TIAHBlog at 16 Presents 16 Covers -- Number Fifteen: Preposterous Puppetry!

A gimmick often used by Silver Age DC comics was the "TRANSFORMATION", where DC heroes would somehow be (all together now) transformed into some... rather unusual form of themselves, making for an eye-catching cover image.  

Why it happened and how it was overcome was secondary to the image itself, which was often said to be handed to the poor writers who were tasked with writing a story around the bizarre looking covers!  

While virtually every DC hero underwent this sort of publisher-mandated metamorphosizing, the ones who... um, "carried most of the weight"...

...And sometimes carried it literally, were THE FLASH and JIMMY OLSEN! 

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I've never done an official count (...and probably never will... Horrifically Busy, you know) but THE FLASH and JIMMY OLSEN just seemed to have more of these experiences than the others, and of a wider variety too! 

But there was one FLASH transformation cover that, for the sheer outrageousness of its execution, outdid all the rest!  In fact, it's become a legend among Silver Age DC aficionados.  It is  (...pause for effect... Say, can you actually "pause for effect" when you're WRITING?  It's not as if the reader is going to stop reading and hold his or her breath, simply because you said so! Did any of you really do it?)  ...THE FLASH #133 (DC Comics, Cover Date: December, 1962)!  

Abra Kadabra was a recurring Flash villain, and responsible for a share of Barry (Flash) Allen's strange twelve-cent era transformations!  

A flamboyant showman, Abra Kadabra was a common stage magician - but from the 64th century!  He had no actual magic powers but his mastery of 64th century science and technology seemed like true magic and sorcery to the masses of the comparatively backward, primitive 20th century.  

And it was with such amazing future-tech that he performed his evil miracles... including turning The Flash into a PUPPET!  

Now, the very image of it was outrageous enough, even for Silver Age DC, but what really puts it over the top, and into a class of its own is Barry's line of thought-dialogue!  

I mean, it's not like Bugs Bunny saying: "Did ya ever have da feeling ya was bein' watched?"

Because, at different times and in different situations, we all HAVE been watched!  

...But how many of us have ever been "TURNED INTO A PUPPET"?  

I'd figure that. even if I *DID* live in the Silver Age DC Universe (...which made my kid-hometown look like Mayberry, USA -- or I lived in TODAY'S DC Universe, which makes the *Silver Age DC Universe* look like Mayberry, USA!), there'd be little chance of my ever "being turned into a puppet!" 

I mean, how would you KNOW you were "being turned into a puppet!" 

What would it even FEEL LIKE so that, without being near a mirror, you could just sense that you were "being turned into a puppet!" 

If merely looking at your own arms and legs, it could probably - and more likely - be an ordinary, run-of-the-mill Silver Age DC transformation... like being turned to wood!  

In fact, that even happened to him at least ONCE!  ...And it would account for any stiffness he'd be feeling in his arm and leg joints!  

But nope, this month's metamorphosis is unapologetically of the puppet variety! 

...And, if YOU ever get "the strangest feeling that YOU are being turned into a puppet", please let me know what it feels like!  I've been wondering about it for years!  

For all I know, perhaps I *HAVE* been "turned into a puppet" for some time, but no one could summon up enough nerve to tell me!  "Say, doc, about this stiffness in my joints... Oh, just get some rest and take a few pills, eh? Oookay! ...And why have all the MIRRORS been removed from my house?  The car's kinda tough to drive without those rear and side-views!  How do you explain all these STRINGS in my clothes closet? ...Long shoelaces?  I guess..."

So, for its SHEER AUDACITY (...and because we puppets gotta stick together) our Cover Number Fifteen goes to THE FLASH #133... with (wait for it) "no strings attached"! 

...WHAT? You're STILL WAITING?  That WAS the joke! 

 TELL 'EM, FOGGY!  ...Aw, skip it! 

JUST ONE MORE TO GO, AND I'LL BE FREE... FREE... FREE!  F-R-E-E!!!  ...Ya know, maybe I just might miss doing this!