Wonder Woman Drinking Glass

Power Pal (and co-host of The Power Records Podcast) Chris Franklin sent me this pic of a Wonder Woman drinking glass that uses the Neal Adams artwork from the Wonder Woman: The Secret of the Magic Tiara Power record!

I didn't know this existed, and Chris tells me there's no other copyright data on it to indicate if it was part of a larger line, some sort of merchandising campaign, etc. He does point out that the artwork has been redrawn slightly, to include Steve Trevor in the background. It's a handsome item, to be sure.

Considering that a lot of Power Records were done by Adams' Continuity Studios, it shouldn't be surprising that a lot of the artwork was deemed worthy for merchandising, given its iconic nature. Still, this is one of the few examples I can think of something from a Power Record was reused like this.

Thanks Chris!

Lone Ranger LP

Tracks:

Ambush at Bryant's Gap

Rope Justice

Stampede

Aces Wild

Well, this was a surprise!

I got an email from new Power Pal Mike Dean with audio files for a Lone Ranger LP from Peter Pan, which I never knew existed! I probably would have bought it (as in, begged my parents to buy it for me) since I generally considered The Lone Ranger a superhero alongside the DC and Marvel stalwarts.

The stories are decent, and utilize a lot of the same voices all Power Records fans are familiar with. The cover art for the sleeve is a little on the dull side, I guess Neal Adams was busy.

Mike tells me the record was released in 1978, then re-released in 1980 to coincide with The Legend of the Lone Ranger. I did a little more digging and found a Peter Pan Lone Ranger book and record set, as well:

There's no indication which, if any, of the four LP stories are being used here, so possibly this is entirely new Lone Ranger adventure! Who knew Peter Pan got so much mileage out of the character? When I see something like this, something I didn't know existed even after decades of Peter Pan Records fandom, it makes me wonder if there isn't even more stuff like this out there--Green Hornet? The Shadow? Doc Savage?

Anyway, big thanks to Mike for sending the audio along. Hi-yo, Silver!

Hear A Hero! Ad

I never realized before that there were two versions of this Power Records half-page ad--the top one featuring DC and Marvel characters, and the bottom just Marvel. If you look closely, you can see that the Superman figure has been removed, to boot. I wonder if there are other iterations out there??

House of Terror! - LP

I generally don't update this blog anymore, but sometimes I find something so interesting I can't resist!

I had never seen this LP before, called House of Terror!, until I saw it for sale on eBay recently. It's not from Peter Pan Records, yet it reuses the Frankenstein/Dracula/Werewolf story drawn by Neal Adams that was originally done for them! It also comes with a sampling of horror-centric humor songs, making for one tonally weird-ass album!

Did anyone have this? The insides (pictured below) look similar to the Peter Pan release, and as you can see the cover is a mish-(monster)mash of Adams art from the comic!

Space: 1999 Ad

Another Captain Company ad from the back of Vampirella, this time for the exciting grey world of Space: 1999!

Themes From The Movies

Okay, I admit, this one is really far afield of this blog's mission statement, but when Power Pal Rockwell Jay Pugglesworth sent it to me I couldn't resist--it looks so fun! I mean, where else are you going to see these five fine examples of 1970s cinema all in one place? I mean, who doesn't remember the stirring theme from The Deep?

Clearly, the sleeve art was done in-house, since it has that...er, loose style that we've come to associate with Peter Pan's art department. This record gives us an idea what a book-and-record set of these movies might have looked like, which is a major tease: just imagine how cool a series of James Bond Power Records could have been!

Also--I've never understood the byzantine nature of music publishing, but how could PP release an album with the Star Wars theme on it when they clearly didn't have the license?

Wonder Woman Ad

For some reason, the DC and Marvel records never got advertised all that much in the Warren mags (at least compared to some of the other licenses), so this Wonder Woman offering from Eerie #95 jumped out at me. I'm not familiar with that other LP, but it sure looks like fun!

Six Million Dollar Man Ad

This full page ad ran in the back of Vampirella #86, and as you can see it's almost entirely made up of old time radio serial stuff put on to vinyl...except, right at the bottom there, is a Six Million Dollar Man LP.

The problem is, someone at Captain Company(?) swapped out the original cover art for this generic photo of Steve Austin, so I can't tell if this is one of the Power Records or some other piece of licensed merch! I've never seen any other Six Million Dollar Man LPs, so I think it's a safe bet that it's a Power Record. But of course you never know...

(On another note: how is it that Power Records didn't nab the Godzilla license, leaving it open to another label? Every time I see that LP, I have to remind myself it's not from Peter Pan!)

Planet of the Apes/Ghostly Sounds Ad

More Warren, more Power Records for sale! Putting the POTA and Ghostly Sounds records together suggests Captain Company had some extra inventory lying around and decided to throw them together in one ad, rather than any sort of merchandising plan. But who cares, they are three avenues to excitement!

Jaws of the Shark Ad

Be careful! If you don't read this Captain Company ad (from Vampirella #68) closely, you might think Power Records' Jaws of the Shark is actually exciting, and worth the $2.49 plus shipping. Don't be fooled by Neal Adams' masterful cover, buy the Archie instead.

(Can you tell I've been reading a lot of Warren mags lately?)

Star Trek Ad

This ad ran in the back of Vampirella #55 (1977), among other amazing nerdy wonders. Only $2.49 for LP!

Star Trek Ad

Found this grammatically-challenged ad in Vampirella #110, amid a whole page if Trek merch. I don't think I was the only one who bought a lot of Warren mags for the ads as much as the content, I spent a lot of hours pouring over page after page of amazing stuff I dreamed of getting my hands on.

Comics Scene #4

Power Pal Rockwell J. Pugglesworth found this interesting curio in an old (are there any other kind?) issue of Comics Scene. Apparently Peter Pan was gearing up to release a whole slew of new(?) Conan the Barbarian records in conjunction with the 1980 movie.

This brief mention seems to suggest they would be all new, but my bet is they were planning to do what they did for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Namely, simply reissue the old ones with movie-centric covers--but you never know! I wonder what happened?

Nice catch Rockwell!

Star Trek - Passage To Moauv/The Crier In Emptiness Cassette Two-Pack

Peter Pan never met a way to repackage the Star Trek records they didn't like. Courtesy the Star Trek Comics site, here are pics of uber-rare cassette twin-packs that (for some reason) uses a bow-tied bear as pitchman/mascot.

I guess Peter Pan had so much Trek stock lying around that they kept finding new ways to burn it off, so this Frankenstein approach seemed as good as any. Thanks to Power Pal Mike Bridges (again!) for pointing the site out to me--it's the only place on the web I've ever seen these ungainly things.

The League of Regrettable Superheroes: Holo-Man

Last month, Quirk Books published The League of Regrettable Superheroes, a tome dedicated to the costumed heroes out there who never quite achieved the legendary status of Superman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, Kickers Inc., etc. And Power Records' custom-made hero Holo-Man gets his own chapter!

A couple of months ago, Quirk contacted me, asking if I would mind contributing scans from the Holo-Man Book and Record set for the book. I said sure, I'm always happy to promote Peter Pan product, even if (in this case) it's not in the most flattering of ways.

Quirk was nice enough to send me a PDF of the entire Holo-Man chapter, which you can read here. And you can of course pick up a copy of the book on Amazon!