#1 When did Superman start using the exclamation "Great Rao!", or mentioning Rao as a diety, generally?

 

Related to this - when did we find out that Krypton's sun was called Rao?

 

#2 I recently picked up John Ostranders 1995 Gotham Nights II 4 issue miniseries, set largely on Paris Island, an amusement park located off the coast of Gotham (or in the Bay, or whatever.) 

 

When was this 'Paris Island' first mentioned?

 

 

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  • My Silver Age Memory tells me that Superman started invoking Rao in the late seventies. However, I don't remember what the specific source of it was, nor when we discovered that the sun god is Rao. (Now, if you want to know where the name of Krypton came from... :) )

    No idea about Paris Island, except for the Marine corps station there.

    xoxoxo
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  • Actually, it's Parris Island in South Carolina where the Marines are trained, though I suspect the SAF know that. I never even heard of Batman's Paris Island, and I was reading Batman comics back then.
  • I expect that Gotham Nights II was the first and last appearance of Paris Island.

    I'd be curious as to the first appearance of Blackgate Prison. We always saw Arkham Asylum -- which I believe is an early '70s development -- but it stands to reason that there ought to be a garden-variety penitentiary for those Gotham-area crooks who aren't crazy.
  • Yeah Gotham seems to have a lot of islands that appear and disappear with regularity. One of the magicians should really look into it.
  • "#1 When did Superman start using the exclamation 'Great Rao!', or mentioning Rao as a diety, generally?

    "Related to this - when did we find out that Krypton's sun was called Rao?"



    I didn't get as far with this one as I would have liked. My chief constraint is time. It's a Bronze-Age question, and while I have all the necessary issues, my inductive memory isn't as precise for the Bronze Age as it is for the Silver.

    The specifics I do have are these: The first instance that Rao was established as the name of Krypton's god was in, of all places, Super Friends # 47 (Aug., 1981), when Superman told this to Zan and Jayna. However, that information was validated shortly thereafter in a mainstream title---The Krypton Chronicles # 3 (Nov., 1981)

    As to when "Rao" was given as the name of Krypton's sun, or when Superman began uttering "Great Rao!" nearly as much as he did "Great Krypton!", I was unable to pinpoint the earliest instance. My memory says that it occurred sometime in the early '70's, after Julius Schwartz took over as editor of the Superman title. Playing a hunch, I started going through the issues containing "The World of Krypton" short stories---that was the most logical place I expected to find it. Mind you, I'm not sure it was a comprehensive scan---as I said, I don't have the time to-day to sit down and go through all of the Superman and Action Comics issues painstakingly. But in the dozen or so I found, I didn't spot a single mention of "Rao" for Krypton's red sun.

    That leads me to suspect that it was later---c. 1975-8---that the name Rao originated. But to-morrow, I should have the time to do a more thorough check.



    "# 2 I recently picked up John Ostranders 1995 Gotham Nights II 4 issue mini-series, set largely on Paris Island, an amusement park located off the coast of Gotham (or in the Bay, or whatever.)

    "When was this 'Paris Island' first mentioned?"



    I suspect CK called it when he said that mini-series was the first mention of Paris Island. The closest thing I was able to find was the story "Peril at Playland Isle", from Detective Comics # 264 (Feb., 1959). "Peril . . . " involves a murder case on Playland Isle---an amusement park located on an island off the coast of Gotham City. It's one of the more refreshing Batman tales of that era. No science-fiction elements or bizarre coïncidences. Just a straightforward murder mystery, with all of the suspects restricted to the island. In other words, just the genre that the Batman and Robin were designed for.

    Hope this helps.
  • Rao's name is used as the kryptonian name for God in the wedding sequence at the end of the marriage of the Earth Two Superman story in Action Comics #484.
  • Luke Blanchard said:
    Rao's name is used as the kryptonian name for God in the wedding sequence at the end of the marriage of the Earth Two Superman story in Action Comics #484.


    Action Comics # 484 was cover-dated June, 1978. So it pre-dates Super Friends # 47 handily.

    Thanks for catching that. (And I know why I missed it. Since Action Comics # 484 deals with a strictly Earth-Two Superman adventure, I keep it in a different stack than the rest of my Action Comics run.)

    Now I am intrigued with the whole thing. So I know how I am spending Saturday.


  • Travis Herrick said:
    Yeah Gotham seems to have a lot of islands that appear and disappear with regularity. One of the magicians should really look into it.

    They're not appearing and disappearing; Zatanna is just constantly wiping and unwiping our minds...


  • ClarkKent_DC said:
    I'd be curious as to the first appearance of Blackgate Prison. We always saw Arkham Asylum -- which I believe is an early '70s development -- but it stands to reason that there ought to be a garden-variety penitentiary for those Gotham-area crooks who aren't crazy.

    I've got no thoughts on Blackgate, but your question reminded me of another prison, in the Chuck Dixon-created Bludhaven -- a prison called, appropriately enough, Lockhaven. Now Chick Dixon lived in PA for a while -- he might still, for all I know -- and there's actually a town a little north of Harrisburg called Lock Haven. The name probably stuck in his head, as it has in mine for all these years.
  • Paris Island, if not named for the City of Lights, may have been in honor of Charles Paris, a prominent Bat-inker of the 40s & 50s, working with Dick Sprang and Jack Burnley. DC has been giving Gotham landmarks the names of past Bat-creators. Perhaps one day we will be the Morrison Institute of Continuity!

    I will not lie to you. I went to my spanking-new Essential Superman Encyclopedia and looked up "Rao". They gave the earliest mention to Superman #248 (F'72). But if it makes anyone feel better, I pulled out that longbox and read it (again).
    It does not occur in the main Superman story, which was a great Luthor tale plus the 1st appearance of the Galactic Golem. It's the back-up, "The World of Krypton" by Marv Wolfman and Dave Cockrum. In a story about Kryptonian mutants, "Rao" is uttered four times, all as an obvious counterpart to God. But Rao is also specified as a sun-god, though I can't remember any other Kryptonian deities.

    However, when Superman first mentions Rao, Rao only knows!!
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