Brave and the Bold

While Batman was helping Superman in Worlds Finest he was also moonlighting by helping others by fighting crime in Brave and the Bold. Like Worlds Finest the early issues were an anthology to showcase the lesser characters that DC published like Viking Prince, Shining Knight, Robin Hood etc. Eventually they started showcasing more major heroes in the book and was the first book to show the Justice League of America and the Teen Titans. Thus the book made two contributions to the comic book pop culture early on. With issue #50 the book did its first traditional team-up with Green Arrow teaming up with the Manhunter from Mars. After that the series would team up heroes more frequently. However, they needed a heavy hitter to be there every month. Eventually they team-up Batman with other DC stars but then were back to random team-ups for a couple of months. Then with issue #74 Batman was the regular star of the series. It was a fun series to read and I was never disappointed with any story. However, I always wondered why Batman. They teamed-up Flash with a few early on so I think he would have been just as well. Superman didn’t have a team up book at the time so why pass him over? Others who I don’t think they owned at the time, Captain Marvel, Plastic-Man and the Spirit, would make great stars of team-up books today.
The book was canceled with its 200th issue. It was replaced by Batman and the Outsiders. From time to time DC has kept the name of the series alive by having brought it back to random team-ups of current DC heroes. They even used it as a min-series to show the early adventures of the Flash and Green Lantern.
Recently they have brought Brave and the Bold back again with more random team-ups. Another that Marvel also brought back recently in the same way is Marvel Team-up with we will talk about later. I hope it works. If it doesn’t the day of the team-up book may be passed.

caption contest

Ok if you can come up with a funny caption for this photo and post it on your site let me know and I will post a link to your site here.

World's Finest

This week is team up week here at On My Mind. Five days of Team up books. The first of these would have to be World’s Finest. It started out as a special issue as the New York World’s Fair Comics in 1939 with Superman as the star. A year later it was released again in 1940 with Superman and Batman but in separate stories. It was made a regular series and early on had various titles like World’s Best. Soon it settled on World’s Finest and an anthology series was born. Yes it was an anthology series. It had various characters and its stars were Superman and Batman together. However, they were in different stories. The series ran for the entire 40’s and a few years in the 50’s before they hit on the winning combo of Superman and Batman. Actually it was Superman, Batman and Robin. If you only bought books for the characters this was a winning deal. It was 3 for the price of one. Now the timing of this was great. Batman started out as the dark avenger of the night. He even shot people in his early days but then took a vow to not do that again or even carry a gun. He did violate that vow once in the 1960’s but to my knowledge has not done it since. Anyway by the 1950’s the comic book industry was under fire from the government as being bad for kids. So Batman was softened up and by 1952 his demeanor was much like that of Superman. They became fast friends and even shared in keeping each others secret identity after they accidentally found them out. Over time a fourth character was added into the mix from time to time. After all Batman had Robin helping him so sometimes Jimmy Olsen would come to help Superman. The 1960’s is the era that I am most familiar with. It was probably boosted by the popularity of the Batman series and reruns of the Superman series. They did a lot of “imaginary” stories with the most memorable being the Kent’s adopting both young Clark and later a young Bruce Wayne. They were raised together as brothers. At first Superboy thinks that the new Batboy who is in town is a super villain and tries to stop him. Soon he realizes that he isn’t the villain and discovers who he is. They team up to become a crime fighting team. In another story, to show that comic books were still fighting WWII in the 60’s they team up to fight a Nazi who was still running a concentration camp. For a time there were even stories of there super sons fighting crime. At the time these were not called imaginary stories but I have considered them that. It was probably the first time anyone had seen the art of Neal Adams and I loved the stories that had them fighting the Superman-Batman Revenge Squad.
These were fun to read for me but by the time the mid 1970’s came around I stopped reading them. Not because I didn’t like World’s Finest but because I hardly ever saw it for sale. The only time I did see it when I bought it at a King Kwik Mini-mart and it was a reprint of one from the 1950’s. I felt cheated as I was hoping for a new story but I did enjoy it. So I guess I wasn’t cheated after all.
The series was running on fumes by the 1980’s and was soon canceled. This was during the pre-crisis days at DC. Batman has changed to being the dark avenger once again and while Supes and Bats are still friends it had been uneasy since then. The book has since been published in prestige format with some success but no monthly on going series has been published since then.

The Griffeys

Here is a photo where I colored the background. It is of the two of them when they were on Seattle together in the early 1990's.

Hostess and the Hulk Gets Even and the Thing and the Ultimate Weapon!

It's Saturday Morning and time for more adventures with Hostess. Since I missed last Saturday I will give you two Hostess adventures today. One with the Thing and the other with the Hulk.

This Day in Music History: Elvis and Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog

On this day in music history, August 18, 1956, Elvis Presley began an 11 week run on the top of the Billboard Charts with is double hit Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog. It is one of the longest runs in the history of the charts. Elvis is listed as one of the writers of Don't Be Cruel just as he was with Heartbreak Hotel. He didn't write either one but it was Col. Tom Parkers way of making sure that Elvis got part of the royalities from the song. The real writer of Don't Be Cruel is Otis Blackwell who wrote other hits like Fever, Great Balls of Fire, Return to Sender, All Shook Up, etc.
Hound Dog was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. It was originally recorded by Big Mama Thornton who took it to #1 on the R&B charts. In April of 1956 Elvis played Las Vegas. While there he saw Treddie Bell and the Bellboys do a comedic version of Hound Dog where they added the line "You never caught a rabbit and you ain't no friend of mine." He liked their version and added it to his list of songs.

All this time Ed Sullivan said he would never have Elvis on his show but that didn't stop Milton Berle or Steve Allen. On Berle's show there was an uproar about Elvis and his pelvic moves and he was blasted by the press. On Allen's show when he preformed Elvis was given instructions to stand still. When Steve Allen got a 55 share that changed Ed Sullivan's mind and he signed Elvis for three preformances.

While he was in New York for the Steve Allen show he recorded Don't Be Cruel and Hound Dog. He was reluctant to do Hound Dog but his producer, Steve Sholes convinced him to record it.

This was the last time ELvis recorded in New York.

On July 25, 1956 the Andrea Doria ocean liner was rammed and sunk off the coast. On board was Mike Stoller and his wife returning from a trip to Europe. They survived and were greeted by Jerry Leiber at the dock who announced to them that Elvis had just recorded Hound Dog.

Don't Be Cruel


Hound Dog

Superman 198

I was going over some old comics today and seeing what I needed to get rid of and what I wanted to keep. To my surprise I came across Superman #198. I remember seeing this cover many times and was interested as to what the story was that was in the book. I was surprised to see it as I don't remember buying it or anyone giving it to me. This was one of those that I decided to get rid of but I had to read the story before I did.

Back in the 1960's you always saw covers that made the story look interesting but it turned out to be really dull. However, this story was pretty good. Clark is in a meeting with Lois and Perry when the bearded Clark burst in and exposes his identity. He says that Superman is evil and he took Clark's place and kept the real Clark in an underground cave as a prisoner. An earthquake freed him and now he is going to expose Superman for what he really is. Superman quickly gets him out of there and finds out that he is really from another dimension and traveled to this one when the earthquake opened up a rift between the worlds. Superman takes him back and battles the evil superman to defend their Metropolis. In the end we find that everyone on this world is really a robot. Superman knew it was all fake when he noticed that everyones body temperature was 60 degrees and the city looked too shiny and new. It was all a trap by the Superman Revenge Squad and they placed a forcefield around the world so Superman couldn't escape. The force filed was starting to close and it was a race between Superman and the Squads spaceship to see who would make it. Of course Superman made it and the Superman Revenge Squad had their ship destroyed by the very forcefield they made to trap Superman. This was a really good story and in my opinion one of the best of Supermans from the 1960's.

My Two Cents: Flash Gordon

Well tonight is the second episode of the new TV series Flash Gordon. I really wanted to see this series but was busy at the time so I taped it and just watched it this morning. Maybe it is because I am older but this Flash wasn't to my liking. I watched the old serial that had Buster Crabbe as Flash. It was of course in black and white with little humor but lots of action. Years later in the 1980's Flash was back in all his campy glory with Sam Jones in the role. There was more humor this time with lots of action. While some didn't care for it I loved it. It was light and breezy fun. With it now being in color and a name like Flash there were lots of things colored in red and yellow. Mostly Flash in his red shirt and blond hair. Dale Arden was played by the lovely and beautiful Melody Anderson and the rest of the cast was Max Von Sydow as Ming, Topol as Dr. Zarkov, Ornella Muti as Princess Aura and Timothy Dalton as Prince Barin. If you get the DVD you should have alot of fun watching it.

The new Flash seems to think it is in black and white again. Oh yes it is in color but most of the scenes are lit so dull that you hardly notice the color. The above picture is a perfect example of what you will see. Not the bright and blazing colors that I expected and hoped for. The plot just plodded along and seem to take its time getting to each plot point. Casting seemed pretty good espically with the lead as Flash. They said the lines well but they just didn't make me care. These days the viewer has a lot competting for his attention and other things at home seemed more interesting to do then watch Flash Gordon. Maybe I'll just get out the old Buster Crabbe serials and watch them instead. Anyway this is just my two cents on Flash Gordon.

Happy Birthday

I just wanted to take a moment to say Happy Birthday to Rob at the * Aquaman Shrine. I hope you have a great day buddy.

Monkees in color

If you look at yesterdays posting you will see a black and white photo from around 1966 with the Monkees jumping. While I wasn't on line last week I decided to try and colorize some black and white photos and this was one of them. I hope you like it. I know Davy made his living training to be a jocky but he must have been in great shape then. If you notice that while he is shorter then the others, he is jumping as high as the others. Actually he looks to be jumping a little higher then Mike.

Our Long National Nightmare is Over

That may be a little dramatic but I was wondering when I would finally get them and I finally did. The Monkees CDs from Rhino have arrived! While most of the stuff on the CD's was not new to me I did find it interesting to hear a new alternate version of What Am I Doin' Hanging Round on PAC&J Ltd. They were close to the finished project but not quite there yet. Anyway when you get it you will be pleased.

Sorry I have not posted for about a week but I was not on the internet at all till today and not much to report here. Hope you had a good week.

Still Waiting

As you may recall I recently ordered the CD's of the new Monkees releases, Headquarters and PAC&J LTD. to get the new single "I Didn't Know You Had It In You Sally." Well I got the 45 but I still have yet to receive the CDs. I kept calling Rhino but kept being told it was on its way. Finally they said they would mail a replacement shipment. Great I thought I would be getting what I had paid for. Well Friday afternoon I was on the phone again to them. The young lady said that even the replacement shipment should have been here by now and it was unusual for two shipments of the same thing to go missing in the mail. (Especially since I got the specail 45 on time.) I told her I hoped they arrived Saturday. Well on Saturday I didn't get the CDs but I did get a DVD set of Buck Rogers that I ordered from Columbia House only a few days ago. I will wiat the rest of the week but if not I will be back on the phone to Rhino. I don't know if the problem is with Rhino or the post office but I hope it is resolved soon.

Hawk and Dove action figures

From Polite Dissent is the above diorama of the Hawk and the Dove. If possible they may be bigger Hawk and the Dove fans then I am. They have also, on the pages I recently viewed, discussed the second series of Hawk and Dove. It lasted longer then the first series but I still prefer the first series. I loked the way Ditko started the first series trying to teach people the difference between the law and justice. Hawk was still more militant but the new Dove was at times able to soften Hank up. I'll save more of this for another posting.
The action figures above are great. I got them when they first came out. I have always wanted Hawk and Dove action figures and I finally got them. Hey I had to get them as you may never see them again. They came with a figure of Wonder Woman as the three of them appeared together on Justice League Unlimted. I seem to have lost my Wonder Woman figure but I think it fell behind the book case and I will see it again once I can move the case.

Hostess Fruit Pies and Iron Man

Saturday and time for another look into the adventures of Hostess as they team up with Iron Man.

Ok I'm no superhero but won't the immobilizing ray wear off and they can get away while Iron Man is back to work as Tony Stark? I think he could have at least gotten security gurads to take them to the police. Maybe the pies will make them too full to move and they'll take a nap.

This Day In Music History: The Platters and My Prayer

August 4, 1956, on this day in music history the #1 song in the country was My Prayer by the Platters. They traveled a long but successful road to the top of the charts. They were the first black artist to have a #1 single on the pop charts. They had a style like that of the Mills Brothers or the Ink Spots. It was under the guidance of their manager and producer, Buck Ram, that they attained a contract with Mercury Records. He was also the manager of The Penguins and they were the ones that Mercury wanted. Buck said he would sign them to the label but only if they took The Platters also. John Sippel was a west coast label executive and urged Mercury to sign them both.
Over the years they had many hits with songs like Only You and The Great Pretender. It was when Jimmy Kennedy stopped Buck on the street and said he was very impressed with the sound of the Platters. He offered Buck some of his songs. The one he liked was My Prayer. It was originally a French song written by Georges Boulanger as Avant de Mourir. Jim Kennedy wrote the English lyrics in 1939.
Mercury Records didn’t like the song and refused to release it. Then an A&R man heard it was going to be released by the Four Aces. That changed the labels mind and they rushed it into release. The song stayed at #1 for two weeks.

Custom Figure

Here is the Dove as a custom pocket figure.

Flying Saucers Comics

Earlier on this site not too long after I started it I mentioned Flying Saucers Comics. I mentioned that issue #5 that you see above was the only issue I had ever seen of the book. I thought that it may have been the only issue published as back then sometimes a publisher will do that in order to make sure that he has the copyright to the title. Well according to the Grand Comic Book Database there really were 5 issues published. Issues 1-4 were published in 1967 and two years later issue 5 came out.

Below is the cover to issue #2.

Here is the cover to issue#3.

Finally here is the cover to issue #4.

There you have it. What's that? Oh you want to know what the cover to issue one looked like. Well for those of you who didn't click on the Grand Comic Book Database title above I will show it to you.





Wait for it.









It's coming up.











It's almost here.











Ta Da! Here is the cover to Flying Saucers Comics issue #1.

Yes that's right. Issue #5 was an exact reprint of issue #1. The only difference was the price and probably the ads. I don't know why the did this but now I kind of understand why it seemed that it was the only issue I ever saw of the book. It wasn't that it was the only issue. It was just that it had twice as many issues published compared to the others in the series. One mystery solved and a new one has risen. Why did they reprint it two years later and continued with the same numbering?

Dove In Love

The Titans Tower has a treasure chest full of info on my favorite, Dove I. Apperantly he was dating Lilith a fellow member of the Teen Titans. George Perez had plans for a post Crisis series showing what happened to certain Titans members. I don't know if this special series happened. Does anyone reading this know? I kind of doubt it as Dove I died during the Crisis.

War Bonds

Here is an ad that appeared in 1944 in All Flash Comics to buy War Bonds. It is very subtle. Look at the fence in the last panel to see it.

Dove

If you have been wondering why I have made mention of 3-D Man in an earlier joke it is because I have been searching for a hero to be a sort of mascot for this site. I wanted him to be from the Marvel line and even though you can count the # of issues that 3-D man was in on one hand, he has always held a place in my comic book lovers heart. However, I didn't think enough of the public, comic book collectors or otherwise, had heard of him. There were others in the running like Human Fly, Jack of Hearts etc. But I wound up going with a gone but not forgotten DC hero. The Dove! Not Hawk and Dove just Dove. For some reason the Dove got to me as soon as I read of his adventures with his brother Hawk. So it is Dove who is the mascot for this site.
I did this as I still wanted to run a character based sit but didn't want to divide my attention as I had done earlier between too many sites. As you can see if you look to the right you will see a roster for our Legion of Heroes. If you have another forgotten hero who you think should be added to the list then let me know. If I agree then they will be added and you will also be given a link with the posting, but you must also submit some news or photo or a possible header logo with them for the site and you will be a member of the Legion of Heroes. Thank you and have a good evening.
PS. Don't try to click on the Legion member names as they don't go anywhere. It is just a roster.

Early Cell Phones

Here are a couple of scenes that showed what RCA was looking into back in 1945. They eventually became the cell phone and the directional finder that you can now get in your cars.

The Monkees on DVD

I’m in a Monkees kind of mood this week. Now I never saw the Monkees on TV till they hit the rerun circuit on Saturday mornings. As result of only seeing them on reruns I never saw the original opening or the commercials that they made for there sponsors. Also, I never got to really know which ones were season one or season two episodes. With this DVD I can see that season one was really the best yet more traditional season. While the records surpassed the TV show in popularity, the Monkees were designed to first and foremost be a TV show. Produced in 1965, years before the Monterey Pop Festival and the summer of love, the show was made more like Leave it to Beaver or at least it seemed compared to season Two.
Season one had more structure and guidance. As a result the production and writing were better. Sure the guys were off doing appearances and concerts as the band they were slowly becoming but they were living the life of television stars. It was during the summer hiatus from the show that things changed. Suddenly they were free to do what they wanted to do. All they had to do was show up on time at the recording studio or at the concert. When they got back season two started the same but quickly the chain of command changed and you had to wonder who was in control. The guys even said that they were uncontrollable. A special room was created for them with four lights. One light for each Monkee. If Davy was wanted on the set then his light would come on and so on for the others. The show was still funny but the structure was gone. Another more visual way that showed the change in attidude to the audience was there apperance. Look at the two photos above. In season one in the promo shot for the series they are dressed in suits and ties. While they rarely if ever dressed this way on the show this image was more presentable to parents who were in charge of what their children could watch. During their second season they were dressing more like the bottom photo. They were trying to keep up with the times and look more mod. Also the change in clothes for me undermind any belivability that the show had. The were still playing a struggling band but wearing what then were expensive cloths. Well not Micky as you can see his wardrobe of choice was a tablecloth worn as a poncho. Between the show, concerts and recording for the albums there was chaos. In interviews they even said that they were starting doing scripts for the show that they originally turned down as not good enough for season one. The Monkees had some of their friends come on the show so that they may transition the series into a variety show. However, NBC didn’t want that they still wanted a sit-com. Unable to agree the series was canceled. They did have plans to do a series of specials for NBC but only one, Thirty Three and a Third Revolutions Per Monkee, was produced. It was so bad that NBC scheduled it against the Oscar awards. When Nesmith was asked what he watched on TV that night he said like everyone else I watched the Oscars. It is included as an extra on one of these sets with commentary by Micky Dolenz. I remember at one point Micky asked the viewer if anyone was bored besides him. It did give at least one beautiful song. A soulful rendition of I’m A Believer by Micky. The music had changed so much that I almost didn’t know the song. Anyway this set was a wonderful buy for season one and a wonderful Christmas gift from my wife when she gave me season two. Even if you have only heard their music and never saw the show you should get this DVD collection.

In the end the series gave its fans good memories of innocent fun. It also created a family. The stars became like brothers off screen as well as on. David once said that when he was cast on the show he found 3 brothers he never knew he had. In a commentary on one of the episodes Mike laughs as he says "There's Micky and that tablecloth of his." He sounded like a brother or very close cousin watching a home movie and not a former co-worker. From what I remember Peter was harshly fired from the group by Micky and David during their last tour. However, when Micky was a DJ in New York they aired a conversation between Peter and Micky. Peter and some of his friends drove a car to New York just to hear Micky's show. Micky seemed happy to hear from Pete. He said to Peter "You mean you drove up here just to drive around town to listen to my show?" Peter replied "Well actually we're parked."

It doesn't sound like they can stay mad at each other does it? I have recently heard they are all mad at each other again and refused to ever work together again. Don't bet on it. Family members have fueds but over time wounds heal and you do get back together again. You have to because underneath it all you really do love each other.

Bottles

I love these old MGM cartoons. It is rare to see animation done as well as they did it back in the 1930's.

We Don't Need No Stinking Ads

I was looking through this book recently and I noticed something that was different about it compared to other comic books of its time. There are almost no ads in the book. In the entire book there were only two ads. One was a half page ad for coins and the other was on the back cover selling 3 complete fishing outfits, which you can see above. If this was published by Marvel, DC or Archie every third page would have been an ad for some one or at least an in house ad. No wonder Dell stopped publishing comic books and started making computers. No one was wanting to advertise in their books, including themselves.

contest

I am going to hold a contest for a new header logo that I will put up in September. The only thing is that it must be about the Monkees and of course have the title of this site on it. The winner will get this copy of their comic book from the 1960's. I cannot guarantee what the condition it will be in when it arrives. The book that you see above is the one that you will get. So send me your designs if you have my address or put the site where I can find it in the comments on this site. Thanks and good luck.

"Hey Hey We're The Megos! I Mean Monkees"

I was searching the net for custom made figures and found this site by artist Al Bigley. You have to take a look. He has to be one of the biggest Monkees and comic book fans I have ever seen and I have seen alot of them. I love how he took the lid off a CD box set and made it look like part of the package for the figures.