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

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

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

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)

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)

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

Christmas With The Super-Heroes: Limited Collector's Edition C-34 (1974, DC Comics)

These "Treasury"- sized editions (roughly tabloid size) were a staple of 1970s comic book publishing which I sadly miss. Contained in this volume are the following stories:

BATMAN #239 "SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT!" from FEB. 1972

"Billy Batson's Xmas!" originally presented in CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES #69, February 1947.

The real surprise find in this book: A NEW Angel and the Ape story, "The 500,000 Dollar Doll Caper", written by John Albano and illustrated by Bob Oksner and ....WALLY WOOD(!!)

"A Swingin' Christmas Carol" Reprinted from TEEN TITANS #13, Feb. 1968.

and, finally- Action Comics #117 (February 1948): "Christmastown, USA"

Like I mentioned, the real treat for me was finding the new Angel and the Ape story (I'm a HUGE fan of both the classic Silver Age series, and the over-looked Vertigo mini from a few years back) that looks to be inked by Wally Wood (another thing...or I should say guy...that I'm a HUGE fan of). I really miss the format, and have been surprised over the last couple years to see these books actually go up in price on the secondary collector's market. Nothing astinishing, but most above the 10 to 12 dollar range.

Download Tip: This CBR file is hosted into separate Rapidshare links, due to size issues. But, you need both pieces to successfully extract the complete CBR.

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DC Comics Presents #67 (March 1984, DC Comics)

Around this time, not only was the Last Son of Krypton gearing up for the upcoming CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS (1985) and a major continuity overhaul (1986), but it looks as if he's got his hands full during the holiday season helping Santa (who we've to know is tight with Superman and Batman). This time around, replacing deadly toys created by the Toyman that's been distributed around the world.

Ya know...for years since the Byrne revamp, I've always found the tendency to portray the Toyman as a weirdo, creepy child-killer as a bit harsh...but this tale from the pre-CRISIS days just kinda shows ya that he's been bat-shit insane all along.

Plus, I love the fact that the kid that gets Superman involved in all this crazy mess is named "Tim", which I'd like to think was a clever little homage to the "Tim" character from the Golden Age Superman-Tim giveaway comics. (For more info on them, see Dial B For Blog's entry on the promotional giveaways).

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DC Comics Presents #67- Superman and Santa Claus CBR file