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Post by MWGallaher on Nov 12, 2019 6:33:44 GMT -5
pinkfloydsound17, just because Moby Dick, the original book, was my favorite classic in the offerings this time around.
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Post by MWGallaher on Nov 7, 2019 13:53:22 GMT -5
Superbaby"Superbaby's New Family!" Superboy #192, December 1972 By Leo Dorfman, Bob Brown, and Murphy Anderson Superbaby gets the cover spot! Synopsis:
The Kents are alarmed that someone is stealing from their pantry, but it's only baby Clark, who's flying off with his parents' groceries, concerned that they'll now learn his "big secret". Clark spills the beans immediately: he's been giving food to his hungry friends. Pa's upset that these "friends" have seen Clark flying, and Clark agrees to lead Pa to them, flying at slow speed so he can keep up. Pa hopes he'll be able to talk these friends into keeping Clark's powers a secret. On the way, Clark rescues a bear cub falling from a tree. The mother bear threatens the Kents, but backs off when she senses that Clark is their "cub". These are Clark's hungry "friends"!Pa is relieved, but thinks the bears would be better off at the reserve on Tower Mountain, since their current habitat is being developed for residential zoning. Pa agrees to let Clark play with the bears whenever he wants, but he's warned against going down into the valley, were construction workers might see him exercising his powers. On a later day, the mama bear and cubs wander into the valley, where they are nearly run over by a steamroller. Mama bear threatens the workmen, but Clark swoops in to relocate his ursine pals to the Tower Mountain reserve. But the inevitable "bad mans" come, this time, hunters illegally poaching in the reserve! In the reserve, Clark is hanging out helping his new bear family: The hunters are tracking the bear, who in the page above wrecked their shack, and when they spot Clark, they figure there's going to be a reward for saving this captured kid! Shooting begins, Clark reveals his powers in his attempts to save the bears, and, assuming "mans be mad because they want some honey", he shares honey with them by throwing a bee hive at them! The bad guys flee directly into the arms of the waiting police, who, of course, don't believe their crazy story about a flying baby. Thoughts:I'm very interested in how the editor Murray Boltinoff decided to promote the back-up feature on the cover. He did this occasionally--I can remember an issue of Teen Titans where an Aqualad back-up got the cover illustration. He'd been doing horror-tinged covers, and although this Superbaby story isn't exactly horror, perhaps he felt the bear-loosing image was more exciting than anything the lead story had to offer. To stay on-brand, he had cover artist Nick Cardy depict Superbaby in the classic S-suit and cape, while inside, he wears his usual toddler outfit--same colors, but no cape, boots, or emblem. One interesting thing about this story is that it shows Smallville being within walking distance of a very mountainous region, with cliffs and valleys and bears. You don't usually find farmlands, as Smallville has been most usually presented, adjacent to the hills. Not much more to say about this, though. Bob Brown's sometimes rough pencils look nice beneath Murphy Anderson's masterful brush.
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Post by MWGallaher on Nov 5, 2019 10:02:15 GMT -5
tarkintino(I really can't believe that no one posted a Red Sonja cover for this contest!) Sonja may be celibate, but she is not a virgin. Hm, it appears you're right. I only remembered the last part of her origin story from Marvel. In other observations, I notice that the Archie Laugh-Out cover tactfully avoided tagging any of their cast as a Virgo. Best not to bring up any humorous speculation, I suppose.
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Post by MWGallaher on Nov 5, 2019 6:31:26 GMT -5
tarkintino
(I really can't believe that no one posted a Red Sonja cover for this contest!)
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Post by MWGallaher on Nov 1, 2019 12:50:17 GMT -5
An Untold Story About Superboy When He Was a Tot
"The Runaway Superbaby" By David George (Leo Dorfman), Bob Brown and Murphy Anderson Synopsis: We open with baby Clark accidentally bringing down the Kents' termite-weakened barn on top of Pa, who ends up bedridden with a possible concussion. Clark, with his X-ray vision and super-hearing, evesdrops on Ma's frank grown-up talk and runs away: Clark at last feels the freedom to openly display his super-powers, stacking huge marble slabs at a quarry as if they were alphabet blocks, and toying with a blimp as if it were a big balloon. In both instances, he's endangering people, and after being chased away from his fun twice, he flees over the Pacific Ocean, expressing his self-recrimination in the classic DC baby-speak: "Every time me have fun, me scare somebody...or make them mad! Why me always so naughty and mean?" The Kents, of course, are heartbroken to find their baby has run away, even though they know nothing will hurt him out there. Superbaby, meanwhile, has made it to Asia, now playing with sailboats by blowing up a typhoon. He continues to be a threat as he plays across five continents, making the news as the "weird flying demon". The Kents recognize him, but have no way to track him down. Superbaby has now returned to America, in Metropolis, where he scares the children at the playground, and decides that he needs parents--but instead of returning to the Kents, he decides to look for new parents! Still feeling guilty, he recruits a pair of criminals to be his new parents, figuring that since "that man and lady be very mean", they'd be suitable parents for his own bad self. Once they get a look at Clark's powers, they're happy to adopt him, using him as a super-powered accomplice, of course. His first efforts are a disappointment, as he steals lollipops instead of jewelry, but eventually, he's absconding with high value loot: watches, jewels, and ancient artifacts. The news reports of the flying baby have dried up, but now the Metropolis robbers who enter through inaccessible windows are making headlines. The Kents deduce that their baby must be aiding and abetting, and stake out the one major store that hasn't been hit yet. Bingo! Clark brings a rack of expensive furs to the strange couple lurking outside of the store, and the Kents unleash their parental rage, with a "BAFFF" purse wallop, and a "KLOUTT" fist to the jaw! The crooks react with gunfire, which, of course, is blocked by Superbaby, who flies his parents away.Once again a happy family, Ma and Pa listen to news reports that the police don't believe the suspects' stories of a flying super-child. Just what they were hoping for! Thoughts: Once again, we have a rather whimsical Superbaby story backing up a lead that had a horror-comic tone, with the shocking cover image featuring the shadow of Jonathan Kent hanging from a noose previewing a story about an ancient curse. This was another one of my early purchases, so it didn't faze me any, but it seems odd in retrospect. The Superbaby story runs with some pretty obvious ideas: a super toddler's play time could be disastrous in the real world. It's not much different than the many SF stories where the dangerous alien menace is really an alien child who doesn't realize they are misbehaving. What strikes me as really unsettling is Superbaby's expressions of guilt and self-loathing, especially when it reaches the level of "I deserve to have bad parents." Even when delivered in that ridiculous faux baby talk, it provides a disturbing overtone. Clark does seem to forget about it in the end: the story wraps up quickly without the expected resolutions of Clark's attitude or impact of the crimes he committed. (We can safely presume that all the stolen goods were recovered, but they usually make a point of clearly establishing that, but not this time.) This was the go-to premise of other Superbaby stories: crooks "adopting" the child to use their powers for criminal purposes, and DC used it on other occasions when other superheroes were reduced to infancy.
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Post by MWGallaher on Oct 30, 2019 12:18:20 GMT -5
The Ram: All American Men of War #96, featuring Johnny Cloud, the Navajo Ace: And this brings me down to three more entries remaining in my secret Classic Comic Cover Contest personal challenge. Have you figured out the theme that's been dictating my choices for more than a year? If not, I'll be revealing the whole story when (or if!) I complete the challenge over the next few weeks. I sit out the contest on weeks when I can't find an entry that meets my secret criteria (as I did last week). And it gets more and more difficult as I have fewer and fewer options. I was really happy to find a chance to use a Johnny Cloud cover this time, since he was in the final roster of characters to use. Being a WWII pilot, Johnny's covers tend to be very much the same every time, so it's not a simple thing to find one of his covers that satisfies a random contest topic; this one worked quite nicely, I think! I have three characters remaining, and each time I post an entry, one of them will be removed from my roster, until, the last week, I'll be left with a single character, and I'll have to find a suitable cover for whatever the topic happens to be, or sit it out uuntil I can. I've had good luck so far, only having to sit out 6 to 8 weeks. Will my luck continue?
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Post by MWGallaher on Oct 23, 2019 12:12:39 GMT -5
Since james hasn't replied, I'll cast the tiebreaker for Graphic Autist
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Post by MWGallaher on Oct 16, 2019 9:37:01 GMT -5
{Spoiler}{Spoiler}And now I'm down to four more entries in my secret cover contest challenge! What will be next? A bird? A spirit? A monster? A cloud?
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Post by MWGallaher on Oct 16, 2019 7:18:19 GMT -5
pinkfloydsound17
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Post by MWGallaher on Oct 9, 2019 5:52:12 GMT -5
What better evokes "Australia" than a drunken, passed out Captain Boomerang? Sorry, foxley, best I could do with this topic. I really thought that Wally West, the former Kid Flash, had encountered beloved super-villain Digger Harkness a lot more often than he did! {Spoiler}{Spoiler}And with that, I'm down to five covers (probably) to go in my secret personal cover contest challenge! S'okay. I'm impressed you managed to find a cover to fit. Well, a softball topic would have been really helpful in this little project of mine (foxley's the only forum member--so far as I know!--who has caught on to my secret criterion), but it's more fulfilling when I can meet a real challenge like this one!
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Post by MWGallaher on Oct 8, 2019 9:26:59 GMT -5
I was unable to contribute this time around, since my secret personal challenge prevents me from using another Sherlock Holmes cover (two of my previously-used covers showed up in this week's contest, though!). With only six left to go, I'm hoping tomorrow's contest will be something I can join in on! Anyway, my vote goes to
foxley
for that nifty Mike Kaluta Batman/Holmes Detective Comics anniversary cover. I don't think I've ever seen a Kaluta cover I didn't like.
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Post by MWGallaher on Oct 4, 2019 8:59:31 GMT -5
I like the look of it, I'll have to look out for more of his work. Luis Dominguez did lots of covers for DC in the 70s. Mostly the scary books, including some Swamp Thing and Phantom Stranger (the closest he seems to have come to superhero material), but also westerns and war and some period adventure stuff like Robin Hood and the 3 Musketeers. I didn't like his work much when it was contemporary, but these days I'm rather appreciative of his talents.
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Post by MWGallaher on Oct 3, 2019 8:45:31 GMT -5
Here's what I bought off the stands in October 1979: Amazing Adventures #2 ($0.40): X-Men reprints of this vintage appealed to me. I'd always liked the team, and one of the reprint issues of the regular title was among my earliest comics purchases. Brave & Bold #158 ($0.40): Batman and Wonder Woman, featuring a sequence that inspired a scene in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, earning Jim Aparo a screen credit. Defenders #79 ($0.40): This one featured one of the most obscure of the Defenders, Aeroika, who had wings growing out of his head. Fantasy Masterpieces #2 ($0.75): I actually had a copy of the original Silver Surfer #1 that I'd obtained somewhere in my early collecting, and I loved the character, so the opportunity to get reprints of the rest of the run appealed to me. Howard the Duck? #2 ($1.25): I'd grown tired of Howard, but the concept still kept me a devoted buyer into his B&W magazine era under the new pen of Bill Mantlo. Legion of Super-Heroes #259 ($0.40): I liked the team, but was no longer a regular buyer. The departure of Superboy and change in formal title grabbed my attention this month. I would not be following Superboy into his retro solo series, though. Shogun Warriors #12 ($0.40): I just kept buying this one. I wanted to like this Moench/Trimpe giant robot book more than I did, but they must have been doing something right. Tales to Astonish #2 ($0.40): A chance to read the early Sub-Mariner comics. I didn't stick with it for long, because despite rather liking the character, I didn't care for Thomas & Buscema's take on Namor. Tomb of Dracula #2 ($1.25): Ditko's Dracula story was visually impressive, but I could sense this wasn't going to stand up to the classic color run. X-Men #129 ($0.40): I was hooked good on this, like almost everyone else. Total purchase price: $6.05. A good bargain. Cover of the month: Glancing through this month's offerings, the one that stands out the most to me is Marie Severin's Spider-Woman #22, an impressive composition with a cool downward-viewing angle. Seeing the lead character from behind probably would have rankled Stan Lee if he'd been directly involved, although he did allow a few covers with back shots of the star now and then. Comic I'd Most Like to Have but Don't: It'd probably be cool to have Star Reach #18, even though its contents don't appear to have been the best in its run (Lee Marrs cover looks a little crude to me, seems to be reaching for a Gray Morrow style and failing). I remember seeing several issues of this "ground level" (isn't that what they called it?) series, but I never picked one up.
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Post by MWGallaher on Oct 1, 2019 10:50:22 GMT -5
Crimebuster gets my vote for offering us Robin's bicycle-powered mini-zeppelin--a not only improbable, but downright foolhardy vehicle in which to approach gun-wielding thugs.
This week's could easily have been an all-Blackhawk cover contest. That was their stock in trade for years, riding Mechanix Illustrated's tailwinds.
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Post by MWGallaher on Sept 25, 2019 12:14:40 GMT -5
Robo-jelly submarines! {Spoiler}And now there remain only six covers in my secret personal classic cover contest challenge!
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