Random Books My Son Picks Issue 5
This time I can honestly say Little Caveman dug deep, he went three-quarters into a box before picking this one. He picked Superman Family Issue 180(Nov 1976).
A little history behind the title. Superman Family is the continuation of one of DC's longest running titles dedicated to a side or spin-off character, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, which made it's debut with the September-October 1954 issue. At the time of first publication, the Superman television show was on TV and Jimmy Olsen as portrayed by Jack Larson was one of the most popular characters from the era. The success of the title convinced DC to release a series featuring Lois Lane (titled Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane) in March/April 1958. After Supergirl made her debut in 1959, she eventually received her on magazine in 1972 after her run in Adventure Comics finished with issue 424. The three characters have been intertwined on many occasions, and even occasionally showed up in the same story (example below in Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #20; Jimmy's contribution was practically nothing, but he was there, man...he was there.)
However, by mid-1974 all three titles were failing. The decision was made to combine the three features into one book, retaining the numbering system from Jimmy Olsen, as it had reached the largest number of issues. (Supergirl 10 was allowed to be published after a nine-month hiatus, the only issue of the three to have a book released after this decision was made.) Thus, Superman Family made its debut with issue #164. When this title was first printed, the features alternated with every issue as to who the lead feature was, receiving a new story, while the other two were stuck with a reprint. (As the book was a bi-monthly at the time, it meant only two new stories a year for each character!) This ended with issue 182, where each character received a new story each issue. As it is of issue 180, this review falls in the first era, and in this particular issue, Supergirl has the new story.
Story 1 - Supergirl in "The Secret of the Spell-Bound Supergirl."
Written by Cary Bates, Art by Kurt Schaffenberger, Edited by Julius Schwartz.
The story begins as Supergirl is flying over the Everglades, an alligator is about to make a meal out of a kid. Supergirl rescues the child and continues on her way to New Athens School, where in her secret identity as Linda Danvers, she is guidance counselor. To her chagrin, she discovers that she was twenty minutes late for a meeting, instead of being two minutes, like she thought. She also realizes that this was the third such event to happen to her in the last couple of days. Reading the papers, she discovered that she had completed one good deed and one bad deed the last two times this happened.
Using a specialized camera she had borrowed from the Fortress of Solitude, she discovered that during the current blackout period, she has destroyed a statue that the campus had erected in her honour. Using her super-memory, she returns to the spot where our as yet unknown protagonist ordered her under hypnosis to destroy the statue, but in unable to see where the cavern she met the unknown man in.
The very next day, Supergirl is about to put out a fire at an offshore oil rig when she feels the compulsion to return to the spot again. Sh quickly fashions a solution on how to "remember" what is happening so that her controller would send her to finish the job, which he dutifully does. The very next day, while at work, she holds an appointment with student Todd Richards, who she recognizes as the person in control of her (did not see that coming at all). Todd is feeling guilty and tells Linda (not really knowing who he's talking to, of course- Capt. Obvious) the story of how he has become capable of controlling Supergirl. While on a school field trip (my school never had these kinds of trips, just the mind-altering ones), Todd discovered a cavern, and inside was a MacGuffin...I mean an urn from an extinct native tribe that can give total command to a human over any being from another planet (and guess who was flying over at the time of discovery....I think you only need one). However, Todd only admits to sending the Maid of Might out to do good deed and has no memory of the bad ones.
Naturally, Supergirl feels the pull of the urn again as the meeting wraps up, and because she performed an "evil" deed this time, the camera from the fortress has discovered an astonishing secret (that has never been done before, ever) on the identity of the person sending her out to be bad, Todd's identical evil twin brother, Travis! Well, thing come to push and shove and together Todd and Kara defeat the Not-so-Mighty Travis and a convenient cave-in buries the urn for all time (or until it is needed as a plot device again.)
Review - 4.5 out of 5 for me, because even though this as done in 1976, it felt like a Silver Age Super-Family story that I love. Kurt's art is his usual bang on and Bates proves why he has been a consistent (if non-original) writer over the years. The only reason I don't give this story a full score is the whole cheesiness of the "evil twin" trope.
Story 2- Jimmy Olsen "The Nine Lives of Jimmy Olsen" (reprinted from Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen # 71, Sep 1963)
Story : John Hamilton Art: John Forte
Jimmy Olsen has joined a safari in South-East Asia when he comes upon a tiger that oddly enough, is friendly and does not attack him, After helping the tiger avoid a trap, Jimmy is found by the "medicine-man" of the local tribe (Oddly who look African instead of Asian...but 1963!) The tribe repays Jimmy's kindness by bestowing upon him a cat's paw that allow him to have nine lives, like a cat. Returning to Metropolis, Jimmy uses the first of his lives when he falls out of the plane as it is landing. Naturally, he does this in front of Lois and Lucy Lane, and while still at the airport, uses another life to stop an orangutan going on a rampage (that strangely looks like a gorilla; follow this space for soon I will be posting an essay on the gorilla comic phase.)
Loving his new found fortune, Jimmy asks Perry for more dangerous assignments; and, getting cocky, decides he doesn't need his Superman signal watch right now. Lucy is not liking Jimmy's attitude, and goes on a date (after even mentioning that she and Jimmy are engaged no less!) Jimmy follows and uses up more of his lives. Some spies from a rival power notice Jimmy's "luck" and decide to kidnap him for the secret for their ruthless dictator boss. Jimmy then realizes that he is out of extra lives (having wasted them frankly) and cons the men into activating the signal watch. Superman arrives in the nick of time, and Jimmy vows to be careful again, and Lucy forgives him.
Review: A typical silly little Silver Age story, involving yet another little magical trinket. I give it 3.5 out of 5 becuase, while I am still shocked by the casual racism of the era, it is these types of stories that made me enjoy comics as a kid.
Story #3 : Lois Lane in : "The Girl That Almost Married Clark Kent." (reprinted from Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #17, May 1960)
Writer: Unknown, Art: Kurt Schaffenberger
The world's richest heiress, Doris Drake, is in Calcutta, where she is watching a performance by an Indian fakir. He reads her mind then admits it is through the magic means of a token that he can read minds this issue seems to have a common theme, n'est pas?) Doris buys it off her and plots to marry Superman. As (coincidental comic) luck would have, Superman is in India performing for children, and Doris uses the opportunity to read his mind and discover his secret identity.
Returning to America (f%$!, yeah), Doris then gets Lois' help into her scheme to marry Superman. Lois plays matchmaker and after several "dates", arranges for Clark to have a flat and for Doris to pick him up. Doris then admits to Superman she knows his identity and tries to blackmail him. He resists, and Doris, throwing a tantrum, pitches the magic locket at Superman, giving him the opportunity to hypnotize her into forgetting his identity, and as a precaution, to hate Clark Kent.
Review: 2.5 out of 5. The way women were written, in this book, as a magazine dedicated to a female character, as just dreadful at this time. Doris having a throwing tantrum is just wrong on so many levels and ruins the story for me. I give it this score just because of the artwork.
In conclusion, this issue overall could have been better. Because of the theme chosen for the book to unify the stories, the reprints chosen were mediocre and weren't updated to the modern sensibility (after all 1976 was after civil rights and smack in the middle of the Equal Rights Amendment fight.)
But, I still love this series, and comics in general, which are supposed to be a reflection of our times, good or bad.
Ottawa News and Notes: I have been finding myself with very limited time lately and I hope to spend some time in the next few days combing the area for new news.
Next time, I will come back with a review from another local comic artist (or should I say, artists, because there are two), followed by the beginnings of an essay on one of the more interesting eras of comics, Gorilla books!
A little history behind the title. Superman Family is the continuation of one of DC's longest running titles dedicated to a side or spin-off character, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, which made it's debut with the September-October 1954 issue. At the time of first publication, the Superman television show was on TV and Jimmy Olsen as portrayed by Jack Larson was one of the most popular characters from the era. The success of the title convinced DC to release a series featuring Lois Lane (titled Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane) in March/April 1958. After Supergirl made her debut in 1959, she eventually received her on magazine in 1972 after her run in Adventure Comics finished with issue 424. The three characters have been intertwined on many occasions, and even occasionally showed up in the same story (example below in Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #20; Jimmy's contribution was practically nothing, but he was there, man...he was there.)
However, by mid-1974 all three titles were failing. The decision was made to combine the three features into one book, retaining the numbering system from Jimmy Olsen, as it had reached the largest number of issues. (Supergirl 10 was allowed to be published after a nine-month hiatus, the only issue of the three to have a book released after this decision was made.) Thus, Superman Family made its debut with issue #164. When this title was first printed, the features alternated with every issue as to who the lead feature was, receiving a new story, while the other two were stuck with a reprint. (As the book was a bi-monthly at the time, it meant only two new stories a year for each character!) This ended with issue 182, where each character received a new story each issue. As it is of issue 180, this review falls in the first era, and in this particular issue, Supergirl has the new story.
Story 1 - Supergirl in "The Secret of the Spell-Bound Supergirl."
Written by Cary Bates, Art by Kurt Schaffenberger, Edited by Julius Schwartz.
The story begins as Supergirl is flying over the Everglades, an alligator is about to make a meal out of a kid. Supergirl rescues the child and continues on her way to New Athens School, where in her secret identity as Linda Danvers, she is guidance counselor. To her chagrin, she discovers that she was twenty minutes late for a meeting, instead of being two minutes, like she thought. She also realizes that this was the third such event to happen to her in the last couple of days. Reading the papers, she discovered that she had completed one good deed and one bad deed the last two times this happened.
Using a specialized camera she had borrowed from the Fortress of Solitude, she discovered that during the current blackout period, she has destroyed a statue that the campus had erected in her honour. Using her super-memory, she returns to the spot where our as yet unknown protagonist ordered her under hypnosis to destroy the statue, but in unable to see where the cavern she met the unknown man in.
The very next day, Supergirl is about to put out a fire at an offshore oil rig when she feels the compulsion to return to the spot again. Sh quickly fashions a solution on how to "remember" what is happening so that her controller would send her to finish the job, which he dutifully does. The very next day, while at work, she holds an appointment with student Todd Richards, who she recognizes as the person in control of her (did not see that coming at all). Todd is feeling guilty and tells Linda (not really knowing who he's talking to, of course- Capt. Obvious) the story of how he has become capable of controlling Supergirl. While on a school field trip (my school never had these kinds of trips, just the mind-altering ones), Todd discovered a cavern, and inside was a MacGuffin...I mean an urn from an extinct native tribe that can give total command to a human over any being from another planet (and guess who was flying over at the time of discovery....I think you only need one). However, Todd only admits to sending the Maid of Might out to do good deed and has no memory of the bad ones.
Naturally, Supergirl feels the pull of the urn again as the meeting wraps up, and because she performed an "evil" deed this time, the camera from the fortress has discovered an astonishing secret (that has never been done before, ever) on the identity of the person sending her out to be bad, Todd's identical evil twin brother, Travis! Well, thing come to push and shove and together Todd and Kara defeat the Not-so-Mighty Travis and a convenient cave-in buries the urn for all time (or until it is needed as a plot device again.)
Review - 4.5 out of 5 for me, because even though this as done in 1976, it felt like a Silver Age Super-Family story that I love. Kurt's art is his usual bang on and Bates proves why he has been a consistent (if non-original) writer over the years. The only reason I don't give this story a full score is the whole cheesiness of the "evil twin" trope.
Story 2- Jimmy Olsen "The Nine Lives of Jimmy Olsen" (reprinted from Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen # 71, Sep 1963)
Story : John Hamilton Art: John Forte
Jimmy Olsen has joined a safari in South-East Asia when he comes upon a tiger that oddly enough, is friendly and does not attack him, After helping the tiger avoid a trap, Jimmy is found by the "medicine-man" of the local tribe (Oddly who look African instead of Asian...but 1963!) The tribe repays Jimmy's kindness by bestowing upon him a cat's paw that allow him to have nine lives, like a cat. Returning to Metropolis, Jimmy uses the first of his lives when he falls out of the plane as it is landing. Naturally, he does this in front of Lois and Lucy Lane, and while still at the airport, uses another life to stop an orangutan going on a rampage (that strangely looks like a gorilla; follow this space for soon I will be posting an essay on the gorilla comic phase.)
Loving his new found fortune, Jimmy asks Perry for more dangerous assignments; and, getting cocky, decides he doesn't need his Superman signal watch right now. Lucy is not liking Jimmy's attitude, and goes on a date (after even mentioning that she and Jimmy are engaged no less!) Jimmy follows and uses up more of his lives. Some spies from a rival power notice Jimmy's "luck" and decide to kidnap him for the secret for their ruthless dictator boss. Jimmy then realizes that he is out of extra lives (having wasted them frankly) and cons the men into activating the signal watch. Superman arrives in the nick of time, and Jimmy vows to be careful again, and Lucy forgives him.
Review: A typical silly little Silver Age story, involving yet another little magical trinket. I give it 3.5 out of 5 becuase, while I am still shocked by the casual racism of the era, it is these types of stories that made me enjoy comics as a kid.
Story #3 : Lois Lane in : "The Girl That Almost Married Clark Kent." (reprinted from Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #17, May 1960)
Writer: Unknown, Art: Kurt Schaffenberger
The world's richest heiress, Doris Drake, is in Calcutta, where she is watching a performance by an Indian fakir. He reads her mind then admits it is through the magic means of a token that he can read minds this issue seems to have a common theme, n'est pas?) Doris buys it off her and plots to marry Superman. As (coincidental comic) luck would have, Superman is in India performing for children, and Doris uses the opportunity to read his mind and discover his secret identity.
Returning to America (f%$!, yeah), Doris then gets Lois' help into her scheme to marry Superman. Lois plays matchmaker and after several "dates", arranges for Clark to have a flat and for Doris to pick him up. Doris then admits to Superman she knows his identity and tries to blackmail him. He resists, and Doris, throwing a tantrum, pitches the magic locket at Superman, giving him the opportunity to hypnotize her into forgetting his identity, and as a precaution, to hate Clark Kent.
Review: 2.5 out of 5. The way women were written, in this book, as a magazine dedicated to a female character, as just dreadful at this time. Doris having a throwing tantrum is just wrong on so many levels and ruins the story for me. I give it this score just because of the artwork.
In conclusion, this issue overall could have been better. Because of the theme chosen for the book to unify the stories, the reprints chosen were mediocre and weren't updated to the modern sensibility (after all 1976 was after civil rights and smack in the middle of the Equal Rights Amendment fight.)
But, I still love this series, and comics in general, which are supposed to be a reflection of our times, good or bad.
Ottawa News and Notes: I have been finding myself with very limited time lately and I hope to spend some time in the next few days combing the area for new news.
Next time, I will come back with a review from another local comic artist (or should I say, artists, because there are two), followed by the beginnings of an essay on one of the more interesting eras of comics, Gorilla books!
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