DC COMICS BEFORE THE CRISIS: Heroes Of Earth-One AND Earth-Two, Part 3 of 3

 

Concluding our three-part look back at DC Comics before the multiverse-ending Crisis On Infinite Earths, recalling Earth-Two heroes with identical Earth-One counterparts in the Silver and Bronze Ages. You can catch up with Part 1, then Part 2, and follow along now as we continue with some more heroes of two worlds.

THE SPECTRE

The Spectre was created by Superman's co-creator Jerry Siegel, and the Spectre was far, far and away the more physically powerful of the two. Given that the Spectre--the vengeful ghost of murdered police detective Jim Corrigan--has often been portrayed as a near-omnipotent figure, it's possible we should consider him a resident of the entire freakin' multiverse. Especially when the Spectre, like, grows to superplanetary size. Big guy, that Spectre.

But in the '40s, the Spectre was a founding member of the Justice Society of America. His 1960s solo series was presumed to be set on Earth-Two--a mention of the JSA in The Spectre # 3 confirmed that presumption--and even his first Brave And Bold co-starring guest spot commenced with the Earth-One Flash adventurin' on Earth-Two and deciding to pop in and visit his old buddy the Spectre while he was there. That's...an unusual bro combo. But yeah, the Spectre is considered an Earth-Two character.

I say there was also an Earth-One Spectre. I don't have an awful lot of evidence to support that claim. Most of the Spectre's subsequent Brave And Bold appearances with Batman are ruled irrelevant and inadmissible, given B & B writer Bob Haney's willful disregard for comic book continuity. Nor does the Spectre's 1970s series in Adventure Comics pin the Ghostly Guardian to any particular Earth; offhand comments by a couple of characters in one issue of Adventure implied common public knowledge that Clark Kent was Superman, which would rule out events taking place on either Earth-One or Earth-Two.

That said, Batman and the Spectre co-starred one more time, in 1983's The Brave And The Bold # 199, the next-to-last issue of that series. "The Body-Napping Of Jim Corrigan" wasn't Haney's work, but was instead written by Mike W. Barr, and it feels like it's set on Earth-One.

Slightly more conclusive evidence is offered by 1981's DC Comics Presents # 29, as the Spectre wrassles with Superman on the cosmic plane. One could counter that this issue supports the idea of the Spectre being a multiversal character not tied to a single Earth, and one would probably be right, I guess. But I dunno. I think DC Comics Presents # 29 and The Brave And The Bold # 199 show us the Earth-One Spectre. 

Hell, I'm even gonna move those Adventure Comics stories to Earth-One, too. They depict a Spectre more vicious and vengeful than he'd been since his earliest '40s strips; I think the Earth-Two Spectre moved past his original bloodthirstiness, while this Earth-One Spectre was still in his active eye-for-an-eye stage.

And the Clark Kent is Superman thing? Maybe an Earth-One tabloid suggested this preposterous notion that the Man of Steel was secretly a mild-manner reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper. Kinda like tabloid reports that Elvis Presley is alive and pumpin' gas in Tucson, or Debbie Gibson is pregnant with a two-headed love child.

Clark Kent? Superman..?!

Heh. As if!

STEEL THE INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN

Steel the Indestructible Man was a 1940s-set hero introduced in 1978, the star of his own title. The character was created by writer Gerry Conway and underrated artist Don Heck. Steel The Indestructible Man only lasted five issues before its cancellation, and I have no recollection if Steel's adventures were designated as occurring on Earth-One, Earth-Two, or an Earth to be named later. Earth-One appeared to be the default answer when Conway had Steel's grandson (also called Steel) join the Justice League in 1984. Roy Thomas also used Steel in All-Star Squadron, creating TWO default answers.

THE VIGILANTE

Modern-day masked cowboy hero the Vigilante was among DC's more resilient Golden Age back-up characters. Never a lead feature, Vig still had sufficient vigor to survive into the '50s, to star in his own movie serial, and to be a member of DC's second group of costumed crimebusters the Seven Soldiers of Victory.

In 1972, Justice League Of America # 100 established that the Seven Soldiers of Victory operated on Earth-Two. As a solo hero, the Vigilante's relative durability into the '50s meant he was around long enough for writer Steve Englehart to include Vig alongside other '50s heroes (like Blackhawk, Plastic Man, Robotman, Congo Bill, the Challengers of the Unknown, and Rex the Wonder Dog) in a flashback to the untold origin of the Justice League in 1977's JLA # 144.

But the Vigilante's presence on Earth-One was made canon well before that. In 1970, a two-part story in JLA # 78-79 showed the Vigilante fighting alongside the JLA. The Vigilante's latter-day solo stories in '70s issues of Adventure Comics and World's Finest Comics would seem to have occurred on Earth-One. 

The Earth-One Vigilante also had a nephew, Michael Carter, who protected the citizens of  Houston as the masked crimefighter Swashbuckler. Swashbuckler teamed with Batman to take on the Riddler in 1980's Detective Comics # 493.

WILDCAT

Wildcat was a backup to Wonder Woman's lead feature for the first 90 issues of Sensation Comics, 1940 to 1949. Wildcat was considered a member of the Justice Society, based on his two 1940s appearances with the JSA in All Star Comics. When the JSA was revived in the '60s, Wildcat became a frequent fixture in the annual JLA/JSA team-ups.

He also became a recurring team-up partner for Batman in The Brave And The Bold. Again, that wouldn't necessarily prove an Earth-One Wildcat, since we presume most of Bob Haney's B & B and other work for editor Murray Boltinoff took place on the out-of-continuity Earth-B (for Boltinoff.)

BUT...!

Wildcat also appeared with the Creeper (certainly an Earth-One guy) in 1975's Super-Team Family # 2. This story was written by Denny O'Neil, and while there's no reason to swear it's canon, there's also no overriding edict that it ain't. Book it. Earth-One Wildcat.

ZATARA

Wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles? No--TRADITION! The early days of comics built a tradition of crime-fightin' magicians, the vast majority of 'em patterned after/stolen from the successful newspaper comic strip Mandrake The Magician. Though that was the model, my experience with ol' Mandrake is limited, and I don't know if he actually had magic powers or if he was an extra-resourceful stage magician really, really good at gesturing hypnotically. 

Zatara debuted in Action Comics # 1 in 1939, a comic book I'm told has some important historical significance. John Zatara was a direct copy of Mandrake, adding the wrinkle of doin' that voodoo that he do so well via speaking his magical commands backward: YEH! Erongi taht Namrepus yug pu tnorf dna yap noitnetta ot EM, ref 'niyrc tuo duol! 

Zatara was not a star in the Golden Age, and his only specific labeling as an Earth-Two hero is in All-Star Squadron. His highest level of recognition is as the father of Zatanna. Zatanna was introduced in the '60s, as she enlisted members of the Justice League to help her find and rescue her missing papa. Zatanna later joined the JLA, and she and that version of her dad are recognized as Earth-One people.

That's our list of identical heroes who existed on both Earth-One and Earth-Two. As a tangent, here are a couple of Earth-Two characters who relocated to Earth-One:

THE BLACK CANARY

A clunky retcon in the '80s changed this one, but we should still mention Black Canary in the context of what had been canon until then. Black Canary (alias Dinah Drake) debuted in Flash Comics # 86 in 1947, introduced as a presumed bad-girl foe for Justice Society member Johnny Thunder and his Thunderbolt. She turned out to be an undercover hero, but she was still just evil enough to eventually take Johnny's place in the JSA.

Black Canary was a frequent participant in JLA/JSA team-ups in the '60s. In between her final Golden Age appearances and her return in the Silver Age, Black Canary married her 1940s love interest, Detective Larry Lance. During the course of the 1969 JLA/JSA crossover, Lance gave his life to save his beloved Dinah. Grief-stricken, Black Canary switched universes and became a member of the Justice League on Earth-One.

The '80s retcon claimed that the original Black Canary didn't make it to Earth-One, succumbing  to mortal injuries inflicted during the battle that killed her husband. Her now-adult daughter emerged from a cosmic coma, became the new Black Canary, and joined the JLA. The new Black Canary had no memory of her own early life, and believed she was, yes, her own mother.

Yechh.

THE RED TORNADO

There were Golden Age and Silver Age characters called the Red Tornado, and they definitely were not identical. The original Red Tornado was a tough, brawny matron named Ma Hunkel, who donned a costume to beat up various gangsters and nogoodniks who tried--and FAILED!--to terrorize Hunkel's poor but honest urban neighborhood. She was a supporting character in Sheldon Mayer's humor strip Scribbly, and she made a one-page appearance in All Star Comics # 3, the Justice Society's 1940 debut. The Scribbly and Red Tornado stories I've read were great comics. In the extremely unlikely event I ever had an opportunity to write the JSA's adventures, you can be damned sure the Golden Age Red Tornado would be included.

The Silver Age Red Tornado was introduced in 1968, a super-powered android originally implanted with false memory that he actually was Ma Hunkel, attempting to rejoin the Justice Society. This new Red Tornado was created by the sinister T.O. Morrow to destroy Earth-Two's JSA as a practice run for destroying Morrow's real enemies, the JLA over on Earth-One. Unfortunately for Morrow, Reddy don't play that, and he wound up joining the Society.

The newer Red Tornado was destroyed in the act of saving the universe in Justice League Of America # 102, the 1971 JLA/JSA event that revived the Seven Soldiers of Victory. His android form was subsequently reconstituted on Earth-One, and he joined the Justice League.

SARGON THE SORCERER

Among the legion of comic-book magicmakers, at least Sargon the Sorcerer--like Fawcett Comics' Ibis the Invincible--didn't copy Mandrake's look. Instead of a tuxedo, moustache, and top hat, Sargon and Ibis complemented their formal attire with turbans and clean-shaven faces. Ibis the Invincible wielded the power of his Ibistick, and Sargon had the magical Ruby of Life affixed to his chapeau. Ibis was (by far) the more successful of the two, supplementing his initial post as back-up to Captain Marvel in Whiz Comics with his own solo series. Sargon was only ever a back-up.

Sargon was revived in the late '60s as an antagonist for the Earth-One Flash, and he later helped the JLA battle Starbreaker in the early '70s.

Other than a 1944 cover appearance on The Big All-American Comic Book alongside JSA members the Atom, the Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Johnny Thunder, Wildcat, and Wonder Woman, nothing originally connected Sargon the Sorcerer to Earth-Two in particular (beyond the presumption that all DC characters of the '40s were probably on Earth-Two). All-Star Squadron made that canon.

And apparently, at some point in some Silver or Bronze Age comic book, Sargon himself said something to the effect that he had moved from Earth-Two to Earth-One. 

Because c'mon: Who needs two Sargons, right?

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POP-A-LOOZA: THE EVERLASTING FIRST: The Red Tornado

 

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 first exposure to a comic book character called the Red Tornado.

The 1940s version of the Red Tornado appears in my fanciful notion of an imaginary Justice Society of America movie, and that swell bunch of guys the JSA were part of my extended history of DC 100-Page Super Spectaculars. Going back a little further, my memories of reading comic books and listening to pop music while (in theory) growing up in the '60s are related in Singers, Superheroes, And Songs On The Radio: My Life In Pop Culture: The 1960s.

But today we focus on just one superhero, or rather two superheroes who shared a name and little else. The Red Tornados are the subject of the latest Boppin' Pop-A-Looza.

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JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA: The Movie (a random notion)

Some years back, I had a vague notion of a major motion picture starring comics' original super-team The Justice Society of America. It was just a series of passing fancies, not something I would have wasted time trying to plot out or conceptualize to any degree. If someone ever attempts to make a JSA movie, there is no plausible chance that I would have any involvement whatsoever. (I mean, y'know, beyond buying a ticket.)

But back to the fantasy. My ideal JSA movie would be set around 1940 or so, prior to America's official entry into World War II, but with much of the rest of the world already engulfed in that conflagration overseas. The villains would be Axis, because I like adventure stories that involve punching Nazis.



Practical considerations (a factor even in fantasy) would preclude the use of characters like Superman, Batman, or Wonder Woman, plus the original Captain Marvel. We would probably steer clear of some Golden Age characters that share a name with modern heroes--specifically The Flash and Green Lantern--but would be free to use Hawkman or The Atom if we wish.

My vision of this story is slightly more down-to-earth, so I wouldn't really want to use the most powerful characters. I might or might not want to use Hawkman, but I would use the 1940s Atom, who was a short guy with a penchant for fightin' but no super powers.



My most integral JSA member is an unlikely one: Ma Hunkel, The Red Tornado (often derisively nicknamed "The Red Tomato"). Yeah, I know she was just comic relief (a brawny homemaker who put on an ad hoc costume to bop bad guys in her working class urban neighborhood), and that she wasn't really a member of the Society anyway.  But Ma Hunkel is essential to me, more so than any other character we could use; I just like the idea of a headstrong, stubborn Jewish tenement scrapper takin' on Adolf's boys and unceremoniously kicking their collective ass. Repeatedly.

(Brief aside: I've written elsewhere of my introduction to The Red Tornado, and it's worth repeating this passage describing what I would do if I were given a chance to write a Justice League/Justice Society crossover: "Although Ma Hunkel never appeared in any of the old JLA/JSA meetings, I would have definitely wanted to include her if I'd had an opportunity to write such a story. I picture a scene of a group of non-powered JLA and JSA members, huddled in hiding while surveying an enemy army, Batman urging caution as he comes up with a plan of attack, only to see ol' Red Tomato break ranks and dive-bomb headfirst into battle. Green Arrow joins the fight, saying 'I like this dame!,' and Wildcat replying, 'Told ya so!'" Yeah, that's the Red Tornado I wanna see in a JSA movie.)



Hey, speaking of Wildcat, he would also be an essential JSA member for this film. Another scrapper--specifically a champion heavyweight boxer--I see Ted "Wildcat" Grant as a character connected to his own working class upbringing, possibly from the same general neighborhood as Ma Hunkel. We may as well call it Suicide Slum, and potentially bring in Simon & Kirby's hero The Guardian and his kid gang The Newsboy Legion.




I would also ignore comics chronology and bring in The Black Canary as a founding JSA member, the blind hero Dr. Mid-Nite, and possibly The Vigilante, too. Ol' Vig was never in the JSA--he was in The Seven Soldiers Of Victory and The All-Star Squadron--but the idea of a singing radio cowboy by day/masked crimefighter by night is irresistible to me, and it carries out my long-standing belief that any adventure story can be improved instantly just by adding a cowboy. 



So: The Red Tornado, The Atom, Wildcat, Black Canary, and maybe Dr. Mid-Nite, The Vigilante, or The Sandman (DC's answer to The Green Hornet). Or maybe wealthy overachiever Mr. Terrific, to ultimately fund our fledgling supergroup, former Fawcett Comics hero Spy Smasher to help combat the Fifth Columnists, and/or Air Wave to rally the public via radio. Let's add Hourman and Starman (two heroes enhanced by science, the former with chemically-induced strength and the latter with hi-tech weaponry), and reserve some real cosmic heavy-hitter for the film's climax. Either the dormant ancient Egyptian power of Hawkman or the mystic might of Dr. Fate could be inadvertently resurrected by the Nazis as their evil plan literally blows up in their goose-stepping kissers. And a Society of Justice is formed to defend America and fight for justice. A swell bunch of guys and gals!





I could also see bringing in folks like the aviator Blackhawk or Green Lantern's cabbie buddy Doiby Dickles as supporting characters. I’m tempted to include the JSA’s comic relief member Johnny Thunder, but his magic genie Thunderbolt would feel out of place, so best to skip Mr. Thunder entirely. Potential sequels could have any Golden Age DC/Fawcett/Quality hero we want, from Midnight to Liberty Belle to Bulletman and Bulletgirl to Merry, Girl of 1000 Gimmicks. And Ibis the Invincible. I’d love to bring Captain Marvel and the power of SHAZAM into the mix, but even flights of fancy require some slight tether to the real world.

And yeah: no script, no plot, no outline here, no grand idea of a superhero movie that needs to be made. And it's not the Justice Society of the comics, so purists would cry foul. It's just a notion, and an ill-defined one at that.

But wouldn’t it be cool? Keep 'em flying, JSA!



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Fans of pop music will want to check out Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, a new pop compilation benefiting SPARK! Syracuse, the home of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl. TIR'N'RR Allstars--Steve Stoeckel, Bruce Gordon, Joel Tinnel, Stacy Carson, Eytan Mirsky, Teresa Cowles, Dan Pavelich, Irene Peña, Keith Klingensmith, and Rich Firestone--offer a fantastic new version of The Kinks' classic "Waterloo Sunset." That's supplemented by eleven more tracks (plus a hidden bonus track), including previously-unreleased gems from The Click Beetles, Eytan Mirsky, Pop Co-Op, Irene Peña, Michael Slawter (covering The Posies), and The Anderson Council (covering XTC), a new remix of "Infinite Soul" by The Grip Weeds, and familiar TIRnRR Fave Raves by Vegas With Randolph, Gretchen's Wheel, The Armoires, and Pacific Soul Ltd. Oh, and that mystery bonus track? It's exquisite. You need this. You're buying it from Futureman.

(And you can still get our 2017 compilation This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4, on CD from Kool Kat Musik and as a download from Futureman Records.)

Hey, Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) will contain 100 essays (and then some) about 100 tracks, plus two bonus instrumentals, 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).

THE EVERLASTING FIRST: The Red Tornado

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.

In 1968, the world seemed like it could shatter. Assassinations and protests, an increasingly unpopular war, conflicts between races and generations, and a general feeling of unease and ugliness permeated the year. I was eight years old. I was oblivious to much of what was happening, but even I could tell that things weren't quite right in the world.

This was not necessarily reflected much, if at all, in the comic books I read.

Comic books were safe, stable. Even within the occasional soap opera mishigas of Marvel Comics, justice could be expected to triumph. This was even more true in the relatively staid and conservative world of DC Comics, the home of familiar, comforting do-gooders like Superman, Batman, and The Justice League of America. In the pages of a comic book, an eight-year-old could be in his heaven, and all could be right with the world. Even in 1968.



In comics, one symbol of stability was the annual two-part crossover of the JLA and their parallel Earth counterparts The Justice Society of America, the original super-team from the 1940s. The first issue of JLA I remember seeing was the second part of the 1966 JLA/JSA team-up, though it remained on the spinner rack unpurchased (I bought an issue of Batman instead). Just shy of a year later, my first issue of JLA was part one of the '67 crossover, cover-featuring an adult Robin taking his older mentor Batman's place in the Justice Society. I was hooked, and dutifully (and gleefully!) purchased part two the next month. A cumulative twenty-four cents well spent.

By the time the summer of '67 became the summer of '68, I'd somehow figured out that these team-ups were an annual occurrence, and I was right primed for the 1968 two-parter while on vacation in Missouri. Justice League Of America # 64 only featured the JSA, with only Hourman returning from the '67 team-up. I sort of knew Starman and Black Canary from seeing house ads for their co-starring appearances in The Brave And The Bold, and I remembered Dr. Fate from the cover of that JLA/JSA comic book I didn't buy in 1966. This may have been my introduction to The Flash of the JSA's Earth (Earth-Two), but I immediately dug his costume, with its helmet inspired by the Roman god Mercury.



That left one more new character: The Red Tornado. Over the course of these annual JLA/JSA crossovers from 1963 though '67, writer Gardner Fox had reintroduced all of the original JSA members except the Earth-Two Batman and Superman, both of whom had been reserve members of the team in the '40s; Batman had been represented by the above-mentioned adult Robin in '67, and the original Superman would finally reappear in 1969. The original Red Tornado--nicknamed  "The Red Tomato," in reality a muscular housewife named Ma Hunkel, who donned costume to beat on neighborhood nogoodniks in Sheldon Mayer's comedy strip Scribbly--hadn't ever been a member of the JSA, nor even a reserve member; she'd stumbled into a one-page cameo in the Justice Society's first meeting in 1940's All Star Comics # 3, and was never referenced in that context again.



Although Fox and editor Julie Schwartz weren't averse to using goofball JSA member Johnny Thunder for comic relief, they plainly had no interest in reviving Ma Hunkel (whom Starman recalled as "all brawn and no brain" in the '68 story). Like ol' Ma Hunkel, this new Red Tornado barged into a JSA meeting uninvited, but that and the name were the only things our two Tornadoes had in common.



Unlike the tough street fighter Ma Hunkel, the 1968 model Red Tornado had super powers, basically the ability to create powerful whirlwinds of force. The new Tornado believed himself to be the original Red Tornado from the '40s, but he wasn't; he was an android, created by the evil T. O. Morrow to infiltrate and help destroy the Justice Society, all as part of Morrow's scheme to kill his real arch-enemies, the Justice League. Morrow didn't even bother to give The Red Tornado a face; there were no eyes, nose, mouth, ears, nor any features at all beneath the mask of The Red Tornado. Nonetheless, The Red Tornado refused to be Morrow's pawn, and instead helped our heroes defeat the villain. The Red Tornado joined the JSA, and later migrated to Earth-One to join the JLA. He perished saving both Earths in the climax of my favorite JLA/JSA crossover, Justice League Of America # 100-102 in 1971. He was resurrected again within a few years.



The Red Tornado's 1968 debut roughly coincided with Marvel Comics' introduction of The Vision in the super-team book The Avengers. These two characters had notable similarities. Both were androids, created by sinister masterminds (Ultron in The Vision's case) as weapons against the good guys, and both rebelled against their evil overloads and went on to join the teams they were supposed to snuff. Both, incidentally, were also Silver Age remake/remodels of lesser-known '40s characters. Even visually, both had red faces and wore collared capes. Mere coincidence? Yeah, almost certainly. But remarkable coincidences just the same.



I liked the new 'n' (supposedly) improved Red Tornado at the time, but looking back, I've come to prefer original Red Tornado Ma Hunkel to her android counterpart. For one thing, those Scribbly And The Red Tornado strips that Sheldon Mayer did for All-American Comics in the '40s were a hoot, energetic stuff just loaded with sheer personality, more interesting to me than the modern-day miasma of a square-peg android wishing he could fit in. Great, a superhero from the island of misfit toys. I first read a teasing sample of Mayer's Red Tornado in the '70s, in DC's oversized reprint of the JSA's first appearance. I later read a few months' worth of Scribbly And The Red Tornado stories when they were reprinted in the hardcover book A Smithsonian Collection Of Comic-Book Comics. I would love to read the entire series. Writer Geoff Johns finally brought Ma Hunkel back in the pages of JSA around 2004.


(Although Ma Hunkel never appeared in any of the old JLA/JSA meetings, I would have definitely wanted to include her if I'd had an opportunity to write such a story. I picture a scene of a group of non-powered JLA and JSA members, huddled in hiding while surveying an enemy army, Batman urging caution as he comes up with a plan of attack, only to see ol' Red Tomato break ranks and dive-bomb headfirst into battle. Green Arrow joins the fight, saying "I like this dame!," and Wildcat replying, "Told ya so!")


In 1968, the world was in a fragile state, a state of frightening change. There were even changes in the comics, changes too subtle for a clueless eight-year-old to discern. Justice League Of America # 63, the issue before "The Stormy Return Of The Red Tornado!," had been the final issue of JLA penciled by Mike Sekowsky. Sekowsky had been the League's regular penciler since the team's debut in The Brave And The Bold in 1960, but he was now moving on to other projects (including Wonder Woman). His replacement Dick Dillin debuted with The Red Tornado's debut, and remained at the job until his death in 1980.

The Red Tornado two-parter was the JLA finale for Gardner Fox. Fox had created the Justice Society in 1940, and the JLA in 1960, and he'd been the only writer the League ever had. Until he wasn't anymore. In 1968, DC wanted fresh blood, younger blood, to help it compete with those pesky upstarts at Marvel Comics. Thank you for your service, Fox; you know the way out. The winds of change were approaching storm velocity. Batten down the hatches, heroes; it's gonna be a rough one out there.

WHEN THE EVERLASTING FIRST RETURNS: R is for

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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.