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Post by chadwilliam on Oct 17, 2019 16:03:19 GMT -5
The Private Life of Clark Kent "Clark Kent's Lonely Christmas" By Bob Rozakis, John Calnan, and Tex Blaisdell Action Comics #469, March 1977 Synopsis:Clark's not in the Christmas spirit at the WGBS Christmas party, and goes home alone after the celebration ends. We're not in for much action this time around, but for moping Clark needlessly ruining an out-of-control driver's Christmas Eve by damaging his car: Clark returns to Smallville, visiting his old home and recalling the Christmases of his youth with his adoptive parents. Wandering the streets in a funk, he happens across some orphans from the Smallville Orphanage, from which he himself was adopted by the Kents. Super-snooping reveals that the owners can't afford gifts for the kids. At super-speed, Clark raids the stores, spending his Christmas bonus on toys and decorations for the orphanage. Santa has made it to these kids, to the astonishment of the owners, and Clark jauntily marches off singing "Jingle Bells." Thoughts:
I won't be a Grinch over a Christmas story, but I have seen more heartwarming seasonal stories done at this length or less. I have to give this story credit for at least focusing on Clark Kent, the person, more so than previous installments have. And his mood seems out of character, but I guess that's the point Rozakis is making: despite what we typically saw, Clark couldn't have been so upbeat all the time, given that he did suffer genuine, human loss in his lifetime. Although maybe if he'd overheard Lois saying "I've been trying to give him some Christmas cheer all day!" he'd have been a bit happier. Meanwhile, Steve Lombard fires off an innocent but still somehow salacious comment to the office cuties: "I'd really love to stuff my stocking with you lovely ladies..." In returning to Smallville, the story reminds us that Clark still, apparently, owns his parents' property. While it may seem thoughtless to keep valuable property unused and off the market in a small community (presumably the farm land has been sold or is being managed, rather than left fallow), it does make some sense, knowing that Clark does have a history of losing track of various artifacts that jeopardize his super-heroic career. Probably plenty of traces of Superboy still in that basement! They still couldn't resist having Clark using some of his superpowers, even though they weren't particularly necessary (unless Smallville's not within driving distance of Metropolis, which has sometimes and sometimes not been the case). The scene of Clark zipping through the store at super-speed doesn't make much sense, but I suppose he pulled the ol' "leave the payment behind" stunt. Must have been disruptive to the other customers, who we seen reacting to Clark's whirlwind rush through the store. I don't know how frequently Clark's depressive mood over Christmas was revisited over the years, but this story is very much in keeping with Cary Bates' " Superman's Last Christmas" from 1982's (or I suppose, Christmas 1981's) Superman 369. In fact, the similarities are such that I'd be surprised if Bates wasn't familiar with Rozakis' tale assuming of course, that Clark being depressed over Christmas was something this back-up introduced. At one point in Bates' tale, Lois even comments "Oh Clark! Every year we have to put up with this Bah Humbug routine of yours!" I like this little addition to Superman's profile for two reasons. First, it just seems reasonable that a person who lost both his biological and foster parents at a young age would feel alone during this time of the year. Of more interest to me however, is that it draws attention to the limitations of the Clark Kent disguise which is fine for helping him uncover crooks and spending time with people he likes, but it's still a disguise and as such, shouldn't really stand up to scrutiny in intimate settings. These stories tend to depict Lois, Jimmy, Lombard, Perry, Lana, etc as letting their guard down and showing a more honest and even softer side to themselves. I think it would have been interesting to see Clark reflect upon the fact that he can't really do the same due to the whole 'protect the secret identity' thing and feel, well, kind of like a rat. Not that I'd want the story itself to agree with this sentiment, only that it would draw attention to the sacrifices Superman makes to be Superman. Oh, and Clark stopping that reckless driver so casually as Clark Kent? Is this something we've seen before or did Rozakis originate it? I can't help but wonder if this is where the writers of the 1978 Superman film got their idea for a similar scene.
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Post by MWGallaher on Oct 18, 2019 8:47:07 GMT -5
The Private Life of Clark Kent"The Long Weekend" By Bill Kunkel, John Calnan, and Tex Blaisdell Action Comics #471, May 1977 Synopsis: Clark's got a three-day weekend, and he's already burned through his the last book in his reserve of pleasure reading--twice--in thirty seconds! Since he doesn't need much sleep, and all his friends and acquaintances are otherwise occupied, and he can't spot any crimes to fight, he needs someone to talk to. Frank the doorman at the lobby of his apartment? Nope, while usually a chatterbox, he has laryngitis. Wandering the streets, he runs into Harry Davis, a private investigator, who is convinced that Clark is Lionel Maxwell. Davis was hired to track down this Boston high-society drop-out. Davis has been searching for Maxwell for months in Appalachia, and Clark, sensing a story, takes Davis to dinner to discuss things. It turns out Davis is the beneficiary of his late Uncle Cletis, to the tune of $1,000,000 (minus Harry's 5% finder's fee). Clark, as Superman, decides to explore the mystery in Appalachia, and in Baralsville, PA, he's recognized as Maxwell by coal miners, who direct him "home" thinking that he's drunk (in a thought balloon, Clark lets readers know that has never been nor is he physiologically capable of being drunk). After passing through the disturbingly poverty-stricken neighborhood, Clark comes face-to-face with Maxwell, a close double but with long hair and stubble. It turns out that Maxwell intention fled a life of wealth, preferring to live here and work for a living. But Clark convinces him that there's something far worse than wealth, and that he has an opportunity to do good with his inheritance right there in Baralsville: Thoughts:
I keep getting hung up on the opening scene. Clark has a huge pile of books that he's read through in less than four hours. While we've certainly seen him process information at super-speed in his activities as Superman, normally he seems to think at human speeds, not just to interact with ordinary people, but also dealing with his usual crime-fighting activities, trying to figure out what Brainiac's doing or where Luthor might be hiding out. Why wouldn't he slow himself down in order to savor his reading? Just because he can do something super-fast doesn't mean he has to! If I were in charge of the periodic efforts to dial back Superman's powers, which tend to escalate as writers come up with new ways to apply them, I'd dictate that he thinks--always--at ordinary human speeds. I'm reminded of a ridiculous development to DC's character Impulse that I heard about: he'd been depicted as a juvenile teen, naive to the ways of contemporary humans, but read through every book in the library at super-speed and became extremely smart. But wait, just because you can read through the words, no matter what speed, it doesn't mean you absorb and understand them! That's not how learning works! If I read through all the textbooks in a college physic's student's four-year curriculum, I wouldn't be an expert in physics without taking even more time to process, synthesize, experiment, work problems over and over, etc. And plenty of subjects I'd have so little interest in that the words would be meaningless. But back to the story itself. This time around, we get not even a bit of "action", unless you count a heated two-day(!) argument that gets a little grabby and pokey. And while we do see one panel of Superman, all the use of super-powers is off-screen, explaining quick transportation, making this more of a true Clark Kent story than Superman story. (One amusing detail: Maxwell, like Clark, wears glasses. Otherwise, they'd have to explain why he's not constantly being mistaken for Superman.) Once again, we get a lonely Clark, like last Christmas, but this time, he's just antsy, not mopey. The slim story is padded as it is. Schwartz was assigning these back-ups to green writers, and Bill Kunkel, who would go on to have a few credits in the comics pages, but not many, was definitely green at this point in his career.
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Post by MWGallaher on Oct 21, 2019 13:06:02 GMT -5
The Sporting Life of Steve Lombard"If I'm Over Here...What Am I Doing Over There?" By Bill Kunkel, John Calnan, and Tex Blaisdell Action Comics #472, June 1977 Synopsis:
The story opens with Steve in Clark Kent's office, perpetrating a prank by loosening the screws to his file cabinet. He's interrupted by his own double: The double starts repairing Clark's cabinet, while Steve summons his co-workers into the office. None of them can see Steve's double! And when Steve takes a second look, neither can he, himself. An hour later Steve's live, hosting the Galaxy Sportswriters Award show. The "Athlete of the Year" ("Jogging Jack" Paulus of the Gotham City Giants) praises Steve, and we learn that Steve's play supposedly won the 1969 Super Bowl (I don't know if this was with the Central City Centaurs, his first team, or the Metropolis Meteors, where he presumably finished out his football career). Steve's immodest response is called out by the cameraman--once again, his double!--who knows Steve only made the play because an opponent slipped on wet turf. Steve's happy to have witnesses now...but the rest of the panel sees only their long-time cameraman, and didn't hear anything from him at all!Steve wonders if this might be a gag at his expense, like Clark once pulled with the assistance of Roy Raymond (the TV Detective who had a long-running DC back-up series of his own). The next morning, Steve calls the staff into the conference room, and begins to pour water over Clark's head when--as he expected!--he's interrupted by his double: his "Conscience"!Still, no one else sees or hears the double, until Steve greets his "better half" with a joy buzzer hand shake, and the WGBS crew can't stifle their laughter. Yes, it was all an elaborate prank, with everybody in on it, even "Jogging Jack"! Steve confirmed his suspicions by bringing along a tape recorder, concluding that since he could hear the double's voice on playback, it couldn't have been a hallucination, but the real tip-off? Yesterday was April 1st! The story concludes with a challenge to the reader: who was Steve's double, who impersonated him so well that even Steve himself was fooled? {Spoiler}Bruce Wayne, the Batman!
Thoughts:
As an April Fool myself, I can appreciate an April Fool story. While this is certainly not the greatest of them to appear in the Superman family of comics, it's not too bad...but it has even less "Action" than the previous back-up! I think they forgot the title of this comic book. It's also nice to see them name-dropping Roy Raymond, who actually cropped up more often than one might have expected in this era. Among the negatives, Steve's detective work in figuring things out was forced and unconvincing. Apparently Steve confronted his double, then quickly rewound the tape, listened to it through his "mini-ear-phone", then pulled out the joy buzzer to cap things off: The problem is, though, that we've already read the scene, and from the reader's perspective, our impression is that all the panels followed one another immediately. We have to retroactively insert this unseen event. Maybe a silent panel (between the initial confrontation and the joy buzzer scene) would have helped smooth this over. And certainly from a modern audience's perspective, the participation of Steve's double is a little hard to swallow. You'd think he'd have better things to do with his time and his skills than to devote a day and a half to pranking a jerk, but what are friends for? This will be the last of Steve Lombard's run as a back-up feature, and he's back to being a jackass. Interesting experiment, but obviously doomed to failure.
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Oct 21, 2019 16:56:08 GMT -5
I can't believe I live 40+ years of life without realizing there was a Steve Lombard back-up series. That's great!
Also Batman who spends most of his time tormenting Steve Lombard is the best Batman.
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Post by MWGallaher on Oct 22, 2019 8:37:21 GMT -5
The Private Life of Clark Kent"One For the Money!" By Bob Toomey, Kurt Schaffenberger, and Tex Blaisdell Action Comics #474, August 1977 Synopsis:According to Clark's diary, establishing known public habits is an important part of his secret identity. One of those habits is to stop at Benny's newstand every day for a copy of the Planet and a lottery ticket (which he only buys because the money goes for education!). Benny likes to perform a mentalist trick, "forcing" Clark to buy a particular ticket number and proudly "reading Clark's mind" to announce the number of the ticket he's holding. But today, the routine is broken when Benny literally runs into Clark and the door to the Planet building, apologizing and brushing off Clark's jacket and tie, at the same time preemptively announcing that he's sold out of the Planet. Clark senses that the collision was a set-up: why would Benny abandon his stand today and intentionally bump into Clark?Back at his 344 Clinton Street apartment, Clark chats with Frank the doorman (remember him from a previous installment?). Frank tells Clark a phone repairman came by, so Frank let him in to fix Clark's phone. Clark figures things out almost as fast as we the readers have: Clark's ticket had the winning number, Benny remembered the number, and he's been trying to steal it. Benny knows that Clark's unaware that he had the winner, since Clark hasn't gotten a copy of the paper today. Now Clark takes advantage of his fabricated reputation for clumsiness, and intentionally bumps into Benny, giving him an opportunity, which he of course takes, to lift the winning ticket.But Clark has set up a sting with the lottery commission. The ticket is a forgery, with the tiny words "stolen from Clark Kent" on it. Benny's arrested for grand larceny, and the real ticket, like every one Clark buys, was sent to the Metropolis Orphanage, courtesy of the twice-orphaned Clark Kent! Thoughts:We almost get a Clark Kent story with no use of superpowers at all, but Clark does use his telescopic vision to spot his winning number on a newspaper that Benny is reading as he lurks outside Kent's apartment (His apartment, judging from the view out the window, appears to be on the first floor. I'm pretty sure that his apartment was almost always depicted as being higher, facilitating his departure by flight through the window). This story does have raise some interesting points about what Clark would need to do to establish a reliable secret identity. Establishing a habitual routine is one that I wouldn't have thought of, but it makes a lot of sense.We also get yet another dose of sentimentality over Clark's loss of his parents and emotional connection with orphans. I think that as adults we often forget one of the common terrors of childhood: that we would be orphaned. (This is one of the reasons Granny Goodness was, I think, one of the great villains. She pressed fear buttons in kids that bank robbers and would-be world dominators never touched.) There is the problematic aspect of Clark setting up a sting operation to nail Benny on grand larceny. It clashes with the impression we get on page one, where Benny appears to be a friendly and mildly eccentric character that Clark enjoys humoring. Clark's got to understand how the temptation of riches could corrupt a lot of otherwise decent people, and you'd think he could come up with a gentler way to foil Benny's attempts without the implied jail time. Clark's smiles and taunts as Benny is cuffed at the climax clash with the sympathy and forgiveness we expect from Superman. Still, I'd say this is the best Clark Kent story so far, maybe the best of these back-ups so far. Schaffenberger's great with light-hearted fare like this, and Blaisdell's work is looking more like that of a conventional comic book inker and less like that of a newspaper strip artist.
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Post by MWGallaher on Oct 22, 2019 8:41:29 GMT -5
I can't believe I live 40+ years of life without realizing there was a Steve Lombard back-up series. That's great! Also Batman who spends most of his time tormenting Steve Lombard is the best Batman. Yeah, the discovery that there even was a Steve Lombard back-up is what inspired me to cover these. And then I found Morgan Edge, Perry White and Lori Lemaris, too! There's a perhaps even more unexpected back-up feature coming when I jump ahead a few years to look at the back-ups from Superman--would you believe {Spoiler}a series of backups starring Bruce Wayne ?!
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Post by rberman on Oct 22, 2019 9:11:35 GMT -5
I keep getting hung up on the opening scene. Clark has a huge pile of books that he's read through in less than four hours. While we've certainly seen him process information at super-speed in his activities as Superman, normally he seems to think at human speeds, not just to interact with ordinary people, but also dealing with his usual crime-fighting activities, trying to figure out what Brainiac's doing or where Luthor might be hiding out. Why wouldn't he slow himself down in order to savor his reading? Just because he can do something super-fast doesn't mean he has to! Super-speed is one of those powers that makes your brain hurts if you try to think through all the implications consistently. It would have to be linked to some infinite source of calories, protection from friction, life so long as to effectively constitute immortality, which would imply super-healing as well, etc. Your nerves would be firing super-fast in order to make super-movement, super-reaction time, and super-fast-thinking possible. If you couldn't switch it off, you would probably go super-insane super-quickly, living in a world in which everyone else was speaking a billion times more slowly than you could process their speech. I like this as the explanation for why some speedsters like Northstar and Quicksilver are so irritable. Instead of spending 99.999999% of your time standing around waiting for other people to do whatever they are doing, you'd fill your time with other tasks. Squirrel Girl #31 spends a whole issue on this thought experiment by pushing Nancy and Doreen into "hypertime" so that the rest of the world seems to be creeping by at less than a snail's pace. Hijinks ensue.
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Post by MWGallaher on Oct 22, 2019 16:46:43 GMT -5
Lori Lemaris Mermaid of Atlantis"The Weak Link!" By Elizabeth M. Smith, Win Mortimer, and Frank Chiaramonte Action Comics #475, September 1977 Synopsis:We open with a page that could easily be mistaken for a Golden Age reprint, with a sloppy Lori Lemaris logo topping a crudely inked and primitive looking 2/3 splash: As we see, Lori's been netted by some unseemly seamen illegally harvesting some minerals along with their catch. The sailors, evidently Russians, ponder the morality of eating Lori: "It depends on whether she is fish or human! Such an unexpected incident reveals a weak link in homeland thinking!" Um...what?! Lori seems to get whatever he's trying to say, and it dawns on her that one of the men might be susceptible to her telepathic powers. She mentally probes the men, looking for a target, while the reader learns that Aquaman's Poseidonis is recognized by the U.N., but Lori's Tritanis (home of the half-fish Atlanteans like Lori) is not. Thus they have no fear of retribution if they dispose of her.Lori has zeroed in on the youngest member of the crew, planting paranoid thoughts leading him to think his crew-mates are plotting against him. While they engage in a knife-fight, Lori telepathically operates the radio(!?) to summon human aid, and, for more immediate assistance, calls Sala the swordfish, Topo, Aquaman's octopus friend, and a pair of sperm whales to wreck the boat and free her. The United Nations Security Force arrives to rescue the sailors and take them into custody. Lori, from the water, tells them where to find the "incriminating nodules", and declines the captain's offer of rescue, showing off--to the captain's astonishment--her finny bottom half as she swims away. Thoughts:
Well, that was a fish flop indeed! I don't know why the U.N. would be so concerned about three sailors taking "manganese and silicon nodules" out of the sea, or just how it is that they're getting them out of a haul of fish. The sailors are pretty nonchalant about netting an actual mermaid, but then, they do seem to be familiar with Tritonis, so maybe it's not as big a deal as their critical mission. Although, what exactly would Lori do to jeopardize them if they just dropped her back into the ocean? "She knows too much" doesn't really make a whole lot of sense in this scenario. The comments about eating her or making a trophy out of her are a little bit disturbing in this sort of story. Readers do get a reminder that the mer-people have even better telepathic powers than Aquaman does, summoning not just any old sea creatures, but even Aquaman's own favorite! I don't quite buy that telepathic powers would help you operate a radio remotely. And the ending...why would the captain be surprised at a mermaid if the Russians were familiar enough with Tritonis that they were up-to-date on its status in international politics? Elizabeth M. Smith was another greenhorn writer, getting some training in this mostly-ignored corner of DC's publications. I don't think she went on to do anything of note in comics. Win Mortimer was an old pro, and could do some excellent work, but this is an artistic mess, as well. I've never seen anyone rank Chiaramonte as one of their favorite inkers, and he certainly deserves a lot of the blame for the poor visual quality of the pages.
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Post by rberman on Oct 22, 2019 17:18:43 GMT -5
The focus on the United Nations is weird. It’s not as if people from non-UN states are fair game for murder with impunity. I see this in British TV shows also. They treat the UN as the global government in a way that you will never see on American TV.
And eating her? Surely she is worth more in a circus sideshow or research lab, if they’re going to exploit her.
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Post by MWGallaher on Oct 22, 2019 17:20:39 GMT -5
The Private Life of Clark Kent"One of Those Days!" By Elizabeth M. Smith, Dick Dillin, and Tex Blaisdell Action Comics #477, November 1977 Synopsis: We open with Clark getting an on-set visit from...his fan club--the 23rd branch!? Morgan Edge, back to being an ass, is not happy about the intrusion, but the fan club's Terri Cross is the daughter of one of Galaxy's big-wig stockholders, so she gets what she wants, a personal tour from their idol. Clark's x-ray vision spots a fire starting in the film storage room, but he can't shake the adoring teenage girls. He tries to pawn them off on Steve Lombard, but they pursue Clark. Clark's able to change into his Superman uniform, and tells the girls that Clark's taken ill, but they're not buying it--this is obviously Clark in a phoney (sic) Superman costume! Embarrassed, Clark admits it, and goes back to get back in his newscaster suit (which, by the way, has a green jacket, not blue--they were really shaking things up in the Superman books, hunh?) Clark still needs to take care of the fire, so he tries to dump the fan club members on Lois, but now the fire alarm has sounded! The girls follow Clark into the smoke-filled room, preferring to see their hero in action over saving their own skin. Using super-speed, Clark moves so fast that he appears to both film the scene as Clark and put out the fire as Superman! Clark's snazzy green blazer is ruined, but the girls are delighted to have seen him daring the flames for his story. We close with Steve wondering what Clark's appeal is, but the girls are convinced that Clark's taller, more handsome, and better built than Superman himself (even though Clark tries to slump and look weak). Thoughts:When I saw the evocation of the Mickey Mouse Club theme song on page 1, I couldn't resist mentally "singing" it. Which I wish Ms. Smith had done, because now I can't stop thinking about how blasted difficult it is to sing "C-L-A-R-K-I-E-K-E-N-T". Makes you realize how euphonious the original spelling is when sung (or spoken). Superman editorial was trying to give Clark a bit of a face-lift around this time, playing down his weakling disguise (even though they were using it as a story element last time around). It's a bit of a shock, and not an easy sell, given Clark's well-established persona, to see him as the idol of young girls, but it's not so crazy: the public does sometime decide to consider a fairly ordinary celebrity as "hot". It might have been more authentic if this had been treated as a fad, but I think they really wanted a more manly image for Superman's alter ego, something that would be tried with more success in later years. Dick Dillin is a newcomer to these back-ups, and does his usual respectable job. Smith gets another shot, and is showing a bit more polish, it seems.
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Post by MWGallaher on Oct 22, 2019 20:01:27 GMT -5
And that wraps up the first round of Super Back-Ups! Next, I'll be backing up in time to look at the Super Back-Ups of the early 1970's, including Superbaby, then to the early 1980's where we'll see some timely tales!
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Post by MWGallaher on Oct 24, 2019 7:54:51 GMT -5
Superbaby "Superbaby's First Friend" by Geoff Brown, Bob Brown, and Murphy Anderson Superboy #178, October, 1971 Synopsis: The Kents are vacationing in Redstone Park, where even in isolation, Ma & Pa are concerned about baby Clark (who's about 3) using his powers where strangers might see. They want to keep his identity a secret until he's Superman (they were really planning ahead!). A similar situation is occurring on the other side of the lake, where a couple are keeping young pointy-eared Gary, who can raise boulders telepathically, away from prying eyes. When Gary sees Clark walking on water, the both of them figure it's OK to show each other their special abilities. Gary's mommy and daddy taught him how to do his tricks--all he has to do is say a poem, and he can grow flowers, or ride through the air on a stick. Evidently, Gary's family are witches. Nearby, Kimbro and Rowley are fleeing from the cops to Volcano Lake, where they stashed the loot from their recent museum heist. The sight of flying babies is distracting, though: When they recover after being rescued, they assume it was a delusion, and don their scuba gear. Beneath the waters of the lake, they gather some of the loot, but not the heavy statue, which will require special equipment to retrieve. Special equipment...or the assistance of two superpowered tykes! Clark and Gary show up again, and help the guys out by fishing out their "dolly"!The thugs chase off the boys with cruel words, and Clark reacts with the epitome of DC baby-talk:"We only want to play, but bad mans scare us! They be mean!" But kids are easily distracted, and begin playing with Gary's bubble-blower. Of course, with their powers, they quickly begin to accelerate their play, until the lake is covered in thick foam, blocking the thugs' escape. Gary's parents assume Gary was responsible, and the Kents pin the blame on Clark, and both families flee in opposite directions. None of the parents believe their sons' stories of another little boy who also has super powers. The rangers investigating the weird lake phenomenon nab Kimbro and Rowley when they make their way out of what proved to be "a harmless glycerine emulsion which won't harm the environment."Back in their respective homes, the boys wonder if they'll ever meet their special playmate again. Thoughts:Although the masthead on the story read "Superboy", these Superbaby back-ups fit the spirit of my topic in this thread. There had been many stories prior, both leads and back-ups, that focused on "Superbaby", but the concept had been abandoned for a while when it was brought back as the focus of several filler stories in the series in the early 1970's. It's kind of a strange choice, because in the lead slot, DC was trying to make Superboy seem more contemporary and serious. This was one of the earliest comics I bought, so I have fond memories of this issue. While the cover story, with the horror-tinged angles that DC were, at the time, using all over the place, was filled with monstrous transformations (and I admit, that was what tempted me into selecting this issue), this back-up was gentle fun. While the baby talk is cringeworthy from an adult perspective, I'm sure I found it very amusing at the age of 11. A typical American reader of the time was sure to find Gary's (unnamed) family familiar, since TV's popular Bewitched sitcom had made us comfortable with the idea of a friendly family of witches in a modern setting. Around this time, the TV family had introduced a second child, Adam, a baby warlock. Murphy Anderson gave his usual polish to Bob Brown's often rough-hewn art. Geoff Brown was a pseudonym for writer Leo Dorfman, according to the GCD. A look through that database alerted me to a few other Super Back-Ups around this time that I wasn't aware of, which I'll be adding to this round of reviews.
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Post by rberman on Oct 24, 2019 8:03:12 GMT -5
I remember reading that Superboy issue. The main story was a cool one in which crooks used Red Kryptonite to transform Superboy into a series of monster movie characters including King Kong. It was a fun story that could have been told using Superman as well as Superboy. Like many early 70s DC comics, it also paused for a moment of ecological preaching: Not that it has anything to do with the Superbaby back-up.
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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 Deleted on Nov 1, 2019 15:31:47 GMT -5
I was amused by this story Superboy #178, October, 1971 MWGallaher and it was my dear friend who had that story and told me to read it and I thought it was a cute story when I read this story 20 years later in 1991 when I first saw this. The pictures jarred my memory vividly.
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