Let’s all give a big Bat Family welcome to the entertainment at this month’s Reunion – our favorite Bat-DJ Matthew Davis! In his podcast debut, Matthew talks with Shawn and Paul about Detective Comics #491, where we get a lot of basketball, a dark turn in Batgirl’s story, and Jason Bard! Oh, and Maxie Zeus – can’t win ‘em all, I guess. Enjoy some cold cuts and lemonade!
This month's Bat Family History links for Marty Pasko:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Pasko
http://www.mikesamazingworld.com/main/features/creator.php?creatorid=42
https://variety.com/2020/tv/obituaries-people-news/martin-pasko-dead-dies-dc-comics-1234603850/
https://www.tcj.com/martin-pasko-1954-2020/
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0664632/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
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Hey old chums it’s cousin Bucky . I brought black bean burgers. On sour dough buns with the works no onions. Jeremy is reading a bullwinkle comics with uncle Adam. I’m setting up an inflatable Rocky and bullwinkle dressed as flash and black lightning. Ring toss . Something different the winners get a Rocky dressed as Robin plush or a bullwinkle dressed as Batman or black lightning plush .
[Scene opens: Isamu is straining to listen to the latest BATMAN FAMILY REUNION podcast through lots of heavy static (must be a bad day for his Colorado mountain area’s dial-up internet…)]
PODCAST UNCLE SHAUN: “Isamu… I am not **static** If you do this, I’m **static** but there should be a list of every time the globe on top of the Daily Planet building got busted up!”
PODCAST UNCLE PAUL: “I think that list will be too long–“
[Isamu’s finger dramatically snaps the pause button.]
ISAMU: “Great Scott! What an amazing coincidence! I happen to be writing a college term paper on that very subject (along with my dissertation about my experience of watching Disney’s THE BLACK HOLE movie in the theater 25 years before I was born…)! I happen to have my notes… right… here…”
[Isamu pulls out a large piece of foamboard adorned with several Post-It ™ notes of various colors, with several thumbtacked lines of string making webbed connections between them.]
“Let’s see, the entire Daily Planet building was destroyed by Superman in Action Comics #214… and that would include the globe… Oh, but that was destroyed off-panel. It doesn’t count if we don’t see it…”
“Superman #138 then. Here we go…”
“Then Action Comics #295…”
“I think this scene in Action Comics #302 would count…”
“Superman #169…”
“Action Comics #343…”
“I think the globe manages to survive until Action Comics #398… when Galaxy Communications takes over, and takes the globe down…”
“But of course it needs to get damaged one more time while that happens…”
“I think I skipped over a few instances, let me check my Dad’s…”
[Isamu’s elbow accidentally brushes the pause switch…]
PODCAST UNCLE SHAUN: “(static) Do not do that! I am FORBIDDING you, Isamu from **static** If you do that, I will BLOCK you from ever listening to us again! **static** Isamu, do not do it! Don’t! Don’t! Don’t! Don’t!”
ISAMU: “Oh, gosh. Oh, gee. I’m going to make Uncle Shawn mad! At least I didn’t do the whole list… but I better delete this… just in case… There!”
[In his haste, Isamu’s finger dramatically stabs the post button by mistake…]
Amazing research!
Yeah, well done, Isamu. If Uncle Shawn truly didn’t want you to do some research he’d have edited the section out.
Bad Uncle Shawn.
Well, as per Uncle Shawn’s wishes, perhaps someone else can check when the globe was busted up after it returns atop the WGBS building in World’s Finest #274 (checking from that issue on, Action Comics #527 on, DC Comics Presents #42 on, and Superman #370 on)…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL46rSUXW1k&pp=ygUUdGVhY2hlciB0ZWFjaGVyIHNvbmc%3D
Shawn , you haven’t heard this song? That is a crime against your knowledge sir. You pour man to miss this important song. This must be corrected. Never saw ge movie, but still the song is awesome. Also to bring food to the reunion . I shall bring bagel corn dogs. Those are corn dogs, but the hot dog is baked into a bagel.. With teriyaki sauce on the side for those who want it. If not then ketchup or mustard. I’ll write more later. Still cool podcast as always.
Oh Bruce’s suit was cool. Some ware Prince is becoming inspired by this suit on the 70s. As he gets vexed that Fubky town is the first big hit from his home town and becomes famous because of those two things…. That’s a joke no idea if he read this issue, but the suit does remind me of Prince’s love of purple suits. Though can’t see the tie in the images y’all posted. Was it a simple black tie? Or one with pattern?
Another fine episode.
I really enjoyed the background on Marty Pasko. I didn’t know much about him, but I knew all the projects he worked on and enjoyed a lot of them.
The Hostess ad was unfamiliar to me. I’m glad you posted it in the gallery so I could discover “The Destroyer” who was wrecking the Hoover Dam was actually … Superman in a bad costume and one of those “bald wigs” you would find on a different page along with X-ray Specs. I could be mistaken because it looks like the ad was drawn by Curt Swan and his great and distinct drawing style was burned into my brain before I learned how to read.
Superman must have read the edict on the Hostess advert campaign by Sol Harrison that forbade the hero characters from eating the snacks (see TwoMorrows’ COMIC BOOK ARTIST #7, pages 9 and 126), and came up with the “Destroyer” masquerade so he can have the sweet treat…
It’s barbecue time again! I’m bringing that British classic Turkey Twizzlers, along with the marvelous summer beverage Vimto (an anagram, appropriately enough).
Thanks for going through another issue which aspires to ‘mediocre’ – yet another Detective Comics giant without a proper super villain. As ever, what makes Batman Family Reunion one of the best comic podcasts around is the supporting material from Paul and Shawn. I especially enjoyed the in-depth look at the life and work of Martin Pasko, creator of the Master Jailer, the 20th century Grimbor! I’m no Pesky Pasko but I also got a job in comics due to being a lettercol regular… there was no campaign. Mind, I have also written My Little Pony.
Fantastic first-time guest Matthew is right, Batman would know what Hephaestus looks like from Wonder Woman files in the JLA Satellite because she fought him in that fantastic Judy Garland-alike two parter by Marty Pasko and Jose Delbo in #226-227. But it wasn’t the face that was the clue. Yes, the blacksmith god did often have a limp in Greek mythology – he was Olympus’s answer to Jason Bard. But he also sometimes had a bent back, and that was undoubtedly the resemblance Batman was referring to – look at how Don Newton drew one shoulder significantly raised compared to the other.
If I were Jason Bard I’d have put super-pungent roses on my father’s grave and hope his corpse choked.
Goodness yes, that Black Lightning script was wordy – did Marty Pasko think he had 17 pages to play with? And I was not pleased with the depowering, making Jeff’s strips even duller than previously – I don’t think depowering the African-American character would go down at all well with readers today, and rightly so… what did buyers back then reckon to it? (Incidentally, how come JSA legacy obsessive Geoff Johns never gave him a kid called Zack Lightning to tag team Jakeem Thunder?) I think you’re right, he was depowered to make him more Batman Family-friendly, but that’s terribly short term thinking, he’s obviously not going to be in ‘Tec forever.
A sign that Black Lightning really shouldn’t be in this book is that he has a good logo – but only when the two words are stacked, they’re all kinds of wrong on one line here.
Am I the only British reader to giggle at ‘Jack C Harris’. There’s this expression, you see, ‘up the jacksy’. Anyway, while JCH may not have written the most exciting Batgirl – no one did until Cary Burkett brought us Lady Viper and Barbara Randall gave us Velvet Tiger -JCH was very good on Wonder Woman for a short run which included my favourite Bronze Age issue, #246, the classic ‘Darkness, darkness everywhere’, which taught me the word ‘condominium’. If you need convincing, if I may plug, I did a bit on it a while back at Too Dangerous For a Girl: https://dangermart.blog/2020/08/23/retro-review-wonder-woman-246-1978-2/
I’m not impressed by Barbara’s attitude – her main criteria for accepting a job is that it allows her to slack off and play Batgirl! I’m more impressed, though, that she described the not-conventionally good looking Dick Bender (titter) as ‘nice looking’.
And how stupid is Batgirl? climbing up a rope to examine what she’s been told is a bomb trap rather than just having it safely exploded?
Regarding the Robin story, and the Man in Black, smoking disgusting, filthy, horrible obnoxious cigarettes is stupid if you’re trying to follow someone with guile – they’ll smell you a mile off.
Now, put me down for a slot on Super-Team Family Festival!
Impressive podcast most impressive. The cover could use some work. The bit with Dick looking like Dafney from the Scooby Doo cartoons. Not great. Ah well. The Bat splash page is good with Max hanging Bats by the cape is good. The goons are fine, but yeah ski masks very 70s.
So he stole the fleece for his daughter who probably wanted a holla Hop . Yep heard that bit from the chipmunks song in my mind. Next story. Ah so that’s what happened to Man Bats detective partner. Well the scar needed to be there probably a lot of folks with Flower allergies.
It’s not Scooby Doo and we can give the villain a revulsion from hearing the word Wisteria sauce. Have to have at least 2 things to go with. Next.
Nice shot of Dick’s legs on the splash page. Cool shot of the Basketball player taking out the bad guy with a basket ball. The villain had to be stopped not just for killing but the crime against fashion with that green suit and orange tie. Is this the return of the color blind villain that Dick and Babs fought a while back?
Ah well glad he got him. Though yeah the villain wasn’t great. Hmm, glad New Teen Titans hit when it did. This was not a good rub for Robin. Next story. Ah Black Lighting what about the suit ? I can’t comment on the green suit since Y’all didn’t put it up. And to many bills right now to go buy the issue on Amazon’s Kendal. So no idea Red and Green sounds a bit Christmasy though. So may not work.
Though weirdly it does some times. Though he doesn’t sound like he was the next. Karl Lagerfeld or anything. Let’s see ah the guy trapped next to And out cold Black Lightning. Nice butt on him. Though that’s an interesting pose. Never seen someone slam into a door with their butt thrust out like hat before. It almost calls for a Gorge Takei “Oh My.”
Wait what Black lightning was an athlete? They talk about that as little as Rob Kelly talks about going to Joe Kubert Art School. Glad hey mentioned B. L. Was an Athlete. Or we wouldn’t have known about it when he threw a hubcap at the bad guy.
Good thing we were told that in this issue. Oy the he lost his powers troop? Wow talk about over done bit in comics ah well glad he got them back in the Outsiders comic. Anyway can’t wait for the next podcast.