Siskoid and Bass’ coverage of DC Comics Presents continues with issue #9 (May 1979) by Martin Pasko, Joe Staton and Jack Abel, starring the Superman and Wonder Woman! It’s “Invasion of the Ice People!”.
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Relevant images and further credits at: FW Team-Up Supplemental
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Fun discussion on a bonkers comic, fellas. This was the first issue of DCCP I owned as a kid. I think it was probably from a Whitman 3-pack. Mike’s Amazing World shows several DCCP issues of this era were put in those three-packs with the little “W” guy in the DC Bullet circle. I got the next issue the same way.
Even as a wee lad of 4, I was taken by how Joe Staton drew Wonder Woman here, and over in Adventure Comics. Seminal stuff!
The plot of this one always reminded me of one of those short two hero team-ups from the Super Friends cartoon series. IN fact, I’m pretty sure there’s an episode a LOT like this featuring ice giants!
Wonder Woman of this era COULD glide on air currents, although writers seemed to forget it a lot. I think that’s something Kanigher introduced in the 60s. I don’t think I knew it until it was listed on the back of her Super Powers figure file card.
Superman’s heat vision evolved from “the heat of my x-ray vision” during the late Golden/early Silver Age, so maybe that’s where Pasko gets that it’s invisible? That’s really odd!
Oh, and Murphy Anderson DID draw Solomon Grundy once before, in Showcase #55 (Mar/April 1965), his first Silver Age appearance, fighting Doctor Fate and Hourman, with a cameo by Alan Scott. That’s probably why he drew the Who’s Who entry.
That’s funny you mention that about x-ray vision and heat vision. I recently saw a season two episode of the George Reeves Adventures of Superman series where he uses his x-ray vision to burn some item. At first, I thought it was an early use of heat vision. But consistent with what you said, I learned that it was actually his x-ray vision and that formal heat vision was not introduced in the comic books until later.
so true .. I remember reading some early Superboy comics and he said things like “I’ll melt this with my X-Ray vision” and I was so confused
Even after Supes got definitely-not-x-rays separate heat vision it’s always been invisible at lower power levels, there are tons of plots that rely on Clark welding or burning things without anyone being able to detect it happening. For a long time if you could see the heat beams it meant he was either deliberately tuning it to the visible light spectrum (rather than infrared, I guess) or he was going all-out, depending on the situation (and writer). These days all Kryptonians seem to go to “glowing red eyes” mode at the drop of a hat even without actually scorching anything.
Great episode guys! I did read pre-crisis WW, and while I enjoyed them fine as a little kid, the stories do pale in comparison to the post-crisis and even to the Golden Age WW, whose adventures were craaaaazy! Earth 1 Diana had a lot of weird Kanigher stuff going on for sure, from the jet, to the air currents gliding (which I always thought was stupid – either fly or not!) and worst of all the loss of powers if her bracelets were stuck together by a man.
But boy oh boy did I love Earth 1 Diana on TV!!!
This issue was mediocre at best. But I love the team up books. All of them. Even the bad issues make for great podcasting. Thanks fellas!
The loss of powers was from the Golden Age though, right?
I’m not sure when it started. I think it was a Kanigher thing. It was not a Marston thing. Sean and I talked about it on DC SpecialCast #4 (plug plug) that the original Golden Age had her always breaking bonds. He also talked about it some in his first episode. I think after Marston died (1950?) and Kanigher took over, she became more standard super hero and it probably came then. But not 100% sure.
Ok I got I good Wonder Woman team Wonder Woman teams up with the original version of G.I joe this is else world tale where wonder woman’s mom tells about one her adventures of wonder woman working with the original G.I joe Adventure team . Joe Colton. Gi jane the war nurse , Mike power the atomic man , and bullet man . As they face vandal Savage and the invaders a group of alien cave men .
Great episode, fellas! Calling this a Silver Age style team up was spot on. This is a textbook example of “an action happened because the plot needed it to” story.
Like Siskoid, I liked the spotlight in Diana’s toughness. She’s not the physically strongest hero, but she is the toughest.
(Also, thanks for the shout out to Peace, Bound, and Down: A Wonder Wonan Podxast!)
I’m not at all surprised at how fetching Joe Staton’s version of Wonder Woman is. There’s some weird overlap in the ability to draw goofy silly men that translates into drawing lovely ladies. Look at E-Man and Nova Kane. Or just go straight to his versions of Huntress. Remarkable.
My go-to team-up for Wonder Woman in recent years is Captain America. But, it needs to be set in World War II, where Steve Rogers crashes onto Paradise Island instead of Steve Trevor. It’s almost too perfect to my mind, which might be a red flag.
That’s one of the flag’s colors, at any rate.
🙂
All the talk of Wonder Woman and detection of invisible things, and no mention of the joke from childhood about Superman, Wonder Woman and the Invisible Man was probably a good, well-restrained choice …
I’m surprised when Wonder Woman mentioned the magic lasso made people obey her. That was a thing during the Marston era, but I thought by this point that the lasso only made people bound by it tell the truth. I think DC wanted to get the whole dominance/submission kink out of Wonder Woman’s comics.