For All Mankind #17

Rob and Super Friend Derek William Crabbe review "Trapped in Two Times" by E. Nelson Bridwell, Ramona Fradon, and Bob Smith, from SUPER FRIENDS #17! Plus another installment of For All Merchkind, and Listener Feedback!

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Opening and closing themes by Hanna Barbera.

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16 responses to “For All Mankind #17

  1. Fun episode. I would like to hear Derek discuss more things that pre-Crisis Superman could do with his leisure time like build time machines and stuff.

  2. Welcome to the podcast Derek! You were great and I look forward to hearing you on the next episode as well.

    I like this issue a lot because of how the story is structured.
    It IS a two-part story, but it doesn’t end on a character in peril cliffhanger like so many continued stories would back in the day.
    I’m sure EVERY listener has a story of reading the first issue of a two-parter and then not getting the second half of the story until they were a grown up and purchasing it from eBay or a comic book shop!

    I can help you out with some of your questions regarding the Super Heroes View Master Packet that was sold by itself.
    The packet DOES contain the three reels from the Gift Set that cover issue #17 of Super Friends.
    The View Master packets of that time ALSO included a 16 page booklet.
    Normally the booklet would just tell the same story that was pictured in the reels, but for “Super Heroes” the booklet is titled “Their Super Heroes Stories” and tells the origin stories of Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Robin, and Aquaman.
    Each story is told in text with a head shot and then two or three panels (which I think WERE clipped from various comics).
    There is also a crossword puzzle and a True or False quiz.
    There is also an order form which unfolds to a MASSIVE 16 x 8 listing of about 400 different View Master packets!
    Of course there are packets from Cartoons and TV Shows, but there are also packets that have Classic Tales, Bible Stories, History, Walt Disney World and Disneyland, and TONS of Picture Tours of the US States, and Asia/Africa and Pacific, Europe, Mexico/Central & South Americas, and Canada! WOW!

  3. Hello Super Fans!

    Welcome to the podcast, Derek! Always nice to hear from another person who considered “The Super Friends” to be canon and part of the Earth-1 continuity of DC. I always hear how this series isn’t Earth-1 based, and my opinion is that it’s because some readers don’t want Wendy, Marvin and the Twins to be part of that official history.

    Regarding Superman and his intellect during this timeframe, it seems that DC has been making Batman the super-genius, and perhaps in an effort to make him look even smarter, dumbing down Superman. If his father Jor-el was an accomplished scientist with a high intellect, it would make sense that Superman would be able to follow that path. In fact, I would give the “Best Friend” award to Superman this issue, as it was his ships and boots that that made both journeys possible.

    While I did like the story, this issue contained two tropes that annoyed me when they were used in the cartoon. The Wonder Twins needing to be rescued, and never having them use their powers once in the issue/episode. Thankfully, I think this was the only issue of the comic book that kept the twins powerless.

    Glad you liked the submission to be used in “For All Merchkind”! If I come across anything else, I will let you know. I often wanted Wonder Twins stuff as a kid, and was always angry that I could only find Wendy & Marvin stuff. I would’ve been so happy with a set of Zan Underoos!

    Chuck

  4. Really enjoyed the show, gentlemen. Derek is indeed a great guest, and I also enjoyed his Fradon commission anecdote.
    Rob, I have to say that I wouldn’t have studied that splash page very closely if you hadn’t mentioned it, but now that I have, I can say that I agree with you: the professor and, especially, the wreckage in the foreground definitely have an ‘EC’ look to them. And now I can’t unsee it. Very weird.

    On the topic of Viewmasters – I had a few packages when I was a kid in the 1970s, and then the novelty wore off for me. I always assumed that those went the way of the dodo once home media options like VCRs became commonplace by the early to mid-1980s. I was completely surprised to learn that they were still being produced post-2000. It’s kind of like learning that some businesses still use fax machines…

  5. Another of my favorite stories….Aquaman gets a big part, and the Time Trapper appears! What more could this Aqua Legion fan ask for?

    I *do * remember having to re-read the part about Aquaman, Zan, Gleek, and Superman getting super-super powers under a blue sun, though. That part just confused the heck out of me, and I still don’t really think I understand it. So ENB is saying that in any solar system with a blue sun, people born under a yellow sun or weaker (stronger?) would get super powers? Funny how no solar systems in the 30th Century ever had blue suns, cuz I NEVER heard of that bit before (or since).

  6. I don’t have this one! Foiled by newsstand distribution and my mother’s erratic shopping schedule! Or maybe Spider-Man got my change that week. Whatever. Anyway, Derek and Rob, you did an outstanding job of pulling me into this story even though I never read it for myself. I especially enjoyed all the digressions and the discussion of Wonder Wing Woman. And Merchkind was fun, as always.

    Bridwell and Fradon should have have had a run on Diana’s book. He portrays her as tough, decisive, and passionate, and Fradon makes her simultaneously gorgeous and imposing.

    Regarding his technique of using hypnosis to send people traveling through time, Professor Nichols says, “There’s no reason it shouldn’t work.” But of course, he’s exactly wrong. There’s no reason it SHOULD work. It never made a lick of sense, not even by the standards of Silver and Bronze Age comic book science. But who cares? It’s Super Friends, and Bridwell must respect the canon!

    I respect Lyla’s snarky acceptance of Krypton’s fate. “You’ve got a long sentence ahead of you!” “Ya think? Bet you a solar chip you’re wrong.”

    Rob, you say the Silver Age heroes were more emotionally durable, but there are panels from the run in question where Superman was bawling his eyes out over Lyla, his parents, and all of Krypton. If memory serves, Jerry Siegel was once again writing the last son of Krypton, and even Mort Weisinger admitted he was the best of his stable of writers. Siegel could draw out that pathos. I’m betting Kal told Diana the whole story over some stiff Kandorian ale.

    Final thought: You just know that if Aquaman hadn’t been there, those water people would have ended up in the Phantom Zone. “Great Scott! Now that I think about it, I do only ever project people into the one dimension.”

  7. Fun discussion gents! I love that Derek pointed out that Superman used to be super-intelligent. 1986 really took Superman’s IQ down several points, unfortunately. Too bad Batman didn’t remember his Batjet could time travel under it’s own power, as it did in the Super Friends animated series!

    I’m glad Derek mentioned Lyra’s role in “For the Man Who Has Everything” and Timm and company slyly merging that name with the look of Lana, and the voice of Lois! Superman’s perfect woman! At least she didn’t resemble Kara in any way. Yeechhh!!!

    Chris

  8. Well done on another great episode! Derek was fantastic and he had some great knowledge about Lyla! As much as I have been enjoying For All Mankind, I never bought the comic as a kid, but I did enjoy the show. I’m mostly hear for the great View-Master talk with Chris! Man, I enjoyed my View-Master as a kid. Even with battling seizure robots on TV, I could still sit down with my View-Master and click through the various comic reels I had. Of course, my favourite being Shazam. I had no idea there was a TALKING View-Master though! That sounds like tons of fun and I would loved that as a kid, and with the Super Friends, no less!

    I would tune in if For All Merch Kind was a regular show. Well done, again, gentlemen. Keep up the great work!

  9. In my years of collection, I’ve only come across a couple issues of the Super Friends comic book. As I’ve listened to the podcast, I’ve been able to follow along thanks to the Hoopla app. Super Friends: Saturday Morning Comics Vol. 1 and 2 are both available to check out for free!

  10. Fun episode, as usual. 🙂

    I know there is a pro-Aquaman bias. I’m a fan myself, but it would have been nice to have seen some of the art from the on-Krypton chapter.

  11. Cheers for a wonderful show, but with the terrific trio of Rob, Derek and Chris, how could it not be?

    I don’t know how old Derek is, but we seem to be pretty much aligned in terms of our sweet spots. Superman’s Return to Krypton from Superman #141 is one of the greatest tales of the Silver Age, an exciting and heart-rending ‘three-part novel’. Lyla Lerrol (called Lerror in her first panel appearance, but changed a few pages later, and here changed to Ler-Rol to fit the accepted Kryptonian female naming tradition), as drawn by Wayne Boring and Stan Kaye, is utterly bewitching – it’s no wonder Ramona homaged a scene from the original on page 6. Jerry Siegel even programmes some silent panels for the super-emotional moments, a real rarity in 1960. Seriously, Rob, seek out a reprint, it’s all over the place, such as the Superman in the Sixties trade, and presumably on DC Infinite).

    I enjoyed this issue loads, you can’t go wrong with a Professor Nichols time hypnosis/ray story. He mentions having worked at the DNA Project for a while, I don’t recall that… I’d guess it was a Superman Family or World’s Finest story. Anyone?

    I’m pleased that ENB didn’t have Superman meet Lyla again in this story, so as to preserve the bittersweet nature of the original – they met once, that’s it.

    I loved Derek’s Ramona Fradon anecdote!

    I had a Viewmaster, a lovely grey number, but that was too early for the Super Friends, even if the reels did make it to the UK – I don’t recall having anything but Rupert the Bear.

    As regards readers not accepting the Super Friends were on Earth One, that should have ended with DC Comics Presents #46. There, courtesy of ENB and Alex Saviuk, Superman teamed with the international superheroes named, by an incredibly packed issue’s end, the Global Guardians and directly referenced the Super Friends comic business with The Conqueror.

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