It's the third thrilling episode of WHO'S WHO REVIEW! Shag and Rob take a fresh look at classic entries from Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe, featuring Batwoman, The Cheetah, Krypto, Luthor, Ragman, Guy Gardner, and more! Plus we cover YOUR feedback!
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Like you guys, I don’t read much of the new stuff except for the New Golden Age books. But I do keep up with some of the spoiler and review sites. The Signal character you mentioned at the beginning of the show is perhaps better known as the Batman character, Duke Thomas.
I am listening to this episode, and was logging into to leave some math in the comments, when I literally got to the your comment about the math being read during the pod. So much more content to come!
It’s not from the Who’s Who pages, but that DC Power issue does give the “real” Bloodwynd a name for the first time (Quintus Arce).
– The only Kathy Kane story I’ve read is the one she died in, since Bronze Tiger was in it, but I do really like her modernisation as Kate Kane. I find it easy to think of all pre-New Look Batman as Golden Age even though that doesn’t line up with the accepted dates.
– This episode was heavy on animal-related entries until Luthor-2 broke the streak. It makes sense that his hair and and name were altered/emphasised to play up the differences between earths, like the Daily Star and Harvey Kent.
– Ragman being Jewish is so built into the version of the character I know, I had no idea it wasn’t part of the original concept. I suppose the name Rory Regan does sound pretty Irish, though.
– I read an interesting article on Thriller that really painted it in the “glorious mess” light. Apparently it was very much the idea of Robert Loren Fleming, who only wrote seven of its twelve issues.
– I can’t disagree with the concern of overcrowding the new Superman movie, but I’m really looking forward to Anthony Carrigan as Metamorpho. He’s wonderfully funny in the show Barry, and he’s made some interesting comments in interviews about relating to the character because of his alopecia. In the same vein as what Shag said, I’ve seen speculation that all the other heroes will be there to highlight how even a world (or theater-going audience) with so many other superheroes still needs Superman, specifically, which sounds a little too Doomsday Clock-y for me.
Weirdly, Bloodwynde’s name was given in his first appearance, Lazarus Planet: We Once Were Gods, before he took on the Bloodwynde name and appearance in the Doomsday Special. And then it was Raphael Arce, so why the change to Quintus?
It could be worse, ‘Crispus’! And I thought he’d been de-Spectred ages ago.
They’re going for a legacy angle on Bloodwynd, so Quintus is the one from Jurgens League and Raphael is the new guy, his nephew.
I could be misremembering, but I think Cris’ story was framed as “x years ago…” or something like that.
Aha, thanks, I hadn’t got behind reading Bloodwynde’s first line of dialogue in the DC Power book. I’m sick of today’s writers apparently equating swearing with edginess.
It’s been like this ever since the major publishers started recruiting writers from America’s middle schools.
Fun and informative show, Uncle Rob and Uncle Shag, as always.
Interesting that the randomizer called up the Batwoman entry, given how The Batman Family Reunion just covered the Detective Comics issue in which she was killed… but NOT by Bronze Tiger as the Who’s Who entry states… at least not directly. Bronze Tiger took Batman out of action so the caped crusader could not stop two other members of the League of Assassins (see League of Assassins) from… assassinating her. It caused quite a controversy among the podcast community because the character was essentially “fridged” in that story, plus the fact that there was no emotional reaction to her death by any in the Batman Family at all except for Batman, and that really wasn’t until the Alan Brennert story Uncle Rob mentioned.
That Cheetah II entry is indeed great. While Deborah Domaine had been the Cheetah “for only 6 years,” she had only been in a few stories: her origin in Wonder Woman #274-275, the Secret Society three-parter in JLA #195-197, one more Wonder Woman story (#323, which featured three other WW villains), and the “all-villains” issue in Crisis #9. And it was only in the first story where the Cheetah played the primary role in the story. Such a waste.
The Fastback entry is awesome. The Zoo Crew series is a fun read, despite the awful puns and pop-culture references that were way before my time. At least I got all of the jokes in the older “McSnurtle the Turtle” stories…
The Gorilla City entry was one of the few times where Who’s Who would actually clarify past stories in DC Comics history that were no longer considered canon before the Crisis was over. In this case, the retcon story done in the DC Super-Stars #14 “Secret Origins of Super-Villains” issue where Green Lantern fought Gorilla Grodd before the Flash did. In the story, Solivar wiped Green Lantern’s memory of the event to keep the existence of Gorilla City a secret, but this entry clearly points out that the timing of the story (which takes place after the first story in Green Lantern #1, which was published over a year after The Flash #106) doesn’t line up.
The DC Super-Stars issue also retconned the origins of Dr. Light I and Two-Face. Before he first fought the JLA, Dr. Light accidentally created a space warp and used it to steal technology from Thanagar, and Katar Hol followed him to Earth to take it back, so his first battle as a costumed villain was against Hawkman — years before the first Earth One Hawkman story in The Brave and the Bold ( which causes some continuity problems). The Two-Face story revealed that the mobster who scarred District Attorney Harvey Dent meant to throw the acid at someone else (the arresting officer) and he missed! The Who’s Who entry for Dr. Light stated that it was a different, unnamed Thanagarian police officer who traveled to Earth, while the Two-Face entry accepted the DC Super-Stars story as canon.
The story where Gorilla City erased (most of) human knowledge of its existence happened in The Flash #294-295. Grodd took advantage of the situation by sabotaging the “mytronic beacon” so it would also make every human and advanced gorilla forget about Grodd as well, thinking that would give him an advantage in his next fight with Solovar and the Flash (spoiler: it didn’t).
Colleen Doran is an amazing artist. I discovered her work in her adaptations of Neil Gaiman short stories (the latest, “Chivalry,” is fantastic), and my Mom has been reading “A Distant Soil” when she was a teenager. And she did amazing work with this Krypto piece.
Uncle Shag is correct that the Luthor entry was not the first to use a quotation of story dialogue (note that the Gorilla City entry has one). I believe Black Manta (in issue 3) was the first entry to use a quote, but I could be wrong. To only way to be sure is to read the first two issues of Who’s Who (and who has the time…?)
In addition to “bald Luthor,” the Golden Age Superman also worked at “The Daily Planet” for years. My Dad told me that they changed the name of Clark Kent’s place of employment in the Superman newspaper strip, because there were a lot of newspapers in the country called “The Daily Star” and the others were likely not willing to run a comic strip that names one of the competitors. So “Earth-Two Superman has always worked at the Daily Star” was another one of those “retroactive retcons” Uncle Rob mentioned.
The Ragman entry is very nice. Maybe those “rope things” are supposed to be tassels? Batman Family Reunion really picked apart the bonkers origin story when Ragman appeared in Batman Family. And yes, the first time I encountered the character was on “Arrow”. That character wore the mystic rags of Devarim, which gave him enhanced strength. The rags could reach out and grab things or whip-attack adversaries in battle, like Venom. I am intrigued by the post-Crisis “suit of souls” concept and would need to track down that series.
Red Tornado I is just plain fun. Did Huey Hunkel show up in the JSA series after Ma Hunkel came out of witness protection?
The Sportsmaster was very bad@ss in the Young Justice cartoon series. The first comic I read featuring him was another DC Super-Stars issue (#10) where he manipulates Earth-One super-heroes and super-villains to play a game of baseball to try to dissuade the Huntress from giving up villainy and become a costumed hero (spoiler: it didn’t work). Of course, Huntress I’s Who’s Who entry does not acknowledge that bonkers story…
Speaking of bonkers, that retroactive editing of the Sunburst entry… wow. I’m surprised they didn’t rewrite the character’s first appearance as THE TOTALLY TRUE BUT UNPUBLISHED ADVENTURES OF RED SUN #45. What’s interesting to me is that later Who’s Who entries featuring Terra-Man and Vartox would still retain their pre-Crisis histories. This is likely due to the chronal aftereffects of these characters appearing in the Done-in-One Wonders Podcast Wonder Show, and absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the post-Crisis versions of the characters hadn’t been figured out yet…
Thriller does look interesting. I would need to track this series down as well.
The Super Friends Toyman was named Jack Nimball (his middle name must start with a B… it has to!), and he showed up on Challenge of the Superfriends a few years after his death in the comics. My dad doesn’t have the Hiro Okamura Toyman stories so those are more comics I’ll need to track down.
The Guy Gardner entry also has a post-Crisis retcon, because the “other dimension” Guy was flung into by the battery explosion was actually the Pre-Crisis Phantom Zone, and it was the mental manipulation by General Zod that initially triggered Guy’s “insane rage.” I happen to know this because of… a certain side project I am working on…
I can’t wait to see “Whoooooooo’s next”…
After listening to this episode I realized that from the past 10 to 15 years we have gotten every member of The Legion Of Doom in live action except for Giganta & don’t y’all think it’s weird wasn’t put in the Justice League comic when the cartoon came out? Also do y’all have any knowledge of how Hanna-Barbera came up with the lineup for the team?
Do Giganta’s appearances in the 1978 “Legends of the Superheroes” specials (played by Aleshia Brevard) count?
Regarding the Legion of Doom, Alex Toth created a presentation painting of “The League of Evil” for what was originally called “Battle of the Superfriends” (later changed to “Challenge” since “Battle” was deemed too strong a title by ABC). According to page 235 of “Toth by Design”, the original line up was suggested by fellow HB artist and animator Darrel McNeil, and was composed of then-leader (and Captain Marvel arch-foe) Dr. Sivana, Sinestro, Captain Cold, The Joker, Beautia Sivana, The Penguin, Abra-Kadabra, Poison Ivy, Heatwave, King Kull, Grodd, Mr. Atom and the Cheetah… plus Mr. Freeze (not pictured).
McNeil wrote: “That year (’78) H-B had picked up the rights to Captain Marvel for their live-action Legends of the Superheroes pilots and intended to make him a member of the Superfriends as well.”
“Rival studio Filmation, however, held the animation rights to the Big Red Cheese and, even though both studios shared the animation rights to Batman and Robin, also held the rights to most of the Caped Crusader’s ‘Rogues Gallery.’ So, without access to those characters, Dr. Sivana, Beautia Sivana, Penguin, Joker, Poison Ivy, King Kull, Mr. Atom, the Catwoman and proposed Bat-villain Mr. Freeze were dropped from the Legion line-up, replaced with ‘lesser’ (but better for story purposes, it turned out) Batfiends Riddler and Scarecrow, plus other arch-enemies of the individual comic-based Superfriends.”
This is awesome! How cool would a Captain Marvel vs. the Monster Society of Evil cartoon have been back then! Thanks, Isamu!
The thanks really go to my Dad, who spent a bomb ordering a copy of the Toth book in 1996 while living overseas because he couldn’t wait until his next visit to the States to buy it.
And as it happens, he would have had to spend a much bigger bomb if he had waited…
Great show again!
–Captain Carrot and the Amazing Zoo Crew is one of my favorite series of all time. It is pretty astounding that, in this day and age of a myriad media representations of superheroes, Fastback and the other Zoo Crew-ers have so seldom appeared. However, Merton the Turtle in the DC League of Super-Pets movie paid homage to Fastback’s uncle Merton McSnurtle aka the Terrific Whatzit from the Golden Age. And I have never gotten a chance to read the Oz-Wonderland War series and have always wanted to. The one criticism I would have of the Zoo Crew is the total lack of a monkey or ape character on the team.
–I would have paid a ridiculous amount of money for that Gorilla City series that was in the works. Probably, still would …
–Count me with the folks who didn’t realize Ragman was originally Irish-American and that the Suit of Souls was not part of the original character’s back story. Thanks for the education.
–As far as Sportsmaster matching up with Alan Scott, well, baseball bats and hockey sticks are made of wood, right?
–I had absolutely no access whatsoever to any comic shops in the early-mid 80s so I have spent 40 years wanting to read Thriller. One of these days …
Hey just wondering I know he-man was part of Dc for a while is there a Dc who’s who on he-man or something similar
Not by DC. The 2002-2004 revival of He-Man did produce a comic from the publisher CrossGen that was titled “Masters of the Universe Encyclopedia Season One”, and it was a Who’s Who type reference book. It didn’t refer to the ’80s version of He-Man, but rather to the 2002 version. And only one of five issues actually came out — I think it was Mattel who nixed the project before issue two could see the light of day. So, if you track that one issue down, you could read Who’s Who-esque entries on characters like Beast Man, Clawful, and such characters and vehicles that happen to have alphabetically advantageous names.
Thanks for the info
As a kid I picked up every issue I could find of Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew starting with issue 8. The clean artwork, the unending puns, the pop culture references (edited for Earth-C) and the fun characters were everything I needed at the time.
The “Crisis on Earth C Minus” two part series with “Just’a Lotta Animals” with the cover homage to one of the best “floating head” covers “Crisis on Earth Prime” was one of my favorites.
And then there was the time when Gorilla Grodd came over from Earth 1 and everyone was shocked because he was naked. Which he totally is. Why did no one else notice? Was Barry Allen just being polite? (At least Monsieur Mallah wears a beret.)
And is the first place I remember reading the name E. Nelson Birdwell … I mean … Bridwell.
Sure, reading them all in one sitting can be a bit exhausting with all the references to “Gnu York” and “New Yak” and “Califurnia”.
And usually the inker took away from the clean curves of Scott Shaw’s incredible pencils, which I didn’t know at the time until I recently came across some original artwork online.
But as a kid I loved it all.
A personal favorite from “Crisis on Earth C-Minus”: When the Crew meet the Just’a Lotta Animals, one of them says to Batmouse, “So are you a bat or a mouse?” To which Batmouse replies, “Please! I don’t discuss my secret identity!”
I’ve always wondered if “New Yak” was the state and “Gnu York” was the city, or if it was the other way around…
Of course the Zoo Crew would poke fun at the Earth-One (read: our) names for cities and states mentioned by Changeling in issue 20:
“I suppose in Washington they have a ton o’ washing to do!”
“Kin yuh tell me whut a ‘Delfia’ is, an’ how yuh go about fillin’ one?”
When you discussed how well the two Cheetah images worked together, with their poses almost mirroring each other, I realized the likely reason for this: Trina Robbins and Steve Leialoha are married, and they would easily have been able to coordinate their pages to work together as a matched pair. I already knew that Robbins and Leialoha are a married couple, but it didn’t occur to me until this podcast that it was probably wasn’t a coincidence that the two of them drew the two Cheetahs.
I came here just to pint that out, and read through all the feedback just not to repeat it.
In other notes, the “quotes” format is very reminiscent of the Fleisher Original Encyclopedias for Supes, Bats and WW.
First off, I’ve totally got Shagg’s back when he says JSA was the best superhero comic of the 2000s. I’m willing to let Shagg fight anyone who disagrees!
This episode starts with a bang featuring a gorgeous rendition of Batwoman and follows with an even bigger kapow with Cheetah!
The Guy Gardner pose is very reminiscent of the pose Moon Knight held in the corner box of his first solo series. They both definitely look like they’re about to give you the finger.
A few random(izer) thoughts: Boop-beep-beep-boo-boop
• B&B #182 is indeed my favorite comic of all time. If I was into tattoos, I’d have the cover tattooed on my back or something. Batwoman DID get a red bat on her chest when revived in Batman Family (check out Batman Family Reunion folks!) and Freedom Fighters in the 70s. Jim Aparo must have referenced these issues when he drew B&B #182, because the Earth-Two Batwoman has the red bat there, too.
• Fastback’s uncle McSnurtle the Turtle, aka The Teriffic Whatzit, who was a funny animal parody of the Jay Garrick Flash who appeared in Funny Stuff #1-17 in the 1940s. His costume looked just like Jay’s, except he had a circle behind his lightning bolt, predating the Barry Allen uniform!
• Don’t forget Ma Hunkle’s granddaugther Cyclone appeared in Black Adam!
• Batman DID fight an Earth-One equivalent of Sportsmaster, named the Sporstman, in Batman #338 (Aug. 1981). He doesn’t get an entry here, obviously!
• I always thought it was kind of nuts that the Jack NImble Toyman (who appeared in Challenge of the Super Friends) never got an entry. But neither did Giganta!
• My tolerance of Guy Gardner has also been pretty low. See also Lobo.
Oh, man, I have so much to say about the selection of entries in this episode, so here they are in order:
1) I’m surprised that Rob found Leialoha doing super-hero work so unusual; he did quite a bit of work on a bunch of Marvel titles – mostly as an inker, to be sure – from the mid-1970s onward, and among other things, he inked the first dozen or so issues of Howard the Duck. Personally, I absolutely adore his finishes on Sal Buscema’s pencils in Marvel Team-up #82-85.
2) On the explosion in Krypto’s popularity across a number of different media, I have say that I really loved the recent DC League of Super-Pets animated movie, which focuses on Krypto and, to a slightly lesser extent, Ace the Bat-Hound. In particular, it had a sequence at the beginning in which Krypto and Superman are shown having adventures and saving the world together – I would absolutely love an all ages comic or cartoon series based on that premise alone.
3) Ragman is one of my favorite characters, but specifically the street-level, mostly non-supernatural Ragman from the original 1970s series. I’ve read about the way they retooled him later and just dislike the concept so much that I have no interest in reading it.
4) Ma Hunkel is the only Red Tornado I like. I was happy to learn that she was brought back in the post-2000 JSA series, just as I’m always delighted when she comes up in any conversation.
5) I have no particular fondness for Sportsmaster in the comics, but he and Trigress were really fun characters in the Stargirl TV show. I liked how they reformed after the first season and kind-of/sort-of decided to be good guys and upstanding members of the community. It made for some really hilarious interactions with Courtney/Stargirl, her mom and Pat/Stripsey.
6) The art on the Guy Gardner entry by Joe Staton is awesome. That is all.
Great Show.
Wait a minute isn’t Toyman a TV star. Schott was the father of a character on Supergirl.
Winn Schott was contact by his escaped father in S1 E10 · Childish Things on Jan 18, 2016
Winn’s father, a supervillain named Toyman, escapes from prison and contacts his son; Cat offers Lucy a position at CatCo; Alex wants Hank to uncover Maxwell Lord’s plans.
Its been a while since I watched the episode, but it puts a strain on Winn when it comes to light his father is a criminal. And as you can see the show also includes Maxwell Lord. Bwah-ha-ha
Toodles
Batwoman: As I was told after we covered her on Who’s Hot and Who’s Not? (on the oHOTmu OR NOT? feed), she doesn’t have a bat symbol because the way she was drawn in the 50s, the play of black and yellow on her chest didn’t leave room for it. She sort of had a black bustier, but the way it was interpreted by modern artist, it just became shadow and suddenly, she has a blank yellow shirt.
My first Leialoha was the X-Men Annual where the canon is reimagined as space-fantasy. Been a fan since.
Sunburst was early in my American comics collecting: I was reading New Adventures of Superboy for Dial H for Hero, and Starburst struck a chord with me. This was a way to save him from being erased by the Crisis, which I appreciated, and it also brought him forward to the current day. He then appeared in Morrison’s Doom Patrol, but has hardly had any play. Sad.
Speaking of that Doom Patrol, Thriller was very much DP if it were a cyber-pulp comic. Very weird concepts, lots of potential, but it threw too many balls into the air and failed to juggle them properly. I read it a few years ago.
What a treat to have a new episode show up, Rob and Shag. It seems I never converted my notes into comments last time, but everyone did fine without me!
I call shenanigans on there being a Batwoman on Earth 2 before Alan Brennert’s The Brave and the Bold #182. Kathy Kane was not a Golden Age character, as Shagg noted, so was always from Earth One.
Oh yeah, all those post-Crisis Kryptos – at one point he was a giant lizard dog (still, at least he never ate Wonder Marv). I notice that in comics. and when you lads chat, Krypto and Snoopy always live in a ‘doghouse’. Do American folk not use the word ‘kennel’?
Didn’t Golden Age Luthor become bald because an artist mistook a hairless henchman from a previous story for Luthor when drawing a later script – or is that a myth? Hang on, Brian Cronin has surely covered this at CBR:
https://www.cbr.com/superman-lex-luthor-ultra-humanite/
They should have kept Ragman Irish and he could’ve been the cousin of Jack O’Lantern, and we could have had cool team-ups. I much prefer the original Ragman, the modern one looks like a mucky Spectre, and I liked the original powers set more than the spooky-ooky stuff. The modern chap was good in Shadowpact, though. The original logo treatment was brilliant, it was like the DC production department had photographed rags and cut out the letters. Modern series tend not to use the patches, which is a waste. Hang on, maybe legendary letterer Todd Klein has done a logo study. Aha!
https://kleinletters.com/Blog/logo-study-ragman/
I’m not so warm on Joe Staton in the Seventies as Shagg, his Legion of Super-Heroes work was awful. Just awful. I like him better in the Eighties when he was drawing Huntress onto that special craft board Rob mentioned
I loved Thriller, I bought every issue and pretended to understand it. It’s such a shame that whatever Robert Loren Fleming’s longterm plan was, it vanished when he and Trevor Von Eeden left. Bill DuBay kept the comic entertaining, though,and yes, the Alex Niño art was typically lovely. I expect that now it’s been discussed here we’ll get a collection. The headshots on the Thriller entry look terribly squeezed. Could it be Von Eeden drew them from top to bottom of the full page, then the writer decided more space was needed for words and they were scrunched upwards?
Regarding the splendid Cheetah entry, for some really great Steve Leialoha artwork see later issues of the first Spiderwoman series when he and Chris Claremont rescued the book from the blandness of the previous creative team. Sometimes he pencilled, inked and coloured, for example #45 – take a look at the Marvel Unlimited app.
The Brian Cronin Luthor story Uncle Martin mentioned also states that Superman #4 was on sale one month after Action Comics #23, which should settle the question of Luthor’s first appearance.
Fantastic episode, of course. Shagg, I believe your congressman is Neil Dunn. (Please vote.)
I’ve always loved Sportsmaster—his romance with Huntress/Tigress was such an inspired idea, and a lasting one: Not only are they featured in Stargirl (I watched like five episodes, and they were the only thing I enjoyed), but they begat the second Tigress (a.k.a. Artemis), who in some continuity had a baby with the second Icicle, creating (perhaps) the world’s first third-generation supervillain. And yes, Sportsmaster would make for a good Batman adversary…and in fact did in the ’90s comic series inspired by Batman: The Animated Series. (For some reason, he showed up as a villain in more than a few issues.
I never read Thriller, but I do remember it being a frequent target of jokes in the first couple of Ambush Bug miniseries (an AB profile written as if he were a Playboy centerfold says he’s idea of a romantic evening involves feeding issues of Thriller into a paper shredder). Of course, this is because Thriller creator (co-creator?) Robert Loren Fleming also wrote Ambush Bug with Keith Giffen.
Someone already mentioned it, but Sunburst (who, like Luthor I, died in the Crisis) briefly showed up in Morrison’s Doom Patrol, at the very beginning of my favorite story arc from that series, the one about the Brotherhood of Dada. He’s beaten when the Quiz escapes from whatever institution she’s kept in—what an insane character that was. (The Quiz, not Sunburst.)
And yes, there should be a wing of Arkham dedicated to the non–Batman foes: Cheetah, Doctor Destiny, Floronic Man, the guy who killed the Human Target’s dad…
Impressive podcast most impressive. Ah here are. Bat Woman looks cool. Ah yep she was in Brave and the bold. But as a villain. And she and Bat Man have a Freaky Friday moment. And she has Felix switch their minds like the turn about intruder from Trek. For obvious reasons I love this episode.
Not a fan of this costume. The dishwasher gloves tight body suit that is yellow. Yellow? Just why red and yellow. And the stance. She’s standing there like she’s going to ask for your order at McDonald’s or something. D. D.’s art work is great. Though as for a perfect art style for drawing women I’d go with Adam Hough’s or Gil Kane. Or Steve Rude. Just my taste.
Next ah Steve Leialoha the man whom inspired Torpedo from G.I. Joe does a great job on drawing Cheetah. I’m not a fan of the costume. But, it’s what she wares. And the pose fits.
Next fast back. He looks cool. Yep Scott Shaw is awesome. I remember when he was on the Gal Kim massage board on CBR. And he had a web site about forgotten hero’s. I think. Any way the Avenger and the Captain Marvel the cap that said split and he became different body parts. Any way he is a great artist.
What Bucky O’ Hair had a toy line, but Captain Carrot didn’t? Oy. His what if Petter was a spider that got bit by a radioactive man was was funny. Ware it was Anamorphic animal version. With an Anamorphic Spider becoming the hero.
Next gorilla city is cool. Yeah it was a silver ago Oy. But cool. Liked Grodd better before he became the brain eater. Just enough with edge lord stuff. Still Solomon and the others were always pretty cool. Looks cool as a place. Though yeah the forget me spell on all people is a bit scary. Shafts right. Next . Kripto is cool. Though my dogs only adventure is to her food bowl. Can’t see Jynn saving the world. But I love my dog.
She’s a great lap dog. But can’t see her as the masked avenger. But Kripto is pretty cool. Liked his cartoon back in the day. Next. Ah Luthor 1. Yeah he’s fine. I think the look we all know and like for Lex came from the Atom Man serial for Supes. I. E. Atom Man vs Super Man the Kirk Alyn . With Lyle Talbot shaving his head. Which is ware the look came from or so I’ve heard.
The look for Lex here is meh. It’s just a prison togs. I can’t see Lex staying in this long. Doesn’t fit his personality in either version. I know it was what died in, but it’s just meh. Not the look I see for him. Just a plain prison jump suit. The man’s got style … normally. Next.
Ah Rag Man I always liked Rory. Picked up his series in the 25 cent bin. Prof. Allen would be proud . The look fits him. Though I liked him better in this version than the cloth golem but. Both were cool though. And of course, Joe’s art work was great. Ah so the corespondents corse was different than the on sight one. Interesting.
Ah Ma Hunkle. She was a fun character. I almost wish she and Forbush Man from Marvel had a crossover. Fighting Nazis today would that be today? Joe Rogan and Ben Shiprro . Kidding. And was cool to see her as Santa in that JSA comic was cool. And interesting that her granddaughter was in the Black Adam movie. Now I want to see Atom Smasher visiting his girl friends grandma in the next movie we sadly won’t get.
Since he and tornadoes granddaughter dated in the first. And seeing Henry Winkler as the golden age Atom was cool. In that movie.
Ah sports master. He was fun on the Star Girl tv show. Not a fan of the color scheme but it’s what villains wore in the silver and bronze era. I don’t know what the puffy jacket has to do with sports, but what ever. Still it works as a look. I remember liking the look of his outfit as a kid. When me and my cousin were kids making up fake superheroes. And this look was a favorite . Next.
Sunburst I don’t remember him the outfit is meh. But for a Super Boy back up character he’s fine. Though yeah what is it with comics and heat powers to Japanese superheroes? The Yellow Jacket shoulder pads are a bit Oy. As well as the goofy goggles . And his great mask that hides his check bones. Yep no one will ever know it’s him. Hiding the oh so important facial features of the check bones. A police sketch artist will be baffled to get a likeness the cops can use.
With his cheekbones covered. What a master of concealment. Don’t worry about the eyes mouth or nose. Or jaw line. The one thing that can help us tell what someone looks like in a police line up is his check bones. The man is just brilliant.
Next. Thriller. Meh. Looks like low rent A- team. Next. Toy man Oy. I like him best from the JLU cartoon. This works and I liked him on Super Girl. He’s son being Kera’s best friend on the show. And he dated Silver Banshee. The son not toy man. And from the Time I watched the show… which wasn’t long. Still, I’m glad he stayed a good guy threw out that show. But that’s all I got never got why he was a Super Man villain, like you say about Sports Master for GL he just doesn’t fit as a main villain.
Maybe Plastic Man or Huntress. But, not Clark. Or Johnathan. Next Guy is Awsome as always. His suit works. Looks cool. Can’t wait for the next podcast.
As plausible as Siskoid’s explanation sounds, we all know the real reason why Batwoman doesn’t have a bat symbol on her costume. Batman has that symbol trademarked, and he charges a pretty penny for its use. In the end, Kathy Kane had to choose between a bat symbol or a small circus, and she went with the more affordable option.
Totally fun episode with a very interesting group of characters. A few thoughts-
Cheetah – whoa! What an entry! As someone whose heart belongs to Josie (of Pussycat fame), this is the type of ‘Bad Girl’ that naive Anj would pine for. The art is crazy good. In terms of the Toth level of minimalism, there is no doubt there is some craziness in her eyes. Perfect!
Krypto – pretty interesting to see just how vast Krypto’s reach is. A super-dog still being around in the serious current comic world is amazing. In an interesting turn, Krypto has sort of become Supergirl’s pet in the last couple of years, joining her in space in the Marc Andreyko Supergirl run and then as a tagalong in Tom King’s odious Supergirl Woman of Tomorrow.
Ragman – I thought those ‘tails’ were supposed to be long tatters of fabric even if they seem smooth and round here. The art is crazy. I am pretty sure I said this when you reviewed the entry the last time but I knew of Ragman from a Brave & the Bold issue (those team up books is how you learned about the corners of the DCU before Whos Who and the internet). In that B&B, Ragman is even more morose and grim than Batman. It is Batman who says ‘life is a grim joke, you either laugh at it or cry unheard’. Batman talking about joking!
Thriller – glorious mess is perfect description! Would you be shocked to know I have #1 signed by Trevor Von Eeden?
Toyman – yes, post-Crisis he becomes a killer of children, taking out Cat Grant’s son. Hard to come back from that but thankfully Geoff Johns did just that saying the ‘kid killer’ was a Toyman-robot gone bad. Thankfully, he is back to more of a goofy guy into toys. And I agree with Rob that the S:TAS take on Toyman was veerrrrrry creepy.
Thanks again! Great show!
Glad you reminded me to comment on the DCAU version of Toyman, Anj. He’s SOOOO creepy, and I love that they never fully exlained just exactly WHAT he was either.
Also, I loved the irony that Superman’s most head-scratching arch-foe this side of The Prankster “killed” the Man of Steel in the excellent JL 2-parter “Hereafter”.
I don’t think anyone would want to borrow my strength level. Maybe my acid-spitting tongue or poison pen?
I swear, creating Kate Kane and then bringing back Kathy Kane? DC is getting as bad as Marvel about redundancy related to an inability to let anything go.
I like Debbie Domaine. I stalled out on my Wonder Woman podcast because I felt the need to try to cover Priscilla Rich in Super Friends next, even though I’d just read all the Kobra/Cheetah II stuff (including his solo series.) And now it’s all gone cold.
Krypto’s another thing that works with Superboy but not Superman, but instead of the adventures of a young Kal-El, we get five other Superboys. And this is why I don’t read DC or Marvel anymore.
Being Irish and Jewish isn’t mutually exclusive. Plenty of Jews have Irish surnames and likely intermarried. Maybe Rory’s mom was a shiksa?
Since the first airing, I skimmed Thriller for Who’s Editing. I don’t recommend doing that.
I heard the three stooges mentioned and the three stooges had several different comic series not as many as Richie rich but I think at least there’s two now and one that is like the shorts and one based on the robotic stooges so based of the cartoon that was part of the skate birds tv series .
For those curious that Mister Terrific logo is from his New 52 series, though they took off the weird face that originally sat on the middle T, which is why it probably looks a little plain. I read the first few issues as he was dating one Karen Starr, though even then I really wasn’t a fan of the series! And in a similar vein, I’m contractually obliged to mention that Pee Gee met the Zoo Crew in Crisis of Earth-C-Minus and it was her that the current Toyman insisted on a date to help Superman and Batman!
My first exposure to Krypto was that weird post-Crisis patch they did to as why Superboy was still on the Legion, where Krypto sadly exposes himself to Gold Kryptonite to help save the day! It was also as far as I remember the first DC comic (if only technically a reprint) so I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for the old mutt! And talking of soft spots I unironically love Ma Hunkel, even before she joined the JSA. And technically she’s DC first female superhero (Diana not appearing until 1942), something that I will continue to celebrate even if I’m completely wrong!
She was indeed a supporting character in Scribbly, I’ve read some of those old All-American Comic and let’s say some of the haven’t aged as well as we’d like…
Great show, Rob and Shag. Always entertaining to hear the FW godfathers chatting it up.
A solid array of Who’s Who entries. The Batwoman art was nice, but c’mon, DC. That costume is really putting her at a disadvantage, toting a purse while wearing high heels. It would be like if I had to fight some local toughs while carrying a pizza.
The Steve Leialoha art on Cheetah is fantastic. That clean style would be awesome for a DC animation project. Same for Scott Shaw. I collected Captain Carrot as a kid while it was on the shelf. It was a fun series full of puns and dad jokes. There has been a resurgence of super animals in DC with the DC Super Pets books. My youngest gets them from the library all the time and they’re a lot of fun. Almost every hero in DC is granted at least one pet in the series, except Firestorm. Add that to your list of grievances with your Firestorm action figure package art, Shag.
The Sportsmaster is playing some sick air guitar. It was always wild watching him nail a hero with an eight ball and then turn around and smack another with a hockey stick. Good stuff. He is an evil villain, though, so I can only assume he’s a Dallas Cowboys and Boston Celtics fan.
The entries aren’t all winners. The 80’s cover band Thriller looks like Trevor Von Eeden drew it in the cab on the way to work. Same goes, unfortunately, for the Joe Staton Guy Gardner entry. Bad use of space. One saving grace is the main image of Guy has his fist turned upside down to insinuate his ring finger is about to fully extend upward. That’s at least on brand.
Finally, of course the title “Sextet” is too sexual in nature. They should have called it “Two Threesomes” and there wouldn’t have been any problems.
Hooray for more Who’s Who! I’m not going to lie, you fellows could just indefinitely retread the same entries again and again as you get older and I would listen every time because of how much I like Who’s Who. Now I’m not saying you HAVE to do that, I’m just saying, IF it happened, I would listen. Now on to the entries…..
Batwoman – Ever since the oHOTmu’s ladies pointed out how the purse doesn’t work (the strap is over her cape in the front, and under her cape in the back), that’s all I can see and can think of now when someone mentions Batwoman.
Cheetah II – So good! That is all.
Fastback – So good! I love love LOVE Scott Shaw’s art and the Zoo Crew. The puns, the all ages stories, all of it! And as others have mentioned above, the Crisis on Earth-C Minus is a particular favourite story.
Red Tornado – I love the Zoo Crew for it’s silliness but I don’t get this Red Tornado. Maybe because I didn’t encounter this RT until I was reading Who’s Who as was more “mature” when this silliness was too “kiddie” for me? This is such a cute entry but I don’t get the itchy long underwear and the pot on the head. I know it’s supposed to be silly and humourous and fun, but I just don’t get it.
Guy Gardner – All I got from this is Shag likes jerks.
Well done again on another fantastic episode, everyone! Keep up the great work!