 This is the SF Productions podcast network And the video journal popular culture. I'm your host Mark Smidbauer. I'm Wilbert Neal and tonight We're starting what will be well the the new um the new concept of a rotating concept We're gonna not be just doing TV. We're also gonna be doing comic books Which we're doing tonight and we're gonna be going into potpourri kind of a catch-all for everything else, right? But tonight as you said it is comics and it's not just comics It's the history of DC Comics DC comics That's right, but before we get into the big extravaganza of fun We want to tell you that we're on Tuesdays at six Wednesdays at 10 and Thursdays at 3 p.m. Here on a CTV cable 21 and if you want to write into Bass Waste and then say hey, what's the deal? Why are you switching stuff around? Right into box 15 14 11 Columbus, Ohio 4 3 2 1 5 vote early and often that's right well DC Comics The pioneer as far as there were there are other companies before that I hate to say that they were the pioneer, but they were the first company that is still around today Okay, first one. It's left right of the There really if you look at the history of comic books you can go all the way back Technically to the 1890s just some stuff that was done in England Yeah, but almost all of it until 1935 when DC Comics got involved was reprints of What's he put in the Sunday funnies? Yeah, there were no really original characters or original situations It was all pretty much reprints and it wasn't particularly well done and it wasn't DC did it particularly well at the beginning, but I Weren't really what you would call Specific well there definitely weren't any super heroes no question at that time right was either funny things or maybe war comics or Detective type of stuff. Yeah, oh boy But all pretty much reprints and then this major Malcolm Wheeler Nicholson came into the came into the whole thing This guy was a cavalry man in in World War one. He was an adventurer He did lots of lots of stuff He was in the Philippines and all this and and when he got back from the war He found out he was a pretty darn good writer for the pulps now the pulps are the old The old magazines they put out actually in a way they still put them out today I think the the the descendants of that are really the romance novels to come out today Yeah, because they're turned out pretty fast and the and pulp refers to the really cheap quality of the paper They were using them because there's chunks of wood pulp in it. So Really cheap paper. So it was really cheap to produce and they found out well He was really good at writing adventure stuff. So also the 20s you find this guy doing doing writing for the pulse and around 3435 he's he's looking at these other comic books out there and there's a few others is Like funnies on parade or stuff like that I mean it's and it's all pretty much again Sunday funnies Reprinted and he says, you know, we could do original comics the actual new original characters Still the same concept of funny, you know funny animal comics and you know and still the same stuff They were doing but new characters. So he started new fun Which was the first DC comic actually the time it was called National Allied publishing or something like that Allied National it's gone through a bunch of names But here we can take a look at this This is the first issue of new fun We can take a look at that there it is right there. These are like the first issue. This is 1935 These I don't know how much these are worth. These are worth certainly a fortune today billions and billions of dollars But but that was that was new fun. So So they were doing that In 35 they put out a thing called more fun. I mean they were highly original with these titles So and they were probably the reason that a lot of a lot of our well Let's say people our parents or people that are possibly like within the next the next generation next decade still refer to Comics as as funny books as the funny books, right? There's like funny paper right funny books, right? And you'll still catch them that they're these are they're saying that this is a funny book That so they were putting this stuff out it wasn't running very well until a man named Harry Donaldson Came in he had money. He was a banker and he came in and Nicholson really didn't have a really good grasp of business This thing was going down fast. He he was borrowing money to pay people every week And he's paying people virtually no money to do this. I mean for example sequel and Schuster Superman the originators of Superman actually were getting paid something in the area of like $140 per story. I Mean that's do all the artwork and all the writing and it was like five bucks It came out to like five ten bucks a page and that's between the two of them So nobody was getting paid a lot in those days for for doing the comics so this Donaldson guy came in and He He infused capital into it and he also said well, let's let's start to organize this thing instead of just putting you know Well, we'll kind of categorize it and so they started a comic book which is still running today detective comics. Yes started in 1837 So he was running that and also at the same time there was another man emcee gains Okay, now a lot of people consider him really the originator of DC Although ironically for many years. He was not directly involved with DC because there were two companies there was All American comics and there was DC comics. It was a and DC They were two separate companies But they kind of had a brother sister type agreement where they would advertise in each of his comics and each of these comics Could borrow characters and and a lot of people assumed it was all one company, but it wasn't so We come up to let's see. We're up to about 1938 and then the big event occurs Action comics number one. Yes The this is obviously a reprint because I would need a couple arm garbs to come in with with the actual version of it 1938 this were these two kids from Cleveland actually Segal and Schuster who since the early 30s actually they started I believe the the first What's considered the first science fiction fanzine called science fiction? When you're first in the field you can call it something really boring late science fiction, so Or something really mysterious right science fiction So in one of these six issues they put out while they were in high school They put out a story called the reign of the Superman in which the Superman character looked a lot more like Lex Luthor And he was a bad guy And but they said well this Superman concept Let's see if we can do something with it and in the early 30s They just they basically developed the same character that took over five years actually reached the the newsstands and They went took them to all the publishers all the public said this will never work Amazingly You know I suppose the hindsight's 20-20, but boy they were like jumping leap an eighth of a mile What are you nuts? He's lifting the car. Come on. Come on. This will never work So they finally came to to MC Gaines and Donaldson and MC Gaines said well you guys over DC should probably do this So they said what the heck they got this new comic book company called out called So they decided why not why not? So they put this thing in and They were so worried that this Superman character wouldn't catch on was the first the first issue He's on the cover for that several issues. He's not on the cover because they put like Zotera the magician and Federal men, you know they on some other stuff Siegel and Schuster was doing in some cases and and they They put it them on the covers and then they did this little poll to find out how this whole thing was you know What people liked and what the kids like they found out that the kids were looking for the comic book with Superman in it So they immediately slapped him back on the cover and he's been there ever since And of course action comics is still being being put out today today so So that was 1938 and that was the beginning the The beginning of the golden age according to most people right there the golden age of comics basically lasting Into the early 50s when the whole thing kind of dropped off for reasons that we'll explain in a minute So and then we had the next major character next made here in 1939 39 Bob Kane developed a character to Well, it's kind of the the dark side. I guess of characters He was right. He was dark even then but since then he's kind of lighten up a bit But he's gone back to the dark thing now basically we're talking about the guy with the ears in the cape We're talking Batman. That's right And he was basically he was first created to instill fear into the hearts of criminals since criminals are cowardly lying all that and they They're superstitious and they're just afraid of things and so he decided to come up with a symbol He worked hard on coming up with a symbol But as in as if an omen as according to the comic book a huge bat flies into and through the window While he's studying and he was that's it I'll create a costume and it'll be a bat and I'll instill fear and terror into the hearts of all these And there you go Batman I mean basically The story has been retold time and time again his his parents were bringing him home from seeing Zorro And they they go down crime alley and then Joe chill jumps out right basically giving your loot and Shoot some both and leaves poor little Bruce there to see the whole watching watching his parents to die in front of them and The he basically becomes obsessed at that point especially today in the comics in the Batman comics It's very obvious that he's really obsessed. I mean they've really kind of said well, he's almost not sane He's almost like one little bit and he'd be nuts He's really obsessed the only thing that keeps him from becoming nuts is money, right? I mean cuz cuz Alfred is his butler. I'm sure he this guy is nuts He keeps he goes up. He does this again and again and again. I mean come on. How many times can he be patched up? So so we have Batman and Very quickly Over I know I'm sure that Robin wasn't the first sidekick. I think Marvel was doing sidekicks just before I'm not sure about that I'm sure there were other sidekicks. They're obviously other sidekicks But there were but they let me see Marvel wasn't actually Marvel at that time, right? They were timely but yeah, but but still there were but certainly Robin is the best known sidekick Right, and they brought it in for the obvious reason that mostly kids at the time were reading it They wanted somebody to read the kids. Yeah, and there you go. So you had Robin the The boy wonder who was also in kind of a similar thing where he is laughed at danger or something like that His family was um, well his mother and father were were killed. He was a circus performer, and right um, they angered some gangster people and Cut their trepies line and he saw them killed just before him and so Bruce happened to be up in the stands And it turns into Batman he puts on a Batman thing swings down to try to catch the criminals and Kind of scoops robbed up and says well, hey, they're a young fellow, you know I'll help you. Yeah Is there any like adoption thing that occurs there? Well, actually there was later. They've they've got but at the beginning They never really got into those details. No, they didn't it was just like suddenly Robin the boy wonder yeah, well, I'll just you'll be my ward and take you to the mansion Guess they figured he's a rich guy. The law didn't really question him on the whole thing Bruce Wayne's a rich guy. He can obviously take care of this kid. So Lots of money, no problem, right And uh Right around 39 for in 1940 that was when the real flood started, uh, especially certainly in dc and everywhere else. Um You had the original green lantern Uh green lantern who for some reason they decided well, he's and well for those who don't know the green lantern things explain that This guy is I believe is he was like doing an archaeology or isn't a cave or something It seems like several of these started off as archaeologists. Yeah, so he's in a cave and he finds this uh This lantern is glowing this glowing lantern and he fashions this ring and all this and and he finds out that He can shoot beams of green light that can form into any substance You know any any form and and through his willpower But is uh his big weakness was wood. Yeah wood kind of a strange weakness, but There you go wood Wood you can hit him over the head with a club and you could you pretty well beat him up pretty If you can if you can get that close to it Yeah, I get that close to him to hit him on the head with something made of wood so Like get a croquet mallet, you know and hit the ball if you can angle it up just high enough you could knock him right out Say you had green lantern. He had the the original hawkman who was another archaeologist Yeah, that's amazing archaeologists and playboys. We're pretty much your And reporters That pretty much all your superheroes were doing that when they were in their secret identities Although um, they were reporters so that they could find out where the problems were so that they could Become the superhero and the archaeologists is always falling into mysterious things They can they always find these ancient ancient things with imbued with powers and And all this and it's like well hawkman. He's basically an archaeologist and he um Would collect these ancient weapons to use along with his ability to fly I'm not sure how the first hawkman flew the first one. He had wings, but I don't know Yeah, it was still the The a little thing he had in his chest. I think it was some sort of anti-gravity medal or something I think they were still doing that for the first day Shades of bowing In fact, I think it was the belt that did it. Yeah, and so that he had the wings there So the other people would say well, he's a hawkman. Yeah And so then you've got your hawk girl Sorry, but it was hawk girl at the time, you know, it's it became hawk woman later You know, but it was hawk girl and because that's just the time it was right and He would go around he'd use these ancient weapons that he had collected like Oh, he'd get a tomahawk or a bow and arrow or something because he was He was trying to be true to the thing He didn't want to have ray guns or he didn't want to shoot bullets or something Used ancient weapons to go after these nasty criminals Now you find that for the most part of the dc heroes that there's not a lot of gunplay of the superheroes They're being shot at a lot. Yeah, but they're but rarely they pull out a gun hardly any in fact at one point Uh, actually batman had a gun at the beginning And he wasn't uh, he didn't have a problem with using it And after a while they went Maybe we should never use it a gun. It's just too dark. He's too much like a criminal Pretty much. So we better get rid of the gun and we'll give him a sidekick right Well, here's the gun get a sidekick. So Well, let's see. Um, you've got um on the other end of the spectrum. You've got wonder woman, right? And she was um, kind of a Amazonian princess who kind of came up because of well world war two, I guess, right? Basically, if I remember the original version this this uh, uh flyer steve trevor pre steve trevor, of course Uh Crash lands on paradise island where with this hidden island where all the amazons hang out And she has to take him back to man's world and Actually, it's kind of interesting if you if you look at the especially the early wonder woman stuff, um Charles molten. I believe his name was Uh, who the creator of it was really into the superiority of women. Okay, and uh, really into the superiority of women in In, uh, like whips and chains kind of way So so there's a lot of stuff in the early in the early things of her and bondage That seemed to be a big theme at the beginning. Well, that whole that whole gold rope idea Right. Yeah, I ain't up guys. I tie you up with my gold rope. You will do what I say You will do Oh, it's wonder woman so So you had her let's see, um As far as other female here is there's never been a real a real huge group I think I certainly more female heroes than there ever was Currently, but then or as hardly any and dc the only other one that I can think of off hand is black canary Yeah, and she was just basically another batman type of somebody without any powers who just kind of Uh, brought themselves up to a really great physical level and and and and and Basically did fistfights with guys and uh and kicks and stuff, you know, martial art type of stuff She has the uh, the the all of it kind of a a leather kind of thing and fishnet striking Yeah, he's little high heeled certainly in the beginning the and really today if you look at the the uh, The artists are certainly not averse to putting the women in skimpy outfits Because that's just the time it was right so Well, let's see. So who else did we have here? Um Well, let's see you had um, well star man star man We just another of the wealthy board playboy during the day, but he was also a great scientist So he figured out how to make this, uh, cosmic rod. Yes, and it would just harness cosmic rays And he could fly and he could shoot beams and stuff But basically just another, you know board playboy type See he had a doctor midnight actually doctor midnight's an interesting concept. Yeah, this guy Uh was actually if I remember correctly actually a doctor and he uh was Some sort of experiment was going on. I don't remember the specifics, but Uh, he got knocked out and we woke up. He was blind But he found that he wasn't really he was only blind from uh He was just incredibly sensitive delight His eyes were very sensitive light at night time He could see just as well as as most people could during the day. Yes So he wore these special goggles that made it always seem dark to him And he had these blackout bombs because he'd throw them out and dark smoke could come out And nobody else could see but he could and he'd take out people He's like cheating. Yeah kind of kind of And then you've got your um Along with uh, well the original green lander got the original flash. Oh, yeah, jay garak Who uh another the a university student who is working in these experiments using hard water And this beaker of hard water fell on the floor and the fumes overcame him and he uh Passed out and he inhaled a great deal of these fumes and when he woke up he had super speed Go figure go figure You would think you would think that other people would figure this out and everybody would have super speed That's right. He would be guzzling that hard water like nobody's business or something Sniffing them fumes. So he's so he's whipping around basically And let's see, um Well, let's see. Um, I think the the martian man hunter might have started. Well, no, that's not he's okay He's a little later because he's not in the golden age. Excuse me. Yeah martian. Okay. That is a little later You're right. That's right. Um, you've got the atom right who was like a little wrestler guy That was it at at one point he gained this great deal of strength from some magical source apparently But for a great deal of his life. He was just this guy who had wrestled and he was short. Yeah And that's it You would hardly think this guy could say i'm a superhero. Come on Well, then you've got um who the black cat It was another guy that he wore like a black a black cat costume and he would go on getting the no, no, no, no That's um, you're thinking of um Wild cat. Oh, excuse me. Why is there anything a black cat wild cat? Well, he was a boxer. Okay, and This thing is some sort of uh scandal ruined his career And so he decided to get back at the guys by dressing up in a costume and beating them up while He was in costume and so they said okay, you're a superhero too So they had all these very superheroes in the golden age and they all got together in in the first real super group The justice society of america And this was created by the the great gardener fox who later of course, uh, was doing justice league of america Would be the later incarnation of the whole concept evil doers beware. That's right And basically the concept of every every all-star comic, which is where the justice society hung out was Uh, they'd find out something was wrong. They'd break up into teams. They'd usually get beaten by The uh, the bad guys in individually or in small teams that all get put together They'd all break free and they'd all beat up the bad guys. Yeah, that was pretty much your concept It was teamwork or nothing. That's right. Oh forgot our man. Oh, yes our man. Here's a silly concept. I think Uh yet another scientist who figures out the miracle pill And this pill gives him incredible powers for one hour And once and once the powers are done. He can't take another one for like 24 hours. I don't think So you gotta just drains you gotta You gotta budget your time as a superhero then, you know, it's like, well, I could get down there, but I may not be able to get back You know Checking your watch a lot A superhero like that, I would think of course if you're our man, you've got watches everywhere. Well, wait a minute gotta go See you I'll beat you guys up later Right now I must leave So the golden age of comics went in through the 1940s and um, and guess what it looks like Uh, we're actually uh nearing the end of the of the show today at least of our talk But we have a special segment that We'd like to move into a new segment since since at least one of us isn't going to be on most of the shows We decided to have a a new segment where you can see everybody because you know Somebody may miss one of the uh, one of one of the cast members here the three or four people actually watch the show And so it's a new segment. Let's take a look Up in the attic Let's take a look And here we go Right now Oh, welcome to the attic today. We're going to discuss the wonderful invention of the eight track tape And here I have a lovely eight track tape player to show you what a wonderful thing these were you like kind of shoved it in here And you got music most of the time So you want to hear another song it's like somewhere else on the tape you change channels Unfortunately, you're going to come in the middle of the song somewhere Unless of course you could wait out the really boring track to get to the good stuff People had these things in their cars People was like state of the art in like the 70s or something Another popular thing to do is to get one of these things to hook up four speakers that have quad Eight tracks were pretty cool. But if you played them like constantly and constantly they stretch and then you get these real Weird sounds coming out of it. That wasn't the music to pay for I don't think you can get these anywhere else anymore I know I haven't seen them for probably eight or nine years Play markets, maybe at a flea market I don't know if they'd be the excellent shape of these Anyway, that's the eight track tape About them and I think we're all kind of glad that it's gone now Bye-bye Oh, thanks a lot Marty Well, yeah, what would you say? I was I was just looking at that that's interesting. Um now eight Could you record actually record on eight tracks? There were some eight track recorders actually I think I had one at one point because I was wondering if that was like another one that's kind of You just can't do anything with it kind of like CDs I mean, they're wonderful to hear but you can't record them Oh, well, there we are Next time on vast wasteland Wilbur and Marty and they're going to be by themselves just talking about Toys the first of our potpourri episodes And we're going to get back to more of the dc history next time the the comic cycle rolls around Which is three episodes from now Because in between there also there's another another tv show So that's right. So if you're not totally confused yet, you will be So until next time we'll see you later. Good on everybody. Bye-bye