posted June 16, 2002 11:09 PM    

Dorfman: 393-402, 404, 406, 411, 412, 417 (as "David George"), 418
Bates: 403, 405, 407-410, 414-416, 419, 421-423, 425-435, 438, 439, 441, 442, 444-446, 450, 453, 454, 456, 460-466, 468-476, 480-484, (485 frame sequence), 487-499, 501, 502
?: 413
Maggin: 420, 424, 436, 437, 440, 443, 447-449, 458, 459
Shooter: 451, 452
Conway: 457, 467, 477-479, 486
O'Neil: 485 (reprint)
Pasko: 500 (64 page story)

413 is credited to ? because I couldn't find the writer credit--I found "By Swan and Anderson," but I'm assuming they didn't write it--it's probably Leo Dorfman, though. Last year, I posted on 400 and said I couldn't find the credits on the lead story for that, but I did find them yesterday (black letters on a dark brown space, easy to miss), and it was Leo Dorfman.

The back-ups for 393 - 412 are all Superman related (not counting the reprints that appear in the 48 page issues, 403-413), and most of them are by Leo Dorfman using the name "Geoff Browne." Geoff Browne wrote the back-ups for 393 - 400, 402 - 404, & 406. While an actually credited Leo Dorfman wrote the back-up in 411. Bates wrote the other Superman related stories from this period (ie. Clark Kent, In-Between Years, Tales of the Fortress, and that kind of stuff), 401, 405, 407 - 410, 412.

Andru and Esposito do the back-up in 393, then Swan and Anderson take over the back-ups from 393 - 408. Anderson continues to ink, over George Tuska for the back-up in 409, and over John Calnan in 410 - 412. Then Metamorpho starts as the back-up feature in 413, with Haney, Calnan, and Anderson doing that first story, and Haney & Calnan (now the solo artist) continuing the series until 418 (Nov. '72), the last Boltinoff edited issue.

Anderson over Tuska doesn't look much like Swan. But Anderson managed to make Calnan look rather Swan-ish--except for the lack of fluidity in movement. I think Calnan was at his best doing Metamorpho which he could make his own. For most of the seventies Calnan always seemed to be living in the shadows of other more impressive artists.

To go over all the other back-up features that followed would take too long for one post. Maggin's rather unimpressive amount of lead stories in Action is compensated for in his large amount of back-up work (mainly on The Atom and Green Arrow). Who can forget Len Wein's Human Target--realized by the likes of Carmine Infantino, Dick Giordano, and Neal Adams?

The back-ups shifted to mostly Superman's supporting cast with issues 459-477, often scripted by former stars of the letter page like Martin Pasko, Elizabeth M. Smith, and Bob Rozakis. And after the DC Implosion, with the December 1978 issue (490), Action closed out the decade with full-length stories (no back-ups).

Also, while Bob Oksner is under-represented on the inside stories, he remains a presence on many of the covers. I haven't pulled together data on which artist did which cover, but mainly Neal Adams, Swan and Anderson, and Infantino and Anderson did the work in the early seventies, then Nick Cardy for some memorable covers, then Oksner and various other artists in the mid-seventies. And Jose Luis Garcia Lopez did a lot of solid covers in the late seventies, with a few covers yet again by that renegade Neal Adams.

posted June 17, 2002 04:37 PM    

One thing I'm hoping the upcoming Curt Swan hardcover will have is something like a definitive Swan checklist... at least from the 60s on, when better records were kept. The only ones I've seen are either obviously incomplete, or TOO complete (listing all the books where he drew ONLY the covers, and incorporating even the one-page Hostess Twinkies ads and public service messages of the 70s books... WITHOUT specifying that he did nothing else in an issue). It's a pretty good bet we'll see some kind of criticism as to who his best inkers were.

posted June 18, 2002 03:02 PM    

If you're like me, lists of numbers make your eyes glaze over, but I have done an accounting of the credits on the Superman mag (for Jan.'71 to Dec. '79), so unfortunately I'll be putting up even more numbers now. The good thing is, if this is all too boring one can just scroll past them.

Although I didn't give the data for ALL the Action back-ups, I feel compelled to list back-ups for Superman because they're always Superman related, and Swan did quite a few of the back-up stories. The problem is listing this in a sensible way that doesn't get too confusing.

The following is a list of just Swan pencilled work (I can do another list for the non-Swan pencils, later). I've left out ALL reprints (although I've already said quite a bit about reprints scattered throughout the pages of this thread sofar). Unless otherwise noted all issues numbers are for lead stories. Back-up stories are noted with either a " indicating a Superman back-up, or a * indicating a TPLOCK (The Private Life of Clark Kent) story, or a ' indicating a TFWOK (The Fabulous World of Krytpton) story. For instance, Blaisdell inked 290" (the back-up Superman story), Al Milgrom inked 292* (a TPLOCK back-up), and Swan inked himself on 234' (TFWOK):

posted June 18, 2002 05:25 PM    

The other day I picked up volume II of the Comic Book Artist Collection. A great book for those who love 70s DC and especially those who love 70s Batman (it has a beautiful Marshall Rogers cover). I've yet to read all the interviews it contains, but I did read one with John Workman, and there are some things that put the art into a context.

I don't know why Colletta's inks have bothered me all these years. From the data I've collected it's obvious that he didn't do that many Superman stories. I think it may be that he had the mixed fortune of inking stories that I really liked, and it was fustrating to think how the art would have looked.

Workman mentions Mike Vosburg's art on Starfire (a comic I well remember with Vosburg's sexy female protagonist). Apparently Vosburg inked his own stuff, but Workman says "it scared the DC honchos so much that they had the entire book re-inked to make it look more like what they felt comics should look like...[inked over] by Vinnie Colletta, I think. Probably re-inked on vellum."

Later Workman talks about how sales steadily declined through the seventies (because DC--or NPP--was losing the newstand market, although management didn't seem to understand this). In response NPP cheapened the production to keep the price down. "If you look at the books from that time period, the printing and paper stock were not what they had been earlier." The interviewer (John B. Cooke) mentions "the changeover to plastic printing plates."

posted June 18, 2002 09:19 PM    

The Swan inks on the Swan pencils for the TFWOK story in 234 is one of the few examples I've seen of his own inking style.

His loose, scratchy style falls somewhere in between Frank Giacoia and Bob Oksner. A very interesting look, but not a lot like Murphy Anderson.

posted June 21, 2002 12:33 AM    

Yet Colletta inks over Garcia Lopez in this story and doesn't just do scratchy inks and dull backgrounds. He actually makes the figures look clumsy. As if the penciller didn't know how to render fluid movement in the figures. Characters look oddly posed.

There's no way that I can see Garcia Lopez doing such ham-handed work, so it must be down to Colletta changing the articulation of the figures.

But rather than go off on Vinnie, I thought I would select four stories that I actually really like, all pencilled by Swan, and also inked by Colletta.

Now I'm not saying these stories would have been miles even better if someone like Anderson or Oksner had inked them. I'm just saying for what they were, they were okay...

A COLLETTA-CURT QUARTET

1. "Protectors of Earth, Inc." Superman 274, Apr. '74 (writer: Elliot S! Maggin; artists: Curt Swan & Vince Colletta; 20 pages).

Yeah, I really hate the scratchy way Colletta inks the faces on Superman and Clark, but I really like the way Kurt Vonnegut, Jr--I mean Wade Halibut, Jr.--is inked. The art really captures Vonnegut's--I mean Halibut's--likeness (you'd almost think Oksner lent a hand).

In the story, Danny Victor repays Clark (who helped him get a staff job on the Johnny Nevada TV show in Action 420) by getting him backstage so he can meet Vonnegut--I mean Halibut--who is a guest on the Nevada show.

Vonnegut--er Halibut is working on a book called the "Sirens, um, Mermaids, of... Titan, er no...Icarus." In the book the writer plans to have a TV reporter who discovers a doomsday device, and when he meets Clark he decides to studied him secretly to see how he would react to a situation like the character in the novel.

There's also a STAR invention called a Space-Tunnel, and a crime syndicate called the "Protectors of the Earth, Inc."--a global protection scheme. But the thing that made this story stand out for me was Vonnegut--um, I mean Halibut.

2. "The Dragonfly Invasion of Metropolis!" Superman 275, May '74 (writer: Cary Bates; art: Curt Swan & Vince Colletta; 14 pages).

Psychicly linked siblings, machines that go awry becaus of radio interference, a long lost brother who is believed dead but really is alive only he hast to pretend to be dead because he has vital information...Did I say I liked this story? Hm, actually one thing I really HATED was the way the Japanese characters are treated in this story--their broken English, the overall stereotypical treatment--it really bothered me when I read this story all those years ago.

But. This is the story that introduces Lola Barnett--Hollywood gossip columnist that Morgan Edge has lured to Metropolis with all his money. Based on Rona Barrett, real life gossip TV columnist of the time, Colletta's inks work here because he has that romance comic look (I mean he did so many that I always think of romance mags when I see him ink beautiful women), and that romance mag look suits Lola. Although, if she was really supposed to look like Rona she should've looked like she'd had a few facelifts in her day.

The longlost brother thing reminds me of Barbara Gordon's long lost brother. And Lola's psychic link with her brother is too much like the Marigold twins psychic link--or so many other psychic links between siblings, which was an old concept even in 1974.

Just so you know, it's a Japanese film crew making a movie about a giant Dragonfly from whence the title comes.

3. Supergirl/Batgirl: "Cleopatra Queen of America" The Superman Family 171, June-July '75 (writer: Elliot S! Maggin; artists: Curt Swan and Vince Colletta; 25 pages).

The first meeting of Gotham City congresswoman Barbara Gordon and Athens University student advisor Linda Danvers! Yes Batgirl and Supergirl met before (in three different stories (WF 169 & 176, Adventure 381)), but apparently this is the first time they met in their secret identities. Although neither finds out the other's true identity in this story.

Again Colletta's best work is on the female faces.

And Maggin loves to talk about government. The institutions of America. And when he talks about this stuff he can be quite convincing.

Athens U. exchange student, Lilibet Winsor--with a really bad British accent, she says "Cor" with a straight face--must somehow be linked to the pharoahs of Egypt. A staff of Cleopatra is attracted to her. With this staff she can bend anyone to her will (even Superman, but not Supergirl or Batgirl because through certain circumstances too long to relate they've become immune to the effects of the staff).

Lilibet/Cleopatra goes to Washington with her staff to claim absolute monarchy over the US of A, and not even the JLA can resist her. Batgirl disguises herself as the original Cleo and she and Supergirl stage a fight. Lilibet having used the staff to remove Supergirl's powers now gives them back so that she might defeat the claimant to her throne. But Supergirl snatches the staff and throws it into the sun.

At stories end, Clark holds private council, "Linda's trying awfully hard to be a normal young woman--trying to belong on this planet that's adopted us...not realizing that we already belong where we are, doing what we do best! It's a lesson Supergirl will have to learn for herself!"

4. "The Second Coming of Superman." Superman Spectacular 1977 (DC Special Series No. 5) (writer: Cary Bates (assisted by Martin Pasko, based on an idea by John LaMartine); art: Curt Swan and Vince Colletta; 63 pages).

At 63 pages this was possibly the longest single issue story of Superman ever written up to that point. It was promoted as such certainly.

It's a story that shows the religious almost messianic qualities of the Superman legend.

A story of such significance deserves more than a few sentences, so I won't attempt to give even a slight synopsis at this point, with little time on my hands for anymore posting.

posted June 21, 2002 01:53 PM    

A CURT-COLLETTA QUARTET

4. cont'd.

quote:

---

Extract from the Holy Scriptures
of the People of QUORXA

"And there shall come a parting of the waters,
And from the horizon shall rise up a
great image of HIM,
And on that day it shall be SIGN from
the HEAVENS
That HE is come AGAIN!
Yea, I say unto thee, all ye children
of QUORXA,
That there shall come again the SWIRLING
of the WATERS
And the spewing forth of the ROCK OF AGES,
And we, the children of QUORXA, shall
live another millennium!
Lo! We shall be ever stronger on that
blessed day of...

THE SECOND
COMING of
SUPERMAN!"

---

That appears on page two of the story, which is more like a first page since the first page is like a contents page. Page 2 and 3 form a double page spread, but the spread is turned on its side, with page 2 the top of the picture and page 3 the bottom. Showing this scripture and juxtaposing that with a scene from the annual Superman Day parade in Metropolis. In which a huge statue of Superman proceeds along the parade route, while between its legs drives the Krypton float, on which Lois is dressed as Lara and Morgan Edge is dressed as Jor-El, standing on either side of a model of baby Kal-El's rocket ship.

The story is actually divided into four chapters:

Chapter I: "The Second Coming of Superman" page 2
Chapter II: "The First Coming of Superman" page 17
Chapter II: "A God Walks Among Us" page 37
Chapter IV: "The Fall and Rise of Sonzrr" page 55

Sonzrr is what the people of Quorxa call their saviour. Millennia ago a great and powerful being came to the waters surrounding the ancient and forgotten secret island of Quorxa and defeated a terrible water volcano, as well as a strange giant demon, and in defeating those disasters energies were released by the saviour which gave the Quorxan people immortality. To honour their "god" who gave them eternal life the people of Quorxa fashioned serpentine figures out of the energized rocks that were released in the great defeat of the watery tempest, these serpentine figures were designed to copy the chest emblem of their god, Sonzrr.

The people of Quorxa were transplanted aliens, survivors of an interplanetary war, and for all the thousands of years that they lived on their island they had used their advanced technology to shield their existence from Terran observation. But one Terran of great intelligence managed to break through their shields and come to Quorxa, and he stole one of their sacred books of scripture before fleeing the island.

This interloper was Lex Luthor, of course, and he brought the scriptures to Brainiac--for "who else on Earth could decipher that alien jargon but the great Brainiac?"

Together Luthor and Brainiac figure out that the god Sonzrr was really a Superman who had travelled back in time. They realize, too, that the rocks from the water volcano contained an ore which siphoned off Superman's ectoplasmic energy (and created the giant ectoplasmic demon, which he finally re-absorbed into his body) and which at the same time renewed the ectoplasmic life-forces of the aliens on Quorxa.

Another player in our story is Ryla who has been sent to Metropolis by the people of Quorxa (who have witnessed the emergence from the waters of a great image of Sonzrr, fullfilling the prophecies--actually a giant statue of Superman formed by Lori Lemaris's people of Atlantis, the statue to be used in the Superman Day celebrations).

Ryla observes how her god is revered in the outside world. And how he pretends to be a weak human dressed in a suit and glasses ("'mystifying are the ways of our savior'...so the sacred scriptures say!").

When Ryla meets her god in his mortal mask she bows down to him, but Clark lifts her to her feet and begins to speak to her. Only Steve Lombard, driving in his muscle car, sees Clarkie with a foxy chick and decides to humiliate Kent in front of her, by driving into a puddle at the curb thus splashing the both of them. Clark of course steps in front of Ryla, to shield her from the splash. Steve apologizes to Clark and offers the foxy Ryla a lift.

Ryla, obviously, knows the real truth, that Lombard attempted to desecrate the body of the saviour, and so with an energy blast from her hands sends Lombard's car flying up into the sky. Clark as Superman saves Lombard but not before the sportscaster suffers serious injury and his car has exploded into flames.

In the stories conclusion, the Braniac/Luthor duo recreate the ancient water volcano to draw Superman into action. But the ore spewed from the tempest drains ectoplasmic energy from the Man of Steel as his two enemies gang up on him.

Finally, lying on the banks of Quorxa, as the worshippers of Sonzrr drop their ore-fashioned serpentine signets which have become dark upon him, Superman is unmoving as if dead.

Meanwhile, Brainiac has turned on Luthor, as the android plans to shrink the entire planet Earth, thanks to all the ectoplasmic energy that his devices have absorbed from Superman. Battling for his homeworld, Luthor is no match for Brainiac's superior strength.

Summoning up all the energy he has left him, Superman blasts into the air and intercepts the lethal shrinking ray--and the ectoplasmic energies released from the ray are rechannelled into Superman's body.

quote:

---

Yea, I say unto you, never forsake your belief in his OMNIPOTENCE!

His MIGHT will be with us always! Blessed are we, the childrean of QUORXA...for we have known the POWER and the GLORY of the SAVIOR who watches over us ALL!

So be it!

---

posted June 22, 2002 10:30 AM    

I picked up the CBA Collection myself this week (the 70s/early 80s version of Batman is my bestest most favoritest ever! On the whole, anyway). I also picked up ALTER EGO #15 from the same publishers. The "Fawcett Collectors of America" flipside has a long Kurt Schaffenberger section with a really interesting interview touching on his work for both the Marvel Family and Superman Family titles. The main focus of the issue, however, is John Buscema. There's a Superman connection there also, though; Buscema's last published work was for DC on the JUST IMAGINE STAN LEE CREATING SUPERMAN special, and he had done work on two other Superman projects that have yet to see print. One was a miniseries exploring the earliest days of Krypton (started by Gil Kane before HE died not so long ago), and another was an Elseworlds version of the Justice League in Conan-era costumes, with Kal-El's rocket landing on Earth in the Hyborian Age. I'm not sure if either will ever see print, but at least they would be... unusual. (Buscema also pencilled the second Superman / Spider-Man crossover for Marvel and DC which, in my opinion, was MUCH better than the first. I was disappointed to not see any original art from that project here.)

As for the Swan / Colletta stories, I'm afraid I can't share your enthusiasm. I don't have that Lola Barnett story, but the character always seemed like dead weight on the series to me. The extra-size spectacular was a huge disappointment to me when I first read it. Colletta's inks absolutely ruined the art for me. The concept of the aliens worshipping Superman had a lot of potential, but Bates' story just plods on and on way too long for me, and the whole concept was just dropped at the end anyway. You'd think Superman would be profoundly disturbed by being literally worshipped as a god and do everything to stop it. The universal reverence for Superman as a messiah figure was touched on MUCH more effectively in the Maggin annuals that you covered so well earlier on the 80s thread. I did like some of the Luthor / Brainiac parts of the story, but they were totally overshadowed by the aliens plotwise, and the man-to-man fight between Supes and Luthor that would have been so dynamic if inked by an Adkins or Anderson is made to look pedestrian by Colletta.

I do like the Supergirl / Batgirl story, despite the essentially ludicrous plot. Curt Swan always drew a terrific Batgirl (unfortunately it was almost always inked by Colletta!)The most memorable parts of the story for me were the scene where the assembled Justice League attacks Supergirl, and Black Canary's full-blast sonic scream is depicted as powerful enough to take down Supergirl (and, by implication, Superman). Supergirl ends up unconscious and dumped in the drink on "Cleopatra's" orders, and Batgirl discards her cape and dives underwater to haul her out. There follows a moment where Batgirl gives Supergirl mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and I'm surprised that made it past the Comics Code at the time! (I'm pretty sure Maggin just wanted to see them lock lips, since Supergirl after all doesn't need oxygen to survive... weird stuff!)

There was a thread devoted to Vince Colletta awhile back on the "Other DCU Topics" board. He's the one inker that everybody seems to love to hate, but there is the usual defense that "his women were good". Frankly, I never understood this. Romance comics or no, his women never looked any better to me than women inked by dozens, if not hundreds, of other guys! (And then, there are quite a few people that seem to insist that, as bad as he could be on other strips, he was the most appropriate inker for Kirby on THOR. I have seen some of the uninked THOR pages from Kirby's pencils in issues of JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR, and I don't see how ANYONE can say this with a straight face. Sure, he would add a few flecks to add "texture" to wood or something, but does that make up for sometimes erasing half the page??)

Sure, beauty is in the eye of the beholder... but when you're talking comics, "the Beholder" sounds like a super-villain.

posted June 22, 2002 02:07 PM    

Story 1. I like for all the Vonnegut references and it's Maggin's use of Vonnegut material in stories like this that pushed me to read Vonnegut. At one time I thought that Vonnegut was the greatest literary figure ever. While I'm not quite so overawed now, I'm still grateful for being pushed in his direction.

Story 2. I like for the addition of Lola to the large cast, not that she was an important character, but I liked the idea that there was this large ensemble of characters who could walk on in a scene. Josh, Oscar, the Marigold Twins, Kaye Daye, Danny Victor, Johnny Nevada, Gregory Reed, Roy Raymond,...

Story 3. I like for Batgirl and the congressional references (which were obviously in Maggin's blood at the time).

Story 4. I appreciate that DC was trying. They hadn't gotten there yet. But stories like this would eventually lead to the more accomplished Annuals. You have to walk before you run. And the presence of Colletta, while bothersome, probably was a necessity of the time. All these books were on tight deadlines (except Neal Adams' "Superman vs. Muhammad Ali" which had a very lax deadline) and it's unlikely that any other inkers (inkers of greater integrity) could have inked 63 pages in the alotted time. Today, a story like this would be done with a number of different artist teams, each working on a separate chapter. But back then they thought the story should all have one consistent look (I'm assuming), and so we ended up with a full Swan pencilled story unfortunately but necessarily inked by Colletta.

posted June 29, 2002 04:18 PM    

----twenty-five SWANDERSONs twenty-five

Superman

1) # 237 (May' 71) "Enemy of Earth," story: Denny O'Neil, 22 pages.

2) # 242 (Sept. '71) "The Ultimate Battle," story: O'Neil, 22pages.

3) #243 (Oct. '71) "The Starry-Eyed Siren of Space," story: Cary Bates, 18 pages.

4) #246 (Dec. '71) "Danger Monster at Work!" story: Len Wein, 17 pages.

5) #247 (Jan. '72) TPLOCK: "When on Earth..." story: Denny O'Neil; art: C. DOuglas Swan, M. Clyde AndersOn--with the "O" in those credits lettered larger than the other letters--8 pages.

6) # 249 (March '72) "The Challenge of Terra-Man," story: Bates, 18 pages.

7) # 255 (Aug. '72) "The Sun of Superman," story: Bates, 16pages.

8) # 257 (Oct. '72) "Superman Battles the War-Horn!" story: Bates, 16 pages.

9) # 262 (March '73) TPLOCK "Puzzle of the Telepathic Twins!" story: Elliot S! Maggin, 9 pages.

10) # 264 (June '73) "Secret of the Phantom Quarterback!" story: Bates, 16 pages.

11) # 267 (Sept. '73) "World Beneath the North Pole!" story: Maggin, 16 pages.

12) # 270 (Dec. '73) "The Viking from Valhalla!" story: Maggin, 14 pages.

Action Comics

13) # 398 (March '71) Untold Tales of the Fortress: "Spawn of the Unknown," story: Geoff Brown (aka Leo Dorfman), 8 pages.

14) # 400 (May '71) "My Son...is he Man or Beast?" story: Leo Dorfman, 14 pages.

15) # 408 (Jan. '72) "The Secret of Super-X!" story: Bates, 7 pages.

16) # 414 (July '72) "Superman vs. Superstar!" story: Bates, 15 pages.

17 & 18) #417 (Oct. '72) "The Conspiracy of the Crime-Lords!" story: David George (aka Leo Dorfman), 15 pages.
#418 (Nov. '72) "The Attack of the Phantom Super-Foes!" story: Leo Dorfman, 15 pages.

19) # 420 (Jan. '73) "The Made-to-Order Menace!" story: Elliot S! Maggin, 15 pages.

20) # 421 (Feb. '73) "The Fantastic Feats of Captain Strong!" story: Bates, 16 pages.

21) # 428 (Oct. '73) "Whatever Happened to Superman?" story: Bates, 13 pages.

22 & 23) # 430 (Dec. '73) "Bus-Ride to Nowhere!" story: Bates, 13 pages.
#431 (Jan. '74) "The Monster Who Unmasked Superman!" story: Bates, 13 pages.

24) #432 (Feb. '74) "Target of the Toy-Men!" story: Bates, 13 pages.

& in the tabloid-size Amazing World of Superman--Metropolis Edition (1973)--in black and white with grey shading; and then in the tabloid-size Limited Collector's Edition C-31 (Oct-Nov. '74) in colour; and then in the Warner Books softcover, at closer to regular comic-book page size, Secret Origins of DC Super-Heroes (1976), also in colour...

25) "The Origin of Superman," layout: Carmine Infantino, pencils: Curt Swan, inks: Murphy Anderson, dialogue: E. Nelson Bridwell, 15 pages.

And then because Pksoze asked me to I mentioned two Galactic Golem tales illoed by Swan and Anderson

The Galactic Golem

Superman # 248 (Feb. '72) "The Man Who Murdered the Earth!" 18 pages.

Superman # 258 (Nov. '72) "Fury of the Energy-Eater!" 16 pages.

story for both: Len Wein; art for both: Curt Swan & Murphy Anderson.

posted June 29, 2002 04:57 PM    

quote:

---

Originally posted by India Ink:
Superman # 248 (Feb. '72) "The Man Who Murdered the Earth!" 18 pages.

Superman # 258 (Nov. '72) "Fury of the Energy-Eater!" 16 pages.

---

I know I've said before that "Fury of the Energy Eater" is one of my favourites. The opening scenes gave me shivers as a kid, and the art, generally, is still some of the best Superman art ever (in my opinion).

You may have touched upon "The Man Who Murdered the Earth," a while back, India. I think we talked about it briefly, but I don't ever remember us talking about just what the heck the Golem is.

In a laboratory set-up right out of a classic Frankenstein movie, complete with atmospheric lightning and a scientist (Lex) who talks to himself, a large figure covered with a plastic sheet lies on a table.

quote:

---

Luthor:
From countless light-years away -- from the very birthplace of the universe -- I gathered particles and pieces of galactic matter -- until I had enough to build -- a man...

---

The stars in "proper conjunction," Luthor draws down "galactic energy" to breathe life into his creation.

posted June 29, 2002 05:28 PM    

Action Comics

1) # 438 (Aug. '74) "A Monster Named Lois Lane!" story: Cary Bates, 14 pages.

It's the kisses. The kisses and Lois. The kisses and Lois make this a memorable Oksner/Swan collaboration. I make no excuses for the story, or any of the stories in this list, since I'm not trying to select the best. Many of those best stories have already been mentioned in this long thread, and many more will be mentioned in other contexts. But it's the kissing that makes this simple story worth mentioning.

It begins with Clark and Lois sharing a cab ride and Lois has a cold. Clark gifts her with an unusual early birthday present--a necklace with a big honking jewelled pendant. In extreme close-up for a Swoksner panel, in gratitude Lois lays one on a surprised Clark.

Then there's a whole story about Lois becoming a monster (because of the jewellery that Clark gave her, actually some piece of alien stuff that he picked up as Superman, and because her immunities were down because she had a cold). And there's a nice little medium shot one panel flirtatious scene with Superman coming to the apartment of a pretty young lady (pretty in that Oksner way) who picked up the jewelry after Lois became a monster...

pretty lady: "...Why, yes indeedy, Superman, I found the necklace! But what's this danger number you're giving me? I've been wearing the necklace all day...and I look great, right?"

Superman: "No argument there, miss!"

And after Lois is restored to her pretty self, thanks to Superman, there's a another kiss scene at the end--not as extreme close-up, not as surprising, in fact kinda hesitant--between Lois and Superman.

2) # 439 (Sept. '74) "Too Big to Live!" story: Cary Bates, 14 pages.

Actually the final panel of the previous story showed Captain Strong inviting us to read a story about him in the next issue.

As Capt. Strong is an homage to Popeye, in this story we meet his fiancee Olivia Tallow, an obvious Olive Oyl stand-in. And the main "villain" of the piece seems like a Bluto/Brutus type, but appearances are deceiving.

Some humour is provided when Strong has to share an apartment with Clark Kent.

3) # 440 (Oct. "74) "The Man who Betrayed Krypton!" story: Elliot S! Maggin, 14 pages.

The actual story itself can't really live up to the (Nick Cardy) cover or the first page splash page. Both show Superman menaced by the accusatory phantoms of his parents, Jor-El and Lara. Of course it's all just a trick by some no good villains.

4) # 441 (Nov. '74) "Weather War Over Metropolis!" story: Cary Bates, 14 pages.

Guest-starring The Flash with the Weather Wizard as villain, this one gives Oscar Asherman (the WGBS weather guy) something to do in a story. Oscar has a face that looks too original for a comic book character--I wonder if he was based on a real person.

Superman and Flash foil the Weather Wizard by pulling the old costume switcheroo (switching costumes, somthing that superheroes like to do every now and then to keep their enemies guessing).

5) # 446 (Apr. '75) "Clark Kent Calling Superman...Clark Kent Calling Superman!" story: Cary Bates, 13 pages.

It's safe to say that I like any story that prominently features Lois Lane, when Swan and Oksner are doing the illustrations and when Lois has that longer hair. In this story, with a trench coat cut a few inches above the knee, and boots up to mid-calf, Lois is looking particualarily fetching. Oksner provides the cover on this one (I'm almost sure he did the pencils as well as the inks, although he has the annoying habit of not signing his work) and it's kind of sad that Oksner never did interiors on Superman stories.

Lois is trying to figure out how Clark contacts Superman. In the end she concludes it's the curl. She's noticed that Clark's curl falls over his forehead whenever he contacts Superman--thus it must be some vibration set off by a special chemical in his hair when Clark brushes his hand over the curl that signals Superman.

6) # 447 (May '75) "The Man who Created Superman!" story: Elliot S! Maggin, 13 pages.

Another in the Maggin "The Man who..." series, collect the whole set!

This one is about Uncle Joey. Uncle Joey was marooned on an island devoid of any humans, but populated by many beasts--including apes and tigers. He came to his island home before even Superboy appeared on the scene, yet somehow he "sees" everything Superman does (even before Superman does it) and tells stories about Superman to his animal friends, who sit and listen attentively.

There's a lot to love in this story. Including Steve Lombard. I love Steve Lombard in a Swan and Oksner story because it probably means I'm going to see another pretty lady. Lombard is always trying to make the moves on the latest young lass that catches his eye (often someone new to the WGBS staff) and trying to show up Clark Kent with some mean prank in the presence of this young cutie.

posted June 30, 2002 05:30 PM    

Action Comics

7) # 448 (June '75) "Don't Get off on the 13th Floor!" story: Elliot S! Maggin, 13 pages.

I'm using a strange computer terminal today which seems to be of Tybaltian origin, so hopefully this post will come out in the right format etc. (if not my deepest apologies).

One has to make certain allowances in judging the art on these stories. Given the info as communicated in the 2nd CBA collection, bad printing and adjustments in inking styles make for a somewhat uneven story. At points great, but other times a mess.

No apologies need be made for the story itself, however, which begins with TV detective Roy Raymond taping another segment of his new GBS show "Impossible But True," after which he joins his fellow Galaxy Communications co-workers, Clark Kent and Steve Lombard, in the dull grey hallways of that many-storied Galaxy building.

Steve's attentions, however, are soon distracted by another pretty young woman (great job on the hair Bob, pulled back with a black ribbon into a cascading pony tail). Pursuing his flirtation, Steve joins the nicely embellished female as she takes the elevator, leaving his companions behind (though Raymond declares that they'll get him back for the slight later). After his elevator pick-up gets off at her stop on the 16th floor, Lombard continues down to the 14th, but instead arrives at the "13th floor."

Meanwhile, outside the Galaxy building, a monstrous alien menaces the populace--Superman springs into action--only for the "monster" to be apprehended by "police" wielding a new ray beam.

Back at the elevator, Clark and Roy discover Steve as he comes through the trapdoor of the elevator car, and tells of finding himself on the "13th floor" as if floating in space. The Galaxy building, in accordance with superstition, doesn't have a 13th floor, and the actual 14th floor houses the offices of the Galaxy Record Company. Clark and Roy leave Steve on the elevator which transports him once more into this wierd spatial 13th floor. This time, Steve is pulled out of the floating car into the bizarre cosmos.

Unfortunately this backdrop is not as interesting as it could be. One yearns for Steve Ditko's Dr. Strange wierdscapes. By contrast this Swoksner bizarro realm is nowhere so wonderfully imaginative.

Meanwhile, a Steve Lombard races out of the elevator in the Galaxy building, and rampaging he turns into another monstrous alien (big green head). At the same time, Roy Raymond outside the Galaxy building counts the stories of that office tower and realizes that there's an extra floor. Once the rampager is brought to heal by Superman, it turns out that this is a vacationing Tybaltian. Maggin kicks up into full humourous mode, as the vacationer describes booking these vacations through a travel bureau, and arriving on Earth as a Steve Lombard lookalike (he's shown reading "Earth on Five Dropecks a Day")--the 13th floor is a Tybalt transportation arrivals/departure gate.

At the stories conclusion, getting back at Steve, Roy Raymond disguises himself as Steve Lombard, freaking out the real Lombard, who abandons his dinner date, Alice Herman, whom Raymond pick-ups. And Clark gives us a wink.

8) # 448 (July '75) "My Best Friend--The Super-Spy!" story: Elliot S! Maggin, 25 pages.

Back in-- 5) # 446 (Apr. '75) "Clark Kent Calling Superman...Clark Kent Calling Superman!" story: Cary Bates, 13 pages-- we learned that there was a shadowy figure operating as a spy at the Galaxy building--agent SU-6--who seems to be a Soviet operative. Just who this person might be is left a mystery at the end of that story. But in this story, by Maggin not Bates, the sub-plot is picked up.

Rather than try to describe the story itself, which is rather confusing involving a lot of androids, I'll leave it to the Galaxy staff meeting (with Edge, Lane, Olsen, White, and Kent in attendance) on page 24 which sums up these events. Take it away Jimmy...

Jimmy Olsen: "...As far as I understood it, the spy--whoever he is--got wind that Superman knew he was somewhere at Galaxy...And he wanted to throw Superman off his track by framing me! He had his top android dress up as my latest alias...And I guess the thing was supposed to act suspicious--and actually replace me here while I was frozen in that ice chamber! The spy even formulated an elaborate plan to capture Lois by having her go ape over a Lance Holloway android!"

Lois Lane: "A shame he wasn't the real thing, isn't it?"

Morgan Edge: "This is no laughing matter, Lois! Until Superman destroyed them, those androids were apparently controlling--and monitoring--every phone call in the building! As Galaxy Communications' most trusted employees, I'm asking you four to keep this strictly to yourselves...And report any suspicious behavior directly to me! Let's just hope our good luck holds out!"

I don't know if this sub-plot was ever resolved. It may be one of those storylines in the Schwartz Superman line that was never brought to a satisfactory conclusion (there were a few). If anyone recalls if the spy was finally revealed, please let me know.

A trend emerges around this time of the last page being used as an epilogue--a kind of add-on to the story, sometimes unrelated to the story, or possibly a humourous bit. The epilogue for this story has Clark arranging for Lois to interview her idol, the real screen star Lance Holloway, who in Clark's words turns out to be "a conceited ass!" Clark just wants "to make sure she appreciates what she's already got!"

The power of this story is somewhat muted by Lois's new short haircut. Not as cute in my judgement.

And a final note, this story was a giant, with Green Arrow and Atom reprints filling out its contents.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> more SWOKSNERs to come, soon =>

posted June 30, 2002 05:30 PM    

quote:

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Posted by India Ink:
5) # 446 (Apr. '75) "Clark Kent Calling Superman...Clark Kent Calling Superman!" story: Cary Bates, 13 pages.

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Mmm... More of that Oksner Lois.

You know, I can't ever remember identifying an Oksner cover outright, but you may be right here. Lois's face under that hat is just a little too petite and refined, and Superman seems a little too lantern-jawed. (Of course, a low point of view accentuates this.)

More exceptionally careless writing from Cary Bates here. Permit me to have a very quick review.

We have Lois and Clark at the mercy of a helicopter pilot who jumps from the whirlybird with a parachute. Lois can fly a helicopter, but the controls will not respond. The main rotor blade has been rigged to detach itself from the 'copter, and this it does, flying off in full spin.

Kent saves them by stamping through the bottom of the hull with his foot and using a cushioning blast of super-breath to lower them to the roof of the Galaxy Building.

All fine and dandy, but in typical Bates' style, we're supposed to conveniently forget about the detached rotor blade, just as Superman did. Presumably the blade went on its merry way and killed a few dozen people in mid-afternoon Metropolis.

Then Lois drops by to borrow Lola Barnett's "Ultra-High-Power-Intensity binoculars" which have an X-ray lens that can see through anything except lead. (How Cary got this garbage past the editor is beyond me.) These are the binoculars Lois will use to spy on Kent to find out how he contacts Superman in emergencies.

Then, in another plot development that would be more at home in a Mighty Mouse comic, Clark and Lois are standing right by a bank when the whole building blasts into the air using rockets which have been planted by bank robbers. Lois and Clark stand there watching as enough rocket thrust to lift a building weighing many hundreds of tons jets the building way up into the sky... And Lois's hair isn't so much as ruffled.

After dealing with the bank robbers, Superman finally notices that Lois has been carrying around a pair of super-binoculars, and he decides to play a trick on Lois. He lets her tail Kent through the streets. Lois is always in direct line of sight of Clark, and stays close. But when she has finished following him, suddenly she whips out the super-binocs to observe him.

Clark uses super-ventriloquism to yell, "It's Superman!" and when Lois looks up through the binoculars, she sees "Superman" flying through the sky, thanks to "miniature twin projectors... pre-timed to flash on an image..." which Superman has secretly installed in the binocs -- leaving Kent smirking in the alley where she'd last seen him.

(It must've been awfully crowded inside those binocs, what with a secret camera planted by the story's villain hidden in there too!)

Enough Bates' inconsistencies and careless contrivances to give Super Goof a headache, but we do have that cute Lois.

posted June 30, 2002 06:24 PM    

There's a certain look to Superman, and a certain look to any women, that arrives when Oksner is both penciller and inker. Much as I like Swan and the combination of Swan and Oksner, I feel that Bob is holding back when he has to slavishly ink over Curt (the faces of women seems to be the one area where he enjoys a bit of creative freedom). Oksner's potential for cuteness was most amply displayed over in the Shazam! books at this time--although on the Captain Marvel stories themselves he was compelled to ape the C.C. Beck style. The Mary Marvel stories, however, are the best example of Oksner. Bob was also doing some Wonder Woman covers around this time--covers which made me thirst for a full-out Oksner Amazing Amazon on the inside, but no such luck.

He did a cover on one of those tabloid-sized Limited Collector's Editions of Superman, with a kid riding on the back of a flying Superman, with the Statue of Liberty in the background (can't remember the issue number off hand). An absolutely beautiful cover and an example of Oksner's Superman at its best.

As for the Bates plot-holes, while provoking, I'm so used to them that I don't mind them so much. It's just Cary saying I have to get these characters from this point A to this point B and I'll use whatever impossible tricks I can to get them there. Questioning how they get from point A to B is like actors who asked Hitchcock how they were motivated to move from one point to another--Hitch didn't care how they did it, he just expected they should do it.

posted June 30, 2002 07:43 PM    

Superman

9) # 271 (Jan. '74) "The Man who Murdered Metropolis!" story: Elliot S! Maggin, 14 pages.

Another in the Maggin "The Man who..." series, collect 'em all!

But is Brainiac a man? I ask.

A popular story, and one of the first collaborations of Swan and Oksner, this one has Brainiac threaten to destroy Metropolis as a strange virtual image of the city looms over the real city--when the two "cities" come into contact Metropolis will disintegrate.

The story opens with a nice nod to reality, as Clark and Steve stand on the picket-line. Boss Edge stops by, but actually shows some respect, revealing that his father was a union man and he acknowledges their right to picket. (As someone whose father also was a union man, this plays to my socially concerned sympathies.)

This situation leaves management to fumble with the WGBS news broadcast--Edge, himself, filling in for Kent.

Perhaps the real cause for this story's fame (it was reprinted in the Superman in the Seventies tpb) is the several taunts that Brainiac hurls at Superman as they engage in their battles above Metropolis. Although Superman never seems to tumble to it, the astute reader realizes that the antagonistic android's jibes reveal his knowledge of the Action Ace's alias.

"Old Red and Blue," "Old Cigarette Smoke," "Old County in Southeast England," "Old Father of Modern Gardening," "Old 19th Century Jurist, "Old British Duke," "Old Star of Stage and Screen," "Old Canvas Painter," "Old Paleolithic Cavern"...

In an age when Anderson was still inking, this story maintains that level of embellishment.

10) # 281 (Nov. '74) "Mystery Mission to Metropolis!" story: Cary Bates, 20 pages.

For all its formulaic conventions of plotting, this is probably one of the finest single-issue stories Cary Bates ever wrote.

When stories are this good, I find it difficult to talk much about them.

Instead I'll give the barebones details: There's a biological link between one woman on Earth and another on a world trillions of light years away. When the Earth woman is killed in a petty hold-up, her alien twin also dies. That twin is the newly wed wife of Vartox, champion of his people.

Seeking vengence on the Earthling who killed his wife, the alien twin of Sean Connery (or maybe Burt Reynolds) comes to Superman's adopted planet. Having realized that an outright attempt to apprehend the killer would engage Superman in a battle that would end with Lois Lane's death (as he mentally projects such an outcome), Vartox instead dupes the criminal low-life into voluntarily travelling the trillion of light years to his home planet. Once there, the killer is sentenced to sixty years for murder.

The sentence, however, is carried out instantaneously advancing the criminal's age by sixty years.

11) # 283 (Jan. '75) "One of Our Imps is Missing!" story: Elliot S! Maggin, 6 pages.

Another title for this little back-up tale could be "Mr. Mxyzptlk Goes to Washington!"

It begins in the 5th dimension with officer Grflznk requesting the local magistrate put out a bench warrant for Mr. Mxyzptlk. Superman is contacted and he soon finds the mischievous imp in Washington, D.C.

There, Mr. Mx makes the statues of prominent historical figures come to life. Statues from the Capitol rotunda enter the floor of the senate to claim their long vacated seats. Daniel Webster takes his old seat from the current senator for New Hampshire.

When the imp makes a painting of Washington crossing the Delaware coming to life, the floor of the senate is flooded.

Next Mxy casts his spell on the Lincoln Memorial. Honest Abe, yawns and stretches as he stands up after years of sitting down.

Lincoln: "Ah me! Guess I'll mosey up to Capitol Hill...see what mischief the boys in congress are cookin' up for me today! ...By jingo--musta rained this morning! The grounds soft as a hog's belly at feedin' time! My achin' feet sure aren't actin' up today--feel like I'm walkin' on air!..."

congressman: "Look the Lincoln statue's come alive!"

senator: "No kidding! He was my boyhood idol! I always wished I could have met him!" [now seated on Lincoln's knee] "Mr. Lincoln, sir...It's an honor to meet you! I'm the senator from your home state of Illinois now!"

Lincoln: "Do tell! How stands the Union m'boy?"

Mxy wonders why everyone's making such a fuss over this Lincoln guy and Superman tells him that Honest Abe said the words inscribed on the wall of the monument: "Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new Klptzyxm, conceived in liberty and..."

When Mr. Mx reads this aloud he pops back to the 5th dimension. And as Superman flies off from Washington, he thinks, "...He hasn't pestered me in a long time...and I guess I sort of missed the little creep!"

12) # 286 (Apr. '75) "The Parasite's Power Play!" story: Elliot S! Maggin, 14 pages.

I think it's the funny cover, one by Oksner I'm sure, that made me like this story. It's kinda dumb, but oh well.

The cover shows a statue of Superman breaking from its pedestal and launching into the air. In the actual story, Luthor happens to be visiting the Superman Museum incognito. Also there, unbeknownst to Lex, is the Parasite who steals a bit of Luthor's knowledge and abilities and then proceeds to take over Luthor's operation. Vexed by Parasite's power play, Lex cheers on Superman. When the Parasite steals Superman's power, the Man of Steel falls near the Superman statue at the museum (the statue was carved from an alien meteor). Luthor can't stir the fallen Superman into action, but he does manage to channel the life force of the Metropolis Marvel into the statue's wierd substance. The power stealing abilities of the Parasite have no effect on the statue, but instead the criminal's powers are drained from him leaving him as poor Maxwell Jensen.

At story's end, Luthor pours a serum of his own devising into the mouth of the unconscious Superman, reviving him--and as the scientific genius does so, he says, "I want no one to beat you but me!"

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> more SWOKSNERs when I have more time =>

posted June 30, 2002 09:23 PM       

quote:

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Originally posted by India Ink:
I don't know if this sub-plot was ever resolved. It may be one of those storylines in the Schwartz Superman line that was never brought to a satisfactory conclusion (there were a few). If anyone recalls if the spy was finally revealed, please let me know.

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No - it never was, to my knowledge, and I remember this bothering me at the time - that they would leave a dangling sub-plot like that.

posted June 30, 2002 10:39 PM    

quote:

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Posted by India Ink:
In a Superman story we accept this reality that Superman puts on glasses and combs back his hair and becomes a totally different person called Clark. That's the convention of these stories, which we should accept. Drawing attention to the convention does not serve the myth.

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Exactly. And this is why I call Bates exceptionally careless. He honestly does not seem to give a damn about the integrity of the convention, and doesn't seem to understand its purpose.

quote:

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It's just Cary saying I have to get these characters from this point A to this point B and I'll use whatever impossible tricks I can to get them there.

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Then his argument that Superman's omnipotence is a challenge that can be overcome by a good writer (as opposed to the approach of Denny O'Neil) falls to pieces.

posted June 30, 2002 10:47 PM    

quote:

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Posted by India Ink:
10) # 281 (Nov. '74) "Mystery Mission to Metropolis!" story: Cary Bates, 20 pages.

....this is probably one of the finest single-issue stories Cary Bates ever wrote.

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One of my favourite Superman comics. Yes -- a great job by Cary Bates.

Vartox was a great creation, but unfortunately his sombre maturity and strength of character was soon discarded.

posted July 01, 2002 01:53 AM    

quote:

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Posted by India Ink:
Rather than try to describe the story itself, which is rather confusing involving a lot of androids, I'll leave it to the Galaxy staff meeting (with Edge, Lane, Olsen, White, and Kent in attendance) on page 24 which sums up these events. Take it away Jimmy...

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I've always liked this story. Talking of specific pages, pages 12 & 13 really appeal to me. The scene involves Kent doing a bit of snooping, using his super-strength in Earth-bound ways, like pulling apart a padlock and smashing in a door, and -- in one electrifying moment -- having his Kent clothes burned away by a security booby trap to reveal him as Superman....

quote:

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The power of this story is somewhat muted by Lois's new short haircut. Not as cute in my judgement.

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