Super DC - The Uncollected Text Adventures : Super DC #1 "The Mad Bomber"
As a lifelong Superman fan, nothing pleases me quite as much as finding original Superman stories or other content which has yet to be collected or reprinted for American audiences. Covers recreated for foreign markets, original licensed and unlicensed stories from Italy and Argentina, fanzine art and opinion pieces, slightly pornographic text adventures from Japanese publisher Maverick -- all of it, pure gold.
From the UK in particular there were a few original comics, but also a lasting tradition of short text adventures. Some of the most enjoyable of these prose pieces come from the short-lived Super DC.
Between 1950 and 1980, British publisher Thorpe & Porter was largely in the business of reprinting American comics for the UK market. Outside of a few original titles and adult-oriented reprints of softcore comics, they published material from a largely agnostic collection of publishers, including Dell, Harvey, Avon, western titles from Marvel predecessor Atlas, and DC.
Beginning in 1969 and running for 14 issues (plus a hardcover "Bumper Book" Annual), this catalog included Super DC, a book divided between original feature content and re-formatted stories largely taken from the Superman Family of books.
That intersection of original content and reprints is what makes Super DC interesting to me as a fan and scholar of Superman. Each issue contained at least two original text stories (author uncredited), one of which starred Batman and his kid sidekick Robin, and the other which featured the Man of Steel.
The Batman and Robin text adventures tended to pit the Dynamic Duo against villains who had appeared on the 1966 television show -- Catwoman, Penguin, Joker, Mister Freeze and even Egghead (In this issue's story, "The Crime School," they specifically tackle Ma Parker).
By contrast, while the Superman adventures occasionally employed what you might call his traditional American enemies like Toyman, Luthor and Brainiac, they largely relied on new villains with outsized English sensibilities. The Man of Tomorrow faced a battery of original British baddies from futuristic villains to space phantoms to giants to hypnotists to filthy hobos.
All told, they make up a catalog of crooks and criminals who are completely unique compared to their colonial counterparts. I like to imagine that Superman, champion of the whole darn planet, has a different rogues gallery in different parts of the world, and these reprobates represent the UK contigent.
Sure, he may face Parasite, Metallo or Terra-Man in Metropolis, but that's the US East Coast cadre of super-criminals. Over in Old Blighty, he's facing Ribydal the Roman Soldier From The Future, the brutish Samson, and the titanic Luckman Fisher. Lord knows what's waiting for him everywhere else.
These stories -- while not canonical -- have never been collected or reprinted. I find them charming, even though they're clearly written for a very young audience. A whole new collection of baddies, a Superman who's slightly off-model in the storytelling, what's not to like?
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| The pull-out poster advertised on the cover (art by Mick Anglo?) |
A little more background about Super DC ...
Primarily, Super DC was a reprint book. It mostly concentrated on the Superman universe, with a Batman story thrown in for good measure. But that content is less interesting than the format in which it was presented.
To suit the distinctive proportions of British comics, and make the most use of limited real estate, the original stories were drastically reformatted. A typical American comic book page might contain six to eight panels, but the Super DC incarnation would pack a dozen panels (or more!) onto a single page by altering the existing artwork.
For example, check out how these five pages from "The Real Clark Kent" (Superman #198 July 1967, w/Cary Bates, a/Al Plastino) are economically edited into two, from Super DC #1:
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| Pages 1-5 from Superman #198 |
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| Heavily-edited Pages 3 and 4 from Super DC #1, containing all but one of the above panels |
The editing allowed T&P to cram multiple comic book adventures into a single 40-peage book. Super DC #1 reprinted the following stories in this manner:
The Real Clark Kent Superman #198 (July 1967)
Sergeant Olsen ... Toughest Man in the Marines Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #93 (June 1966)
The Fists and the Fury Superboy #131 (July 1966)
The Round-Robin Death Threats Detective Comics #366 (August 1967)
Sweetheart of Robin Hood Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #22 (January 1961)
Outside of the reprints, text and photo features (and the "3 Free Gifts" advertised on the cover) made up the rest of the book.
Super DC #1 included, for instance, a featurette describing Jimmy Olsen's Signal Watch, a two-page "Farewell to the Saint" covering Roger Moore's departure from the popular TV role, and a tale-of-the-tape comparing boxers Henry Cooper and (then-Cassius Clay) Muhammad Ali. Everything else was bundled under the editorial reins of "The Skipper" -- read on to learn his shocking identity -- including a Mailbag lettercol feature in which DC Comics editor Jack C. Harris and future-Toonopedia author Don Markstein make comments.
And then -- the text adventures.
The authorship of the text adventures is up in the air. Compellingly, tho, the editor on Super DC happened to be "Marvelman" creator Mick Anglo, who also provided a plethora of one-panel gag cartoons throughout the series. As a content creator on the book (who most certainly was writing many of the features), he's as likely the author as any of the staff or freelance writers at Thorpe & Porter.
(An even more compelling candidate -- although an unlikely one -- was Superman's co-creator Jerry Siegel, who was at the time working for UK publisher IPC on their iconic King of Crooks, The Spider. This is wishful thinking on my part, but worth a mention)
The First Story
In "The Mad Bomber," the Man of Steel must find the culprit behind a series of explosions around Metropolis. Modern buildings and structures are the apparent targets, implying that the culprit is motivated by (what seems to me to be) a very English opposition to modern architecture.
The identity of the villain isn't all that difficult to figure out, particularly as there are only four characters in the story, and two of them are Superman and Lois Lane. One amusing element of the tale comes in the form of Superman's blasé relationship with a sedate police chief who seems largely disinterested in his job. I guess that's why the Man of Tomorrow is on the case!
And now, The Mad Bomber...
* * *
TICK-tick-tick ... It was just a faint sound. Amid the myriad other sounds that arose from the broad streets and tall buildings of Metropolis, such a noise could never have been discerned by any man on earth. But the red-caped figure flying above the rooftops was not a man of earth. Born on the planet Krypton, Superman had come to Earth as a child, imbued with superhuman powers. One of them was super-hearing.
He reacted with super-speed. "Another bomb! And it's in the basement of the Capitol building," he said to himself as he zoomed downwards.
A basement door flew open at his touch and he leaped across darkened rooms. It was late evening and the tenants and staff of the highest skyscraper in Metropolis had gone home.
Tick-tick-tick … Superman's amazing night vision served him well. He spotted the wooden box from which the ticking was coming. Snatching it up, he made for the door and a moment later he was rocketing sky- wards. "I only hope I can get far enough from Metropolis to avoid any danger to people when the bomb goes off," he thought.
He was streaking beyond the.atmosphere, rising towards the stars, when-BOOM! Superman had hurled the bomb away from him a second before it exploded. His X-ray vision, focused on the box, had seen the time-clock reaching zero hour.
He turned back towards Earth. The bright lights of the city grew rapidly brighter as he approached. Then suddenly, a brighter light outshone the rest. It was an orange glow that unfolded like a flower. BOOM! With a sickening sense of failure, Superman turned in mid-air towards the explosion point.
The police were already at the scene when Superman landed lightly on the sidewalk. Flames were shooting from the shattered walls of a fine modern building, housing some of the city's antiquities. The police chief turned to greet the Man of Steel. "I guess there isn't much you can do, Superman," he said. "The Mad Bomber has been up to his tricks again."
Superman frowned. "I'm going to put that fire out, Chief," he said. "Will you see if you can find any witnesses to what happened?"
"Sure, Superman," promised the police chief.
Superman bounded into the air and sped towards the port. He saw what he wanted in the supply yards-several massive caissons. In a flash he set to work, opening up the steel watertight cases and welding them together with the sheer super-strength of his amazing hands.
He dived towards the water, filled the container, and a few moments later was flying back towards the fire. The watchers gasped at the sight of the Man of Steel approaching with the enormous steel tank. He tipped it so that the water ran in through the shattered walls and a tremendous hiss arose as the fire died away.
Superman set down his home-made fire extinguisher and the police chief hurried forward. "Superman! There's an old lady who may have seen the Mad Bomber," he said.
A patrolman came forward, leading by the arm a little, white-haired woman dressed in old-fashioned, rusty black clothes. "Oh, how exciting! Fancy getting to talk to Superman," she dithered.
He smiled. "Thank you," he said. "But please tell me about this man you saw, Mrs ... ?
"Mrs Pennyrand," she replied. "Well, he was carrying a wooden box and there was a ticking noise coming from it, and he disappeared into that alleyway behind the art gallery."
Superman turned towards the police chief. "May we take Mrs Pennyrand to headquarters to look through your file of criminals, Chief?" he asked.
"Just what I was going to suggest," nodded the other.
A few minutes later the little old lady was staring with bright, curious eyes at the "mug shots" of criminals. Suddenly she gave a little cry and pointed to a picture. "That's the man I saw!" she said.
The police chief picked up the file. Superman peered over his shoulder at the face that looked sullenly from the photograph. "Jelly Jackson!" ex- claimed the police official. "Got his nickname from being an expert in gelignite."
Superman nodded. "Do you know where we can start looking for him, Chief?"
The other shrugged. "I guess not, Superman. Jelly just dropped out of sight after he came out of prison."
Superman turned and strode away. "I'll work on it, Chief," he promised. "Whoever he is, we've got to get this Mad Bomber behind bars before he does any more damage."
Mrs Pennyrand waved her hand. "Good hunting, Superman," she cried.
All that night the search went on for Jelly Jackson but not a trace was found of the wanted man. As dawn spread over the city, Superman returned to an apartment block near the offices of the Metropolis daily newspaper, the Planet. In an alley nearby he switched back to his role as Clark Kent, reporter. Then he walked up to his apartment and was having breakfast when the phone rang.
"Clark?" It was the voice of Lois Lane, pretty girl reporter on the Planet. "Listen Clark," she said.
"There was another bombing last night and the police and Superman are looking for a man called Jelly Jackson. Well, we've had a tip that he had been working on the building site on the West Bank, near the Long Bridge but he died yesterday morning of a heart attack. He just couldn't have been the Bomber. I think we ought to get hold of that Mrs Pennyrand and ask her how she came to pin the bombing on an innocent man."
They drove to the address that the old lady had given to the police, a genteel apartment block in the less- fashionable section of the city. Clark led the way up the stairs.
They walked into the apartment. It was full of sticks of explosive detonators and pieces of clock mechanism. "She must be the Mad Bomber," exclaimed Lois. "Oh, isn't it horrible, Clark!"
He ushered her out of the building. "Take it easy, Lois," he said. "Get back to the office and write the story. Tell Perry White that I stayed to do a bit of checking."
When Lois had driven away, Clark dived into a disused building and made his lightning switch. In a few seconds he emerged as Superman. Launching himself into the air, he sped over the tall city buildings. "My super-intuition tells me that Mrs Pennyrand is about to blow up another of our important city landmarks," he said.
Then he spotted her. A lone little figure balanced on a girder of the new suspension bridge that spanned the harbour. She was carrying a brown paper parcel, and his super-hearing picked up the "tick-tick-tick" of another time bomb.
He landed on the girder upon which Mrs Pennyrand was perched. "I'll take the parcel," he said, reaching for it.
She backed away. "No!" she exclaimed. "I am merely doing my duty as a citizen."
"Your duty?" Superman's brow furrowed in bewilderment. "Blowing up new buildings?"
"Yes," declared Mrs Pennyrand. "They disfigure our city. I hate them. Nobody can stop me -- not even you, Superman!" She had taken from her pocket a small silver snuffbox.
She snapped open the lid. "Care for a pinch of snuff?" she asked, holding out the box.
Superman felt his head begin to swim. Weakness struck into his bones. Mrs Pennyrand chuckled. "You see, I know your weakness, Superman. This is powdered kryptonite in my snuff-box."
She flung the contents of the box into Superman's face and he sank to his knees, shaking his head. Green kryptonite was a mineral from his own planet Krypton, and it was the one substance which could weaken his super-strength. He teetered unsteadily on the edge of that frightening drop.
With a thrust of a tiny foot she sent him toppling over. Calmly she placed the bomb in position and then hurried away to her home.
She was almost at her front door when Superman called to her. "Oh, Mrs Pennyrand; you left this behind you!" She gasped and grew pale. For Superman was walking behind her, carrying the time-bomb in his hands. With a shriek of fear, Mrs Pennyrand fled into the arms of police.
"Tell him to take it away!" she shrieked. "I'll confess everything. I planted all the bombs. Only make Superman take that bomb away. It will explode in one minute from now!"
Superman nodded to the police chief. "See you later, Chief!" he said. "I think another trip into space would be the best way of disposing of the lady's parcel."
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