posted March 09, 2003 04:35 PM    

There was one story that really put me through the ringer, a take-off on Ol' Yeller (but I hadn't seen Ol' Yeller, yet), where Krypto has got super-rabies and Superboy has to put him down. Oh man that story had me crying buckets. No! No! Superboy don't kill Krypto--wah!

If I had to get all psychologically complex, I think Krypto is that aspect of Superman that Clark would like to be, but can't.

posted March 10, 2003 01:37 PM    

quote:

---

India Ink:

There was one story that really put me through the ringer, a take-off on Ol' Yeller (but I hadn't seen Ol' Yeller, yet), where Krypto has got super-rabies and Superboy has to put him down. Oh man that story had me crying buckets. No! No! Superboy don't kill Krypto--wah!

---

posted March 11, 2003 03:19 PM    

But I spoke too soon. I have a comic drawn by Papp (and written by O. Binder) called "The War Between Superboy and Krypto!" in which Krypto turns nasty (or appears to), complete with curling lip and snarls.

posted March 13, 2003 07:54 PM    

While it may have some similarity to "Ol' Yeller"--I may have imposed more of that other story onto "Beware the Mad-Dog of Steel" than what is really there. It isn't actually Superboy himself who is called upon to put the dog down.

posted March 15, 2003 04:02 PM    

In the late sixties and early seventies I got most my comics from either one of two drugstores and the prospect of buying every issue of any title was just a pipedream, given that the drugstores were never consistent in what comics they carried, but somehow I began to follow a few titles and hunt down every issue. I remember when I bought Superboy no. 197, back in 1973, I realized that if I just kept buying Superboy in a few months I could have the 200th issue and I did buy that title right through no. 200 and then for the rest of its run. However 197 was also the beginning of Superboy starring the Legion of Super-Heroes (unofficially, later officially--and later still the title became just Legion of Super-Heroes) so really by 197 I was already too late to follow the adventures of Superman when he was a boy.

I did have all my sporadic issues of Superboy prior to 197, however. My mother encouraged the idea that one didn't have to have so many comics--you could just keep re-reading the ones you already have. I fell for that ideology grudgingly for a few years--afterall my mother should know about these things. But once I began to see through some of my mother's rationalizations, the entire dogma fell to pieces.

And over the years I have added some back issues (a small amount) to my read and re-read sparse collection of pre-197 Superboys.

In the past I've talked about some of my favourite reprint comics (Giants and Super-Specs) from the early seventies. Another one is Superboy 174 (G-83), May-June '71. This is the first Giant Superboy I ever bought. In fact I don't recall ever seeing any Superboy Giants on sale at the drugstores before this one (nor any Giant Actions, either, come to think of it). I suspect the drugstores didn't bother. Giant Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, World's Finest, Batman--and of course Superman--the drugstores had those in spades, but Superboy, a Giant? Probably too small potatoes for them to bother carrying it.

174 is advertised on the cover as being "A Super-Collection of Super-Animals!" On that Swanderson cover we see a super-bird, a giant-sized Krypto, a gorilla with super-vision, and a zoo from Krypton. Edited by ENB, all the stories have original publication details on their splash-pages. I won't detail them all here though, but "The Gorilla with Super-Eyes!" from Adventure 219, December, 1955, is the earliest dated story in the Giant. So this gorilla Chandu must pre-date Titano the Super-Ape (who first appeared in Superman 127, Feb., 1959).

Chandu's super-vision is the result of ingesting Kryptonite. Green K turned out to have the additional property of giving some Earthlings super abilities--a fact later exploited in the Smallville TV series. And a fact exploited in "The Bird with Super-Powers" which is a sequel of sorts to the Chandu story--Professor Lang figures prominently in both stories.

Of course, Krypto looms large in the legend of Superboy, and as boy's best friend the lovable pup lends himself to a certain assortment of obvious plots. These being stories that transform Krypto, stories that break the tie between boy and his dog, and stories that replace Krypto with another pet--and plots that combine these plots in assorted ways.

In "The Colossal Superdog!" (Adventure 262, July 1959), Krypto is affected by the rainbow radiations of a meteor that has fused with a chunk of Green K. The meteor enlarges Krypto, but the Green K gives him super-rabies. In this George Papp illoed tale, at one point Superboy flies into the maw of his enlarged pet and we see the slathering sharp canines of the fearsome Superdog.

As the story unfolds, unable to control his massive size, his brain maddened by the Kryptonite, Krypto has become a super-menace to the Earth. On cue appears an enigmatic military officer to inform Superboy that the army will destroy the dog, if that's all right with the Boy of Steel. Unable to find a cure for the super-rabies, a sobbing, tearful Superboy agrees that the dog should be put down for the sake of the world's safety. Then the military officer asks Superboy to get some Green K to destroy Krypto.

Superboy sends his robots off to get some Green K out in space, but the giant rabid Krypto uses a replica of the Washington Monument to make short work of the robots. However the War Department has a reserve Green K meteor which is fashioned into large shells. Superboy is asked to lure Krypto onto the army's firing range so they can exterminate the super-beast.

As Superboy flies ahead of Krypto over the firing range BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! the Green K shell casings explode against the white hide of the super-pup. Weakened, the over-sized Krypto plummets from the sky and crashes into the Earth. Falling below the Earth's surface, Krypto recovers from the weakening effects of the Green K, and now in a seething rage digs his way underground to a point beyond the army camp, where from a high, rocky vantagepoint he uses his heat vision to burn the barracks of the camp.

Superboy uses his super-breath to blow out the fire and then flies toward Krypto. But by this time Krypto is in the final stages of his rabid condition and has become paralyzed--his hot vision beams still streaming from his fixed pupils. Superboy props the frozen form of his once faithful pal upon a high rocky top so that the vision beams stream off harmlessly into space.

Hours later, Jonathan and Martha drive up looking for their son, asking him why he hasn't come home. The dejected Superboy tells them he has stayed to make a memorial to his pet. As Krypto can't actually die, he will remain continually in this vegetative state.

The Boy of Steel then flies off into space to be alone with his grief, puzzling over Krypto's medical condition. He discovers the two meteors fused together--the Green K and rainbow radiated rock--and Superboy exposes himself to their effects.

Arriving back on Earth he too becomes super-sized (although not rabid, I should add). His father asks him why? why do this to himself? And Superboy explains that radium and X-rays have been used to cure patients in hospitals. He now turns his super-intense eye-beams upon the paralyzed Krypto. Hours pass, but the X-ray treatment finally has its effect, purging the rabies from Krypto while at the same time causing him to shrink back to normal size.

Giant Superboy says his perfunctory good-byes to his parents and then flies off. Has he gone into exile? No, using lead-lined mirrors he bounces his X-ray vision back upon his own body, exposing himself to enough X-radiation to reverse the effects of the two meteors.

Another story, not cover-featured in this Giant, is worth a brief recap. "The Superdog that was Greater than Krypto!" (from Superboy 105, June, 1963) tells how Superboy and Krypto one day met up with a greyhound named Swifty.

Apparently dogs talk to each other via thought balloons. Krypto had an ego to match his powers--"Hi Swifty!" he says, "I'm Krypto! I'm merely the greatest dog in the whole doggone universe!"

At first, Krypto doesn't mind sharing Superboy with this other dog, but when Superboy gives Swifty a serum that grants him super-powers, Krypto sees himself being replaced in the affections of his best friend. After dismantling his Doghouse of Solitude, Krypto flies off into space in search of a new home. But he returns to Earth for one final glimpse of his beloved Superboy. Except he arrives in time to see Swify (the super-serum having worn off) drowning in the sea. Krypto won't bother to help the dog--oh, who is he kidding, he has to save Swify for Superboy's sake.

After returning Swifty to safe shores, Krypto prepares to leave Superboy again. Superboy realizes that his dog is upset and explains that he gave Swifty super-powers so that Krypto would have someone to romp with in space.

A caption at the bottom of the story's last panel reads: "Swifty did become super again. Do you want that story reprinted?"
Well, yeah, ENB, let's see that story reprinted. Oh, but I guess it never was.

NEXT: "The Mad Dog of Steel"

posted March 15, 2003 04:12 PM    

The Swifty story idea was repeated in the second story for Superboy 148 (June, 1968), "The Canine that Out-Classed Krypto." This time the "canine" is an alien creature--a stray Zkor--that follows Superboy home from outer space one day.

Zkor and Krypto try to outdo each other, but in the end Krypto realizes that he's met his match, and so the Dog of Steel decides he should probably just leave Earth. Then in a rainstorm he spots the Zkor laying helpless on the ground. Via telepathy, Zkor informs Krypto that the rain is killing him (apparently he's vulnerable to rain water). Again Krypto debates whether to save his rival, but decides he really has no choice but to save the new super-pet.

Zkor then leaves Earth--as rain is so common on this planet, the Zkor's life would always be in danger. But we see his own private thoughts once Zkor has left Krypto--in actuality the alien creature was faking being vulnerable to rain--not so, Zkor felt sorry for Krypto and concocted this excuse to leave Earth rather than usurp Krypto as Superboy's pet.

Along the lines of strange animal transformations, when exposed to Red K Superboy becomes first a super-chimp and then a super-sized gorilla in "Superboy Goes Ape!" (Superboy 142, October, 1967)--while his intellect devolves. Lana plays a similar role to that of Lois in "Titano the Super-Ape" (and prefiguring Lana's role in Superman 323, years later with Titano) getting the giant gorilla Superboy to ape her movements and put down a building while she puts down a dollhouse. This George Papp story also has one of the first one page panels within a story that I ever saw in a Superman family mag, when the King Kong Superboy first lifts up that building from its foundations.

Meanwhile, Beppo the Super-Monkey (who started out for Smallville from his jungle habitat to take on this super-gorilla because he was tired of beating up the regular gorillas in the jungle) has also been exposed to Red K, and he evolves. His thoughts--which were always much stupider than Krypto's--become intelligent, and now a double for Superboy he disguises himself as Clark Kent.

"The Colossal Superdog" idea is repeated in the second story for Superboy 140, July, 1967. Perhaps as a result of being forced to wear glasses around this time in my life, and maybe out of fears of what changes puberty might bring in my future, as a little kid I decided to give spectacles and facial hair to several characters in this comic book. But these corrections to the art were made mainly on the cover and the first story for 140. While the second story, "Beware the Mad Dog of Steel" was almost completely spared from my artistic endeavours.

That story has Krypto and Superboy discovering a Kryptonian space capsule below the sea. Bringing the capsule on board an old wrecked sailing vessel, Superboy retrieves its contents--deadly disease germs shot into space from Krypton before that planet exploded.

In the hot sun one of the beakers of germ-culture pops its cork and Krypto is splashed with a strain of super-rabies. And we see the lovable Krypto transform into a wild-eyed, large, wolf-like creature, with his huge sharp fangs dripping white saliva. Superboy flees the mad dog before Krypto has a chance to bite the Boy of Steel, for his super-rabid bite would be lethal to Superboy.

Krypto becomes a menace to ships and planes, and soon Superboy is being confronted by an enigmatic military officer who informs the lad that the army will be shooting down the Mad Dog of Steel with Kryptonite shells.

Next thing we see, the army is about to shoot down Krypto with the Green K shells as the dog flies into range. But Superboy appears at the firing range and begs them to stop and give him one hour to solve the problem. Then Superboy leads the wild dog on a chase which goes underground beneath the Earth's surface. Below in a cavern he tries to reason with his pet, but Krypto turns on him and delivers a vicious bite to Superboy's foot.

The stricken Superboy retreats to his parents' home where he collapses, weakened by the super-rabies invading his body. The sad parents worry over their son, fearing for his life, as he lies in a delirium in his sick bed.

Meanwhile, the army is ready to kill the Mad Dog of Steel and they fire their Green K shells at Krypto as he once again flies in range of their big guns. But just then the flying dog shrinks back to his normal form, and the Kryptonite shell misses its target.

Now a chastened Krypto returns to the bed-side of his failing master. Superboy forgives his old friend and instructs Krypto to bring the other Kryptonian germ cultures to him. Krypto doesn't understand but follows his command and brings back all the cultures, then smashes a beaker of "Blue Plague" according to Superboy's instructions. Dogs are immune to Blue Plague, but not Kryptonian humans--however the one disease fights off the effects of the other, and Superboy recovers from his rabies infection in seconds.

NEXT: The strange chronicles of Superboy--and Superbaby!

posted March 15, 2003 04:19 PM    

Professor Lang holds a masquerade party for his daughter and her little friends on board his schooner. Pete Ross is dressed like Robin Hood, although he looks like a miniature Green Arrow. Lana is costumed as a nurse. That funny little kid, Lex Luthor, is made up to look like a pirate buccaneer. While little Clark, in a leopard skin outfit and holding a club, is supposed to be Samson.

Everytime the mobsters try to do some bad deed their efforts are inadvertently fustrated by Superbaby Clark. Although no one catches on (even Clark doesn't realize that he actually has saved the day)--except for little Lana whose suspicions are aroused by story's end.

Although Krypto didn't arrive on Earth until some years later, the writer is determined to get Krypto into the act somehow. So another puppy (that happens to look like Krypto when he was a pup) ends up getting a red towel glued to his back, so he looks like a puppy Krypto. And the writer manages to get the puppy to do things (like seeming to fly) that only Krypto could do.

Now that's writing! When I was a kid we didn't admire phoney skills in writing like so-called realism or character development. The mark of a real writer was how skillfully he could do clever bits in a story that we never thought he could get away with. That's what impressed us! Wow, he got "Krypto" into the story anyhow--that writer's a genius!

In this story, Jonathan and Martha are old. Not as old as when Clark was a teen, but they've still got the white hair. In the late sixties (in Superboy 145, although I don't have this specific issue), Jon and Martha got a face-lift, becoming years younger (thirty-something?) with brown hair both of them--and no glasses. This made for some wierd stories when it came to Superbaby.

For instance, in Superboy 167, July '70 (as illustrated by Bob Brown and Murphy Anderson)), in "The Day Superbaby Blew Up The World" the thirtyish no-glasses Kents tell Superboy a story about when he was a Superbaby--and in these flashback scenes the Kents are fortyish (although they still have the brown hair, they're showing signs of advancing age around the face--and they have glasses).

By the time of that story, Murray Boltinoff was already the established editor on Superboy. Boltinoff is also editor on Action when "Superbaby's Lost World" appears in the back pages of the April, 1971, issue 399. That story, illustrated by Swan and Anderson, shows a white-haired Jonathan and Martha--looking younger than some of their white-haired Superboy appearances but still older than themselves in 167.

Finally, in the October '71 issue of Superboy, no. 178, to avoid any confusion for new readers (I presume), the Kents are youngish in "Superbaby's First Friend!" illustrated by the Brown/Anderson team--at least Martha is (we don't see Jon up close in this story), although she has glasses. And by issue 192 (December, 1972), there's no difference between the Kents in the lead Superboy story or the Superbaby back-up ("Superbaby's New Family")--the Brown and Anderson team make them look young and beautiful in both stories, with no glasses!

NEXT: Does anybody really know what year it is?

posted March 15, 2003 04:28 PM    

One of the many "get out of town" stories that DC used to do all the time in its comics--and which seemed to be a Superboy specialty--the opening sequence for "Leave Us...Or We Perish!" is beautiful.

quote:

---

The 1930's...years of Superboy's teen-hood...years when a madman was rattling the chains of war over a trembling Europe...
<the Brown and Anderson art shows Hitler above a sea of people shouting "Sieg..Heil! Sieg...Heil!" swaztikas everywhere>
...While safely shielded by the vast Atlantic, the great sleeping giant of America...as yet untouched by the distant rantings of this would-be conqueror!
<the curvature of the Earth, showing the Eastern coastline of America>
And deep in the protected heartland of the U.S. the little town of Smallville, home of Superboy, is blissfully unaware of its coming importance!!
<a Newsboy is shown hawking his papers--"read all 'bout it!"--while a townie says to his wife--"Like I told yuh, Mabel--nobody wants war! Let's see how the 'Babe' did in yestidday's ball game!">
While a secret footnote to history occurred that could never be revealed till now!*
<in the Nazi war-room Hitler speaks to his generals--"My plans for world conquest are complete! But--there is one obstacle that must be removed first! Superjunge--that decadent democratic hero! "--and a general answers "Ja, mein feuhrer--already we have begun 'Mission: Liquidate'!">
* <footnote at the bottom of this panel> The minutes of this secret meeting were found in enemy documents captured after the war!

---

The remainder of the story then tells how saboteurs came to Smallville and left threatening messages telling Superboy to leave the world or they would destroy Smallville. The scared townsfolk convince Superboy to go into outerspace. Meanwhile, Jonathan Kent tracks down the Nazi saboteurs who have mined the entire town with explosives in the power mains below Smallville.

From high above in space, monitoring Jonathan Kent with his vision powers, Superboy uses heat vision to explode the water main, flooding the entire underground system, which takes out the landmines but also kills Jonathan Kent. Except it turns out that this is really the Jonathan Kent robot.

I suspect Frank Robbins knew there were changes in the works for Superboy's timeline, and so he used this issue as an opportunity to deal with a subject (Nazi Germany) he would never get a chance to address in the future.

I don't have the issues in-between--although apparently there's a clue in issue 170 involving Superboy travelling through time--but 171 would inaugurate the new change to the timeline.

Cover-dated January, 1971--the story in 171, by the usual team of Robbins/Brown/Anderson--has Superboy meeting Aquaman (called Aquaboy) for the first time in "Dark Strangler of the Seas!" This story is interesting for all kinds of reasons--including its pollution-conscious plot which has the super-friends stopping oil-leaking tankers in the ocean (Superboy returns these to the Arabian sands, where he lets out all the oil). We see--I think for the one and only time--Aquaboy's red-haired girlfriend, Marita, who seems to be a willing pawn of the oil conglomerate that seeks to foil Aquaboy and Superboy--decked out in her matching green fish-scales bustier and hot-pants--hubba, hubba.

On the 22nd page--after the story, but before the special two page "A new year brings a new beginning for Superman 1971" that was carried in all the super-books for January--there''s a full-page "editor's note" illustrated by Brown and Anderson.

Instead of the usual "The End" sign-off on page 21, it says "The Beginning..." and the editor's note picks up on that.

quote:

---

Editor's Note: But when was this "beginning" in Supeman's youth? Perhaps some sharp-eyed readers have already caught the sneaky "boo-boo" we planted in our last issue when Superboy returned to his own time... in 1955! And the updated technology of this latest story...we-ll...
...If Superman is now 29 years old...
...Superboy had to be in his "teens" between 1951 and 1957! But...
Since Superman was created full-grown in 1938, his youth had to take place earlier! But as time went on, Superman stayed the same...29...while Superboy...
...remained stuck in a time slot not of his own making! So-o...
...We decided to rescue him! And from now on he'll tag along behind the eternally 29-year-old Superman...and "stay with it" as the years roll on!
That's it! Superboy has come of age...And it's all yours! Positively the "living end"...till next issue!

---

To go along with these captions, Brown and Anderson have fashioned some cool panels. The first panel shows full-grown Superman standing against a back drop that lists a column of years (going up from the 1930s to 1970). The second panel has the same idea with Superboy against a back-drop going up to 1957. The third panel shows a hand holding a pencil drawing Superman, while a day-by-day desk calendar shows the year 1938. The fourth panel shows a forlorn Superboy in the foreground, while in the background a 1930s town scene unfolds behind him. And the fifth panel shows Superboy flying in the sky following after Superman--floating among the clouds behind them are the years 1955 (behind Superboy) and 1970 (behind Superman).

END OF SUPERBOY SURVEY

posted March 15, 2003 11:22 PM    

Thank you for all that work and insight.

There is so much good-hearted humour in your work above. I chuckled when you talked about being forced to wear glasses, because I had a similar experience at what sounds like a similar age (although I don't wear 'em now).

I have a brief one- or two-page editorial explanation of Ma and Pa's old-young age shift in one of my Superboy comics... (I tried to find it a few minutes ago, but it's like looking for a needle in a haystack.) The explanation tells of how Superboy was being secretly filmed by an extraterrestrial film-maker who, in order to cut costs, starts using footage of Superboy and his life in place of the scripted and acted show he was supposed to be supplying. At one point the producer, I think, requests that the Kents will have to be updated from old fuddy-duddies to younger, more hip parents in order to maintain ratings. So, using alien chemistry, the film-maker reverses Ma and Pa's aging and now they are suddenly in their 30s instead of their 50s or 60s.

To cover this transformation, Superboy uses the remainder of the chemical, which he has traced, to affect a group of the Kents' friends at a barbecue or similar get-together. As the other oldies de-age (revert to their younger selves), the Kents (who had come to the gathering disguised as their regular old selves) now remove their disguises and feign shock at being young again, like everyone else.

I think I got that right. I haven't read the comic for years. I think it may have been drawn by Bob Brown. I think this was the era when Wally Wood was sometimes working on Superboy. I have a number of Superboy comics worked on by Wood, including the disturbing "Superboy's Darkest Secret!" written by Frank Robbins and pencilled by Bob Brown.

But that little explanation of how the Kents suddenly appeared young in the comics was rather clumsy. Who could take it seriously? It was presented with a straight face, though.

And I wonder if the producer in the story was not the upper editorial management of DC who gave the equivalent order to the artists and writers: instead of those old fuddy-duddies for parents, we now want Superboy to have younger, more hip parents...

posted March 16, 2003 12:15 AM    

There was a section in the Boltinoff issues, for a while, where Superboy explained different things about himself--I think these usually one-page sections were often inked or pencilled by Wally Wood.

I really like Anderson on Brown--man, that Marita has some profound assets--Aquaboy was a lucky guy, so what if she landed him in the nick.

Over on the archives board in response to a post of mine about the thirties timeline--

quote:

---

Originally posted by Old Dude:
They were pretty sloppy about it, however.

Everyone in Smallville was watching Television. This went on for years. A reader finally pointed out that there was no TV back in Superboy's day. Suddenly all the antennas came down, and everyone went back to listening to the radio.

---

I can just see the DC continuity police arriving with a big moving truck in Smallville. The look of shock and depression on the faces of the townspeople. Their glum resignation. A few desperate folks who try to stash their sets in the hayloft. No point--the DC continuity police see all, know all. Dejected they surrender their RCA sixteen inch colour sets. That night, the townsfolk in their individual homes sit in a funk next to their radiator sized radios. Mabel says to her hubbie, "We can always listen to Benny!" The husband shakes his head, "T'aint the same Mabel. Just t'aint the same" and he stares off into the emptiness thinking of Uncle Miltie in a dress.

Actually I never thought about the wierdness of Superboy's timeline in the entire time I was reading those stories, UNTIL I read that editor's note in 171. Oh yeah, I thought, it does look like olden days--I guess that is strange!

When I was reading these stories for this posting, I didn't bother to look up any credits that weren't obvious, because I didn't want my opinion to be coloured by extraneous information.

Let's see what GCD has to say...

It says Jerry Siegel wrote the Superbaby story in 102--I would have guessed Otto Binder--and it says Al Plastino inked his own pencils, while my guess was John Forte inking Plastino's pencils. They have ENB writing the Beppo story in 142 (Great cover! I haven't seen that cover in decades--my copy lost its cover very soon after I bought it). And Bates on the Zork story in 148 (by the way the first story in that ish is illoed by Swan & Klein with the Kents as young beautiful people, while the Papp art on the Zork story has Pa Kent with the white hair). I never would have even questioned that Papp inked his own work in most of the stories--but they have Frank Springer inking George in 140 and 142.

posted March 16, 2003 04:46 PM    

"Smallville Mailsack" (B-687)

Dear Editor:

Have you thought of setting a time period for Superboy and leaving him there permanently? As a result, Superman would begin to age, which to me seems most intriguing. Superman would marry Lois, and a son would be born to them. The child would inevitably grow up. Readers would really "grow up" with the Superman Family. Come the early 1980s, and a new Superboy would be introduced. I can see "Superboy, Son of Superman" becoming the regular second feature in Action Comics. He could even take over Adventure Comics, thus giving him his own mag without creating confusion between that and this SUPERBOY mag. When he becomes an adult, HE will become the star of the magazine Superman.

In the meantime, how thrilling it will be to watch things change on paper as they actually change for us humans. Superman will slowly age as will his enemies, like Luthor. Lois will struggle to raise their super-brat we so often see in those imaginary stories. And Perry White will pass on. And if Superman wants to relate how things were in his day, he can do so in flashback sequences.

It's all so exciting, I can't wait for your verdict.

Gary Skinner, Columbus, O.

These are excerpts from a lengthy letter. We are indeed indebted to Garulous Gary, who writes us at the drop of a pen, for a very intriguing notion. Mort Weisinger has vacated the editorship of the Superman Family of magazines, with Julius Schwartz, Nelson Bridwell, and Ye Ed (Murray Boltinoff) assuming his former functions. Under the guidance of our Editorial Director, Carmine Infantino, changes are already taking place which we are unable to reveal for the present but which will shortly be revealed.

From our own editorial point of view, we've been sufficiently impressed by Gary's ingenious idea to bring it to the attention of all concerned. A radical change of such import will demand time to consider, weigh, and reflect.

Admittedly, we've demonstrated in the past that Superman is susceptible to a natural aging process because he attained maturity from Superboy. But, on the other hand, we've always entertained the romantic, possibly fictional notion that Superman is immortal, a symbol of the good will in all men. To alter this image by humanizing him to the nth degree surely demands nothing less than a Solomon-like decision.

In the meantime, we would be grateful to get your reaction. Would you write us at the address that appears at the top of this page?--Ed.

What surprises me about this exchange (from the same issue that contained Robbins' Nazi story), isn't Gary's idea--which even back then wasn't novel among the fans--but Murray's positive and encouraging response to it.

Food for thought. After Mort vacated his chair--was everything up for grabs??? Who knows what changes we might have gotten!

posted March 16, 2003 05:56 PM    

It was just as well theat the Superboy office permanently sealed this particular can of worms so soon after opening it.

During the Weisinger years, Morty instilled in his young and impressionable readers the zen-like ability to hold two contradictory thoughts in their minds simultaneously.

Superboy..."teenage" Superman "before he grew up"... existed back in the Prohibition and New Deal era. Okay.
Superman... "Superboy as a man"... existed perpetually NOW and seemingly unaging, though since his comics had begun in 1938, he had "been around" at more or less the same age since he finally "grew up" that year. Okay.

By trying hard to avoid drawing attention to the inconsistency, Weisinger managed to more or less preserve the illusion... but the slightly older, more jaded readership of the later 1960s found it starting to wear a bit thin.

Then Boltinoff yanked the veil from before their eyes... and the problem of Hitler arises.

Are we to believe that Superboy stood passively by, peeking in on the Nazi death camps from afar with his super-vision? That he shrugged his shoulders and said "Oh well, what can I do? The Germans elected that guy fair and square." Or even that he wrung his hands and moaned, "If only my moral code allowed me to intervene in these types of human affairs! But I'll stick to fighting only American bank robberies."

What a betrayal of the original Siegel and Shuster, champion of the oppressed concept!

Morty could shrug it off during the Cold War with "Superman doesn't interfere in politics". But when you bring Hitler on stage, and have the Nazis attack Superboy FIRST, on American soil... are we to believe he does nothing? That Pa Kent would instill THAT KIND of "non-interference in human affairs" in his boy's moral code, knowing that Pete Ross and the other boys of Smallville would do their part, and go off to be killed in a potential war with Germany, someday possibly quite soon?

posted March 16, 2003 09:15 PM       

Way before the Kents turned young DC had already showed their deaths. From Caribean Plague Fever. Not just fever. Not just plague. Plague Fever.

After they were made younger the official line was that the Plague Fever reverted them to old age before it killed them.

Krypto was also going to be put to death for "killing" Clark Kent. I can't remeber the issue number but if anyone asks I'll dig through my boxes. Superboy put Krypto down by exposing him to kryptonite from a lead box.

Gary Skinner also had a great idea for why Superman didn't have to eat. Because he was a "living solar battery." Somewhere around Superman 212 I think. I will post it when I find it.

IIRC the Kents were made young just as someone posted. Because of a movie being made by aliens. It was an interesting commentary on the lengths Hollywood would go to save money. Hey, at least it wasn't a "space jewel."

Great thread!

Bill

posted March 16, 2003 11:56 PM    

Welcome to the thread, Bill. FYI, in case you don't know, but probably you do--there's an index on pages 26, 27, 28. Or just go to this topic I made for the index, called "From the Pages of Superman in the 70s"...
http://dcboards.warnerbros.com/files/Forum89/HTML/001873.html

I remember in the sixties that there was much complaint from some quarters about the de-aging of the Kents--the ageism of it all and everything.

But though it kinda made me scratch my head, I have to admit I preferred the Kents younger rather than older (still do).

I just wish they didn't bother to explain it so much.

I'm for blind retcons--no "events," no zero hours, no gene-bombs--just go in there change the continuity and don't bother with explanations that don't make sense anyhow.

In a Giant Superboy--not that I ever saw it--I think they reprinted the death of the Kents story and changed the heads. At least that's what I remember reading somewhere. I think the theme of the Giant was "Superboy's Red Letter Days."

That was probably during Weisinger's time. But then I think they also used the explanation that the de-aging had been undone by the plague--so there was no real need to change the heads. There was probably some fan debate about that in the lettercolumns that I'm half-remembering.

Later on in the Schwartz era I believe they suggested that the de-aging effect slowly wore off (I think Superman says something along those lines in Action 500). So in Superman Family, Adventure Comics, and The New Adventures of Superboy, the Kents started to show their age again. Still with the brown hair, but older, and wearing glasses as I recall.

The simple retcon version I would have preferred: The Kents are mid-thirtyish when they find little Kal-El. And pushing fifty toward the end of their lives, showing a bit of grey. In their youth they don't wear glasses for anything but reading and sewing (which is why Martha keeps hers in her sewing basket). But as they mature they need to wear glasses most of the time.

Even when Byrne tried to re-assert the agedness of the Kents his retcon was undone somewhat. I hated those Hobbit-ish Kents that Byrne did--but my how they have grown. And Jonathan has back all his hair.

posted March 17, 2003 03:20 PM    

Me am SO smart Uncle Brainiac let me pilot his spaceship all the way back to Krypton after Uncle Brainiac and his friends take me for visit to planet with yellow sun. Uncle Brainiac has Twelfth Level Effector brain, so him too smart to let me steer ship unless me know what me am doing!! Me do loop-de-loops with fun spaceship and Uncle Brainy have lots of fun. (You can read whole great cool story in SUPERBOY #106 or SUPERMAN FAMILY reprint in 70s.)

When me tell Daddy Kent about it later on Earth, he think me make it all up after reading "Ransom of Red Chief" by Earth writer O.Henry, but frankly me not see much similarity. Superbaby am not plagiarist!!

Me have to go get Mama Kent to change my diaper now. Me just laid big "Kryptonite Nugget"! She call it that because she has to put on airtight lead armor just to get near it! Bye-bye!

posted March 22, 2003 08:33 PM    

Well, that's a turn-up for the books. I had boxes of comics lying around in my room and I came across this really old "Superman Presents TIP TOP Comic Monthly" No. 78 from Colour Comics Pty. Ltd. of Australia. Undated, but looks like it's from the very early 70s.

The cover shows Lilith of the Teen Titans in a fetching green miniskirt about to be grabbed by a skeletal monstrosity, with Kid Flash in the background shouting a warning.

The first story is "Less Than Human!?" by Bob Haney. The art is by Cardy (my favourite DC cover artist?) and Tuska. This bizarre adventure involves the Titans having to teach a 17-year-old caveman from out of the distant past to speak English in time to testify at a criminal trial!!!!! (No, I still can't quite believe it, even having read the story, but is that Haney all over or what?)

Anyhow, in the middle of the book is "I Am Curious (Black)!" from Lois Lane No. 106 (1970).

The original Lois Lane cover is not reproduced, so I went hunting for the image on the Internet. I found the cover, but I also came across mention of the story as part of the contents of the "Superman in the 70s" TPB of not so long ago. I've never seen the TPB, so I was also very surprised to see (in the contents) "Who Was That Dog?" which I reviewed recently. Kind of a waste of time, really, as the story was out there for everybody to see anyway. (Nobody told me.)

I was going to talk about this odd little comic by Kanigher, Roth and Colletta, but there's little point, I guess. Far from being an obscure 1970s comic, it's out there in the comic shops right now in the 70s paperback.

posted March 22, 2003 09:01 PM    

This sort of carry-on was par for the course in the Superman-Batman team-ups for World's Finest, etc., but even something so simple as the Teen Titans cover (in attempting to dramatise a situation) is glaring in its misunderstanding of the super-power of the characters.

Kid Flash, twenty feet behind Lilith, raises his hand and shouts a warning as an attacker
reaches for her... Yet this is the same Kid Flash who could circumnavigate the globe in two seconds, and who could run to Lilith's side and fight off the monster before the sound waves of his shout even reached her...

posted March 23, 2003 12:18 AM    

It never occurred to me to mention that "Who was that dog" was contained in the tpb, either--I didn't think this would matter so much to you!

I don't see that this has relevance, since many don't have the tpb.

I'm sure that many posters do have some of the comics I've reviewed, but I haven't let that stop me from talking about these books anyway.

Back when I discovered that there was a Superman through the Ages site, I figured there was no point in talking about the stories that are included at that site. But I was wrong.

We should review these stories.

As many of us are apt to file away our books after reading them, it's good to have memories refreshed. And when someone talks about a story they liked (or even hated) new facets come to light that we may not have thought about.

I usually find in talking about the stories new ideas are sparked in my mind, leading me to think about other stories. And so on.

posted March 25, 2003 03:19 PM    

quote:

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Or didn't you read that issue?

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No... But it's good to know the important things will survive...

I take your point. Yes, I'd like to come back to "I Am Curious (Black)."