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Produced by Arthur Korb.
Neal Adams' checklist lists this as being a reprint from Detective Comics
#402 (story by Frank Robbins, art by Neal and Dick Giordano), but I had
always thought the DC/Power Record stories were all original.
Not having a copy of 'Tec #402,
I can't check, but from what I've been able to look up, the story in
that issue is listed at fifteen pages, but the story here is twenty
pages long. Anybody out there have an answer?
Love that back cover!
Now with added PDF!
Power Pal Mike Bridges (him again!) found yet another link to an interview with someone who worked at Peter Pan Records--in this case, Donald Kasen of Inspired Studios, who along with his family ran the whole operation!
The interview appeared over on Heritage Auctions' blog, just last year. Mr. Kasen seems charmed that anyone remembers these records at all, so I can only imagine what he'd think of this blog (presuming of course he wouldn't get mad for me posting all their material). In this interview, I think I learned more about the inner workings of the company than I have in the preceding three decades. Go check it out, and thanks again Mike!
Behold, where the magic happened!
This is a shot of the actual Peter Pan Records factory, located in Newark, NJ. It comes from a 2012 blog post written by someone named Lulu Maximus, who actually worked at Peter Pan Records in the 1970s. Not surprisingly, the recorded content was done elsewhere, so Lulu dealt almost exclusively with the mechanical process of actually making the records. Go over to the blog and read the whole piece.
I had no knowledge of this post until our newest Power Pal, Mike Bridges, pointed it out to me. Mike also suggested that I contact Lulu about an interview, since who wouldn't want to learn more about Power Records from someone who was there? Done!
What are the chances there are piles of dusty records still in this building? It looks more than a little creepy so I don't have the guts to check it out myself. Any of you Power Records fans want to come with me?
Tracks:
The Star Trek Story Records site continues to provide this blog with heretofore unknown Power Record discoveries, in this case yet another Trek repackaging meant to tie in to the 1979 movie.
And it's not just the sleeve that's new--the first audio adventure presented here, "The Man Who Trained Meteors", was another story I had never heard before! According to the STSR site, "Meteors" only appeared on this and one other LP, never getting a 45" or a book and record set. Click the link and enjoy!
No producer credits, but Arthur Korb seems like a good bet. The sleeve art is by Neal Adams, with the inside art by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, which means you simply couldn't do any better.
The
stories are both a lot of fun, I like how Batman is a real detective in
these stories, and seems almost a duly-designated member of the the
Gotham P.D.
Now with added PDF!
Tracks:
Growing up, I always assumed that the DC and Marvel superheroes were the main "stars" of the Power Records line, and the other stuff--Star Trek, Space: 1999--were just ancillary releases, sort of similar to what went on in the world of comics. Well, after working on this for a couple of years now and making so many Power Record discoveries, it's clear that the sci-fi and TV licenses clearly were just as important to the Peter Pan company.
Case in point--Kojak. One of the seemingly oddest choices for a kid's record, Telly Savalas' titular detective received not just a book and record set, but a second LP of audio adventures, seen above (including two I had not heard before). This was another one of those Power LPs I had no idea existed until a Google search, and it only took a quick look on eBay to find decent scans of the both the front and back covers. Amazing. The search never ends!
Now it can be told, er, read!
A new Power Pal simply known as Reddata saw my post from a week or two ago regarding my not having the interior pages to this book and record set and generously sent them along! Thanks Reddata!
This act of geek generosity inspired me to try and make this site a little more user friendly, so if you look above where the audio links are, you'll see a link to a PDF of the "book" portion of this set. Now you can truly read as you listen! Over time I will try and add more of these PDFs to the site and it won't be limited to these tiny low-res scans. Enjoy!
Tracks:
Another Star Trek Power Record discovery courtesy the Star Trek Story Records site is this LP featuring five audio adventures culled from both "eras" of Trek recordings. At least this time around, some attempt was made to put together a snazzy sleeve, as opposed to just slapping a still up and calling it a day.
The Star Trek Story Records site lists this LP as "very rare", and indeed I've never seen it before and could not find it on eBay. I couldn't even find it on Google, so we don't have a back cover sleeve to look at (yet).
It's difficult, if not impossible, to find any behind the scenes info about these Power Records releases, outside of talking to some of the comic book pros who worked on the book portions. But it occurs to me that Peter Pan was still in business in 1982, and there were other Star Trek book and record sets tied to The Wrath of Khan, but they are not from Peter Pan. So at some point between the two films, Peter Pan either gave up or lost the Trek license.
Also, Peter Pan was stretching the truth just a tad using the phrase "all-new" when referring to the record's contents!
R.I.P. Leonard Nimoy, who meant so much to so many. LLAP.
Update: Power Pal Rockwell Jay Pugglesowrth was kind enough to send along the back cover so we can all enjoy. It's quite spiffy--if you didn't know better, Star Trek: The Motion Picture almost looks exciting!
