Found by my former boss amongst his belongings, this colorful wooden toy paddle once had a rubber band and a ball stapled to it for hitting-and-bouncing play. Alas, the ball is long gone, the rubber band was still attached but dried to brittleness, but that solitary staple remains.
At least I can still use it to swat people who put the comics in my shop out of order. “Hey, did you put that Miles Morales back in the Scarlet Witch section?” SMACK!
My thought process on this item was “huh, I bet this is pretty old…no wait, it’s only from 1987, it’s not that old…but ’87 was nearly 40 years ago, so it is old.” …In case you were wondering what it’s like to be my age.
I wonder if Lex Luthor’s face was printed on the rubber ball that was originally attached to the paddle?
I also wonder if they produced Wonder Woman and Batman paddles? If so, it seems only natural that the rubber bands for the Wonder Woman paddles would be yellow or gold colored, in honor of her magic lasso, and that Cheetah’s face might be printed on the rubber balls. For Batman paddles they might have gone with black rubber bands and the Joker’s face printed on the rubber balls. Green Lantern paddles could have green rubber bands and Sinestro’s face printed on the rubber balls. And how about Plastic Man paddles with red rubber bands and Doctor Dome’s face printed on the rubber balls. Maybe DC should bring The Superman paddles back and expanded the line!
By the by, when researching Plastic Man villains, I stumbled upon the fact that Plas went up against a villain called The Spider, in Plastic Man Volume 1, no. 46, cover dated May, 1954, published by Quality Comics. The Spider wore an all black spider costume and had a gun which contained a web-like wire “thin as thread and stronger than steel.” Considering that DC owns all of the Quality Comics characters, I think they should bring The Spider back to battle Plas again.
Also, on a side note, the last Quality Comics issue of Plastic Man, no.64, had a cover date of November 1956, and Barry Allen Flash made his debut in Showcase no. 4, with a cover date of October 1956–so it is interesting to note that Golden Age Plastic Man actually lasted into the very early Silver Age. Considering that DC Comics continues publishing Blackhawk, I wonder why they didn’t keep publishing Plastic Man, upon acquiring the Quality Comics characters? Maybe sales of Plastic Man were slipping by the mid-’50s?
Also of note, Whiz Comics no. 89, cover dated September 1947, published by Fawcett Comics, had Captain Marvel go up against a villain called Spider Man who had invented a sticky, web-like substance made of plastic.
I think DC should consider publishing a one-shot Golden Age Team Up of the original Captain Marvel and the original Plastic Man doing battle with the Spider and the Spider Man. There could even be a situation where the two villains resent each other because they have similar black, hairy spider costumes and shticks. Or, they join forces and team up to commit crimes a spin webs of evil. Perhaps DC’s Golden Age Tarantula could make a cameo to help Captain Marvel and Plas defeat the evil arachnids. I would envision this as a mostly humorous played for laughs retroactive continuity story with art by Jerry Ordway or Hilary Barta or Joe Staton.
Or another idea would be to revive DC Comics Presents, or The Brave and the Bold, or Showcase as a bi-monthly or quarterly title which would feature interesting retroactive continuity team ups from the Golden, Silver, Bronze, and possibly even Copper Ages of DC Comics history, set in Pre-COIE continuity. In the instance of the Captain Marvel/Plastic Man use, it could cool to present the team up, and then also reprint the original Captain Marvel vs Spider Man, and Plastic Man vs The Spider stories, so the whole thing would be like an 80 Page Giant with 1 new story and Golden Age reprint stories in it.
A couple of other points, while going down the rabbit hole on old, obscure villains, Captain Marvel Jr. had a villainess named Vampira, Queen of Terror. DC should definitely consider bringing her back! As she predates the Maila Nurmi camp vampire character also named Vampira, I assume there wouldn’t be a legal problem; but if so, DC Comics could just tweak the character’s name slightly (Vampirana, perhaps?). Heck, they could even make the Fawcett/DC Vampira the hostess of a horror anthology comic if they wanted to!
Also, I recently bought a copy Archie’s Mad House no. 20, cover dated July 1962, and there is a one page humor gag where Hilda the Witch is asking various “monsters” how they like being a monster in Hollywood. Among the monsters answering the question are “The Mole Man,” “The Thing,” and “The Spider Man” –without a hyphen. So, Fantastic Four no. 1 had already been published before this issue of Archie’s Mad House, but Amazing Fantasy no. 15 had not! So, technically, Archie Comics can lay claim to a character called Spider Man one month before Peter Parker Spider-Man appeared in Amazing Fantasy no. 15! And, for clarification, the Archie Spider Man looks like a black, hairy anthropomorphic spider, somewhat similar to the Plastic Man and Captain Marvel spider-themed villains. Also, the Archie Comics “Mole Man” and “The Thing” don’t resemble the Marvel Comics characters. However, I would love to know if the Archie Comics Spider Man, The Thing, and Mole Man appear in any other gags in earlier issues of Archie’s Mad House–as Archie’ Mad House no. 1 was published in September 1959, and had reached issue no. 15 by October 1961, whereas Fantastic Four made its debut in November 1961.
More oddities: also in Archie’s Mad House no. 20 there is a humor character called Pink Martian Man–but Martian Manhunter definitely made his debut several years earlier. There are also two space adventurers in a story called “The Uncharted Planet” who are wearing Adam Strange knockoff costumes. And, there is a humor character called “Fly Guy” who seems to be a riff on the classic Vincent Price “The Fly” movie. I just thought this was kinda funny, as Archie Comics was also publishing The Adventures of The Fly (a superhero) at this time. Also, I wonder if Witch Hilda is one of Sabrina’s aunts or relatives? This also got me thinking that Archie Comics could have fun with a horror anthology magazine hosted by Witch Hilda, Sabrina, or Madam Satan–or all three of them.
DC already has a Spider character brought back from Quality Comics, although in Alias the Spider.
Aunt Hilda was certainly one of Sabrina’s aunt from the TV show version. Whether the two are meant to be the same character, or the creators of the TV show choosing Hilda as one of Sabrina’s aunts, I’m unsure. She was played by Caroline Rhea, so if it is the same Hilda, they changed her look from the comic. According to Wikipedia, they are the same character.
Same. I literally have to relearn every day that the ’90s were 30 years ago. Good times.
@Chris V
Thanks for the Aunt Hilda info. In the aforementioned issue of Archie’s Mad House, Hilda the witch is more or less drawn like a slightly more presentable “cute-in-an-ugly-way” take on The Old Witch from EC Comics, but with green skin and dark hair. Apparently, Hilda made her debut in Archie’s Mad House no. 19. Sabrina the Teen-Age Witch made her debut in Archie’s Mad House no. 22. At first, Hilda the Witch was not related to Sabrina, but she eventually was merged with another character called Greta the Fairy Witch Mother, and eventually got rebranded as Hilda Spellman with a makeover appearance.
Re: Alias the Spider, yes I am aware of the character, but he is an archer and really has nothing to do with Spider powers or abilities. But it could be funny to involve him in a cameo appearance, as well as the Tarantula, in the aforementioned Captain Marvel/Plastic Man vs The Spider Man and the Spider villains.
An alternative idea could be a story set in the Golden Age where Green Arrow and Speedy, The Golden Arrow, and Alias the Spider all cross paths. Maybe they could meet at a William Tell convention or something? And they keep getting in the way of each other — until they all team up to take down the villains. Maybe the public domain Centaur Comics character The Arrow could be thrown in the mix as well. The title of the story could be: “Too Many Archers!”
We had a faded Spider-Man pogo stick at the comic shop that somehow ended up in a bidding war and we sold it for $150.00. This was 1992 USD)
@Sean Mageean
Yeah, Aunt Hilda was in the comics waaaay before the show, but I do not remember ever seeing “Spellman” as Sabrina’s last name before the show started airing. The thing about this is that anything created or established on that show remains property of Paramount, not Archie Comics, so they can’t use Libby or Valerie or, one would think, the last name “Spellman” — yet, since it’s in comics afterward, it must have been a joint decision.