I Rann, I Rann So Far Away... Showcase #17

Adam Strange is an ordinary, everyday archaeologist. Well, more like a movie serial archaeologist who happens to discover a lost Incan treasure (without lifting a shovel) gets chased by hostile natives and leaps over a cliff. But that's not the far-fetched part.

As Adam makes his risky leap, he is teleported from Earth to the planet Rann, orbiting the "star-sun" Alpha Centauri- 25 trillion miles away. Strange finds himself in the company of a pretty young woman who takes him to see her scientist father. Their language barrier is overcome easily by hooking Adam to the "Menticizer" a "remarkable device that lets our children talk from the day they are born!" - I love how space people and people from the future always seem so excited by what are clearly mundane things in their own world. - Also, "children talk from the day they are born?". Really? What do they say? "Hungry!", "Wet!" "Sleepy!" "There you are!"... what a breakthrough.

Once Adam can understand Alanna and her father Sardath, Sardath explains Adam's bizarre arrival on the planet Rann. Apparently, Rann sent out radio beams to Earth a little over 4 years ago hoping to communicate with Earth. Somehow the radio beams were transformed into a teleportation beam or "Zeta-Beam". It took a little over 4 years because Alpha Centauri is 4.3 light years from Sol.

Now I'm no astrophysicist, but firstly, do radio waves travel at light speed?? Not that I'm aware of. Secondly, if the "Zeta-Beam" travels at light speed and it took 4.3 light years to reach Earth... wouldn't it have taken another 4.3 years for Adam Strange to reach Rann????

Any way, despite Rann's superior, advanced technology it takes a clodhopper from Earth to defeat an alien invasion (don't you people rate a Green Lantern?). Which just happens to start right after Adam Strange arrives. Which is pretty much the theme of every Adam Strange story of the entire Silver Age.

Adam Strange is a likeable comic. It borrows heavily from John Carter of Mars and Buck Rogers, but has it's own, unique voice. The way each story ends with Adam being teleported back to Earth, away from a world of adventure and the woman he loves is somehow genuinely poigniant. Strange lives his life on Earth counting the days, hours and minutes until the next Zeta-Beam to Rann. I can imagine a few readers found themselves counting the weeks until the next issue of Mystery in Space.

Luthor Steals the Sun, Superman Saves the Day, I get a Headache.

I found this little gem in my local comics shop's bargain basement for $1. It's a 1997 reprint of a 1953 Superman in 3-D. The GCD says it was included as a freebie with Superman Red/Superman Blue. Sadly, the "Super Glasses" were no longer in evidence, but I have a spare pair of 3-D glasses I keep with our comics just in case.

I read part of this this morning and part of it in the evening. I discovered that, although the comic looked wonderful in natural light, incandescent lights and 3-D glasses make me kind of sick. Also, the effect was far weaker by light bulb.

The story is fun. Lex Luthor uses a space ship with a force field to blot out the sun and holds the world for ransom. Superman is at his god-like best, immediately flying into action to build underground cities where mankind will survive into the future (?). Superman does a lot of flying around and battling missiles and tidal waves. Lois Lane perfunctorily gets herself captured.

Once Superman discovers who is blocking the sun and how, The Man of Steel simply busts in and punches Lex in the face.

A little anti-climactic.

It was nice to see Lex Luthor doing some evil science. I much prefer this Lex Luthor to the evil businessman-cum-president of today's comics.

The second feature was a 3-D retelling of Superman's origin. A retro-rocket in 3-D is a beautiful thing, my friends.

Happy Boxing Day.

I've been busy lately, what with Christmas and all and I haven't had much time to write much of anything for y'all, much less read anything to write about.

The Bias' had a good Christmas. My kids got loads of good stuff from us and our family and Santa. I got several original and repro Mego dolls (in case any of you ever need to shop for me) and some old superhero cartoons on DVD and a Lone Ranger DVD box set of the later, color episodes.

We arrived home this evening to find that the vintage ViewMaster reels I ordered for my wife, Amy(aka,Spectergirl) at the last minute had finally made it (hooray!)

I have no regrets. I lack for nothing. Sadly, however, no-one bought me any of the collected volumes of comics I asked for. Which means I will have to work that much harder to go through my collection of reading material and find something worth sharing, commenting on, mocking, etc.

I Was Totally Taken In

There are many ads which ran in comic books over the years. Some memorable ones- the countless offers for huge sets of army men for next to nothing (they were 1:72 scale- a fact which was not disclosed in the ad), offers to sell Grit newspapers and Olympic greeting cards, the ubiquitous X-ray specs and Giant Monster ads. But the one that will always be the most iconic ad campaign to run in comics has to be the Sea Monkeys.

Oh the wonders those ads promised! Look at that happy family of fantastic, aquatic creatures. And they do tricks! Sadly, the advertisers have colored the truth a little.

The example above is a latter-day ad which includes a close-up view of an actual "sea monkey", the lowly brine shrimp. The brine shrimp (commonly sold as fish food) is a life form so simple it can survive being dehydrated and then resume life upon contact with water (which makes them convenient to mail). They look nothing like the cute, pink, sea people depicted in the ad. As to tricks... well they do respond to certain stimuli by doing a sort of flip.

Although I never could bring myself to cut up a comic book, even as a kid, I really pity the poor kids who cut up their comic book and mailed in their hard-earned money just to get some plankton by mail.

Who The #$@% is Captain Flash?

Wow! When I posted the poll last week, I never expected to have 100% of the response be "Who the #$@% is Captain Flash".

Honestly, I discovered his existence by pure chance. I was looking at the custom action figure galleries on the Mego Museum site when I saw a fantastic custom is Captain Flash by Troy "Aquatroy" Younger and noticed his figure of Captain Flash. " "Who the #$@% is Captain Flash", I thought. So I looked him up and discovered the following:

Captain Flash was a short-lived superhero published by the equally short-lived Sterling Comics in 1954. His comics series only lasted for 4 issues before Sterling closed its doors. Captain FLash is considered by some (Including Uncle Scrooge writer/artist and comcis historian Don Rosa) to be the first Superhero of the Silver Age. A title usually claimed by The Flash.

Captain Flash was professor Keith Spencer. Spencer accidentally exposes himself to a deadly dose of cobalt during a routine experiment. His doctor tells him to go home and make himself comfortable, as he is definitely going to die. Spencer retires to his home and tends his rose garden. Strangely enough, he notices that his heavily irradiated body has no ill effects on his plants. In fact, Spencer begins to feel stronger.

Spencer discovers that by clapping his hands together, he can trigger a "miniature atomic explosion" within his body that gives him super powers. He decides to become "America's Ace Defender" as Captain Flash and he teams up with his young friend Ricky Davis who becomes his eponymously named sidekick, Ricky.

So what's all the fuss? Well, for one thing, Captain Flash is one of very few new heroes of the 1950's. He predates DC's revamp of the flash by nearly two years. In the second place, he's the earliest of the Atomic super heroes, predating Solar, Captain Atom and Nukla by years. His origin story would feel right at home as a Silver-Age Marvel story, as would his quirky stable of supervillains.

Another element that makes Captain Flash seem so at home in the Silver Age is the look of the comic. Drawn by future JLA artist Mike Sekowsky, the look and feel of Captain Flash is well ahead of it's time. Personally, I prefer Sekowsky's art on Captain Flash to his legendary run on JLA. I always thought his JLA work, while clean and pretty, was a little stiff. Without 7+ heroes mucking up his panels, Sekowsky really shows you some dynamic action!

There's a site where you can download scans of public domain Golden Age comics for free, and they have all four issues of Captain Flash, so I was able to read some (Sorry, I can't find the url or the name right now ) and I have to say, I was VERY entertained.

So, back to the original question of the poll, is Captain flash the first Silver Age hero, or one of the last Golden Agers?? You decide.

Next Time, Call Ahead. Amazing Spider-Man #1

I realized that I have somehow neglected to cover a single Spider-Man story on this blog. Today, I rectify that.


The Amazing Spider-Man #1 gave readers a lot for their twelve cents. The issue starts with a brief recap of Spidey's origin as it appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15 and establishes characters like bombastic publisher J. Jonah Jameson and his hero son, astronaut John Jameson. We learn of Aunt May's financial troubles for the first time and, before the issue's first story is over Spidey is branded as a criminal and a public menace. Unlike many of Marvel's other long-lasting features, the tone for the next 40+ years of Spider-Man stories is set at the very begining.



The back-up feature starts off even better, as it includes a guest appearance by Marvel's other early superstars, the Fantastic Four.

Peter Parker gets the bright idea to seek a job with the Fantastic Four. Unable to get past the FF's private elevator, Pete decided to climb to the FF's offices as Spidey. PEte has no idea he has already tripped the FF's security system, however. When the Cosmic Quartet come out swinging, Spidey uses the donnybrook as an ersatz audition.

After Mr. Fantastic settles everyone down, Spidey states the purpose of his visit and sugests that his talents are worth top dollar. Richards explains that the FF are a non-profit orginization who put all their extra earnings back into developing crime-fighting technology. Before anyone can offer to help, Spidey leaves in a teenage huff.

The rest of the story introduces Spidey's first supervillain, the Chameleon. *Yawn*

Even though Amazing Fantasy #15 sold remarkably well and Marvel receieved tons of letters asking for more Spider-Man, they were clearly nervous about giving Spidey his own book. The cover could have just as easily been for an issue of Fantastic Four. And, although Spidey doesn't end up joining the FF (saving the team lots of money, since they won't have to order new PJ's that have a "5" on the chest.) there is a wonderful chemistry between the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man, almost as if the FF are the family Peter has been missing.

Maybe He Should Have Offered the Axis Some Fruit Pies?

Oh, sure, Paste Pot Pete isn't exactly in the same league as Hitler, Mussolini or Hirohito. And, yeah, doubtless "Def Fuhrer" would have claimed that -historically- Hostess had always belonged to Germany. But think of how we could have changed the tide of the war by implementing dessert warfare. Whole units of starving enemy soldiers would have surrendered to our light, tender crust.