Friday, October 25, 2013

Superman, You Stingy, Self-Seeking, Money-Mad Miser!

Oy!  This week was a bit more action-packed than I would have thought, but that's no reason to ignore Action Comics #176:


Did you know that Superman used to work for Halliburton?

Yeah, I know... not very timely, but I stand by it.

Meanwhile:



Oh, Lois... we all know that Superman plus a million bucks is making your ovaries explode.  You're not kidding anyone... you've never wanted him more.

Although I think her use of the term "miser" is what really has her in a snit.  It's not that Supes is bringing home some cheddar, it's that he isn't spending it on Lois that's the real problem.

Check out this plot from the Congo Bill feature...


The first thing I thought was, of course, Old Yeller.  But this comic came out a solid 4 years before the movie.  And, just so you'll know how incredibly thorough I am, the Old Yeller book upon which the movie was based came out 3 years after this ish of Action Comics.

Was Fred Gipson, author of the Old Yeller book, inspired by something he read in Action Comics?  It's entirely possible, because Action has always been a popular title.  You just never know.

Hmmmm....

See you Monday!  

9 comments:

Yael said...

So, I'm not that well-versed in American culture, but from what I've heard of Old Yeller, it's that story about how important it is to vaccinate your pets, yeah?

(Okay, okay, I'm sorry. It's not fair to make fun of a movie I haven't seen, especially if it might have been made before rabies vaccines became commonplace.)

(Hey, cool anecdote: Did you know that rabies is the only disease we know with a practically 100% mortality rate? [Once it's past the incubation period, which is why you can still treat someone who's been in contact with a rabid animal.] Even with Ebola, there's some chance of recovery. But not rabies. Once these little bastards start working, you will die. Vaccinate your pets, people!)

MarvelX42 said...

A small thing, but you said that this was Action Comics #174 when in fact it is Action Comics #176.

Adam Barnett said...

Whoops! Thanks, Marv! Fixed!

Yael, some people found the humans in Old Yeller annoying to the point of needing a serious beating, but yes... this is something that could have been easily resolved with vaccinations, but I'm not 100% convinced they were readily available back in the day. What made Old Yeller so heartbreaking (SPOILER ALERT) is that Old Yeller was protecting his humans when he was afflicted, and one of those same humans had to put him down. It's gut-wrenching to watch.

MarvelX42 said...

I just noticed that there is a huge bag of money sitting there. Was Superman carrying around a huge bag of money? Does the oil man just have large sacks of cash laying around his oil fields? I really don't understand the entire premise in the first place. If Superman wanted money he could have just crushed coal into diamonds or used x-ray vision to find gold or other precious minerals underground and dug them up at superspeed. He could have traveled back in time and bought stock. He could have done a marathon. He could have done millions of things to get money very quickly. The entire premise....I just don't get it.

MarvelX42 said...

I meant to say he could have done a telethon not a marathon. BTW, were there even telethons back when this comic was published?

Adam Barnett said...

Well, Supes didn't want to do the coal into diamonds thing because it would have created an overabundance of diamonds, making them worthless. The rest of it... well, there was a method to his madness, but I don't want to spoil the story.

MarvelX42 said...

Yeah, like I will ever be able to get my hands on a sixty year old Superman comic. I am pretty sure after a half century or so the whole "spoiler alert" thing has worn off.

Adam Barnett said...

SPOILER ALERT! Well, Supes was hiring himself out thinking that a criminal he was trying to flush out of hiding would hire him to keep him occupied. Said criminal did so by hiring Supes to be bodyguard. The crook then felt safe enough to make a move at which point Supes busted him.

MarvelX42 said...

Thanks brah. I think I remember Supes being a criminals bodyguard in several different storys for various reasons. Guess over that longa run some ideas will get recycled.