Tuesday, March 20, 2018

They Might Be Giants! (The BEGINNING of 1966) ~~ A "Comical Wednesday" Post!


Well! Here we are (were?) in 1966, arguably the greatest year in pop culture history! And that's not just my opinion. It's shared by at least two other pop culture mavens, namely Steven "Booksteve" Thompson and Hal Lifson.

The above issue (#18) of DC's 80 Page Giant title promised something I'd never actually seen before: Golden Age comic book reprints! (Okay, okay, with one exception, briefly mentioned here, and again below.)

Unfortunately, Yours Truly missed that razzer-frazzer issue, and all I ever saw of it until many years later was the following advertisement!



As I mentioned in the first installment of this "They Might Be Giants" series, I spent the early 1960s learning about DC's "Earth-Two," and I also knew that Marvel Comics' Captain America and the Sub-Mariner had both originally appeared in the 1940s. However, I didn't dare hope that I'd ever actually see a Golden Age story, outside of the one G.A. tale of the original Flash (Jay Garrick), reprinted in 1963's Giant Flash Annual #1!

DC did reproduce a handful of Golden Age covers on a couple of back cover illustration appearings on two of their annuals, plus on one interior page from Giant Flash Annual #1... and all three of those are shown below.





It seemed that the two leading comic companies were reluctant to show the relatively primitive antecedents of the comics which were instrumental in my learning to read. 80 Page Giant #18 (a/k/a Superman #183) was a notable exception. See why I was so ticked off that I missed that issue?

As a kid, I loved appearances of not only Ace, the Bat-Hound (discussed here), but also the various super-powered pets owned by, or associated with, both Superman and Supergirl.

Superman usually dealt with Krypto, the super-dog, or (I swear!) Beppo, the super-monkey. Both of those animals were originally from Krypton, like Superman himself! There was even a one-shot character in the Superboy comic named Krypto Mouse, but the less said about that, the better!

Supergirl was sometimes joined by Streaky, the super-cat, and Comet, the super-horse! Neither Streaky nor Comet hailed from Krypton, however. In fact, Comet had quite a convoluted origin and history, most of which I'll spare you. He was originally a centaur named Biron, who was magically turned into an immortal, super-powered horse hundreds of years ago. In modern times, he occasionally became fully human and in this form, he had an actual romance with Supergirl! Pretty sick stuff, if you look at it with a 21st century attitude, but when I was a young'un in the '60s, I found it quite entertaining. So obviously, comics like 80 Page Giant #20 (a/k/a Action Comics #334) really appealed to me.


Oh, and if you noticed the black and white checks at the top of 80 Page Giant #20, those are the infamous "DC Go-Go Checks" that adorned the tops of all DC titles for about a year and a half. They were evidently placed there so comic readers could spot a DC title on a crowded newsstand rack. Plus, the powers-that-were at DC apparently (and erroneously) thought these Go-Go Checks showed that DC could be just as "cool" as this upstart Marvel Comics company.

Yeah, right.

Anyway, back to the story of the pre-adolescent and his yearning for Golden Age comic stories.

In early 1965, Marvel's Tales of Suspense title (which featured both Iron Man and Captain America in separate adventures every month) decided to start telling Cap tales from the World War II era. They began with a retelling of his origin story (from 1941's Captain America Comics #1) in Tales of Suspense #63, and continued through most of  the rest of 1965. But again, these were retellings, not the G.A. reprints that I so desired.

For example, here's one page from Tales of Suspense #65, featuring Cap's first encounter with the Red Skull! It features artwork by the incredible Jack Kirby, comic legend.


Here, on the other hand, is a reprinted page from Captain America Comics #1, produced by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.


"Mister Maxon" (a/k/a George) turned out to be an agent of the "real" Red Skull, if you're interested...

In early 1966, Marvel began a 12-cent reprint title, Fantasy Masterpieces. Its cover proclaimed "From the Golden Age of Marvel" but they lied! The first two issues contained reprinted stories from 1959-1962!

With issue #3, however, they made two major alterations to the book's format. The first was to make it yet another "giant," but not an "annual." No, this was an ongoing series!

The second change was a little better. Okay, a lot better.

The third issue of Fantasy Masterpieces contained not one, but two original Captain America stories from the 1940s! At last!


Issue #4 contained three Golden Age stories!


And sandwiched in with these exciting Marvel Comics was yet another 80 Page Giant that featured "Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen," another character whose adventures really clicked with this little Foxlet!


But Fantasy Masterpieces kept rolling along with its Captain America classics, three to an issue!


And if you think that all of these vintage Captain America stories were enough to shut me up satisfy me, I've somehow failed to impress upon you how obsessed I really was with not only the comics I was growing up with, but the history of the medium itself!

In fact, there was so much going on in the comic book titles of 1966, for next week's Comical Wednesday entry, I'm going to devote yet another chapter to 1966.

See you then, I hope. And I apologize for not posting any non-comic-book-related entries lately, but this series, as well as my personal life, have been taking up all my time.

And speaking of "time," thanks for your time.

21 comments:

  1. Supergirl's horse sounds like a convoluted way of them saying "let's bring Pegasus to help her"

    The mouse wasn't as mighty as Mighty Mouse? At least not the staying power.

    Captain America sure got his share. Even Jimmy got a spotlight. 1966 sounds like it went everywhere.

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  2. The Krypto Mouse story was kind of silly, even from a Silver Age standpoint. He was a real mouse who grew to human size, and walked erect like a human, too. Thankfully his powers (and over-sized condition) left him for good at the end of the story.

    Mighty Mouse, by the way, originally debuted in 1942 as Super Mouse, in a blue and red costume, created as a parody of You-Know-Who. They eventually changed his name, and not because of any protests by DC Comics. It seems that they found out that there was already a character called Super Mouse (or Supermouse) in comic books. Wikipedia claims he appeared in a Timely (later Marvel) comic, but I only know of a Supermouse published by a comic company called Pines. Later in the '40s, Marvel did publish the Terry-Toons characters, including the renamed Mighty Mouse.

    Now, aren't you sorry you brought that up? Ha.

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    1. haha well now I know. Mighty Mouse sure had a bit of a rough go.

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    2. Yeah. Super Mouse did reappear briefly in a terrific 2-part episode of Marvel's 1990s Mighty Mouse comic. The two issues did a spot-on take-off of DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths. There's a review of the second part here: http://majorspoilers.com/2011/01/16/retro-review-mighty-mouse-5/. Well worth reading!

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  3. Replies
    1. Well, she usually had good artists drawing her. Jim Mooney and Curt Swan (both no longer with us, sadly) probably drew her the most.

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  4. Funny that Supergirl had a super-horse. What exactly did this super-horse do? I mean she can fly, so why does she need a horse? Did she ever ride the horse? I guess I am just curious.

    Enjoy your the rest of your week!

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    1. Yeah, she rode him although she didn't need to. Actually, the whole history of Supergirl and Comet is a long, twisted story which probably shouldn't have made it past the Comics Code Authority!

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  5. Superman was really my hero I read all the issues of him we can found when were little.
    We read a lot (TV arrived late when I lived) :)

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    1. My sister liked Superman, too. She and I even jointly subscribed to his title for a year.

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  6. Growing up, I've heard of Supergirl although I don't remember seeing her comics. I know there is a Supergirl TV show now, which I've seen some interesting commercials for.

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  7. I watched most of the first season of Supergirl, and found it fairly entertaining. The stories of the very late 1950s, and the '60s until the '80s reflected their times' attitudes toward women (or "girls"), making for some very strange stories along the way.

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  8. Hmmm...I'm rather intrigued about the K Mouse...why less said the better? And I'm wondering if putting a strip of B/W squares on top achieved its objective.

    It's incredible the amount of artistry and sheer hard work that went into the making of a comic in the 60's! No doubt the creativity remains the same, but the work must be a lot lighter now than what it was 50 years ago...

    I was forbidden comics because elders/school authorities felt they would interfere with 'proper' acquisition of language... :) so the only comics I ever got my hands on (on the sly of course) were Archie and Tintin when I was a teen...and the odd war comic from a friend who was obsessed with them. But by then my reading habits were set...regular books had greater appeal mostly because they took longer to finish.

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    1. I wrote that comment about Krypto Mouse because the story was kinda goofy, even when compared to contemporary comic stories. A so-called "real" mouse gained super powers, and grew to the height of a human being, but he didn't look like a real mouse. Instead, he looked like a cartoon mouse such as Mickey Mouse or Mighty Mouse. Maybe someday I'll do a post about the story.

      I don't think the DC Go-Go Checks made a difference. They stopped using them about a year-and-a-half later.

      My parents never objected to my love for comics. Not only were they instrumental in my learning to read to begin with, but they inspired me to head to the encyclopedias to learn more about various subjects. I would read a war comic (set in World War II) with a crazy title like Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos and wonder who this "Hitler" guy was. So, off I went to the World Book Encyclopedia, 1962 edition! I'd read Marvel's adventures of The Mighty Thor in Journey into Mystery, and pore through the World Book Encyclopedia to learn more about Thor, Loki, Odin, Balder, and other Norse mythological gods. (Several years ago, inspired by a sense of nostalgia, I actually scored an entire set of the 1962 World Book Encyclopedia from an eBay dealer!)

      So, you liked real books because they took longer to finish. Well! It's plain to see that you grew up before today's I-want-it-now society!

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    2. Oops, totally gave away my age with that one!

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  9. I never knew there was/is a Super Girl. Now, she'd be Super Senior. I'd like to warn her about boys, but it's probably too late.

    Thanks for all the fun you pack into these posts, Silver. I always take my time to enjoy it all.
    Be well.

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    1. They introduced the Supergirl character in '59. They eventually made a feature film in 1984, which didn't fare too well. (Helen Slater, who played Supergirl, now appears on the Supergirl TV show playing the superhero's adopted mom!) And don't worry about the teen now being a Super Senior. Comic characters don't usually age like real people do.

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    2. Oh, and I'm glad to know you get some fun out of my Comical Wednesday posts, Robyn!

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  10. I think I remember Superman's dog, but no other super pets. Very glad I missed out on the crypto mouse. :-)
    As always, great information in your post.

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    1. The super pets even formed a team called The Legion of Super-Pets! But no mice were included.

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    2. (Okay, technically, the super pets returned just a few years ago, in a DC title called Superman Family Adventures, a comic aimed toward younger children, and "Fuzzy the Krypto Mouse" did appear! But I was referring to the era in which I grew up.)

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