ZOWIE WEDNESDAYS!
Welcome to ZOWIE WEDNESDAYS — in which we’re serializing across 13 weeks Mark Voger’s forthcoming book Zowie! from publisher TwoMorrows. Click here for a ton more on this feature — and info on the book itself, a brightly colored history of “the TV Superhero Craze in ’60s Pop Culture.” You can also find there links to previous installments. Right on! — Dan
I’m a Mego guy through and through. Had I been born five years earlier, however, I would have been all about Captain Action, which gets a groovy, colorful spotlight in Zowie!
As well it should.
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Zowie! by Mark Voger, is a 192-page, full-color hardcover that lists for $43.95. It is scheduled to be released July 31 and will be available through booksellers and comics shops. You can also pre-order it directly from TwoMorrows. Click here.
Also check out MarkVoger.com!
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MORE
— The Complete ZOWIE WEDNESDAYS! Index. Click here.
— THE GREEN HORNET: BRUCE LEE Belongs to the World — But Superhero Fans Had Him First. Click here.
June 12, 2024
“Everyone… said they loved Captain Action himself.” Er… not so much! That face, that face, that horribly sculpted face – it just didn’t work for me. But Captain Action was the catalyst to get me back into comic books. (Ridiculous that at age 11, it was “back” – but I’d been gifted some classic Marvel and DC comics around 1964 when I was sick and home from school, though I couldn’t afford to buy any new ones.) I was at a local department store when I saw Captain Action and several of his costumes for the first time, and I wound up with Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, and Captain America. That led me to a local drugstore where I found Avengers #44 with Cap on the cover along with many others, with the inviting caption “Welcome to the wonderful world of Marvel madness!” That got the ball rolling, and with only a couple of pauses in years to come, I was a comic book guy from then on. As for Captain Action, I managed to get Flash Gordon but not Buck Rogers, the Lone Ranger but not the Green Hornet, and never could find Sgt. Fury. I did have an Action Boy but no Dr. Evil, and certainly no Silver Streak!
June 12, 2024
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June 13, 2024
Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Captain America, Aquaman, the Phantom are superheroes. The Lone Ranger, Tonto, Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Sgt. Fury, Steve Canyon and the Green Hornet are not.
June 13, 2024
Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Captain America, Aquaman, the Phantom are superheroes. The Lone Ranger (and Tonto), Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Sgt. Fury, Steve Canyon, and the Green Hornet are not.
June 13, 2024
It’s one of those classic debates which are fun to engage with but have no authoritative answer. Chevy vs Ford? Betty or Veronica? Super vs hero?
Are we to list them based on perceived real world science such as powers derived from a yellow sun? Or, do we list them based on their published media? newsprint vs comic book vs pulp dime novels?
BATMAN is a hero or vigilante (based on which era you pick) but there isn’t anything “super” about him. Lone Ranger, Green Hornet etc are likewise. Spider-Man, Superman etc…super heroes.
Just my take…
June 14, 2024
But there IS an authoritative answer! Every superhero has a costume, a code name and a mission. Super powers? No. Many superheroes have no super powers. Not every superhero has a mask. That is why The Lone Ranger, Tonto, Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Sgt. Fury, Steve Canyon and the Green Hornet are not superheroes. Also there are no “pulp dime novels.” Dime novels preceded pulps. They’re not the same thing.
June 14, 2024
OK
June 15, 2024
I’m probably going to regret getting into a tit for tat here, but the two labels did share some cross over. However, I was really using my label of “pulp dime novel” to reference the era of books like Doc Savage and The Shadow. But when researching the history more it was clear that “dime novel” was used in the actual title of some pulp publications. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dime_novel
June 16, 2024
Dime novels were not pulps; pulps were not dime novels. Different eras.