THE EVERLASTING FIRST: Quick Takes For T [comics edition]

Continuing a look back at my first exposure to a number of rock 'n' roll acts and superheroes (or other denizens of print or periodical publication), some of which were passing fancies, and some of which I went on to kinda like. They say you never forget your first time; that may be true, but it's the subsequent visits--the second time, the fourth time, the twentieth time, the hundredth time--that define our relationships with the things we cherish. Ultimately, the first meeting is less important than what comes after that. But every story still needs to begin with that first kiss.

THE TEEN TITANS

Robin the Boy Wonder! Wonder Girl! Kid Flash! Aqualad! I was six years old in 1966, and I I was certainly a fan of ol' Robin from his heroic appearances on my favorite TV show Batman. The others were unfamiliar to me prior to my introduction to DC Comics' junior superhero group The Teen Titans. I didn't even really know Wonder Woman or The Flash yet, and I first encountered Aquaman around the same time as my first issue of Teen Titans. That would have been Teen Titans # 6, cover-dated November-December 1966.

But I for damned sure knew Robin. Batman and Robin! I think I saw a house ad for Teen Titans # 1 before ever noticing the Titans on the spinner rack. I was absolutely fascinated by DC's house ads during this era, colorful come-ons that teased and enticed with glimpses of everything from Batman and Superman to Starman and Black Canary, Dial H For HERO, The Spectre, Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis, and Scooter. I don't remember whether or not I ever owned a copy of Teen Titans # 1; I think maybe I did buy it as a back issue in the '70s, but if so, it's long gone now. Either way, though, its cover captivated my young mind, and I wanted it.

In this time frame, my parents frequently allowed me to pluck a comic book of my choice from the rack at Sweetheart Corner, a grocery store in North Syracuse. That's how Teen Titans # 6 came into my possession. Robin was on the cover! Of course. 

And I loved it. This issue guest-starred Beast Boy from The Doom Patrol; my only previous exposure to The Doom Patrol was another irresistible house ad, depicting a team-up of the Doomsters and that Scarlet Speedster, The Flash. My next Teen Titans was # 11 (September-October 1967), which guest-starred The Green Arrow's sidekick Speedy (and opened with a scene revealing the Titans' bulletin board, featuring pinned letters from Earth-One's version of President Lyndon Johnson and that other Fab Four, The Beatles).

Seeing Speedy with the Titans prepared me for the team's TV debut in the fall of '67, as The Teen Titans became one of the rotating guest features on the new Saturday morning cartoon series The Superman-Aquaman Hour Of Adventure. This show aired on CBS, but the Boy Wonder was still contractually obligated to appear with his caped crusadin' mentor over on ABC, thus elevating Speedy to full Titandom, at least on Saturday mornings.

I bought Teen Titans comics when I could. Writer Bob Haney's willful abuse of the English language in pursuit of his outta-touch idea of hip teenspeak can be kinda painful to read now, but I was all in as a young'un. The art by Nick Cardy was terrific, and would become even better as the series continued. Cardy may be my all-time favorite comics artist, and I first encountered his work in Aquaman and Teen Titans. 

(Even beyond his overall skill as a draftsman and visual storyteller, Cardy drew some of the prettiest girls in comics, including Wonder Girl and early '70s Titans addition Lilith.)

DC's Teen Titans comic book lasted 43 issues, succumbing to cancellation at the end of '72. It was brought back for another ten issues in the late '70s, but the latter series was not my cuppa. In the early '80s, writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Perez managed a popular and critically-acclaimed revival as The New Teen Titans, and that series (which also brought back Beast Boy, renamed Changeling) made the Titans into A-listers from that point forward.

The New Teen Titans was a great book, and it was key to getting me back into comics after I graduated college. The six-year-old superhero fan from 1966 had grown up...but I resisted growing up too much.

THOR

1966 was a big year for me and my superheroes. I liked superheroes before actors Adam West and Burt Ward donned capes and masks to bop the bad guys as TV's Batman and Robin, but it was certainly Batman that knocked that interest into overdrive. My previous affection for Superman comic books grew into a full-blown obsession with all sorts of superdoers patrolling the spinner racks and magazine shelves. I discovered Marvel Comics in there somewhere, starting with Sub-Mariner and The Incredible Hulk in Tales To Astonish. 

I first encountered The Mighty Thor in the pages of The Avengers # 13, the same time and place where I first met Captain America, Iron Man, Giant-Man, and The Wasp. We were vacationing at my grandparents' house in Missouri, and my sister Denise and cousin Cheryl came back from a walk with that comic book in hand. It was an old comic book, published at the end of '64 (postdated February '65, as comics were wont to do), probably coverless. Okay by me. Any book you ain't read is a new book.  

This book was so important to me, and I read it and re-read it many, many times. I have no idea of when I next saw the mighty God of Thunder in a comic book--by the time I got another issue of The Avengers, Thor was no longer an Avenger--but even the one appearance was sufficient to instill wonder and awe in this six-year-old. And if I didn't see Thor in the funny pages, I could see him on TV; Thor joined Captain America, Iron Man, Sub-Mariner, and The Hulk as one of the rotating stars of The Marvel Super-Heroes, a series of (barely) animated short cartoons that aired weekday afternoons, beginning in September of '66. The year of the superhero!

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS

My introduction to T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents was most definitely second-hand. If there were issues of Tower Comics' 25-cent giant T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents on the rack at Sweetheart, I missed 'em, and I didn't get around to seeing any of them (and their sublime Wally Wood artwork) until snagging a couple of back issues in the '70s. No, instead I saw two parodies first. The second of the two was from Marvel Comics, as seen in the humor book Not Brand Echh. I didn't come aboard the Brechh train until its fourth issue, so I missed seeing NBE # 2's cracked-mirror version of Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. facing Dynamo and NoMan of The T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents (that would be Knock Furious, Agent of S.H.E.E.S.H. facing Dynaschmoe and Invisible Man of The Blunder Agents). But I did see it when it was reprinted in Not Brand Echh # 10--"The Worst Of Not Brand Echh"--in the summer of '68. I have all of the Not Brand Echhs in a hardcover collection now.

My first vicarious exposure to T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents was in a DC Comics humor title: the bad guys in H.U.R.R.I.C.A.N.E., as seen in DC's The Inferior Five # 1 in 1967. We covered that in a previous Everlasting First. I wish there were a hardcover Inferior Five collection I could buy now.

THE TWILIGHT ZONE

The classic TV anthology series The Twilight Zone ended in 1964, so four-year-old me should have had no business watching it. Maybe it was still in reruns a little after that? Not that I would have been any braver to face the show at six or seven years old. I remember that creepy opening, and I remember the show scared the livin' chicklets outta me. Ooh! I particularly remember one episode where a mystic scarab or something caused some poor geezer to crumble into dust before my terrified eyes. Brrr! This never happened on Batman. Robin! ROBIN! Save me, Boy Wonder!

Or, y'know, you could send Wonder Girl to save me. That would be fine, too.

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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

POP-A-LOOZA! Not Brand Echh

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 my look back at a 1960s Marvel Comics superhero comedy title called Not Brand Echh.

When I was a kid in the '60s, comic books like Not Brand Echh and DC's The Inferior Five were essential components in the development of my sense of humor. The same could be said of magazines like Mad and CARtoons (both of which were comic books trying to assimilate), of newspaper comic strips, and of TV sitcoms, Bugs Bunny cartoons, and Three Stooges shorts. As I theoretically grew into adolescence and teendom in the '70s, these early influences never left me. They were joined by my embrace and appreciation of The Marx Brothers, Charlie Chaplin, Lenny Bruce, Woody Allen, Johnny Carson, the film What's Up, Doc?, Mel Brooks, a zillion stand-up comics on TV, reprints of fantastic Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck comic book stories by Carl Barks, and renewed enthusiasm for two things I'd enjoyed in the previous decade: The Monkees on TV, and The Beatles in A Hard Day's Night. One-liners, gags, banter, wit, sarcasm, slapstick, farce, puns, parody, and (one presumes) the occasional fart joke. Laugh! Laugh, already!

No, I'm NOT going to pull your finger.

What did a sense of humor ever get me? Well, I'd be lying if I said it never got me into trouble, or even into fistfights (wherein I usually got my ass kicked). But as I tried to express myself in some kind of creative fashion, the grand pursuit of titters and guffaws occasionally paid off, at least in modest terms. In fourth grade, I didn't have a part in the class play, but I ad-libbed a comic role from the sidelines during rehearsals; the positive reaction from my peers was sufficient for the teachers to insert my improv character into the performance. Acting! 

In high school, I started writing humor pieces for the school's literary magazine. I remember a classmate approaching me after reading one of my published laugh-riots and saying, "Carl, you're a really funny writer. Um...how come you're not funny in real life?" Ouch...but accurate. My attempts at verbal humor generally yielded rolled eyes and scornful glances; on paper, with all pratfalls premeditated, I was a king of comedy. 

And I got a little better at the in-person bit. Not better enough to pursue any notion of formal performance--I was absolutely never that good--but enough to occasionally be amusing in casual conversation. Ya gotta be quick! That was my credo. A fast-paced approach to banter can make things seem funnier than they are. And, over time, the practice of learning to think fast improves your material. 

In college, I remember one day when I could see a girl's interest in me grow as my quick bam-bam-bam string of nonsense made her giggle and insist that I should be a stand-up comedian. On an earlier occasion, a different girl incongruously found my impression of Jerry Lewis as a punch-drunk boxer so hilarious that it apparently made me physically irresistible. I guess you could consider that the first time I was paid for being funny. Sort of.

You're funny. Kiss me!

From about the age of 13 or so, I knew I wanted to be a writer. Most of my attempts to get paid for writing were of a more somber--or at least non-comedic--nature, and none of them sold. I began some successful freelancing as a writer of nonfiction in 1984. In 2019, I made my first-ever fiction sale, and it was a full-on comedy short story called "Guitars Vs. Rayguns." I'm toying with the idea of doing more.

Today's discussion wanders far afield from our original topic of a willfully silly Marvel comic book called Not Brand Echh. But it's important to be aware of our influences, of the effect the things we enjoy has upon the formation of who we think we want to be. As a kid, I wanted to be accepted. I wanted to create something that would engage my peers and the public at large. The comic books I read were part of that. The story of my love of Not Brand Echh provides 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.

100-Page FAKES! presents: Marvel Feature # 1 with THE DEFENDERS

100-Page FAKES! imagines mid-1970s DC 100-Page Super Spectaculars that never were...but should have been!



As we go back to 1971, let me make this perfectly clear: I loved reading the debut appearance of The Defenders. I was 11, and it was the first time I was ever in on the ground floor of a new Marvel Comics superteam.

In memory of Stan Lee, Marvel Week continues with this 100-Page FAKES! edition of Marvel Feature # 1, supplementing the original comic book's then-new Defenders and Dr. Strange stories (the latter with beautiful artwork by underrated penciller Don Heck inked by Frank Giacoia) and its '50s Sub-Mariner reprint with two bonuses: Stan Lee and John Buscema's epic Silver Surfer origin from 1968, and a Hulk parody from the pages of Not Brand Echh. A lovely Hulk pinup by Jack Kirby completes the package.

The Defenders in "The Day Of The Defenders!," Marvel Feature # 1 (December 1971)
"The Sub-Mariner And The Icebergs," Sub-Mariner # 40 (June 1955)
The Silver Surfer in "The Origin Of The Silver Surfer!," Silver Surfer # 1 (August 1968)
The Inedible Bulk In "The Origin Of Brucie Banter...And Friend," Not Brand Echh # 3 (October 1967)
Dr. Strange in "The Return!," Marvel Feature # 1 (December 1971)

Everything is copyright Marvel Entertainment, and can only be shown here in representative sample pages; I share the whole book with my patrons. Hey! Except for that Hulk pinup, we haven't shown any Kirby work yet. We'll give you at least one Kirby story when Marvel Week concludes tomorrow.

TIP THE BLOGGER: CC's Tip Jar!

You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby! 

Our new compilation CD This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4 is now available from Kool Kat Musik! 29 tracks of irresistible rockin' pop, starring Pop Co-Op, Ray Paul, Circe Link & Christian Nesmith, Vegas With Randolph Featuring Lannie Flowers, The Slapbacks, P. Hux, Irene Peña, Michael Oliver & the Sacred Band Featuring Dave Merritt, The Rubinoos, Stepford Knives, The Grip Weeds, Popdudes, Ronnie Dark, The Flashcubes,Chris von Sneidern, The Bottle Kids, 1.4.5., The Smithereens, Paul Collins' Beat, The Hit Squad, The Rulers, The Legal Matters, Maura & the Bright Lights, Lisa Mychols, and Mr. Encrypto & the Cyphers. You gotta have it, so order it here. A digital download version (minus The Smithereens' track) is also available from Futureman Records.











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