Trivia Quiz #32

Người đăng: Unknown on Thứ Sáu, 18 tháng 9, 2009

1. Who failed in his first effort to join the Mystery Analysts of Gotham City?

Private Detective Hugh Rankin was blackballed by Batman in his first attempt to join the Mystery Analysts, although he was later inducted.

2. Who was the first person to graduate at the top of Gotham City Police Academy in all four categories of training: Academic, Physical, Firearms and Overall?

Patrolwoman Patricia Powell was the police academy's finest graduate ever, startling Batman:

In an oddball pair of stories from the very early New Look, Patricia was introduced as a new love interest for Bruce Wayne. She confided in Batman shortly after the awards ceremony, puzzling the Caped Crusader, who could not remember meeting her, but it turned out that they had encountered each other several times, but were always wearing masks at the time: a diving mask and a domino mask at a costume party. But like all of Batman's love interests, she eventually just faded out of the picture.

3. Who did not first re-appear in the Silver Age after a long absence during the New Look period: the Riddler, the Penguin, the Scarecrow or the Catwoman?

I worded this poorly, what I meant to say was that three of those villains returned for the first time in the Silver Age during the New Look period, and one did not. The answer is the Penguin, who first returned in Batman #155, a year before the New Look debuted.

4. According to the Riddler, why do inmates refer to the state penitentiary as "Fiddler's Hotel"?

Because it's a "vile inn" (violin).

5. It is not uncommon for crooks to "die" at the end of a story, but what Batman villain was declared dead three times in the same story?

Deathman died three times in Batman #180; the first two were hoaxes, but the last one was for real as he was electrocuted by a lightning bolt while trying to shoot Batman and Robin.

Michael Rebain got #1, #2, #3 and #5. Ed O'Toole got #2, #3 and #5. And Darkmark90 correctly answered #4. Great job, all!
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#260. The Mask of Zorro - Dell #538

Người đăng: Unknown

Dear friends, this comics I received in January 2009 & only today able to post. Very thankful to contributor 'Srikanth' for understanding my situation without any explanation & waiting so long.


The Mask of Zorro # 538 (1954) Dell
(New scans)

Download:



P.S. This one & earlier Zorro was bought by Srikanth at cost of 50+ USD each. There are 11 more such rare issues in his collection.

Do you wish to read those?
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#259. Tarzan - Mitabu Nakab Ka Dhap (Hindi)

Người đăng: Unknown on Thứ Năm, 17 tháng 9, 2009

One of the most popular comics character 'Tarzan', was created by Edgar Rice Burroughs in 1911. First appeared in the novel 'Tarzan of the Apes'. which was published in 1912. The very same book was adapted as first Tarzan comics strip in early 1929.

Like the Phantom, Tarzan also lives in the jungles of Africa. Sadly, both never meet in any comics.

This time read : Tarzan #34 (Hindi)



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Contributed by Anurag Dixit.
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Batman And the Feminists

Người đăng: Unknown



Or something. As the 1960s ended, Batman sales collapsed. After selling better than 800,000 copies per issue in 1967, the title crashed to 350,000 two years later. Nothing is less hip to youngsters than last year's fad. So it was necessary to make Batman more relevant, and seizing on the then-novel phenomenon of Women's Liberation seemed a natural. Of course, that writer Frank Robbins and editor Julius Schwartz knew nothing about feminism comes through loud and clear.

As the story begins, a beauty pageant winner is crowned. Her prize? A night on the town with Gotham's most eligible bat-chelor, all televised by a local station. And is Robin going to handle the crime-fighting duties?



So the crooks have a field day, even to the point of robbing discos and other nightspots where Batman has recently been with his date (since they had a big haul with the celebrity attraction).

It is, after all, just one night and so the crooks begin to realize that perhaps tying Batman down with a woman would be just the thing gangland needs to improve the bottom line. So:



She goes to a local ad agency, which is intrigued at the prospect:



Well, never underestimate the ability of Madison Avenue to sell a product:



Batman bails out on the scene, but it seems he will be trapped between two adoring mobs of women, when suddenly:



But when Batman tries to thank her, she blows him off. Will he be intrigued by the only woman in town who isn't panting after him? You betcha:



In the finale, Batman and Robin are observing a car theft ring when they spot the mystery woman's vehicle being stolen. They wade in but it's a trap. Fortunately a third fighter joins them:



The crooks were double-crossing Cleo; her intention was only to entice Batman into marriage, while the gangsters figured they'd just bump him off. Batman learns that Cleo was part of the gang all along:



Batgirl helps out in the nick of time there. It turns out that she only joined WEB (Women to End Batchelorhood) to find out what the plan was. Cleo goes to jail with the rest of the crooks (although we have seen her break no law in the story) and Batman resumes his romance-free ways:



Comments: The story itself isn't terrible by any means; it's the juxtaposition with the then-new Women's Liberation Movement that makes this comic seem sillier than it really is. It is completely believable that Batman would find it difficult to operate if he married.

Irv Novick had settled in as the main Batman artist by this time, and his work supplemented by Joe Giella's inks definitely sets a nice tone for the story.
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Link-Fest

Người đăng: Unknown on Thứ Ba, 15 tháng 9, 2009

The Beat Down has a tribute to one of the most unique villains of the Silver Age, the Composite Superman.

A nice (and timely) Captain America tribute to the first responders of 9-11 over at Bob Mitchell in the 21st Century.

Who is Galexo? Well, he's the guy who replaced Batman in the Batman comic strip back in the 1970s. And if that's as much a surprise to you as it is to me, surf over to Booksteve's and check him out.

Cartoon Snap has a longish post on the artwork of Jimmy Thompson on the Golden Age Robotman stories. Robotman was a terrific feature during the Thompson run and the post includes the complete Robotman story from Star Spangled #26.

While we're on the topic of complete stories, The Comics Bin has part 7 of the famous "Monster Society of Evil" story from Captain Marvel Adventures, which for many, many years was the longest continuing superhero story. This installment features the Nazis and Herr Hitler himself.

Still no more updates at Comic Coverage, but Mark has organized his three years of posts by topic, so you can surf through all the Monkey Business posts, for example. If you're like me, kicking yourself because you didn't go through all of Dial B for Blog before it disappeared, don't miss this opportunity!

H at the Comic Treadmill indexes the giant props of four more issues of Batman (134-137) and uncovers 10 more examples of the giant prop era.

Comics of Rhodey has a interesting post on the signature stylizations of five comics artists. It's a neat topic, and certainly nobody would disagree with his Gil Kane pick.

Tom O of Random Longbox was not finished with Superman #215 (I linked the first part last week as part of my post on Superman #175). He covers the backup story, a reprint of Superman's First Exploit. I agree with him, this is one of the best Superman stories off all time. In fact, it was, I believe, the very first story DC ever reprinted, as it was the leadoff tale in Superman Annual #1.

Sequential Crush continues her series on Marc, DC's advice for the lovelorn columnist you love to hate.

Whew! That's a lotta links! Who says this isn't the golden age of comics blogdom?
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Trivia Quiz #32: New Look Batman

Người đăng: Unknown on Thứ Hai, 14 tháng 9, 2009

1. Who failed in his first effort to join the Mystery Analysts of Gotham City?

2. Who was the first person to graduate at the top of Gotham City Police Academy in all four categories of training: Academic, Physical, Firearms and Overall?

3. Who did not first re-appear in the Silver Age after a long absence during the New Look period: the Riddler, the Penguin, the Scarecrow or the Catwoman?

4. According to the Riddler, why do inmates refer to the state penitentiary as "Fiddler's Hotel"?

5. It is not uncommon for crooks to "die" at the end of a story, but what Batman villain was declared dead three times in the same story?
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Single Issue Review: Justice League of America #15

Người đăng: Unknown on Thứ Bảy, 12 tháng 9, 2009



As the story begins, the US is testing a "Star Wars" weapon:



Yet another example of Gardner Fox being ahead of the curve on technology. The satellite base containing the cannon in the sky is filled with reporters and military personnel including Diana (Wonder Woman) Prince and Clark (Superman) Kent. Suddenly the satellite comes under attack and the pair have to save other people. Superman observes that some strange force is yanking the atomic cannon away from its base, but he and Wonder Woman are too busy to follow it.

Barry (the Flash) Allen observes the cannon being aimed at the tallest building in Central City (the Wilmoth Skyscraper), and hurriedly changes into his fighting togs. Using his super-speed to gather up the tenants of the building he empties it before the cannon can fire:



After the cannon is fired once, Superman and Wonder Woman arrive. Although nobody seems to be operating the big gun, it fires again, and Wonder Woman diverts the missile into space with her lasso. Since they can't stop whoever's firing, they destroy the cannon itself. To solve the mystery, an emergency meeting of the Justice League is called. They learn that similar incidents are happening elsewhere:



The JLA split up into teams. Green Arrow, Aquaman and the Martian Manhunter journey to Japan, where they discover a giant stone idol watching the heavens. The idol smiles when it sees an atomic missile headed for Tokyo. At first, J'onn J'onzz plans to use his super-breath to blow it out into space, but the idol reacts quickly:



Fortunately, Green Arrow is able to use his parachute arrow to get the missile to land harmlessly in Tokyo Bay. Aquaman prevents another attack on the city by an underwater stone idol. However the three of them are captured by the idols and apparently about to be killed, when suddenly the stone giants disappear.

Meanwhile, Superman, the Atom and Wonder Woman have traveled to Brasilia, where they also discover the giant idols. The weapon the giants intend to use on this city is acid rain (once again, Fox is ahead of the general public):



The Atom manages to get into the rain-maker and destroy it, but again at the end of the segment the three heroes are captured by the stone giants, who suddenly disappear.

The final JLA team consists of Green Lantern, Flash and Batman, and they head to Central City, where they find a pair of stone idols trying to destroy the local skyscrapers with an earthquake machine. Green Lantern holds up the building with hands projected from his power ring, while Batman and the Flash go after the idols:



Pretty bad perspective there; obviously Batman is supposed to be far behind the Flash, accounting for their difference in size. The giants capture both of them, but at the same time, GL destroys the earthquake machine. Once again, the idols grab all three heroes, but quickly disappear. However, they take Green Lantern's ring with them for study.

We learn that the giants are actually scientists on another Earth, one that is one minute ahead of ours. Due to an atomic explosion on Earth and a cobalt explosion on their world, the time differential between the two worlds is decreasing, and when they reach synchronicity at three separate cites (Brasilia, Tokyo and Central City):



Green Lantern has ordered his power ring to bring him, Batman and the Flash to the stone giant's world after reading their minds for five minutes:



But it turns out that the giants have sabotaged their cities so that in the event of an alien invasion, they will be destroyed. Fortunately GL realizes this in time and decides to simply fix both worlds so that they are again one minute apart (nice to have a power ring that handles this sort of complex stuff with just a thought). And in the end, the JLA realizes that the stone giants were just like them, only different:



Nice sentiments by Wonder Woman, and the call for tolerance is pretty early; this issue is cover-dated November 1962. If anybody has any idea what Snapper Carr was saying, let me know!
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