Saturday, April 11, 2020

Superman Presents Wonder Comic Monthly #72


Colour Comics' Wonder Comic #72 was published c.April 1971:


The cover art by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson is cropped at the bottom and has a modified story title banner- compare to the original art on the cover of DC Comics' World's Finest Comics #196:


The main features:

The Kryptonite Express!, originally published in World's Finest Comics #196, September 1970
The Map of Menace, originally published in House of Mystery #96, March 1960
The Man Who Hated Science!, originally published in Mystery in Space #6, February-March 1952 
Hang Him High, originally published in Tomahawk #131, November-December 1970

This issue also contains a Casey the Cop filler which originally appeared in Detective Comics #180, and was reprinted in Batman #227. I don't think it's going out on a limb to suggest each of these issues is cherished by fans for other reasons...

The Map of Menace was reprinted a year later in The Unexpected #135, which is the likely source of the Murray reprint in Weird Mystery Tales #11

The Man Who Hated Science! was reprinted in  Justice League of America #78 as a DC Extra which is the version published by Murray a couple of years later in Superman Presents Tip Top Comic Monthly #61.

When I was a kid reading these K.G. Murray comics I didn't know the term 'cognitive dissonance' but I sure knew when the art in the interior pages was inferior to the cover art. As a seven-year-old I didn't know anything about pencillers and inkers - I just knew that Superman looked great on the cover and rather crude on the inside. Or, that one was as smooth and rich as caramel milk chocolate - my preferred Friday night treat - and the other was like home brand dark chocolate with nuts, which is what I sometimes ended up with. I now know the difference between Anderson and Abel (and other culprits) on Swan, but I don't think I can articulate the difference between them any better.

And here's one for the trainspotters:


Yep - that's Wonder Comic #72 in the bottom left hand corner of the second photo. 

These photos are from the tabloid-sized Amazing World of Superman, Metropolis Edition. I imagine this was the first time many comics readers in America realised there were alternate universe editions of their comics beyond the Earth Prime paradigm.

No comments: