Who's Who Cares?

Tales of the Jackalope #1-#6 (Blackthorne, 1986)

2011-06-25T02:44:00.000-07:00

I used to love this quirky little funny animal book back in the day. It was published during the height of the "Black and White" independent comics boom of the mid 80s...

Issue #1

Adventures of Snake Plissken [Paramount] (Marvel 1996)

2011-04-27T07:39:00.000-07:00

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ROM Spaceknight- The Complete Series, Part One (Marvel)

2011-04-22T19:07:00.000-07:00

Here's issues #1 through #10 of everyone's favorite Spaceknight, ROM....

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Plan 9 From Outer Space (Malibu Comics, 1990)

2011-04-10T01:47:00.000-07:00

I've been a fan of the works of Edward D. Wood since I was a kid, so here's a comic adaptation from 1990... Download Link

The 'Nam (Complete Series, Marvel 1986-1993)

2011-03-12T08:08:00.000-08:00

Viet Nam wasn’t the sort of place where heroes like G.I. Joe or Sgt. Rock would ever have fit in. It was different in the ’Nam: hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys, or even which side you were playing on.

Marvel’s The ’Nam is a war comic for that very different war. Always maintaining a strong sense of story, it nevertheless paints the entire conflict in murky shades of gray, where “good guys” don’t always win, and the real losers are often those who weren’t doing the fighting.

Although Frank Castle (who would later become the Punisher) has been known to make an appearance from time to time, The ’Nam is no place for super-heroes. Well-plotted and compelling, this series has enjoyed long success in an era where other war comics don’t seem to sell.

Download Link Part1

Download Link Part 2

Ambush Bug "Don't Ask" (DC Comics/Mayfair Games, 1986)

2011-01-01T21:36:00.000-08:00

More lunatic Ambush Bug madness.....

Download Link (PDF file)

Cosmic Heroes (Eternity Comics, 1988)

2010-12-29T20:21:00.000-08:00

A nice little collection of early Buck Rogers strips....

Download 1

Download 2

Paul Dini's Jingle Belle - Santa Claus vs Frankenstein (Image Comics, 2008)

2010-12-08T09:02:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas, Santa Claus, and Frankenstein. Plus, Paul Dini's Jingle Belle is good stuff...so,...bonus. A book tailored specifically for the Me demographic.

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Vault of Horror #35 (Feb.-Mar. 1954)

2010-12-05T10:57:00.000-08:00

Here's a classic E.C. Christmas themed horror story that's been adapted for the screen not once, but twice (the first time for the 1972 Amicus anthology film TALES FROM THE CRYPT, starring Joan Collins, and again for the second episode of the HBO series of the same name)..

Merry Christmas, kids...

Download Link

The Best of DC Blue Ribbon Digest #22 (DC Comics, 1982)

2010-11-28T10:32:00.000-08:00

Here we are for yet another Christmas Countdown, and to start things off this year, I present to you The Best of DC Blue Ribbon Digest #22 , which features a favorite of mine, "The Seal Men's War on Santa Claus!"...

In the final Fleischer-Kirby-created adventure (intended for The Sandman vol. 1 #7 but published in The Best of DC #22) he even assists the legendary Santa Claus against a menacing band of Seal Men who are angry about being sent the wrong gifts during the previous Christmas

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Ambush Bug (DC Comics,1984)

2010-11-14T09:50:00.000-08:00

I'm a long-time fan of the works of Keith Giffen, and his AMBUSH BUG stuff (along with collaborator Robert Loren Fleming) is absolutely hilarious.....

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Freddy Krueger's A Nightmare on Elm Street #1-#2 (1989 Marvel Magazine)

2010-10-30T19:05:00.000-07:00

I remember there being a big stink about this mag when it was being published...I picked up the first issue off the newsstand, and it took me years to track down the second issue....

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Ghost Rider: Road to Damnation (Marvel, 2005)

2010-10-20T21:17:00.000-07:00

Not only is this book written by Garth Ennis, but it has mind-blowing art by Clayton Crain...

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Bram Stoker's DRACULA (Topps Comics, 1992)

2010-10-18T20:15:00.000-07:00

Quite possibly one of the best comic book adaptations of a film ever done, IMO. Mignola's work on this is nothing short of awesome..

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Sabrina, The Teenage Witch #58 (Archie Comics, August 2004)

2010-10-09T03:15:00.000-07:00

I don't know why, because I'm not a manga reader, but the Tania Del Rio run of Sabrina, The Teenage Witch has always kinda intrigued me. I've always meant to track down the run and give it a read out of curiousity's sake, and finally have. I think the thing that fascinates me the most about it is that it's pretty much the prototype for some of the stuff that Archie Comics is experimenting with these days (i.e., a change-up to the Dan DeCarlo driven "house style", continuity influenced story arcs, etc.,)...

From Wikipedia:

In 2004, beginning with issue #58 (in the second Sabrina the Teenage Witch comic book series), the comics were taken over by Tania del Rio with her manga-inspired art and design style. The comics were then released featuring new characters and a slightly more serious, continuity-heavy plot. The manga Sabrina story wrapped up at issue #100 in 2009, albeit with a few unresolved subplots. Only one manga-sized trade paperback was released during the series' run, reprinting issues #58-61.

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Comic Book Collecting And History (VHSRip, 1989)

2010-09-26T05:58:00.000-07:00

Here's another VHS I've picked up at some time, somewhere, over the last two decades that I have no clue where it came from. If yer into Gary Owens, the artwork of Steve Rude, and a comic shop owner that was typical of the type in the late 1980s, this is your lucky day!

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Todd McFarlane's Comic Book Facts and Illusions (VHSRip 1992)

2010-09-25T16:57:00.000-07:00

I purchased this VHS at some point around 1992 or '93 from my hometown Wal-Mart. After going back and viewing while I was making the transfer, and came to the conclusion that you....yes, you!...will BELIEVE that a guy who sounds like and acts about as smart as Bill Murray in Caddyshack can make a million bucks drawing funnybooks....

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Honey West (Gold Key, 1966)

2010-09-19T08:33:00.000-07:00

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Dakota North Investigations (Marvel Comics, 1986)

2010-09-11T15:21:00.000-07:00

I loved this quirky little book during it's publication (way back in '86 to '87....man, am I showing my age), and am glad to see the character getting some on-panel time in the current run of Daredevil...

Download link

Gary Gianni's The MonsterMen (1999, Dark Horse Comics)

2010-08-29T01:48:00.000-07:00

For decades, the skull of the world's most dangerous necromancer has been guarded in a secret Tibetan monastery. Now the whereabouts of the skull have been discovered by creatures who would use it to awaken its former owner. Now Benedict, boneweary after five centuries of battling for the Order of Corpus Monstrum, heads into the Himalayas to take possession of the skull, but not before confronting the monstrous Yeti, while St. George, millionaire film mogul, falls off the side of a mountain. Eisner Award winner Gary Gianni (Batman Black & White, Solomon Kane) breaks out of the pages of Hellboy with his bizarre adventure team in their first feature presentation. Mike Mignola provides a backup: "Goodbye Mister Tod," in which Hellboy battles a horrible thing that's coming out of a guy's mouth.

I remember really digging this book (and it's cast of characters, which I first discovered via the back-up published in various Hellboy projects), and had hoped Gianni would follow up on it, but I believe he hasn't. It's a shame, too..

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Vigilante- 1947 Columbia Pictures Cliffhanger Serial Ad Campaign Mat

2010-08-21T09:16:00.000-07:00

I'm a HUGE fan of Greg Saunders, the Golden Age Vigilante...have been since I was a kid and read All-Star Squadron #29, which was Roy Thomas and Jerry Ordway's re-telling of the origin of the Seven Soldiers of Victory. Love, love, love the character. Probably my favorite DC character of all time.

I'm also a HUGE fan of the now-bygone cinematic format of the cliffhanger serial. One of the things that has always made me sad is that the 1947 Columbia Pictures serial based on the character has never been made available in any form of home video format, be it VHS or DVD. Gray market bootleg copies of the serial have existed since the 1980s on VHS, and recently I discovered someone had made digital video file transfers from one of these VHSs, so those are floating around out there in bittorrent land, for those interested and devoted enough to find them....

Well, on a whim, I stop by a local home having a yardsale, and discover a cardboard box containing old lobbycards and advertising campaign "mats" (studio marketting used to send out press packets to newspapers around the country containing these, which were basically ad copy to be used by local theatres to promote releases)....and this is what I found for one measley dollar....

It must be for a re-release of the serial, because it's copyright dated 1957....but, still...for a Vigilante fan like myself...it felt like fate had led me to that box.

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Filmation's Ghostbusters (First Comics, 1986)

2010-08-15T09:53:00.000-07:00

When I was 10 in 1984, the film Ghostbusters debuted and blew me away. I absolutely loved it...but the animated tie-in produced a few years later, The REAL Ghostbusters...not so much.

What's weird is what I did take a liking to....Filmation's answer to it (and they're attempt at holding onto the copyright to the name "Ghostbusters")....Filmation's ORIGINAL Ghostbusters...

Here's some info, via Wikipedia:
Ghostbusters (later called Filmation's Ghostbusters) was an animated television series created by Filmation and distributed by Tribune Broadcasting and launched following the success of Ivan Reitman and Columbia Pictures' 1984 film Ghostbusters. It ran from September 8 to December 5, 1986 in daytime syndication and produced 65 episodes. The cartoon was based on a live-action television show from 1975-1976 titled The Ghost Busters. It is not to be confused with the animated show The Real Ghostbusters, which was based on the 1984 film Ghostbusters. Columbia Pictures had to obtain the rights to the name from Filmation for its film, and after Ghostbusters was a hit, Filmation went into production with its animated series based on the characters from its series. The series is technically called simply "Ghostbusters", but home video releases use the name "Filmation's Ghostbusters" to avoid confusion. Reruns of the show are scheduled to air on the qubo channel in Fall 2010, and on the Retro Television Network in October 2010

Download Links:

Issue #1

Issue #2

Issue #3

Issue #4

Fright Night #1 (Now Comics, 1988)

2010-08-01T10:04:00.000-07:00

I can remember in 1988 when Now Comics made their big push into newsstand sales, and this was one of the first books to make it there. The first few issues are a fairly decent adaptation of the first film, and then it would go on to follow the continuing adventures of the vampire killing duo of Charlie and Peter St. Vincent...

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Razorline- First Cut (1993, Marvel Comics)

2010-07-10T23:52:00.000-07:00

From Wikipedia:

Razorline was an imprint of American comic book company Marvel Comics that ran from 1993-1995. It was created by filmmaker and horror/fantasy novelist Clive Barker, with its characters existing in one of the many alternate universes outside the mainstream continuity known as the Marvel Universe.

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"Stomachs get even at night." 1968 Wally Wood Alka-Seltzer Ad

2010-06-19T22:48:00.000-07:00

Being a big fan of the works of the late Wallace "Wally" Wood, I was delighted to have discovered this.

Wally Wood's colorful Alka-Seltzer print ad, "Stomachs Get Even At Night," was a huge success, winning a 1967 Art Directors Club Medal. The ad received such a favorable response that Wood was hired to convert it into storyboards, and this 1968 TV commercial was the result.

Download Link:
1968 Wally Wood Alka-Seltzer Ad .AVI

Bonus: Original Print Ad and Storyboard Art

Youngblood (with extra Rob Liefeld wonderfulness)

2010-06-05T08:47:00.000-07:00

Going through my comic collection the other day, I cran across copies of the first 8 issues of Rob Liefeld's Youngblood (two extra copies of #1 and #2, even) Now...I can remember actually buying the first two issues when they came out...but realized the error of my ways earlier than the rest of the fanboys around me, and stopping there. For the life of me I cannot remember where and when I came to acquire these other issues...for the faintest idea why I'd have lost my senses and bought them. I have a theory, though....one that involves an early Saturday morning trip to the local fleamrket/swap meet, hung over, and getting a good laugh at digging through long boxes of comics there offered by shady dealers.

"Hey...remember Youngblood? Whatta load of....oh,...they're a quarter apiece? Sold!"

Now..I'm not here to ridicule the talents of Rob. Other folks funnier than myself have already done that to death. I'm just here to share my pain....and some goofy stuff I had laying around on VHS that I had totally forgotten about. Enjoy!

Younblood #0-#8

Rob's Levi's 501 commercial AVI file

Powers Coloring/Activity Book #1 (Image Comics, 2001)

2010-05-21T22:12:00.000-07:00

One of the few projects Brian Michael Bendis was ever involved with that I actually enjoyed...

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Hee-Haw #1 (Charlton Comics, 1970)

2010-04-29T17:57:00.000-07:00

When I was akid growing up in the sticks, this television show seemed to be required viewing amongst folks of my parents and grandparents age. Now, I was a kid that stuck out like a sore thumb amongst my peers....and sought a means to escape my rural farmland hometown via education. I thought further education was a means of escaping the stereotypes that had been thrusted upon my peers. And I succeeded...somewhat.

Then, a weird thing happened in my twenties, after graduating college.

I started to become nostalgiac for this odd culture...the so-called "hill-billy" lifestyle, that I struggled to leave behind. It's weird the things one finds comfort in as they grow older, I guess.

Anyways....I love oddball comics. I love Charlton books. And, just to show you that Charlton would license anything....here's 1970's Hee-Haw #1.

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The Flash (1990 TV Series) TV Guide Promotional Material

2010-04-29T17:52:00.000-07:00

This is a little something I cooked up after discovering a box of junk I'd been lugging around since high school, in which I saved various TV Guide promo images and write-ups from other publications about the CBS live-action show. Please forgive the sloppy scans, but basically I was dealing with 20 year old clipping from TV Guide that were mounted into a makeshift scrapbook....

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The Essential Marvel Tails (Marvel, 1987-91)

2010-04-24T15:37:00.001-07:00

Here's what happens when I have way too much time on my hands, folks.....I edit and compile a cbz full of scans collecting every single one of the Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham back-up stories that appeared in the much-missed Marvel reprint title Marvel Tales during a period from 1987 to 1991. Why? Because I was bored, had always wanted all these stories collected into one nice neat package....and I love the character, and have since childhood. So, enjoy....

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HKC's Longbox: Manhunter (Mark Shaw)

2010-04-23T20:38:00.000-07:00

I've decided to start presenting a feature here at the blog focusing on short-lived titles that I collected and had a great love for during my youth that are either now forgotten....or nobody really gives a crap about these days. I've decided to title it "HKC's Longbox"....because this is the kinda crap I've been carrying around for a little over 30 years in longboxes.

Around 1987 or so, I was a follower of writer John Ostander's work at DC Comics, having been a fan for a year or so of his run of Suicide Squad. I thought this particular incarnation of the concept was pretty brilliant thinking on his part, and even though I really didn't enjoy (in hindsight) some of the things that came out of DC's most-recent "event" book, Millenium, I was eagerly awaiting this new take on the Manhunter property that he was going to be involved with because I found it too to be a pretty innovative idea, comic book-wise.

The concept was simple: Mark Shaw was a costumed bounty hunter....who specialized in bounties involving super-powered criminals. Here's a hero who actually sought to profit on taking down bad guys. One of the typical cliched conventions of superheroes I always found kinda weird was the idea that once you received super-powers, a magic ring, were rocketted from a doomed planet, struck by lightning, got hit by a gamma bomb......whatever....you always suddenly grew a set of morals and a a code of ethics.

Download First Issue Special #5- the first appearence of Mark Shaw, Manhunter

The Mark Shaw Manhunter incarnation was a concept that had been created by Jack Kirby, used once in the 1970s, and discarded. Other writers picked up on it in the years that followed but kept changing Shaw's costumed alter egos (at one point, he was a pirate themed character called The Privateer and a cosmic powered bad guy calling himself the Star Tsar), but nothing seemed to stick. Thankfully, after the Millenium cross-over, where it was revealed the secret society/cult that saw first encountered and gave him the mantle of Manhunter was actually in league with the evil android Green Lantern villians, Shaw turned back into a good guy, and after the Manhunters were destroyed (at least for a short time), became the only person in the DCU to carry that mantle.

Download Manhunter #1-24 (1987-89)
#1-#8

#9-#16

#17-#24

Evel Knievel Ideal Toys Give-Away (Marvel Comcs, 1974)

2010-04-23T02:05:00.000-07:00

If you're a child of the 1970s, much like myself, then you probably have a great love for that particular decade's version of Jackass...Evel Knievel...

Oh, how I covetted and desired the Ideal toys, begging my parents until they broke down and bought me all of them....

Well, here for you reading pleasure is the give-away comic that was packaged with the toys....I sure do miss rip-chord cycles....

Download Link

Seduction of the Innocent

2010-04-07T23:52:00.000-07:00

From Wikipedia:

Seduction of the Innocent is a book by American psychiatrist Fredric Wertham, published in 1954, that warned that comic books were a negative form of popular literature and a serious cause of juvenile delinquency. The book was a minor bestseller that created alarm in parents and galvanized them to campaign for censorship. At the same time, a U.S. Congressional inquiry was launched into the comic book industry. Subsequent to the publication of Seduction of the Innocent, the Comics Code Authority was voluntarily established by publishers to self-censor their titles.

Seduction of the Innocent cited overt or covert depictions of violence, sex, drug use, and other adult fare within "crime comics" — a term Wertham used to describe not only the popular gangster/murder-oriented titles of the time, but superhero and horror comics as well. The book asserted, largely based on undocumented anecdotes, that reading this material encouraged similar behavior in children.

Comics, especially the crime/horror titles pioneered by EC, were not lacking in gruesome images; Wertham reproduced these extensively, pointing out what he saw as recurring morbid themes such as "injury to the eye". Many of his other conjectures, particularly about hidden sexual themes (e.g. images of female nudity concealed in drawings of muscles and tree bark, or Batman and Robin as gay partners), met with derision within the comics industry. (Wertham's claim that Wonder Woman had a bondage subtext was somewhat better documented, as her creator William Moulton Marston had admitted as much; however, Wertham also claimed Wonder Woman's strength and independence made her a lesbian. However, she is traditionally portrayed as a heterosexual and a virgin). Wertham also claimed that Superman was un-American and was a fascist.

Wertham critiqued the commercial environment of comic book publishing and retailing, objecting to air rifles and knives advertised alongside violent stories. Wertham sympathized with retailers who didn't want to sell horror comics, yet were compelled to by their distributors' table d'hôte product line policies.

The fame of Seduction of the Innocent added to Wertham's previous celebrity as an expert witness and made him an obvious choice to appear before the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency led by anti-crime crusader Estes Kefauver. In extensive testimony before the committee, Wertham restated arguments from his book and pointed to comics as a major cause of juvenile crime. The committee's questioning of their next witness, EC publisher William Gaines, focused on violent scenes of the type Wertham had decried. Though the committee's final report did not blame comics for crime, it recommended that the comics industry tone down its content voluntarily. Possibly taking this as a veiled threat of potential censorship, publishers developed the Comics Code Authority to censor their own content. The new code not only banned violent images, but entire words and concepts (e.g. "terror" and "zombies"), and dictated that criminals must always be punished. This destroyed most EC-style titles, leaving a sanitized subset of superhero comics as the chief remaining genre. Wertham nevertheless considered the Comics Code inadequate to protect youth.

Seduction of the Innocent was illustrated with comic-book panels offered as evidence, each accompanied by a line of Wertham's sardonic commentary. The first printing contained a bibliography listing the comic book publishers cited, but fears of lawsuits compelled the publisher to tear the bibliography page from any copies available, so copies with an intact bibliography are rare. Early complete editions of Seduction of the Innocent often sell for high figures among book and comic book collectors.

Among comic-book collectors any comic book with a story or panel referred to in Seduction of the Innocent is known as a "Seduction issue", and is usually more valued than other issues in the same run of a title. Seduction of the Innocent is one of the few non-illustrative works to be listed in the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide as a collectible in its own right.

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B-Movie Madness: Gorgo (Charlton, 1961-64)

2010-04-07T23:31:00.000-07:00

I love this book....not only is it an adaptation of the 1961 British attempt at ripping off Godzilla (I'm a HUGE fan of the Toho Titan), but it features a ton of great art by Steve Ditko.

Download Link (Issues #1-12)

Download Link (Issues #13-23)

Dick Giordano (July 20, 1932 – March 27, 2010) Tribute

2010-03-28T09:48:00.001-07:00

I figured the best way to pay tribute to Dick would be to share a favorite of mine of his work....

Jonni Thunder is a female private detective who first appeared in a four issue miniseries from 1985 named Jonni Thunder AKA Thunderbolt, written by Roy Thomas. A small gold statue gave her the power to turn into a human thunderbolt, while leaving her body behind. In later issues of Infinity, Inc., the thunderbolt was revealed to be a hostile alien energy-being, who was defeated by being reimprisoned in the statue, leaving Jonni without powers. Jonni existed on Earth-Two before Crisis and was briefly scene on the merged Earth resulting from Crisis, attending a detectives convention.

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Nth Man: The Ultimate Ninja (Marvel, 1989-90)

2010-03-27T05:06:00.000-07:00

I read, collected and enjoyed this title immensely during my high school days. It's a surreal little slice of bat-shit insane science fiction with some great art by Ron Wagner. Thanks to Zen Tiger for the scans...

From Wikipedia:

Nth Man: The Ultimate Ninja is a comic book about an American ninja set in an unspecified near future where World War III has started. It was written by Larry Hama between 1989 and 1990, based largely on his success writing the G.I.Joe: A Real American Hero comic, which he wrote concurrently with The Nth Man (and also features a modern ninja as one of the main characters). Nth Man and Alfie O'Meagan first appeared in Marvel Comics Presents #25 (August 1989).

The series starts in medias res with American soldiers parachuting into war-torn Moscow in an attempt to rescue the Nth Man. Using TV news commentary as a plot exposition device, it is revealed that the war was caused by Alfie using his psychic abilities to neutralise all nuclear weapons on the planet and upsetting the balance of power.

As the story progresses, we learn that Alfie has grown up in an orphanage alongside John Doe (the "Nth Man" of the title). Doe was adopted by an elderly Japanese man who worked for the CIA's "Black Ops" division. Doe was raised as a ninja, taught to kill without regret.

While in the orphanage, O'Meagan had visions of possible futures (the "could-be's") and over time, his powers grew so that he was able to control matter and produce other effects that were against the physical laws of the universe.

The story has numerous twists and turns, as Alfie gains vast power while losing his sanity. When the Soviet Union launches biological weapons, Alfie's attempt to turn them harmless backfires. Using a narrative jump of one year (which was forced upon writer Larry Hama in order to wrap up the story, due to the cancellation of the series), we see that the biological weapons were turned into a mutagenic virus, and millions are transformed into psychotic, cannibalistic "moots".

The storyline is complex, following numerous characters through war zones, plague-ridden post-Apocalyptic landscapes, inside a video game, alien worlds, and various points in time and space. The conclusion of the story makes use of a paradox and Doe and O'Meagan are shown to be responsible for their own origins.

Issues #1-#9

Issues #10- #13

Issues #14- #16

Demon Hunter #1 (Atlas/Seaboard, 1975)

2010-03-14T00:21:00.000-08:00

As a fan of so-called "dead universes" (i.e., publishers and/or publishing imprints that employed a shared universe concept in their storytelling that are now defunct), over the years I've become a big fan of the Atlas/Seaboard stuff of the 1970s, purely for the cheese factor. Though, admittedly, there were two or three diamonds amongst the rough....and one of 'em was Demon Hunter...

From The Atlas Archives:

Created and plotted by Marvel veteran Rich Buckler, written by David Anthony Kraft (best known for his run on the Defenders), Demon Hunter was one of the most original titles published by Atlas-Seaboard (the character would later resurface as in two different incarnations.)

"What does a Demon Hunter do ?" read the opening page, "Everything he can to prevent Xenogenesis... the rebirth of a demon race here on earth ! His name ? Gideon Cross. He is a telepath."

Empowered by a cult seeking to bring about Xenogenesis, Gideon Cross was empowered with a shadow cloak and new abilities to serve their bidding. He turned against them, however, and became a one-man force against their evil.

Unlike Dr.Strange or Dr. Fate, Demon Hunter was fighting a specific war against a specific evil.

After it's lone Atlas issue, Demon-Hunter was resurrected over at Marvel Comics as Devil-Slayer. Devil Slayer was Eric Simon Payne. He renounced the demon cult that granted him incredible powers and now stood against them. Their goal, Xenogenesis, the rebirth of a demon race on earth.

In 1980, the Rich Buckler published magazine, Galaxia, featured the character Bloodwing. Again, this character is nearly identical to Demon-Hunter. Bloodwing was also known as Gideon Cross.

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Will Eisner's John Law: Detective #1 (Eclipse Comics 1983)

2010-02-27T23:08:00.000-08:00

Being an Eisner fan, especially of the Spirit, I searched for this particular one-shot published by Eclipse for years, finally running across a copy of it a few weeks back at a local flea market for 50 cents. Basically rehashed Spirit stories....and that, my friends, in the hands of Eisner is not a bad thing at all.

Quote:
Eclipse Comics’ 1983 one-shot John Law, Detective treats readers to three action-packed adventure mysteries produced in 1948 by comics master Will Eisner. Perhaps the John Law stories were considered too close to Eisner’s more famous detective creation, The Spirit, to see publication in their own day. Indeed, Eisner eventually reused the John Law material in several classic Spirit stories, including the famous “Half-Dead Mr. Lox.” For whatever reason, the publisher went as far as to shoot stats for John Law then let the project languish at the bottom of a file cabinet until it was unearthed nearly 35 years later by intrepid Eisner devotee Cat Yronwode. The result is like finding a complete unreleased Beatles album from 1966 or a lost Orson Welles film—a rare look at a masterwork from a creator at the absolute peak of his powers.

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The Spider: Master of Men (Eclipse 1991-1992)

2010-02-27T22:46:00.000-08:00

I'm a junkie for masked pulp heroes, so when these mini-series came out in the early 1990s, I snagged them immediately. 'Course, having become a fan of Tim Truman's work and following it from SCOUT to AIRBOY to HAWKWORLD helped matters, as well...

THE SPIDER - MASTER OF MEN - BLOOD TRILOGY 1-3

THE SPIDER - MASTER OF MEN – REIGN OF THE VAMPIRE KING 1-3

Silver & Beyond: Magnus- Robot Fighter Part One

2010-02-22T19:09:00.000-08:00

For some odd reason, I've always found the character Magnus to be absolutely fascinating, yet I cannot for the life of me put a finger on the exact reason why. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that the mental image of some dude karate-ing (my word) the f**k outta robots brings the same type of smile to my face today that it did when I first discovered the character in question at the age of probably 7 or 8. It's the same type of smile one sees when a child first takes notice of the concept of dinosaurs,(specifically the T-Rex)....that is, the first recognition of the abstract concept of "bad-ass".

I mean, c'mon...what's more bad-ass than a guy punching friggin' robots bare-knuckle style?

If you're looking for more depth than that, or some sort of radical character development and evolution outta the various incarnations of the comic book, then look elsewhere. I think one-time Magnus writer Keith Giffen summed it up the best when he said: "The title of the book is self-explanatory. It's about a guy named Magnus, and he fights robots."

From Wikipedia:

Magnus, Robot Fighter is a fictional character created by writer/artist Russ Manning in 1963, based primarily on Tarzan. Magnus first appeared in Magnus Robot Fighter 4000 A.D. #1, published by Gold Key Comics in February 1963. The character was subsequently published by Valiant Comics and Acclaim Comics in the 1990s. In every incarnation, Magnus was a human who battled rogue robots in the year 4000. While the concept remained the same throughout the years, the way it was approached changed depending on the publisher.

By the year 4000, humanity has become dependent on robots. H8, the Pol-Rob chief of the civic sector of North Am, a continent-spanning mega-city, was damaged in a radiation accident. It sought to promote the human dependency on robots and gradually impose totalitarian rule in the area under its control.

Magnus was raised by a robot known as 1A, a name which implies that he was the very first robot of his type ever manufactured. 1A seemed to be self-aware and possess emotions. A firm believer in the Three Laws of Robotics, 1A recognized the threat represented by the dependency of humans on robots in general, and the developments in North Am due to H8 in particular. Therefore, 1A trained Magnus as a warrior to protect humans against both rogue robots, and humans who used normal robots for evil purposes. Magnus was trained from infancy by 1A in an under-sea domed house, using advanced techniques, to become a skilled martial artist who could break steel with his bare hands. In addition, 1A equipped his charge with a device that would allow him to "hear" robot-to-robot radio communications.

Magnus' girlfriend was named Leeja. Robots that served as police were called "Pol-Robs" (as in police robots); they were painted black and white like city police cars. All robots had identifying numbers painted on their chest and backs. Other robots, such as taxi drivers, could be nothing more than a torso with arms and head attached to a flying automobile.

Both the Gold Key and Valiant versions take place in North Am, a gigantic megalopolis that encompassed the entire North American continent. The city consists of several "levels." The higher levels are populated by wealthier individuals, often regarded as "soft" and complacent. The lowest level, the Goph Level, is populated by a hardier and less educated class known as "gophs."

By AD 4000, the nation of Japan is home to 50 billion people. The major islands of Japan are covered by a single, contiguous structure known as the Host. Grandmother, a Freewill electronic network, controls virtually every facet of daily life.

Aside from North Am, Earth also features a city on the continent of Antarctica named Antarcto. The city consists of several transparent domes, inside each of which the climate is carefully controlled. Construction of these habitats was fiercely opposed, for fear of ecological damage to the fragile Antarctic system. As well, there is the area known as Himalhina, which apparently includes at least all of India and China.

Original series

The original series, titled Magnus, Robot Fighter, 4000 AD, premiered in 1963. It was written and drawn by Russ Manning. For the duration of the title's original run, Magnus battled rogue robots, aliens, space pirates and other threats. He fell in love with Leeja Clane, the daughter of one of North Am's senators. Leeja developed limited telepathic abilities after training by M'Ree and other humans who had acquired them as a result of their minds being linked together while imprisoned in suspended animation by H8. The series was popular in the 1960s. As the '70s approached, sales began to decline. The last issue (#46) was published in January 1977. However, Manning only completed 21 issues; the rest were reprints of previous issues or new stories by others (#23-28). The inferior quality of the non-Manning stories was the main reason for the decline of popularity.

The original concept is a deliberate inversion or update of the Tarzan mythos, the syndicated comic strip of which Russ Manning had previously illustrated. Where Tarzan was a human raised as a noble savage feral child by African great apes who saw the world through his naturalistic upbringing and opposition to the rules and limits of civilization, Magnus was a human raised by a benevolent robot named I-A, who saw mankind becoming ever more decadent and complacent human civilization doomed by its ever-increasing dependence on robots. In one case, the hero is a throwback to a hardier and more naturalistic time. In the other, he is a creation of science sent to carry the message to the rest of humanity that Man must control his own destiny and carve out his own path, rather than become little more than an overfed herd of cattle tended by robots. Both heroes live and operate according to their own set of rules and are, because of this, considered outsiders and something of a threat to the established order of things.

Valiant

In 1991, Jim Shooter obtained rights to three Gold Key characters: Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom; Turok, Son of Stone; and Magnus, Robot Fighter. He intended to use those characters to launch his new comic book line, Valiant Comics. Several months later, the company launched Magnus, Robot Fighter.

The series began where the original one left off. The artists took great care to replicate the setting and trappings of the original stories. But as the new series progressed, it began to deviate from the original concept. The term "Freewills" appeared in the Valiant run, introducing the concept that the rogue robots seen previously were not simply the product of random malfunctions, but were the result of a common phenomenon which allowed robots to become sentient. While some of them were malevolent, others merely wanted to be free. It was also learned that 1A was also a freewill. With Magnus's help, a colony of benevolent Freewills was established called the "Steel Nation." At the same time, Magnus became disgusted with North Am's elite. He journeyed to the lower levels of North Am and befriended a group of social outcasts known as Gophs.

As the series progressed, it was used to introduce other heroes to the Valiant Universe. In issue #5, a Japanese hero known as Rai began appearing in Magnus's title, and would eventually move on into his own series. In the sixth issue, the future version of Solar made his debut. The issue also introduced the spider aliens, who became a recurring threat throughout the Valiant Universe. In the 12th issue, modern readers were reintroduced to Turok, Son of Stone.

Unity

During the Unity crossover, it was revealed that Magnus was actually born during the Unity conflict. He was a child of a harbinger named Torque and a woman named Kris Hathaway. Geomancer Geoff McHenry sensed that someone like Magnus was needed in the future, so Solar transported the baby Magnus to the future, where he was picked up by the Solar from that time period and delivered to 1A. It was also revealed that Magnus's strength wasn't solely due to his martial arts training; rather, it was a harbinger ability inherited from his father.

The Malev War

Shortly after the Unity crossover, the future Earth was invaded by alien robots called Malevs directed by the giant brain, introduced in the original series, that encompassed the planet of Malev 6. This invasion forced all of the future heroes to band together. Their adventures were showcased in a spin-off title, Rai and the Future Force.

After the Malev War ended, all future titles jumped twenty years forward. Magnus became the leader of North Am. He married Leeja (his love interest since the original series) and had a son, whom he named Torque. Magnus spent the rest of the series battling various threats. During the Chaos Effect crossover, he was transported to the 20th century, but he eventually returned to the future.

Download Links:

Gold Key Magnus Robot Fighter #1

Valiant Magnus Robot Fighter complete series:

Bulk Pack 1

Bulk Pack 2

Secrets Behind the Comics by Stan Lee (1947)

2010-02-21T19:03:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Zen Tiger, here's one of the first how-to guides on the comic book industry

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The Adventures of Captain Marvel (Republic Pictures, 1941)

2010-02-19T15:48:00.000-08:00

In the past, I've written about my long-time love for the genre of the cliff-hanger serial, and this example of the format I've always consider to the be the best of it.

From Wikipedia:

Adventures of Captain Marvel is a 1941 twelve-chapter film serial directed by John English and William Witney for Republic Pictures, adapted from the popular Captain Marvel comic book character then appearing in Fawcett Comics publications such as Whiz Comics and Captain Marvel Adventures. It starred Tom Tyler (who also played The Phantom) in the title role of Captain Marvel and Frank Coghlan Jr. as his alter ego, Billy Batson.

This serial was the twenty-first of the sixty-six serials produced by Republic and their first comic book adaptation (not counting comic strips such as Dick Tracy). Spy Smasher, also based on a Fawcett character, would follow in 1942.

This serial was the first film adaptation of a comic book superhero. That claim would have gone to the previous serial, Mysterious Doctor Satan, which was intended to have been a Superman serial until National Comics (now DC Comics) pulled out of negotiations. National Comics unsuccessfully attempted to sue Republic for producing a Captain Marvel serial.

The serial featured an adaptation of the Fawcett Comics superhero, placed within an original story in which he fights a criminal mastermind, called The Scorpion, who is determined to gain total control of a magical gold scorpion figurine. It is actually a disguised optical weapon of incredible power (including, but not limited to, melting rock via a projected death ray).

Billy Batson is an assistant radio operator with the Malcolm archaeological expedition to "the Valley of the Tombs" in Siam. The expedition is attacked by natives but Tal Chotali parleys with Rahman Bar. A sacred legend states no desecration will occur until the volcano, Scorpio, is active again. At the tombs, Billy refuses to enter the inner tomb as it would desecrate the religious beliefs of others. Instead he goes to pack pottery in another tunnel. In the inner tomb, Tal Chotali, Prof Malcolm, Prof Luthor Bentley, Dwight Fisher, and Dr Stephen Lang, find the Golden Scorpion. A ray from the Scorpion collapses the entrance to the tombs and opens a hidden passage between Billy and the ancient wizard Shazam. Shazam grants him the ability to

change into Captain Marvel in order to prevent the Golden Scorpion from falling into the wrong hands. It is his "duty to see that the curse of the Scorpion is not visited on innocent people."

The lenses from the Golden Scorpion are divided among the five scientists. Scorpio then erupts which triggers a native attack. However, the masked mystery villain the Scorpion is orchestrating it, stealing one of the lenses during the hostilities. The exped

ition is rescued by cavalry from Fort Mooltan. Captain Marvel then flies to a group of natives with a machine gun, knocks them out by throwing one at the other, and takes over the gun. Marvel then throws aside the gun and attacks with his bare fists. Marvel learns he is invulnerable as bullets bounce off his chest.

The expedition then returns to the United States, where the Scorpion attempts to acquire all of the lenses and the Scorpion device for his own power. Several expedition members are killed in his quest despite Captain Marvel's continual efforts to thwart the villain. Billy Batson soon decides that the man behind the Scorpion's mask is one of the team.

Eventually a second expedition sets out because it has been learned that Long ha

d actually hidden his lens in the tomb. The Scorpion witnesses Billy's change during this and captures him - tying him up and gagging him. The Scorpion interrogates Billy for the secret. When Billy agrees to tell him, The Scorpion removes the gag and Billy says "Shazam", which transforms him into Captain Marvel.

The Scorpion is then revealed to be Bentley. He is killed by the disillusioned native chief, Rahman Bar, who uses the Scorpion in death ray mode. Shazam himself is heard to say the magic word and Captain Marvel is transformed back into Billy Batson.

The exposure of the movie serial no doubt aided sales of the Captain Marvel magazines, and it is well-documented that for several years the character outsold Superman.

The original Captain Marvel comics, as a rule, did not absorb many elements of this serial, but there were some effects nonetheless. The characters of Betty Wallace and Whitey Murphy both appeared in the Fawcett comics for a while in the 1940s, and Whitey Murphy made at least one cameo appearance in the 1970s DC Comics incarnation of Captain Marvel.

A serialized two year story arc featuring Mr. Mind and the original Monster Society of Evil in Captain Marvel Adventures #22-#46 showed the influence and inspiration of the Adventures of Captain Marvel serial.^[12] This two-year story arc was the first of its kind, and is regarded by comic book fans and historians as one of the milestones of the Golden Age of Comics.^[13] In 1989, cartoonist Mike Higgs compiled this entire story arc into a hardcover limited edition collection. This book includes a photo of Tom Tyler as Captain Marvel, underscoring the linkage to this serial.^[14]

Captain Marvel was the first super-powered and costumed comic strip hero to be filmed, and the first character exclusively created for comic books (as opposed to newspaper strips, such as Flash Gordon and Dick Tracy) to be filmed as well. Therefore, it fell upon The Adventures of Captain Marvel to prove that comic book heroes could be bankable movie properties. The release of the serial led to a long line of comic book super-hero serials, films, and television shows, which continues to this day.

Home video copies of this serial became commercially available in the 1990s, bringing it to a wider audience. The Scorpion weapon would reappear in the 1990s Power of Shazam comic book.

In 1994, comic book writer/artist Jerry Ordway introduced modern audiences to Captain Marvel with a long-form painted graphic novel, The Power of Shazam!, and an ongoing comic book series spin-off which ran from 1995 to 1999. Ordway used the Republic serial as his initial inspiration in his handling of the Captain Marvel characters, and the influence is evident in both the graphic novel and the series ^[15]: Captain Marvel's costume design was restored to the button-flap tunic version seen in early issues od Whiz Comics and this serial, and the Scorpion weapon from the film serial appears in several of the issues.

Screenwriter and B-movie producer Don Glut, a fan of the serial, would later go on to become a writer for the live-action Shazam! TV program, a popular 1970's adaptation of Captain Marvel. At least one episode of Shazam! featured outdoor shots of the famous Bronson Cave, which had been used for a memorable sequence in Adventures of Captain Marvel.

Chapters:

"Curse of the Scorpion" (30 min.)
"The Guillotine" (16 min.)
"Time Bomb" (17 min.)
"Death Takes the Wheel" (16 min.)
"The Scorpion Strikes" (16 min.)
"Lens of Death" (16 min.)
Human Targets (17 min.)
Boomerang (17 min.)
"Dead Man's Trap" (16 min.)
"Doom Ship" (16 min.)
"Valley of Death" (16 min.)
"Captain Marvel's Secret" (16 min.)

Find the download links at Internet Archive

Warrior (Ultimate Creations, 1996)- The Worst Comic Book Of All Time?

2010-02-19T10:57:00.001-08:00

Here's a slice of surreal pie from the former professional wrasslin' superstar, The Ultimate Warrior....

From Wikipedia:

Warrior was a comic book based on the Ultimate Warrior, starting in 1996. It was written by Warrior with art by Jim Callahan (Issues #1 through 3, Christmas Special) and The Sharp Brothers (issue #4).

The comics sold well in the first two months of their distribution, before sales plummeted and the comic was taken out of circulation in early 1997. The initial success of the comic and its ultimate failure is often attributed to the same things. There was also speculation that the reason the comic failed was because after the first two issuses Warrior decided that the publishing company was getting too much money. He then decided to publish and distribute it himself through his own website.

As a comic book, fans argued that WARRIOR was a failure: there were virtually no characters other than Warrior, little action, and considerably more text than the average comic (in the first issue, at least one entire page is nothing but text, with a small picture of Warrior in the corner).

The comic's most enduring issue, and the one which has received the most ridicule and is now worth the most money, is one of the final issues, which breaks away from the main storyline into a Christmas tale. The plot of the comic is hard to decipher, as it contains no dialogue, monologue, or text boxes. Inexplicably, Warrior attacks the North Pole, usurps Santa Claus' authority over the elves, and in the final frame, which gained the comic its enduring popularity, a sweaty Warrior forces Santa into bondage gear and poses beside him. The apparent sexual undertones, lack of an actual plot, and non-sequitur nature (nothing from the previous issue served to segue into the Santa attack issue) gained the comic cult popularity, especially on the internet. Though nothing sexually explicit is depicted in the comic, some fans have come to describe it as the "santa rape" issue; more commonly, it is referred to as "the one where Warrior puts Santa in bondage".

According to Warrior, six issues of the WARRIOR comic book were created, as well as a "Warrior Graphic Novel that revealed the story behind the creation of Warrior’s Comic Book Universe". However, only the first four issues of the comic were actually produced.

The comic was reviewed by The Spoony Experiment along with Linkara. In the video, it is depicted as the single worst comic in existence, dubbing it the "anti-comic". Spoony heavily criticized the comic's over-abundance of text, the odd and over-muscled artwork, and the lack of any clear storyline. However, the main source of criticism was the bizarre and unusual manner of grammar and speech. This ranged from poorly-written speeches on pseudo-philosophy, the invention of words such as "destrucity" and "foked", and too many ellipses in the dialogue.

Issue #2

Issue #3

Issue #4

The following YouTube video could probably serve as a pretty good trailer for the comic, because it makes about as much sense. Pretty much, Warrior was batshit insane.

The A-Team #1-#3 (Marvel Comics, 1984)

2010-02-13T11:03:00.000-08:00

Being a long-time fan of Mr. T, it should come as no surprise that I actually own this little oddity from the 1980s...

Download Link

Chilling Adventures in Sorcery (As Told By Sabrina) #1 & #2

2010-02-06T23:06:00.000-08:00

Here's a short-lived odd 1972 attempt made by Archie Comics to do a horror anthology title, this time around hosted by Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. It's actually rather chilling and slightly disorienting to see straight horror tales being done in the classic Stan Goldberg/ Dan DeCarlo Archie "house" style...

(Thanks to Zen Tiger for these scans)

Issue #1

Issue #2

The Adventures of Superman OTR- The first 75 episodes

2010-01-31T19:06:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the folks over at Internet Archive, here's the first 75 episodes of the classic Adventures of Superman Old Time Radio Show....enjoy!

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Airboy #1-#12 (Eclipse Comics, 1986)

2010-01-31T18:58:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid in the 1980s, I was a huge fan of Chuck Dixon and Tim Truman's revamp of the old Golden Age property AIRBOY. Recently, I learned that Moonstone Graphics had acquired the license to do the character and eagerly await any new material that may be coming from them. This news prompted me to break out my old copies of the series (which ran for 50 issues, as well as a few spin-off mini-series and one shots) and re-read them....and, even though they are a nice slice of 1980s late Cold War era military action, they still hold up pretty well today. Good stuff...

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Super Duper Comics #3 (1947)

2010-01-28T15:03:00.000-08:00

Being a HUGE Mr. Monster fan, I've always loved the fact that "creator" Michael T. Gilbert basically took a Golden Age character that appeared a few times in a Canadian publication that had fallen into the public domain, and turned it into a career...

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Kenner Super Powers Collection Mini-Comics (DC Comics)

2010-01-14T17:23:00.001-08:00

When I was a kid, I was infatuated with this line of toys...I mean, it was the first time in my young existence that I could actually own toys based upon my great love: comic books.

Here's Wikipedia with a little info:

The Super Powers Collection was a line of action figures based on DC Comics superheroes and supervillains that was created by Kenner Toys in the 1980s.

In 1984, DC Comics awarded the license of their characters to Kenner Toys, hot on the heels of Mattel's "action feature" heavy He-Man toy line. Winning the license away from Mego Corporation and Mattel with their emphasis on action and art, Kenner devised hidden mechanisms within the figures that would trigger an action when the figures legs or arms were squeezed. This emphasis on each figure's "super power" led to the naming of the line - The Super Powers Collection. Each figure in the first two series were also packaged with a mini-comic featuring that character's adventures.

Comic creator Jack Kirby received some of the only royalties of his long career for redesigning his characters for Kenner. Artist George Pérez also received royalties for his design of Cyborg and redesign of Lex Luthor and Brainiac. Most all other designs (and much of the packaging artwork) is based on José Luis García-López's classic DC Style Guides (other artwork used appears to be the work of Dick Giordano).

In all, three series of figures and accessories were released (in 1984, 1985, and 1986), but after three years of production the line collapsed. Coincidentally, Kenner's Star Wars line stopped shipping to stores the same year the Super Powers line ended.

Once the line was in full force a merchandising frenzy took place, with DC Comics and Kenner slapping a Super Powers logo on whatever they possibly could. DC Comics produced three comic book mini-series featuring characters from the toyline, one during each year of the toyline's existence. These comics were separate from the continuity of the regular comics featuring the characters. Hanna Barbera also produced two animated series (a refreshing of the venerable Super Friends concept), called Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show and The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians. Warner Home Video used the opportunity to issue episodes of Superman, Batman, Superboy, and Aquaman produced by Filmation in 1966 on video cassette in 1985 under the Super Powers label, reissuing them again in 1996. Other tie-in products were produced, including lunchboxes and posters. Only the toy line carried the "Collection" tag; all other merchandise would have a solo "Super Powers" logo.

Highly prized today, Kenner's distribution practices of including up to 18 of one character in a case of 24 led to a glut of the core characters throughout the life of the line, and a rapid demise. Due to this practice, certain figures such as Cyborg, Golden Pharaoh, and Plastic Man remain rare to this day while the Flash and Superman are easily found. Another reason the Super Powers Collection is so highly sought after is the inclusion of both popular and little-known characters throughout the line. While the First Series featured well-known characters, the Second Series concentrated on figures from Kirby's New Gods Saga, and the Third Series mixed both DC Comics acquisitions from other companies and figures created solely for the line.

Unreleased figures

After 10 years of chronicling the history of the Super Powers Collection, in 2003 toy historian Jason Geyer's ToyOtter website revealed the never seen designs for the unmade Series Four, Five, and Six, along with vehicles, playsets and a deluxe "Power Plus" figure line. The most famous of these is the Man-Bat figure, of which an actual prototype was created.

Prior to Super Powers, one manufacturer (in this case, the Mego Corporation) licensed both DC and Marvel characters for action figures. When the Secret Wars toyline, by Mattel, came onto the retail toy scene, it was setup as direct competition for the Kenner line. These figures, similar in scale to the Super Powers Collection, introduced a competing marketing strategy between manufacturers of Marvel and DC action figures, continuing to separate the comic book publishers' character licenses. That trend continues to this day.

The Super Powers line, in many ways, inspired the 1989 Toy Biz DC Super Heroes toyline in design. This line, merging with the Batman toyline would borrow design elements from many of the Kenner figures, most notably Superman, Robin, and Penguin who were near identical copies of the Kenner figures.

Mattel's DC Universe Classics line also draws inspiration from the Super Powers figures. Several figures that were redesigned for the Super Powers line (Mantis, Parademon, and Steppenwolf) were produced for DC Universe Classics in both comic-accurate and Super Powers-accurate versions. A Cyclotron figure is also being released, even though the character only appeared as part of the Super Powers line.

Based on definitive style guide artwork, with moderate articulation and hidden action features, the Kenner Super Powers Collection eventually released 34 figures, eight vehicles, and one playset. In addition, Latin and South American toymakers introduced three characters not available in the US. In Argentina, toy company Pacipa (and later Play Ful) produced El Acertijo (Riddler), which was a Green Lantern figure in different paint. It was released in Argentina under the Super Amigos (Super Friends) brand. Brazilian toy company Gulliver produced El Capitan Rayo (Captain Lightning, but sometimes anglicized simply 'Captain Ray'), and his unique nemesis 'Hombre de las Nieves' (Yeti/The Abominable Snowman). Though most Gulliver Super Powers characters were branded 'Super Powers' (the characters that Kenner also made), the unique Rayo and Yeti were released under the 'Super Heroes' brand to distinguish them. They were available in Colombia.

Super Powers Mini-Comics Pack 1

Super Powers Mini-Comics Pack 2

For a great resource of info on the classic toy line, be sure to check out:

The Super Powers Archive

Hee-Haw (Charlton Comics)

2010-01-14T13:59:00.000-08:00

Just proof that Charlton would license anything, here's two issues of their comic book adaptation of a television comedy/variety show that is near and dear to my heart: HEE-HAW

Dr. OldSchool from a forum I frequent had this to say:
"The comic ran for 7 issues starting July 1970 until August 1971."

#3 Download Link

#5 Download Link

Thane of Bagarth (Charlton Comics)

2010-01-14T13:16:00.001-08:00

To continue with this lazy day of multiple post, I present some reprints from Charlton's great "Last Gasp" period of publishing (around 1985, after one last attempt at comic book publishing, Charlton finally gave up the ghost). This time it's Thane of Balgarth, a neat little sword and sorcery title with early work by Jim Aparo...

#24 Download Link

#25 Download Link

Speed Buggy #2, #3, & #5 (Charlton Comics)

2010-01-14T12:59:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Zen Tiger for these great CBR files....

One of my favorite Hanna Barbera properties as a kid was Speed Buggy, and I've found as a comic book collector that his short-lived book published by Charlton in the 1970s is like hen's teeth trying to find....

Download Link

Jingle Belle Volume One (Oni Press)- 2009 Christmas Countdown

2009-11-28T02:53:00.000-08:00

To get things rolling with this year's Christmas Countdown, I figured I'd share a guilty little pleasure I've been enjoying for a few years now: Paul Dini's Jingle Belle...

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Charlton Bullseye #5: WarHund (Charlton Comics, 1982)

2009-11-07T13:50:00.000-08:00

From Wikipedia:

Charlton Bullseye was the title of a Charlton Comics short-lived showcase comic series published in 1981. Several new story using their "Action Heroes" appeared, before they would sell them to DC Comics. After the cancellation of this title, stories intended for it would be published in "Scary Tales" #36-40, which explains the superhero story "Mr. Jigsaw" in #38 and "Dragon Force" in #40.Contents: 1/ Blue Beetle and The Question with art by Dan Reed. 2/"Funny Animal" stories featuring the first appearance of Neil the Horse by Arn Saba. 3/Swords and Sorcery/Science Fiction 4/The Vanguards by Larry Houston. (All-woman super team) 5/The Barbarian, Warhund with art by Chas Truog and colors by Wendy Fiore. 6/Thunder Bunny by Martin L. Greim. (first appearance) Mike Mauser story by Rick Burchett. 7/Captain Atom with art by Dan Reed and Nightshade by Bill Black. 8/Horror stories 9/"Bludd, the Ultimate Barbarian" a science fiction barbarian story. Art partially done by Gene Day. 10/Thunder Bunny In 1985, a final attempt at a revival was spearheaded by new Editor T.C. Ford with a direct-market only version of Charlton Bullseye Special which featured work by then newcomers Amanda Conner, T.C. Ford and Chris Pridgen. United Comics, T.C. Ford's publishing house, plans to reprint this edition as Shockwave #1 in 2008.

I recently picked up a copy of Charlton Bullseye #5 featuring Warhund at a local dirtmal/fleamarket, amongst a stack of about 30 various Bronze Age oddball books and early/mid 1980s indy books for 50 cents apiece. Then, a weird coincidence happened...

I was bored one night, and after having finished reading the final issue of the recent DC Comics miniseries, The Last Days of Animal Man, I decided to break out my copies of Grant Morrison's run of the character's series and re-read them. In Animal Man #23, I ran across the following two panels (during Morrison's "Second Crisis" storyline)....

Seems that the artist of that particular run of Animal, Chas. Truog...the creator of Warhund.

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Josie and the Pussycats 1971 Kellogg's 45rpm

2009-11-01T14:56:00.000-08:00

In 1971, Kellogg's offered four .45 rpm records for 35 cents apiece featuring Josie and the Pussycats.

From Wikipedia:

In preparation for the upcoming cartoon series, Hanna-Barbera began working on putting together a real-life Josie and the Pussycats girl group, who would provide the singing voices of the girls in the cartoons and also record an album. Many of the songs on the album would be used in the cartoon as well.
The Josie and the Pussycats recordings were produced by La La Productions, run by Danny Janssen and Bobby Young. They held a talent search to find three girls who would match the three girls in the comic book in both looks and singing ability, and, after interviewing over 500 finalists, settled upon casting Kathleen Dougherty (Cathy Dougher) as Josie, Cherie Moor (actress Cheryl Ladd) as Melody, and Patrice Holloway as Valerie.
Janssen presented the newly formed band to William Hanna and Joseph Barbera to finalize the production deal, but was in for a surprise. Hanna-Barbera wanted Janssen to recast Patrice Holloway, because they had decided to portray "Josie and the Pussycats" as an all-white trio and had altered Valerie, who was African-American in the comic book, to make her white. Janssen refused to recast Holloway and threatened to walk away from the project. After a three-week-long stand-off between Janssen and Hanna-Barbera, Hanna-Barbera finally relented and allowed Janssen to keep Holloway, and changed Valerie back to being African-American.
Despite the popular belief that Valerie was the first African-American cast member on a regular animated series, the first African-American character was actually from another animated series about a rock band. Filmation Studios short-lived Hardy Boys series featured an African American drummer named Pete Jones (portrayed by real-life session drummer Bob Crowder in live segments), and it aired in 1969, a year before Josie and the Pussycats. However, Valerie was the very first female African-American cast member on a regular Saturday morning cartoon.

Theme song:
The show’s theme song, titled "Josie and the Pussycats", was written by Hoyt Curtin, William Hanna (under the pseudonym "Denby Williams"), and Joseph Barbera (under the pseudonym "Joseph Roland"). Patrice Holloway, the singing voice of Valerie, sings the lead vocal on the recording. A cover of "Josie and the Pussycats", performed by Juliana Hatfield and Tanya Donelly, is included on the 1995 tribute album Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits, produced by Ralph Sall for MCA Records.

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Mighty Marvel Monsterbash 2009: Dracula- Sovereign of the Damned (Toei 1980)

2009-10-25T11:24:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid, I became a huge fan of Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan's amazing Marvel Comics' effort, Tomb of Dracula. It's 70 issue run is considered by myself to be one of the better attempts at the horror genre in sequential art....but...it's anime adaptation? Some of the best unintentional humor on the planet.

From Wikipedia:

In 1980, an animated television movie based on Marvel Comics' Tomb of Dracula was released. Much of the main plot was condensed and many characters and subplots were truncated or omitted. The film was animated in Japan by Toei and sparsely released on cable TV in North America by Harmony Gold under the title Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned, and has been released on VHS as The Tomb of Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned.

Download Links:
Part1

Part2

Part3

Part4

Part5

Italian Spiderman (2008)

2009-10-11T10:57:00.000-07:00

Figured I'd take a break from the Halloween festivities and share somethings that's been giving me alot of laughs over the last few days....Italian Spiderman!

From Wikipedia:
"Italian Spiderman is a film parody of Italian action–adventure films of the 60s and 70s currently being developed by Alrugo Entertainment, an Australian film-making collective formed by Dario Russo, Tait Wilson, David Ashby, Will Spartalis and Boris Repasky. The film is a reference to foreign movies that misappropriate popular American superheroes such as: the Indian version of Superman (1987), I Fantastici Tre Supermen (3 Fantastic Supermen) (1967) and La Mujer Murcielago (The Batwoman) (1968).

As of 23 July 2008, ten mini-episodes of Italian Spiderman have been released.

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4:

Episode 5:

Episode 6:

Episode 7:

Episode 8:

Episode 9:

```
Episode 10
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Dick Durock R.I.P. (January 18, 1937 – September 17, 2009)

2009-10-05T14:59:00.000-07:00

Sadly, I just discovered (about three weeks too late) that veteran stuntman Dick Durock passed away. I came across the information while trying to figure out a way to work a DC property onto the current Mighty Marvel Monsterbash I have going one here and over at our sister blog, Attack of the B-Movie Muzak...I was thinking about doing something along the lines of posting about the odd coincidences surrounding the Marvel character Man-Thing and Swamp Thing...

Here's some info on Dick, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Richard "Dick" Durock (January 18, 1937 – September 17, 2009) was an American stuntman and actor who has appeared in over eighty films and over seven hundred television episodes.

He was known for playing Swamp Thing in both the feature films Swamp Thing and The Return of Swamp Thing and the subsequent television show.
Durock also played a Hulk-like creature on the television series The Incredible Hulk, two part episode titled "The First", where it was revealed that David Banner was not the first man to become a creature; another scientist accidentally created one "about thirty years ago" while similarly seeking a way to use radiation to increase strength. Durock also appeared in the Clint Eastwood films The Enforcer (1976) and Any Which Way You Can (1980) as well as Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze (1975). Durock was born in South Bend, Indiana to Sadie (Medich) and David Durock. He resided in Southern California and appeared at fan conventions. Durock died from pancreatic cancer at his home in Oak Park, California on September 17, 2009. He was a veteran of the United States Marine Corps.

Above: Dick Durock - Imperious Leader from the "classic" Battlestar Galactica

Swamp Thing Green Peace PSA (1989)

Download Link

Recently, the website Dread Central conducted an audio interview with Dick (around the time the first Swamp Thing TV series season box set hit DVD...you can find that interview here.

Mighty Marvel Mosterbash 2009: Marvel Super Special #1- KISS (1977)

2009-10-04T20:36:00.000-07:00

Y'know...whenever I think of the early Halloween "beggar's nights" I participated in during my youth (or at least the part of it spent in the late 1970s), my memories are filled with imagery connected to the band KISS....

Hell, I'm pretty sure that I went dressed as Peter Criss at least twice prior to my seventh birthday....

Anyways, I figured now would be as good a time as any to share scans of one of the more oddball pieces of my comic book collection: Marvel Super Special #1: KISS....

Here's a little background on the book, courtesy of Snopes.com:

Claim: Blood from KISS band members was mixed with the red ink used to print the first KISS comic book.

Status: True

Origins: Given that the concept for the band KISS drew upon comic book superheroes almost as much as upon music itself, they were a natural to feature someday in their very own comic. Sure enough, that came to pass in 1977 when Marvel Comics issued the first Super Special KISS comic book.
Never one to pass up a good marketing opportunity, KISS willingly went along with a promotional gimmick invented to spur sales of the first edition. As Gene Simmons recalled:
As the KISS comic book project moved along, someone came up with the idea of putting real blood in the ink. It wasn't me — maybe it was Bill [Aucoin] or Sean [Delaney]. We got into a DC3, one of those big prop planes, and flew up to Buffalo to Marvel's printing plant, where they pour the ink and make comic books. A notary public actually witnessed the blood being drawn.
Sure enough, KISS members allowed their blood to be drawn during a concert stop, and they later flew up to New York to be photographed adding their vials of donated blood to a barrel of red ink. A notary public duly certified the authenticity of the process, and the notarized document was made available as the "KISS comic book contract":
This is to certify that KISS members, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley, Paul Stanley and Peter Criss, have each donated blood which is being collectively mixed with the red ink to be used for the first issue of the Marvel/KISS comics. The blood was extracted on February 21st, 1977 at Nassau Coliseum and has been under guarded refrigeration until this day when it was delivered to the Borden Ink plant in Depew, New York.

A subsequent rumor maintained that, due to a mix-up at the printers', the batch of red ink containing the blood of KISS members was actually used for a print run of Sports Illustrated magazine and did not end up in the Marvel Comic as intended.

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Mighty Marvel Mosterbash 2009: Giant Size Man-Thing #5

2009-09-27T21:14:00.000-07:00

We start off this year's Mighty Marvel Monsterbash a few days early this year with this post spotlighting one of the best vampires ever to grace a comic page: HELLCOW!

Hellcow first appeared in Giant-Sized Man-Thing #5 from 1975....and the rest is history. I guess...

Above: Hellcow bio (click to enlarge)

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John Carter of Mars Test Footage (1935 Bob Clampett)

2009-09-23T12:07:00.001-07:00

From Wikipedia:

In 1931, Looney Tunes director Bob Clampett approached Edgar Rice Burroughs to adapt A Princess of Mars into a feature length film. Burroughs responded enthusiastically to the idea, recognizing live action would have limited where an adaptation could go visually, but advised Clampett to write an original adventure for Carter. Working with Burroughs' son John Coleman in 1935, Clampett used rotoscope and hand-drawn techniques to capture the action, tracing over the motions of an athlete who performed John Carter's powerful movements in the reduced Martian gravity. Clampett designed Tharks, the Green Martians of Barsoom, which he attempted to give a believable appearance, and produced footage of them riding eight-legged thoats at a gallop, which showed all eight legs in coordinated motion. He also produced footage of a fleet of rocket ships emerging from a Martian volcano. MGM was to release the cartoons, and studio heads were enthusiastic about the series.

Unfortunately, the footage received negative reactions from exhibitors across the US, especially in small towns, many of whom opined that the concept of an Earthman on Mars was too outlandish for Midwest American audiences. The series was not given the go-ahead, and Clampett was instead encouraged to produce an animated Tarzan series, an offer which he later declined. Clampett mused that there was irony in MGM's decision, as the Flash Gordon series released in 1936 by Universal Studios was highly successful, and speculated that MGM thought that serials were only played to children during Saturday Matinees, and the John Carter tales would be seen by adults during the evening. The footage Clampett produced was for many years believed lost until Burroughs' grandson, Danton Burroughs, found some of the film tests in the Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. archives in the early 1970s. Had A Princess of Mars been released, it would have beaten Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to become the first American feature-length animated film by five years.

Download Link:

John Carter of Mars test (1935) mpeg

Willy Lumpkin & Homer the Happy Ghost: Dan DeCarlo rarities

2009-09-12T19:17:00.000-07:00

Y'know what I really love to do when I'm terribly depressed and blue? It involves comics...and, well....I'm an odd guy.

One thing I love to do, and trust me, it's hilarious even if it might be considered blasphemous, is go to my local comic shop and pull out four or five issues of The Incredible Hulk, circa 1970s, out of their quarter boxes (because condition doesn't really matter), read 'em...and while reading them, take an ink pen and magic marker and replace the word "Hulk" with "Jesus" wherever it might appear, and draw a little beard on the Hulk. Then, go back and read it again.

This exercise is priceless, I assure you. Try it sometime.

The other is go to whatever public retail venue that might be near that sells comic books that isn't a comic shop (the grocery store, Wal-Mart, gas station) and buy an Archie comic book. This is actually quite a chore, because if you haven't noticed, comics have lost their foothold on the American newsstand, and Archie Comics is one of the few left that's actually stuck it out and is still hanging in there.

Now, I do this because Archie Andrews and his world of Riverdale is comfort food for the fanboy. Over the last nearly 70 years of publication, Archie and the gang have stayed stagnant. Nothing really changes for them except clothing styles and slang. No matter how hectic your life has become, or what troubles you may be facing, the Riverdale kids and their supporting cast remain the same. Sure, within the last few years, Archie Comics has begun experimenting with concepts that seem completely foreign to them, yet common place with all other publishers...i.e., continuing storylines, cross-overs, and the occasional change of pace from the Archie "house" art style....an art style that was pretty much defined by one man in the late 1960s: the late Dan DeCarlo...but pretty much things are how they've always been in Riverdale. And, I find that comforting and endearing...it's nice to go someplace where (much like the fictional bar "Cheers") everybody does know your name...and they're happy to see you again...just like the last time you were around. It's the comic book fan's equivalent to going back home again...

So, to celebrate the works of DeCarlo, I figured I'd dig deep and drag out some really obscure stuff...

Homer the Happy Ghost, as you can probably already tell, was Atlas/Timely/Marvel's none-to-subtly veiled rip-off of the incredibly successful Harvey Comics "Casper the Friendly Ghost" property, which was written by Stan Lee and illustrated by DeCarlo in the 1950s. In 1970, Marvel decided to revive the series, which was basically reprints of the 50s material that lasted around 5 issues...

From Wikipedia:

Homer the Happy Ghost was published by Atlas Comics in the 1950s. His first issue was dated March 1955. All of the issues were written by Stan Lee and Dan DeCarlo. The title lasted until 1958.

Willie Lumpkin, has a much more amazing tale, as told again by Wikipedia:

The character was originally created for a syndicated, daily comic strip by writer Stan Lee and artist Dan DeCarlo. Lee had initially submitted samples of a strip about a New York City beat cop, but was told by his editor that it was too "big city-ish" and that he wanted a friendly mailman to better appeal to mainstream America. Willie Lumpkin, which was only published in 1960, drew humor from the people and situations Willie Lumpkin would encounter along his mail delivery route in the small town of "Glenville."

Lee and artist Jack Kirby then introduced their comic book version of Willie Lumpkin in Fantastic Four #11 (February, 1963). The comic book Lumpkin is depicted as significantly older than in the comic strip, though the character's good nature was retained, as were references to his past as a mailman in Glenville, which the comic book located in Nebraska.

In his first comic book appearance, Lumpkin is represented as having befriended the Fantastic Four, to whom he makes regular fan mail deliveries at their Baxter Building headquarters in New York City. He half-jokingly requests to join the team on the grounds that he has the "power" to wiggle his ears. He serves as their mailman for many years, and on occasion falls into the zone of danger that typically surrounds the adventuring heroes. Examples include a story in which he is forced to spend Christmas Eve locked in a closet while the Fantastic Four fight the Super-Skrull, when he helped to save the team from the Mad Thinker, or when he is mind-controlled into accessing Doctor Doom's time machine by a minion of Immortus. An alien Skrull also impersonates him in another story to infiltrate the Fantastic Four's headquarters. Willie Lumpkin also crossed over into Spider-Man comics, where he briefly dates Spider-Man's Aunt May.

Willie Lumpkin appeared in his own solo feature in Marvel Comics Presents #18 (May, 1989). The fan-favorite story was a parody of A Christmas Carol in which Lumpkin is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past, who had intended to haunt cantankerous Spider-Man nemesis J. Jonah Jameson but couldn't find his address. The story concludes with the normally amiable postman deciding that he hates Christmas.

Willie has since retired, and his niece Billie has taken his position as the Fantastic Four's mail carrier.

Above: Willy's niece- Wilhemina "Billie" Lumpkin

Willie appears in Fantastic Four #543, being interviewed about the FF on the news show 'Lateline'. He talks about how, though the group took on cosmic menaces, they always found time to greet him.

In a lovely little bit of comic book geek fan service, none other than Lumpkin co-creator, Stan Lee, portrayed the mightiest mail carrier of the Marvel Universe in the 2005 Fantastic Four film...

Download Links:

Homer the Happy Ghost #1 (1970) CBR file
Willy Lumpkin CBR file..

Private Snuffy Smith (Monogram Pictures,1942)

2009-09-03T21:23:00.000-07:00

I love Snuffy Smith....it comes from the fact that I grew up in a rural farmland region, and have been tagged with the label "hillbilly" in the past. Regardless of the fact that I'm a college graduate with three degrees, the first reaction I get from folks when they discover the area that I grew up in is that one of ,"Oh.....you're from the sticks....." and immediately they seem to pass judgment on my educational background and intelligence. I soooo love the moment that tends to happen later when they realize they're fuckin' with someone who's probably smarter than them, and possesses a quick wit and a wise-acre smart mouth, to boot. I tend to cut people like that to ribbons verbally, showing no mercy or remorse for their feelings.

It's the little things that bring me joy....

Anyways...I love so-called cornball hillbilly humor. Not so much the current variety that has peaked in popularity (the whole Blue Collar Comedy Tour can kiss my ass with their collective unfunny lips), but the old school stuff.....Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, Li'l Abner (Al Capp was a genius), Lum n' Abner on the radio, The Beverly Hillbillies and The Dukes of Hazzard on the movin' picture box and such....I just find the stuff endearing. So sue me.

From Wikipedia:

Private Snuffy Smith is a 1942 American film directed by Edward F. Cline and starring Bud Duncan as Snuffy Smith.
Snuffy Smith has been for many years the predominant character in the syndicated newspaper comic strip Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, created by Billy DeBeck and later drawn by Fred Lasswell from 1942 until 2001 (when Laswell died). The strip is currently drawn by John Rose.

Snuffy is a stereotypical hillbilly. He lives in a shack, makes moonshine, is in constant trouble with the sheriff and is very shiftless, occasionally doing a small amount of farm work but primarily working his still and loafing. He also has some proclivity toward stealing chickens, which led to a brief but effective use of his character in a marketing campaign by the Tyson Foods corporation in the early 1980s.

He is very short, wears a broad-brimmed felt hat almost as tall as he is, has a scraggly mustache and wears a pair of tattered, poorly patched overalls. He constantly cheats at poker and checkers. His speech is ungrammatical in the extreme. In fact, almost all of the characters in the strip (except of course for the occasional visiting "flatlander") have been stereotypical hillbillies – sharp-tongued gossipy women such as his wife Loweezy (Louisa); his baby Tater; his nephew Jughaid (Jughead); his neighbors Elviney and Lukey (Lucas Ebenezer);^[1] the sanctimonious (but nonetheless ungrammatical) Parson; Silas, the owner of the General Store; the ostentatiously badged Sheriff Tait and others. Vehicles were rundown jalopies of a seeming 1920s vintage, even in the 1970s and beyond.

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Fantastic Four Radio Show Re-Up

2009-08-25T22:59:00.000-07:00

After several attempts at posting the show myself in it's entirety, I've just left all the hard work up to the folks over at the INTERNET ARCHIVE and figured I'd post their links...

LINK ONE

LINK TWO

The Demon #7 (March 1973, DC Comics)- the Weird Story of Klarion the Witchboy

2009-07-27T00:27:00.000-07:00

A few things spurred on this post, and it all sorta fell together like some odd string of coincidences within a few minutes...

1.) This weekend, the talk of fandom was the 40th annual San Diego ComicCon
2.) I'm a HUGE Jack Kirby fan, especially of the character being presented here: Etrigan the Demon.
3.) I'm a fan of the country and western music (not so much the contemporary stuff, but the music that tends to fall into the current category of "classic country"...basically anything recorded circa late 1940s to the late 1980s...

Out of boredom, I pulled out an old issue of the publication THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR I had laying around...issue #44, from 2005, to be exact. Thumbing through it, I came across an article entitled, "Witchboy, All Grown Up" by John Morrow which was an interview he conducted with Barry Alfonso, the guy who served as the visual inspiration for the character Klarion the Witch-Boy, a villain from Etrigan's rogues gallery...

Pictured Above: Klarion as he appeared the recent Grant Morrison-helmed Seven Soldiers mini-series, the Witch-Boy from an episode of Justice League Unlimited (if I remember correctly) and a circa 1970s pic of Alfonso (center) with Carmine Infantino and Jack Kirby...

It seems, according to this interview, that Alfonso was good friends in 1968 with comic book dealer Shel Dorf, and that Barry led to the eventual meeting of Dorf and another California comics deaer (and mutual friend) Richard Alf. As Alfonso recalls:

"I recall putting Richard and Shel in contact with one another, and that led to the first meeting of what became the founding group of the San Diego Comic Con (Others attending were, I believe, Bob Sourk, Dan Stewart, and Mike Towry)."

What did the Witch-Boy do when he grew up? Well, he's credited as the co-writer of the Pam Tillis (the daughter of stuttering Mel Tellis, a man best known by film fans for performing "I'm Just a Coca Cola Cowboy" in the Clint Eastwood film, EVERY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE) 1995 country hit, "In Between Dances" and he's a Grammy winner, for his liner notes to a collection of Peter, Paul, and Mary tunes...

It's a small world, after all...especially when playing "Six Degrees of Jack Kirby"....

Download Links:

THE DEMON #7 CBR file

Bonus: Witchboy Extras! The aforementioned interview from The Jack Kirby Collector #44, and an mp3 copy of "In Between Dances" by Pam Tillis

EXTRAS

Frazetta- Tally Ho! Comics #nn (December 1944, Swappers Quarterly)

2009-07-06T04:54:00.000-07:00

Like most folks my age, I discovered the amazing works of the legendary Frank Frazetta via the covers of various Warren Publications, such as CREEPY, EERIE, etc, and his paperback cover artwork, specifically his iconic pieces done for characters connected to the works of Robert E. Howard, such as CONAN the BARBARIAN...

Don't even get me started on the Molly Hatchet album covers...being an unsuspecting and naive young metalhead in the early 1980s, I mistakenly thought that the tone of the fabulous Frank Frazetta "Death Dealer" covers of the albums reflected the sound of the music. My first experience listening to "Flirtin' With Disaster" proved that to be a mistake...LOL!

Anyways, here's a delightfully insane little piece of history, Tally Ho! Comics from 1944 featuring Frazetta's first published comics artwork....it's the Snowman, a wooden idol (who resembles a snowman, naturally) who comes to life to combat the evil machinations of standard issue bad guy The Fang. From what I've been able to gather, this was the Snowman's first and only appearance...and the world is just a little bit sadder because of it....

Download Link
Tally Ho!- Frazetta's Snowman CBR file

The Green Hornet- Universal Serials

2009-06-07T16:29:00.000-07:00

I've been a big fan of the cliffhanger serials of the 1930s/1940s for years, and these two are probably two of my favorites of the now defunct cinematic format....

The Green Hornet (1940) is a Universal movie serial based on the The Green Hornet radio series by George W. Trendle.

The Green Hornet, secretly newspaper publisher Britt Reid, and his Korean valet Kato stop and expose several seemingly separate crimes. This leads them into continued conflict with The Leader, the criminal mastermind behind The Syndicate and the individual crimes.

Download Links (Hosted by Internet Archive)

The Green Hornet Strikes Again (1941)
The Green Hornet and his sidekick Kato return to face Boss Crogan and his varied rackets across the city in The Green Hornet Strikes Again!

Download Link (Hosted by Internet Archive)

The Spirit Magazine #1 (1974, Warren Publishing)

2009-05-18T21:53:00.000-07:00

I recently purchased and re-watched (I'd already caught it during it's theatrical run) Frank Miller's directorial effort, the film adaptation of Will Eisner's immortal THE SPIRIT...

While I'm still out on the fence as to what my opinion about Miller's movie is, I figured it'd be a good time to share how I discovered the character with my blog-reading friends...

Like many fans my age (who grew up in the late 1970s and 1980s), I first discovered both Eisner's work and his creation Denny Colt in the Warren Publications magazine of the mid-1970s.

Again, with the Wikipedia stuff:

Warren Publishing and later Denis Kitchen's Kitchen Sink Press published extensive reprints, first as large black-and-white magazines (the Warren part of the run eventually having a color section), then as trade paperbacks. The magazines often featured new Eisner covers.

Two new stories were written during this period "The Capistrano Jewels", a 4-page story published in the second issue of the Kitchen Sink reprints in 1972; and "The Invader", a 5-page story (reprinted in The Will Eisner Color treasury).

In 1976, an oddity called "The Spirit Casebook of True Haunted Houses and Ghosts" was published. The Spirit plays the EC host, introducing "true" stories of haunted houses. The Spirit makes a cameo in Vampirella #50.

Download Link (Hosted By MediaFire)
The Spirit Magazine #1 CBZ file

Super Goof #1 (Gold Key, 1965)

2009-05-12T12:57:00.000-07:00

Being a big fan of the funny animal superhero parody/ satire, this book became a favorite during my youth. During the last few years, I've been working towards tracking down a complete run of all 74 issues. The final issue, #74, holds the distinction of being one of the last Disney licensed books that the great Dell/GoldKey/Whitman empire published prior to ceasing all comic book publication in April 1984.

From Wikipedia:

Super Goof (also Super Pippo) is a fictional character, the Disney character Goofy's superhero alter ego. He gets his power by eating Super Goobers (peanuts). His powers are similar to Superman's. Goofy became the first Disney character to get a career as a superhero, but several would follow — notably Donald Duck as Paperinik, whose reliance on gadgets and the night made him more of a Batman figure.

Super Goof first appeared in The Phantom Blot #2 (February, 1965) by Del Connell (story) and Paul Murry (art), where he was just imagining that he was a super hero. He made his first appearance as an actual superhero in Donald Duck #102 (July, 1965), in the story "All's Well that Ends Awful", also by Connell and Murry. In his third appearance, "The Thief of Zanzipar" from Super Goof #1 (October, 1965), the origin of his powers is meteor-irradiated peanuts. In later stories, Super Goof not only encountered the Phantom Blot, but also such adversaries as Black Pete, the Beagle Boys, Emil Eagle, and Mad Madam Mim.

Super Goof's secret identity is known only to his nephew Gilbert who also calls himself Super Gilly on occasion. His favourite "shout" is Ta-Dah. Comic relief in the stories would spring from the fact that Super Goof's powers would "wear off" at the least opportune moments, such as when he was flying or in need of super strength. Goofy always kept a few Super Goobers in his hat, but would occasionally forget to restock, leading to situations in which he would have to get out of trouble without the super powers. In a crossover story, Huey, Dewey and Louie found a Super Goober plant sprouted by a dropped goober, and "borrowed" Super Goof's powers; after doing a round of super deeds, the ducks' powers faded, and they had to be rescued by the Junior Woodchucks.

Super Goof had his own comic book series from 1965 to 1984 with a 74-issue run from Gold Key Comics. Reprints appeared in Walt Disney Comics Digest, one of the Dynabrite deluxe comics issued by Western in the late 1970s, and Disney Comic Album #8 (1990) from Disney Comics. The first release in the German-language Heimliche Helden book series by Ehapa published Oct. 2005 was devoted to Super Goof. Gemstone reprinted a story drawn by Jack Bradbury for the Studio Program as a backup in their 2006 release Return of the Blotman with the rescripting handled by longtime Super Goof aficionado Joe Torcivia. He also appeared in one episode of House of Mouse.

Download Link (Hosted by Rapidshare)

Super Goof #1 CBR file

In Search of Steve Ditko- BBC Documentary

2009-05-02T21:46:00.000-07:00

Excellent BBC production hosted by Jonathan Ross...I absolutely adore the Alan Moore interviews....

I've been a HUGE Ditko fan since discovering his work as a child in the Marvel reprint title Marvel Tales during a period in the early 1980s in which they were reprinting the entire Lee/Ditko run of Amazing Spider-Man....

Download Links (Hosted By Rapidshare)

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8

The Fantastic Four Radio Show (1975)

2009-04-27T14:18:00.000-07:00

• 01 - Fantastic Four meets the Mole Man
• 02 - Menace of the Miracleman
• 03 - Coming of the Submariner
• 04 - Dreaded Dr Doom
• 05 - Prisoners of the Puppet Master
• 06 - Fantastic Four meet the Incredible Hulk

Download Link (Hosted by Megaupload)
FF Radio Show Ep. 1-6

• 07 - Spell of the Hate Monger
• 08 - Return of Dr Doom
• 09 - In the Clutches of Dr Doom
• 10 - Super Skrull Walks Among Us
• 11 - At the Mercy of the Red Ghost
• 12 - Menace of the Red Ghost
• 13 - Submariner Strikes

Download Link (Hosted by Rapidshare)
(Link down....coming back soon)

The Conquerer (Dell Movie Classics #690, 1956)

2009-04-26T19:35:00.000-07:00

WTF?!? John Wayne as Genghis Khan?!? UNINTENTIONAL COMEDY GOLDMINE! Plus, the backstory and the aftermath of the filming is a priceless bit of madness...

Take it away, Wikipedia:

The Conqueror is a 1956 CinemaScope epic film produced by Howard Hughes and starring John Wayne as the Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan. Other performers included Susan Hayward, Agnes Moorehead, and Pedro Armendáriz. The picture was directed by actor/director Dick Powell. The film was principally shot near St. George, Utah.

The picture was a critical and commercial failure (often ranked as one of the worst films of the 1950s), which is remarkable given the stature of the cast. Wayne, who was at the height of his career, had lobbied for the role after seeing the script and was widely believed to have been grossly miscast. (He was so "honored" by The Golden Turkey Awards.)

Reportedly, Howard Hughes felt guilty about his decisions regarding the film's production (see Cancer controversy below) and kept the film from view until 1974 when it was first broadcast on TV. The Conqueror, along with Ice Station Zebra, is said to be one of the films Hughes watched endlessly during his last years.

The exterior scenes were shot on location near St. George, Utah, 137 miles downwind of the United States government's Nevada Test Site, Operation Upshot-Knothole, where extensive above-ground nuclear weapons testing occurred during the 1950s. The cast and crew spent many difficult weeks on the site. In addition, Hughes later shipped 60 tons of dirt back to Hollywood for re-shoots. The cast and crew knew about the nuclear tests, there are pictures of Wayne holding a Geiger counter during production, but the link between exposure to radioactive fallout and cancer was poorly understood then.

Powell died of cancer in January 1963, only a few years after the picture's completion. Hayward, Wayne, and Moorehead all died of cancer in the mid to late 1970s. Cast member actor John Hoyt died of lung cancer in 1991. Pedro Armendáriz was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 1960 and committed suicide after he learned it was terminal. Skeptics point to other factors such as the wide use of tobacco— Wayne and Moorehead in particular were heavy smokers — and the notion that cancer resulting from radiation exposure does not have such a long incubation period. The cast and crew totaled 220. 91 developed some form of cancer by 1981 and 46 had died of it by then. Dr. Robert Pendleton, professor of biology at the University of Utah, stated, "With these numbers, this case could qualify as an epidemic. The connection between fallout radiation and cancer in individual cases has been practically impossible to prove conclusively. But in a group this size you'd expect only 30 some cancers to develop...I think the tie-in to their exposure on the set of The Conqueror would hold up in a court of law."

Download Link (Hosted by Internet Archive)

Dell Movie Classics #690 CBR file

Pulp Heroes: Justice, Inc. (DC Comics)

2009-04-20T05:13:00.000-07:00

I've held a long-time fascination with the pulp and radio heroes of the 1930s and '40s, for which I have my paternal grandmother and aunt to blame for. Now, hindsight is probably heavily embellished, so forgive any discrepancies that might follow, but as a small child with both parents working...I spent several afternoons with the two above-mentioned women pre-kindergarten in a household that still held to the values that the television was a device that shouldn't be turned on until 6 p.m. at the least. Hell, the first color set my grandmother ever owned was purchased by my father after my grandfather's death....in 1991.

So, to keep me occupied as a wee lad, my grandmother, who was a HUGE fan of radio drama during it's hey-dey, would literally (and remember what I said earlier about hindsight) verbally relate episodes of her favorite shows to me, verbatim. It wasn't until I was probably around the age of 6 or 7 that I came to the realization that The Shadow, The Green Hornet, Fibber McGee (and Molly), Amos n' Andy, and a whole slew of fictional characters were just that: fictional. I just thought they were folks that grandma knew....

So, when I came to discover that there were comic books produced about these heroes, it's a no-brainer I would take an interest. One of the first I came to discover during those early years of collecting in the early 1980s was what would become quite possibly one of my favorite DC Comics series of all time, Denny O'Neil and Mike Kaluta's excellent interpretation of The Shadow.

At some point later, while in high school, I would disocver Walter Gibson's other work, The Avenger, via ancient Bantam paperback reprints from the early 1970s and the short-lived DC Comics series Justice, Inc.....

I lucked into an entire run of the 1970s DC title around that time. I actually like the latter half of the book in which Jack Kirby was handed the reigns on the character...

Around this time, in the early 1990s, DC revisited the character (for much the same reasons they did took any interest the first time: they were experiencing some success with a new book based upon the more popular Lamont Cranston, The Shadow) in a two issue prestige format mini-series illustrated by one of my favorite artists, Kyle Baker. This take learns more towards the Avenger being involved in shadowy covert operations during the Cold War, but is still an interesting read...

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Justice Inc #1-#4 (first series) RAR file

Justice Inc #1-#2 (second series) RAR file

The Lone Ranger and Tonto (Topps Comics, 1994)

2009-04-13T15:25:00.000-07:00

After receiving some decent critical praise for their work on DC's western property Jonah Hex for the Vertigo imprint, Joe R. Lansdale and Tim Truman attempted to apply the same sensibilities to The Lone Ranger over at now-defunct Topps Comics.

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The Lone Ranger and Tonto (Topps Comics) #1-#4 RAR file

G.I. Joe- Sgt. Savage & His Screaming Eagles (Hasbro 1994)

2009-04-06T12:49:00.000-07:00

In 1994, as the 3 3/4th inch line was reaching the end of it's first wave of popularity, Hasbro attempted this short-lived line, featuring character designs and mini-comic work by Joe Kubert. Packaged within the initial (only) wave of this action figure line was a VHS cassette featuring a failed "pilot" of sorts for an animated Sgt. Savage project entitled, "Old Soldiers Never Die", whose plot detailed Savage's origin story, which is equal parts Sgt. Fury, Capt. America, and crap.

I actually purchased a few of these things on clearance way back in 1995 from a now defunct K-Mart store....

Also packaged with some of the figures were mini-comics illustrated by none other than Joe Kubert, the comic book industry's answer to Bill Mauldin....which I've decided to share here today, along with the animated fiasco....

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Sgt. Savage and His Screaming Eagles- "Old Soldiers Never Die" AVI file
Sgt. Savage Mini-Comic #1
Sgt. Savage Mini-Comic #2

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century #1 (Gold Key, August 1979)

2009-03-30T21:03:00.000-07:00

One of the books I'm eagerly awaiting is the upcoming revisionist take on the classic sci-fi property Buck Rogers coming out of Dynamite Entertainment early this summer....

So, for this installment, I figured I'd share a look at my generation's interpretation of Buck...the comic book adaptation of the late 1970s NBC television series....

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Buck Rogers #1 CBR file

Blitzkrieg (DC Comics, 1976)

2009-03-23T22:06:00.000-07:00

There was some odd things that DC was experimenting with during their mid-1970s "Explosion!"...and this title was one of 'em. I can remember seeing ads for this book in mid-1970s back issues I'd run across when I was a kid and wonder what the deal was....

From Wikipedia:

Blitzkrieg was a short-lived 1970s war-themed comic book published by DC Comics.

The focus of the series was an anthology of World War II stories featuring soldiers of Nazi Germany as well as the civilians resisting or victimized by the regime.

Unlike the more famous stories of the German World War I flying ace, Hans von Hammer, a.k.a. The Enemy Ace, the stories in this series kept an unambiguously negative tone against the World World II German military. The series was also notable for its strong (for the time) depictions of violence and gruesome images.

My interest in Tarintino's upcoming film, Ingloriuos Basterds, is what spurred on my revisitation of this series...

This flick looks like it's gonna be The Dirty Dozen on PCP....which translates to "awesome" in my book..

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Blitzkrieg #1-#5 ZIP file

The Adventures of Big Boy #1 (Big Boy Restaurants , 1955)

2009-03-21T23:00:00.000-07:00

An open letter to eBay, from the Hong Kong Cavalier-

Dear eBay,

Thank you yet again for indulging yet another binge of impulse spending brought on by crushing depression-inducing nostalgia. The other day while dining in one of our fine local Frisch's Big Boy Restaurants (of which there are several here in Ohio....they're kinda like Ohio's answer to Canada's fine Tim Horton's establishments....practically one within a stone's throw of anywhere you might be), I came to a sudden realization....none of the local Big Boy joints offer a staple of my childhood, The Adventures of Big Boy comic books. So thank you for allowing me the opportunity to spend an arm and a leg on the following examples of Americana.

Signed (XOXOXO)- The Hong Kong Cavalier

P.S.- As if I didn't already have enough worthless junk in my house already....

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The Adventures of Big Boy #1 CBZ file

Big Boy Menu (circa 1950s) CBZ file

The Galactus Trilogy (F.F. vol. #48-#50)

2009-03-16T15:51:00.000-07:00

One of the prized possessions amongst my comic book collection is a very nice, VF/NM condition set of the Galactus Triliogy that I paid an arm and a leg for. I absolutely love this story, and feel it's the point at which Lee and Kirby really hit their stride in the now fabled "Marvel Age of Comics" during the Silver Age.

One of the biggest disappointments for me is when Hollywood decided to adapt this storyline to a feature film (2007's Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer), they didn't try and depict Galactus is all his purple tuning fork helmet glory, but instead opted for a giant magic space cloud that just kinda hinted at it....

So, anyways....I was recently rewatching some episodes of the 1967 Hanna-Barbera Fantastic Four cartoon, and felt compelled to share not only Galactus' first appearance, but his first appearance on film (in any medium), episode 15 of The Fantastic Four (Hanna-Barbera, 1967), "Galactus"....

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Fantastic Four Vol. 1 #48-#50 ZIP file

Fantastic Four (1967) Episode 15: "Galactus" AVI file

Marvel Super Special #17- Xanadu

2009-03-09T00:20:00.000-07:00

Here's yet another attempt to adapt a musical to comics format.....and it's almost as disasterous as the film itself. Enjoy!

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Marvel Super Special #17 ZIP file

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Caliber Press, 1990)

2009-02-27T06:41:00.000-08:00

I'm a long-time Rocky Horror fan, and I can remember ordering this from New England Comics way back in 1990. I believe it was published to tie-in somehow with the 15th anniversary of the film (which I believe was around the same time that RHPS made it's VHS debut). Anyways, the comic is a literal adaptation of the film itself.....including the song and dance numbers.

Trust me......musicals do not translate well to comic books.

And, now.....some pics of some really disturbing things hanging on the wall in one of my upstairs bedrooms....

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Rocky Horror Picture Show #1-#3 Sharefile Links

Sledge Hammer (Marvel Comics, 1987)

2009-02-24T00:10:00.000-08:00

Y'know....the reason for the lateness of this (the most recent) entry of Who's Who...Cares? is due to just pure lack of motivation. Sure, I've been planning an expose of DC Comics' busty heroine Power Girl's seemingly ever-expanding busom (hey....don't place any blame on me...I blame the topic on the folks over at the Comic Geek Speak forums for starting this whole mess....), but the hassle of searching through scans, preparing the proper CBR files for sharing, and just finding the time, effort and inclination to do this has been a task as of late.....

But then, out of nowhere while digging through some old comics to read, I ran across the two issues of the 1987 Marvel Comics adaptation of the ABC television show, Sledge Hammer....

From Wikipedia:

Sledge Hammer! was a satirical police sitcom produced by New World Television that ran for two seasons on ABC from 1986 to 1988. The series was created by Alan Spencer and starred David Rasche as Inspector Sledge Hammer, a preposterous caricature of the standard "cop on the edge" character, with a name parodied from Mike Hammer.

Inspired by Clint Eastwood's no-nonsense approach to law enforcement in the Dirty Harry films, teenager Alan Spencer dreamed up the idea of a police officer whose approach was even more over-the-top, to the point of comical absurdity. At the age of sixteen, Spencer wrote a screenplay based on this idea. The script and the main character were both named "Sledge Hammer".

Spencer, who at his young age had already written for various standup comedians such as Rodney Dangerfield and television shows such as The Facts of Life and One Day at a Time, was unable to sell the script until the mid-1980s, when the release of the fourth Dirty Harry movie Sudden Impact and the popularity of NBC's Dirty Harry-inspired action series Hunter created demand for a satirical police television show. When HBO approached Leonard B. Stern, former producer of Get Smart, about developing such a show, Stern recommended Spencer's "Sledge Hammer!" idea.

Spencer quickly reworked his script for a half-hour television format. HBO executives did not like it, however, and suggested changes that Spencer found unacceptable, such as casting Dangerfield or Joe Piscopo in the lead role. Surprisingly, last-place ABC was willing to take a chance on the unorthodox script. ABC insisted that the violence be toned down for network television and that a laugh track be included (although it should be noted that some versions, such as that shown by ITV regions in the United Kingdom, do not have this track), but agreed to cast Spencer's first choice for the lead character, the classically trained actor David Rasche. Sledge Hammer! entered ABC's fall lineup in 1986.

Fortuitously, the pilot of Sledge Hammer! was completed just as Peter Gabriel's song "Sledgehammer" became a huge hit. ABC took advantage of this pleasant coincidence by using Gabriel's popular tune in television, radio and film advertisements for the show.

Inspector Sledge Hammer of the Los Angeles Police Department is a violent, sadistic, insensitive, yet oddly likable detective. His best friend is a .44 Magnum with a customized grip featuring a drawing of a sledgehammer. Hammer sleeps and showers with his gun, and even talks to it. Hammer believes in shooting first and asking questions never. In the pilot episode, he deals with a sniper on a roof by blowing up the entire building with a rocket launcher, then turns to the uniformed cops on scene and says "I think I got 'em"; he also mentions that his favorite charity is "Toy Guns for Tots". Hammers father was Jack Hammer, a legendary carnival trick shooter whose repetory of shooting tricks included catching a bullet in his teeth, which saved his son's life in one episode. His mothers name was Armin Hammer.

While purportedly a stickler for law and order, Hammer is rather lax when it comes to following police regulations. He enjoys roughing up suspected criminals, whom he frequently refers to as "brain-dead mutants", "yogurt-sucking creeps", and the like. He is often suspended from duty, and his police file literally requires a wheelbarrow to transport.

Hammer drives a beat-up, bullet-riddled, lime green Dodge St. Regis with an "I ♥ VIOLENCE" bumper sticker. He prefers to wear cheap sports jackets, loud neckties, and dark sunglasses. He is divorced, and frequently makes jokes at the expense of his ex-wife (who makes an appearance in the final episode, played by Rasche's real-life wife, Heather Lupton).

Despite his irresponsibility and utter incompetence, Hammer always ends up getting his man (or woman), often through sheer luck or brute force. Hammer's unintentionally ironic motto is "Trust me. I know what I'm doing." (Disaster usually follows afterward.) Another expression he often utters is "Don't confuse me", typically in response to any remark that challenges his ridiculously one-dimensional worldview.

Hammer's partner is the beautiful Detective Dori Doreau (played by Anne-Marie Martin), who is competent, kind, sensitive, intelligent, and sophisticated—everything Sledge is not. Doreau is often shocked and offended by Hammer's crass behavior and obnoxious attitude, but she appears to see some redeeming qualities beneath his gruff exterior. (Indeed, it becomes apparent with time that she has some romantic feelings for Sledge.) Hammer's blatant male chauvinism is a running gag in his dialogues with Doreau:

Doreau: What, you think all women should be barefoot and pregnant?

Hammer: No, I encourage women to wear shoes.

Doreau's cautious and compassionate approach to law enforcement is a crucial counterpoint to Hammer's reckless and nihilistic quest for justice. Yet Doreau is a tough, agile cop who can handle a gun and deliver a well-timed karate kick when necessary. She frequently saves Hammer from the extraordinary predicaments he invariably gets himself into.

Hammer and Doreau are supervised by the chronically uptight, Pepto-Bismol-guzzling Captain Trunk, played by Harrison Page. Trunk spends most of his time yelling at Hammer for his incompetence or complaining about his migraine headaches brought on by Hammer's antics. If Trunk has any respect or fondness for Hammer, he hides it extremely well. In one episode ("Miss of the Spider Woman") Hammer is about to die from snake venom poisoning but is saved at the last minute when Trunk shows up with the antidote:

Hammer: How can I ever thank you?

Trunk: Don't drink it.

Despite critical acclaim, Sledge Hammer! struggled in the ratings. This was due in large part to its being scheduled in the Friday 9 p.m. timeslot (popularly known as the Friday night death slot), against CBS's Dallas and NBC's Miami Vice, two of the most popular shows on television at the time; in one episode, Hammer remarks that it must be bad to be between a man from Dallas and a man from Miami, an obvious reference to both shows. In his commentary on the first season DVDs, Alan Spencer remarks that the only series getting lower ratings than Sledge Hammer! was FOX's The Tracey Ullman Show. That actually applied to the second season.

In truth, Sledge Hammer! attracted weekly viewership of nineteen million viewers who followed the show religiously through its many time slot shifts. The fact that the series appealed to key target demographics also kept it on the schedule. Hammer! would invariably improve on any time slot the network placed it into.

Because ABC intended to cancel the series, the last episode of the first season ends with Hammer accidentally destroying the city when he attempts to disarm a stolen nuclear warhead; just before the explosion Hammer remarks on his infamous phrase "Trust Me....." . The last scene shows the "Beneath the Planet of the Apes"-style ruins of the city with Trunk's voice screaming "HAMMMMMMMER!", and a graphic flashed:

"To Be Continued... Next Season?"

However, this episode got much better than expected ratings, in large part because the network had moved the show to a better time slot. ABC changed its mind and renewed the show for a second season.

The first episode of the second season perfunctorily explained that it and following episodes were set "five years before" the explosion. Bill Bixby (of Incredible Hulk fame) was brought in to direct numerous episodes. Doreau is Sledge's partner in the second season, a glaring (and unexplained) inconsistency, as the two are portrayed as meeting for the first time in the pilot episode, which supposedly takes place years later (though, it is possible that the explosion takes place five years after the first season and the second season picks up where the show left off). This is more than likely a spoof of cop-out endings to season-ending cliffhangers (a notorious example is Dallas's season opener, where the previous season was revealed to be a dream). In the final moments of the final episode, Sledge asks Dori to marry him, but then claims he was only kidding. The viewer is left to imagine what happens next.

The second season suffered from another extremely undesirable time slot (this time against The Cosby Show), a reduced budget, and lowered filming standard (down to 16 mm film from the previous season's 35 mm). It was not renewed for a third season.

I thought that this show was one of the funniest things in existence when it first aired, and treasure my copies of the DVD releases of the entire series.....they just don't make fun television like this anymore, IMO.

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Sledge Hammer! #1 CBR file

Sledge Hammer! #2 CBR file

Defenders of the Earth #1-4 (Star Comics 1987)

2009-02-16T22:14:00.000-08:00

I've been fascinated with any and all interpretations of the King Features Syndicate alumni of superheroes since becoming a fan of the 1980 Dino DeLaurentis-produced Flash Gordon film, and this incarnation of those franchises was a favorite of mine as a kid.

From Wikipedia:

Defenders of the Earth is an animated television series produced in the mid 1980s, featuring characters from three comic strips distributed by King Features Syndicate—Flash Gordon, the Phantom, and Mandrake the Magician—battling the Flash Gordon villain Ming the Merciless in the year 2015. Supporting characters include their children Rick Gordon, Jedda Walker (daughter of the Phantom), Kshin (adopted son of Mandrake), Mandrake's assistant Lothar, and Lothar's son L.J. The show lasted for 65 episodes; there was also a short-lived comic book series published by Star Comics (an imprint of Marvel Comics). The closing credits credit Rob Walsh and Tony Pastor for the main title music, and Stan Lee for the lyrics.

In 1987, Star Comics (Marvel Comics' children's imprint) published a comic book series which only lasted four issues. It was written by Stan Lee (#1) and Michael Higgins (#2-4) with art by Alex Saviuk. The last issue featured a "next issue" caption but, #5 was never published.

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Defenders of the Earth #1- #4 CBR files

WCW World Championship Wrestling #1 (April 1992, Marvel)

2009-02-02T22:24:00.000-08:00

Remember the good ol' days when comic book properties themselves weren't looked at as potential seeds for multimedia franchises? Back when the big publishers would license nearly anything, hoping to catch some of the backend cashflow from whatever might just happen to become the next big fad or trend? Well, this book is yet another casualty of that by-gone era, and one of the more enjoyable "WTF?!?" moments of 1990s Marvel (and there were alot of those).

Now, I'm a HUGE fan of old-school wrasslin', steeped heavy in the seemingly long-gone practice of kayfabe...and was a HUGE fan of this particular promotion, which was a natural evolution of my childhood love of the southern promotions involved in the "sport" (i.e., the AWA, NWA, USWA, Smokey Mountain Wrestlin, etc.,....). During the "Monday Night War" (the last time I took an active interest in professional wrestling), I was a member of the WCW side of the battle.

What I really enjoy is going back a re-watching the pre Monday Nitro (pre-1995) WCW, back when it was just a programming filler on Saturday nights on TBS, back when it was still knee-deep in kayfabe and some of the really....interesting....gimmicks and acts were being pawned off on the viewers.

This book is ridiculously corny, but chock to the brim with unitentional humor and just bad.....no, mean REALLY BAD artwork and scripts. It lasted 12 issues, and trust me, it's murder to try and make er way through 'em.

Which is why they're perfect fodder for inflicting pain on my readers.....

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WCW World Championship Wrestling #1 CBR file

Silver & Beyond: Captain Action

2009-02-01T10:28:00.000-08:00

I am sadly just slightly too young to have enjoyed the good Captain during his hey-day of the mid-to-late 1960s, but was familiar with the toy from the numerous ads that ran inside Silver Age comics I would have the luck to happen across in my youth...

A little bit of history, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Captain Action was an action figure, from 1966, equipped with a wardrobe of costumes allowing him to become Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Captain America, Aquaman, the Phantom, The Lone Ranger (and Tonto), Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, S gt. Fury, Steve Canyon, and the Green Hornet. Captain Action was the Ideal Toy Company's answer to Hasbro's GI Joe — although the protagonist dolls of both toy lines were created and designed by the same toy- and idea-man, Stan Weston.

The figure itself had a rather sad and worried expression, a strange shaped head (so the masks of the various heroes would better stay in place over it) and a more detailed musculature than G.I. Joe's. The original Ideal base for the line was Captain Action in his blue and black uniform, with lightning sword and ray gun included in the box. Separate Superman, Batm an, Lone Ranger, The Phantom, Flash Gordon, Captain America, Sgt Fury, Steve Canyon and Aquaman costumes (with accessories) were available; the next wave (1967) added Spider-Man, Buck Rogers, the Green Hornet, and Tonto, with a Blue Lone Ranger variation (matching the still popular Clayton Moore series) and collectible flicker rings in each box.

In 1967, Captain Action proved popular enough to expand the line, adding a partner, Action Boy, and an enemy, Dr. Evil, a blue skinned alien with large bug eyes and an exposed brain, wearing a modified Nehru suit and sandals. Also, a vehicle called the "Silver Streak," a two foot long amphibian car with missile launchers, was added, large enough for both the Captain and sidekick. Several sets meant to be used by Captain Action in his Captain Action identity was designed for the character as well: a four foot working parachute, a jet mortar, a jet pack, weapons arsenal, and several other secret weapons to add to the Action Cave, which the special box for the Streak could convert into. Both the Captain and Dr. Evil received "secret lairs," which doubled as carrying cases for the figures, but which are now quite rare. All this was an attempt by Ideal to build the "Action" line and focus on Captain Action as a hero in his own right, rather than just a base figure for other heroes.

National Periodical (DC Comics) licensed the character from Ideal and published five issues of Captain Action in 1968, illustrated at first by Wally Wood, then by Gil Kane. The scripts were by Jim Shooter and Gil Kane. The comic book story line had little to do with the toy concept, as some of the heroes licenced for use as costumes for the Captain Action doll were not owned and published by DC (Spider-Man and Captain America for example, were Marvel Comics characters), therefore the ability to change into different characters was entirely dropped. Instead, Captain Action came to possess magical coins, each of which provided him with a spectacular power from a Greek, Roman, or Norse mythological god (in a similar way to the original Captain Marvel). Captain Action was given a real name of his own, Clive Arno, and was identified as a widowed archaeologist and museum curator, and was described as having located "the coins of power" in a buried city. Action Boy's comic-book alter-ego was Carl Arno, son of Clive. Dr. Evil was given a back-story too, having been Captain Action's father-in-law, then going mad in a mishap.

I actually really dig the DC series alot, simply for the great Wally Wood artwork the earlier issues contain. Plus, the later issues are from a period at which Gil Kane was at the height of his DC career in my opinion.

Anyways, also from Wikipedia:

After 30 years off the market, Captain Action was revived in 1998, by retro toy company Playing Mantis. Captain Action as the Lone Ranger, Flash Gordon (with a new figure, Ming the Merciless), Green Hornet, and new to the line Kato returned along with Dr Evil. The line met with lackluster sales, and a retooling had the costumes issued separately, along with a revived Action Boy (now called Kid Action, due to Hasbro owning the rights to the name Action Man) and the addition of retro long box packaging. It made little difference in the general sales and the line was discontinued. The second coming of Captain Action ended in 2000.

I actually ran across and purchased one of the Kay-Bee exclusive Playing Mantis Green Hornet sets at a Toy Liquidators location that used to be in the area for around 10 bucks a few years back (Man, I really miss that store), and then about a year or so later lucked into one of the Kato outfits at a local Odd Lots for around 3 bucks (pictured above)...I'd love to get the Flash Gordon and Ming the Merciless sets, which would be f***ing awesome.

In recent times, publisher Moonstone Graphics has acquired the Captain Action license from the current owners, CA Enterprises (whose website: http://www.captainactionnow.com/, is actually kinda fun) and have begun producing new Captain Action comic book material.

I love the above Paul Gulacy (one of my favorite artists as a kid on Marvel's Master of Kung Fu) cover for the preview issue of the new book, Captain Action #0. The new series avoids any of the licensed "disguises" Cap used to use, instead replacing them with generic versions of folks like Superman and such, and it's tone seem to be a darker one, involving the now adult Action Boy taking up the mantle, but so far it's been a fairly interesting read.

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Captain Action (DC Comics 1967) #1-#5 RAR file

Captain Action #0 (Moonstone) CBR file

Star Wars: Droids #1 (Marvel/Star Comics, April 1986)

2009-01-26T13:05:00.000-08:00

I was a big fan of this short-lived animated series as a kid, and eagerly scooped all 8 issues of the Marvel Comics tie-in as they were published.

Fueled by a rabid STAR WARS facsination, I ate this thing up as a kid, and enjoy the show immensely as an adult with a raging "Boba Fettish" seeing as how this show was some of the first "Expanded Universe" canon appearances of a couple of the bounty hunters, Boba Fett and IG-88.

From Wikipedia:

Star Wars: Droids, also known as Droids: The Adventures of R2-D2 and C-3PO, was an animated television series that featured the exploits of R2-D2 and C-3PO, the droids who have appeared in all six Star Wars films. The series takes place between the events depicted in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

Over the course of the series, the droids team up with four different sets of masters. The first season is divided up into cycles; at the beginning of each, the droids usually run into their new masters in an accidental way, and at the end of each cycle, they usually are forced to leave their masters for one reason or another. The Great Heep, a television special following the first season, served as a prequel to one of these cycles.

The series' opening theme, "Trouble Again", was performed by Stewart Copeland of The Police and written by Copeland and Derek Holt.

Droids was set in the 19 year time period between the rise of the Empire in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, and the events of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Many times during the show, agents of the Empire were shown to enforce this idea.

The famous droid duo faced off against gangsters, criminals, pirates, Boba Fett, IG-88, the Empire and other threats throughout the series. During their adventures, the droids always found themselves with new masters and new difficult situations as a result.

There is some controversy in Star Wars fandom as to whether the Droids cartoon series should be considered canon in the Star Wars timeline. Though officially endorsed by Lucasfilm, the overall premise of the series does not fully mesh with the storyline and consequences of the films Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope.

At the end of Episode III, Senator Bail Organa (adoptive father of Leia Organa) tells Captain Antilles on the Tantive IV consular ship, "I'm placing these droids in your care. Treat them well. Clean them up. Have the protocol droid's mind wiped." In Episode IV, C-3PO tells Luke Skywalker that their last master was Captain Antilles. However, in the Droids series, the droids have numerous masters after Captain Antilles is entrusted with them in Episode III, but before Captain Antilles is shown to have or regained care of them in Episode IV. The Star Wars Ultimate Visual Guide gives one official explanation for this continuity issue, mentioning that the droids were "accidentally separated" from Antilles "before returning to Captain Antilles' ship, the Tantive IV."

In "A Race to the Finish", C-3PO claims that another droid graduated from the same "production academy" as he had. This may be a continuity issue, as in Episode I it is revealed that C-3PO was built by Anakin Skywalker, although this contradiction could be explained by the fact that his memory was erased at the end of Episode III.

Another continuity problem is Jann Tosh flying an A-Wing, which was not introduced in the films until Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, and according to Expanded Universe sources, not developed until after the events of A New Hope. The intermediate, but very similar R-22 Spearhead was later invented to explain this discrepancy.

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Star Wars: DROIDS #1 CBR file

Capt. Marvel Adventures #79 (Fawcett, Dec. 1947)

2009-01-18T00:39:00.000-08:00

I love Captain Marvel and the whole SHAZAM! mythos...every cheesey bit of the Golden Age stuff. One of my favorite comics from the 1990s (and one of the books that kept me in the hobby after the dark times of secondary market speculation that nearly sank the business) was Jerry Ordway's brilliant attempts at bringing all this old canon back into the post-CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS DCU, The Power of Shazam!, and most of the time finding ways to do it that seemed acceptable and credible.

And...my absolute favorite piece of the mythos? Why....Mr. Tawky Tawny, naturally.

Above is the cover of the esteemed gentle-tiger's first appearance, an issue I felt the need to share after reading Tawny's recent battle with the resurrected New God Kalibak in the pages of DC's current big event, Final Crisis #6.

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Capt. Marvel Adventures #79 CBR file

Who's Who....Cares? Drive-In Triple Feature

2009-01-05T13:12:00.000-08:00

Once again, I mingle the two thingas I enjoy the most into one post: B-Movies and odd-ball comic books.

I've held a long-time fascination with the works of the late H.P. Lovecraft, so naturally any attempts at film adaptations of his work usually hit big on my radar. This 1963 film, loosely based upon Lovecraft's "The Colour Out of Space" (originally published in Amazing Stories, Sept. 1927), is a decent flick, and it's best attributes seem to have nothing to do with it's intentions to adapt the original work. Karloff is worth the price of the ticket alone, IMO.

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Dell Movie Classics: DIE, MONSTER, DIE! CBR file.

I have two guilty pleasures when it comes to B-films of the 1960s: Elvis films of the era,....and AIP ensemble comedy flicks . I tend to enjoy the madcap zany antics more if they're masked by a genre motif, (Invasion of the Star Creatures, Ghost of Hot-Rod Hollow, and Ghost in the Invisible Bikini being amongst my favorites), but comic book adaptations of those films tend to be non-existant.

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Dell Movie Classics: BEACH BLANKET BINGO CBR file

I actually have a copy of the above give-away comic that I picked up at my hometown local mom n' pop video rental store (which is sadly now long-defunct). The art and story are crap, but it's a decent little trip back memory lane to a time when Jan Claude Van Damme was still making low budget direct to video fare....kinda like today!

Plus, the back-story behind Cyborg is kinda interesting:

Per Wikipedia:
This film was conceived to use the costumes and sets built both for an intended sequel to the 1987 He-Man film Masters of the Universe and a live version of 'Spider-Man'. Both projects were planned to shoot simultaneously by Albert Pyun. After Cannon Films had to cancel deals with both Mattel and Marvel Entertainment because of their financial troubles, they needed to recoup the money spent on both projects. Then Pyun wrote the story Cyborg (1989). Some network television still give the film's title as Masters of the Universe 2: Cyborg which often confuses many into thinking a sequel to that film was made.

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CYBORG give-away comic book CBR file

First Issue Special #1 (April 1975, DC Comics)

2008-12-30T17:41:00.000-08:00

I'm currently enjoying the James Robinson run on SUPERMAN, and was pleasantly surprised to see one of my favorite obscure Jack Kirby creations, ATLAS, featured within the storyline....

Above: The Alex Ross painted covers of Superman #678 & #679

For years, due to a simple misunderstanding over the title of the book, I searched and searched for "Atlas #1", after seeing several in-house advertisements for the book in old DC back issues. For a while I believed that Atlas' title was to have been one of the casualties of the infamous "DC Implosion" of the mid-1970s, a book that had been hyped, yet never produced, because I simply could not find the first issue.

Then, after years of searching the "A" section (for "Atlas") of several comic book shops back issue long-boxes, by ran across 1st Issue Special #1 in an "F" box....y'know...."F" for "first". The truly sad thing was that I was aware of the title "1st Issue Special" due to the first appearance of Travis Morgan, The Warlord having been in one of the later issues and the debut of one of my personal favorite characters from the 1980s, the Mark Shaw incarnation of Manhunter, had been in the fifth issue.

I dumbfoundedly assumed that the "1st Issue Special" section of the cover was a blurb, and not the title logo itself.

Sigh....

Anyways...Atlas has had a few sporadic cameoes in the DCU since this debut book, once as a background character in Waid and Ross' Kingdom Come #2, and this animated bad guy from the Teen Titans Cartoon Network show (from the second season episode, "Only Human"), whose name and character design seems to be influenced by the Kirby creation, though I don't think it was ever acknowledged...

From Wikipedia:

Atlas is a fictional character published by DC Comics. He first debuted in 1st Issue Special #1, (April 1975), and was created by Jack Kirby.

The character of Atlas' first and only appearance prior to Superman #677 was in 1st Issue Special #1. James Robinson brought Atlas back in Superman #678. According to Robinson, Atlas is going to save humanity. "The way I like to look at him is like in the Marvel Universe, Namor is a hero but he really skates the fine line between being a hero and a villain, but he stays on the side of the hero. Atlas, skates that line between hero and villain but he ultimately always falls on the villain side." He continued to say that Atlas will become a major player in the Superman mythos moving forward and there will be some real twists to the character.

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First Issue Special #1 CBR file

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (Dell Movie Classic #725, 1964)

2008-12-21T10:43:00.000-08:00

Quite possibly one of my favorite Christmas films ever, and certainly the one that started me down the path of love for B-Films and Cult Movies...

Some interesting facts I've learned about the film over the years, culled from investigations driven by my insane fascination with the flick:

The Martian guns are actually painted Whammo Air Blasters.
The Air Force stock footage seen as the military "pursues" the Martians is the same footage used in the opening credit sequence of Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964).
Most of the film was shot in an abandoned aircraft hangar on Long Island, New York.
Vincent Beck, who portrayed "Voldar" in the film, made his last film appearence as the judge in one of my favoite grindhouse revenge flicks, 1983's Vigilante, directed by Bill Lustig
Bill McCutcheon, who played comedy relief Martian Droppo, won a Tony Award portraying gangster Moonface Martin in the 1988 revival of "Anything Goes", and was "Uncle Wally" on Sesame Street from 1984-1992.
Pia Zadora's first film role as Martian girl Girmar (age 6)
Ned Wertimer, who portrays news reporter Andy Henderson was a staple of 70s sitcoms (he's best known as Ralph Hart on 50 episodes of The Jeffersons), and was one of the "singing gallows pirates" in Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End (2007)
The film was sadly the last role for Doris Rich, who portrayed Mrs. Claus in the film. She would die tragically in a fire 7 years later in 1971 of smoke inhalation.
Gene Lindsey, the actor in the crappy polar bear suit, would later go on to be "Randall Drew" in genre favorite soap opera Dark Shadows, and would later appear as Alfred D. Baldwin in All the President's Men (1976)

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Santa Claus Conquers the Martians Dell Movie Classics CBZ file

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (Golden Records SLP170, 1964)
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Santa Claus Conquers the Martians