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— by Karl Heitmueller
As a rule, comic book nerds are not music geeks. Most fanboys reserve their obsessiveness for comics and their ancillary goodies (action figures, DVDs, video games, etc.). There's just something about comics that seems at aesthetic odds with the inherent coolness of rock music — John Mayer notwithstanding.
Naturally, there are exceptions to this rule. Some of us fanboys were saved from basement-dwelling by rock and roll. When I got into punk rock and new wave in the late '70s, I didn't abandon comics, but they no longer defined me in the way my identification with the music of the Clash, Blondie and the Boomtown Rats did.
But there have been occasions where comics and music have come together with what can best be described as mixed results. Avoiding TV soundtracks or film adaptations of comics (there's too many, and I'd bust a blood vessel fuming over how awful most of them are), here's a short history of records that have attempted to capture the essence of comic book characters through the years.
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Sun Ra
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When the campy "Batman" TV show threw the nation into a frenzy of Batmania in the swingin' '60s, tons of hastily recorded Bat-records flooded the record stores, aside from the nifty official soundtrack. "Jan and Dean Meet Batman" alternated between original Batman-themed tunes and comedy bits positing the surf duo as "Captain Jan and Dean the Boy Blunder" against the racist caricature Asian villain Dr. Vit-a-min and the unoriginal baddies the Garbageman and the Fireman. Otherworldly jazz legend Sun Ra was playing organ in another surf combo, the Sensational Guitars of Dan & Dale, and their 1966 cash-in LP "Batman and Robin" had almost nothing to do with the Dynamic Duo other than naming the mostly instrumental songs after the heroes and their villains.
Other artists to jump on the Bat-wagon in that decade ranged from jazz trumpeter Al Hirt to blues singer LaVern Baker to camp icon Peggy Lee. That overkill may be why musicians other than soundtrack composers have been reluctant to tackle the caped crusader in the years since — Prince's shudder-inducing "Batdance" aside.
Later in the '60s, Tifton Records branched out from Batman by releasing Songs and Stories About the Justice League of America, a piece of hackwork so bad it's brilliant. Lyrics such as "Here we come/ Hey, look out, chum/ It's the Justice League/ Superheroes all/ Always on the ball," are barely backed up by what sounds like an airport lounge band fronted by Uncle Dudley on the Hammond organ.
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Songs and Stories About the Justice League of America
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In the 1970s, Harvey Comics put out a series of 7" singles with songs about their roster of kiddie cartoon stars, including Casper the Friendly Ghost, Richie Rich, Sad Sack, Little Audrey, Baby Huey and more. The records (available by mail order only) were studio-produced pop with not too much effort put into either melody or lyric. A sample: "Hiding from Spooky/ 'Cause of the kooky/ Booing of Spooky/ The tuff (sic) little ghost." And yet somehow, all of these songs linger in my consciousness three decades later.
Also in that groovy decade, there were two rock albums dedicated to everyone's favorite webslinger: 1972's "Spider-Man: From Beyond the Grave" was a half story / half rock album telling the tale of Spidey and Dr. Strange teaming up to save Peter Parker's Aunt May from the clutches of the Kingpin! The music was all over the map, from wah-wah-driven acid rock to bubblegum doo-wop (the album featured the vocal stylings of Ron Dante, "lead singer" of cartoon legends the Archies) and Dixieland pop. But the dialogue was worthy of Mamet, featuring nuggets such as, "Can the small talk, fat man and let's get it on!"
Four years later, Spider-Man: Rock Reflections of a Superhero was more music than story, delineating the origin of the hero on side one and expounding upon how miserable he is on side two. The back cover depicts other Marvel superheroes as being the backing band, with the Hulk on drums and Captain America's then-sidekick the Falcon handling hand-clapping. I still love both of these records, but pine for the actual recordings used as the background music in the '60s cartoon (although a group called Volume put out a CD in 2002 called The Amazing Spider-Band covering that music, and it's not bad).
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Spider-Man: Rock Reflections of a Superhero
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Will Eisner's noir classic "The Spirit" ran as a weekly comic book supplement in newspapers from 1940 through 1952 and is considered one of the greatest examples of the medium. In the strip, almost every time a radio was playing or a singer was singing, it was one song: "Ev'ry Little Bug," with lyrics by Eisner himself. In 1947, composer Bill Harr wrote a melody for the song, but it wasn't until 1987 that it was put to record. "The Spirit: Ev'ry Little Bug" was a vinyl picture disc released by Kitchen Sink Press featuring five different recordings of the tune, along with dialogue taken from a short-lived Chicago TV show based on the comic.
In 1994, industrial band Trust Obey's "Fear and Bullets," a soundtrack to the comic book "The Crow," was a bit overshadowed by that character's movie adaptation's soundtrack that same year. Similarly, in 1998, Kat Bjelland of Babes in Toyland compiled "Songs of the Witchblade," a mostly-metal accompaniment to the comic about a female cop with a mystical arm-weapon.
But don't think that it's only the super-powered that get theme songs.
In 1993, Victor Banana released a soundtrack to Dan Clowes' "Eightball" comics serial, "Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron." The songs sound like a cross between They Might Be Giants and Esquivel. Last year, Craig Thompson's critically acclaimed graphic novel, "Blankets," got the scoring treatment. The music by Tracker is evocative and gentle, often melancholy but always at least bittersweet, the perfect accompaniment to the 600-plus-page coming-of-age story.
Underground-comics legend Robert Crumb traded his pen for a banjo when he led the Cheap Suit Serenaders, a revival string band that played mostly long-forgotten tunes from the 1920s. The Serenaders released three LPs (and a few singles on 78 RPM) that aren't technically soundtracks to Crumb's comics, but they certainly can serve as such. The group still performs occasionally.
Rock bands have also mined the comics for inspiration. XTC are particular geeks, with songs such as "That's Really Super, Supergirl" and "Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)," and a name-drop of the Justice League of America in "Melt the Guns." Paul McCartney and Wings' "Magneto and Titanium Man" highlighted some Marvel supervillains. Superdorks the Barenaked Ladies have referenced Aquaman and the Fantastic Four. Garage rockers the Makers sang about Captain Marvel, Thor, Dr. Fate and Black Lightning in "Looking for a Supergirl."
Superman's had scads of songs sung about him by artists as diverse as the Crash Test Dummies, the Kinks, Laurie Anderson, Five for Fighting, Kix, Brian McKnight, Aimee Mann, the Flaming Lips, Barbra Streisand, the Spin Doctors and Eminem (sort of). Sufjan Stevens' new Come on Feel the Illinoise, contains the song, "Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts" in reference to the small town in that state that shares its name with Clark Kent's fictional city — and of course Superman himself is featured on the cover of the album's first pressing (he has been removed from subsequent pressings on the advice of Stevens' label's attorney).
Speaking of the Man of Steel, classical composer Michael Daugherty's "Metropolis Symphony" pays homage to Superman on a 1996 disc that's perfect background music for comic book reading. In addition to the five-part symphony, there's an additional piece called "Bizarro for Symphonic Winds and Percussion." Going back four decades, those fine folks at Tifton released "Children's Treasury of Superman Musical Stories," notable mostly for "Mr. Mxyzptlk: I Don't Want to Go Back to the Fifth Dimension."
And I haven't even delved into music based on newspaper strips. "Barney Google," "Andy Gump," "Pogo," "Alley Oop" and of course "Peanuts" all have been immortalized in song.
Actually, I've convinced myself that comics and rock have more in common than I thought. Obviously, Kiss drew loads of inspiration from comic books — and even had their own. In the 1980s, the alternative-comics and indie-rock scenes were practically intertwined: Comic books such as the Hernandez brothers' "Love and Rockets" and Peter Bagge's "Hate" were suffused with a punk-rock aesthetic (those artists and many others also designed lots of record covers for bands). Lots of music 'zines, such as "Motorbooty" and "Chunklet," featured original comic strips as well. Both comics and rock music often appeal to our more primal instincts, speaking to a desire to escape our own often-mundane reality, whether we imagine extolling truths by use of guitar and microphone or righting wrongs through powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men.
Maybe, as the current deluge of comic book movies continues, more musicians will look to the comics for inspiration. C'mon, Foo Fighters! It's time for a double-disc examination of the social interactions of the Legion of Superheroes!
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Illustration: Karl Heitmueller
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