Gwangi vs. Styracosaurus

I've never cared much for this battle in the movie, it's just lacking something. the styracosaurus is not one of my favorite dinosaurs and the fight is so short. and the cowboys take out the vegetarian to help Gwangi? that's not so smart.

Spider-man vs who?

Took me five minutes to read this poorly drawn comic book. I want them back.  The story wasn't awful, but I'm almost personally offended by the cover.

it's rare that art can turn me off so much, but this sure did. I also didn't see where they acknowledged the great story that this cover rips off pays "homage" to, but I was trying to wrap my brain around loner Spider-man being part of the Avengers. and Aunt May being remarried?

Herbert Lom as Chief Inspector Dreyfus

Herbert Lom passed away today at the age of 95. he was a brilliant actor, playing werewolves and musketeers with equal aplomb.

Batman : "Chill of the Night!"

in this great episode of "The Brave and the Bold" the Spectre (voiced by Mark Hamill) and the Phantom Stranger (voiced by Kevin Conroy) have a bet about what path Batman will take: the path of the grim avenger or the the path of dispenser of justice.  he's about to find out who actually killed his parents.

The making of Godzilla vs the Smog Monster

just some behind the scenes stuff set to Ifukube music. probably fan made since they didn't add music from the movie, which is too bad. I'm glad someone filmed stuff like this. these days, you get all sorts of mostly useless making of extras on DVDs, since it's so cheap to record digitally. recording with film is a bit different.

UFO Robot Grendizer

(UFOロボ·グレンダイザー UFO Robo Gurendaizā)

I was introduced to this robot via the 3" Shogun warriors line, where he was called "Grandizer".  either way it works for me.  he's a very cool looking robot, and the weaponry is interesting and unique.

of course, there was no history on any of the robots in that line.  I also bought a Leopardon, and had to wonder why it had a spider emblem on it.  I speculated about it having some kind of spider powers, little did I know how right I was back in the late 70s and early 80s.  great minds do think alike and all.

The Quiet Man - Original Trailer

this is one of my favorite movies. I can't imagine anyone NOT liking it. so here's the original trailer, which seems to give quite a bit of the movie away.

New BLB #17 Aquaman

"Scourge of the Sea"
by Paul S. Newman

I don't think this is my original, since it's got a $1.00 sticker on the inside cover.  wish I remembered when I bought it, think it was at a sale at a mall.  I got several that day, I believe.  the cover... well, it's interesting.  Aquaman doesn't look very heroic.

in this one, a mysterious radioactive object drops from the sky into the ocean (presumably near Atlantis).  Aquaman and "his mermaid mate" Mera are called in to investigate.  they soon are captured by a net, but Mera's hard water powers quickly free them.  she makes a giant pair of scissors.  why not a couple of cutlasses, keeping with an underwater theme?

THE AVENGING WARRIORS Of SHAOLIN - BLACK BELT THEATER

this was my first full length Shaw Brothers movie. I knew nothing about them or the Venoms or even kung fu, but I sure enjoyed this movie. it must have been the early 80s when it made the rounds on local tv. naturally I never thought to write down the names of these films. so for years I never knew it's name, nor if I'd ever see it again.

Avengers #34

"The Living Laser"

[Story/Plot] /Stan Lee/

[Pencil/Layout] /Don Heck/

[Ink/Finishing] /Art Simek/

my introduction to the Living Laser was in issue #153, and he was nearly as silly looking by then.  I had no idea who he was or his origin, so this was an interesting read for me.  the guy is a certifiable stalker as written here, even if the word hadn't been defined as such yet.  so naturally that whole aspect gets dropped almost immediately.

Valley of the Dinosaurs intro

this debuted the same year as "Land of the Lost" did, and I wanted to like it as much, but it was sadly done as during the boring years of cartoons. nothing really exciting happened, it seemed. I haven't seen a complete episode in probably 20 years. the acting is quite good, and it seems like the animation was decent. the intro is pretty exciting though.

Comics now...

I rarely go to comic book stores now, because comic books just aren't much fun any more. I went to my old one today. It was nice to see the place and the owner, but I don't miss these books at all. I mean really, what have they done to Carol?

Ultraman Jack vs Black King and Alien Nackle

this is a really great action clip, and shows that Ultras needed human help on occasion. I've not seen a lot of "Return of Ultraman" and this is cool. it does kind of leave you on a cliffhanger though!

Avengers #33

"To Smash A Serpent"

w: Stan Lee
a: Don Heck
l: Artie Simek
Snake Charmer: Irving Forbush
(when did the colorists starting getting their credit?)

since everything has been set up in the last issue, we get a lot of action in this one. 

Cap is a prisoner of the Serpents and then changes to their side.  or does he?  Hawkeye thinks Goliath is a coward and then realizes he's shot off his mouth early again.  Bill Foster gets angry at the Avengers for not standing up to the Serpents.  good thing Goliath has a plan!

Adam Ant - Puss 'n Boots

this is a great song (one of two great songs off this record) and possibly the best thing Phil Collins has ever been associated with (until South Park). it's a bit silly here and there visually, but it also features a dead sexy actress, how surprising in an Adam Ant video. not.

Avengers #32

"The Sign of the Serpent"

here we and the Marvel Universe are introduced to the racist organization the "Sons of the Serpent".  I'm sure they still exist in some form or another in the MU.

however, our heroes return home from their last adventure and Goliath is still feeling sorry for himself.  this leads Cap to call Hank out, and a small fracas ensues.  the Wasp is worried about Cap, but Hawkeye reassures her that Cap knows what he's doing.  and after two pages Hank is back to his normal self and Jan is grateful to Steve for helping her man.  one can tell that Hawkeye also really respects Cap and their friendship is evident in their little exchange.

Jerry Lawler & Austin Idol vs The Road Warriors promo

there's good news on the Jerry Lawler front, he's apparently suffered no brain damage from his heart attack. I'm glad to hear that, as Jerry was also great on the stick, as evidenced by this promo in April of 1984. I so wish I had been able to get to the Omni once to see a card in this time period.

Jerry Lawler vs the Champions

it's odd that I was watching this DVD last night, as Jerry "The King" Lawler had a heart attack on the set of RAW.  my best wishes for a speedy recovery for him and for strength for his family and friends.  though at first I thought this was a very elaborate work on the part of the WWF.  yeah, I'm that jaded now about the biz. 

sorry Jerry!

Ultra Q, Garamon Attacks

with all the talk of Ultra Seven and now Ultra Q being released on DVD, I have been looking up some clips of the shows. well, mostly Ultra Q. I put the theme music on here some time ago, and then I found this little mini-movie clip. I hope the Ultra Q DVD set is in black and white and not that colorized crap.

Ultra Seven on DVD

this was a bit of unexpected news- an R1 set of the second (or third, I suppose, depending on how you count them) Ultra series.  here, I'll rephrase that: the second series to feature an Ultra from M78.  there, it's more factual now.  I know in a year I'll wonder why I even bothered.

anyway, this is considered by many to be the pinnacle of Ultra series.  it's really good.  it appears there will be no English dub on this set and for a change, that doesn't bother me at all.

Gatchaman Intro/Outro

still slowly making my way through the 105 or so episodes of the original (and best) Gatchaman series. I really like the music of the show, and especially the closing theme song. usually I like the opening one more, but not this time.

Star Trek's 46th anniversary

I think the actual day is tomorrow, at least according to the Wiki page, but really who cares?  46 years is 46 years for this wonderful show.  it's one of my earliest memories (the rock monster/alien from "The Savage Curtain") and I had to be about three at the time.  that alien scared the hell out of me, and I was relieved to see it change back to a rock form every so often.  I didn't remember the entire episode, but the alien sure stood out.

Batman TAS 20 Anniversary

it's hard to believe this excellent tv show is now 20 years old. I remember seeing the promos and not being sure how to take it. but once the first episode aired ("On Leather Wings") I knew this would be pretty good. after about a week or so I knew it would be great. this is a fun little clip of the villains discussing issues with Batman, and has one of my favorite lines in the series.

Xenorama logos

I love this banner, created by Chris "Mr. Owari" Elam.  In fact, he did several banner type deals for me, including one I've used as the banner for this very blog.

1990s Captain America cartoon promo

apparently Saban was interested in making a Captain America cartoon back then. I presume due to the success of the X-Men and Spider-man cartoons. I'm kind of surprised this wasn't made, since it seems a natural for the time period.

Happy birthday, Thuvia Jane!

She turns five today.  Been my lgs now for little over four years. I love her.

Ultraman 23: The Earth is My Home

mysterious accidents have been happening, and it seems an invisible invader is the culprit.  Ito figures out a way to make the saucer visible.

RIP Hal David

Hal David passed away yesterday at the age of 91. you can read a far better eulogy here than I could hope to write, but I enjoyed many of his songs with collaborator Burt Bacharach. there's no denying the two were pretty great with a tune.

Return of Ultraman

this is one Ultra series I've not seen that much of.  I've watched the first four episodes that were dubbed into "English" in Malaysia and they were very enjoyable, even with the barely understandable dialect.  episode 3 was the first one I ever saw, so it's one of my favorites.  I've also seen the two episodes where Ultraman and Ultra Seven show up, in the late 30s or so.  good stuff there, too.