Original Air Date
- Jul7 11, 2023
Part 1 Begins
Hero Song (4:54)
- “Wind Beneath My Wings” by the “divine” Bette Midler
- Theme song from the movie Beaches (1998)
- A story of lifelong friend CC (Middler, a singer) and Hillary (Barbara Hershey, an attorney)
- Although panned by critics, Middler’s singing is a highpoint in the film
Superhero Smash (0:30)
- Featuring the best in “Superhero Music and Comic Book Lore”
- Focusing on current superhero movies and popular culture events
- I’m your host, Dr. Gian Pagnucci, a.k.a. The New Professor X
- Playing the best music that features superheroes and is highlighted in superhero movies and shows
- Also talking about comic book history and heroism
- But no matter what cool stuff I discuss on the show, you don’t have to worry, this is a NO SPOILERS show!
Audio Episode Theme: The Sidekick (2:00)
- Hope you all enjoyed my special Star-Spangled Fourth of July episode about Captain America
- Thanks to my guest English doctoral student Brian Sarteriale who really livened up the show
- I was hoping to have English Professor Sandra Eckard on this week, but due to a scheduling issue, I will have to delay her appearance until another episode, but I’m still going to talk a little about her favorite sidekick Lois Lane (though Sandy probably would have argued about that title)
- As a great followup to last week’s show, though, I thought we would start with the theme song from the Marvel television series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
Instrumental Theme Music (2:14)
- “Louisiana Hero” by Henry Jackman
- He had done music for the superhero films Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class
- “If you listen, it only occurs in these small snippets, but in the score for Captain America: Winter Soldier, which understandably concentrates a bit more on Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes and everything, Falcon is an important character, but doesn’t get the same musical treatment as Steve Rogers. But he did have a motif. If you listen carefully to the Winter Soldier score, there’s a little heroic fanfare he gets that goes, bah-buh-buhhh, but I never got past there because I always had to move on musically. And I always thought I really liked that motif, and one day maybe I could do something with it. So, the Louisiana Hero, when the tune comes in halfway through and it starts on the brass, it’s actually taking that original motif and evolving it, a bit like the whole Marvel narrative. We’ve gone all the way from Falcon to the end of Episode 6, there’s been a huge evolution in Sam Wilson’s journey, and so it was really pleasing.”
- “It sounds a bit intellectually pretentious, but it’s really doing the same thing. The music has gone from a motif where he was playing second-in-command to Steve Rogers, so the big journey that Sam Wilson has to go on, not least of which is the burden of the shield, the burden of Steve Rogers’ legacy and the burden of the racial history, when you get to hear Isaiah’s story. So, there’s a lot to picking up that shield, so it’s really satisfying to be able to have this theme and then finish it, not just have that single line, but develop it into a whole superhero tune.”
Audio Episode Theme: The History of the Sidekick (2:00)
- In this episode, I’m featuring all those lovable support characters the Sidekicks
- Batman’s partner Robin is probably the earliest and most famous sidekick; I’ll talk more about Robin later
- But the tradition of the sidekick extends back to ancient times
- One of the earliest recorded examples of a sidekick is Enkidu who supports Gilgamesh after they became allies in the Epic of Gilgamesh (circa 2100 BC)
- Other early examples of sidekicks are Patroclus who supports the mighty Achilles in the Iliad and Aaron who supports Moses in the Old Testament
Instrumental Theme Music (1:53)
- “The Sidekick Song” by Beat Press
Audio Episode Theme: The Role of the Sidekick (2:00)
- They give us a nice sense of the role of the sidekick
- While the song plays it for laughs, sidekicks do play a really important narrative role
- An especially important example is the sidekick Dr. Watson who supports Sherlock Holmes
- Holmes is so egotistical that he would be insufferable as a character if not for his bad traits getting tempered through the eyes of Watson as the narrator of their adventures
- Shout out to Stephen Zimmerly, IUP alum from the English Graduate Studies in Literature and Criticism Doctoral Program
- Stephen’s dissertation was called The Sidekick Comes of Age: Tracing the Growth of Secondary Characters in Young Adult Literature
- He included a focus on characters like Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, those great supportive friends of Harry Potters
Part 1 Ends (@15 minutes)
Part 2 Begins
Show ID: Superhero Smash (2:00)
- WIUP FM 90.1
- Alternative music for the MCU, the DCU, and our U too!
- Check out pagnucci.org and click the big Superhero Smash button
- Or email Professor X using the address superherosmash2023@gmail.com
- Lots of great shows coming up
- I would love to get your input
Collector’s Item Classic Comic Book (3:00)
- The first appearance of Batman’s sidekick Robin the Boy Wonder was in Detective Comics #38
- Publication Date: April 1940
- Publisher: DC Comics
- Writer: Bill Finger
- Artist: Bob Kane
- The creators of Batman
- Value on eBay today: The lowest grade copy you can get, CGC’d .5 on a 10.0 scale, is priced for sale at $35,000
- Robin was introduced to attract young readers and it worked
- Sales of Detective Comics doubled with Robin’s introduction
Sidekick Song 1 (5:03)
- “Batman and Robin” by Snoop Dogg Featuring Lady of Rage & RBX
- The cutting out sound is intentional
- And we get to hear Robin’s classic line from the 1960’s Batman TV show: “Automic batteries to power. Turbines to speed” in the song
Robin’s Origin Story (5:00)
- Robin started as Dick Grayson
- He was a member of the trapeze artist Flying Grayson’s show
- They were members of a traveling circus
- But the ringleader refused to pay protection money to some gangsters
- The gangsters then sabotaged the trapeze and Dick watch his parents plunge to their deaths
- Bruce Wayne was in the audience and saw what happened
- Moved by Dick having a similar experience to Bruce watching his own parents get killed, Bruce took Robin under his wing (pun intended)
- He trained Dick to be Robin and they caught the gangsters who murdered Robin’s parents
- That started their long partnership
Part 2 Ends (@15 minutes)
Part 3 Begins
Show ID: Superhero Smash & Writing Center Ad (1:00)
- WIUP FM 90.1
- Email Professor X using the address superherosmash2023@gmail.com
A Long Lost Friendship: Supergirl & Batgirl (2:00)
- Writing for the website Book Riot, blogger
- The World’s Finest comic actually was a Superman/Batman team-up monthly comic
- In World’s Finest #169 Supergirl and Batgirl meet for the first time
- That story is so convoluted, that I don’t have time to do it justice
- But it’s all a plot involving a wager to trap the heroes by the magical beings Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk
- Fortunately Bat-Mite wins the bet, sends Mxyzptlk back to his own dimension by tricking him into saying his name backwards, and restores things to normal
Side Kick Song 2 (3:08)
- “Batgirl” by Hox from the American Skinny album
Supergirl & Batgirl: Great Friends (2:00)
- According to Plummer, “Kara Zor-El debuted as Supergirl in 1959, but Barbara [Babs] Gordon wouldn’t show up as the first Batgirl (following [an earlier character] Betty Kane as “Bat-Girl”) until 1967. They teamed up shortly afterwards in World’s Finest Comics #169 (September 1967), in a typically bonkers story of the time period. But after that they only had five more appearances together until Crisis on Infinite Earths came along. Crisis portrays their relationship as very close, with Kara assuaging Babs’s fears in the face of the possible annihilation of their universe, but the friendship ends abruptly when Kara is killed by the Anti-Monitor. Babs gives a eulogy that is so touching it’s easy to forget that these characters actually barely knew each other – and then Kara is promptly erased from continuity. Still, it’s a very nice speech,” as Plummer says.
- Fortunately Supergirl eventually returned post-Crisis
Side Kick Song 3 (4:06)
- “Supergirl” by German band Reamonn
Part 3 Ends (@42 minutes)
Part 4 Begins
PSA: Sound of Freedom (3:00)
- Sound of Freedom
- Great film now about the true life experiences of Tim Ballard (played by Jim Caviezel) who worked for the U.S. government and later independently to combat child sex trafficking
- Sound of Freedom is a heroic film in theaters now
- Great story trying to raise awareness to combat global slavery
- Fantastic performance by Bill Camp as Vampiro (Mexican for The Batman), a person who rescues enslaved children, and becomes a great sidekick for Ballard
- While it comes from the faith-based Angel Studios, the hero’s faith is a part of the story but not overbearing
- The focus is on the crisis of the children
- According to the International Labour Organization, as many as 50 million people are enslaved world wide, including in the United States; that’s more than during the time when slavery was still legal
- The organization antislavery estimates that some 12 million children are enslaved world wide, which is the focus of the film
- It’s a world wide epidemic, and I have links on my website for how you can help
- It’s estimated that slavery generates a staggering $150 billion in profits every year for the traffickers
- Interestingly, according to the Hollywood industry publication Variety, the film was completed in 2018 but was only released this year
- I have some doctoral students who have studied the problem of human trafficking, and often anything that sheds light on this crisis is resisted or discredited
- Pay It Forward: Help someone in need to watch the film
Sidekick Song 4 (3:11)
- War Machine by AC/DC
- James Rohdes, sidekick to Iron Man played by Don Cheadle
- It’s going to take a war to end slavery
Romantic Interlude (1:00)
- WIUP 90.1 FM
- Jimmy Olsen pining for Lois Lane, but her heart belongs to the man of steel, Superman
To Be Continued Next Issue (1:00)
- Same Bat Time, same Bat Channel–Tune in next time for a special show about the Silver Surfer and aliens
- Just in time for the Kecksburg UFO Festival
- I’ll also have another Special Radio Guest Star for that show, English Professor John Branscum
- Songs with Stephanie coming up at noon
- Contact me, the new Professor X, via email: SuperheroSmash2023@gmail.com
- And remember…
- You don’t need superpowers to be a hero. The only thing it takes to be a hero is the courage to do what’s right when someone needs your help.
End Credits Song (4:38)
- “Jimmy Olsen’s Blues” by Spin Doctors from the album Pocket Full of Kryptonite
Part 4 Ends (@60 minutes)