Happy Birthday to Me

Pardon the uncharacteristic self-indulgence but as you all know we never throw anything away here at the Library (at least not on purpose). That's what makes this a great place for pop culture. I have comic books from when I was seven years old (the same copies!), movie ads from when I was twelve, autographed pictures I got when I was sixteen, books I got between ages nine and forty-seven, records I bought when I was ten, magazines I bought throughout my teens and movies I've collected throughout my adult life. This being my 48th birthdayI became a bit introspective and wondered where this pack-rat mentality (that my lovely wife indulges) might have begun. Then I saw this picture of myself, taken in 1959, the year of my birth and I knew. I STILL have those shoes. Sigh.

Joshua, Black Brother

Here’s an African-American hero from Marvel that I’m betting most of you never saw: Joshua! Joshua was a Nelson Mandela type who appeared in Marvel’s 1971 SAVAGE TALES #1. If I’m correct, it’s the only story from that badly distributed first issue (it would be more than a year before the second issue) that has never been reprinted. Sadly, it isn’t any good. It IS, however, fascinating!

Set in Africa during the apartheid years (which were, of course, then current), BLACK BROTHER purports to be a serious look at a black activist attempting to make a difference and running up against unexpected odds on all fronts. Even his wife tries to kill him! He’s not a super hero, just a guy who wants to help. I have no reason to believe that he would have ever become a super hero, either. It’s all rather heavy handed actually. This story predates slightly the blaxploitation era in films of the seventies but that’s what it’s closest to with an air of sex and violence hanging over it.
Roy Thomas in his bio of the author admits that "Sergius O’Shaugnessy" is a pseudonym but does not reveal for whom. It is, of course, now widely known to be a name used by Denny O’Neil when he was working at Charlton prior to moving to DC. This would have been during Denny’s celebrated "relevant" period which brought us the darker BATMAN as well as the fondly recalled (but let’s be honest also pretty heavy-handed) GREEN LANTERN-GREEN ARROW. Perhaps he was not permitted contractually to work for Marvel at the time but couldn’t resist the opportunity for a more adult storyline. Perhaps he simply wanted to disavow the resulting piece. Whatever the reason, he returned to his pseudonym.

The art, on the other hand, is good black and white work from the Marvel dream team of Gene Colan and Tom Palmer, then best known for their classic work on DOCTOR STRANGE a couple of years earlier and with TOMB OF DRACULA just coming up. Great stuff from that pair as always!

If BLACK BROTHER was ever reprinted, revived or even finished, I never saw it. When the mag returned later on it was nearly all Conan and Ka-Zar and no more attempts at civil rights dramas.

Random Wonder Woman Weirdness Revisited

I had another request for more stray WONDER WOMAN panels--always a good time there. Here are a couple from SENSATION COMICS stories of the early forties. The sad part is that even in context, they're still more than a little crazy!

Superboy Ad-1949

Here's a vintage ad for DC's SUPERBOY # 2 from 1949. Okay, so it's filler. At least it's cool filler! I should be over being sick soon and my birthday's coming up this week so stay tuned for more in-depth pop stuff from here at the Library.

Another DC PSA

I've had a couple requests for more DC PSA's so here's another SUPERMAN one from the early fifties. The art seems to be by Wayne Boring but I'm not certain as I'm more familiar with his later style. Anybody?

Hawkman's Costume

Arguably, my least favorite DC silver-age superhero, HAWKMAN is one that I'm just now getting around to reading in order. I've long since come to a great appreciation for the early Joe Kubert stories with the artist's rapidly maturing style a joy to behold to my aging eyes. At the time, though, I preferred Murphy Anderson's slicker art style. Did you ever wonder, though, where Hawkman and Hawkgirl kept their costumes (Thanagarian police uniforms)? Well, according to this Anderson panel from the first appearance in MYSTERY IN SPACE they took a note from the Flash who kept his wadded up in a tiny ring. In their case, you see, the whole suit--big, bulky helmets and all (not to mention the freakin' wings!!) was squeezed into their li'l hawk medallions. Uh....huh! See for yourself!

Batman and Robin on Sportsmanship

For my 700th post here at the Library, we offer this early fifties PSA from DC Comics. More often than not, these one page features tended to feature Superman or Superboy but here's one with the Dynamic Duo as drawn (I believe) by Win Mortimer.