by Mark Voger
Published by TwoMorrows
Based on his earlier books, including Monster Mash, Groovy, and Holly Jolly, I’m fairly convinced that author Mark Voger is an alternate world version of me.
Growing up, he and I seem to have had all the same obsessions as far as television, comic books, movies, toys, and anything and everything else pop culture-related.
The big difference is that he has collected all that nostalgic goodness in books, whereas I have merely collected HIS books.
There hasn’t been a loser in the bunch yet and Zowie! from TwoMorrows continues the trend. Zowie! is, as expected, an utterly delightful romp through the mid-1960s days of Batman and Robin and the camp superhero craze.
In fact, TV’s Batman series was such a major part of that pop-art era that one could make the argument that this book is actually a volume about Batman, with just a whole bunch of related sidebars. Bat-subjects—all heavily illustrated—include Bob Kane, Bill Finger, and Jerry Robinson, Kane’s later ghosts, DC’s early ‘60s “New Look,” the Bat-serials, Adam West and Burt Ward, Yvonne Craig, and individual sections on Julie Newmar, Frank Gorshin, and many of the Special Guest Villains.
All those chapters are spread throughout the book, but in between them is where you’ll find a lot of the real meat of the book.
The Dynamic Duo were (was?) hardly the only costumed do-gooders in the sensational sixties. In case you weren’t there, this is where you’ll meet those colorful heroes. Homegrown heroes include The Phantom, The Green Hornet, Captain Marvel, Superman, The Lone Ranger, and Tarzan. Imports like Astro Boy, Johnny Sokko and his flying robot, and the perennial (They’re STILL making them!) rubber-suited alien monster fighter, Ultraman, get the spotlight as well.
Lesser known comic book and television heroes make the nostalgic cut as well, including Dynamo, Magic Man, The Mighty Crusaders, the infamous Captain Nice (created by Buck Henry) and the pill-popping Mr. Terrific. Even further down the list, Voger brings up the ultra-low budget Wild, Wild World of Batwoman and Rat Fink a Boo-Boo!
And cartoons! Along with silly heroes Atom Ant, The Impossibles, or Frankenstein, Jr., Hanna-Barbera gave us the sleek and wonderful Spaaaaaace Ghoooooost!
Then there’s Captain Action, the doll—excuse me, “action figure”—who can turn into a bunch of other comic book and comic strip heroes. Cap could be not just Superman, Spider-Man, or, yes, Batman, but also Steve Canyon, Flash Gordon, or even the Nazi-bashing Sgt. Fury!
Visually, in the tradition of the author’s earlier histories, Zowie! is a massive treat both for both young and old readers. So many familiarities for us oldsters, and even a few new things for someone like me who spends a lot of time living in the past, myself. If you weren’t there, of course, this will all be new, and if you’re at all interested in the movies and TV shows which preceded and led to the DCU and the MCU, this is your crash course. You wouldn’t have Peacemaker and Fantastic Four: First Steps without the actual first steps Mark writes about.
In the long run, though, it’s the book’s text that really scores big as Mark clearly knows his stuff, and just has clearly has researched it to find and include a treasure trove of trivia on Batman and everything else. Much of his writing, like my column in Comic Book Creator, also notes his personal connection to the material he writes about.
To me, that’s the crowning touch. This is not just some straightforward telling of easily found facts from the super sixties, it’s Mark Voger’s telling of facts, lesser-known trivia, and hard to find minutia from the super sixties, which gives it all an added depth of reality.
Finally, I have to say that quite often, if I read a book on a subject with which I’m already intimately familiar, I often spot factual errors. In Zowie! I didn’t spot a single one…more evidence that Mark and I MAY actually be the same person!
I hear his doing a book on the Space Craze next! Let me go dig out my Major Matt Mason toys.
Booksteve Recommends.
