The Awesome Power Records Batman Book & Record Set

The 1970's were a great time to be a kid.  GI Joe was still in his 12" incarnation, on TV you could watch The Six Million Dollar Man and Space:1999, and you could see Planet of the Apes and Jaws in the theaters.  Mostly I remember the Super Heroes.  Both DC and Marvel were going churning out great stories, and not just in comic books.  Power Records, a spinoff of Peter Pan Records, was churning out Book and Record Sets of super hero adventures.  The first ones to hit the market were the Marvel ones.  Those first sets were just slightly relettered stories that had previously appeared in comic book form with a 45 rpm record full of dialogue and sound effects.  The first one I ever got was in 1974, and was the Fantastic Four, in fact writing this I can still here the "Bing" the let you know to turn the page.

 

From the back of the Book & Record Sets, featuring the first four Super Hero sets.

Not long after the Marvel ones hit the market, DC followed suit with their own Book & Record Sets, but with one noticeable difference.  While the Marvel ones were reprinted from already published stories, the DC ones were all-new adventures.  My favorite of the bunch was a Batman story titled "Stacked Cards", which I just found in my basement, in a box of comics.  Looking through it really brought back the memories, and if you've never seen one, here are a few highlights.  Like the TV show, this seemed a lot more serious when I was seven.

 For a buck and a half, you couldn't beat it!

 The first thing you notice is the art.  I still can't tell if it was done by Neal Adams of Dick Giordano, but the art is fantastic and really captures the look of the 1970's Batman.  The "Splash Page" really stands out to me.

 Greeting from 1975!

The story begins with a rock being chucked through a window in Commissioner Gordon's office, an amazing feat considering he's on like the 20th floor of Police Headquarters.  The rock is retrieved by Chief O'Hara, er, Inspector Mulligan (The voice actor doing Mulligan sounds just like O'Hara.  Remember, the Batman TV show only went off the air 6 years earlier.).  

 Yeah, super-powered vandals! And nice shoes, Inspector!

It turns out the note is from none other than the Joker, bragging about his escape from Arkham Asylum (Take that, people who thought it was created by Grant Morrison!).  In no time at all he's on the hotline to the Batcave.

Note the cheerful-looking Batman, the Dark Knight Returns is still 10 years away.

It seems the Joker wants to steal a Picasso from the Gotham Museum of Fine Arts, so into the Batmobile they go.  Along the way, Robin share his ideas for dealing with the Joker.

He also wants to have Catwoman spayed.

It's not long after arriving that Robin uses his junior detective skills to find evidence that the Joker had been there.

 Robin trips not two seconds after Batman tells him not to......

The Joker attacks and Batman uses all of his superior mental abilities to draw the him out of hiding.....

  He also called him Mr. Poopy pants.

 

......which leads to this epic battle.

I wanna know how that "Zap" sound is made.

During the fight, a fire somehow breaks out, fortunately Robin is once again able to draw on his powers of observation and notice it.

 The smoke is right by that large column of flames.......

The Joker tries to escape......

 Who knew Arkham had a swimming team?

With the Joker detained, Batman has plenty of time to dive back into a burning building to rescue the Picasso, and look badass doing it.

  Hooray for Batman, what a swell guy!

Batman and Robin share a smile, content in another job well done.

 "Seriously, think about that lobotomy..."

 

 

If you want to hear this and other Power Records audio, click here.