Hola, Sneakers! Welcome to the podcast that understands beach etiquette!
This week: no back up; the cable guy; skidoos and don’ts; pair o’medics; seriously silly; Ian can’t help it; rock’n’roll mish mash; down through the years; Inkspots before our eyes; Superman through the ages; Dave contemplates Evil; international Batman; the Grab Me Decade; blue moves; the irony giant; eat your racist cake and have it too; accent on education; Jung love; suggestive subs; self-service call; Highlander fling; what a card; down Seth; Fielder day; big plus; Evil Pt. 2; foreground beef; no news is still news; Ian on Dreams; young guns; hating hate; absolutely fabulist; sound affects; lightning strikes; poster boy; the daily nudes; and, finally, emoji literacy.
Question of the Week: What are you looking forward to this autumn?
Sub-question of the Week: What is the best job you ever had that is not your current job?
Thanks for listening.
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The Batmen of All Nations! I never read about these global caped crusading doppelgängers when they originally appeared but I did read about them in Batman issues #667-669. Written by the great Grant Morrison, the “Club of Heroes” as they were called, are gathered together for a mystery at a Caribbean island resort and wouldn’t ya know, there’s a murder to solve. Maybe more than one. Loved that you brought this up on the podcast because I distinctly remember reading it and I might just have to dig them out for a re-read.
I went through my “goofy” DC phase years ago reading those situational comedy issues of Superman and Batman, someone at Lone Star Comics once called them “Three’s Company Episode Issues” because of the corny stories and misunderstandings. I got sucked into reading all the DC “Imaginary Stories” that ran heavily throughout the 50s and 60’s picking up as many back issues as I could years ago, kind of the precursor to Marvel’s “What If?” I guess those were the safe years for DC opposed to the counter culture hippie awakening going on over at Marvel. I remember reading in a biography about how DC tried to compete with Marvel’s success with the college readers by “Putting a checkerboard masthead on all their issues to attract the kids!! It’s hip and crazy!!” I still love that era in comics, it’s fun to revisit because anything could happen, anyone could die, Batman and Superman had bratty kids, Lex Luthor could be a hero and animals showed up out of nowhere! I’ll bet they had fun writing those issues. The great imaginary stories…but aren’t they all?
Rebranded as “Elseworlds.”
I also remember a really weird meta occurrence in what I think was either a Superman compendium or one of the cartoons but it strangely belongs in the past as an example of how they used to write this stuff. Clark and Lois are at the movies watching the cartoons they used to show before the feature film and a Superman cartoon comes on. Clark starts getting a bit nervous as the cartoon may reveal Superman changing into Clark Kent! To distract Lois from seeing the scene, he slaps Lois’s purse out of her lap onto the floor saying, “OOPS LOIS YOU DROPPED YOUR PURSE!” forcing a pissed off Lois to look for the purse in the dark and missing the scene on the movie screen. Figure that one out.
A quick Google and I found it! From Superman #183 “Superman cartoon Hero”
https://tombrevoort.com/2022/07/23/superman-matinee-idol-times-three/#jp-carousel-34315
And if you ever want to read a great essay on Superman, look up “All the Myriad Ways” by Larry Niven from 1971, there’s a really good one titled “Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex®”.
This Autumn I’m looking forward to 90 degree (32 degree celsius) days, as always. Maybe the State Fair too.
The holidays awaiting on the other side will be brutal for our family, the first of many without Mom.
He may have only said it once but it still stands to this day. My late friend and co-worker Sean once said “We’ll never have a better job than selling funny books for Buddy at Lone Star Comics, enjoy this while you can.” That was 38 years ago and he’s still right, we had the time of our lives.
Looking forward to the Mark of the Beast episode next time! Should I watch “The Omen” for extra credit?
Stay Sharp and Sneaky out there everyone!!