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Obviously ahead of their times, the Mothers of Invention ran ads that did not make it clear what they were advertising.
Late 1967, Early 1968 Ads
Người đăng: Unknown on Thứ Năm, 21 tháng 2, 2008
Obviously ahead of their times, the Mothers of Invention ran ads that did not make it clear what they were advertising.
When I'm the Evil Genius
Người đăng: Unknown on Thứ Tư, 20 tháng 2, 2008
I will not disgrace my enemies before eyes of the entire world:
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The Blinded Daredevil
Người đăng: Unknown on Thứ Hai, 18 tháng 2, 2008
A play, as George M. Cohan pointed out, is composed of three acts. In Act I, you get the hero up a tree. In Act II, you throw stones at him. In Act III, you get him down from the tree. Many superhero stories follow this simple formula. But there are two rather crucial parts that sometimes don't work. First, the stones thrown at the hero in Act II can't be too deadly. And second, the method of getting him down from the tree must be credible.
In Daredevil #30-32 (July-August, 1967), Stan went a little too far on both counts. The series features Daredevil against the old Thor villains, Mr Hyde and the Cobra. Matt figures out that they must be behind the series of robberies in the city. And since he reasons that he can't just patrol the city to find them, he decides to dress up like Thor to draw them out.
Well, you can probably see the fly heading rapidly towards that ointment. Sure enough, Don Blake hears that Thor is plying his trade in midtown and pounds his cane. Before you can say Ragnarok, Thor and DD are doing the classic Marvel, "I'm a hero and I know you are too, but let's fight for a couple pages so they can put it on the cover!" routine.
But eventually they stop clobbering each other and Thor flies off. And the villains DD had been hoping to attract show up. At first they attack him, but Mr Hyde has a better plan--let him follow them back to their nearby lab, where:
Well, the stuff in the test tube is supposed to make one blind. But since Daredevil is already blind, it has no effect, right? Heheh. Sorry, Marvel science doesn't work that way. Since he's already blind it takes away DD's special powers of hearing and the other senses he uses to compensate for his blindness.
Okay, so the hero's up in the branches and leafs and the stones are being hurled at him. But the story takes a twist. Mr Hyde and the Cobra, sensing that DD is no longer a threat, abandon him. DD somehow manages to find his way back to his apartment (apparently not thinking of changing his clothes). Matt does some heavy thinking. Since Foggy and Karen know DD is actually Matt's supposed twin brother Mike, if Daredevil is suddenly blind he'd better make sure that Mike appears to have been blinded as well.
And if the logic of that is as impenetrable to you as it is to me, congratulations, you've been paying attention, because none of this makes a whole lot of sense. So Mike shows up at the office, displaying signs of having lost his eyesight. Karen of course reacts selflessly:
Fortunately the tender scene is broken by the Cobra and Mr Hyde, who have taken up occupation of a nearby rooftop and are threatening havoc. So Mike gets into his DD duds, gets Foggy to help him up to the top of their building, so he can throw his billy-club line across to the villains. And DD tight-ropes his way across the wire, blind and unaided by his other senses, which freaks the crooks out so much they take off.
But they come back and realize that DD is indeed still blind. So they decide to take him back to their lab. Their other lab, not the barn they were in during the battle two issues ago. This one is in a lighthouse. DD goes along with them because he knows he needs the antidote, which Hyde has surely prepared for his blindness potion. And of course once they get to the lighthouse there is a battle, DD eventually gets the antidote, and fortunately guesses right that it has to be swallowed, not splashed on the side of his head like the original potion:
From there, DD makes short work of the Cobra, although Mr Hyde is able to escape. It's an entertaining storyline overall, but it strains credulity to the snapping point. The stones are too rough, and the way that the hero gets down from the tree is not believable.
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In Daredevil #30-32 (July-August, 1967), Stan went a little too far on both counts. The series features Daredevil against the old Thor villains, Mr Hyde and the Cobra. Matt figures out that they must be behind the series of robberies in the city. And since he reasons that he can't just patrol the city to find them, he decides to dress up like Thor to draw them out.
Well, you can probably see the fly heading rapidly towards that ointment. Sure enough, Don Blake hears that Thor is plying his trade in midtown and pounds his cane. Before you can say Ragnarok, Thor and DD are doing the classic Marvel, "I'm a hero and I know you are too, but let's fight for a couple pages so they can put it on the cover!" routine.
But eventually they stop clobbering each other and Thor flies off. And the villains DD had been hoping to attract show up. At first they attack him, but Mr Hyde has a better plan--let him follow them back to their nearby lab, where:
Well, the stuff in the test tube is supposed to make one blind. But since Daredevil is already blind, it has no effect, right? Heheh. Sorry, Marvel science doesn't work that way. Since he's already blind it takes away DD's special powers of hearing and the other senses he uses to compensate for his blindness.
Okay, so the hero's up in the branches and leafs and the stones are being hurled at him. But the story takes a twist. Mr Hyde and the Cobra, sensing that DD is no longer a threat, abandon him. DD somehow manages to find his way back to his apartment (apparently not thinking of changing his clothes). Matt does some heavy thinking. Since Foggy and Karen know DD is actually Matt's supposed twin brother Mike, if Daredevil is suddenly blind he'd better make sure that Mike appears to have been blinded as well.
And if the logic of that is as impenetrable to you as it is to me, congratulations, you've been paying attention, because none of this makes a whole lot of sense. So Mike shows up at the office, displaying signs of having lost his eyesight. Karen of course reacts selflessly:
Fortunately the tender scene is broken by the Cobra and Mr Hyde, who have taken up occupation of a nearby rooftop and are threatening havoc. So Mike gets into his DD duds, gets Foggy to help him up to the top of their building, so he can throw his billy-club line across to the villains. And DD tight-ropes his way across the wire, blind and unaided by his other senses, which freaks the crooks out so much they take off.
But they come back and realize that DD is indeed still blind. So they decide to take him back to their lab. Their other lab, not the barn they were in during the battle two issues ago. This one is in a lighthouse. DD goes along with them because he knows he needs the antidote, which Hyde has surely prepared for his blindness potion. And of course once they get to the lighthouse there is a battle, DD eventually gets the antidote, and fortunately guesses right that it has to be swallowed, not splashed on the side of his head like the original potion:
From there, DD makes short work of the Cobra, although Mr Hyde is able to escape. It's an entertaining storyline overall, but it strains credulity to the snapping point. The stones are too rough, and the way that the hero gets down from the tree is not believable.
The Swimmer
Người đăng: Unknown on Thứ Bảy, 16 tháng 2, 2008
Of all the characters that DC reintroduced in the Silver Age, Aquaman has to be considered the most unique, for many reasons. First, he was not a "relaunch"; he was one of the few DC superheroes (along with Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Arrow) to have been published continuously from the Golden Age on.
Flash, Green Lantern, Atom and Hawkman had all been regular characters in the Golden Age whose series were cancelled and thus could be reintroduced to a new generation of readers with revised costumes, secret identities and origins. With Aquaman, DC didn't have that luxury, especially since he'd been a part of the Justice League of America from its introduction in Brave & Bold #28 (Feb-Mar 1960). Thus when they decided to give him a tryout for his own title with Showcase #30 (Jan-Feb 1961) they did not try a real relaunch; they just expanded his adventures.
He'd arguably been relaunched in Adventure #260 (May 1959), which created a new origin:
His mother turned out to be from Atlantis, and she passed on to her son the ability to survive underwater indefinitely, to mentally command the creatures of the sea, and to swim at amazing speeds. In Adventure #269 (Feb 1960), he gains a companion in Aqualad, an outcast orphan from Atlantis.
But this revealed another oddity about Aquaman compared to the other Silver Age characters. Aquaman didn't have a private life. He didn't maintain his Arthur Curry identity. He didn't have a home. He didn't have a girlfriend (unlike all the other Silver Age DC characters except notably Batman).
And so things stood when DC gave Aquaman his tryout for the big time with Showcase #30-33. The first story was blessed with the artwork of Ramona Fradon, one of the few female artists of the Silver Age, who had drawn Aquaman for several years in the short stories. The second story marked the beginning of Nick Cardy's historic run on the series.
Those looking for gay subtexts will not be shorted, although to me this almost seems to be implying a maternal role for Aquaman:
The early stories were all edited by Jack Schiff and suffer from his endless willingness to publish stories involving monsters at this time. No kidding, here are the villains in the first several stories:
Showcase #30:
Showcase #31:
Showcase #32:
Showcase #33:
The stories themselves are pretty mundane as you can imagine from those covers and they were book-length tales, another rarity for DC at the time. It's a struggle to find any continuing characterization efforts. Check out the "Aquacave" in this panel:
Those are pretty spartan digs.
More about →
Flash, Green Lantern, Atom and Hawkman had all been regular characters in the Golden Age whose series were cancelled and thus could be reintroduced to a new generation of readers with revised costumes, secret identities and origins. With Aquaman, DC didn't have that luxury, especially since he'd been a part of the Justice League of America from its introduction in Brave & Bold #28 (Feb-Mar 1960). Thus when they decided to give him a tryout for his own title with Showcase #30 (Jan-Feb 1961) they did not try a real relaunch; they just expanded his adventures.
He'd arguably been relaunched in Adventure #260 (May 1959), which created a new origin:
His mother turned out to be from Atlantis, and she passed on to her son the ability to survive underwater indefinitely, to mentally command the creatures of the sea, and to swim at amazing speeds. In Adventure #269 (Feb 1960), he gains a companion in Aqualad, an outcast orphan from Atlantis.
But this revealed another oddity about Aquaman compared to the other Silver Age characters. Aquaman didn't have a private life. He didn't maintain his Arthur Curry identity. He didn't have a home. He didn't have a girlfriend (unlike all the other Silver Age DC characters except notably Batman).
And so things stood when DC gave Aquaman his tryout for the big time with Showcase #30-33. The first story was blessed with the artwork of Ramona Fradon, one of the few female artists of the Silver Age, who had drawn Aquaman for several years in the short stories. The second story marked the beginning of Nick Cardy's historic run on the series.
Those looking for gay subtexts will not be shorted, although to me this almost seems to be implying a maternal role for Aquaman:
The early stories were all edited by Jack Schiff and suffer from his endless willingness to publish stories involving monsters at this time. No kidding, here are the villains in the first several stories:
Showcase #30:
Showcase #31:
Showcase #32:
Showcase #33:
The stories themselves are pretty mundane as you can imagine from those covers and they were book-length tales, another rarity for DC at the time. It's a struggle to find any continuing characterization efforts. Check out the "Aquacave" in this panel:
Those are pretty spartan digs.
Lois Lane's Romances
Người đăng: Unknown on Thứ Năm, 14 tháng 2, 2008
As I have written before, DC's comics were in some ways ahead of Marvel's when it came to girlfriends. DC had a lot of savvy, career-oriented women as love interests. But that's only half the story; DC's gals still tended to be comedic foils for the heroes. None more so than Lois Lane, who supposedly loved Superman passionately, but was willing to dump him at the drop of a hat.
Maybe it was just the blue suit?
Any superhero will do apparently.
Or all of them:
Or even a super-villain:
Apparently Lois doesn't have a long memory:
Or has she forgotten that she used almost those exact words to express her love for Astounding Man?
She also had some exotic boyfriends:
If Supes isn't available, maybe she could steal his dad?
Update: Mark Engblom posted yesterday on Superman's many girlfriends. In Action #370, we learn that Earth had not been Kal-El's second planet; that his rocket initially landed on another world, where he did not have super powers, and where he lived, married a woman named Lasil, and had a son named Vol. Eventually, of course, he was transformed back into a toddler and sent to Earth, where only a couple of hours had passed (since time in this alternative world passed much quicker than in ours).
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Maybe it was just the blue suit?
Any superhero will do apparently.
Or all of them:
Or even a super-villain:
Apparently Lois doesn't have a long memory:
Or has she forgotten that she used almost those exact words to express her love for Astounding Man?
She also had some exotic boyfriends:
If Supes isn't available, maybe she could steal his dad?
Update: Mark Engblom posted yesterday on Superman's many girlfriends. In Action #370, we learn that Earth had not been Kal-El's second planet; that his rocket initially landed on another world, where he did not have super powers, and where he lived, married a woman named Lasil, and had a son named Vol. Eventually, of course, he was transformed back into a toddler and sent to Earth, where only a couple of hours had passed (since time in this alternative world passed much quicker than in ours).
Batman's Weird Transformations
Người đăng: Unknown on Thứ Bảy, 9 tháng 2, 2008
Mark Engblom has a terrific post up on transformations in general, which inspired me to create this one.
As the character of Batman became more mature in the public image, the writers often had to go to great lengths to come up with something entertaining. Inevitably they hit on the idea of turning Batman into something quite different.
The obvious first step was to reduce Batman and Robin in size. This happened not once, but twice:
And:
Tiny Batman, what else can we do? In Detective #248, they hit on the obvious:
That's actually a pretty terrific little story and the third to last Detective Batman by Sprang, but it symbolized a flood of Batman transformation stories that plagued the Silver Age.
Consider these. Batman Old:
Batman Young:
And of course the Diapered Detective:
This particular story ranks as the worst Batman story of the Silver Age.
Batman the alien:
Flatman and Ribbon:
Good grief, more aliens:
Bat Kong:
Even in World's Finest, Batman could not maintain his normal body for long:
More about →
As the character of Batman became more mature in the public image, the writers often had to go to great lengths to come up with something entertaining. Inevitably they hit on the idea of turning Batman into something quite different.
The obvious first step was to reduce Batman and Robin in size. This happened not once, but twice:
And:
Tiny Batman, what else can we do? In Detective #248, they hit on the obvious:
That's actually a pretty terrific little story and the third to last Detective Batman by Sprang, but it symbolized a flood of Batman transformation stories that plagued the Silver Age.
Consider these. Batman Old:
Batman Young:
And of course the Diapered Detective:
This particular story ranks as the worst Batman story of the Silver Age.
Batman the alien:
Flatman and Ribbon:
Good grief, more aliens:
Bat Kong:
Even in World's Finest, Batman could not maintain his normal body for long:
Now This Is a Silly Villain
Người đăng: Unknown on Thứ Tư, 6 tháng 2, 2008
It's off-topic here, because the comic is from 1948, but I couldn't resist writing about this one. There have been plenty of bizarre villains in the history of comic books, but you're going to have to work hard to beat this guy:
Meet Pinball. As has been traditional in comics for ages, his head resembles his namesake--see the Vulture, the Clock and the Shark for some other examples. His schtick consists of sending wealthy men pinball machines with some theme that will amuse them--cars for an auto racing magnate, jewels for a jeweler, etc. Of course, the machines are gimmicked to somehow incapacitate the recipient so Pinball and his minions can rob him at their leisure.
The Star Spangled Kid encounters him when his dad (a wealthy banker) receives a machine. As is also traditional in these stories, when the villain is captured the hero must close the tale with a pun on the theme:
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Meet Pinball. As has been traditional in comics for ages, his head resembles his namesake--see the Vulture, the Clock and the Shark for some other examples. His schtick consists of sending wealthy men pinball machines with some theme that will amuse them--cars for an auto racing magnate, jewels for a jeweler, etc. Of course, the machines are gimmicked to somehow incapacitate the recipient so Pinball and his minions can rob him at their leisure.
The Star Spangled Kid encounters him when his dad (a wealthy banker) receives a machine. As is also traditional in these stories, when the villain is captured the hero must close the tale with a pun on the theme:
