Summer’s here, and once again, it’s time for that annual event. No, not the yearly Justice League/Justice Society team-up. I wish it were. No regular comic-reading experience of the Silver Age was more eagerly awaited by me than those dual Earth two-parters that arrived in the summer issues of Justice League of America. We’ll never see anything like those first five Crises by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky. Sure, there are contemporary artists who could match Sekowsky in layout and composition. But no modern writer could genuinely evoke Gardner Fox’s scripts. For Fox, like all of us, was a product of his time.
The comic-reading youngsters to-day don’t know what they missed . . .
What? Oh, yeah. Sorry, I got caught up in reverie. It’s been a day for it. I just spent two hours watching YouTube videos of Art Fleming hosting Jeopardy!
No, the annual summer event I’m talking about is my summer Silver-Age Challenge. I may be too busy these days for regular Deck Log Entries, but I couldn’t let you guys down when it comes to this quiz which you folks find so popular (which I take very kindly). It didn’t hurt that I came up with this year’s questions last fall, so I’ve been ready to go.
As you’ve probably guessed from the header, this year’s challenge covers those comic-book characters fleet of feet. This time around, I’m including items from both DC Comics and Marvel Comics. Otherwise, I found that the questions were too Flash-centric. Believe me, the Marvel questions were tougher to gin up---just as it was tricky to work the names of a speedster from both companies into the banner below.
Before I get to the usual rules for anybody coming in late, one clarification: the term “speedster” applies to heroes and villains for whom super-speed is their principal super-power. They might possess other, incidental powers, but they are primarily known for being super-fast. That means, in considering your answers, characters like Superman and Supergirl and Mon-El---for whom super-speed is only one of many impressive abilities---are not counted as speedsters for the purposes of this quiz. On the other hand, if you see the term “super-hero” or “super-villain” in a question, that means any character who would fall in either of those categories and not necessarily a speedster.
O.K., for any newcomers, here are the rules . . .
All of the questions, and answers, are drawn from Silver-Age material. That is, anything produced by DC or Marvel from the publication of Showcase # 4 (Sep.-Oct., 1956) to December, 1968, which I demark as the end of the Silver Age. If your answer comes from outside that period, then it is invalid. For example, if I were to ask “Who raised Bruce Wayne after his parents were killed?” and you answered something like “Alfred Pennyworth” or “Leslie Thompkins”, you would be wrong. During the Silver Age, young Bruce was raised by his uncle, Philip Wayne. The idea that Alfred or Leslie Thompkins took custody of the boy were post-Crisis revisions.
The Silver-Age limitation is a tricky thing to keep in mind. Even the veteran quiz-takers here slip up sometimes. Remember the “Per the Legion Constitution, who is the only person that the Legion Leader is answerable to?” fiasco?
I’m definitely not infallible, also something to which the long-time players will attest. I might have missed something, somewhere, in twelve years of Silver Age publication. If you come up with an answer that meets the criteria of the question and can cite the Silver-Age reference, then I will gladly award you credit. “But I always thought . . . “ explanations won’t cut it, though.
I’ve got no problem with anybody using a search engine to look for answers. I try to make my questions as immune to Google as possible. The right answers are difficult to find with a search engine, though I cannot say impossible. At least once, I tripped myself up when an article I had written for another site contained the answer to a question from that year’s quiz, and one of the players found it.
Lastly, there are no prizes. You’re playing for bragging rights.
Everybody ready? On your marks . . . get set . . . go!
1. Though slower than the DC Comics speedsters, Marvel’s Quicksilver had one power that those fast guys at the other company didn’t. What was it?
2. Instead of an encircled lightning bolt, what did the Bizarro version of the Flash wear as a chest emblem?
3. Race Morrison was the civilian identity of what criminal super-speedster?
4. Besides super-speed and a friction-heat-resistant aura, what other super-ability did Barry Allen receive from that accidental dousing of lightning-charged chemicals in his origin?
5. Speaking of Barry Allen, what college did he attend?
6. Besides Quicksilver, what other Marvel mutant speedster joined a group of super-villains?
7. The first time the Flash and Superman competed at super-speed, it began where and ended where?
8. As DC would have it, King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table were a mediæval version of the Justice League of America. Who was the super-speedster of this chivalrous group?
9. With regard to the character referenced in Question 6, on what occasion did he and Quicksilver actually square off against each other? (Naming the title and issue number of the comic will suffice.)
10. When a super-hero got imprisoned in a lead coffin, he was impersonated by the Flash until he could be rescued. Who was he?
* * * * *
Good luck, all!
Replies
Last year, I plucked "low-hanging fruit"... and ended up getting most of them wrong.
At the risk of embarrassing myself again...
1. Quicksilver could "fly" for short distances.
2. Bizarro-Flash's chest emblem was a mallet.
4. Barry Allen could perceive moving objects (such as a falling plate of food or a speeding bullet) in slow motion.
6. The Whizzer was a member of the Squadron Sinister.
9. I would say Avengers #86, but that is beyond your definition of the Silver Age.
There are a few more I think I know but it will take time to look them up.
2) the shadow of a gavel.
4) Complete control over his molecules!
6) Whirlwind, Masters of Evil Avengers #54 (Jl'68)
9) Quicksilver battled Whirlwind who was still the Human Top at the time in Fantastic Four Annual #3 (1965)
10) Negative Man
1) Quicksilver could ricochet at high speeds
8) Sir Bohart with his magical boots, World's Finest Comics #162
3) Race Morrison is the Flash of the Lawless League of Earth-A Justice League of America #38 (S'65)
1) Discounting Johnny Quick - who didn't appear in the Silver Age - Quicksilver could use his super speed momentum to fly short distances.
2) A gavel.
3) The Flash of Earth-A
4) Super slow vision; he could things happen in slow motion.
5) Central City University (Naw, it couldn't be that easy!)
6) Whirlwind
7) Started at the United Nations, Ended in Metropolis (WMETTV was covering it.)
8) Sir Bohart
9) Avengers 46
10) Negative Man
Another great quiz Commander - I wait anxiously for these every year! Thanks for the fun!
ELS
The Silver Age Fogey
I haven’t seen anyone else’s answers yet.
2. Instead of an encircled lightning bolt, what did the Bizarro version of the Flash wear as a chest emblem?
In Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #74 (MAY67), the Bizarro-Flash had a chest symbol of a gavel.
4. Besides super-speed and a friction-heat-resistant aura, what other super-ability did Barry Allen receive from that accidental dousing of lightning-charged chemicals in his origin?
Vibrating his molecules.
6. Besides Quicksilver, what other Marvel mutant speedster joined a group of super-villains?
Whirlwind.
7. The first time the Flash and Superman competed at super-speed, it began where and ended where?
The first Silver Age race was in Superman #199 (AUG67). The second and last Silver Age race was in Flash #175 (DEC67).
If you mean beginning and ending of the first race, I think it was Metropolis to San Francisco.
Incidentally, DC ignored Superman #200 as a milestone, opting instead to celebrate his 30th anniversary in Superman #207, which was an all-reprint 80-Page Giant.
7) Going by Superman #199 (Au'67), the race seems to start and finish in Metropolis though it's not directly stated. Superman and the Flash race towards the harbor at the beginning which leaves out Central City. There's a line that Metropolis is excited by the race, Jimmy Olsen is at the starting line and there's a TV camera with METTV on it. It's all circumstantial but it was Superman's book!
Before looking at anyone else's replies, here's what I've got:
As an aside, I note that Googling "Race Morrison" gets lots of hits on Toni Morrison's book "Race". I wonder how the good Commander managed to achieve that particular bit of Google-proofing his quiz?
By a strange coincidence, I have recently been reading through old posts on Pat Curley's "Silver Age Comics" blog, and remembered that answer from his Barry Allen Flash trivia quiz of July 2009.
1. Flight.
2. A gavel, because the duplicator ray hit Flash as he was holding a gavel to chair a JLA meeting.
3. The alt.flash created by Johnny Thunder on “Earth A — for alternate.” (JLA 37-8).
4. Complete control over his molecules.
5. Sun City University (Flash 121, "Secret of the Stolen Blueprint.")
6. Dave Cannon, AKA Whirlwind/Human Top, who joined Ultron's revived Masters of Evil.
7. United Nations building.
8. Sir Bonart
9. Avengers 46, "The Agony and the Anthill"
10. It happened in Brave and the Bold 65 when Flash became "Alias Negative Man."
And obviously I should have read "Pawns of the Jousting Master" a little more carefully as it seems like I got the name wrong. C'est la vie.
Fraser Sherman said:
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