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!

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?)

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!

The Amazing Adventures of Holo-Man Ad

Somebody had really high hopes for Holo-Man, as this breathless ad shows. Not only did he get his own Power Record, but kids could send away for an entire Holo-Man Adventure Kit!

I've never been sure whether Holo-Man was created by someone else and then licensed to Power Records, who assumed they were getting in on the ground floor of The Next Big Thing, or whether The Captain of Color was their own in-house idea. Judging by the fact that the mailing address of Atomic Comics was in the same city as Peter Pan, my hunch is the latter. Which means, somewhere, there's probably a dusty warehouse with several boxes of unsold Holo-Man 3-D pendants.

Ghostly Sounds

 

Tracks:

Side 1

Side 2

Even as a Power Records collector, this LP was one I never bothered with because, as far as I understood, there was no story--it's just random spooky sounds. Plus, it's a Peter Pan record, not a "Power", so even if it I saw it as a kid I probably would have turned my nose up at it, relegating it to "kiddie stuff." After all, I was listening to the truly scary stuff, like Man-Thing and The Monster of Frankenstein!

That said, Ghostly Sounds isn't too bad--there's some genuinely weird stuff, which could do the, er, trick for some of the younger set. Plus, check out that sleeve art, by the unfortunately-named George Peed! How this guy never ended up at Mad or (at the very least) Cracked...

I found these scans online, so I haven't had a chance to see what the inside looks like. Now that the blog is back, maybe if I can find it on eBay for the right price I'll pick it up. Halloween is coming, after all...

Laurel and Hardy: This Is Your Laff - LP

Tracks:

Chiller Thriller Diller

On The Move Movers

Flip-Top Tip-Top Secret
Lucky Duck Buckeroos
Whipper-Snapper Snoopers
Super Duper Sleuths
Closing Theme 

One of the weirdest Peter Pan releases, I didn't even know it existed until I started researching the label for this blog.

Larry Harmon was a guy who, mid-1960s, bought the rights to produce cartoons and merchandise based on the legendary comedians(see here for more info on the man)--there was even a DC comic book!

Never having been a L&H fan(Mark Evanier forgive me), this whole thing induces no more than an indifferent shrug from me, but I do wish they had done an Abbott & Costello one--now that's something I would've loved to have heard!

Technically, this isn't a "Power Record", which was Peter Pan's umbrella title for the comic book/action-oriented adventure stories, but it simply too odd an item to pass up. This was, in my mind, tied with The Gemini Man for hardest to find Peter Pan record, since for the longest time I could not find a copy of either one. Now I guess Gemini Man takes the title. Someday...

The Amazing Adventures of Holo-Man

Track:
The Amazing Adventures of Holo-Man

 

 

 

 

 

Or "What Happens When a Licensor Thinks They Can Create Super-Heroes, too." Holo-Man was a Power Records original, created by Vincent Fusco and Donald Kasen, written by Fusco and Kasen(plus, according to the credits, five more people!) and drawn by long-time comics pro Joe Giella.

I guess I shouldn't be too hard on ol' Holo-Man; Power Records' heart was clearly in the right place, it wasn't all their fault the end product came out so ridiculously goofy. I bet if this story had been written as a Superman tale most comics fans wouldn't bat an eye. I do love how they keep saying the word "hologram" in excited and/or hushed tones, as if its the most exciting technological development since the microchip.

Clearly, they intended to do more of these, since the story ends with a cliffhanger(oh, excuse me, a superiffic cliffhanger)...but as far as I've ever seen or heard, this was Holo-Man's one shot at comic book glory.

Jaws of the Shark

Tracks:
Jaws of the Shark
The Sacred Killer Shark
Treasure of the Sharks

Like the Shazam! 45", I never knew this one existed until I saw it on eBay.

How Peter Pan Records escaped a lawsuit from Universal I don't know, I would say the cover art does its best to tie this record in with the hit film, wouldn't you?

Unlike the superhero and monster records, which are really goofy yet a total blast, these stories are, well, just pretty bad. The stories are ridiculously contrived, and the characterizations are silly beyond belief. Pretty much nothing could've lived up to Neal Adams' cover in terms of excitement, but the gulf between cover art and inside contents has never been greater on a Power Record.

The producer is listed as Arvid Knudsen, and the actors are the "Goldstar Repertory Group." Since none of these people are familar names to the rest of the Power Records' line, I wonder, were these stories(and maybe the even the unusual, educational-style back cover) done for some other purpose, years ago, and Power Records grabbed them up, slapped a new cover on it, and called it a day?

By the way--despite what the sleeve says, there is no story called "Worshippers of the Sharks." Sheesh!