The More The Merrier - 1943

Joel McCrea and Charles Coburn enjoy the latest installment of Dick Tracy while Jean Arthur sunbathes in George Stevens' 1943 WWII romantic comedy The More The Merrier.

Arthur chides the guys for wasting their time on reading the comics, and they vigorously defend their choice of leisure activity. Coburn even adds that he once missed two straight Sundays of Superman, and he "was never the same since."

Hey Kids, Comics!: True-Life Tales From The Spinner Rack Audiobook ON SALE NOW!

The audiobook edition* of Hey Kids, Comics!: True-Life Tales From The Spinner Rack is available now on iTunes, Amazon, and Audible! Please check it out and if you like it, leave the book a review!

Hey Kids, Comics! Audiobook on iTunes

Hey Kids, Comics! Audiobook on Amazon

Hey Kids, Comics! Audiobook on Audible

*Note: Tim Neenan's essay, "The Field", is exclusive to the print and Kindle editions.

Hey Kids, Comics! Audiobook Free Preview 2

The audiobook edition of Hey Kids, Comics!: True-Life Tales From The Spinner Rack will be available on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes shortly. In the meantime, enjoy this sample chapter by clicking on the link below!

Listen: "Secret Origin" by Steve Englehart

Hey Kids, Christmas!

This is me, Christmas of 1984. A pretty good haul, though since I never played Dungeons & Dragons I'm not sure why Santa left that for me.

More exciting for this blog's purposes is the issue of Blue Devil sitting next to me. A close-up reveals its Blue Devil #9, on sale in November of that year:

My parents never bought me comics (they could have never figured out what I had), so I must have been carrying this with me at all times that day. That sounds like me.

Hey Kids, Comics! Now on Kindle!

I'm thrilled to announce that Hey Kids, Comics!: True-Life Tales From The Spinner Rack is now available on Kindle for only $2.99! Head over to Amazon to download your copy--and what the heck, get one for a friend for Christmas!

Brewster McCloud - 1971

Actor John Schuck (playing a dim-witted cop) shows up in the trailer to Robert Altman's 1971 oddball film Brewster McCloud, reading a copy of Captain America #121 (cover dated January 1970). I haven't seen the movie, but judging by the trailer, it seems that Altman is using comic book reading as visual shorthand for lack of intellect. Seems funny, coming from the man who would eventually direct Popeye.

"It Is An Omen! I Shall Become--A COLLECTOR!"

Bryan W. Frazier Everyone has that one comic book--the one that turned them from a casual reader into a collector. Mine was Batman #311. Oh, I'd been reading comic books since 1974, but it was always just whatever caught my eye on the spinner rack. But, Batman #311 was different. "Dr. Phosphorus Is Back!!" The cover looked great , Batman shielding special guest star Batgirl from a burning "Skeleton Man!" I had to read this book! So, I paid my 40 cents and I couldn't wait to get home and read the book! I was not disappointed.

The artwork was clear, and yet moody all at the same time. Batman meets Commissioner Gordon on a foggy night. Batman's sudden appearance from the mist so unnerves a police officer, that he takes a shot at the Batman! Fortunately, Commissioner Gordon hits the rookie's hand, causing the shot to miss the Batman. "Officer --, What the Hell?!?!" It was the first time I'd ever seen the word "Hell" in a comic book. I read about Batman's first attempt to bring Dr. Phosphorus to justice when he attacked his former boss, (and the man who was responsible for making him Dr. Phosphorus in the first place--Rupert Thorne) I didn't know at the time of writer Steve Englehart's previous run on Detective Comics. Nor did I realize that this was a new story by Englehart. I just knew that I loved the book. The comic even had Batgirl (whom I knew from the 1966 Batman TV show) , who helped battle Dr. Phosphorus with Batman's own specially treated cape! I became a life long Batman fan thanks to that issue.

I still remember re-reading that comic book on my front porch one day. I was struck by a sudden realization. I already had a few issues in the Batman 300s (#'s 301, 303, and 307-311), what if I went back, filled in the gaps in my collection, and kept buying Batman every month? I could get an unbroken string of issues going all the way to Batman #400! And so, with that, I made sure to grab the newest issue of Batman every month from then onward. I bought (and enjoyed!) Batman month after month from elementary school, through junior high, and on into high school. I still remember the day I picked Batman #400 off of the stands at the Rock Bottom bookstore. I was ecstatic! I was collecting almost everything DC, Marvel, and just about everybody else was putting out by then. I might have started off as a reader but, it was Batman # 311 that made me a collector!

Hey Kids, Comics: Audiobook Free Preview

You can now listen to a free chapter from the audiobook edition of Hey Kids, Comics!: True-Life Tales From The Spinner Rack by clicking the link below!

The audiobook is read by performer Ross Landy, and will be available via Amazon in December. 

Listen: "I Was A College Comics Reader" by Elisabeth Rappe

Glen and Randa - 1971

While at work, I came across the trailer for an obscure 1971 sci-fi film called Glen and Randa, about two teens who have survived some sort of holocaust. The opening moments feature fuzzy-headed (in more ways than one) Glen reading a Wonder Woman comic.

The issue in question is Wonder Woman #58, which was published in 1953, almost a full twenty years before the movie was made! I wonder (no pun intended) who on the crew had their comic book collection raided when it came time for props?

For those interested, you can see the whole Glen and Randa trailer here.

Hey Kids, Comics! @ The 2014 Camden Comic Con!

Hey Kids! I will be attending the first-ever Camden Comic Con, taking place on Saturday April 5th! I will have copies of Hey Kids, Comics! on sale and available for signing, so please stop by and say hello!

You can find out more about the show on its Facebook page and Tumblr.

Friday The 13th Part III - 1982

While guest co-hosting on an episode of The Fire and Water Podcast, blogger and podcaster extraordinaire Michael Bailey mentioned some comics appearing in a scene from Friday The 13th Part III. Even though I've seen the film at least once or twice, I had no memory of this, so I had to track the movie down and check it out--and lo and behold, there they are!

Seen on display are Ghosts #112 (May 1982), Master of Kung-Fu #s 110 (March 1982) and #112 (May 1982), and what looks like Warlord #56 (April 1982). I can't quite figure out how they're displayed, exactly--they look like some set designer just slapped them on the side of a shelf rack with some double-stick tape. They must have wanted them to be seen prominently--if so, mission accomplished!

Let us not speak of that issue of Club.

Hey Kids, Comics! @ Bookends Bookstore

The signing at Bookends Bookstore in Ridgewood, NJ was a smashing success! We had almost a full house and there were lots of questions about us, comics, and the book. Me and my guests and fellow essayists Paul Castiglia and Ed Catto signed lots of books, followed by a nice celebratory dinner afterwards.

Bookends treated us great and said that if (when!) we do HEY KIDS, COMICS! Vol. 2, they'll have us back!

Hey Kids, Comics! Signing - 11/30/13

Hey Kids! You should know that I will be doing my first in-store book signing at Bookends Bookstore in Ridgewood, NJ!

The signing will be on Small Business Saturday, November 30, at 2pm. Joining me for the event will be Hey Kids, Comics! essayists Paul Castiglia (Archie) and Ed Catto (Captain Action, The Bonfire Agency). Come by and pick up a copy of the book and get it autographed by all three of us!

HEY KIDS, COMICS! Free Sampler

For a limited time, you can download a PDF of film critic Elisabeth Rappe's HEY KIDS, COMICS! essay "I Was A College Comics Reader" for free via this link! Take a read and I bet you'll want to read more, more, more!

HEY KIDS, COMICS! at the 2013 New York Comic Con

I am thrilled to announce that I will be doing a signing with two of my Hey Kids, Comics! essayists Ed Catto and Paul Kupperberg at this year's New York Comic Con!

The signing will be at the Captain Action booth on the main show floor: Booth 226, at 1pm on Friday, October 11th.

Stop by and pick up a copy, and get it signed by all three of us. In addition, Hey Kids, Comics! essayists Paul Castiglia and Kevin Dilmore will also be at the show, and they will be happy to sign your book as well! Be there!

Hey Kids, Comics! ON SALE NOW!

Today's the day! Literally years in the making, Hey Kids, Comics!: True-Life Tales From The Spinner Rack s now available on Amazon and Create Space!

Hey Kids, Comics!: True-Life Tales From The Spinner Rack retails for $17.99, and is 262 pages of chills, spills, laughter, tears, and adventure. Featuring these scintillating secret comic book origins:

• Hey Kids...THUD! by Sholly Fisch 
• Four-Color Timelines by Chris Ryall 
• Hey Kids, Science! by James Kakalios 
• I Was A College Comics Reader by Elisabeth Rappe 
• The Thrill of the Hunt by Robert Greenberger 
• Portals to Other Dimensions—Ten Cents Each! by J.M. DeMatteis 
• The Weekly Pilgrimage by Ed Catto 
• My Encounter by John Zakour 
• The Catalpa Tree by Steve Skeates 
• The Black Cat and the Gentleman by Roxanna Meta 
• Of Sand, Sea Nettles and Surplus Furniture: My Secret Origin by Glen Weldon 
• Comics Are For Everyone! by Jill Pantozzi 
• Living A Comic Book Life by Javier Hernandez 
• Secret Origin by Steve Englehart 
• Where Creatures Roam by Mike Howlett 
• Blood The Page! by Richard Harland Smith 
• Uncle Bob by Tim Schlattmann 
• In Brightest Day, In Blackest Waaugh! by Kevin Dilmore 
• Little Stephen and the Mysterious Magazines by Stephen DeStefano 
• Comics on Infinite Minds by Marc Tyler Nobleman 
• Comics Don’t Cause Nightmares by Aaron Scott 
• “An All-Star Collection of the Greatest Super-Stories Ever Published!" by Paul Kupperberg 
• “Here’s A Superman for That Detective Comics…” by Jim Beard 
• The Great Wall of Comics by David Galassie 
• Growing Up On Bash Street by Dan Whitehead 
• Lost and Found by Erika D. Peterman 
• The Comic Book Baron of New Jersey by Doug Slack 
• Secrets of the Big Box by Shaun McLaughlin 
• The Magic of Comics by Doug Zawisza 
• Confessions of a Comic Book Thief by Mark Wheaton 
• Steel-Hard Skin by Evan Narcisse 
• 1976 - A Christmas Odyssey by Neal Patterson 
• All in Color for (a Nickel or) a Dime! by Craig Wichman 
• Spirit of ’74 by David Morefield 
• Intersecting Panels by Paul Castiglia 
• The Field by Tim Neenan 
• Mahalo, Keniki by Alan Brennert   
• No Careless Product of Wild Imagination… by Chad Nance

Punctuated with vintage photos, Hey Kids, Comics! is a must for any comics fan or student of pop culture history!

Click below to get your copy of Hey Kids, Comics!: True-Life Tales From The Spinner Rack today!

Hey Kids, Comics! On Sale Now on CreateSpace!

For those of you can't wait for it to appear on Amazon, Hey Kids, Comics!: True-Life Tales From The Spinner Rack is available now on Create Space!

Hey Kids, Comics!: True-Life Tales From The Spinner Rack retails for $17.99, and is 262 pages of chills, spills, laughter, tears, and adventure. Featuring stories by J.M. DeMatteis, Alan Brennert, Paul Kupperberg, Glen Weldon, Jill Pantozzi, Chris Ryall, Sholly Fisch, and more, Hey Kids! is a must for any comics fan or student of pop culture history. Learn the true-life secret origin stories of how people from all walks of life became die-hard comic book fans!

Get your copy of Hey Kids, Comics!: True-Life Tales From The Spinner Rack today!

The Composite Superman and Me

Dan Hunter The Composite Superman had a profound effect on me, and my love of comic books and classic DC heroes. Not familiar with him? Neither was I until one fateful Bicentennial Day in the '70s. The character had first appeared in World’s Finest #142 (June 1964) and was brought back for World's Finest #168 (August 1967).

I was into superheroes when I was a child but my knowledge and interest in them was stirred mostly by the Mego action figure line--and the shows I watched on television.

By the time I was seven, the Shazam!/Isis Hour was in full swing on Saturday mornings. I loved the Super Friends cartoon. And I was watching repeats of the Adam West Batman and The Adventures of Superman every day after school. In addition, Lynda Carter had just started donning her legendary Wonder Woman costume. Although my brother collected Marvel comics, I had never paid much attention to them.

I grew up in the Bronx, New York. To get away from the stress of urban life, my family would take our old ’66 station wagon with the wood paneling on the sides and drive upstate to a town with the unfortunate name of Plattekill.

The ride was fun but I was always susceptible to boredom. This was the "country" after all and I wasn’t used to it. Dirt roads, rural houses, wooded areas, and Daddy Long Legs that looked straight out of the Hardesty family home in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

We stopped at a small convenience store on the way during one trip in the summer of 1976. I walked in and after picking out some candy, I was struck by a huge rack full of comic books. Since he was my favorite, my eyes naturally focused on anything with Superman.

There was an anthology title called Super-Team Family #6. It was one of several that were bought for me that morning. But I quickly became entranced with a villain in the first tale. He was the Composite Superman and his look was literally a blending of both Supes and Batman. Very cool. The story was called The Return of the Composite Superman and it was a reprint of World's Finest #168.

It concerned Joe Meach, a Joe Shmoe loser whose life had been saved by Superman and was then given a job at the Superman Museum as a caretaker. Bitter about his station in life, Joe's future would change drastically when he was struck by lightening and endowed with the powers of all the Legion of Super Heroes.

Although he had lost his abilities in the original adventure (World's Finest #142), Joe regained them with the help of the evil and vengeful alien Xan, who created an artificial lightening bolt in order to transform Meach once again into the Composite Superman. As in the earlier story, these powers were obtained through miniature statues of the Legion that had been donated to the museum.

Seems there was a glitch in their design. The duplicator machine used to create them…also duplicated their characteristics and strengths. The electrical charge caused by the lightening would transfer those abilities to one person. Oops.

I loved the setting of the Superman Museum, with the colorful statuettes of the Legionnaires. I adored the green skin coloring of this villain, taken from Brainiac 5. And best of all, I got a kick out of the extraordinary cunning and strength of the Composite Superman.

After all, he had the ability to inflate into a large ball (Bouncing Boy), change shape (Chameleon Boy), turn into a giant (Colossal Boy), stretch (Elastic lad), and even divide into three (Triplicate Girl). He seemed indestructible and unstoppable. He might even beat Superman, Batman and Robin this time around. Especially since he was also as strong as Supergirl.

"I'm greater than Superman and Batman put together! Soon, I’ll destroy them, just as I’m destroying their statues!" So boasted the Composite Superman as he demolished the museum’s monuments to the super duo. It was an unnecessary act of malevolence that always bothered me for some reason.

And yet even at a young age, I recognized the poignancy of this character. There was something sympathetic about him that made me sad about his demise at the end. In fact, he died a hero while saving his sworn enemies from an energy blast fired by Xan’s Magna-gun. Super-Team Family #6 included the original 1967 cover, an intriguingly deceptive illustration of Batman, Superman and Robin decking their alter egos with the tagline, "Will the real super-heroes stand up? Or are they through?"

Most kids at the time didn't think to save most of their comics and I was no exception. However, I held on to that issue of Super-Team Family for years. I'd read the story over and over. I was obsessed with it. (Incidentally, the issue's other story was a reprint of a fine mystery starring the Marvel clan.) Sadly, Super-Team Family was not particularly successful and lasted only fifteen issues.

The tale of the Composite Superman helped solidify my idolatry of the Man of Steel. How far did I take it? When I was nine, my mother (my very own Ma Kent!) made me a Superman costume, complete with long red cape and secret pouch. One day, I wore the damn thing to school UNDER my clothing. I was proud that nobody knew my secret or exposed me…even when I went to the bathroom so I could unbutton my shirt a little and take a peek at the ‘S.’ Kids do the darndest things.

My comic collection long gone (sold to buy records when I was thirteen), I started re-buying everything I could find in my early thirties. In the course of this resurgence, I attended a convention with some friends. We went out to eat and the conversation turned into onto of those über-geek discussions: who is your favorite, who can beat whom, etc. When it got to the subject of villains, the usual suspects came up: Lex, Bizarro, Joker. It was my turn.

"The Composite Superman, hands down!"

I was met with stony silence. No one really knew who he was. It was then that I realized the villain who had entranced me for three decades was merely a bit player in the Superman universe. It dawned on me. I had gotten into comics because of an obscure villain in a reprint of an eight-year old story…that was a sequel to a book published four years before that. Oh well.

But I also felt a sense of pride and ownership. Perhaps myself and only a few others have ever cared for the Composite Superman. Fine with me. I've always marched to the beat of my own drummer anyway.

Over the years, I've collected everything I could find on this most awesome bad guy. And that's not hard. There wasn’t much to get other than a few comics (including a mini digest reprint) and two figures from DC Direct. I also managed to get a decent custom Mego, somewhat crudely done but worth every penny. 

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that CS had been revitalized for a two-part story, once again in World’s Finest (#283/284, September/October 1982). This time, Xan himself took on the identity of the Composite Superman after escaping from prison. Apparently, CS even made a cameo on Justice League Unlimited at one point. So there is some kind of fan base out there.

Every now and then, I whip out my Composite Superman stories and thrill once again to the exploits of the almighty villain who came close to destroying Superman, Batman and Robin.

Here's to you, Joe Meach!

HEY KIDS, COMICS! True-Life Tales From The Spinner Rack

I am proud/thrilled/overjoyed/pick a superlative to announce that Hey Kids, Comics!: True-Life Tales From The Spinner Rack will be published next month by Crazy 8 Press!

As many of you know, this has been a long time coming, and I'm really looking forward to working with the fine folks at Crazy 8 (one of whom is writer/editor Robert Greenberger, who has a story in the book) on making Hey Kids! a reality.

There are some details still to come, like cost and just how and where you can order a copy (Hey Kids! will be available as both a print and e-book). Keep an eye on this space, and that info will be coming soon, as well as details about Hey Kids!-related convention appearances!

I'm also thrilled to finally be able to release the full list of contributors and their stories:

• Hey Kids...THUD! by Sholly Fisch 
• Four-Color Timelines by Chris Ryall 
• Hey Kids, Science! by James Kakalios 
• I Was A College Comics Reader by Elisabeth Rappe 
• The Thrill of the Hunt by Robert Greenberger 
• Portals to Other Dimensions—Ten Cents Each! by J.M. DeMatteis 
• The Weekly Pilgrimage by Ed Catto 
• My Encounter by John Zakour 
• The Catalpa Tree by Steve Skeates 
• The Black Cat and the Gentleman by Roxanna Meta 
• Of Sand, Sea Nettles and Surplus Furniture: My Secret Origin by Glen Weldon 
• Comics Are For Everyone! by Jill Pantozzi 
• Living A Comic Book Life by Javier Hernandez 
• Secret Origin by Steve Englehart 
• Where Creatures Roam by Mike Howlett 
• Blood The Page! by Richard Harland Smith 
• Uncle Bob by Tim Schlattmann 
• In Brightest Day, In Blackest Waaugh! by Kevin Dilmore 
• Little Stephen and the Mysterious Magazines by Stephen DeStefano 
• Comics on Infinite Minds by Marc Tyler Nobleman 
• Comics Don’t Cause Nightmares by Aaron Scott 
• “An All-Star Collection of the Greatest Super-Stories Ever Published!" by Paul Kupperberg 
• “Here’s A Superman for That Detective Comics…” by Jim Beard 
• The Great Wall of Comics by David Galassie 
• Growing Up On Bash Street by Dan Whitehead 
• Lost and Found by Erika D. Peterman 
• The Comic Book Baron of New Jersey by Doug Slack 
• Secrets of the Big Box by Shaun McLaughlin 
• The Magic of Comics by Doug Zawisza 
• Confessions of a Comic Book Thief by Mark Wheaton 
• Steel-Hard Skin by Evan Narcisse 
• 1976 - A Christmas Odyssey by Neal Patterson 
• All in Color for (a Nickel or) a Dime! by Craig Wichman 
• Spirit of ’74 by David Morefield 
• Intersecting Panels by Paul Castiglia 
• The Field by Tim Neenan 
• Mahalo, Keniki by Alan Brennert   
• No Careless Product of Wild Imagination… by Chad Nance

Thanks to everyone for their patience and support for this book...I know that once you get a chance to read it, you'll see it was worth the wait!