Golden Age of Comics Podcast #4! In this installment we talk about the great Carl Barks and his wonderful work on Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge. We are also thrilled to have an interview with Don Rosa, who has captivated all duck fans with his storytelling and with his series,The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. We have a short market report where we discuss some very high dollar sales, and we talk about the happenings last weekend at the Heroes Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.

I had a lot of fun today at the Heroes Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. As always, Shelton put on a great show with an impressive list of guests. There were plenty of great Golden Age books for sale from an impressive array of dealers.

I spent some time talking to the great Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck storyteller, Don Rosa. Don had some wonderful Golden Age cover re-creations in which he inserted the famous residents of Duckburg in place of the usual heroes. Of course, I had to get Don to sign his rendition of Detective 27 featuring Scrooge and Flintheart Glomgold. Use your imagination! There will be an interview with Don in the next podcast.

The other highlight of the day was the panel featuring Nick Cardy, Gene Colon, Herb Rogoff, Roy Thomas, Jim Amash, Marv Wolfman and Howard Chaykin. These notable comics professionals covered all manner of topics in a two-hour discussion. The quote of the day came from Nick Cardy, responding to a comment from Howard Chaykin. Howard had commented about Nick's great ability to draw men and women in romance comics in the 1950's. Nick replied, "I had no problem drawing women. I did a hell of a lot of research!"

I enjoyed two other comments from the discussion. The first was an exchange between Marv Wolfman and Roy Thomas in which they concluded that to each fan of comic books, the Golden Age of Comics occurred when they were twelve years old, regardless of the actual calendar year. The second came from Howard Chaykin describing his love for comic books. He said that he remembers the "musty, moldy" smell of old comics from a refrigerator box of comics he inherited when he was a child. He remarked that to this day, that smell brings fond memories and makes him want to dive into a pile of comics like Scrooge dives into his money bin. To me, that comment perfectly describes the feeling most of us have about old comics.

Later in the day, I stopped by the ACTOR booth and learned about this extremely important effort by comics professionals for the benefit of Golden Age and Silver Age comics professionals in need. I would encourage you to visit the ACTOR Comic Fund Web Site and support this worthwhile effort.

In the June 6 blog entry, I listed the top ten Golden Age Covers selected by Joe Kubert for CBG. One of the covers listed was Doll Man Quarterly #4 (Winter, 1942). In a letter in CBG #1607, Mike Barr points out that the cover to that issue is likely a swipe from The Spirit Section from July 14, 1940. CBG reprinted both covers in the letter column (page 228), and the Doll Man cover appears to be a swipe from Eisner's Spirit section. I guess it's true that imitation is the highest form of flattery! Maggie Thompson's response to the letter also mentions that Joe Kubert's picks were "fairly general" regarding Doll Man, with his only instruction being to pick a Reed Crandall Doll Man cover.

Golden Age of Comics Podcast #3! This installment features a market report with some Golden Age sales on eBay by Harley Yee. We focus on Golden Age team-ups and cross overs with All-Star Comics, World's Finest Comics, Leading Comics, Marvel Mystery Comics, the Marvel Family and others. Visit our website at goldenagecomics.org.

Golden Age of Comics podcast #2! This installment features the DC Comics Rarities Archive Edition, a biography of Golden Age great Jerry Robinson, a market report with some amazing prices on Golden Age books and an interview with none other than Roy Thomas! Roy talks about the Justice Society of America, The All-Star Companion, Alter-Ego Magazine, the Bill Finger Comic Book Writer's Award, and his 40 year anniversary in the comic book business. Donâ??t miss this installment of the Golden Age of Comics podcast, and don't forget to visit our website at goldenagecomics.org.

There is a fantastic Golden Age museum exhibit taking place at The William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum in Atlanta, Georgia until the end of August. It is well worth the trip and the small admission price. I have been told by Roy Thomas that Golden Age Batman artisit Jerry Robinson has been very involved in the establishment of this exhibit. I would encourage any Golden Age fan in the Atlanta, Georgia area to take the time to view this exhibit.

In a recent CBG (#1606, July, 2005), Joe Kubert listed his favorite Golden Age covers of all time. That's a really tough decision to make. I'll start the list by adding one of the classic Batman covers from Detective Comics 31. I bet I won't get too much argument about this one. Let me know what you think in the comments for this entry. Here's the Joe Kubert list: 1. Action Comics #1 (June 1938) 2. Superman #1 (Summer 1939) 3. The Blue Beetle #1 (Winter 1939) 4. National Comics #3 (September 1940) 5. Doll Man Quarterly #4 (Winter 1942) 6 Doll Man Quarterlt #6 (Summer 1943) 7. Frontline Combat #7 (July 1952) 8. Two-Fisted Tales #25 (June 1952) 9. Spirit Section 11/23/47 10. Spirit Section 10/31/48 Check out Joe Kubert's web site at kubertsworld.com.

After completing the first podcast, I note that the audio quality is not as good as I would like and the audio level was a bit low. We will remedy that for our next show. There were a couple of corrections to be noted from the podcast: I stated that the first ad for Batman #1 appeared in Detective Comics 37. It actually appeared in Detective 39. You can view a copy of the ad at the Golden Age Batman Site. During the market report I had a slip of the tongue and talked about a copy of Detective "38" as being the origin of Robotman, when in fact I meant to say Detective 138.

The first podcast for the Golden Age of Comics (goldenagecomics.org). In this installment, we discuss the new web site, the Grand Comic Book Database Project, Batman Archives 6, Superman Action Comics Archive 4, the Golden Age Market Report and the upcoming convention season.

Several years ago I became interested in a recurring character in various Batman stories. Carter Nichols was a scientist that seemed to have a knack at time travel. As I explored the roots of this character, I came to realize that he appeared in more Batman stories than many of the major villians. After some research, I wrote this unpublished article about his adventures. I'm curious if anyone is aware of any other Golden Age appearances of this character that I missed.
c c Batman 24

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Travel in Time with Professor Carter Nichols!

For years, many of us have been fascinated with the notion of time travel. From our enjoyment of such time travel yarns as H.G. Wells’ “The Time Machine�?, Star Trek’s “City on the Edge of Forever�?, the many adventures created by Professor Carter Nichols, the popular TVseries “The Time Tunnel�? and “Back to the Future�? with Marty and “Doc�? Brown, we have all at some point in our lives asked, “what if I could travel back or forward in time…�? Wait a minute, who is Professor Carter Nichols? What does he have to do with time travel? As it turns out, Professor Nichols is responsible for many DC Golden Age and Silver Age time travel adventures. What’s that? You’ve never heard of him? Let me tell you his story. Travel back in time to the Fall of 1944 and you will meet Professor Nichols for the first time in Batman 24 (“It Happened in Rome�?). With this appearance, Professor Nichols began an almost 20 year run in assisting Batman & Robin (sometimes with Superman) with some great time travel adventures. Between his first appearance in 1944 and the introduction of the “new look�? Batman in Detective Comics 327 (May 1964), Professor Nichols appeared in 35 stories. In these stories, Batman and Robin meet the likes of King Arthur, Robin Hood, Frankenstein, Marco Polo, Cleopatra, the Three Musketeers, and many, many other interesting and colorful historical characters.

The Carter Nichols stories generally have the same plots: Batman and Robin, usually in their civilian identities of Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, become involved in a mystery that has it’s origins in the distant past. Bruce and Dick go to see Professor Nichols who sends them back (and on a few occasions, forward) in time to solve the mystery. Upon arriving in the past, Bruce and Dick change into their crime fighting identities to stop some evildoer,and end up embroiling themselves with a well-known historical figure. In the end, Batman & Robin save the day, and ensure that history is preserved. After the successful conclusion of their adventure, they change back into their civilian clothes just in time for the “Nichols effect�? to wear off, returning them to the present. Of course, Professor Nichols never discovers that Bruce and Dick are really Batman and Robin, and they cryptically tell the Professor that the mystery was solved.

Like Batman and Robin, Professor Nichols evolved as a character and his methods of initiating time travel changed over the years. At first, upon arriving at Professor Nichols’ laboratory, Bruce and Dick were placed under hypnosis to begin their travel in time. It was never quite clear whether they actually traveled in time or if they had merely remained in Professor Nichols’ lab to “dream�? about their time travel adventure. In later stories, Professor Nichols invented a number of time travel devices that allowed the caped adventurers to travel in time. On occasion, Professor Nichols’ own time travels resulted in Batman and Robin traveling back in time to rescue him.
As far-fetched as these stories sound, they provide great entertainment by placing Batman and Robin in well-known factual or fictional historical situations, and away from the mundane setting that Gotham City presented on many occasions. We can thank Professor Nichols for taking us there!
Following is a list of the pre-“new look Batman�? Professor Carter Nichols stories:

“It Happened in Rome�? Batman 24 Aug.-Sep. 1944
“All for One, One for All�? Batman 32 Dec. 1945-Jan.1946
“Sir Batman at King Arthur’s Court�? Batman 36 Aug.-Sep. 1946
“The Rescue of Robin Hood�? Detective Comics 116 Oct. 1946
“Peril in Greece�? Batman 38 Dec. 1946 - Jan. 1947
“The Black Magician�? (Robin Solo Story) Star Spangled 73 Oct. 1947
“The Four Horsemen of Crime�? Batman 43 Oct. – Nov. 1947
“The First American Detective�? Batman 44 Dec. 1947 – Jan. 1948
“The Batman that History Forgot�? Batman 46 Apr. – May 1948
“The True Story of Frankenstein�? Detective Comics 135 May 1948
“The Dead Man’s Chest�? Detective Comics 136 June 1948
“Batman’s Arabian Nights�? Batman 49 Oct. –Nov. 1948
“Batman and the Vikings�? Batman 52 Apr. – May 1949
“The Amazing Adventure of Batman and Marco Polo�? World’s Finest Comics 42 Sept. – Oct.1949
“The Brand of a Hero�? Batman 58 Apr. – May 1950
“The Batman of the Future�? Batman 59 Jun. – Jul. 1950
“Bodyguards to Cleopatra�? Detective Comics 167 Jan. 1951
“The Batman of Yesterday�? Batman 79 Oct. – Nov.1953
“The Origin of the Batcave�? Detective Comics 205 Mar. 1954
“The River Rogues�? Batman 89 Feb. 1955
“The Caveman Batman�? Batman 93 Aug. 1955
“The Three Magicians of Baghdad�? (Superman appearance) World’s Finest Comics 79 Nov. – Dec. 1955
“The Return of Mr. Future�? Batman 98 Mar. 1956
“Batman – Frontier Marshall�? Batman 99 Apr. 1956
“The Three Super-Musketeers�? (Superman appearance)World’s Finest Comics 82 May – Jun. 1956
“The Batman from Babylon�? Batman 102 Sept. 1956
“Batman’s Roman Holiday�? Batman 112 Dec. 1957
“Batman in the Bottle�? Batman 115 Apr. 1958
“The Last Days of Batman�? Batman 125 Aug. 1959
“The Second Life of Batman�? Batman 127 Oct. 1959
“The Secret of the Time Creature�? (Superman appearance) World’s Finest Comics 107 Feb. 1960
“The Secret of the Beast Paintings�? Detective Comics 295 Sept. 1961
“Batman & Robin, Medieval Bandits�? (Superman appearance) World’s Finest Comics 132 Mar. 1963
“The Menace of the Future Man�? (Superman appearance) World’s Finest Comics 135 Aug. 1963
“The Secret of the Captive Caveman�? (Superman appearance) World’s Finest Comics 138 Dec. 1963

Here are some images of the Nichols appearances and covers featuring Nichols stories:

Carter Nichols' First Appearance from Batman 24 Carter Nichols in Batman 24 Cater Nichols in a Robin solo story from Star Spangled Comics 73 Batman 24 (First Issue Featuring Carter Nichols) Batman 32 Cover Star Spangled Comics 73 Cover