Sunday, December 31, 2023

Xenorama #62

 

This is the last issue of 2023.  I quite enjoyed all the "research" I had to do for it  All the original appearances of PATB are in here, plus the episodes from the sequel series of Animaniacs as well.  It is in full color and we are quite happy about the way it came out.  It is a good sized issue, almost 80 pages.  It also features the very first ever letter to the editor.  From what I can tell, it came all the way from Japan!  I can hardly believe it took this long- well over 30 years, to actually get a fan letter to the zine itself.

Saturday, December 30, 2023

Jonny Quest vs. the Cyber Insects (1995)

 

    The Earth is going through climate manipulation, with all kinds of calamities happening all across the globe. The Quest team is assigned to find out what is going on. This leads them to discover that Dr. Zin is planning to conquer the world with his cyber insects.
    This is now called the “last classic Quest movie” since the next iteration changed things up a bit. It was the last time Don Messick voiced Dr. Quest and Bandit. Tim Matheson, the original voice of Jonny, also is present, bringing 4-Dac to life.

Thursday, December 28, 2023

Gigantor part One- 1-26

I can hardly believe I have owned both of these sets for over twenty years.  I got them over Yule back in 2002, I believe.  I remember because it was cold.  I mean, really cold.  Of course, I had just moved back to Colorado from San Diego, so that might also have been part of it.  I have watched both sets through at least once, and several episodes on Amazon a time or two.  Since there will be an issue dedicated to Gigantor published next year, I have been rewatching these original sets, which are truly great.  There are two sets, so all 52 episodes are present.  They look great as well, almost too good for the clarity of DVD.

Wednesday, December 27, 2023

HOTW- Spy Smasher


 From Wiki- Similar to Batman and the Blue Beetle (Ted Kord), Spy Smasher (secretly the "wealthy Virginia sportsman"[1] Alan Armstrong) is a master detective, equipped with a number of gadgets and a specialized vehicle, the "Gyrosub", which was a combination of an airplane, an automobile, and a submarine. Created by Bill Parker and C. C. Beck, Spy Smasher was introduced in Whiz Comics #2 (February 1940).[2] Alongside Captain Marvel, Spy Smasher became one of the magazine's most popular characters.  After the war he renamed himself Crime Smasher, but that isn't nearly as cool as his original name. 

Monday, December 25, 2023

Calvin Monday 12-24-1987

 

Find me one kid at that age that did not go through this on Yuletide Eve.  Usually after getting yelled at by our parents for going bananas due to all the stress of waiting.  I don't ever recall Santa using such colorful metaphors at all, though.  Of course, we went to bed at 7 PM at that age, is it any wonder we were up at 5 AM Christmas Day?  And we were good kids!

Sunday, December 24, 2023

Sven- The Black Cat (1941)

 

From Wiki- The Black Cat is a 1941 American comedy horror and mystery film directed by Albert S. Rogell and starring Basil Rathbone. The film was a hybrid of style: being inspired by comedy "Old Dark House" films of the era as well as the 1843 short story "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe. It stars Basil Rathbone as Montague Hartley, the head of a greedy family who await the death of Henrietta Winslow (played by Cecilia Loftus) so that they can inherit her fortune. When she is found murdered, an investigation begins into who might be the culprit. Alongside Rathbone and Loftus, the film's cast includes Hugh Herbert, Broderick Crawford, and Bela Lugosi.

Saturday, December 23, 2023

The Moon Tower

This is one amazing set of toys.  Had I been old enough to see it, I sure would have wanted it.  I had the Little Big Book featuring Matt Mason, so I knew the character, but by the early seventies the Major had been retired.  Trying to find them from friends with older kids was not that easy, as the toys tended to break during play.  Which is what they were supposed to do.  Be played with.  My mother did find my the alien friend of Matt Mason, but being a dumb kid, I was rather disappointed and did not play with him as much as I should have.  Dumb kid!  Scorpio was quite cool, too, and I could have used him in the 8mm movies I was making.

Thursday, December 21, 2023

Happy Solstice!

 

Kaida and Xenorama wish all readers a happy Solstice today!  She is shown here hiding under the Yule tree.  I think she was actually just supervising me while I was working, but one just never knows with cats, do they?  She is much better at hiding when she is not trying, as when she thinks she is invisible her tail is always visible.

Wednesday, December 20, 2023

HOTW- Kenpachiro Satsuma

 

Born in Kagoshima Prefecture, Satsuma began his acting career in the 1960s with small roles in samurai films. In 1971 he was offered the role of the smog monster antagonist Hedorah in Godzilla vs. Hedorah, opposite Haruo Nakajima as Godzilla. He went on to play Gigan in two further Godzilla films. When Nakajima retired from the Godzilla role in 1972, substitutes were hired between 1973 and 1975 until Satsuma took over permanently in 1984.[4] His portrayal took the character away from the humor of the character's portrayals over the past decades, returning to the more animalistic Godzilla persona of the original 1954 film.

Monday, December 18, 2023

Calvin Monday (12-16-92)

I understand both sides here, as I quite enjoy novelty songs.  However, one cannot hear them constantly.  'Tis the reason I don't enjoy Xmas songs when they start playing them in early November.  Not that the songs are bad, it is too early and too much.  So I get why Calvin's mom booted him outside.  So hard his hat came off!  I wonder if she was an athlete in college.  Especially since she didn't injure him.  Where is Hobbes, though?  I am quite sure he joined Calvin outside shortly.

Sunday, December 17, 2023

Sven- The Night Walker


From Wiki- Irene Trent is unhappily married to a blind, pathologically possessive millionaire inventor, Howard. Howard and Irene's palatial mansion is packed with an assortment of cuckoo clocks, all in perfect synchronization, and Howard tape records all conversations in the house, hoping to catch Irene plotting an illicit liaison. Irene lives in a constant state of dread due to Howard's jealousy. Irene remains faithful to Howard, but not by choice; he never lets her leave the house and entertains no guests except his attorney, Barry Morland. Howard spends most of his time working in his upstairs laboratory on a variety of projects, the nature of which he refuses to divulge to anyone, while Irene indulges her yearnings for an extramarital affair with recurrent dreams of a fantasy lover.

Saturday, December 16, 2023

Silver Age Teen Titans vol. One

The early adventures of the teenage sidekicks are presented here.  This book contains the first fourteen stories, from the Brave and the Bold, Showcase and the first eleven issues of the Teen Titans proper.  Wonder Girl is missing from the first story, then she just appears in the second one.  The art is great, and the stories are pretty imaginative.  The Titans don't look much older than the mid-teens at this point.  They constantly refer to their peers as "kids" which makes me laugh.  There is a lot of "adult vs. kids" stories in the first part, and Batman, Aquaman, Flash and Wonder Woman come across as pretty out of touch with teens.  Considering who DC's main readers were at this point in time, that is an odd choice to make.

Thursday, December 14, 2023

Mystery, Inc in Xenorama (next year)

 

I have written about this magnificent series already, but am working on an issue dedicated to the series.  It has been fun so far, and I am also looking forward to watching the series for the third time. I am sure I will see even more fun stuff I have missed before.  I hope I remember to take notes as well, though the wiki pages on the series have tons of things in them.  But I want to be able to read them if and when I want to, rather than googling the info.  Sue me, I am old school.  Or just old, take your pick.

Wednesday, December 13, 2023

HOTW- Hawkman (Golden Age)

From Wiki- In the days of ancient Egypt, Prince Khufu was engaged in a feud with his rival, the Hungarian priest Hath-Set, who captured Khufu and his consort Chay-Ara, and killed them. In 1940, Khufu reincarnates as American archaeologist Carter Hall, and Chay-Ara as Shiera Sanders. He would later become a charter member of the JSA.  Carter would return to action in the 60s as well, before his Earth 1 counterpart would become a member of the JLA.  There has been a lot of retconning for all the Hawks that exist in DC Comics, and most of them have been super lame.

Monday, December 11, 2023

Calvin and Hobbes Monday July 17, 1087

Curse of the Aztec Mummy

Dr. Krupp, alias The Bat, is back at it.  He wants the Aztec treasure, which is guarded by Popoca, the Aztec mummy.  Much like Kharis, he was cursed to do so.  In the previous movie, Krupp had been foiled by a Dr. Almada.  His girlfriend/fiancee Flor was a new incarnation of Xochitl, the Aztec princess that loved Popoca.  See where this is going?  Krupp is in prison, but his thugs bust him out, see?  The formerly unknown Angel shows up to help out, but nothing the humans do compares to the vengeance of Popoca, who eventually tosses Krupp into a pit of vipers.

Sunday, December 10, 2023

Shin Tetsujin/New Gigantor

 

This show premiered in Japan in 1981, and about 1992 in the US, on the new Sci-Fi Channel.  It had also been dubbed into Spanish sometime in between those years, as I saw it that way in San Diego on a station out of Mexico.  It was a good choice by Fred Ladd to bring this show out, though it is presented as a sequel rather than a remake.  Naturally they softened a lot of the violence, though since the cartoon was on cable at 6 AM, it wasn't that important like it would have been in the 80s.  And Fred kept the fantastic theme song from the 60s.

Saturday, December 9, 2023

Hey There, It's Yogi Bear! (1964)

From Wiki- Boo-Boo Bear wakes up from winter hibernation, excited about the new Spring. Then Yogi Bear wakes up, his only interest finding some food to eat. Cindy Bear unsuccessfully tries to woo Yogi. After Ranger Smith thwarts Yogi's latest attempts to grab some food, Yogi gets angry and convinces the Ranger to transfer him out of Jellystone National Park. Smith prepares Yogi to be sent over to the San Diego Zoo along with an identification tag. Yogi first says goodbye to everything, but tricks another bear named Corn Pone into going to California instead of him and Boo-Boo and Cindy remain unaware of this, thinking Yogi has departed for good. This leads to Cindy getting sent to St. Louis.  Yogi and Boo Boo head out to rescue her.

Thursday, December 7, 2023

Legend of the Lost (1957)

 

From Wiki- In Timbuktu, experienced guide Joe January (John Wayne) reluctantly joins a Saharan treasure hunting expedition led by Paul Bonnard (Rossano Brazzi), a man obsessed with confirming his dead father's claim to have found a lost city. Dita (Sophia Loren), a woman of dubious reputation, becomes infatuated with Paul and his willingness to overlook her past. She invites herself along, despite Joe's protests. During the tough, dry ordeal, Joe and Dita become attracted to each other, raising tensions.  Things naturally go south when they find the place.

Wednesday, December 6, 2023

HOTW- 8th Man

 

When Special Agent Brady is gunned down by the crook Saucerlip and his gang, Professor Genius brings him back to life.  He transfers Brady's brainwaves into an awesome robot body.  He can run at impossible speeds, change his appearance at will and is nearly indestructible.    He assumes the identity of Detective Tobor and offers his assistance to Police Chief Fumblethumbs.  Fumble is the only other person to know that Tobor is 8th Man.  They have a lot of adventures together, battling the Black Butterfly Gang, Intercrime and mostly, Dr. Spectra.

Monday, December 4, 2023

Calvin and Hobbes 06-23-1992

Calvin is an artiste, or so he would have everyone believe.  He also shares his things on occasion.  At least with his best pal Hobbes.  He now has a supply of really messy clay to create with, and asks Hobbes if he wants to make something as well.  Hobbes wants a smock.  Smocks are very helpful to keep both clothes and fur clean, to a degree.

Happy 8th Birthday, Emerald Sage!

 

Today is Emi's 8th birthday.  She's been with us for five years now and is the Queen of the house.  She has slowed down a bit now, but does get a lot of exercise chasing (and being chased) by Kaida.  She is still quite the love and has the loudest purr of any cat that has been in my life.  She is in the tree ring for the Yule Tree.

Sunday, December 3, 2023

Sven- Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)

From Wiki- In London in 1921, sculptor Ivan Igor operates a wax museum that is in financial trouble. One night, he gives a private tour to a friend, Dr. Rasmussen, and an art critic, Mr. Galatalin, showing them statues of Joan of Arc, Voltaire, and his favorite, Marie Antoinette. Impressed, Galatalin offers to submit Igor's work to the Royal Academy after he returns from a trip to Egypt. He and Rasmussen then leave. Igor's partner, Joe Worth, who is frustrated Igor will not create macabre exhibits like those that draw crowds to their competitors, proposes they burn their museum down to collect a £10,000 insurance policy. Though Igor refuses to consider this, Worth starts a fire, and the men fight while the wax masterworks melt.  Twelve years later in New York something is stealing bodies from the morgues.  Intrepid reporter Florence is on the case.

Thursday, November 30, 2023

Hot Seat


 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.

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

HOTW- The Whizzer (40s)

From Wiki- Robert L. Frank was born in St. Louis, Missouri. The origin of the Golden Age character begins while Bob Frank and his father, Dr. Emil Frank, are framed for murder of a man named Jennings by Granno, who brought the shot Jennings with his lackey, Spike, who will serve as witness, so they flee to Africa where Bob gets sick from fever and in need of a blood transfusion. While Bob is unconscious, he is approached by a cobra, but is saved by the sudden attack of a mongoose. Dr. Frank saves Robert by a transfusion of the mongoose's blood, and soon discovers that his son has developed super-speed, but the stress kills Dr. Frank.[7][8][9] After beating Granno and his lackeys unconscious and reporting them to the D.A., Frank then decides to fight crime and eventually accepts the offer of Invaders member Bucky, who forms the superhero team the Liberty Legion to rescue the other Invaders, who have been brainwashed by the villain the Red Skull.[10] When the Liberty Legion and Invaders eventually disband after World War II, the Whizzer joins the newly formed All-Winners Squad.[11][12]

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?

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).

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

This is another Alex Ross masterpiece painting.  I love that is it the Superman and the Spider-Man from 1978.  I mean, the live-action ones.  You can see it is Christopher Reeve, and I would be sure if Spidey unmasked Nicholas Hammond would be right there as well.  I do really enjoy Ross' paintings- he makes the costumes look like actual clothes, which is a talent that a lot of artists don't bother with these days.  The costume looks like it is painted on.  I don't think I have ever noticed anyone's abs when they have a shirt on.

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.

Adam Ant - Puss 'n Boots (Video)

           

Monday, November 13, 2023

Calvin Monday

Calvin's mom is right.  Imagine that, using common sense about "mainstream commercial nihilism"- that would have put the whole "Satanic panic" from the early 80s to rest right away.  Of course, the grifters would have had to find a different grift for their suckers followers.  Be that as it may, controversy sells, as Calvin proves here.  I wonder what album Calvin wanted.  Fortunately, Calvin is pretty timeless (at least until home PCs and cell phones showed up) so it could have been from any era pre-2000s.  Watterson was pretty clever about such things.

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.

Thursday, November 9, 2023

"Geddy Lee is here from Rush..."

How's it going? This is a photo from the recording of our hit single "Take Off."  Notice how Geddy is wearing his tuque.  The photographer was not, because he wasn't from Canada, eh.  It is too bad that we didn't make a promotional video for this song.  That would have been beauty.  Watching the boys try to play instruments while Geddy sings would be fun to see.  We never did a follow up to our hit single, because most people never even get to have one hit.  We didn't want to hog the spotlight, eh.

Wednesday, November 8, 2023

HOTW- Birdman

From Wiki- Birdman (voiced by Keith Andes) is an ordinary human who has been endowed by the sun god Ra with the ability to shoot solar rays from his fists and project quasi-solid "solar shields" to defend himself against attacks (Birdman's origin is only vaguely, and only briefly, hinted at during the series. His real name is there given as Raymond "Ray" Randall). After he had acquired his avian—and other—powers, he was recruited by a top-secret government agency, Inter-Nation Security, and now works full-time fighting crime, assisted by his pet eagle, who responds to the name of Avenger.

Tuesday, November 7, 2023

Bow Wow Wow - I Want Candy - Live 1983

                  

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

5th dimensional imps were popular in the 50s.  Superman, Batman, Green Arrow and Aquaman all had these pests to bedevil or "help" them.  Bat-Mite showed up in 1959.  He idolized Batman, and always wanted to help his hero with his cases.  Usually this backfired, and Bat-Mite would leave for a time.  I know he was never stated to be from the fifth dimension, but you don't need the view from a beautiful balloon to figure it out.  All of these imps, including Mxy, Quisp (but not Quake) and that one that bedeviled Green Arrow (I sure hope I remember this one, I am sure I saw it, but can't find a thing about it on the internets now) all got retired for a time when the "new look" Batman showed up in 1964.

Sunday, November 5, 2023

『フェス・ゴジラ4 オペレーション ジェットジャガー』本編

                   

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

KINGDOM OF THE SPIDERS (1977) trailer

                

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!

Monday, October 30, 2023

At the Earths Core (1976)

We here at Xenorama have started a podcast called The X7 Adventures.  This idea has been percolating for some time now, but the time has finally come to pull the trigger.  We have two episodes (and an older one from a time long ago) up.  We know that everyone does have a podcast these days, but they come and go like the wind.  It takes time and energy to produce one.  Currently, ours is very much like a live studio recording, meaning that while we have notes, we also might make an occasional slip up.  We will correct it, but at this time our equipment is very basic.  Depending on what happens, we may improve that in the future.  Mostly we are doing some deeper dives into the same things you see here.

Sunday, October 29, 2023

‘Friends’ actor Matthew Perry dies at 54

              

Sven- The Night Strangler (1973)

it's a worthy sequel.  Carl is in the northwest, in Seattle, WA.  He is still working for Tony, and is still running into strange things.  Women start getting killed and drained of small amounts of blood.  Their necks are being crushed, which no normal human can do.  The more Kolchak digs into the story, the stranger and more dangerous it gets.  It leads him to old Seattle which is underneath new Seattle.  There he finds Dr. Malcolm Richards, who has been alive since the 19th century.  He is still working on his elixir to make people immortal, but he needs the fresh blood of women.  Carl foils him, the police rush in and see Richards disintegrate.  Of course, Carl's story is ruined, both he and Tony get fired, and along with Louise, they all head to New York City and a new life.

Saturday, October 28, 2023

The hit FF series

This is interesting.  I did not realize 26 episodes made for a hit show.  I never once saw these in the grocery store, though to be fair I was always at the comic book rack, looking for a new issue.  Or deciding what book to buy with my limited funds.  Had I gotten some of these, I would bet the cards I got were of HERBIE, and that would have annoyed me greatly.  There are cards with the Human Torch in there as well. Upon further review, it appears as if this is actually the 90s cartoon.  Ima leave some of the original post here, to prove I am only human.