ROMANCE COMICS
♛ EPILOGUE
Looking back at the Golden Age (which took place on Earth-Two), it has come to light that the biography of Lois Lane, beginning in the early 1950s, has properly belonged to the Silver Age.
All along, readers had grown up w/ a golden-age Lois. There was a golden-age Clark; and Superman too. It turns out there has been – and always has been – some other Lois, who lived on Earth-One, w/ another Clark and a different Superman.
In 1956, fan loyalty was rewarded when DC Comics put out the first issue of SUPERMAN’S GIRLFRIEND LOIS LANE. Once again, a newer Lois Lane sprang forth, and helped to usher in the Silver Age. This Lois again came fully formed – and a lived-in backstory spooled out. The first two tales, about a witch and a wig, looked forward towards the experimental 1960s -- when beauty was redefined, and backwards, w/ a ginned-up glance at the battle of the sexes, when it was still in black-&-white.
What is left of the original Lois are some stories about the Man of Steel in which she features prominently, where she proves herself an intellectual equal of a super man. These historic events embark embryonically from the heartland of America during the onset of World War II. They then roam globally, and extra-globally, only to disembarked at the untested outpost of the Cold War.
Lois of Earth-Two became marooned until the DC universe took on a reimagining. By 1978, her story was rethreaded into the continuity. Lois married Clark in the late 1950s, discovered his secret identity, went on to new adventures -- even after their son was born, passing the mortal coil in 2005, in events occurring during Infinite Crisis. All of this happened before the 21st century woke up.
I Love Lois
Working nine to five as a reporter for a city daily must not leave time to do much else. As a single female working and living alone in Metroplis, how do you find balance in your life?
Lois Lane, Clark Kent and Superman are the creations of writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, two Cleveland teenagers nurturing keen tastes and quick psyches, who combined complementary skills to make manifest their dream of another world. Inventing a city of skyscrapers where an otherworldly creature lives and makes its living as a newspaperman, while wooing a wonderful woman, and using as his secret identity a coward’s persona. Overnight their comics become a bestseller, starring the Man of Tomorrow opposite Lois Lane.
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Champion of the Oppressed
Action Comics №1 - 1938
Lois Lane sprang into life fully formed, alongside the genesis story of Superman. On his first day at the Daily Planet, Clark Kent is smitten and begins to court Lois.
When Clark is then assigned to cover a mystery man showing remarkable potential, Lois is intrigued and goes on a first date to find out more.
Twirling about the dance floor, he asks pointedly,
“Why is it you always avoid me at the office?”
“Please Clark-! I’ve been scribbling sob stories all day long. Don’t ask me to dish out another.” Bored and staring away, her eyes happen to lock onto Butch, who’s been staring at her for quite some time.
Seeing his move Butch cuts in, then things turn ugly, and Lois gets an inkling that Clark may not be a man’s man.
When Butch facepalms her date she storms out and calls Clark, for the very first time, “… a spineless, unbearable coward!”. Catching up w/ the car that has just abducted her, Superman upturns the vehicle and catches Lois, for the very first time, as she spills out of the backseat window. What he does next is famously depicted on the iconic front cover - lifting the car above his head. ... turning his attention back to Lois, she backs away in mild terror until he says, “You needn’t be afraid of me. I won’t harm you.”
Transfixed, she lets the strapping stranger scoop her up into his arms and, leaping high, carry her away. This winning formula provided years of creative chaos as the three main characters circled each other round and round.
This ends the first tale of Lois Lane’s life, and the beginning of her startling adventures to document the existence of this mental marvel and physical wonder, devoted to daring deeds she knows will reshape the destiny of a world.
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How Lois Got Her Job
Lois Lane №17 - 1960
(An Untold Story) (Demand Classic)
Every year on the anniversary of her first day to work for him, Perry White has thrown an office party to celebrate. One time he turned sentimental -- opened up: “... When Lois first asked me for a job, I told her I would hire her if she brought me three scoops in three days! She did it ... w/out Superman’s help!”
Picking up the cue, Lois blows out the candles and hands the first slice to Perry. While his mouth is full, she gives her side of the story. On the first day at work Perry had given her a choice of several assignments, she chose the easiest one: securing evidence on a team of safe-crackers.
Dressed as a cleaning lady, Lois walked into their lair w/ a vacuum cleaner, plugged it in, turned it on. This disguise turned up pure gold when a torn-up note was retrieved, then taped back together. Implications were deduced; arrest warrants eventually issued. More cake was passed around.
Her next assignment was to secure the first-ever photograph of a reclusive royal, prone to strongarm tactics to ensure his privacy -- she comes back w/ the photo. Clark and Jimmy ask for another slice -- at the same time.
The guest of honor takes this opportunity to sit down, staring into the cavern now developing in the cake. Her car had unexpectedly broken down on the third assignment, and she ended up walking miles out to nowhere in order to interview an archaeologist who was claiming a new discovery. She gets her story, and it’s a doozy but, w/ no easy access back, Lois devises the most ingenious method known to correspondents worldwide – enabling her post to reach Perry. It is front page news, and Lois lands her dream job.
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Man or Superman?
Superman №17 - 1942
Lois and Clark once teamed up to track down the Talon, titular head to a gang of thieves. She later returned to her desk, thinking she was going to write up a scoop, only to learn that Clark got there first. Exasperated, she then asked and he then gave a reason so lame that it was enough to make her wonder if Clark might be Superman. (There have been many versions of this story since.)
Clark is the archetypal nerd, wearing glasses because he really has to -- it’s his secret identity. But how his physiognomy didn’t give him away as son of Krypton is one for the books. This instance of willful ignorance apparently is impossible. Because mental snapshots.
In one telling, while at the office a commotion on the street below draws them to the window -- a necklace robbery was in progress. She suddenly got a feeling she knew what Clark would do next, which was to give a flimsy excuse and disappear, then a minute will pass and Superman should (and will) fly past the window. This quizzical look does not go unnoticed by eagle-eyed Clark as he stages a retreat. Changing into his costume he thinks back to the very first time Lois ever did all of her wondering.
It had happened one morning when he had flown over the Daily Planet, and she had caught a quick glimpse. Lois was rounding a corner and became aware of his landing on the roof of her office building. “… and now he’s dropped out of sight! Good gracious! Maybe he works on the Planet staff, under a secret identity!”
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Miss Lonelyhearts
Lois Lane №3 - 1958
Lois once went above and beyond her duties as the advice columnist. She had shown up at the eighth floor landing window of the Belvue Apartments, where a despondent man was threatening to jump. Lois climbs out, telling him she too wants to jump, “Er-(gulp!) Do you think you’re the only person in the world w/ a broken heart?” Promptly losing her footing, Lois goes over the edge.
Manages to catch the corner of a election banner hanging below. Before it can tear off she has swung into position to plummet through a number of window awnings. Cushioning her fall until a fireman’s net catches her. This vivid demonstration of falling in love cures the man’s sick heart, so he climbs back in and goes to where Lois is being treated. “You’re wonderful, Miss Lane! The next time I commit suicide, it’s going to be over you!”
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School for Scoops
Lois Lane №29 - 1961
Through pluck and perserverance Lois becomes the number one female reporter in the United States! The University of Metropolis asks her to give a lecture course. Hearing this news, racketeer Nick Roker sends two gunmen to the campus. Because.
Lois proves a precocious professor and, w/ the help of Jimmy Olsen, stages re-creations of actual cases. Jimmy walks the class through the first scenario.
Drugged by a gang she’s been after, Lois gains consciousness to find that she is bound, gagged, inside a tiny basement. Someone behind is about to put a blindfold on her. At this critical moment, Lois locates the basement’s electric meter and memorizes its serial number.
This bit of information helps break the case and gets her a scoop. Before dismissing the class, she hands out writing assignments.
The next day students are greeted by a gruesome set piece: Having once crossed the line w/ racketeer “Duke” Benson, he has enticed her over to his office and there ties her to a chair, placing a bomb beneath the chair before his exit. Ignoring the lit fuse, she leans forward and nudges the phone off its cradle, picks up a pencil w/ her mouth, and dials 9-1-1, ... in the time it takes for her to grade this second assignment, Lois has deduced that two are not written by journalism students.
Thinking to instruct her class by treating this development as a case study, she outs them only to realize too late they were sent to off her. Lois’s quick thinking distracts them long enough for Jimmy’s signal-watch to summon Superman, who makes a brief cameo at the very end.
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Lois’s College Scoops
Lois Lane №55 - 1965
(An Untold Tale)
One time, Lois took Jimmy Olsen and Superman to her college reunion. There she grew nostalgic and, picking up a school scrapbook, leafed through to find a clipping of her first scoop for the Raleigh Review.
It was an impossible first assignment: to join an all-male only fencing team and write about the experience. The fencing captain, who was a good sport and willing to go along, gives Lois a week to practise before they were to meet in a bout.
Through diligence and sheer love-of-reporting, she outfences the captain, landing Lois her very first scoop.
Then she puts down her cup of punch and begins to leaf through a second scrapbook, locating a clipping of her first-hand account of discovering a new comet – by fluke, during a night at the Smallville observatory, where she was using the telescope to write a paper for astronomy class.
The last page held a tattered clipping of her strangest scoop. Taking a solo field trip for biology class, Lois had stumbled across – and captured on film – a live pterandon and a living sabre-tooth. Her biology teacher is wowed. “Those prehistoric creatures vanished without a trace, Lois! But thanks to the movies you took, we know exactly how they looked and acted!”
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How Clark Kent First Met Lois Lane (Bonus Tale)
Adventure Comics №128 - 1948
(An Exclusive Adventure of Superboy)
While still in high school, Clark receives a letter from the Daily Planet: Clark Kent, 713 Main Street. Congratulations! You are one of the two winners of our annual contest to honor the best school newspaper reporters. Your prize is a free-trip to Metropolis, where you will be allowed to work as cub reporter for one week.
Overjoyed and full of bonhomie, Clark shows up and is introduced to Lois Lane, the other winner; he takes an instant shine to her. The editor tries to break this spell by assigning a competition to see who can bring in the best story of the day, with the winner getting a front page byline! Lois suggests a side bet to Clark, “The loser treats the winner to an ice cream sundae?”
“I never bet … but I’ll make an exception in your case!” After handshakes, Lois ventures out and, based on a hunch, stumbles into criminal activity, resulting in being tied up and about to meet her end – Superboy arrives and saves the day.
After he has dispatched her attackers, this unknown being glides over and unties Lois. On an impulse she jumps into his arms and asks to be carried away from the scene, a request the Boy of Tomorrow was fated to grant.
She later on wins the competition (Clark has been busy elsewhere) and, after work, he takes her to a soda fountain and pays his bet. They spend the week chasing stories, then it’s time to wave goodbye to Lois from a train platform, wondering if he’ll ever cross paths w/ her again.
| NOTES
[1]
BASED ON reports from, among others,
Tricia Annis,
Tim Hanley,
Steven Thompson,
and Internet searches.
[2]
BACK COVER AD – The back cover ad for Action Comics №1 was bought by the
Johnson Smith & Company in Detroit, Michigan. They were purveyors of, among other things:
- pocket radios
- midget radios
- midget pocket radios
- magic radios
- crystal radios
- radio & television books
- experiment sets
- wireless transmittals
- telegraph sets
- electric phones
- electric baseballs
- world mikes (a microphone)
- deluxe microphones
- big entertainers (an air mattress)
- Stinson Reliant giant flying planes
- all-metal model airplanes
- wigs (blond only)
- yacht caps
- live chameleons
- x-ray glasses
- booklets on hypnotism, learning to dance, learning to tap dance, ventriloquism, and ju-jitsu
- whoopee cushions
- joy bussers
- rings
- luminous photos
- luminous paints
- movie projectors
- telescopes
- field glasses
- world's smallest candid cameras
- bull dog fish hooks
- and Japanese rose bushes.
[3]
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Action Comics
№1 (Jun 1938) Superman, Champion of the Oppressed
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№2 (Jul 1938) Revolution in San Monte
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№5 (Oct 1938) The Big Scoop |
№6 (Nov 1938) The Man Who Sold Superman
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№7 (Dec 1938) Superman Joins the Circus
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№9 (Feb 1939) $5,000 Reward for Superman
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№23 (Apr 1940) Empire at War (Part II)
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№27 (Aug 1940) The Brentwood Rehabilitation Home
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№31 (Dec 1940) The Hand of Morpheus
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№32 (Jan 1941) The Preston Gambling Racket
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№35 (Apr 1941) The Worthless Gold Mine
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№36 (May 1941) Fifth Columnists
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№37 (Jun 1941) Clark Kent, Police Commissioner
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№38 (Jul 1941) Hypnosis by Radio
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№41 (Oct 1941) The Sabotage Ring
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№44 (Jan 1942) The Caveman Criminal
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№47 (Apr 1942) Powerstone
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№57 (Feb 1943) Crime’s Comedy King
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№68 (Jan 1944) Superman Meets Susie
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№80 (Jan 1945) Mr Mxyztplk Returns
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№139 (Dec 1949) Clark Kent, Daredevil
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№144 (May 1950) Clark Kent’s Career
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№164 (Jan 1952) Hall of Trophies
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№169 (May 1964) The Man Who Stole Superman’s Secret Life!
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№189 (Mar 1954) Clark Kent’s New Mother and Father
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№254 (Jul 1959) Battle with Bizarro
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Adventure Comics
№128 (May 1948) How Clark Kent Met Lois Lane
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Justice League of America Comics
№21 (Aug 1963) Crisis on Earth-One
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№22 (Sep 1963) Crisis on Earth-Two
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Showcase Comics
| 4 (Oct 1956) Mystery of the Human Thunderbolt
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The Flash Comics
№123 (Sep 1961) The Flash of Two Worlds
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Superboy Comics
№10 (Oct 1950) The Girl in Superboy’s Life
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№31 (Mar 1954) Demon Reporter
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№41 (Jun 1955) Junior Sleuths of Smallville
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№47 (Mar 1956) Superboy Meets Superman
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Superman Comics
№4 (Mar 1940) Superman Versus Luthor
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№6 (Sep 1940) Lois, Murder Suspect
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№12 (Sep 1941) Peril on Pogo Island
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№13 (Nov 1941) The Machinations of the Light
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№17 (Jul 1942) Man or Superman
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№19 (Nov 1942) Funny Paper Crimes
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№19 (Nov 1942) Superman, Cartoon Hero
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№28 (May 1944) Lois, Girl Reporter
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№85 (Nov 1953) Clark, Gentleman Journalist
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№125 (Nov 1958) Clark’s College Days
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№135 (Feb 1960) When Lois First Suspected Clark Was Superman
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№165 (Nov 1963) The Sweetheart that Superman Forgot!
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№ 169 (May 1964) The Man Who Stole Superman’s Secret Life!
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Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen Comics
№34 (Jan 1959) The Most Fantastic Camera in the World
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Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane Comics
№1 (Mar 1958) Witch of Metropolis
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№1 (Mar 1958) Bombshell of Metropolis
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№3 (Jun 1958) The Man Who was Clark’s Double
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№17 (May 1960) How Lois Got Her Job
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№29 (Nov 1961) School for Scoops
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№20 (Nov 1961) The Irresistible Lois Lane
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№55 (Feb 1965) Lois’s College Scoops
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№80 (Jan 1968) Splitsville for Lois and Superman
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World’s Finest Comics
№30 (Sep 1947) Sheriff Clark
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WALT WHITMAN
The main shapes arise, shapes of democracy total, result of centuries, shapes ever projecting other shapes, shapes of turbulent manly cities, shapes of the friends and home-givers of
the whole earth, shapes bracing the earth and braced with the whole earth.
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In some unused lagoon, some nameless bay, on sluggish, lonesome waters, anchor’d near the shore, an old, dismasted, gray and batter’d ship, disabled, done. After free voyages to all the seas of earth, haul’d up at last and hawser’d tight, lies rusting, mouldering.
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SUPER CARS +
“Our last arrow! We’ll fire it to stop the getaway car – then end our careers as Green Arrow and Speedy!” “Yes, with our secret identities exposed, we’re uselss against criminals!”
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Immortal Dane Whitman brought his time-tested skills as the Black Knight to the early days of filmmaking, creating a phantasmagorical chariot race for Fritz Lang’s 1929 silent scifi Woman in the Moon. These days, he still does stunts for Hollywood.
Although he owns a Legion flight ring from the 30th century, when not in a hurry to get somewhere Michael Jon Carter prefers to drive. He comes from the future, sheathed in a super-suit boasting futuristic tech, but the feel of rubber on road gives Booster Gold a jolt unlike any other.
Little is known about this shapeshifting foe of Batman Beyond. Her fluid body allows Inque to seep into and out of her liquid limo.
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Jimon Kwan’s car is parked behind the world’s first eco-fire station. She’s there to give a demonstration – in her capacity as Silver of China Force – on her mutant ability to drain heat and then convert it into light.
Before he went to war as the Fighting American, Nelson Flagg’s father gave him a 1915 Ford Speedster – it later crashed and burned. The original is also shown, fresh off the assembly line.
It takes two of Jamie Madrox, the Multiple Man, to control this wide jeep because it’s sure-as-hell gonna be a bumpy ride.
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The grandfather and great-grandfather of James Jesse were from the world of vaudeville, which is why their spawn continued their forays into self-powered locomotion and built a portable air-cooled engine, hooked up to an accelerator switch, an engine cut-off switch, and single-horsepowered roller skates, and later tormenting the Flash w/ weaponized toys as the Trickster.
An inside-out refrigerated truck driven by Leonard Snart, commiting crime as Captain Cold using an experimental gun based on stolen science and shooting absolute-zero blasts that solidify as ice.
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H.G. Wells jumped at the chance to take a spin in an experimental contraption that his American friend and fellow futurist, the head of Stark Industries, brought over to London. The author of The Invisible Man is photographed sitting in the back seat as the self-driving car crosses Tower Bridge.
This tasty USSR-era Trabant was on display in a Belgrade art gallery when Harlequin, the “merry menace”, happened by, took one look, and promptly brought it home.
This rarely seen Bugatti Type 57 Atlantic belongs to Arthur Curry (Aquaman) and is nicknamed the Drop because he almost never has need for it.
Imperator Furiosa’s go-to wheels when she’s off the clock.
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Even super-heroes driving sports cars have to stop and pay toll, as the Thing heckles Johnny Storm’s tossing chops. “Let’s get going, Torchy! Hey! Ya missed the coin bucket!” “But I threw it okay! It wasn’t my fault! The bucket moved!”
After punching Hitler in his debut, the city of Manhattan awarded Steve Rogers w/ a spanking red 1937 Ford, and he promptly took off to drive cross-country. Then he made up for lost years w/ a Corvette. These days, his ride is a 1960 Chevrolet, always parked on the street; repeatedly stolen then returned because it was a badge of honor to leave the keys in the ignition.
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Before his life was imbued w/ Bahdnisian powers and he took control of the human thunderbolt, Johnny Thunder was in Europe, having won a music scholarship while in high school. With some of his prize money he bought a second-hand Minor Morris convertible.
Bentley Wittman, narrowly escaping the Human Torch, is chauffeured back to his mansion on Long Island and his life as the Wizard. “Fire is a powerful weapon! But I possess the greatest weapon of all – the world’s greatest brain!”
No way is the mysterious Dolphin a landlubber, so whenever adventures take her ashore she always rides in her 1962 Shark roadster, w/ its aquarium pod and other aquatic must-haves allowing her safe passage.
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Retiring as the Sorcerer Supreme, Steven Strange’s mentor, the Ancient One, master of mystic arts, drove home to Kamar-Taj in Tibet, crossing rivers w/ the aid of local villagers, ever grateful for deliverance from the evil Kaluu.
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Suddenly, the hovering air-car is jolted by a fantastic wave of force … and that is when Nick Fury sees an awesome figure who stands waiting to confront the dynamic director of SHIELD …
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A surreal episode of the Knights of the Galaxy is just starting. “For King Arthur and Britain.” (Mystery In Space #8 (June-July 1952))
To have a bit of fun while Superman is recovering from their latest encounter, Mr Mxyzptlk, the imp from elsewhere, uses fifth-dimensional science to rearrange this car and proceeds to demonstrate how to operate it.
Vic Sage blends into his camouflage car, ephemeral behind a pseudoderm mask, during the time he joined Blue Beetle, Captain Atom and Nightshade as the Question in the original Sentinels of Justice.
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When insect-female hybrid Queen Zazzala of planet Korll returned for a rematch w/ the Justic League, she went first to the Citroen museum in Aulnay-sous-Bois near Paris, and took possession of an experimental 1940s light-weight hovercar which she used as a beehive-nest. Badly damaged and abandoned, it still oscillates when touched, awaiting new instructions from the Queen Bee.
The nomadic Roy Harper, leaving behind his Speedy persona, took to the road in an oft-vandalized therefore oft-disguised van. When he landed in England, the former battling bowman persuaded Banksy to let him take the famous SWAT van for an extended spin as Arsenal.
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Random page from the mid-century portfolio of billionaire industrialist Tony Stark: 1958 Nucleon, Norman Bel Geddes prototype, 1949 Tabot Iago, 1959 Firebird.
Sue Richards fetched Agatha Harkness, her boy Franklin’s new governess, in a custom-built Hispano-Suiza, previously owned by an heir to the Dubonnet fortune. It was a regal ride befitting the lead-witch of New Salem, who has brought along a mystical rocking seahorse as a baby present.
An early electric car prototype from the morbid mind of Oswald Hubert Loomis, aka the Prankster.
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When her mom asked if her new car was safe, Jennifer Walters sent this blurry pix of her unusual find while in college. It proved ideal for camping, and that was when she got into an accident, needed a blood transfusion from her cousin Bruce, and began a new existence as the ravishing rough She-Hulk.
In 1923, Tony Stark’s dad visited the Fiat Factory in Turin and openly admired their roof treatment. When what later became the Avengers Mansion was built, he put a race-car track on the roof.
Besides lending his occult skills to combat evil, Giovanni Zatara performs as a stage magician, and is the reason he drives a 1959 Lincoln, which has a sturdy trunk to fit all his stage props.
Tony Stark awarded his executive assistant Pepper Potts w/ this pink 1954 Ford in recognition for her aid in their first caper together, battling “The Mad Pharaoh”.
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Kent Allard’s elusive 1957 Lincoln Premiere, which he drove as the Shadow, caught on a U.S. postage stamp.
Blackhawk’s 1949 Hudson, later owned by Jack Kerouac when he was doing a lot of driving. Restored and no longer driven.
Carter Hall was so smitten when Hal Jordan drove up in a Phantom Corsair that the test-pilot promptly gifted this one-off automobile to the extraterrestrial detective, known to Earth as the Hawkman, for a planet-warming present.
An experimental floating fortress from the malevolent minds at Advanced Idea Mechanics.
Although a haunted horse accompanies his cursed existence, the ghost of highwayman James Craddock also owns a train, breaking the law as the Gentleman Ghost, and traveling the world w/ out a home.
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Long after the owner of Gotham Broadcasting Co. Alan Welling Scott, was visited by the Green Flame of Life (“Three times shall I flame green! First to bring death! Second to bring life! Third to bring power!”) and fought evildoers as the Green Lantern, he would continue to tool around in his trusted 1939 Chevrolet clunker.
Prof. X’s band of super-human teenagers are driven to the airport in a specially-built Rolls Royce w/ dark-tinted windows. “Boy! It musta taken a heap of green stamps to buy a chariot like this!” “No joking, please! Concentrate on your mission! Review your powers! Our foe is certain to be highly dangerous!”
Brainiac 5 retooled an antique and created the “frisbee”, armed w/ repel-rays, as a combat suit for Chuck Taine, the Bouncing Boy.
Hooking up to his Plymouth Barracuda’s batteries to recharge his pyro-costume, Garfield Lynns unleashes a color crimewave based on rainbow rays as the Human Firefly.
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Ted Grant’s ride when he’s fighting crime as Wildcat, immortalized on a U.S. postage stamp.
Brainiac 5 constructed this bi-cycle for Luornu Durgo Taine (Duo Damsel) to augment her super-power.
With wealth to spare, socialite Wesley Dodds had a taste for danger and cars. Which is why he could imperil his 1935 Bugatti Aerolithe by taking it out to strike terror among wrongdoers as the Sandman, declaring “There is no land beyond the law, where tyrants rule w/ unshakable power! It’s but a dream from which the evil wake to face their fate … their terrifying hour!”
A gift from Brainiac 5, this experimental bike allowed Lana Lang to apply 30th-century technology to her 20th-century life. While fiddling around w/ the teleportation button during a ride in the countryside, she managed to trade bodies w/ all the insects in a nearby field, becoming for a spell the Insect Queen.
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Socialite Kathy Kane, in her first appearance as a masked crimefighter, leading the Batmobile into the fray on her Bat Bike. “Hurry, Batman – the Batwoman is beating us on this mission!” (Detective Comics #233 July 1956)
The keys to this experimental car from Stark Industries were handed to Matt Murdock, giving added comfort to his forays as Daredevil into existential evil.
Samuel Joseph Scudder drove this solar laboratory on wheels in his first appearance in Flash #105, “The Master of Mirrors”.
This innocuous van offers storage for Rory Regan’s collection of mystical rags, allowing Ragman, the tatterdemalion of justice, to find respite after a jolt of electricity ran into his body and which by all accounts hasn’t exited yet.
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The second Shield, Lancelot Strong, drove a 1970 AMC Rebel for a short period until its color scheme gave him away to every bad actor on every city block.
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Model kit from Aurora for Britt Reid’s special-built 1965 Chrysler, featuring a 413 engine. Bruce Lee as Kato drove the Black Beauty to fight crime w/ the Green Hornet, ever ready to deploy a pair of hood-mounted machine guns, a flame thrower, and stinger missles.
Sowing feline felony in Gotham City w/ her Cat Mobile, Selina Kyle leads a lawless life as the Catwoman.
Winslow Schott, the terrible Toyman, had his fully functional dwarf Cadillac surrounded by indignant townfolk hoping to save Doll Man and Doll Girl from a threat they were not yet aware of.
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The seldom driven Joker Mobile is deployed to track down a double-crossing mobster. “The whole job – the safe-cracking, the getaway - all bear the stamp of Dink Devers! The cops think he died – but he’s right here in town, at the Blake Hotel! Ha-HA-HA!” “Gosh, Joker – I bet you’re right!”
A proficiency in auto mechanics as well as miniaturization landed Ray Palmer a plum position as a team member rehabilitating a Ferrari 375 Plus. Palmer kept tinkering some more on the racing car, giving it a capability of being shrunk, and constitutes the first step in his quest, as the Atom, to jump into, then out of, the quantum realm at will.
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While parked on a cloud, the Ghost Patrol are actively bored ... “Ho Hum! Another quiet day. Nothing doing on our sector of earth lately.” “Strange! This is usually the most troublesome of the planets!” “What’s that ahead? Why – it’s a horse!”
King T’challa of Wakanda’s elusive jeep parked in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood, where he was on a secret mission as the Black Panther.
This “fire” truck, designed by Stark Industries, later patented by General Motors as the Futurliner, was used to house JIm Hammond, an android spawned in the mind of Prof. Phineas T. Horton. This lab-on wheels is remotely controlled, insulated inside to withstand the intense fire generated by the golden age Human Torch.
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