Despite the cumbersome name for the feature, “Professor Supermind and Son” is interesting in its filial relationship. Father and son, Professor Warren and Dan Warren, fight off the invaders of America, working in tandem by using a magic see-all television and an electrical charge to give Dan a jolt of super powers. In today’s story, they are able to detect and fight off a planned invasion by tunnel from the Azores to America.
I have a link below to a 2013 Pappy’s posting with the first two episodes from
Popular Comics #’s 60 and 61 (1941).
No artist and writer credited by the Grand Comics Database. The story is from Dell’s
Popular Comics #65 (1941). It has a cliffhanger ending, and I’ll leave you with my own cliffhanger: Will Pappy show the next episode? STAY TUNED!
Two of the earliest episodes of Supermind and Son. Just click on the thumbnail.
10 comments:
I don't get it. When exactly did National give up on prosecuting other flying strongmen? I mean I've heard the lawsuit against Captain Marvel went into the fifties and my understanding is you can't selectively enforce your copyrights:I believe it's an all-or-nothing kind of thing. What is it, the hair color? The lack of a cape? The green color scheme? The existence of a living parent? What is it?
*sigh* My father is such a disappointment.
Hi Pappy,
I tried working out some of the math behind this story. Boring west from the Azores would reach the U.S. somewhere near Norfolk, VA. The distance works out to 2748 miles. Minus the 50 miles they still had to dig, they'd been boring (at a mile an hour) for 112+ days.
Looking up the DRG Class E 94 electric locomotive, it would take a train 43+ days to travel from one end of the tunnel to the other. (Not the 2 days the German said.)
I couldn't find a way to calculate how many coaches it would take for 100000 troops, so I went with https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,2366356 and assumed 15 coaches for a single locomotive. That worked out to 111 consists.
Using the Ganter as a typical ship, it would take 49 of them to convey those trains to the Azores. (I didn't include the weight of the guns, tanks, etc.) The Ganter traveled at 11 knots, so the trip from Bordeaux to Ponta Delgada would take 112 days (so they departed about the same time the tunnel was started).
Looking forward to the exciting conclusion!
Thanks!
Guess who wrote a Supermind and Son story for InDELLiprose?
Darci, whew! That's incredible. Thanks for your research, and I'll take your word for it. Looking at the magnitude of the project, and owing for slowdowns due to flooding or collapses in the tunnel itself, not to mention trains breaking down or track being damaged, the invasion might not have been ready to go until the war was over.
Anonymous, I have wondered why DC/National Comics did not go after Supermouse, who had Superman's color scheme; but my guess is they didn't think it was worth suing over.
Unless some memoirs or old interviews of people who were there in the early '40s mentioning it comes out, we will probably not know what other publishers were threatened with lawsuits and dropped the characters rather than face DC's legal department.
Mad did "Superduperman" in Mad #4, but they were careful not to actually draw Superman or recognizable versions of Clark and Lois. I don't know if the idea of parody being fair use was known or thought of at the time. Years later when Mad was sued by the publisher of Irving Berlin's songs for using parodies of Berlin's lyrics, the court ruled that parody was not a violation of copyright.
Darkmark...well, lemme guess. You?
Hi Pappy,
I have to avoid writing an analysis like that when I'm tired. The trains took 43 hours, not days (so the German was correct). The ships took 112 hours, not days.
Thanks!
Darci, thanks for clearing that up. Were you reading your sources of information in German? Just wondering.
Ha! No, my German's not that good anymore.
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