#254. The Phantom - The Singh Web (Moonstone)

The bloodthirsty Singh Brotherhood are the Phantom's oldest foes. Deep within the Bengali jungle lies their most revered and evil treasure, THE SINGH WEB! It's diabolical secret simmered quietly until the stunning and ambitious archeologist Dr. Veronica Roberts got her mitts on it. Now, it's rest disturbed and it's terrible supernatural force placing the entire world at risk, the Phantom must embark on an adventure that will lead him through the streets of New York to the gates of Shaolin! Unfortunately, Hassan Singh, current head of the pirate empire, is a step ahead of him.

The Phantom: The Singh Web (2002)

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Batman and the Aliens: 1957

In 1957, the Milwaukee Braves won their only World Series title behind stars like Eddie Mathews, Hank Aaron and Warren Spahn. Tobin Rote, subbing for the injured Bobby Layne, led the Detroit Lions to their last NFL championship by passing for four touchdowns and running for another as the Lions swamped the Cleveland Browns, 59-14. All Shook Up by Elvis Presley was the #1 tune in the nation, while Gunsmoke was the top-rated TV show.

And in 1957, here are the appearances by aliens in Batman stories:

None. Zip, zero, rien. In Detective #250, an alien rocket does make it to Earth, giving a crook some fantastic weapons, but the aliens themselves do not appear.

In 1956, the same thing. Oh, Superman does have a cameo in Batman #101, but that's it.

So graphing 1956-1966:



A big bulge in 1961, but pretty sharp declines after that, so it looks like Schiff was phasing out the aliens before Schwartz took over.

I am aware of at least two other Batman and the Aliens stories; in Batman #41 (June-July 1947), Batman battles a Martian villain, and in Batman #78 (Sept 1953), he encounters The Manhunter from Mars.

Incidentally, the alien craze of the late 1950s-early 1960s was not solely limited to Batman and Jack Schiff. While doing some research on the Archie series, I came across this cover:



That's also 1961.

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Trivia Quiz #31: Answers

1. True or False: All major comic publishers submitted their comics to the CCA for its approval and seal during most of the Silver Age.

False. Dell, Gold Key and Classics Illustrated were among the larger publishers to ignore the CCA.

2. Name three DC features of the Silver Age (aside from annuals) to debut in their own books with a #1 issue instead of having a tryout.

There may be others, but the three I had in mind were Pat Boone, Captain Storm and Secret Six. Others mentioned in the comments that were right are: Dobie Gillis, Swing with Scooter, Brother Power the Geek and Bomba the Jungle Boy. Ones that are wrong and their tryout issues are: Metal Men (Showcase #37-40), Teen Titans (Brave & Bold #54, Showcase #59), Creeper (Showcase #73) and Aquaman (Showcase #30-33)

3. What was the first DC title of the Silver Age to have a letters column?

Well, every now and then I get surprised by an answer from a commenter. Osgood Peabody noted that Sugar and Spike had a letters column from near its inception, and when I checked, he turned out to be right. The answer I had in mind was Superman, which got its letter page with #124 (September 1958), but now we know that's wrong.

4. What was the original title of the Captain America letters page?

Let's Yap with Cap was the title before Marvel got hip and changed it to Let's Rap with Cap.

5. What DC title called its letters page "Destination Infinity"?

Rip Hunter, Time Master.

Thelonius Nick got #1 right. Osgood Peabody gets #2 and #3 right, with extra credit for outsmarting the quiz-maker. JJ got #4 right. MW Gallagher got #1. Ed O'Toole got #1, #2, #3 and #5.

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Batman and the Aliens: 1958

In 1958, the New York Yankees avenged their 1957 World Series loss to the Milwaukee Braves by winning Game 7 at County Stadium. The NFL Championship went to the Baltimore Colts in a 23-17 overtime thriller over the New York Giants, in the game that is generally credited with popularizing professional football, which up till that game was considered second fiddle to college gridiron. The top song that year was Danny and the Juniors' At the Hop, while the #1 TV show was Gunsmoke.

In 1958, Jack Schiff was not the credited editor in the Batman magazines; he did not assume that title until March of 1959. However, according to many sources, Schiff was the de facto editor of the Batman from well before his name appeared in the indicia.

In Batman #113, Batman becomes the Superman of Planet X (Zur-En-Arrh):

Status: True aliens (two races). One race is human-sized and multi-colored for two Klaatus, while the other is human sized and Caucasian (five Klaatus for the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh).

In Batman #116, Batman encounters the winged Bat-people while in another dimension:


Status: True aliens, slightly smaller than humans and winged; five Klaatus. The second race of aliens is human-sized and Caucasian in color; only one Klaatu. Although the story takes place in another dimension, it's also on another planet.

In Batman #117, a crook gets assistance from an alien:



Status: True alien, human-sized and green. One Klaatu.

In Detective #251, Batman himself turns out to be an alien:



Status: Fake alien (both Batman and the other guy). This was a plot by gangsters to discredit Batman with the public by making them believe he was from another planet.

In Detective #256, Batman and Robin are imprisoned on another planet:



Status: True aliens, two different races. One race is human-sized and green: one klaatu. The other race is human-sized and Caucasian.

In Detective #256, Batman encounters two aliens (one a lawman and the other a crook) from the future.


Status: True aliens, human-sized and pale blue in color. Four Klaatus for aliens from the future.

In Detective #260, Batman competes in the Olympic Games of Space:

Status: True aliens (several species), all human-sized with several different colors. Three Klaatus for the Olympics mention.

Comments: 1958 was another big year for the aliens.

Batman #113: True aliens (two races); one is human-sized and multi-colored while the other is human-sized and Caucasian.
Batman #116: True aliens (two races); one is smaller than human-sized and winged, while the other is human-sized and Caucasian.
Batman #117: True aliens, human-sized and green.
Detective #251: Fake aliens.
Detective #256: True aliens, human-sized and pale blue in color.
Detective #260: True aliens (several races); all are human-sized and there are several different colors.

Totals: Five stories with aliens, one story with fake aliens.

1959:

Detective #263: True alien, green and human-sized
Detective #270: True alien, green and giant-sized
Batman #124: Not a true alien, robot
Batman #125: True aliens, caucasian and human-sized
Batman #128: True aliens (two separate species), orange and human-sized and purple-red and human sized.

Totals: Four stories involving true aliens, one story with an alien robot

1960:

Batman #130: Fake aliens
Batman #132: Fake aliens
Batman #136: True aliens, yellow and human-sized
Detective #277: True alien, orange and human-sized
Detective #279: Not a true alien, rather alien robot and alien beast
Detective #282: True aliens (two races): one orange and one green, both human-sized
Detective #283: True alien, white and human-sized

Overall for the year: Four stories with true aliens, one with an alien robot and an alien beast, and two stories with fake aliens.

1961:

Batman #137: True alien, white and human-sized and true aliens, yellow and human-sized (two separate stories).
Batman #140: Superman appearance; not counted in the tabulation, and true aliens, green and human-sized.
Batman #142: True alien, orange and human-sized.
Batman #143: Not a true alien, an alien beast.
Batman #144: True aliens, yellow and human-sized.
Detective #287: True aliens, one white and the other yellow, both slightly smaller than humans.
Detective #291: Not a true alien, an alien beast.
Detective #292: Superman cameo, not counted in the tabulation.
Detective #293: True aliens, pink and oversized.
Detective #295: True aliens, yellow and human-sized.

So in total we have 8 stories with true aliens (counting both stories in Batman #137), two stories with alien beasts and two Superman stories.

1962:

Detective #299: True aliens, several, green or white, human-sized.
Detective #303: Fake aliens.
Batman #148: True aliens, green and human-sized
Detective #305: True alien, orange and human-sized
Batman #152: Fake alien.

Three real aliens, two fake aliens.

1963-1964:

Batman #153: True aliens, green.
Batman #153: True aliens, multi-colored.
Batman #156: Fake alien (dream sequence)
Detective #320: No alien visible but implied.
Batman #160: Fake Alien

Two real aliens, two fake, one not seen.

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Classic Marvel Sagas: Captain America #114-119

This series takes place from June-November 1969. Following the Death of Captain America saga which I wrote about two years ago, Stan launched into a terrific series featuring the Red Skull. In #114, Sharon is still convinced that Cap is dead, so she embarks on a suicide mission against AIM. But he arrives at the crucial moment to turn the tide:



Rick Jones doing his best Bucky imitation there. But after the hugs and kisses with Sharon, Cap finds himself living in a $10 a week flophouse. And as if things couldn't possibly get any worse:



The next issue builds to a climax here:



We also learn that the Skull located the Cosmic Cube with the help of the Exiles, a team of Nazis that he had nurtured. But in a classic Marvel villain moment, rather than sharing his triumph he sends them away to a desert island.

In the next issue, Cap (now appearing like the Red Skull), tries desperately to make it back to the Avengers Mansion, in the hopes he can convince them he's really Captain America. Some terrific moments in this ish:



A side note: Starting with Captain America #112, the pencils on the next five issues were done by: Jack Kirby, Jim Steranko, Johnny Romita, John Buscema and Gene Colan. I'm all for consistency, but if you can't put the same guy on every issue, that's not a bad rotation. ;)

At the end of this story, the villainous Captain America decides why not send the Red Skull (with Cap's mind) to the island of the Exiles. He battles them, and is aided by a red falcon, which belongs to a young African-American:



The Falcon becomes a co-hero with Captain America effective with #117. They manage to defeat the Exiles:


In the accompanying subplot, Modok and the scientists at AIM are working on neutralizing the Cosmic Cube on the theory that if they can't have it, nobody should.

In the finale, Cap and the Falcon are transported to the Red Skull's castle in Germany. The Skull thinks he's got things under control but:



But Modok and AIM have succeeded in destroying the Cube (apparently) and the Skull can only quickly teleport out of there with the remaining power.

Comments: Superb series of issues here, with great artwork, terrific storytelling and the launch of the first real African-American superhero. No mediocre issues in this run; all are quite good, and the overall effect is very pleasing.

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Trivia Quiz #31: Grab Bag

1. True or False: All major comic publishers submitted their comics to the CCA for its approval and seal during most of the Silver Age.

2. Name three DC features of the Silver Age (aside from annuals) to debut in their own books with a #1 issue instead of having a tryout.

3. What was the first DC title of the Silver Age to have a letters column?

4. What was the original title of the Captain America letters page?

5. What DC title called its letters page "Destination Infinity"?

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A Request I Can't Ignore

A reader writes in the comments that he's searching for a particular story that he remembers from his youth:

What I do remember is that the cyborgs were depicted as green and faceless - looking remarkably like the Mad Thinker's android of Fantastic Four 71 (vol. 1 - old comic). That's the clearest memory of the comic - showing the faceless green cyborgs being mass produced. That's something I'm reasonably definite about.

Sound familiar to anybody? He's got more details at the blog.

I should mention here that I too am looking for a couple of issues from my youth. One is a Fox & Crow story in which the Crow slips a letter under Fauntleroy's door. Because the Crow's hand (sic) was muddy, the Fox believes he has gotten a "Black Hand" letter. The second is a Baby Huey story, in which Papa is looking for a 16-letter word meaning "Ringing in the ears". The answer, which Baby Huey quickly provides, is tintinnabulation. Both are 1960s stories; my guess on the Baby Huey would be about 1963-64, while the Fox & Crow story is probably closer to 1967.

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The Great Price Increase of 1961

For most of their history, comic books had been priced at a dime. Oh, there were Nickel Comics, and the annuals were generally priced at a quarter, but these were definitely exceptions to the rule. Not that there hadn't been inflation anyway; that dime bought you a 68-page mag in 1940, a 60-pager in 1944, a 52-pager in 1950, and a 36-page issue by the time the Silver Age started.

Dell Comics made the first move effective with their February 1961 issues:



Although Dell persisted with the 15 cent price for over a year, it's not hard to see that they had troubles, especially as the rest of the industry held out until the end of 1961. First, they began advertising contests on their covers, and eventually, in mid-1962 they dropped their prices to the new standard of 12 cents.

As far as I can see, the other publishers mostly went to 12 cents around the December 1961 issues, but you could see that a change was coming. In the March 1961 issues, DC began putting a box around the price, noting "Still 10c". That was dropped in favor of just "10c" with the August issues, and then in December we finally saw the new price-tag of four-color entertainment:



Archie, Marvel, and other publishers pretty much changed their prices at the same time. Not surprisingly, this resulted in a significant dip in sales. Of the 36 titles reporting sales in both 1961 and 1962, only seven reported increased sales in 1961, and three of those I'm a little suspicious of; the ACG titles Adventures into the Unknown and Forbidden Worlds apparently reported identical sales in both years while their Unknown Worlds book showed a 500-copies-per-issue increase.

What comics did the best? It looks like Archie comics were the most successful at retaining readers, with the flagship title only losing a couple hundred copies per issue and backup titles like Betty and Veronica, Jughead and Archie's Pals & Gals actually picking up a bit in sales. On the DC side, only Justice League of America increased sales, from 335,000 per issue to 340,000.

On average, all titles lost about 8.7% in sales, but the decline was far from uniform. The Superman line's losses ran from about 5% (Lois Lane) to 12.5% (World's Finest). Batman's books other than WF declined from 15.5% (Batman) to 18.5% (Detective). The Silver Age DC heroes fared better with Flash dipping 11.5% and Green Lantern losing 5.9% (from a smaller base).

What really got hammered? Three DC titles dipped by over 20%; Mystery in Space, House of Mystery and My Greatest Adventure. The only DC war title I can find sales for those years, Star Spangled War Stories, dipped by about 4.9%.

Some of these numbers make sense if you think about them. Wonder Woman didn't decline all that badly; down 6.5% in this market was practically up, so the two female-oriented books that we have stats for, Wonder Woman and Lois Lane, both did better than average. Girls that bought those comics didn't find their budget as pinched as might their brothers because they only had two heroines to choose from. It's not surprising that the war stories didn't do as badly as some of the others; they were probably purchased by older readers on average. Sugar and Spike, the only comic on the list designed for very young readers, suffered a pretty steep drop of 18%. Ditto with the monster-oriented issues like House of Mystery and My Greatest Adventure; the kiddies who read them were more price conscious.

What about Marvel Comics? Well, Fantastic Four didn't report sales for 1961 and 1962, but we can see that their two monster titles got crushed. Tales to Astonish slipped by 25% while Tales of Suspense declined by over 31%. So there is certainly ample evidence that Stan Lee's incredible Marvel Silver Age was half inspiration, and half desperation. In 1963 both those titles featured superhero stories and gained back all the readers they had lost in 1962.

Note: Most titles would gain sales over the next few years, although frustratingly, the main publisher (DC) did not report sales for 1963 and 1964, making it hard to gauge the recovery apart from other effects.

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Blogroll Roundup

Mark Engblom has decided to call it quits for now over at Comic Coverage. I'm disappointed that so many great comics blogs have bit the dust in 2009: Dial B for Blog, the Fortress Keeper and now Comic Coverage. I'm biased, but in all honesty Mark's blog was better than Silver Age Comics.

Jacque Nodell reviews a Silver Age romance comic from Marvel: Patsy Walker #122. I love this observation:

Some may not consider Patsy Walker a romance comic, but it seems to have all the necessary requirements -- fashion, romance, and tears!

The third item being perhaps the most crucial ingredient.

Scipio is one of the best writers among comics bloggers, and this old post on the difference between Marvel and DC from 2005 is a prime example of his writing and thinking:

DC's message? You are responsible for protecting and improving yourself and society, so toughen up for that responsiblity.

Marvel's message? You better be tough, because you're going to have to suffer many things in this world that you're not responsible for and can't improve.

Both messages are completely true, of course, which is why each company does speak effectively to so many people. But, in my eyes, DC's message is designed to inspire and Marvel's message is designed to console.

Again with the Comics reviews a Mr Muscles issue from 1956.

Then it turns out that the wicked Zoo Keeper was just jealous of Mr. Muscles! He was all skinny, and Mr.Muscles was all strong, and it just made him want to turn tigers loose on one guy and try to shoot another guy!

Hey, it could happen to anybody.

Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogazine covers the War Wheel, one of the wackier inventions of the Blackhawk villains. Anybody remember the Flying Tank?

Joe Bloke has a terrific vampire story from Creepy #14 by Archie Goodwin and Neal Adams. ExCellent twist ending!

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Batman and the Aliens: 1959

We continue our look at Batman and the aliens. In 1959, the World Series was played for the first time ever west of the Mississippi, with the LA Dodgers taking the crown. That same year, the Baltimore Colts won their second consecutive NFL title behind Johnny Unitas. The #1 tune that year was Mack the Knife by Bobby Darrin, and the top-rated TV show was Gunsmoke.

In Detective #263, Batman learns of an alien who crash-landed near a Mayan village some 100 months earlier:



The alien gave the tribe a few terrific alien tools including an anti-gravity sled, but crooks have stolen it from the tribe. Batman pledges to bring the alien tools back to the Mayans, but I should note that the ending of the story leaves that up in the air.

Status: True alien, appeared in the past and later left Earth. Green and human-sized. The concept of aliens leaving technology behind that is abused by local crooks is a very standard plot, so I'll give it only one Klaatu out of five.

Detective #270 features the Creature from Planet X:



Status: True alien, green and giant-sized. Two Klaatus awarded for this one; it's nice to see an alien who's enormous, but it's also the usual "convinced by crooks that acting crooked is normal on Earth," plot.

In Batman #124, the Seeds from Space appear, but once again the "alien" in the story is a robot:



Status: Not an alien, an alien robot.

In Batman #125, Batman becomes the King of the Planet Plaxius:



Status: Extraordinarily tricky. The planet is in another dimension, and the aliens do not appear alien; rather they just dress differently. Still, they do use space ships and so I'll call them true aliens, human-sized and caucasian in color. Four Klaatus for this unusual alien race.

In Batman #128; the dynamic duo get caught up in a dragnet for an interplanetary crook:

Status: True aliens; two different varieties; one orange-skinned and the other purple-red in color, with both human sized. Two Klaatus.

As you can see, the aliens were nowhere near as common in 1959 as they would become later:

Detective #263: True alien, green and human-sized
Detective #270: True alien, green and giant-sized
Batman #124: Not a true alien, robot
Batman #125: True aliens, caucasian and human-sized
Batman #128: True aliens (two separate species), orange and human-sized and purple-red and human sized.

Totals: Four stories involving true aliens, one story with an alien robot

1960:

Batman #130: Fake aliens
Batman #132: Fake aliens
Batman #136: True aliens, yellow and human-sized
Detective #277: True alien, orange and human-sized
Detective #279: Not a true alien, rather alien robot and alien beast
Detective #282: True aliens (two races): one orange and one green, both human-sized
Detective #283: True alien, white and human-sized

Overall for the year: Four stories with true aliens, one with an alien robot and an alien beast, and two stories with fake aliens.

1961:

Batman #137: True alien, white and human-sized and true aliens, yellow and human-sized (two separate stories).
Batman #140: Superman appearance; not counted in the tabulation, and true aliens, green and human-sized.
Batman #142: True alien, orange and human-sized.
Batman #143: Not a true alien, an alien beast.
Batman #144: True aliens, yellow and human-sized.
Detective #287: True aliens, one white and the other yellow, both slightly smaller than humans.
Detective #291: Not a true alien, an alien beast.
Detective #292: Superman cameo, not counted in the tabulation.
Detective #293: True aliens, pink and oversized.
Detective #295: True aliens, yellow and human-sized.

So in total we have 8 stories with true aliens (counting both stories in Batman #137), two stories with alien beasts and two Superman stories.

1962:

Detective #299: True aliens, several, green or white, human-sized.
Detective #303: Fake aliens.
Batman #148: True aliens, green and human-sized
Detective #305: True alien, orange and human-sized
Batman #152: Fake alien.

Three real aliens, two fake aliens.

1963-1964:

Batman #153: True aliens, green.
Batman #153: True aliens, multi-colored.
Batman #156: Fake alien (dream sequence)
Detective #320: No alien visible but implied.
Batman #160: Fake Alien

Two real aliens, two fake, one not seen.

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#253. TV Tornado 59

Hello Friends!

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TV Tornado 59 City Magazines (UK)



All credits to unknown Scanner & original Uploader only.

P.S. What you think about this new look? Please share your opinion. If you found any function is not working properly. Don't hesitate to tell.

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Single Issue Review: House of Secrets #61

House of Secrets had long been the home base of Mark Merlin, an investigator of the supernatural; in fact the letters column was simply called Mark Merlin's Mailbox. The backup stories were the usual mixture of monsters and science fiction.

At the end of 1961, DC increased its cover prices from 10 cents to 12 cents. The result was pretty painful. House of Secrets lost 20% of its circulation. With the DC superhero books showing less dramatic declines, it's not surprising that the company started looking at putting superheroes in some of their other titles. My Greatest Adventure picked up the Doom Patrol in June 1963; House of Secrets added Eclipso with this issue (July-August 1963).

The timing was pretty good; much of North America experienced an eclipse of the sun on July 20, 1963, with parts of Maine and Canada having a total eclipse.

The Mark Merlin story leads off the issue. It picks up with the story from the last issue, where Merlin had been transformed into a cat:



As he and Elsa chat, a repairman indicates he's fixed the light in Merlin's bedroom. Later that night, someone steals the jawbone of a dinosaur; Merlin remembers while reading about the story in the papers the next day that the jawbone is an ingredient in a magical formula. The next night we see Merlin himself under the control of some mysterious voice:



The next day, Elsa and Mark learn that he is the one responsible for the recent crimes. Since somebody seems to be using him for their dirty work, Merlin decides to transfer himself into the cat, and follow his body when it goes out that night. Sure enough, it leads him to the castle of Dr 7, his new enemy.

When Merlin transforms back from the cat, he regains control of his body and the two sorcerers have something of a battle:



But Merlin's assistant gets taken over by Dr 7, and helps to trap her boss. Fortunately, Mark can still transfer to the cat, which reverses the spell:



Comments: Not a bad story, especially given the continuity from the prior issue. Merlin appears to be something of a Dr Strange-type without the cape; of course Merlin predates the Marvel character by several years.

The second feature is the Eclipso story. Dr Bruce Gordon is about to celebrate his greatest triumph: the dedication of an entire city run on solar power. But as he makes the last minute adjustments, an eclipse far away causes bizarre changes:



His evil self unleashed, Bruce changes into a bizarre costume and reveals knowledge that Gordon himself did not know. He devastates the Solar City:



His mentor (and father of his girlfriend), Professor Bennett discovers that Eclipso is secretly Bruce Gordon, when he changes back into his normal self. When they try to figure out where Eclipso came from, Bruce tells a rather silly story about some volcano god from South America who tried to kill him and failed, but cut him with a black diamond. No, I am not kidding:



So now Bruce and Professor Bennett have to find some way to prevent him from wreaking havoc again. They get the smart idea of locking him in a wind tunnel from which he can't escape during the next eclipse, but:



Fortunately Bruce has planned ahead to prevent Eclipso from making good on his escape:



Comments: Obviously a swipe of the Incredible Hulk/Bruce Banner bit, although making the alter-ego a villain rather than a misunderstood brute is a pretty interesting twist. Plus it's drawn by Lee Elias, a long-time favorite of mine. Eclipso was not destined for glory, but the origin story mostly works.

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#252. TV Tornado 37

TV Tornado 37 City Magazines (UK)



All credits to unknown Scanner & original Uploader only.

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Sprang Tributes?

My buddy Snard pointed out one in the chatroom the other day, from Detective #441:

This comes after the credit in Batman #238, so it's pretty obviously a recognition of Dick Sprang, the longtime (1943-1963) artist on Batman.

But then what do we make of this panel from Marvel, circa 1969:

Either of these would be early easter eggs, certainly. One is completely explicable; the other is completely out of the clear blue sky.

So I'm going to assume that the name Dick Sprang was well-known to comics aficionados before his first original credit, and that this actually, and surprisingly to me, is his first official Easter Egg Credit. I was blown away by the Detective #441 Easter Egg, and then I happened to be reading the Iron Man story for yesterday's post and blinked when I saw the sound effect there.

Update: I just realized the common element that seals the deal. Guess who wrote both stories? Archie Goodwin. So there you go; the first Dick Sprang tribute comes in Iron Man #14, written by Archie Goodwin, and the second in Detective #441, written by Archie Goodwin.

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Iron Man Run, Part 12

We pick up with Iron Man #12, where we finally learn Vincent Sandhurst's secret. He had clashed with his brother, an inventive genius, and a resulting accident had effectively made Boris Sandhurst an invalid. Wracked with guilt, Vincent had embezzled significant sums from Janice Cord and her father, in order to help his brother with his experiments. Boris has discovered a way to harness the power of other people to overcome his body's limitations, and is now prepared to break loose.

Meanwhile, Iron Man has quickly gotten control of his Tony Stark robot and convinces the ambulance drivers that he doesn't need to go to the hospital. He decides to retire the robot forever as too risky. He's still planning on buying out Janice Cord's factories, although he senses that Sandhurst is just a little too eager.

However, Vincent has disappeared and Janice and Tony visit his hometown. There, they learn that everybody has been taken control of via a metal disk on their foreheads. The Controller (Boris Sandhurst) attacks and takes control of Janice. Iron Man fights back, but eventually he too is controlled by the metal disk:

In the next issue, the Controller decides to take Manhattan. He commandeers a train, and loads the Absorbatron (by which he harnesses the power of other people) onto it. Will he get to NYC and gain the power of millions?

There is a long battle between Iron Man and the Controller, but in the end, the Big Apple is in sight. Fortunately, during the battle Jasper Sitwell did what was needed:

But afterwards Tony is conflicted about Janice. Can he continue to romance her, knowing that at some point he might have to make a tough decision to save her or to save a city like New York?

He goes off to the Caribbean, to investigate an attack on one of his plants there. He discovers an opponent to his employing the locals, a wheelchair-bound man named Travis Hoyt:

It turns out that Janice is staying with Hoyt. But Hoyt has discovered a fountain of youth-type pool that has restored his ability to walk, and given him great powers, even if it has scarred him horribly.

Hoyt is angry because the pool is drying up due to development on the island. He intends to bathe Janice in the waters, so she will be like him. But Iron Man comes along in time to save the day and Hoyt dies as the pool is sucked into the ground.
In Iron Man #15, we learn that the Unicorn had indeed survived diving off the cliff back in IM #4, and that he has been nursed back to health by the Fantastic Four's old enemy, the Red Ghost. Typical Marvel villain team-up; both of them spend the time insulting each other:

But as the Red Ghost has a formula that will help to keep the Unicorn alive, they reach an uneasy truce. The Ghost wants him to steal another one of Tony's inventions, which will bring about the battle the Unicorn desires with Iron Man.
Meanwhile, Janice Cord has decided after consulting with Tony to reopen her father's plants. They will be in friendly competition with each other. Archie Goodwin (the writer) makes sure to introduce the newest plot development at this point:

It's not hard to guess that Niven will turn out to be a bad apple.

The next day, as Stark and Sitwell are jetting to a test site with Tony's newest invention, the Unicorn strikes. Sitwell pushes Stark out of the plane, but before Iron Man can save the SHIELD agent, the plane crashes. Iron Man battles the Unicorn, but in the meantime, the Red Ghost has used the new invention to give him enhanced powers. Oh, and he was lying about the injections saving the Unicorn's life:

The Red Ghost blows up his own laboratory, trapping Iron Man and the Unicorn inside. As it happens, neither is able to escape on his own, so they have to combine forces:

The Red Ghost has attacked one of SHIELD's laboratories in the African jungle, using his pet apes (who have also gained new powers. Somehow Iron Man and the Unicorn track him down, but the Unicorn behaves in typical Marvel villain fashion, failing to plan. As it happens the apes make fairly easy work of the new allies, and it looks like the Red Ghost will surely succeed. But one of his apes has gained intelligence and rebels. The Unicorn grabs the Ghost and escapes, vowing to make the Soviet scientist find a real cure for his death curse.

Comments: A so-so run of stories; I liked the two Controller issues, but was bored by the last three issues. Archie Goodwin seems to be having a tough time figuring out what to do about Janice Cord; she's obviously well-suited as a mate for Tony and yet he keeps thinking about the risk that she's in with him. And virtually every storyline starts out with an attack on one of Stark's factories and/or one of his new inventions. Indeed, that's one of the reasons I liked the Controller issues, because Stark had almost nothing to do with the plot.

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#251. TV Tornado 23

A unique book & comics which contains lot of famous comics' heroes like Phantom, Flash Gordon, Tarzan etc in one issue.


TV Tornado 23 City Magazines (UK)



All credits to unknown Scanner & original Uploader only.

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Batman And the Aliens: 1960

Continuing our backwards trek through the Schiff era, we come to 1960. The Pittsburgh Pirates stunned the baseball world by defeating the Yankees in Game 7 of the World Series, behind Bill Mazeroski's walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Green Bay Packers lost their only championship of the Vince Lombardi era to the Philadelphia Eagles and Norm Van Brocklin. Cathy's Clown by the Everly Brothers was the #1 pop music hit, while Gunsmoke was the top-rated TV show.

In Batman #130, Batman and Robin faced The Hand From Nowhere, which was controlled by two apparent aliens:



Status: Fake aliens; in fact it's a criminal gang led by longtime Superman foe, Luthor.

In Batman #132, the dynamic duo meet a man from Mars:



Status: Another fake alien; Karik was actually an actor playing a part who suffered the dreaded "blow to the head" that made him think he was really from Mars.

In Batman #136, Batman and Robin repel an Vordian invasion force:



Status: True aliens, human sized and yellow in color. Two Klaatus out of a possible five.

In Detective #277, an alien ship crash-lands on Earth:

Status: True alien, human-sized and orange in color. His crash landing frees the Jigsaw Puzzle Creature. Three Klaatus out of five.

Detective #279 features these:

Status: A very tough call. The robot-looking thing is a robot and the orange and pink creature is a beast, with only rudimentary intelligence. In addition, they are from another dimension, which also makes things trickier as I've not included Bat-Mite, for example, as an alien in my schema. I'm going to rule against the true alien nature here as even a robot has no real intelligence.

In Detective #282, we first meet Batman's Interplanetary Rival, Tal-Dar, chief of the Interplanetary Space Police:



Status: True alien, orange and human-sized. As the only alien who appeared in two separate Batman stories (other than Superman of course), Tal-Dar, who later popped up in Batman #142 gets the full five Klaatus.

We also meet another alien race in the story:



Status: True aliens, human-sized and green. Two Klaatus.

In Detective #283, a crooked scientist summons an alien to Earth with a machine:



Status: True alien, white and human-sized. Three Klaatus for DC daring to reuse the Martian Manhunter's origin in a Batman story in Detective.

It certainly looks like 1960 was another banner year for aliens in the Batman canon. Summary for 1960:

Batman #130: Fake aliens
Batman #132: Fake aliens
Batman #136: True aliens, yellow and human-sized
Detective #277: True alien, orange and human-sized
Detective #279: Not a true alien, rather alien robot and alien beast
Detective #282: True aliens (two races): one orange and one green, both human-sized
Detective #283: True alien, white and human-sized

Overall for the year: Four stories with true aliens, one with an alien robot and an alien beast, and two stories with fake aliens.

1961:

Batman #137: True alien, white and human-sized and true aliens, yellow and human-sized (two separate stories).
Batman #140: Superman appearance; not counted in the tabulation, and true aliens, green and human-sized.
Batman #142: True alien, orange and human-sized.
Batman #143: Not a true alien, an alien beast.
Batman #144: True aliens, yellow and human-sized.
Detective #287: True aliens, one white and the other yellow, both slightly smaller than humans.
Detective #291: Not a true alien, an alien beast.
Detective #292: Superman cameo, not counted in the tabulation.
Detective #293: True aliens, pink and oversized.
Detective #295: True aliens, yellow and human-sized.

So in total we have 8 stories with true aliens (counting both stories in Batman #137), two stories with alien beasts and two Superman stories.

1962:

Detective #299: True aliens, several, green or white, human-sized.
Detective #303: Fake aliens.
Batman #148: True aliens, green and human-sized
Detective #305: True alien, orange and human-sized
Batman #152: Fake alien.

Three real aliens, two fake aliens.

1963-1964:

Batman #153: True aliens, green.
Batman #153: True aliens, multi-colored.
Batman #156: Fake alien (dream sequence)
Detective #320: No alien visible but implied.
Batman #160: Fake Alien

Two real aliens, two fake, one not seen.

I try to mention when I remember it, that these types of posts are very much inspired by H at the Comic Treadmill, whose terrific prop stars series are highly recommended.

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