In this case, I have chosen the story, “Krypto’s Cat-Crook Capers!” from Superboy #132 (1966), for being truly offbeat, stupid or unusual, although I also give it credit for being true to the spirit of many of the stories that appeared in the Superman family of comic books during the latter part of the career of editor Mort Weisinger. He would have had a conference with the writer, usually discussing plots, and told him to write said story. From a viewpoint of 52 years after the story appeared, today’s award winner looks to me to be even more oddball than usual, and that can be saying a lot when it comes to Weisinger. As soon as I saw it I knew it was going to be honored today, and has the additional honor of being scanned from my personal copy of Superboy #132, which is from a stack of sixties DC comics I got from who-knows-where, who-knows-when. I had forgotten it until some archaeology in my basement produced the comic, and immediate shouts of “Voila!” and “We have our winner!” The story earns three-and-a-half turkeys.
It is written by Otto Binder, who also wrote the goofy “Rex King” story I showed yesterday. Otto, who wrote hundreds, and maybe thousands, of comic book scripts in his long career, had a sense of humor, and I believe he probably got a kick out of writing something like this. George Papp was the artist. As an additional treat, see the circulation figures for Superboy on the last page, which shows that as wacky as comics edited by Weisinger could be, they appealed to a lot of readers.
If you wish to see past Turkey Awards winners, just click on the thumbnail from the 2017 winner, and follow the links. By following them you will eventually end up in 2006.
3 comments:
Happy Thanksgiving Pappy, To me this is not a turkey but a wonderful treat. Thank you so much. Growing up I loved the "Legion of Superheroes" and Infantino's "Flash". I don't remember reading this one back then, but it has it all. Plotholes big enough to derail most sane people, the "Legion" refences, and artwork that is very '50-'60's DC"s house style. Just so fun! Enjoy the day, meal, and family!
Almost everyone has heard or read of the story of the person who couldn't tell whether he were a man who had dreamt of being a butterfly, or a butterfly who were dreaming of being a man. Well, I want to know how one tells the difference between a do who becomes a perfect imitation of a cat and a cat who becomes a perfect imitation of a dog.
Given that the effects of red kryptonite were generally supposed to be unpredictable, the cats would have been rolling the dice in feeding some to Krypto. They might have found themselves facing-off against a dog who had been changed in a manner that he would find useful albeït temporary.
Super-hero suspensions typically don't seem to be more than a loss of companionship. The hero continues as he would without the suspension. He actively works against the villains, and eventually overcomes them, and is then restored to full status before the expiration of the period of suspension. Sometimes the suspension comes with a loss of super-power, but still the hero overcomes the villains; the loss of power is almost invariably counter-productive. Of course, what underlies these stories is a fantasy of undoing a humiliation.
It's interesting how this has a very legion of super-heroes type feel to it. The endless parade of super-powered pets, the person getting turned down for the league (which always seemed pretty mean), all things that were signatures of the LOSH stories.
Don't get me involved with the red disks! What, the real suns aren't on their star maps? Did they approach the planet at just the right angle so the disks were always in view? This is a real turkey!
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