Superheroic Radio Plays

We've gotten fairly maudlin on here of late, so let's shift gears, shall we? Now, we all know that superheroes are primarily creatures of visual media. Superheroes mainly exist, and thrive, in the brightly colored pages of comic books.

Other superheroes have successfully (sometimes) made the transition to film and television, and we've discussed many of these endeavors, both good and bad, here on this blog.

But imagine, if you will, superheroes you never got to see - but instead only heard?

Ridiculous, you say, but I tell you it's true. Batman, Superman, the Blue Beetle, the Green Hornet and the Shadow all had lengthy careers in radio.

I've spent the last few days at work amusing myself by listening to old episodes of these radio dramas on my iPod. And I thought you, my gentle readers, might enjoy them as well. There are many places to find these old recordings, including through iTunes, but here is a link to get you started.

Botar's Old Time Radio
On this site, you will find archives for many heroes, including the Blue Beetle, Captain Midnight, The Green Hornet, The Shadow and Superman.

But wait! There's more! Modern-day superheroes have made the same endeavor. The winner of Season One of Who Wants to be a Superhero?, Feedback, has his own radio play.

One last exploration of superheroes through the auditory media is the Kingdom Come Audiobook. I can't provide you a link to it (and in fact, haven't been able to find a copy of it on CD for my own purposes), but if you can locate it, it's a blast.

Who Wants to be a Superhero? The Defuser, that's who!

I'll try not to gloat, I'm just happy that I got it right.

Go Defuser!

Now, I want to see the Defuser/Feedback team-up comic.

Meeting some superheroes

So, this past weekend, my wife and I decided to visit GenCon Indy. I'm a big-time gamer, and due to my eldest daughter being ill, we didn't get to spend the whole weekend at Origins a few months back. So, we day-tripped to GenCon on Saturday.

And I'm really glad that I did. I got to see some friends I hadn't seen in months. I got to talk with the folks at Eden Studios, who I've had the good fortune to volunteer for in the past, and even been able to playtest the City of Heroes RPG. But without a doubt, the highlight of the trip?

I was able to meet, shake hands with, and in some cases get autographs and merchandise from Major Victory, Fat Momma, and Feedback - the top three finalists from the first season of Who Wants to be a Superhero?

First up, we got to talk to Major Victory. Major Victory was incredibly gracious and friendly, and emphasized how grateful he was to be able to come to events like the con and meet with the fans. I ordered a t-shirt from him (they were out of stock of my size), and he looked at my daugher, Mira, who was sleeping in a sling on my chest, and without my asking, took an art sheet of the mock-up for the Major Victory comic, signed it for her, instructing her to listen to her parents.

Fat Momma wasn't at the booth when we first showed up - she had left to go and spend time at the babysitting facilites provided at the con. I was highly impressed by that - it really shows how important kids are to her. Between the Major Victory t-shirt, and the money I wanted to spend to get Feedback's autograph, I was tapped out for cash, so I couldn't buy any merchandise. But still, she handed us a coloring sheet to take home to our older daughter.

Finally, I got to meet Feedback. Matthew was just an incredibly generous and friendly guy. He was making jokes with the other signees at the booth, taking extra time to pose for pictures, and spending time to actually get to know - at least in passing - the people who came to meet with him.

During the show, it became obvious that he was "one of us," a comic-book fanboy living the dream. And meeting him, it became even more obvious. My wife introduced me as "the resident geek in the family" to which he said that in his eyes, geeks meant "one of us." I didn't want to take up too much of his time (not due to him trying to make us leave, but because I could see the line building behind us), so I wasn't able to talk to him as long as I'd have liked. I did, however, get the chance to share my story with him about how comics have changed my life. During the show, Feedback shared with Stan Lee how comics gave him a role-model when his father passed away. In my case, comics gave me my love of learning. I learned to read due to the Incredible Hulk, and having a family friend read them to me, then chase me around his comic store saying "Hulk Smash Puny Human!"

Me, Feedback and Mira

Like I said, I didn't have the chance to talk to him as long as I'd have liked, but Feedback invited me to come back and talk to him again later. Sadly, I didn't have the time to take him up on the offer, but I hope to encounter him again.

Meeting the three of them re-strengthed my determination to audition if there's a Season 3. And a bonus feature of the weekend was I got to talk to the fine folks at Journeymen Leather about having them help me with my costume.