Superman Records and Books Ad

I'm sure I was not the only reader who bought Warren Publishing's magazines as much for the mouth-watering Captain Company ad pages as for the story and art. Each issue ended with 10-12 pages of truly amazing stuff--records, toys, books, and more.

This ad ran on inside back covers (hence the color) and featured all kinds of goodies right in my wheelhouse--three Superman Power Records not to mention Treasury Comics! I'll take one of everything, thanks Captain Company!

Six Million Dollar Man - The Bionic Berserker

 
Track:

The Bionic Berserker

Despite the Six Million Dollar Man's superstar status at Power Records (three full LPs, plus a variant), from what I've been able to determine, he didn't get too many 45"s to himself. Other than Elves' Revolt, The Bionic Berserker is the only one of these single reissues that I've been able to find starring good old Steve Austin. I've learned, however, never to say never, so who knows what else is out there, still to be discovered?

The cover sleeve looks Neal Adams-ish, but not quite. I'm going to assume this was a Continuity Studios job, handed off to another artist on staff who was trained to draw a lot like Neal. I love that guy in the back, completely losing it over the Six Million Dollar Man's display of muscle.

Power Pals: Van Zee

Oh man do I love this picture! This is newest Power Pal Van Zee, proudly displaying his Batman - Stacked Cards Book and Record set, while also riding his Batman tri-cycle. How boss is that?

Despite all the pictures of me growing up with comics in my hand or in the background (or both), there's not a single shot of me with any of my beloved Power Records, so I absolutely love photos like this. If you have one, please send it in--we are the Power Records Generation!

Thanks Van!

Power Pals: Christmas Kid

Power Pal Rockwell Jay Pugglesworth sent in this picture of a kid from the 1970s having the best Christmas ever! Clearly he's a big Star Trek fan--if not, then Santa goofed up big time.

Merry Christmas everyone!

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!

B-Boy Bionics

Newest Power Pal Darrell Krum sent me this vinyl record sleeve, which bares a striking resemblance to a certain Power Record LP. Darrell designed and illustrated it, and this Power Records fan thinks it came out great.

Nice job Darrell and thanks for sending it in! Power Records lives on!!

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!

The Power Records Podcast Episode 8: Six Million Dollar Christmas!

The Fire and Water Podcast Presents: THE POWER RECORDS PODCAST, Episode 8

It's Christmas time again, so Chris and I take a listen to four holiday-themed audio adventures starring Steve Austin, the Six Million Dollar Man! We wrap up with your Listener Feedback!

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Opening and closing themes courtesy Peter Pan Records.

Thanks for listening! Drop the needle and turn the page!

Space: 1999 - 3 Exciting Stories

Tracks:
Breakaway
Death's Other Dominion
Mission of the Darians

Like The Six Million Dollar Man, Space: 1999 was a property I was only vaguely familiar with as a kid. To my memory, I never had any of the book and record sets, and this second LP of adventures was completely unknown to me until recently. This certainly has to be the only Power Record recommended by Dr. Wernher von Braun--though to be fair, I bet he would have recommended this Wonder Woman 45" if he had had the chance.

Audio-wise, these adventures aren't bad, but they suffer an overall dullness that I thought marred the show, and kept me from really getting into it, in those dark days before Star Wars. Still, the sleeve makes it all look very exciting!

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!

Wonder Woman: The Secret of the Magic Tiara Original Art

 

A page of Rich Buckler's wonderful original art to the "The Secret of the Magic Tiara" book and record set. Be careful of that Mitch fella, Wonder Woman!

I (ahem) wonder why the page is noted as "Wonder Woman #35"?

The Beastie Boys - Brr Stick 'Em

Tracks:
Bionic Berserker

I mentioned on Wednesday that I found it remarkable that, considering how massively popular The Six Million Dollar Man was in the 1970s, that it hasn't come back in some major way. The property is still very beloved by those who grew up with it.

Case in point: The Beastie Boys sampled a section from Power Records' Six Million Dollar Man audio adventure "Bionic Berserker" for their 2004 song "Brr Stick 'Em", which appeared as a B-side to the "Right Right Now Now" single. Check it out below, it kicks off the song:

Did one of the Beastie Boys have some Power Records growing up? Age-wise it's more than possible. This seems like a subject that should be addressed in that Power Records coffee table book I want to write!

The Six Million Dollar Man: Volume 2

 
Tracks:

The Haiti Connection

Operation Deep Freeze

To Win An Oscar

The Loch Ness Syndrome

Boy, did I give ol' Steve Austin short shrift on the first iteration of this blog. I covered the first LP of course, and I mistakenly assumed that was all there was. Wrong, wrong, wrong! Not only did Power Records issue that first LP in two different sleeves, but they also put out an all-original Christmas record, multiple 45s, and this second LP full of another set of audio adventures! That puts the Six Million Dollar Man up there with Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man in terms of how many different Power Records are out there with Steve Austin as the star. 

Considering how big The Six Million Dollar Man was in the 1970s, its sort of amazing that he hasn't returned to the pop culture landscape, considering nearly everything from that era has (including The Bionic Woman). I know there's been a reboot movie script floating around Hollywood for years, I wonder what the hold up is?

Audio-wise, these four stories--which I'm hearing for the first time--are pretty solid. There's a different actor playing Steve, and he dropped the attempted mimicry of Lee Majors that the other performer went for. I kinda miss it, really!

The Six Million Dollar Man - Alternate Cover

Tracks:

Birth of the Bionic Man

The Iron Heart

The Man From The Future

Bionic Berserker

I guess Power Records thought re-issuing their Six Million Dollar Man LP using photos from the actual show was a good idea, just in case Neal Adams' original failed to hook potential buyers.

Of course, no sooner do I say that I've never seen Power Record issue a "variant", then I find this. Happy to be wrong!

Star Trek: To Starve A Fleaver

Track:

To Starve A Fleaver

 

Another of Power Records' dull as dishwater re-releases to tie in with Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Having worked in graphic design and dealt with licensed properties, I'm guessing that Peter Pan was sent a batch of stills from the movie by Paramount to use for the sleeves, so they could only do so much: almost all the images seen on these re-releases are boring as all get out. Not that ST:TMP had a whole lot of action scenes to pick from, but it seems like whoever was in charge really went out of their way to find as many "Crew of Enterprise standing around" shots as possible.

Six Million Dollar Man: 4 Exciting Christmas Adventures

 

Tracks:
Christmas Lights
Elves' Revolt
The Kris Kringle Caper
The Toymaker

How big was the Six Million Dollar Man as a property? Power Records gave him his own Christmas-themed LP, something not even Superman or Batman got!

I didn't have this as a kid, so I was hearing these stories for the first time when preparing this post. "Elves' Revolt" excepted, they're fairly straightforward action adventure stories, and I imagine they were fairly satisfying if you were a fan of the show. I do find it curious why the classic "na na na na na na" sound effect, the show's most lasting contribution to pop culture, is never used. Maybe it was considered copyrighted to the show only?

I can't quite place the art on the front sleeve, but I'll eat a Holo-Man 45" if the back cover isn't by longtime Batman artist Irv Novick. That portrait of Oscar Madison is a dead ringer for his work.

Batman LP Original Art

 

Here's Neal Adams' original art to the 1976 Batman LP featuring "Gorilla City" and "The Mystery of the Scarecrow Corpse." Nice coloring, though I don't get the idea behind that big white stripe down the center.

Star Trek: Passage to Moauv

Track:

Passage to Moauv

Power Records reissued most (all?) of their Star Trek audio adventures with new front and back covers to tie in with the 1979 movie. Some of them were pretty god awful ugly, but this one isn't too bad, if a bit generic. Could the story title be done in a less exciting manner?

Superman: The Man From Krypton

 Track:

The Man From Krypton

Spider-Man of course wasn't the only Power Records star whose adventures were re-purposed across multiple formats. Superman got the honor with "The Man From Krypton", featuring an all-new cover, which looks to me like re-drawn versions of work by Rich Buckler and Jose Luis Garcia Lopez (PBHN).

This seems a little odd to me, because from what I understand JLGL didn't start producing the classic DC stock art until 1983 or so, and I thought Power Records had given up the ghost by then--or at the very least, had stopped issuing new releases of any kind. Yet here it is!

Six-Million Dollar Man: Elves' Revolt

Track:
Elves' Revolt

I was never that into the Six-Million Dollar Man as a kid, so I never fully grokked just how popular he was in his heyday. Case in point: not only did Power Records license the character for his own LPs, but he was picked to headline a Christmas-themed adventure, an honor not even granted to Spider-Man or the cast of Star Trek!

This adventure is pretty painfully silly, though I appreciate the voice actor playing Steve Austin trying to approximate Lee Majors' particular way of speaking. It helps if you think of this record as a prequel to The Night The Reindeer Died.

Power Records Multi-Packs

Another amazing Power Records discovery courtesy Power Pal Rockwell Jay Pugglesworth! In addition to the cassette twin-packs, Power Records also issued their audio adventures on hanger cards, with up to four(!) stories crammed onto one cassette.

The Star Trek ones are, like the movie they're plugging, pretty dull, but check out the Spider-Man and Wonder Woman packs seen on the back of the cards! Not only do they feature art heretofore unseen on any Power Record, but they feature some nifty die-cuts which really must have helped them pop off the stands. Not only that, but as you can see from the product list, the combos were real head-scratchers: Hulk and Superman? Captain American and Star Trek? You'll never see the likes of these again.

Great find Rockwell!

 

Superman Wonder Woman Batman - Exciting Christmas Stories

 

Tracks:
Light Up The Tree, Mr. President
Christmas Carol Caper
The Prisoner of Christmas Island

The only instance I can think of what we nowadays call a "variant", Power Records issued the same Christmas-themed LP featuring original stories starring Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman with two different covers, swapping the background color and changing the title treatment. I can only assume they were released different years...why they felt the need to change the cover art is a mystery probably lost to the ages.

I never even knew they did this at all until my POWER RECORDS PODCAST co-host Chris Franklin mentioned to me that his copy had the red background, while mine has the green. The things you learn!

Spider-Man: The Invasion of the Dragon Men

Track:
Invasion of the Dragon Men

Power Records issued a couple of their adventures in yet another format, a refitted book-and-record set that came with a 45 rpm record. I can't be sure just yet, but I believe they also used this cover when putting it out on cassette, which is why they changed "book and record" to "book and recording", which covers all bases.

The artwork looks like it was traced from Marvel comics/style guides--it's a little loose for the House of Ideas, but also tighter than the work of Bill Gow, who did the sleeves for a lot of Spider-Man 45" records.

Power Records Sci-Fi Display

A very fun display stand Peter Pan records sent out to stores, highlighting their sci-fi releases on their header card (which could presumably be swapped out for others, since I'm betting the base--featuring all the Power Records stars--stayed the same).

It's interesting that at the very top it says "Star Wars", as if there was some famous movie with a similar name that Power Records did not have the license for. Thanks once again to PlaidStallions.com for finding this gem!

Star Trek: Passage to Moauv Original Art

Neal Adams' beautiful original art to Star Trek: Passage to Moauv. It's interesting, because if you look closely, Kirk and Spock don't really look like Shatner and Nimoy, yet somehow look even more perfect the way Adams renders them.

 

 

Planet of the Apes: 4 Exciting New Stories

Tracks:

Battle of Two Worlds
Dawn of the Tree People
Mountain of the Delphi
Volcano

This was another one of those Power Records that I completely missed as a child: it wasn't until recently that I had any idea there were original POTA adventures, not just the movie adaptations.

For some reason, only three of the adventures found here were released as 45s, with "Volcano" being only found on this LP. The sleeve neatly represents the two different visual approaches Power used sometimes--the front looks like the work of the Fillipino artists that Marvel used in their comics and on the movie adaptations, while the back is cartoonier (the work of Bill Gow again?), presumably being done in-house. Zap!

Planet of the Apes - Battle of Two Worlds

Tracks:

Battle of Two Worlds

Another POTA TV show-centric plot, another stunning Neal Adams cover. The audio adventure is pretty good, and features some grisly moments that were hallmarks of the Apes franchise, despite it being aimed at, and sold to, children. It still distracts me that the guy who plays Peter Burker was also Peter Parker on the Spidey records. Now...Spider-Man on the Planet of the Apes, that would be something!

Another thing: the first time I looked at it, I really thought that one ape was angrily biting a banana.

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!