Each week, the pop culture website Pop-A-Looza shares some posts from my vast 'n' captivating Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) archives. The latest shared post is a look back at my infatuation with classic superhero movie serials, "My Serial Thrillers."
I noticed recently that Amazon Prime offers Republic Pictures' 1942 Spy Smasher serial as part of its streaming service. Well...cool. Based on the then-popular Fawcett Comics superhero, Spy Smasher was considered one of the best of the comics-inspired serials. I saw the mid-'60s feature film condensation Spy Smasher Returns on Netflix some years back, and although I'm unlikely to carve out time to watch the whole thing now, I'm glad the option exists.
In the early '70s, when I was an adolescent and young teen studying the Golden Age of Comics of the '40s, Spy Smasher fascinated me. The interest formed as a tangent to my burgeoning mania for the original Captain Marvel, a character also published by Fawcett. In a previous post, I wrote about my discovery of Spy Smasher:
"Ah, Spy Smasher was a hero to me long before I ever had a chance to see him in any sort of adventure. Like [pulp hero] The Spider (but earlier in my timeline), my interest in Spy Smasher was ignited by the comics histories I was absorbing in the '70s. My first glimpse (and probably first awareness) of Spy Smasher was in the book All In Color For A Dime, and its full-color reproduction of the cover of Spy Smasher # 1 from 1941.I saw the book on the shelf at World Of Books in North Syracuse some time in the early '70s, flipped through its pages, and I was hooked on all of these heroes of the past.
"My interest in Spy Smasher was subsequently reinforced when I learned that--like his comrade the original Captain Marvel--he'd starred in his own movie serial in the '40s. More comics histories (especially the Steranko History Of The Comics books) continued to feed this interest. Other than his part in the 1976 JLA/JSA crossover (JLA # 135-137) and the reprint of his first appearance in DC's tabloid reproduction of Whiz Comics # 2, I didn't get to read an actual Spy Smasher comic book until years later, nor see his serial until decades later. But I was and remain a fan. It all started with All In Color For A Dime."
Fawcett's former rival DC Comics now owns both Captain Marvel and Spy Smasher. Nonetheless, a lot of their original 1940s comic book adventures have fallen into public domain, including the 1941 Captain Marvel Vs. Spy Smasher story, which I reprised here. And the cinematic serial adventures of those heroes, along with those starring Batman and Robin, Superman, The Green Hornet, Captain America, The Phantom, and Flash Gordon, are the subject of the latest Boppin' Pop-A-Looza.
TIP THE BLOGGER: CC's Tip Jar!
You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby!
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.
The many fine This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums are still available, each full of that rockin' pop sound you crave. A portion of all sales benefit our perpetually cash-strapped community radio project:
Volume 1: download
Volume 2: CD or download
Volume 3: download
Volume 4: CD or download
Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio: CD or download
Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1)will contain 165 essays about 165 tracks, each one of 'em THE greatest record ever made. An infinite number of records can each be the greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Updated initial information can be seen here: THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (Volume 1). My weekly Greatest Record Ever Made! video rants can be seen in my GREM! YouTube playlist. And I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl.
Another fun read, Carl. Republic! Republic! Republic! That studio was king of the serials, in my book, in large part due to the amazing Lydecker Brothers special effects. The first time I saw a Captain Marvel serial after years of watching poor flying sequences on the Adventures Of Superman (they gave up trying all together once they switched to filming in color,) I was completely blown away. Republic milked the Lydecker Brothers flying effects in future serials starring different iterations of Commando Cody, but they always worked. Like you, I treasure my dogeared copies of All In Color For A dime and the Steranko books. I will always look back fondly on these Chapter Plays, and no one did it better than Republic Studios. Columbia, Paramount, Universal et al, can't hold a candle to all of the great, action-packed Republic offerings. They were something special.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Yeah, I even prefer Republic's Captain Marvel to Universal's Flash Gordon. But I do have a soft spot for the Columbia Batman and Superman serials, too.
ReplyDelete