A Public Service Announcement

Here at the ISB, I’ve gotten a fair amount of attention from folks based around the way I like to poke a little fun at the stranger corners of the Silver Age, a task that I can assure you has taken literally twos of man-hours from my dedicated research staff over the years.

But now, I’ve reached the point where I feel that it’s time to start passing my knowledge down, so tonight, I’m going to give one back to the kids. So for anyone out there looking for an easy way to start cutting your teeth on making fun of old comics, here’s a Protip:

There is a story in Showcase Presents Superman v.4 where Superman falls under the maddening, irresistable thrall of his two greatest villains:

 

 

DIXO AND VAGU

 

You’re welcome.

28 thoughts on “A Public Service Announcement

  1. How did that make it past the censors? i mean REALLY.
    Why not call them Coxu and Snatcho? It’s no less obvious.

  2. Look, this has nothing to do with nothing, and I know you’re not a regular Hellblazer reader but the new issue HAS A SPLASH PAGE OF JOHN CONSTANTINE SNORTING SANTA CLAUS’ GROUND-UP BONES WITH A COKE STRAW.

    I just thought you should know that.

  3. You know, when this sort of thing comes up normally, I try to think that the intentions of the creators were wholly innocent, or perhaps unintentional, and the problem is really our modern perception of things. We’re the ones putting a perverted slant on more innocent times.

    I can’t back that up with this one, though.

  4. I’m going to have to incorporate these guys into the fan-fic I’m writing that involves Superman fighting a giant monster made of chlamydia.

  5. [Joke that should have immediately followed post #15] Chris Sims eats a lot of fibre! Bam!
    ALSO, I did not get Dixo and Vagu before I read the comments. Probably because I read Vagu as “Vague-oo”, which I think is the name of Mysterio’s sister. Also, I have a very clean mind?

  6. Why you all so racist? Maybe your silly earth names are funny sounding to them. Huh? yeah? I thought so.

  7. “Why you all so racist? Maybe your silly earth names are funny sounding to them. Huh? yeah? I thought so.”

    But “Chris Sims” means “Hung Like a Metal Eater” in Kryptonian.

  8. Hmm. I didn’t get anything dirty out of it. I just thought “Hmm, Vague and Dixon and they dropped the last letters.”

    Although I do love the thought balloon that we can see from Superman’s picture on the viewscreen — is his image thinking it? Does the viewscreen permit everyone to read his thoughts, or only those of us reading it with the power of 4D vision? And if he’s their hypnotic puppet (and why should he have guessed this, again?) does that mean they’re commanding him to think that he should have guessed that they were controlling him?

  9. No matter what the situation, Superman’s always been through it all before.

    “What? Innuendo-laden space terrorists using a hypno-beam to control my mind? I should have guessed.”

  10. I don’t have a panel to back this up, but according to The Encyclopedia of Super-Heroes, there was a Golden Age character from Quality (who must be owned by DC now) named The Red Torpedo, who once locked horns with Queen Klitra. So yeah, they knew what they were doing, just like when they made Marvel Boy from Uranus. Chalk it up to making 12-year old boys of all ages giggle.

  11. Look, this has nothing to do with nothing, and I know you’re not a regular Hellblazer reader

    I actually am a regular Hellblazer reader.

    I stand corrected. I guess I got a little overexcited by, you know, coke straw. Santa Claus. Etc.