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SECRET ORIGINS OF DIAL B FOR BLOG - PART FOUR - CONCLUSION
The SECRET HISTORY OF "DIAL B FOR BLOG"!
Part one in this series featured the comic that changed young Robby Reed into a lifelong comic book fan and a professional graphic designer who works in the advertising industry. Part two examined the second major comic book in Robby's life, and part three, I revealed "What I Saw At The Revolution." Now, in part four, we'll explore the origins of my "DIAL B for BLOG" web page -- starting with the origin of the "real" Robby Reed, as chronicled in House of Mystery #156 (1965). Here are a few pages from that story, by Dave Wood and Jim Mooney...
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ROBBY REED in "DIAL H FOR HERO"!
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And that's how young genius Robby Reed found the incredible "H-Dial" that lets him transform into 1,001 super heroes. Pictured right is Robby's Photoshopped version of the Jim Mooney panel seen above, which was used in the very first post ever made on DIAL B for BLOG #1 (May 2005).
Unlike the comic book Robby, every time I use MY dial, a new post appears here, on DIAL B for BLOG. But why did I, Robby Reed, creator of this web site and author of this article, LAUNCH this here web site in the first place? It all started with an intergalactic war... |
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The RANN-THANAGAR WAR!
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| One of the numerous mini-series leading up to DC's big 2006 event, "Infinite Crisis," was titled "The Rann Thanager War." This limited series told the story of an intergalactic war between Rann, adopted home planet of Earthman Adam Strange, and Thanagar, home planet of the JLA's Hawkman. While web-surfing one day, I stumbled across an inventive and absorbing comic book blog called "The Absorbascon" which had thrown its "support" to Thanagar. The Absorbascon inspired me to create my own blog, and naturally I threw my "support" to Rann, initiating a web-wide war between planets and blogs. Below are the banners I made in support of Rann... |
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BEMZARRO!
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| One of the characters created for a DIAL B for BLOG contest was the infamous BEMZARRO. Invented as an arch enemy of public service ad star BEM (see his ad pictured left), BEMZARRO -- created by Ken C -- stands for Bloated Egotistical Meglalomanicial Zitfaced Anal Rupturing Rebellious Overlord! |
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 Ever wonder where Robby Got BEMZARRO's head from? Here's the answer -- it came from an ad for a Superman 80-page giant featuring Bizarro. See that head on the Bizarro at the top of the ad pictured below? That's also BEMZARRO's head!
DIAL B for BLOG READER Super-Menace points out that the Bizarro head in the ad was taken from the cover of Action Comics #264 (May 1960, cover shown right). The pupils of Bizarro's eyes were shifted toward the reader for the ad, but the rest of the face and head are exactly the same.
By the way, that "Bizarro" head is actually a Superman head. The Action cover shows Superman after he's been turned into a Bizarro by the Bizarros. This did not actually happen in the story, which is misleadingly titled "Superman Becomes a Bizarro!" Also BTW, the house ad itself appeared in DC comics at the end of 1967 (the ad is for Superman #202).
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EVIL ROBBY REED!
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 The Evil Robby Reed of the comic books appeared for the first (and only) time in House of Mystery #173, cover by Jack Sparling pictured right. But this cover was one of those "symbolic" covers -- no angel-haloed version of Robby ever appeared in the story, nor did a devil-horned Robby. Instead, the story was about a problem that made the H-Dial temporarily produce "evil" superheroes.
The Evil Robby Reed character first appeared on DIAL B for BLOG during reviews of DC's "Infinite Crisis" mini-series. Expectations for this series ran quite high, but when the story was finally published, it came off as a confusing, poorly-drawn mess. But after establishing the "good" Robby Reed character as a sweet, typical teenager, how could I unleash the vitriol necessary to condemn the horrors of "Infinite Crisis"?
The obvious answer: EVIL Robby Reed! So, I adopted the "EVIL Robby Reed" character when doing negative reviews of such substandard dreck as "Infinite Crisis" and "Superman Returns." I had fun with the character, used him for all he was worth, then eventually killed in an "Evil vs. Evil" contest with Captain Action's arch enemy, Dr. Evil.
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The SUPER TEACHER PIMP FROM KRYPTON!
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| The ad below, for a series featuring a super-robot sent from Krypton to "teach" Superboy how to be a man, is NOT my favorite one I have ever done, but it does feature my all-time favorite DIAL B house ad headline and ad copy: "Fo' shizzle my hizzle! The Super Teacher Pimp turns Super BOY into SuperMAN! You know what I'm sayin', my bizzles?" |
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PHANTOM SUPERMAN PUPPET HEAD!
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 The Lois Lane cover pictured right is one of the most infamous covers ever seen on any comic book. It shows Lois whipping a puppet dummy of Superman while the real Man of Steel lies helplessly shackled to a table. Freaky? Sexual overtones? Sadistic? All of the above... and more.
This much-discussed cover appeared all over the internet, on numerous comic book blogs, until Robby finally examined the zany story inside it as part of "Superman Month."
As seen in the panels below, this whacked-out story involved a strange, alien creature who took possession of Superman's body. In order to trick the alien entity into leaving Superman's body, Lois and Supes cook up a completely absurd plot involving a puppet-dummy Superman.
Here's how it all went down, in Lois Lane #73 (April 1967), art by Kurt Schaffenberger... |
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GOODBYE FROM GORILLA WITCH and EGG FU!
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THE END?
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 Since its inception in May 2005, DIAL B for BLOG has posted a brand new issue every weekday for a full year and a half, never missing a single day (except for a few, near the very end of the run). Just think -- if this blog had been posted WEEKLY instead of DAILY, it would have lasted seven and a half years! But all good things must come to an end, and I'm afraid we're almost at that point. I wanted to go out with a bang, and I believe my IRA SCHNAPP, VISIONARY series and this SECRET ORIGINS OF DIAL B FOR BLOG series have accomplished that goal. The fat lady hasn't sung quite yet... but I do think I see her walking to the microphone...
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POST YOUR COMMENTS BELOW! |
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