Comic Coverage

Dear Editor: The Kryptonian Hillbillies

As I mentioned in a previous Dear Editor, the debut of Supergirl caused quite a stir throughout the Superman fan community of 1959. Some of the feedback was positive, some was negative....and a small percentage of it fell in to its own bizarre category.  A prime example of that peculiar third category appeared in Action Comics #263 (1960).  Apparently, Bruce Cutler of Huntsville, Alabama had a plan for Supergirl and Superman that one could charitably describe as "controversial"...

Wow.  It's bad enough the guy wanted Superman to marry his cousin, but did he also have to be from Alabama?  Making matters worse was the nonplussed reaction of editor Mort Weisinger who, instead of writing "What?  Are you CRAZY?  She's his COUSIN!", decided to play the weaselly "age of consent" card:

Not exactly the proudest Metropolis Mailbag moment, was it?

The Decisions and Dilemmas of Love

from Showcase #23 (1959), starring Green Lantern

Recent Acquisitions

Confession time...my interest in the weekly deluge of new comics has been on the wane for some time, with more titles falling under the ax every month, it seems.  However, my interest in collecting older comics remains undiminished.  In fact, if anything, it's stronger than ever...especially with a great marketplace like eBay around.  So, instead of jumping on the bandwagon and talking about the new comics I bought this week, I thought I'd brag up some of my eBay winnings over the past couple of days. I mean, like proud grandparents flashing around photos of their grandkids, collectors love showing off their prizes, right?

Okay, here's the latest and greatest (click on the images for a larger look):

1.  A nice trio of Bronze Age Marvel Team-Ups.  These issues were published right about the time I started collecting comics (1975). In fact, the middle one is the very first Spider-Man comic book I ever purchased new (being a recent Electric Company convert).  Considering the seller only wanted 1¢ each for them (that's right....one cent!), and only $1.75 shipping for all three, this one was a no-brainer.  Heck of a deal and three solid stories (including the one where Hercules pulls the entire island of Manhattan with a giant chain)!

2. Amazing Spider-Man #115 (1972) 
Reasons to buy the issue:

(A) I absolutely adore this era of Spider-Man (late Silver, early Bronze).

(B) Doc Ock is one of my favorite Spidey villains.

(C) John Romita Sr. (a.k.a. "Perfection Personified") not only did the pencils but the inks for this issue...and believe me, you haven't experienced a Spider-Man story until you've seen him on both. 

(D)  Aunt May's packing heat.

(E)  It was only $5.00...with Free Shipping!  Who wouldn't buy this?

3.  Amazing Spider-Man Annual #9 (1973):  I've been after this companion piece to the magazine-sized Spectacular Spider-Man #2 for some time (which I blathered on about here).  It features the same interior story (minus seven pages), and a line art version of one of my favorite cover images...and at only $3.00 with reasonable shipping, I was compelled to make a bid.  Surprisingly, the bid held up and I won it!

4. The Lone Ranger #76 (1954): What a fantastic cover, huh?  I actually owned this issue for quite some time before I decided to give it to my dad for Christmas one year*, and I've been looking to replace it ever since.   It's somehow reassuring to know the Ranger was on the right side of the Civil War (pity the Confederate soldier in his crosshairs).  Throw in an American flag, and this cover is pushing all the right buttons with me.  Better yet, the "Buy It Now" price was exactly the same as the opening bid price (which normally doesn't happen), so I scooped this one up no questions asked.

* Yeah, my dad's always claimed he never owned a single comic book as a kid, so I figured I'd give him his official "first comic book".  Since he was a western fan as a kid and I'm a superhero fan, I thought the Lone Ranger was the perfect synthesis of the two genres. Dad got a big kick out of it.

5.  Fantastic Four Annual #2 (1964): Like the Lone Ranger issue, this is another replacement.  I foolishly sold my first one on eBay five or six years ago when I was still in the grip of "E-Z Sell Fever".  When I was getting decent money for sought-after comics, it became easier and easier to justify selling many of them.  For the most part, I made good decisions on which ones to part with, but this is one of them I've regretted selling.  So much so, that when I saw it for under $10 yesterday evening, it was as good as mine.  I mean, when you're as big a Doctor Doom fan as I am, owning the issue that first revealed his origin story is a given. Plus, I've always been a sucker for those symbolic "looming supervillain with heroes in his grasp" covers....so come to papa!

So there you go.  All great additions to the collection.  Be sure to drop me a comment on some of your own "recent acquisitions" as well!

Worst. Cover. Ever (Part 17)

Question: What do you get when you combine the
creepy Lady Elaine Fairchilde puppet (Mister Rogers'
Neighborhood) with the equally-creepy Madame puppet?

Answer:  Rod Stewart on the cover of Rock-N-Roll Comics #39 (1991).

Founded by a mail order publisher named Todd Loren in 1989, Revolutionary Comics specialized in unauthorized biographies of rock stars in comic book form. Most of the covers, like this one, were pretty wretched, and the interior stories were supposedly quite risqué (thankfully, I never subjected myself to any of them...despite being a fan of several profiled rockers).

I wasn't the only one unimpressed with Rock-N-Roll Comics, since merchandising companies representing many of the rockers (and non-rockers like New Kids on the Block) hauled Revolutionary Comics into court several times....naturally resulting in even more free publicity and success for Rock-N-Roll Comics.

To make sure you don't study those water droplets too closely on the Rod Stewart cover, here's a few more beauties from the Rock-N-Roll Hall of Shame (click on the images for a larger view if you dare):

Cover to Cover: Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Superheroes Face the Strange

“Strange fascination, fascinating me
Changes are taking the pace I'm going through
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
Turn and face the strange"
-David Bowie

Since starting Comic Coverage in August of '06, I've "covered" many of the bizarre physical transformations that have stricken the ranks of comic book superheroes. You name it: sudden morbid obesity, rapid aging, freakishly large heads, monsterization, reversions to childhood, or gigantic growth spurts. In short, when it comes to documenting the major categories of superhero mutation, I'm your go-to guy.

However, in the process of cataloging these strange transformations (so you don't have to), I've found that some of them can't easily be classified into any large, overarching theme or category...but are still deliciously warped and weird enough to deserve your full attention. So...let's visit the Freak Show, shall we?

The first unlucky member of our "random mutation menagerie" is, appropriately enough, the first superhero himself: Superman. You see, in addition to deadly Green Kryptonite, a new red variety came along during the 1960s that, instead of weakening Superman, triggered a kaleidoscope of freakish transformations...each lasting precisely 48 hours. One of the strangest occurred in Action Comics #296 (1963) as Superman gained the head and buzzing antennae of a giant red ant.

Great Moments in Weltschmerz

So I was reading an "exit interview" with departing Superman writer Kurt Busiek, who...as you'd expect a professional writer to do...passed along a nifty new word.  In this excerpt from the interview, as Busiek looks back over his amazing run (we'll miss you, Kurt!), a spectacularly Germanic word pops up out of nowhere near the end of it:

"We tried to face (Superman) with problems that didn't have easy solutions, but the way he reacted to them was to try to find solu- tions anyway, not by complaining about the job he'd taken on. It's a big job, but he's up for the challenge, and he doesn't give in to despair or weltschmerz. He pursues a solution until he finds it."

"Weltschmerz".  Wow, what a word.  Translated literally from German, it means "world pain", and is defined as "a sentimental pessimism expressing the sorrow, disillusionment, and discontent one feels and accepts as a part of existence."  In other words: demonstrative sulking...a longtime cornerstone of superhero comics (and serialized drama in general).  With that in mind, here's today's Great Moment in Weltschmerz:

From Avengers #4, featuring the return of Captain America...
who's indulging in some well-deserved weltschmerz.

Profiles in Villainy: The Green Goblin

Spider-Man's deadliest arch-enemy.

Secretly Norman Osborn, father
of Peter Parker's best friend.

Early proponent of the Man Purse.

Green Goblin © Marvel Comics

Click here for more Profiles in Villainy!

Hooray for Hollywood!

No, this doesn't have anything to do with the writer's strike (there are few things on Earth I care less about), but rather an interesting (and somewhat peculiar) obsession with Hollywood that turned up in a number of Silver Age Marvel comics.  Considering co-founder Stan Lee's later association with Tinsel Town, it should come as no surprise that several Marvel heroes found themselves swept up into Hollywood-themed evil schemes.

Let's begin with one of the earliest (and strangest) of these showbiz shenanigans.  In Fantastic Four #9 (1962), a seriously cash-strapped F.F. received a timely telegram from S.M. Studios offering them one million dollars to star in a movie (click on the panel to the left for a larger view).  When they arrived in Hollywood, they discovered the mysterious producer was none other than....the Sub-Mariner??!!  Chomping on a cigarette holder, no less!

Obviously, Prince Namor's character hadn't quite been nailed down yet, since it's difficult to imagine the imperious Sub-Mariner we know now wasting his time and undersea treasure creating his own Hollywood studio.

Here's another early appearance of a supervillain who was quite different from what he would later become.  Amazing Spider-Man #14 (1963) featured the first appearance of the Green Goblin, who was hired to lure Spider-Man out to Hollywood to star in a phony movie (note the first, and only, appearance of the Goblin's mechanical flying broomstick).

Naturally, Spider-Man accepted the offer and soon found himself in this incredibly surreal rehearsal scene with the Enforcers and the Green Goblin (who would one day become his deadliest and most psychotic adversary).

In Captain America #106 (1968), Steve Rogers was informed by a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that a Hollywood studio was distributing propaganda films of Cap committing atrocities.  It was all a Communist-funded scheme to lure Cap to Hollywood to face a robotic double!

Finally, in Thor #130 (1966), the mighty Hercules was offered a deal by the producer of Stardust Studios, who turned out to be none other than Pluto, the Roman god of the Netherworld (and Herc's evil uncle)!

This endearing trend seemed to be a "Marvel Exclusive", since I don't recall rival DC Comics sending any of their hapless heroes into Hollywood's web of evil and intrigue.  Please correct me if I'm wrong...or if you know of any more Marvel superheroes in Hollywood!

Gold Nuggets: Captain Marvel Falls in Love!

The Adventures of Comics' Greatest Generation!

Nobody is safe from Cupid's arrow, not even the mighty Captain Marvel!

Back in Whiz Comics #53 (1944), young Billy Batson gets a part time job at a wartime munitions plant.  While working his shift, his demanding lady boss drops her makeup compact, which Billy returns to her in his alter ego of Captain Marvel.  Little does Cap suspect that Billy's no-nonsense"Rosie the Riveter" boss is actually...a babe! (click on the panels for a larger view)

Before you know it, Cap's head over heels in love, courtesy of the "wily Cupid"!

Can a guitar serenade be far behind?  Ahh, but alas...Cupid's arrow did not strike the fair Miss Curtis, as she proceeds to shut down the World's Mightiest Mortal. What's left for Cap to do but to sit in the gutter lamenting he couldn't even "get to first base with a girl"?

Why wasn't Cap her "type"?  Now, before our naughty modern minds join Cap in the gutter, it's revealed that Miss Delia Curtis was engaged to another man when Cap was trying to woo her...

What's that?  A double "Bah" to women and love?  Sadly, it's true...as Billy Batson confirms later during a radio recap of Cap's brush with romance.

To All the Girls I've Loved Before

For nearly seventy years, Lois Lane has been the love of Superman's life. 

His One and Only. 

The Apple of his Eye.

His Soulmate.

Yeah, RIGHT! If you believe that, you clearly aren't familiar with Superman's extensive "Resume' of Romance"!  Whether tricked, magically manipulated, or genuinely in love, the Man of Steel has found himself in the embrace of an amazing array of women from every conceivable background, species, or galaxy.  I'm sure I've missed a bunch, but here's fifteen of them:

UPDATE: As a great "companion piece" to this post, be sure to check out
Lois Lane's Romances at the always-entertaining Silver Age Comics blog!