On The Shelf: DC revisits old time radio, and other stuff

It's been a while since we did On The Shelf, but this edition has a little twist, which we'll get to shortly.

The popularity of DC's Giant size books at Walmart, as some of you know, has led to a separate set of Giants being made available to comics shops prior to the shops being closed pro tempore due to COVID-19.

The company took this opportunity to revive one of their war titles for a 1-shot special. Our Fighting Forces doesn't go all the way back to World War II for this volume, but instead goes only as far as the New 52 era (2011-6) with reprints from the short-lived Men of War series that came from that period, plus one-off stories with Batman (drawn by Jim Lee) and Batwoman, the latter focusing on Kate Kane's pre-vigilante life in the military.

The cover feature, however, is the Immortal GI himself, The Unknown Soldier, in a story set in modern times. This is the original Soldier, not the ill-advised reboots from the late 80's or later, as they're playing up how he's at least a century old. Good stuff. The Batman short is based on a true story from a real-life soldier.

Rating: A.
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In 1946, the Adventures of Superman radio show was commissioned to do a 16-part serial that pitted the Man of Steel (Bud Collyer) vs. a hate group modeled after the Ku Klux Klan. "The Clan of The Fiery Cross" was suggested by members of the Anti-Defamation League.

The plot centers on a youth baseball team managed by Jimmy Olsen in his spare time away from the Daily Planet. A star pitcher on the team is cut after a racially charged confrontation with an Asian-American youth who has just joined the team.

Here's the complete serial, all 2 1/2 hours-plus:



73 years later, best-selling author Gene Huen Yang, who'd been writing for DC for a while, starting with New Super-Man, about a Chinese version of the Man of Steel, created a loose adaptation of the "Clan of The Fiery Cross" as a 3 issue, bi-monthly miniseries, Superman Smashes The Klan. The basic plot remains intact, and in the context of Yang's story, Superman is introduced to a certain remnant of his home planet. The Gurihuru studio collective's lush, Manga-inspired artwork jumps off the page. A friend recommended the miniseries, which I acquired in trade paperback form.

The question remains whether or not this story can be adapted again, this time for the screen. Hmmmm.

Rating: A.
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Titan Comics' solicitations show that Adler will return in August to continue the current story. DC has pushed back Jeff Lemire & Denys Cowan's Question: The Deaths of Vic Sage, presumably to next month, as issue 4 is set for August. Archie Comics is revisiting the short-lived 1990 Explorers of The Unknown series with a trade paperback release, also in August. For those that don't know, this was a parody of DC's Challengers of The Unknown, with Archie and friends adopting new personas. The series lasted just 5 issues, and would later resurface as back-up features in various Archie books. I'd take this over Riverdale in a New York second.