He would count as a repaint, but the Batman? NO WAY. (comic books devoted)

He would count as a repaint, but the Batman? NO WAY.

DC Comics Presents: Batman #1 (Signed by Geoff Johns)

DC Comics Presents: Batman #1 (Signed by Geoff Johns)

Signed by writer Geoff Johns! The first of eight weekly-shipping comics that pay homage to the late Julie Schwartz and one of his fondest creations: the cover-driven story! The cover to Batman #183 inspires two different stories of a seeming ‘couch potato’ Dark Knight by Geoff Johns & Joe Staton…

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Comics

Comic Books portray our fears, our desires and ethos.

Oddball Comics: Electric Safety From A To Zap! None
This week’s selection is the shocking giveaway comic ELECTRIC SAFETY FROM A TO ZAP!, — featuring the most complex cat-and-mouse relationship since Krazy Kat and Ignatz! Are its stars friendly enemies or suicide-prone co-dependents? You decide!

This 16-page giveaway comic features only two characters, an unnamed orange cat and an unnamed grey mouse. In the cat-vs-mouse cartoon tradition of TOM AND JERRY, HERMAN AND KATNIP, PIXIE AND DIXIE AND MR. JINKS and ITCHY AND SCRATCHY, this uncredited comic begins with a series of try/fail gags with the cat attempting to catch the mouse. First, the cat climbs a tree and tries to grab the mouse, who’s hanging from a power line. When the cat touches the wire, he gets shocked with a big “ZAP” sound effect. Next, the cat chases the mouse past an extension cord, one that’s missing part of its insulation. When the cat comes in contact with it, he gets fried with another “ZAP” sound effect. Then the cat leans around a corner, intent on pouncing on the mouse. But when his tail accidentally pokes inside an electrical wall outlet - you guessed it - he gets nothing but another fur-singeing “ZAP” for his efforts. Taking advantage of their time out, the mouse gives an impromptu lecture to his feline antagonist:

MOUSE:
If you go on like this, nine lives will hardly be enough!

CAT:
Yes, it’s awful! They seem to hit me when I least expect it!

MOUSE:
Those zaps are going to get you if you don’t watch out!

CAT:
Oh, I know! It’s making me quite nervous!

MOUSE:
They wouldn’t if you knew what to look for!

The mouse goes on to explain and demonstrate the concept of energy, first using a teeter-totter, then using a variety of devices and appliances found around the house. Puzzled, the cat points to an electrical wall outlet:

CAT:
Amazing! How can all that energy hide in such tiny little holes?

MOUSE:
It doesn’t! It comes from a power plant through wires in the wall! When you plug in something, the energy flows through the wires to the fan motorfeeding it the strength to turn the fan around!

CAT:
Why doesn’t the energy come out of these other holes?

MOUSE:
It’s there, but it doesn’t do anything until there is someplace for it to go, likeDON’T GET TOO CLOSE!

Once again, the cat gets shocked when he pokes his paw into the outlet. As the cat recovers, the mouse explains further about how electricity is “a good traveler”:

MOUSE:
That’s why it’s such a useful and unusual form of energy! It travels easily through metal! That’s why wire are made of metal. And it travels easily through the ground, or through things that are wet, or anything with a lot of water in it!

CAT:
You mean like trees and growing thingsor peopleor animals?

MOUSE:
Yes, like you! And like a good traveler, it takes short cuts - follows an easier path whenever it has a chance!

When the cat asks how electricity is kept “in” the wire, the mouse continues his lecture:

MOUSE:
It’s only possible because electric energy can’t travel through some materials, like glass, or rubber, or plastic

CAT:
So it can’t take a short cut through the ground or something wet?

MOUSE:
Right! And that’s important. Most of the wires in our house are actually two or more wires, each protected with a rubber or plastic covering to keep the energy flowing through the separate wires! If this covering is broken or wears off, you can get a zap! If a wire is broken and the two open ends are close together, the electric energy may be strong enough to jump the space. Then some of the energy will make heat that can start a fire!

CAT:
I’ll throw water on it and put it out!

MOUSE:
NO! NO! First, make sure there is no electric energy flowing near the fire! Then put it out!

Then the mouse tries to explain the concepts of power plants and the substations that distribute the electrical energy they provide:

CAT:
Those are the place that have signs saying “Danger, High Voltage”. What does that mean?

MOUSE:
It means STAY AWAY, or you might get zapped! All the wires and things around substations can be very dangerous!

Next, the cat learns about electrical switches in the home and how they work, flipping the lights on and off. Moving outside, the mouse attempts to teach the cat about power lines:

MOUSE:
The wires in our houses are not as big or as powerful a the branch lines outside. And the largest wires, the trunk lines that carry the energy from the power plant to the substations are so powerfulthat the wires have to be far apart and kept far enough from the pole with insulators to that the energy just can’t find a path to the pole!

CAT:
What was that?

MOUSE:
Some careless or selfish person shot at the insulator with a gun! Now there’s the danger that the energy can jump to the pole and find a path to the groundand zap somebody!

Next, the foolish cat climbs a tree to retrieve a kite caught on a power line. When the mouse warns him about the danger, the cat points to a bird sitting on the power line:

CAT:
How about that bird? Why doesn’t he get zapped?

MOUSE:
Because electric energy follows the easiest path. Going through the bird is a “detour” that doesn’t go to the ground or anything that attracts energy, but if you’re in a tree and get too near the wire…you’re offering an easy path to the ground!

CAT:
Maybe I was just born unlucky!

MOUSE:
It would have been worse if you had been any closer to that wire!

CAT:
I know! I know! I wish I could just forget about zaps - pretend they don’t exist!

But the mouse refuses to let the cat give up. He tells his friendly enemy to think “zap” every time he starts to climb near power lines, when he’s near a substation or a sign reading “Danger, High Voltage”, when he’s in the bathtub or standing on a wet floor and using an electrical appliance, when there’s a thunderstorm before going into the water or under a tree and when he’s around any electrical device that looks damaged.

CAT:
Oh, I will! I will!

MOUSE:
But the main thing isbe alertbe careful! Don’t let curiosity “zap” the cat! And remember, electrical energy is always looking for a shorter path Be sure you don’t become the path! After allWHO WANTS TO BE A ZAP?

(So what the heck’s been going on here? The cat wants to catch the mouse –but the mouse wants to save the cat’s nine lives from getting snuffed out by repeated run-ins with electricity? If there was a second issue of this comic, would it show the cat counseling the mouse about the fatal dangers of hanging around hungry felines? Is ELECTRIC SAFETY FROM A TO ZAP! an educational comic about electrical safety, or this actually a comic book about suicide prevention? Oddball minds need to know!)

ODDBALL Factoid - MAD creator Harvey Kurtzman wrote his own history of the American comic book titled FROM ARGH! TO ZAP! HARVEY KURTZMAN’S VISUAL HISTORY OF THE COMICS! (written with Michael Barrier and published in 1991.) Hmmm, sound familiar?

Bonus ODDBALL Factoid - Although completely unrelated to ELECTRIC SAFETY FROM A TO ZAP!, sixteen issues (including a No. 0 and No. 7, a mini-comic) of the similarly-titled ZAP COMIX, an underground comic book, were published between 1968 and 2005!

A Special ODDBALL COMICS Announcement — After six years, this is the final installment of ODDBALL COMICS on Comic Book Resources! Starting April 1st, 2006, please visit my new website, http://www.oddballcomics.com for even more of “the craziest comic books ever published” — ODDBALL COMICS! Aloha, everybody! — Scott Shaw!

The Comic Book is one of America’s unsung contribution to culture.

Jumpin’ Jack Flash

Jumpin’ Jack Flash

A computer operator (Goldberg) at a bank is plunged into an exciting world of international intrigue, danger and romance when her terminal gets an S.O.S. from "Jumpin’ Jack Flash," a British spy stranded in Eastern Europe. She is soon matching wits with the deadliest members of the…

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