Comic Book Legends Revealed #510

Welcome to the five hundred and tenth in a series of examinations of comic book legends and whether they are true or false. Click here for an archive of the first five hundred (I actually haven't been able to update it in a while). For the first three weeks of February, in the lead-up to the Oscars, I'll feature at least one comic legend involving an Oscar-nominated film (as per the request of long-time reader Arthur K.). This week, did Superman very nearly have a musical sequence in it? Did Peter David pass out copies of the ending of Alpha Flight #12 at a convention? And did Mark Waid have a solution planned for Bucky's secret identity before he left Captain America?

Let's begin!

NOTE: The column is on three pages, a page for each legend. There's a little "next" button on the top of the page and the bottom of the page to take you to the next page (and you can navigate between each page by just clicking on the little 1, 2 and 3 on the top and the bottom, as well).

COMIC LEGEND: There was going to be a musical sequence in the original Superman film.

STATUS: True

A few days ago, I discussed the original Superman film from 1978 and the legend that Steven Spielberg was interested in directing it, but only as a musical. Amusingly enough, as it turned out, the finished film almost DID have a musical sequence in it!

There is a very famous sequence in the film where Superman (Christopher Reeve) takes Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) out flying.

During the sequence, there is a bit where Lois, in a voiceover, basically reads a poem:

Can you read my mind?

Do you know what it is that you do to me?

I don't know who you are. Just a friend from another star.

Here I am, like a kid out of school. Holding hands with a god.

I'm a fool. Will you look at me? Quivering.

Like a little girl, shivering.

You can see right through me.

Can you read my mind?

Can you picture the things I'm thinking of? Wondering why you are all the wonderful things you are.

You can fly. You belong in the sky.

You and I could belong to each other.

If you need a friend, I'm the one to fly to.

If you need to be loved, here I am.

Read my mind.

(You can see the sequence here. I queued it up to the poem).

Originally, though, Kidder was going to SING the song, "Can You Read My Mind?" John Williams even wrote a melody for the song, which appears early during the flying sequence!

I believe Kidder even DID do a recording of the song (although I've never heard it) but director Richard Donner eventually decided that it was just too cheesy.

Maureen McGovern, who was famous for her recordings of songs from movies (she had a hit with a cover of the Oscar-winning song from The Poseidon Adventure, "The Morning After" and then sang another Oscar-winning song, "We May Never Love Like This Again," in The Towering Inferno), covered the song and had a hit in 1979 with it...

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Check out my latest Movie Legends Revealed at Spinoff Online, which I mentioned above already: Did Steven Spielberg want to direct the first Superman film, but only as a musical?__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

On the next page, did Peter David seriously distribute photocopies of the ending of the death of Guardian before it came out?

COMIC LEGEND: Peter David shared photocopied pages of the death sequence in Alpha Flight #12 at a convention before the issue came out.

STATUS: I'm Going With False

Arthur K., the fellow who suggested this weekly series I'm doing about Oscar-nominated films, also wrote in to remind me about this one a few months back when I featured a legend about how Peter David kept Marvel solicitations from giving away the identity of the Thunderbolts before Thunderbolts #1 came out. This is a story that I've been asked about a number of times over the years and I've never quite felt comfortable with addressing it one way or the other, since it is really a matter of just trying to figure out the "truth" between two diametrically different accounts of what happened. But what the heck, why not give it a shot?

The issue at hand revolves around the famous death sequence in Alpha Flight #12...

Marvel had heavily promoted that SOMEone was going to die in Alpha Flight #12, but obviously no one was thinking that they'd kill off the LEADER of the team...

There was, indeed, a confrontation over Peter David handing out photocopied pages of a future issue of Alpha Flight. The dispute is, though, WHAT pages they were. Here is David's recollection, from his website back in 2006:

Number one, it wasn't at a convention; it was at a get-together for retailers. Number two, it wasn't Guardian's death. It was an unlettered two page dream sequence in which Heather was seeing a dessicated Guardian tearing out the ground. Number three, it was part of a package of about two dozen photocopied highlights from assorted Marvel titles. Number four, the material in question was handed to me by Denny O'Neil, the book's editor when I--in my capacity as sales manager at the time--was going around collecting material to put into the package. And when I said to him, "Are you sure you want me to include this in the material?" Denny replied, "Sure, what's the harm?" Number five, retailers at the get together had no idea that the sequence actually indicated that Guardian really died. I know this because when John showed up at the get-together, he looked at the material, screamed at me at the top of his lungs, "How could you be showing this to retailers?!? It gives away the fact that Guardian dies!" and stormed out of the room, slowing only long enough to kick over a standing ashtray on his way out. At which point stunned retailers said, "Guardian DIES?," started looking at the xeroxes again, and were muttering, "I thought it was just a dream sequence..."

Byrne, though, insists that it WAS the final pages of Alpha Flight. Byrne also insists that it was at a convention (but whatever, I don't think that that is a big deal either way).

Denny O'Neil, for his part, doesn't remember the incident period.

Here are the dream sequence pages from Alpha Flight #13...

In Sean Howe's book about Marvel, he pretty much just accepts David's version of the story, writing:

Marvel staffer Peter David found himself at the center of one particularly public clash between editorial and marketing. David, charged with regularly distributing preview pages of upcoming material at events, was given photocopies of future Alpha Flight pages. The problem was that Marvel had been hyping that one Alpha Flight member would die in the still-upcoming issue #12, and the photocopies, from issue #13, included a dream sequence in which that dead hero rose from the grave. When John Byrne saw the spoiler-heavy photocopies, he found where David was stationed and screamed at him, before knocking over furniture and storming out. (A quarter century later, the two men were still debating the specifics of the story on online message boards.)

Now here's my thing - if I'm John Byrne, or ANY creator, and just the dream sequence was being spoiled, while maybe I wouldn't be QUITE as angry as if it was literally the pages containing the death itself, the difference wouldn't be all that significant in my mind. You're hyping a death for months, and then you show a character mourning the death of her husband? Yes, it is a dream sequence, but come on, how would that NOT make you think that it is Guardian who dies? David even notes that he initially questioned about whether to include those pages.

So therefore, to me, since I don't think that anyone would react much differently to the dream sequence being shared versus the death being shared and since David says that he did share photocopies of the dream sequence, then I tentatively think that that is the "correct" answer.

An alternate version I've seen over the years is that it was an unlettered copy of the death sequence, which perhaps people might THINK was a dream sequence? I don't buy that, as you can see from above, that's clearly a death sequence, lettered or not.

When you have two diametrically opposed recollections and no one else who can speak with any authority on the subject, you ultimately have to pick which one you find most likely, and between the two, the dream sequence story seems more likely to me because A. it is more realistic that someone would approve it being used and B. it is pretty much just as much of a spoiler as the death sequence, so would elicit a similar reaction.

Am I 100% confident? Of course not, but I think it is likely enough that I'm willing to give even a tentative false here.

Thanks to Arthur K. for reminding me about this one!

On the next page, did Mark Waid have a solution for Bucky's secret identity before he left Captain America?

COMIC LEGEND: Mark Waid came up with a solution for Bucky having a secret identity but didn't get to use it before he left Captain America.

STATUS: True

The other day, I wrote about the oddity of Bucky Barnes having a secret identity when his superhero name was just his actual name. You know, like "Batman and his new crimefighting friend, Joe Smith, whose secret identity is...Joe Smith."

Reader capaware wrote in to note:

I seem to recall reading that Mark Waid was going to do a story explaining how Bucky was able to maintain a secret identity despite being called “Bucky” while in costume. Alas, he wound up leaving CAPTAIN AMERICA before doing it, but I would like to know what his plans were for that story.

Many years ago, I wrote about Mark Waid's abrupt departure from writing duties on Captain America. At the time, Waid was also doing a companion book, Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty, which had stories from different points in Captain America's career.

His last issue of THAT series (which ended when Waid left Cap) was, in fact, a spotlight on Cap and Bucky's relationship...

But yes, before he left that book, he DID plan on addressing the oddity of Bucky's secret identity. I asked Mark about it, and he told me that it was just something as simple as having the Intelligence Office come up with a cover story for Bucky.

So there ya go, capaware!

Okay, that's it for this week!

Thanks to the Grand Comics Database for this week's covers! And thanks to Brandon Hanvey for the Comic Book Legends Revealed logo!

Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future installments! My e-mail address is cronb01@aol.com. And my Twitter feed is http://twitter.com/brian_cronin, so you can ask me legends there, as well!

Here's my newest book, Why Does Batman Carry Shark Repellent? The cover is by Kevin Hopgood (the fellow who designed War Machine's armor).

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Here's my book of Comic Book Legends (130 legends - half of them are re-worked classic legends I've featured on the blog and half of them are legends never published on the blog!).

The cover is by artist Mickey Duzyj. He did a great job on it...(click to enlarge)...