Saturday, May 23, 2015

The Many Deaths of Superman #1

We all know about that time Superman died fighting Doomsday in Superman #75...


...but who could forget that time he also died in the bottle city of Kandor at Batman's hands!

Script by Bob Haney
Pencils by Dick Dillin
Inks by John Calnan

World's Finest Comics #240
How Do You Kill A Superman? 
September 1976 
Copyright (c) DC Comics

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Bigfoot sighting

Bigfoot sighting


Bigfoot sighting

Script by Joe Kelly
 Pencils by Carlos Meglia
 Inks by Carlos Meglia
 Colors by Carlos Meglia
 Letters by Comicraft

Action Comics #799
The Cage
March 2003
 Copyright (c) DC Comics

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Style Guide for Imaginary Stories #1

When dealing with imaginary stories, one sure fire way to tell that a character closely associated with truth, justice and the American way has turned evil is to add pin-stripes to his suit!



Nothing says gangster like those pin-stripes.

Script by Cary Bates 
Pencils by Curt Swan 
Inks by Dan Adkins 


Superman #231 
"The Wheel of Super-Fortune!" 
November 1970
Copyright (c) DC Comics

Monday, June 10, 2013

I suppose it could work, but...

Hell, I'm impressed!



Although more so for the fact that no one died or was seriously injured during Superman's makeshift light show.

Pencils by Win Mortimer

Kellogg's Promotional Giveaway
The Superman Time Capsule
1955
 Copyright (c) DC Comics

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Ladies Man Lex!

I love how even on a date, Lex never loses the purple and green motif.



It seems to be working for him, however, so who am I to poke fun.

Script by Cary Bates
 Pencils by Kurt Schaffenberger
 Inks by Kurt Schaffenberger

The Superman Family #172
The Cheat The Whole World Cheered
August/September 1975
 Copyright (c) DC Comics

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Current Affairs - Andy Diggle

In a perfect world, we'd be looking forward to picking up the third issue of Andy Diggle's run on Action Comics being released today.

Well, we all know how that turned out.

For those of you still stinging at the loss, you can always look to your back issues, as Andy Diggle did write Superman before in the pages of the wonderfully crafted and endlessly entertaining mini-series from 2004, Adam Strange.


While Superman's role was rather brief in the series (here he can be seen delivering some rather bad news to Adam Strange), there was a harbinger of things to come as I believe Andy Diggle left DC for Marvel after an overly-heavy editorial hand demanded changes in the ending of his story to better line things up for Infinite Crisis.

Sound familiar?

Oh well, some people just can't win.

But don't let that dissuade you from checking out this gem of a story.  I know this is a Superman blog, but this is definitely one of my favorite stories from the early 2000's.  If nothing else, it does feature some gorgeous artwork by Pascal Ferry and Dave McCaig that truly makes the interstellar vistas and alien backdrops pop to life.

Script by Andy Diggle
Artwork by Pascal Ferry
Colors by Dave McCaig
Letters by Rob Leigh

Adam Strange
Planet Heist Part One
November 2004
Copyright (c) DC Comics

Monday, June 3, 2013

Context-less Panel Tomfoolery

Some things are better left with no context or explanation.


Enjoy!

Script by Bill Finger
Pencils by Curt Swan
Inks by George Klein

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #85
"Love Me, Love My Beast!"
June 1965
 Copyright (c) DC Comics

Friday, May 31, 2013

Weekend reading

Another Friday, another time to let the Randomizer run rampant through my Superman long boxes.

Let's see what our reading assignment for the weekend will be, shall we?

 
Moving from Superman's girl friend to his best pal, it's Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #117!

Why is everyone wearing capes?  I guess we'll find out.

Although I'm more interested in seeing what's up with portly, bearded Batman!

See you next week.

Pencils by Curt Swan
Inks by Neal Adams

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #117
January 1967
Copyright (c) DC Comics

Thursday, May 30, 2013

The Weekly Panels of Steel #13

It seems like it's been a while since I've been able to say this, but...

Damn, if there wasn't a ton of potential for the Weekly Panel of Steel!

Just let that soak in for a second...

I had a hard time choosing, not because of lackluster storytelling, rushed art, or blah stories.  No, this time I had a hard time choosing because there was just too much good stuff to choose from.

And we owe it all to Adventures of Superman #1.

Three stories told by seven creators at the top of their game, having fun with the classic Superman!

It doesn't get much better than that, and here's the proof.


Confused?

You wouldn't be if you picked this up and read Jeff Lemire's wonderful story about the potential of youth, imagination, and Superman.

Plus, it's Jeff Lemire doing Superman!  How cool is that.

Script by Jeff Lemire
Artwork by Jeff Lemire
Colors by Jose Villarrubia
Letters by Wes Abbott

I can't just leave it at that, as then I wouldn't be able to post this pic.


There's always something about Superman wrecking a car that harkens back to that first damn cover!

Script by Jeff Parker
Artwork by Chris Samnee
Colors by Matthew Wilson
Letters by Wes Abbott

And finally...


If we can get issues that are a third as good as the inaugural issue was, I'll be happy.

Script by Justin Jordan
Artwork by Riley Rossmo
Letters by Wes Abbott


Adventures of Superman (Vol. 2) #1
July 2003 
Copyright (c) DC Comics

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #9


TITLE: Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #9

PUBLISHER: DC Comics

COVER DATE: May 1959

COVER PRICE: $0.10

26 pages




WHAT I REMEMBER...

So I wasn't around in 1959, much less reading Superman comic books, so there is nothing to remember from when I first read this. In fact, the first time I did read this issue was immediately after the Randomizer picked it for a random review. This particular issue is a relatively new addition to my collection, and up to this point it's gotten the cursory thumb through and then cataloged and filed away.

You see, one of the things I've been up to while my two blogs lay fallow has been auction hunting. My LCS started getting into the auction business about two years ago, and lucky for me, he's had a nice and steady supply of Superman Silver Age books on the block. It came at the perfect time, as my collection of Superman books was starting to get into the expensive Silver Age era, now that I had finished up the Bronze Age.

Maybe one of these days I'll put a post up going through my auction finds for fun, but for right now, we're here to talk about Lois Lane! This book actually has three separate stories, but we're going to focus on the last one featuring America's Favorite Crooner, Pat Boone!

Superman's Mystery Song!

  • Penciller: Dick Sprang
  • Inker: John Forte
  • Editor: Mort Weisinger


THE ELEVATOR PITCH

Lois Lane and Pat Boone team up for a duet honoring Superman!  But if it's honoring his exploits and quest for justice, why must Superman make sure no one can ever hear it?

THE RECAP

While picking Lois up at her apartment, Clark discovers what a huge fan she is of Pat Boone!  Coincidentally enough (as is so often the case in the Silver Age), Pat Boone is due to be interviewed by The Daily Planet.  After the interview, Pat sits in on the rehearsals for the annual Daily Planet office party/talent show.  It's there that he overhears Lois singing, and is impressed enough to offer her a spot doing a specialty number on his latest show.

It's decided that Clark will write the lyrics to a special song that Pat and Lois will duet together on.  Clark racks his brain for lyrics, but has writer's block and goes to bed.  Lucky for him, that a burst of inspiration hits him during a dream, and he wakes up and writes the lyrics for his song.

Superman only then realizes that as they start singing his song on live t.v., that he must stop them!  Why?  Stay tuned...

Meanwhile, Superman manages to disrupt two more live concerts where Lois and Pat plan on singing their new song honoring Superman.  Eventually, Superman let's Pat Boone know that he was the one sabotaging his live performances, as the lyrics that Clark wrote contained a clue to Superman's secret identity.  Superman has prepared new lyrics, but when he goes to retrieve them from a pocket inside his cape, they're gone!

Utilizing the powers of his fan club, Pat Boone puts the word out about a missing envelope.  It's eventually found and returned to Pat.  In gratitude, Superman uses his microscopic vision and photographic memory to restore a broken master disc for one of Pat's latest recordings, while also producing a million copies for distribution at super speed!

Later on that night on live television, the country is finally able to hear the revised version of the duet by Lois Lane and Pat Boone, and we're finally clued in as to why Superman didn't want the original song sung in the first place.

THE HIGHLIGHTS

You can take Lois out of her teens, but you can't take the teenager out of Lois!

Ahhh...1950's, when a "talent" like blowing smoke rings at the office was admired.

Says the man smoking three cigars!

You gotta love a girl who "groans on pitch!"

Even Pat Boone, in his prime, couldn't get the special effects to work for his version of "Rock 'n Roll Creation".

Social media, circa 1959.

...and finally, the real reason Superman couldn't let that song be heard!
And that brings a close to our inaugural random reading.  I hope you all enjoyed this look back into the mad-cap world of pop-stardom in the good old days.