For All Mankind #11

Rob and Super Friend Paul Kien review "Kingslayer" by E. Nelson Bridwell, Ramona Fradon, and Bob Smith, from SUPER FRIENDS #11! Plus Listener Feedback!

Check out images from this comic by clicking here!

Opening and closing themes by Hanna Barbera.

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30 responses to “For All Mankind #11

  1. Apparently Kingslayer made his reputation with his try and try again attitude. If the first assassination attempt doesn’t pan out, he has 5 or 6 back-up plans and an army of henchmen to have another go at it. Like Wile E Coyote, He probably has an account with Acme Co. to help take out those political leaders.
    I’m also very surprised you didn’t mention Larry Hama’s appearance in the season 5 M*A*S*H episode The Korean Doctor.
    Thanks for another great episode. I eagerly await the next.

  2. Great episode, and fantastic podcast debut, Paul! Your first taste is free! Now you’ll want to podcast more and MORE!!!

    ENB continues to school this fanboy on DC history. Most of these callbacks (other than Vulko and Solivar) are so obscure they probably didn’t even make it into Michael Fleischer’s Encyclopedias (but I’m not going to go check right now). These are DEEP cuts, but that only enhances the tapestry of the DCU, it doesn’t detract from this story.

    And yeah, Vulko’s outfit. Honestly, Vulko looks like Ma and Pa Kent just found him in crashed rocket, after orbiting the Earth for decades. I can’t help but see Superbaby’s playsuit there.

    Kingslayer (sounds like the name of a metal band), on top of being armed to the teeth, is also wearing green and purple, which is the neon sign of “VILLAINY” in comics. He knows his brand.

    Again, great show fellas!

    Chris

  3. Pretty sure Overlord does return as I can remember a cover with him on it in my minds eye.

    How great are the deep dives by ENB. That man was brilliant.

    But the craziest thing for me about this episode is that I can sing that ‘hanka for a hunka cheese’ song by heart. Why does that have space in my brain!!!

    1. You’re not alone, Anj. I have “Hanka for a Hunka Cheese” stuck in rotation in my brain too. Also “Don’t Drown Your Food” and “Exercise Your Chompers”. I watched a LOT of ABC on Saturday Mornings.

      Chris

      1. Don’t forget “Don’t quibble til you nibble, a dabble or a dibble, of everything that’s on your plate and then… go back and eat the things you like again!”
        Or
        “A hard boiled egg, a chicken leg, some cheese and luncheon meat, or a peanut butter sandwich any time of day’s a treat.”
        And
        “When you’re feeling bored or blue, watch out for the munchies! They find ways of making you, munch when you’re not hungry!”
        I’ll stop there before I drive us all insane

  4. I didn’t turn 8 until March 1978, and then my access to comics was spotty, so it took awhile for me to begin reading every issue of Super Friends. I have a vivid memory, too, of looking at a SF issue and passing it up for another comic from the spinner rack. Eventually, though, I became a big SF fan, particularly of the Global Guardians. Bridwell was clearly trying to make the Super Friends fit into the Earth-1 continuity–it’s sad, I think, that the rest of DC never acknowledged SF as in-continuity.

  5. Re: the reference Latveria–I have read that Nelson Bridwell liked to believe that all comics took place on the same Earth–DC and Marvel. In another issue, he throws in a reference to Tony Stark.

  6. Hello SF Fans!

    Enjoyed the Jersey Boy edition of the podcast, and you can add me to the Jersey Boy contingent (Essex County in the house!)

    Like Rob, I felt that Aquaman got the shaft in this story. He basically turns on two faucets, one to find the assassination attempt, and one to save King Vulko. I often wondered what Aquaman did when he was on land for long periods, as I never saw him carrying water anywhere. Like you, I’m glad they did away with that weakness.

    While they are my favorite characters, and they did well this issue, I do wonder about Wonder Woman’s thought process, having two trainee heroes still new to Earth protecting a world leader from assassination. One small error, and the Wonder Twins could’ve found themselves deported back to Exxor! LOL

    Chuck

    1. I suspect Wonder Woman was basically saying to the other senior heroes, “Nope, Green Lantern and Flash and Atom — those specific three people — are definitely not surreptitiously keeping close watch on our new recruits or anything like that! Too bad they couldn’t make it. Atom, for instance, isn’t hiding under Zan’s collar right now or anything in case the twins get in a jam, wink wink.”

  7. A fine show, as usual, and a great debut by Mr. Kien!
    I have to say, as with previous episodes, what I liked most about this one was that it jogged my memories and helped me restore another piece of my personal comics ‘archeology.’ I’m referring to the Superboy story with the look-alike prince who appears in this issue of Super Friends. When you guys mentioned it, I recalled that I had read that story somewhere, and when I looked up Four-Star Spectacular #5, I immediately recognized the cover and realized that I had it way back when. Besides the Superboy story, it also had stories featuring Vigilante, Green Arrow and Wonder Woman (a Golden Age one at that), although the Green Arrow story (in which he fights the Rainbow Archer) is the only other story in that book that stuck in my memory. Anyway, thanks for that, gentlemen.

    1. Edo, if you friend me on Facebook I have the Superboy story scanned and can send it to you!
      And thanks to everybody for the kind words. Chris you are right – I can definitely see how podcasting can be addictive!!!

  8. Hello Paul – and welcome to the podcast. You were GREAT!

    When I read each issue of Super Friends I make a list of items I want to discuss and then cross them off of the list as I listen to the episode and you guys mention them. You guys talked about ALMOST ALL of the things I would mention if I were on the episode. Fantastic!

    I love the cover to #11. I really think that it looks like it could be the cover to a regular DC comic on the shelf at the time, and NOT a DCTV book aimed at kids.

    I know Paul talked about it on the show – but being the enormous Batman Family fan that I am – I am physically unable to sit at the keyboard and not type out how cool it is that a Robin/Batgirl team-up was referenced in another title! I LOVE that title so much!

    Since CellarDweller said that he loves the Wonder Twins so much I have a question for him. Do the Wonder Twins have to touch HANDS in order for their powers to work – or can they make any kind of physical contact to ACTIVATE? I think I’ve only ever seen them fist bump.
    I am NOT one to question the “physics” and “rules” of superpowers (after all, I do firmly believe that a Kryptonian can absorb our solar rays and derive power from that), but I think it’s odd that they could only touch hands to activate their powers. I’d think it could still work if one of them grabbed onto the others shoulder – or were linked arm in arm.

    In the letter column Mark Reschke wrote in to say that he loves the format of The All New Super Friends Hour and suggested that the format could be adapted by DC into a DOLLAR COMIC. Man, I would have LOVED to have been able to read THAT series!

    I noticed an art mistake in this issue on story page 12. When Superman is disguised as Prince Mark of Sardonia in the hotel room he opens up the door for the room service delivery and then he is shown reaching in his pocket to get some tip money. In both of those panels his yellow S is prominently shown on his chest. In the last panel on the page when he is opening up the champagne bottle the S has disappeared!

    I understand how and why you guys wouldn’t know this next bit of comic book knowledge regarding King Vulko and didn’t discuss it on the show.
    You were talking about King Vulko’s outfit but what you didn’t know is that not only is King Vulko representing Atlantis – but he is also representing the Bear community at the same time! Please show respect for this in the future!

    1. Hello Shawn,

      Regarding the Wonder Twins and their powers, I always use the comic book as a guide, as the cartoon was very inconsistent with them.

      In the comic book, Zan & Jayna had to touch hands to activate and deactivate the powers, and come into contact to make multiple changes.

      In the cartoon, they always had to fist-bump to change. However, sometimes they could make multiple changes without touching again. Sometimes they were able to deactivate their powers without touching, and twice they deactivated their powers with a kiss. “Terror From the Phantom Zone” and “Planet of the Neanderthals”.

  9. Have enjoyed For All Mankind from the start but, since this is the first issue I remember reading in real time, had to comment on this episode!

    As always, great discussion of (and digressions about) the comic. Don’t want to spoil anything, but we’ll see the Overlord and his Underling again soon.

    With Deathstroke (who debuted a few years later) being popular enough to have his own series, could Kingslayer be rehabilitated to be a more competent rival merc?

    Anyway, keep up the great work!

  10. Great as always, Rob, and great debut, Paul! Prince Ali of Kaliph first appeared in Lois Lane #58. Queen Astrid of Graustania first appeared in Secret Six #5. Ran across those trifles of trivia while I was looking up Kingslayer, whom I agree should’ve appeared elsewhere. He’s no KGBeast (as written by Starlin, anyway), but he’d last longer in a movie than Slipknot, and you need those just-above-mort level characters.

    I don’t think Wonder Woman’s saying that she and the Super Friends are second string, just that they don’t have enough people to do a standard (and tactically sound) Gardner Fox pair-off. Of course, you can’t separate Zan & Jayna, so the junior members got to have a partner, and Wonder Woman assigned them to the least defenseless monarch.

    Paul’s not the only one who felt a little called out by Vulko’s appearance. In my head canon, his Atlantis clothes are just his padding-around-the-apartment outfit before the big meeting. I mean, it’s either that or Underoos product placement. (And I think even the UN wasn’t that open-minded in ’78, Shawn.)

    Regarding those last panels:
    – It had to be wrapped up quickly. It was just dudes with rifles against the Super Friends. More importantly, they were out of pages.
    – When we got to Batman, Robin, and Aquaman on the balcony, I heard the Alberich brothers in my head saying “laying out fools like kitchen tile.”
    – About using the lasso, I think Robin was saying that they’ve got enough to convict these guys; it’s still handy to know who hired them, even if it isn’t admissible in court.

    That’s it, Rob! Looking forward to hearing more from you, your next guest, the Overlord, and the Underling.

  11. Congratulations on a terrific podcast debut, Paul, wish I’d been that polished!

    The return of old, obscure characters was a great way for ENB to assure us this was the proper DC Universe, but I do think that rather than littering the story with footnotes, bringing the action to a stop, he might have simply had a single note on the splash directing folk to the letters page.

    Incidentally, Overlord was the pre-Crisis Max Lord. Honest, would I lie to you?

  12. Another great podcast, on another…well….so-so issue, I guess. I remember as a kid this book was on my newstand FOREVER. Every week I went in I kept seeing it sitting there, the stack of four or five issues never getting any smaller. Then one day, they were gone. Obviously, sent back to the publisher unsold.

    I met Larry Hama at the Baltimore Con a few years ago and had him sign his SF issues. He talked a little bit about them, saying that working with Ramona was a joy, and that Nelson didn’t really need a lot of editing (although in this issue in particular I think the pacing could have been a bit sharper so that last page wouldn’t have been quite so rushed). But he enjoyed the work and was sad to be let go because of the DC Implosion.

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