CBR: Comic Book Legends Revealed: Clark Kent, Phone Booths & More

[CBR News]

In this week's CBLR, we all know Clark Kent changes to Superman in phone booths, right? But did he really? Find out! Plus, legends about Death, Jungle Girls and Hulk - not in that order!


Full article here.

[Chris Lang]

In this week's CBLR, we all know Clark Kent changes to Superman in phone booths, right? But did he really? Find out! Plus, legends about Death, Jungle Girls and Hulk - not in that order!


Full article here.

Interesting. I kind of suspected that the whole 'phone booth' thing was rarely done SERIOUSLY (since all the uses I'd seen have been in parodies, or done with 'winks' and 'nods'). But it's nice to have confirmation on this point.

So, for the record, Clark Kent changing to Superman in a phone booth has rarely been done straight. In the comic books, he has more often changed costume in store rooms and deserted alleyways, and almost never has the 'phone booth' thing been played straight.

There were TWO straight uses in 1941 and 1942 in the Max Fleischer cartoons, and maybe one or two in the comics ... but somehow this was enough to get people thinking he did it all the time. Hence the use of it in parodies and homages.

Of course these days you don't even see this in parodies or homages anymore. And that's because we don't see phone booths much these days, and many youngsters have probably never even seen one in real life. They've pretty much gone the way of the typewriter. Even pay phones are becoming rarer, thanks to the omnipresence of cell phones.

[dupersuper]

I knew it came from the Fleischer cartoons, but, even owning them on DVD, I'm surprised it was only twice.