For example, what if the fifth dimensional imp Mr. Mxyzptlk lost his purple derby, but Jimmy Olsen found it and used its magical residue to give himself Kryptonian super powers?
But then what if an invading horde of giant, intelligent, telepathic red ants attacked Lana Lang’s dad on a South American expedition? And then what if the ants’ leader, Mgoro, hypnotized Jimmy into using a green kryptonite meteor to destroy Superman?
But what if that all turned out to be a fever dream induced by red kryptonite dust in the derby’s hatband?
Why giant ants? Because Weisinger believed in recycling, and had a good memory for pulp magazine gimmicks that had worked in the past. The story was inspired by Howard V. Brown’s cover for the December 1938 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories, a magazine edited by Weisinger.
Another of Superman’s close friends gained his powers in Jerry Siegel’s “imaginary” story The Wife of Superman! in Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane 26 (July 1961) — not Lois, but Lana.
Superman gives his bride super powers, and because Lana’s not from Krypton, she’s also invulnerable to kryptonite. In the context of 1961 sexual politics, that happy outcome turns out to be tragic.
As Super-Lana repeatedly rescues her husband from kryptonite traps, his attitude shifts from gratitude to depression.
Finally, Lana decides she must sacrifice herself for Superman’s fragile ego. Tearfully, she flies away into space, never to return.
“One of Weisinger’s most common themes was that of rejection, by no coincidence the radioactive core of childhood anxiety,” observed comics historian Mark Engblom. “Lana ‘being better’ than Superman hit young boys right where they lived … and, like a young boy would think, she needed to quit. Immature? Of course … but RESONANT with a child who experienced similar feelings.”
Vincent Mariani wrote: And if you were reading Batman comics in the 1950s and early '60s, you quickly came to the conclusion that just about anything could happen to Batman and Robin; time travel, extraterrestrials, bizarre costume, physical, and behavior changes, and a host of imitators entering the series (Batwoman, Batgirl, Bat-Mite, Bat-Hound, even a Fatman and a Bat Boy).
ReplyDeleteCertain other series had similar patterns. Examples would be Dell’s Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge, and DC’s Bob Hope. The adventures could take the characters to far-flung locales and situations with no care for logic.
This type of “anything goes” storytelling has reached a new pinnacle with animated TV series The Simpsons and Family Guy. Anything and everything can happen, and will happen eventually with these highly irreverent characters.
This idea must have had an origin somewhere. I would trace it back to the old Bing Crosby/Bob Hope and Abbott and Costello movies of the 1940s, but I wonder if it goes back even further than that... the concept of continuing iconic characters involved in ever more bizarre and fantastic tales that require a complete suspension of disbelief.
The Weisinger Superman books seemed to maintain a minimal internal logic, whereas editor Jack Schiff's Batman spiraled into a scattershot mess, accented by naive type artwork by "Bob Kane" ghost Shelly Moldoff.
Mark Engblom said: Your description of the Jimmy Olsen story spot-on describes the “anything can happen” feel of the Weisinger Superman stories. To heighten that already high bar, most of these stories took place over a mere *eight pages*, making the plotting even more helter-skelter with that pedal-to-the-metal pacing!
ReplyDeleteBruce Kanin said: The Silver Age house ads were like hamburgers & fries & Cokes, ice cream sundaes and big slices of chocolate cake sitting on a high counter in-between the kitchen & serving area in a diner waiting for the waitress to deliver them to some lucky customers.
ReplyDeleteBut please tell us -- did Streaky scratch Krypto's nose, and send him off howling?
ReplyDeleteJay Zilber said: A more realistic take on the Battle of the Super-Pets would be that Krypto would super-bark incessantly and Streaky would just super-ignore him.
ReplyDeleteGene Popa wrote: "Finally, Lana decides she must sacrifice herself for Superman’s fragile ego. Tearfully, she flies away into space, never to return."...and the very next day, Luthor killed Superman with kryptonite, because Lana wasn't there to save him. The end.
ReplyDeleteMark Engblom wrote: I listened to an interview with Mort Weisinger's son, and he had an interesting perspective. He fully acknowledged that Siegel and Shuster created Superman, but his claim (that I tend to agree with) is that his father *developed* Superman into the character we know today. Most of the sprawling cast, locations, villains, and odds & ends (i.e. multicolored Kryptonite) we associate with the Superman mythos came about during Mort's editorial reign. I liken it to the role of the birth parents vs. the adoptive parents: The birth parents bring a child into existence, but the adoptive parents fully develop that child's identity, culture, and sense of individuality in a way the birth parents never do. Superman had virtually none of those things prior to the Weisinger run.
ReplyDeleteRichard Bold said: Excellent read! I lived and breathed those comics then. Thank you for the perceptive revisits!
ReplyDeleteMichael Fraley said: Between rejection,persecution, and isolation, Weisinger understood my childhood better than ANYBODY. Marvel was hip and fun, but DC (at least this portion of it) really got who I was.
ReplyDeleteThree complete stories in each title! Now a days are not written in the same compressed style. Each of these nine stories would be dragged out over a six issues run that would cast you around $10 for just that one story. And in the end, would reading them have been any more satisfying than it was to read those nine compressed stories all at once in three comics, which would have cost you 30 cents?
ReplyDeleteBen Herman wrote: Reading this story description is a reminder that during the Weisinger era Kryptonite was a HUGE storytelling crutch. Practically every single criminal in existence managed to get their hands on Kryptonite. Maybe it did not stand out as much 50 or 60 years ago when kids were reading these comic books and the readership turned over every few years, but nowadays if you look at almost any collection of Superman stories from the Silver Age EVERYONE has Kryptonite. I think it really demonstrates that Superman was much too powerful that the comic books had to continually rely on Kryptonite in order to imbue the stories with any sense of suspense or danger. I can certainly understand why post-Crisis the decision was made to lower Superman's power levels.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, it is definitely a very telling portrait of mid 20th Century gender roles and sexual relations that there was an "imaginary story" where Superman and Lana Lang married, but the marriage failed due to Lana being a more powerful superhero than Superman. Looking at this from the year 2020, wow, that is soooo wrong. Of course, there are unfortunately some people who in the 21st Century still feel the same way about this issue
Seth Grenald said: Not that we need to apply logic to these stories, but it would have been better if BY COINCIDENCE a huge amount of kryptonite landed all over the earth right about the same time they got married, so there would be a reason why suddenly everyone is trying to zap Supes, even more than usual.
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