Thursday, June 13, 2013

Bring on the Back-ups: "The Baby Who Walked Through Walls!" by Wein and Adams

Ol' Groove's been hearing some buzz about a super-hero flick coming out tomorrow (or maybe even sneak-previewing near you right now!), have you? 'Bout a guy with a red cape and blue suit from another planet who's pretty super, man! Yeah, Ol' Groove's just jivin' ya, Groove-ophiles! I'll be in line to see the new Superman flick this weekend, you bet'cha! To celebrate The Man of Steel's return to the Silver Screen, how 'bout we take a look at a quiet tale about Superman's private life from the back-up series (duh!) The Private Life of Clark Kent? From Superman #254 (May 1972), here's "The Baby Who Walked Through Walls!" by Len Wein and Neal Adams...







I dunno if this Clark will be in Man of Steel, but I can hope, can't I?

13 comments:

  1. A wonderful slice of life. Clark also solved it without powers, like a normsal person.

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  2. Featuring Adams' daughter as the baby.

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  3. Fun little story from Wein (although I've read far too many tragic real-life "just took my eyes off him/her for a second" accounts to enjoy pages five and six like I did back in groovier days), but every single frame of the artwork by Adams is just astounding.

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  4. Beautifully drawn, obviously, but what a weird story: Clark just assumes the baby walked through the wall? I'm guessing that happens more frequently in the DC Universe. Also, she sure climbed back up the stairs pretty darn quick...

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  5. Never saw this one! Great drawing from Neal Adams at his prime---before he started inking with sharpies and microns which look scratchy and terrible---just crowquills, india ink, and brush, and simple, but effective 'analog' coloring (his digital coloring is generally an overrendered mess). In seven pages Adams maintained a consistency of staying 'on model' with his characters and good storytelling/'camera' angles/facial expressions/body language which is sadly lacking in the BATMAN: ODYSSEY debacle of a few years ago. Fortunately, SUPERMAN was selling close to a million copies a month in 1972, whereas B:O sold only 20,000 copies in its final issue, so the latter will be forgotten soon enough.

    Chris A.

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  6. The Groovy Age seems more and more distant every day. Thanks for keeping it alive -- you have no idea how much it means to many of us.

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  7. I remember reading this in college -- it was the little kid's "Vootie" that I remember after more than forty years!

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  8. Thank you,Mr Groove,for sharing.
    I enjoyed both the story and the great art
    by the best inker ever to have
    inked Mr Adams art (especially around 1972).
    Cheers!
    /Mr Anonymous

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  9. Hard to believe that a baby could give Superman the slip, but still, it's Clark Kent, not Superman. Probably a psychological factor about adopting his Clark persona. And nice to see Adams' art on Clark Kent--I knew I hadn't gone far enough back in Superman/Action back issues to get all the "good stuff".

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  10. Amazing how busy Neal Adams was in 1972 alone---he finished his run penciling the bi-monthly GREEN LANTERN/GREEN ARROW (the AVENGERS stories were drawn for Marvel in 1971, though some were cover-dated 1972), penciled and inked this short story as well as a couple of El Diablo stories for WEIRD WESTERN TALES, and penciled the conclusion of the Ra's al Ghul saga in several issues of BATMAN. And he did so many cover illustrations---just amazing!

    Chris A.

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  11. Petra Lewis: The Woman Next Door!

    Lois who, now...?

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Special thanks to Mike's Amazing World of Comics and Grand Comics Database for being such fantastic resources for covers, dates, creator info, etc. Thou art treasures true!


Note to "The Man": All images are presumed copyright by the respective copyright holders and are presented here as fair use under applicable laws, man! If you hold the copyright to a work I've posted and would like me to remove it, just drop me an e-mail and it's gone, baby, gone.


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As for the rest of ya, the purpose of this blog is to (re)introduce you to the great comics of the 1970s. If you like what you see, do what I do--go to a comics shop, bookstore, e-Bay or whatever and BUY YOUR OWN!