Hello Bovine Ska and Rocksteady Listeners,

The July 19th, 2016 Bovine Ska and Rocksteady may go down as one of the silliest shows that we have done in the twenty year history of the radio show.   It seems that the heroes of comic strips and comic books were firmly in the minds of some of Jamaican greatest recording artists as we have comic book inspired tunes about Batman, Superman, Popeye, Spider-Man, Jungle Jim being performed by everyone from Hopeton Lewis to The Upsetters to Big Youth! Here’s a bit of background on comic books and their relation to Jamaican music to help you prepare for this show!

Golden Age of Comics – approximately from the late 1930s to the beginning of the 1950s.  Era that introduced to world to Superman, Batman, and Captain America and marked the foundations of the Marvel and DC dynasties

Silver Age of Comics – approximately from the mid 1950s to the early 1970s.
In the Silver Age, the superheroes of the Golden Age continued to exist, but the era also introduced the world to two other superheroes: Hulk and Spider-man

These superheroes of the Golden and Silver Ages would make their way all over the world, and Jamaica was not an exception. In Jamaica, comic books would be sold alongside general goods sold at Chiney shops. In addition to the superheroes, comic strips and comics from other genres would also gain popularity, especially the Western comics such as Kid Colt, Lone Ranger, and Roy Roger whose title characters would become the performing names for many artists in reggae.

This may be one of the silliest shows we’ve ever done, but theme shows are some of our favorites to put together, and we think you’ll have a lot of fun with this one. In addition to the tracks that all reference comics, you’ll hear lots of comicbook fun, including chidren’s recordings involving some of your favorite cmics and some comicbook disco as well

• Dick Tracy – The strip premiered on October 4, 1931 in the Detroit Mirror and what we now know as Tribune Media Services picked it up and nationally distributed the strip. Created by Chester Gould, who drew the series until the late 1970s, Dick Tracy followed the investigative cases of the title character. A police detective, Dick Tracy lives in a noir world, and over time, his look and his cases would evolve to match the times, taking him to space in the 60s and putting him in the company of a hippy in the 1970s 
• Jungle Jim debuted on January 7, 1934. Created by Alex Raymond, Jungle Jim was focused on the story of the hunter Jim Bradley. Raymond also created Flash Gordon, one of Generoso’s favorites, and Jungle Jim was intended to compete with the successful Tarzan stip and to sit above Flash Gordon. As a result, both Jungle Jim and Flash Gordon reached the public eye for the first time on the same day. 
• Andy Capp is a British comic strip that first appeared in the Daily Mirror in 1957. Andy is a working class man from Hartlepool, and for decades, readers have seen Andy at his home, local pub, and about town. Though a bit gruffer than gruff, Andy has had a strong following through the years, and the strip is still going strong to this day.
  
  Of all of the comicbook characters we found for this show, there was none more popular than Jughead. Interestingly, Jughead Jones made his debut in 1941 in Pep Comics, and he has continued to exist in the Archie universe since. Known for being a little bit of an outsider, Jughead has a signature humor and an S on his shirt, which is believed to be from an abbreviation of Skunk Hill in Haverhill, MA.

We hope that you enjoy this very special Bovine Ska and Rocksteady: