[Superman Fan Club] Presents: THE SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS Week 9

[Don-El]

[Superman Fan Club] Presents: Challenge of the Secret Society of Super-Fans!

Welcome to Week 9 of a very special challenge / contest , reading one single issue a week (as they are digitally published that is) of THE SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS (1976) #1-14 (and we hope the rare #15-16 plus other issues).

This time around: THE SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS #9, with Gerry Conway as writer (now freelancer) and Rich Buckler, artist with Bob Layton, inks! Don’t look now, but is this an appearance by weirdo anti-hero the Creeper???

(click the blur below to go to the comic)

Secret Society of Super-Villains #9 Click Here

Q&A:

1. What is your stance on secret societies having their own unique secret code to communicate with? Should we set one up for this reading club???

2. Any cool flying vehicles this time around that you felt were one of a kind?

3. What unique power do both the Creeper and Captain Comet possess?

4. How comfortable are you with the reasons the Creeper has to keep assisting the Secret Society?

5. Is the Creeper original series by Steve Ditko on DC Universe Infinite?

6. Bonus Question: Would you say this cover qualifies to be posted here:

Comic Book Covers Featuring a Stark Single Color Background Fan Clubhouse! - #300 by Don-el ?

The next chapter to this epic storyline is in Super Team Family #13 but unfortunately there is no Super Team Family on DC Universe Infinite. I’ll see if I can find a copy this weekend, but has anyone else read that issue?

I read THE SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS #9

• Yes, I did!

• Oops, I did not

Here are the latest exciting standings of this very special limited-edition of Secret Society of Super-Fans

Keeping up our Challenge of the Secret Society of Super-Fans tradition of posting pages that are not part of any DC Universe Infinite digitized version, we’ll expand our time periscope’s reach this time around, but first,

Here is the Letters page (September 1977) for this issue:

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Daily Planet

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Please tell me DC Universe Infinite has this series: we pretty much followed Marshall Rogers wherever he went back then, in the comics anyway LOL…

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But, also: take a peek at what else was going on for Superman and Family the same month this issue came out:

Superman #315 the same month, did someone order a Blackrock to go?

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Superman Family $1 comic #185 in September, rocking a Neal Adams perfect action cover as only he could do them!!

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To join the [Superman Fan Club] (and enjoy the chic benefits of membership such as direct messaging for club members only and our occasional audio Discord [Superman Fan Club] chats), click here: Click Here to Join the Superman Fan Club

To stop by the Superman Fan Club Lounge Area , click here: Club Lounge Room Entrance

And be sure keep an eye out for our once a month first Thursday evening of the month Listen A Long of the classic 1940’s Superman Radio Show adventures (in the Watchalong aisle). The next one is planned for Thursday November 3rd!

[Don-El]

Waaaa hooo!!!

[CaptainYesterday]

also out in June 1977

Action Comics #475

Black Lightning #4

JLA #146

Adventure Comics #453

and

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #231

[Don-El]

Definitely a Super month that month oh my goodness… Sort of like we see lately with Batman LOL

[CaptainYesterday]

For those wondering about Black Lightning, he started his career in the Suicide Slum section of Metropolis.

[CaptainYesterday]

1. Nah the secret messaging thing doesn’t do much for me.

2. The Groddmobile! I think he got it used from Mole Man.

3. They can change into a different set of clothes without spinning around like a top.

4. He’s annoying and I want Grodd to eat him for lunch.

5. don’t care

6. it does

I have Super Team Family #13, but there’s not that much SSoSV content. It’s part of Gerry Conway’s running Atom/Jean Loring storyline and Captain Comet guest stars along with Aquaman in this issue. SSoSV #10 will pick up the storyline there and its recap should be enough.

The finale of the saga is in Super Team Family #14 and that has a lot more SSoSV content.

[Don-El]

Thanks for the tip, let the hunt for Super Team Family #14 begin!!!

[Don-El]

It looks like $6 or less will be a decent price if I can find it.

I also found this on the internetz, wouldn’t this be nice to have on the wall?

[TheCosmicMoth]

@Don-El

What is your stance on secret societies having their own unique secret code to communicate with? Should we set one up for this reading club???

Secret codes can be fun! Just ask Captain Marvel (…I mean Shazam). That said, the secret codes of real life secret societies tend to make people nervous. If we were going to have one for this reading club, it should probably be the same code that the Secret Society of Super-Villains uses. Qxli 'vvsc…

@Don-El

Any cool flying vehicles this time around that you felt were one of a kind?

Grodd’s Quadromobile!

*Some assembly required.

It kind of reminded me of The Claw’s boring machines from the Golden Age Lev Gleason comics.

@Don-El

What unique power do both the Creeper and Captain Comet possess?

Is it massively poor judgement since they both joined the ranks of the Secret Society? I’m really not too sure. I did some looking on the DC Wiki and the best I could come up with is, maybe, limited mind control? Captain Comet has mind control listed under his powers most-likely due to his telepathic abilities. The Creeper has hypnotism listed under his which could produce similar results. That’s my best guess.

@Don-El

How comfortable are you with the reasons the Creeper has to keep assisting the Secret Society?

I’m relatively comfortable with it. The Creeper is one of those heroes who puzzles authorities. They don’t know whether he’s a hero or villain. It would make sense that The Creeper would occasionally make use of this to infiltrate and disrupt criminal enterprises. However, I’m less comfortable with the fact that he let it go so far as agreeing to help them steal something and getting dragged into a fight with Captain Comet a co. That’s a bit senseless and I’m not sure Ditko would’ve liked it.

@Don-El

Is the Creeper original series by Steve Ditko on DC Universe Infinite?

It isn’t! Even The Creeper’s first appearance in Showcase #73 is absent from DCUI. I remember that I first looked for Beware the Creeper on the service after I finished reading Ditko’s Question stories for Charlton. I’m not a fan of objectivism, but I found it interesting that the political philosophy was the driving force behind Ditko’s work following his Marvel exit. That was very, very clear in his Question stories. After finishing them, I read an article about Ditko’s work in DC and how his insistence on using the stories and characters to reflect objectivist philosophy caused frictions with the writers he worked with including Denny O’Neil. The article theorized that Ditko left DC after it became clear that he was going to lose creative control and would not be able to adequately communicate his objectivist philosophies. I’m not sure if that has anything to do with why it’s not on DCUI. I mean, Hawk and Dove are on the service and they also started as Ditko objectivist characters. The closest you’ll get to Ditko’s Creeper on DCUI is 1st Issue Special #7 where Ditko drew The Creeper, but, likely, had limited influence on the plot.

@Don-El

Bonus Question: Would you say this cover qualifies to be posted here:

From the way you described it in that thread, I would say yes. But, my knowledge of visual art composition is lacking.

@Don-El

The next chapter to this epic storyline is in Super Team Family #13 but unfortunately there is no Super Team Family on DC Universe Infinite. I’ll see if I can find a copy this weekend, but has anyone else read that issue?

Unfortunately, no. But I’ll also keep an eye out for it!

[Don-El]

Nice insight that both the Creeper and Captain Comet at different times were members of the Secret Society of Super-Villains, I hadn’t thought about that.

There is another unique power that both Captain Comet and the Creeper share that the narrator mentions when it happens so have fun with that. I’ll try to reveal that before we close shop on this next week.

I’m very sad that we have not digitized the creeper on DC Universe infinite. Thankfully, for now, I can assuage my sorrow with this hardcover volume of the Creeper from DC…

[TheCosmicMoth]

@Don-El

There is another unique power that both Captain Comet and the Creeper share that the narrator mentions when it happens so have fun with that.

Ah, gotcha.

And here I thought @CaptainYesterday was just being funny when he said:

@CaptainYesterday

They can change into a different set of clothes without spinning around like a top.

Edit:

@Don-El

Thankfully, for now, I can assuage my sorrow with this hardcover volume of the Creeper from DC…

Lucky you! Hope you enjoy it! Let me know if there are any clear-cut instances of objectivist lecturing out of Jack Ryder.

[Don-El]

Yeay you figured out the secret power they both have!!

I got to admit I don’t really see where the cold hard morality of Ayn Rand shows up in the Creeper stories. I find it very bizarre that he was trying to do that.

Personally I get real tired of the Schoolhouse Rock didactic heavy-handed totally unsubtle messaging in some of the CW series, but that’s just me. It’s like “you’re singing to the choir, only people that are sympathetic with these views will be watching this stuff anyway, so you really don’t need to bore me with taking 20 minutes of the show to teach me a new lesson.”

[TheCosmicMoth]

@Don-El

I got to admit I don’t really see where the cold hard morality of Ayn Rand shows up in the Creeper stories.

Not having read it, it’s hard for me to say for sure. I’ve just read articles that have said it’s there. Something about Ryder representing rational objectivist morality while his Creeper half represents a subversion of the irrational criminal mind. I’d probably have to read it before I could get a handle on it. Generally, since he was working for DC, I feel like he’d have to be a little less obvious with it than he was with The Question in Charlton:

@Don-El

Personally I get real tired of the Schoolhouse Rock didactic heavy-handed totally unsubtle messaging in some of the CW series, but that’s just me.

I get what you mean. I think sometimes they were better at it than others. Sometimes they did hit you over the head with it a bit.

[Don-El]

Wow that’s textbook objectivism for sure!

[Don-El]

Now I got to go see if we have the Charlton Question in the digital library.

I can also check my volume 2 on Charlton Action Heroes published by DC Archives.

[Don-El]

Yup, the Charlton Question is in The Action Heroes Archives Volume 2. Dare I look???

[TheCosmicMoth]

Up to you. Once you see all the objectivism in those stories, it’s hard to un-see. Despite my opposition to the philosophy, I find it interesting as it’s rare to see a political philosophy be the driving force of superhero stories. That being said, I also find some of it (okay, most of it) to be… distasteful. It may color how you read Ditko’s work in the future.

[Don-El]

All very interesting stuff for sure.

In reality, any fiction that we read has the force of that person’s personal philosophy / worldview and politics somewhere in there woven into it. And very few of us agree with each other on everything LOL.

I’m a huge science fiction fan as an example, and almost every piece of science fiction I read still fills me with the wonder at the universe that I feel as someone that believes in God. But once in awhile there will be a writer who is such a strong atheist that they make sure that they work that worldview into their storyline by having someone discover far advanced aliens who of course are absolute atheists but will shamefully acknowledge that there was a time in their history when they actually believed in an ultimate being.

[patterson65.37405]

That Batman story referenced in the Daily Planet feature is actually really good. It was the first of a multipart story that continued in the succeeding issues of Batman and I highly recommend checking it out.

By the way, if someone decided to bring Funky Flashman into a Live action show or movie, who would you like to see play him?

[Don-El]

That’s a tough one and frankly I’m never super good at this but here’s what’s really difficult; most male movie stars play gruff and mainly silent characters. The only current living actor I can think of even close to the age of the appropriate is Alan Cum ming of The Good Wife.