The Super-Men (and -Women) of All-Planets

[Jim Kelly]

WORLD'S FINEST COMICS 185 (June 1969)--1st story, "The Galactic Gamblers" by Kanigher, Andru and Esposito:



The Galactic Gamblers of Garenvol teleport the World's Finest Team to their Planet of Chance under a red sun. Rival competitors, Rika and Zada, bet on Superman and Batman as they are put through a series of contests.



To up the stakes, the Galactic Gamblers have taken Jimmy Olsen and Robin hostage, as the Action Ace and the Detective Dean enter the Maze of Malice.

In the end, Clark has been playing possum. The red sun was a red herring--it was actually yellow all the time--it only appeared red to the Galactic Gamblers because of an optical illusion. Victory was not in the cards for the Galactic Gamblers.

♥︎♥︎ Happy Valentine's Day ♥︎♥︎

[Jim Kelly]

All-Bash Comics

THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY 9 (September 1980)--2nd story, "The Day of the Lost Clothing" by Bridwell, Rich Buckler and Romeo Tanghal
SUPERBOY 157 (June 1969)--"Get Lost, Superboy...Who Needs You?" by Robbins, Brown and Wally Wood; cover art by Neal Adams
SUPERBOY 161 (December 1969)--"The Strange Death of Superboy" by Robbins, Brown and Wood
ADVENTURE COMICS 456 (March-April 1978)--1st story, "This Power...This Responsibility" by Michelinie, Staton and Abel
ADVENTURE COMICS 457 (May-June 1978)--1st story, "A Fire Within" by Michelinie, Staton and Abel
SUPERBOY SPECTACULAR (1980)--6th story, ''The Puzzle of the Disappearing Pitcher" by Bridwell, Swan and Giella; on sale December 6th, 1979; cover art by Andru and Giordano; back cover art by Swan and Giella
THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY 3 (March 1980)--"The New Super Star of Smallville" by Bates, Schaffenberger and Hunt; on sale December 20th, 1979
THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY 7 (July 1980)--1st story, "This Planet is Condemned" by Bates, Schaffenberger and Hunt
THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY 25 (January 1982)--"The Man Who Kidnapped Nature" by Pasko, Schaffenberger and Hunt
THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY 26 (February 1982)--1st story, "Clark Kent--the Grooviest Guy in Smallville" by Bates, Schaffenberger and Hunt
THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY 30 (June 1982)--1st story, "The Secret of the Crystal Curse" by Bates, Schaffenberger and Hunt
THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY 35 (November 1982)--1st story "The Yellow Peri Peril" by Rozakis, Schaffenberger and Giella
THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY 36 (December 1982)--"Menace of the Mind's Eye" by Kupperberg and Schaffenberger
THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY 37 (January 1983)--1st story, "Wright Makes Might" by Kupperberg and Schaffenberger
THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY 39 (March 1983)--1st story, "A World Without Christmas" by Kupperberg and Schaffenberger
THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY 42 (June 1983)--1st story, "A Blast of Dyna-Mind" by Kupperberg and Schaffenberger pp
THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY 45 (September 1983)--1st story, "Sunburst--Public Enemy #1" by Kupperberg, Saviuk and Schaffenberger
THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY 48 (December 1983)--1st story, "One Super-Power Too Many" by Kupperberg and Schaffenberger
THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY 50 (February 1984)--"Dial V for Villain" by Kupperberg, Giffen, Schaffenberger and Hunt
THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY 52 (April 1984)--"The Caveman of Smallville" by Kupperberg and Schaffenberger

[Jim Kelly]

While SUPERBOY 157 (June 1969) is where Bradley "Bash" Bashford debuted in publication history, in terms of his timeline, "The Day of the Lost Clothing"--in THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY 9 (September 1980)--must come before, since it's a story of the younger Superboy and Ma and Pa Kent are still silver-haired, putting the story prior to when they became young again in SUPERBOY 145 (March 1968)--"The Fantastic Faces."



In a yarn from Superboy's Secret Diary, Clark writes how in the school cafeteria, "Bash" bumped into him accidentally on purpose and milk spilt on his sweater. Later he spotted a hold-up at Totter's Drug Store and took off as the Red and Blue Blur, leaving his civvies hidden in the bushes outside the school yard. But when Bash went there to retrieve a football, he found the abandoned clothes. Having seen Superboy in flight, Bashford drew the conclusion that the wearer of these clothes was the Kid with the Red Cape. And as there's a damp spot on the sweater, he figured out it had to be Kent.

Having seen Bash take his clothes--but luckily not his glasses--Clark flew back to his house, to get another set of clothes (C.K. seems to have several identical sets of clothes--red sweater, white shirt, blue pants). And then used his heat vision to dry the spot on the sweater that Bashford had in his possession.





Note: This tale contributes to Superman lore as by the end of the yarn Clark has added a pouch to his cape, so he can always hide his regular clothes in there (super-compressed, of course).

[Jim Kelly]

In SUPERBOY 157, his first comic book appearance in publication history, Bradley "Bash" Bashford visits Koko, an albino gorilla, at the Smallville Zoo, along with the rest of the high school biology study group, including Lana Lang and Clark Kent.



When Koko is weakened by a virus, the Boy of Steel sets out for a red sun planet to obtain blue banana-like fruits. Powerless on the alien world, the Caped Kryptonian must avoid an ape-like resident.





The strange fruit turns yellow under our yellow sun and should contain super-powerful nutrients for the ape's recovery. However, Mrs. Kent mistakes a bunch of these for everyday bananas and gives them to Lana, who in turn feeds them to Bash.

[Jim Kelly]

After devouring the disgusting fruit, Smallville's star athlete becomes Super-Bash.



Seeing him perform super-feats, Lana believes that Super-Bash and Superboy are one and the same. Bashford is happy to let the beautiful red-head think so.



His attitude changes when the continent is threatened by a massive meteor heading toward Earth.

[Jim Kelly]

In issue 161 (December 1969), Bash makes the moves on Lana and Clark is overcome with jealousy. The mild-mannered teen challenges the school jock to a fight. As it wouldn't be fair to fight him with his super-powers, Kal-El takes measures to remove some of his super-abilities using Kryptonite--in "The Strange Death of Superboy"--although he still retains his vision powers.



Un-Super Clark successfully defeats Bashford in the boxing ring.

[Jim Kelly]

Kent then tries out for the football team. However, when he avoids a tackle, Bash suffers a deadly head injury (not wearing a helmet).



The only way to save the star athlete is to fly in Dr. Franz Haller, the world's greatest brain surgeon. Time is of the essence; they only have an hour to relieve the pressure on Bash's brain and Haller is in Vienna. Clark promises to get the Boy of Steel to fly to Austria and bring the surgeon to Smallville.



To do this, he must regain all his super-powers. Pa Kent suggests using the same mixture of chemicals that counteracted his Kryptonite poisoning in his battle with "Uncle Cipher"--in SUPERBOY 150. Concocting the cocktail of chemicals from memory, Clark counters the effects of the previous K. treatment. Once powered up, the Smallville Samaritan brings Haller from Vienna to operate on Bashford in Smallville.

[Jim Kelly]

Bash Bashford shows up again in ADVENTURE COMICS 456 (March-April 1978) and 457 (May-June 1978), he's still jealous of Superboy . . .





. . . and still giving "Clarkie" a hard time in school.



Note: ADVENTURE COMICS 456 was previously mentioned in post #298.

[Jim Kelly]

While mostly reprints, the final adventure in the 1980 SUPERBOY SPECTACULAR was a new one--"The Puzzle of the Disappearing Pitcher."



Billed as "A Solve-It-Yourself Mystery Story," the yarn begins with the Smallville Saber Tooths boarding a bus for Gotham City--where they will play against that city's Greyhounds. The Smallville baseball team includes Ken "Whitewash" Baron, Bash Bashford and Pete Ross--as well as Clark Kent, the team's batboy.

But when they arrive in Gotham, the Saber Tooths are missing their star pitcher, "Whitewash" Baron. Clark is on the case but so is one of the boys from the competing Greyhounds, who seems to be an amateur sleuth.

"Whitewash" has been taken captive by an underworld gang that is betting on the Gotham Greyhounds to win.



Both Superboy and the Gotham boy wonder detective break in on the crooks holding the pitcher. Case solved, both teams can compete with a full compliment of players.

Despite Baron's ace pitching skills for the Saber Tooths, the game is lost to the Greyhounds when Bashford bobbles a ball batted by the boy wonder--whose last name is Wayne--who runs the bases.

However, the crooks must have had a man on the inside--on the bus--to have captured Ken--who was he?

The answer is in the next post following . . .

[Jim Kelly]

Note: Clark and Bruce met for the "first time" in several different stories.

On the back cover of this comic is a Superboy family pin-up by Curt Swan and Joe Giella. Shown are (back row) Jor-El, Superboy, Lara Lor-Van, (third row) Kryptonite Kid, Jonathan Kent, Martha Kent, Chief Parker, (second row) Bash Bashford, Pete Ross, Lana Lang, Lewis Lang, (front row) Krypto, Clark Kent, Master Mxyzptlk.



Despite the presence of K. Kid and Mxy, everyone is happy and the pin-up is signed "Best Wishes, Superboy and Friends!"

________________

To be contintued tomorrow in . . . The New Adventures of the Bash!

[Jim Kelly]

Bashford returns in THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY, with the third issue (March 1980). Over the course of this run, initially only appearing on occasion, he eventually becomes a regular supporting character, with whole stories dedicated to him.

In the winter of 1979 - 1980, Dr. Joseph Silver sends his astral body back in time, in his bid to become "The New Super Star of Smallville." Having suffered an inferiority complex since high school, he hopes to retroactively change his condition, by taking possession of his teen-age self.

Which happens for the first time in gym class. Joey having passed out, the jocks in class, like Bash, regard the weakling derisively. When Bash and his pals direct their aggression against Clark, the now possessed Joey leaps to C.K.'s defense.



After the astral form of his adult self leaves his body, Joey has no memory of what happened.

Later on and continuing into the next issue, in "Look at Me, World--I'm Astralad," Joey/Joseph becomes that long-haired super star. He wastes no time in making the moves on Lana Lang. In the end, Clark/Superboy convinces Joey/Joseph that it's impossible to change the past, and Astral Joe Silver goes back to his present.

Bash returns in THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY 7 (July 1980). On the first Saturday in April, in the evening, Smallville High celebrates Parents' Day. But as the festivities get underway, a landslide imperils everyone before the Boy of Steel comes to the rescue.

In the aftermath, Bash Bashford can't resist another opportunity to harass Clark Kent. This time it's Willy Mason who comes to Clark's defense, throwing cold water on the heated exchange.



Mason then confides in Kent that he thinks he's adopted, setting up the plot for "This Planet is Condemned--see post #375.

Bash puts in an appearance in THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY 25 (January 1982)--"The Man Who Kidnapped Nature"--When Lana is swept off her feet by a college guy, Bash is steaming with jealousy.



The cool dude with the long hair--Burton Belker--later becomes Dr. Chaos after he puts on the blue helmet, as detailed in post #385.

[Jim Kelly]

Just as Clark celebrated his 16th birthday in the first issue of THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY (January 1980), Lana has her 16 candles moment in issue 26 (February 1982).



At the birthday bash, Bashford has a chance to prank the young Kent once again.

Lana's uncle, Professor Phineas Potter, arrives for the sweet sixteen party in his new invention, the Aero-Cycle. Potter sees something of himself in Clark and decides to do him a favour, shooting a spray at the high school student which will make him "Clark Kent--the Grooviest Guy in Smallville" and irresistible to his female classmates.

[Jim Kelly]

"The Secret of the Crystal Curse" in THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY 30 (June 1982) presents the Teen of Steel with two mysteries--one of science and the other of magic.

Always the Good Samaritan, Clark Kent helps out an elderly lady in Smallville. Then, as Superboy, he encounters the Glowman--a man radiating solar energy who seems to gain more power from the Caped Kryptonian. The next morning, again in his Clark identity, he meets a pretty 16 year old who is new in town. Named Rachel Lamarr, she is immediately attracted to the bespectacled teen-ager.



Lamarr says she lives with her elderly great aunt, Clara Desruc--the lady that C.K. had helped the day before. Meanwhile, Bash Bashford has gone missing.

It turns out that Bash is the Glowman. He happened to find one of Lex Luthor's secret laboratories and was transformed by a Solar Infusion Booster into a Human Dynamo of Solar Energy.

[Jim Kelly]

By duping the Human Dynamo into fighting a Superboy robot, Clark depletes the Glowman of solar energy and returns Bash to his regular self, with no memory of what happened.





Rachel and her great aunt are actually one and the same person. When Rachel stole a magic crystal from a carnival, a curse aged her. Her brief encounter with the Kid from Krypton rejuvenated her briefly. But the only way to reverse the curse permanently is to kiss the Last Son of Krypton. Once they kiss, Rachel Lamarr gets back her youth and forgets all that has happened.



Note: Desruc is cursed backwards.

[Jim Kelly]

When Bash doubts Loretta York's magic powers, she sends him levitating into the sky, in "The Yellow Peri Peril," THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY 35 (November 1982).

Against magic, Clark is powerless and Bashford is in peril of flying out into airless space.





Note: This story was covered in post #390.