Godzilla!

That is all.  Just a last minute reminder of how much we love Godzilla and all his friends.  These are all screen captures from GODZILLA VS MEGALON, one of my favorite movies.

Brave and the Bold redux

Watching the series again and I love it even more. It may even by my favorite over Batman: The Animated series.  It's at least tied, but it sure makes me smile a lot more.  Granted, the tones are very different shows, whereas the rest (The Batman, Batman Beyond and whatever computer animated show came after this one) all strive for a darker look and attitude.  This one has all the pluses, great fun stories, great casting, lots of respect for DC's older history and they still have a lot of more serious episodes (any time the Specter shows up, for example).

RIP Rhodes Reason

Rhodes passed away on December 26th, 2014. I didn't realize how often I'd seen him in TV shows like Time Tunnel and Star Trek. Mostly I knew him from seeing KING KONG ESCAPES in the theater several times as a kid. He was great as Commander Carl Nelson fighting against the evil machinations of Dr. Who.

Superman: The Animated Series

Finishing up this series now.  I really enjoy it, though there are a few episodes I don't care for (most anything with Livewire, she really bugs me).  The voice acting is great and they do some cool things with Superman's rogue's gallery.  They also have team ups.  We meet the Flash, Dr. Fate and Inza, one version of Green Lantern, Orion and many of the New Gods and there's a couple of meetings with the nut from Gotham.  I've probably forgotten a few as well.  This what really sets up things for the Justice League series, far more than anything they did with Batman.  Oh yeah, the Legion of Superheroes makes an appearance as well.  Damn time travel stories!

Demolition vs Powers of Pain SuperStars Feb 10th, 1990

Nope, neither of these teams are the Road Warriors, but they both sure owed their creations to the Legion of Doom. I really never cared for Demolition back the, but watching them now I can appreciate them a lot more. They weren't exactly clones, since Ax had been around a lot longer than the other teams.

Radar Men from the Moon (1952)

As mentioned earlier, this is my favorite Rocketman serial. I saw various chapters at around age 9 or so, dang Channel 2 for airing them at 10 PM on Sunday nights.  I last watched this about ten years ago, but am really enjoying it this time.  I had the Alpha public domain copies then, and this is the Roan Group's cleaned up and far superior version.  It's really astounding how much superior sound can help anything you watch.  I'm pretty forgiving when it comes to older movies, but some of the serials I've seen have had such muffled soundtracks- especially the voices- that they have been nigh impossible to watch.

Radar Men From The Moon trailer

Here's the trailer of the serial I'm currently watching. It was probably the first or second serial I ever saw, back on KWGN Channel 2's Command Performance Theater, which aired a chapter every Sunday night at 10 PM. Needless to say, I didn't see ALL the chapters.

MotW- Giant Octopus

Here's a monster that's not really a monster, since they actually exist.  The Giant Pacific Octopus has been measured at 20' tip to tip, though there are reports of larger ones out there.  This of course has never stopped the movies from imagining gigantic octopi from menacing various heroes.  Before CGI was over-prevalant, it took a lot of skill and cunning to make these monsters come to life on the silver screen.  In 1962's KING KONG VS GODZILLA Tsuburaya and co used three different methods for their portrayal of the beast- a real octopus (four, actually) a dead one and some stop-motion tentacles.  I'll have a sequel to this page sometime in the future featuring the octopi from Japan.

They do make good monsters, since they look so alien.  They are also really smart.

Cadillacs and Dinosaurs - Intro

This claims to be in HD, but I really doubt that. Here's the opening to a fun show that should have a DVD release. I've written about the show before, sometime in the past, but here's the cool opening. I'd seen some of the comics, but didn't really know what the series was about.

the Xeno books

I visited Time Warp Comics today, and showed the owner (and long time friend) an issue of Xenorama.  He hadn't seen any and didn't even know about them.  He asked me if I had been promoting it.  Apparently I need to do that more often, especially since I have three issues of Xenorama and two side projects published.  I think they would do well in comic book stores, so I told him I'd do some more advertising and here we are.  I'm working on issue #18 as we speak which will feature all sorts of cool stuff, including Marvel's great Godzilla series from the 70s.

How's that for a teaser?

So much Batman

I have so many Batman DVDs. More than any other superhero. I find that surprising.  I know it's due to Batman being everywhere these days, and knowing everything, akin to the 60s Superman Supreme.  He's just a boring asshat now, except for maybe the 60s based comic book that is being published.  I hope to have more on that later.  Two of my top five posts here are about Batman.  It used to be three, but inexplicably the Sky Captain post seems to have more fans than I thought were possible.

Midnight Express vs Road Warriors July 1986

I have never seen this match. The most famous match between these teams is the scaffold match, and I also really like their match at the second (I think) Crockett Cup. This one has Dennis and Bobby as the Midnights, and of course, the great Jim Cornette. This had to happen before the Skywalkers match, so I'm happy to see it.

World's Finest

 It was pretty inevitable.  Once WB started the excellent Superman cartoon, having him meet Batman was just going to happen.  So they had a three part episode/movie.  The commentary doesn't remember quite if it was released in prime time as a movie, but it was released on DVD as one.  By the way, as always, the commentary on this episode is really fun.  I wish they could have done more commentaries, which is something I rarely say.  I usually want  a doc about the movie.  End digression.  Naturally Bruce Timm took the name of the three parter from the long running comic book (back when Clark and Bruce were best friends) and it does fit the scope of the movie.  It's odd, they act like they are the only heroes on the Earth, though by now we know there are plenty more.

Godzilla and King Shisa fight Mechagodzilla

This is just a quick clip from the best 70s Godzilla movie.

cool 70s Godzilla book (in Japanese)

August reported on this way cool looking book a while ago.  It covers all the 70s Godzilla movies (and it appears one 60s movie and Yog as well).  I'm sure it has loads of cool pictures from all the movies I grew up loving and seeing in the theaters.  I'd love to own this, but I really would love to see all of it translated into English.  Wouldn't that be great?  I mean, the cover alone is great. 

Bob and Doug Sing 12 Days of Christmas

Good day and welcome to the blog. Today's topic is Christmas and what is the best song. I believe this one is, eh. This is a very cute animated (sorta) version of the boys singing 12 Days from the album, eh. It was released almost 35 years ago- that's a long time for some hosers- but has been a classic since then. Right up there with Stairway to Heaven, eh.

Batman: Over the Edge

I just watched all four sets of Batman: The Animated Series and again, really enjoyed about 94% of the show.  The few clunkers are still pretty good, too.  Anyway, the final 24 "new look" episodes are some of the funnest, though this one certainly is dark and grim.  I guess I should say there are spoilers ahead, but mostly just some observations about the episode itself.  So you have now been warned, proceed at your own risk if you haven't seen this episode.  One more interesting note before I proceed- I have more Batman DVDs than any other superhero, which is odd, since I do love the Bat (since I was three) at this point he's so overdone that I don't care that much for his current incarnation.   Until they make a Tigra or Vision series, this will do.

Mission Magic Intro 1973

I finally watched the first five episodes of this series. I've had the DVD set for some time, but never got around to opening it. It features a very young Rick Springfield singing the songs and lots of magic. Plus an annoying laughtrack.

Ultraman 80 on crunchyroll

I'm not exactly sure when they started showing this great series, but boy am I glad they did.  Ultraman 80 is one of my favorite Ultra series, and getting to watch it all with decent subtitles is going to be a lot of fun.  80 is full of some great monsters and great fighting action.  The effects are top notch and still hold up well today.  80 also has a nice design, getting back to basics rather than the ornate headgear that Taro and Leo had.

Arrow vs Flash

In part 2, our heroes team up to catch Captain Boomerang.  This time, the Flash crew (secret IDs are known to at least five people in both shows now) travels to Starling City (ugh, what a name) to help Green Arrow capture the aforementioned Captain Boomerang.  Of course, he is on called this once at the end of the show, but we all knew that would happen.  There's also a lot of flashbacks to Ollie's past, why he is so Batman like.  You know, torture to get information from criminals and that sort of nonsense.

Flash vs Arrow

I've seen one episode of Arrow, and now this one of the new Flash show.  I'm no fan of realistic heroes, but danged if the Flash isn't one. They are sort of doing the realism thing, but at least he looks like the Flash.  Well, in costume.  In person, Barry looks a bit like Wally, so very young.  At least they keep the whole thing of him being late ALL the time in tact, a really nice touch.  I quite enjoyed the 90s version of the Flash, so it's nice to be able to say I like this one as well, which I kind of figured I wouldn't be able to say, since DC has such a lousy track record with their superhero movies these days.

random Marine Boy pics

 I was reflecting on the origins of this blog (well, the second origin, since the original origin wasn't very original to begin with- see, I could write like the late, great Peter Fernandez!) and I realized there sure weren't that many pictures of Marine Boy and company posted.  They were hard to come by 8 years ago, and taken from blurry VHS tapes.

Ultraman Leo 1st OP (Lyrics)

Mostly to remind me to watch more Leo on Crunchyroll, here's the opening with lyrics, very cool, plus a lot of great actions scenes. Leo is one violent show, the equivalent of Kamen Rider Amazon, almost. I wish more of the superhero shows we had when I was a kid had even half this much action. The only two that are equal are Batman and the Green Hornet.

Great Guardians!

So I started watching this and it sure has a lot to live up to, with everyone raving about how great it is.  At least it has an awesome title card, right out of 1978's ton of ripoffs homages to STAR WARS.  I'm glad to see it, so many damn movies put tiny little title cards on them (I'm looking at you, "Godzilla" 2014) or put them at the end of the movie.  What kind of dang deal is that?

Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Trailer

Like I mentioned, I watched this movie the other night. I enjoyed it, for the most part. Wish I had seen these in the theater, back when there was one almost across the street. Look for a full review in the near future.

Thor: The Dark World

OK, this movie was pretty good, and as I said, under two hours.  I really appreciate movies like that these days. It's still a little too long, but maybe only by five minutes.  I watched the second Captain America movie as well, and that could be trimmed by a good 20 minutes (I'll review that one later).  The movie had a fair amount of humor, which is always a plus for superheroes.  Good thing Marvel/Disney seems to realize this now.

Thor: The Dark World trailer

I'm watching this movie, and I liked the first one well enough, and so far I like this one just fine. I'm not familiar with Malekith and the Dark Elves, were those a Simonson creation? Seems like I sort of remember that. Alas, I was kind of done reading Thor after issue #200.

Ultraman Leo... subtitled on Crunchyroll!

Thanks to my pal August, here's some cool news- Crunchyroll is streaming Ultraman Leo now!  This was one of the rarest shows to get on VHS back in the 90s, and to be able to watch it subtitled in English is just amazing to me.  Crunchyroll is also streaming Ultraman Max and Ultraman Mebius, but this is the first Show Ultra show they've done.  While I greatly enjoyed both of the other shows, Leo is one I've wanted to see for a long time.  KIKU aired it this year, but now I doubt a DVD set will be forthcoming from Hawai'i, anway. 

Fun Boy Three - Our Lips Are Sealed (1983)

Of course, most of us in the States heard the Go-go's version first, since it was a huge hit for them in late '82 or so. I liked it enough to buy their first album, which I quite enjoyed. I doubt most people here knew there was another version. I wouldn't even call this a remake, since both bands wrote it (of course, Jane and Terry had a reason, but you can google that).

MOTW- Ghidrah! (AKA King Ghidorah)

One of my favorite Toho movies, it marked the first time three giant monsters teamed up rather than trying to kill each other.  Not that Godzilla and Rodan didn't do that very thing for a large part of the movie, but Ghidrah- later King Ghidorah- was such a threat to them and the world they had to do it.

Kumonga is Poison!

Kumonga is one of the best marionettes that Toho's effects crew ever devised, and that's saying a lot. It's a very creepy design and so well executed you forget that spiders don't really spit their webs. Just as well, the traditional method wouldn't be as cool to see.

60 years of Godzilla

Yep, it's his birthday- 60 years of Godzilla on the big and small screens.  I chose the '62 Godzilla because that was the first one I ever saw.  I was almost 7 years old, and did that image have an effect on me.    I had no idea who or what Godzilla was, but danged if I didn't want to find out more after that.  Suddenly the TV Guide was my best friend.

Wonder Woman and Devil Dinosaur?

I have no idea what issue this story appears in, but I would sure like to read it.  I mean, Wonder Woman pushing a stroller down the street, with a red therapod in it.  Has to be great, right?  I can't say I am a huge fan of early Wonder Woman stories- all that unusual subtext is rather distracting to my now older eyes.  Still, they are fun stories on occasion.  I'm sure this has a certain amount of silliness all over it.

Creature from the Black Lagoon trailer

What a great trailer to a great movie. Possibly the best man in a suit monster ever. I've shared my love of this movie several times, but since we are so close to Hallowe'en, here's the trailer again (I'm going to assume any previous ones have been taken down already).

Time's Black Lagoon

this is a novel about the Creature from the Black Lagoon, set in 2015 (President H. Clinton is presiding). the climate has warmed so much that a young marine biologist proposes genetically engineering people to live in the sea. he is of course, met with derision.  But something has to be done, or humanity is probably doomed.

Super 6 intro

Thuvia Jane...

Came into my life six years ago, right around her birthday, which happens to be today.  She's still part kitten, despite being seven years old.  She was a year old when I got her.

Her name was Yoyo at the time, and the ladies at Rescue House were so glad I was going to rename her.  I didn't know exactly what her name would be, but she got named after two ERB heroines.

Back in Black - AC/DC

OK, it's not quite AC/DC, but it's pretty funny, and at a little over a minute doesn't wear out it's humor. I mean, anything with Beaker even acting a little serious is hilarious, and this is synced up pretty well with both him and the band.

R.I.P. Robin Williams

This caught me completely by surprise.  Like many kids from the 70s, I was there when Mork appeared on "Happy Days" and then was almost immediately spun off into his own series "Mork and Mindy".  Since it was set in Boulder (I've seen the "house" they lived in) almost every kid in the state watched the show just because of that.  Heck, some kids even got rainbow colored suspenders to wear.  Not anyone I know, of course...

the Beast is a jerk

And by Beast, I mean the one from 20,000 Fathoms, not Hank McCoy, who is a relatively nice guy (well, at least the last time I read a comic book about him he was).

I just watched the movie again, and it's always better than I remember it being.  There's no time wasted on talking heads, and the love story doesn't seem too forced, which is nice as well.  The actors are all good in their roles and the music gets the job done.

X From Outer Space Credits

Here are the international English credits to this fun movie. It has the oddest international dub I've ever heard. I'm sure it's not a William Ross production, as the voices are so weird and most of them rarely fit the actors. I mean, they just don't sound right.

Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension (2011)

When you are sick sometimes you watch some things you normally wouldn't watch.  Take this for example.  I was waiting for something to finishing cooking and this movie started up.  I've never seen an episode of the show, just a couple clips here and there, so I knew next to nothing about it.   Turns out it was a very entertaining little movie, even if they shouldn't have called it the "2nd Dimension" since it was more of an alternate reality sort of thing.  Of course, that's from years of Earth 1, 2, 3, S,  X, Counter Earth, etc.  So go figure.

"Spider-Man" (2002) Theatrical Trailer

I haven't watched this movie in several years, but I recently discovered a copy of it at my parents house. Yes, that is an odd place to find one. So I figured I'd give it a shot in the next few days, see how it's held up in 12 years. I really enjoyed watching it the first, even though I pretty much knew everything that was going to happen. The curse of reading comic books for 45 years, I suppose.

the Thing and the Guardians of the Galaxy

This was my introduction the the Guardians of the Galaxy.  Back then, this was Marvel Earth's future, after the Martians and Bionic Wars happened (this of course has changed since then).  As I love superhero teams, and ones I had never seen before this comic book hooked me.  It was actually the second part of the story, which I have finally read.  Ben, Cap and Sharon Carter have traveled to the year 3014 to help liberate New York from the Badoon, but they lack the numbers and get overwhelmed.

Gatchaman (2013)

Look at that title, taking up the screen like it was proud of the source material (I won't mention other movies that have tiny little title screens, lame).  So I'm not a huge Gatchaman fan, but I do quite enjoy the original series.  I can even watch Battle of the Planets occasionally.  But I don't care if they make changes in the source material for a live action adaption.

Batman The Complete Television Series

This is the best news a fan could wish for on Batman's 75th birthday- the complete 60s TV series on blu ray and DVD. It says it's chock full of extras, which should be just great. No idea what they are, but it won't stop me from getting the set.

Godzilla 66

Just watched this fun movie last night.  It's such a great spy/adventure/buddy comedy with monsters thrown in that you have to like it.  Add some great effects and a very cool score by Sato and it's really one of the more fun Godzilla movies out there.  If the new US Godzilla movie had been half as much much I probably would have gone and seen it more than once.  However, watching this on DVD sure is a different experience because of all the details you can notice.

Spidey - The Birthday Bandit

In the superhero starved 70s, I would watch anything that remotely resembled heroes. I was pretty happy that he started appearing on another of my favorite shows, the Electric Company. It got me to watch the show ALL the time, hoping Spidey would be on. I was a bit disappointed there wasn't more action, but it was Spider-man.

The Wolvie

It was pretty good.  I watched all of this "directors" cut, and it didn't drag too much.  I'm sure they could have clipped out about 10 or 15 minutes and it would have worked just fine, but this is the version I saw and I'm OK with it.

The Venture Bros. Show Open

I have never seen an episode of this show, but on a whim I purchased Season 5 (mostly due to the amazing cover). So I'm trying to find out a bit more about the show. I've heard good things from some people, but I'm very particular about my homage/parody/satire targets... this beginning looks a LOT like Jonny Quest, and I think most people here know how I feel about that show.

Captain America #255

Even back when comics were fun, they weren't always easy to figure out.  Take Captain America for example.  He had several different versions of his origin story by probably 1975.  They all were basically the same, but they had minor variations to them- vita rays, a potion to drink, a serum that was injected.  Add to that the fact that his costume and shield changed by his second issue with no explanation given (years later it comes to light that it was an agreement to avoid litigation over a similar company's character "The Shield") and Cap's history was a bit confused.

Bob & Doug McKenzie with Geddy Lee - Take Off

I'll admit it- I'm not a huge Rush fan. I appreciate their musicianship (it's excellent, duh) but they just have never grabbed me as a band. I think of Kerry von Erich when I hear "Tom Sawyer" more than I ever think of Rush.

Marine Express (1979)

This is a movie I never knew existed until today, thanks to a cool FB group that Dan Ross created.  It's a team up of most of Osamu Tezuka's main cartoon characters, but most of them are playing some different roles in this film.  Certainly Astro Boy is not the same character we all know and love from various cartoons and movies.  I don't know most of them myself, and the names I know are the English names for them- Viper Snakely, Professor Elefun, Mr. Pompous and of course Astro Boy.  But I recognize some of the rest of them.

What do all the People Know? The Monroes

Possibly my favorite "new wave" song. There's no real video for the song, so here's a live version from the Merv Griffin show.  It sounds so new wave to me, with just the right amount of keyboards with the rest of the song.  Plus it's a great song.

The Wolverine (2013)

I've had this ready to watch for several months, but kind of forgot it was on the HD.  This is the extended version.  Man, I miss the days when movies weren't constantly over two hours long AND that there was only one version of any given film.  How many freaking versions of BLADERUNNER are there?  And how many do we really need?  I'm sorry, it's my issue and I'll deal with it.  Anyway, after enjoying the last X-Men movie, which surprisingly didn't have Wolverine in every single shot, I thought it was time to check this film out.  I mostly enjoyed the first solo flick, even if there were no costumes or even code names for anyone.  I still don't get that, I mean, what's the point of making superhero movies if they are just dressed up as normal people?  Yes, that's another issue of mine, I'll get back on track here, I promise.

New York Groove- Ace Frehley

This is the one hit track from KISS' four solo albums. I had all of them, and liked all of them to various degrees, but I can see why this was a hit. It's really catchy. When looking for this video I found the original version, which I had never heard and a cover by SWEET, of all bands. I like Ace's best, of course, since it's the first one I heard, but the original is almost as good.

superheroes!

Just a sampling of some of the great heroes from Japan in the 1970s.  How I wish I had been able to see them in their heyday.  I loved the action of the Batman show, but after that most of the US superhero shows were rather anemic.

Adam & The Ants - Stand And Deliver

Adam Ant had a huge career in England long before most anyone in the States got to hear "Goody Two Shoes". Once the LP "Strip" came out this video made it's premiere on TBS' "Night Trax" in the wee hours of early 1984. They did explain that the album had been released two years earlier and this wasn't a truly new video.

Pacific Rim finale

It took a little longer for me to watch the whole movie than I thought it would.  I mean, robots fighting giant monsters?  That's a lead pipe cinch for me to love, right?  Well, almost.  There will be spoilers below, so you have been warned if you haven't seen the movie yet.

Britain's Scariest Mythical Creatures - Anglophenia Ep. 4

I just discovered this fun series on youtube, I highly recommend you check it out. There's only five or so episodes, but they are pretty short and Siobahn is adorable and has a great delivery. Plus she covers fun stuff.

RIP Casey Kasem

Casey Kasem passed on today, at the age of 82.  He provided so many voices to characters I grew up with, and made much of the pablum of Top 40 music in the 70s entertaining with his show about the Top 40 hits of the week.  It was always fun to get to the top ten songs.  I'd rather remember the way he lived then some of the things that happened in his later years.  I'm not involved, so there will be no comment about them from me.

Battle of the Planets intro

Today's post is in honor of the passing of Casey Kasem.  I'll have more on that later on tonight.  This show was the first US import of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, which showed up on US airwaves shortly after Star Wars was a huge hit.  I knew by then it was of Japanese origin, but knew nothing about the original show.  It was only aired sporadically in my area, around noon on Saturdays.  I really wanted to like it more than I did, but the addition of 7-Zark-7 was such a drag.  The articles about how it was edited appeared later, and then it made sense,  though there were some fight scenes left in here and there, which did make it much better than most of the sanitized cartoons airing in that time period.

MOTW - Mothra

It's been a long time since I've done one of these "Monster of the Week" features, but that's no reason not to start it back up, or at least try to.  Anyway, since the new Xenorama is all about Mothra, I figured it would be a fine time to feature the large lepidotaran in a post of her own.  Any maybe send people looking for copies of this fine fanzine called Xenorama.  It's got a lot of great information about all the movies Mothra has ever been in (to date) plus a lot of other great stuff!

The People's Poem! - The Young Ones

In this segment, Rick, the self styled People's Poet, is upset at a comic book Vivian is reading, even though it's RICK's comic book. I wonder which comic book it was. Yeah, that's just what nerds do, once they get over laughing at the inherent silliness that happens. There's still a bit of the 60s Batman influence showing up here.

RIP Rik Mayall

Rik Mayall, who played "The People's Poet" Rick on The Young Ones passed away today.  Here's an obit with more details.  He also was supposed to be Peeves the Poltergeist in the Harry Potter movies, but that apparently was not to be, which is too bad since he would have been perfect.

Superman 75th Anniversary Short

This is a great cartoon short. No surprise, since it's done by Bruce Timm, us fanboys' favorite producer of DC cartoons. It takes the viewer from 1938 all the way up to the last movie. I reckon I'll have to see it someday. I love that it is all animated, with some slight rotoscoping as well.

Superman: the Mysterious Mr. Mist

This is the cartoon I mentioned last post.  It's a two parter, so there's a lot of action in it, but most of it is rescuing Lois from the mist.  He comes out of a well at Perry White's farmhouse and becomes obsessed with his people having Lois Lane as his people's queen.  It's never explained WHY he wants Lois, or how he knew she would be there, or even what his people actually are.  Of course, casual fans wouldn't think  of such things, especially viewers in the younger age range that would be enjoying the kidnappings and escapes that happen in a 7 minute cartoon.

The New Adventures of Superman (1966)

Just got the second and third "season" of this fine, fun cartoon. I've written about it before, but these are the next 32 episodes. I'm hoping that I will finally see an episode that's haunted me for many years, one in which Superman comes face to face with Superboy. Sort of. I'm not exactly sure of how it happens, but once I see the episode I'll report back. It has something to do with a "mist" of some kind.

more Pacific Rim

Watched about another 20 minutes or so of this movie, and it's very enjoyable.  The monsters really aren't kaiju, since they are not unique.  And I sure miss the sleek robots of years past, but these are pretty cool. 

The Lost World trailer (1925)

I've often wondered if there was a trailer for this movie. This one looks legit, and it's cool to see the dinosaurs in action. I'm pretty surprised at how many versions of the entire movie are on youtube. I wonder which one is actually the best one to watch. It's been a while since I've seen it in any form. I sure do miss these dinosaurs.

X-Men: Days of Future PastM (2014)

It's no big secret I am an old school comic book reader.  The new crop of movies have been hit or miss with me, though I have enjoyed most of the Marvel ones to an extent, and really did like the Avengers a lot.  I don't think I've enjoyed the DC movies very much recently, at least not since about 1980.  I barely remember the Batman movies and never did see the two new Superman films.  Part of the problem is I usually know what's going to happen, due to that extensive comic book history I have in my brain.

And as stated before, the "functional" costumes without masks are really a drag.  What's the point of having code names if they never get used?  Boring.  Oh, there's gonna be spoilers, after the cut.

Days of Future Passed- X-Men #141

I actually had a subscription to X-Men back in 1980, and this was one of the issues I got in the mail.  It, along with part 2, was John Byrne's penultimate story for this run of the X-men (I think there were two mutant titles published now... hard to believe, eh?).  It sure seems to have had quite the impact on the franchise now.  I would never have thought anything of it, other than it was an enjoyable tale, with the hints that it was NOT the same timeline as what we were actually getting. 

The big hint was in the future Colossus's middle name, which also led me to finding out the difference in male and female Russian (and other Slavic) family names.  Squirrel! 

Words Get Stuck In My Throat -Devo

I remember hearing this version on the Dr. Demento show back in 1979 or 1980, but somehow missed that it was by Devo and from the movie "War of the Gargantuas" (1966). I knew I had heard it before, but since monster movies had started disappearing by that time (at least in Colorado) I couldn't quite place where I knew it from.

Battle of the Humongunauts

The first 13 episodes of "Mystery, Inc" are all I have to watch, and I'm finished with them.  It's a very enjoyable series, probably the best Scooby series that has ever been produced.  Granted, that's not too difficult to accomplish, since most of the Scooby series have been crap.  I think I may have mentioned that before, here and there.  I watched a lot of them out of habit, since it didn't matter the name of the series, they were almost ALL Scooby clones.  Now, I will make an exception for Josie and the Pussycats, but I may also be a bit biased.

Orion Home Video - Monster Movie Previews (1989)

I remember vividly when these four movies were released on VHS by Orion. I'd seen all of them before on TV, but they had pretty much disappeared by the mid-80s, thanks to damn infomercials. Ugh, I still hate those things. They were fullscreen versions, and all had the AIP/Titra/Titan dubbing that I had grown up seeing (yes, I know, GAPPA was the international dub, but you get the point) so "Save The Earth" is on the Smog Monster tape. These were also released on laser-disc, which was a blessing, since it allowed all of the dubs to be saved.

Godzilla... or am I ruining the fandom again?

Over the last week, since the movie's been out, it seems like there is a lot of (non) controversy about this movie.  At least in the tiny Godzilla fandom that exists in this country.  I've read a lot of reviews now, and it seems some fans think if you don't love the film you just aren't "getting" it.  It also seems to go the other way, if you like the movie then you hate Godzilla.  What if you are ambivalent to it completely?

The Fooks - Drunken Lullabies

Here's a great cover of Flogging Molly's "Drunken Lullabies". In fact, I've heard this so many times I actually prefer it to the original. Full disclosure- I'm friends with the band and make no apologies for that. They are all great people and I miss them. A lot. I'm working on ways to get them to tour Colorado, but if you are in San Diego go see them.

Xenorama #17 is go!

Yes, it's all finished, and just in time to capitalize on the new giant monster trend in the movies (that is, if it lasts more than a month).  This issue is really a good one, as you can tell by the amazing cover!  I've been really blessed by having the talented Dan Ross do these covers for me.  Everyone should raise a tasty beverage of their choice to him when seeing the new issue.  He's also a great person, too, so that helps.

Batman: The Animated Series Intro Live Action

After a month of mostly Godzilla and Godzilla oriented it's time for some new material. Well, OK, so Batman isn't new to this blog, but this is one right cool homage to the mostly excellent (yes, there were a few clunker episodes) animated series of the 90s. I think comic book heroes work best in drawn form, and praising this cartoon is nothing new.

Godzilla 2014

So I saw GODZILLA last night, and if you only want a short, non-spoliery review, stop at the end of this here paragraph.  It's very adequate entertainment- it's loud, 20 minutes too long, predictable and has some good moments in it.  I mostly liked the score and actors were pretty good.  Script could have used a couple more edits, but I don't think Hollywood employs editors these days.  OK, now onto the spoilers.

Godzilla vs King Shisa, Rodan and Angilas

Since the new movie officially opened today, I am showing this fun clip from the 50th anniversary Godzilla movie. This is a movie I like quite a bit, probably my favorite since 1975. Sure, it could be a lot better- less martial arts fights, longer monster fights, a less overpowering Godzilla, but it's never dull or boring. I do have an excellent fan edit which really helps. And there's a ton of monsters in cameo appearances. I've quote Mr Owari a lot, but "I like FINAL WARS, I must be destroying the fandom."

Xenorama #17... the cover!

Here's the amazing cover for Xenorama #17.  I may be biased, but I'd sure buy this if I saw it on the stands!  It pretty much covers everything that's in the 'zine this issue.  Do I need to say it was created by the extremely talented Dan Ross?  He manages to get many disparate images to coalesce into just an awesome cover.   I'm very blessed to have such talented people in my life!