Even now, Maria would be considered a firebrand.
She was born in Massachusetts, to a sickly and emotionally distant mother and a stern, religiously devout father named Francis. Mr. Francis was a successful baker, so she grew up in a solidly middle
Read more…Previously, in "The New Superman":
After a deadly green comet robs Superman of his powers, his hand-picked successor, Ar-Val of Kandor, takes over as the New Superman. When Lex Luthor and Brainiac team up to enact a scheme of villainy, Ar-Val refuse
Read more…...Has anyone here seen comic books, standard-sized, on sale at ANY non-comics shop in 2020. The last 6 month's obviously everything has been upturned, but in the first 3 months of 2020 and since them, has ANYONE, other than Walmart and whatever othe
Read more…In our nearly three decades together, one area in which the Good Mrs. Benson and I still disagree is the subject of music. I sensibly maintain that little good music has come out since, oh, 1965, and the further one gets from that year, the occurren
I expected a Legion quiz to get a robust response, and you fellows didn't disappoint. Lots of lively speculation on the possible right answers and, in at least two cases, answers other than the ones I intended, but had to rule them correct. We'll g
The first time we heard the story, it was put straightforward enough.
"Years ago, in my college days, there was a student named Victor von Doom, who was fascinated by sorcery and black magic. He was a brilliant science student, but he was only inter
Read more…The Silver-Age Alfred was a real Renaissance man: butler, chef, actor, medic . . . and author!
Actually, he was more of a frustrated writer---because his work could never be published, nor even read. Except by two other people.
I'm talking, of cour
Read more…At the conclusion of last year's Silver-Age challenge, I told you guys that I already had the questions for this year's quiz prepared. Well, I did, as in past tense. Last week, when I gave them a final scrubbing, I discovered that I had forgotten t
If you knew nothing about the Silver Age of Comics except for what you read in my Deck Log, you'd still be aware of the big change in Batman that Julius Schwartz wrought when he became editor of the Bat-titles in 1964. I've talked about it often eno
Many Silver-Age DC titles instituted their own continuing features. A series within a series, so to speak. Green Lantern ran annual tales involving Hal Jordan's two brothers and his sister-in-law's mistaken belief that youngest brother Jim was the
Holidays are marked by traditions, and any given tradition has many fathers. Nearly all of the time, it's impossible to trace a tradition's beginning to one specific instance. Still, if you happen to be in Cleveland, Ohio, drop by the corner of Lak
Pretty much the whole year, but especially as the summer winds down, I keep my eyes peeled for a good Thanksgiving tidbit to share with you in my annual turkey day entry. Some of them---such as Sarah Hale, authoress of the poem "Mary's Lamb" (Mary h
You are looking at the meeting room of a unique and exclusive club, the Mystery Analysts of Gotham City, experts at the business of solving bizarre mysteries . . .
Thus began one of the more fondly remembered features of Julius Schwartz's "New Look"
Read more…So, how did you do?
Actually, by my tally, you all---the four of you who participated: Philip Portelli, Jeff of Earth-J, Fraser Sherman, and my old pal, Eric Sofer, the Silver-Age Fogey---did very well, which hasn’t surprised me for a long time. Yo
Read more…Naturally, you might be asking: “Why Justice League of America # 27?” After all, there were more significant JLA stories published during its Silver-Age existence. Indeed, there were, and they are all stand-out adventures. But also hardly the typ
Over at Marvel, editor Stan Lee was, apparently, able to resist the temptation to use time-travel plots for stories. At least, on a regular basis.
Nearly all of DC’s title heroes had a regular method for travelling through time, as did many of its s
Read more…I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to come up with this year’s quiz in time for the summer. Last year, I went with general Silver-Age DC questions, so this year it was Marvel Comics’ turn. And when it comes to the mighty Marvel universe, it’s always hard
Ask the question, “Who is Superman’s girl friend?”, and even those folks who’ve never seen a Superman movie or television show or comic book will quickly answer, “Lois Lane!”
That’s because there are few couples as iconic in popular culture. Since th
Read more…“The ‘I’ Who Defeated the Justice League”
Editor: Julius Schwartz Writer: Gardner Fox Art: Mike Sekowsky (pencils), Bernard Sachs (inks)
To anybody who’s read my various Silver-Age writings across the Internet, it will come as no surprise tha
Read more…In the Superman mythos created by DC editor Mort Weisinger, “the adventures of Supeman when he was a boy” appearing in Superboy and Adventure Comics presented a unique problem. In a letter published in the Smallville Mailsack letter column of the Su
