Comments on: Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #160

By: Michael-Sensei

Michael-Sensei — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:46:11 +0000

Many teachers get stuff wrong (myself included), but Tom Lehrer certainly doesn't get the ELEMENTS incorrect.

By: TheAmericommando

TheAmericommando — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 19:49:35 +0000

Joseph,
being a Social Studies teacher myself, I can tell you that I have witnessed my fair share of misstatements by teachers. One history teacher told the kids when talking about the Russo-Japanese War that Roosevelt had the peace talks in Portsmouth to show off his favorite team, the Portsmouth Lions, which he said eventually became the Detroit Lions. While it is true that the Lions were originally based in a city named Portsmouth, it was actually Portsmouth, Ohio; making the Roosevelt story false.
I have also seen my fair share of math teachers that did not know how to do a junior high level problem, and told the kids to use the calculators
My favourite story is when I got a D on my fourth grade term paper on Daniel Webster because, she noted, I wrote nothing about him writing the dictionary.
There are a hundreds more gaffs like this happening every day in our schools, trust me.

By: Joseph

Joseph — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 05:38:13 +0000

Reader â€œWâ€ wrote in: Hereâ€™s one I heard from my high school chemistry teacher: Supermanâ€™s Earth name, Clark, was chosen because it consists of Cl (Chlorine), Ar (Argon) and K (Potassium), the three elements that are directly above Krypton in the periodic table . I wonder if thatâ€™s true, or just a coincidence! If you take a look at the periodic table, sure enough, Chlorine and Argon ARE directly above Krypton on the table, and the three elements are right in a row, #17-19 - Cl,Ar,K. ------------------------------------------------ Okay, first off, I'd be VERY scared of a chemistry teacher who had such a poor knowledge (or general disregard) of the Periodic Table as to make such a comment. Looking AT the Periodic Table shown above (which IS the standard format of the Table) proves--quite conclusively--that of the three elements, only ONE (Argon) is DIRECTLY above Krypton in the Periodic Table. Chlorine is ADJACENT to Krypton, but NOT "directly" above it. If Kal's Earth name were made up of the 3 elements DIRECTLY above Krypton in the Periodic Table, that name would be Henear (HElium, NEon, ARgon). From a chemistry standpoint, the column of elements in which Argon and Krypton occur (at least through Rn--Radon) are typically known as the "noble gases" or "inert gases", due to their relative stability and infrequency of combining with other elements (Element 118--Uuo--is an "artificial element", one which, at this point in time, exists only in the laboratory, and for very short times, with half-lives measured in fractions of a second; it only looks like it's in the column, but the entire range of elements from 103 up are largely produced only in the lab). I'm not sure when Reader W attended High School, but if it's been in the last decade or so, then I'm seriously worried about the quality of teachers out there. (Making a subject more interesting by bringing pop culture into the mix is great, but this would be like a geography teacher telling kids that "Reno 911" is set in Nevada's state capital.) Now, by pure coincidence, there' a comics CREATOR whose name appears naturally in the Periodic Table Christos GAGE (GAllium, GErmanium) but I really don't think his last name derived from it.

By: mrmississpi

mrmississpi — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 02:40:25 +0000

PS: Great article as always. This and Gutters are my two favorite comics features on the web.

By: mrmississpi

mrmississpi — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 02:39:46 +0000

Great article! I remember reading about the upcoming Micronauts series but never knew what happened to it. I have a letter in some 90s Marvel sci-fi comic asking Tim Tuohy about it, he told me it was delayed but would still happen. Too bad it didn't, sounds like it would have been cool.

By: Iloveunicorns

Iloveunicorns — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:58:33 +0000

Always nice to get the weekly fix of comic urban legends.

There is a good article about Micronauts somewhere in the archive over at comics101.com if I remember correctly.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 15:13:03 +0000

Micronauts rocked! It was one of my favourite comics when I was about 10 for two reasons: 1) it was very similar to Star Wars, which essentially ruled my universe from 1977 through to 1983, and 2) the first few issues were included in a prebagged reprint collection that I got for really cheap at a grocery store. Most importantly, 3) Mike Golden's art was brilliant. Golden was one of those truly unique talents that managed to slip through the cracks in the 70s, who didn't adhere to the Marvel style. Interestingly enough, the later issues featured some great stories by Louise Simonson (then still Jones, I believe) and art by Butch Guice, another Marvel maverick.

By: Superboy Plays Ball « Popped

Superboy Plays Ball « Popped — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 03:15:10 +0000

[...] June 22, 2008 · Filed under Uncategorized I don’t know why this tickles me so much, but CBR’s “comic book urban legends” feature just pointed out that Superboy illustrator Jim Sherman did indeed create the Major League Baseball logo. [...]

By: hondo

hondo — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 12:41:08 +0000

Wow ! I've never heard that story about Bill Mantlo seeing the Micronauts, Ken Kelly designing the packaging, or those 3 issues that Marvel did ! Good stuff Brian !

Thanks for a great column, as always.

When are you going to collect them into a book ?

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 08:25:19 +0000

The Legion Companion is a good book!

I wrote about that a few months ago!

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2007/12/23/the-legion-companion-is-good/

By: Glen Cadigan

Glen Cadigan — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 05:36:57 +0000

>>Thanks to reader Bobb Decker, who laid this information on me awhile back!

Who obviously read it in The Legion Companion, which is where it originally appeared:

http://tinyurl.com/4ttuvh

Sherman also volunteered that he did the "final execution" for the NBA logo, although he said, "...not the one they're using [now]." The interview was conducted in 2003, and I still don't know what he meant by that, since the current NBA logo has been in use since the '71-'72 season (http://tinyurl.com/54aa2d). The MLB logo was designed in 1969 for the 100th anniversary of major league baseball, so it's highly plausible that the NBA people saw it, liked it, and wanted one similar to it.

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 00:54:04 +0000

Canâ€™tâ€¦parseâ€¦sentenceâ€¦

Ha!

Thanks! I fixed it!

By: Ravensron

Ravensron — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:56:35 +0000

Doc Savage was very loosely based on a real 19th century adventurer named Richard Savage (I've always thought that one of his sidekicks, Monk Mayfair, was loosely based on a real 19th century gangster, Monk Eastman, but have no proof of that). It is a coincidence that Doc's first name, Clark, is the same as Clark Gable/Clark Kent. It is not a coincidence that Doc was "the man of bronze" and had a fortress of solitude while Superman is the "man of steel" and had a fortress of solitude.

By: LtMarvel

LtMarvel — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:50:49 +0000

"It was not that Marvel did not know that knew that Abrams Gentile Entertainment (the owners of the Micronauts property) held the rights to certain Micronauts characters."

Can't...parse...sentence...

By: Kris

Kris — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:49:06 +0000

I had no idea James Sherman designed the MLB logo, that's awesome! I hope he's made plenty in royalties from it. Anybody else remember Steelgrip Starkey?

By: Bill Reed

Bill Reed — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:32:40 +0000

Shop-Rite is way cooler than Major League Baseball.

By: Kid Z

Kid Z — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:31:20 +0000

Let's all give props to Bill Mantlo, for taking what was (let's face it) a monthly 22 page ad for a toy line and turning it into a damned good action adventure book with good characterizations and moments of true drama.

By: van_line

van_line — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 19:51:23 +0000

weird that the pose is almost identical for the bad guy in both the unpublished and image micronaut series.

By: punch

punch — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 19:18:03 +0000

Of course "frined" is a an accepted spelling of friend.....right?

By: punch

punch — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 19:12:10 +0000

I sort of "ruined" the MLB logo for my frined with my opinion that the batter doesn't look like he's going to hit that ball.