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Friday, February 15, 2013

Number 1316: Pappy's tastes change, and oh, the Wonder of it all


As part of my ongoing growth as a Golden Age comic book fan, Wonder Comics #11 (1947) fits in. I bought it in 1978 (paid about $6.00 as I recall), and hated it. I bought it for the Graham Ingels cover, and noticed there was a Graham Ingels face on the girl (right side of the “Wonderman” double-page spread), but the rest of the comic seemed dopey to me; also goofy, silly, stupid...

But that was then and this is now, and I don’t even have to go back as far as 1978 for the change. It has happened recently, within the past couple of years, when I saw the things that formerly offended me now pleased me. I like Wonder Comics #11 for exactly the same reasons I hated it 34 years ago.

Personally, I now like a comic book where an outer space villain, Dr. Voodoo, wears a string tie. I like that another character looks like a smiley-face with a strangely shaped head. I like that the method of planet-hopping isn't by rocket ship, but by something called a “Vacuum Spiral.” Perhaps my change in tastes is that I am still evolving as a comic book reader — or, based on your opinions of my personal tastes, devolving.

I showed another oddball story from this issue in Pappy's #1090 in January, 2012, “Dick Devens of Futuria.”

Art by Bob Oksner.













1 comment:

Daniel [oeconomist.com] said...

Well, Wonderman rescued Carol, stole a ship, and destroyed the lauching bridge; but, at the end of the episode, Lilith, Dr Voodoo, and the Immortal Emperor were for the most part much better positioned than they expected to be when they first thought to go to Pluto!