Dear Watchers: an omniversal comic book podcast

>> Rob: Have you heard about the pony with a sore throat? Yeah, she's a little hoarse. Welcome to Deer Watchers Inniversal, Com book podcast, where we do a deep dive into the multiverse.

>> Guido: We are traveling with you through the bad jokes, the stories, and the worlds that make up an omniverse of fictional realities we all love. And your watchers on this journey are. Me, Guido. Oh, I don't have anything. Oh, Guido the Sagittarian. I am actually a Sagittarian, so that's very fitting for today's episode, actually.

>> Rob: And I'm Rob. I have another joke for you too, Guido, because this one ties, I'm sure you do. To today's episode. So we're at a racetrack, and this one horse says, you know, I've won 15 races. And the other horse that's there says, well, that's nothing. I've won 27 races. And then a third horse says, yeah, but I've won 36 races. And then there's this greyhound dog that's standing there, and it says, well, I don't mean to boast. And the greyhound says, but I've won the last 90 races. And the courses are all amazed, and they go, wow, a talking dog. Oh,

>> Guido: God. Okay, let's move on.

>> Rob: Ties into today's episode because we've got.

>> Guido: A talk because it's a talking horse, and it. Well, and it's not clear, though, that the dog talks. Lot of. There's a lot of thought bubbles going on in there, but we'll get into it.

>> Rob: And before we do begin this trip through the multiverse, Guido, what's happening in our little section of the universe?

>> Guido: Well, it's kind of like we're doing a sheir ra follow up without even intending to, because last week, of course, we talked about she ra go, listen, if you didn't. And sheir ra's companion is a talking horse named Swiftwind. We posted lots of pictures of Swiftind. I don't think we talked much about Swiftind last episod. So it's a funny connection that was completely not on purpose, because, in fact, what really prompted this episode was an extraordinary dear listener of ours, Edward, who, completely unprompted, out of the blue, sent us a bunch of comics as a gift, which is an incredible thing for anyone to do. And these were inspired by one of our episodes where we've talked a few times about wanting to. Wanting to cover more. Superman's pal, Jimmy Olsen, Superman's girlfriend Lois Lane, and the wacky imaginary stories in them. And Edward sent us a bunch of old issues that he had and was offloading of both of those titles, which is just incredible. Mmmm.

>> Rob: Yes. Thank you, Edward. I can't wait to cover even more of the issues that you sent us.

>> Guido: And yeah, it's really exc. So, yeah, it's so nice. I appreciate it so much. We love all of our listeners, but when they show us love and appreciation, that's really special. We've been doing this for coming upon four years.

>> Rob: Oh my gosh.

>> Guido: And we've met so many incredible people and now Edward is one of them.

>> Rob: Well, Edward isn't listening to us for the first time. We know that. But if you are listening to us for the first time, we have three parts of our journey through the multiverse today. Origins of the story, exploring multiversity, and pondering possibilities. So thanks for coming along.

>> Guido: And remember, you can follow us online just like Edward did on most social media at Deer Watchers, Blue sky and Instagram primarily, and leave us a five star view wherever you are listening to this episode.

>> Rob: And with that, dear Watchers, welcome to episode 156. And let's check out what's happening in the Omniverse with our travels to today's alternate universe. And today, not even wild horses could drag us away from answering the question.

>> Guido: They might be able to seduce us away, though.

>> Rob: That's true. Because we're wondering, what if Lois Lane fell in love with a horse who became a man and then became a horse herself?

>> Guido: Oh, tragedy. It's really, it's Shakespearean, the level of tragedy that shows up in this book. So this imaginary story that we're covering is 1 of the DC Silver Age imaginary stories, kind of this one. And we can get more into this. This one is a little more canonical. It is sort of set on Prime Earth because you're getting a character's backstory that does become relevant to actual DC canon and lore. So that's a little ridiculous, though. We're going to assume that this is in fact an imaginary story, like so many of the Loest Lane issues are. We covered our first DC imaginary story with Superman and Lois back in episode 51 years ago. And we didn't even get to Lois solo title Superman's girlfriend, until just a few episodes back. Number one 53. So go check out episode 51. Episode 153. And we are very excited to be back in DC's silver age.

>> Rob: And we are talking about, I guess for the first time, though, Guido, we're talking about the super pets.

>> Guido: Yes, Yeah, I don't think we've spent too much time covering them, though. They are, a wacky group of characters that have some interesting alternate stories. And we did talk about crypto a little bit, as a presence in the last Superman's girlfriend, Lois Lane, that we covered, because, of course, he was poisoned, but not poisoned and all that stuff. Poison.

>> Rob: You have to listen to it sl readed in order to understand what's going on there. And I didn't even know that there were all these other super pets, which.

>> Guido: The Legion of Super Pets. Yes.

>> Rob: Well, I mean, that brings me to my first question for you, which is, what is your background with the super pets?

>> Guido: I don't have an extensive one. I have to say. Obviously, I knew that they existed. I knew. Obviously. It sounds like more than you. That they were sort of a team. And there were these, group of characters from the Silver Age, and they've been resurrected over the last few years. There's an animated movie that's the super pets that I really wanted to see. We did not end up seeing. So they've sort of been pulling us that the monkey has come back up. I don't know if I knew that there was Comet, the super horse, honestly, until this reading, so I'm not surprised, but I think I'm new to him. Crypto is, of course, the one probably most of us know and I'm most familiar with. So what about you? It sounds like you didn't even know that they formed a legion.

>> Rob: Well, and I knew about the recent animated movie, which, as you said, we didn't see. So I guess I should have known that there was like a legion of super Pets. That is, I think.

>> Guido: But who knew that it was real and in comics.

>> Rob: Exactly. Like I could have thought, oh, this was something that was made up for a kids movie. Okay, we've got crypto, so let's add in a cat, let's add in a monkey. And I don't even know how deep of the bench is, because here we've got a cat, we've got a horse, we've got a monkey. Could there be a lizard? Could there be a gerbil?

>> Guido: I don't know at this point. I think there is. I don't know at what point they debuted, but at this point, in time now, 2025, I think every character has existed, probably every animal.

>> Rob: But I think when I was reading Superman growing up, and I wasn't a huge Superman reader, as I've discussed on the show before, but I would imagine that the super pets or even crypto were probably on the sideline in the 90s. I mean, Superman seems like it was pretty serious because this was around the death of Superman and the resurrection. So I, I don't think there was like a dog with telepathy that was playing a role then, was there?

>> Guido: Yeah. And, no. And I have to. I have to warn our listeners who are big crypto fans or know this lore that neither of us do, and we didn't do a deep research on it because our focus really today is on Lois becoming a horse. But crypto, I know, is generally used with Superboy. So he comes back when Jeff Johns is writing Superboy after Superboy Returns, that's Connor Kent. Their crypto is around. So I don't know at what point he disappears and is not around. Obviously in what we read today, they used him when they were telling the tales of Superboy that were supposed to have been almost missing tales of Superman's past. So that's what we read. They use crypto in the same way then Comet become Supergirls pet. And so we'll talk all about them, but. So crypto was not around? No. In the 80s and 90s, I don't know if he was thought dead or off planet, but he's definitely not around for a while. But he's been back, I'd say for the last 20ish years, pretty steadily. Many years on occas.

>> Rob: Does a super dog live?

>> Guido: We don't even know't even know it's true.

>> Rob: Well, a horse walks into a bar. The bartender says, hey. The horse says, yes, please. It's origins of the story.

>> Guido: Oh, no, we don't have one. For every segment.

>> Rob: Right now on this very show, you're gonna get the answer to all your questions. Our amazing story begins a few years ago, and we are starting today's journey in prime Silver Age silliness. This is Adventure Comics Volume 1, Issue 293, from February 1962. And in this story is entitled the legion of super traitors.

>> Guido: Yes. And this is probably not known cause no credits, but probably written by Jerry Siegel. Jerry Siegel, famous for co creating do you know who?

>> Rob: Super Superman. Yay. I got it.

>> Guido: So here he is, almost 30 years later, still, writing, apparently this issue. Kurt Swan, penciler. Kurt is a Silver Age, Golden Age, Silver age, Bronze Age DC icon. Did mostly DC books, mostly Superman books from the 40s to the 80s. Probably did thousands of books and defined a lot of the looks we know. And it's inked by George Kleline, lettered by Milt Snapin and edited by Mort Weissinger. So we read this because it is the first appearance of Comet the Super Horse and the first appearance of the Legion of Super pets who don't play a role in the issue we read later, but Comet does. So we wanted to dive into this. Now. Another disclaimer at the top. And this is really specifically for, our previous guest and friend of the show, Randalladowitz, who wrote books on D.C. and loves the Legion of Superheroes. Neither you nor I know much about the Legion, so this issue involves lots of Legion stuff. And we might not know what we're talking about when it comes to it, but we do know how to talk about Comet the Super Horse because he is brand new.

>> Rob: I thought when you said disclaimer, you were going to say that this issue, or at least the version we read, starts with a disclaimer that these comics are now going to be two pennies more.

>> Guido: Yes, they were going up to 12 cents. So yeah, breaking the bank there for boys and girls, as they say. this issue is so good, I had no idea. I fell in love with this issue. I want to go read so many more adventure comics because they are completely insane. This issue should have been our focal point issue. Its nuts, but I loved it. What did you think of it?

>> Rob: Oh yes, very, very fun. And it has all of that silliness that we have talked about on previous episodes that you find in these Silver Age books. And there's this structure. It all has like, it all starts with like a cliffhanger or almost like a fake out like that you get on the first page and then of.

>> Guido: Superman downing a plane. Like so. Yeah, I'd call it a cliffhanger in that you don't understand. Is, Superman just being a jerk as we've talked about on the show? Superman here, he's super boy, but it's the same character. So Clark, Cal, whatever. Is. Is he just being a jerk? He decides he needs to destroy this plane and crypto ends up saving the plane. So it just starts so fun and wacky right away.

>> Rob: And he even says saving the plane will be a cinch. Wait, I'm always rescuing endangered aircraft. This time I'll be different. Instead of saving the plane, I'll wreck it. Ha.

>> Guido: so yeah, you're reading it sort of thinking like maybe he's just being a brat. Like they'he's just writing Superboy as a brat. He then decides.

>> Rob: Got it. At first, yeah, I thought he was.

>> Guido: That's what makes it so fun.

>> Rob: Henn, shake it up and be. I'm getting bored with this. I'm gonna wreck the plane. I didn't get that. Oh, he's actually maybe potentially going to be killing everyone on board.

>> Guido: And then I love. I mean, we're both laughing out loud hysterically while reading this because of that. And then he is concerned that Crypto is angry that he almost killed everyone on the plane. And he says, where does this mutt get off looking down his wet nose at the mightiest boy in the universe? And he decides he wants to kill Crypto and he's going to send him to a green kryptonite meteor. And he says, I'll super toss you to your death. And so he tries to kill Crypto.

>> Rob: And he's picked him up by the tail and he's swinging him over his head and he's going to like gu. Launch him into the stratosphere when the last spute. He's not going to.

>> Guido: If that's not good enough, you have Crypto's thought bubble there. M saying, if this is. I thought he loved me, but if this is how he really feels, I don't want to live. So you suddenly you have Crypto being suicidal because Cal is trying to kill him. I mean, it's just so nuts. It doesn't stop from there because then we have the whole actual plot, which is that there are these four floating brains and the Legion'there And I don't get it. Why, I know time travel, blah, blah, blah.

>> Rob: But you're skipping slightly ahead because, well, Superboy, he gets out of it. He's like, okay, I'm not being. I'm, not evil anymore. Then we get the three members of the Legion there. It's Lightning Lad, Cosmic Boy and Saturn Girl. And they arrive and they're like, oh, we're just friends with you, Superboy. And they're actually showing the Phantom Zone and you see General Zod, but then they all start to turn on him like they are all now evil. And they're going to actually release the criminals from the Phantom Zone, but Superboy stops them and then they get him with kryptonite rings. So now they have become evil. And still at this point, we still don't know why they are evil, why Superboy was evil earlier. We even have. We have robots. Superboy, I guess, also has a legion.

>> Guido: Of robots summons his robots. Yeah, they're all destroyed. So much going on of the superheroes. Yes, but.

>> Rob: And then we get the reveal of our true Villains at that point. Yeah.

>> Guido: Which I don't even know. I don't even care. They're the brain globes of Rambat. I didn't even look up if these characters exist. I don't care. I don't need. I don't need to know any more than what is in this issue. There are four floating globes that somehow control people because their planet was going to explode. And they're an advanced scouting team trying to find another planet to take over. So it's totally ridiculous.

>> Rob: Just like they look like those, the creatures in Metroid May called the Metroids there, right? Those, those like brain creatures that, that you have to defeat throughout the game. Like, they look very much like that. And then also these are the last ones that are left and they're going to be transporting Earth back to their solar system, which also, if you're a Doctor who fan, it's very Dalek like. Daleks are also like these little creatures and they don't have the same personality of Daleks. You don't have the robot body. But this idea that there's only a few left of them in the universe and that they're like these and they're scouting, they have evolved too, because they used to be actual people and you kind of see one of them as a human.

>> Guido: We just had like a, ah, Humanoid.

>> Rob: Ye, humanoid. But now they've evolved into being just like these floating brains.

>> Guido: Yes. So then, then the reason the super pets come together in the first place, which is Crypto, attacks one of them and it turns out that they are susceptible to pets fighting them, not humans. And so the Legion realizes, hey, there's all these other super pets from the future that we can call upon. And they go get Streaky the Super Cat, they get Super Monkey, and they get the not yet named Super Horse, who we later know to comet the Super Horse. So they go get all these characters from the future, bring them back, and the four of them fight and defeat the Brains. And then there's more plot that like, I don't care anymore at that point. But it's still fun because Superman has to stop. The world has fallen out of orbit. He has to stop it from falling out of orbit and push it back. And so it's just totally nuts. But they can't tell him because of the time travel stuff. They can't tell him, that the super pets were involved. Superman's unconscious the whole time because of kryptonite. They can't tell him the super pets are involved because shortly after this comet the super horse actually does start showing up in Supergirl'title and becomes Supergirls pet. And I guess Superman can't know anything about the future, even that stupid little detail, so. It's so nuts. I loved it.

>> Rob: Yeah, no, it is very kooky. And I also love, like, Lightning Lad. I think that's Lightning Lad. He's actually riding on top of Crypto into the battle.

>> Guido: Yes.

>> Rob: Like, as if Crypto is a horse, but not Z Girl, the horse.

>> Guido: No one's riding the cat or the monkey.

>> Rob: At least he the monkey at. I'm sure you notice this, Guido, because this will play into our next issue, but did you notice that Super Horse is the only one of the super pets that does not speak, that does not have thought bubbles?

>> Guido: Yeah, well, and again, they don't name them either. So.

>> Rob: Yeah, I don't know, there's almost this thing where it's. I don't know, it's like, in terms of how intelligent they are, because the dog and the cat speak like normal, like people.

>> Guido: Well, they think. They think. They don't speak.

>> Rob: They don't speak. But even like, at Crypto, at one point, when the brains tell him, like, oh, you can't attack us, Crypto even says, they've outwitted me. But the dog and the cat. Crypto and the cat sound like people. The monkey kind of sounds like what you would imagine, like a monkey to sound like.

>> Guido: Yeah, when he says yee. Me like her.

>> Rob: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Like broken Tarzan English. But then. But then the horse doesn't speak at all. It's almost like they're saying, like, oh, the horse is the dumbest of all of them. Like, you can't, like, have dialogue. I don't know know why?

>> Guido: I don't know why either. I have absolutely no idea. I mean, what's interesting is at this point, they even knew that Comet was about to debut in action comics with Supergirl, because they even have an editorial note like, yes, readers, this is a preview glimpse of a super pet Supergirl will own someday in the future. So, like, they. They were setting all of this up, but it's just the peak kookiness. Wild times of Silver Age DC that are so fun. This wasn't even the imaginary story, and yet this is so completely everything I.

>> Rob: Has to be explained. Like, there's a lengthy explanation for everything that the Legion does. Like, there's lots of. It's not like, overwhelming with dialogue that, like, we've discussed on some of the older books, but there's also no dialog in that way. Even at the end where, like, PA Kent is suddenly a rocket scientist and he's like, you can learn how the brain globes were vanquished by traveling into the past by overtaking light rays from the Earth in space. It's like there's just so much gobbledygook that's just kind of thrown out of.

>> Guido: There is a lot of that, I guess, making people reading these feel like they were smart and learning something or whatnot. But, yeah, so it's great fun. And Kurt Swan's art, which we will see again in our next issue.

>> Rob: The Brain legitimately look, like, creepy, even though it's done in this kind of 60s style, which has, like a kidy, cartoonish look. But they still have an element of creepiness to them, which I like.

>> Guido: Well, in what we've talked about Kurtwan before, he's drawn some stuff. He drew the Alan Moore's final issue of Superman that we've covered, Whatever Happened to the Man Tomorrow. But he has this balance of, like, Silver Age distinct look, but with detail. With, like, a good amount of detail. I think he's known for, like, his facial expressions at a time when a lot of people who were drawing at this time didn't distinguish facial expressions and didn't put emotion on faces. He was doing that, but still in the very simplistic, bright, four color way that comics were being drawn. So I love it. I love seeing it, and it makes me want to read more. Maybe this is, a backoor entry into the legion of Superheroes for m Me because I loved this issue, so I might be on board.

>> Rob: Well, let us talk about another issue. But first, another joke. When does a horse talk? Winnie wants to.

>> Guido: Winnie.

>> Rob: That's what a horse makes.

>> Guido: That's a stretch.

>> Rob: I am your guy through these vast new realities. Follow me and ponder the question, what if? And today we are asking the question, what if Lois Lane fell in love with a horse who became a man and then became a horse herself? Yes, you heard that correctly. This is from Superman's girlfriend, Lois Lane, volume one, issue number 92 from May 1969, and it's entitled the Unbreakable Spell.

>> Guido: And it comes to us courtesy of the gift from our listener, Edward. Thank you. We appreciate you. This issue, also still in the era of uncredited creators, but is probably written by Leo Dorfman, pencilled by Kurt Swan, and inked by Mike Esposito. We talked about Kurt in our last coverage, segment. Leo, on the other hand, started in the 1950s and was known as the most prolific Superman writer of the time. So we have the two people who are doing all of this work. He created Superman Red, Superman blue, actually the 60s version of it. He wrote Girlfriend, Lois Lane for a long time. He wrote Pal Jimmy Olsen. He wrote World's Finest, and then he went to Goldke Key for a short time to write Twilight Zone, the Ripley's Believe It or not, the Boris Karloff and the Grimmms ghost stories, before dying quite young. So this is a quintessential Superman's girlfriend, Lois Lane. I think we should give, a synopsis for people who can't see, because as we talked about last time, which is why our listener Edward is so incredible, is these are actually quite hard to find. They're not very collected. Not all of them are available digitally. So oddly, this era of DC is not that easy to find, but it should be much better.

>> Rob: Well, and like the other issue that we just discussed, it kind of starts with this kind of cliffhanger, before you get into the story. And we see the super horse, Comet, and we see another brown horse that has a thought bubble of Loowis and Superman. And that brown horse is saying, sigh, my days as Superman's girlfriend are over. Since I've been turned into a super filly, my future is with super horse.

>> Guido: This is the preview page. So, like, this doesn't even happen in the story. They're just giving us, like, a glimpse of what could be happening in the story. Because then, Lois is out on assignment in a desert, and it's really hot, and she thinks she's fainting and dying, but then gets saved by Comet, the super horse. So Comet saves her and through his telepathy, because we now know that Comet has telepathy. And in this, Comet has lots of thought bubbles. He gets her back to her motel. So she's covering this spaceship that they're shooting up because they're timing it with a comet. I don't know. Is that what's going on? There's a comet and a spaceship that she's covering, and I don't really know.

>> Rob: Why there's a comet. The horse's name is Comet. Probably on purpose, because when the comet enters our orbit, Comet, the super horse, no longer is a super horse. He actually turns back into a human.

>> Guido: And it's a slow transition. Like, he starts as a centaur. I mean, it's probably only a few minutes. But we see it slowly because he gets back to his hotel room, becomes a centaur, and then becomes a man and a quite Dashing man at that. And he's also a stage magician.

>> Rob: Yes. So he decides he's naked in the one panel, except for a very, well positioned,

>> Guido: Blanket.

>> Rob: Blanket over his, rear end there. Y. Yeah. So by doing magic Bill by Byron, a very kind of comic book Y name.

>> Guido: So Lois falls in love with him when he does magic. He ends up having to sit at her table and they talk. She knows all of his tricks because she covered a magician's convention once, so she actually revealed. I'm curious if these are real reveals about how magicians do things. and their Leo Dorfman is spoiling it for people who don't know. So in that conversation, he is thinking about how he became Comet and thinking he can't tell her. She can't know this. So we then get the story, and this is the backstory that makes this issue a little canonical because it turns out that he was a centaur. So very confusing because he goes from centaur to horse to human. He's a centaur. He falls in love with Cersei, the famous sorceress. I doubt it's the Cersei that Wonder Woman fights all the time, but let's assume maybe it is. So rival wizard Maldor is angry at this and therefore is trying to get them to stop. He's trying to poison Cersei or. Yeah, Cersei. I can't tell if he's after the horse.

>> Rob: He look'like the villain.

>> Guido: And the Smurfs, he does look exactly like it. So then Cersei makes. This is where, like, I don't understand what's happening in a not great way, because Cersei then makes two potions. One that will turn him into a horse and one that will turn him human. Like, I don't know why she does that, but her intent is to turn him human. However, she's made both potions. And so Maldor switches the potions.

>> Rob: Well, you know, it's not even clear that he switches the potions, though, does it?

>> Guido: Ye. Unknown to Cersei, the diabolical Maldor switched the potions. Yeah, okay, so it's very confusing why that happens, but that is how he becomes a horse instead of a centaur and instead of what his ultimate goal was, which was a human. But then, to get even more revenge, Maldor has some magic sprinkle powder that he can put on him, and it forces him to go be stuck in the Sagittarius constellation orbit. So he gets stuck in orbit until Supergirl's rocket comes by. And he meets Supergirl and becomes her companion. So that is the backstory to this point that we've learned about him.

>> Rob: Makes complete sense. Yeah.

>> Guido: It is totally insane. Nuts. It's very unnecessary. Also, I don't know why we needed quite so much backstory on Comet. So then we get back to present time. He hasn't told Lois what's going on because there's these two people who are trying to kill Lois. This at this desert, it was very Dirty dancing. Do you remember in Dirty Dancing, there's the old couple that's stealing all the wallets?

>> Rob: Yes.

>> Guido: So this is like an old couple that's at this motel that's actually trying to kill Lois for some reason. Anyway, point being that he ends up telling Lois who he is becausee he saves her and his. He a wizard. He goes back to the story and it turns out that a wizard.

>> Rob: Another wizard. Another wizard, whole different, who just looks.

>> Guido: Like Malor in a disguise.

>> Rob: But this is the third wizard that we've encountered. Third or fourth wizard in this story.

>> Guido: Prince Endor, who he befriends, gives him the chance to turn back into a human whenever a comet passes Earth. But when he's human, he has no telepathy or superpowers. So that's the trade off. He tells Lois. Lois and he are completely in love. Lois says ridiculous things like, this is wild. Maybe he's super horsarse. But this handsome human identity of his really turns me on. So she is just totally game for this. She thinks she knows a secret. Superman and Supergirl don't know, which is true because at this point, this is the reveal. So that is only part one of this story.

>> Rob: Yes.

>> Guido: So what do you think of part one? Did you enjoy it?

>> Rob: It. There's a lot going on. I mean, of course the. I enjoyed the wackiness of the overall conceit and some of the just. Just kookiness with Lois falling for him right away. But there is a lot. There's not a lot of forward momentum because about half of this first half or more is really dedicated to this flashback, which, as everyone can probably tell who's listening to this, is very convoluted.

>> Guido: Unnecessarily convoluted, too. Like, I really don't understand what the, point. I guess they didn't, like, there's a part of me that at first was like, did they not want Lois to fall in love with a horse? So they had to introduce this whole backstory. But then he's a centaur anyway. So, like, we're assuming some degree of Lois being okay with being in love with someone who's not human, which is fine. She's in love with Superman. But I don't really understand why we needed this whole backstory. It's very confusing. But it leads us to the core of our what if question, part two. Because in part two, it turns out that Maldor is actually at the motel. I don't know why or how. Who cares? Malor then turns himself into Byron, tricks Lois, and then gets angry at Lois and is going to turn her into a horse. So she's a centaur for, like, one panel, but then she becomes a horse. Now that she's a horse, though, she has super powers. I don't know. I can't tell. Or is it just that a horse is super strong? But she starts destroying trees and, like, they keep referring to her super strength, so I don't really know what's going on. Anyway, the comet fades away. Byron becomes the horse again. He doesn't realize that the brown horse is Lois. The he as the white horse, she as the brown horse, frolic to the point where they actually even have a snowball fight.

>> Rob: Yeah. Huh?

>> Guido: Huh?

>> Rob: Yes. I love that. Yeah.

>> Guido: So they're just frolicking. His telepathy doesn't work on her, though. For some reason. There's some weird explanation.

>> Rob: So meanwhile'almost caught by some. Some cowboys as well. They escape.

>> Guido: So meanwhile, Superman realizes this. I don't know. He's weakened. There's a kryptonite comet.

>> Rob: This is the first appearance of Superman, by the way, in all of this book.

>> Guido: I don't know what's going on. He ends up talking to Cersei, who reveals to him that horse's Lois Lane. I guess because she's in love with Byron and wants to get Byron saved orself, I don't know. And reveals to Superman that the only way to turn Lois back is through a rainbow. And so what he does is he takes droplets of water by. He blows water into the sky to create a rainbow. It turns her back into a centaur and then a human. She loses all memory of this, and all that she can remember is that she fell in love with Byron, the super horse, but, that he's now gone.

>> Rob: Many of these Lois Lane books, I think now that we've read a bunch of them, he actually does this without Lois knowing. So there's often it feels like this ongoing storyline of Superman involving himself in her life, but, like, oh, but he doesn't want her to know what's happening.

>> Guido: Yeah. Saving her behind the scenes.

>> Rob: Yes, exactly.

>> Guido: Yes. So that is it. That is the answer to the question, what if, Lois Lane fell in love with a horse who became a man and then became a horse herself? Did you enjoy this imaginary tale?

>> Rob: It's. It's okay. It's not almost as wacky, despite how silly this kind of overall premise sounds, but it's not almost as wacky as the. Some of the other issues that we've covered in terms of lowest slne. Do you agree?

>> Guido: Yeah, Well, I think it's more of the pacing. Like you said earlier. It's bogged down by a lot of backstory on Comet, the super horse, because once they become horses, it is pretty wacky. It is. You're reading it and really you're like, why are they having a snowball fight? Like, first of all, they're in the desert, so they had to fly somewhere to have a snowball fight. Why would two horses like it? Really? It gets totally nuts. I just think the pacing of the whole issue is a little off and it's not as enjoyable for that reason, but I think it's pretty, pretty nuts.

>> Rob: Now, I only realized this when I was looking through the issue again while we're covering it here. And in part two, it specifically says, the chestnut mare ain't what she used to be. and the chestnut mare is now Lois. Now, interestingly now, you don't really know this band at all, Guido, but the band the Birds, the 1960s 70s rock folk rock band, they had a song called Chestnut Mare, which is all about kind of like someone wanting, kind of falling in love with a horse. And it. Actually, that song also came out in 1969. This. But when year as this issue. Let's see, when did it come out?

>> Guido: because this issue is from May. Well, that's an interesting.

>> Rob: It came out in 1970. That's interesting, actually.

>> Guido: Oh, so they were inspired by this.

>> Rob: Issue written in 69. But, yeah, I'm almost.

>> Guido: It's not that Leo Dorfman was inspired by their song, it's that their song.

>> Rob: I'won if Ro McWinon and Jacques Levy, who wrote this song, I'm really curious, could they have at all been possibly reading this issue just because. Just the very fact that it's a chestnut mare of all horses and that's the name of the song, that seems pretty random just to be another. I mean, of all the horses that exist in the world, why choose that one and then have a song?

>> Guido: Well, that's even the Title of part two of this comic is Chestut Mary. Yeah.

>> Rob: Yeah.

>> Guido: So, yeah, interesting.

>> Rob: I don't know ever know. We can ask Roger McGuin. He s stillive. but was he at all inspired by reading this book?

>> Guido: So this issue has a cultural reach beyond what we could ever have imagined. So I, I think I know the answer to your question, but do you want, would you want more stories of Lois the chestnut mare and Byron the comet, the super horse?

>> Rob: Well, not, not of Lois, I think, but there is an interesting story like Byron as a character slash comet. It is just like so'it is pretty.

>> Guido: Interesting because he dates Supergirl, by the way. Don't worry, if you want to see more relationships with fire in the super horse, there's more to be, had reality.

>> Rob: He's a, centaur, but he want, he can become a man, but then he becomes a horse and, well, he's.

>> Guido: A horse, I guess. How many days out of a year are comets flying by Earth? Probably not very many. So he's a horse, you know, 362 days of the year and he's a man.

>> Rob: The other three'bizarre about it. Yeah, it's not like you're a werewolf, where it's like, okay, you can, you only become a, you become a wolf fairly frequently. But you know, when it is, there's also, there's an unpredictability to it. Right. Because like again, a werewolf, you actually know when there's going to be a full moon. You don't know when. There could be a comet coming overhead right now, and I wouldn't know.

>> Guido: Yeah, agreed. It is not, it's not the strongest, rule for transformation that I've ever seen. So, yeah, I do think you can follow comment the Super Horsees adventures, but I don't think you can follow, Lois the Chestnut Marres adventures beyond this. So.

>> Rob: Well, these, these jokes I've been saying are all very cheesy, but what type of cheese do horses like best? Mascaroney? Ah. you're pondering possibilities. Will the future you describe be avertederttederted and gito. What are we talking about for pondering possibilities? Are we continuing the adventures of, of Comet in his relationships with Supergirl?

>> Guido: We're not. We could have visited those, but I chose not to. We can save those for another day. We've not covered much Supergirl, and we'll need to because she has a forthcoming movie and we have talked about imaginary, stories from Superman's girlfriend, Lois Lane, and whether or not we can imagine them influencing what we're going to see on screen. But we didn't talk much about crypto's role in the Superman trailer, which he plays quite a large role. He is very prominent in the first teaser for People were very interest the.

>> Rob: Forthcoming movie about his appearance. It seemed as well, like, they were like, oh, my gosh, this is very exciting that he is going to be in this.

>> Guido: Yeah. So do you think he's gonna play a large role in the movie? Do you think it was just in the teaser for fun? do you think. Do you think we're gonna see any other super pets gonna say no.

>> Rob: No to that one say to me is it tells me a lot about what the tone, at least of part of the movie.

>> Guido: Yeah, I think that was the purpose. I agree.

>> Rob: Yeah. I think you can't have Crypto in this without knowing that there's gonna be a little nods to some of the Silver age silliness that we've been talking about. Now, of course, I don't think it's going to fully go down the Jim Y olseson Lois Lane path, but I think by having him as a character, it's like, this is not going to be the Zack Snyder dark Superman. There's going to be some lightness to this story, even if it goes into heavy places, which it certainly seems like it will from the trailer, but we won't go fully into that darkness.

>> Guido: Yeah. It also won't be the groundedness that I think so many. So many movies struggle with when they're doing comic book adaptations. Even though Marvel moved away from it, I think that was one of the many complaints you and I had about Captain America is like, there was this attempt to make it feel very grounded. And it's like, just lean into what it is and let it be wacky and fun. And, you know, you were really, upset. Now we can spoil the movie. It's been out for a while. But you were upset that, like, the Serpent Society was really dialed back and turned into a terrorist group instead of leaning into these kooky villains and so.

>> Rob: And the leader too, like, it was very much more serious. And I think what's interesting with Superman as a character is that there is almost an. And maybe other people would disagree, but there is, to me, and an almost inherent silliness, almost to Superman, because he could do anything. And it's not, like, logical, like, why can he fly? Like, all these different. And he has ice. He could do ice breath and heat vision. Like, it's all A little ridiculous, but. So why not lead into that with the character in terms of some of the support he's going to get on the screen?

>> Guido: Yeah, and I think so. I agree with you that that's what crypto's presence means. I think if we saw a Comet, the Super Horse in the trailer, people would riot. But I think crypto'the right middle ground. I don't know if the Supergirl trailer, when we get that next year, if that's going to include comment, but I doubt it. I'd be okay with, the cat.

>> Rob: Yes. Well, I could definitely see her having the cat. Now, my question for you would be, of course, in these comics, it doesn't seem like Superman can hear what crypto saying, because these are thought bubbles. It's not like telepathy in that way. But do you think we as an audience at all is going to hear.

>> Guido: Crypto speak in the movie in some.

>> Rob: Way in the movie?

>> Guido: No, I don't. I think it'll be. I think that part will be quote unquote, grounded or realistic. It'll be the way that we all, you and I, talk to our dogs, the way that humans talk to dogs and feel like they can understand what a dog is saying and feel like they can respond and then a dog can learn certain words and commands. And crypto will probably be a super intelligent dog. But no, I do not think there's going to be explicit communication, because I think that does. I think that brings it into the territory of this kind of a comic.

>> Rob: Yeah. And do you think, of course we had that animated movie, but do you think that we'll have maybe more super pets on screen? I guess if crypto is by super popular in this new movie and he's like the new Baby Groot, everyone, or baby Yoda, like everyone loves crypto. Do you think you're gonna then see like a spin off movie, a Legion of Super Pets movie or show?

>> Guido: No, I don't. I think that'll stay in the animated realm with kids television. I don't think that it'll be more. I think it's not a coincidence though, that it's James Gunn, who introduced Rocket Raccoon into the mcu, who, who got the first kind of animal talking character.

>> Rob: Into the mcu, had a talking dog, in that world too, in Guardians of the Galaxy.

>> Guido: yeah. And. And then even in his suicide, squad, like, had the weasel. So, like, I think he likes that, clearly. So I think there will probably be a presence in anything that he is directing because he likes that part of a story. But I don't think that means that he's going to suddenly have Shakes the cat. in Supergirl, necessarily. Or Super Monkey. It's definitely not Super Monkey.

>> Rob: Not Super Monkey who came with Superman when he was a baby. I didn't even get.

>> Guido: I think so. And is wearing his outfit and but, and but copies everything he sees everyone else doing. I don't know.

>> Rob: He even says like then when he sees Superboy, I haven't seen you since you were Super Bo.

>> Guido: Yeah, there's a lot that doesn't make sense. So I think we will see animals and anthropomorphized things. Probably more in alien form moving forward and cutie things. But I don't think we'll see a legion of super pets in live action anytime soon.

>> Rob: Well, the sun goes down on this podcast. Guido, do you know what kind of horses come out at night? Nightmares.

>> Guido: Oh gosh, why are there so many horse jokes? It's kind of ridiculous. They're's terrible. But that is a wrap. No more horse jokes. No more episode. Dear Watchers, thank you for listening. I have been your Sagittarian host Guido.

>> Rob: And I have been your joke vest General prom here.

>> Guido: The reading list is in the show.

>> Rob: Notes and you can follow us on all social media or many social medias at. Dear Watchers, leave us a five star review where everyone listen. We'll be back soon.

>> Guido: Keep pondering the possibilities.