public service announcement

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ads, National Human Services Assembly, National Social Welfare Assembly, public service announcements, Superman

The images in today’s gallery come to us courtesy of the archives at The Supergirl Project. Some of these public service announcements from the National Social Welfare Assembly have graced our virtual pages here before. But something unexpected happened last year when we put one on Twitter. It got picked up by someone from the NSWA, now known as the National Human Services Assembly. It turns out they were collecting these old ads for their archives! Last we heard, they had gathered quite a collection. Enjoy a few below. Superman even makes a couple appearances!

a world without men… except for superman and batman

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Batman, Bob Haney, DC Comics, dick dillin, saga of the super sons, super sons, Superman, world without men, Worlds Finest

Alright. This issue of World’s Finest is so incredibly whacked out that we almost lack words to describe it. Perhaps psychoanalysis would better suit this issue than description. You’ve got juvenile versions of Superman and Batman. Yeah, yeah, they’re sons of Supes and Bats… Whatever. Like that makes any sense. Who are their moms?

Then you have this dream-like story about a town filled with women who are NOT happy to see the boys, a giant one-eyed monster on a tower (dear lord, my Freud is aching), a scene where the guys get naked and put on each other’s clothes… You can blame it on author Bob Haney if you want, but maybe this comic book isn’t even real and you are just dreaming about it.

In which case, you need serious psychotherapy.

First, go schedule your appointment, then come back and take a peek inside these pages we photographed before listing this beast on eBay. What? You need your own copy printed on the corpses of trees where endangered owls used to make babies? Well, don’t let us stop you. Buy World’s Finest #233; DC Comics, 1975. It is also reprinted in the collection Saga of the Super Sons 2007 trade paperback.

Jim Lee’s Wonder Woman!

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Brian Azzarello, Jim Lee, Scott Williams, Superman, Superman For Tomorrow, Wonder Woman

Collector’s Guide: From Superman: For Tomorrow by Brian Azzarello, Jim Lee, and Scott Williams.
– Originally printed as Superman #204-215; DC Comics, 2004.
– Collected in Superman For Tomorrow Hardcover and Paperback.

Superman 329: The Killer Kryptonoid!

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Curt Swan, Kryptonoid, Martin Pasko, Mort Weisinger, Superman

Martin Pasko and Curt Swan crafted my favorite issue of Superman. I had this one back in 1978 – probably the Whitman version – and recently picked it up again. It’s still awesome! How do they do that? You can tell it’s going to be amazing right from the question mark layout on the first page.

Are you ready for the attack of the killer Kryptonoid? What the heck is a Kryptonoid? That’s what Superman needs to figure out before it’s too late. One touch from this shape-shifting, metal-controlling pink monstrosity and it’s all over for Supes! The sick, twisted tragedy of the Kryptonoid’s origin, once revealed, slays us every time. Plus, Clark Kent gets naked for Lana Lang… sort of. Believe me, if I was Superman, I’d fly around naked, too. Just because I could.

The image gallery includes a tribute page: a memorial to Mort Weisinger who died on May 7, 1978. The resolution should be high enough that you can read the full text by zooming in. Something I did not include from this issue: a back-up story about Mr. & Mrs. Superman, an alternate reality where Supes and Lois are married.

Collector’s Guide:
– From Superman #329; DC Comics, 1978.
– The first half of the story appeared in Superman #328. But don’t worry, Pasko’s 3-page opening recap gives you all the details you need!

Tandy Whiz Kids Save Metropolis with 1982 Computer Tech

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Alec and Shanna, Computer Masters of Metropolis, Curt Swan, DC Comics, Frank Chiaramonte, Paul Kupperberg, Radio Shack, Superman, Superman Radio Shack Giveaway, Tandy Whiz Kids, Wonder Woman

Witness the glory of “Computer Masters of Metropolis!” in our gallery today. This free promotional comic book from Radio Shack perfectly captures the state of consumer computer tech in 1982. I know, because I was there. I got this book when it came out! Dad worked at Radio Shack back then, and he always brought home a copy of their comics for me. You might get a laugh now in 2013, but things like “a subscription to an information retrieval service” were a big deal in those thrilling days of yesteryear.

So, try to imagine a primitive world before people born during the Clinton administration were old enough to legally buy beer! In this world, you loaded computer programs and video games from a cassette player. It made a high-pitched tortured mechanical scream the whole time, and the low-fi games were all written in BASIC. Alec and Shanna — the Tandy Whiz Kids, named for Radio Shack’s Tandy computers and TandyVision video games — use this ancient tech to save the day. They look up newspaper articles about Lex Luthor to help save Superman! What nerds!

The scene which most chills my blood shows young Alec working in silence for an hour as the computer gives him problem after problem at speeds faster than he ever could have imagined. NNAYARGH! That precisely describes several really awful temp jobs I had in the mid-1990s!

Compuserve was a big deal when these comics came out, and it gets several mentions. Whatever happened to Compuserve? Hey, you can read all about them on the greatest “information retrieval service” to date: Wikipedia!

I haven’t reproduced the whole issue here, just some of the stunningly “old school” technology. The part about Superman is cheese-eriffic, but Wonder Woman makes a good electronics teacher!

Collector’s Guide:
– From Superman Radio Shack Giveaway #2; DC Comics, 1982.
Story by Paul Kupperberg; Art by Curt Swan and Frank Chiaramonte.
– The Whiz Kids also had their own title published by Archie in 1986. Whiz Kids afficionados can find it under Whiz Kids Radio Shack Giveaway.

Superman and the Giant Cyclops!

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Giant Cyclops, Superman

World’s Finest #147: The New Terrific Team!

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Batman, Curt Swan, Jimmy Olsen, New Terrific Team, Robin, Superman, Worlds Finest, Worlds Finest 147

1965: You could call it the Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am age of comics. In the brief sixteen pages of the cover story from World’s Finest #147, we experience an exploding tower of rocket fuel, giant mutant eagles, a car wreck, an invasion by giant robotic water beetles, a trip to another planet, telepathic aliens, and one %@$#-ing insane science experiment.

Whoa! No wonder I loved reading this as a kid. That, plus lots of youth rebellion. Yes! World’s Finest #147 was one of the treasures I discovered in Gramma’s garage of comic book utopia. It left a lasting impression on me. I share it with you today in all its rampaging Silver Age glory!

The story is called “The New Terrific Team!” Superman and Batman get put in their place when teenage sidekicks Robin and Jimmy Olsen decide to strike out on their own. But are the boys’ heroic deeds driven by a more sinister menace? Find out!

Collector’s Guide:
– From World’s Finest #147; DC Comics, 1965.

The Flash & Superman Race to the End of Time!

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DC Comics Presents, end of time, Flash, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Martin Pasko, Superman, superman races flash, superman vs flash, time travel, who is faster flash or superman

Here’s the second half of the story we looked at yesterday, where Superman and the Flash get roped into racing to the end of time by some freaky aliens.

Once they get there, though, they have to travel all the way forward in time to get back to where they started. Why? Because time is a circle! Didn’t you learn anything from yesterday’s post? Anyway, Pasko and Garcia-Lopez give us all of human history in a single splash page. It’s full-flavored Bronze Age DC goodness, Martians. Enjoy!

Collector’s Guide:
– From DC Comics Presents #1-2; 1978, DC Comics.
– Reprinted by Whitman, which might save you a few bucks, and in the collection Superman Vs. The Flash.
– Reprinted in Showcase Presents DC Comics Presents TPB, 2009.

DC Comics Presents – First Issue!

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Chase to the End of Time, DC Comics Presents, first issue, Flash, flash races superman, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Martin Pasko, Superman, superman vs flash, time travel, who is faster superman or flash

Superman and the Flash get roped into racing to the end of time by some freaky aliens. If that doesn’t sound like a premise for greatness, you may be at the wrong website! We’ve got Martin Pasko scripting. Swamp Thing fans might recall he was on the book for the inception of the second volume. Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez really hits the perfect look for this book; just the right balance of cartoon silly and sci-fi awesome.

But maybe I’m biased. I first read this as an impressionable little Martians close to the time it came out in 1978. So impressionable, in fact, that Pasko’s explanation of time as a circle still seems completely reasonable to me. His aliens explain that if you went to the end of time, you would actually be at the beginning of time… Screw Stephen Hawking, I’m going with Pasko cosmology!

Collector’s Guide:
– From DC Comics Presents #1-2; 1978, DC Comics.
– Reprinted by Whitman, which might save you a few bucks, and in the collection Superman Vs. The Flash.
– Reprinted in Showcase Presents DC Comics Presents TPB, 2009.

These Photos Prove that I, too, Came from the Planet Krypton!

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Batman, Bruce-El, Curt Swan, destruction of Krypton, Krypton, Superman, World's Finest 146, Worlds Finest

In World’s Finest #146, Batman takes part in ‘five minutes of silence’ observed by Superman and every other surviving Kryptonian on the anniversay of Krypton’s destruction. The silent ceremony triggers a memory in Batman — a memory he could not possibly have unless he, too, was from Krypton! The ensuing drama and its resolution tug at my heart strings every time I read it.

Every so often, my local comic shop puts some well-worn silver age comics in the $5 bargain box. “Affordable Silver Age” says the sign. Okay — I’ll bite! Last time, I found this copy of World’s Finest #146. True, the science is completely goofy, and the writing aims at a younger audience. But, this is one of those gems I read as a youngster in the amazing comic book stash in Gramma’s garage. If I haven’t bored you with that memoir before, jump over to my other favorite issue of World’s Finest: World’s Finest #147.

Even if you’re not a big Silver Age fan, I encourage you to check out this story. You might never think of Krypton in the same way again!

Collector’s Guide:
– From World’s Finest #146; DC Comics, 1964.
– Reprinted in Superman in the Sixties TPB.

Script by Edmond Hamilton, pencils by Curt Swan, inks by Sheldon Moldoff. This issue also includes a Superboy story.

Kryptonite Rocks!

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ads, Kryptonite, Kryptonite Rocks, Superman

Here’s another one of the rare ads we just couldn’t bring ourselves to delete from the archives. Straight out of 1979, this ad for “Kryptonite Rocks” is for one of those things we always wanted our parents to get for us. After all, they glow in the dark! …The kryptonite, that is – not our parents. On the other hand, if you asked Superman, he would tell you that Kryptonite does NOT rock! It sucks!

Superman Vacuums!

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DC Comics Presents, Superman

Not wanting to be outdone by Dr. Doom’s domestic abilities, Superman shows us how he keeps his SuperPad so SuperClean! Not only can he leap tall buildings with a single bound, but he’s pretty awesome with a vacuum cleaner.

Of course, he has to deal with all those unstable chemicals on the table! Guess how THAT turns out…

Collector’s Guide:
– from DC Comics Presents #25

More Than an Untrained Mind Can Handle!

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Blowout, DC Comics Presents, Dreadstar, Elastic Four, Jim Starlin, Superman

Jim Starlin re-worked many of his older ideas in Dreadstar. Take for example the cover of DC Comics Presents #93: Superman meets the Elastic Four! (Believe us, the cover is the best part of this issue…) All these stretchy dudes bring to mind the cover of Dreadstar #21!

Today’s gallery features the scene from Dreadstar #21 where the teleportation drive blows up. Plenty of distorted bodies and Ditko-esque special effects here!

Collector’s Guide:
– From DC Comics Presents #93.
– From Dreadstar #21.

 

Something’s Sensed My Magnetic Cargo!

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ads, orbitrons, Superman, twinkies

Normally we skip these Hostess Twinkies ads, but Superman flying a spaceship through a cloud of happy face aliens was just too much!!!