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Post by wildfire2099 on Feb 13, 2018 16:13:29 GMT -5
Leave it to Beaver is a bit before my time.. I mean, I saw it a couple times, but I have no idea how accurate it was as a portray of a 50s family. Clearly, many of today's issues weren't issues, much as it wouldn't make sense for kids today worrying about being drafted.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 13, 2018 16:24:08 GMT -5
Leave it to Beaver is a bit before my time.. I mean, I saw it a couple times, but I have no idea how accurate it was as a portray of a 50s family. Clearly, many of today's issues weren't issues, much as it wouldn't make sense for kids today worrying about being drafted. About as accurate as Gilligan's Island was at portraying ocean excursions in the 60s. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 6, 2018 13:35:01 GMT -5
Action Comics #268 'The Mystery Supergirl' Siegel/Mooney  Plot: As Linda starts an internship? at the Planet, A red-haired Supergirl appears, and wants the world to know about her! Linda is confused, and at first assumes it's actually her and she is under the influence of Red K again. After she figures out that's not it, she uses fake Kryptonite to expose the plot.. it's a movie company faking it! They pull back the curtain and the movie is a hit! Not sure how that protects the secret, but hey, it worked at the orphanage! Notes: --Superman is 'in space' for this one, so he can't help... did some Silver Age scholar ever try to match all that up? I know that's just their favorite excuse(shows up in JLA alot too), but it'd be interesting to know if there's a way to match stuff up (I'm sure there was no plan.. that's not how they rolled then) -- Not sure about a major metropolitan newspaper letting a random orphan write a feature article... can't really picture the Times of the Globe doing so. - Funny how in the publicity stunts, the fact Supergirl has red hair, but in the actual movie clip, she has her 'regular' blonde hair. I wonder if that was on purpose or a mistake? Plot: C History: D Action Comics #269 'Supergirl's first Romance' Siegel/Mooney  Plot: Linda has to save a fellow orphan from a swing mishap, and Freddie (one of the boys that is always around) see it... she tries to explain it away, but he's not convinced. The rest of the kids go on a fishing trip, and there's a storm, so Supergirl to the rescue. After the rescue, she ends up meeting some Merpeople, including Lori Lemaris and her son, Jerro, who has admired her from afar. She helps the Atlanteans out, gets a personal tour, then they have a parade for her, ending in a kiss for Jerro. When she heads home she almost loses her wig, which leads to another Freddie is Suspicous scene... oh oh! Notes: --Fun issue, the teen romance is up at 11 here, which is fine. It works. I hope the excuses to get him in the story don't get too silly. -- Did DC ever match up the Lori Lemaris Atlantis with the Aquaman Atlantis? Are there others? (seems like there could easily be) -- I like Freddie.. I hope he figures it out! Plot: B History: B (First Jerro) |
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Post by Hoosier X on Mar 6, 2018 15:31:48 GMT -5
Supergirl: The Midvale Orphanage Years
Just about the best comics EVER!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2018 20:04:35 GMT -5
Action Comics #269 'Supergirl's first Romance' Siegel/Mooney Plot: Linda has to save a fellow orphan from a swing mishap, and Freddie (one of the boys that is always around) see it... she tries to explain it away, but he's not convinced. The rest of the kids go on a fishing trip, and there's a storm, so Supergirl to the rescue. After the rescue, she ends up meeting some Merpeople, including Lori Lemaris and her son, Jerro, who has admired her from afar. She helps the Atlanteans out, gets a personal tour, then they have a parade for her, ending in a kiss for Jerro. When she heads home she almost loses her wig, which leads to another Freddie is Suspicous scene... oh oh! Notes: --Fun issue, the teen romance is up at 11 here, which is fine. It works. I hope the excuses to get him in the story don't get too silly. -- Did DC ever match up the Lori Lemaris Atlantis with the Aquaman Atlantis? Are there others? (seems like there could easily be) -- I like Freddie.. I hope he figures it out! Plot: B History: B (First Jerro) That's one of my favorites ... and I do like these early Supergirl stories ... |
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Post by comicsandwho on Mar 7, 2018 4:09:29 GMT -5
Wildfire, DC Comics Presents # 5 reminds us that Atlantis is a continent, not a single city, and that the two seemingly contradictory versions that Aquaman and Lori come from are, in fact, the two major cities, on opposite sides of the continent.
Tritonis, Lori's home, is inhabited by 'mer-people', who evolved tails instead of legs, while Aquaman's home, Poseidonis, is made up of all those who appear more 'traditionally' human. The gist of that story is that Ocean Master tricks the two communities into a war that each side thinks the other is responsible for starting(with Lori managing to contact Superman to bring him into the conflict).
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 7, 2018 8:29:17 GMT -5
Wildfire, DC Comics Presents # 5 reminds us that Atlantis is a continent, not a single city, and that the two seemingly contradictory versions that Aquaman and Lori come from are, in fact, the two major cities, on opposite sides of the continent. Tritonis, Lori's home, is inhabited by 'mer-people', who evolved tails instead of legs, while Aquaman's home, Poseidonis, is made up of all those who appear more 'traditionally' human. The gist of that story is that Ocean Master tricks the two communities into a war that each side thinks the other is responsible for starting(with Lori managing to contact Superman to bring him into the conflict). That makes some sense (though Aquaman always calls himself the king of all the underwater people, that can certainly be hyperbole)... I'll have to see if I can find that  |
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Mar 7, 2018 9:31:37 GMT -5
There's also the completely ridiculous membership rules.. if you have to leave when you're 18, and they only have one person join a year, they clearly will have no members after not too long. That's either just competely lazy and not thought out, or a nifty commentary on the impusiveness of youth (probably the former, but I can pretend) I find the early Legion stories completely fascinating from a socio/psychological perspective. These were stories written by adults about teenagers Yeah, that kind of storytelling - where the major threats are emotional rather than physical - was prevalent throughout the Silver Age Superman line, but it was especially pronounced and intense in the early Legion stuff |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 23, 2018 21:44:20 GMT -5
Blackhawk #217 Haney/Dillin (maybe Kashdan for the back up, per Comic database,referencing Comic Reader)  'Vengeance of the Doom Makers' Plot: The Blackhawks keep getting attacked by weird weapons! Luckily, Blackhawk went to a 'inventor's conference' where they were all on display, so he knew exactly how to beat them. Turns out the scientists were mad their ideas were rejected, and got funding to get revenge. There's a bit of a twist at the end, but mostly we just get a bunch of weapon ideas from Haney, and their weaknesses. 'Stainslaus the Monster' Plot: One of the Blackhawks turns into a green monster thing to fight another green monster thing. Not nearly as good as the first one. It was advertised on the front as 'from the detached duty files' so it was meant to be a solo story, but it wasn't, so that was weird. Cool stuff: - There was a full page ad from Ballantine books selling ERB books for .50 each... very cool. - then there was a public safety and a 1 page gag strip, which was fun - instead of a letter column, there were a series of one line ads for people trying to sell Blackhawk back issues. I remember someone mentioning that here at one point, but it was weird to see. Blackhawk #220 (Go-Go Checks!) Herrin/Dillon (Kasdan maybe for the backup)  'Revolt of the Assembled Man' Plot: The Blackhawks are hired to guard some jewels, which they fail at. The jewels are stolen by a Robot that can disassemble itself and have the parts operate autonomously. They chase it back to it's lair and inventor, where the twist happens, and the resolve things in the end. 'The Human Grenade' Plot: No more solo stories, this one is a WWII story, though none of the character look younger. It was kinda ponderous as stories go.. I couldn't really focus on it to be honest, and the art (which was really good before this) seemed slapped together. Cool Stuff: -another Health ad.. this one with a 'doctor' that sure looked like LBJ to me. -In addition to the gag strip, there was a one page modelling tips page (which I've seen one or twice before) - Instead of a ERB add.. this time we get one for the Superman TV show, which list every station that was broadcasting it..I thought that was neat. Notes: - I thought both the main stories were great Challengers stories... I'm not sure why we needed the extra 3 guys or the stupid accents to attempt to differentiate the characters (which totally failed). Honestly, the stupid accents and expressions annoyed me. - Was Haney trying to get a DoD job with #217? It 100% all about his weird weapon ideas... a reusable torpedo that creates whirlpool, solar powered missiles that have 'lightning' arc between them instead of exploding, a spider tank, etc. They were almost too real looking to make sense in a comic. -The Robot in 220 was my favorite character of the group - It was neat that both stories had a bit of a plot twist towards the end.. I appreciated it. - This was my first experience with Blackhawk other than on this forum... I think I'd MUCH prefer them as pilots than Challengers International. There was a token plane scene in each story, but it was totally stuck in there. |
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Post by Cei-U! on Mar 23, 2018 22:37:30 GMT -5
I had Blackhawk #220 as a kid. Not exactly their finest hour, but light years better than their super-hero phase.
Cei-U!
I summon the dregs of nostalgia!
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 24, 2018 20:58:14 GMT -5
I have 2 more.. I think one of them might be the Superhero part, but I'm not certain.. stay tuned  |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 30, 2018 22:57:43 GMT -5
Action #270 'Supergirl's Busiest Day' Plot: Superman is in space, so Linda has to fill in! She saves Krypto from a space zoo, Batman and Robin from a Bat Cave in..., the Mermaids, all kinda of stuff. She then gets summoned to the Fortress of Solitude by Superman, who explains they were all fake so he could distract her while setting up her suprise sweet sixteen party! I had no idea Supergirl new Batman and Robin's secret identity! Amazing how Superman can be a jerk even when doing something nice... .he could have just let her actually do useful stuff instead of faking it. Fun story, but a little too Silver Age-y for me.  |
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Post by wildfire2099 on May 2, 2018 7:22:52 GMT -5
Blackhawk #224 (Still Go Go Checks!) Herron/Dillon/Cuidera  'The Blackhawk Wreckers' Plot: Some evil guys want to ruin the Blackhawks rep, so instead of just attacking them and defeating them with their very cool giant robots, they use them to foil every attempt the Blackhawks make to fight crime. This works really well, and the public are calling for their retirement. Finally, they (secretly) cut a deal with the police to stage a pretend arrest, which allows them to bug one of the giant robots and get to the 'Wreckers' HQ and defeat them. 'General Stanislaus' Plot: A WWII flashback, Stanislaus is couriering a message to General 'Five' for the French Resistance (I think, it's not clear) and when the General is killed, he takes over to run the op. Notes: -I'm not sure if it was my mood or what, but I liked this one alot better than the other two for some reason. It's practically the same story, but I think they fact that they are just hanging out in their house waiting for crime to fight made better sense to me than ex fighter pilots stumbling into stuff. No planes here at all (though they use a helicopter at one point). - The War flashback was very basic, but I liked it alot better.. not sure if because it was basic it was easier to follow or what. Did they really like Stanislaus, or is it just random I got 2 issues with him getting solo backups? - There are two different scenes with a series of panels showing different members of the team answering a question from Blackhawk with their funny accents... terrible. It tossed me right out of the story both times.. it was both clunky and useless. I definitely prefer the manga method of weird hair cuts to differentiate characters - I loved the bad guy robots (a humanoid, a dragon and a squid).. but they were alot like the last issue I read. The bad guys seemed really useless, and it wasn't a good reflection on the team that their plan worked so well. Overall, I liked this one better, but it's still a weird comic |
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Post by wildfire2099 on May 25, 2018 10:51:25 GMT -5
The Atom #9 Fox/Kane/Anderson  'The Atom's Phantom Double' Plot: An experiment Ray is doing with 'radiation' creates a phantom double of him, who has his atom powers (right down to the controlling gizmo on the costume), and can pass through solid objects besides. The phantom somehow inherently knows that if he doesn't use an Opal to make a beam to make himself solid and Ray a phantom (thus replacing him), he'll fade out. So he sets about it. Meanwhile, Ray fights some gangsters, and his double tracks him down, first to make sure he wins (they both feel the same pain), and then to attempt to defeat him. They wrestle, but Ray tricks the double into leaving the ring behind when he phases through something and kicks it into the fire. The End! Notes: - A TON of bad science here, worse than Marvel Science(TM) even. - I find it funny that the real science footnote tells us Opals are 20% water and that it cracked in the flames, then Ray retrieves it to put it in a setting for Jean... why would you do that if it was cracked? - ZERO character stuff or supporting cast, just action... which mostly involved plain vanilla beating people up. If you're going to set up a mirror match, at least use the opportunity to do some fun size changing stuff! Plot: D History: D 'The Seaman and the Spyglass' Fox/Kane/Greene Plot: This is a 'worldpool' tale, where Ray goes to 1609 and helps save Henry Hudson from French thugs so he can properly receive his commission from the East India Company to go exploring. This one is more of a history lesson than anything, which I throughly approve of.. the fight scene in the middle was totally superfluous, but made it 'comic book worthy', I suppose. My main beef if that Atom didn't stay hidden, and actually told Henry Hudson he was a time traveller. Hello, mess with the time stream much? Otherwise a great little story with nice art to give us the story of the invention of the telescope and some background on Hudson. Cei-U was right.. these are definitely growing on me (and this one is far better than before). They even had a framing sequence with the gut who invented it (Prof Hyatt), looking to confirm he's been able to calibrate it to the year he wants.  Plot: B History N/A (but A for Historical Reference!) |
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Post by Prince Hal on May 28, 2018 13:47:55 GMT -5
Blackhawk #224 (Still Go Go Checks!) Herron/Dillon/Cuidera 'The Blackhawk Wreckers' Plot: Some evil guys want to ruin the Blackhawks rep, so instead of just attacking them and defeating them with their very cool giant robots, they use them to foil every attempt the Blackhawks make to fight crime. This works really well, and the public are calling for their retirement. Finally, they (secretly) cut a deal with the police to stage a pretend arrest, which allows them to bug one of the giant robots and get to the 'Wreckers' HQ and defeat them. 'General Stanislaus' Plot: A WWII flashback, Stanislaus is couriering a message to General 'Five' for the French Resistance (I think, it's not clear) and when the General is killed, he takes over to run the op. Notes: -I'm not sure if it was my mood or what, but I liked this one alot better than the other two for some reason. It's practically the same story, but I think they fact that they are just hanging out in their house waiting for crime to fight made better sense to me than ex fighter pilots stumbling into stuff. No planes here at all (though they use a helicopter at one point). - The War flashback was very basic, but I liked it alot better.. not sure if because it was basic it was easier to follow or what. Did they really like Stanislaus, or is it just random I got 2 issues with him getting solo backups? - There are two different scenes with a series of panels showing different members of the team answering a question from Blackhawk with their funny accents... terrible. It tossed me right out of the story both times.. it was both clunky and useless. I definitely prefer the manga method of weird hair cuts to differentiate characters - I loved the bad guy robots (a humanoid, a dragon and a squid).. but they were alot like the last issue I read. The bad guys seemed really useless, and it wasn't a good reflection on the team that their plan worked so well. Overall, I liked this one better, but it's still a weird comic Sorry this is a delayed reaction to your comment here, wildfire2099 . I know it's hard to believe I had more important things to do than look up the installments of the "Detached Service Diary" and the "Blackhawk Combat Diary," but I did. Anyway, for anyone else whose Geek Challenge Alert went off when you wondered about the possible favoritism shown toward Stanislaus, I offer this list of stats, courtesy both the GCD and -- Shazam be praised! -- Mike's Amazing World. The Detached Service Diary and the Combat Diary alternated regularly (except for #210) as the back-up feature in Blackhawk beginning with #200 and continuing through #227. The only exception was Blackhawk 210, whose second story was a reprint from #139. The first Blackhawk Combat Diary actually appeared in 196, perhaps as a try-out. Both features seem to have been created in response to what one letters page described as a “huge flow of requests” for stories focusing on the individual members. From what I can tell (without digging into issues I have), the Combat Diary tended to feature the entire team with occasional spotlights on one or two of them within the story. The Detached Service Diary, by contrast, always focused on just one of the Blackhawks. In the letters page to #201, we were told by editor George Kashdan that solo stories of the team had been promised “some months back” after letters inquiring about the various Blackhawks’ individual skills, with Hendrickson’s marksmanship, Stan’s strength and Olaf’s acrobatic skills given as examples. No surprise then, that Hendy, Stan and Olaf were the first three members to star in a DSD story. The Combat Diary appeared in #s 196, 200, 202, 203, 205, 207, 209, with the DSD in 201, 204, 206,and 208. After the interruption of issue 210, the DSD appeared in all the odd-numbered issues through 227 and the Combat Diary in the even-numbered issues through 226. Here’s the breakdown on the stars of each of the DSD stories, by issue: Andre: 211 Blackhawk: 213 Chop-Chop: 219; 227 Chuck: 208; 223; 225 Hendrickson: 201; 221; Olaf: 206; 215 Stanislaus: 204; 217 So it was Chuck who finished on top with three solo stories; Andre only had one. (Too busy wining and dinig zee jeunes filles?) Over in the Combat Diary, there were a couple of oddities that did not feature the entire team in starring roles: 200 featured only Blackhawk; 202 focused on Andre and Hendrickson; and 212 was a solo turn by Chop-Chop only. Give Kashdan credit; a bunch of letters pages included letters asking for stories about Chop-Chop, and for his origin and first adventure with the Blackhawks, and he delivered on those as he did on the solo stories. Chop-Chop's origin was the cover story in #203, and he wound up tied with Chuck with three solo stories, though his came between the two back-up features. Hope this adds to your Silver Age enjoyment! We now return you to your regularly scheduled non-geeky posts. |
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