Fun Panel of the Week: Snapper Carr Edition

They say newborns are able to see high contrast images quite well, so I decided to get my son started on comics by reading him DC Showcase Presents: Justice League of America Volume 1 (500 pages for only $19.00!).

If you aren’t familiar with the Showcase Presents series, it is a cheap and easy way of educating yourself, and others, in the ways of the days before the first Crisis. Because they are inexpensive, the tales are printed on paper that is newsprint at best, and you are missing out on all the colors, but it is still fun to read what your favorite DC characters were doing back in the day.

Which brings me to this brilliant panel from Brave and the Bold #28 “Starro the Conqueror”. The issue introduces the world to the Justice League of America fighting the menace from space, and along the way introduces the reader to one Snapper Carr.

Now the 60’s were a time when old school was trying to get in touch with the hipsters of the day – hence the creation of Snapper as a way for teenagers to identify with the books being published. While the dialogue is way corny, Gardner Fox does an excellent job of giving Flash and Snapper two distinct voices.

To fully appreciate the panel read Snapper’s dialogue aloud while doing your best Beatnik voice, and then read Barry’s dialogue in your best Joe Friday voice and the panel comes together like peanut butter and jelly.

Side Note: Snapper Carr was based on the Edd Byrnes’ character “Kookie” from the television series 77 Sunset Strip (source)

While Brave and the Bold #28 featured the first appearance of the Justice League of America, it listed Batman and Superman as members of the team, but with an interstellar starfish attacking the U.S., what do you think those two were up to?

Superman may have a legitimate claim for being off planet (although those meteors don’t look that big), Batman knows the criminals will eventually escape and he’ll have to track them down again, so why not give aid to his teammates? At least Green Lantern was able to put the test plane on autopilot while he flew off to fight the first Starro clone.