Superman Through the Ages!Holliston School Committee  
  •   forum   •   THIS WEEK'S CHAPTER: "THIS WAY OUT!" •   fortress   •  
Superman Through the Ages! Forum
News: 2024 UPDATE!! Superman Through the Ages! forum is now securely located at https://WWW.SUPERMANTHROUGHTHEAGES.COM/FORUM - your username and password for forum.superman.nu will still work, although your browser won't know them under the new domain name. You can look them up in your browser's saved passwords.  This is the first time we have had an SSL cert, so your credentials and website activity are now secure!  Please bear with us as we update the site to the brand new, super-secure location of www.supermanthroughtheages.com! This may take some time. For more details, please see the forum update.
 
*
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?
November 08, 2024, 08:31:04 PM


Login with username, password and session length


Pages: [1] 2   Go Down
  Print  
Author Topic: Earth-One counterparts for Earth-Prime people  (Read 6977 times)
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
Spaceman Spiff
Superman Family
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 143



« on: March 28, 2005, 01:46:12 AM »

Great Rao recently posted "The Midnight Murder Show", which was (to my knowledge) the first appearance of Johnny Nevada. That got me to wondering, what other Earth-One characters were counterparts of Earth-Prime people? Here are the ones I know about...

Johnny Nevada = Johnny Carson
Lola Barnett = Rona Barrett

Yeah, it's a short list. Are there more?
Logged
Johnny Nevada
Last Son of Krypton
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 299


Milwaukee, WI


WWW
« Reply #1 on: March 28, 2005, 02:37:56 AM »

Quote from: "Spaceman Spiff"
Great Rao recently posted "The Midnight Murder Show", which was (to my knowledge) the first appearance of Johnny Nevada. That got me to wondering, what other Earth-One characters were counterparts of Earth-Prime people? Here are the ones I know about...

Johnny Nevada = Johnny Carson
Lola Barnett = Rona Barrett

Yeah, it's a short list. Are there more?


From what I've read (not read many stories with my screen name's namesake, admittedly), Johnny Nevada appeared once or twice before the issue linked to above, and continued to make sporadic appearances through the 70's and 80's as the late-night show of choice for Earth-One's American citizens (who apparently have no qualms about staying up until 1 AM Eastern time every weeknight ;-) ).

(Irrelevent to this discussion, but it seems post-Crisis, Nevada's apparently been ditched completely, or just ignored by the writers in favor of just mentioning Jay Leno/David Letterman directly... or maybe replaced by another fictional host with the oh-so-imaginative name of "Whitty Banter" in a few early-to-mid 90's Superman stories...)

To add to the list:

- GBS (the Galaxy Broadcasting System) might be a stand-in for CBS (the American television network)

- The Doodles: a "British Invasion" rock group who a teenaged Clark and Lana go to see in an early 80's Superboy story; possibly an analog for the Monkees?

- Gregory Reed, the actor who plays Superman in Earth-One's Superman TV shows/movies. Probably an Earth-One counterpart of 50's Superman actor George Reeves (and probably also, once the movies came along, Christopher Reeve).

Hmph, the "which cities are analogues of real-world cities" question is probably easier than this... :-)
Logged

Spaceman Spiff
Superman Family
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 143



« Reply #2 on: March 28, 2005, 03:48:55 AM »

Quote from: "Johnny Nevada"
- Gregory Reed, the actor who plays Superman in Earth-One's Superman TV shows/movies. Probably an Earth-One counterpart of 50's Superman actor George Reeves (and probably also, once the movies came along, Christopher Reeve).

nightwing mentioned in another string that Gregory Reed actually pre-dated the choice of Christopher Reeve to play Superman. That was a real surprise to me, because of the similarity of the names (I had never before considered the similarity to George Reeves).

The GBS = CBS concept is a possibility, since I've heard that the "Smiling Cobra" nickname for Morgan Edge came from a real CBS executive. I don't recall the details, however. But GBS also seems to have an affinity for NBC. The obvious "Midnight Show with Johnny Nevada" = "Tonight Show with Johnny Carson", but also the GBS building is in Governor's Plaza which equals the NBC (actually RCA in the 1970s, now GE) in Rockefeller Plaza (need I mention that Rockefeller had been governor of NY state?). Which leads us to another comment you made...

Quote from: "Johnny Nevada"
Hmph, the "which cities are analogues of real-world cities" question is probably easier than this...

The Metropolis = New York City idea is definitely re-inforced by the following Metro/NYC landmarks seen in 1970s Superman comics and Elliot Maggin's novels:

Christopher Circle = Columbus Circle
Central Preserve = Central Park
Metro Trade Center = World Trade Center
Metro Narrows Bridge = Verrazano Narrows Bridge
Logged
Klar Ken T5477
Council of Wisdom
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 1338


Metropolis Prime, NYC, NY USA


WWW
« Reply #3 on: March 28, 2005, 05:25:10 AM »

And Murray the K was referenced in a 60s yarn where Supes had to create a new secret identity and became Clark the K in merry olde UK.
Logged
TELLE
Supermanica Council
Council of Wisdom
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 1705



WWW
« Reply #4 on: March 28, 2005, 09:54:05 AM »

As the Continental Op noted on another thread:

Quote
Kirby based Edge on CBS executive James Aubrey, the so-called "Smiling Cobra" of broadcasting, and (visually) on actor Kevin McCarthy... cf. THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #32)


https://www.supermanthroughtheages.com/dcmb/seventies/?part=21
Logged

Everything you ever wanted to
know about the classic Superman:
Supermanica
The Encyclopedia of Supermanic Biography!
(temporarily offline)
ProfPotter
Supermen of America
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 34



« Reply #5 on: March 28, 2005, 06:01:32 PM »

Some references say that Johnny Nevada appeared as early as Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen No. 123 (September 1969) in the second story (a Carson-type guy is even named Johnny, but no last name given).

The next appearance is Action Comics No. 420 (January 1973), then Superman No. 274 (April 1974).  He has a brief cameo in Superman No. 278 (August 1974), and then the issue in question (Action Comics No. 442
December 1974).

Other appearances: Action Comics No. 450 (August 1975), Superman Family No. 172 (August-September 1975), Action Comics No. 474 (August 1977), DC Comics Presents No. 12 (August 1979), and Superman No. 346 (April 1980).

There was also Rock Stirling (Rod Serling), who appeared in Superman 145 and Action Comics No. 474.

And Steve Lombard in his first appearance seemed to be based on Joe Namath.
Logged
Gary
Superman Family
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 123



WWW
« Reply #6 on: March 28, 2005, 08:46:25 PM »

I believe Ray Bradbury made a cameo in a Schwartz-era Supergirl story as "Brad Reynolds".
Logged
TELLE
Supermanica Council
Council of Wisdom
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 1705



WWW
« Reply #7 on: March 28, 2005, 09:00:17 PM »

And let's not forget Swartz himself --from the fittingly titled Last Earth Prime story!
Logged

Everything you ever wanted to
know about the classic Superman:
Supermanica
The Encyclopedia of Supermanic Biography!
(temporarily offline)
Pages: [1] 2   Go Up
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

CURRENT FORUM

Archives: OLD FORUM  -  DCMB  -  KAL-L
Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines

Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS! Dilber MC Theme by HarzeM
Entrance ·  Origin ·  K-Metal ·  The Living Legend ·  About the Comics ·  Novels ·  Encyclopaedia ·  The Screen ·  Costumes ·  Read Comics Online ·  Trophy Room ·  Creators ·  ES!M ·  Fans ·  Multimedia ·  Community ·  Gift Shop ·  Guest Book ·  Contact & Credits ·  Links ·  Social Media ·  Forum

Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
The LIVING LEGENDS of SUPERMAN! Adventures of Superman Volume 1!
Return to SUPERMAN THROUGH THE AGES!
Buy Comics!