A Use for Old Cigar Boxes

Yes, my DC Digests, plus a couple Marvels on the right there, fit perfectly into this old Marsh Wheeling cigar box. I've only smoked a couple cigars in my life, but I do feel I'm getting to the age now where I could smoke a cigar and not look too silly, I mean any sillier than anyone smoking in this day and age. I could also wear a trenchcoat now and not look like a putz, so yes, I could be Columbo if I wanted. But I digress. I love those DC Digests from the late seventies and early eighties. There was a time where it was the easiest way to read classic stories from the Silver and even Golden Age. I've got a bunch of "theme" Superman ones (vs. aliens, Kryptonite, Lex Luthor, etc.) Plus Metal Men, Supergirl, and a few others. They made a bunch. I pick 'em up when I see 'em. Some day I may need a bigger cigar box. The one on the far left is an Archie's Mad House, I love the crazy stories they had in those. On the far right are Fantastic Four, with a reprint of the first six issues of their title, and the Hulk, with six issues of his original series, which I really like and from where Peter David derived the "Grey Hulk" for his run, the smarter, nastier version of the Hulk, though in that digest he's coloured green in all issues. I used to have a Captain America digest, but I think some nefarious villain scooped it. I'm sorry about that because I like early Jack Kirby Cap stories from the Silver Age, they had that tragic quality of his being a man out of his time. They also had some of his two fisted Golden Age tales as well, if I recall.

In my other comic news, today I finally completed my run of DC Challenge!, with issue 12 arriving in the mail. I also received a worn copy of Phantom Stranger #1 and Superboy #87 featuring the first appearance of Thought Beasts, those wonderfully impractical Kryptonian monsters. I'm not buying back issues for a while until I finish a stack I'm still working through. I'll probably be sharing some highlights, coming up.

Superman/Batman #75: She Was Physically Forgotten But Then She Slipped Into My Pocket With My Batmobile Keys...

I'm not the biggest Frank Quitely fan so I don't love this cover, and I'm not that into "mood" covers in general, I prefer action, and speech bubbles, and maybe some kind of dilemma. But this turned out to be a fun issue among my new comics this week, and the interior art on the main story is by Jerry Ordway, so I'm not complaining about that. Then also factor in that the story is by Paul Levitz and incorporates the Legion of Superheroes, well, it's potentially as much a milestone as it wants to be. The story itself isn't very groundbreaking, mind you. Standard fare. However, I personally never care much about the setup to create an unusual team-up, I guess I'm just not very picky. An evil clone is pursued all over the time stream by the Legion, running into Superman and Batman and then Superboy, though if they wanted to make it as symmetrical as this title usually is, they could have also had the teenage Bruce Wayne. Maybe teen Bruce could have gained superpowers and gone to the future and become "Legionnaire for a Day!" but then lost his powers and memory. Can you tell I read a lot of Silver Age? Well, that doesn't happen, but this fun scene does:
I'm wondering what Batman had to clear out of that pouch so Salu could fit in there...maybe he just has to hope they don't run into any sharks that day. And can people in the DCU see those labels all the Legionnaires have? Is that a feature of the flight rings, like a nametag? Anyway, that scene is something new, though I imagine Ray Palmer has probably had to ride around in one of Batman's smelly, chemical-soaked pouches before. A final note about that, I really like this version of Shrinking Violet's costume, it's like the 2960's never ended. It's got that groove.

But that's not all! There are a bunch of bonus features, including a two page Supergirl/Batgirl tribute by Adam "Girls Don't Have Hips" Hughes. Here's a chunk of it:
...leading up to, you guessed it, the number one "Most Memorable" moment in DC History, so fortunately timed on the part of Adam Hughes. I cut that out because seeing that once was enough...and am I the only one who found it more memorable when the Joker shot at and missed Fire (JLI Annual #2)? I guess so.

Some other new fish:

Justice League of America #48: The "Dark Things" crossover with the Justice Society wraps up into a neat little package with everyone pulling together, believing in themselves, drinking milk and staying in school. There's some sentimental Alan Scott schlock andddd...big finish, big finish, jazz hands! But it's actually a good ish, I don't mean to sound negative, basically good old fashioned saving the world against a cosmic threat type stuff, nothing wrong with that. And Kyle Rayner gets off some good zingers, I miss that from the Magnificent Seven days. One in particular has to do with what may be the most noteworthy moment, the always semi-creepy Obsidian declaring he has to "join" with his sister Jade. Never before has the word "ickypants" taken on such significance.

Superman: Secret Origin #6: It's Superman's origin. Again. I once swore I'd never buy Superman's origin. Again. But apparently I was wrong, what got me out this time was, well, I guess that it'd never been done by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank before. Now that we've reached the end, I'll sum up by giving Johns about a 3 out of 5, there were some neat tricks, but a lot of cliche stuff, like "the army is always evil, and any angry woman is always right". I can turn on the TV and see the same thing. And I really find it kind of unimaginative that Clark is embarrassed initially to wear his costume, I would much prefer it if despite Clark being a nice, good person, he is also kind of a strange boy with strange powers who just wants to wear a strange outfit. And the way Superman's goodness and optimism is handled is also pretty well by rote. Frank really outdid himself artwise, even if I don't really need the two main characters to look so much like Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder. But his range of expressions brought me back to Kevin Maguire, and that was a lot of fun, and the action sequences were pretty solid. I also think I like the new look of Metallo, it's a throwback that even includes a nod to Curt Swan thigh high boots, but also has its own unique horror-movie creepiness. So a 4.5 out of 5 for Frank's art.

It's 2010 and UPC Codes Are Still Gigantic

How is it that you need tweezers to pick up a cell phone these days but the always unsightly UPC codes are still almost the same size as they were in the 1980's? Bah!

(Of course I also just wanted to post this Super Friends Digest cover, but look at how the UPC is blocking Wendy! Is there no limit to human evil? Or primate evil in general?)

Kellogg's Batman and Robin Postcard Cutouts

These babies were lurking in the dark recesses of my collection...Back in 1997 they were on boxes of Kellogg's cereals. I apparently didn't find anyone to mail them to. I like how in the second pic, Clooney Batman is contriving to cover the much-maligned nipples, likely for the sake of impressionable cereal-eating youngsters. I never quite had the problem with the nipples most fans are supposed to have - if a suit features an idealized male torso, they might as well go all the way. Why be delicate about fake nipples and not fake abs? Of course, they didn't do the equal and opposite for the Alicia Silverstone Batgirl, and I'd just as soon keep anatomical correctness above the belt...

My Fave Splash Page of the Week, and Some Rambling on Tom DeFalco

Obviously not a from a new comic, but it was new to me, Superman Family #188. I could just live in the pic, a Kurt Schaffenberger masterpiece, it's so full of the things that make me happiest. Well, the really nice thing is this was one of a bunch of back issues I got this week at a local store that is nice enough to allow trading, so I brought in a bunch of stuff I was no longer interested in - some things I hadn't read in 20 years and had not really though about in that time - to get things that just appeal more to me now. I got a bunch of Superman Family, Super Friends, as well as the first issue of DC Comics Presents, which is part one of a two part story. The curious thing is, I read the second part years ago, when I was a kid, and loved it, but it is only now that I will be able to read the first part. The copy was going for $16, so I was very glad to get it without paying up front.

This particular issue of Superman Family was interesting to me as I noticed a lot of the content was written by Tom DeFalco, who would later go on to a run of Amazing Spider-man that I personally found to be some of the more fun Spidey I ever read, as well as becoming the Marvel E-I-C, and writing Fantastic Four during what for me was the last great period of the FF - though I freely acknowledge that's just my personal taste. I don't consider myself the bearer of absolute standards for comic awesomeness, I just know what I like and go with that.

I did a bit of reading on DeFalco, on Wikipedia, and found out he originally worked at Archie Comics prior to doing some stuff at DC. Most significantly, he came up with the idea of Archie Digests. Many of us who grew up in the 70's or 80's probably can't picture our youths without those.

Well, till next time, this is me saying, don't keep your Kandor all bottled up, express yourself!

Soy Un Perdedor Pt. 2

"Just some scared bozo". I wasn't even planning a part 2, then this beauty jumped out at me from World's Finest #218, so it was meant to be. In Supes' defense, he and Bats are pretty frustrated over not finding Capricorn.

Soy Un Perdedor

You know you've got problems if even Superman is making fun of you in his thought bubble. Kal-El's a nice guy but he has his limits. From Superman #391.

Adventure Comics #517

Things are heating up in Paul Levitz's return to the characters that made him, the Legion of Superheroes. It's only relatively recently in my own comic collecting, within the last ten years, that I began to realize how addictive the whole mythos can be, but the fact is the Legion has everything geeks could possibly want all in one glossy package. I'm catching up on Levitz back issues even as I'm buying the new ones, so hopefully it doesn't all get too jumbled.

This ish is pretty fun, at least the lead story about Saturn Girl in the early days of the three founding members. We see a workout version of SG's costume, and then there are some events involving a female Science Police liaison whose name is neither Gi Gi nor Shvaughn, and that's all I'll say about that. As the cover hints, there are some shenanigans with Cosmic Boy, the purpose of which Paul Levitz is currently explaining, in a note included on today's Legion Omnicom. The second feature is the new Atom arc, but I only skimmed over that, it had some rather boring stuff involving Ray Palmer's father that just looked like typical "fill in the background" aka "slow down the pace". No thanks. Y'know, it probably occurred to Gardner Fox, writing the original Atom stories, that he could go on for pages about the Atom's family background, but he probably realized that would be dull. David Copperfield kind of crap.

What Comic is Stefanie Powers Reading?

Stefanie Powers knows a thing or two about being cooped up. She was kept in a small room in Die Die My Darling and on Hart to Hart she was kidnapped every other episode at least. In the "classic" seventies sci-fi movie The Astral Factor, also known as The Invisible Strangler, she's the girlfriend of cop Robert Foxworth, and seems to be cooped up by choice, high on something for the entire movie and seemingly never leaving his apartment. What does one do when cooped up? Why, read comics, of course! She is seen reading a comic book at one point, and, nerd-o that I am, I tried to identify this one but couldn't. It certainly, by the lettering, appears to be Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes. The Superboy part is especially clear. But I could not find a cover that matches. Doesn't help that the movie is grainy. It, the cover, looks as if someone is sitting on the left and looking at people captured on giant white slabs, or something. My hypothesis is that this comic doesn't actually exist, but was whipped up by the props department, which is what sometimes happens. It was possibly made by cutting up pre-existing comics and making a collage so it could not be identified. Which means some defenseless seventies comics were destroyed. Oh, the humanity!

Later in the movie Stefanie gets off her butt and starts earning her keep with a job selling GRIT. Okay, not really.

Some Favourite Selections from the 1997 JLA Gallery - Part 5

Crisis on Aaron's Scanner! I'm afraid my scanner cut off Black Canary, but it was her or Martian Manhunter. I like that the picture works as either pre-Crisis or post-Crisis. It's by Stuart Immonen, whose work on I was enjoying a lot at the time.

Some Favourite Selections from the 1997 JLA Gallery - Part 4

Penciller Gary Frank and inker Cam Smith - I loved these two together in the nineties, on Incredible Hulk and then Supergirl. This is not Frank's finest image - Wonder Woman's on her tippytoes or something, she just looks awkward. Batman seems out of proportion. What I did like is that their art as a team stood out because they didn't go insane with the detail lines, and their people had a natural, if ideal, look to them. I do like that Superman sort of looks like Paul Newman, and has a cocky smirk, as if to say, "I'm a nice guy, but I'm also aware I can put my fist through about anything." Note Wondie's Catherine Zeta- Jones-esque wall-eye, which Frank seemed to like, I remember a number of his girls had that. The colourists sort of went to town on shading her Wonder Twins (sorry) though. She would have looked more natural before the colouring process. Kinda too bad because Frank and Smith were among the few not giving women outrageous implants in the nineties, especially in the time they worked on the Marvel side of things, when the X-Men was nothing but detail lines and huge breastses. DC was generally more tasteful, Marvel less so, and I've got two Marvel Swimsuit Specials to prove it. I can't claim a friend gave them to me. I'm not sure if Power Girl wrecks the curve or is the exception that proves the rule. But enough about that.

Some Favourite Selections from the 1997 JLA Gallery - Part 3

Here's one by Craig Hamilton, a tribute to the cover of Brave and the Bold # 28. A great looking diorama of the scene was circulating at the San Diego Comic Con this year, with a Starro action figure that may or may not actually take over your mind - it could all be part of a plot.

In this case, Aquaman's gloves have been coloured green as opposed to the yellow of the original. Reading the Aquaman Shrine regularly has made me aware of such things. Conicidentally, the Shrine has another tribute to this pic up today.

Record Shopping with Bizarro

Like many, in addition to collecting comics, I am also a casual record collector.

Anyhoo...

A few months ago whilst perusing my local record shop, my eye was caught by an album called Freaks in Sensurround by a band called The Freaks. What really caught my fancy was some of the imagery on the very distinct album cover, as I turned it around to see:

Not just a picture of Bizarro, but also a song about him! There was more:

Next to the handsome fellow in the Metallica t-shirt - Yes, it's Jimmy as Elastic Lad and Lana as Insect Queen, as seen in Silver Age Legion adventures! Next to them is Marlon Brando's Jor-El, which is an interesting and unconventional mix of mediums and eras. And of course there's Oompa Loompas, ya gotta have Oompa Loompas. The rest of the busy album cover is various images from pop culture (or simply culture, as I think of it), such as Charlie's Angels, Dee Dee Ramone, and Crispin Glover as he appeared in River's Edge. This eclectic mix was promising, and I took the record home with me and rocked out. It's a great album from the late eighties. I could not find out much about Freaks other than that they considered their style of music to be "Orange Rock". It's a bit like a stripped down glam metal, with topics more akin to punk bands. The Bizarro song is all narrated by Bizarro Number One and has fun lyrics like:

Bizarro baseball - strike out to win!

and

Me am Bizarro, Bizarro Number One,

Me not like earth, me think it dumb!

Evidently they were going with the style of Bizarro speech where he speaks badly, but not backwards. Bizarros were never really consistent about that, but it wouldn't be very consistent for Bizarros to be consistent.

Incidentally, there is a record label from Uruguay called Bizarro Records. I don't really know what kind of stuff they put out.

Some Favourite Selections from the 1997 JLA Gallery - Part 2

This one's by Don Hillsman, and jumps ahead to the JLI era. I like it because you don't always see a pic where Guy Gardner looks so heroic. I also like that Guy's using so much power against Despero that he has to hold his wrist steady. Ice is down, so it's on. Click on image to get it bigger, if you so desire.

Some Favourite Selections from the 1997 JLA Gallery - Part 1

While going through my nineties JLA box the other day had an "Oh yeah, I remember this" moment - good ol' galleries, comics consisting entirely of what could have been covers, images that captured certain periods, in this case of the Justice League, by different artists. This week I'll feature some of my faves from the crop.


I'll start with this, old school Justice League of America by Jay Stephens:

Crazy Letters of the Silver Age - "Give Her a Sock in the Snoot!"

Yes, part of the fun of getting originals is finding out the fans of the sixties were almost as crazy and obsessive as us. Name has been removed by my awesome photoshop skills, but it was a girl's name. From Jimmy Olsen #69:

The story referred to in the response involves Jimmy finding a Viking girl who turns out to be a robot, natch, controlled by Jimmy's 3-person fan club who want to make Lucy jealous so Jimmy will stop being so pre-occupied by his crush on her. Hilarity and some smooching ensues.

Steve Ditko and Chuck Norris - Together At Last

By "at last" I mean it happened 23 years ago under Marvel's Star imprint. It lasted 4 issues, of which I possess the first two, not intentionally, but as part of one of those "you can have these but you have to take all these" kinds of deals from a friend, by grace of which I shall one day be able to do a fairly exhaustive retrospective on Ninja Turtle knockoffs of the eighties, which no doubt audiences are clamouring for.

As we can see from the splash page, Chuck Norris is indeed so amazing that even houses, normally unable to form thoughts, are able to gain sentience just so they can think about his greatness.

But wait, it's actually a kid doing the thinking, staring at the photo that the splash page actually was. Which is kind of a neat storytelling device.

And that little boy grew up to be...the guy who invented those ubiquitous Chuck Norris slogans. And now you know...the rest of the story. Nice inking job there, I like the clean brushwork by Art Nichols.

But not all is harmony:

There's always that one guy who's just too cool to jump on a bandwagon. Get with it, ya mask-wearing weirdo!

This ish has been covered more in depth here on Stupid Comics. It's not really a stupid issue, but man I wish Ditko had sent Chuck to a funky Dr. Strange dimension to do battle with weird beings, armed only with his wits, nunchuks and feets of fury. We had to settle for nice, normal mask-wearing lunatics.

I Really Just Kinda Like This...

It was made three years ago but what the hey, just found it today doing a search for Professor Zoom. My crisis Zoom fig has a special place of honour standing in front of my lava lamp, I just dig his colour scheme. He played a key role in my favourite comic issue of all time, DC Comics Presents #2, about which I'll probably blather on at length at some point.

New Arrivals

It's nice to get home on a Friday and find some new arrivals from Ebay to add to my ever growing, somewhat haphazardly-collected collection of back issues.

The first is this one, Jimmy Olsen #69 from 1963.

I've known about the Nightwing and Flamebird thing for a long time, since way back when I first read the Superman Encyclopedia and discovered the amusing yet epic charms of Silver Age Superman stories, but because I have not yet purchased Superman Showcase Vol. 4 I have yet to read the first story in Superman #158 where Jimmy and Supes first shrink down into Kandor and become the Batman and Robin-esque heroes. This issue I just got officially marks their second foray, so so much for reading things in order, but I'm sorta used to that anyway. I have nothing but respect for people who wait until they've collected an entire series before delving in from issue one, but I just can't do that. Perhaps if I collected more Marvel it might be a necessity because of the storylines where one thing always leads into another - though I do collect Fantastic Four and tend to just read in any old order, then one day when I have them all (well I'm shooting for about the first 400 via a cocktail of reprints and originals) I'll sit down and read them all again. In the case of Silver Age Superman titles I tend to just grab the ones that appeal to me, I so far have not made any commitment to getting all of them! That'd be lots! I have set my sights on collecting all of DC Comics Presents, the Superman title that started in 1978, teaming him other people in the DCU, and I have about half of its 97 issue run. I figured that was one pre-Crisis Supes title I had a chance of getting a complete run of, any other ones will have to wait until I strike it rich.

The other item that I received is Justice League of America #98. This is from 1972 and a glance at the cover tells us we're moving away from the Silver Age.

Lots had happened in the world in the 9 years since the other ish, so now we're drawing pentagrams and having seances! It might be the Rob Zombie fan in me, but one thing I do tend to grab when I see them is covers with Superman and some form of deviltry, covers like Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane #103 or Superman #419. In this case, I'm completing my run of the original JLA series so it sort of suits both concerns, and I saw this one pretty cheap so I grabbed it. It's a Neal Adams cover. I'm a fair to middling Adams fan, though he's far from my favourite artist, but it does kind of annoy me that these days if a back issue just has a cover by him you can just add a zero to the end of the price you'd probably pay if it wasn't by him. But I got this one at a great price, no complaints from me!

Condition is not a top concern with me. I tend to go about Good, Very Good, Fine especially when it comes to older issues. I figure an original is still an original, and I wouldn't even trust myself with something I paid a bundle for and have to handle like plutonium. While some people are doing that, someone has to treasure the ones that have gotten a little knocked around over the years, as long as they've got all the pages and so forth. I like that I can read them without having to really stress. Someone has to buy the copies when other people upgrade. Maybe someday I'll get upgrade fever. Well, I did recently replace a Justice League of America #200, but that was an extreme case, my first copy was missing several pages and the previous, presumably young, owner had drawn parts on several of the heroes which didn't exactly charm me upon rereadings! Call me delicate.

When Comic Book Thugs Look Like Charles Bronson! Part 2

Favourite Martians

This striking image, though I think there may be something slightly off about it, can't quite figure out what, appears on the first page of Justice Society of America #41 and is drawn by Mark Bagley and Rob Hunter. I think on the periphery of my awareness, in that careening cosmic vapour I call my mind, I had grown aware of the existence of a girl Martian in the DC universe but this issue made me want to find out about her, so I did some research.

She's a white Martian, and I know what those are from having read the the original Blanx stories in Justice League of America #71 and #144 of the original series, and the first arc of the nineties reboot, and some other stories. They're mad, bad, and dangerous to know. I see that through various storylines in the Teen Titans, which I haven't collected for a few years, not really because I didn't like it but because of redirecting comic funds to back issues and suchlike, that she has been revealed as one of the good ones - or maybe the good one.

Anyway, I like the idea of Miss Martian, as it seems like time Martian Manhunter had a kind of girl counterpart. This all falls under the heading of a larger concern, which is that I was thinking about how my Martian Manhunter cred was, for as I revealed in the now classic entry of July 28, I recently bought a shirt with MM, along with several other heroes, on it and started thinking about what a genuinely great character he is. So fortunately there is the great and informative blog, Idol Head of Diabolu, which also looks at Jemm Son of Saturn about whom I unfortunately know very little, though he recently made an intriguing cameo in I believe it was Adventure Comics, in a sequence that I think is meant to help tie together his Saturn with that of Saturn Girl.

I'm not really going anywhere with this, other than that looking at Idol-head and other sources, I feel I might have almost half MM cred, anyway. I have a pretty good number of what are the key MM stories, in one form or another - by which I mean some are reprints of old classics. But I've read those two I mentioned as well as his kind of comeback in DC Comics Presents #27, plus his return to the Justice League and of course the Oreo years in JLI. And didn't he turn into a woman one time in Justice League Task Force? Though I admit I don't have those issues, I was reading a friend's copies. But I guess he has always been there and I think for Justice League members he would probably be the same, the guy who's always there but you don't think about much. Kinda reminds me of me, maybe that's why I like him.

But I really know nothing about his little Silver Age buddy, Zook. Think I might have to go out and get the Showcase reprints soonish.

Comic Collecting in a Cold Climate

Well, another reason to be glad I live in Canada - the cold climate is good for my comics! This from the story of the guy in Alaska who is selling off the Batman #1 that was found in a dresser.

Quote from Fairbanks Daily News:

"Barry Sandoval, director of comic auctions and operations at Heritage, said the auction house has handled many copies of Batman No. 1, but he said Wheat’s copy is notable because the low humidity and cool temperatures in Fairbanks have kept the paper in excellent condition. Old comics were printed on notoriously cheap newsprint, but the pages in Wheat’s copy remain crisp and white."Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - Fairbanks comic book collector s vast collection puts him in the spotlight

Arbitrary Captions!

When Comic Book Thugs Look Like Charles Bronson! Part 1

10 Moments in DC History That You Won’t See On the Top 75

CBR is presently having readers vote on top moments in the history of DC comics, with a list that’s fun to read for the stroll down memory lane it provides. It got me to thinking of some of the perhaps lesser, but nevertheless significant moments.

1. Wondertot is evasive with her mother – Wonder Woman #130, 1962 by Robert Kanigher, art by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito

This unforgettable face kicked off a series of “Nothing Happened” stories. Nothing would ever be the same.

2. Wendy, Marvin and Wonderdog meet Zan, Jayna and Gleek – Superfriends #7, 1977, by E. Nelson Bridwell, art by Ramona Fradon and Bob Smith

I really think to Superfriends fans this is actually a pretty huge moment!

3. Superbaby almost kills a guy – Superboy #124, 1965 Writer: Otto Binder Artist: George Papp

Long before comics turned dark, we almost saw a superpowered baby kill a dude. That would’ve been pretty dark, never mind Wonder Woman and Maxwell Lord decades later, that’s kid’s stuff. Considering this is also the issue where Lana Lang becomes Insect Queen, Superboy #124 is key, baby.

4. Reveal why Cynthia not turned on by Scooter – Swing With Scooter #1, 1966 Written by Barbara Friedlander and Jack Miller, Art by Joe Orlando

Who could forget the one girl on the cover of Scooter’s inaugural issue not totally into the Brit import? The shocking revelation behind “Zippsville” comes at the end of the issue, and it’s a humdinger.

5. Sugar and Spike realize they can understand each other – Sugar and Spike #1, 1956, Written and Drawn by Sheldon Mayer

I mean if they hadn’t, there wouldn’t have been much of a comic.

6. Flip of the Maniaks appears to be attempting suicide – Showcase #69, 1967 by E. Nelson Bridwell, art by Mike Sekowsky and Mike Esposito

Another proto-dark moment of the Silver Age. He does land on a trampoline, talking hipspeak all the way.

7. Robin kicks Johnny DC in the face. Inferior 5 #6, 1968 – Written by E. Nelson Bridwell, Art by Orlando and Esposito

Ouch! That’ll learn ‘im!

8. Stanley’s Monster dresses like Superman – Stanley and His Monster #111, Written by Arnold Drake, Art by Winslow Mortimer

Thus is born Super-Hulk, whose legend will live on for the next several pages of wackiness.

9. Brother Power gets a makeover – Brother Power the Geek #1 Writer Joe Simon, Artist…uncertain, most say Al Bare and Bill Draut

Well, he gets his hair combed, that’s something anyway. I dunno, to me Bro-Po’s look actually anticipated a few later rock stars, I won’t say which ones.

10. Lois goes black – Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane # 106, 1970 – writer, Robert Kanigher Artists: Werner Roth and Vince Colletta, Cover Artist: Curt Swan

The girl reporter takes a bold stride into the seventies with this classic issue and cover, years before Nick Fury did it.

Runner-up: Batgirl gets a run in her tights. Detective Comics # 371, 1968 Writer: Gardner Fox, Artist: Gil Kane and Sid Greene

Batgirl finds a way to distract thugs during a fight, with her pulchritude, though Batman and Robin are presumably too focused to be distracted.

Bonus Moment: Brother Power decides the lazy ways of the hippies are not for him…

…but I decide the lazy ways of getting two moments from one issue are for me! And we see our logo on the bottom the page, so it’s time to sign off for now! Goombye please!