Last summer I mentioned that I was working on a different type of Silver-Age challenge, one that I would present in a different format. I worked toward that, but got overcome by life events, as those of you who've read my personal posts can imagine. The biggest hurdle is that the new format is graphic-heavy, and I just didn't find the time to work that out. Maybe next year.
But to those of you who look forward to my annual offering, never fear. I had a store of various regular-quiz-type questions on hand. Not categorised. No underlying theme. Just questions that I hadn't found a ready place to use them. You might call them leftovers.
As such, this year's quiz will include posers from both DC Comics and Marvel Comics. Otherwise, the rules remain the same. As always, for the benefit of those who may be tackling my challenge for the first time, I'll go over those rules. (You veterans skip this part, I'm sure.)
■ All of the questions and answers are drawn from Silver-Age material. In the case of this quiz, that means anything DC or Marvel Comics-related produced from July, 1956 (the month Showcase # 4 hit the stands) until the end of 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 “What was the first name of Professor Erdel, who brought J’onn J’onzz to Earth?”, and you answered with “Saul”, you would be wrong. In that first Silver-Age story, the professor’s first name was “Mark”. “Saul” was a post-Crisis revision.
Fair warning: forgetting the Silver-Age limitation has been the biggest reason that folks have gotten a question wrong.
■ I’m definitely not infallible, also something to which the veteran players here will attest. I easily might have missed something, somewhere, in those 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’ll gladly award you credit for a correct response. “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. That’s why I try to make my questions as Google-proof as possible. The right answers to my quiz-questions are difficult to find with a search engine, though I cannot say impossible. At least once, I tripped myself up when an article that I had written for another site contained the answer to a question from that year’s challenge, and one of the players found it.
■ Lastly, there are no prizes, not even a No-Prize. You’re playing for bragging rights.
O.K., you old pros can come back, now. We're ready to go. As always, I'll start off with a lob . . .
1. Per the Legion Constitution, the Legion of Super-Heroes leader is answerable to only one official. Who?
2. Doctor Strange's cloak of levitation wasn't just a fashion choice. How did he obtain it?
3. During the brief time that Johnny Storm was a student at Metro College, who held the college football team's record for the most touchdown passes?
4. Who considered Hal Jordan as his best friend while in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean Conflict?
5. Who was the first Legionnaire expelled from the Legion of Super-Heroes?
6. What World War I ace in the DC universe was recognisable in the skies by his signature coal-black Spad?
7. What was the highest U.S. Army rank, specifically, did the Howlers' old World War II C.O., Sam Sawyer, hold during the Silver Age?
8. Who was the valedictorian of the S.H.I.E.L.D. academy class of 1966?
9. Who finally repaired Professor Erdel's robot brain that brought J'onn J'onzz to Earth and enabled the Manhunter to return to Mars?
10. Who was the first person projected into the Phantom Zone by Jor-El?
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There you go, gang---have at it, and good luck!
Replies
I'm impressed at two of your answers, Mr. Sherman---I felt those would be a little tougher. (But, honestly, not the toughest question in this quiz.) Like the Fogey, you got some right and some wrong. I will say this much: in some of the ones you've missed (so far), you've overlooked small details. Believe it or not, one question I actually forgot to Google before posting it. I realised that when I read your response and then did Google it---and not surprisingly, every hit that turned up on the subject had the facts wrong. (I love it when that happens---as far as my quizzes are concerned, that is.)
And I know small details count a lot in your quizzes. That's part of the challenge.
I'm really curious about the question you Googled. I imagine you'll go into details when you post the answers.
"forgetting the Silver-Age limitation has been the biggest reason that folks have gotten a question wrong" I was explaining to someone online this weekend that Wildcat teaching an entire generation of superheroes how to fight was not a Silver/Bronze Age thing.
On #8, Jasper Sitwell mentions his valedictorian status in Strange Tales 145, "Lo, the Eggs Shall Hatch."
I'm going to retcon out my answeer on #3 and guess Ben Grimm. The chance that I missed a Silver Age reference about Ben's college years is much higher than missing some reference to Will Wingfoot.
#9 ... I'm guessing the small detail is "enabled the Manhunter to finally return to Mars." That would make the scientist Alvin Reeves from Detective 301, "Mystery of the Martian Marauders."
Combining my now multiple and corrected responses for convenience:
1. Commander of the Science Police, according to the Legion Constitution in Adventure 325-6.
2. He received it from the Ancient One after triumphing over Dormammu. "Domain of the Dread Dormammu," Strange Tales 126
3. Ben Grimm
4. Bill Davis, according to “Green Lantern’s Explosive Weekend,” In GL 36
5. Ultra Boy as “The Renegade Super-Hero” in Adventure Comics 316.
6. The Hangman in Star Spangled War Stories 139.
7. Captain in WWII, Colonel in Korea, General in ‘nam.
8. Jasper Sitwell
9. Alvin Reeves from Detective 301, "Mystery of the Martian Marauders."
10. Jor-El in Superboy 104, “Untold Story of the Phantom Zone.”
Better, but you're still overlooking other small details---and in one, not so small---that throw off some of your answers.
So far, it's been only Eric and you taking shots at it. I'm beginning to wonder if folks are losing interest in these quizzes.
I've wondered the same thing, which is a shame. They're fun. I've mentioned them to a couple of Silver Age groups I'm in elsewhere, too.
I shall try for a more detailed look this weekend when I have more time.
I enjoy them, even if I don't often participate. These quizzes have taught me how little that I know about Silver Age comics.
As do most of the commander's posts. It's always nice to read expert work by someone who's sharing what they know rather than flaunting their supposed superiority (I run into that sometimes elsewhere).
Similar to the Baron - I always check out the quiz but only participate if I am able to pull answers directly from memory or know exactly where to find the answer. Oftentimes the ones I know have already been correctly answered by those much faster on the draw.
I'd like to be that chill about them. The impulse to Get. Those. Answers. usually overrides my interest in whatever else I should be doing. Even if the answers are wrong.
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