Superman Through the Ages! Forum

Hi all,

I am curious which story first featured the Supermobile?

Does it have an origin in that issue?

What is the most memorable Supermobile issue?

I ask these questions because the Supermobile was used a few times when I was a kid on the old Superfriends show, but I have never read a comic where it was referenced or used.


I'm very curious as to where it came from and what the logic of its creation was.

-Ray

There were a few stories where it was used, but I'm too pressed for time right now to give out all the details.

Essentially it was used purely for the purpose of promoting the toy. Superman really never needed a Supermobile.

Pocketmego, I can tell you more when I get time to rummage through my collection to find the relevant comic books.



There was a toy?

What India says is more-or-less on the money, then, but for the contrivance of some sort of radiation washing over the solar system which had the effect of draining Superman's powers. I'm not sure if the radiation was Green K or red sun, but whichever.... So the Man of Steel had to build a super-mobile which was pretty much a little space shuttle which he could fly around in. It was made of a super-tough metal that I think (from memory) was ripped off from Adamantium. It also mechanically duplicated most of Superman's powers, ie. it could do what he could normally do naturally with his body, if not for the radiation affecting his super-powers.

That is the "logic of its creation," but I can flesh out the details when I find the mag. What India implies is right, though... I think the super-mobile idea is of little consequence in the grand scheme of things. It read (again, from memory) like some sort of attempt to give Superman his own version of the Batmobile... Spidey's car is another of a similar type that springs to mind, but presented more honestly, if I remember rightly.

Anyhow----the gist of it was: Superman couldn't function within this temporary power-dampening radiation, so he had to build a little space shuttle thing to fly around in.

Yes there was a toy - I never got to put my hands on it and, I always wanted a supermobile.  
It's a crazy wish I have - that a Johny Lightning supermobile be made...

There were a few toys :

(http://www.toyotter.com/sp/images/supemob.jpg)
(http://www.collectorman.com/images/O203.jpg)
(http://www.planetforce.com/SPOWERSVEH.JPG)

Man, I wanted the Corgi one in the box.  I know that there are mint ones on Ebay and other places...but it's not the same.  If Dc could only re-issue it but I know - hell will freeze...

That middle (second) photo is the Supermobile.  You can always spot it by those "fists" that shot out from the sides to punch people.  Sort of like one of those "Boxing Nun" toys. :-)

You can also see it in this Neal Adams-drawn ad at my site: http://nightwing.supermanfan.net/oddities/corgi.htm

As I write there, this was a blatant attempt to sell toys around the time of the movie.  Having a guy who doesn't need a vehicle to get anywhere is a nice, egalitarian fantasy for rich and poor kids alike; all they need is a bath towel around the neck and they're in business.  But when Hollywood decides to make a film of your property, it pays to have some tie-in toy options handy, and Superman -- unlike Batman -- was sorely lacking.  Thus the Supermobile.

And Aldous, I'm not sure what you meant by saying the Spider-Buggy (or whatever it was called) was more "honest." But if my memory's right, it did fit more naturally into the cynical, jaded worldview of Spider-Man.  I think it was developed by a firm that paid Spidey to drive around in it as an advertisement.  And though he wasn't crazy about the idea, he did need the cash...as always...so he did it.  When it finally ended up at the bottom of the Hudson River, I think Spidey was as happy as the rest of us to see it go.

Maybe that's what you meant by "honest"...it's possible the writer and artist were sending us a not-so veiled message that the buggy was being forced down their throats by the guys in Marketing.

The only appearances of the Supermobile that I'm aware of are Action Comics #481

(http://www.supermanhomepage.com/images/comic-covers/Pre-Crisis-Covers/1978/act481s.jpg)

And Action Comics #482

(http://www.supermanhomepage.com/images/comic-covers/Pre-Crisis-Covers/1978/act482s.jpg)

I have them both but have never read them.

Well, Superman does kinda look ridiculous in that vehicule but, the premise is that it shields him from kryptonite or that he uses it when he's incapacitated and needs to fly.

I had the top one when I was a kid. It kind of sucked as a vehicle for Superman, but I used to fly my Star Wars figures around in it.

That's pretty funny shazamtd, you should read them and report back here with all the details ;)


(http://i4.ebayimg.com/02/i/01/4d/69/0b_1.JPG)

Those two Amazo stories in Action are the only primary Supermobile stories that I'm aware of.  But the vehicle doubled as a dustbuster in a brief appearance in issues 324 & 325 of Superman--which I reviewed as part of "Pesky's Progress" on the old DCMB (scroll down half of the page to Part VII "That Green Eyed Monster")...

It so happens that Skull has obtained the highly advanced technology to transport Kryptonite through hyperspace from the Krypton-Two debris field (with such technology, one wonders why they're wasting time on these elaborate but petty criminal schemes). The green K has been loaded into the warhead of a large missile. Superman, in his efforts to free Jenet Klyburn from a trap set by The Atomic Skull and his agents, unwittingly aids them in launching their warhead into the ionosphere and the explosion, in 324, forms a "Van Allen Belt" of Kryptonite dust around the Earth. Superman launches his own missile which spreads a fine dust of lead particles to counteract the K dust. But this lead cloud in the upper atmosphere is not entirely effective, and at the end of 324 we see Superman hoovering the ionosphere with his "Supermobile" which doubles as a cosmic dust-buster.

The in medias res opening for 325, "The Super Sellout of Metropolis," has Superman announcing for the media and his fans that he's signed an exclusive contract with the United Broadcasting Company. A disgusted Perry White bellows, "It's against Superman's code to merchandise himself that way--he's supposed to be above that sort of thing!" I wonder, however, if Marty wasn't being a bit coy in this tale. Afterall, at the end of the last issue and in this issue on the next page after Perry's comment, Superman is shown piloting the "Supermobile." The Supermobile! (registered trademark) which was injected into continuity by editorial edict to tie-in with merchandising of such a toy (unlike Batman, there just wasn't enough Superman gadgets to be licensed to toy companies). Superman signing a contract with a media corporation? well, what about National signing a deal with Warner Communications? Pasko must have been in the thick of Superman merchandising at the time, with the movie, comic strip and all--Superman was supposed to be above that sort of thing? ha!
 (http://superman.nu/dcmb/seventies/?part=22)

***

Seeing those toys pictured by Super Monkey made me think of a certain "Seinfeld" episode where Jerry tries to put his new girlfriend to sleep (plying her with wine in a box and roasted turkey) so  he can play with her collectable action figures and toys while she's sleeping.

If I could just find someone with the authentic G.I. Joe, Captain Action, and Major Matt Mason, I might just try the same trick.

The supermobile also appears in one of the Superfriends stories.  I'd have to look it up at home though to find the issue number.

I'd have to dig them out first and that would be a chore.  Sorry.   :roll:

If you got the first Supergirl friends TPB, that story should been their.

In the story, the Wonder Twins was going to visting Aquman's home
city from Altantis, when it's stolen by aliens. Superman attempts to stop it--but that aliens attack him with red sun energy. [Superman is powerless
under a red sun.] While the rest of Superfriends discover that aliens
are from a water-world and imprison by alien's freeze-way. Just after
getting their butt freeze, Superman shows up in the Supermoblie. The
alien know him from his space adventures--not from his Earth adventures.
He attack them--but doesn't smashing the ship for fear of hurting his
friends--unware that Aquman had Zanya (who had transformed himself
into a cold water) free him and the other Superfriends. Aquaman attacks
the water--who explains that they stolen Altantis to study it--since they
are water-based form. The city is returned--the alien take their exit--and a belated tours begins.

Yup - that's the one!

Thank Rao for the Supermobile ;)
What would Superman ever do without it :P

Thanks for all the info on the Supermobile, gang.

I really appreciate the knowledge of the fans here.

But, it does just go to show you that at the end of the day, a big purple mech-robot can serve the same purpose as a Supermobile and make for a more interesting toy. :D

-Ray

You know pretty much what I meant, Nightwing. I actually see the Supermobile as more cynical because, unlike in Spider-Man, the reader is supposed to just swallow this contraption with a straight face, and let's all pretend it's not a marketing ploy to try to milk more money from Superman. With Spidey, they let it all hang out, even to the extent of coming clean in Spidey's world itself... And another mark against Supermobile was that Spider-Mobile (yes, that's what it was called) came first, so Superman wasn't just ripping off his fans, and swiping the idea of Adamantium, but he was also blatantly stealing the whole S-Mobile deal from Spidey without so much as an apology.

Has anyone else ever noticed the suspicious similarity in design between the Supermobile and Byrne's birthing pod?

(http://superman.nu/images/supermobile/arms.gif) (http://superman.nu/images/supermobile/mos1.jpg)
On the left is the Supermobile from Action Comics #482, on the right is the cover to Man of Steel #1.

:s:

I never did but now that you mention it...

Supermanium was created by the early 60s.  It was not a ripoff of Adamantium.  It might have been inspired by Marvelium.  Marvelium was the element created by the original Captain marvel.

Isn't the batmobile made of batmanium?  LOL!

^ Does that mean that those rubber hi-bounce balls are really made of Bouncing Boyanium?

Oh - oh...or rather oh - ohnium...

When did Supermanium first appear?

I don't think Adamantium was around in the early 60s. As far as I know it made its debut in The Avengers in the late 60s.

Inspired by the metal Marvelium? Then Supermanium is a blatant rip-off of that :wink: ....but then I guess it's perfectly fair that Superman swipe a few things from the Big Red Cheese.

I seem to recall a metal from Wonder Woman's golden age called Amazonium.

I think the creation of super-elements is something that's just in the air of super-hero fiction.  I wouldn't know that Captain Marvel had a specific claim to such ideas.

Supermanium is definately mentioned in the first Luthor Brainiac Team-Up (it's what the prison Superman put Brainiac in is made of...).

So I think it probably debuted in the early 60's thus predating Adamantium. Otto Binder probably created it and that is why it is reminicent of Marvelium, because Binder was the Big Red Cheese's most notable and prolific Golden Age scribe.

-Ray

-Ray

In the world of horribly redundant superhero vehicles, the Supermobile reigns supreme!  

And I suppose, among the vast science and technological resources that Superman would have at his disposal, a super vehicle of some kind makes sense.  

My favorite aspect of the Supermobile is the Super-visor, a binocular like apparatus that rises from the dashboard, with a dial allowing Superman the option of x-ray, telescopic, infrared, and normal vision.  Normal vision?  Why is there a setting for normal vision?  If he wanted normal vision, all he'd have to do is move his head to the side three inches.

LOL, that's funny.

But, considering it's a redundant feature ina  redundant vehicle, it makes sense as well.

-Ray

Now why couldn't they have retroconned the supermobile during Superman's powerless days during the Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite arc a decade ago or so?

Why did Abin Sur have a spaceship again? Can someone remind me, please?

Cause he was an alien, man!  :wink:

No, I think in one of the GLC annuals, Alan Moore established that Abin Sur's ring told him he'd die on a mission, so to cover his bases, he created the ship as extra protection.  But in the end, somehow, the very fact that he was in the ship was what led to his death.  One of those Twilight Zone twists, you know.

Wish I could remember the details.  I'll see if I can dig out that issue, if no one else remembers it.

For the record, those annuals were great! Especially the Alan Moore stuff...he came up with the coolest ideas.  Like the story about the GL from a race of creatures who were all blind (and thus unable to comprehend the concept of "green" or "lantern"!).  He ended up using the ring as a sound-based weapon and became something like the "Green Bell."  Fun stuff!

Aldous, that was a good question.

As I recall, Julie Schwartz was regularly asked this question in the early GL letter columns, so he and Gardner Fox tried to resolve this in the story titled "Earth's First Green Lantern" [GL #16, Oct. 1962], wherein Hal had the power ring relate to him the last days of his predecessor.

A synopsis of this story can be found here at Mike's DC site:

http://dcindexes.com/indexes/glan/gl.htm?x=16

In the mentioned Alan Moore story, a planet full of Cthulu like demon's told Abin that at a critical point, when he needed it most, the Ring would fail him.

Given reason to believe these creatures, he began to conserve the Ring's power to ridiculous levels. He started traveling by ship, instead of Ring, he recharged it constantly, and kept checking the power levels.

But, it was the ship's power systems that ended up failing and killing him.

We even get a scene of his ship plummeting towards Earth while the demons laugh at what they have brought about.

Great story.
-Ray

You know, not everyone can just slip on the power ring and do what a Green Lantern does. You have to muster the will power, you have to be a very determined individual, you have to concentrate.

Let's say you were on a very long space flight. Wouldn't it be good to travel all that way while relaxing just a little more than usual? You could arrive refreshed and ready to start your mission. You wouldn't have to spend long hours concentrating on superfast space travel if you operated a personal space ship.

Although Hal never chose to travel via personal space ship, I would have been quite satisfied by this explanation for Abin Sur.

Why complicate things?

The problem is, we never saw ANY other Green Lantern's travel by ship.

It would have been different if Hal was an isolated case, or if what you suggested was explained. But, since Abin is the only GL we ever saw in a  ship, it's an anomoly that never quite works without some kind of obtuse explanation.

-Ray

Bumped for Julian.

The story you've referenced was Tygers by Alan Moore in one of the GLC Quarterly issues.

The race was the Empire of Tears, and the demon was Qull of the Five Inversions and the planet was Ysmault.

Qull convinced Abin by giving him freely the answers to any three predictions Sur desired.  The first was telling Abin where the kid's spacecraft landing on Ysmault so he could rescue him: Done.  The second was predicting the end of the GLC which was a sick fantasy.  The third was predicting how Abin himself would die.

Given the accuracy of the first prediction, though ignoring the second diseased one, Abin reasoned it wouldn't hurt to be prudent enough to keep the ring constantly recharged and conserve its power via using spaceships.  The rest is as described earlier on this thread.

http://glcorps.dcuguide.com/profile.php?name=abinsur

It must be noted that GL power rings have the fabled autoprotect feature esp. while charged so GLs shouldn't have to consciously will themselves space-protection while travelling in space.

Moore's story satisfies me.

I could see the Supermobile being useful to Superman as a FTL ship for travelling between starsystems, with a computer linked to the Forteress of Solitude's own, and with sensors, weapons and equipment that could be useful to Superman on a number of missions on far-off worlds.  

Of course, the advantage to having Superman's powers would be the economy in terms of life-support needs..

This thread started in 2004 (http://forum.superman.nu/index.php?topic=800.0), and amazingly enough, there was never a post with a link to the story in question.  It's possible that I actually bought and scanned this issue because of pocketmego's inquiry.

(http://superman.nu/tales5/supermobile/bnr.jpg) (http://superman.nu/tales5/supermobile/)
superman.nu/tales5/supermobile/

This is the first appearance of the Supermobile - I don't know whether or not I've got the second one around.