This weekend’s light-hearted and escapist superhero post here at Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at the first twelve adventures of Superman. Previously I looked at Batman stories from 1939-1940 HERE, but these early Superman tales are often hilariously weird.
ACTION COMICS Vol 1 #1 (June 1938)
NOTE: Though many regard this as the start of the Golden Age for superhero comics I personally go with November 1936 when the Clock debuted. Click HERE.
Title: Superman, Champion of the Oppressed
Villains: Assorted criminals
Synopsis: Just before a far-off planet (not yet called Krypton) is destroyed by “old age” (the story actually says that) an unnamed scientist and his wife send their infant son in a small spaceship to planet Earth. The space vessel lands in an unnamed state, where a passing motorist (no names for Ma and Pa Kent for a while) takes the baby to an orphanage.
As he grows, the alien realizes that he has super-strength, super-speed and invulnerability. He picks up the name Clark Kent and becomes a reporter in Cleveland (yes, Cleveland) working for the Daily Star (yes) newspaper. He begins a double life as Superman, battling the forces of evil.
Superman takes down a wife-beater, saves Lois Lane from horny gangsters and clears a woman falsely convicted of murder by tying up the real killer – and even smashing his way into the governor’s mansion to make him call off her imminent execution.
Setting up a cliffhanger ending, Clark Kent is assigned to cover a war in the fictional South American country of San Monte. On his way there, Clark becomes Superman and abducts Alex Greer, a Washington D.C. lobbyist who is trying to get the U.S. into a war. Hilariously, Supes takes Greer to the top of a high building and threatens to throw him to his death unless he reveals the name of his employer. Continue reading
L’INFERNO (1911) – This 71-minute movie was an adaptation of Dante’s epic poem Inferno, one-third of his Divine Comedy along with Purgatorio and Paradiso. It was also Italy’s first feature-length film, beating Cabiria to theaters by three years. 
Second, L’Inferno has a certain grandeur from being filmed in Italy itself, the home of Dante Alighieri and his guide through Hell, Virgil. And third, nearly all of the footage set in the realm of the damned was filmed amid extinct and semi-extinct volcanoes in Italy, adding immeasurably to the infernal atmosphere. 
A DEMIGOD (1886) – Written by American author Edward Payson Jackson, this work preceded Philip Wylie’s Gladiator by more than 4 decades. 
FRANCOIS VILLON PART FIVE – We left off last time with Villon on the run again, having fled Paris after the Navarre College job in which he and his fellows robbed a record amount of gold for the time period. 
From early 1457 and for a year or more afterward, Villon continued his outlaw existence in and around the French province of Anjou and the Loire River Valley. Depending on the source, Francois either officially became a member of the criminal fraternity called the Coquillards at this time or was already a member and deepened his ties to them. 
Before MST3K there was … The Texas 27 Film Vault (1985-1987)! Before Joel and Mike, lovers of bad movies had Randy and Richard (at right)! Before Pearl and Kinga there was Laurie Savino! Before Devil Dogs, Observers and Deep 13 there came Cellumites, giant rats and Level 31!
THE MAN WHO SAW TOMORROW (1981) 
THE MOVIE: The Man Who Saw Tomorrow was a hilariously melodramatic and irrational documentary playing along with the silly notion that the 16th Century “seer” Nostradamus’ vague and noncommital quatrains predicted major future events. Orson Welles, in his “anything for money” phase, narrated the film. 
Readers let me know a few years back that they were bored with college baseball so I discontinued my coverage. Let’s give Women’s College Football a shot. Once again, it’s up to you readers if I continue covering this sport, which is Flag Football. 
“SHOW US YOUR LARK!” – This weekend the HESSTON COLLEGE LARKS – who were the runners-up in last year’s National Championship game – won a pair of games on the road. First up, the Larks delivered a 20-7 smackdown to the BRYANT & STRATTON COLLEGE (WI) BOBCATS. 
AMAZING FANTASY Vol 1 #15 (August 1962) 
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