MOVIES & TV | 13th Dimension, Comics, Creators, Culture

Nov09

GEORGE REEVES’ Surprising Influence on Bronze Age SUPERMAN

Posted by Dan Greenfield on Nov 9, 2019

GEORGE REEVES’ Surprising Influence on Bronze Age SUPERMAN

Look! There in the comics! It’s Gregory Reed! As is well documented here at the ol’ 13th Dimension, I was a kid with an abiding love of Batman ’66. It was my gateway to the Caped Crusader and the wider world of comics. Now, The Adventures of Superman was also in syndication when I was growing up in the ’70s but for whatever reason, I never found the show to be as thrilling. I liked George Reeves’ Man of Steel, I guess, but thought he was a little dull and I wouldn’t actually learn to appreciate Superman himself until Christopher Reeve put on the cape. But here’s the funny thing: I’ve recently started watching The Adventures of Superman on the DC Universe app and, man, am I really digging it, especially the black-and-white episodes. (Happy to say, my 20-year-old son likes it as much – if not more – than I do.) George Reeves was effortlessly cool – an underrated quality in any actor – and I love the noirish feel of those early years. (I’ll catch up to the color eps soon enough.) I kind of feel like I owe the late Reeves a bit of a metaphorical apology because I always took him for granted. Now, in middle age, I’m starting to understand why he so inspired the kids who were in the generation behind me. I bring all this up because when I was perusing Back Issue #117 – out Nov. 13 – for our regular EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT, I happened upon Philip Schweier’s charming history of Gregory Reed, a character loosely based on Reeves who popped up in Superman’s Bronze Age adventures. Perfect timing. Now why is the piece in this issue? Well BI #117’s theme is “Superhero Stand-Ins” – such as Beta Ray Bill, John Stewart and many others. Check out the cover … and table of contents: Anyway, here’s a truncated (and slightly tweaked) version of Schweier’s piece – but, as always, be sure to pick up BI #117 for the more detailed version, as well as all the other funky features the issue provides. Up, up and away! — By PHILIP SCHWEIER There’s no denying the impact The Adventures of Superman (1952–1958) has had in the comic-book world. The TV show has been broadcast continuously for decades, cultivating generations of Superman fans. For...

Nov09

LOU FERRIGNO: When I Was the INCREDIBLE HULK

Posted by Dan Greenfield on Nov 9, 2019

LOU FERRIGNO: When I Was the INCREDIBLE HULK

TV’s Hulk turns 68: On Bill Bixby – and all that green paint… — UPDATED 11/9/19: Lou Ferrigno turns 68! Perfect time to re-present this one! HULK OUT! — Dan — A little while back, I put together a piece called 13 Comics to Look Forward to This Summer. (Click here.) And like an idiot, I left RetroFan off the list, because this is something I’ve been waiting for since it was announced. Then again, it’s not a comic at all. It’s Michael Eury’s next TwoMorrows magazine, covering all sorts of old-school pop-culture angles, from the wildly popular to the obscure. I’ve thumbed through the first issue, which comes out 6/20, and I gotta tell you it’s superb. It covers exactly the kind of ground I like to hit here at 13th Dimension but in quarterly magazine form. You’re gonna want to get this. Just check out the table of contents: Anyway, we like to do our EXCLUSIVE excerpts from TwoMorrows’ excellent mags (Back Issue and Alter Ego among them), so for our initial RetroFan pick, we’re going right for the cover story, a Q&A with Lou Ferrigno. Eury wrote the piece off his interview with Ferrigno at a comics show. It was pretty wide-ranging, but here some of the highlights: — Michael Eury: Who were your comic-book heroes when you were a kid? Lou Ferrigno: I read Superman comics and the Hulk comics. You know, it’s funny, I traded my comic books as a kid for bodybuilding magazines. If I’d stayed with collecting comics, I would have made more money than bodybuilding, 10 times over! [Laughter.] — Eury: 1977 is when most of the world got to know you as the Incredible Hulk. How did you get cast in that role? Ferrigno: I was training for the 1977 Olympic competition. They were filming the Hulk with another actor, Richard Kiel, who played Jaws in James Bond. He’s seven feet tall. One day, the director came on set with his son and the kid said, “Dad, this is not the Incredible Hulk—he doesn’t look anything like the character.” They realized they had a problem and began a nationwide search for the character. They found me, because they wanted the biggest bodybuilder they could find. I went out for the screen test and they said, “OK, we’re going to paint...

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