Dave's Comic Heroes Blog: Super Blog Team-Up

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Wednesday, July 30, 2025

Superman And Superboy Switch

Time for another Super Blog Team-Up. This time around, focusing on time travel!

Remember those fanciful days as a child when you wished you live your life as your adult self...or, the days of being an adult, that you could back to those fanciful days as a child?

Well, Clark Kent doesn't have to wonder about such things, as Superman and Superboy experienced a little mind switch one time when they were both travelling in time, and got to live each others life for a time...

...and, time to see how this happened!

A Mind-Switch In Time!

Starting off with Superman #380 (February, 1983, with a Ross Andru/Dick Giordano cover, and a story by Cary Bates, Curt Swan and Dave Hunt), where Superman is heading back in time (way back to the days of the cavemen) on a request from Professor Lang (and thinking of his days back in Smallville as he heads back). Meanwhile (well, as much as it can be in a time travel story), Superboy is saying goodbye to Ma and Pa Kent in Smallville as he heads into the future to a meeting with the Legion of Super-Heroes.

In the time stream, they both see a phenomenon they never encountered, and both being possessed of Kryptonian might (and ego), think they can just fly through it and be fine. Well, not so much, as they both go through, they "meet" (and turn phantom, as a rule of time travel involving Kryptonians is that they can't exist in a time they are in), and Superman is sent back to his time in Metropolis after the almost collision, as Superboy is sent back to his Smallville. Both are shaken up, but Superman seems shocked he ended up in Metropolis...until he sees his reflection and sees he is older, a Superboy in a Superman's body!

After dealing with a few problems, Clark somehow ends up at the Daily Planet after an encounter with Lois Lane (which she sees Superman as oddly distant and standoffish....not knowing of his body switch), where he decides to get the lay of the land as Clark Kent. Meanwhile, the Daily Planet staff has been dealing with a new hero, Euphor, who makes people bad feelings go away. The young Clark in older Clark's body meets the modern Lana Lang (whom he is so totally attracted to) and the two go on, as Euphor spends more time in Metropolis absorbing the bad feelings of the city.

The Day That Lasted Forever

The New Adventures Of Superboy #38 (February, 1983, with a story by Paul Kupperberg and Kurt Schaffenberger, with a cover by Ross Andru and Mike DeCarlo) picks up the story from the Superman in Superboy's body point of view, where Clark ends up back in old Smallville after a little time establishment, with Superboy lamenting how he can't help the young Lex Luthor at Thanksgiving. Then, Superboy heads into the time stream, and everything changes...

With Superman (in Superboy's body) now in old Smallville, Clark realizes he doesn't want to go back to Metropolis as a boy, so he decides to go back to his (at Superman's time) empty farm house...where he finds Ma and Pa Kent! Stunned, the experienced Superman goes along with it as guests arrive (a young Pete Ross and Lana Lang) for Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, in the main town, Chief Parker has a problem to deal with...an escaped Lex Luthor on the loose, who seems to have no fear of Superboy arriving. Back at the Kent home, Superboy starts his day, heads to the prison, then to travel in time (again?)...yes, Superman in Superboy's body has been trapped in a 24 hour period, unable to move forward (as Luthor had planned, and tells Chief Parker).

But, then how does Superboy show up to stop Luthor? Well, it's a solution only a Superman would know (that he could just keep going back in time to the beginning, which meets up with the end of time, and continue to go back from there). Having solved the Luthor problem (with a little extra anger, as Superman knows the vile deeds Luthor will commit in the future), Clark is still faced with the problem of how to get back to his time in his own body!

Whose Super-Life Is It, Anyway?

Back to the future (at least from Superboy's point of view), with Superman #381 (March, 1983, cover by Gil Kane, story by Bates/Swan/Hunt), where the boy in the man's body goes home to Smallville to recover (finding the house empty, and having his parents death while he was still Superboy revealed to him by the home's caretaker, the former Chief Parker). Meanwhile, back in Metropolis, Euphor heads to an on camera interview at WGBS while a motorcycle rider near him seems to get a bike upgrade and a suit of armor!

At WGBS (also the home of the Daily Planet), Lois tells Jimmy Olsen that she feels something is off with Superman, and it fills her with dread. Euphor shows up and says he'll take away her pain, but Lois storms off, wanting to deal with it herself. Euphor goes on camera with Lana Lang, and tells the people of Metropolis of his powers, and promises to drain their sorrow and anger from them (which he does), giving the city a feeling of contentment and happiness (and hopefully higher ratings for the show). Superboy in Superman's body is dealing with the knowledge of his parents death when that motorcycle rider attacks a Superman statue, with Clark showing up to stop Mace Malloy, who doesn't know where his powers came from.

Meanwhile, back at WGBS, Lois confides her feelings of losing Superman to Lana, who tells her not to worry. Clark shows up and he and Lana go to prepare for a newscast (but young Clark's mind is still distracted by what to him is the now grown up Lana. Euphor finds the newscast, and realizes he is shedding power due to all he has absorbed, and puts an ad in the Daily Planet to draw people unhappy with Superman to the park.

Perry White assigns Lois to cover the story in the park, with Lois agreeing, as she also feels unhappy with Superman now. Superman goes to check on Lana, still having a Superboy's feelings towards her, but she rejects him as their time has long been over, and SuperMAN should be thinking about Lois. In the park, Euphor empowers three Superman haters who manifest abilities based on their Superman hate, with Superman arriving to try to stop them. He does, but the energy in them consumes their bodies. This becomes a problem as Euphor gets a new recruit, Lois Lane, who manifest the energy as a witch to attack Superman (and, Superboy wonders how to stop her without killing her....).

Where Trouble Goes -- Euphor Follows

Superboy (in Superman's body) is still dealing with Euphor in Superman #382 (April, 1983, story by Cary Bates, Curt Swan and Dave Hunt, and a Gil Kane cover) and his newest recruit...Lois Lane! Superboy (in Superman's body) lures her away from the park (as Euphor solidifies his hold on more Metropolis citizens). Having gotten Lois unconscious, Clark hopes her powers will fade as he's secreted her to the Fortress of Solitude. When Lois wakes up, Superboy explains he's the mind now in Superman's body (which explains why he was cold to her. The duo get closer as an alarm goes off signaling trouble in Metropolis.

At WGBS, Morgan Edge is angry about the station giving Euphor more time, until Euphor hits him with his power, and goes on live again, detailing his origins of how he found Mr. Mystic at a street fair, and that magician revealed the source of his power to the boy, and how he could do the same drawing people's negative emotions to use as he wished. Euphor then proceeds to draw even more from Metropolis' citizens, with Superboy and Lois watching at the Fortress, realizing that this will leave Metropolis as a home of drained people. Superboy doesn't know how to handle this, but Lois figures the Superman in Superboy's body is also working on a solution, and likely would be waiting on the other side of the temporal storm to repeat the accident which switched their minds in the first place.

Grateful, Superboy takes off into the time stream as Euphor's powers grow. Superboy and Superman meet up at the anomoly and are successful in reversing its effects, with the now fully Superman headed home to deal with Euphor (and Superboy safe in Smallville, with no memory of his time in Metropolis). Superman finds Lois at the Fortress, who fills him in on the menace of Euphor. Superman goes to Metropolis to confront him, and takes him into the time stream, where Superman goes back to witness the destruction of Krypton (making Superman very sad). Euphor tries to absorb Superman's sadness but it is too much, and he overloads (with Superman having brought him back to Metropolis, allowing the city residents to get their feelings back, and Superman to go back to life as normal).

Quite an adventure for Superman and Superboy!

If you still have time...

...be sure to check out the rest of the Super Blog Team-Up family's work on time travel, as you can see by the links below...

...or look for the hashtag SBTU!

Between The Pages Blog - When Scooby-Doo met the Flintstones and the Jetsons

The Telltale Mind - Time and Time Again - The Man Who Lived Forever!

Asterisk54 - Squirrel Girl Meets Time Travel

The Source Material Comics Podcast - TIMEQUAKE! (What If...?!)

- Part One Fantastic Five

- Part Two Avengers

- Part Three Wolverine

- Part Four Thor

- Part Five Watcher

Superhero Satellite - Hex Communications

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Secret Origins Of The Blue Beetle

At some point, heroes fall, and are replaced by other heroes. That is now a frequent occurrence in comics, but it had gone on before.

Even before Blue Beetle reached DC Comics, back when he was a character at Charlton, there was a replacement of the original super powered Blue Beetle to a non-powered tech driven hero.

In cooperation with the Super Blog Team-Up, now the story of that switch can be told!

The Original Blue Beetle

Dan Garrett was an archeologist, premiering (at least this Charlton version) in Blue Beetle #1 (June, 1964) by Joe Gill, Bill Fraccio and Tony Tallarico. On an Egyptian dig with his friend, Luri Hoshid, Dan ran afoul of a local warlord, General Amenhotep, who fancied himself a descendant of the original pharaoh. Heading back to the excavation, there the duo went into the crypt of Kha-Ef-Re, with Dan seeing an azure scarab on the tomb. Touching it put him in contact with an Egyptian god, who, seeing Dan was an honorable man, gave him the power of the Blue Beetle when Amenhotep had the tomb bombed. As they tried to escape, Dan summoned the power of the scarab with the phrase Kaji Dha.

Now as the Blue Beetle, Dan was ready to face the reawoken Kha-Ef-Re (brought back to life by the radiation in the General's bomb).

Fighting off the mummy, Dan and Luri escaped the collapsing tomb, with Blue Beetle dealing with the General and leaving Luri, to pursue a life as an adventurer.

What an adventure it was, where Blue Beetle faced Communists unleashing a prehistoric thread (#2), the electric villain Mr. Thunderbolt (#3), the Preying Mantis Man (Hunter Mann) (#4) and the Red Knight (Lew Coll) (#5), then a slight hiatus, coming back with much higher issue numbers to fight Mister Crabb and his Scorpion machine (#50), the robot Mentor The Magnificent (#51), the Magno-Man (Dr. Louis Forte) (#52), the return of the Preying Mantis Man (#53) and the Eye Of Horus (#54, written by Roy Thomas).

But then Dan was gone again. When Blue Beetle returned again, it was a new man, Ted Kord, with a more acrobatic, non super fighting style and a giant vehicle that he called the Bug.

The Replacement Blue Beetle

Ted Kord was an engineer, premiering as a back up in Captain Atom #83 (November, 1966) by Steve Ditko with dialogue by Gary Friedrich. Taking down the thug Killer Koke in his first appearance, Ted continued the fight against crime in his next appearance, taking down the Masked Maruader (#84) (Count Von Steuben, while avoiding his secretary Tracey, and Lt. Fisher (who was looking for missing archeologist Dan Garrett, whom Ted was a student of). Facing a spy in a submarine and getting in trouble (#85), dealing with Tracey asking about Dan's disappearance (#86), then getting his own title with (another) Blue Beetle #1 (June, 1967) and facing a group of thieves called the Squids.

With Blue Beetle #2 (August, 1967), it is finally revealed what happened to Dan Garrett. Ted went to Dan for help, as his Uncle Jarvis called Ted to help build robots. But, those efforts stopped when Jarvis; lab blew up, supposedly killing Jarvis. Ted, going through his uncle's papers, found a map to Pago Island and plans to create a robot army. Going to Dan for help, Ted accompanied Dan to Pago Island, where the duo saw their boat destroyed by a robot army, who took them to...the living Uncle Jarvis! Jarvis planned on taking over the world with his robots, but, Dan turned into Blue Beetle. During the melee, the lab exploded, wounding Dan, who asked Ted to carry on for him as Blue Beetle, but another explosion separated them. Leaving the island, Ted took up the mantle of Blue Beetle, but his way, creating the ship, the Bug, as well as a strobe light gun and metallic mesh cowl, Ted would fight crime as a mortal man, doing the best he could.

His next cases included facing the Mad Men (#3), the Men of the Mask (#4) and the Destroyer of Heroes (#5) in his last published issue (though a planned #6 was done by the CPL Gang in a pair of issue, and later included in DC's Action Heroes Archive, where Ted faced the Specter (Amos Fend).

Ted had a few more appearances in Charlton Bullseye #1 (June, 1981), Americomics #3 (August, 1983 and Americomics Special #1 (August, 1983) before showing up with other Charlton heroes on Earth-4 in the Crisis On Infinite Earths, then in Secret Origins #2 (May, 1986) by Len Wein and Gil Kane....which led to his own DC title, and eventually to the Justice League, and, unfortunately, Ted's death, which kicked off the Infinite Crisis!

Another Blue Beetle?

Jaime Reyes was an ordinary student in El Paso, Texas, until an alien scarab bonded to him, turning him into the Blue Beetle.

Sucked up in the events of Infinite Crisis by Booster Gold, but later, was able to find and work with Ted Kord.

The Rest Of The SBTU

Here, from an unreplaceable group of bloggers...

...the Super Blog Team-Up members...

...are a few more cases of times identities were filled by replacements!

Between The Pages Blog:

I Am Groot! - The growth of Groot from a seed of an idea to the world's most beloved tree.

Source Material Comics Podcast:

WE KILLED JASON TODD!

Super-Hero Satellite:

The Reign Of The Supermen

Asterisk 51:

Not-So-Giant-Size X-Men

The Telltale Mind:

Replacement Heroes - When Marcus Johnson finally became Nick Fury

Newsprint Commando:

Monolith of the Elementals

Wednesday, July 26, 2023

X-Men And Avengers Beginnings

Back on July 2, 1963 was a day like no other. The Marvel Universe was changed, when two teams were formed, one of a group of students bound together by their mutations, the other, a mighty gathering of the greatest heroes of that age.

Join this entry of the Super Blog Team-Up, wherein will be discussed the earliest days of the X-Men and the Avengers.

Formation

With these two books by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the Marvel Universe began to take shape. X-Men #1 (September, 1963 inked by Sol Brodsky and Frank Giacoia) introduced the world to the mutants of Professor X's school for gifted youngers, as these kids banded together to face Magneto, while Thor, Ant-Man, the Wasp, Iron Man and the Hulk were gathered together to fight Loki in Avengers #1 (September, 1963, inked by Dick Ayers).

More X-Men early history here, with the beginnings of the Avengers here.

Meeting

The two teams first met in X-Men #9 (January, 1965, by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Chic Stone), as Professor X tracked down his nemesis, Lucifer (the alien who cost Xavier the use of his legs). Xavier has to dispatch his team of X-Men (Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, Angel and the Beast) to stop the Avengers (with Captain America replacing Hulk) from defeating Lucifer, as the tricky villain has tied a thermal bomb to his heartbeat, with the bomb detonating should the Avengers defeat him.

This sets the stage of X-Men vs. Avengers which would then play out over decades....

Crossover

The two teams would later encounter one another due to the manipulations of Magneto, searching for two of his ex-students, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch (who had joined the Avengers). Magneto had also captured the X-Men, with Cyclops breaking free to battle Quicksilver in X-Men #45 (June, 1968), with the X-Men facing the Avengers (which included Hawkeye and Black Panther, along with former Ant-Man now Goliath and the Wasp) in Avengers #53 (June, 1968). The heroes would eventually realize they had been manipulated into fighting, and gather to work against Magneto and his allies, the Toad and Mastermind.

Combination

As a little extra for anyone still reading, the teams even started to combine, as the Beast had graduated the X-Men, got a job, mutated a little further to being grey and furry, then became blue and furry, and joined the Avengers in Avengers #137 (July, 1975) by Steve Englehart, George Tuska and Vince Colletta (with Jim Starlin providing one panel, and John Romita providing the cover).

The Avengers are short members (Swordsman dying, Mantis leaving, and the Vision and Scarlet Witch going on a honeymoon), and begin a recruitment drive, which, along with the return of Yellowjacket (formerly Goliath) and the Wasp, get the Beast (an ex-X-Man) as well as the enigmatic Moondragon....all to face what appears to be the menace of old X-Men cosmic villain, the Stranger!

Oh, but how much stranger the years would become.

Super Blog Team-Up!

Thanks to the rest of the Super Blog Team-Up members...

...even more X-Men and Avengers history is revealed, and you can read them here....

Between The Pages Blog:

Avengers & X-Men 60th Birthday Party

*51:

You Can Do That in a Superhero Comic?!? (Uncanny X-Men #297)

SNAP Material (podcast):

Marvel SNAP On-Air Battle -

“West Coast Avengers (Evan) vs. X-Force (Jesse)”

Source Material Comics Podcast:

“Ultron vs. Nimrod: An AI Perspective”

Charlton Hero: Super-Blog Team-Up: X-Men/Avengers 60.

Wolverine Style.

Wednesday, October 26, 2022

Superman Goes To Hell - The Blaze Satanus War!

Back with another installment for the Super Blog Team-Up, and here, like all of the blogs involved, we are going to hell. But, our twist is...we are taking Superman with us!

Delving a little past our usual time frame, going into the "triangle" era of Superman (as the Silver Age usually had Superman fighting menaces that looked supernatural, but weren't). Here, Superman and the Daily Planet staff are in between a battle between the demonic forces of Blaze and her brother, Lord Satanus, fighting the Blaze/Satanus War!

Blaze and Lord Satanus

Blaze first appeared in Action Comics #655 (July, 1990), as a club owner that was secretly a demon from hell. Her machinations in Metropolis helped lead to the the death of Jerry White (the son of Alice White and Perry White, editor of the Daily Planet). Her brother, Lord Satanus, appears first in Adventures Of Superman #493 (August, 1992), with his own plans for Metropolis, but, as that issue also starts the war, more will be revealed as we go along...

Sibling Rivalry (31)

The war begins in Adventures Of Superman #493 (August, 1992) by Jerry Ordway, Tom Grummett and Doug Hazelwood, with Blaze manipulating fired Daily Planet editor Sam Foswell to Newstime, to become their managing editor (as she saved him from suicide by pretending to be an angel). At Newstime, as Foswell walks the corridors to meet Collin Thornton, owner of Newstime,

Back at the Daily Planet, the crew go on as normal, with Jimmy Olsen going to his side job as Turtle Boy, with Clark Kent and Lois Lane following (and the lot going to check on Sam and his heading to Newstime). Good thing they headed there, as after meeting with Collin Thornton, demons seems to come out of the mirrors at Newstime, as does Lord Satanus. Clark goes into action as Superman, confronted by Lord Satanus, who plans to kill Foswell, as Blaze enjoys her scheme.

Payment Due (32)

In Action Comics #680 (August, 1992) by Roger Stern, Butch Guice and Denis Rodier, Superman and Lord Satanus form a loose alliance as Foswell flees further into Newstime, Jimmy and Lois battle demons, Metropolis gets wind of problems at Newstime as Satanus puts a mystical force field around the building. Blaze appears as an angel to manipulate Foswell, transforming him into a demon to attack Superman, Lois, Jimmy and Satanus.

Outside, Supergirl arrives in Metropolis and starts to tear through the force field around the building, prompting Lord Satanus to transport the whole Newstime building and its inhabitants into another dimension.

Sanctuary (33)

With Superman: The Man Of Steel #15 (September, 1992) by Louise Simonson, Kerry Gammill, Keith Giffen, Dennis Janke and Trevor Scott, the war rages on. With the building gone, Perry White heads to the location of Newstime, where his wife Alice was headed, but they are lured into the former church turned nightclub of Blaze by the spirit of Jerry White. Superman and Lord Satanus continue to battle Blaze's demons as Lois and Jimmy round up the Newstime employees now in a building in another dimension.

To counter Satanus' plan, Blaze sends her church/nightclub into that other dimension with the Whites. In this other dimension, Superman has problems controlling his powers, making the battle tough for him to fight. To help, Perry rings the bells of the church to distract the demons, which it does, as well as distracting Satanus, allowing Blaze to appear, and reveal her plan, to manipulate Superman to help her against her brother to prevent Satanus from killing the now demon Foswell.

Evil's Pawn (34)

This battle comes to an end in Superman #71 (September, 1992) by Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding, as Blaze's plan was revealed. Lois and Jimmy have gotten the Newstime employees safely to Blaze's church/nightclub, as Superman battle Lord Satanus. As the church, Blaze tortures the Whites with the truth their son is dead and merges her demons into one to attack the church. Superman and Lord Satanus decide to work together as Superman gets help from the demonic Foswell (who joins Satanus).

Satanus goes to fight the combined demon as Superman rings the bell at the church to power Satanus. Blaze attacks Superman to stop him, but Perry rises up to continue ringing the bell, powering Satanus to defeat the demon, returning the two buildings and their inhabitants to Earth, as Superman and Blaze spin off into limbo. On Earth, Satanus takes the leave of the Daily Planet staff, taking Foswell with him. The duo appear in the Newstime office, where Satanus returns Foswell to human form, reveling in his new ally, and revealing that Satanus is also....Collin Thornton!

Kismet: The Road Not Taken (35)

Not wanting to leave you (and Superman) in limbo, here's a little on Adventures Of Superman #494 (September, 1992) by Jerry Ordway, Tom Grummett and Doug Hazelwood, where Superman was found by Kismet! Here, this interdimensionally powered being encounters Superman, showing him not to have regrets, even though Superman had been manipulated by demonic forces, his goodness would still win out.

More War

Blaze and Lord Satanus continued their war, including revelations in the Power Of Shazam! that they are the children of the old wizard Shazam (and manipulating Black Adam), and later, their battles against Neron in the Reign of Hell (which inspired DC to reprint the non-Adventures Of Superman issues of the Blaze/Satanus war in the DC Universe Special).

But. enough of that special hell and onto other kinds of hell as well!

The folks at the Super Blog Team-Up have been busy little demons, working on hellish articles of their own, all with a certain common thread.

So, if you are of strong courage, and willing to explore more of the levels of hell, with your faithful companions of the SBTU, here they are:

Between The Pages Blog - Hostess Comic Book Ads Were Hot Stuff

Magazines and Monsters: Bonus Episode! - Marvel Spotlight 12 & 13 (Damon Hellstrom)- with Charlton Hero!

The Telltale Mind - Patsy Walker - To Hell and Back (and Back and Back...)

Source Material Comics Podcast - Batman/Punisher “Lake of Fire” - Evan Bevins and Jesse Starcher

Mark Radulich : Alternative Commentary on Hell Comes to Frogtown

Ed Moore: News Print Commando Rex Zombie Killler from Bad Dog Ink/Panda Dog Press 2013

In My Not So Humble Opinion - Savage Dragon Goes To Hell

Asterisk 51 Blog - Sunday school with… Hellboy?!?!?

Comics Comics Comics Blog - The Son of Satan and the preacher's kids - Will looks at Son of Satan and the Defenders.

Superhero Satellite: Spider-Ham in the world of Licensing Hell!

Relatively Geeky Presents #43: Afterlife With Archie, issues 1 to 6.

Wednesday, May 18, 2022

Image's Big Bang Comics

When Image Comics hit the scene 30 years ago, it created a revolution in comics, with highly stylized art by big names and flamboyant characters...but, where would that leave the old style of comics from the Golden, Silver and Bronze Ages?

Well, enter...Big Bang Comics!

For 35 issues (and a few specials) from May, 1996 to January, 2001, Big Bang Comics brought back the old school comics, with characters that looked familiar (Ultiman, the Knight Watchman, Kid Gallahad, Thunder Girl, the Blitz, the Whiz Kids and more), giving people new stories in older styles, while including modern Image heroes like Savage Dragon and Mighty Man!