SW10/WWW: Powernaut 1976 #1: What's Next for the PowerRider?

[Scott Eiler]

Gee, former Powernaut, maybe if you're really lucky you can meet one of 
the old Powernaut's villains!  ... Stuff has happened since 1969, and 
it's worth about three panels to mention.  Powernaut 1976 is here, and 
it's Bicentennial-riffic!

http://www.eilertech.com/stories/powernaut/1976.htm

I lived through the Bicentennial.  My home town put on a pageant at the 
high school football stadium - though admittedly it was the town's 
fiftieth anniversary too.  We all got to be the stars.  The alumni still 
talk about that one.  Trust me, the Bicentennial was a Big Thing.

Eventually my subconscious came up with the concept of a Swamp Thing 
Bicentennial.  I don't get to write Swamp Thing stories, but I do get to 
write Powernaut stories.  So there.

...

Bonus Section:  2005 Reprint Commentary from Stephen Oliver Samuels 
(S.O.S.)!    What Had the Powernaut Been Doing?

It's amusing how the people who reprint the Powernaut comics have no 
problem telling the history of the real one, but need me to tell them 
about his replacements. Fortunately I've kept track of the later 
Powernauts, since 1968.

• In 1971 the same one from 1969 was still acting as Powernaut.  But he 
seems to have simply disappeared.  Oddly this wasn't in a heroic burst 
of action (unlike his predecessor).  Instead he went on retreat or 
something.

     ◦ The only clues come from the underground Powernaut comics of the 
time.  They said he was fighting the lead singer of a rock band (the 
"Crawling King Snake") in a magic realm somewhere.  In that story, the 
underground Powernaut took up the title of Super-Savior.

     ◦ In the present day that story has one legacy.  It calls itself 
the Church of the Super-Savior.  It has a charismatic and personable 
leader, recruited from professional basketball - but it is only about as 
legitimate as Scientology.

• I heard from my colleague Stonewater Smith that the Powernaut was back 
from retreat in 1973.  Stonewater and this Powernaut went on a long 
motorcycle trip together.  This matches the Powernaut comics of that era 
also.

Today's Powernaut Comics tell me they might someday reprint the stories 
of that era, but it's not a priority for them.  The old attempts to 
reinvent the Powernaut were sometimes just flops, both in comics and in 
real life.


-- 
(signed) Scott Eiler  8{D> -------- http://www.eilertech.com/ ---------

When you *are* the leader... whatever goes wrong... whether you did it
or not... *you* are held responsible. - Barack Obama

I know. - Archie Andrews

- from Archie #617, March 2011, scripted by Alex Simmons.