Marine Boy book conundrum

I worked on this book for over ten years, watching episodes, writing and re-writing the various parts to it and even securing interviews with two of the actors.  It was a true labor of love in every sense of those words.  I had thought it was complete right up until press time and then... Warners Home Video released the entire series on three sets of DVDs,  These are great sets as I've reviewed them elsewhere and am so happy to see them on legit DVD as one can only believe a fan would be.  However...

Iron Man 3 wrap up

So we last left our hero down and out, the Mandarin and AIM in charge, about to kill the president of the good ol' USA.  Aparently they've elected a new guy since the events in CA2 was revealed to be part of Hydra.  Hmm, wonder if Hydra and AIM would work together.  I don't think so.

The Ultra Call

Tomorrow I am talking to the rep for Viz Comics about my Ultraman panel at Comic Con (did I mention I was doing this yet?).  I'm excited but I also know I have some more homework to do, since most of my Heisei Ultra knowledge is limited to Ultraman Cosmos and Ultraman Mebius, English speaking Ultras notwithstanding.  I'm really excited and can hardly believe I am headed back to San Diego in less than two weeks now.  Maybe I miss it just a little bit.

Ultraman vs Jirass/Kira/Godzilla

Since I only ever saw 3 episodes of Ultraman growing up I never knew about most of the monsters he fought during his series. Sure, the episode "Graveyard of Monsters" gave me some inkling, but the glimpses were so brief I only vaguely remembered them until I saw the episode again many years later. I did wonder what would happen if Ultraman and Godzilla ever faced off. Here you can see a version of it.

Shazzan DVD set

I am slowly but surely replacing all my Hanna-Barbera bootleg cartoons with the legit sets they sell through the WB archive.  I've got the Herculoids and now the Shazzan DVDs.  Both look great, as I have noted before.  I've read some complaints about the way the cartoons are preserved here and there, but I can't see anything wrong with these, considering they are almost 50 years old and HD was something that was never even a dream back then, much less having them for sale for home viewing.  I think they are amazing and am really happy to be able to ditch my other, less than perfect copies, as happy as I was to get them back then.

June 18, Superman Day

I learned on Thursday that June 18th was the day Superman arrived on Earth.  I never knew it was Clark's birthday.  Superman has been around since 1938, and it's conceivable many of us will see his 100th birthday in 22 years.  It's odd to think that true superhero comics haven't been around that long.

Ultraman manga

Usually, I just call 'em comics, since that's what it means.  However, since this is what I'll be doing my presentation on at Comic Con soon, I'll call it manga.

RIP Dusty Rhodes

The American Dream is gone.  I didn't know who Dusty Rhodes was when I first started watching wrestling, as he was not in the Georgia territory at the time, nor did he go to the AWA later on.  And even though I was sorta "smart" to how wrestling was worked, I never thought much about who did the actual booking for the various fueds and how they got put together, or who thought up the various gimmick matches that showed up from time to time.

RIP Sir Christopher Lee

As has been reported elsewhere, Sir Christopher Lee passed on today.  While many younger fans know him as Saruman the White in the Lord of the Rings movies, many of us remember him in his early roles as legendary monsters (and some heroes).  Though I didn't know it was him at the time, I first saw him as Dracula at a very early age, and like his predessor in the role, Bela Lugosi, he left an impression on me.

Ultra Time

So yeah, I'm going host a panel about Ultraman at this year's San Diego Comic Con.  How cool is that going to be?  I'm a little excited for several reasons, aside from the fact I'm the moderator at this panel.  Usually I'd be involved with something with Gamera, but this time it's the hero from the stars.  I've only ever done one panel before, and that was accidental.  I kind of got drafted, but boy was it fun.  This should be great as well.

The Six Million Dollar Man season 4

I picked up this volume on a whim cause it was cheap at Target ($8.00) and because it had crossover episodes with the Bionic Woman (Bigfoot and Fembots).  I had watched both shows rather religiously when they aired, but since then was not very interested in them due to the lack of kinectic action.  Slow-motion all the time to suggest speed... well, it's not that exciting.  But since it has some appeal to the kid in me I thought I'd give them a try again.

WALK THE MOON - Shut Up and Dance

In probably another futile attempt to prove there is music I like that was written past 1985, I present this really great song. I'd never heard of the band or the song until a few weeks ago, but danged if it's not one of my new faves.

This past month

Yeah, it was light on content. Sorry about that. I'll be better this month, since I should have a new computer in the near future.