posted October 08, 2002 03:25 AM    

Superman flies from the prison, determined to pull "the most drastic stunt" he's ever dared, to prove that Superman exists. That evening, live on the TV news, Clark Kent stands up and rips open his jacket and shirt, revealing the Superman costume underneath for all the TV viewers to see. Clark asks the viewers to call in and tell him what they see...

While Morgan Edge is slamming his fist onto his desk in anger as he watches Clark's stunt, we are given a glimpse of what the people of Metropolis see: not a Superman costume, but a horribly ordinary undershirt.

The TV cameras are shut down as studio employees manhandle Clark, thinking he has flipped his lid. Clark is protesting, but it is obvious they do not see the Superman costume.

After a shift of scene, back to the state prison, we are privy to the thoughts of Lex Luthor. He is amused at the trick he played on Superman, pretending not to see the Man of Steel as he stood outside Luthor's cell. Lex, apparently, is immune to the mass-hypnosis because "I invented it." Corey, the engineer directly responsible for installing the "super-hypno-beamer" in the satellite, is a former cell-mate of Luthor's. Everyone on the planet (except for Luthor, Corey and Superman) has been hypnotised to believe that Superman has been missing for ten years. Lex reflects on his motivations for this latest scheme -- to deprive Superman of the respect and admiration of others, to make sure nobody ever knows about his good deeds, to turn him into a "living phantom."

Lex's reverie is interrupted as a guard opens the door of the cell to admit a new prisoner, Phelps.

posted October 11, 2002 04:46 PM    

The guard, as he shows Phelps into the cell, makes an offhand remark that the cell has been empty for weeks, and that the warden has saved it for Phelps. Luthor, who is standing in the cell, tries to protest, but neither the guard nor Phelps seem to notice him.

Lex tries to talk to the new prisoner as the guard walks off, but Phelps appears not to see or hear him at all, and Lex becomes angry. He kicks Phelps, but the new prisoner merely continues yawning as if nothing happened, and lays down for a nap. Lex tries to shake him, but he may as well be a "living phantom" himself.

And so, it dawns on Lex that he has been tricked, double-crossed. Corey, the engineer, must have programmed the satellite in such a way as to make the world forget Lex Luthor as well as Superman. Lex feels humiliated in suffering the same fate he had designed for Superman. "Just this once, I wish Superman had outwitted me, so he could go after Corey."

Phelps says, "Sometimes wishes come true, Luthor." Phelps grabs at his own face, and the face comes off as a mask. Underneath are the features of the Man of Steel.

"S-Superman!?!" says Lex. "Then... it was all a trick! You could see me all along!"

Superman, convinced only Lex Luthor, and nobody else, could have engineered such a scheme, and, figuring that Lex must have an accomplice on the "outside," set out to trick Lex into thinking he had been double-crossed. Lex, fortunately, spilled the beans about Corey and the satellite by talking to himself out loud with Phelps in the cell.

Superman kicks the diabolical satellite into the sun, then sets off to capture Corey. Clark, a little later, has to face the music for his undressing stunt on live TV, in a meeting with Edge. It turns out the station received a lot of calls from viewers complimenting WGBS on their "April Fool's" prank. Clark pulled his shirt open on what happened to be April 1st.

Later, flying over the city, Superman is happy to once again hear the acknowledgement of the people, with everything back to normal.

posted October 18, 2002 01:23 AM    

quote:

---

Originally posted by Continental Op:

SUPERMAN #349 (July, 1980)
"The Turnabout Trap!"

Guest Writer: Martin Pasko
Artists: Curt Swan and Frank Chiaramonte
Cover: Ross Andru and Dick Giordano

(Or, "She’s a MAN, baby!")

* * * * * *

---

posted October 19, 2002 05:33 PM    

For myself I've had more than my say. Once I finished posting on the seventies Pasko Superman work, I always knew that I would have said everything that I wanted to say on this thread.

Over all of these pages I've posted on Swanderson, Swoksner, Schaffenberger, the "Immortal Superman," the legacy of E. Nelson Bridwell and his reprint selections, the work of Maggin and Bates, and the Pasko run.

And yet there's so much more to discuss. Superboy. Lois Lane. Jimmy Olsen. The work of Neal Adams, Jack Kirby, Dick Dillin, and Ross Andru.

posted December 28, 2002 12:11 PM       

Superman 70s Comic Art 2003 Wall Calendar

"The Man of Steel as he appeared in the 70s. Classic images of flight, speed, and breaking chains across his rock hard chest will bring out the nostalgia in all hardcore Big Blue fans! (Diamond UK) (5032863004968) (CAUT: 4) Calendar 12x12 C $11.99"

I ordered a copy, but it hasn't shown.

posted January 02, 2003 03:52 PM    

I gather this isn't a re-issue of any calendars from the seventies--I have some of those and they were never specific to one character, featuring different DC characters for each month.

posted January 06, 2003 09:37 AM       

This column from Mark Shaw really brought back some memories for me:
http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/oddball/index.cgi?date=2003-01-06

posted January 07, 2003 03:08 AM    

I don't have that first Capt. Strong story, but I do have a sequel or two featuring the Captain. I'll have a hunt for them in the near future. Have I already reviewed a Capt. Strong story on this thread -- you know, the one where the Captain has to stay in Kent's apartment...? If I did, what page is it on? This board is in dire need of a search function...

posted January 08, 2003 04:43 AM    

Actually, the story I had in mind was "Too Big To Live" by Bates, Swan + Oksner from Action #439 (1974). I looked around for the comic book tonight but I couldn't find it. (It's here somewhere.) I'm pretty sure it's the story where Strong has to stay at Clark's and is not impressed with Clark's milksop ways. I'll have to re-read the story to be sure of these details.

I'm flattered you remembered I'd reviewed the Shark one -- and even knew roughly where the review was.

An index would be good. I don't see a search function popping up anytime soon. Perhaps we could collaborate on the index, eg. you take pages 1-13 and I'll take 14-25. (Imagine trying to co-ordinate such an effort over a message board...)

posted January 08, 2003 12:55 PM    

"Too Big To Live" by Cary Bates, Curt Swan + Bob Oksner. "Guest-Starring Captain Strong."

The sauncha so fondly remembered by Osgood also guest-stars here... but not for its usual reason.

The Captain is on his boat, proposing to his girl, Olivia, when an intruder appears and punches the Captain so hard he flies clear off his boat and onto the docks. Then the brute swims behind the boat, pushing it a mile out to sea with Olivia still on board.

The Captain, using the peanut he has for a brain, figures the intruder is trying to steal his girl, and he turns up in the WGBS office of Clark Kent. He wants Clark to contact Superman to rescue Olivia.

At one point, the Captain lifts a sceptical Clark clear out of his chair by the shirtfront, ripping his tie. Naturally Clark agrees to contact Superman.

Superman flies to the boat, calling out for Olivia Tallow. He sees her on board, but a big caveman-type appears from the water and pulls him in by his cape. They fight. The Man of Steel underestimates his opponent's power and gets knocked clear out of the water for his trouble -- his skyward trajectory taking him through the boat, smashing it in two. Superman is not hurt and flies back to the boat to rescue Olivia.

He returns the girl to a grateful Captain at the docks and tells the Captain that the caveman dragged the whole boat to the bottom of the sea. It wasn't the girl the bad guy wanted -- it was the boat.

"Blast me barnacles," exclaims the Captain, echoing, I think, Captain Haddock from The Adventures of Tintin which I've been re-reading lately.

Superman has retained a fragment of the big caveman's animal-skin garb, and takes it to be analysed at S.T.A.R. Laboratories. The scientists at the lab, however, have no need to analyse the fragment. They already know about the caveman in question, to the great surprise of Superman.

The day before, the S.T.A.R. team had received a discovery sent by archeologists Carson & Knox: a caveman from the Pleistocene period, over a million years old, perfectly preserved in what appeared to be ice. One scientist assumes the specimen came from the Arctic region, but his colleague assures him it came from a tropical jungle on the Equator! This was no ordinary frozen caveman, and, during testing, the caveman (like the caveman from an earlier Superman tale, "The Invulnerable Enemy") becomes animated and breaks out of what turns out to be "unearthly" ice.

Superman has a hunch about Carnox, and the next day Clark tells the Captain and Olivia that Superman believes Carnox was after the bag of sauncha the Captain was keeping on board the boat. Captain Strong now moves in with Clark so the Man of Steel can keep an eye on him. Superman figures Carnox will come after the Captain for more sauncha -- only the Captain knows the location of the sauncha patch on the ocean floor.

The next day a neighbour of Clark's, a bully, knocks Clark's groceries into the street for fun, but the Captain sees this and gives the bully a thumping.

Later the same day, Carnox kidnaps Strong right out of Clark's apartment, and it is Superman who pursues the strange pair down the side of the building. He snatches the Captain from the caveman's grasp, then Superman and the caveman engage in a brief battle, the culmination of which involves Superman sending Carnox to the underwater sauncha patch.

The sauncha cures the caveman's affliction, and he now takes his true form: a little bald man, a space explorer who landed on Earth a million years ago. An unknown substance in the planet's atmosphere caused the explorer's "giantism" (preventing him from re-entering his spacecraft) and he was forced to dress like other humans of the time so as to blend in. The explorer's tests revealed the "giantism" was a terminal disease, so he used his advanced technology to put himself into suspended animation, hoping one day the people of Earth would become advanced enough to effect a cure. A million years later, upon being accidentally revived in the lab, the explorer panicked, gripped by "savage impulses."

The Man of Steel returns Carnox to his ship a million years in the past, and the explorer goes on his way. Superman relates the story to Popeye and Olive, and all's well that ends well.

posted January 09, 2003 03:51 AM    

PAGE 8

wbrentleigh:
- compliment for India Ink

wbrentleigh:
- addendum

India Ink:
- comic creators as metaphorical parents

India Ink:
- Superman #238 (June 1971)
- Infantino + Anderson cover shows Superman and "Sand-Superman"
- letters in Metropolis Mailbag from Elliot S. Maggin and Richard H. Morrissey

India Ink:
- addendum

bluedevil2002:
- reprinting of "Sand-Superman" saga

bluedevil2002:
- question about how to obtain "Sand-Superman" saga

India Ink:
- E. Nelson Bridwell
- comic book knowledge of posters
- Superman #167 (February 1964) "The Team of Luthor and Brainiac"
- advancing the mythology
- fan letter from E. Nelson Bridwell

India Ink:
- buying 70s comic books (reply to bluedevil2002)

India Ink:
- comment on automatic message board censor

Aldous:
- reply to bluedevil 2002

Aldous:
- "sad" Superman vs. "self-pitying" Superman
- thoughts on "Sand-Superman" saga

Aldous:
- addendum

bluedevil2002:
- petition for TPB of "Sand-Superman" saga?

India Ink:
- campaign for collected edition of the saga?
- "sad" Superman

bluedevil2002:
- campaign for collected edition of saga

The Progenitor:
- a point against a collected edition

India Ink:
- reasons for and against collected edition

bluedevil2002:
- "Elseworlds" logo on collected edition?

KEV-EL:
- TPB of saga overdue
- had DC stuck with saga continuity....
- brief mention of Superman #243 "The Starry-Eyed Siren of Space"
- back issues

India Ink:
- expands on "Starry-Eyed Siren"

India Ink:
- contrast between Kirby's Superman and the Forever People, and Byrne's later version
- views of Rich Morrissey on the above
- Superman's motives for interfering in the fate of humanity and the world, and the implications of this

Aldous:
- scathing review of "Starry-Eyed Siren" with apologies to India Ink

KEV-EL:
- "Starry-Eyed Siren"
- lack of closure or follow-up to great Superman stories and concepts

Aldous:
- still with a bee in the bonnet about "Starry-Eyed Siren"

posted January 09, 2003 11:09 PM    

- bullets?
- bullets?
- bullets?

posted January 10, 2003 09:25 PM       

If any of the main participants on this thread have their own personal website, it may be worth it to save their reviews, observations, etc. there and provide a link in their sig.

I saved the first ten pages of the thread some time ago just for personal reference, with the intent to go back and 'filter out' (snip out the posting date, graphics, 'bump' posts, stuff like that... to keep the page size (kB) smaller) and reorder the pages for my own personal use. Any of you guys able to do this?