Today, enjoy a phantom comics.
Plot: Answers behind the origin of the mysterious witchdoctor Ch'gaan are revealed. First part is available HERE
All credits go to Delboj and BDS TEAM (scanned by san2710 and edited by Rado46).
Frew #1507 - Ch'Gaan's curse (The mysterious cave -Part 2)
Người đăng: lecuongle on Chủ Nhật, 20 tháng 12, 2009
Today, enjoy a phantom comics.
All credits go to Delboj and BDS TEAM (scanned by san2710 and edited by Rado46).
Silly Panel Sunday
Người đăng: lecuongle
A couple I came across recently:
A burning desire for a super-playmate, eh?
Batman offers his experience:
+19.jpg)
Yes, it's not the Silver Age, but it's pretty amusing just the same.
More about →
A burning desire for a super-playmate, eh?
Batman offers his experience:
+19.jpg)
Yes, it's not the Silver Age, but it's pretty amusing just the same.
#287: Tarzan Apornas Son - #32 The Sunken City (Vidyarthi Mithram)
Người đăng: lecuongle on Thứ Bảy, 19 tháng 12, 2009
Fantastic Four Fridays: Puppet Master and Alicia
Người đăng: lecuongle on Thứ Sáu, 18 tháng 12, 2009
I just realized that one of the reasons many of these early FF adventures seem so padded is because Stan was making sure that he explained the abilities of each of the members. This was also why we kept getting that stock scene in the early X-Men issues with them in the Battle Room; it served as an introduction as well as entertainment.
So it is with the somewhat typical introduction in this issue. Thing is upset that Johnny and Sue won't let him into Reed's laboratory. This allows Thing to remind us that he's a really strong guy and that Johnny can flame on at will:
A little later we see Sue use her invisibility and Reed his stretching ability. Johnny flies out and saves a man from being forced (by the Puppet Master) to jump off a bridge.
We learn that the Puppet Master has radioactive clay, which he can use to control anyone he wants. He creates a puppet of the Thing, and forces him to come to his apartment. Sue follows, but is detected by the blind step-daughter, Alicia. We see that Alicia's (who has been disguised as Sue Storm) sense of touch is a little zany here:
They go back to FF headquarters, where Johnny lets them in. A battle ensues with Alicia standing to the side, but at a crucial moment Ben crashes into a vial of chemicals and:
The transformation apparently breaks the Puppet Master's hold on him. But the irony becomes apparent a moment later when Alicia at first reacts less positively to the new Ben Grimm than she did to the Thing. Then he changes back.
The Puppet Master frees the inmates from the local prison by controlling a trustee who has access to the warden's office (no explanation as to why he didn't just control the warden). Meanwhile, Sue escapes long enough to sent a flare up to the FF, who battle the Puppet Master's robot and save Sue, while the villain gets away on a flying robot horse (apparently his puppet skills are limitless).
The FF manage to stop the jailbreak in its tracks. Meanwhile, the Puppet Master returns to his apartment and gloats a bit in front of his daughter:
Like any dictator in the 20th century would want to be pulled around on a rickshaw. Anyway, Alicia is determined that he not take over the world, they fight a bit and:
Comments: The Puppet Master isn't a bad villain, and his daughter became a notable part of the Silver Age Fantastic Four. In fact she became the first recurring friend to the FF in general, and the Thing in particular.
As kids I think we all wanted the gruff guy to turn out to have a heart of gold, and that's certainly what we got with the Thing. One oddity that I would point out: At this point all the members of the FF became basically involved in stable relationships. Reed and Sue, Ben and Alicia, and Johnny and Dorrie/(later Crystal). Really the only hint of a soap opera they had going was the bit between Subby and Sue, which may explain why that remained a theme for at least the near future.
#286: Tarzan Apornas Son - #34 Zatar-The Conqueror (Vidyarthi Mithram)
Người đăng: lecuongle on Thứ Năm, 17 tháng 12, 2009
#285: Tarzan Apornas Son - #31 King Solomon's Impressive Hermitages (Vidyarthi Mithram)
Người đăng: lecuongle on Thứ Tư, 16 tháng 12, 2009
Superman and Batman: Synchronized Stories?
Người đăng: lecuongle
This is something I hadn't noticed before and given that it involves DC's two most famous characters, it seems worthy of a post. For starters, consider this famed story:
It appeared in the June-July 1948 issue of Batman. Now why was that particular date chosen? It's just a little over nine years after Batman's first appearance in Detective #27, so it's not like it's some big anniversary.
Well, not for Batman, anyway. As it happens, the comic was dated on the tenth anniversary of Action Comics #1, the first appearance of Superman. And, as you might expect, the anniversary was also celebrated over at the Man of Steel's own mag as well:
So roughly within a month of each other both Batman and Superman had their origins retold in extended forms. But that's not all the story, by any means.
In Batman #127, Professor Carter Nichols came up with an improbable new invention, which projected what a person's life might have been like had he or she not had some particular event happen. Bruce tries it out and a fantasy story ensues where his parents were not killed by Joe Chill. As it happens, they did not survive much longer, dying in a car accident a few years later, and Bruce actually becomes an indolent playboy for awhile, before an incident turns him into the Batman. I discussed this terrific story a little over a year ago.
That issue was cover dated October 1959. That very same month saw the appearance of Superman #132. Batman and Robin want to give Superman a special present for helping them out of a recent jam. They come up with this unique idea:
As it happens, Jor-El and Lara do not survive for long, either. Their rocket crashes on a small asteroid and:
Yep, that's young Kal-El in a Superman suit; apparently the Space Patrol of Krypton would have had the same emblem had the planet survived. The asteroid explodes, killing Jor-El and Lara (and Kal's younger brother Zal-El). It's that weird DC fate working its way again. And in the end, Kal-El becomes the Superman of Krypton with the help of a ray invented by a friend:
Well, once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, and the third time it's a trend. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a trend, as I have located the third example. It's not a perfect example, because the dates are a few months apart, but otherwise the pattern holds quite strongly. In Detective Comics #235, the famed story The First Batman appeared. This is one of the most-reprinted Batman stories ever, appearing in Batman Annual #4, Batman #255 and The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told. The story shows Batman's father, Thomas Wayne, fighting crooks in much the same way that his son later would, even wearing a strikingly similar costume to Batman's:
The story includes an intriguing additional detail to Batman's origin. It is revealed that one of the mobsters that Thomas Wayne defeated had vowed revenge on him. And sure enough:
As implied, it turns out that Moxon had hired Joe Chill to kill Bruce's parents. But there's a catch; Moxon now has amnesia and doesn't remember the incident. But when Batman confronts him using his father's old costume it triggers the memory. Moxon tries to escape but is hit by a truck and dies.
Now for the Superman tale, we turn to Superman #113, the May 1957 issue (about 7 months after the Batman story).
As you can see, the story involves Superman's father, Jor-El, being a Superman before Kal-El ever took on the role. Superman discovers tapes of his father describing a key event in his life. While viewing other planets, including Earth, Jor-El's favorite alien world, Jor discovers that the queen of the planet Vergo is planning to destroy Krypton. He travels to the alien world and discovers that he has super powers there, which enables him to duplicate his son's later feats and defeat the plan to destroy his home world. But, as with the Batman story in Detective #233, this tale includes a significant addition to the Superman origin:
Yep, this is the moment when Jor-El first learns his planet is doomed. Queen Latora had planned to catapult Krypton into her sun, which was dying. And as it the Batman story, the ending requires Superman to provide the finale. As it happens, Queen Latora's sun has not yet succumbed, and Superman is able to gather up lots of uranium and send it into that star, saving her world.
Incidentally, the Superman #113 story has only been reprinted once, in a Pizza Hut replica edition. Jor-El's costume had not yet become the familiar green outfit with the yellow star in the center.
Note in particular that these are not swipes, which generally require an intervening passage of time. They rather appear to be intentionally synchronized stories. I'll be looking for more examples; if you know of any please mention them in the comments.
More about →
It appeared in the June-July 1948 issue of Batman. Now why was that particular date chosen? It's just a little over nine years after Batman's first appearance in Detective #27, so it's not like it's some big anniversary.
Well, not for Batman, anyway. As it happens, the comic was dated on the tenth anniversary of Action Comics #1, the first appearance of Superman. And, as you might expect, the anniversary was also celebrated over at the Man of Steel's own mag as well:
So roughly within a month of each other both Batman and Superman had their origins retold in extended forms. But that's not all the story, by any means.
In Batman #127, Professor Carter Nichols came up with an improbable new invention, which projected what a person's life might have been like had he or she not had some particular event happen. Bruce tries it out and a fantasy story ensues where his parents were not killed by Joe Chill. As it happens, they did not survive much longer, dying in a car accident a few years later, and Bruce actually becomes an indolent playboy for awhile, before an incident turns him into the Batman. I discussed this terrific story a little over a year ago.
That issue was cover dated October 1959. That very same month saw the appearance of Superman #132. Batman and Robin want to give Superman a special present for helping them out of a recent jam. They come up with this unique idea:
As it happens, Jor-El and Lara do not survive for long, either. Their rocket crashes on a small asteroid and:
Yep, that's young Kal-El in a Superman suit; apparently the Space Patrol of Krypton would have had the same emblem had the planet survived. The asteroid explodes, killing Jor-El and Lara (and Kal's younger brother Zal-El). It's that weird DC fate working its way again. And in the end, Kal-El becomes the Superman of Krypton with the help of a ray invented by a friend:
Well, once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, and the third time it's a trend. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a trend, as I have located the third example. It's not a perfect example, because the dates are a few months apart, but otherwise the pattern holds quite strongly. In Detective Comics #235, the famed story The First Batman appeared. This is one of the most-reprinted Batman stories ever, appearing in Batman Annual #4, Batman #255 and The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told. The story shows Batman's father, Thomas Wayne, fighting crooks in much the same way that his son later would, even wearing a strikingly similar costume to Batman's:
The story includes an intriguing additional detail to Batman's origin. It is revealed that one of the mobsters that Thomas Wayne defeated had vowed revenge on him. And sure enough:
As implied, it turns out that Moxon had hired Joe Chill to kill Bruce's parents. But there's a catch; Moxon now has amnesia and doesn't remember the incident. But when Batman confronts him using his father's old costume it triggers the memory. Moxon tries to escape but is hit by a truck and dies.
Now for the Superman tale, we turn to Superman #113, the May 1957 issue (about 7 months after the Batman story).
As you can see, the story involves Superman's father, Jor-El, being a Superman before Kal-El ever took on the role. Superman discovers tapes of his father describing a key event in his life. While viewing other planets, including Earth, Jor-El's favorite alien world, Jor discovers that the queen of the planet Vergo is planning to destroy Krypton. He travels to the alien world and discovers that he has super powers there, which enables him to duplicate his son's later feats and defeat the plan to destroy his home world. But, as with the Batman story in Detective #233, this tale includes a significant addition to the Superman origin:
Yep, this is the moment when Jor-El first learns his planet is doomed. Queen Latora had planned to catapult Krypton into her sun, which was dying. And as it the Batman story, the ending requires Superman to provide the finale. As it happens, Queen Latora's sun has not yet succumbed, and Superman is able to gather up lots of uranium and send it into that star, saving her world.
Incidentally, the Superman #113 story has only been reprinted once, in a Pizza Hut replica edition. Jor-El's costume had not yet become the familiar green outfit with the yellow star in the center.
Note in particular that these are not swipes, which generally require an intervening passage of time. They rather appear to be intentionally synchronized stories. I'll be looking for more examples; if you know of any please mention them in the comments.
