The Incredible Hulk - At Bay

Another of the later period Power reissues, the subtitle "At Bay" was dropped entirely with some new(?) art created for the sleeve. Does anyone actually have one of these?

Power Records Super Hero Gift Pack

On my post about Power Records' Sci-Fi Gift Pack, I wondered if they had ever put out a superhero one. Just a few hours later, Power Pal Rockwell J. Pugglesworth sent me these images of that every thing!

Featuring 10(!) amazing audio adventures, some of the company's best, this set makes the perfect sampler for someone who wants to know what these Power Records were all about. Plus you get to see Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man all on the same sleeve, and that's not something you'll ever get these days.

Now that this mystery is solved, let's move on to the next one: were there more of these?

Thanks again Rockwell!

Spider-Man - El Hombre Arana

I should have guessed that since Power Records released a Spanish-language Superman record, they probably did the same for Spider-Man. And here it is!

I didn't know this beauty existed until I stumbled over it during a Google image search. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find the audio tracks, so for now just the sleeve art will have to do. Once I find the audio I will update this, because I really can't wait to hear it!

The Adventures of The Amazing Spider-Man and Friends!

Tracks:
Mark of the Man-Wolf
The Way It Began
...And A Pheonix Shall Arise
The Incredible Hulk At Bay

Power Records re-issued this Spider-Man LP, giving it a slightly new name, and managing to squeeze in a fourth audio adventure (why only three made it on the other version I can't imagine). Could it be possible this was sent back out after Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends debuted in 1981, with the hopes that slapping "...and Friends!" on it would move some copies? And check out the front cover blurb, where it says it features "Captain America and The Hawk." I think they mean The Falcon...

Regarding the back cover, it's interesting that of all the records they chose to plug, they picked Man-Thing, one of the least little kid-friendly records in the collection!

The Incredible Hulk - At Bay

Track:
The Incredible Hulk At Bay!

For some reason, Power Records re-purposed some of their Spider-Man and Hulk book-and-record sets. They retained the inside contents but gave them new, generally less Marvel-y, covers. The mustard-colored background really brings the excitement!

Spider-Man - The Abominable Showman

Track:
The Abominable Showman

Another Spidey 45", featuring signed cover art by Bill Gow. Art-wise, this is one of the better sleeves, with Spidey taking a real beating courtesy the Showman's giant robot!

Spidey Super Stories

Tracks:
Spidey Super Stories

I had absolutely no idea this thing existed until I saw it on sale on eBay a few weeks ago...a "new" Spider-Man Power Record, titled Spidey Super Stories!

Okay...so it's not a Power Record, exactly. I guess Peter Pan Records wanted to slightly differentiate these Spider-Man stories, culled from The Electric Company TV series, from the slightly harder-edged ones they had been producing via their Power label, so that familiar logo is nowhere to be found. Still, I was so jazzed to find this, since it was all new to me!

The narration is by, yes, the Morgan Freeman (who of course was Easy Reader on EC). The cast is different than the usual stable of actors you heard on the Power Records, so it's safe to assume Peter Pan just bought the contents lock, stock, and web-shooter and put it out. I love the constant references to the Electric Company within the stories themselves...nice marketing, fellas.

After listening to the tracks, I had a weird feeling of deja vu. I felt like I had heard these stories before, so...maybe I did have this record as a kid? I have zero memory of it, but it's possible the record got lost over the intervening decades, along with the memories. Either way, these are goofy, corny fun!

Spider-Man LP Original Art

When I first saw this beautiful piece of John Romita art, I assumed it had been created expressly for the Power Record The Amazing Spider-Man LP, seen above. But upon closer inspection, it's more likely that it was used for some other purpose (Romita being Marvel's go-to guy for iconic stock art shots of its characters) and then re-used for the LP. Although...

Now that I look at it again, I see that the Spidey logo looks like a recent addition to the paste-up, since it has not browned with age like the rest of the piece. So maybe that was added later, and then signed by Romita to make it more valuable on the original art market. Whatever its origins, it's a beautiful piece, perfect for the album sleeve, promising the buyer classic Spider-Man adventures!

Fantastic Four/Captain America Cassette 2-Pack

 

 

 

 

Tracks:

The Way It Began

...And A Phoenix Shall Arise

Over on the Power Records Facebook page, Power Pal Rockwell Jay Pugglesworth sent a bunch of really cool images, mostly of stuff we have yet to cover here on the blog. Case in point, this 2-pack featuring cassette versions of Fantastic Four: The Way It Began and Captain America: And A Phoenix Shall Arise!


As you can see, Power Records put in Mego-like effort sometimes, simply slapping a sticker with the word "cassette" over the cover, rather than re-printing. Clearly, they had inventory lying around, and Pete Pan realized that vinyl was dying off, so repurposing for cassette was the financially prudent thing to do. Maybe I simply stopped being interested in these by the early 1980s, because I don't ever remember seeing a single one of these Power Cassette sets for sale at the time.

We now have photographic evidence of three Marvel-based cassette sets, there must be more. Perhaps Superman or Batman? Until we can find them, thanks Rockwell!

The Avengers - Captain America Joins The Avengers!

This gorgeous custom Power Records book-and-record set is courtesy the always engaging Dial "B" for Blog...but there's more!

In the late 1960s, Marvel teamed with an outfit called Golden Records, which issued four LPs called "Marvel Age Comic Spectaculars", that featured audio adaptations of classic Marvel stories (for the, uh, record: Fantastic Four #1, Amazing Spider-Man #1, Journey into Mystery #83, and The Avengers #4), accompanied by reprints of the comic--in this case, the aforementioned Avengers #4. Almost impossible to find now for less than a small fortune, they were the forerunners to the Power Records.

Dial "B" decided to create the custom Power Record cover, also adding "Ani-Motion" to the comic book portion, so you can watch your heroes move (sort of) as they discover the Sentinel of Liberty encased in ice. It's a lot of fun, and the audio adaptation is pretty darn good. In fact, I'm not sure why Peter Pan just didn't license the four Golden Records and repurpose them for the Power Records line, it would have been great to have The Avengers and Thor added to the roster!

Spider-Man - Bells of Doom

Track:
Bells of Doom

Another Spidey 45", featuring signed cover art by Bill Gow. Who is Bill Gow? Well, according to a commenter named Brian, he was an artist whose work "[A]ppeared mostly on the covers of Peter Pan and Kid Stuff Records in the 1970s." Mr. Gow, if you're out there, let us know, this blog would love to talk to you!

Spider-Man - The Mad Hatter of Manhattan

 

Track:
The Mad Hatter of Manhattan

Featuring some of the dodgiest sleeve art of any Power Record, "Mad Hatter of Manhattan" was a reissue from the The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. II LP, which featured this audio adventure plus four other tracks. The back cover's not so bad (it looks like a trace of a John Buscema Spider-Man to me), but man that front cover...hoo boy!

These sleeve scans courtesy Sean Keating and his Power Records Pinterest Page. Thanks Sean!

Back Issue! #44 - "Spider-Man Power Records"

I wrote a second article on the Power Records for TwoMorrows' Back Issue!, in this case #44, the all-Spider-Man issue, which you can read here via PDF.

If you're interested in purchasing this or any other issue of BI (and you should be), head over to the TwoMorrows site where every issue of the magazine is available in print and digital form!

Spider-Man - Conquistador

Track:
Conquistador

Even after years of scholarship on the subject, I had never seen this beautiful 45" sleeve until my POWER RECORDS PODCAST co-host, Chris Franklin, sent it to me in anticipation of our sixth episode, focusing on Spider-Man. It features Spidey as drawn by Neal Adams, which was pretty darn rare thing!

After a grabber of an opening, "Conquistador" turns out to be a pretty good Spider-Man adventure, even if it does spend too much time with weary, wise-cracking cops. Still, the Conquistator does make for a great and completely batty bad guy.

By the way--what is the name of this adventure? Is it just "Conquistador", as seen here, or "Return of the Conquistador" as on the Spider-Man Vol. II LP? Power Records always did play fast and loose with their titles.

Back Issue! #36 - "Marvel Monster Records"

I have been fortunate enough to write some articles on the Power Records for TwoMorrows' fine publication Back Issue! In BI #36, an all-monsters issue, I discussed Marvel's "monster" line of records, which you can read here via PDF.

If you're interested in purchasing this or any other issue of BI (and you should be), head over to the TwoMorrows site where every issue of the magazine is available in print and digital form!

Dr. Strange - The Origin of Dr. Strange

Track:
The Origin of Dr. Strange

No, this is not a long-lost Power Record! This is a custom book-and-record sleeve I created to go along with an audio track from...the Dr. Strange radio show!

Yes, there was a Dr. Strange radio show. In 1967, an enterprising producer at WBAI in New York decided to put together a Dr. Strange OTR program, complete with a voice cast and sound effects, and give it a go. It didn't last long, and it pretty much completely disappeared from anyone's radar after that.

I never knew it existed until a fan of my Power Records podcast asked me about it, sending along this link to an interview with the creator of the show. My interest, as you might imagine, was piqued! Before I even got a chance to look into it, the followed up with a second email, this time to Booksteve Library's blog, featuring a link to buy CDs of the show! By the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth!

I listened to the shows (seven episodes across two discs). They're a lot of fun, and really quite true to the spirit of the original Lee/Ditko comics. So then I thought, considering the fact that Power Records occasionally bought up pre-recorded audio tracks and slapped a new album sleeve on them, maybe they would have done the same with Dr. Strange? After all, he did star in a 1978 TV movie, so he probably had enough built-in fame to earn a Power Record, along with fellow TV stars Spider-Man, Captain America, and the Hulk.

So click the track link above to listen to a complete episode of the show, "The Origin of Dr. Strange." If you're like me, you'll want to hear more, so I suggest you head over to Booksteve's Library and order the CDs for yourself.

Original Power Records Art by John Romita

Check out this awesome original black and white art by the legendary John Romita, which appeared on the inside front cover to many of the Marvel Power book-and-record sets. When else would you get the chance to see Spider-Man, the Hulk, Dracula, Man-Thing, and the Planet of the Apes all intermingling?!? Click to embiggen, and note the slight changes that were made between Romita's original and the final printed version.

 

Thanks to Al Bigley's Big Glee! blog for the image!

Spider-Man - Invasion of the Dragon Men Cassette

Track:
Invasion of the Dragon Men

I really enjoy recording episodes of THE POWER RECORDS PODCAST, and a large reason why is due to my co-host, Chris Franklin (aka Earth-2 Chris). He grew up listening to the Power Records like I did, and he always has numerous fun observations about each audio adventure we profile on the show.

But sometimes he also drops some nerd knowledge on me--case in point, that Power Records released some of their productions on audio cassette! A few episodes back, Chris mentioned he owned "Invasion of the Dragon Men" on tape, which was a total shock to me! I had never seen any Power Record on tape, either in person or on eBay. A little while later, Chris found the tape (see above, oh-so-carefully labeled "Invasion of the Dragon MAN") and was kind enough to send a picture. Sockamagee!

This can't be the only Power Record released in this format, so now of course I'm dying to find others--most likely there's at least a Superman, Batman, and Hulk. The search continues, thanks Chris for being the blog's first Power Pal!

Power Records "7 Super Adventures" Gift Set

This is a super-cool, hard-to-find Power Records "Gift Set" that includes seven 45" records featuring the biggest stars of Power Records, Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, The Flash, Metamorpho, Plastic Man, the crew of Star Trek, and of course Aquaman, all rendered by the man, Neal Adams.

I had heard of this set, but had never seen it (even on eBay), until my pal George Rears got it for me, which was, as usual with him, extraordinarily generous.

There isn't anything in this set that Power Records hadn't released before, but its still a fun little set, and it was nice to see the Aquaman (oh, excuse me, "Aqua Man") record get included, as opposed to other Power Records' stars, like Wonder Woman, the Hulk, or Conan, by Crom.

Thanks George!

Marvel Power Records Ad

I remember seeing this ad growing up. From what I remember, Marvel slotted it in below different ads for other products, whether they were toys or other comics. Only $1.49 each!