Shogun Warriors and Godzilla MOTW (Commercial, 1978)

 

I had both (Great) Mazinga and Godzilla Shogun Warriors.  I wanted more, but the sheer size of the Jumbos proved difficult.  I had several other versions, including that strange on called Leopardon.  Why on Earth would a leopard have a spider web design on it?

The Kagestar (1976)

 

Here's another oddball Toei superhero series I never thought would be subtitled.  I really do appreciate fansub groups who put the hard work into these shows for us. Our heroes are not actually people, but shadows brought to life from their humans.  After the first episode things are a bit confusing, but perhaps that will be cleared up in the future.  That darn electrical accident is the catalyst for these powers to manifest themselves.  It's a fun twist for such things, as the humans fall nearly unconscious when the heroes appear.

Mystery Solvers Club State Finals

In episode #14 of Mystery, Incorporated (yes, I love this Scooby Doo show) the gang are headed to the Mystery Solvers Club State finals.  Scooby is sick, and they are going without him, since he is just the sidekick.  Shaggy can't believe there are more clubs like theirs out there. Turns out there are at least three others in Crystal Cove for the finals.  I didn't see Goober and the Ghost Chasers or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids,  but it was a pretty packed cast already.  Many shenanigans happen between the "sidekicks" of The Funky Phantom (and his cat, Boo), Captain Caveman, Jabberjaw, Speed Buggy and the villain Infernicus before everything is solved.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier 2- The Star Spangled Man

 

Does anyone else keep saying The Falcon and the Snowman Winter Soldier at all?  At least they aren't using that song.  Anyway, episode two brings our heroes together with the "new" Captain America, John Walker, and his partner, Lemar Hoskins, AKA Battlestar.  Boy, that name sounds dopey when you say it out loud.  I mean, unless it is followed by Galactica.  Of course, they don't want to be a four man team, so Sam and Bucky take off on their own.  This does not bode well, as they visit another Super Soldier.  How many of these people are around now?  Is Bucky one?  I missed that in the first Cap movie.  It all ends with them going to see Zemo.  Cause, sure, that always works out well for anyone involved with Captain America.

Falcon and the Winter Soldier- 1 New World Order

 

I am not the biggest spy movie fan.  I like some of them, but for the most part espionage just bores me.  It can be too real, I guess, for wont of a better word.  However, I did quite enjoy Captain America: The Winter Soldier when I saw it.  When I first heard about it, and found out Bucky was alive, well... let's just say I was not best pleased.  Bucky had been one of the few people in the Marvel Universe that had stayed dead.  I get why they brought him back, but really, I didn't and still don't like it much.   But the movie was really well done, and Civil War was also pretty great.  So for the MCU, it's fine he's alive.  I am sure Disney is very relieved to know they have my blessing.

Super Scary MOTW - Kumonga

 

Let's face it, spiders are scary to most people.  It's sad, as they are truly beneficial creatures.  However, a spider that is the same size as Godzilla would be truly terrifying.  Kumonga was the ostensible villain of 1967's Son of Godzilla, simply because it was hungry.  It did seem a bit belligerent towards Godzilla, though it might have been cranky from being woken from a nap.

Avengers #57 (reprint edition)

 

I bought this yesterday.  This is the first appearance of the modern Vision, who was created by Roy Thomas and John Buscema.  He was a pawn of Ultron-5 at the time, but that changed quickly.  His past remained a mystery for several years, until Steven Englehart took over the book roughly 50 issues later.  That was a great story, I'll tell you what.  The Vision quickly became my favorite Marvel hero, if not my favorite superhero of all time.

Voyage into Space

 

This shows up on Comet TV now and then, and boy is it fun to see it on television.  It's available on Amazon Prime as well, which is unusual, since you have to purchase episodes from them.  No one knew when it was originally aired just how much it had in common with Gigantor.  At least no one else could command Robo, even if they stole the watch from Johnny.

Ditko and Batman

 

I had no idea Steve Ditko had drawn the Bat!  This is from the first issue of Man-Bat.   I had the second issue of Man-Bat's short lived series, but at the time I had not begun to notice creative teams.   Even then, I wondered how this character could sustain any kind of lasting book.  It didn't.  Man-Bat and Woman-Bat have shown up here and there since then, and in some great episodes of Batman: The Animated Series.  He was sort of DC's version of The Lizard.

House of Dracula 1945

 

Both Dracula and the Wolfman approach Dr. Edelmann to see if he can cure their respective curses of lycanthropism and vampirism.  One of these he is successful in doing.  Drac only seems to be sort of interested in it, but turns to his old evil ways before getting burnt to a crisp again.  Larry and the Doc find the monster and cart him up to the lab.  If only they would leave the poor creature alone.    Too bad they never learn, though if they did we would not have these movies to watch.

MOTW- Reptilicus

 

A frozen tail of an unknown prehistoric animal is found in the oil fields of Denmark.  Miraculously, the tail is alive, and when accidentally thawed grows into the monstrous Reptilicus.  It is naturally hungry and goes on a rampage in Copenhagen.  The military is reluctant to destroy it, as it's pieces could grow into even more reptilici, and that might be bad for the planet.  Eventually it is poisoned and dies.  Except for the claw that had been blown off...

House of Frankenstein (1944)

 

The direct sequel to the last film. It's kind of two separate stories with the same characters, though.  Mad Scientist kills carnival owner and revives Drac for 25 minutes.  Then he unceremoniously ditches the Count in the sun, and he's out of the picture completely.  Only Karkoff an Naish remain in the movie.  After Drac dies they find a gypsy caravan, kidnap a girl, and head to Frankenstein's castle.  There they find both Larry Talbot and the monster frozen in ice.  This ends well for no one at all.

Frankenstein meets Wolfman

Two grave robbing idiots open up the Talbot family crypt and expose Larry's corpse to moonlight.  This was a really bad idea.  The werewolf curse returns and so does the Wolfman.  Larry wants an end to his life and enlist the help of Dr Mannering and Maleva.  The old gypsy woman tells Talbot of Dr Frankenstein, and eventually he meets the Baroness.  Mannering tries to help him, but succumbs to the idea of reviving the monster completely.  A moronic townsman blows up the dam and supposedly drowns the monsters.

The Best of Josie and the Pussycats

 

Much like Sabrina, I did not read many of these comic books growing up either.  I sure did love both the cartoon series, as has been well documented in this blog and also in the zine.  I also love the movie, and was incredibly happy to find out it's a really good film.  I wish I had seen it in the theater.  I was sure it was going to be a dud with crappy music.  Boy, was I happy to be wrong.

The Queers - Tamara Is A Punk (Official Music Video)

 

I had never heard of The Queers until recently, and I have found them to be so much fun.   They sing about punk rock girls.  The Dollyrots had covered their song "Punk Rock Girls" and that led me here.   This is a cute video.

Sabrina, the Teenage Witch Complete Collection

I never read many Archie comic books, at least not compared to superheroes.  That was my wheelhouse.  I never bought one in my younger days.  I found them at friends' houses, if they had kids.  There was usually a stack of comic books somewhere that I could peruse. I did read them, but they were always placed after the superhero comic books, even if I had read those many times.  They were always above the Richie Rich/Casper books, though.  I never realized Archie Comics had actually published superheroes at one time, even though some showed up in the books here and there.

Immortal MOTW- Caltiki

 

I'll admit it, blob monsters scare me.  It doesn't matter how silly the movie is (like Son of Blob) the concept always works for me.  Something like this could actually exist, especially from space.  My logical brain knows it's probably not feasible, but sometimes that small part makes me think "there could be some goop that is going to drop down on me and that's all there is!" Fortunately that has never happened.  But there is always the chance it could...

Live, In Person!

 I found this old flyer today.  This happened in the year 1989, CE and was the first time I got to meet the legend himself.  I went to The Evening with Ray Harryhausen, though I missed the introduction because I got lost.  There was no GPS in 1989.  For all the faults of cell phones I really do love GPS.  So I did miss the line a certain genius had written for me, but I saw everything else.  Ray presented a reel of his highlights, and what fun that was.  I asked him a question, and I remember exactly what it was.  I wanted to know why he didn't have any of his black and white movies in the reel, since he always said he loved shooting in black and white.

WandaVision 9- Series Finale

 

 Wanda and Vision have to battle their counterparts, while SWORD makes it's play.  We get most of the questions answered, though I really wanted him to be the X-men Pietro.  The battles rage through the town, as well as the hearts of our heroes.  In the end, Wanda has to make a dreadful decision.  How does one actually choose between happiness and what is right?

Jet boots!

 

I've been watching Marine Boy episodes again, and boy howdy do they look great.  It's nice that they are about 25 minutes long.  That makes the episode move at a good pace, rather than fast pace a shorter episode would entail.  They are a lot of fun.  I wonder if Marine Boy has any kind of "real" name, since he is only referred to as Marine Boy.  By everyone.  Including his father!  Perhaps his name is Marin, which sounds like Marine.  The world may never know, and the world will wonder why I think about such things, I am sure.

MOTW Hollow Beast

 

This dreaded theropod ravaged a small town in Mexico.  It lived in a hollow mountain.  The species was an unknown theropodomorph, as it was the size of a Tyrannosaurus rex, but has the build of an Allosaurus fragilis.  Most of the the meat eaters that Obie designed were based on the original thinking that a rex had three fingers.    No one is going to yell at Charles R. Knight for that, either.  This is why Ray's critters always had them as well.  "It's not like we were making a documentary!"

Rude Dude: The Steve Rude Story (2014)

 

I have been a fan of Rude's work since I bought the Comico Space Ghost comic book special in 1987.  It's a clean style, which I appreciate these days.  I had never read any of his other books like Nexus so I didn't know much about the man or the artist.  Nexus was a highly regarded property back then, from what I remember.  Later on I would hear things, but who knew what to believe back then?  This documentary tells you everything about Mr. Rude and more, with his complete involvement.  It also features many other comic book professionals.  I watched it a year or two ago on Amazon, and it was fascinating.

“A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament.” – Oscar Wilde

Bob And Doug review their movie, eh

  This is beauty eh. I'm not sure how I missed it on TV, though I missed the movie in the theater. What a hoser!