A Tribute to the of
I stumbled across an unfulfilled promise from an old edition of the Sage. I
think I'll take the opportunity to rectify it by reviewing the sequel to the
story from Superman #199. It's "The Race to the End of the Universe!"
from Flash #175 with a publication date of December, 1967. Editor Julius
Schwartz oversaw the efforts of E. Nelson Bridwell on the script with Ross
Andru and Mike Esposito on art, though Carmine Infantino penciled the
cover. The Grand Comic Book Database indicates this was Andru's first
pencil job on the Flash taking over for Carmine.
It seems Central City is about to get an unwelcome visitor in the form of
the Weather Wizard. An anonymous tip to police HQ has the additional
benefit of alerting Barry Allen, police scientist. He takes the opportunity
to field test his new lightning rod against the Weather Wizard, but he no
sooner gets the device deployed when the Man of Steel arrives, taking the
bolt on with his invulnerable body. After the Weather Wizard and his gang
are hauled off, Flash demands to know why Superman upstaged him and
his fellow JLA member replies that he got an alert from Flash's JLA signal
device. Barry wonders, however, if Superman is actually still trying to prove
he's fastest.
Later, back in Metropolis, Clark Kent comes upon a gangland fracas and
inserts himself between one criminal and the hail of bullets headed his way,
but to the Man of Tomorrow's surprise, no slugs strike. He then notices
the Scarlet Speedster intercepting them. In a case of déjà vu, Superman
demands to know why the Crimson Comet has horned in on his gig and
once again, the culprit is a JLA signal. Just then, both heroes receive
another emergency signal calling for a meeting at JLA HQ.
Upon arrival, they find the League assembled, but no one seems to know
why. The cause is then revealed when Rokk and Sorban, who rule Ventura,
the gambler's planet speak up. Editor Schwartz lets us in on the fact that
they were previously met by Superman and Batman in World's Finest #150 [June, 1965].
Apparently the duo were aware of Superman and the Flash's race,
each having bet on one of the heroes and since it ended in a tie, they
want satisfaction. (Does anyone else wonder if this could have been an
inspiration for the Star Trek episode, "The Gamesters of Triskelion"?)
Rokk and Sorban have come up with a truly epic course, too, traveling
40,000 light years from earth to the nearest end of the Milky Way Galaxy.
Just a nice stretch of the legs at 240,000 trillion miles. The incentive,
or blackmail, if you will, is that refusal to cooperate will result in the
destruction of Central City and Metropolis. On the other hand, the loser's
city will also be forfeit.
Flash points out that he can't survive or run in the vacuum of space, but
the aliens take care of that by charging his aura in such a way that it will
provide both air and a runway for him.
The other members of the Justice League have seen enough and Green
Lantern goes on the offensive, only to be stymied by energy hoops that
bind him and naturally they are yellow in color, impervious to his power
ring. J'onn J'onnz is similarly stopped in his tracks with a cage of flame,
while Wonder Woman finds herself bound with her own magic lasso and
Aquaman is incapacitated with a paralyzing mist from his life-preserving
shower stall. The other members are also bound with the mentally
produced energy bands while they simply immobilize the Atom.
There is nothing but for the race to proceed and each hero is consumed
with thoughts of their loved ones lives hanging in the balance as they burst
into space. The Flash received a briefing just prior that his oxygen supply is
good for only a week.
The first obstacle encountered is a red sun solar system, forcing Superman
to take a detour. He finds himself on a trajectory toward Ventura, home
planet of the fiends who have cooked up this scheme and he notes a huge
volcanic eruption. The hero in him will not allow anything but rescue
action, but he then spies something else that causes him to fly swiftly away with the thought that he must immediately stop the race.
Elsewhere in space, the Scarlet Speedster has stumbled upon a space
capsule and while he knows it isn't Earthly in origin (being set in 1967
before the first successful lunar expedition) he spots life forms in the
drifting craft. Stopping to investigate he sees the forms aren't actually
humanoid, but pulpy growths. Then the door slams shut and he finds
himself suffocating, to the delight of one of the Venturans who is
monitoring his progress.
Then, when all seems lost, reviving oxygen returns and our hero is able to
vibrate free. As he dashes away the capsule changes into a strange plant
and the Flash deduces it is a shape shifter that lures oxygen breathing
victims in, but like other plans "inhales" carbon dioxide and "exhales"
oxygen, explaining the brief cycle of suffocation and revival.
The Venturans are unhappy at the turn of events, but hopeful that the next
trap will succeed. Green Lantern, silently observing, thinks that something
is amiss as one of them had supposedly placed their wager on his crimson
clad teammate.
Soon after, the competitors meet and Superman tries to dissuade the Flash
from continuing, using sign language to make his plea. Thinking it's a ploy,
the Flash refuses and before the silent discussion can continue a meteor
shower of Kryptonite arrives on the scene, forcing Superman into a hasty
retreat, while the Flash uses the meteors as stepping stones.
Once again from the monitor at JLA HQ the Venturans approve of how
things are going, noting that with Superman out of the way, they can
proceed, but incredibly, the Man of Might has appeared behind them.
Moving quickly, a piece of Gold Kryptonite is deployed, which permanently
eliminates the super powers of natives of Krypton. Superman collapses,
but quickly transforms into the Martian Manhunter, who explains that he
was able to muster enough strength to shape shift into Superman, gaining
his invulnerability, allowing his escape from the flame cage, but then losing the powers from the Kryptonite, which he has successfully converted to lead. He is re-imprisoned and it's back to the progress of the racing Flash.
He has stepped off the last Kryptonite meteor onto an ordinary looking
one, but it is of a soft and sticky consistency that holds him fast, to the
point he cannot even vibrate free. A frustrated Green Lantern, watching
the monitor, laments that his power ring has lost its 24-hour charge or he
could perhaps send assistance, but Superman is on the job, using another
meteor to carom the Flash into a nearby planet's earth-like atmosphere.
As the speedster enters the atmosphere, the friction burns away the
meteor while he enjoys the protection of his aura. He then whirls at super
speed with his arms extended, creating a helicopter effect to get back into
the race.
Superman, meanwhile, is weakened due to some Green K fragments, but
tries again to warn his comrade with super ventriloquism, but the Flash
remains suspicious and the race is on again.
A new hazard presents itself to the Fastest Man Alive when alien craft fire
on him. Superman uses heat vision to disable the menace, but the Flash is
getting fatigued from the evasive maneuvering. He takes a rest stop on a
nearby planetoid, feeling he's failed when he hears a voice, but before we
can learn its origin and message, we join Superman, who has reached the
turnaround point, but is abruptly sucked into a massive dimensional vortex
that overcomes even his super abilities. He beams a hasty S.O.S. to the
Flash who immediately responds and combining his speed with Superman's
and moving opposite the vortex they destroy it.
Resuming the race, the two heroes are neck and neck to the finish line and
the other members of the League note the victory of Superman or Flash
depending upon their individual perspective, but rather than quibble, the
racers instead confront Rokk and Sorban, who respectively deploy magic
and super speed, but are no match for the powers of Superman and the
Flash.
It turns out that "Rokk" and "Sorban" are actually Flash foes Professor
Zoom from the 25th century and Abra Kadabra from the 64th century.
Superman then explains what he'd spotted on Ventura, which was Rokk
and Sorban observing the volcanic eruption on their planet that they'd
wagered upon, alerting the Man of Steel that something was fishy.
And speaking of fish, Flash queries Green Lantern as to how he was able to
relay a message to him via a fish on the stopover world and GL explains he
was able to use a reserve in his ring to expand Aquaman's telepath abilities
to warn their colleague.
So it was all an elaborate hoax by two of Flash's most formidable enemies
to destroy him, but the question remains as to who won the race with the
last panel presenting it to the readers. "Look at the pictures of the finish
and make up your own mind!"
This sophisticated and action-filled tale kept me guessing and I enjoyed
it thoroughly. I always like guest appearances in titles, too, and having
the entire Justice League along for the ride was a nice bonus. Andru and
Esposito used some of their signature images with oversize and unusual
panel arrangements and overall it was a great rocket ride that I'll give a 9
on the 10-point rating scale.
This story is reprinted from Limited Collector's Edition #C-48 [10-11 1976], which contains
some nice bonus features along with the first two Superman/Flash race
stories and as DC seemed to like to do, it included a 2-page spread by
Carmine Infantino on "How to Draw the Flash!" Other of these art lessons
were contained in similar treasury editions like Curt Swan's lesson on
Superman from #C-31 and Carmine's take on Batman in #C-25. Even the
competition got into the act with John Buscema and Stan Lee's "How to
Draw Comics the Marvel Way" and naturally the great Joe Kubert, ever the
teacher, had instructions on how to draw Tarzan in Limited Collector's Edition #C-22 and provided the answer to this question. I'm uncertain where
the Gil Kane Green Lantern tutorial was first printed, but I have these examples in my copy of the Green Lantern "lost 1963" [1998] 80-page annual.
I'd also be remiss if I didn't make mention of Wallace Wood's famous "22 Panels" reference sheet.
My good friend Clem Robins offered some observances of strengths and
contrasts, particularly between Carmine and Gil Kane that he's agreed to let
me share with you:
"The selection of Gil and Carmine points out an essential difference between
the two guys. Gil was terribly structural, as the layouts demonstrate.
Carmine is a scribbler. Neither approach is "right", but everyone ends up
going one way or the other.
You can also see this among the great painters. The Impressionists are
scribblers. They had to be: their whole shtick demands envisioning the finished picture all at once.
The modern academic painters, like Jacob Collins especially, are structurists.
Both Gil and Carmine's demonstrations reveal as much about their
limitations as their strengths.
Gil's point out something else: The expressions on the faces are corny.
This was seldom the case when he drew a story, which is the point. Both
guys were storytellers, not artists. Take away the story and there's nothing
there. It's not like either one of them was a formidable draughtsman, not in
the real sense of the term, although Gil was a lot closer to it than Carmine. Their whole bag was telling a story, as excitingly as possible.
Jack Adler went to a figure drawing group with Gil once, and Gil asked him
what he thought of the drawings he (Gil) made there. Adler always shot
from the hip, and he told Gil that they weren't all that great.
Gil never forgave him for this.
You can quote me on all of this. There is no more dedicated fan of Carmine
or Gil on the planet than me, but comics are storytelling, not fine art. A lot of people spend their careers in the field and don't realize this until they're so straitjacketed by the demands of comics that there is nothing left with which to respond to nature."
I hope you enjoyed this little "art lesson" and that you'll continue to swing
by to see what else we can conjure up about the great Silver Age of DC comics.
The next edition will, of course, be here in about two weeks (October 1st) and as usual, if you've got suggestions for things you'd like to see I'm always interested. Just drop me an e-mail at: professor_the@hotmail.com
Until next time… Long live the Silver Age!
This feature was created on 05/01/00 and is maintained by
B.D.S.
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