Blog 2.0

By Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

July 26, 2011 -- With the arrival of the Captain America movie, Titan has released two excellent books shining a light on the character’s creators.

For those just coming in, Cap was created in 1941 by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, in a story lifted almost intact for the movie. While Kirby died in 1994, his partner is still very much with us at age 97, as demonstrated by his new autobiography, Joe Simon: My Life in Comics ($24.95).

Given that comic books more or less came into being in the 1930s, Simon’s Life in Comics is also the story of the industry. He was present for most of the major events in the history of comic books, and was the cause of a few of them. For example, Simon was the first editor at Marvel Comics (called Timely in the 1940s), where he hired a teenager named Stan Lee. Simon worked with nearly every major creator through the 1960s, co-created entire genres (including “kid gang” comics and romance books) and worked for publishers as small as Crestwood and as huge as the company we know today as DC Comics. “Simon and Kirby” was such a recognizable franchise that the duo received royalties (which was unheard of in the 1940s), were the first to have their names on the covers of comic books as a sales tool and today have an entire archives series devoted to their works.

And as much insight as Simon’s book gives us to comics personalities like Bob Kane (creator of Batman), Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster (creators of Superman) and Will Eisner (creator of The Spirit), he also managed to be around for a lot of non-comics twentieth century history. Which is how he managed to run into comedian Sid Caesar, actor Cesar Romero, boxer Jack Dempsey, writer Damon Runyon and other luminaries.

One can easily glean from the book how Simon managed to be so popular. His easy, affectless prose reveals an affable, flexible, generous and optimistic personality. Add to that Simon’s obvious creativity, and he was no doubt a lot of fun to be around. Since most of us will never have the fortune to meet him, this book is the next best thing.

The next best thing after the autobiography are the comics Simon created, and Titan has collected one of the oddest and funniest titles he and Kirby ever did.

Simon and Kirby left Captain America Comics with issue #10 in 1942, after an acrimonious dispute with publisher Martin Goodman. So when they heard Goodman was going to revive the Living Legend in 1953 (Cap had been canceled in 1950), it rubbed salt into a still-open wound. But the proactive Simon, always looking to turn a negative into a positive, had a brainstorm. He quotes himself as saying to Kirby, “You know, there’s no reason we can’t do our own character again. They can’t corner the market on patriotism, after all. Why don’t we show them how it’s done?”

Thus was born Fighting American at tiny Prize Comics, another star-spangled hero in the tradition of Simon and Kirby’s own Captain America … sort of. Naturally, the powerful pencils for which Kirby was known were present, and as bombastic as they ever were on Captain America. But something was different this time: a sense of humor. Fighting American was so over the top in Red-baiting, Commie-bashing, flag-waving hoo-ha that it was practically a parody of itself (and of Captain America).

“Sure, the book was full of Commies and offbeat villains,” Simon says in the foreword to Titan’s new Fighting American collection ($19.95). “But it also poked fun at the whole superhero thing.” The ever-earnest and jingoistic Fighting American (and his sidekick Speedboy) battled characters like Poison Ivan and Hotsky-Trotski with the same campy seriousness Adam West would affect in the Batman TV show more than a decade later.

The Fighting American trade paperback collects every story in the series, which ran only seven issues (with a two-issue reboot), but was still around longer than the Captain America revival, which died in 1954. (Cap wouldn’t become the popular fixture he is today until his second revival in 1964.) And even 60 years later, the humor and inventiveness shine through every page of Fighting American.

Both books offer welcome insights into both Simon and Kirby. Creating Captain America alone would be enough for most, but for this pair it was just a beginning.

 Contact Andrew A. Smith of the Memphis Commercial Appeal at capncomics@aol.com.

Short films featuring DC comics' characters will be shown on the Cartoon Network channel in 2012.  It would be interesting if persons from the indie film and indie comic book industries would be invited to use  the company's characters.to tell stories.  

"We have met the enemy and they are us" -- Pogo Possum

The latest episode of The Walking Dead had me thinking about the line above, perhaps the most famous quote from Walt Kelly's long-running comic strip, Pogo. It reminded me of a thought that occasionally flits across my frontal lobe about how so many of our iconic monsters seem to represent the threat not just of death, but also -- and maybe moreso -- turning Us into Them. If you squint just right, it seems to suggest that what we're most afraid of is ourselves.

Vampires. Werewolves. Zombies. All of them turn Us into Them, turn friend into foe, turn our numbers against us. Yes, death is an element as well -- you have to die to become a vampire or zombie, and being torn to ribbons is the first, immediate danger of lyncanthropy. But, tellingly, you don't die to become a werewolf, and we're still afraid of that. Jekyll/Hyde dispensed with "the other" altogether and kept it in the (homo sapiens) family -- Hyde is the animal (and the enemy) within. If we want to stretch the concept further, we can include Frankenstein's Monster and The Mummy; the former is made up of fellow humans (albeit dead ones) and the latter is a human, or was. You'll note that The Mummy isn't a super-power resurrected animal of any kind. Because it isn't animals we're afraid of, werewolves notwithstanding. No, once again it's US that is the enemy, or potentially so.

One aspect of these monsters that's so frightening is that they look familiar, but don't act in a familiar manner. Your former friend is now a zombie, say, and while he looks like your friend (mostly), his behavior and priorities have changed radically. He's joined another team, and become a stranger. He wants to kill you, or worse, make you join his tribe. It's not really a stretch to substitute "John became a flesh-eating zombie" with "John joined a different church/worships a different God." It's the familiar turned un-familiar -- and the threat to make you do the same -- which frightens us. 

Maybe it's that last part that is what is most frightening, the transformation of Us into Them. Maybe this is all just a huge metaphor for our fear of betrayal by our friends, of being victimized by other humans, and/or being too weak to live up to our own principles and becoming a betrayer, a monster, ourselves. It seems to me that one of our great fears is that we're not as strong in our faiths, creeds and beliefs as we'd like to believe. Many people grow most angry in a political discussion when the other guy's points begin to make sense.

We have actual industries in place to reverse these transformations. We have "de-programmers," for example, that kidnap family members who've joined a cult and essentially brainwash them into being like they used to be. That kinda creeps me out, too, and not just because it suggests how programmable -- how malleable and potentially transformational -- we all are. It's also because virtually all major religions were considered cults when they began, and only lost that tag when they became large enough to be institutional. In other words, from a classification perspective, all religions are cults until they become popular.

So who's to say we're right and they're wrong? As an illustrative example, I daresay we'd all be outraged if a de-programmer kidnapped a Southern Baptist and brainwashed him or her into becoming, say, Catholic. But what about an unpopular religion? What about a Hare Krishna? A polygamist Mormon? A Muslim? (It's now the second-most populous religion on Earth, but I bet a lot of Christian parents would gladly pay a de-programmer to "fix" a child who joined Islam -- and probably many of their neighbors, and the police, would look the other way.) What's the cutoff point where we say, "Oh, OK, that religion is all right. But those other ones have got to go."? Food for thought.

Another example of an anti-transformational industry, I believe, are the so-called "pray away the gay" groups. Your son or daughter comes out? Changes before your eyes into a "stranger"? Drag them to a religious-oriented programmer, who transforms them back into what you want. Evidently the "transformation" scares some parents, and even some gays, and they want to change it back. The parents long for their world before the transformation, like Rick & Co. in The Walking Dead, and struggle to re-establish it.

Speaking of The Walking Dead, creator Robert Kirkman has consistently maintained that the title refers to the surivivors, not the zombies. His intent is to explore what honest, decent people turn into when forced to do terrible things to survive. Ultimately, I assume, he will confront us with the question of who the monsters really are.

So there again we have the fear of transformation, of people becoming monsters, twice over. What does this say about us as a species? Does it mean that, despite hopeful fictional future utopias like Star Trek, that deep in our hearts we fear our lesser instincts will win out? Or is it a conservative impluse, of preserving the status quo and never changing? Or is it a fear of the stranger, of the unknown he or she represents? Or is it simply a tribal thing in our lizard brains, where we demand loyalty to our tribe, and what we hate most is those who join the other team? Or is it some sort of species-wide form of self-loathing? Or is it bigotry, a need to define others as something lesser so we can feel superior?  Or is it all of these? Or a combination? Or something else?

To tell you the truth, I don't know. I have questions, not answers. What do you guys think?

I read an article last week on Grantland.com in which editor Bill Simmons tried to challenge the conventional thinking on film star Eddie Murphy.   He argued that Murphy had one of the greatest runs ever for a comedian and that a swoon later in his career doesn’t take that away.  He claimed that Murphy’s later work, while inconsistent, hasn’t been entirely bad (Bowfinger and Dreamgirls stand out as late-career highlights).  He also noted that Murphy has become one of the most bankable actors in family comedies (see The Nutty Professor, Dr. Doolittle, Shrek and even Daddy Day Care).  That may not get him the same kind of critical accolades he once enjoyed but it’s still impressive- especially when you consider that it’s been about 17 years since David Spade quipped “catch a falling star” on Saturday Night Live in response to a photo of Murphy.  

​It was an admirable attempt.  But I don’t think it had much of a chance.  And that was before Murphy’s latest movie, Tower Heist, debuted to lower-than-expected box office and before Murphy pulled out of the Academy Awards in solidarity with his friend, Brett Ratner.  

​It’s really hard- almost impossible- to change conventional wisdom.  It’s broadly accepted, even if it isn’t entirely accurate.  That’s what makes it “conventional” wisdom.  Once that kind of thinking has set in across society, it becomes fossilized.  One well-meaning article- or even two- isn’t going to sway broad-based opinion.  
​Bill Simmons demonstrates this in his own article.  While trying to sway conventional thinking on one entertainer, he buys into the conventional wisdom regarding another.   Simmons makes the statement that the Rolling Stones haven’t made a good album in 30 years.  That’s about right… according to conventional wisdom.  

The last good Stones album is supposedly Tattoo You in 1981.  But I remember when Steel Wheels came out in 1989.  It was promptly declared the sign of a Stones’ comeback and their best album since the beginning of the decade.  Voodoo Lounge and Bridges to Babylon received similar, if not universal, accolades.  When A Bigger Bang came out in 2005, it was called the greatest Stones album in 25 years.  But I doubt the critical acclaim for A Bigger Bang did much to change conventional thinking.  I suspect that if the Stones come out with another album, it too will be heralded as their best album since Tattoo You.

Conventional thinking affects comic book characters as well.  This character is the do-gooder. This character is inherently flawed. This character can’t hold their own title.  And so on.  

That’s one of the reasons I’ve admired Geoff Johns’ new Aquaman title.  He’s directly confronting the conventional wisdom.  Aquaman may be a superhero but most people think he’s useless.  That’s partly because of artificial limitations originally placed on the character (he used to lose his powers if he was out of water for an hour).  That’s partly because of the intrinsic limitations of his best-known ability (how often do you need to talk to fish?).  And so Aquaman has been the butt of jokes for decades.  

Geoff Johns has taken those jokes and made them a part of the current series.  They’re not an accurate reflection of Aquaman’s abilities but they are part of the conventional thinking of citizens in the DC Universe.  Various characters have made off-handed comments about Aquaman’s supposed weaknesses.  Some have made jokes at Aquaman’s expense.  Aquaman has dismissed the comments- sometimes casually, sometimes stoically, sometimes coldly.  He’s not out to change the world’s opinion of himself but he’s also not going to put up with being mocked.    

I think it’s admirable.  I realize that some comic book fans disagree.  For them, Aquaman’s reputation has already been rehabilitated.  Peter David orchestrated a new vision for Aquaman- he gave him long hair and a hook while ditching the orange shirt.  He emphasized Aquaman’s other abilities, such as enhanced senses and strength from enduring the ocean depths.  Grant Morrison brought this version of Aquaman into the Justice League, giving even greater exposure to an Aquaman who could kick butt.  

Yet, as much as I enjoyed David and Morrison’s approach to the character, it didn’t change much in the larger picture.  Sure, some comic book fans had a new appreciation for Aquaman.  But they weren’t going to sway the tide of public opinion.  They weren’t going to change the minds of people who laughed at Aquaman jokes on Saturday Night Live.  
Plus, it’s been a decade since David or Morrison worked with the character.  It’s been a decade in which Aquaman “couldn’t hold his own title. “  It’s been a decade in which Aquaman has been depicted as a water elemental and a fantasy character and anything except a powerful, classic superhero.  David did incredible work with the character.  But it didn’t stick.  It didn’t change conventional wisdom.

I doubt Geoff Johns will have much success in that regard either.  It’s hard to swim upstream against decades of conventional thinking.  But maybe it’s not impossible.  David changed the minds of one generation of comic book fans.  Johns might shape the opinions of another.  Plus, Johns’ new Aquaman is part of DC’s high profile “new 52.”  That’s still not SuperFriends level, but it’s more exposure than the character has experienced in decades.  The cumulative effect might eventually change public perception.  

I’m not holding my breath though.  Once public opinion has set in, it’s almost impossible to change.  But I can still enjoy a great Aquaman series.  And I can still appreciate the attempt to showcase him as a real superhero.

I moved to York, Pa., about 12 years ago, and my wanderings through the area lead me to an interesting discovery: This was once the headquarters to the Record Club of America, a company that frequently advertised in 1970s-era comics.

Through a little bit of internet Google-fu and some on-site snooping, I've found a little bit about the company that duked it out with BMG and Columbia House, two more well-known music mail-in clubs.

You can read all about it in the latest entry at Comics on the Brain!

By Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

'Cowboys & Aliens' movie lifts graphic novel's high concept

Another comic-book concept makes its movie premiere July 29: Cowboys & Aliens. And therein hangs a tale.

Cowboys & Aliens debuted as a standalone graphic novel from Platinum Studios in 2006 by writers Fred Van Lente and Andrew Foley, penciller Luciano Lima and a host of inkers. The story involved an expansionist alien species crash-landing in 1870s Arizona and annexing it while building a transmitter to contact their fleet to finish the job. Apache warriors, gunslingers and pioneer settlers joined forces to battle them, stealing alien equipment where they could to equal the odds.

While the thrust of the story was action, action, action, there was some social commentary too. One gunslinger remarked that the aliens had no right to conquer our turf just because they had better weapons, which resulted in a sheepish “Oh” after a stern look from the Native Americans. The “all men are brothers” theme was underscored by some cross-racial romance, as a gunslinger and a (female) alien science officer fell in love, as did a (white) female gunslinger and an Apache warrior.

None of which seems to apply to Cowboys & Aliens the movie. Starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde, the film seems to take very little from the graphic novel except the name and the high concept.

But what a concept it is! It’s almost impossible to look at the GN cover, the movie posters or movie trailers and not have a thrill of anticipation. A cowboy shooting at a UFO with a sixgun? That begs the who, what, why and how response.

Which answers in part this question I hear a lot: How come Hollywood has come to rely so much on comic books as their source material? This is especially remarkable when you consider how comics were once fiercely snubbed by pop culture in general, especially the much-maligned superhero genre. For this 40-year comics reader, it’s a 180-degree turn from my youth, when I had to hide comics to avoid getting beaten up.

So what’s changed? A recent “Simpsons” episode depicted Bart explaining, “Hollywood has run dry of ideas.” While that may be partly true, I think some other things are going on here:

• Comics have really grown up. And I’m not just talking about more sophisticated themes in superhero comics (which are also on display in the X-Men and Spider-Man movies). What I mean are terrific non-superhero comics that have been turned into occasionally terrific movies like 300, Constantine, Kick-Ass, Ghost World, Hellboy, A History of Violence, The Mask, Priest, Men in Black, Red, Road to Perdition, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Sin City, V for Vendetta, Wanted and many more. Regardless of their medium of origin, these are just good stories.

• Movie F/X have caught up to comics. It used to be that if you wanted to see an exploding sun or a plausible space ship, you’d read a comic book (or a science fiction book and imagine it). Now the movies can do it – which means they can finally do comic books and science fiction right.

• Comics concepts come pre-vetted. If you’re writing a Batman movie, for example, you’re standing on the shoulders of giants. The Dark Knight has appeared in hundreds of thousands of stories over more than 70 years, and has had hundreds, if not thousands, of writers. That means all the mistakes have been made; those authors have found what works and what doesn’t, and have discarded the dross. They’ve already done the focus groups, involving millions of readers over decades. If a concept is still in a long-running comic book, that means it’s popular and it works and movie writers should use it. No thinking required.

• Comics are basically movie storyboards. Comics do all the work for a director. The pacing, camera angles and storytelling have all been thought out in advance.

Movies that ignore these lessons do so at their peril. When you compare a list of the worst comic-book movies with a list of comic-book movies where the writers jettisoned or fundamentally altered the existing mythos, many names appear on both. (See: Catwoman, Elektra, Jonah Hex, etc.)

That deviation from source material is happening with Cowboys & Aliens, but here we’re talking about a single graphic novel, one which was a a fairly pedestrian take on what is clearly a cool concept. This time, the movie-makers might be right to start over.

And, honestly: Cowboys shooting at UFOs! How can you go wrong?

 Contact Andrew A. Smith of the Memphis Commercial Appeal at capncomics@aol.com.

In Showcase # 6 (Jan.-Feb., 1957), four men---Ace Morgan, Prof Haley, Red Ryan, and Rocky Davis---survived what should have been a fatal air crash.  Deciding they were living on borrowed time, they continued to cheat death, tackling the riskiest of dangers head-on, as the Challengers of the Unknown.  It was a venture that would last thirteen years, spanning the length of the Silver Age.

Despite the hazards, there were a handful of others who sought a place on the team.  In my last Deck Log Entry, we discussed June Robbins, who early in the Challs’ existence earned a spot as an honorary Challenger.  June appeared constantly over the next five years, and then faded into limbo, when the writers ran out of things to do with her.

This time around, we’ll take a look at the other hardy souls who had the opportunity to join the champ Challs.

F. Gaylord Clayburn III

We meet Gaylord Clayburn in Challengers of the Unknown # 30 (Feb.-Mar., 1963), in a tale appropriately titled “The Fifth Challenger”.

The Challs meet him when they attend a swanky black-tie dinner party, as guests of June Robbins, in Clayburn’s opulent penthouse.  For most of us, being filthy rich would be accomplishment enough, but “Clay” Clayburn is something of an over-achiever.  He’s an Olympic-class sportsman, with a trophy case full of medals and loving cups for tennis, skiing, motor racing, and a dozen other competitive sports.  His entry in the Social Register takes up two whole columns and he’s matinée-idol handsome, to boot.

The Challengers barely have time to shake his hand and order cocktails from the bar when a scream from the terrace announces trouble.

A partially demolished building sits across the street, and a girder has slipped, taking a young man with it.  Now jutting out a dozen or so storeys above the pavement, he hangs on for dear life.

The Challs are about to rush to the boy’s rescue when June points out that Clayburn has gotten the jump on them.  In classic Doc Savage style, Clay scales the outside of the ramshackle building, a coil of rope over his shoulder.  With the surefootedness of a mountain goat, he clambers over the girders above the imperiled youth.  Just as the fellow’s strength gives out, Clayburn lassos him in mid-air and hauls him to safety.

When Clayburn returns to the party, the Challs greet him with hearty slaps on the back for his feat.  It’s a good time, figures the playboy, to tell them that he wants to join the Challengers.  He has the skill set, and he meets the other criterion, too---he survived a crash-and-burn at LeMans, walking away without a scratch when he should have been burnt to a crisp.

The team is split over the idea of making Clayburn a member.  Clay’s rescue of the man impressed Ace and Red favourably, but Rocky and Prof are against the idea.  So the four decide to compromise and give the sportsman a try-out.

The next day, Clayburn further antagonises nay-voter Rocky by showing up for the trials wearing a custom-styled Challenger uniform.  “I anticipated becoming a Challenger,” says the playboy, “so I had it tailored in advance!”

Our Heroes test Clay’s abilities at each of their own special talents.  He comes through like a champ at flying, diving, and mountaineering.  He’s about to square off against Rocky in a boxing bout when real life intrudes.  The radio announces fantastic reports of a giant mechanical eagle menacing aircraft.

The Challengers, with Clayburn in tow, jet to the location where the giant bird was last spotted and arrive in time to save a commercial liner from its talons.  As the team presses on with the case, they discover that the robotic eagle is the invention of a criminal scientist, bent on using the mammoth mechanism to commit air piracy.

As things progress, Clayburn is a fireball, full of guts and talent, but he keeps making tactical errors.  The mistakes result in Ace, Prof, Red, and Rocky becoming prisoners of the scientist’s henchmen.

With the help of June Robbins, who had stowed away on the Challs’ jet, Clay redeems himself.  He clobbers the crooks guarding the mechanical eagle, then takes over its controls from the inside.  He manœuvres the huge bird over the scientist’s hide-out and uses its claws to rip open the vault in which the Challengers are imprisoned.  Freed, Ace and the others make quick work mopping up the rest of the gang. 

Even Rocky is won over, now.  “You came through with flying colors,” he tells the playboy sportsman.  “You got all our votes to join our team!”

The group is dumbstruck, then, when Clayburn turns the offer down.  Still kicking himself over his earlier mistakes, he decides that he just hasn’t got what it takes to be a Challenger.

It wouldn’t be the last time someone rejected the chance to become one of the Death-Cheaters.

Tino Manarry

In 1967, Challs editor Murray Boltinoff made the dramatic decision to kill off one of the famed foursome, in a gripping tale which appeared in Challengers of the Unknown # 55 (Apr.-May, 1967).  Its title---“Taps for Red”---didn’t leave much mystery about which Chall had drawn the short straw.

The circus acrobat-cum-mountain climber’s borrowed time finally ran out when he hand-detonated an explosive charge in order to save half-a-country-full of innocent people from a deadly shockwave.  In a five-panel epilogue to the tragic conclusion of the story, teen singing sensation Tino Manarry is introduced.

In due time, we learn that young Tino has a record of accomplishments that makes Gaylord Clayburn look like an idle slacker.  When he isn’t cranking out million-selling records, Manarry makes guest appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.  Not that he needs the money.  The young genius---his I.Q. is 179---holds 147 engineering patents, earning him mega-bucks.   In his spare time, he’s the United Nations representative to the Peace Corps.

Not too shabby for a kid not even old enough to vote.

Yet, Tino has one burning ambition left:  to destroy the Challengers of the Unknown!

His stage name, Tino Manarry, is actually an anagram of his birth name---Martin Ryan, as in the kid brother of dead Challenger Red Ryan.  And he holds the remaining Challs responsible for his big brother’s death.

Over the next couple of issues, Tino tries his damndest to knock off the Challengers, laying traps for them during the course of their next mission.  Thanks to their resilient talent for survival, Our Heroes thwart the teen’s deadly efforts, leaving them scratching their heads over the identity of their would-be assassin.

Things come to a head in issue # 57 (Aug.-Sep., 1967), when Tino joins forces with an electrically charged super-villain calling himself Power Man.  In their initial effort to kill the Challengers, Ace and Prof and Rocky manage a hair’s-breadth escape, but not before discovering who Tino really is and his warped belief that they caused Red’s death.  A second attack by Manarry and the monstrous Power Man leaves the Challs at their mercy.  Instants away from being turned into piles of ashes, Prof shows Tino proof of Red’s gallant self-sacrifice.

Realising his terrible mistake, Tino turns on Power Man, and with his knowledge of physics, defeats the villain single-handedly, saving the Challs from flash-fried death.

In the wrap-up, the Challengers show there are no hard feelings by offering the youngster a place on their team.  Tino turns it down flat.  He knows they extended the invitation only out of sentimentality for Red, and he tells them that.

But, probably, the real reason was Tino was just too damn smart to go around dodging death on a regular basis.

Nevertheless, the teen genius manages to insinuate himself into the next couple of Challenger adventures, much to the consternation of Rocky, who never took to interlopers.  Only the fact that Tino was Red’s brother keeps the ol’ Rockhead from twisting the wiry little warbler into a pretzel, genius I.Q. or not.

Tino was also on hand for the dramatic revelation in issue # 60 (Feb.-Mar., 1968) that Red Ryan was alive!

Murray Boltinoff had gotten cold feet.  In a “Let’s Chat with the Challs” letter column, the editor claimed to have received an avalanche of mail protesting Red’s death.  In response, Boltinoff capitulated, forcing writer Arnold Drake to craft an awkward plot involving stone-idol gods, secret societies, shape-changers, and the team’s old foes, the Challenger-Haters.  It was a real reach, but the fans didn’t care.  They were overjoyed that Red was back with the Challs.

Tino wasn’t shunted off to limbo, though.  The Challenger series was about to undergo a thematic shift, and a fateful development in the lives of Red and Marty Ryan would kick off that change---a change which would lead to, for the only time in the team’s history, a new Challenger.

1968 was a watershed year for most DC titles.  Writers and artists were shifted around.  Formats changed.  Series headed off in new directions.  It was a shake-up virtually across the board.  No DC magazine was the same as it had been six months before.

For Challengers of the Unknown, the sea change came in the nature of its stories.  Our Heroes would now face threats from the supernatural.  Gone were the cheesy super-villains and conquering despots, to be replaced by ghouls and goblins, witches and witch doctors, and things that went bump in the night.

The first new Challenger menace under this new theme was the Legion of the Weird, consisting of a vampire, an ancient Druid, a medicine man, an Egyptian sorcerer, and a witch from old Salem.  After failing in its initial attempt to put Ace under its spell, the Legion stops being subtle and dispatches the giant mummy, Tukamenon, to destroy the Challs outright.  In the mêlée, Tino Manarry is blinded by a mystic ruby.  Red donates one of his eyes for a successful transplant operation, and thanks to the gem’s residual magic, the brothers find that they can each see what the other one does, from their shared pair of eyes.

And the weirdness was just warming up.  Subsequent issues pitted the Death-Cheaters against resurrected murderers, an alien Frankenstein’s monster, nightmares turned real, and a rematch against the Legion of the Weird.  It was all rather unsettling, especially since long-time writer Arnold Drake and artist Bob Brown, who had been handling the art chores since 1959, were bumped off the title in favour of newer talent, in many cases, less capable but who were deemed to better fit the moodier nature of the series.

In Challs # 68 (Jun.-Jul., 1969), the team tackles a computer-spawned demon in the bowels of a U.S. nuclear detection facility.  It ends with the demon secretly inhabiting Prof’s body.  From then on, it takes possession of Prof’s mind from time to time, causing him to go nutty and try to kill his buddies on random occasions.

That sets the stage for . . . .

Corinna Stark

The next issue begins with the Challs investigating reports of a man-like monster murdering the residents of a hamlet nestled on Skull Mountain, in the Ozarks.  Atop Skull Mountain, they stumble upon a castle and make the acquaintance of its master, Algernon Stark, and his beautiful daughter, Corinna.  The mystery is uncovered when Corinna reveals that her father has been searching for the secret to immortality.  In the process, he created the man-monster out of organic materials.

They find the brutish thing hiding in Stark’s laboratory and, after a titanic brawl, defeat it with that time-honoured technique used to vanquish all artificially alive monsters---by electrocuting it, when Rocky slams it against some high-voltage equipment.  But Stark gets the drop on them with a sub-machine gun.  As he squeezes the trigger, Prof hurls himself at Stark and takes the volley of slugs meant for them all.

Haley is seconds away from dying from his wounds, so his Challenger pals stuff him into a cryogenic unit that Stark happened to have on hand.  The unit keeps Prof alive---barely.

Out of guilt for her father’s actions, Corinna offers to take Prof’s place as a Challenger.  That is, despite apparently not possessing any skill or talent that qualifies her for the job.   Still, there isn’t any time for Ace and Rocky and Red to argue the matter one way or the other for, as it turns out, their problems are starting to snowball.

Over the next couple of issues, the Challs discover that Algernon Stark was actually a servant of an alien being called Chu.  Chu is something out of an H. P. Lovecraft novel, with a head like a cabbage and a pair of auxiliary tentacles which suck the life force out of humans.  Half the local backwoodsmen are members of his cult, and they keep the Challengers bouncing from one deadly situation to another, like pinballs.

Meanwhile, Chu kills Algernon Stark, in a sort of motivational demonstration for his followers.  Then he finds Prof and gives him an injection which sustains his life and kills the computer demon inhabiting his body.  The downside is it turns Haley into one of Chu’s bedbug-loony slaves.  As if things couldn’t get any worse, when the Challs attempt to rescue Prof, an explosion burns the sight out of Red’s remaining eye.

The big finish comes in issue # 71 (Dec., 1969-Jan., 1970), when the local townsfolk capture the Challengers and turn them over to Chu.  That’s when the cavalry arrives, in the form of Tino---who has seen the whole thing in his shared sight with his brother---and his fan club, along with a healthy contingent of state lawmen.  Several dozen rounds from a brace of police specials suck the life force out of Chu and most of his minions.

The loose ends are tied up in the last three or four panels.  Red receives an eye transplant, giving him two working peepers, again.  Prof survives too, mentally restored, but so shot up that he will need months of convalescence.  Thus, by default, Corinna gets to stay on as a Challenger.

That makes things sort of sticky, though.   Rocky’s as smitten over her as a love-struck Saint Bernard.  He’s wrenched, though, when Corinna gives him the “let’s just be friends” speech.  You see, she’s all ga-ga over Red.  But Red regards her presence as threatening to break up the team and snarls at all of her overtures.  The more Red rags on Corinna, the more Rocky gets in his face about it, with the two men often coming to blows.  And with all these personality squabbles, Ace finds leading the Challs a whole lot tougher than it used to be.

To justify Corinna’s presence, it was established that she had some “small ability as a medium.”  She would receive psychic emanations or sense ghostly presences whenever it was convenient to the plot.

Clearly, adding a female to the team was an attempt to insert some Marvel-type soap opera.  Not surprisingly, the arc which brought Corinna Stark to the series was written by Denny O’Neil, who always seemed to approach such things heavy handedly.  For veteran fans, it was dismaying to see the tight-knit, arm-in-arm Challs turned into a group of contentious bickerers.

That, more than the shift to a supernatural theme, killed the heady sense of adventure that had been the series’ strongest asset.  That headlong drive, combined with the easy confidence and sense of humour exhibited by the Challengers, had made it DC’s longest running non-super-hero team magazine.

But not for much longer.  Three insipid issues would follow before the Challengers’ last Silver-Age gasp---one page of new material setting up a retelling of Showcase # 7, in Challs # 75 (Aug.-Sep., 1970).

Red Ryan, it seemed, had been right.  They should have kept the “No Girls Allowed” sign up on the clubhouse.

For those who came in late, at one time in America, there were only three channels of television programming available, controlled by the networks NBC, CBS, and upstart ABC. Traditionally, all three networks debuted their new shows the second week in September every year. In 1965, the new fall season was scheduled to kick off a week earlier than usual.  The ABC network, always looking for an edge to compete with its older, stronger rivals, used the extra week to attempt a new strategy.  It created two "books" of new shows---the ones which would debut in September, 1965 and a package of shows held in reserve, which would be used to replace any of September's offerings that failed to acquire an audience in that first thirteen weeks.

Mid-season replacement series were common then, as now, but ABC was the first to issue a full block of replacement shows all at once, in January of ’66.  This kicked off what the network ballyhooed as its Second Season -– “an exciting new television season just when you’re ready for one.”  In the second week of 1966, ABC launched several new programmes: Blue Light, The Double Life of Henry Phyfe, The Baron---and a show that would erupt into a world-wide phenomenon . . . .

Batman.

Produced by William Dozier, Batman mocked the mythos of the Caped Crusader, and comics in general, by adhering to familiar comic-book conventions and then taking them over the top.  Adam West’s Batman was ultra-serious; Burt Ward, as the Boy Wonder, was nearly apoplectic in his enthusiasm; the “special guest villains” were gleefully evil; and the citizens, particularly the authority figures, were fawning in their admiration of the Dynamic Duo.  All performed with tongue firmly in cheek.  Dutch angles, visual sound effects, and garish colours were all employed to evoke a sense of comic-book panels.  The result was a burlesque unlike anything seen on television.  TV had done super-heroes before, with Adventures of Superman, but while that show had been performed as straight as possible, Batman exaggerated every fanciful aspect of the super-hero to a comedic level.

And the viewers ate it up.  Children, oblivious to the satire, adored watching the feats of their heroes.  Adults, recalling their youthful naïvité, chuckled at seeing how the show skewered the comic-book adventures they used to read.  If you weren’t around then, it’s difficult to comprehend the runaway popularity of the show.  I was around then, and I never saw anything like it, before or since.  The coonskin-cap-and-buckskin-jacket fad inspired by Disney’s Davy Crockett in the mid-‘50’s came close, but was restricted to the kids.  Batman crossed generational lines.

From Mark Cotta Vaz’s Tales of the Dark Knight (Ballantine Books, 1989):

. . . Batmania raged like a wildfire . . . .  There was a nightclub outside San Francisco known as “Wayne Manor”, where guests could buy their tickets from Batman at the front door, be seated by a Joker maître d’, and enjoy drinks being served by Wonder Woman while girls dressed like Robin danced behind a plate glass screen and led revelers in the Batusi.  A Detroit hairdresser invented the Bat Cut, while a veteran Cleveland cop named Gilbert Batman became a local celebrity and helped stimulate blood-bank donations by donating his own blood---while costumed as his fabled namesake.

Batmania spread fast, indeed.  The 11 March 1966 issue of Life magazine displayed Adam West as the Caped Crusader on the cover, and the article within highlighted all the things mentioned by Cotta Vaz, and more.  Saturday Evening Post ran its own Batman feature in its 02 May 1966 issue, and TV Guide published three Bat-articles over the next year.  In the fall, the show achieved that definitive distinction of popular culture when it was lampooned in the September, 1966 issue of Mad magazine.

Batman-related toys, games, and merchandise packed the shelves.  Two months after Batman’s debut, some one thousand Batman items had been licensed for sale---Batman capes, Batman masks, Batman t-shirts, Batman utility belts, Batman play sets, Batman model kits, Batman board games, Batman trading cards, Batman badges, Batman lunch boxes, Batman colouring books, Batman puppets, Batman wristwatches, Batman toothbrushes, even Batman toiletries.

There were foodstuffs:  Batman milk, Batman ice cream, Batman juice bars, Batman cola, Batman chewing gum, Batman bread, Batman peanut butter, and so (naturally) Batman jelly.

There were at least five different Batman record albums, the most notable of which contained songs all written by Neil Hefti, the composer of the Batman TV show theme.  Department store book-racks carried paperbacks reprinting stories from ‘50’s issues of Batman and Detective Comics, and a novelisation of the Batman feature film soon to be released.

Jay Emmett, then president of the Licensing Corporation of America, told Newsweek, “This is the biggest thing that’s ever happened in licensing.”

The only demographic that seemed to hate the Batman television show was the narrow set of hard-line devotees of the Batman comic books.  It had been less than two years since DC editor Julius Schwartz had rescued the character from gimmicky science-fiction plots and restored him to dignity.  Now all of the Masked Manhunter’s newfound respectability had been capsized by the campy programme.  The old fans saw it as making a mockery of their hero.  They had no idea that the humiliation was just beginning.

It didn’t take long for Batmania to show its influence in Batman and Detective Comics.  Batman stories drawn by Carmine Infantino, in his sleek, dynamic style, tapered off.  Sheldon Moldoff  took up the slack, but his Batman no longer operated on darkened streets, casting broad shadows in the moonlight.  Now, Batman and Robin were surrounded by brightly lit backgrounds and colour-splashed characters.

The scripts began to reflect the television show, as well, but gradually.  DC was caught between serious-minded Batman readers, who wanted the realism of the New Look to continue, and fans of the television show, who were now buying the comics and expecting to find the same campy approach.  Insidiously, elements of the TV show crept into the Bat-titles.  The comic-book Robin adopted the “Holy fill-in-the-blank!” exclamations of his television counterpart.  Letterers increased and enlarged the sound-effects, especially in fight scenes, until the POW!’s and the BIFF!’s threatened to crowd out the figures themselves.

The sluce gates opened and costumed villains came rushing back into the Bat-books.  The Joker---one of the most popular villains on the show---got a lot of face time, but he was vastly watered down from his early days as a maniacal killer.  Now he was played as a cackling jester who bedeviled the Dynamic Duo with gags, reflecting the lightweight version portrayed Cesar Romero.  The Catwoman was dug out of mothballs.  And the Riddler, a minor foe with only a handful of appearances, was promoted to the first tier of Bat-villains on the strength of his television popularity.  In between threats from his traditional rogues' gallery, Batman was set upon by such new and insipid costumed crooks as the Bouncer, the Eraser, and Bag O’Bones.

Not that the surge of costumed adversaries bothered the Caped Crusader much, since he had acquired another trait of his television counterpart---an unending supply of devices from his utility belt.  No longer was Batman shown as relying on his wits and innate skills to get out of trouble.  He simply had to reach into his utility belt (drawn increasingly larger, to emphasize its presence, until it began to look like a truss) and pull out the perfect gimmick, that he “just happened” to have on hand, to extract him from his current scrape.

The statement of ownership published at the end of 1966 showed that Batman posted an average total paid circulation of 898,470---almost twice that of the previous year and, for the first time, out-selling Superman.  No wonder the Batman purists were losing out to the “high-camp” Bat-fans---DC knew which side was pumping in the bucks.

While those changes were sort of slipped under the door, there were two major developments in the Bat-titles that were directly attributable to the television show.  The first was the return of Alfred the butler.

When Julius Schwartz had Alfred killed off back in Detective Comics # 328, he intended for the character to remain dead.  However, the folks at ABC wanted Batman and Robin’s trusty retainer back in livery, again.  Tales of the Dark Knight reported Schwartz’s reaction:  “It became a very difficult situation when [the show’s producers] wanted Alfred there and they wanted me to bring him back.  I said, ‘But he’s dead!’  They said, ‘You can think of a way.’”

And the resourceful editor did think of a way.  For the past two years, Batman and Robin had been menaced by “the Outsider”, a continuing villain possessing unusual capabilities.  Thus far, the true identity of the Outsider had not been revealed.  I’ve never come across any information on who Schwartz had originally planned to be the villain, but it didn’t matter.  In an effort to push a square peg into a round hole, Schwartz came up with “The Inside Story of the Outsider”, from Detective Comics # 356 (Oct., 1966).   At the conclusion, the bizarre criminal was revealed to be Alfred.  The contrived situation which turned the loyal butler into a deformed villain was reversed, and Alfred was restored, in body and mind.

Alfred’s return did not bode well for Aunt Harriet.  The overprotective aunt had rarely taken a significant part in the Bat-stories as it was, figuring prominently in only a couple of adventures.  The return of Alfred eliminated what limited purpose she had.  Aunt Harriet’s presence was increasingly marginalised through the remainder of the Silver Age, until she finally disappeared completely without so much as a footnote.

The other notable development forced by the producers of the television show was the creation of a new Batgirl. 

By 1967, the Batman craze had peaked, and ratings of the television show were sliding downward.  Dozier and company hoped that the introduction of a Batgirl would revive male interest in the show and bring in female viewers, to boot.  Once again, they pressed upon Julius Schwartz.  Since the television Batgirl was going to be a curvaceous cutie of obviously adult age, bringing back the prepubescent Bat-Girl of 1961 would not do. Schwartz was forced to come up with a completely new character.  He did this, in the form of Barbara Gordon, daughter of Commissioner Gordon.  The “Dominoed Daredoll” was unveiled to the readership in “The Million-Dollar Debut of Batgirl”, from Detective Comics # 359 (Jan., 1967).  A couple more appearances rapidly followed, to cement the new Batgirl in fans’ minds before the show presented her on 14 September 1967, in the first episode of the third season.

One could never accuse the executives at National Periodical of having any flies on them.  With the Bat-craze sweeping the nation, the Caped Crusader was a guaranteed draw for any comic in which he appeared.

So, decreed the brass, he would appear in as many as possible.

Between the summer of 1966 and the beginning of 1968, it was nearly impossible to find a DC magazine in which Batman did not show up.  The Masked Manhunter made the rounds of DC titles like an actor hitting the talk-show circuit to plug a new movie.  Batman popped up in Superman, Action Comics, Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, Aquaman, Metal Men, Blackhawk, and even The Adventures of Jerry Lewis.  He became the permanent star of The Brave and the Bold.  Over in Teen Titans, Robin was thrust to preëminence, making his the largest figure on the cover, shoving the other three Titans into the background.

And when the Bat-guy himself failed to make a personal appearance, readers of DC mags were constantly being reminded of him by “product placement”.  Artists would insert into backgrounds billboards advertising the Batman television show, and story characters all seemed to be fond of watching Batman on the tube.

But, perhaps, nowhere was this Bat-saturation more painfully obvious than in Justice League of America, nor more unwelcome by that title’s fans.

In the earliest issues of JLA, the participation of Batman, along with Superman, was largely curtailed, letting the other members shine.  Eventually, JLA writer Gardner Fox broke out of that formula, and the World’s Finest Team appeared as often as the rest of the Justice League.  Batman was just one of gang, no more, no less.

Then, in the summer of ‘66, Batman became The Star of Justice League of America.  Starting with issue # 46 (Aug., 1966), the Masked Manhunter was the largest figure on nine straight covers, often reducing the other members to mere headshots.  That is, when he wasn’t the only JLAer to appear on the cover at all.  In the stories themselves, Batman was now the prime mover of the group, determining the action and bringing about the final resolution.  In “The Lord of Time Attacks the 20th Century”, JLA # 50 (Dec., 1966), fully half the page count was devoted to Batman in action before the Justice League appeared at all.

As if that wasn’t enough, Fox would shoehorn Batman into tales which, logically, he had no business being in.  “Missing in Action---5 Justice Leaguers”, JLA # 52 (Mar., 1967), tells the story of the League members who missed the adventure in # 50 and why they were unable to answer the emergency signal.  Even though Batman did appear in # 50---heck, he was practically the whole story---he was squeezed into the account of the missing JLAers at the same time.  And then there’s the case of “Z---as in Zatanna---and Zero Hour”, from JLA # 51 (Feb., 1967).

This was the landmark case which brought to an end Zatanna’s two-year search for her father, a quest which had brought her into contact with several DC super-doers:  Hawkman, the Atom, Green Lantern, and the Elongated Man.  But not Batman.  Yet, when “Z---as in Zatanna . . .” opened with the Mystic Maid summoning the heroes who had assisted her to the secret sanctuary, there was Batman.  The Gotham Gangbuster even admitted to her, “I have no recollection of ever meeting you, let alone helping you!”   Granted, Gardner Fox found a clever way to justify Batman’s participation, still, it was obvious his presence was forced.

Not surprisingly, regular JLA readers howled at this Bat-exploitation, referring to him as “His Bat-ship” and “the center of distraction”.  Reader Leonard Rosenburg, of the Bronx, New York, caustically pointed out that the title of the magazine was not “Batman and the JLA”.

By the time of 1967’s annual Justice League/Society team-up, those complaints were at a fever pitch.  So Fox did an end-around.  Batman was absent from that year’s team-up.  Instead, Fox handed the readership the grown-up Robin of Earth-Two, who occupied almost the entire cover of JLA # 55, wearing a costume clearly patterned after his Caped Crusading mentor’s.

Fortunately for Fox, for whom by now, JLA fans were coming with pitchforks and torches, by the start of 1968, the bubble of Batmania burst.

Actually, it was more like it deflated.  Like all fads, once it flared, it began to die.  Ratings on the Batman television show started to sag in the fall of 1966.  They remained high enough to carry the show through the season, but continued to hæmorrhage viewers throughout.  In response, ABC trimmed the show’s budget, forcing Dozier to reduce production costs---and the cutbacks showed on screen.  To further economise, the show was cut back from two episodes a week to one.  The introduction of Batgirl did little to stem the tide.

In March of 1968, the television Batman was cancelled, and the Bat-craze was over.

Over at DC, Batman’s “fifteen minutes of fame” had passed.  Sick of his omnipresence, readers were now turning away from anything Bat-like.  His guest-star turns were eliminated.  He returned to his normal place in JLA and actually missed a few cases, to placate Bat-sick Justice League fans.  Only his constant presence in The Brave and the Bold continued to be profitable, so there, he stayed.

In the Bat-titles, Julius Schwartz made an attempt to regain the momentum lost by having to cater to the “camp Batman” concept.  All the pop art, Bat-gadgets, and “Holy this!” and “Holy that!” were shelved, as Gardner Fox and his eventual replacement, Frank Robbins, once again aimed for legitimate mysteries and realistic crime capers.  A new contract between National Periodical and Bob Kane no longer required a certain amount of art produced by him, and Shelly Moldoff was quietly let go.  Gil Kane and Chic Stone filled in on the art chores, until DC settled on regular artists Irv Novick, for Batman, and Bob Brown, for Detective Comics.

By the end of the Silver Age, Batman was creeping his way back to being “The Batman”, a dark avenger who haunted the underworld, warring on all criminals.

He wouldn’t quite get there, though, until the Bronze Age came in, along with a couple of fellows named Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams.

Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

DC Entertainment may have saved the best for last in its ambitious revamping of its entire line of superhero comics – and it’s a book that doesn’t have a single superhero.

All-Star Western #1 arrived Sept. 28, taking the place of Jonah Hex on the schedule but still starring the lethal Wild West bounty hunter. The first story varies immediately from its predecessor by being set in the Wild East of the 19th century, Gotham City, a place that will host a certain other manhunter in the 21st century.

And if you think Batman has his hands full in the present, wait until you see his filthy, gritty, crime-ridden home town in the 1880s! And adding to Gotham’s Dickensian misery is a serial killer, dubbed the Gotham Ripper for his grisly work, who’s eviscerating prostitutes. A police force at the end of its rope asks psychiatrist Amadeus Arkham (whose descendant will build the famous asylum) to help, and he promptly hires Hex. That’s really all the set-up you need – that, and the first page showing Gotham in all its seedy glory, as flawlessly rendered by new artist Moritat (The Spirit).

One thing that hasn’t changed is the writers. Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti wrote 70 issues of Jonah Hex (plus one graphic novel), all as done-in-one morality tales. In All-Star Western, however, they’re expanding to to multi-issue stories. The new freedom shows in issue #1, which takes its sweet time familiarizing new readers with Hex and Gotham, while amusing those who already know the score.

For one thing, this ain’t no clichéd fish-out-of-water story. Hex is still a shark among minnows, and he doesn’t waste any time showing the teeming vermin of Gotham’s alleys, bars and whorehouses who’s boss.

“It is a slightly different animal in that we’re structuring episodes on a larger scale,” Gray said in an interview, “but to be honest it is fun to have so much more room in a story using a character we’re intimately familiar with.”

Palmiotti agreed. “Telling a story in 22 pages can be difficult at times and there were many circumstances in the past that we wish we had extra pages to build up scenes and characters a bit more. With All-Star Western, we get to do just that … and in a spectacular way.”

Of course, a series with that title will have more than one star. Other Western characters will get the spotlight in back-up stories, starting with El Diablo in issue #2. That will be drawn by Hex alumnus Jordi Bernet (The Torpedo).

 “It is my dream to always work with Jordi till the end of time,” Palmiotti said. “He is one of my personal favorites right now and we have definite plans aside from the El Diablo story.”

While characters like Bat Lash and Nighthawk have been mentioned, no details have been confirmed. Gray said they want to “keep a measure of secrecy to help bolster surprises down the road.” Of the other back-up characters, Gray allows “so far they only have the 19th century in common.”

Palmiotti, too, resists giving anything away – even location. “We will be experimenting with not only the characters in the DCU,” he said, “but we will be looking at other places and cities to have some fun with established and new characters.”

Which they have already begun with All-Star Western #1; the Gotham setting makes the story as much crime noir as Western.

“We’re adding some pulp elements that make sense with who and what Jonah is,” Gray said. Palmiotti added, “The surroundings and locals have changed, and now with Jonah in the big city of Gotham, he has to deal with the fact that being a loner is next to impossible. There are tons of opportunities here because of that to introduce not only cool stories but a boat load of new characters and situations.”

Some of which are the aforementioned back-up characters, some of whom may find themselves in the front of the book with Hex. “We have plans to eventually intertwine some of the stories and there will be guest stars in much the same way we used them during the Hex series,” Gray said.  

“Honestly, each and every issue is going to have something different and special going on, so expect the unexpected,” Palmiotti added. “The format allows us to get a bit crazy from time to time.”

And as All-Star Western shows, Eastern crazy is just as good for Hex as the Western kind.

Photos:

1. Both Jonah Hex and El Diablo continue in November's All-Star Western #3. Courtesy DC Entertainment Inc.

 2. The first issue of the new All-Star Western begins a story of Jonah Hex in 1880s Gotham City. Courtesy DC Entertainment Inc.

3. Jonah Hex is still the lead in All-Star Western #2 but is joined by a back-up starring El Diablo Courtesy DC Entertainment Inc.

Contact Andrew A. Smith of the Memphis Commercial Appeal at capncomics@aol.com.

DC’s new 52 debuts in earnest next week.  Justice League #1 was this week’s appetizer.  Next week, the real experiment begins.

            It’s been interesting to watch the reactions since this ambitious endeavor was initially announced.  At first, there was an equal mix of cynicism and enthusiasm.  That tells us more about fandom- and humanity in general- than it does about DC.  There will always be pessimists prepared to declare a new initiative the worst idea ever and optimists ready to hope for something brilliant. 

Then there was an exaggerated mood of disappointment when the actual comics were announced as if some fans secretly hoped that the line-up would be designed individually for them.  I remember one of Captain Comics’ great philosophies: “I don’t like wrestling and I have no interest in wrestling comics but I’m glad they make them because it means they’re making comics for more than just me.”  Some of the new 52 titles that I’m least interested in are the ones that have other fans the most excited.  Good.  I wasn’t going to buy all 52 anyway.

I’ve also been intrigued by the way in which many fans have assessed the new 52 for how well the list has conformed to their own continuity checklist.  In the long run, that’s not going to matter.  The books will succeed based more on quality than whether or not the right character is wearing the Robin mask.  After all, I was prepared to dislike the third Firestorm series because it didn’t star Ronnie Raymond.  But Jason Rusch’s adventures were so good that I was persuaded he’s the better Nuclear Man.   

Yet, without the actual books to talk about, it is fascinating to discuss how these books fit with our own personal notions.

The Superman Family: Action, Superman, Superboy, Supergirl

I’ll admit that I was disappointed when I heard about the back-to-basics approach for Superman.  I grew up with John Byrne’s Man of Steel.  I liked having a Ma and Pa Kent around.  And I had no objection to the idea that Superman wasn’t the first superhero.  Like Babe Ruth or The Beatles, he didn’t have to be the first to be the best.  So I didn’t like the idea that DC was returning to the Silver Age status quo.  It struck me as a move backwards. 

But then I thought about it a bit more.  DC isn’t trying to get old Silver Age fans back.  They’re trying to attract new fans.  Those potential readers would know about Superman primarily through the long-running TV series Smallville.  Jonathan Kent died during that series (and Martha too for all I know).  Plus, Clark was the first hero who eventually inspired and assembled others.  I realized this isn’t about the Silver Age; it’s about Smallville.  That’s especially evident in Action Comics where a beginning Superman hasn’t even adopted a costume. 

They’re still not the choices I would have made (I’ll miss you, Man of Steel) but now that I get what DC is trying to do, I’m much more likely to give this new continuity a chance (say hello, Man of Tomorrow). 

The Batman Family: Batman, Detective, Batwing, The Dark Knight, Batman & Robin, Batgirl, Batwoman, Nightwing, Catwoman, Birds of Prey and Red Hood & the Outlaws

I’ve never been a dedicated Batman reader.  I’ve sampled Batman from time to time but there were always too many titles for me to become fully engrossed in the line.  That hasn’t changed- and it’s not going to.  However, I have been a big fan of some of his apprentice heroes.  On that score, the new Batman line has both a hit and a miss.

  As much as I enjoyed seeing Dick Grayson finally wear the mantle of the bat, I knew that it wasn’t going to last.  So I’m glad that he’s landed gracefully on his feet, back in his own title as Nightwing. 

On the other hand, I wasn’t happy that Barbara Gordon was going back to her Batgirl identity.  Like a lot of fans, I liked Barbara as Oracle.  She proved a lot more effective beating the bad guys with her mind.  And she increased DC’s diversity as a handicapped character.  Plus, I liked Stephanie Brown as Batgirl.  She had earned it after long service as Spoiler and a short stint as Robin. 

But then again, I wasn’t currently buying either Batgirl or Birds of Prey.  And I’m intrigued enough by this new series that I’m planning on buying Batgirl.  I want to see if DC can make it work, even if I think they shouldn’t have done it.  I guess it’s another case of fans saying one thing with their keyboards and another with their wallets. 

Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, New Guardians, Red Lanterns

The Green Lantern line was one of DC’s most successful franchises.  So they didn’t have to change a lot.  They did anyway.  I approve.  I like that they’re being bold, rather than rightfully resting on their laurels. 

Some of the changes are slight.  Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner have traded places, but they’re still both Green Lanterns.  Guy and John now share the lead in Green Lantern Corps (Guy had been the lead in Emerald Warriors).  Kyle now takes over the third Green Lantern title as New Guardians replaces Emerald Warriors in the line-up. 

Other changes are significant.  Hal Jordan has been kicked out of the Green Lantern Corps.  Sinestro has been bonded to a green ring against his will.  And, at least initially, the new Green Lantern title will feature Sinestro instead of Hal.  Is it permanent?  Probably not.  Is it interesting?  Very. 

They haven’t changed everything, of course.  The color spectrum is still represented by other corps, and one of them now receives their own title.  Although older fans claim to hate it, the other corps have been incredibly popular.   Even Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory has been spotted wearing T-shirts from the other corps. 

Justice League, Justice League International, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Captain Atom, Fury of Firestorm, Savage Hawkman, Mister Terrific and DC Comics Presents

It’s nice to see Aquaman, Firestorm and Hawkman back in action.  One of the reasons why I loved Brightest Day was that it resurrected so many of these older characters.  Yet it was more than that.  Brightest Day made them relevant again.  I liked the new Aqualad.  I liked that Jason and Ronnie now shared the Firestorm matrix.  I could have skipped the Hawkman storyline, but at least he was alive again.  I always hoped that they would get their own titles coming out of Brightest Day, just as Booster Gold got his own title coming out of 52.  And now, my wish is granted.  I’m especially pleased that they’re going forward with a combined Jason/Ronnie Firestorm.  Their interaction has been a lot more interesting than any previous incarnation.  I would have liked to see a Martian Manhunter title too but we’ll get to that later.

The Flash is the title that reminded me I have my own continuity checklist as much as anyone else.  I like Wally West as the Flash and I’d be a lot more interested in this title if he was the lead instead of Barry. 

            The biggest continuity change comes in Justice League #1 as Cyborg replaces Martian Manhunter as a founding member of the team.  I have no problem with that.  I’ve been through enough ret-cons by now that I no longer bat an eye.  Plus, my allegiance to both characters is about the same- they’re both safely in my top ten for DC heroes.  I’m also intrigued by the new line-up in Justice League International.  It’s nice to see one of the heroes from the Great Ten be integrated into the greater DC Universe, even if their own title didn’t sell well.

The Dark: Justice League Dark, Swamp Thing, Animal Man, Frankenstein, I Vampire, Resurrection Man and Demon Knights

            This section isn’t really for me.  I’m ambivalent about whether or not the main characters belong in a separate Vertigo line or back in the DCU.  I prefer a pseudo-Silver Age Animal Man with the cool orange costume to the warped Vertigo version.  And I’ve never been interested in The Demon. 

            That’s okay, of course.  I’m not the target audience for this and DC should be targeting multiple audiences.  If this reinvigorates interest in Swamp Thing or provides some off beat cult hits like Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE or I, Vampire, that’s a good thing.     

            The one thing I like is the return of Resurrection Man.  That was one of the underrated titles of the late ‘90s and it will be fun to get in on the beginning this time. 

The Edge: Stormwatch, Voodoo, Grifter, Deathstroke, Suicide Squad, OMAC, Blackhawks, Men of War and All-Star Western

The big change here is the integration of the Wildstorm characters into the DC universe.  I’ll lay my cards on the table: I’m all for it.  I’ve read a lot of comments from people who are opposed to the idea.  Some of them simply don’t like the Wildstorm characters.  That’ s fine.  You don’t have to read these titles if you don’t like them.  But these characters have been around for 20 years now and, at a certain point, the complaints sound as ridiculous as old people criticizing rap music.

However, some Wildstorm fans have also opposed the idea.  I’ve seen several suggest that the Wildstorm characters are better off on their own little world.  I strongly disagree.  They’ve been segmented off in their own little world for a long time and it hasn’t been a good thing.  The last series was a great post-apocalyptic tale and it was practically ignored.  The only way for these characters to become relevant again is for them to become part of the DCU.

I’ve heard similar arguments over the years about Captain Marvel, Plastic Man, Blue Beetle and the Freedom Fighters.  “They’re fine in their own world but they don’t belong in the DCU.”  I think it’s ridiculous.  When SHAZAM had his out-of-continuity series in the ‘70s, it was quickly cut back to a bi-monthly and lasted 35 issues.  The in-continuity series in the ‘90s lasted 47 issues.  Ted Kord’s enduring popularity today has more to do with his appearances as part of the Justice League than with any of his solo series.  I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Plastic Man was given his first ongoing series in almost 40 years after joining the JLA. 

The exposure is good for the Wildstorm characters.  And though I’d rather see him in his own title, I’m fascinated by the idea of putting the Martian Manhunter in charge of Stormwatch.

Young Justice: Teen Titans, Static Shock, Hawk & Dove, Blue Beetle, Legion of Superheroes, Legion Lost

I’m impressed that DC came up with a group name.  This is a very disparate bunch.  In terms of continuity, there are some backward steps, forward steps and corrected steps.

The backward step is Hawk & Dove.  I’m one of the few people on this board who actually likes Rob Liefeld but even I’m disappointed by this class reunion.  Why is DC intentionally trying to revive a minor hit from the late ‘80s?  That seems like a bad idea.  I’d much rather see Dove and her sister as Hawk than retread old ground. 

The forward step is Static Shock.  I know that some other observers think this is another backward step.  After all, DC is reviving another ‘90s concept.  But this isn’t a straight retread.  They’re incorporating elements from the successful cartoon and building off of his recent appearances in Teen Titans.  I’m intrigued by this new title and I hope it does well.

The corrected step is Blue Beetle.  I can’t say that I was an avid fan of the previous series.  I borrowed a couple of trades from the library after the series was already canceled.  But it was very good.  So this is a smart revival.  DC could build on the positive reviews and the good will from the previous series.

There’s also a sideways step in the form of Legion of Superheroes.  It certainly seems like the recently re-launched Legion is being re-launched again simply because everybody else is doing it.  It’s essentially the same creative team and concept as before. 

That’s my checklist.  I know that it won’t match with everyone, or even anyone.  We all have our own opinions about which character should bear which codename and which heroes should be in which team.  Those opinions have been shaped by favorite stories and series of the past.  Then again, it’s always possible that these new series could shape new opinions.  After all, who would have thought in 1986 that they’d like a Justice League with Blue Beetle and Booster Gold? 

Last week, I relived some of the famous failures in comic book history.  Now, it’s time to look at the other side of the coin.  Comic books wouldn’t have lasted for more than 70 years without a few successes.  Many of those successes are well documented such as Superman originating the superhero genre or Flash sparking the Silver Age.  I’m going to take a look at some of the more surprising impossible-to-predict successes. 

America’s Favorite Teenager

Superheroes ruled the world in the early 1940s.  However, modeled on the comic strip supplements common in Sunday newspapers, comic books were also dominated by cross-genre anthologies.  It was normal for a superhero like Green Lantern to share space with an airplane humor strip like Hop Harrigan.  But one humorous back-up strip couldn’t be confined to the back pages.  Archie debuted in Pep Comics #22 when the title was the home of the superhero Shield.  In 1943, the Shield welcomed Archie to the cover.  They shared cover duties for 10 issues until Archie finally bumped the Shield off for good with issue #51.  Archie quickly grew into a teen humor empire.  There were spin-offs starring his supporting characters like Jughead, Betty and Veronica.  Eventually, Archie expanded to cartoons and popo music.  The company even renamed itself after its biggest star.  But it all started in a shrewd bit of counter-programming, as the teenage goofball beat out the star superhero.

All-New, All-Different

Marvel didn’t have high expectations when they re-launched the X-Men in 1975.  After helping to put the new team together and writing the introductory giant-size issue, Len Wein handed the writing chores over to Claremont.  He didn’t think it would be a bit hit and preferred to stay on the more established Incredible Hulk.  The schedule was also cautious.  After that first giant-size issue, the X-Men returned as a bi-monthly title.  But the team of international misfits and cast-offs struck a chord with fans.  Claremont’s ongoing plots drew them in and beautiful art by Dave Cockrum and John Byrne blew them away.  The X-Men became a huge hit.  They inspired a superhero renaissance.  They eventually led to an entire line of similar teams of mutants like X-Factor, Excalibur and X-Force.  DC followed suit a few years ago when Marv Wolfman and George Perez turned a similar trick with the New Teen Titans.

Heroes in a Half-Shell

Nobody could have predicted this.  Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird conceived of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1984.  They published the first copies of the comic via a mimeograph machine.  Yet somehow the comic found a cult audience.  It spread quickly among comic book fans.  The title was supposed to be a parody of popular superheroes like Daredevil but within two years, it had inspired parodies and knock-offs of its own.  Comic book stores saw a black-and-white boom with other titles like Adolescent Radioactive Black-Belt Hamsters and Pre-Teen Dirty Gene Kung Fu Kangaroos.  For comics, that led to a black and white glut.  But for the Turtles themselves, it led to bigger and better things.  The Turtles became the heart of a licensing empire, appearing in video games, cartoons, puzzles, lunch boxes and countless kids’ costumes.  By 1990, they were starring in their own movie.  They were like the garage band that has their demo tape turn into a platinum record.  Though they’re no longer a cultural phenomenon, the Turtles are going strong today with a new comic book series.

Marvel Knights

It wasn’t the first time that Marvel had lent some of its characters out to another studio.  They made a big splash in 1996 when Jim Lee’s Wildstorm and Rob Liefeld’s Extreme took over on four of Marvel’s flagship titles.  However, the response to Heroes Reborn was mixed.  Reviews were unfavorable and Marvel made an even bigger splash when they brought their heroes back into the fold with Heroes Return.  So it was something of a surprise when Marvel tried it again in 1998.  But this time, they entrusted some of their second-tier characters to Event Comics.  Though they had a couple of interesting characters in Ash and Painkiller Jane, Event wasn’t as big as Wildstorm or Extreme.  But Event’s Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti had a strong editorial vision.  They returned the Marvel characters to the street, giving them more of an edge.  And they teamed with great writers: Kevin Smith on Daredevil, Christopher Priest on Black Panther and Paul Jenkins on Inhumans.  The new line received critical acclaim.  And Joe Quesada was later hired away from his own company to work for Marvel as their editor-in-chief.

A Real American Hero

The cartoons had been off the air for a decade.  The toys were no longer top-sellers.  So it seemed a little odd when Devil’s Due Studios decided to bring back GI Joe through Image Comics.  But Josh Blaylock’s idea was clearly an inspired one.  The new comic appealed to those who had grown up on the cartoon and comic books.  Those fans were now adults and a good portion of them were comic book collectors.  The new first issue of GI Joe was a huge success.  The popularity of the title inspired others to follow suit and soon comics were deluged with a boom of  ‘80s cartoons.  The Transformers arrived in 2002 via Dreamwave and Image.  Top Cow brought back the Battle of the Planets that summer.   Wildstorm came out with the Thundercats that fall.  And Image showed up with Voltron in 2003.  The boom was somewhat short-lived but the effect was long lasting.  GI Joe and Transformers have been published pretty much continuously for the last decade, though they’re both now at IDW.  Plus, the success of the comic books allegedly inspired Hollywood studios to green-light live-action movies for these properties. 

Those of you who have been regular Deck Log followers have seen me discuss the mid-‘60’s phenomenon known as “Batmania” a few times.  It’s one of those things impossible to convey in the written word.  You had to experience it.  When the ABC network launched its new series Batman on 12 January 1966 . . . well, the phrase “overnight sensation” would not be an overstatement. 

Fads come and go, of course.  But normally they infect only a particular sub-set of society and that’s usually a segment of the younger generation.  Batmania was different.  It was one of those rare crazes that swept across the entire culture, regardless of age distinctions.  So, naturally, opportunists found a way to make a buck off of it.

Comics publishers weren’t the only folks to jump on board the super-hero gravy train inspired by the Bat-craze.  Television executives from rival broadcasters CBS and NBC set out to fashion their own super-hero spoofs and, hopefully, leech some of Batman’s ratings-smashing popularity to their own networks.

Comics enthusiasts occasionally discuss the coïncident timing which saw DC’s Doom Patrol and Marvel’s X-Men, two strikingly similar concepts, debut mere months apart in 1963.  And there were other curiously fortuitous instances of this kind, such as the Red Tornado/the Vision in 1968 and the Swamp Thing/the Man-Thing in 1971.

In the case of DC and Marvel, maybe it was happenstance, maybe it wasn’t.  But television has never been that coy about it.  Not only did CBS and NBC present the public with a pair of super-hero sitcoms featuring closely matching characters and premises, but they were introduced on the same night, 09 January 1967, and only a half-hour apart.  Like their spiritual progenitor, Batman, they were both mid-season replacement shows.  And that would not be the end to their parallels.

For those of you who, like me, were around then, this will bring back some memories.  Possibly, even fond ones.  For those of you who came in late, it should be an interesting glimpse of television’s own Silver Age of super-heroes.

A Scientist, Both Wise and Bold, Set Out to Cure the Common Cold;

Instead, He Found This Power Pill . . . .

The first of these Batman wanna-bes was shown on Monday nights, at eight p.m.  (I won’t go into what it says about my brain that I remembered the day of the week without having to consult a 1967 calendar.)  This was the CBS product and it was titled Mr. Terrific, and if you’re thinking that it was about the old DC hero, Terry Sloan, the Man of a Thousand Talents, you’re wrong.  It would probably have been a better show if it had been.

Of the two super-hero send-ups produced by CBS and NBC, this one was, technically, first---and not just because it aired a half-hour before NBC’s effort.  In the summer of 1966, the Tiffany Network had already turned its eye toward producing a Batman clone.  The result was a pilot starring Alan Young, coming off a successful run in Mr. Ed, as Stanley H. Beamish, a nebbishy department-store clerk.  As the plot relates, the efforts of a government laboratory have resulted in the creation of a pill which will bestow a human being with the basic array of Superman-like powers---super-strength, invulnerability, flight, super-speed, and X-ray vision.  Hilarity ensues when it’s discovered that the only person the pill will work on is Stanley Beamish.

As Beamish, Alan Young was clumsy and addle-brained, kind of a dumber version of Wilbur Post.  Young is a talented actor, as was Edward Andrews, who played the head of the government bureau in charge of the super-power pill.  But here, they both played their parts too broadly, and frankly, the script didn’t give them a whole lot to work with.  It was an embarrassment to all involved, and CBS wisely passed on it.

That would have been that for TV’s Mr. Terrific---except that a few months later, CBS got wind that NBC was busy producing its own super-hero satire and the buzz was that it was pretty good.  Not wanting to be left in the lurch, it locked some writers in a room and told them they couldn’t come out until they fixed Mr. Terrific.  The result was a revamp with about as much housecleaning as Julius Schwartz’ revival of the Flash.

The premise---that a “power pill” would give super-powers to only one man---was retained, as was the name of that fateful subject, Stanley Beamish.  Aside from that, everything else, including the cast, was changed.  Now, Stanley Beamish, played by Stephen Strimpell, was half-owner of a small-time garage and filling station.  Where Stanley is meek and mild, his partner and best friend, Hal Walters (Dick Gautier, best remembered as “Hymie the Robot”, from Get Smart), is self-confident and an inveterate skirt chaser.

When a government scientist invents the power pill---accidentally this time, instead of on purpose---the Bureau of Special Projects determines that the only subject in all the country that the pill will affect is Stanley Beamish.  Barton J. Reed (John McGiver), head of the Bureau, and his aide, Harley Trent (Paul Smith), seek out Stanley and recruit him into super-powered government service.  Stanley must keep his rôle as a super-hero secret from everyone, including Hal.

Instead of the ridiculous costume worn by Alan Young in the pilot, which resembled an old-fashioned deep-sea diver’s suit painted gold (and probably was), the new Mr. Terrific costume showed a bit more decorum:  a gold-lamé jacket, which reversed into a regular sport coat, so Stanley could hang it up in his locker at the garage; and an aviator’s scarf and goggles.

In his portrayal of Beamish, Stephen Strimpell was more subdued than Young.  Strimpell’s Beamish was impish and easy going, but didn’t come across as a total nimrod.  Clearly he was out of his depth performing espionage work for the government and often screwed up because of that, but it never devolved into the can’t-walk-and-chew-gum-at-the-same-time level.

The same kind of restraint was shown in the characters of Reed and Trent.  While they occasionally displayed moments of childishness---generally, to accommodate the insertion of a joke---they usually came across as competent.  Or, at least, sitcom competent.

When assigned to a mission, Beamish would be provided with three power pills---one large white one, which rendered him super-powered for one hour; and two small, red pills, which were ten-minute “boosters”.  This was the “maximum dosage”, after which Stanley would have to wait an unspecified amount of time before taking any more power pills.

The need to take to pills to become super-powered and the imposed time-limits served as a major source of drama and comedy in the series.  Frequently, Stanley would drop one of the pills, or it would wear off, at the worst possible time.

The writers had generally done well in revising the series.  They had certainly moved it a notch or two up from the pilot.  There was just one problem . . . .

It wasn’t funny.  It was silly; it was whacky; it was lighthearted fluff, but it wasn’t funny.  And it sure didn’t drag in anywhere near the audience that Batman did.

Mr. Terrific’s competitor over at NBC wasn’t that funny either, which was astounding, considering its pedigree.

Look!  It’s the Man Who Flies Around Like an Eagle!

Look!  It’s the Enemy of All That’s Illegal!

As soon as the closing credits had rolled on the adventures of power-pill-popping Stanley Beamish, it was eight-thirty, and time to switch the channel to NBC and catch its super-hero spoof, about a mild-mannered man who gains super-powers by ingesting a chemical substance.  Only this one was different:  instead of swallowing a pill, he drinks a potion!

O.K., there were more differences than that, but not enough.

The Peacock Network’s foray into super-hero farce was called Captain Nice.  This was the show that spooked CBS into resurrecting Mr. Terrific.  And no wonder. It was created by and written by and executive produced by Buck Henry, one of the comic geniuses behind Get Smart.  And it was directed by Jay Sandrich, who also directed Get Smart and would go on to helm Mary Tyler Moore for most of its run and the first three seasons of The Cosby Show.

Unlike Mr. Terrific’s premiere episode, which began with the format already in place (relying on Paul Frees’s rhyming narration in the opening credit sequence to bring the viewers up to speed), Captain Nice kicked off with his origin. 

In the beginning, our hero is Carter Nash, police chemist for the Big Town Police Department and general all-around nerd.  Nash is played by William Daniels.  (Yes, that William Daniels.)  He lives in his parents’ house and under the thumb of his gently domineering mother (Alice Ghostly).  Though he owes his position on the police department to his uncle, the mayor of Big Town, the meek, socially awkward Nash is actually a quite capable chemist.

Through research and experimentation, Nash succeeds in his goal of developing a serum that imbues whomever drinks it with the usual set of super-powers---super-strength, invulnerability, flight.  (No super-vision, though.)  Unfortunately, this comes in the middle of a crisis---master criminal Omnus has escaped from prison and is loose in Big Town---and the mayor and the police chief have no time for Nash’s boring recitations.

Dejected, Carter returns to his lab and pockets the phial of “super-juice”.

In one of those situations that exists only in sitcoms, the meek Nash is the romantic interest of tall, willowy, attractive policewoman Sergeant Candy Kane (Ann Prentiss, sister of Paula).  She aggressively pursues the shy chemist, who is befuddled by her attentions.  She inveigles Carter into walking her home through the local park.  Unfortunately, they stumble across the fugitive Omnus and his gang.  The hoods overpower Nash and kidnap Candy.

With no other option, Carter drinks the sample of the formula he has with him.  It works, but the explosive release of power shreds his outer clothing, leaving him in tatters and his long johns.  He stumblingly rescues Candy and captures Omnus and his henchmen; “stumblingly” because he doesn’t know how to manage his newfound strength.  A park employee who witnessed his feats notes the “CN” monogram on Nash’s belt buckle and asks him what the initials stand for.

“Uh . . . Captain,” he replies.

“Captain what?”

“Captain . . . Nice.”

When Carter returns home, he tells his parents about the formula, deciding to destroy his notes so it won’t fall into the wrong hands.  Instead, his mother persuades (read: orders) him to fight crime as a super-hero.  Using old sheets and some curtain remnants, she redesigns his long johns into an ill-fitting costume and Captain Nice, hero of Big Town, is born!

Despite the difference in set-ups, Captain Nice was pretty much Mr. Terrific separated at birth.  Taking the super-juice did nothing to remedy Nash’s shyness or awkwardness.  As with Mr. Terrific, the Captain’s inability to hold his super-strength in check inadvertently resulted in more damage than would have been caused by the bad guys he caught.  Also like Terrific, Captain Nice had difficulty manuœvering himself in flight and his landings invariably smashed walls or gouged pavement.

In another echo of Mr. Terrific, the effects of the super-juice lasted for only an hour, so all too often, Captain Nice reverted back to his non-powered self at inopportune times.  On the other hand, one marked difference was, while the power pills worked only on Stanley Beamish, Nash’s formula would work on anybody.  A couple of episodes had Captain Nice dealing with someone else who had drunk the stuff.

Buck Henry’s fingerprints were all over the Captain Nice series.  His taste for quirky villains.  His overuse of catchphrases, some of which---the old “I asked you not to tell me that” gag, for example---were lifted straight out of Get Smart. 

And his reliance on running gags.  The most notable of these in Captain Nice was the fact that Carter Nash’s father was always shown reading a newspaper which concealed his face.  He spoke only rarely, but when he did, sharp-eared viewers could recognize the voice of long-time character actor Byron Foulger.

Curiously though, these things, which had helped make Get Smart such a hit, fell flat on Captain Nice.  The humor never quite seemed to gel.  If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say the reason for that was the fact that the character dynamics in Captain Nice were an inversion of those in Get Smart.

Maxwell Smart was arrogant, pompous, and completely unaware of his own ineptitude.  This made him both a foil for the madcap events around him and a source of them.  But Carter Nash, unlike most goofy characters on television, was self-conscious about his shortcomings.  His flaws might have been mildly humorous in and of themselves, but they also made Nash sympathetic.  He came across as a victim of the zaniness, rather than a part of it.  That made it hard to laugh at him.

That might have been one of the reasons that Captain Nice failed to attract an audience.  Like Mr. Terrific, the show limped along for half a season, then finished out the year in reruns.

What Went Wrong?

I wasn’t about to write this entry based only on recollexions that were forty-four years old.  Fortunately, the original Alan Young pilot for Mr. Terrific is available for viewing on line.  So are the first episodes of both series, along with excerpts of the others.  I watched all of these, not only to confirm my rote memories, but to be able to evaluate the shows from an adult perspective.

Here’s what I found.

There was nothing wrong with the acting, on either series.  The regular players in both shows delivered measured, competent performances.  Granted, there was no stretching or going against type.  We’re not talking Anthony Hopkins here.  The character actors stayed strictly within their established personas.  That’s not a criticism; they were matched to specific rôles and played them well.  There was no scenery chewing or over-the-top emoting.

The two leads---Stephen Strimpell, on Mr. Terrific, and William Daniels, on Captain Nice---approached their similar characters differently, but effectively.  Strimpell’s Stanley Beamish was whimsical, evoking a childlike sense of fun.  Daniels, as Carter Nash/Captain Nice, was adjusted to his shyness and social geekdom.  He brought a certain dignity to the character.  Neither of the two heroes was a buffoon.

The problem, as I saw it, lied in the writing.  I once stated the term “situation comedy” can be broken down in two ways:  “situation comedy”, in which the humour comes from the dialogue and the character interaction, with the situation being almost incidental; and “situation comedy”, in which the yuks are supposed to come from the whacky or outlandish situation and the characters’ response to it.

Mr. Terrific and Captain Nice both fell into the latter camp (though Captain Nice tried a little harder to bring in some of the elements of the first category, too).  Unfortunately, the situations presented in the two shows were tepid and predictable.  Captain Nice rips the door off the mayor’s office because he doesn’t know his own strength. Har har har.  Mr. Terrific misses the window of Bureau Chief Reed’s office and flies through the wall.  Ho ho ho.  Not only predictable, but repetitive, for these sort of things, with only minor variations, happened over and over.  The plots were little more than frameworks to move the hero from one of these set-pieces to the next.

As I mentioned earlier, the time limits on their super-powers was a convenient device to create situations where the hero’s powers suddenly fade away and he has to face his enemies as his normal inept self.  This quickly became a crutch for writers stuck for an amusing scene.  Few episodes failed to contain a sequence in which poor Stanley or poor Carter found himself powerless in front of a gang of bank robbers or a nest of hostile spies.  Or while in mid-air.  (Going by the shows, anyone watching would think that, in 1967, the United States was covered with haystacks.)

This sort of thing, especially if done right, can be funny once or twice.  But it wears out its welcome pretty fast after that.

It didn’t take long for me to develop an admiration for the actors’ professionalism.  They had been handed listless, carbon-copy scripts and they were doing the best they could to make them work.

No doubt the CBS and NBC folks were confounded as to why their super-hero spoofs weren’t rising to the popularity of Batman.  That was because their producers had completely missed the element that had made Batman such an effective satire.

The Batman television series simply took comic-book super-hero conventions and exaggerated them.  This was brilliant because it worked on two levels.  The kids enjoyed the show as a straight adventure, while the adults recognised the absurdity inherent in the super-hero concept.  They chuckled at the seemingly endless supply of gadgets that the Caped Crusader pulled out of his utility belt or his lectures to Robin on the importance of good citizenship while they were bat-climbing a wall.

Where Batman made super-heroes funny, Mr. Terrific and Captain Nice tried to make funny super-heroes.

The last culprit in the early demise of Mr. Terrific and Captain Nice was, I suspect, the fact that the suits at CBS and NBC didn’t want to devote more money or time than was necessary into developing their respective series.  They didn’t expect to have to.  They figured any programme that looked like Batman would be as popular as Batman.

They misjudged the timing, too.  Fads, by their very definition, have a short shelf life.  Batmania had peaked and was winding down.  By the time their super-hero spoofs hit the airwaves, it was “been there, done that” as far as the viewing public was concerned.

Both Mr. Terrific and Captain Nice ended, with their last rerun episodes, on the same day---28 August 1967.  Together at birth, together at death.

If it was any consolation, Batman---the series they had tried so hard to copy---would reach its end a mere seven months later.  And the Bat-craze would become a Bat-memory.

Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

Some things never change. One is human nature. Another is the vivid way writer Brian Azzarello brings human nature to life.

“I go back to the same poisoned well over and over,” laughed Azzarello, writer of the critically acclaimed crime noir 100 Bullets, the upcoming dystopian Spaceman and the critically praised relaunch of Wonder Woman.  

The Amazing Amazon, despite being the world’s best-known superheroine, has had uneven sales and quality over the decades.  DC Entertainment is attempting to rectify that with the new Wonder Woman #1 ($2.99), released Sept. 21 as part of the publisher’s 52-title, one-month relaunch of its entire superhero line.

Early buzz labeled the new Wonder Woman a horror book, but Azzarello disagreed with that assessment. “You need the good to define the bad,” he said. “And that’s where she comes in.” DC editor-in-chief Bob Harras also rejected the label in an interview last week, saying that the presence of horror elements just means “there’s more at stake.”

And there’s no question that the first issue is a shocker. We see Diana – that’s what she asks to be called – in a bloody battle with a mythological twist. Meanwhile, a Greco-Roman god is impaled on a spear. Another uses human sacrifice to achieve his aims.

All that mythology in the first issue promises to play a strong role in the series as a whole. The Greco-Romans are sort of the “original” crime noir stories, Azzarello said, full of “selfish” and “twisted” motivations. “What a family, huh?” he laughed about Zeus and his brood.

Of Diana herself we learn very little in the first issue. Azzarello did warn that Wonder Woman’s usual romantic interest, Steve Trevor, won’t play any role in his version. There will be a Paradise Island, he said, but hinted darkly, “It’s paradise only in name. … It’s not a happy place.”

Azzarello has proved resoundingly that “not happy” is something he does very well. His intricate crime noir 100 Bullets ran for 100 issues, and has proven popular enough to be reprinted once already in 13 trade paperbacks, and is now scheduled to be reprinted again in five oversized, hardcover collections, with volume one arriving in October ($49.99). That 10-year monthly grind was hard on artist Eduardo Risso, but Azzarello himself loved immersing himself in murky criminal thoughts and vile, selfish motivations.

“Oh, I miss those days!” he laughed. “It was so much fun to write those characters.”

But while 100 Bullets is a story with a definite end, it’s not the end of those types of characters. Azzarello is “taking them out again,” not only in Wonder Woman but in a new series titled Spaceman beginning Oct. 26.

Spaceman is set in a near future where children bred for a trip to Mars never go, due to an economic and environmental collapse. It’s not science fiction, Azzarello said, so much as it is “science hell.”

One of those Earth-bound “Martians” is Orson (named for Orson Welles), a huge, lonely loser collecting scrap, who gets caught up in a child-kidnapping case. He “has a good heart,” Azzarello said, “but only Mother Teresa has never given in to temptation.”

Azzarello is paired on Spaceman with his 100 Bullets artist, and he couldn’t be happier. Azzarello said “nobody can touch” Risso’s layouts and “acting” – body posture and facial expressions. “And when you see this sort of crummy world” that Risso depicts in Spaceman, “it’s inspiring.”

Azzarello also brags on his artist on Wonder Woman, Cliff Chiang. “He’s really killing it,” the writer said. “I’m so proud of these books. I’m in love with Wonder Woman!”

Although it didn’t start that way. Azzarello said he went to dinner with DC co-publisher Dan DiDio to pitch a different character. But when he heard the plans for Wonder Woman, he found himself arguing to use his ideas for the Amazon princess instead.

Now he finds himself complicating her life with the most ancient of crime families – the Greco-Roman pantheon.

“Some of those Gods have on one hand the most honorable of intentions,” he said, “and on the other absolute selfishness.” Because whether it’s ancient Greece, Wonder Woman’s present, or a grim future, human nature simply doesn’t improve.

“Those things haven’t changed,” Azzarello said gleefully. “People get just as jealous today as they did then. Emotionally I don’t think we’ve changed. … In Spaceman, in the future, emotionally we’re not going to change.”

Which gives the new Wonder Woman writer a lot to work with.

Contact Andrew A. Smith of the Memphis Commercial Appeal at capncomics@aol.com.

Andrew A. Smith

Scripps Howard News Service

'99 Days,' 'Cyclops' fail to ignite

Aug. 30, 2011 -- Maybe it’s the heat, but several graphic novels in August simply didn’t wow me.

* 99 Days ($19.99), by Matteo Casali and Kristian Donaldson, is the latest in DC/Vertigo’s crime-slash-mystery line of graphic novels. Set in L.A., the title refers to the length of time two detectives investigate machete murders in a gang war, as well as the length of the time one of the detectives was a child soldier – using a machete – in the Hutu slaughter of Tutsis in Rwanda. Will the machete murders bring the detective’s secret horror to the surface? Well, yeah.

I shouldn’t be snarky, because there are some good bits. There’s convincing sexual tension between detective Antoine Davis and his partner, happily-married Valeria Torres; the scenes of the Rwandan civil war are appropriately horrifying; and Donaldson’s artwork is pleasant and serviceable. But the clichéd gangsta dialogue seems lifted from bad TV shows, and the premise – flashbacks to Rwanda genocide from the perspective of a traumatized survivor – reminds me of a much better graphic novel, Jean-Phillipe Stassen’s Deogratias.

* Uncouth Sleuth ($12.99), by Charles Fulp and Craig Rousseau, is a parody of private eye and Indiana Jones movies, starring “Harry Johnson” in “The Case of the Crabbes.” Get it? See, the clients are named Crabbe, and Harry Johnson is a euphemism for … oh, you got it.

That sort of humor is pretty much the book’s raison d’etre; Sleuth involves lots of double entendres and half-dressed women (drawn cartoonishly zaftig, like Jessica Rabbit, but without any actual nudity). Points are awarded for being completely up front about this: There’s no pretension to high art, and the naughty jokes and puns are delivered with adolescent zest.

I’m not anywhere near adolescence, so I’m not the target audience. But for those who enjoy MAD magazine kind of humor, this is well done MAD magazine kind of humor.

* Cyclops Volume One ($19.95) collects the first 110 pages of Archaia’s ongoing series about a near future where wars are run by corporations to knock off competitors, who make a profit by selling broadcast rights to the combat. The battles are filmed by cameras mounted on the soldiers’ helmets (giving rise to the nickname “Cyclops”), and successful soldiers are paid and treated like pro athletes.

Gee, what could go wrong? I mean, corporations never do anything illegal or unethical, do they? And mercenaries are the cream of humanity, right? Cyclops follows one such mercenary, who for some reason has a conscience, and you can see where this is going with one eye or two.

Not that we get there. Volume One is mostly set up. And while the art is in the excellent Franco-Belgian style, I have to say the coloring on my copy was so overdone and dark as to be muddy.

Still, Cyclops is by Matz and Luc Jacamon, the team that produces the excellent The Killer. That earns them extra time from this critic to show me what they’ve got.

* Anne Steelyard: The Garden of Emptiness, Act III: A Thousand Waters ($14.95) is the third and last in a series set in the Middle East before World War I. Written by best-selling author Barbara Hambly (Blood Maidens) and drawn by experienced comics artist Ron Randall, it stars an English woman who refuses to marry the man her father selects, and instead embarks on a mission to find a lost of city in Arabia, in order to make a reputation, in order to get a position at a university, in order to achieve the freedom denied her gender in the Britain of the time.  The first volume was pretty straight up two-fisted archeology stuff, with pre-Nazi (but still evil) Germans, noble Arab bedouins, stuffy English and untrustworthy Turks. But the second – which I somehow missed – added supernatural elements from Arabic mythology, some of which Anne learns how to use.

My wife read this book, and promptly declared it “stupid.” (My wife is an extremely pithy reviewer.) So, there’s that. But while I generally dislike political anachronisms in period pieces (in this case a feminist before feminism existed), I found Anne’s determination to be admirable, all the moreso because Hambly takes pains to show how difficult her path is. More men help her than is likely, but she pays a price – especially in the romance department, which certainly makes sense.

It’s not Shakespeare, but I found Act III a satisfying finish to a mildly entertaining story.

Art above:

1. 99 Days explores the life of an L.A. detective who was both participant and survivor of the Rwandan Civil War. Courtesy DC Entertainment Inc.

2. Uncouth Sleuth is a parody of Indiana Jones and Sam Spade that leans heavily on double entendre. Courtesy Fulp Fiction

3. Cyclops posits a future where corporations wage war, and their mercenaries are celebrities. Courtesy Archaia

4. Anne Steelyard is an English heroine in the Mideast before World War I. Courtesy Penny-Farthing Press

Contact Andrew A. Smith of the Memphis Commercial Appeal at capncomics@aol.com.