Ask the comic guy..

Cafe Society
41

No such issue, IIRC. We only saw it as a flashback. But the first reference to it in flashback form was either in Adventure comics around the #460s OR DC Super-Special(?) #17 (first appearance of the Huntress)

Adventure, circa #466

**

** Flash #273 or so

Rougly Amazing Spider-Man #173
**

** Pro’lly #50, but the story-arc was #48-50.

**

What Brighteyes said, with two minor additions: Gains also published MAD Magazine and Gruenwald was also an extremely talented writer (SQUADRON SUPREME and the first 2/3ds of his CAPTAIN AMERICA run and QUASAR to name three titles)

**

Disagree with Brighteyes answer:
Earth 1- Flash (Barry Allen), Superman fights Braniac. Where the Silver Age heros hang out.
Earth 2- Flash (Jay Garrick), Superman from Action Comics #1. Where the Golden Age heroes hang out.
Earth 3- History is reversed: Colombus sailed from America and discovered Europe, for example. Also all heroes are villians: Actor Abe Lincoln shot President John Wilkes Booth. Also, there’s no heroes and the Earth-1 heroes are villians there (Superman’s counterpart becomes Ultra-man who gets a new power when exposed to Kryptonite)
Earth-4 Only seen once: CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS: Where the Charleton heroes hang out (Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, etc)
Earth-A Long involved story: only appeared in JLA #37-38 due to a time-change. When time was set right, it never appeared or was mentioned again.
Earth-B, Where any story that Bob Haney (who was notorious for saying “Screw continuity”) wrote that couldn’t be fit elsewhere (the one set in the late '60s where Batman teams up with a 30 year old Sgt Rock, for example. Later expanded to any story that horribly f*cks up contiunity: the story where Batman’s brain-damaged psychopathic older brother(?!) goes on a killing rampage, for example and the follow-up story where Deadman decides to simply take Thomas Wayne’s body for his own. It was discussed in letter columns regularly but not officialy named in a story.
Earth-C Captain Carrot.
Earth-C Minus, Justa Lotta Animals
Earth Prime- Here. Or a world without super-heroes that’s just like ours, but Flash met Julie Schwartz. Gerry Conway got all pissy and created the disctinction, calling here “Earth Real”. Gerry Conway was also an idiot.
Earth-S: The Fawcett characters (Captain Marvel)
Earth-X: The Quality Characters (Phantom Lady, Uncle Sam, Plastic Man). Also Nazis won World War II.

I’m ignoring worlds (Like the one Lady Quark came from) that only appeared for a few panels. And for those boggling at the list, only Earth One and Two showed up with any regularity. Earth Three had maybe three appearances in the 40 years of the Silver Age, Earth S showed up on an infrequent basis in conjunction with the other worlds, Earth Prime only showed up once before Gerry Conway started screwing around. It wasn’t all that confusing if you could keep Earth One and Two straight.

[ul]
[li]Uncanny X-Men, his first run: Not ruined, improved (lookit the flashback in Uncanny X-Men #138 where we see the retcon that Scott told Jean he loved her during Iceman’s 18th birthday. [/li][li]Various X-Books, second run. Major retcons about Magneto. The X-Books were hopeless by that point. Not his fault.[/li][li]Fantastic Four: generally improved and the Return of Jean Grey thing wasn’t his fault.[/li][li]Superman: shudder. FUBAR. His worst butchery, Superman still hasn’t recovered. [/li][li]Batman: (in UNTOLD LEGEND OF BATMAN) mostly harmless.[/li][li]Wonder Woman <shudder> His third worst butchery and he hopelessly FUBARed post-Crisis DC continuity by making Diana the second Wonder Woman.[/li][li]The Demon, Etrigan (in the pages of Wonder Woman: his second worst butchery. He wiped out 20 years and about 100 issues of stories by Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman and Garth Ennis among others in one panel saying (essentially) “It was magic.”[/li][li]Spider-Man- in the dreary CHAPTER ONE; I’d say it was almost as bad as his Superman butchery, but it was ignored while it was coming out so it’s made no impact at all. (He did more damage to the character than Wonder Woman, but no-one cared)[/li][li]Spider-Man- he brought back Aunt May and the Green Goblin. FUBAR. [/li][li]Hulk- See above. It was horrible, but no-one paid any attention to his revamps except Peter David who was affected by it and had a character dismiss it by reading the revamp issue and bursting into hysterical laugher.[/li][li]That stupid “Lost Heroes” maxi-series that no-one remembers. I don’t think it counts 'cause no-one remembers it. Byrne thinks that the FF took off in their rocket about 7 years ago, so he tried to create a generation of heroes that appeared in the '60s-'80s.[/li][/ul]

As an aside, his newest book (that came out last night) GENERATIONS, looks fantastic (it’s the first of 12 issues, but a spin-off from two earlier series). It’s not in continuity and…damn if it wasn’t neat seeing the real Superboy again. Highly recommended.
**

**

**
I can’t remember. I’ll go with what Brighteyes said or the tendency of history to resist screwing around with–it sounds like a Gruenwald concept.

**

Professor (“DON’T CALL ME ‘REVERSE FLASH’, DAMMIT”) Zoom.

**

I’m horrible at spelling these names:

Selena - (Grace)
Hippolyta (Wonder Woman’s mom) (strength)
Arachne (um…skill?)
Zephyrus (speed) (Wasn’t he a guy)
Aurora (beauty) (Aurora was goddess of the Dawn, not beauty. Shouldn’t she have gotten some light-based powers?)
Minerva (wisdom)

Fenris

42

And back at Hastur and Brighteyes! :slight_smile:

  1. Explain Mopee.

  2. Name the members of the SCPA

  3. Most varients of Wonder Woman’s origin involve Hipolyta fashioning a baby out of clay. She’s had a completly different origin in her book (supposedly within continuity) and in the early '70s, there was a major (but quickly forgotten) addition to her origin. What were they?

  4. Who fought Baron Von Grabbe?

  5. What was the status of Jor-El and Laura, pre-Crisis, post Krypton exploding?

  6. What was the Survival Zone?

  7. Name 4 characters who were affected by Gold Kryptonite (imaginary stories don’t count)

  8. What character had a cat named Caramel?

  9. Describe what was the Interplanetary Chance Machine looked like and what was it used for?

  10. We know that Wolverine was in World War II, what specific, real-world battle do we know that Wolverine was involved in? (Extra credit: where was his first published solo story? (A fight with Hercules?) )

  11. What does the evil sorceress who lives “on the slopes of Mt. Vesuvius”(sp) want, more than anything in the world, and why?

For extra credit, explain* X-Men continuity from Uncanny X-Men 141 to present including all tie-in titles, spin off titles, reboot titles, the Age of Apocolypse, Rachel, Cable, etc. in 500 words or less. :smiley: (Or don’t.)

Fenris

*Explain, not describe: no fair saying “it sucks” or “it’s hopeless”

43

I think that’s about the best sentence i’ve ever seen.:smiley:

44

You guys are giving me a headache, man.

Well, actually, it’s the writers and retconners that are doing that, but still. :smiley:

One more note on the Wolverine claws bit:
Originally, way back, they were supposed to be part of the gloves, and not his hands, weren’t they? I’m talking Hulk #181ish, here. Though this was never expounded on, that I recall.

And the first time they were specifically explained, Logan himself says they were stored in bionic housings in his forearms. They were not part of his mutation, extra bones that were infused with Adamantium like the rest of his skeleton, but actual razor thin unbreakable weapons added to his arms by the Weapon X eggheads.

As for Fenris’ #3, by addition, are you talking about, umm, oh hell, what was her name… Nubia? Her “twin sister” formed from a lump of darker clay?

And #10, was that the story with Logan, Captain America and Black Widow, where paratrooper Cpl. Logan (still no first name) winds up in the middle of the Battle of the Bulge?

45

It was never said one way or the other, but the first time we saw his claws come out of his ungloved hands was around Uncanny X-Men #98 or so. Cyclops and Marvel Girl were shocked by the fact that they were part of him.

**

Yup!
**

Hmm…I’d forgotten about that story. Ok, you get the point, but how 'bout a SECOND battle? :smiley:

46

How the heck does something like the Spider-clone saga (ugh!) get greenlighted and, after much reader distress, be allowed to continue?

I got sucked into that black hole, but stuck with it hoping for a decent payoff. What did I get? “I wasn’t dead. I was in Europe.”

I haven’t bought a Spider-Man book since.

47

Can anyone play?

Answer:

Magica DeSpell. Number One Dime! Scrooge McDuck’s number one dime to be precise. And she wants it 'cause it’s lucky. The very basis of Mr. McDuck’s fortune if I remember correctly. Now what the hell was the name of her raven…

And I would not attempt to explain Mopee on a bet.

48

My sister sold all my Dark Shadows comic books, a dresser drawer full, thirty years ago when I was away at camp (as well as my Lionel train set). Admittedly, I can’t explain now why I ever bought those particular “comics” in the first place but I’m curious, did she do me a favor or rob me of a more comfortable retirement?

49

Actually, you might want to. Right after the clone saga, it got worse (Aunt May and the Goblin back from the dead with no sane explaination, Baby Mae probably snuffed, a stalker with no motive kidnapping MJ, etc) but J. Michael Strawinazqqdalvnnlkadsrsomething …the guy who did Babylon 5 is doing a great job and issue 50 is supposed to be a great jumping-on point.
Trion: Anyone can play, as far as I’m concerned and you’re dead on.

50

Yes. Yes, I would.

Question:

Where the hell can I find a copy of the Trade Paperback release of ‘Hardball’ by Aircel? It was released in the early 1990s (I think) and featured hardcore sex and baseball. 4 issues and I want it.

I find mention of it around the web but no one seems to have one for sale?

Help me, Comics Guy!

51

Intergalactic sentient cosmic power force finds girl. Girl, with power, saves universe. Girl, manipulated by bad guy, goes nuts, drinks a star, kills seven billion celery-headed people. Girl realizes she’s too powerful. Kills self.

Avengers find girl’s body at bottom of ocean; power force had replaced her, not possessed her. Girl revives, absorbs memories of power force replacement and evil clone (Maddie Pryor), marries Cyclops. Everyone lives happily ever after.

The end.

–Cliffy

52

“Skrulls?!? Where do they come UP with this stuff?!?”

Haw Haw!

And I will never forgive John Byrne for bringing back the Goblin or Aunt May. Maybe if he’d even tried to give some sort of explanation as to why May had to come back, but he didn’t. She’d been kidnapped for God knows how long and it didn’t seem to phase her in the least.

53

The Earth-2 Batman married Catwoman in Superman Family #211, in the Mr. and Mrs. Superman segment.

Shazam as it applied to Mary Marvel in the Golden Age:

Selena
Hippolyta
Ariadne
Zephyrus
Aurora
Minerva

Yes, Zephyrus was a guy.

54

Not bad, but you left out Nathan and Rachel. :smiley:

Try wedging them into the word limit.

Fenris

55

I remember Mopee. It was probably the only issue of Flash I bought as a kid.

He was a dwarf version of Woody Allen with a green robe. He handed Flash his business card and told him he was with the Heavenly Help Mates. He was sent by his masters to give a gift to someone worthy, so one day he was lurking around some office high-rise window when he saw Barry Allen working with chemicals, so he sent a lightning bolt to fry him and give him fast speed. He later found out that what he did was technically illegal since Barry Allen didn’t own the chemicals he was using, so he was there to take Flash’s powers back.

Flash had to get a job with a courier to make the $42.78 worth of chemicals he used so he could buy his powers back.

I think Keith Giffen did a little sidebar later where Mopee explained how he also did things like coerce a gangster to shoot a kid’s parents outside a movie theatre so he’d become Batman.

56

I’m going to a wedding next month, and it was mentioned that Will Eisnerwill be there. When another guy, who is also going to be at the wedding, heard this he went a bit funny. :confused:
I asked ‘what’s up’ but he was a bit too excited to be able to explain himself properly but from what I can gather, he had something to do with comics but other than that I haven’t a clue.

Who or what is Will Eisner?

57

Unless I miss my guess that would be Ambush Bug #3 (his first limited series). Basically Ambush Bug’s version of Who’s Who in the DC Universe.

Funniest. Issue. Ever.

58

Will Eisner is one of the few living creators from the Golden Age. He created The Spirit as well as many other characters, and is well known for his art style and his writing.

59

Hmmm. Since I don’t read Marvel, I can’t answer any of those questions, but I’ll try my luck at some of the others.

  1. In a Superboy story that was subsequently shuffled off to oblivion, Jor-El and Lara placed themselves in another rocket in suspended animation. Unfortunately they had also suffered severe Kryptonite poisoning during the events leading up to the explosion, so if they were released from suspension they’d die. Superboy found the rocket in space along with a message explaining the situation. He decided, and John Kent agreed, that he should leave his parents in the rocket and let it continue on with no destination. I’m glad they let that story go.

  2. The survival zone was a dimension like the phantom zone to which Zor-El and Allura escaped when Argo City was destroyed. Eventually they were freed by (I think) Fred Danvers and took up residence in Kandor.

  3. Hmm. Quex-Ul is the only name I can remember. There was a Kandorian couple in the “Superman Emergency Squad” who lost their powers and ended up living for a while in a doll house at Jimmy Olsen’s apartment.

  4. The Interplanetary Chance Machine was used by the Legion in it’s early days to decide who would go on dangerous missions. A spinning set of planet colored balls would fly out and whoever was hit by one of the “planets” was selected. I think the last appearance was in a Legion of Substitute Heroes story in which one of the planets flew off too fast and knocked out Fire Lad.

  5. Circe? If so she wants the Amazons, particularly Wonder Woman, dead.

FWIW, the story with Proty II turning Superman’s head into a Lion’s involved Saturn Woman disguised as Circe, supposedly manipulating Superman through a series of challenges. It was actually a ruse to fool the Superman Revenge Squad (those guys were dumb!). I read it in a 100 page special in the seventies, so I can’t tell you when it originally appeared.

60

sorry for not being able to answer your questions guys… I’m at school with it’s incredibly slow internet connection… I’ll be able to asnswer your questions tonight…