For All Mankind #24

Rob and Super Friend J. Jones Goldstein review “Past, Present, and Danger” by Sergius O’Shaughnessy, Ramona Fradon, and Bob Smith, from SUPER FRIENDS #24! Plus Listener Feedback!

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Opening and closing themes by Hanna Barbera.

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20 responses to “For All Mankind #24

  1. ‘J Jonah Goldstein’? Autocorrect madness! Anyway, great to hear Jeremiah on the show.

    That’s a great cover, set in the world’s worst sauna.

    Another Sergius issue! I wonder what was keeping ENB especially busy. Anyway, not a bad issue, even though Wondertwins focuses aren’t my favourites.

    Poor Aquaman, but he’s his own worst enemy, never othering to carry a backpack of water, or utility belt with water bottles… even the Red Bee always carried an insect pal to use in combat. And OK, Zan was indisposed for part of the issue, but when he is near Aquaman, no problem, just go raincloud over Arthur’s head.

    Rob pointed out the excellent body language when Aquaman was contacting his alien eel allies; the previous panel is great too, as Miss Fradon demonstrates her understanding of lighting.

    Why did Zond and Zhanra have backward Zs on their outfits! Get it right, dumb aliens!

    Talking of Zond and costumes, did you know this is at least the second Zond in pre-Crisis continuity? He was the magical baddie who so damaged Supergirl’s original costume that she had to get a new one from Groovy Di Prince’s boutique… her range of stock was amazing.

  2. Welcome to the podcast J. Jonah Goldstein(cut and pasted from above to avoid the issues that Martin had), it was great to hear from you!

    I love the title of this issue “Past, Present and Danger” – it sounds like it could have been an episode of Jonny Quest!

    I’ll keep my Ramona appreciation comments to one this issue (but there could have been many, many more) by pointing out the panel on page 2 of the Super Friends peering into the pyramid from outside. I think it’s absolutely gorgeous!

    I couldn’t disagree with you more on your thoughts about Zond and Zhanra and their ability to be real threats to the rest of the DCU. Make no mistake – they aren’t out to rob a bank, or obtain world power – these two straight up just want to KILL every member of the Super Friends. “It don’t get much evil-er than that!”

    On page 16 when Aquaman talks about his previous Exor experience I’m surprised that Julie didn’t add an * note telling us to see his trip in Super Friends #21.

    Imagine my surprise when you said you were going to talk about ad from the original comic!
    I KNEW in my heart of hearts that you were going to talk about the ad for the DIGEST comics (Sgt. Rock’s Prize Battle Tales and Secret Origins Of Super-Heroes) DC Special Series #’s 18 and 19!
    But alas ’twas not to be. That’s okay I know that you are going to discuss Secret Origins Of Super-Heroes in the next episode of DigestCast (insert Padme meme here asking “YOU ARE GOING TO TALK ABOUT SECRET ORIGINS ON THE NEXT EPISODE OF DIGESTCAST, RIGHT?

  3. Thanks for another great episode! An evil Zan and Jayna, AWESOME!
    The Super Friends cartoon certainly did try to stay safe and friendly, but they did on at least three occasions get morbid and introduced us young tykes to the concept of death.
    The most blatant was the Challenge of the Super Friends episode History of Doom. A trio of aliens arrive on Earth to find it completely devoid of life. The Legion of Doom was brought about doomsday, killing everybody, including themselves. The aliens study the history tapes in the JLA computer and use time travel to help the Super Friends avoid a global Holocaust. There was also Super Friends: Rest In Peace from the same season. It begins with the JLA attending Batman’s funeral. Then throughout the episode each hero is “killed” by theLegion of Doom using a device that has all the hero’s weaknesses. In the end we find out the heroes used those oh so handy robot duplicates of themselves into fooling the Legion into believing they’d all been killed so that the villains would throw away the device thinking they no longer needed it.
    Finally we have the very last episode ever of The Super Friends (under the Super Powers Galactic Guardians title)
    The Death of Superman. Here the world believes Superman has died of kryptonite poisoning. There’s a funeral for the Man of Steel attended by dignitaries from throughout the galaxy. Darkseid leads a massive invasion of Earth and captures most of the Super Friends. It isn’t until the remaining heroes hiding out at the Fortress of Solitude discover Superman was in a self induced coma to hold off the lethal affects of the kryptonite, and not truly dead, that the day is saved.

  4. Hello Superfans, Rob, and Jeremiah! Hope everyone who celebrates had a good Thanksgiving!

    Having Aquaman be the “best friend” this podcast certainly makes up for how he was treated this issue. While Aquaman was never a big fave of mine, I can remember reading this and thinking, “C’mon, he’s the King of the 7 Seas. He’s not this easy to take down! and he wouldn’t be feeling sorry for himself!”

    Whenever I see “evil twins” pop up, I’m reminded of the SF episode “Universe of Evil”, where Superman is transported to the evil dimension, and has to fight the evil version of the Super Friends.

    Oh, and here’s some info regarding two issues covered in past podcasts. There is a new series out now called “Robins” (featuring past and present Robins) and they are introducing Honeysuckle, Kitten, and Chick as some of the bad guys. They haven’t been seen since they debuted in Super Friends issues 1 & 2.

    See ya next time!

    Chuck

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  5. Maybe the Super Friends in the subscription ad were testing the Wondertwins to be sure they weren’t actually Zond and Zhanra in disguise again (and were ready to fight if they were).

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  6. of course in my REAL hometown of San Francisco you could find anything. But when I was at my great Grandmother’s house in Salinas the one Marvel you could find was Hulk and last month’s GI joe the Dcs were firestorm, and more jla than anything else

  7. How would you do the Royal Flush gang as action figures in 1986? I don’t really know but I wish someone did. They were in the greatest comic of all time! Joker Clown Prince of crime 5!! Yeah im gonna keep talking about that till y’all learn to love it!
    AS for Batman being “Heavy thinker” i guess he has to be as he serves no other purpose.

    1. In 1986 the Royal Flush Gang would have been carded individually with the package urging you to “Collect the whole gang!” At best you could hope for a box set as a Sears or JC Penny catalog exclusive. I wouldn’t put it past Kenner to sell 10, Jack, Queen & King on cards and make Ace a mail in offer! Not everything was better when we were kids

        1. I think another member would be better for the mail in offer. If you bought Ace, King, Queen, and 10. Then you would get the last member delivered straight to your door. Imagine the delight of all the children as they opened their Jack in the box.

          No. Please don’t get up. I know my way out.

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  8. Rob, Denny simply hated Aquaman and probably kept his name obscured as he had to finally write stories about him

    Remember this way back when https://jlasatellite.blogspot.com/2008/02/justice-league-of-america-86-dec-1970.html?m=1 :

    “ Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Flash, Atom, Hawkman

    Notable Moments: Of course, it’s great to have Aquaman back. In Michael Eury’s super-fun JLA Companion book(Volume One), he asks Friedrich why Aquaman was back, after being out entirely during O’Neil’s run. No big mystery, Friedrich just figured, hey, he’s a member, why not use him? This AquaFan thanks you, Mike!”

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  9. Another great episode.

    I can recall seeing this cover in the past and wondering what the story behind it was. Now I know!

    I know of at least 3 people (if not more) who looked so much like Supergirl in the silver age that it fooled the people closest to her so knowing there is an evil Zan and Jayna out there isn’t too mind numbing.

    Perhaps the thing that I was tickled at the most was the panel of Superman patching up the wall! Hilarious. As for chucking the pyramid back to Exor, isn’t there a chance it will just burn up in the atmosphere? Or land in a crowded city? Was Superman’s super-intelligence so wild it could calculate all that stuff?

  10. Finished listening to the episode this morning and just now looked through the gallery as my students are working on a group assignment.

    Yes, I am THAT teacher. But, I hope you appreciate, Rob, that I am willing to neglect the education of my students to write a comment on one of your podcast episodes. Haha! Of course, I could find a way to incorporate “For All Mankind” into a lesson of some sort. Don’t think I can’t do…because I can and will!

    Anyway, Jeremiah is right about the action poses of the Super Friends in the subscription ad. With the exception of the smiles on their faces, they look as though they are barreling down on Zan and Jayna, looking to knock their blocks off.

    Overall, another great episode. Thanks!

  11. Thanks for another fun episode. I agree that, while it was nice for Aquaman to get the spotlight this issue, it would have been nice if they wouldn’t have beaten him down so hard to do so.

    Also, I have to add that print subscriptions are still a thing. While my daughter and I get most of our comics digitally, we do each get one book as a print subscription. This is, in part, because we don’t really have an LCS, but also because my daughter likes to get things in the mail.

    I look forward to the next episode.

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  12. Hey, as mopey as Aquaman was, it could be worse. Denny could have had him jump into a Disintigration Pit!

    I remember that house ad. If you took the Wonder Twins out, put the Super Friends logo in the middle, that would make for a great poster/T-shirt.

    Chris

  13. Yes, yes, I’m as impressed as everyone else at the Murder Twins’ having very nearly bumped off the most powerful forces of good ever assembled. This puts them in Legion of Doom level villainy and that’s quite a feat, especially considering they don’t have powers. But can we talk about the amazing work they did carving the bas-relief stone self-portraits on the pyramid exterior?! Now that’s talent. Just wanted to let that artistic achievement have a moment of recognition.

  14. Until I listened to this episode, I would have sworn I had never read this issue before. When you mentioned the plot point of duplicate Exorians being born every few thousand years, that clicked in my memory. I pulled up the issue on the DC Infinite app and discovered some of the images did ring a bell. The one that seemed the most familiar was from page 16, Aquaman ordering the eels to overload the circuits.

    It has been 42 years since this issue came out and I’m sure at least 40 of them have gone by since I read this issue. Funny how memory works.

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  15. Great to hear Jeremiah on the show, I’m a big fan of his work!

    I can tell you as rural mail carrier, that select Marvel and DC titles ARE still available via subscription, albeit I believe they are distributed via Midtown Comics. One of my customers has several DC Comics subscriptions, and while I don’t think I’d be sending them to be slabbed via CGC anytime soon, they do arrive in much better condition than you would expect. While the plastic bag and cardboard backer they are mailed in isn’t comic shop quality, they certainly arrive in better condition than my Detective and X-Men subscriptions did in the early ‘90s.

    I have a lot of fondness for these books and have enjoyed sharing them with my sons, thanks for another great episode!

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