6 replies on “SiC 46 — Guess I’ll Go Eat Worms (01:30:1986”
This was an intriguing story, in its examination (such as it was) of the idea that one way to hurt Superman is to hurt his feelings. As you noted, this was more often a theme in Superboy stories, but I recall a number of stories in World’s Finest in which Batman would appear to abandon his partnership with Superman in favor of some other never-before-seen hero, and Superman would spend part of the story moping about how “Batman doesn’t want to be my friend any more. I guess he doesn’t like me.” This always reminded me, even as a kid, myself, of the kind of emotional upset kids go through when there is a disagreement or estrangement between friends. In the Silver Age, superheroes were often “wish fulfillment” for the typical 8-year old (or so) readers, so the heroes would often experience the feelings of those readers. Granted, adults go though similar feelings over losing friends, but emotions are often so much more powerful in kids, because they have less experience in dealing with them.
I agree that the story plays a bit fast-and-loose with the previously established nature of the Parasite’s power, but, . . . plot, I guess. I wondered why Parasite hadn’t taken at least some of Superman’s super powers earlier, but I guess he didn’t want to make Superman suspicious enough to put two and two together and figure out who his antagonist was.
Oh, and on the idiom “should have stood in bed”: I always saw that as a kind of comedic take on the more sensible version of “stayed in bed”, and “should have stood” is kind of an “internal rhyme” with “should” rhyming with “stood”, which makes it stick in memory more easily.
Finally, count me (and I’m sure I’m not in a minority here) as a fan of the show and its host.
While there were pro-slavery a-holes in Kansas at the time of the Civil War, Kansas actually fought for the North.
In fact, if you’ve ever heard of the big sports rivalry between the University of Kansas and University of Missouri, there are those who believe that the rivalry actually has it’s roots in the Civil War.
KU, located in Lawrence, Kansas (my stomping grounds – I don’t live there but I work and shop there), has this mascot called a Jayhawk.
Actually, I’ll let my good friend, Wik explain that one. You know Wik, right? Wiki I. Pedia? Famous scholar and such? Anyway:
“Jayhawkers and red legs are terms that came to prominence in Kansas Territory during the Bleeding Kansas period of the 1850s; they were adopted by militant bands affiliated with the free-state cause during the American Civil War. These gangs were guerrillas who often clashed with pro-slavery groups from Missouri, known at the time in Kansas Territory as “Border Ruffians” or “Bushwhackers”. After the Civil War, the word “Jayhawker” became synonymous with the people of Kansas, or anybody born in Kansas. Today a modified version of the term, Jayhawk, is used as a nickname for a native-born Kansan.”
Now, with that being said, these days Lawrence is somewhat of a Liberal/Progressive oasis deep in Conservative/MAGA territory. Lot’s of Trump signs around here.
In fact, when we had our Biden sign up, my Dad (who votes Democrat) was worried for us when we put the sign in the yard. He was afraid somebody would come by and shoot up the house.
Didn’t mean to get all historical and political here in the comments section of one of my favorite podcasts, but here we are.
And yeah, folks round here do say “y’all”. 🙂 It’s not super common, but I do hear it.
Heck, I use it a lot, but I feel like I began to use it ironically, and now it’s just a part of me.
I’m loving the show, but came to it really late, and I can’t believe there’s not much left before it ends.
However, I’ll be there from the get go for whatever you start up next.
-Steeven
Hi Jon. Nice to see that Mindy is really good about your hobby and Passion. My wife is semi okay , but I can tell she thinks I’m nuts for being the comic collector that I am. As for Action #578, The story was another SA inspired tale which was just okay. I always saw the Parasite as a top tier opponent for Superman but I admit to not reading many comics with him in it. In the second Superman/Spider-man crossover he was teamed up with Dr. Doom and Doom had gloves where he could handle him without being affected by the absorbing powers.
I had a thought, why don’t you do a podcast when Superman begins again with the Byrne run ? I understand that you have a lot on your plate , but maybe you can think about it.
Hi Jon AND George! Is it ok if I write to you both at once? Great, you guys are swell!
I also know Parasite first and foremost from the 2nd Superman/Spider-Man crossover, and loved it! I had no idea Parasite was a lesser used villain, so thanks for that insight, Jon. While it may seem strange then to include him in the crossover, the other DC/Marvel team-ups of the time often did that: the Shaper of Worlds in Batman/Hulk, and Darkseid (before he rose to prominence) in Titans/X-Men.
I’m getting concerned that George and I are the same person, which makes this feedback a tad uncomfortable. So I better go before the existential ennui erupts. And as always, thanks for reading!
Hey Tim, maybe I’m the Adam Warlock to your Magus? 😉
Hi, Jon! It’s me again. I know, shocking, right?
I get what you were saying in the feedback about fans vs. listeners, but people who listen to 50 episodes or so of a podcast have to be a fan, right? I enjoy listening to the things you’ve spoken into a microphone, whether it was from a couple years ago or days. I appreciate what you do and always enjoy listening.
As for the issue you covered, it sounds like Clark was being a Superbaby. Was he always that emo? The idea that popularity is energy is out there, but I appreciate the attempt to do something new with Parasite. Of course, I say all this based only off of your recap since I wasn’t able to read this issue.
Academic Superbowl! It probably comes as no surprise that this Indiana boy participated in that competition in high school, as well as Spell Bowl, Academic Decathlon, Speech, and more. It’s one reason why I enjoy coaching Math Bowl. We’re several weeks into practices at this point and pushing those 4th and 5th grade math brains.
Okay, I already have the DCCP issue read for the next episode (was there not a tweet for #47?) and need to get to the JLA issue. Hope you and Mindi are well – talk to you next time!
6 replies on “SiC 46 — Guess I’ll Go Eat Worms (01:30:1986”
This was an intriguing story, in its examination (such as it was) of the idea that one way to hurt Superman is to hurt his feelings. As you noted, this was more often a theme in Superboy stories, but I recall a number of stories in World’s Finest in which Batman would appear to abandon his partnership with Superman in favor of some other never-before-seen hero, and Superman would spend part of the story moping about how “Batman doesn’t want to be my friend any more. I guess he doesn’t like me.” This always reminded me, even as a kid, myself, of the kind of emotional upset kids go through when there is a disagreement or estrangement between friends. In the Silver Age, superheroes were often “wish fulfillment” for the typical 8-year old (or so) readers, so the heroes would often experience the feelings of those readers. Granted, adults go though similar feelings over losing friends, but emotions are often so much more powerful in kids, because they have less experience in dealing with them.
I agree that the story plays a bit fast-and-loose with the previously established nature of the Parasite’s power, but, . . . plot, I guess. I wondered why Parasite hadn’t taken at least some of Superman’s super powers earlier, but I guess he didn’t want to make Superman suspicious enough to put two and two together and figure out who his antagonist was.
Oh, and on the idiom “should have stood in bed”: I always saw that as a kind of comedic take on the more sensible version of “stayed in bed”, and “should have stood” is kind of an “internal rhyme” with “should” rhyming with “stood”, which makes it stick in memory more easily.
Finally, count me (and I’m sure I’m not in a minority here) as a fan of the show and its host.
While there were pro-slavery a-holes in Kansas at the time of the Civil War, Kansas actually fought for the North.
In fact, if you’ve ever heard of the big sports rivalry between the University of Kansas and University of Missouri, there are those who believe that the rivalry actually has it’s roots in the Civil War.
KU, located in Lawrence, Kansas (my stomping grounds – I don’t live there but I work and shop there), has this mascot called a Jayhawk.
Actually, I’ll let my good friend, Wik explain that one. You know Wik, right? Wiki I. Pedia? Famous scholar and such? Anyway:
“Jayhawkers and red legs are terms that came to prominence in Kansas Territory during the Bleeding Kansas period of the 1850s; they were adopted by militant bands affiliated with the free-state cause during the American Civil War. These gangs were guerrillas who often clashed with pro-slavery groups from Missouri, known at the time in Kansas Territory as “Border Ruffians” or “Bushwhackers”. After the Civil War, the word “Jayhawker” became synonymous with the people of Kansas, or anybody born in Kansas. Today a modified version of the term, Jayhawk, is used as a nickname for a native-born Kansan.”
Now, with that being said, these days Lawrence is somewhat of a Liberal/Progressive oasis deep in Conservative/MAGA territory. Lot’s of Trump signs around here.
In fact, when we had our Biden sign up, my Dad (who votes Democrat) was worried for us when we put the sign in the yard. He was afraid somebody would come by and shoot up the house.
Didn’t mean to get all historical and political here in the comments section of one of my favorite podcasts, but here we are.
And yeah, folks round here do say “y’all”. 🙂 It’s not super common, but I do hear it.
Heck, I use it a lot, but I feel like I began to use it ironically, and now it’s just a part of me.
I’m loving the show, but came to it really late, and I can’t believe there’s not much left before it ends.
However, I’ll be there from the get go for whatever you start up next.
-Steeven
Hi Jon. Nice to see that Mindy is really good about your hobby and Passion. My wife is semi okay , but I can tell she thinks I’m nuts for being the comic collector that I am. As for Action #578, The story was another SA inspired tale which was just okay. I always saw the Parasite as a top tier opponent for Superman but I admit to not reading many comics with him in it. In the second Superman/Spider-man crossover he was teamed up with Dr. Doom and Doom had gloves where he could handle him without being affected by the absorbing powers.
I had a thought, why don’t you do a podcast when Superman begins again with the Byrne run ? I understand that you have a lot on your plate , but maybe you can think about it.
Hi Jon AND George! Is it ok if I write to you both at once? Great, you guys are swell!
I also know Parasite first and foremost from the 2nd Superman/Spider-Man crossover, and loved it! I had no idea Parasite was a lesser used villain, so thanks for that insight, Jon. While it may seem strange then to include him in the crossover, the other DC/Marvel team-ups of the time often did that: the Shaper of Worlds in Batman/Hulk, and Darkseid (before he rose to prominence) in Titans/X-Men.
I’m getting concerned that George and I are the same person, which makes this feedback a tad uncomfortable. So I better go before the existential ennui erupts. And as always, thanks for reading!
Hey Tim, maybe I’m the Adam Warlock to your Magus? 😉
Hi, Jon! It’s me again. I know, shocking, right?
I get what you were saying in the feedback about fans vs. listeners, but people who listen to 50 episodes or so of a podcast have to be a fan, right? I enjoy listening to the things you’ve spoken into a microphone, whether it was from a couple years ago or days. I appreciate what you do and always enjoy listening.
As for the issue you covered, it sounds like Clark was being a Superbaby. Was he always that emo? The idea that popularity is energy is out there, but I appreciate the attempt to do something new with Parasite. Of course, I say all this based only off of your recap since I wasn’t able to read this issue.
Academic Superbowl! It probably comes as no surprise that this Indiana boy participated in that competition in high school, as well as Spell Bowl, Academic Decathlon, Speech, and more. It’s one reason why I enjoy coaching Math Bowl. We’re several weeks into practices at this point and pushing those 4th and 5th grade math brains.
Okay, I already have the DCCP issue read for the next episode (was there not a tweet for #47?) and need to get to the JLA issue. Hope you and Mindi are well – talk to you next time!