Wednesday, November 27, 2024

338. Super DC Giant S 26, featuring Aquaman!

One of my first Aquaman comics was a good introduction to the character!

HOTW- The Comet

 

From Wiki- The Comet (John Dickering) is a character that first appeared in Pep Comics #1 in January 1940. A little over a year later, the Comet was the first superhero to be killed in the line of duty.[1] He died in issue #17 (July 1941), which also introduced his brother, a brutal hero called the Hangman. In Pep #1, in a story drawn by Jack Cole, young scientist John Dickering has discovered a gas fifty times lighter than hydrogen.[3] By injecting small doses of the gas into his bloodstream, he is able to make great leaps through the air. After a number of injections, twin beams come from Dickering's eyes and when he crosses the beams, whatever he is looking at disintegrates. He makes a glass shield (visor) as that is the only thing his beams will not disintegrate, a weakness often used against him from the first story onwards.

Tuesday, November 26, 2024

337. Space Sentinels 13: The World Ship

            Here it is- the ultimate episode of the young Space Sentinels!

Why- Soraia

            I heard this for the first time about eight years ago on Steve van Zandt's Underground Radio.

Monday, November 25, 2024

Sven- Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)


 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia- Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein[a] is a 1948 American horror comedy film directed by Charles Barton. The film features Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi), who has partnered with Dr. Sandra Mornay (Lenore Aubert) in order to find a brain to reactivate Frankenstein's monster (Glenn Strange), and they find Wilbur Grey (Lou Costello), the ideal candidate. Larry Talbot makes an urgent phone call to a railway station in Florida, where Chick Young and Wilbur Grey work as baggage clerks. Talbot tries to warn Wilbur of a shipment due to arrive for "McDougal's House of Horrors". However, before he finishes, the moon rises and Talbot transforms into a werewolf, causing Wilbur to think the call is a prank. Meanwhile, McDougal demands the crates be personally delivered to his wax museum. back to me:

Saturday, November 23, 2024

334. 7 Song Friday 11-22-2024

            I think I have cracked the code!

Friday, November 22, 2024

Thursday, November 21, 2024

The Nine Demons (1984)

 

Joey and Gary are best friends and highly trained kung fu masters.  The servants of their house betray them, wiping almost everyone out.  Joey gets away, meets the 9th King of Hell, and sells his soul to help his best pal.  He is given nine demons to command.  Nothing about this can go wrong, can it? There is a lot of weird effects, odd camera work and great fights, if sped up a bit, but it is hard to follow.

Wednesday, November 20, 2024

HOTW- Dracula

From Wiki- Dracula is a modern-day direct descendant of the original Count Dracula now working as a medical researcher in the old family castle in Transylvania. Due to his experiments to develop a cure for brain damage using a serum developed from bat blood, he accidentally gains strange "vampire"-like powers, including the ability to turn into a bat and superhuman sight and hearing. He decides to embark on a superhero career in order to redeem his family name, developing his body through diet and exercise to the peak of physical perfection and designing himself his own distinctive crimson-cowled purple costume with a bat-shaped gold belt buckle, after which he vows to fight evil and superstition in all its forms. Back to me:

Sunday, November 17, 2024

Varan Lobby card

Lobby cards sure are cool, even if the movie isn't that great.  I love Varan, but I am not blind to its various faults.  But I had the 8mm version when I was a small agent, and we watched it a lot, though there were odd things about the digest that made no sense.  I think for 8-10 minutes, there should have been a lot more monster action.  This may be the subject of a podcast- the movie and the monster, that is.  Be that as it may, the movie itself is now an old friend, good or not,  I think we all have movies like this in our history, right?  Unless you don't like movies, and if not, why are you reading this blog?

Saturday, November 16, 2024

Green Lantern: The Animated Series (2012)

From Wiki- Green Lantern: The Animated Series is an American animated superhero television series based on the DC Comics superhero Green Lantern. The series aired on Cartoon Network, as part of their "DC Nation" television block. A one-hour[1] sneak peek aired on November 11, 2011,[2][3] it ran from March 17, 2012, until March 16, 2013.[4][5] A special screening of the first episode was shown at New York Comic Con 2011 on October 15.[6] This was the first Green Lantern television series and the first CGI DC/WB series. The series was cancelled after one season due to poor toy sales after the negative reception and poor box office performance of the live-action film.[7]  Me again:

Friday, November 15, 2024

HOTW- Red Raven


 From Marvel Fandom- The small child who was to become the Red Raven was riding with his parents aboard one of the first airplanes to cross the Atlantic Ocean when the plane entered a dense fog bank and struck the island of the Bird People which was concealed within. The Bird People were originally Inhumans who had seceded from their race's city of Attilan. The Bird People instead lived in a city built atop an "island," which, due to powerful anti-gravity drives, floated high above the Earth's surface. Whereas most Inhumans have different powers than the others, all of the Bird People resembled ordinary humans, except for their large, feathered wings, which made them capable of flight. The child who was to become the Red Raven was the only human to survive the plane crash, and the Bird People, who are also known as the Winged Ones, decided to raise him as one of their own.[2]

The Bird People named the child Red Raven because of his flaming red hair, and, as he grew older, gave him a costume that would enable him to fly. The costume contained miniature anti-gravity mechanisms and included large artificial wings which would help him steer himself and negotiate air currents while in flight.  Me again:

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

323. Space Sentinels 11: Fauna

         In which the unwitting scientists play a reverse werewolf card, and turn a wolf into a man-wolf!

Sunday, November 10, 2024

Saturday, November 9, 2024

King Shisa and Godzilla by Yasushi Torisawa

Here is an action shot by a wonderful artist.  I have talked about him almost 14 years ago,  The first was a picture of King Shisa just waking up, and this one is a bit more dramatic.  I do still want a tattoo of King Shisa, but that will have to wait for a while.  This looks great, I gotta say.  I would love an English language book about Yasushi Torisawa, that would be pretty amazing.  There are probably licensing issues at play for that, but it would make even us lesser G-nerds shell out $50 or so for it.

Friday, November 8, 2024

Xenorama #71- The Heculoids!

The 71st issue of Xenorama has been published, and it is all about the Herculoids!  Yes, we did an issue in black and white featuring the cartoon, but this time, we included the Space Stars episodes, toys, and comic book appearances of the series.  Did I mention it was all in full color?  Well, it is, and it looks smashing, I must say!  I would like to do more of the Hanna-Barbera Super TV Heroes like this, but really, only Space Ghost and the Herculoids have made enough impact.  Well, we do have a Jonny Quest issue that will be out next year, so there is that.  Yes, I am quite aware of the "comedy" shows that have been done, but someone else can write about them, should they like.  I would not like.  Be that as it may, normally I would have a trailer here for Sven's movie, but the next two weeks are the Dr. Phibes movies, and we have reviewed them and seen the trailers already, so I will figure out what to talk about instead of them.

Thursday, November 7, 2024

Revisiting Jurassic Park (1993)

When this blog first started, it was for a completely different idea than what it has become.  It was to promote my Marine Boy book (in it's third edition now!) but gradually morphed into the beast we all know and love.  It was started in 2007, some 14 years after the first three JP movies had been released.  So they have never been reviewed here properly.  They have been mentioned, and I have watched them several more times, but this is the first time we will talk about that very first movie.

Wednesday, November 6, 2024

HOTW- Wonder Girl

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia- Donna Troy is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. She is the original Wonder Girl and later temporarily adopts another identity, Troia. Created by Bob Haney and Bruno Premiani, she first appeared in The Brave and the Bold #60 (July 1965). Donna has been commonly featured in stories involving the Teen Titans, which she originally joined during their second adventure and is since depicted as a founding member of the team. Back to me:

Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Sunday, November 3, 2024

Sven- The Mummy

From Wiki-  The Mummy is a 1932 American pre-Code supernatural horror film directed by Karl Freund. The screenplay by John L. Balderston was adapted from a treatment written by Nina Wilcox Putnam and Richard Schayer. Released by Universal Studios as a part of the Universal Monsters franchise, the film stars Boris Karloff, Zita Johann, David Manners, Edward Van Sloan and Arthur Byron.

In the film, Karloff stars as Imhotep, an ancient Egyptian mummy who was killed for attempting to resurrect his dead lover, Anck-es-en-Amon. After being discovered and accidentally brought to life by a team of archaeologists, he disguises himself as a modern Egyptian named Ardath Bey and searches for Anck-es-en-Amon, whom he believes has been reincarnated in the modern world. Me again:

Saturday, November 2, 2024

pity poor Godzilla 1978

I was rather excited when I saw the ads for The Godzilla Power Hour in the comic books.  It looked pretty good.  There were some interviews published right before the show debuted in Starlog or some genre zine, which made it sound decent.  By then I knew that there would not be a lot of great monster action, so I did not expect that.  Jana of the Jungle looked good, and at age 13, I appreciated it on a whole 'nother level.  The first episode I remember seeing was The Earth Eater, which is technically the second episode.  I am not sure if I missed the first one (seems odd, dontcha think?) or if the local network started differently.  I don't ever remember seeing the first episode at all, though.  There is a reason for that as well, because of course there is.  And I will elaborate more about that reason after the cut, so click on "there's more" please!

313: 7 Song Friday 11-01-24

                   

Friday, November 1, 2024