Superman Through the Ages! Forum

Great Rao recently posted "The Midnight Murder Show" (http://superman.nu/tales4/midnight/), which was (to my knowledge) the first appearance of Johnny Nevada. That got me to wondering, what other Earth-One characters were counterparts of Earth-Prime people? Here are the ones I know about...

Johnny Nevada = Johnny Carson
Lola Barnett = Rona Barrett

Yeah, it's a short list. Are there more?

From what I've read (not read many stories with my screen name's namesake, admittedly), Johnny Nevada appeared once or twice before the issue linked to above, and continued to make sporadic appearances through the 70's and 80's as the late-night show of choice for Earth-One's American citizens (who apparently have no qualms about staying up until 1 AM Eastern time every weeknight ;-) ).

(Irrelevent to this discussion, but it seems post-Crisis, Nevada's apparently been ditched completely, or just ignored by the writers in favor of just mentioning Jay Leno/David Letterman directly... or maybe replaced by another fictional host with the oh-so-imaginative name of "Whitty Banter" in a few early-to-mid 90's Superman stories...)

To add to the list:

- GBS (the Galaxy Broadcasting System) might be a stand-in for CBS (the American television network)

- The Doodles: a "British Invasion" rock group who a teenaged Clark and Lana go to see in an early 80's Superboy story; possibly an analog for the Monkees?

- Gregory Reed, the actor who plays Superman in Earth-One's Superman TV shows/movies. Probably an Earth-One counterpart of 50's Superman actor George Reeves (and probably also, once the movies came along, Christopher Reeve).

Hmph, the "which cities are analogues of real-world cities" question is probably easier than this... :-)

nightwing mentioned in another string (http://superman.nu/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=621) that Gregory Reed actually pre-dated the choice of Christopher Reeve to play Superman. That was a real surprise to me, because of the similarity of the names (I had never before considered the similarity to George Reeves).

The GBS = CBS concept is a possibility, since I've heard that the "Smiling Cobra" nickname for Morgan Edge came from a real CBS executive. I don't recall the details, however. But GBS also seems to have an affinity for NBC. The obvious "Midnight Show with Johnny Nevada" = "Tonight Show with Johnny Carson", but also the GBS building is in Governor's Plaza which equals the NBC (actually RCA in the 1970s, now GE) in Rockefeller Plaza (need I mention that Rockefeller had been governor of NY state?). Which leads us to another comment you made...


The Metropolis = New York City idea is definitely re-inforced by the following Metro/NYC landmarks seen in 1970s Superman comics and Elliot Maggin's novels:

Christopher Circle = Columbus Circle
Central Preserve = Central Park
Metro Trade Center = World Trade Center
Metro Narrows Bridge = Verrazano Narrows Bridge

And Murray the K was referenced in a 60s yarn where Supes had to create a new secret identity and became Clark the K in merry olde UK.

As the Continental Op noted on another thread:



http://superman.nu/dcmb/seventies/?part=21

Some references say that Johnny Nevada appeared as early as Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen No. 123 (September 1969) in the second story (a Carson-type guy is even named Johnny, but no last name given).

The next appearance is Action Comics No. 420 (January 1973), then Superman No. 274 (April 1974).  He has a brief cameo in Superman No. 278 (August 1974), and then the issue in question (Action Comics No. 442
December 1974).

Other appearances: Action Comics No. 450 (August 1975), Superman Family No. 172 (August-September 1975), Action Comics No. 474 (August 1977), DC Comics Presents No. 12 (August 1979), and Superman No. 346 (April 1980).

There was also Rock Stirling (Rod Serling), who appeared in Superman 145 and Action Comics No. 474.

And Steve Lombard in his first appearance seemed to be based on Joe Namath.

I believe Ray Bradbury made a cameo in a Schwartz-era Supergirl story as "Brad Reynolds".

And let's not forget Swartz himself --from the fittingly titled Last Earth Prime story!

How about Asa Esaak = Isaac Asimov?  That was in "Momentus, Master of the Moon".

Also, Blackrock and his TV network IIRC Tanner Broadcasting Co. correlates with CBS which has the nickname 'Blackrock' in the real world.