Tag: Superman

Superman’s Punching Car!

Here’s another ad from the 70s (yeah, I’m going through a chunk of old comics and keep finding these things!)

I think it’s safe to say that the Batmobile is probably the most well known superhero themed vehicle; sure, many people will know of Wonder Woman’s invisible plane, but when the majority of super-powered heroes can fly and/or run very fast, they don’t need a car, motorbike or helicopter. I’m not sure what use a Daily Planet delivery truck would be to any hero, but we’ll let that one slide for the moment as there’s one vehicle in that lot that caught my eye, as you can probably tell from this post’s title:

Superman’s punching car! (I have no idea if that’s the real name for it)

In what world would a car/plane hybrid that has retractable punching arms on the side be any more use than Superman himself?

Think about it – Supes is flying around in his punching car-plane-thing and comes across a villain that needs a damn good thrashing. What’s he going to do? Use the mechanical arms on the side of that thing or just get out and punch the damn thing himself? He’s Superman, for Rao’s sake!

This makes no sense and makes Clark Kent very grumpy.

Batman Vs Superman

Here’s a couple of ads that ran in Justice League of America #124 from November, 1975:​

Arguably the two premier DC heroes, showing off to the readers where they can be found.

I’ve just had a look at Previews for the April listings and thought I’d update those ads:

We’ve gone from six titles each in 1975 to four for Superman and eight for Batman; it would have been nine but it looks like he’s not in April’s Detective Comics.

I bet Superman can’t wait for Brian Michael Bendis and his big relaunch . . .

The Original Power Girl Returns?

There’s an article over at Comics Nexus that appears to show the original pre-Crisis Earth Two Power Girl returning to the DCU, rather than the one that was featured in Worlds’ Finest and Earth 2: Society who was from the post New 52 Earth 2.

I don’t read Deathstroke (though I hear it’s very good) so only have the article’s information to go on but from the art that it posts, it definitely looks like the first PG is back, purely based on the costume. In Earth-2: World’s End, Power Girl was handed the S-shield of her fallen cousin Superman by the Red Tornado (which was housing Lois Lane’s conscious):

Somehow, the S-shield applied itself to Power Girl’s costume, essentially turning her into Supergirl which goes against her earliest appearances:

Or it would, if they were the same character. The PG from Worlds’ Finest, Earth-2, Earth-2: World’s End and Earth-2: Society isn’t the same PG who is annoyed by the Star-Spangled Kid’s gift. That Power Girl never fought alongside the Super Squad or the Justice Society, but instead had been Supergirl first on Earth-2. She only became Power Girl after being shunted to the Prime Earth following Darkseid’s invasion of Earth-2; when she and Huntress arrived, they found their new home already had a Supergirl, so Kara chose a new identity. They eventually found their way back home to Earth-2, rescued the captured Superman who then died and, as shown above, his S-shield affixed itself to Power Girl, basically turning her back into Supergirl.

However, the Power Girl that is shown in Deathstroke Annual #1, and which the above link refers to, looks a hell of a lot more like the original Earth-Two Power Girl:

Not only is the costume the same as the original’s, but the letterer even uses the font/logo from her 2009 – 2011 series (and if you haven’t read the first twelve issues of that series, you really should) Her series was her last appearance in the pre-New 52 world as the character that turned up shortly thereafter in Mr Terrific as Terrific’s girlfriend was revealed to be the Earth-2 version mentioned above.

So is the Power Girl that’s trapped between worlds in Deathstroke Annual the original, pre-Crisis version? Having long been a fan of the character, I certainly hope so.

Wonder? Yes. Woman? Definitely.

Ah, casual sexism in the 1960s, from Justice League of America #66.

Where else would you see one of the most powerful and iconic female heroes reduced to a home organising shrew complete with apron and feather duster?

As an aside, what the hell is a “psonic computer“?