Xenorama #49 coming for next year!

 

Here is the beginning of the cover for the next issue of Xenorama.  It is a look at just the first Kamen Rider series, the one that started it all.  There are a lot of episodes here to examine, and so much action.  Rider punch!  It was fun re-watching the whole series again, though.  There's not that much more to say about the series, except it really is great.  I would not be surprised to learn that the success of this show caught Toei off guard, especially after Fujioka broke his leg before the first 13 episodes were finished.

Marvel Studios' Avengers: Infinity War Official Trailer

                     

100 years of Stan Lee

 

Stan Lee would have turned 100 years old yesterday.  He, along with his vast array of co-creators, brought to life so many memorable characters that still live on.  The first character he created was the Mighty Destroyer, way back in the early 40s.  I knew none of this when I started reading comic books, but I did notice his name was all over the place.  I was happy to have met him a time or two over the years, but wish that I had thanked him for all the memories he provided.  He was a great man, and also a great showman.

Robot MOTW- Mechagodzilla 93

 

This is not the most fearsome looking version of Mechagodzilla (nothing will top the original) but it did manage to kill the second series monster.  At least for a few minutes, anyway.  It is loaded with weapons, but looks barely mobile.  Rodan and a baby Godzilla are running around the movie as well.  This MG is also a transformer, as it can pair with the Garuda and become Super Mechagodzilla.  The weapons are all beams, which allow it to stay away from Godzilla.  Part of the plan to kill Godzilla stems from a now discredited theory of dinosaurs having a second or hind brain to relay commands to their lower bodies.  This would not work today, obviously.

Blondie - Die Young Stay Pretty

                

Trailing the Pink Panther FIlms (2022)

What a labor of love this is.  John Lemay looks at all of the movies involved with the Pink Panther name.  I love that the Inspector is on the cover as well.  The cartoons were ubiquitous when I was growing up, and they were generally pretty fun.  The earliest ones were always my favorite, especially since many of them got released theatrically.  It was several years later that I learned of the the movies that brought the character to life.  At some point, one of the movies had to be on television, and then I saw one at the drive-in.  This was The Pink Panther Strikes Again, where Chief Inspector Dreyfuss blackmails the world to kill Clouseau.  My family loved it, and started looking for the other movies in the series.

Sven- Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951)

 

Bud and Lou finally graduate from detective school.  They immediately get involved with a boxer on the run, the rather unlikable Tommy Nelson.  He's been framed, see, and needs the boys to clear his name.  Tommy's fiance, Helen Gray, has an uncle, Dr. Philip Gray, who has rediscovered Jack Griffin's invisibility serum.  Ol' Tommy boy wants to use it, but is denied since it can cause mental instability.  Guess who shoots himself up with it anyway?  This leads to Bud becoming a boxer, and many shenanigans in the ring.  Finally, Tommy gets cleared and turns visible.  Lou becomes invisible for a minute, then reappears with his legs on backwards.  Bud says he always gets things wrong.

Epic Collection- Avengers: Kang War

 

I began reading the Avengers comic book series in earnest at issue #101.  Then kind of stopped after #109, with sporadic issues after that, until about #141.  Somehow I missed the whole origin of the Vision and all the giant size annuals or whatever until #7.  This still astounds me, though my guess is that I had recently discovered GIANT MONSTERS and had to choose between an issue of Famous Monsters or various comic books.  Godzilla often won that battle, at least for a time.  I did not pay enough attention to what was going on in the book, since as regular readers know, I love the Vision.  ALL of these issues had something to do with the Vision and Wanda.

Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951) Original Trailer

                     

Strange World (2022)

Jaeger Clade and his son, Searcher are out exploring a way over the mountains, to see what is on the other side.  No one has ever done that before.  Searcher finds a plant full of energy, and decides to harvest it and go home.  Jaeger is upset and continues his quest.  Some 25 years later "Pando" the energy source is not working, and the Clades go on a quest to save it.  Things are never quite as they appear, and surprises abound in the world beneath the surface.  Also, the family has to come to terms with each other so they can complete their mission.

Robot MOTW- The Colossus of New York

 

From Wikipedia- "Following an accident, Jeremy Spensser's brain is transplanted by his scientist father into the huge body of an unattractive, frightening cyborg, to save his brilliant son's mind so that it can continue to serve mankind. Soon, his son's brain becomes transformed by the experimental procedure, losing key attributes that make him human and define his personality."  It also develops death rays from it's eyeballs, and of course, runs amok before Jeremy's son manages to touch his lost humanity and shut the robot body down.

Strange World | Official Trailer

                       

Godzilla vs Biollante - English Trailer

                     

Sven- Invisible Agent (1942)

The Nazi powers want the invisibility serum made by Jack Griffin.  They accost Frank "Raymond" and let him know he is the grandson of Jack Griffin.  He refuses to sell to them, and manages to get away.  The US wants to use his serum, but he refuses them as well.  Then Pearl Harbor happens.  He then agrees to help, but on the condition he is the only one who uses the serum.  He parachutes down into Germany and finds the Ratzis looking for him.  He also runs into a beautiful blond, who may or may not be a triple agent.

Marvel's Hercules movie

 

Hercules was introduced into the MCU at the end of Thor 4.  He will be played by Brett Goldstein, and looks pretty close to his comic book counterpart.  I have some thoughts about how I would do his first movie.  Zeus has sent him out to kill Thor, or at least humiliate him in some manner.  Once he arrives on Earth looking for Thor, I would have him meet and battle some other menace for the majority of the movie.  This would be a way of introducing him to current Earth and his supporting cast, while looking for Thor.  I would only have the God of Thunder show up at the end of the movie, setting up the clash of titans that way, as well as the next movie.  That way Marvel wouldn't have to cram it all into another 3 hour movie.

Invisible Agent Official Trailer 1942

                       

Xenorama #48 is on sale now!

 

 "Guitars and Marshall stacks!"

Here it is!  A celebration of Josie and the Pussycats franchise.  We cover the cartoons, the comic books and the most excellent movie.  Josie's actual 60th anniversary is next year, as she debuted in in 1963.  She got her own mag soon after, and the Pussycats were formed about six years later, in preparation for the cartoons series.  The gang has been around since then, in one form or another.

Robot MOTW- Ultron 7

Ultron 7 took on the Avengers, the Fantastic Four and the Inhumans all at once, and nearly beat them all.  He had the use of the body of Omega, which granted him even more power, though it was not made of adamantium like his other bodies have been.  It also made Ultron gigantic, which does help when battling many different heroes.  It is a good thing that Agatha Harkness was tending to tiny, comatose Franklin Richards in Attilan at the same time.  Ultron's encephalo rays woke him up and he blasted the robot with his own mutant mind beams.  That was the last we saw of Ultron 7.  He would return later, and finally ditched the numbering.  Why advertise how many times you have been defeated?

Samurai Jack season 2 (2002)

This season has Jack looking for time portals, so he can return to his own past and undo the evil that is Aku.  In the first episode he was thwarted by not being able to jump high enough to reach the portal Aku was holding.  At the end of the episode he surprised Aku, since he had learned to jump real high.  He has also met the Scotsman again, and has battled robotic versions of himself.  There are a lot of other enemies and friends to encounter along the way of his quest.

The Queers - "Punk Rock Girls"

                

Emerald's "gotcha" Day

I have already reviewed Creature with the Atom Brain here, about eleven years ago.   My views haven't changed.  So let's talk about Emi again!

It was actually yesterday that I brought Emerald home.  She's been here four years now and has really come out of her shell.  She plays with Kaida all the time.  They do have their disagreements, but mostly get along.  Kaida has even tried to clean Emi on occasion, though Emi isn't that receptive.  She arrived at nine pounds and now weighs just under twelve pounds.  She lost a bit of weight do to the "getaway-chase" game the girls play.  A two year old cat has a LOT of energy.  I love you, Emi!

Trailer - Creature With The Atom Brain (1955)

                 

The Amazing 3 (1965)

 

Here's a rather unknown to the general public cartoon brought over from Japan in the wake of Astro Boy.  It was dubbed by Copri in Florida, and is pretty straightforward, like the other Japanese cartoon series they dubbed.  The basis is that three agents from Galactic Control are sent to Earth to see if the planet will be saved or destroyed.  They take the form of three animals, a duck with a Beatles hair cut, a horse and a rabbit.  They make friends with an Earthling named Kenny/Shinichi.  They help him and his secret agent brother Randy/Koichi defeat a host of vile villains over 52 episodes.  Then the moment of decision is upon them.

RIP John Lennon- Help!

                 

Wakanda Forever (2022)

 

In which Namor, the Submariner, prince of... Talokon, wants help from the Wakandas to protect the world's supply of vibranium from the surface dwellers.  Nations are demanding Wakanda shares it, and some are trying to steal it from Wakanda.  There is also a young scientist Riri Williams who built a vibraniun detector.  This leads to a battle between Namor and his Talokan warriors against the NEW Black Panther and the Wakandans.  Shuri finally comes to terms with being a ruler and the Panther, and they make peace with Namor.

Robot MOTW- Maria

 

A lower class worker, Maria, is copied into a robot, in order to crush a rebellion of workers.  This robot assumes Maria's identity.  Rotwang is her creator, and he more than lives up to his name.  The workers and the upper class fight, but eventually they are brought together.  It's a massive movie, and I have only seen most of it once.  Faux-Maria is not really a monster, she is only doing as she was programmed.  It is really Rotwanker that is the monster, and the upper class who look down upon the lower classes.

RIP Kirstie Alley

 Kirstie Alley passed on yesterday from a short battle with cancer.  She is perhaps best known as the woman who replaced Shelley Long as Sam's sort of love interest in Cheers.  I'll admit, I did not watch the show much after Long left.  This is not a knock at Ms. Alley, but the dynamic of the show had changed and it just didn't seem as funny to me.  I liked her best as Lt. Saavik in 1982's Wrath of Khan. She was a funny woman, and was quite successful.  Thank you for the memories.

Sven- The Raven (1935)

 

Wacky neurosurgeon Dr. Richard Vollin comes out of retirement to save a dancer.  He then falls in love with her, much to the chagrin of her father and fiance.  Vollin is a Edgar Allen Poe (Hi Dr. Nick!) devotee, and has a torture chamber in his basement.  Guess that makes it a dungeon, really.  He finds an escaped killer, ruins his face and makes him do the dirty work for him.  This eventually does not work out well for him, but he's not really a good person so no one minds at all.

Happy 7th Birthday, Emerald Sage!

 

Emerald Sage turns seven years old today.  She's been with us for almost five years now.  She is the senior cat now, and sort of tries to rule the roost.  Her ruling of the roost tends to be sleeping in her various spots and bossing us around in the evening before bed time.  She is a creature of habit overall.  She doesn't like being held too much.  Her toleration of being picked up is about 36 seconds, then she becomes a wiggle butt and wants to be set down.  She is very sweet, but a little shy around new people, or even sometimes people she knows well.  I'm so happy to have her in my life.  She has the loudest purr of any cat I have ever had in my life.

proposed Xenorama #15 cover

 

I was searching for a pressbook in my bins, and came across this cover I had made for the original Xenorama #15.  I didn't remember making it at all, though there was a lot of material prepared for this issue.  The issue was supposed to be about spores, molds and fungus, or any slimes and blob monsters.  Why Inframan and Kamen Rider are there I have no idea now.  I had started it back in 2001 or so, but it was sidetracked and eventually dropped for a different sort of issue altogether.  I do have some pages of this issue around... perhaps I could try do a similar issue over again.

The Raven (1935) Trailer

                    

Frankenstein titles

 

I have been looking for the German version of this movie, as they released the original US cut on DVD, as a bonus to Japanese cut.  The AIP version was slightly different than the Toho version, with some added scenes of Frankenstein being more aggressive at the start of the movie.  When the movie was released in the US, this version was no longer available, at least in this country.  The deleted scenes have been presented on other discs, not just including the octopus sequence.