The latest episode of THE POWER RECORDS PODCAST is now available! Hosts Rob Kelly and Chris Franklin welcome guest The Irredeemable Shag to discuss three Power Record adventures all starring The Man of Steel: “The Best Cop in the World”, “The Mxyzptlk-Up Menace”, and “Tomorrow The World.”
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Yay! Power Records! Good to hear Shag make his Power Records debut!
I have this record, one of just a handful of them that I actually own. I love the Neal Adams album artwork, I really think I’m going to get mine signed by Adams next time I go to a Con he’s signing at and get it framed and hung on the wall once I get my “comics room” all put together in our house. I’ve always been disappointed that this one didn’t have an accompanying comic book to go with it, especially the first tale, I can’t get enough of those Bottle City of Kandor stories, I always enjoy seeing the Kryptonian cityscapes from this era and the neat Kryptonian outfits. I didn’t realize that this story showed up on another Record release that did come with a book, I’m going to have to try and track that one down.
Shag brings up some great points! They always played fast n’ loose with why the Kandorians and the whole body could be returned to normal. There were experimental ways that were unstable, and all sorts of reasons why it wouldn’t work, but then you constantly had cases like this one where someone escapes and returns to full size with no negative harm to their body. There was even a story or two where the Kandorians turned on Superman, thinking he knew the secret to set them free but just didn’t want to share earth with other Kryptonians.
Of course he would eventually find a way to return the Kandorians to size in the late 70’s but the process only worked on organic material, meaning the city itself crumbled to bits during the enlarging process. (Superman #338 in the story titled “Let My People Grow”).
Man am I glad that Mxyzptlk’s voice in this one is less grating than the Mxyzptlk voice from Super Friends. I’m sorry Shag still hears the Super Friends take on the character in his head, I imagine that probably turns his brain to mush in a similar way that Shag singing the damn Ewok song makes my brain mushy. The guy that voiced Mxyzptlk on SF deserves an award for most annoying voice on the planet. Super Breathe to trigger a camera shutter, love it! And I dug Superman’s brilliant plan to trick Mxy into saying his name backwards. McGurk!
Tomorrow the World, I have nothing else to add, this story is perfect.
Great coverage and great episode!
Drop the needle and turn the page!
Kyle, Superman #338 was one of my earliest Superman books, and I meant to bring it up, but I just didn’t get around to it. That, this record, and the Super Friends episode with the tiny Kandorian heroes (who are kinda Legion-like) helped me develop a fondness for the concept.
Chris
Thank you for another nostalgic comic book journey, gentlemen.
I find the character portrayal of Superman on this record to be reminiscent of the old Filmation Superman cartoons of the 1960s.
All good points about “The Greatest Cop in the World” – those are the same Alfred Hitchcock “refrigerator questions” I had. And I almost want to draw that scene Chris described revealing Superman as the mastermind behind the “Quasar Beams in the Junkyard Car Headlights” gambit…
Regarding the biggest “refrigerator question” on why Superman could come and go from Kandor but did not bother to free the Kandorians out of the bottle city with the same method: my understanding was that the micro-waver beam effects were only temporary on those exposed to Brainiac’s original shrinking ray (i.e. the Kandorians). So Superman really did not have to worry too much about Ron-Za setting up martial law, he could have just bided his time until the micro-waver beams wore off and then easily deal with “The Mighty Mouse Cop of the World”…
I think this is the only time I have ever heard Mxyzptlk’s name pronounced as “mix-spit-TULK”. Every other audio iteration I recall is either “mix-yez-PIT-il-lick” or the Superfriends’ “MIX-zell-plick”.
Frank Welker voiced the Superfriend’s Mxyzptlk, by the way. And I do agree with Chris that the Power Records actor did capture an accurate portrayal of the character, although different from Welker’s. In fact, this actor also added a bit of “age” to the voice (that other Mxyzptlk voice actors did not seem to do), and to me that fits the artistic depiction of a funny looking older man that acts like a mischievous kid….
And yes, the “frying bacon mask” scene in “Tomorrow the World” was a bit unsettling, though the “bombastic Johnny Quest” soundtrack made me chuckle a little as it was happening. This makes me question my sense of humanity…
(I think my words for describing “ten sunburns at once” on my face would be along the lines of “AHHHHH! ANNNHHHH! AAAAGGGGHHHHHH!”… but maybe that is just me…)
And back to the soundtrack, it was so wonderfully goofy when these record stories blared the “dah-ta-ta-dahh!” music when they (mostly) introduce Superman in these stories. In my mind I envision this trio of medieval trumpeters suddenly popping up from behind Superman’s back, playing those notes, and then ducking back behind Superman again.