Wha-wha-WHAT? Pah-lease- not one mention of Spidey against the space lizards?! These record/books can arguably be the reason that I ended up in comics. Matter of fact, I just pulled ALL of these out of storage and was amazed at how strong of an influence they all were on my graphic storytelling- especially the Neal Adams Batman issue mentioned here. I wish someone would put out an MP3 collection of these and the LP story albums that were also out at the time. In fear of my geek showing, I argue even the lame ones were awesome, if only from the same point that Sigmund and the Sea Monsters is still saturday morning gold.

Major, MAJOR oversight on the list of the best of this genre: while technically not a book per se, the folded-open Spider-Man "rockomic" LP from 1972 featured gorgeous John Romita artwork and a fantastic story ("From Beyond the Grave") involving Spider-Man, the Kingpin and Doctor Strange. The story was also supplemented with songs by the Web-Spinners (never to be heard from again, perhaps not undeservedly), the best of which is undeniably the ultra-funky/cheesy "The Amazing Spider-Man," in which our hero is hilariously (to say nothing of inaccurately) described as "No one lady's sex-machine, he makes ALL the little girls sigh!" Seriously, Peter Parker described as a stud, something I laughed at even at the tender age of seven. Oh, and the icing on the cake was Rene Aberjenois — Father Mulcahy in the movie of M.A.S.H. and Odo on STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE — giving voice to Spider-Man. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Whenever I remember these from when I was a kid there's one that always comes to mind: Frankenstein! Marvel had a comic/record set that I loved when I was about 5.

http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Comics:Frankenstein_Vol_1_1

Oh, and to clarify: when you opened the record cover like a standard double album, the Spider-Man "rockomic" featured multiple comics panels that the listener could use to follow along with the audio, thereby providing the visual component. So not a book per se, but close enough for rock 'n' roll.

I bet Holoman died of HIV... just sayin' is all.

I had the Space: 1999 set when I was a kid. I knew of the show, but I don't think I'd ever seen an episode of it, so it was all kind of baffling for me.
I fondly recall a Superman set - I believe he was looking for a hidden atomic bomb - and a Hulk one in which he fought the Abomination.
Is that Neal Adams art on that Gemini Man set?

Now I'm going to have to spend my morning tracking down mp3s of these! Excellent list. I still have some of the Star Trek ones somewhere I think. And a Pac-Man one that was so lame it made me sad.

Ah, I have fond memories of my Spidey versus the Circus of Crime book & record. "Ho, Rasputin!"

The leap from vinyl to cassette in the '80s took away the "playing at the wrong speed" appeal of these things, but failing batteries in an old tape deck meant the book 'n' tape sets of "Young Sherlock Holmes and the Pyramid of Fear" and "Biggles" were occasionally afflicted with added weirdness...

Wow, this brings back memories! I had a crumbling copy of a Spider-Man story with the Man-Wolf in it that my mom picked up at a rummage sale. Scared the hell out of me as a kid (the Man-Wolf howls were terrifying).

For shame for not mentioning any of the Masters of the Universe book and record sets! I had a good many of these sets when I was a kid, and the MOTU were far and away among the best. The voice work was usually better than in the cartoon.

I had The Planet of the Apes and Star Wars ones when I was a kid. I recently found them online and have the mp3's of them. My kids like listening to them. But I'd like to have the books that went with them.

There is one that I think is missing from the list: Spider-Man Invasion of the Dragon Men.

i remember the star wars and the planet of the apes sets and how if one wanted too speed up the thing. as for halo man and the star trek one on the list had the star trek one listened to it once and it vanished. the halo man porved that the trend was on its last legs.

Honorable mention: "G.I. Joe - The Secret Mission To Spy Island." It's just one long ad for different accessory sets you could buy for G.I. Joe at the time, but the guy freaking murders everyone on the island, big props for that.

Oh man, thanks so much for the memories! I had the Batman and Fantastic Four book and records and practically wore the grooves out of it. I had no idea some of those things were available online. Awesome.

I also had a pretty cool Wonder Woman story record, but I can't remember much about it.

The "Expanded Universe" Star Wars books and records were pretty awesome, too. There was a scary but good one called Droid World that I recall, and another one with vampiric bunny rabbits.

It was "Planet of the Hoojibs."

And check out this awesome Reas-Along Adventures site where you can actually listen to them and read the books!

http://www.readalongadventures.com/R_Home.htm

Star Wars Obviously is the grandest of this genre...Glad it has been so accoladed.

That said, it's simply not the same if it's not on Vinyl!!!!

BEEEEEEEP

OMG. I had the Batman one when I was a kid and listened to that record and looked at that book on a very regular basis. Watching the video literally sent shivers down my spine because it has been at least 30 years since I last heard that and it is exactly as I remember it. Man, now I know how my day will go. I need to find the Spiderman and the Space Lizards somewhere out there because that was the other one I would listen to all the time. SLGallant is right to call foul on that one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22f4IXMbD2g&feature=related
Ah this was it. It was called Invasion of the Dragonmen. This i had along with another neat one with werewolves.

I had the Fantastic Four one, and the Spider-Man/Man-Wolf one too. I remember them both with great fondness. I listened the ever loving blue-eyed crap out of them, I think to the point where i had them taken away for a while just so my mom could get a break from it, lol. And yeah, the Man-Wolf's howls were chilling. That story also ended on a dark, ambiguous note, if I recall correctly. Very unusual for kiddie fare, even in the 70s.

Thank you! Thank you for listing the Man-Thing. I owned this as a kid and it was seriously F'ed up. Not only does the clown shoot himself, he comes back as a ghost. I was terrified by this storybook.

Drunken Fist said:

"For shame for not mentioning any of the Masters of the Universe book and record sets! I had a good many of these sets when I was a kid, and the MOTU were far and away among the best. The voice work was usually better than in the cartoon."

Second

I was seriously expecting to see the Read-Along 2001: A space Odyssey.

I cant remember how old I was...but I was with my Mom in some curtain store, bored out of my skull. I cant remember where or how I found it...but I had to have this book since It had a spaceship on it. Maybe I thought it was Star Wars related? Nope, it was 2001.

Well anyway, I got it home...listened to the record and read along. Right after that final BEEP was a huge picture of the "Star Child " Fetus....scared the shit out of me, and it still does to this day.

It was not a book and record set, but I have the Star Wars record that is the entire movie. Got a free t-shirt with it when I got it back in '78 or '79. I also still have the t-shirt which was amazing.

Also, I had the Batman one shown on the list.

You make a throwaway comment about 'about 4 years' for Star Wars to come out on VHS (assuming 1977=1981). Bull f'ing s**t, sir. Camera copies were still hotly traded about during 'tape trading' parties.

Sell thru pricing for home video didn't happen until the mid '80s with Paramount releasing ST IV. Star Wars didn't hit until some time in the very late '80s IIRC. Heck, the widescreen VHS didn't street until 1995, I have the box set right here in my hands.

Feel free to school me with the actual date.

I had a book/record of The Hobbit that rocked - it should be on your list. It included art by the creator of this 1977 animated film: http://www.amazon.com/The-Hobbit/dp/B000HY3MK4/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1254246004&sr=8-16

And the voices were really scary.

I had the star wars one! (on vinyl though)

Too bad you didn't mention the Gremlins sets that came with Hardee's meals. I had those too. (I had a kind cousin that hooked me up. Also on vinyl.)

And some shitty one with Superman checking a post office box, wait! - - that was a record only. (still shitty!)

I too had the Spider-Man vs Lizard Men/Man Wolf one. That thing was awesome. I kept it until my early 20's. When I was living in SF I had a neighbor friend that came over to spin record on my roommates turntables, and I let him borrow it since his DJ name was "Dragondog". He worked clips of it into his routines. It was pretty cool. I always kind of wanted to get it back from him, but I have no real use for it other than nostalgia. So I guess he can keep it since I think he's still getting use out of it.

I guess it wasn't Lizard Men, it was Dragon Men, which makes more sense for the dudes DJ name.

"Hear me! Draco! KING of the Dragon Men!"

What about Transformers Laserbeaks fury! I still have the cassette, what an absolute classic. If anyone else had, remember the part when the transofmers transform, except the sound is that of an exploding A-BOMB! And the voices, WOW! HAHAHA! What a piece of garbage, but damn hypnotising!

Steve Harrison said:

"You make a throwaway comment about 'about 4 years' for Star Wars to come out on VHS (assuming 1977=1981). Bull f'ing s**t, sir. Camera copies were still hotly traded about during 'tape trading' parties.

Sell thru pricing for home video didn't happen until the mid '80s with Paramount releasing ST IV. Star Wars didn't hit until some time in the very late '80s IIRC. Heck, the widescreen VHS didn't street until 1995, I have the box set right here in my hands.

Feel free to school me with the actual date".
Posted 09/29/2009 at 01:39pm

Wow...I'm CERTAIN Rob & Co. have been personally-moved by your vast knowledge of "Star Wars" VHS release-dates, and I'm SURE they'll swear not to get such an insignificant piece of nerd-trivia get muddled again. Good lord, man...

Wow! Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I counted 5 of these (won't say which) in my grade school collection.

My browser was running a tad slow and I could picture the covers of the books even before they loaded, hahahahahah.

I had all of these when I was a kid. Say what you want, but I still think they are great stuff.

I watched a rented copy of the original, pan-and-scan VHS release of Star Wars in 1982, so Rob's approximate dates check out. Yes, VHS tapes cost $79.95 back then, but you could rent the shit out of them -- and rent the shit out of them we did.

Wow. I think I picked up that Batman one at a flea market or record store or something. Hadn't listened to it.. yet. Now I have to dig it out and double check it.

My buddy had the Star Wars 8-track, it did not get any cooler than that...

Wasn't there a Book & Record version of "Hansi, The Girl Who Loved The Swastika"? I distinctly remember...no, wait, I'm thinking of "Gospel Blimp".

Well, if no one else is gonna post this, I will -

http://runstop.de/powerrecords/sitemap.html

Don't go nuts. The guy can't have unlimited bandwidth.

Hey, Big Money BG? Isn't that the POINT of this place? Useless nerd trivia? come on, smile a little!

And Brent (ssst! Taylor's over thataway, watch out for the muties) I know there was a rental VHS (and Beta, IIRC) but I didn't think it had come out that early, because I knew people who had the money to buy such things (I only went so far as to pony up $49.95 for Silent Running) and nobody was making copies of it. So, what do I know? I stand corrected!

You know, before I heard about how horribly misrated the film was as a child, I remember getting a couple of Gremlins book and record story sets from Hardee's (now a part of the Hardee's/Carl Jr's machine). Fun times.

Also, no Michael Jackson reading the book and tape adaptation of E.T.? It's better than the Atari game. Barely.

I still have the Fantastic Four one. And it's in pretty damn good shape. So there.

@bunche: you are correct, that spidey album is awesome. i had it as a kid and loved it. it also came with a poster of the awesome john romita cover that was 4x the size of the album cover. and that song you mentioned is great. i have it on my giant sized playlist of my favorite songs. the whole thing is (or was) available for download as mp3s for free. i forget where though. that, and the sixties cartoon are the "real" spidey in my mind and always will be.

I seem to remember having a Batman and Star Wars when I was a kid.

But, another question: does anyone proof-read these articles before posting? Here's the most glaring error:

"Power Records chose to do all of the PotA feature films except for the fourth film Conquest, where the apes violently overthrow human society, which they deemed to violent for children's fair."

It should be "they deemed TOO violent" and "for children's FAIRE". Are homonyms too complex a concept? ;)

Wow. I had totally forgotten about Gemini Man! I watched that show religiously when I was a kid.

My fave story-records when I was young were a Conan (!!!) record with two stories not written by Robert E. Howard (naturally), which was actually pretty decent, and a condensed version of "The First Man in the Moon" by Wells. That had a great soundtrack, too.

The absolute craziest and worst was a Superman album where he communicates with dolphins about a polluted river. The dolphins were voiced by some lunatic who sounded like he'd caught his dick in a metal press.

This takes me back. :) I had the 45 vinyl version of Star Wars. I had that book memorized from over exposure!

Oh man, I loved the heck out of that FF book, an also the Spidey one, but I think the one I had was "Mark of the Man Wolf" if I remember right.

I had the Star Wars one, but it was horrible. I never listened to it. The voice actors were terrible; one would think they would have used clips, but no. They didn't sound anything like them. To this day, my brother and I will press play, start laughing as it starts, and then feel sick, so we turn it off until we're bored again another half decade or so.

It's great though that you posted this. It's sad that this would be beneath so many children. You see a few Disney CD versions, but nothing like the mass amount of records and cassettes for just about everything. I still have almost all that I had as a child, and there were soo many good ones.

From ET, to Gremlins, to Pac-Man to Wonder Woman, those audio storybooks were a dream. Sigh, I'm sooo old.