Having won the Commander's recent quiz, I thought I should do the next one. The following questions all relate to pre-Crisis DC/National or All-American comics. The rules are as follows:
-You don’t have to answer all the questions at once.
-You can correct a previous answer in a new post without penalty. But please don't change the significant content of a post after you've posted it. I need to know who posted each correct answer first.
-You get an extra point for each correct answer or sub-answer that you provide first. I've noticed in the past that posters sometimes only answer the questions which haven't already been answered correctly when responding to these kinds of quizzes. This rule is designed to make it fair to repeat answers already given by previous respondents.
-You get three bonus points if you come up with a valid answer or sub-answer for any question that I haven’t thought of.
-Using the internet (or any resource) to research the answers is fine.
I'll let the contest run for four days from the time of posting (=until 1:00 pm Monday my time), or until the first complete list of correct answers has been posted.
The questions are:
1.Other than Superman, what DC/National or All-American character had a successful radio show in the 40s or 50s?
(One point.)
2.What was the first issue wholly drawn by Sheldon Mayer?
(Two points.)
3.What were the next six longest-running features from DC-imprint titles of the 30s or 40s after "Superman", "Batman" and "Wonder Woman"?
(One point each. Two bonus points if you can order them by how long they appeared for. What counts here is the continuous appearance of the feature: it need not have appeared continuously in the same title.)
4.Other than "Superman", what features launched in Action Comics pre-Crisis also appeared in other comics, whether in a supporting slot or as a lead feature? I can think of four.
(One point each. A bonus point for all four.)
5.What Quality series were continued by DC, using Quality’s numbering, after it bought Quality out?
(One point each. A bonus point for the complete list.)
6.In what titles, when has Johnny Peril’s feature run?
(One point each. A bonus point for the complete list.)
7.Who was DC’s Automan, and in what title did he appear?
(One point.)
8.Who was the last Golden Age DC hero revived in the 60s? Also, what was the last DC revival feature of the 60s?
(One point each.)
9.Pre-Crisis, who was DC’s Mister E., and in what title did his feature appear?
(One point.)
10.What features had been published by both Marvel and DC before the first issue of Crisis? Adaptations don’t count, but new adventures of characters originating outside comics do. I can think of three.
(One point each. A bonus point for all three.)
(edited: rules altered)
(edited: I've altered questions #6 and #9)
Replies
This is off the top of my head so here goes:
1) Hop Harrigan
2) Don't know
3) Aquaman, Green Arrow, Johnny Quick, Vigilante, Congo Bill, Superboy (Alternates: Robotman, Shining Knight, Justice Society)
4) Zatara-Master Magician, Congo Bill, Vigilante, Mister America/Americommando (Does Lois Lane count?)
5) Blackhawk, G.I. Combat, Dale Evans
6) Comic Calvacade, All-Star Comics, Danger Trail, Sensation Comics, Sensation Mystery, The Unexpected! (sorry, looked that up in All-Star Companion, Volume 3!)
7) He was a sentient robot and appeared in Tales of the Unexpected
8) The Spectre and the Phantom Stranger (guesses)
9) He was a blind enemy of mystic monsters in Secrets of Haunted House. Don't ask what Vertigo did to him.
10) Tarzan, Warlord of Mars, Star Trek
How'd I do, Luke?
Because of the way I've framed the contest, I can't tell you how you've done until it ends. According to the rules, you can update your list of answers any time.
I should reiterate that I made a couple of changes to the questions, which I've listed at the bottom of the post. I won't make any more.
1.Other than Superman, what DC/National or All-American character had a successful radio show in the 40s or 50s?
Hop Harrigan, an aviator hero created by Jon L. Blummer, who debuted in All-American Comics #1 in 1939 and lasted there until #99 in 1948. He also appeared at various points in Comic Cavalcade, Green Lantern and Flash Comics, in the sole issue of The Big All-American Comic Book, and in quite a number of text stories in All-American titles (including one, in All-Star Comics #8, in which he met DC/AA superheroes).
At two points he adopted costumed identities. In 1941 he briefly became the Guardian Angel in 1941. In All-American #78 he became the Black Lamp (possibly only for that story, but I can’t confirm that). His cover appearances include All-American Comics #3, #14 and (after Green Lantern’s introduction, when he usually appeared on the covers) #47 and #77. There are others, but these are the covers he got all to himself.
His radio show appeared from 1942 to 1948. He also appeared in a movie serial in 1946.2.What was the first issue wholly drawn by Sheldon Mayer?
I think it must be Funny Stuff #5. The title had a slate of funny animal features. Normally these were drawn by various hands, but Mayer drew all the features for #5. I don’t know the story behind this.
3.What were the next six longest-running features from DC-imprint titles of the 30s or 40s after "Superman", "Batman" and "Wonder Woman"?
I put the question this way so as to leave open the possibility of counting features from DC/National or All-American stables. But I could have put it better, as the DC brand wasn’t introduced until 1940, and stopped appearing on All-American titles (until Max Gaines sold out to Jack Liebowitz and DC/National and All-American were merged) for a period in 1945.
The top five features fitting the description are
"Aquaman" (1941-1971)
"Superboy" (1944-1973: I’m counting "Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes" as a different feature)
"Tomahawk" (1947-1970: I’m counting "Son of Tomahawk" as a different feature)
"Green Arrow" (1941-1964)
"The Fox and the Crow" (1945-1967) but what comes sixth depends on whether "Congorilla" is counted as the same feature as "Congo Bill". I initially meant to count the Congorilla stories as "Congo Bill" stories, but I suspect the series was renamed "Congorilla" when Bill’s brain-switching with the Golden Gorilla was introduced. If I’m right about that - I haven’t been able to confirm it - I’m inclined to count "Congorilla" as a different feature. If they’re counted as the same feature, sixth place goes to
"Congo Bill"/"Congorilla" (1940-1958/1958-1961)
but if they’re not, it goes to
"Mutt and Jeff" (1939-1958)
"Mutt and Jeff" was a long-running newspaper strip, and reprints of the feature were among the original contents of All-American Comics in 1939. A Mutt & Jeff title also made its first appearance that year, but only started appearing regularly a couple of years later. If one discounts the continuation of All-Star Comics as All-Star Western, Mutt & Jeff was after Wonder Woman the All-American title that DC stuck with the longest.
Either way, "Congo Bill" and "Mutt and Jeff" divide the sixth and seventh places. I think eighth is "Bob Hope" (the first issue of The Adventures of Bob Hope just scrapes in), and after it would come further funny animal or cartoon-based features.
All the features began their runs in one place and finished them somewhere else. They also all appeared regularly in more than one title at some point. "Superboy", for example, started in More Fun Comics, and was moved to Adventure Comics (simultaneously with "Aquaman", "Green Arrow" and "Johnny Quick") in 1946. The feature continued to appear there into the 1960s, but also received its own title in 1949. It continued to appear in Superboy after it stopped appearing in Adventure, but in 1973 the series was replaced in Superboy by "Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes" (the indicia title remained Superboy for several years). After a hiatus Superboy’s solo feature was bought back, in Adventure Comics. Later it appeared in Superman Family and The New Adventures of Superboy.
The length of "Blackhawk"’s original run (1941-1968) would have put it into third place, but of course it was published by Quality into 1956.
The four I can think of are "Zatara", "The Vigilante", "Supergirl" and "the Human Target". "Congo Bill" and "Tommy Tomorrow" both had long runs in Action, but Congo Bill’s feature first appeared in More Fun Comics and Tommy Tomorrow first appeared in intermittent stories in Real Fact Comics. The "Mr. and Mrs. Superman" series spun off the story from Action #484, but debuted as a distinct feature in Superman #327.
"Zatara" also appeared in World’s Finest Comics, where it slightly outlasted its run in Action.
"Vigilante" stories also appeared as chapters of the Seven Soldiers of Victory stories in Leading Comics, and in Western Comics. In addition, DC accompanied Vig’s 1947 serial (The Vigilante: Fighting Hero of the West) with a giveaway mini issue of Action and a feature on the making of the serial in Real Fact #10. His feature was revived in the 70s. He finally managed a team-up with Superman in World’s Finest #214, but he’d appeared with him in Justice League of America before that.
"Supergirl" graduated from the back-up slot in Action to the lead slot in Adventure Comics, and then its own title. After it folded her feature ran in Superman Family. Her eponymous title was revived in the 80s, initially as The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl.
The Human Target’s feature first ran in Action (beginning with #419) and later appeared pre-Crisis in back-up slots in The Brave and the Bold and Detective Comics.
Tommy Tomorrow started off as a representative astronaut of the future ("Who will be Tommy Tomorrow? Maybe you!") in the story "Columbus of Space" in Real Fact #6. The series of stories was cover-featured on #6, #8 and #13. If I can trust the credits at the GCD, the last Real Fact entry, in #16, was the first in the series drawn by Curt Swan. According to Toonopedia it also introduced the Planeteers. After he lost his Action slot to Supergirl Tommy’s feature appeared in World’s Finest Comics. Later a revamped version of the feature appeared in five Showcase issues (making him the hero who starred in the most issues of Showcase).
Congo Bill got his own serial in 1948, and briefly received his own title in 1954-55. During the Silver Age, after he’d become Congorilla, he made a few appearances in Superman-verse stories: in Jimmy Olsen #49 (after his series had moved from Action to Adventure), Action #280 (after his series had ended; he helped Superman defeat Brainiac), and Jimmy Olsen #86.
Lois, of course, debuted in Action, but I'm not aware she ever had her own feature there. Golden Age "Lois Lane" stories appeared in Superman in 1944-46.
5.What Quality series were continued by DC, using Quality’s numbering, after it bought Quality out?
Blackhawk, G.I. Combat, Robin Hood Tales and (after a brief hiatus) Heart Throbs.
6.In what titles, when has Johnny Peril’s feature run?
Comic Cavalcade in 1947-48, All-Star Comics in 1948-1950, Danger Trail for a single issue in 1951, Sensation Comics/Sensation Mystery in 1951-53 and The Unexpected in 1968-69 and again in 1980-81. More on him here.
He was an intelligent robot of the future who appeared in a handful of stories in Tales of the Unexpected in the mid 60s. More information about him can be found here. He was cover-featured on Tales of the Unexpected #97.
8.Who was the last Golden Age DC hero revived in the 60s? Also, what was the last DC revival feature of the 60s?
The Vigilante returned in Justice League of America #78. The issue has a Feb (1970) cover-date, but that means it likely appeared in late 1969. According to the DC Indexes, it came out Dec., 1969.
DC’s last revival feature of the decade was "the Phantom Stranger". The feature was revived in Showcase #80 in late 1968, and received a new title the next year.
To be fair, the Robin series that began in Detective #394 (on sale in Oct. 1969, according to DC Indexes) could be considered a revival of his series from Star Spangled Comics. But Robin had never stopped appearing in Batman stories.
9.Pre-Crisis, who was DC’s Mister E., and in what title did his feature appear?
A blind guy who could read souls and fought supernatural menaces. He appeared in Secrets of Haunted House in the early 80s.
10.What features had been published by both Marvel and DC before the first issue of Crisis? Adaptations don’t count, but new adventures of characters originating outside comics do. I can think of three.
There may be others, but Philip nailed the three I can think of: “Tarzan” (Marvel took over the licence after DC in the 70s), “John Carter” (DC published adaptations and new stories with Carter in Tarzan Family) and “Star Trek” (DC took over the licence after Marvel in the 80s).
Philip, I count you as scoring
1) 1/1
3) 5/8, or 6/8 if "Congo Bill" and "Congorilla" are counted as one series (which, to be fair, is how I was reckoning when I framed the question)
4) 2/5
5) 2/5
6) I originally just asked for where the feature had appeared. Then I altered the question because I hadn’t phrased it in a way that would force the respondent to note it had two runs in The Unexpected. I don’t know which form you saw. By the question’s original form you have 7/7.
7) 1/1
8) 1/2
9) 1/1
10) 4/4
plus bonus points at each stage for being first