Invaders Classic 2

This is such a cool book.  I really enjoy the whole concept of the Invaders, saying that the comic book adventures of the WWII heroes were just that, fictionalized accounts of what they were doing then.  This is the second book (of four) that reprints the whole series (minus a few reprint books in the run themselves, which I do find lamentable, as I enjoyed the original stories they ran as well).

Kaufman Lawler Feud: Chapter 34 - Andy's Death

This is it, the final chapter of the feud. Andy had passed away and his greatest foe, Jerry Lawler had some words about his death. Only years later did it come to light how much the two enjoyed working with each other. Jerry is really good here though, keeping the business safe.

Comic Con 1990

I attended my first San Diego Comic Con in 1990, the last year it was at the San Diego Concourse on C Street.  I had volunteered to be a projectionist (wow, real film back in those days) because I knew how to run a film projector.  I only had to do six hours of volunteering because of that, and all of us volunteers got this nifty shirt which was exclusive for us.  It's drawn by Michael Kaluta.  I have to admit, I'm not sure who it is- wasn't sure in 1990 and I'm still not sure now.  I ran the projector for the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie (which was also the first time I saw that film as well) and I forget what else, but that was the most fun.

The Three Stooges - Santa Claus in Arabia

What better way to celebrate Xmas than with the boys all dressed as Santa Claus? It doesn't get much better than this, I'll tell you what! These are a few scenes from "Wee Wee Monsieur" (1938), one I have no huge recollection of seeing at the moment, though I must have seen it sometime in the past. It's on the sets, right?

Golden Book of Dinosaurs

Went to Boulder Saturday and got this book.  Dr Robert Bakker was there signing his book and talking about dinosaurs.  What a pleasant surprise that was!  it was the Best Western Denver Southwest hotel that posted it on Facebook, so thanks to them for the heads up on this fun event.  Click on the link and like their page- they have to be one of the only dinosaur themed hotel in the states, so they are worthy of liking, I must say.

Master of the Flying Guillotine - U.S. Theatrical Trailer

"With more nerve shattering special effects than you have ever seen before...!" You'd think that with hyperbole like that this movie would fail to live up to it, but danged if it doesn't actually surpass it and more! I love this movie and am a bit surprised I've never really talked about it here. I did review it for the magazine in the old days. May have to revisit it soon.

Androids... how many?

The Vision is one of my favorite characters in comics of all time.  Well, at least the one I knew when I was growing up.  After Byrne's nonsense about him actually NOT being the original Human Torch I started to lose interest, and even after Busiek explained how he COULD still have Jim Hammond's body and yet both could exist (and man, did that take some explaining, I'll tell you what).  He and Wanda were my first superhero couple as well, and I followed his whole story with interest for my formative years.

Monsterpiece Theater - The 39 Stairs

I saw this once on Sesame Street in the 90s. It's one of the funniest things ever. I love Cookie and Grover and seeing them do an adaption... sort of... is just the best. As well as the clever little in jokes for the older viewers, I love those as well. I mean, Alistaire Cookie? That alone is worth it, and it actually just gets better as it goes along.

Xenorama #16

I'm very happy with this issue as well. The cover again is awesome. I'd actually kind of like to have it in real newsprint, but oh well on that. I may start offering them in b/w form as well.  It would be a bit less expensive, for sure.  I think the color pictures really make the book look great though, even if many aren't close to the 300 dpi that createspace seems to think are needed.

The Fairy & The Devil - Giant Monster Battle

Here's a movie I've seen parts of, but never the entire thing. Mostly because it's never been subtitled, which is odd, since most of these Chinese sort of movies are. I think I would like it a lot if I knew exactly what was going on. I'm not sure about how it looks though, as I don't remember the camera warping like that.

Japanese Sci-Fi Display at SFO

I got these pictures a few days ago (well, maybe a couple weeks now) from a friend of mine either on her way to or from Hawai'i.  I'm not exactly sure where this came from now, since all she said was what I titled this post as.  Still, it's pretty darn cool.

Kaufman Lawler Feud: Chapter 33 - Jimmy Hart on Andy's Health

I think only Jimmy Hart knew piledrivers can cause cancer. I hope Andy was aware of all this going down, but he may not really have cared by now. Jimmy sure was over as a heel. Wrestling really has always been pretty classless. Whatever can sell tickets, right?

Finally, Xenorama #15 is mine

I finally got copies of all my books today. I'll be posting some thoughts on them soon. I'm pleased overall.

The first thing that struck me about this was... it's a freakin' book!  It's not really like a magazine at all.  Which is kind of cool in it's own way, but I was a little surprised.  The pictures came out really well, despite most of them not being 300 dpi.  I don't think I need to say the cover looks amazing, do I?  Well, I'm going to any way, because it does look incredible.   Dan Ross does amazing work and I am grateful to his talent and vision.  I tell him what needs to be on the cover and poof, there it is.

GMK trailer (2001)

Since Mothra is the star of the next Xenorama (#17) here's a movie I think I'll probably have to end up reviewing. I'm not a huge fan of the movie, as there are several problems with it. I gave it a "fairly entertaining" review in G-Fan many years ago, but I'm not gonna rewrite it for this issue, since the emphasis is on Mothra after all. Nor am I really going to review it here, either.

Avengers 49

I will admit this, I am no big fan of the issues right now which is why it's taken me so long to get through these stories.  It's not that they are bad, though I think I was over Pietro's idiocy about humans (and later, androids) in about 1975. So I think after this sort of review I'm going to skip about some issues until I get to a certain introduction in about... oh, eight issues or so.  The art is really great for the most part in all these issues, I'm just not a huge fan of the story lines presented here.

Batfink - The Short Circuit Case

If this is episode two, this should be the first appearance of Hugo a-go-go, who is one of his more persistent foes. I love Hugo, he's really quite funny. This cartoon was something I saw occasionally on local shows. Batfink is pretty cool, though I didn't remember Karate at all.

Happy Birthday, Calvin and Hobbes!

Twenty-eight years ago today Calvin and Hobbes debuted in the newspapers.  Not all of them of course.  I didn't discover Calvin right away, but it was pretty soon after that.  I couldn't quite figure out the premise at first, was the tiger real or stuffed?  Once I realized it didn't matter, well, it quickly became my favorite strip in the paper at the time, and the one I read last.  After I got the first book and laughed myself silly it became my favorite comic strip of all time.

Hercules In The Haunted World - Trailer

I've watched this movie three or four times and have never been that impressed with it. Perhaps it was built up too much when I read about it as a kid, and then I never saw it back then. There are plenty of other peplums I enjoy far more. Interestingly enough, this is one that has two different English dubs, probably due to the one done in Italy not being "good" enough for theatrical release back then. It also has a plethora of other titles.

Seven Steps of Kung Fu (1979)

As any long time readers of this blog know, I'm a bit snooty about my kung fu movies.  Part of of that is my love of the Shaw Brothers product and part of that is being a long time practioner of martial arts.

Kaufman Lawler Feud: Chapter 32 - The Final Match 2 of 2

wow, it sure took a long time to finish this match! It's the final one Jerry and Andy had, and this is the end of it. Most of the match is in this clip- clear to the end. This is done as a boxer vs wrestler match, best one ever. I wonder if this is the only time Jerry actually won a match against Andy. Someone will tell me.

Enjoy some pictures

Well, I haven't been able to post as I'd like.  I'm going to blame a spotty internet connection and the new job overall.  It'll get better, but when my ref blog has more posts already than this one, well, I'm not keeping up.

Godzilla 1954 trailer (subbed)

I know I've been very intermittent in posting last month. There was a lot going on and none of it relevant to the blog. Hopefully things have settled down and I can get back to being the illuminating and guiding light on the web that I've always been.

Review of "Sprocket Monsters..."

Here's a nice little review I got from Mike Bogue, a man with obviously great taste.  He talks about both  Xenorama #15 and this little homage to 8mm movies.  I think "Sprocket Monsters" has outsold my Marine Boy book in the US so far, which is a little surprising to me.  Remember, if you order it here use the code 6C472NZU for a ten percent (10%) discount. Take it away, Mike:

why does the world love Mothra?

The next issue of Xenorama is going to examine that very question.  It will feature every movie that Mothra has starred in.  This does mean no cameo appearances will be talked about in depth but they may get mentioned.

Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959) Theatrical Trailer

I can't believe I haven't posted this trailer to this astounding movie before. It's one of my favorites, and I've written about it in the past, so go search if you wanna see what I said back then. I love it for many reasons though, and none of them have to do with the inane "so bad it's good" nonsense.

It Came from Beneath The Sea

Well, the original trailer is gone from an older again, so here we get the another one. I forget how much I really like this movie- giant octopus attacking a city? The only thing that's not to love is the colorizing of the movie, which is lame and pointless. Just because you can do it doesn't mean you should, right? Thank goodness there's a choice in watching the different versions. I'd be even more annoyed if the original version was no longer around.

Attack of the Crab Monsters

I really like this movie. It's ridiculous when you think about it, but it's really creepy when you watch it. Giving the monsters a somewhat human face actually makes them weirder. I hope they never remake this one with lame cg monsters.

excerpt from Marine Boy: Underwater Adventure

Here's a brief excerpt from part of the Marine boy book (I may have mentioned writing one recently).  Yeah, it's shameless self promotion but it's my blog, what else am I gonna do?  It's still available here and use the coupon MXARFHS5 for a 10%discount.  it's also available on Amazon, search by title.
The Ocean Patrol also patrolled the ocean in some of the greatest looking boats ever put on film. They came equipped with torpedoes and various other weapons as needed per episode, such as missiles that knock people out instead of explode, or lasers or sonic guns. Bulton is the skipper of the P-1. The members of the Patrol are also equipped with various personal weapons.

Gigantis, The Fire Monster (Trailer)

This is the theatrical trailer for the second Godzilla movie. I had posted them earlier, but of course, they've been taken down or the original account is gone. One never knows, right? It's a pretty cool little trailer. This is really the first giant monster vs giant monster battle in a city movie, so it gets points for that.

new Godzilla toys

This is not about the obviously upcoming line of Godzilla toys that will be sold when the new movie is released.  It's not about older or figures either.  I'm not a collector of such things, though I own one or two cause they are cool looking.

No, it's about the dichotomy of the fans who really want their new Godzilla movie dark grim gritty and realistic, showing Godzilla as an unstoppable nuclear made horror that mankind has inflicted upon itself.  They want scenes of mass destruction, lots of casualties and then, finally, Godzilla will be taken seriously by everyone else.

Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter - Trailer

Made in 1966, this seems like a throwback to movies from the 50s. It's often paired with BILLY THE KID VS DRACULA as a couple of the most ridiculous monster movie ideas of all time. Which is saying something, considering many that actually got made. My disclaimer- I've never seen either of these movies, but they look entertaining.

The Lone Ranger... animated 60s style

This was an oddball cartoon.  The live action Lone Ranger TV series was still popular in reruns well into the 70s, and this cartoon started in 1966 and ran on CBS for three years, then was in syndication for a while after that.  It pretty much disappeared for many years though.  It wasn't until the late 90s that I got a VHS tape of two hours of the episodes that I saw it again.  I did write about it in an old issue of Xenorama, but I barely knew anything about the cartoon then.

The Mummy (1959) trailer

I'm a bit surprised that I haven't posted this trailer before, since I do quite enjoy this movie a lot. Hammer did a great job in making a mummy that was actually scary. Most of the mummies from Universal movies, as fun as they are, are pretty slow and not that threatening. I figured if you got caught by one, you really should be dead and out of the gene pool.

Avengers 48

"The Black Knight Lives Again!"

Stan Lee Propitiously Ponders And Presents 

A Roy Thomas - George Tuska Saga Of Senses-Staggering Splendor!

Luxuriously Lettered By: Artie Simek

"Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch are held captive by Magneto,but Quicksilver manages to send a distress signal. Hercules continues to search deserted Olympus for clues. Hawkeye, Goliath and the Wasp receive the distress call. Meanwhile, deciding to use his uncle's inventions for good, Dane Whitman becomes the new Black Knight. He goes to the Avengers to help them, but mistaking him for evil, they attack. Dane becomes angry when they do not believe him, so he flies off on his own."

Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965) - Theatrical Trailer

These trailers come and go. I'm five days behind on my annual posting of trailers, so here's the first one, from Toho's fun and great Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965). Think I only saw this one once or twice growing up, and in the middle of the night both times.

This is Godzilla? meh

So the big news today is the teaser of Legendary's Godzilla remake movie that was from last year at Comic Con.  It was leaked and reported on and now it's everywhere.  Predictably, the fans that want their Godzilla uber serious are all wetting themselves in anticipation of the movie that will finally gain their favorite monster mass acceptance by the rest of the world.

Kaufman Lawler Feud: Chapter 32 - The Final Match part 2

Here's the second part to the bout, which now is bittersweet. Andy stalls a bit more, and really there's only about two minutes of ring work in total. That's a master at work. I love the windmill boxing tactic he uses. I don't know how Jerry kept a straight face at all.

Primeval season one

I watched a few episodes of this show about three years ago.  Knew about it, of course, since you know, dinosaurs, but since it was only aired on BBC America I never could sit down and watch it.  So those episodes were later on in the five season run, and I had no idea what was going on, much. 

I liked what I saw though, even if these were sort of made up dinosaurs, more or less.  At least the British don't make their main characters unlikable (yet).  I'm really over the surly people with the hidden heart of gold nonsense that seems to prevail so many dramas these days.  I'm sorry, that's my issue and I'll deal with it separately.

Ghost of Zorro 12

Last Chapter- Trail of Blood 

This has been a pretty fun ride, all things considered. I can see why Clayton was chosen to be the Lone Ranger after this, he makes a good hero. I'm really surprised we didn't get DVD releases of everything Zorro related back when the Banderas movies were released. This one has good action even without the stock footage from previous serials, and it's got Moore. Too bad the new Ranger movie seemed to be so awful.

Card Subject To Change (2010)

Guess it's pro-wrestling week here at Xeno!  This here is a fascinating and well done look at the independent wrestling circuit.  It was shot over about three years, from 2006-2009 more or less.  They do some follow up stuff at the end of the movie to let you know what and where the workers they talked to are and what they are doing.

Sometimes there is no good news, as in Trent Acid and Sherri Martel.  This was the last time she was interviewed as she passed on in the middle of 2007.

Mission Magic TV Cartoon Intro

I was listening to Rick Springfield years before I knew he wanted "Jesse's Girl". I didn't know who he was, I just enjoyed this cartoon. He co-produced this cartoon to get his name over here in the States. I don't remember seeing a lot of episodes, I think it aired later on in the schedule on Saturday mornings, toward the time it would get pre-empted by college football.

WWE Rivalries: Shawn Michaels vs Bret Hart (2011)

I was watching that match in Montreal back in November of 1997 with some friends of mine.  The ending came out of nowhere and we were all surprised at how it went down.  We had no idea of all the backstage stuff that was going on, as the world hadn't quite gotten "smart" to the workings of the wrestling business.  Even now, over 15 years later I still wonder how much was a work.

With this fascinating doc I still think there's some working going on, but overall it's one of the better interviews I've ever seen.

The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure intro

Wow, I have never seen this intro before, nor was aware of it's existence. It's pretty groovy, one can tell it's from the mid to late 60s. It's got all the guest heroes in the song as well, though I wonder if any viewer ever noticed Aquaman wasn't in the JLA cartoon segments, even though he's in the intro.

Superman vs the Elite (2012)

Based on ""What's So Funny About Truth, Justice & the American Way?" a single issue story from 2001, this is really Superman vs The Authority.  Clicking on the link will tell you far more about that comic than I care to.  I'm not one much for anti-heroes.  One or two is just fine, but when every character is one?  Pass.

The animation is good and the voice acting is fine.  I didn't care much for the style of the art, but I have that problem with most new comic book artwork.  It's well directed, and I'm still surprised that it came from a single story.

Kaufman Lawler Feud: Chapter 32 - The Final Match part 1

This is the final bout between Andy and Jerry, taking place on 11-21-1983. They managed to keep this feud going on for quite some time, which is just amazing. It's also been entertaining the whole time. Andy has really learned to work the crowd, no surprise since he was working with one of the masters of ring psychology, Jerry Lawler. Andy certainly doesn't look or sound sick right now.

American Scary (2006)

There was no horror host in Colorado in the 70s when I was growing up.  There was just the disembodied voice over for Channel 2's glorious Sci-Fi Flicks, but that mostly just introduced the movies, if memory serves.  They did give it a scary sort of vibration as well.  Even visiting WV I don't recall ever seeing a horror host, though I saw an ad in the TV Guide for "The Ghost Host" at one point.

So perhaps that explains why I am not impressed with this doc.  It's not bad, but I have no nostalgic connection with it.  I'd be happier seeing the openings of the aforementioned "Sci-Fi Flicks" or the afternoon shows from Channel 2, but that sure wouldn't take up much time.

Ghost of Zorro 11

Runaway Stagecoach 

The unit was destroyed and Mason and Rita want to try to save the franchise.  It seems pretty hopeless now, but they are doing the best they can. Unfortunately they don't know Crane is one of the bad guys.  He's done a good job of tricking everyone.

Special Effects... NOT

So I'm watching the Aquabats Super Show episode "The Floating Eye of Death" and it's a cool practical effect- a prop filmed with forced perspective and miniatures.  It looks SO cool.

Then I think of this shot of Asgard from the THOR movie.  It's impressive, but it's cold and has no real feeling to it.  I'm sure it was probably cheaper than building a true city in miniature,  but it doesn't do much for me.

Spectreman: A Great Earthquake Levels Tokyo - Part 1

It's an episode from some part of the show. I sure wish I had seen this when I was growing up, as I know I'd like it far more than I do now. I want to like it, but knowing it's edited for US consumption makes it more difficult as an adult. I think it's dubbed well, despite the changing of the names from Japanese to Western ones. That is just lame, really, since it didn't seem to matter when other Japanese shows and movies were brought over here earlier.

Star Trek into Darkness (2013) part one

Ten minutes in and already the movie has glaring holes in it.  And yet it's still entertaining, thanks to the cast.  Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a big fan of remakes of popular TV shows, so I have low expectations of this movie, again.  Which is exactly how I felt about the first remake.  I still think this Chris Pine is far smarmier than than Shatner ever was.  He sure does drink a lot, too.  The new Spock is the best part of the cast.  The two  of them do have good chemistry together.

Kaufman Lawler Feud: Chapter 31 - the Final Promo

We are nearing the end of Andy's run in Memphis, due to his getting sick with cancer. Knowing how soon he would depart this mortal coil, one can see that he doesn't look as good as he has in the past. He still cuts a great promo for his next match. I'm sure he wanted to go out the way he did.

RIP Mike Road (1918-2013)

Just heard today that Mike Road, the voice of Race Bannon passed on.  He was a fine actor in film and movies, but he's mostly known as Race's voice.  He also was the voice of Zandor of The Herculoids fame.  He also did a lot of other voices for Hanna-Barbera, usually secondary characters in those very shows.

SYM-Bionic Titan: Lesson in Love

I have to admit this show is really growing on me. I'm exactly halfway through the run (episode ten) and like the robot fighting monsters, the backstory (nothing really new to super robot fans) and the characters. I could do without some of the body function humor, but it's not over done and so it's bearable. Sometimes the art is a little too disproportionate, but that's not a deal breaker either.

Xenorama #16 Available NOW!

Yes, amazingly after two short months there is another complete issue of Xenorama available!  I am pretty impressed with that, especially after the long hiatus the zine took.  This is the final version of the cover by Dan Ross and it's pretty darn cool.  He keeps it interesting, and yet not too busy to be distracting.  I think it's really eye catching as well.  Who wouldn't want to buy it just by looking at that cover?  The inside is loaded with cool color pictures as well, not too mention several great articles that aren't even on the cover.

Road Warriors/Super Powers vs The Horsemen

I never saw the original iteration of the Four Horsemen live. By the time they made it out to CO Lex Luger had replaced Ole in the group. Arn, Tully and Lex faced the LOD and Nikita in a six man tag bout the evening I went way back when and Dusty fought Flair (guess what kind of finish we got that evening?). I wish I had brought a good camera to to that event, Sting was making his first appearance after turning face.

presenting... the Xenorama #16 cover (mode one)

Here's the prototype for the next issue of Xenorama, which should be on sale soon!  Dan Ross does some amazing work, doesn't he?  I'm really fortunate to have so many talented people contributing to the magazine.

As one could reasonably ascertain, there are at least three articles in this issue (there are more, but I'll save those for the actual release post):  I can tell you that the Space Ghost article is a complete episode guide to the 1960s series along with some commentary.  It does included the now not so rare six part story from the second season "The Council of Doom".  It's such a great series, I hope it never gets made into anything remotely resembling a movie.

Ghost of Zorro 10

Message of Death
Of course Zorro rolls out of the way just in time, not bad for a guy with a concussion. I wonder how may of these fight scenes were filmed with Moore or with his stunt double, since you can't see his face at all. Rita confronts Zorro in this episode, wanting to know what his motivation is. Zorro reveals his ID to Rita, and she's of course surprised.

Happy Birthday Thuvia Jane

TJ's birthday is officially September 4th, 2007.  I adopted her around that time in 2008 at a local Petco.  She's my rescue cat, since one of her back legs had been broken by her former family's dog and they gave her up instead of fixing her.  I was there the Friday night when they were setting up and I was back there on Saturday morning to adopt her.

Interestingly enough, I met my first tattoo artist that day as well, since Laura Crow was buying dogfood for her (then puppy) at the time.

Wacky Races intro

I have all three sets from this "trilogy" on DVD, Wacky Races, Perils of Penelope Pitstop and Dastardly and Muttley (also known as Stop the Pigeon). My favorite is Dastardly because that's the show I saw more often growing up.

Hercules vs the Hydra (1960)

This is a pretty fun peplum, made because Jayne Mansfield took it so her then husband Mickey Hargitay got to play Hercules.  She got to play two roles, that of Deianaira and Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta (who takes Deinaira's form at one point in the movie).  Mickey is OK as a beardless Hercules as well.  The movie was originally known as THE LOVES OF HERCULES but was changed to the other title when released to TV later on.

The Hydra has three heads and is a full sized prop.  Doesn't really move like a Rimbaldi creation, but one never knows about such things.   There's also a strange ape/caveman monster in the movie. It just appears to menace our hero, but those are always a fun addition to these movies.

Kaufman Lawler Feud: 29, 30, so much wheat

Another double shot today, since the second one is only 32 seconds long and doesn't really merit it's on post, right? Jerry takes on Nature Boy Buddy Landel (the third wrestler with that name, it would never happen these days) in a pretty good match until the inevitable happens. You'd think the faces would prepare for this sort of thing, but no, they never did.

Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes season 2

Anyone who's been paying attention to this blog for a while knows I love superhero teams.  And yes, the big 2 are my favorites- The Justice League and the Avengers.  The Justice League has been treated well in the last few years (possibly my favorite cartoon series) but the last time the Avengers were animated it was a super friends style disaster.  Even the presence of my beloved Tigra in the cast didn't help matters at all.  Hated all that armor that was always present during that time period.  Really, did the Sub-mariner need armor?  That was like putting it on the Hulk.  Which they probably did.

Ghost of Zorro 9

Money Lure

Rita tries to stop the mob from killing Mason. Good thing Moccasin dons the costume and distracts everyone. This is why a hero should always have a confidant, it really helps out. The villains plan another trap, and Rita falls for it, ignoring the common sense suggestion of her foreman. Sometimes serials strain credibility on occasion.

Samurai Jack (2001)

Started watching this cartoon the other day.  Seems like it has lots of fans, so I thought I'd give it a shot. 

It has it's own definite look, that's for sure.  It's a pretty cool story, as "Jack" battles to destroy the demon Aku (Japanese for "demon" so he's the demon Demon).  Before he can kill Aku with his magic sword, Aku sends him into the future.  Naturally Aku rules the Earth by then, since Jack is the only person who can defeat him.  So the story so far is Jack is trying to get back in time to defeat Aku and prevent the future that he's in at the moment. 

Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992) - International Trailer

I remember seeing these English language trailers way back in the early 90s when the movies were released in England. I'm no huge fan of the second series of Godzilla films. They aren't bad, but just lack something the first series has. It also could be seeing them with more mature eyes, and perhaps building them up in my mind before seeing them. I had much smaller expectations for the third series and enjoy them a lot more.

Karate-Robo Zaborgar (2011)

Probably the best Japanese superhero remake movie I've seen in some time.  If only Kamen Rider: The First and The Next didn't take themselves so seriously and meander all over the place with backstories and J-horror in the wrong places, I'd regard those as better.

But this one is a lot of fun, and without the overall weirdness that say Zebraman has going on in it's movie.  Sure, there's some juvenile humor here and there along with some of the now to be expected weird sex stuff that seems to have to be par for the course in these movies now, but overall it's very entertaining.

Kaufman Lawler Feud: Chapter 27, 28 - Beware the Russian Wheat Invaders

Politics and wrestling have always been mixed up with each other. Usually it's the evil invaders like Ivan Koloff, Fritz von Erich, Kamala, the Ugandan Giant, many traditional enemies. Occasionally there were countries with which the US had always been friendly who's wrestlers came with anti-US sentiment- The Sheepherders, the whole Japanese thing. It's just a strange thing. many of these traditional foes ended up being heroes later on as well.

The Tenth Doctor

My post on the Ninth Doctor was very popular.  It still gets hits to this day and is the number two most viewed post on this blog.

It sure has taken me a long time to get through the entire run of the Tenth Doctor now, but I can see why he's most of the new fans favorite Doctor now.  He is played by David Tennant and it's pretty obvious he was a fan to begin with which in this case is a big help.  He's funny and charming and doesn't overact despite some of the situations which could descend into general silliness.

Ghost of Zorro 8

Mob Justice
Rita actually saves Zorro this time, and the badguy meets a rather gruesome death by electrocution. The other bad guys decide to pull the old "Zorro is the villain" trick when a federal marshal is coming to town. Suddenly the people turn against Zorro, so the trick works. That's the problem with easily made outfits, everyone can be a masked vigilante.
The way Zorro figures out how to get out of this predicament is pretty impressive.

Wolverine and the X-Men (2009)

This is the fourth X-Men cartoon adaption.  I got it confused with the X-men as kids version, X-Men: Evolution, which I suppose I'll give a shot as well at some point.  This one is different, and pretty good.  Good voice cast and the animation is much better than the Fox show.

Of course, Wolverine is the new Batman, who is now the Silver Age Superman in that they can never be surprised or beaten.  That sure gets old after a while, but since he's now up there with Spidey and Cap as Marvel's top guns, I'm not surprised.  I'll just add right now that I hate Logan's ever changing "true" origins.  I'm so over that nonsense.  It's astounding to me that a team with three powerful telepaths couldn't sort out his brain in no time flat if they wanted to.

Kaufman Lawler Feud: Chapter 26 - Guest Commentator

This is a direct follow up to the last clip. Andy guest commentates with Lance as what looks to be part of the original Midnight Express take on two jobbers- well, one, since Giant Frazier later turns into Uncle Elmer in the WWF. Andy is of course hilarious in his heel role.

Power Rangers... 20 years ago

It was 20 years ago this very day that The Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers were first televised on Fox Kids.  I had seen the previews so was intrigued by what I knew would to be the Super Sentai series being shown.  I had no idea what they had done to the series or what it would become.  I thought it would be dubbed into English, like other Japanese imports had been.  I also kind of figured it would last a season if it was lucky, since it was really different than anything kids in the US would be watching or thought was popular.

Karate-Robo Zaborgar International Teaser Trailer

Saw this was available on Netflix... if the rest of the movie is as fun and exciting as the first ten minutes I'm sold. I know it's a "comedy" but hopefully it won't all be idiotic. I believe that most superhero fare these days needs to lighten up, but if it's over the top then it has the probability of just being stupid instead of funny. It will be interesting to watch. I certainly don't have high expectations, having been burned by so many other recent adaptions and remakes.

Best of WCW: The Clash of Champions

Here's a collection of a LOT of matches from WCW's free pay per view, "The Clash of Champions".  It was started in 1988 as a counter to the expensive WWF's pay per views, and it worked really well.  I watched the first one, mostly for the Road Warriors match- a rather short barbed wire six man tag, pretty predictable, actually- but was glad I did, since the main event was the first bout with Sting and Ric Flair.  I hadn't seen that match since, but it's on here of course, as it rightly should be.

Mazinga Z in English (part one)

It is titled Mazinger Z in the cartoon. That's just a hard habit for me to break, since I first saw it as Mazinga and that's what I've always written. This is from the original English dub. Apparently there were 27 episodes dubbed into English back in the day. I've got a compilation movie of the first four episodes. The dubbing isn't bad, but it's not great. Too bad Titra didn't get to do it.

Reality

Calvin has a lot of the same issues we all do.  He might live though.

The Mighty Thor- Enter Hercules

One of the best things about the early Marvel Comics was that they had all these cool crossover and team ups. Since most of their heroes were based in NYC it made sense. It also helped that Stan Lee was writing most of the stories at that time and could keep it together. of course that eventually turns into a big mess when your characters don't age at all, or change, but early on it worked just fine.

Avengers 47

"Magneto Walks The Earth!"

Words:

Roy Thomas

Pencils: 

John Buscema

Inks:

George Tuska

Letters: 

L.R. Gregory

Magneto and the Toad are trapped on a barren planet the Stranger has left them on.  I wonder what they have been eating.  We meet Dane Whitman and his assistant Norris.  Cap quits the Avengers and Hawkeye and Natasha have a row, all within six pages.  That's a lot to do in a short amount of time, and that's just the beginning.

Kaufman Lawler Feud: Chapter 25 - A Victory Party

The quality isn't the greatest, but this is the aftermath of the previous card. Andy ends up doing commentary for the next bout, but that may have to wait til next week. It's interesting to see all the people in the First Family- Norville and Condrey, part of the original Midnight Express, are there. Missing is a very young Jim Cornette, except in video footage.

The Sci-Fi Boys (2006)

This was kind of a frustrating viewing experience.  They talk to a lot of great people here, which is fun for sure.  However, it kind of meanders around a lot, like there was no real direction to it.  The best parts are the archival footage talking to Forrest J Ackerman and a young Rick Baker, then seeing them in present day.  I like that a lot, and some of the clips of the home movies these monster kids were making back then.  Kids having fun, that's just great, despite the fact that only friends and family would ever want to watch most of these movies ("say, we don't wanna watch my movie again, do we?") more than once.

Ghost of Zorro 7

"Tower of Disaster"
Zorro and Rita survive. Obviously not Clayton Moore's voice under that mask. The villains sure have a lot of fancy weapons at their disposal to keep throwing at the telegraph line. They are pretty inept though. The boss is always mad at them for some reason or another.

Adam 12 (1968)

After the success of DRAGNET, Jack Webb developed another series based on the police.  Adam 12 followed the adventures of beat offices Pete Malloy and Jim Reed.  It's a little more relaxed and less preachy than DRAGNET, but it follows the same formula more or less.  Reed is the rookie cop partnered with Malloy in this first season.  Both cops also appeared in DRAGNET 69 for the episode "Internal Affairs".  I don't remember them, but I may go back and check it out.  I watched it, I know it, but danged if I remembered them showing up.  Of course, I hadn't seen either shows in ages so I'm not surprised I didn't remember who was who.

J.A.K.Q. "Four Cards!! The JAKQ Trump Cards"

It's too bad that G.U.I.S. only subtitled this one episode (and the final movie) since this is one sentai show I want to see. It's the second one, full of action and adventure. These days I prefer less special effects and more practical ones, and this show delivers.

Dragnet 1970 episode 22 D.H.Q. Night School

Finished watching the final season of Dragnet the other day.  I know it's fun to put the show down as "square" because, well, it IS really square, but it's a good show.  Certainly it has it's own view point, but it's not nearly as one dimensional as some people would point out.  I mean, it's a show about cops busting bad guys, no one should think it's really going to be that sympathetic to law breakers.

So this episode Joe is going back to school so he can get his masters degree.  He's in a "sensitivity" class where none of the other members know what each other does.

The KISS Albums Revisited: KISS

Here's an interesting series on youtube. It's got a lot of cool facts about the band, some performance video and lots of neat pictures from the time period when this first album was released. For some reason I always thought this first album was released in '73, but it was early '74.

Review for Marine Boy: Underwater Adventure

The book is out and for sale now, and I've gotten a few reviews.  I'm going to be posting them on occasion so this doesn't seem like so much spam for readers to go buy it.  Pretty sneaky, huh?  Be sure to use the coupon MXARFHS5 for a 10% discount, it still applies.

Prince Planet Theme Song

This is a great little song. Wouldn't it have been cool if the B-52s, circa 1980, had covered it? Would have been right up their alley, too. This was the one of the first Japanese cartoons I ever remember seeing, mostly because of the pendant.

Justice League: Doom (2012)

Watched this movie today.  Never read the comic book story it was adapted from so I can't compare it to that.  From what I read about the differences between them, it sounds like the cartoon is the one to watch.  It's always a good thing to see that Plastic Man was left out of anything.

I just don't get his appeal.  I'd really appreciate it if someone in the "know" could fill me in on why he's used at all.  Aside from the comedy, since he did get one of the best lines in the Avengers/JLA crossover.  I'll admit that.

Kaufman Lawler Feud: Chapter 24 parts 1 and 2

This is the battle of Jerry vs Andy and Jimmy. Andy is doing his best worst boxer ever, while Jimmy does a pretty good manager wrestler. They have learned the art of stalling really well. Makes the crowd think they are getting a lot more action than they really do.

The Captains (2011)

Started watching this a while ago.  It's fascinating.  It's all the captains (I think they even have fake Kirk from the remakes) except for Jeffrey Hunter but that's understandable since he passed away long ago.  A case could be made for Captain Spock as well, but he's been interviewed loads with Shatner. So it's five other captains he talks to.  I wish they had all been together at once, but the logistics of the actors and where they are in their lives at that moment.

Ghost of Zorro 6

"Deadline at Midnight" 

The shots in the mine are pretty murky. I'm not complaining, since I'm watching it for free. Rita and Ken have some nice interplay about Zorro being a ghost. Then she gets annoyed at him for not seeing the villain's next plan.

Road Warriors: Danger, Death, & the Rush of Wrestling

Hard to believe I've had this for over two years and haven't reviewed it.  Of course, I never reviewed the DVD set either, so I'll have to fix that at some point as well.  Animal wrote this book and did a great job of it.

I was introduced to the Road Warriors a little after the rest of WCW's fans were,  perhaps in late 1983.  This is due to my cousin Tuck being a big fan of the program, and we watched it Saturday evenings when I was in West Virginia for college.  Yeah, there wasn't that much to do in Keyser at that point, especially if you didn't have a car.  I sure wanted to make a road trip to the Omni and see a card there, they always looked really great.

Kaufman Lawler Feud: Ch 23 - I'm Going to Knock His Lights Out

I wonder if the Memphis fans really believed Andy was training with Muhammad Ali. It doesn't matter, since a heel is supposed to brag and lie about his accomplishments. That's one of the things that makes them heels. This is a great set up for the handicap bout. Jerry seems so angry at the two weasels.

Southern Knights #11

"Synergy"

Henry Vogel (Script), Chuck Wojtkiewicz (Pencils), Bill Neville (Inks), T. R. Davidson (Letters).

(I can't believe it's been well over a year since I wrote about this series.)

Our heroes are out patrolling Atlanta.  They have a fun discussion of how the odds don't apply to them, which is very true in comic books about superheroes.  Things just work out the way they do.

So on their patrol, they run into a group of quadruplets.  Being a comic book, they immediately get into a fight and lose to these girls.  They can't really hurt the Knights, but they get away.  Everyone is a bit put out by this.

HERCULOIDS: The First family of planet Amzot documentary

Here's a fun little look at the original run of the Herculoids (forget the tame Space Stars series). They talk to many current animators who know what they are talking about. It's interesting they mention "One Million Years, BC" since I think that was a huge influence on several stories and designs for many of the H-B shows.

Ultraman 28: Human Specimens 5 & 6

If I were ever in Japan, and monsters and aliens were known to be around, I would never get on a bus.  Ever.  This always happens to them, and then you get taken as a specimen or an experiment or something awful.

Ghost of Zorro 5

"Gun Trap"
I can understand why they redubbed Zorro. Clayton's voice is very distinct, and everyone would wonder why Rita and friends were too dense to realize he was Zorro. Can't have the Lois Lane situation going on here! The villains in this serial don't like each other. HA! These criminals are a cowardly, superstitious lot that think Zorro is a real ghost. Nice scene with Hodge here.

Marine Boy: Underwater Adventure is GO!

I can hardly believe I am typing these words right now... but the Marine Book I started on a whim some 12 years ago is finally finished and on sale!  Order it here and use the coupon MXARFHS5 for a 10% discount!  I'm still a bit stunned it's done.  I was starting to think it would never happen, and yet, here it is, in living color (well, most of it).

Here's a little history of the project:  By 1999 or 2000  I had acquired several volumes of the Marine Boy series.  These were all on VHS and took up a lot of space in my collection.  The internet was still beginning, and while there were several sites that mentioned the show, there were no real images or anything like that.  While I was watching the episodes I decided on a whim to take some notes.  Handwritten notes, mind you.  At first they were pretty indepth reviews. Then, as I started thinking about what I was going to do with them, they got shorter.  There was no real need to talk about how many times Neptina said "Marine Boy watch out!" in an episode.