Some enterprising fans have been recreating the English versions of 8th Man, using the audio from extant episodes with the Japanese versions from the new DVD sets. They look amazing, and they sound pretty great, considering the source. They have done quite a few of the episodes already. Some of the missing ones have been subtitled as well. It is rather startling to see the difference- this series might not have looked this good when it debuted in syndication in the US in the mid '60s.
Thursday, November 30, 2023
Hot Seat
Wednesday, November 29, 2023
HOTW- The Whizzer (40s)
Tuesday, November 28, 2023
Monday, November 27, 2023
Calvin and Hobbes 12-20-88
Sometimes I think my parents had the same idea, Calvin. Apparently Calvin's father is based on Watterson's own father. Riding his bike in the freezing weather, eating plain oatmeal with prunes are all taken from his father. I will have to research if Calvin's mother was based on Bill's mom as well. I really need to get Hobbes in here at some point in time. I mean, his name is in the title of the new Monday feature. Currently it is 12° F at the moment, which is what made me think of this particular strip.
Sunday, November 26, 2023
the Seaview
The Seaview was a nuclear submarine created by Admiral Harriman Nelson (USN-Ret). He was a scientific and engineering genius. He first saves the Van Allen Radiation belt so the Earth will not fry, and then later on takes on spies, aliens and all kinds of menaces. He had admirable help from Captain Lee Crane as his commanding officer. They have a great crew but a rather high mortality rate from them, like all shows of that era did. They didn't even wear red shirts! There were all kinds of monsters to battle as well, including toy robots.
Saturday, November 25, 2023
Brain Monster Noman
Spectreman is a great show, This last third of the series has definitely been influenced by Kamen Rider, since the action quotient has been kicked up a notch. I mean, the human action. The villains have more hench-beings as well. I thought that Megaloman was the show that did this first, but Spectreman is had the fighting group with the giant hero first. Kudos! The action isn't always paced properly, as one episode had a really long fight scene with no breaks. That got a little much, I'll tell you what. There has to be a breather here and there at times, you know?
Friday, November 24, 2023
Thursday, November 23, 2023
Wednesday, November 22, 2023
HOTW- Blue Bolt
From Wiki- After college football star Fred Parrish is struck by lightning during practice he boards a plane in order to seek help. This plane is struck by a second lightning bolt, causing the plane to crash. Finding himself underground, Parrish is found by a scientist named Bertoff who heals him using an experimental radium treatment. This treatment gives Parrish super powers. Using his powers and a lightning gun given to him by Bertoff, Parrish takes up the name the Blue Bolt and battles the underground forces of his arch-enemy, the evil Green Sorceress.[5] He also fights Nazis and goes to space a lot. By 1951, Blue Bolt Comics' name had been changed to Blue Bolt Weird Tales of Terror and featured the type of horror covers epitomized by EC Comics.[4] A couple of issues after the name change, the Blue Bolt was dropped in favor of horror stories. With issue #120 (published in 1953) the title was changed to Ghostly Weird Stories, which published four more issues under that title before folding after issue #124 (September 1954).
Tuesday, November 21, 2023
Monday, November 20, 2023
Calvin and Hobbes 12-07-1990
One of the recurring themes or "running gags" as we used to call them in Calvin and Hobbes was that his father was always making Calvin do things he didn't want to do. Raking the lawn, go camping, shovel snow. You know, being part of the family. For some reason I identified with Calvin about this nonsense a lot. I might have been a darn sarcastic kid back then as well. I highly doubt it, though, and no one has any proof.
Sunday, November 19, 2023
Sven- Empire of the Ants 1977
This is not a good movie. Giant ants organize and attack humans. These ants have been mutated by radioactive waste, so of course the queen can also control the people via pheromones. Where is Hank Pym or even Scott Lang when you need them? It is a good thing there are explosives on this island, so the scant survivors can blow up the ants. The end, or is it? Thankfully the world never found out.
Saturday, November 18, 2023
Superman and Spider-Man - 1978 style
Friday, November 17, 2023
Thursday, November 16, 2023
mego super heros
I loved these dolls. I had a ton of them, including many duplicates of a few of them. I wasn't rough on toys, but I sure did play with them a lot. I had seven of the ones pictured here, and then several of the Star Trek dolls (and yes, they were dolls back then). I had the second Batman, as the first one had a removable cowl. It was cool, but very bulky, so I had no real desire for it. I also had the Batcave, the Batcopter and the Command Center Starship Enterprise. I also had a lot of Tarzan dolls, but not because I really wanted them. The reason will be clearer shortly.
Wednesday, November 15, 2023
HOTW- Spectreman
Spectreman is sent to Earth to track down renegade scientist Dr. Gori and Gori's idiot assistant, Karis. There he assumes the identity of George, and joins the Anti-Pollution and Monster Squad. He is from the Nebula 71, where his creators (Overlord) monitor his progress. He then battles Gori and his monstrous minions, along some other aliens that show up. He also has to learn to be human, and then makes friends all over Tokyo. And after defeating Gori, he has to say goodbye to his friends.
Tuesday, November 14, 2023
plesiosauria!
Listen to the most recent episode of my podcast: 200 years of Plesiosauria! https://anchor.fm/agentx7/episodes/200-years-of-Plesiosauria-e2bu7mc This is a new thing I am doing, and I appreciate any feedback. They are short episodes, none longer than 20 minutes, currently. That could change.
Monday, November 13, 2023
Calvin Monday
Sunday, November 12, 2023
Catwoman
Since I have already reviewed Munster, Go Home! earlier, I don't need to do that. I did watch the Batman episode afterwards, since it was a Catwoman episode, and the second part at that. It was The Cat And The Fiddle (s2, ep4) , which sees Catwoman trying to steal a "fiddle" which had cat gut or something in it. I wasn't exactly sure what her reasons where. I think this is where the romance aspects between Batman and Catwoman started, at least in the series. In her first appearance in season one, she did not show any amorous attention to the Bat. This time they were both a little more interested in each other.
Saturday, November 11, 2023
Loki S 2 06 Glorious Purpose
In which Loki masters his time slipping and attempts to fix the Time Loom. He keeps going back further and further in time, right to his first interview with Mobius. None of these things work, so he goes to visit He That Remains. They have an interesting conversation. Then Loki figures it all out. This leads to things being kind of reset, and there being a lot more timelines. Mobius and Sophie visit his original timeline, then miss Loki. The story continues in different movies and series now. At least that is my guess.
Friday, November 10, 2023
Thursday, November 9, 2023
"Geddy Lee is here from Rush..."
Wednesday, November 8, 2023
HOTW- Birdman
Tuesday, November 7, 2023
invisible cretinizer
I want one. Though most of the time, cretins will let people know they are cretins without any help. I have posted a Calvin and Hobbes strip here a time or two in the past, but it has been a while, I think. It has been two years, almost. Those were the Yule questions. Perhaps I should try a Calvin of the Week, that could be fun. They would be random for the most part. It would be much more difficult to gather multi-week stories together. I am not saying it won't happen, but right now it will be easier to run random ones that are single strip jokes.
Monday, November 6, 2023
Bat-Mite appears
Sunday, November 5, 2023
Sven- Kingdom of the Spiders (1977)
In the remote Valley Verde of Arizona, tarantulas begin cooperating with each other to eat bigger food. Somehow, they increase the power of their venom as well. Rack, the local scientist calls in a specialist. She explains all this to the locals, but they can't believe spiders would be able to do organize like that. Soon the spiders begin attacking the pesky humans in their way. Eventually the arachnids corner the heroes in a house, but fail to kill them. The next morning, Rack looks out the window and sees that the entire valley is covered in silk. The end.
Saturday, November 4, 2023
the Cartman table
When South Park did an episode about Casa Bonita, I had to tell a lot of people in San Diego that "yes, it is a real place." Growing up in Colorado, it was always a "destination" place for us as kids. It was always an adventure, and it is exactly like the episode from South Park. Minus all the swearing and locking Butters into a bomb shelter. The food was always adequate, but that was never a reason to go. The sopapillas were amazing though. Casa Bonita closed over the pandemic, and then Mat and Trey bought it. It has been a big deal out here. They have allegedly spent over $40 million to fix it up to look just like it did in the 70s. And improve the food.
Friday, November 3, 2023
Loki S2 05 Science/Fiction
In which Loki appears, and the TVA is gone, empty, not populated. No one is there. He leaps timeslips about time and place, and into branches, to find all his friends living other lives. Casey is breaking out of a very famous prison, Mobius is a jetski salesman, single dad with two boys, B-5 is a doctor and OB is a quantum physicist (who should have been named Al, or Sam). OB tells Loki he should be able to control his leaping about, but he can't. He does reassamble the team, once OB makes a new tempad. Then Sylvie refuses to join them, until the red skies take her branch. Then the darkness comes for the team...
Thursday, November 2, 2023
Justice!
What a great picture! Sometimes you don't nee more words than that. This was done by George Perez, probably on his first run with the book. One can tell by Zatanna's costume, as well as the Red Tornado's costume (which is not great). This was a great run on the book, I will tell you what. I am glad to see both Supermen there. I still wonder if the Batmen had ever met. I know the Robins did. Heck, even the Arrows did, sorta, though GA of Earth 2 was not a member of the JSA, and neither was Aquaman of E2.
Wednesday, November 1, 2023
HOTW- The Flash (Silver Age)
Barry Allen, noted police scientist, gets coated with a very peculiar amount of chemicals when lightning mysteriously strikes them. It is only certain chemicals that are used. It is almost like the lightning chose what Barry needed to get his powers. He is unharmed, but starts to exhibit some super speed at times. He slowly realizes he is now the fastest man alive. He takes his name from an old comic book character he used to read, the Flash. He also starts running into a wide variety of super criminals, such as Grodd, the Mirror Master, Mr. Element and more. He also gets a sidekick in about 10 issues. He then visits at least three different dimensions and meets time travelers. And leave us not forget the Elongated Man makes his debut as well!