Well I couldn’t jump on before if this is the first issue, now could I?
Wrath #1
Malibu Comics/Ultraverse (January, 1994)
“Outcast” chapter 1
WRITER: Mike M. Barr
PENCILER/PLOT: David Ammerman
INKER: James Fascoe
COLORIST: Tim Divar (what, no other group marked “interior colors”?)
LETTERER: Patrick Owsley
EDITOR: Dan Danko
He just had to sneak in a bit of Trump bashing into this, but the rest of the commentary is solid and worth showing.
Catch more from Pin Pop Productions on YouTube
I hope pun comes out correctly.
The latest Superman trailer released on Superman Day was more about James Gunn than Superman. It doesn’t inspire hope. This was the comic I started last week, which means I didn’t do an Easter comic this year and I’m kind of disappointed. Especially since we’re trying to convince certain parties that Superman isn’t Jesus, and yet even the calendar is fighting us. The comic is also a callback to when Ace had his own breed swap incident.
Over at The Clutter Reports this week I took time out during the week to clear up the seating section in my bedroom. And I still managed to hit my deadlines, even if I did auto-program one wrong. It was actually a productive week all around and I hope that continues into this week.
As for this week, there should be comic reviews, the next chapter of Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: Mirror Image, and whatever else I come across this week. Hope you had a happy and safe Easter (even if you don’t celebrate the rising of our Lord and Savior) and have a great week, everyone!
Yesterday was Superman Day, honoring the debut of Clark Kent and Lois Lane. I mentioned I’d show you one of the Superman serials from the 1940s. Unfortunately, YouTube doesn’t have a full episode that is coming up. I’m ready to blame Warner Brothers because they probably don’t know that the serials were in public domain because nobody protected them. Putting out your own version doesn’t change that.
Instead I have to go to DailyMotion, whose player I’m not a fan of, so I’m going to instead show the first episode of BOTH Superman serials. The first is simply titled Superman, from 1948, followed by episode one of the sequel, Atom Man Vs. Superman, the post-comics debut of Lex Luthor from 1950.
The first gives us an origin for how Superman came to Earth. Kirk Ayan is uncredited so that kids would just see Superman on the screen. His ability to play both the “Clark” and “Superman” identities so differently you believe he could pull the alter ego off is great. In the second, Lex does the typical serial mad scientist bit and takes on a secret identity of his own to challenge the Man Of Steel. Kind of too bad they show us this early in the serial.
Also notable is Noel Neill, who not only plays Lois Lane here but would return to the role in the Adventures Of Superman TV series, replacing Phyllis Coates in the second season, and later appearing as Lois’s mother in Superman: The Movie, where Ayan played Lois’ father. Neill would do other Superman projects as she was quite happy about being Lois. It’s funny to learn that The Adventures Of Captain Marvel would have been a Superman serial, but National Comics turned the project down. Republic did a better job finding a way to make Captain Marvel fly versus the “turn into a cartoon” approach Columbia Pictures went with since flying a human on wires didn’t quite work out in testing. (Republic used a posed mannequin, though both used a trampoline to help the actor get airborne.)
With that, I give you episodes 1 of Superman and Atom Man Vs. Superman. I recommend using the Internet Archive to find the full serials, which I just linked to or look for streaming or home video options. In testing, both videos started but were muted…except when they didn’t. So I’m sorry, but embedding off of the Internet Archive is a pain and this was the only other option I had. Enjoy.
Continue reading
Godzilla appeared in the DC Universe because of Warner Brothers’ “Monsterverse”, but Toho has opted to follow their friends at Tsuburaya Productions, who did an Ultraman series with Marvel. Back in the 1970s Godzilla rampaged through the Marvel universe, and far as I know it’s still canon. Now comes word of a new appearance by the King Of The Monsters in the Marvel universe.
Whether or not this one is also in canon we won’t know. We won’t get a Dum Dum Dugan rematch because he’s dead and was really a robot at the time because bad retcons. Someone needs to tell the article writer that Godzilla Minus One is another Toho continuity and not part of Warner Brothers’ “Monsterverse” though. Also not sure about tying him to adamantium. Not sure that’s necessary for the metal or the monster. Still, might look into it if I’m ever able.
It’s that time of the year again. Not Easter. That’s a couple of days away, though I guess it is Good Friday. Bad timing given all the attempts to stop trying to compare Kal-El to Jesus. Yes, it’s also Superman Day, the celebration of the first appearance of Clark “Superman” Kent and Lois Lane. Yes, people forget she debuted here as well. But she’s not my favorite superhero, so we’re talking Superman. I just want to acknowledge she got her start here.
So what do I do this year? In a previous Superman Day I already did a two part article about my favorite Superman comic book stories. I constantly bring up my favorite Superman comic and have shown you my favorite moment from Superman: The Animated Series. I have an entire YouTube playlist just for Superman defense videos I’ve collected around the site. And I’ve gone over numerous times why Superman matters so much to me and why he’s my favorite superhero. So what do I do this year?
Superman depictions.
I love the comics, but not everybody reads comics, and not all of them are media snobs who look down on comics. Some people just don’t like to read comics, and that’s fine. I enjoy novels. I enjoy video games. I enjoy TV shows and movies. So for this year’s Superman Day lets go over the shows and movies I think best understand what I love about Superman. Some omissions might surprise you. I like the George Reeves series well enough but they never gave Superman a decent threat. The first Christopher Reeves movie is okay but I have…notes, and I defend the Supergirl movie so you know I’m weird. Smallville is Superman Minus Superman and got a lot of the DC Universe history wrong. Superman & Lois just didn’t impress me in the first episode. Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman has a great line “Superman is what I do, Clark Kent is who I am” (paraphrase) but I have my issues with some of their takes as well, plus how the showrunners decided they could tell the source material when they can and can’t have the couple marry until the “important media” was good and ready. And while Super Friends is one of my favorite shows even today, and I’m happy MeTV Toons is airing the series, it’s all story and no character development until the final season, and Superman’s focus story is doing his death before the comics ever considered it. At least with Doomsday. So what’s on my list?
Is it just me, or is “the Champ” wearing lipstick?
Champion Comics #2
Worth Publishing Company (December, 1939)
Why start on issue #2? Apparently the comic did, just like Whiz Comics, the debut of the original Captain Marvel, Billy Batson. According to the Grand Comics Database there are rumors of a #1 created just for a promotional giveaway and there’s a copywrite for it (which would be expired by now, which means Comic Book Plus could have that up as well) but there’s no sign of it. So for all intents and purposes this is the first issue.
The Clutter Reports (my other site) Atop The Fourth Wall Crisis On Earth Prime Lean Into Artcast Bully Says “Comics Oughta Be Fun” Siskoid’s Blog of Geekery
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