Super DC - The Uncollected Text Adventures : Super DC #11 "The Sword of Ribydal"

If any feature in Super DC was built to go the distance, it's clearly the man-to-ape dictionary adapted from Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan stories. By Super DC #11, the feature is on its third installment and it's only gotten as far as "G."

Other features include profiles of actors Lee Marvin and Sexton Blake star Laurence Payne, and a two-page spread for the short-lived tv drama "The Strange Report." The regular sports feature covers the then-very recent 1969 League Cup final between Swindon and Arsenal FCs. 

The letter column is full of kibbitzers this month. David Smith of Glamorgan compulsively documents every sound effect from the first issue in service of complaining about their overuse. The resulting wall of all-caps onomonopaiea is poetry:

Gary Pleace of Whitchurch has 50 DC Comics, and his friend has 100, and wishes Super DC all the best. So do Mick and John Wilkinson of Anlaby Common. DCA of Sheffield finally raises the obvious question about the title's editorial figurehead, The Skipper -- namely, what exactly does a skipper have to do with comic books? No answer is supplied.

The Penguin imperils Batman and Robin in their text adventure this month, "Bite of the Penguin." That doesn't sound so bad.

The following adventures are reprinted in Super DC #11:
The Invasion of the Super-Ants! Action Comics  #296 (January 1963)
The Man Who Destroyed Krypton Superboy #67 (September 1958)
The Boy in the Bottle! Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #53 (June 1961)
Supergirl's Greatest Challenge! Action Comics #287 (April 1962)
The Problem of the Proxy Paintings! Batman #194 (August 1967)
Mr. and Mrs. Clark (Superman) Kent! Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #19 (August 1960)

This Issue's Text Adventure:

Never has a villain's name so betrayed its inspiring idea. Ribydal, the Roman Centurion from the Future, almost certainly leapt from the cover of a Ladybird historical book into the imagination of the unnamed writer of these features. The iconic publisher is still the most recognizable name among children's books in the U.K.

While "Ribydal" doesn't sound particularly Roman, I suppose it's good enough for a future-ish kind of name. Not "Dribydal," though, that would have been obvious. 

The janky British Brainiac returns in this story, deprived of his shrink ray and force field, having traded in his cool spaceship for a dingy ol' bathysphere, and his evil ambitions reduced to burglary. As with the Toyman who never used a toy in any of his crimes, Brainiac doesn't seem at his best in these tales. 

And now, The Sword of Ribydal ...

* * *  

The voice of the police captain boomed over the loudspeaker, echoing between the skyscrapers. "Come out with your hands up; we've got the place surrounded!" The Art Gallery was bathed in the lights of mobile spotlights from the police cars.

Lois Lane, the girl reporter from the Planet, turned to glance around her. "Where did Clark Kent go?" she wondered aloud.

At that moment, Clark Kent was diving into a dark alleyway nearby, snatching off his hat and glasses as he went. In a few seconds he emerged as Superman! The tall figure landed lightly beside the police captain, with a swirl of his famous red cape.

Before Superman could speak, a burly patrol-man shouted, "Captain! There's someone coming out!"

Into the spotlights strolled a strange, small figure. A gasp of amazement arose from the crowd. From the plumed helmet on his head to the crossed thongs around his thin shanks, the man standing on the steps was dressed like a Roman soldier in the pages of a history book! He wore a white skirt beneath a gleaming breastplate. In one hand he carried a wicked-looking gladius or stabbing-sword, and in the other hand was a large leather pouch, apparently heavy with loot.

The police captain raised his microphone, and his voice boomed out, "Toss away that sword, and put the bag on the ground!"

The little man's answer was to yell something unintelligible, "Grill - awooo - branckaaa!" And at the same moment, the man charged down the steps, whirling his sword so that the blade carved a glittering arc in the bright lights.

"Let him have it!" snapped the captain. A volley of shots rang out but the Roman soldier came on, unharmed! With his super-vision, Superman could see bullets bouncing off the man's body.

Superman leaped forward. With lightning speed, he grabbed the little man. A howl of laughter went up from the watching crowd. Superman stared at the object he held in his hands. It was a mail-box! He dropped the mail-box and whirled. Police were racing for their cars. "He just carved a path through the police and began to walk down the road, Superman." It was Lois Lane, shouting at the Man of Steel.

"Thanks, Lois," said Superman, and sped through the air in pursuit of the stranger. As he flashed above the winking blue lights on top of the speeding patrol cars, he thought, "How did he make me look so foolish?"

He spotted the little man strolling towards the docks ... At least, he appeared to be strolling, yet he was moving with incredible speed, leaving traffic as though it was standing still.

Superman dived down on his quarry. The Roman soldier heard the whistle of the wind as it plucked at the flying red cape. He stepped back, holding his gladius aloft.

Superman brushed the sword aside and seized the man firmly. "Now, my friend ... " he began, whisking the other from the ground. Then he realised that he had been tricked again. For in his hands he held a fire hydrant!

Angry, Superman threw the hydrant away and spun round. The road was deserted. The soldier had vanished. Superman hurled himself into the air and flashed towards the docks with incredible speed. But Superman could find no trace of the Roman. He quartered the whole dock area, searching every factory and warehouse, dock, buildings and shipyards.

At that moment, the Roman soldier was walking along the floor of the harbour! The round steel sides of a bathoscope loomed in front of him. From one of the observation portholes, a villainous face peered out. It was Brainiac, one of Superman's most deadly enemies, an electronic computer in human form. 

A look of satisfaction came over Brainiac's face at the sight of the soldier. He pressed a button and an air lock slid open. Within a few seconds the little man was standing with Brainiac inside the bathos cope.

Brainiac snatched the leather pouch and emptied it onto a table. Diamonds, jewels and pearls cascaded out. "A fortune!" crooned Brainiac.

The soldier stared without interest at the precious stones. "Aafghooo-rriivee!" he said.

Brainiac waved an impatient hand. "Wait until I switch on the interpreting machine," he grumbled. He swept the gems back into the pouch, and pressed the switch on a machine which glowed into life, valves pulsing and bulbs flashing. "Now, Ribydal," said Brainiac. "Talk and I shall be able to understand."

Ribydal spoke again, in a mild, thin voice, "You swore that the snake of fire would be found among these jewels."

Brainiac shrugged. "It should have been. But you must be patient. I will help you to search until you find it, and then you can return across the Time Barrier, to your point in Time, 5,000 years from now!"

Ribydal raised his stabbing-sword and gazed on it with reverence. "I have sworn to recover the snake of fire," he said. "It is the crown of my Emperor in the world that you call the future. Did you not swear that you could lead me to where it has been hidden by the thief who stole it?"

Brainiac stirred impatiently. "There is a famous collection of jewelled ornaments in the home of one of the richest men in Metropolis," he muttered. "That is where you may find the snake of fire. Tomorrow you will plunder the collection!"

On a quay above, Superman cocked his head, listening intently. The patrolmen watched him curiously. "Hear something, Superman?" asked one. 

Superman's eyes gleamed. He said, "I heard a splash from the harbour. Tell your chief that I'm going to look for the Roman soldier on the bed of. the harbour!"

In his bathoscope lair far below the surface, Brainiac was gloating over the priceless gem collection which Ribydal had brought. "Wonderful!" he breathed. "Absolutely wonderful!" He broke off with a startled cry. For the bathoscope was moving! He rushed to the nearest porthole, to find that the underwater hideout was rising rapidly to the surface.

The bathoscope emerged from the water and rocketed into the air. Sunlight streamed through the portholes. As Brainiac's eyes grew accustomed to the glaring light, he saw the reason for the bathoscope's ascent. Superman was flying beneath it, carrying the massive steel diving-bell above his head.

Superman flew to the top of one of the mountains near Metropolis, and set the bathoscope down on a high plateau. He stood waiting for his two captives to emerge. The soldier came first, whirling his sword. Superman smiled. "Not this time, my friend," he said. "I have fathomed the secret of your mesmeric sword and I am using my super mental powers to resist it!"

"Grill-awoo brankaaa," cried the soldier.

The little soldier leaped at Superman. The sword clanged on his neck in a vicious sweep that would have beheaded any ordinary man. The sword of Ribydal flickered so fast that it was like a liquid stream of molten metal cascading through the air. Superman sidestepped the next onrush and the blade sliced through a nearby peak.

Superman lifted a 10-ton boulder as if it was a pebble and hurled it with all his super-strength. The boulder hammered the plumed helmet from the other's head and went clattering down a slope but Ribydal came on. He raised his voice in a battle-cry, "Ooraghee-raghee!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Superman saw Brainiac sneaking away. "Not so fast, my electronic friend," murmured the Man of Steel. He grabbed the bathoscope, and rolling it like a bowling-ball, sent it speeding after the criminal genius.

Brainiac heard the thunder of the descending sphere and tried to leap out of the way but the bathoscope caught him a glancing blow and he went sprawling. As he did so, something fell from his pocket with a flash like liquid fire.

Ribydal snatched from the ground an ornament carved like a snake. "Mercy!" croaked the evil genius. "Don't kill me, Ribydal. I confess. It was I who crossed the Time Barrier and stole your Emperor's crown. But I wasn't going to keep it. I only wanted you to rob for me, to make me rich and powerful."

The Roman soldier from the future raised his sword for the kill but Superman hammered the blow aside Like one who admits defeat from a stronger opponent, Ribydal raised his sword in salute to Superman. At the same moment he muttered a strange, chanting spell - and then he was gone.

* * * The End * * *