Firestorm Fan Rotating Header Image

DC Movie Talk/Whatever Happened To…? Robotman and Mark Merlin/Prince Ra-Man – FIRE & WATER #153

Firestorm and Aquaman: The Fire and Water Podcast

The 153rd episode of THE FIRE AND WATER PODCAST is now available for your listening pleasure! A proud member of the FIRE AND WATER PODCAST NETWORK!

This episode Rob and Shag talk a little about the big happenings in the DC movie and TV universes! Then we present the next installments of “Whatever Happened To…?” We love these back-up strips from DC COMICS PRESENTS! This time we’re covering adventures from DCCP #31 & 32, featuring Robotman and Mark Merlin/Prince Ra-Man!

You can find the 153rd episode of THE FIRE AND WATER PODCAST on iTunes. While you’re there, please drop us a review on the iTunes page. Every comment helps! Alternatively, you may play the podcast using the player below or by right-clicking “download”, choosing “Save Target/Link As”, and selecting a location on your computer to save the file (51 MB).

As always, thanks to my co-host Rob Kelly, Sea King of THE AQUAMAN SHRINE, for doing all the post-production on these episodes! Opening theme, “That Time is Now,” by Michael Kohler. Special thanks to Daniel Adams and Ashton Burge with their band The Bad Mamma Jammas for our fantastic original closing theme! This episode brought to you in part by InStockTrades.com!

Have a question or comment? Looking for more great content?

Whatever Happened to Robotman an Mark Merlin/Prince Ra-Man?

Thanks for listening! Support Firestorm and Aquaman! Fan the Flame and Ride the Wave!

Related Posts with Thumbnails

6 Comments

  1. Xum Yukinori says:

    Thank you for another fun hour, gentlemen. Some random reactions…

    I have not seen “Dawn of the Justice League”, but from your recap it sounds like it was an infomercial conducted in the format of an infomercial. Did Kevin Smith use a Sham-Wow dipped in Oxy-Clean to clean the katana?

    The Hostess ad dramatization during your break was wonderful. I remember the ad vividly (the curse of a near-photographic memory), but hopefully you post an image of the ad on your Tumblr for everyone else…

    “Whatever Happened to Robotman”: To make the whole “was this the Earth-One or Earth-Two Robotman debate” more confusing, Bob Crane in Chuck Grayson’s body actually made a follow-up appearance in America Versus the Justice Society #2, and THAT was Robotman’s final chronological appearance (at least pre-Crisis). Also, as you may recall, this DCCP story was noted in (the Earth-Two) Robotman’s original Who’s Who entry.

    Actually, Shag, issue #6 of the New Teen Titans WAS illustrated by George Pérez, it was issue #5 that was drawn by Curt Swan.

    “Whatever Happened to Mark Merlin and Prince Ra-Man”: This story did not seem to be as confusing to me at first read back in the 1980s, but now that I have experienced your re-reading, that story actually should have confused me…

    How could Roy Raymond be the uncle of Ronnie Raymond if Raymond’s original name was Rockwell?

    I have to admire Mark Merlin’s faithfulness to Elsa to resist Rima’s charms.

    I must say the cat is much less traumatized than I would expect after being trapped in a cabinet for years…

    I thought it was charmingly goofy that “Ra” actually used the “editor’s note” device instead of an expository caption to explain what was going on in page 7, panel 5.

    And this week’s stinger had me laughing, which Namiko witnessed out-of-context and immediately gave me a look of pity-mixed-with-concern…

  2. I remember the Robotman story very well, probably because it’s not bad, but mostly because that Superman/Robin story in DCCP is just flat gorgeous, and a lot of fun.

    Sounds like this WAS the Earth-One Robotman (as seen in the aforementioned JLA #144), but Roy decided to incorporate the brain-swapping into the Earth-Two continuity as well.

    I know Robotman had stretchy arms in The Golden Age…but the character went in a VERY dark direction there. Much happier ending for him here.

    I never could make heads or tails of the Prince Ra-Man story, so I’m glad I wasn’t alone.

    As for the DC TV specials, the open warfare between DC/WB and Marvel made me pick what I could watch and DVR, so I missed the Legends special due to DVRing Agent Carter. I did catch the Dawn of Justice promo, or as I like to call it, Kevin Smith’s Art of Hand Gestures.

    Chris

    1. And by “Golden Age” I meant the 4-issue, Elseworlds mini-series by James Robinson and Paul Smith, not the figurative comic book period, “Golden Age”.

      Chris

  3. Paul Hix says:

    Mentioned on Twitter, but restating here for posterior…

    This Robotman never met the more famous Robotman from the Doom Patrol. It’s amazing Roy Thomas never got the chance to tell that story. Perhaps there were editorial restrictions due to the Kupperberg run being in the planning.

    Kevin Smith usually comes across poorly on video but I completely respect his expletive-filled enthusiastic promotion of the CW shows via his Fatman on Batman podcast. Despite being hated by so many people who share his passion, he is a genuine fan.

  4. Siskoid says:

    All hail Robuttman. Futurama fans unite.

  5. Anj says:

    I have the Superman/Wonder Woman issue and as a kid I must have read and reread the Prince Ra-Man story a dozen times trying to figure out what the heck happened. Rough read.

    As for the main story, my favorite part as a kid was when Wonder Woman has a lightning bolt hit the couple to act as a cold shower so they won’t do something they’ll regret.

Leave a Reply to Paul Hix