Superhero Smash Returns for IUP’s 2024 Winter Break!
- Because listeners demanded it, Superhero Smash will be returning live for The 2024 Thanksgiving Superhero Smash Super-Sized Special!
- Tune in to hear Gian live during IUP’s 2024 Winter Break
- Thursdays 11:00 a.m.-Noon
- Starting December 19, 2024 and running through January 16, 2025
- Featuring amazing episodes of the best superhero radio show in the MCU, the DCU, and our U too!
- Superhero Smash can be heard exclusively on WIUP 90.1 FM
Original Air Date
- December 19, 20234
Part 1 Begins
Hero Song (3:10)
- “The Superheroes of Christmas” by Bears and Lions
Superhero Smash (0:30)
- Because fans demanded it, Superhero Smash has returned!
- 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 great music about superheroes as well as music that is featured 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 because this is a NO SPOILERS show!
Audio Episode Theme: The Superheroes of Christmas!
- Welcome to the Superhero Smash Christmas Special!
- On this episode, I’ll be playing a mix of superhero songs related to Christmas and Christmas songs related to superheroes
Instrumental Theme Music (1:49)
- Theme from the Hawkeye TV show by Christophe Beck & Michael Paraskevas
- Excellent show with the fabulous Jeremy Renner reprising his role of Hawkeye from the Avengers
- Hailee Steinfeld plays Kate Bishop who learns from Hawkeye
- The show takes place at Christmas time in New York, which leads to this next great holiday tune
Christmas Song 1 (4:40)
- “New York Christmas” by Rob Thomas
- Spider-Man was from Queens, NY
- Captain America was from Brooklyn, NY
Collector’s Item Classic Comic Book (4:00)
- Giant Superhero Holiday Grab-Bag Marvel Treasury Special
- Publication Date: 1975
- Value on eBay today: You can get it for about $20. A real steal!
- Giant Superhero Holiday Grab-Bag Marvel Treasury Edition
- Publication Date: 1975
- Featuring the Hulk in a Santa outfit!
- Value on eBay today: You can get it for about $27
- “Published in time for the Christmas holidays of 1974 the Giant Superhero Holiday Grab-Bag was Marvel’s first Treasury Special Edition, ran to 100 pages and featured five classic reprints: “Have Yourself a Sandman Little Christmas!”, reprinted from Marvel Team-Up issue #1, originally published March 1972; ‘In Mortal Combat with… Sub-Mariner!“, from Daredevil issue #7, April 1965; “…And to All a Goodnight”, from Amazing Adventures featuring The Inhumans and The Black Widow, vol 2, issue #5, March 1971; “The Hulk vs. The Thing”, from The Fantastic Four issue #25, April 1964 and “The Avengers Take Over!”, from The Fantastic Four issue #26, May 1964. The eye-catching front and back covers were pencilled by John Romita”
- Thanks for the short review by BJB: “Marvel Treasury Special: Giant Superhero Holiday Grab-Bag (1974)”
- Giant Superhero Holiday Grab-Bag Marvel Treasury Edition
- Publication Date: 1976
- Value on eBay today: You can get it for about $22
- Featuring Hulk and Thor pulling Santa’s sleigh with Fantastic Four member the Thing filling in for Santa
Part 1 Ends (@15 minutes)
Part 2 Begins (@15 minutes)
Show ID: Superhero Smash (0:30)
- 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
- I love to get listener’s input
Christmas Song 2 (3:49)
- “Jingle Bells” (Bombay Dub Orchestra Remix) by Joe Williams
- From Iron Man 3
- near the start of the film]
- The song plays on vinyl in the background as Tony Stark dances around his lab assembling the Mark 42 version of his armor
Christmas Classic Movie: Iron Man 3 (4:00)
- Tony Stark is of course played to perfection by Robert Downey Jr.
- The film ushered in Phase II of the MCU with Tony dealing with PTSD, grim international conspiracy, and realistic terrorist iconography
- Tony is the perfect holiday hero
- According to Laura Evans of comic news site CRB “Christmas classics tend to follow a surprisingly similar narrative trajectory. Scrooge, the Grinch, George Bailey, Charlie Brown, even most Christmas rom-coms always focus on a cynical, detached central anti-hero who slowly comes to understand the value of family, love, and the holiday throughout the narrative and experiences a spiritual rejuvenation thanks to his (usually) epiphany. Tony Stark, of course, is the perfect MCU hero for this kind of story, being a cynical hero with a redemption focus from the very beginning. And he experiences just such a journey throughout this film.”
- This a film I initially didn’t like, but my friend Sandra Eckard, who was featured on Superhero Smash this past summer, loves the film because in it, Tony finally grows up
- Tony takes care of a young boy during the film, becomes more responsible, and finally comes to understand that he cares more about his lover Pepper Potts (played by the amazing Gweneth Paltrow) than himself; he is a classic Christmas curmudgeon who is rejuvenated!
Christmas Song 3 (3:07)
- “Superhero Santa” by Roland Everett Fall
Christmas Song 4 (3:49)
- “Santa Clause Is Back in Town” by Elivs Presley, The King of Rock and Roll
- Featured in Iron Man 3
- That Santa song leads to this next fun little tune about Santa as well
Part 2 Ends (@30 minutes)
Part 3 Begins (@30 minutes)
Show ID: Superhero Smash (0:30)
- 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
- I want a give a little shoutout to the staff at Commonplace Coffeehouse who are big WIUP and Superhero Smash listeners!
The Guy with the Big Red Cape (0:30)
- Santa has his red suit, and Superman with his big red cape fits right into the season
- I’m sure you know the story of Superman being sent to earth as a baby to save him from the explosion of Krypton
- But did you know that some of that famous story has been captured in a humorous little Christmas remake of the first Noel
Superman Saves Christmas (5:00)
- Superman’s Christmas Adventure from 1940
- In the story, two greedy men fly to the north pole in a rocket and try to get Santa to go commercial and start selling his toys
- When Santa has the elves throw the men out, they then an attempt to ruin Christmas
- One of these nefarious villains, named Mr. Meaney, gases Santa’s reindeer so he can’t deliver toys to the world’s children, but luckily Superman himself flies Santa’s sleigh around the world
- There’s even more Christmas adventure in the issue, and you can read all about it in a fabulous article by Aman Singh, written for CBR, entitled “Santa Claus’ First Comic Book Appearance Was Alongside Superman”
Christmas Song 5 (2:21)
- “I Want an Alien for Christmas” by Fountains of Wayne
- Time for our own Christmas alien from the stars: Superman!
Christmas with the Super-Heroes (1:00)
- On ebay Superman’s Christmas Adventure will run you about $1500
- So let me suggest a cheaper alternative, Christmas With The Super-Heroes a DC special issue from 1988 featuring the Justice League
- I especially like the cover which has Superman’s present in a lead box so he can’t use his X-ray vision to sneak an early peak at his Christmas present
- That fun looking comic is going for only $24 in a set of 4 holiday comic books
Christmas Song 6 (4:28)
- “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town (Live at C.W. Post College, Greenvale, NY – December 1975)” by Bruce Springsteen
Part 3 Ends (@45 minutes)
Part 4 Begins (@45 minutes)
Show ID: Superhero Smash (0:30)
- 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
Romantic Interlude (2:00)
- I always like to include a romantic song for the show
- In this case, I’m going to take a song from the movie Shazam!
- The film is really more about family love than romantic love, and I especially love it’s message about the importance of foster parents
- The Shazam family is held together by Victor and Rosa Vasquez who are the foster parents of the six kids in the Shazam Family including Shazam himself, Billy Batson
- Victor and Rosa are a working-class couple who grew up as foster children themselves
- Once they had jobs, Victor and Rosa wanted to provide a better life for other foster children
- You may have seen the Shazam billboards that encourage people to adopting a teenager
- Shazam! takes place at Christmas time and is upbeat, positive, and family-oriented, making it a great holiday movie
- And it features some classic Christmas songs, including this romantic number
Christmas Song 7 (2:24)
- “Winter Wonderland” by Bing Crosby
Superfolks by Robery Mayer (1:00)
- A superhero satire that inspired comic books like Watchmen and Miracleman
- The book’s synopsis is: “David Brinkley used to be a hero, the greatest the world had ever seen—until he retired, got married, moved to the suburbs, and packed on a few extra pounds. Now all the heroes are dead or missing, and his beloved New York is on the edge of chaos. It’s up to Brinkley to come to the rescue, but he’s in the midst of a serious mid-life crisis—his superpowers are failing him.”
- The book is now back in print
- The book opens by saying all the heroes are dead. Even Snoopy is lost over France.
- Which is the perfect segue to this next song
Christmas Song 8 (3:04)
- “Snoopy’s Christmas” by The Royal Guardsmen
To Be Continued Next Issue (1:00)
- Same Bat Time, same Bat Channel–Batman Noel (Jingle Bells, Batman Smells…)
- 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.”–Gian Pagnucci
Christmas Song 9 (3:35)
- “Better Days” by The Goo Goo Dolls
Part 4 Ends (@60 minutes)