Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Ten of a Kind #45 and Today in Comics History, April 18, 1938: A thumb goes up, a car goes by/Oh, won't somebody stop and help a guy?

Ever been in this situation?: you've making a list of a specific number of things, like, say, six things, or twelve things...or even ten things...and you've got five, eleven, or maybe, just as an example, nine dandy things to put in that list, but you just can't find the last one to make it all come together? And you search and search and you know you may just be missing that last final item to make your list complete, and you're contemplating tossing the whole list out, or even this close to posting it as an incomplete list of, say, just off the top of my head, nine of a kind and asking other people to suggest a final tenth thing...

...And then that very same week a brand-new tenth thing plops into your lap and gives you the complete ten of a kind you needed all along?

That, my friends...is serendipity.




















(Image from Superman Returns, 2006)
Separated at Birth, Sunday Division: Is it just me or did the cover artist for Fallen Angel #15 totally reference the still from Superman Returns or what? (Look at the identical door panels, for instance).




Bonus spot-the-difference-question for Bully No-Prize points: what did Todd McFarlane do wrong?

More of a Kind Department (edit on 4/24/07): I do indeed have the best readers in the blogamajigasphere, since all the time I was scratchin' my little stuffed head over that tenth image until Fallen Angel appeared before my button eyes on the racks, they could come up with more in the wink of an eye:
  • Jayunderscorezero (or, as I like to call him, J_0) shows us Wonder Woman singing "Anything Kal can do, I can do better" on the cover of Sensation Comics #51.
  • JR (Look out, JR! Duck! Sue Ellen's got a gun!) provides a Superman cover I'm especially embarassed to have missed since I was scanning all the Supes series most carefully for another version. It's from a different angle but that freaked-out guy in the corner tells you all you need to know on the cover of Superman #654.
  • Siskoid from the utterly nerdalicious Siskoid's Blog of Geekery shows us that Mister Freak-Out has an Earth-616 counterpart when The Fantastic Three get a piece of the action in Fantastic Four #291. Whoa, instead of a tire bouncing to the ground, there's a guy! Hardcore, Miss Walters.
  • Siskoid also provides a rare example of car-wreckin' action I've never even seen before, on the cover of Jupiter #7. Man, it's a wonder those 1938 sedans weren't recalled after they were all crumpled so easily by superfolk.
  • Anonymous proves beyond all reasonable doubt that old maxim "Give a squirrel a big enough lever and he can move the world," in Wacky Squirrel Comics #4. Also: freakin'-out bulldog!
  • Bully (oh wait, that's me!) just found another one. When he's not fraggin' Santa, terrorizin' Jenny Quantum, or oglin' topless Koriand'r, The Main Man enjoys a little comic homaging on the cover of the Lobo Convention Special.
  • TV-watchin' ]{0MBAT (gosh! how does he make his name do that?) points out a Supes-liftin' homage in the "no tights, no flights, no Dark Knights" universe of Smallville and sent me a lovely screencap.


(More Ten of a Kind here.)

38 comments:

Siskoid said...

Uhm... nobody flipping out in the lower left hand corner?

It's not a proper hommage unless a guy flips out.

Anonymous said...

I agree with siskoid, the most obvious difference between that AS-M cover and the others is that there's no guy flipping out in the bottom left corner, but then again, there's no 'flipping out guy' on the Fallen Angel cover or the Superman Returns still.

I'd say the difference is that in the Spider-Man cover, the front right wheel has come off of the car whereas in all of the other covers, its the front left wheel that we can see detached from the car and spinning in the foreground.

May I also suggest Sensation comics #51 as a possible tenth comic book cover:

http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/sensation-comics/2

Bully said...

Jay had the answer i was thinking of (although Siskoid gets a Bull-Prize too for coming up with another reason that I hadn't noticed!). Whenever I saw Action #1 I always enjoyed the fact that Supes had rammed the car so hard into that dirt hill that the left front tire popped off and flew and rolled all the way to the other side of the car. McFarlane's version ignores that improbable but iconic subtlety.

Extra bonus points for Sensation #51! I'd not spotted that one and probably would have substituted it for the second Action cover if I'd seen it. Well done!

Sleestak said...

"what did Todd MacFarlane do wrong?"

Lord, Bully! Where do we start?

LurkerWithout said...

"What did Todd McFarlane do wrong?"

Spent a ridiculous amount of money on baseballs.

Also: Not enough Cy-Gor

Anonymous said...

Woo! I get Points!

Anonymous said...

The cover to Superman 654 was intended as an homage to the same idea as well.

http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=273491&zoom=4

Siskoid said...

As long as we're counting, you're missing Fantastic Four #291 and Jupiter #7.

Collect them all!

Matthew E said...

Was there an issue of Infinite Crisis that would have worked? Or was the relevant image not on the cover? I don't recall.

What did Todd MacFarlane do wrong? Left Infinity, Inc.

Shamus said...

No wonder that Superman movie flopped. He looks so un-super after seeing all of those covers.

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Anonymous said...

Smallville Episode 02x08 (Ryan) featured a ficticious comic book called "Warrior Angel", the cover of which was also a nod to Action Comics #1.... I have taken a screencap:

http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z231/tabmok99/warrior_angel_1.png

Adam said...

Hiya
I think there was also an issue of Superman : Birthright that had Supes pulling the exact same move on a quasi-Kryptonian tank.

Check it out

Ads

Bully said...

Is it an interior image in the comic, Adam? I don't spot the image on any of the comics covers.

If so, can you or anyone that has Birthright post a scan or screen shot? I'm very close to making up a second Ten of a Kind based on reader contributions!

Unknown said...

Also if you try to identify where the weight of the figures are landing or their centers of gravity by looking at the line of action in both the original Superman image and Todd McFarlane's Spider-Man homage, you'll see Superman is moving forward with the car, shifting his center of gravity as he thrust the car both forward and downward.

Whereas Spidey is moving up and away from the correct position he should be in if he's indeed smashing the car hood-first into some object. It looks more like he's pulling it back.

But with the pose McFarlane's drawn him in, it's almost impossible to locate the figure's center of gravity. Consequently, both he and the car also appear weightless!

Amazing job, Todd!

Anonymous said...

WHIZ COMICS #1...NOT A HOMAGE, PERHAPS...BUT I DO BELIEVE THAT THAT'S THE SAME CAR!
IMAGINE - FIRST SUPERMAN WRECKS IT THEN, JUST AFTER YOU HAVE IT RESTORED, ALONG COMES CAPTAIN MARVEL AND WRECKS IT AGAIN!

WHAT WERE THE ODDS?

(PAUL SAETHER)

Bengo said...

Great topic and illustrations. I have drawn a subtle satire of that cover into my own work.

Keep up the good work.

scartoonist

Come visit!

http://floatinglightbulb.blogspot.com/

]{0MBAT said...

Wow, now this one's just bizarre...

http://s195.photobucket.com/albums/z231/tabmok99/?action=view&current=tales_of_the_bizarro_world.jpg

]{0MBAT said...

Chris Giarusso, cartoonist and author of the infamous "Mini Marvels" officially-licensed parody of the Marve universel, also homages the legendary cover in one of the online "Bullpen Pits" #24...

http://www.chrisgcomics.com/bpbarchive/bpb24.jpg

]{0MBAT said...

It's about TIME for another one...

http://img.timeinc.net/time/magazine/archive/covers/1979/1101790702_400.jpg

]{0MBAT said...

Action Comics #1 continues to inspire. Check out this homage to the videogame "Crackdown" reimagined based on this iconic cover!

http://www.1up.com/media/03/9/4/8/lg/881.jpg

]{0MBAT said...

Secret Origins from the Golden Age (1986) does a very good of recreating the image within a crystal ball

http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/secret-origins-1986/1-19.jpg

]{0MBAT said...

While reading comics, I found a couple more....

From Superman: The Last Son of Earth (2000)

http://s195.photobucket.com/user/tabmok99/media/superman_last_son_of_earth_issue2_p38.png.html

From Superman: The New 52 (#10), August 2012

http://s195.photobucket.com/user/tabmok99/media/superman_new52_issue10_p14.png.html

Bully said...

Thanks, ]{0MBAT! I'm planning on doing an update at some point and I'll be sure to include these! Be enjoy this hereby-awarded Bull-Prize, Heavy Lifting Department!

]{0MBAT said...

Thanks for the Bull-Prize, Bully! Anyway, here's a couple of more Action Comics #1 homages I happened upon.

The first is from the Angry Video Games Nerd's review of Superman for NES:

http://s195.photobucket.com/user/tabmok99/media/angry_video_game_nerd_superman_homage_better.png.html

The next is from the most recent episode of The Simpsons (Season 25, Episode 10 - "Married to the Blob"):

http://s195.photobucket.com/user/tabmok99/media/simpsons_superman_homage.png.html

Bully said...

Wow, this is great research! Thanks again, ]{0MBAT!

]{0MBAT said...

In the recently released "Superman 75th Anniversary Animated Short", director Zach Snyder pays homage to Superman's entire history, starting with his first appearance on the cover of Action Comics #1. To see how the cover looks when fully animated, go here:

http://s195.photobucket.com/user/tabmok99/media/action_comics_animated_resized.gif.html

To see the cartoon in its entirety, check it out on the official DC Comics YouTube Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebXB0lBoaQ0

]{0MBAT said...

This is a brand new one, an alternate for Solar Comics has this homage

http://s195.photobucket.com/user/tabmok99/media/solar_comics.jpg.html

This was on sale yesterday (April 19) and was only available for the first 100 visitors to Heroes' Haven Comics!

]{0MBAT said...

Here's an homage with Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions!

http://s195.photobucket.com/user/tabmok99/media/superman_snappy_answers.jpg.html

The guy flipping out in the corner asks, “Is that Superman?”

You gotta love the various responses:

• No, it’s an exciting new superhero, the Human Tire Jack!
• Yes, and whatever you do, don’t park in his spot!
• Don’t ask me, I’m terrible with names!

]{0MBAT said...

This has got to be one of the greatest ones yet. Online cartoonist says that the REAL story behind the cover of Action Comics #1 came to him in a dream, and of course, he had to draw it. And although car alarms didn't exist in 1939, there's no need to ruin his fun.

http://s195.photobucket.com/user/tabmok99/media/story_behind_action_comics_no_1.jpg.html

You can visit his blog for more fun.

http://kerrycallen.blogspot.com/

]{0MBAT said...

Here's a tribute by Chris Giarusso (creator of G-Man, author of the Mini Marvels and other parodies):

http://s195.photobucket.com/user/tabmok99/media/tributebychrisciarrusso.jpg.html

]{0MBAT said...

Here's another one, which comes from Action Comics #857 ("Escape from Bizarro World" - Part 3 of 3):

http://s195.photobucket.com/user/tabmok99/media/action_comics_1_homage_from_escape_from_bizarro_world.jpg.html

]{0MBAT said...

Got another one for you. This one comes from the newest crossover series; the issue is Legion of Super-Heroes/Bugs Bunny #1:

http://s195.photobucket.com/user/tabmok99/media/superbunny_action_comics_1_homage.jpg.html

By the way - it's been 10 years since I submitted the Smallville one!

Bully said...

]{0MBAT: Thank you again! And whoa, how can that be...I'm only seven!

Yes, one of these days I'll publish a sequel to this post! And you'll gets lots of tips of my hat!

]{0MBAT said...

Check out this homage found in Infinity War!!!

https://twitter.com/Bosslogic/status/985533946166312960

]{0MBAT said...

Here is the almighty Alex Ross's tribute to this!

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_SP-8cFjDa/

]{0MBAT said...

I hope you like burgers -- because Zupi Magazine's version of Superman sure does!

https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/project_modules/2800_opt_1/97e09130831295.5634ebe81d4eb.jpg

Bully said...

Another great one! Thanks, ]{0MBAT!