pencilled by Wayne Boring and inked by Ed Dobrotka, both members of Joe Shuster's Cleveland studio (see episode #17). It featured the Scotland Yard detective Inspector Hawkins, peering through a magnifying glass, following Clark Kent and in turn being followed by Superman.
The story itself, The Sleuth Who Never Failed, was written by Alvin Schwartz and drawn by Ira Yarbrough. Inspector Hawkins introduced himself to Clark Kent in the Daily Planet newsroom and immediately informed him that he knew Clark was Superman, but his secret was safe. He then asked Clark for a lock of his hair but was interrupted by Lois Lane. Clark took the time to leave at super speed through a wig shop and back. The inspector then cut a lock of his hair (I assume Clark paid for the wig). He viewed the sample under a microscope and determined that it was animal hair and thus from a wig.
Next, the inspector told a bank guard he would pay him $500.00 to cooperate with him. The inspector had discovered that Perry White often had Clark take sensitive documents to a bank deposit box. When Clark walked into the safe to deposit some more documents, just before closing time, the guard closed the safe with Clark inside. He figured that Hawkins was involved and tore a hole in the inside wall of the safe door, and readjusted the time lock inside so that it would open. After setting off the alarm he closed the door, reset the lock and fixed the hole that he made. Clark then faked suffocating when the police opened the safe door.
Inspector Hawkins then disguised himself as a perfume factory worker and lured Clark there. Inside the perfume factory the disguised Inspector pushed Clark into a vat of perfume. After he got out Clark changed secretly into Superman and dove into the same vat of perfume. (I don't know how this would throw anyone off the trail. It would clinch Superman's secret identity for me, but then this is a late golden age story.) Hawkins then goes to a Veteran's rally and is in the front row. He noticed that Superman didn't smell of perfume, and no explanation was given.
After the rally, Superman spotted the Inspector snooping around his apartment. Sneaking into the next room, Superman wrote on a piece of paper, took it into space, then into a humid jungle and then a desert, before leaving it in the next room for the Inspector to find. He did, and read Clark's will, naming Superman his heir. The inspector noticed the yellowed paper and faded ink, and was finally convinced he was mistaken about Clark Kent being Superman.
After the four page humorous story about Hayfoot Henry titled The Rhyming Horse, the next story featured the adventure/crimefighter Congo Bill in the six page story The Case Of The Captive Seals. It was written by Alvin Schwartz and drawn by Fred Ray. Congo Bill assisted in an investigation of the disappearance of hundreds of seals from a government protected herd. He kayaked to an iceberg where many of them were, and noticed a seal being pulled into a hole. Bill thought a polar bear had trapped the seal until an ice trap door opened and he was pulled under the ice. He found himself on a ship, camoflaged by the ice, crewed by poachers. Congo Bill was knocked out and put in a hold with the captured seals. After getting two seals to balance his feet on their noses, Congo Bill was able to reach a ladder that led him out of the hold. He found some bags of salt and poured them on the ice, which melted and revealed the ship of poachers. They were arrested and the seals were saved.
The next feature was the two page text piece Indian Sign by Ben Ballard. Comic books had these prose features to qualify for cheaper postal rates well into my childhood of the 1960's. The next comic book story wasThe Book That Was Too Real, a ten page story featuring the crimefighter Vigilante, a singing cowboy. It was written by Mort Meskin and inked by George Roussos. Vigilante's sidekick, the non-politically correctly named Stuff, the Chinatown Kid, called Stuff for short, helped author J. Scriver Tome find the reformed criminal Blast Beadle. Mr. Tome wanted to interview Beadle as research for his book The Baffling Bandit, about a criminal who outwitted the police. Beadle skimmed the book and was inspired to kidnap Tome and use the book to commit real crimes. The gang tied up Stuff and left him behind. Stuff was able to knock the phone on the floor and have the operator call Greg Sanders, secretly Vigilante. He rescued Stuff and together they tried to stop the gang. Instead they were captured by the criminals, who put dynamite in the car and let it careen toward the bank, to crash into the bank and explode and allow them to steal the money. Instead, Vigilante was able to steer the car with his feet, chasing the gang to a dock and into the water. Stuff was able to get loose from his bonds and pull Vigilante and Tome out of the car just before it rode into the water and exploded. To show his appreciation, Tome decided to dedicate his next book to Vigilante.
The final story of Action Comics #100 featured Zatara, who had appeared in the title since issue #1. The seven page story was Magic: Past Or Present!, written by Don Cameron and drawin by William F. White. A group of ancient magicians led by Merlin and living by the river Styx are jealous of Zatara. They use their magic to observe Zatara using his magic to capture a gang of bank robbers. The Delphic Oracle told the gathered magicians to test their magic against Zatara's and the best magic would win. The ancient magician Toth caused a the floor in a room in Zatara's residence to burst into flames. Zatara caused it to rain inside and douse the flame, and a lightning bolt struck Toth. He returned to Styx.
Cagliostro caused Zatara's bed to rise as he slept. Zatara awoke and cast a counter spell which caused the bed to fall on top of Cagliostro. After the magician returned to Styx Zatara cast a protective spell over his bedroom.
The next unnamed magician walked into the bedroom, only to be drenched by a floating bucket of water over the door. Then he stepped on some tacks that appeared on the floor, and a table top cigarette lighter set the back of his robe on fire. He returned to the river Styx to cool off his backside.
Merlin challenged Zatara next, who caused musical instruments to appear and serenade the magicians (I guess he played their favorite tune?). This caused them to declare Zatara the greatest magician and return him to his home. They toasted Zatara at a banquet, leaving an empty chair reserved for him in his honor. Zatara awoke from a nap in a chair where he had been reading a book on magic and listening to music playing on the radio. He wondered if it was a dream, or if it really happened.
Superman #100, September 1955, was published around July 21, 1955, containing 32pages for 10 cents. Mort Weisinger was well into his editorial leadership of the Superman titles at this time. The cover was drawn by J. Winslow Mortimer and featured a bust shot of Superman, with the first, 25th, 50th and 75th covers in front of him.
The first story of the issue was the eight page The Toy Superman Contest written by William Woolfolk, pencilled by Wayne Boring and inked by Stan Kaye. Superman had licensed a toy figure of himself that had the ability to safely mimic his super powers. Proceeds from their sale went to charity. A Metropolis department store sponsored a contest to determine the most ingenious feat that a child could come up with for their Superman figure, and asked Superman to be the judge. The store had already trimmed the contestants to about twenty.
Tommy had his Superman figure smashing a meteor before it struck Earth. Another wrapped steel girders around him and spun fast enough to become a magnet and pull the guns from a gang's hands. A third would save a car heading out of control into a swamp that had some kryptonite. His Superman figure would turn his cape into a kite, tie it to an iron fencepost and harpoon the car so that Superman could use his super breath to float the car far enough from the swamp to save the car and its passengers (except for the hole in the vehicle).
Bob would have his Superman figure save a champion swimer who was suffering a cramp and in danger of drowning, by having Supemran burrow underground to a salt deposit. He took a large block of salt underground into the body of water, until it melted and made the water salty enough to make the swimmer float on the surface. (I would hate to be near this new Dead Sea later when all of the fish died from the salt.)
Harry was the final entrant. His feat was to have Superman use his x-ray vision to see how a scientist at a chemical plant was doing with an experiment without bothering him. Superman declared him the winner and flew out of the department store, leaving a lot of unhappy kids. He went to an unknown office to test a pair of glasses. Superman returned to the store and explained everything. He had been searching for an escaped convict when he got a tip that the suspect had placed some heat sensitive bombs around the waterfront where he was hiding. The bombs would detonate from the heat of his x-ray vision. The glasses absorbed the heat from his x-rays. allowing Superman to use his vision power to find the criminal and apprehend him. He got the idea from Harry's model, which showed a piece of asbestos on the part of the building the scientist was working, which would absorb the heat from the x-ray vision. (This was a typical off the wall silver age comic book story.)
After a one page humor strip Little Pete, the second Superman story was Superman -- Substitute Teacher. The eight page story was drawn by Al Plastino. The writer is unknown at this point. Clark Kent had changed into Superman in an alley to catch a falling piano that was being lowered from a window and its rope had broken. After the save he was putting on his civilian clothes when a man saw Superman getting dressed. He only saw his back, and Clark disguised himself with a fake mustache. The man followed him down the street to find out Superman's secret identity when a boy called him Mr. Cranston. It turned out that Mr. Cranston resembled Clark Kent, and was a substitute teacher. He eventually got a job at a school substituting for the regular teacher, to throw the man off.
The rest of the story dealt with the disguised Superman dealing with some class pranksters. One gave the teacher an apple, which was made out of wood. The disguised Superman decided to have some fun and ate the apple, making the boy believe he brought the wrong one. After a sereis of pranks gone bad and a lunch break, the class pranksters had snuck straws into the class and were going to use them as pea shooters. Superman used his x-ray vision to seal the ends of the straws so they couldn't work. After some more failed pranks the principal entered the classroom and complimented Mr. Cranston for a well behaved class. Superman then revealed his true identity and used his powers for some practical classroom demonstrations and flew away at the end of the school day. At the end of the story the stranger was following the real Mr. Cranston, who told his stalker to go away because he was not the real Superman.
The Clue From Krypton was the eight page final story of the issue. It was written by Bill Finger, pencilled by Wayne Boring and inked by Stan Kaye. Clark Kent went to the home of a Mr. Fowler, who had promised him a scoop. It turned out that the scoop was the secret of his secret identity. Fowler had used Superman's autobiography I Superman to find a clue about his identity. Fowler used a metal detector on the field that the infant Superman's rocket had crashed and exploded, after the Kents had retrieved him from the rocket. Fowler found a rocket fragment with the super baby's fingerprints on it. He enlarged the prints and compared them to the fingerprints of people known to be involved with Superman. The only match he found was Clark Kent. He bribed Clark to make him rich, and then he would give him the evidence.
While Clark never changed into Superman in front of Fowler, he did his bidding. Superman used his x-ray vision to located a barren field that covered an untapped oil deposit. After Fowler bought the land Superman built an oil well. Next he took a piece of coal near Fowler's fireplace and squeezed it into a large diamond. After Fowler deposited it in a bank deposit box he gave Superman a rocket fragment, only it wasn't the one with the fingerprints. Fowler had decided to keep it in order for Superman to do something else for him in the future. Superman repaid Fowler's treachery by digging a tunnel under his oil deposit so that it flowed away from Fowler's land, and then told him about it. Obviously angry, Fowler reminded Superman that he still had the diamond. Superman then flew Fowler to the bank and sang an ear splitting note. It shattered the diamond in the safe deposit box (without damaging the contents of anyone else's deposit box we assume). Now really angry, Fowler held a press conference the next day and presented his evidence. Superman, in his Clark Kent identity, used his x-ray vision to warp the fragment with the fingerprints. An expert compared the two sets of prints and declared that they didn't match. This convinced Fowler that he had been mistaken all along.
Being a Bill Finger story, it is no wonder this was the best story of either issue. While his stories are certainly of their time, they seem to hold up better when read all these years later. He is an underappreciated talent of the comic book industry.
I would like to thank everyone who has listened to this podcast over these first hundred episodes. I would like to thank Taylor (who used to work at the same place I did), Chris, both Michaels, Mick, Mike of New York, Ralph of North Jersey, Barry of Chicago and Brad of Australia, not to mention the From Crisis To Crisis podcast, for being members of the Superman Fan Podcast groups on facebook. Also, I would like to thank Chris, John, Mick and the FCTC podcast again for being members of the My Pull List group on facebook.
Next week: The Death Of Superman!
Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comcs Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com.
Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com .
My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/ . Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com .
Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanfan.
Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics.
Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
Action Comics #100, the September 1946 issue, was published around July 16, 1946. The issue contained 48 pages for a dime. Jack Schiff was the editor at this time. The cover, featuring the Superman story for this issue, The Sleuth Who Never Failed, was pencilled by Wayne Boring and inked by Ed Dobrotka, both members of Joe Shuster's Cleveland studio (see episode #17). It featured the Scotland Yard detective Inspector Hawkins, peering through a magnifying glass, following Clark Kent and in turn being followed by Superman.
The story itself, The Sleuth Who Never Failed, was written by Alvin Schwartz and drawn by Ira Yarbrough. Inspector Hawkins introduced himself to Clark Kent in the Daily Planet newsroom and immediately informed him that he knew Clark was Superman, but his secret was safe. He then asked Clark for a lock of his hair but was interrupted by Lois Lane. Clark took the time to leave at super speed through a wig shop and back. The inspector then cut a lock of his hair (I assume Clark paid for the wig). He viewed the sample under a microscope and determined that it was animal hair and thus from a wig.
Next, the inspector told a bank guard he would pay him $500.00 to cooperate with him. The inspector had discovered that Perry White often had Clark take sensitive documents to a bank deposit box. When Clark walked into the safe to deposit some more documents, just before closing time, the guard closed the safe with Clark inside. He figured that Hawkins was involved and tore a hole in the inside wall of the safe door, and readjusted the time lock inside so that it would open. After setting off the alarm he closed the door, reset the lock and fixed the hole that he made. Clark then faked suffocating when the police opened the safe door.
Inspector Hawkins then disguised himself as a perfume factory worker and lured Clark there. Inside the perfume factory the disguised Inspector pushed Clark into a vat of perfume. After he got out Clark changed secretly into Superman and dove into the same vat of perfume. (I don't know how this would throw anyone off the trail. It would clinch Superman's secret identity for me, but then this is a late golden age story.) Hawkins then goes to a Veteran's rally and is in the front row. He noticed that Superman didn't smell of perfume, and no explanation was given.
After the rally, Superman spotted the Inspector snooping around his apartment. Sneaking into the next room, Superman wrote on a piece of paper, took it into space, then into a humid jungle and then a desert, before leaving it in the next room for the Inspector to find. He did, and read Clark's will, naming Superman his heir. The inspector noticed the yellowed paper and faded ink, and was finally convinced he was mistaken about Clark Kent being Superman.
After the four page humorous story about Hayfoot Henry titled The Rhyming Horse, the next story featured the adventure/crimefighter Congo Bill in the six page story The Case Of The Captive Seals. It was written by Alvin Schwartz and drawn by Fred Ray. Congo Bill assisted in an investigation of the disappearance of hundreds of seals from a government protected herd. He kayaked to an iceberg where many of them were, and noticed a seal being pulled into a hole. Bill thought a polar bear had trapped the seal until an ice trap door opened and he was pulled under the ice. He found himself on a ship, camoflaged by the ice, crewed by poachers. Congo Bill was knocked out and put in a hold with the captured seals. After getting two seals to balance his feet on their noses, Congo Bill was able to reach a ladder that led him out of the hold. He found some bags of salt and poured them on the ice, which melted and revealed the ship of poachers. They were arrested and the seals were saved.
The next feature was the two page text piece Indian Sign by Ben Ballard. Comic books had these prose features to qualify for cheaper postal rates well into my childhood of the 1960's. The next comic book story wasThe Book That Was Too Real, a ten page story featuring the crimefighter Vigilante, a singing cowboy. It was written by Mort Meskin and inked by George Roussos. Vigilante's sidekick, the non-politically correctly named Stuff, the Chinatown Kid, called Stuff for short, helped author J. Scriver Tome find the reformed criminal Blast Beadle. Mr. Tome wanted to interview Beadle as research for his book The Baffling Bandit, about a criminal who outwitted the police. Beadle skimmed the book and was inspired to kidnap Tome and use the book to commit real crimes. The gang tied up Stuff and left him behind. Stuff was able to knock the phone on the floor and have the operator call Greg Sanders, secretly Vigilante. He rescued Stuff and together they tried to stop the gang. Instead they were captured by the criminals, who put dynamite in the car and let it careen toward the bank, to crash into the bank and explode and allow them to steal the money. Instead, Vigilante was able to steer the car with his feet, chasing the gang to a dock and into the water. Stuff was able to get loose from his bonds and pull Vigilante and Tome out of the car just before it rode into the water and exploded. To show his appreciation, Tome decided to dedicate his next book to Vigilante.
The final story of Action Comics #100 featured Zatara, who had appeared in the title since issue #1. The seven page story was Magic: Past Or Present!, written by Don Cameron and drawin by William F. White. A group of ancient magicians led by Merlin and living by the river Styx are jealous of Zatara. They use their magic to observe Zatara using his magic to capture a gang of bank robbers. The Delphic Oracle told the gathered magicians to test their magic against Zatara's and the best magic would win. The ancient magician Toth caused a the floor in a room in Zatara's residence to burst into flames. Zatara caused it to rain inside and douse the flame, and a lightning bolt struck Toth. He returned to Styx.
Cagliostro caused Zatara's bed to rise as he slept. Zatara awoke and cast a counter spell which caused the bed to fall on top of Cagliostro. After the magician returned to Styx Zatara cast a protective spell over his bedroom.
The next unnamed magician walked into the bedroom, only to be drenched by a floating bucket of water over the door. Then he stepped on some tacks that appeared on the floor, and a table top cigarette lighter set the back of his robe on fire. He returned to the river Styx to cool off his backside.
Merlin challenged Zatara next, who caused musical instruments to appear and serenade the magicians (I guess he played their favorite tune?). This caused them to declare Zatara the greatest magician and return him to his home. They toasted Zatara at a banquet, leaving an empty chair reserved for him in his honor. Zatara awoke from a nap in a chair where he had been reading a book on magic and listening to music playing on the radio. He wondered if it was a dream, or if it really happened.
Superman #100, September 1955, was published around July 21, 1955, containing 32pages for 10 cents. Mort Weisinger was well into his editorial leadership of the Superman titles at this time. The cover was drawn by J. Winslow Mortimer and featured a bust shot of Superman, with the first, 25th, 50th and 75th covers in front of him.
The first story of the issue was the eight page The Toy Superman Contest written by William Woolfolk, pencilled by Wayne Boring and inked by Stan Kaye. Superman had licensed a toy figure of himself that had the ability to safely mimic his super powers. Proceeds from their sale went to charity. A Metropolis department store sponsored a contest to determine the most ingenious feat that a child could come up with for their Superman figure, and asked Superman to be the judge. The store had already trimmed the contestants to about twenty.
Tommy had his Superman figure smashing a meteor before it struck Earth. Another wrapped steel girders around him and spun fast enough to become a magnet and pull the guns from a gang's hands. A third would save a car heading out of control into a swamp that had some kryptonite. His Superman figure would turn his cape into a kite, tie it to an iron fencepost and harpoon the car so that Superman could use his super breath to float the car far enough from the swamp to save the car and its passengers (except for the hole in the vehicle).
Bob would have his Superman figure save a champion swimer who was suffering a cramp and in danger of drowning, by having Supemran burrow underground to a salt deposit. He took a large block of salt underground into the body of water, until it melted and made the water salty enough to make the swimmer float on the surface. (I would hate to be near this new Dead Sea later when all of the fish died from the salt.)
Harry was the final entrant. His feat was to have Superman use his x-ray vision to see how a scientist at a chemical plant was doing with an experiment without bothering him. Superman declared him the winner and flew out of the department store, leaving a lot of unhappy kids. He went to an unknown office to test a pair of glasses. Superman returned to the store and explained everything. He had been searching for an escaped convict when he got a tip that the suspect had placed some heat sensitive bombs around the waterfront where he was hiding. The bombs would detonate from the heat of his x-ray vision. The glasses absorbed the heat from his x-rays. allowing Superman to use his vision power to find the criminal and apprehend him. He got the idea from Harry's model, which showed a piece of asbestos on the part of the building the scientist was working, which would absorb the heat from the x-ray vision. (This was a typical off the wall silver age comic book story.)
After a one page humor strip Little Pete, the second Superman story was Superman -- Substitute Teacher. The eight page story was drawn by Al Plastino. The writer is unknown at this point. Clark Kent had changed into Superman in an alley to catch a falling piano that was being lowered from a window and its rope had broken. After the save he was putting on his civilian clothes when a man saw Superman getting dressed. He only saw his back, and Clark disguised himself with a fake mustache. The man followed him down the street to find out Superman's secret identity when a boy called him Mr. Cranston. It turned out that Mr. Cranston resembled Clark Kent, and was a substitute teacher. He eventually got a job at a school substituting for the regular teacher, to throw the man off.
The rest of the story dealt with the disguised Superman dealing with some class pranksters. One gave the teacher an apple, which was made out of wood. The disguised Superman decided to have some fun and ate the apple, making the boy believe he brought the wrong one. After a sereis of pranks gone bad and a lunch break, the class pranksters had snuck straws into the class and were going to use them as pea shooters. Superman used his x-ray vision to seal the ends of the straws so they couldn't work. After some more failed pranks the principal entered the classroom and complimented Mr. Cranston for a well behaved class. Superman then revealed his true identity and used his powers for some practical classroom demonstrations and flew away at the end of the school day. At the end of the story the stranger was following the real Mr. Cranston, who told his stalker to go away because he was not the real Superman.
The Clue From Krypton was the eight page final story of the issue. It was written by Bill Finger, pencilled by Wayne Boring and inked by Stan Kaye. Clark Kent went to the home of a Mr. Fowler, who had promised him a scoop. It turned out that the scoop was the secret of his secret identity. Fowler had used Superman's autobiography I Superman to find a clue about his identity. Fowler used a metal detector on the field that the infant Superman's rocket had crashed and exploded, after the Kents had retrieved him from the rocket. Fowler found a rocket fragment with the super baby's fingerprints on it. He enlarged the prints and compared them to the fingerprints of people known to be involved with Superman. The only match he found was Clark Kent. He bribed Clark to make him rich, and then he would give him the evidence.
While Clark never changed into Superman in front of Fowler, he did his bidding. Superman used his x-ray vision to located a barren field that covered an untapped oil deposit. After Fowler bought the land Superman built an oil well. Next he took a piece of coal near Fowler's fireplace and squeezed it into a large diamond. After Fowler deposited it in a bank deposit box he gave Superman a rocket fragment, only it wasn't the one with the fingerprints. Fowler had decided to keep it in order for Superman to do something else for him in the future. Superman repaid Fowler's treachery by digging a tunnel under his oil deposit so that it flowed away from Fowler's land, and then told him about it. Obviously angry, Fowler reminded Superman that he still had the diamond. Superman then flew Fowler to the bank and sang an ear splitting note. It shattered the diamond in the safe deposit box (without damaging the contents of anyone else's deposit box we assume). Now really angry, Fowler held a press conference the next day and presented his evidence. Superman, in his Clark Kent identity, used his x-ray vision to warp the fragment with the fingerprints. An expert compared the two sets of prints and declared that they didn't match. This convinced Fowler that he had been mistaken all along.
Being a Bill Finger story, it is no wonder this was the best story of either issue. While his stories are certainly of their time, they seem to hold up better when read all these years later. He is an underappreciated talent of the comic book industry.
I would like to thank everyone who has listened to this podcast over these first hundred episodes. I would like to thank Taylor (who used to work at the same place I did), Chris, both Michaels, Mick, Mike of New York, Ralph of North Jersey, Barry of Chicago and Brad of Australia, not to mention the From Crisis To Crisis podcast, for being members of the Superman Fan Podcast groups on facebook. Also, I would like to thank Chris, John, Mick and the FCTC podcast again for being members of the My Pull List group on facebook.
Next week: The Death Of Superman!
Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comcs Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com.
Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com .
My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/ . Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com .
Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanfan.
Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics.
Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Episode #99: Superman: Secret Identity
The four issue mini-series Superman: Secret Identity was originally published in a collected edition on November 3, 2004. The issues themselves were publsihed from January to April of that year. It was written by Kurt Busiek, art and covers by Stuart Immonen and lettered by Todd Klein. Kurt worte in an introduction that he was inspired by DC Comics Presents #87, November 1985, and the story The Origin Of Superboy Prime. He was born on "our" Earth (during the era of DC Coics of the multiverse) where the DC heroes were fictional characters in comic books and super heroes did not exist.
Kurt fashioned his own story that was not a sequel or adaption of that earlier story. Clark was born to David and Laura Kent in Picketsville, Kansas, who thought it would be fun to name their son after the fictional character. Of couse, the humor of the situation escaped their son, as is usually the case. His birthdays are always filled with unwanted Superman themed gifts, but he is a good sport about it. There is no Lana Lang or Pete Ross in Clark's high school life. The closest friend he has is a girl named Cassie. He discovers he has super powers in a unique way and eventually decides to take up the mantle of his fictional namesake.
He does become a writer, but he avoids newspaper journalism, becoming a magazine writer and then a book author instead. So there are no Perry or Jimmy, but there is a Lois. She is not a Lane, and is not a reporter. They eventually marry and have twin daughters.
Clark does not operate openly, even though he does wear a traditional Superman costume. It is a good thing too. Unknown men in black investigate sightings and unusual rescues. Clark is eventually captured and finds a morgue filled with the bodies of about twelve other people similar to himself, including a few infants. He is able to eventually get the government off his back in return for his services, with a few caveats.
Like his original creators, this Clark Kent/Superman was a trailblazer, with all of the trials and troubles that come with it. But Clark gets to see things change. Governments don't fear super powered beings eventually. They begin to operate openly and even work with the government. And the Superman Family grows, as his twin girls inherit his powers, along with grandsons Perry, Clark and Jimmy. That Kent sense of humor got passed down too.
Secret Identity was the most real look at super heroes I've read. It probably wouldn't be all praise and glory between bouts with a super villain. With great powers would come great fear. It would make sense to operate secretly, colorful costume or not. the best part of the story was the development of Clark and his own Lois, who is very different from her comic book namesake. the story of their life is what is most interesting, super powers or not. Any Superman fan , or comic book reader in gerneral, would enjoy this story. I would even venture to say that people who would not normally read comic books would find this story interesting.
Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comcs Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com.
Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com .
My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/ . Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com .
Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanfan.
Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics.
Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
Kurt fashioned his own story that was not a sequel or adaption of that earlier story. Clark was born to David and Laura Kent in Picketsville, Kansas, who thought it would be fun to name their son after the fictional character. Of couse, the humor of the situation escaped their son, as is usually the case. His birthdays are always filled with unwanted Superman themed gifts, but he is a good sport about it. There is no Lana Lang or Pete Ross in Clark's high school life. The closest friend he has is a girl named Cassie. He discovers he has super powers in a unique way and eventually decides to take up the mantle of his fictional namesake.
He does become a writer, but he avoids newspaper journalism, becoming a magazine writer and then a book author instead. So there are no Perry or Jimmy, but there is a Lois. She is not a Lane, and is not a reporter. They eventually marry and have twin daughters.
Clark does not operate openly, even though he does wear a traditional Superman costume. It is a good thing too. Unknown men in black investigate sightings and unusual rescues. Clark is eventually captured and finds a morgue filled with the bodies of about twelve other people similar to himself, including a few infants. He is able to eventually get the government off his back in return for his services, with a few caveats.
Like his original creators, this Clark Kent/Superman was a trailblazer, with all of the trials and troubles that come with it. But Clark gets to see things change. Governments don't fear super powered beings eventually. They begin to operate openly and even work with the government. And the Superman Family grows, as his twin girls inherit his powers, along with grandsons Perry, Clark and Jimmy. That Kent sense of humor got passed down too.
Secret Identity was the most real look at super heroes I've read. It probably wouldn't be all praise and glory between bouts with a super villain. With great powers would come great fear. It would make sense to operate secretly, colorful costume or not. the best part of the story was the development of Clark and his own Lois, who is very different from her comic book namesake. the story of their life is what is most interesting, super powers or not. Any Superman fan , or comic book reader in gerneral, would enjoy this story. I would even venture to say that people who would not normally read comic books would find this story interesting.
Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comcs Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com.
Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com .
My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/ . Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com .
Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanfan.
Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics.
Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Episode #98: THEY SAVED LUTHOR'S BRAIN!
This episode was part of the Comic Book Theme Week for Halloween among many comic book podcasters.
The story They Saved Luthor's Brain! was collected into a trade paperback by the same name, released on January 26, 2000. It collected the following issues Superman (vol. 2) #2 and Action Comics issues 660, 668, 672 and 676-678. However, there are more issues of the various Superman titles that were a part of this story.
The story began with Superman #2, February 1987. At the end of the new Superman #1, Metallo had almost killed Superman with kryptonite poisoning before vanishing. In issue #2 it was revealed that Luthor's security forces had captured Metallo, and Luthor himself ripped out the kryptonite that powered Metallo's robot body with his bare hand, and had a new ring with a kryptonite stone setting custom made for himself, as a symbol of his ability to keep Superman at bay. What Luthor would eventually learn was that kryptonite was not totally harmless to humans. While short exposure posed no threat, prolonged exposure would prove fatal to Luthor.
His troubles really began in Action Comics #600, May 1988, published on February 2, 1988. In the third story of the issue, Games People Play (written by John Byrne, pencilled by Dick Giordano, inked by John Beatty, lettered by Albert Tobias DeGuzman, colored by Thomas J. Ziuko and edited by Mike Carlin), Lex's right hand, with the kryptonite ring, had been aching. When he slammed his right fist on his desk in anger, the pain was excruciating. Dr. Kelley diagnosed kryptonite poisoning.
Luthor had his hand amputated and a robotic hand installed in Superman #19, May 1988, Febryary 2, 1988, in the story titled The Power That Failed (written and pencilled by John Byrne, inked by John Beatty, lettered by John Costanza and colored by Petra Scotese. That would not stop the spread of cancer, as Lex found out in Action Comics #656, August 1990, July 10, 1990, Going To Blazes (written by Roger Stern, pencilled by Bob McLeod, inked by Brett Breeding, lettered by Bill Oakley, and colored by Glenn Whitmore). In Action Comics #660, December 1990, November 6, 1990, titled Certain Death, Luthor was taking chemtherapy treatments for the cancer. He decided to go out with a bang instead of withering away to nothing. He commissioned a round the world flight, around the poles, on one of his LexWig planes with a co-pilot. During the flight Luthor jettisoned the co-pilot in a rescue capsule in the Caribbean, and the plane crash landed in the Andes Mountains of Peru.
Luthor's will, naming an heir, would eventually be found in Action Comics #662, February 1991, January 8, 1991, in the story Secrets In The Night, in the same issue that Clark Kent revealed his secret identity to Lois Lane. Happersen and Kelley, Luthor's inner circle, went to New South Wales, Australia, to find Luthor's son, whose mother was none other than Dr. Kelley herself, in Action Comics #670, October 1991, September 3, 1991.
Lex, Jr. landed in Metropolis in the very next issue, and in #672 settled the Daily Planet strike by promising to buy afvertising in the paper for various LexCorp companies. Lex, Jr. had his father's affection for the ladies and began a romantic affair with the Matrix Supergirl in issue #677.
The true story behind Lex, Jr. was finally revealed in Action Comics #678. The cover, drawn by Art Thibert, carried the title They Saved Luthor's Brain, which served as the title of the paperback collection of this storyline. The title of the story itself was Talking Heads, written by Roger Stern, pencilled by Jackson Guice, inked by Andy Parks, lettered by Bill Oakley and colored by Glenn Whitmore. The story began when Lex, Jr. was attacked by a gunman, who was then injured when one of his bullets richocheted off of Supergirl. He was taken to a hospital and identified as Dr. Dabney Donovan (mentioned in episode #34, Jack Kirby's Project Cadmus). He was interviewed by Inspector Henderson, who remained in the shadows of the hospital room that night.
Dabney told the whole story, how the "late" Lex Luthor had secreted another body, also missing his right hand, onto the ill-fated LexWing. With the jet on autopilot, Luthor placed the body in the pilot's seat and ejected in a secret escape pod. He was found by Dr. Happersen and taken to a remote lab established in the Australian Outback. There, Donovan and Dr. Teng, another old Luthor associate who had created the original Bizarro (in the Man Of Steel mini-series) operated on Luthor. All they were able to save from Lex's body that was cancer free were his brain, eyes and spinal cord, which were placed in a fluid filled isodation tank. A clone body was grown around the brain, and sleep tapes gave the "new" Luthor the correct Austrailan accent.
When the new Luthor was ready to resume his life as his own heir, he blew up the lab. Teng was killed but Donovan survived to plan his revenge. Inspecotr Henderson was revealed to be a disguised Lex Luthor, Jr. Luthor revealed to Donovan that he had planted his will so that it would be found after his death, when his company would be in chaos, along with the rest of Metropolis, because of Luthor's demise. The stage would then be set for Lex, Jr. to arrive and become the savior of Metropolis and once again be the city's top dog. Luthor planned to poison Donovan with a syringe, but Dabney beat him to it. Donovan himself was a clone, and activated an implanted self-destruct device and burst into flames. Of course Luthor escaped the hospital without detection.
That was not the end of the cloned Luthor, during the Bizarro World story, found in all of the Superman titles from Superman #87 - Superman #88, a disease swept through the clone community, Cadmus escapees who lived underground below Metropolis, and afflicted Luthor as well. He had Bizarro captured and experimented on to find a cure. Luthor withered away and he lost his hair. Lois and Superman stopped Luthor's experiments but too late to save Bizarro. Luthor's condition continued to deteriorate, and when it seemed that death would not escape Luthor he decided to take Metropolis with him. In The Battle For Metropolis and The Fall Of Metropolis storylines, which ran through the Superman titles from Action Comics #699 - Action Comics #701, most of Metropolis was destroyed. Luthor was finally stopped and his body became paralyzed while his mind was still actvie, a fitting punishment.
His health was restored in Underworld Unleashed #2, when the demon Neron offered to restore Lex's health in exchange for his soul. Since Luthor did not believed in the afterlife he found that quite a bargain. Luthor was eventually cleared of all charges when he was able to prove an evil clone of himself was responsible for the atrocities, which cleared the way for Lex Luthor to eventually run for President and all of the adventures that followed.
Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comcs Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com.
Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com .
My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/ . Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com .
Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanfan.
Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics.
Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
The story They Saved Luthor's Brain! was collected into a trade paperback by the same name, released on January 26, 2000. It collected the following issues Superman (vol. 2) #2 and Action Comics issues 660, 668, 672 and 676-678. However, there are more issues of the various Superman titles that were a part of this story.
The story began with Superman #2, February 1987. At the end of the new Superman #1, Metallo had almost killed Superman with kryptonite poisoning before vanishing. In issue #2 it was revealed that Luthor's security forces had captured Metallo, and Luthor himself ripped out the kryptonite that powered Metallo's robot body with his bare hand, and had a new ring with a kryptonite stone setting custom made for himself, as a symbol of his ability to keep Superman at bay. What Luthor would eventually learn was that kryptonite was not totally harmless to humans. While short exposure posed no threat, prolonged exposure would prove fatal to Luthor.
His troubles really began in Action Comics #600, May 1988, published on February 2, 1988. In the third story of the issue, Games People Play (written by John Byrne, pencilled by Dick Giordano, inked by John Beatty, lettered by Albert Tobias DeGuzman, colored by Thomas J. Ziuko and edited by Mike Carlin), Lex's right hand, with the kryptonite ring, had been aching. When he slammed his right fist on his desk in anger, the pain was excruciating. Dr. Kelley diagnosed kryptonite poisoning.
Luthor had his hand amputated and a robotic hand installed in Superman #19, May 1988, Febryary 2, 1988, in the story titled The Power That Failed (written and pencilled by John Byrne, inked by John Beatty, lettered by John Costanza and colored by Petra Scotese. That would not stop the spread of cancer, as Lex found out in Action Comics #656, August 1990, July 10, 1990, Going To Blazes (written by Roger Stern, pencilled by Bob McLeod, inked by Brett Breeding, lettered by Bill Oakley, and colored by Glenn Whitmore). In Action Comics #660, December 1990, November 6, 1990, titled Certain Death, Luthor was taking chemtherapy treatments for the cancer. He decided to go out with a bang instead of withering away to nothing. He commissioned a round the world flight, around the poles, on one of his LexWig planes with a co-pilot. During the flight Luthor jettisoned the co-pilot in a rescue capsule in the Caribbean, and the plane crash landed in the Andes Mountains of Peru.
Luthor's will, naming an heir, would eventually be found in Action Comics #662, February 1991, January 8, 1991, in the story Secrets In The Night, in the same issue that Clark Kent revealed his secret identity to Lois Lane. Happersen and Kelley, Luthor's inner circle, went to New South Wales, Australia, to find Luthor's son, whose mother was none other than Dr. Kelley herself, in Action Comics #670, October 1991, September 3, 1991.
Lex, Jr. landed in Metropolis in the very next issue, and in #672 settled the Daily Planet strike by promising to buy afvertising in the paper for various LexCorp companies. Lex, Jr. had his father's affection for the ladies and began a romantic affair with the Matrix Supergirl in issue #677.
The true story behind Lex, Jr. was finally revealed in Action Comics #678. The cover, drawn by Art Thibert, carried the title They Saved Luthor's Brain, which served as the title of the paperback collection of this storyline. The title of the story itself was Talking Heads, written by Roger Stern, pencilled by Jackson Guice, inked by Andy Parks, lettered by Bill Oakley and colored by Glenn Whitmore. The story began when Lex, Jr. was attacked by a gunman, who was then injured when one of his bullets richocheted off of Supergirl. He was taken to a hospital and identified as Dr. Dabney Donovan (mentioned in episode #34, Jack Kirby's Project Cadmus). He was interviewed by Inspector Henderson, who remained in the shadows of the hospital room that night.
Dabney told the whole story, how the "late" Lex Luthor had secreted another body, also missing his right hand, onto the ill-fated LexWing. With the jet on autopilot, Luthor placed the body in the pilot's seat and ejected in a secret escape pod. He was found by Dr. Happersen and taken to a remote lab established in the Australian Outback. There, Donovan and Dr. Teng, another old Luthor associate who had created the original Bizarro (in the Man Of Steel mini-series) operated on Luthor. All they were able to save from Lex's body that was cancer free were his brain, eyes and spinal cord, which were placed in a fluid filled isodation tank. A clone body was grown around the brain, and sleep tapes gave the "new" Luthor the correct Austrailan accent.
When the new Luthor was ready to resume his life as his own heir, he blew up the lab. Teng was killed but Donovan survived to plan his revenge. Inspecotr Henderson was revealed to be a disguised Lex Luthor, Jr. Luthor revealed to Donovan that he had planted his will so that it would be found after his death, when his company would be in chaos, along with the rest of Metropolis, because of Luthor's demise. The stage would then be set for Lex, Jr. to arrive and become the savior of Metropolis and once again be the city's top dog. Luthor planned to poison Donovan with a syringe, but Dabney beat him to it. Donovan himself was a clone, and activated an implanted self-destruct device and burst into flames. Of course Luthor escaped the hospital without detection.
That was not the end of the cloned Luthor, during the Bizarro World story, found in all of the Superman titles from Superman #87 - Superman #88, a disease swept through the clone community, Cadmus escapees who lived underground below Metropolis, and afflicted Luthor as well. He had Bizarro captured and experimented on to find a cure. Luthor withered away and he lost his hair. Lois and Superman stopped Luthor's experiments but too late to save Bizarro. Luthor's condition continued to deteriorate, and when it seemed that death would not escape Luthor he decided to take Metropolis with him. In The Battle For Metropolis and The Fall Of Metropolis storylines, which ran through the Superman titles from Action Comics #699 - Action Comics #701, most of Metropolis was destroyed. Luthor was finally stopped and his body became paralyzed while his mind was still actvie, a fitting punishment.
His health was restored in Underworld Unleashed #2, when the demon Neron offered to restore Lex's health in exchange for his soul. Since Luthor did not believed in the afterlife he found that quite a bargain. Luthor was eventually cleared of all charges when he was able to prove an evil clone of himself was responsible for the atrocities, which cleared the way for Lex Luthor to eventually run for President and all of the adventures that followed.
Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comcs Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com.
Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com .
My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/ . Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com .
Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanfan.
Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics.
Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
Issue #97: An Interview With Billy Tucci!
I would like to thank Billy Tucci for taking the time out of his busy schedule for this interview. It was conducted and posted on Wednesday, October 28, 2009.
Billy Tucci wrote and drew the story Flash Vs. Superman: To The Finish Line!, published on Wednesday, October 21, 2009, in the 80 pg. DC Halloween Special 2009. It was colored by Brian Miller of HiFi Design and lettered by Rob Leigh. It is available now at your local comic book store or your internet vendor.
During this interview Billy also discusses his recent mini-series: Sgt. Rock: The Lost Batallion, his self-published title Shi, some future projects and his own military service. We also get to meet his youngest son Matthew! The hardcover edition of Sgt. Rock: The Lost Batallion is scheduled to be published on Wednesday, November 25, 2009, and his Sgt. Rock Christmas story in the DC Holiday Special 2009 on Wednesday, December 9, 2009.Visit Billy Tucci's web site at: http://williamtucci.com.
Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comcs Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com.
Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com .
My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/ . Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com .
Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanfan.
Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics.
Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
Billy Tucci wrote and drew the story Flash Vs. Superman: To The Finish Line!, published on Wednesday, October 21, 2009, in the 80 pg. DC Halloween Special 2009. It was colored by Brian Miller of HiFi Design and lettered by Rob Leigh. It is available now at your local comic book store or your internet vendor.
During this interview Billy also discusses his recent mini-series: Sgt. Rock: The Lost Batallion, his self-published title Shi, some future projects and his own military service. We also get to meet his youngest son Matthew! The hardcover edition of Sgt. Rock: The Lost Batallion is scheduled to be published on Wednesday, November 25, 2009, and his Sgt. Rock Christmas story in the DC Holiday Special 2009 on Wednesday, December 9, 2009.Visit Billy Tucci's web site at: http://williamtucci.com.
Superman Fan Podcast is a proud member of the League of Comic Book Podcasters at http://www.comicbooknoise.com/league and the Comcs Podcast Network! http://www.comicspodcasts.com.
Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com .
My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/ . Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com .
Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanfan.
Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics.
Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
Episode #96: Happy Birthday, Edmond Hamilton!
Edmond Hamilton was born on October 21, 1904 and died on February 1, 1977. He was a science fiction and comic book writer who was born in Youngstown, Ohio. He grew up there and in nearby New Castle, Pennsylvania. He graduated high school at the age of 14, and attended Westminster Colleg in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania until he was 17 but did not graduate.
His science fiction career began in 1926 when his story The Monster God Of Mamurth was published in the August 1926 issue of Weird Tales magazine. The first hardcover compilation of his stories was published a decade later, titled The Horror On The Asteroid And Other Tales Of Planetary Horror. Hamilton was a prolific writer. He wrote around eighty stories for Weird Tales, as well as for every other science fiction magazine in publication. It was not uncommon for four or five stories to be published per month among various magazines, and sometimes more than one story would appear in a title. In those cases he used a pseudonym for one of the stories.
Hamilton was well known for writing in the space opera sub-genre of science fiction. His story The Island Of Unreason (originally published in the May 1933 issue of Wonder Stories) won the first Jules Verne Prize as the best science fiction story of the year. the Verne Prize was voted on by fans and was the precursor of the Hugo Awards.
During the Depression Hamilton also wrote detective/crime stories.
In the 1940's he wrote many stories for the Captain Future character, originally published in the Ned Pine stable of publications. Captain Future was designed for younger characters and created by Mort Weisinger, an editor for the Ned Pine titles who would later be Hamilton's editor at DC Comics.
When science fiction moved away from its space opera roots, some science fiction readers seemed to find Hamilton's stories, and other similar writers, outdated. Since I have never read any of Edmond Hamilton's stories I cannot comment for myself.
Edmond Hamilton married fellow science fiction author and screenwriter Leigh Brackett, who had a script credit for the film The Empire Strikes Back after her death in 1978.
He began writing for DC Comics in 1942 and retired from writing comic book stories a little over twenty years later in 1966, writing a total of 282 stories. His first published story was Bandits In Toyland in Batman #11 June/July1942. He also wrote for a variety of DC titles, including the Superman family of titles and The Legion Of Super-Heroes. Hamilton also wrote for Julius Schwartz's science fiction comic book titles Strange Adventures and Mystery In Space for which he created the character Chris KL-99, who first appeared in Strange Adventures #1 and was similar to the Captain Future character. He also wrote for the Tommy Tommorow science fiction character in Action Comics. His last DC Comics story was The Cape & Cowl Crooks in World's Finest Comics #159, August 1966 (mentioned in episode #64 about Perry White).
In the late 1970's Edmond Hamilton worked on anime adaptions of his Captain Future stories and a live action Japanese TV adaption of his story Star Wolf. He died on February 1, 1977 after complications from kidney surgery. On July 18, 2009 Kinsman, Ohio celebrated Edmond Hamilton Day.
The Edmond Hamilton Superman story featured in this episode was The Last Days Of Superman, originally published in Superman #156, October 1962, originally published on August 2, 1962. It has been reprinted in the editions Superman In The Sixties, Superman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told and Showcase Presents: Superman vol. III.
For more information about Edmond Hamilton:
Edmond Hamilton Day: http://www.locusmag.com/News/2009/07/edmond-hamilton-day.html.
Edmond Hamilton's science fiction bibliography: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?Edmond_Hamilton
Edmond Hamilton's comic book work:http://dcindexes.com,http://www.comics.orghttp://comicbookdb.com.
Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com .
My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/ . Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com .
Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanfan.
Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics.
Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
His science fiction career began in 1926 when his story The Monster God Of Mamurth was published in the August 1926 issue of Weird Tales magazine. The first hardcover compilation of his stories was published a decade later, titled The Horror On The Asteroid And Other Tales Of Planetary Horror. Hamilton was a prolific writer. He wrote around eighty stories for Weird Tales, as well as for every other science fiction magazine in publication. It was not uncommon for four or five stories to be published per month among various magazines, and sometimes more than one story would appear in a title. In those cases he used a pseudonym for one of the stories.
Hamilton was well known for writing in the space opera sub-genre of science fiction. His story The Island Of Unreason (originally published in the May 1933 issue of Wonder Stories) won the first Jules Verne Prize as the best science fiction story of the year. the Verne Prize was voted on by fans and was the precursor of the Hugo Awards.
During the Depression Hamilton also wrote detective/crime stories.
In the 1940's he wrote many stories for the Captain Future character, originally published in the Ned Pine stable of publications. Captain Future was designed for younger characters and created by Mort Weisinger, an editor for the Ned Pine titles who would later be Hamilton's editor at DC Comics.
When science fiction moved away from its space opera roots, some science fiction readers seemed to find Hamilton's stories, and other similar writers, outdated. Since I have never read any of Edmond Hamilton's stories I cannot comment for myself.
Edmond Hamilton married fellow science fiction author and screenwriter Leigh Brackett, who had a script credit for the film The Empire Strikes Back after her death in 1978.
He began writing for DC Comics in 1942 and retired from writing comic book stories a little over twenty years later in 1966, writing a total of 282 stories. His first published story was Bandits In Toyland in Batman #11 June/July1942. He also wrote for a variety of DC titles, including the Superman family of titles and The Legion Of Super-Heroes. Hamilton also wrote for Julius Schwartz's science fiction comic book titles Strange Adventures and Mystery In Space for which he created the character Chris KL-99, who first appeared in Strange Adventures #1 and was similar to the Captain Future character. He also wrote for the Tommy Tommorow science fiction character in Action Comics. His last DC Comics story was The Cape & Cowl Crooks in World's Finest Comics #159, August 1966 (mentioned in episode #64 about Perry White).
In the late 1970's Edmond Hamilton worked on anime adaptions of his Captain Future stories and a live action Japanese TV adaption of his story Star Wolf. He died on February 1, 1977 after complications from kidney surgery. On July 18, 2009 Kinsman, Ohio celebrated Edmond Hamilton Day.
The Edmond Hamilton Superman story featured in this episode was The Last Days Of Superman, originally published in Superman #156, October 1962, originally published on August 2, 1962. It has been reprinted in the editions Superman In The Sixties, Superman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told and Showcase Presents: Superman vol. III.
For more information about Edmond Hamilton:
Edmond Hamilton Day: http://www.locusmag.com/News/2009/07/edmond-hamilton-day.html.
Edmond Hamilton's science fiction bibliography: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?Edmond_Hamilton
Edmond Hamilton's comic book work:http://dcindexes.com,http://www.comics.orghttp://comicbookdb.com.
Superman Fan Podcast is at http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/ . Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com .
My Pull List is my spoiler free comic book review blog of the titles I read every week. It can be found at http://mypulllist.blogspot.com/ . Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com .
Join the Superman Fan Podcast and My Pull List groups on facebook, and follow the podcast and blogs on twitter @supermanfan.
Superman and all related characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics.
Thanks for listening to the Superman Fan Podcast and, as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
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