The buzz with DC fans in the Summer of 1970 was all about the New Superman and the changes on the horizon for the Superman family of titles. In the final week of July, Rose and Thorn began in the back pages of Lois Lane. Two weeks later we had our introduction to the new Supergirl. At the end of August the spinner racks featured Kirby's Jimmy Olsen and the Newsboy Legion. There was one more change to look forward to prior to the upcoming Superman revamp. After sixteen years of World's Finest featuring team-ups between Superman and Batman, the title would change formats to feature Superman teaming with a rotating cast of superheroes.
In the following two years we would be treated to fifteen issues of World's Finest featuring new stories and assorted heroes. The choices in guest stars would range from the predictable heavy hitters to heroes that had spent years outside of the spotlight. Writers rotated through, but the interior art for the entire experiment was handled by the team of Dick Dillin and Joe Giella. During the series run the job of main cover artist for DC's superhero line was passed on from Neal Adams to Nick Cardy, giving us a final look at Adams during his DC heyday and a look forward to the Cardy style that would dominate the spinner racks in the early 1970's.
This thread will be a look back at these "forgotten" issues that were rarely reprinted, but occasionally referenced, by the new DC of the decades that followed.
Appearing in this issue: Superman, Flash, Jimmy Olsen, The Guardians of the Universe, Batman.
Editor's Round Table backup feature: Johnny Quick - "Joanie Swift, Queen of Speed"
Total number of gratuitous Batman appearances: 2
This issue was reprinted in the Superman VS Flash TPB and Showcase Presents:World's Finest Vol. 4.
This is the first issue that uses the Superman in a circle graphic in place of the DC bullet. Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson were also the cover artists for the first race between Superman and Flash, which occurred in Superman #199. DC hedged their bets by featuring Batman on the cover.
Cover by Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson, interior art by Dick Dillin and Joe Giella.
The new World's Finest kicks off with one of the most popular recurring events of the Silver Age. The two previous races between Superman and Flash were a couple of "must have" issues for my small circle of comic book reading friends. Neither race had a definite winner and, while we enjoyed the stories, we considered the comics to be a bit of a cheat. With this issue they promised a winner.
This story had a real Justice League of America feel to it, since Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin, and Joe Giella were the then current creators of that title. With the same artists providing the art for both titles throughout this run, World's Finest seemed like an extension of the JLA book. Even more so when O'Neil penned the stories. Luckily we didn't have O'Neil overdoing it with the relevance in this first two-parter. We would see a bit of that later in the series but, for now, we'd be treated to an interstellar race to save the universe.
Our story lives up to the hype and takes off quickly. Jimmy Olsen wakes and finds himself tumbling back into the past. As Jimmy falls into an ancient Roman chariot race, another chariot inexplicably appears on the streets of Metropolis. Jimmy's plight is known only to the reader, leaving the displaced Centurian as Superman's only clue to something being amiss.
Pajama clad Jimmy gets zapped back to the colliseum... a prelude to his upcoming time traveling adventures with the Star of Cathay. In three years Jimmy would travel to ancient Rome to lead a Spartacus style revolt.
With the start of the Bronze Age, the Guardians of the Universe seem to take more of a notice in Superman. Instead of calling in the GL Corps they call for Superman (who brings the poor Centurian along for the ride... just to make sure his 2,000 year old mind is totally blown). I enjoyed the inclusion of Superman into the Guardian's circle of heroes. The next year would give us "Must there be a Superman", where the Guardians really begin to screw with Superman's head. The story moves on as the Guardians explain the universal crisis of the day. The Anachronids have arrived! So yeah... there's your time-displacement problem.
The Guardian of the Exposition fills us in.
The solution? Two beings must speed across the galaxy in the opposite direction of the fast-moving Anachronids. So of course you call on Flash and Kid Flash.... nah. Superman and Flash must race across the galaxy to save us all! And to add some fun they'll make a race out of it. Complete with Batman firing the starting pistol. Just kidding... Batman just counts them down. Starting pistols are the tools of the superstitious, cowardly lot. By the way, the Guardians give Flash a power battery medallion that will keep him safe and create a space road. Sounds silly but Dillin makes it look awesome.
The Guardians had an app for that.
To add to the Centurian's torture, the Guardians teach him their language so that he can fully understand that the universe is in danger of being destroyed. The chat between Guardian and Roman keeps the story moving along. We soon find that the Anachronids are just brown blobs screaming through space. I was hoping for the patented Dick Dillin pointy-eared aliens that we had come to love. We soon find out that the Anachronids do not plan to go down easily.
In another couple of months we'd lose Kryptonite seemingly forever. Sigh.
Of course the race is littered with hurdles. Space is filled with red suns (no Supes for you), yellow suns (kills Flash's green medallion), monsters du jour, and we find a solar system that is home to an alternating Red/Yellow sun. As you can imagine, some nice fight scenes where Superman has to time his punches to match the strobe-light star. The strobing planet turns out to have some familiar inhabitants. Three phantom men are able to knock out Superman and throw him to the planet's resident Sarlacc with legs. My guess is that the translucent men were obvious to any Silver Age fan. We'll see them again next issue. What we do find out in this issue is that the Anachronids are robots! No Dillin aliens, but the familiar design of a Dillin mechanical man!
Can't get anything past police scientist Allen.
Our chapter ends with Superman and Flash back on the run. Oddly enough, for a race through the universe they seem to be neck and neck throughout the contest. And Jimmy? As you'd expect, his trip to the past hasn't gone very well. When you're in need for a cliffhanger, who else but Jimmy Olsen as your boy in jeopardy.
- NEXT UP: RACE TO SAVE TIME!
Last edited by RobertSwanderson on Fri Feb 15, 2013 1:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Appearing in this issue: Superman, Flash, Jimmy Olsen, The Guardians of the Universe
Cameo appearances by Lois Lane, Perry White, Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Diana Prince, I Ching.
Total number of gratuitous Batman appearances: 2 (DC really hedged their bets on this one, making Batman the largest figure on the cover.)
This issue was reprinted in the Superman VS Flash TPB and Showcase Presents:World's Finest Vol. 4.
Cover by Neal Adams, interior art by Dick Dillin and Joe Giella.
We return to our story where we left off, with Jimmy Olsen about to be skewered by ancient Roman arrows. Jimmy's luck holds has he is time-shifted to a different century, just as the arrows are about to skewer him. Of course it's Jimmy's unique brand of luck, which deposits him in the chair of the accused during the Spanish Inquisition.
That's the same screamed used by native tribesmen as they're thrown over a cliff by Race Bannon.
With James Olsen safe for the time being, we return to Superman and Flash, battling the robot Anachronids that appear as brown comets for some reason. The flying robots team-up to take Superman down and then grab Flash by his medallian (not a dirty euphemism).
Abducted by flying globs of space poo.
The heroes wake to find their captors. The Phantom Zone Four have found a break in the dimensions and are the fiends behind the attack of the Anachronids! Our heroes sit helpless under a red sun, having to hear villainous monologues from each Kryptonian bad guy.
Again... if you name your kid Kru-el, don't be surprised when the pets begin to disappear.
Without Batman on hand to produce a bat-knife from his bat-boot, the heroes have to come up with their own escape plan. They literally put their brains together and attempt to Jedi Mind Trick the Guardian's medallion back into their grasp. (I think that Superman did most of the mind work on this one.)
Let the Force flow through you young Kal-el...
Zod returns just in time to interrupt the heroes' escape. He's not so tough when he doesn't have a street full of Metropolis citizens to hold hostage and no city bus to toss at Superman. A fight ensues and stray raygun blasts leave our heroes with a broken ankle (Superman) and a paralyzed lower torso (Flash).
Zod sort of looks like a Captain Action doll. Sort of.
This is where things slow to a crawl. Literally. The crippled heroes are reduced to dragging themselves through the dirt, in the hope that they can find the controls that will disable the Anachronids. They crawl through six pages of story. And overpower and knock out two more Kryptonian villains while crawling. And they crawl some more.
Flash's logo is starting to distort from all of the crawling. I see an extra zig-zag there.
And our heroes crawl to the finish line. One hand raises to pull the kill switch, giving us our winner.
The unstable sun shifts from red to yellow, and Superman is once again Superman. The end of the time shifts means that Jimmy and the Centurian return to their proper places in time. There's nothing left to do but figure out a way to get Flash back across the universe without the protection of the Guardians' medallion. Turns out Superman's Super-Breath power can keep people breathing indefinitely.
Denny has them crawl for six pages, then wraps up the two issue story in three panels..
- NEXT UP: PRISONERS OF THE IMMORTAL WORLD!
BONUS: Promotional page that appeared in World's Finest #199 Interesting that Dick Giordiano was named Best Editor when he was editing what I'd Imagine were some of DC's lower selling titles.
Last edited by RobertSwanderson on Fri Feb 15, 2013 1:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
Interesting that Dick Giordiano was named Best Editor when he was editing what I'd Imagine were some of DC's lower selling titles.
Yeah, that is interesting. By that point his two most acclaimed titles (Bat Lash and the Deadman strip) had been cancelled. Out of the remainder of what he was editing, only Aquaman was really exceptional. Then again, who would be a better choice for best editor in 1969? They'd already given the award to Stan six years in a row, and Marvel arguably did experience something of a creative decline in 1969. I guess I'd say an argument could be made for Julie Schwartz, who did a great job revitalizing Batman in 1968-69.
I never read the Denny O' Neil-written Superman racing The Flash stories, but just seeing those covers and panels makes me nostalgic. I miss those fun comics.
When I first started collecting, I really got into the Brave and the Bold comics with Batman and his co-stars. They were already being drawn by Jim Aparo. I had missed the Nick Cardy issues. Well, as soon as I found out about places that sold back issues, I started frequenting them as often as I could. I got the old B&B, and then I found the World's Finest with Superman and guest stars. Of course I had to get THESE two issues. They had Superman and Flash. Awesome stories.
Thanks for bringing them back up, Robert.
_________________ "I'm right 97% of the time. Who cares about the other 4%?"
This issue was reprinted in Showcase Presents:Robin the Boy Wonder Vol. 1 and Showcase Presents:World's Finest Vol. 4.
Cover by Neal Adams, interior art by Dick Dillin and Joe Giella.
It's seven months after the shootings at Kent State and Mike Friedrich gives us a story ripped from the headlines. Friedrich was bringing his touchy-feely-trippy-dippy artistic touch to Justice League of America and now it drips over into World's Finest. It's brother against brother, man... a bad trip. (Ditko did this years prior, resulting in the signature series of the 60's: Hawk & Dove).
Superman couldn't be more establishment if he tried.
Robin is getting nowhere with Hawk & Dove, I mean Hank & Don, I mean Marty & Davy. Superman does as Superman does during these generation gap days, he swoops in and takes matters into his own hands. He grabs all three students and flies them off so that they can "get real" and "rap". And then... ZAP. They're not in Kansas anymore.
I can hear the 5th Dimension singing Aquarius...♫ ♪
We meet the alien brothers that have abducted Superman and his lowly mortal friends. (Friedrich was big into stories featuring brothers. The following Summer he would write Robin into his first JLA/JSA crossover as he brought together the JLAers that had doppelgangers together with their Earth 2 "brothers" to take on yet another set of alien brothers.) Oodles of exposition as Migg and Kartal fill us in on their plan to suck the life force out of Superman.
Alien version of "frog in a blender".
And while Superman is prepped for dinner, Robin and the brothers are released into some sort of alien hunting preserve. Friedrich had a perfect opportunity to use an "it's robin season" pun and missed out on it.
And what does Robin dream of? His origin. Seriously.
As Robin drifts off to sleep, he dreams of the good old days... The murder of his parents, Batman taking him in... I'm not sure why Friedrich thought it necessary to put a Robin origin page in the 200th issue of World's Finest. It's not like the readers didn't already know who he was. But it's a great way to fit Batman into the story! Three issues into the non-Batman experiment and he's appeared in all three issues!
Robin and the Hardy boys fend off the first round of hunters (riding in on a giant purple mind-controlled horse). Luckily the hunters throw their mind control sweat bands before they run off, leaving our heroes with new weapons!
Could help us find Superman... could leave us in a coma. Let's find out!
Meanwhile, Superman wakes to find himself trussed like a super-battery. Come on, he's still got another month of Silver Age powers left. Superman breaks free, trashes the place... it gets ugly fast.
Puny bonds. Supes smash!
Not so fast Superman. As Robin and his friends Mind-Blast their way into the alien ship with their new head-bands, they realize that Superman has been duped into thinking that he was trashing the ship and escaping. Turns out he was getting a mind-job the entire time!
That second panel could be a Queen lyric.
Now we see that physical violence is not the answer. It's super-brain vs. alien-brains. Klick and Klack have no defense against Superman's Kryptonian mind blast. After all of this hooplah, it turns out Superman just needed to think harder.
Glad we rarely saw super-thought power. Boring stuff.
There you go. The Hudson brothers somehow find a lesson in this mess. Without the stolen Superman power, our alien brothers are doomed to a quick death (there are codes against killing and codes against allowing aliens to die...). I guess this is a happy ending? We wrap up with Clark Kent broadcasting the entire story.... AS A DEADLY WARNING TO ANYONE WHO WOULD DARE STEAL THE LIFE FORCE OF SUPERMAN.
Worst After-School Special ever.
- NEXT UP: Superman & Green Lantern in "A PRIZE OF PERIL!"
That "superthought" Supes used is one of a series of superpowers he has that we only see a few times.Once,he used the "flexible features" of his face to disguise himself.Maybe Plastic Man's lawyers served him with a cease and desist letter.
_________________ What will be will be even if it never happens.
I remember that story about the aliens kidnapping superbeings and using them as living power batteries. I encountered a tattered copy of it early in my comic book reading career.
_________________ The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls who, when he found an especially costly one, sold everything he had to buy it.
Appearing in this issue: Superman, Green Lantern, Dr. Fate, a Guardian of the Universe (Cameo appearances by Green Arrow, Hawkman, Atom)
Total number of gratuitous Batman appearances: 0
This issue was reprinted in Best of DC #13 (Digest) and Showcase Presents:World's Finest Vol. 4.
Cover by Carmine Infantino and Neal Adams, interior art by Dick Dillin and Joe Giella.
At this point in time we were almost a year into the All New - Hard Travelin' - Green Lantern and Green Arrow series. Denny O'Neil has powered down Hal Jordan both in his scope and his power. O'Neil has made similar changes in the Superman title. Superman is less powerful, more introspective, and has lost Kryptonite as his Achilles heel. Magic is Superman's new kryptonite, making frequent appearances as the weapon du jour by Superman villains and writers.
And since it's the start of the new year of 1971, let's open with a textbook O'Neil super-relevant ultra-depressing panel:
Seriously, that's the first panel of the story. He fits his standard pollution/overpopulation/war rant into the first set of word balloons.
Superman and Green Lantern hit the threat of meteors from different sides, resulting in the endangerment of a passing jumbo jet. Once the plane and passengers are saved, we get to your usual Marvelization of DC argument between heroes. When Green Lantern is in his own magazine with Ollie, Hal is "The Man". When GL is away from Ollie, Hal is the emo liberal. Next to Superman everyone is a hippie in the DCU. Everything is relevant.
Superman is speaking for a lot of kids here. For God's sake Hal. Punch an alien now and then.
Deja vu. This is O'Neil's second story in World's Finest since the switch from Batman stories and he's already repeating himself. A Guardian appears and puts Superman and Flash/Green Lantern in a race. At least this race does not have the salvation of the universe as its prize. This time Superman and Green Lantern are racing to decide which hero will have domain over the boundaries of Earth's atmosphere. Not "who will be Earth's protector", but "who will have jurisdiction over alien menaces that are a realistic threat to enter from without Earth's atmosphere and endanger the Earth and its inhabitants". Bullshit Guardian legalese.
Enter Dr. Fate. This younger generation of writers had a definite love for the Dr. Fate character. O'Neil works him into this story (and Infantino features him on the cover). Len Wein will bring him back as the only Earth 2 featured partner in this World's Finest run. As a kid reading this comic, my guess was that Dr. Fate was an impartial judge, since he was from an alternate Earth and was above all of this petty space stuff anyway.
Safety note for the kids: When a masked man instructs you to grasp the purple dragon, run away screaming.
It turns out that the hurdles in this race are more metaphysical than physical. I suppose that since Hal is a man without fear, he doesn't have a secret fear to pull forward from his subconscious. So a fake fear is manufactured (The dreaded giant yellow spider). Not the most inventive of menaces, but I salute O'Neil for not falling back on a pollution monster or an over-population beast.
Hunh. Why am I afraid of being stuck in this giant spider's web? That's weird.
And then the drugs kick in. Superman confronts his inner fear, which is the disapproval of his father. I sincerely hope that this was an artistic creation by O'Neil, and not his reliving the spankings of a father who didn't want his son writing funny-books. We wince through two pages of this before Superman comes to his senses and wishes the entire confrontation away.
It's cute when Schaffenberger has Lois getting a spanking. Not this... not this.
As with most of these super-races, it ends with a tie. Both heroes find the purple dragon but find that their powers merely bring it to life and set it on a course. On a course to destroy the Justice League satellite! Neither superhero has the power to stop the beast (a year ago Superman would've punched it into the next galaxy). But... BUT... (here's the lesson)... by working together they can win! Hal envelopes Superman in a green shell, giving him the extra push he needs to crush the magic dragon.
♫ Punch, the magic dragon... ♪
The power of friendship has the Man of Steel and the Jade Juggernaut thinking clearly now. No way that the Guardians would allow the redistricting of law enforcement jurisdiction by means of a magical dragon race. And what the hell was Dr. Fate doing here? And why are we having another space race within the span of three issues?
Dr. Fate isn't Dr. Fate! He is... Click for the Scooby Doo reveal.
To be honest I was ecstatic to see Green Lantern in this issue. GL/GA was the comic with all of the buzz (or what buzz DC was passing along to us). Dr. Fate was a huge plus and the secret villain was a Silver Age classic. We had great cameos by Green Arrow (giving Hal a hipster cautionary pep talk) and Hawkman and Atom (sitting idly by as the JLA satellite was about to get eaten). But the story was a bit by the numbers and a retread of previous footrace stories. The main treat was seeing Green Lantern in space for a change. Dick Dillin drawing Hal in space. Always nice.
- NEXT UP: Superman & Batman in "VENGEANCE OF THE TOMB-THING!"
BONUS FORESHADOWING!
Here's a letter from young Martin Pasko, condemning the superhero title that would someday employ him.
BONUS SOUNDTRACK! The song that went through everyone's mind as they saw the cover of World's Finest #201 on the spinner racks:
a k a LightningMan, lover of bountiful pulchritude
Joined:
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Posts:
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Denny O'Neil can write. But if you'd asked me about it in the 60s, I would have said no and stuff like this is why. Superman being spanked by a giant Jor-El. Right.
_________________ Affecting the universe...with my mind!
Appearing in this issue: Superman, Batman, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Alfred
This issue was reprinted in Best of DC #20 (Digest) and Showcase Presents:World's Finest Vol. 4.
Cover by Neal Adams, interior art by Dick Dillin and Joe Giella.
Batman returns! Just a few issues into the Superman team-up experiment, DC brings Batman back into World's Finest. My guess is that they wanted to have a gauge as to the success of the new format. Just to see if there's a spike or dip in sales when Batman shows up.
Our story begins with a lightning strike. Superman flies over the African desert and is mysteriously struck down by lightning and finds himself without a memory.
Yeah.... THAT'S the ticket! We're tax collectors!
So we have a confused Superman under the thrall of a sinister band of desert raiders. Throw in Lois Lane covering an archaeological dig and we've got a great episode of Jonny Quest goin' on here. As the Super-Bedouin attacks the digging party, Lois gets into the fray and unmasks our confused hero.
"Friends." That's it. We're just... "Friends."
Word gets back to the States about the missing archaeologist and his friends, and of the mysterious flying ghost of an Arab in the desert. Which of course sends Batman off to investigate. This is during the Neal Adams Batman era, so this foppish Bruce Wayne appears a bit out of character. I don't think that Dick Dillin had read a Batman comic in the past few years.
"He didn't look like a rich douche in the pencils, Dad."
In a nice, humorous twist, Superman attacks and Batman plays along, as if it's some secret plan in action. Props to O'Neil for this nice touch. "Take it easy on those punches Chum!" It's a case where Batman doesn't have time to prepare. Superman comes out on top and Batman is pressed into slavery. The Bedouins want the Mummy's Treasure, so everybody digs.
Meanwhile, in the Fortress of Solitude... We see that Superman is having problems with his robots (and thousands of readers palm-slap their foreheads and say, "Now I get it"). So we have an explanation for the Desert Superman's odd behavior and Denny O'Neil gets to push his socially conscious message. I can see how pollution might have affected the Superman robots, but overpopulation? Seriously? I swear, if you asked the 1971 Denny O'Neil why Krypto no longer appeared in Superman stories, his reply would have something to do with pollution, overpopulation, or the 1968 Republican Convention.
Alas, poor robot, I knew him well...
Superman returns to the Daily Planet and gets his usual "Where have you been Clark? Didn't you know that Lois has been missing for the past month?" routine. After a while you'd think that he'd have second thoughts about the "Solitude" portion of his clubhouse. Maybe he should check his messages now and then.
Supes is off to Africa and quickly finds that his robot has enslaved his best friend and his girlfriend. We're treated to a Star Trek moment as we ponder the humanity of a free thinking robot... until Superman puts the lowly machine in its place.
Barack... hope. Sounds good.
Superman begins the violent dismantling of his robot buddy, until he mysteriously weakens. Turns out the tomb belongs to a mummy who has a red sun for a head. What a revolting development. I mean, what are the chances of this happening?
This is so Jonny Quest.
A "Fastball Special" that includes Batman throwing a cape over the red sun head and Superman tossing a boulder brings our story to its conclusion. This Jonny Quest tale takes a Scooby Doo turn as we find that the "mummy" is actually a robot! Jinkies!
We can only wish that the new Superman movie will feature a fight with a robot mummy.
The lesson given at the end of the story is that our planet is following in the folly of the aliens that had supposedly left their broken robot mummy behind. Sort of a stretch... that we should address the problems of pollution and overpopulation so that we'll never have to deal with out of control robots. But you take your moral fables where you can get'em.
This wasn't an amazing tale but it was a nice respite from the usual heavy handed O'Neil stories of the era. Superman and Batman were still a team who worked well together with no bickering between them. The cover blurb promised that Superman choking Batman was not an "Imaginary Tale or a Cop-Out!" I was sort of glad that it was a bit of a cop-out ("Superman" turning out to be a robot). I'd had enough of battling heroes by this time. I was happy to have a story where the heroes worked together from start to finish.
- NEXT UP: Superman & Aquaman in "WHO'S MINDING THE EARTH?"
This issue was reprinted in Best of DC #13 (Digest)
Cover by Neal Adams, interior art by Dick Dillin and Joe Giella. (I don't know where that Aquaman font came from.)
I'll be honest... This one of my favorite comics of all time. I bought it off of the rack at the start of my personal golden age of comics. It's one of a handful of comics that turned me from a comics fan into a comics fanatic. Loved the cover and the interior art, but it was the story and character design of the "villains" that blew me away. More on that as we go along.
For the generation of kids that grew up watching the Superman and Aquaman animated series in the mid-60's, seeing the pair of heroes featured on a bright yellow cover should have been a sure seller. I know that I was immediately drawn to it. Superman has been blinded, Aquaman is dead or near death... it's your basic post-Silver Age cover rendered perfectly by Neal Adams. He gives the monsters of the week an eerie feel (not exactly how they appear in the story, but perfect for cover purposes).
The tale begins with Aquaman coming across the phenomenon of an underwater rainbow. As he investigates the rainbow is accompanied by a weird buzzing which leads the sea king to a mysterious island. On shore he finds the remains of a scientific lab, complete with intriguing notes that tell of a being raised by the scientists and of someone plotting to "drown the world". His snooping is interrupted by the appearance of strange dolphin-men-creatures. The twist is that they're anything but intimidating. They're hilariously clumsy... which is trouble for the ticklish Aquaman.
No movie theaters in Atlantis.
Cut to Metropolis, where a strange man in fedora and trench coat is accosting people on the street and demanding to speak to Superman. Before Clark Kent can intervene the crowd goes blind. The odd phenomena even effects Superman to some degree, causing him to lose most of his vision. The strange man seems to split into two people and makes his way to the ocean.
Yes, Clark is wearing a neckerchief. Just like Fred on Scooby Doo.
The near blind Superman follows as best he can, ending up on Aquaman's island. There he finds Aquaman unconscious on the beach and in need of a good dunking.
Quickest way to make me laugh? Tell me to not laugh.
Now the story kicks into high gear. The dolphin-man who had run into Clark in Metropolis (who never gets a name, but we'll call him the "Good Dolphin-Man") explains to Aquaman and Superman that he needs their help. And he does so by telling an awesome origin story. This is a great story within a story and Dillin really knocks it out of the park. I love-love-love his character design of these dolphin guys.
In one panel we go from World's Finest to Strange Adventures.
Dolphin-boy is raised by the kindly scientists and everything is aces, until the kid's clumsiness sets the nerds to laughing. You'd think a life of sitting at the uncool table in the cafeteria would've given these guys some empathy for those who are different, but no.
Dicks.
The dejected dolphin soon finds a cure to his loneliness. If he concentrates hard enough he can split into two beings. Cool to have a twin brother until he turns out to be an evil twin. And worse when that twin has an eviler twin, and so on and so on...
Make like a banana and split.
Now we get to the world-ending threat. The army of dolphin men are set to melt the ice caps and flood the Earth. Decades before Al Gore invented the internet and global warming, these brave dolphinoids set things in motion.
Caaaaaaan youuuuuuu dig iiiiiit.
Now that we have heard the tale of the dolphin-man we can proceed to the battle. Aquaman's fight is as you'd expect, with the King calling on his ocean friends for help. Superman once again fights an "imaginary" foe. The dolphin-men have created an illusion to keep Superman fighting someone other than themselves. I think this is the third time since this new series began that the writers used this crutch. Superman realizes that he's not in danger (again) and proceeds to attack the D-Men.
Step one: Find a whale. Step two: Get in the whale's mouth. Step three...
Eventually Skeates lets Superman be Superman and the fight is over with the flick of a finger.
That Superman panel is downright biblical.
And it wouldn't be a 1971 Superman story without a jab at his being the "establishment" hero. Supes lays down the law and does what he does best (relocates an entire race to an inhabitable planet). Superman flies off the Dolphin-Men and we never hear from them again (unfortunately).
Every Superman beatdown comes with a lecture.
Such a great done-in-one story. We meet these awesome mutant dolphin people, get a cool little origin story, and are able to see the Superman-Aquaman Hour in comic book form. I know that Giella was erasing and then inking, but the Dillin-Giella team never looked better. And like I said before, the character design of the dolphin men was a real treat. My one regret is that we never saw a return of these mutants. Maybe it's for the best.
- NEXT UP: Superman & Wonder Woman in "JOURNEY TO THE END OF HOPE!"
This thread is premium. I've never read most of these.
Hopefully DC will collect these in a trade. Perhaps the Garcia-Lopez Superman/DC Comics Presents book, which is probably my favorite buy in over a year, will be so successful that we will get this next.
Appearing in this issue: Superman, Wonder Woman, Perry White, I Ching
This issue was reprinted in Diana Prince: Wonder Woman Vol. 3 TPB
Cover by Neal Adams and Dick Giordano, interior art by Dick Dillin and Joe Giella.
This is the first issue since the increase to the 25¢ price point and expansion to 48 pages. Back-up stories included Captain Comet: "The Guardians of the Clockwork Universe" and Green Arrow: "The Rogue of 1,000 Ropes"
I wasn't a fan of the New Wonder Woman, but this Neal Adams cover had me really wanting to buy this comic. In spite of the subject matter (another student protest, the second since this Superman team-up series had begun only seven issues ago) and weak Captain Comet back-up, I paid my extra dime and bought this issue off of the spinner-rack.
There are a couple of clues that have me thinking that O'Neil had written this script after the conversion to the New Wonder Woman and before the switch to the New Superman. The first clue is that Perry White is sending Clark off on an assignment for the Planet, instead of Edge sending Clark on a television news story.
Perry wants Clark to do a feature on computer dating, which goes against his usual common sense approach to life.
A poppycock, great Caesar's ghost, and a hog-wash in just two panels. I miss that Perry White.
We then look in on Diana Prince and her mentor I Ching as they shop for dresses. (To add insult to injury, not only is I Ching a blind old man, but he has to have Diana dressing and undressing around him to make his blindness that much more of a loss.) I Ching announces that he's signed Diana up for a computer dating service as well. And then wonders why an aged teacher in a foreign land is doing something so completely ridiculous.
Evidently, Clark filled out his questionnaire as Superman, because his computer date turns out to be Wonder Woman. I'm guessing that the form had a lot of questions about your feelings towards being an alien superhero in a strange land. Silly, but my ten year old brain thought this was the coolest thing in the world.
Say Jim! That is a bad out-FIT!
Clark and Diana head off on their date and are soon accosted by a trio of young punks. Like a boss, Clark lets Diana push him to the side so that she can let her aggression out on the street toughs.
Clark is a straight-up pimp in that panel.
So far I'm loving this date. Not sure why their first stop is a local radio talk show. Even odder is that Clark expresses his fear of microphones. Clark Kent television broadcast talent is afraid of microphones. Another clue that has me wondering if O'Neil hadn't dusted off an old Wonder Woman script for this comic.
WMCC: Radio that TALKS!
Then something goes terribly, terribly wrong... Clark and Diana exit the elevator to find that they are on some alien world! This new, strange environment has no breathable atmosphere. Clark turns into Superman and quickly finds a subterranean cave with enough air to sustain Diana.
Superman can undress completely while carrying a woman in one arm. That's right.
After he builds a quick air-filled dwelling for Diana, Superman takes off to survey the area. He quickly finds a building that houses a self-aware computer/robot. This is a recurring theme in these World's Finest team-ups. In the very next issue we'll find a similar artificial intelligence.
This is your basic Dick Dillin robot/computer. He used this same design for decades.
Our heroes are two centuries into their future. They have been brought there because their current position in the timeline is at a point that will send the planet into ruin (pollution, war, over-population... yaddah-yaddah... it's 1971 and it's Denny O'Neil. They must return to their present and stop one man from perishing at a student protest. We're off to a college campus!
Not sure why those 30 year old white guys need equal rights in 1971.
While Superman is yacking with Univac, we find out that the street punks had taken the next elevator to 2171! Not sure how that works, but Diana is under attack. Superman is in a hurry this time, so he doesn't sit by waiting for Diana to beat the crap out of them.
His gun is a she.
We're back in the present and on campus. Diana takes on the dirty, stinking hippies (who are violent as hell for an equal rights rally). Things escalate quickly when you're tossing Molotov cocktails.
You park your new car near a student protest, you deserve to get it blown up.
Superman takes on the establishment. Good Lord these are some trigger-happy campus police. Kent State took place exactly one month prior to this comic going on sale. The lead time on these books would have O'Neil writing this at least a month or two prior to Kent State. Just bad timing. I didn't see the correlation when I bought the book, but I'm guessing that adults saw it as a timely comic cover.
Never heard of anyone "potting" someone. Never.
Superman and Diana believe that they found that one important person. They've saved the day, or so they think. Turns out that one young policeman was killed, giving us a "Look to the skies!" ending.
Lighen up, Clark.
An odd story for sure, but entertaining. The best parts for me were the interactions between Clark/Superman and Diana. There's a set of panels where they almost kiss (after Superman returns to save her from the armed thugs). Of course Superman is the one to put an end to that: "Diana, in another second or so I'll feel like kissing you... And we both know I shouldn't." Diana takes it in stride: "Right you are, darn it!" A weird little moment, but then it was the New DC.
- NEXT UP: Superman & the Teen Titans in "THE COMPUTER THAT CAPTURED A TOWN!"
BONUS:
Let's stop and rap a moment!
(Message printed in the first series of 25¢ 48 pagers.)
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