John Byrne was born on July 6, 1950, at West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England to Frank and Nelsie Byrne. His parents lived with his maternal grandmother during his earliest years.
In the article A Personal View on the inside back cover of Man of Steel #1, John Byrne reminisced about his first exposure to Superman. It wasn't in the comic books, but on television in 1957. The TV show was The Adventures of Superman starring George Reeves, in the episode Superman and the Haunted Lighthouse. After his family moved to Canada in 1958, John was first exposed to American comic books, particularly the Superman family of titles. His first Marvel comic book was Fantastic Four #5, whic introduced Doctor Doom.
In 1970 John Byrne enrolled in the Alberta College of Art & Design, but left in 1973 without graduating. Some of his earliest comic book work was done for Charlton Comics. His forst color comic book work was the story Rog-2000 in the back of the title E-Man, a robot character he created. He drew a series of licensed comic books for Charlton after that, and co-created, with Joe Gill, the post-apocalyptic s/f title Doomsday +1, also for Charlton. This was my first exposure to John Byrne's art. Even in this early stage of his career, I was hooked on his artistic style, regardless how he might personally cringe after looking at this early art (as a lot of comic book artists seem to do).
John Byrne's early Marvel work included the titles Iron Fist, The Champions and Marvel Team-Up. During this time he began working with comic book writer Chris Claremont. John Byrne began working with Chirs on X-Men #108 (December 1977) through #143, when he left the title as both men increasingly saw the characters from differing perspectives. John then had a brief run on Alpha Flight, a group of Canadian super heroes noted mostly for including what became Marvel's first gay super hero Northstar. Next was The Incredible Hulk 314-319, which he left because of editorial differences with Editor-In Chief Jim Shooter.
Byrne's most famous Marvel work was on Fantastic Four #232-293 for the next six years. He followed that up with his most famous work at DC, relaunching Superman. He began with the six issue mini-series Man of Steel, then an new Superman #1. Byrne wanted to combine the original Siegel/Shuster character and the Fleischer cartoon series. In Byrne's version the public was not aware that Superman had a secret identity. As a safeguard Superman vibrated his face at super speed so that clear photographs could not be taken of his face. Clark Kent kept a weight set in his apartment to explain his physique, and while he was mild-mannered Clark certianly was no wimp. John Byrne left DC after two years after differences with the DC editors over Superman's direction.
Byrne returned to Marvel and, after brief runs on Star Brand and the West Coast Avengers, started Sensational She-Hulk for eight issues. This title was known for breaking the "fourth wall". Jennifer Walters knew she was in a comic book, and in one scene, when she was late for an appointment, instead of hailing a cab, simply stepped into the next panel. He left after eight issues because of conflicts with the editor, but returned on issues 31 - 50 under a different editor.
In the early 1990's John Byrne moved to Dark Horse Comics. His most famous Dark Horse title was Next Men, which looked at how super powers would affect those who had them. For instance, one woman who was invulnerable had no sensation of hot or cold, and her hair could slice your fingers off if you tried to grab it, as one unfortunate character did. Another character, who had superhuman strength, was almost invulnerable because of his dense muscle structure, but he could be hurt. A super fast character had muscular legs slightly over proprotioned to his small frame. Another character with vision powers had eyes that were a little larger than normal and had no white to his eyes showing, his pupils were so large. This series lasted for thirty issues.
Babe was a She-Hulk like character for mature readers, and Danger Unlimited was like the Fantastic Four, or DC's Challengers of the Unknown, who battled an alien invasion of Earth.
In 1992 he worked with science fiction writer Larry Niven on DC's Green Lantern: Ganthet's Tale. Later he wrote briefly for some of the X-Men titles but left again over editorial differences. From 1995-1998 John Byrne worked on Wonder Woman, and in the late 1990's did Spider Man: Chapter One, before Ultimate Spider-Man became a more successful reprise of Spider-Man's origin. He did X-Men: The Hidden Years for 22 issues.
Beginning in 2000, John Byrne did three mini-series under the title Superman / Batman: Generations, as well as runs on Doom Patrol and Blood of the Demon. He returned to Superman in Action Comics, working with writer Gail Simone from issues #827-835, as well as All-New Atom #1-3.
John Byrne is currently working for IDW Publishing as the writer and artist on Star Trek: Assignment Earth, which follows Gary Seven, his cat Isis and secretary Roberta, from the Star Trek episode of the same name.
Superman Fan Podcast can be found at www.supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com. E-mail can be sent to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.
My Pull List is my spoiler free review blog about the comic books I read every week. It can be found at www.mypulllist.blogspot.com. Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Episide # 24: Superman #300, June 1976, "Superman 2001"
The only reprint I have been able to find was in Best of DC #19, December 1981. Superman 2001 was another "imaginary story". To commemorate this special issue of Superman, co-writers Cary Bates and Elliott S! Maggin retold Superman's origin as if he landed on Earth today, in this case the bicentennial year of 1976. What makes this alternate story of Superman's origin so interesting is how different it is from traditional continuity, yet haw much Superman satys the same.
Instead of growing up in a loving foster home in a midwestern small town, Kal-El grows up on secret U. S. military bases as the Pentagon's secret weapon. Yet the young Skyboy, his military codename instead of Superboy, proves himself a world hero and not just government propertywhen he averts nuclear war himself. When the U. S. and USSR, this is 1976 after all, are tricked by a third world power, Skyboy captures every nuclear missle at super speed. He gathers them together and hurls them into the sun. When the general who served as a father figure to Skyboy dies immediately after the end of the averted nuclear war, the young superhero turns his back to superheroics and even throws his costume into the ocean. Taking parts of the names of the general and the U. S. diver who claimed his rocket years before, Skyboy becomes Clark Kent and embarks on a career as a television journalist. When a strange four armed man appears on Times Square in 2001, claiming to be the hero who saved the world from nuclear holocaust, Clark Kent is forced into action, this time as Superman, to defeat this fraud, and take his place as a hero for the enitre world. And he shows what makes Superman such a hero, when, instead of dominating the world as a ruler, inspires humanityto rise to the best of their potential.
Superman Fan Podcast can be found at www.supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com. Send e-mail to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.
My Pull List is a spoiler free blog reviewing the comic books I read every week. It can be found at www.mypulllist.blogspot.com. E-mail about this blog can be sent to mypulllist@gmail.com.
Instead of growing up in a loving foster home in a midwestern small town, Kal-El grows up on secret U. S. military bases as the Pentagon's secret weapon. Yet the young Skyboy, his military codename instead of Superboy, proves himself a world hero and not just government propertywhen he averts nuclear war himself. When the U. S. and USSR, this is 1976 after all, are tricked by a third world power, Skyboy captures every nuclear missle at super speed. He gathers them together and hurls them into the sun. When the general who served as a father figure to Skyboy dies immediately after the end of the averted nuclear war, the young superhero turns his back to superheroics and even throws his costume into the ocean. Taking parts of the names of the general and the U. S. diver who claimed his rocket years before, Skyboy becomes Clark Kent and embarks on a career as a television journalist. When a strange four armed man appears on Times Square in 2001, claiming to be the hero who saved the world from nuclear holocaust, Clark Kent is forced into action, this time as Superman, to defeat this fraud, and take his place as a hero for the enitre world. And he shows what makes Superman such a hero, when, instead of dominating the world as a ruler, inspires humanityto rise to the best of their potential.
Superman Fan Podcast can be found at www.supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com. Send e-mail to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.
My Pull List is a spoiler free blog reviewing the comic books I read every week. It can be found at www.mypulllist.blogspot.com. E-mail about this blog can be sent to mypulllist@gmail.com.
Episode #23: Action Comics Annual #6, 1994, "Legacy"
DC Comics' Annuals for the summer of 1994 all bore the header "Elseworlds" above the title. This was an updated version of DC's "imaginary stories" of the 1960's through the mid 1980's. This annual was originally published on July 19, 1994. The cover showed bluecoated colonial soldiers dead or injured on the ground, with a floating man bearing the familiar Superman "S" on his scarf. He ripped the colonial flag. The only reprint I could find of the story was in the out of print trade paperback, Superman/Batman: Alternate Histories.
The cover was drawn by Mike Mignola, and the story was written and drawn by John Byrne. The opening page was the familiar exploding planet of Krypton, with one lone rocket outracing its destruction. Only the sole survivor is not baby Kal-El, but an adult Gar-El. His rocket lands on Earth in colonial times, just before the Revolutionary War. He becomes a member of British royalty, and singlehandedly captures the would-be revolutionaries at Independence Hall by carrying the entire building to London. The men inside are hung for treason and the entire world becomes a crown colony as Gar-El becomes the "Soverign". HIs great-great grandson is Kal-El, who through successive generations of intermarrying with humans, has no superpowers at all. The modern world Kal-El lives in is a strange melding of still colonial era dress with modern technologies like internal cumbustion vehicles. Gar-El has unwittingly re-created the stagnant civilization he left on long dead Krypton.
An underground resistance movement does exist, and Kal-El seeks to join it as he has increasing doubts about his elder's reign. We learn his father Jor-El was killed by the Soverign for voicing his own dissent. Kal-El is captured by an unknown gang and taken to a secret location, where he learns that the resistance leader is none other than Lois Lane of the Daily Planet. Kal-El proves his loyalty by infiltrating the Soverign's palace dungeion to a secret vault containing a piece of kryptonite. He takes it back to the resistance cell, and then back to the Soverign's palace. He baricades himself in Gar-El's bedroom as he attempts to reason with him. Kal-El is killed by a sniper when he is seen as a threat to the Soverign's life. When guards find the lead box with the piece of kryptonite in it, Gar-El's eyes are finally opened when he realizes that Kal-El could have assassinated him but instead tried to reason with him. Gar-El takes Kal-El's body into space, to bury him in the sun, and then to fly into deep space, finally freeing Earth.
I have always enjoyed DC's "imaginary stories" from childhood, and all of the "Elseworlds" annuals I bought during this year of 1994 made a summer full of fun reading. The plot twists in this particular annual, intertwined with American history, made for a riveting read that has not dimmed after reading it again fourteen years later. The story reads as if it could have been written yesterday.
Superman Fan Podcast can be found at www.supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com. Send e-mail to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.
My Pull List is a blog where I review, without spoilers, the comic books I read every week. It can be found at www.mypulllist.blogspot.com. E-mail for this blog can be sent to mypulllist@gmail.com.
The cover was drawn by Mike Mignola, and the story was written and drawn by John Byrne. The opening page was the familiar exploding planet of Krypton, with one lone rocket outracing its destruction. Only the sole survivor is not baby Kal-El, but an adult Gar-El. His rocket lands on Earth in colonial times, just before the Revolutionary War. He becomes a member of British royalty, and singlehandedly captures the would-be revolutionaries at Independence Hall by carrying the entire building to London. The men inside are hung for treason and the entire world becomes a crown colony as Gar-El becomes the "Soverign". HIs great-great grandson is Kal-El, who through successive generations of intermarrying with humans, has no superpowers at all. The modern world Kal-El lives in is a strange melding of still colonial era dress with modern technologies like internal cumbustion vehicles. Gar-El has unwittingly re-created the stagnant civilization he left on long dead Krypton.
An underground resistance movement does exist, and Kal-El seeks to join it as he has increasing doubts about his elder's reign. We learn his father Jor-El was killed by the Soverign for voicing his own dissent. Kal-El is captured by an unknown gang and taken to a secret location, where he learns that the resistance leader is none other than Lois Lane of the Daily Planet. Kal-El proves his loyalty by infiltrating the Soverign's palace dungeion to a secret vault containing a piece of kryptonite. He takes it back to the resistance cell, and then back to the Soverign's palace. He baricades himself in Gar-El's bedroom as he attempts to reason with him. Kal-El is killed by a sniper when he is seen as a threat to the Soverign's life. When guards find the lead box with the piece of kryptonite in it, Gar-El's eyes are finally opened when he realizes that Kal-El could have assassinated him but instead tried to reason with him. Gar-El takes Kal-El's body into space, to bury him in the sun, and then to fly into deep space, finally freeing Earth.
I have always enjoyed DC's "imaginary stories" from childhood, and all of the "Elseworlds" annuals I bought during this year of 1994 made a summer full of fun reading. The plot twists in this particular annual, intertwined with American history, made for a riveting read that has not dimmed after reading it again fourteen years later. The story reads as if it could have been written yesterday.
Superman Fan Podcast can be found at www.supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com. Send e-mail to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.
My Pull List is a blog where I review, without spoilers, the comic books I read every week. It can be found at www.mypulllist.blogspot.com. E-mail for this blog can be sent to mypulllist@gmail.com.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Episode #22: Superman vs. Superman!
June 10 marked the 22nd anniversary of the publication of Man of Steel #1, the six issue mini-series that relaunched Superman in 1986. It was written and drawn by John Byrne. Superman and Clark Kent were essentially the same, and the basics of the Superman story remained unchanged, but the new version differed greatly in the details.
The classic Superman could fly unhindered in outer space, forever if he wanted. In the new version his body could withstand the vacuum of space, but needed an air supply, which limited his range if he could not replenish it. Especially in the silver age, Superman could fly at unlimited speeds until he broke the time barrier and could travel through time. While we don't know how fast the "modern" Superman can fly, he certainly doesn't have the ability to travel through time with his own super powers. Classic Superman had a number of robots to take his place in Metropolis if he had to be away for some reason, or to protect Clark's secret identity. In an early story after the reboot, Prof. Hamilton invented a Superman robot, but it proved not entirely successful and was abandoned. In the classic origin, Kal-El had super powers from the moment his rocket landed on Earth. In the current origin, Clark developed his powers slowly, especially as he approached puberty, and so there never was a Superboy in Smallville. The classic Superman costume was made from indestructible Kryptonian fabrics that were in Kal-El's rocket. At the end of Man of Steel #1, Ma Kent sewed Clark's uniform so he could use his super powers and still have a private life. It wasn't torn because it was protected by an indestructable "aura" that surrounded Kal-El, being a tight fitting uniform. The cape wasn't so lucky. It was a good thing that Ma Kent always kept her son well supplied with them. Young Clark was orpaned again, before he became Superman in the classic story. In the current version, Ma and Pa Kent are still alive to support and advise their son. During the silver age, only Pete Ross ever discovered Clark Kent's secret identity. At the conclusion of the Man of Steel mini-series, we learned that after Ma and Pa Kent revealed to Clark the truth about how they found him, he confided his secret to his best friend, Lana Lang. Finally, in current continuity there is only one version of kryptonite, green. There was a story in the 1990's, The Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite, which involved Mr. Myxlplk. Green kryptonite was introduced late in the golden age, and during the silver age a variety of colors developed for kryptonite, with various effects on Superman: green kryptonite, of course kills, red causes strange effects on Superman, no two alike, gold permanently removes a kryptonian's powers, blue harms only Bixarros, white harms only plant life on any world, and jewel allows anyone to metally control a kryptonian.
The last issues of Superman comic books under the original continuity were Superman #423 (originally on sale June 12, 1986) and Action Comics #583 (originally on sale June 26, 1986), both cover dated September 1986. These issues were parts one and two of the now classic story Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow, written by Alan Moore and drawn by Curt Swan. Superman #423 was inked by George Perez, and Action Comics #583 was inked by Murphy Anderson. On the cover, standing in front of the Daily Planet staff on the Planet's roof, are Julius Schwartz (waving), Murphy Anderson, Curt Swan and Jeanette Kahn.
The Man Of Steel six issue mini-series, which restarted Superman, was published from July 10, 1986 - September 25, 1986). Monthly Superman stories began with a new Superman #1 (cover dated January 1987, published on October 9, 1986), and written and drawn by John Byrne. Adventures of Superman continued the numbering of the original Superman with issue #424 (January 1987, published on October 16, 1986), drawn by Jerry Ordway. Action Comics continued its original numbering, also drawn by John Byrne.
Three four issue mini-series explored this new continuity and the background of Superman. The World of Krypton (December 1987 - March 1988), The World of Smallville (April 1988 - July 1988) and The World of Metropolis (August 1988 - Novenber 1988).
A new Man of Steel monthly began publication on May 14, 1991 (cover dated July 1991), written by Louise Simonson and drawn by Jon Bogdanov. And so a Superman comic book was now published every week, except on months with five weeks.
Superman: Man of Tomorrow took care of that extra week, published quarterly beginning with the Summer 1995 issue (published on May 30, 1995). It's last issue was #15, Fall 1999, (published on September 29, 1999).
The last issue of Man of Steel was #134, cover dated March 2003 (published January 2, 2003). Adventures of Superman ended with issue #649, cover dated April 2006 (published on February 15, 2006). Superman continued its original numbering with issue #650, cover dated May 2006 (published on March 15, 2006). That issue was the first part of the Up, Up and Away story, the beginning of DC's One Year Later in all of its titles, after its mini-series Infinite Crisis.
The classic Superman could fly unhindered in outer space, forever if he wanted. In the new version his body could withstand the vacuum of space, but needed an air supply, which limited his range if he could not replenish it. Especially in the silver age, Superman could fly at unlimited speeds until he broke the time barrier and could travel through time. While we don't know how fast the "modern" Superman can fly, he certainly doesn't have the ability to travel through time with his own super powers. Classic Superman had a number of robots to take his place in Metropolis if he had to be away for some reason, or to protect Clark's secret identity. In an early story after the reboot, Prof. Hamilton invented a Superman robot, but it proved not entirely successful and was abandoned. In the classic origin, Kal-El had super powers from the moment his rocket landed on Earth. In the current origin, Clark developed his powers slowly, especially as he approached puberty, and so there never was a Superboy in Smallville. The classic Superman costume was made from indestructible Kryptonian fabrics that were in Kal-El's rocket. At the end of Man of Steel #1, Ma Kent sewed Clark's uniform so he could use his super powers and still have a private life. It wasn't torn because it was protected by an indestructable "aura" that surrounded Kal-El, being a tight fitting uniform. The cape wasn't so lucky. It was a good thing that Ma Kent always kept her son well supplied with them. Young Clark was orpaned again, before he became Superman in the classic story. In the current version, Ma and Pa Kent are still alive to support and advise their son. During the silver age, only Pete Ross ever discovered Clark Kent's secret identity. At the conclusion of the Man of Steel mini-series, we learned that after Ma and Pa Kent revealed to Clark the truth about how they found him, he confided his secret to his best friend, Lana Lang. Finally, in current continuity there is only one version of kryptonite, green. There was a story in the 1990's, The Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite, which involved Mr. Myxlplk. Green kryptonite was introduced late in the golden age, and during the silver age a variety of colors developed for kryptonite, with various effects on Superman: green kryptonite, of course kills, red causes strange effects on Superman, no two alike, gold permanently removes a kryptonian's powers, blue harms only Bixarros, white harms only plant life on any world, and jewel allows anyone to metally control a kryptonian.
The last issues of Superman comic books under the original continuity were Superman #423 (originally on sale June 12, 1986) and Action Comics #583 (originally on sale June 26, 1986), both cover dated September 1986. These issues were parts one and two of the now classic story Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow, written by Alan Moore and drawn by Curt Swan. Superman #423 was inked by George Perez, and Action Comics #583 was inked by Murphy Anderson. On the cover, standing in front of the Daily Planet staff on the Planet's roof, are Julius Schwartz (waving), Murphy Anderson, Curt Swan and Jeanette Kahn.
The Man Of Steel six issue mini-series, which restarted Superman, was published from July 10, 1986 - September 25, 1986). Monthly Superman stories began with a new Superman #1 (cover dated January 1987, published on October 9, 1986), and written and drawn by John Byrne. Adventures of Superman continued the numbering of the original Superman with issue #424 (January 1987, published on October 16, 1986), drawn by Jerry Ordway. Action Comics continued its original numbering, also drawn by John Byrne.
Three four issue mini-series explored this new continuity and the background of Superman. The World of Krypton (December 1987 - March 1988), The World of Smallville (April 1988 - July 1988) and The World of Metropolis (August 1988 - Novenber 1988).
A new Man of Steel monthly began publication on May 14, 1991 (cover dated July 1991), written by Louise Simonson and drawn by Jon Bogdanov. And so a Superman comic book was now published every week, except on months with five weeks.
Superman: Man of Tomorrow took care of that extra week, published quarterly beginning with the Summer 1995 issue (published on May 30, 1995). It's last issue was #15, Fall 1999, (published on September 29, 1999).
The last issue of Man of Steel was #134, cover dated March 2003 (published January 2, 2003). Adventures of Superman ended with issue #649, cover dated April 2006 (published on February 15, 2006). Superman continued its original numbering with issue #650, cover dated May 2006 (published on March 15, 2006). That issue was the first part of the Up, Up and Away story, the beginning of DC's One Year Later in all of its titles, after its mini-series Infinite Crisis.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Episode #21: Brainiac!
With the publication of Action Comics #866, Brainiac part I, I thought it would be the perfect time to dedicate an episode to Superman's other major villain, Brainiac.
Brainiac first appeared in Action Comics #242 (July 1958, first published around May 29, 1958). The cover was pencilled by Curt Swan and inked by Stan Kaye. The editor at this time was Mort Weisinger. Otto Binder created Brainiac for the story Super Duel In Space. The artist was Al Plastino. This story was reprinted in the following reprint collections:
Superman In The Fifties
Superman: The Man of Tomorrow ARchives vol. I
Superman: The Bottle City of Kandor
Showcase Presents: Superman vol. I
Clark and Lois are covering the launch of the first manned rocket launch as passengers. In Earth orbit the rocket is attacked by an alien spaceship. Clark dons a spacesuit and exits through an emrgency exit hatch to change to Superman. He is unable to penetrate a force field surrounding the spaceship. Superman pushes the Earth rocket to safety. Brainiac proceeds to shrink Earth's cities and place them in glass bottles, about the size and shape of water cooler bottles. His purpose is to repopulate his homeworld because the population was wiped out by a plague. Superman unsuccessfully battles Brainiac, who is protected by a similar force field. When the rocket returns to Earth, Clark meets Lois at the Daily Planet, just as Brainiac shrinks Metropolis. Superman escapes, and hides from Brainiac by flying into another bottle. It turns out to be the Kryptonian city of Kandor. Superman happens to find a scientist who was Jor-El's college roommate. He takes Superman on a tour of Kandor, and uses a telescope to study Brainiac. Brainiac goes into suspended animation to begin the long journey to his home world. Superman uses a Kandorian rocket to escape Krypton's bottle and restore Earth's cities. Kandor is the only city left, but there is only enough energy to restore either Superman or Kandor, not both. Before he can act, another miniature rocket flies out of Kandor's bottle and activates the enlarging ray, restoring Superman. Superman takes Kandor from Brainiac's ship and places it in his Fortress of Solitude.
In Superman #167, The Team of Luthor and Brainiac, it is revealed that Brainiac is actually a robot, built by the computer tyrants of Colu as a human spy to find human worlds for Colu's tyrants to conquer. The reason for this change is explained in the Metropolis Mailbag letters page. A Brainiac Computer Kit for home experimenters in the 1950's was invented in 1955 by Edmund C. Berkeley, an early computer expert.
Kandor was finally enlarged in Superman #338, August 1979. This issue was discussed in Superman Fan Podcast Episode #1: My Top 10 Favorite Superman Stories.
Brainiac met his demise in the story Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow, discussed in the same episode.
Post-crisis, Brainiac first appeared in Adventures of Superman #438 ( March 1988). Vril Dox was executed by the computer tyrants of Colu for treason. Somehow his mind drited through space until it inhabited the body of Milton Fine, a carnival mentalist who operated under the showname Brainiac. Dox murders to gather cranial fluid to maintain his control of Fine.
In the storyline Panic In The Sky, Brainiac takes control of Warworld, and Superman leads a group of super heroes to attack Warworld before it reaches Earth. Dead Again tells of Brainiac succeeding to inhabit Superman's body and exile Superman's mind in the body of a thirteen year old mental patient. In The Doomsday Wars Brainiac gains control of Doomsday to defeat Superman. All of these trade paperbacks are out of print but can be found from various vendors on Amazon.com, ebay or your local comic book store.
Brainiac aws also featured in the trade paperback Our Worlds At War, which should still be in print.
In the 1990's cartoon Superman: The Animated Series Brainiac was the computer network of Krypton, which thwarted Jor-El and fooled the population of Krypton to keep them from learning of their planet's doom. Brainiac created a vessel to contain his program to escape at the same time as Kal-El's rocket.
Superman Fan Podcast can be found at www.supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com. Send e-mail to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.
At www.mypulllist.blogspot.com, I blog about the comic books I read every week. To send e-mail about this blog write to mypulllist@gmail.com.
Brainiac first appeared in Action Comics #242 (July 1958, first published around May 29, 1958). The cover was pencilled by Curt Swan and inked by Stan Kaye. The editor at this time was Mort Weisinger. Otto Binder created Brainiac for the story Super Duel In Space. The artist was Al Plastino. This story was reprinted in the following reprint collections:
Superman In The Fifties
Superman: The Man of Tomorrow ARchives vol. I
Superman: The Bottle City of Kandor
Showcase Presents: Superman vol. I
Clark and Lois are covering the launch of the first manned rocket launch as passengers. In Earth orbit the rocket is attacked by an alien spaceship. Clark dons a spacesuit and exits through an emrgency exit hatch to change to Superman. He is unable to penetrate a force field surrounding the spaceship. Superman pushes the Earth rocket to safety. Brainiac proceeds to shrink Earth's cities and place them in glass bottles, about the size and shape of water cooler bottles. His purpose is to repopulate his homeworld because the population was wiped out by a plague. Superman unsuccessfully battles Brainiac, who is protected by a similar force field. When the rocket returns to Earth, Clark meets Lois at the Daily Planet, just as Brainiac shrinks Metropolis. Superman escapes, and hides from Brainiac by flying into another bottle. It turns out to be the Kryptonian city of Kandor. Superman happens to find a scientist who was Jor-El's college roommate. He takes Superman on a tour of Kandor, and uses a telescope to study Brainiac. Brainiac goes into suspended animation to begin the long journey to his home world. Superman uses a Kandorian rocket to escape Krypton's bottle and restore Earth's cities. Kandor is the only city left, but there is only enough energy to restore either Superman or Kandor, not both. Before he can act, another miniature rocket flies out of Kandor's bottle and activates the enlarging ray, restoring Superman. Superman takes Kandor from Brainiac's ship and places it in his Fortress of Solitude.
In Superman #167, The Team of Luthor and Brainiac, it is revealed that Brainiac is actually a robot, built by the computer tyrants of Colu as a human spy to find human worlds for Colu's tyrants to conquer. The reason for this change is explained in the Metropolis Mailbag letters page. A Brainiac Computer Kit for home experimenters in the 1950's was invented in 1955 by Edmund C. Berkeley, an early computer expert.
Kandor was finally enlarged in Superman #338, August 1979. This issue was discussed in Superman Fan Podcast Episode #1: My Top 10 Favorite Superman Stories.
Brainiac met his demise in the story Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow, discussed in the same episode.
Post-crisis, Brainiac first appeared in Adventures of Superman #438 ( March 1988). Vril Dox was executed by the computer tyrants of Colu for treason. Somehow his mind drited through space until it inhabited the body of Milton Fine, a carnival mentalist who operated under the showname Brainiac. Dox murders to gather cranial fluid to maintain his control of Fine.
In the storyline Panic In The Sky, Brainiac takes control of Warworld, and Superman leads a group of super heroes to attack Warworld before it reaches Earth. Dead Again tells of Brainiac succeeding to inhabit Superman's body and exile Superman's mind in the body of a thirteen year old mental patient. In The Doomsday Wars Brainiac gains control of Doomsday to defeat Superman. All of these trade paperbacks are out of print but can be found from various vendors on Amazon.com, ebay or your local comic book store.
Brainiac aws also featured in the trade paperback Our Worlds At War, which should still be in print.
In the 1990's cartoon Superman: The Animated Series Brainiac was the computer network of Krypton, which thwarted Jor-El and fooled the population of Krypton to keep them from learning of their planet's doom. Brainiac created a vessel to contain his program to escape at the same time as Kal-El's rocket.
Superman Fan Podcast can be found at www.supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com. Send e-mail to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.
At www.mypulllist.blogspot.com, I blog about the comic books I read every week. To send e-mail about this blog write to mypulllist@gmail.com.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Episode #20: Jerry Siegel's Other Artists
Thanks go to the following web sites for being valuable resources for this episode:
http://www.bailsproject.com/
http://www.toonpedia.com/
http://www.lambiel.com/
www.supermanartists.comics.org/superart/supermanart.htm
Jerry Siegel co-created a number of other super hero characters that were published by DC Comics. I guess because of the demand his partner Joe Shuster was under to produce Superman art, Jerry used other artists to draw the first stories of these characters. In episode #3, I discussed these characters and artists. For this episode I will feature the artists themselves and review their careers and the publishing history of the characters they helped create.
The characters and aritistic co-creators were:
The Spectre: Bernard Bailey
Star Spangled Kid: Hal Sherman
Red, White and Blue: William Smith
Robotman: Leo Nowak and Paul Cassidy
Bernard Bailey (April 15, 1916 - January 19, 1996) co-created not only The Spectre with Jerry Siegel, but also the golden age hero Hourman with writer Ken Fitch. The Spectre first appeared in More Fun Comics #52 (February, 1940), and Hourman first appeared in Adventure Comics #48 (April 1940). Hourman was Rex Tyler, who invented the vitamin Miraclo which gave him superhuman strength and speed for one hour. His last golden age appearance was in Adventure Comics #83 (February 1943).
To listen to a great description of the first adventure of the Spectre, listen to The Golden Age of Comics podcast episode for October 10, 2005, hosted by Bill Jourdain, at http://www.goldenagecomics.libsyn.com/, or http://www.goldenagecomics.blogspot.com/.
Bernard Bailey also worked on a number of other characters for National Comics, a precursor to the modern DC Comics, such as Tex Thomson for Action Comics #1, which ran through Action Comics #32 (January 1941). Thompson became Mister America from Action Comics 33-52 and then Americommando from Action Comics 53-74 (July 1944). Bailey also wrote and drew the character Buccaneer, a pirate adventure, in More Fun Comics #32-51 (June 1938-January 1940).
In 1943 he founded Bailey Publications, and with artist Mac Raboy, Bernard Bailey studio, a comic book packager for a variety of publishers which lasted until 1946. Some fledgling artists that worked for him were Gil Kane, Carmine Infantinoand a sixteen year old Frank Frazetta. During the 1950's he worked on DC's suspense and mystery titles like House of Mystery, House of Secrets, Tales of the Unexpected, as well as TV adaption comics for Mr. District Attorney and Gangbusters. He also worked on similar style stories for Fawcett Comics, the publisher of Captain Marvel, as well as other publishers including Atlas (Marvel) on such titles as Asatonishing, Journey Into Mystery, Strange Tales among others. Bailey worked on several short lived comic strips during the '40's and '50's, and contributed to the Mad rival cracked. During the '50's and '60's he produced a series of public service annoucements for comic books with writer Jack Schiff. In the 1960's he drew stories for DC's supernatural, mystery and scifi anthologies The Phantom Stranger, Strange Adventures, Weird War Tales and others. Bailey also drew the cover for the b/w comics magazine Chilling Tales of Horror #1 for Stanely Publications. His last known comic book work was the eight page story His Brother's Keeper, written by Jack Oleck for DC's House of Mystery #279 (April 1980).
In the 1970's he published a series of farm periodicals.
Hal Sherman (born 1911) began his career as a gag cartoonist. He co-created the Star Spangled Kid with Jerry Siegel. The character first appeared in a house ad in Action Comics #40 (September 1940). The Star Spangled Kid first appeared in story form in Star Spangled Comics #1 (October 1941). He was Sylverster Pemberton, an older teen who doscovered and defeated some Nazi saboteurs with help from an older auto mechanic, Pat Dugan. Pemberton became the Star Spangled Kid and Dugan was his sidekick and chauffeur Stripsey, driving the Star Rocket Racer. It was a car that could reach speeds of 200 mph and fly for short distances. The characters lost their cover spot with Star Spangled Comics #7, which featured the first appearance of the Newsboy Legion. The Star Spangled Kid and Stripsey continued to appear in the title until their last issue with Star Spangled Comics #86 (November 1948). They were brought back into comics during the 1970's.
According to http://www.lambiek.com/, he worked on a different character named Wonder Woman which he tried to seel until the Marston / Peters version was published. (This is a not uncommon occurence in comics. Have you ever created your own character, only to findf out someone already published a character by that name?)
Sherman also drew stories for DC titles Leading Comics, More Fun Comics as well as Startling Comics for Better Publications. Sherman worked on the Star Spangled Kid until 1943, when he began to serve in the U.S. military. After the war, around 1946, he worked with Bernard Bailey, assisting on backgrounds on The Spectre.
Eventually Sherman returned to gag cartoonign, but did work on Harvey Comics' character Spooky.
Hal Sherman is not to be comfused with the artist Howard Sherman, who drew the first stories of DC characters such as Dr. Fate, Wyoming Kid, Space Cabby among others.
William Smith (1918-1989) co-created Red White and Blue with Jerry Siegel. The characters wer REd Dugan (Army G2), Whitey Smith (Army) and Blooey Blue (Navy), who assisted FBI agent Doris West in fighting Axis forces. Their final appearance was in All American Comics #71 ( September 1945). They never appeared in comic books again and never appeared in Who's Who In the DC Universe.
Smith only had a few comic book credits, including a now obscure character The King, a master of disguise whose normal costume was a tuxedo with an opera cape, top hat and domino mask. Smith attende the Art Student League and Grand Central Art School in New York and two art institutes in Paris, France. He was a writer for the Walter Lantz animation studios in the late 1930's. His comic book career only lasted during the 1930's and 1940's. Some of his work for other publishers included Captain Cook of Scotland Yard, Race Keane, Yankee Eagle and Navy Section for Quality Comics, and Doc Savage and The Shadow for Street and Smith Comics. During the 1940's he was a regular artist for such magazines as Boy's Life, Saturday Evening Post. Good Housekeeping and McCall's. Later Smith focused on watercolor painting.
Joe Siegel also co-created the character Robotman withtow artists who worked in Joe Shuster's Cleveland studio, Paul Cassidy (October 10, 1910 - May 15, 2005) and Leo Nowak (1907 - January 6, 2001) They were feature in Superman Fan Podcast episode #17, The Siegel and Shuster Cleveland Studio, so I will concentrate on the character here. Scientist Robert Crane was critically injured by some gangsters, and his brain was put into a robot body, sohe was more of a cyborg instead of a robot. As Robotman, he was a member of the World War II team All-Star Squadron. In his solo stories he had a humorous sidekick, Robotdog, for comedy relief in lighthearted adventures. Robotman first appeared in Star Spangled Comics #7 (April 1942), lasting until issue 82 (July 1948) He shifted over to Detective Comics from issues 138 (August 1948) through his last golden age appearance with issue 202 (December 1953). He would return to comic books with DC's Justice League of America 144 (July 1977). Robotman's final comic book appearance was in America vs. the Justice Society of America 2 (February 1985).
To see some pictures of an older Leo Nowak and samples of his art go to http://entertainment.webshots.com/album/539155811UMfZaW.
Superman Fan Podcast can be found at http://www.supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/. Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcsat@gmail.com.
I also have another blog where I give non-spoiler reviews of the comic books I read every week, My Pull List at http://www.mypulllist.blogspot.com/. E-mail about this blog can be sent to mypulllist@gmail.com.
Thanks for listening to Superman Fan Podcast, and as always thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
http://www.bailsproject.com/
http://www.toonpedia.com/
http://www.lambiel.com/
www.supermanartists.comics.org/superart/supermanart.htm
Jerry Siegel co-created a number of other super hero characters that were published by DC Comics. I guess because of the demand his partner Joe Shuster was under to produce Superman art, Jerry used other artists to draw the first stories of these characters. In episode #3, I discussed these characters and artists. For this episode I will feature the artists themselves and review their careers and the publishing history of the characters they helped create.
The characters and aritistic co-creators were:
The Spectre: Bernard Bailey
Star Spangled Kid: Hal Sherman
Red, White and Blue: William Smith
Robotman: Leo Nowak and Paul Cassidy
Bernard Bailey (April 15, 1916 - January 19, 1996) co-created not only The Spectre with Jerry Siegel, but also the golden age hero Hourman with writer Ken Fitch. The Spectre first appeared in More Fun Comics #52 (February, 1940), and Hourman first appeared in Adventure Comics #48 (April 1940). Hourman was Rex Tyler, who invented the vitamin Miraclo which gave him superhuman strength and speed for one hour. His last golden age appearance was in Adventure Comics #83 (February 1943).
To listen to a great description of the first adventure of the Spectre, listen to The Golden Age of Comics podcast episode for October 10, 2005, hosted by Bill Jourdain, at http://www.goldenagecomics.libsyn.com/, or http://www.goldenagecomics.blogspot.com/.
Bernard Bailey also worked on a number of other characters for National Comics, a precursor to the modern DC Comics, such as Tex Thomson for Action Comics #1, which ran through Action Comics #32 (January 1941). Thompson became Mister America from Action Comics 33-52 and then Americommando from Action Comics 53-74 (July 1944). Bailey also wrote and drew the character Buccaneer, a pirate adventure, in More Fun Comics #32-51 (June 1938-January 1940).
In 1943 he founded Bailey Publications, and with artist Mac Raboy, Bernard Bailey studio, a comic book packager for a variety of publishers which lasted until 1946. Some fledgling artists that worked for him were Gil Kane, Carmine Infantinoand a sixteen year old Frank Frazetta. During the 1950's he worked on DC's suspense and mystery titles like House of Mystery, House of Secrets, Tales of the Unexpected, as well as TV adaption comics for Mr. District Attorney and Gangbusters. He also worked on similar style stories for Fawcett Comics, the publisher of Captain Marvel, as well as other publishers including Atlas (Marvel) on such titles as Asatonishing, Journey Into Mystery, Strange Tales among others. Bailey worked on several short lived comic strips during the '40's and '50's, and contributed to the Mad rival cracked. During the '50's and '60's he produced a series of public service annoucements for comic books with writer Jack Schiff. In the 1960's he drew stories for DC's supernatural, mystery and scifi anthologies The Phantom Stranger, Strange Adventures, Weird War Tales and others. Bailey also drew the cover for the b/w comics magazine Chilling Tales of Horror #1 for Stanely Publications. His last known comic book work was the eight page story His Brother's Keeper, written by Jack Oleck for DC's House of Mystery #279 (April 1980).
In the 1970's he published a series of farm periodicals.
Hal Sherman (born 1911) began his career as a gag cartoonist. He co-created the Star Spangled Kid with Jerry Siegel. The character first appeared in a house ad in Action Comics #40 (September 1940). The Star Spangled Kid first appeared in story form in Star Spangled Comics #1 (October 1941). He was Sylverster Pemberton, an older teen who doscovered and defeated some Nazi saboteurs with help from an older auto mechanic, Pat Dugan. Pemberton became the Star Spangled Kid and Dugan was his sidekick and chauffeur Stripsey, driving the Star Rocket Racer. It was a car that could reach speeds of 200 mph and fly for short distances. The characters lost their cover spot with Star Spangled Comics #7, which featured the first appearance of the Newsboy Legion. The Star Spangled Kid and Stripsey continued to appear in the title until their last issue with Star Spangled Comics #86 (November 1948). They were brought back into comics during the 1970's.
According to http://www.lambiek.com/, he worked on a different character named Wonder Woman which he tried to seel until the Marston / Peters version was published. (This is a not uncommon occurence in comics. Have you ever created your own character, only to findf out someone already published a character by that name?)
Sherman also drew stories for DC titles Leading Comics, More Fun Comics as well as Startling Comics for Better Publications. Sherman worked on the Star Spangled Kid until 1943, when he began to serve in the U.S. military. After the war, around 1946, he worked with Bernard Bailey, assisting on backgrounds on The Spectre.
Eventually Sherman returned to gag cartoonign, but did work on Harvey Comics' character Spooky.
Hal Sherman is not to be comfused with the artist Howard Sherman, who drew the first stories of DC characters such as Dr. Fate, Wyoming Kid, Space Cabby among others.
William Smith (1918-1989) co-created Red White and Blue with Jerry Siegel. The characters wer REd Dugan (Army G2), Whitey Smith (Army) and Blooey Blue (Navy), who assisted FBI agent Doris West in fighting Axis forces. Their final appearance was in All American Comics #71 ( September 1945). They never appeared in comic books again and never appeared in Who's Who In the DC Universe.
Smith only had a few comic book credits, including a now obscure character The King, a master of disguise whose normal costume was a tuxedo with an opera cape, top hat and domino mask. Smith attende the Art Student League and Grand Central Art School in New York and two art institutes in Paris, France. He was a writer for the Walter Lantz animation studios in the late 1930's. His comic book career only lasted during the 1930's and 1940's. Some of his work for other publishers included Captain Cook of Scotland Yard, Race Keane, Yankee Eagle and Navy Section for Quality Comics, and Doc Savage and The Shadow for Street and Smith Comics. During the 1940's he was a regular artist for such magazines as Boy's Life, Saturday Evening Post. Good Housekeeping and McCall's. Later Smith focused on watercolor painting.
Joe Siegel also co-created the character Robotman withtow artists who worked in Joe Shuster's Cleveland studio, Paul Cassidy (October 10, 1910 - May 15, 2005) and Leo Nowak (1907 - January 6, 2001) They were feature in Superman Fan Podcast episode #17, The Siegel and Shuster Cleveland Studio, so I will concentrate on the character here. Scientist Robert Crane was critically injured by some gangsters, and his brain was put into a robot body, sohe was more of a cyborg instead of a robot. As Robotman, he was a member of the World War II team All-Star Squadron. In his solo stories he had a humorous sidekick, Robotdog, for comedy relief in lighthearted adventures. Robotman first appeared in Star Spangled Comics #7 (April 1942), lasting until issue 82 (July 1948) He shifted over to Detective Comics from issues 138 (August 1948) through his last golden age appearance with issue 202 (December 1953). He would return to comic books with DC's Justice League of America 144 (July 1977). Robotman's final comic book appearance was in America vs. the Justice Society of America 2 (February 1985).
To see some pictures of an older Leo Nowak and samples of his art go to http://entertainment.webshots.com/album/539155811UMfZaW.
Superman Fan Podcast can be found at http://www.supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/. Send e-mail about this podcast to supermanfanpodcsat@gmail.com.
I also have another blog where I give non-spoiler reviews of the comic books I read every week, My Pull List at http://www.mypulllist.blogspot.com/. E-mail about this blog can be sent to mypulllist@gmail.com.
Thanks for listening to Superman Fan Podcast, and as always thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Episode #19: Happy Father's Day, Jonathan Kent!
On this first Father's Day for Superman Fan Podcast I knew I would have to share a special Superman story, The Miraculous Return of Jonathan Kent. It was published in two parts in the pages of Action Comics issues #507 (May 1980, first on sale: February 25, 1980) and #508 (June 1980, first on sale on March 24, 1980). The story was done by the following:
Cover: penciller: Ross Andru; inker: Dick Giordano
Editor: Julius Schwartz
Writer: Cary Bates
Penciller: Curt Swan
Inker: Frank Chiarmont
Colorist: Gene D'Angelo
Letter: (#507) Milt Snapinn, (#508) Ben Oda
The easiest way to read this story is to pick up the DC Comics trade paperback Superman In The Eighties (2006).
The story about Jonathan's visit to Metropolis, twenty years after he is supposed to have "died", (and of course death means nothing in comics) and why is a very compelling story. The minor, one shot villain is the weak point in the story. While he is a challenge for Superman to defeat, this "hippie" character is not only twenty years out of fashion, but is also characterized as if he is a 40 or 50 year old's idea of waht a '60's hippie was like. So if you don't take the villain plot seriously and concentrate on Jonathan Kent's story, it should be an enjoyable read.
That's the thing you get with Superman stories. As much as I love reading them from every decade, there are certainly many stories that even the staunch Superman fan that I am finds silly. The bad guy in this story is weak, while Jonathan Kent's story is fantastic.
Superman Fan Podcast can be found at www.supermanfanpodcast.com. E-mail about this podcast can be sent to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.
I also have another blog, My Pull List, at www.mypulllist.blogspot.com. Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com.
thanks for listening to Superman Fan Podcast, and as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
Cover: penciller: Ross Andru; inker: Dick Giordano
Editor: Julius Schwartz
Writer: Cary Bates
Penciller: Curt Swan
Inker: Frank Chiarmont
Colorist: Gene D'Angelo
Letter: (#507) Milt Snapinn, (#508) Ben Oda
The easiest way to read this story is to pick up the DC Comics trade paperback Superman In The Eighties (2006).
The story about Jonathan's visit to Metropolis, twenty years after he is supposed to have "died", (and of course death means nothing in comics) and why is a very compelling story. The minor, one shot villain is the weak point in the story. While he is a challenge for Superman to defeat, this "hippie" character is not only twenty years out of fashion, but is also characterized as if he is a 40 or 50 year old's idea of waht a '60's hippie was like. So if you don't take the villain plot seriously and concentrate on Jonathan Kent's story, it should be an enjoyable read.
That's the thing you get with Superman stories. As much as I love reading them from every decade, there are certainly many stories that even the staunch Superman fan that I am finds silly. The bad guy in this story is weak, while Jonathan Kent's story is fantastic.
Superman Fan Podcast can be found at www.supermanfanpodcast.com. E-mail about this podcast can be sent to supermanfanpodcast@gmail.com.
I also have another blog, My Pull List, at www.mypulllist.blogspot.com. Send e-mail about this blog to mypulllist@gmail.com.
thanks for listening to Superman Fan Podcast, and as always, thanks to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Superman WebRing
 |
The Superman WebRing This site is a member of the best Superman websites on the Internet! |
    
| |
Posts
