For All Mankind #40

Rob and Super Friend Russell Burbage review "Menace of the Mixed-Up Senses" by E. Nelson Bridwell, Ramona Fradon, and Kim DeMulder and "Blarney For Sale" by Bridwell, Romeo Tanghal, and DeMulder from SUPER FRIENDS #40! Plus Listener Feedback!

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15 responses to “For All Mankind #40

  1. Another fun episode. I really enjoy hearing from letter writers from years past. Recently the Batman Family Reunion podcast also had a letter writer appear. Hopefully there will be more!

    I’ll have to dig out my copy of the New Adventures of Superboy where I had my only letter printed (though my name was misspelled) and see if there are any podcasts covering it.

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  2. Welcome back Russell – glad to hear from you again.

    I have TWO MORE reasons why your In Stock Trades recommendation (the Legion Of Super-Heroes Treasury hardcover edition) is perfectly valid.

    In the print copy of Super Friends #40 there is a special centerspread ad page printed on the same paper stock as the cover. The center image is a 2 page ad for the Atari 2600, but on the backside of THAT are 2 ads and a PSA.
    The PSA is a shot of what I believe is a Shaffenberger Superman holding a letter for vaccinations against polio, measles, and rubella.
    The first ad is a full page ad for ‘Dial H For Hero’ letting us know that the free preview insert will be in issue 272 of LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES with their Adventure Comics debut occurring the month after that.
    AND the ad sharing the page with the PSA is for the ‘Secrets Of The LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES’ 3 issue mini-series!

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  3. I Don’t know that San Franciso of the late 80s early 90s had whole CLUB devoted to under age shows but there were surely underage nights. Usually wendsday (i guess so they would not loose much money anyway) I was always ethier buying just a single ticket, on the band’s guest list or sometimes just let in cuz nobody wanted to watch a kid in a wheelchair fumble with his wallet. People can be very kind given a chance. I have no idea how the clubs made money still less how the bands made money
    2 i remember liking the firestorm stories’s art better then the flash stories too this was no mean feat as flash 302 had the “Flash kissing Golden gilder cover but my first “art makes comics difrent story was reading reprints of the first Ras al gual story and Spider-man number 2 in the same day.

    1. For a while there, I was following the Flash monthly exclusively because of the Firestorm and then later Dr. Fate back-ups.

  4. Great discussion as always. I enjoy this podcast every month. Russell’s letter to the editor was awesome. I’m pretty sure I had this issue back in the day. The cover is very familiar to me, as are most of the covers as I bought this comic book pretty regularly. I always appreciate the gallery images you post.

    The panel of Superman flying into the side of the ship gave me Superman III vibes of when evil Superman flies into the side of the oil tanker. Speaking of which, I wonder if maybe a Gus Gorman backup feature would have been better than the Jack O’Lantern backup in this issue! (Although Superman III came out in 1983, so I guess Gus Gorman did even exist at this time.)

  5. Oh, man, Russell is like geek royalty – not just because of the letter (a very critical one, no less!) published in this issue of Super Friends, but also all of the other letters he had published. That’s pretty amazing. Like Rob, I wrote a few letters and none of them ever got published.
    Otherwise, yeah, it’s a bit sad that we’re nearing the end of the series and hence the podcast, and also that Fradon’s tenure on it is almost over. And speaking of the art,I have to say that – based on the pages posted in the image gallery – Kim De Mulder was a really good inker for Fradon, certainly much better than Colletta. (I’m thinking that in an ideal world, he would have been brought on earlier and Fradon would have stuck around…)

    And since it came up in the show and also in the comments here, there was an under-21 dance club in the nearest big (well, biggish) city, Salem, OR, when I was a teen. I think the lower age cut-off was 16. I went there a few times with a group of friends when I was in high school. One thing that I specifically recall that didn’t faze me back then but that I later realized was pretty skeevy was that there were a lot of guys in their late 20s/early 30s among the guests…

  6. Another great episode.
    The guest host was great .
    (Saturday morning fever )(new episodes )
    This villain was interesting not one I’ve heard of .
    Also my brother and I collect comics . My bro focus on Harvey comic especially your old pal Richie rich . Hey Radom. Thought have covered the richi rich show on Saturday morning fever?

  7. Hello Rob, Russell, and all the other Super Fans!

    Thank you for another great episode, and now, on to the issue.

    Like Rob, I liked the cover, and it will be the last one to feature the entire cast, unless you count a future issue that has “floating Wonder Twin heads”.

    “Best Friend” goes to Batman (in my opinion), as he was the one who came up with the plan to stop The Monocle.

    As for The Monocle, you can tell this story was in the 70s, as the madman, instead of going on a spree of violence, decides to mess with people’s senses. At least he ended up in a hospital, where he can get help. LOL

    Three observations about the Wonder Twins. Once again, we see them in training with a senior hero, which I enjoy. Second, in this issue we see a trope that got used in cartoon frequently, where Zan & Jayna are separated, and unable to activate their powers. Last, The Monocle created the cages to trap them, because (as Batman stated) he thought he couldn’t manipulate their Exxorian senses, I’m assuming because they are aliens. Wouldn’t that then also be the same for Superman? If Superman’s senses were affected, one could assume that the same result would happen for the Wonder Twins.

    Oh, and you had mentioned that you want the podcasts to stop at a nice, even number of 50. I wish that DC had done that with this comic series. Issue #48 could’ve been the conclusion of the Overlord / Futurio storyline, resulting in the arrest of the Overlord. Issues #49 & #50 would’ve been two oversized books, guest starring the JLA and Global Guardians, the end result would be Zan & Jayna graduating to hero status, like Wendy & Marvin did.

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    1. I think it’s pointy ears that disrupt the whole sense-distorting process, Cellar Dweller. The Monocle tested it on Vulcans, the Sub-Mariner, and Santa’s elves and got nothing.

      It was great to hear Russell, and especially to hear his letter and his thoughts on it decades later! I enjoyed this episode, but have no further comments, your honor. Looking forward to more Overlord! And more Seraph!

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  8. Great to hear “Whatever Happened to Russell Burbage, Teenaged Art Critic”! Also nice to hear Ramona was a good sport about it years later, even if she did throw shade at ENB.

    I had this issue, but not the next, so I had to sneak a peek on the DC Universe Inifinte app, and I can confirm we have Ramona for one more issue and episode!

    When I first read that JLA/JSA/SSOSV crossover, I recalled this issue when coming across the Monocle. I didn’t really worry about their different visuals, because I surmised the SF Monocle was from Earth-One. See, Marv? I was like 6 and totally got the multiple Earths. I assumed Earth-One Monocle had more appearances than this, but apparently not!

    It’s weird how some innocuous comic images live rent-free in your brain. The shot of Robin on the hood of that car remains with me to this day!

    I’m with you on Jack O’Lantern. I always thought his look was cool, but I wish he was more “Halloween-y” in his design and color scheme. These stories…no thanks.

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  9. Another fun episode! Always good to hear Russell! And nice Projectra connective tissue to start things out.

    Just a couple of comments.

    The first image of The Monocle looks a wee bit like Peter Cushing to me. I wonder if Ramona used him as a model.

    This is the second Jack O Lantern story where we are reminded of his phenomenal cosmic power only to have him do basically nothing. C’mon!

    Lastly, under 21 clubs did exist in Rhode Island but I never went to them. Why would I pay $20 to be rejected when I was doing quite well being rejected for free?

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  10. About the Monocle’s appearance in Flash Comics #64, he did appear pretty much as George Pérez drew him in JLA #195-197, except he would remove his monocle from his eye and hold it like a magnifying glass to fire his ray beams, instead of firing beams while the monocle is in place on his face.

    However, the first “symbolic” panel of the story did show him firing a beam from his Monocle while wearing it. This maybe inspired Mr. Pérez to draw the Monocle using his weapon this way.

    And the Flash Comics story is very Super Friends in terms of tone. Jonathan Cheval invents a monocle that converts cosmic rays into a ray beam that can destroy lead, or a person, or a building. Then he thinks to himself: “Sometimes it frightens me to possess such gigantic powers. It’s a fortunate thing I am by nature an honest citizen — otherwise I might be tempted.”

    Unfortunately, three crooked businessmen decide to swindle Cheval out of his optical shop property, which was also his home — so Cheval becomes tempted to use his monocle for revenge…

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  11. Great show, Rob and Russel. Crazy issue. Right off the bat, my favorite moment is Superman doing the Dirty Dancing “Time of My Life” lift with the whale. Supes and Aquaman sure were catty mocking the sea captain’s monocle. “Ha, ha! Nice look, Monopoly guy! OMG, there’s at least three passengers wearing white pants after Labor Day! Must be a Carnival Cruise, am I right? C’mon, Superman, let’s get brunch. I’m famished!”

    Monocle is probably evil because he’s a full-fledged nepo-baby fail son. All he’s missing is the Jr. at the end of his name. I mean, the guy tricks daddy into seeing his dead wife’s ghost, causing reverse hand-to-the-throat cardiac arrest. Then he pulls out a full purple suit to the funeral! That outfit says, “Burying my rotten dad is not even my whole day.” Solid villain statement.

    Very convenient that there’s a chalkboard embedded into the computer console at the Hall of Justice. Maybe that’s where the security system was supposed to go. When all the heroes talked about a guy with a monocle being on the scene, I wish Superman had drawn Mr. Peanut just to mess with them.

    The final plan by Batman worked out well. Although if he had dragged it out longer and allowed Wonder Woman to be sent to a women’s prison, this issue could’ve turned into a Russ Meyer movie. But, I guess Sonny and Cher turning into Trump’s hair and a big ocean wave, followed by Batman and Robin beating Monocle unconscious was a good plan, too.

  12. Awesome show as usual Rob. As always, it’s a blast to re read Super Friends and then listen to this show. Russell was a great guest – glad to hear him on the network again! Hey Russell – ever have a letter printed in Batman Family or Detective?
    No under 21 clubs near me growing up, although I have heard of them. But the highlight of the episode was the story of Russell meeting Ramona. Cracked me up!

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