Marvel Godzilla

OK, I'm a little vexed about some fans saying how awful the Marvel Comics Godzilla was.  they are spoiled whiners who can see Godzilla movies any time they want now. 

and I know this is going to sound like a grumpy old man "in MY day..." rant, but I don't care.  when this successful and well selling comic debuted, you could only see Godzilla movies every so often on tv.  or buy an 8mm 11 minute compilation movie for $10 or so, if you were lucky.

anyway, it was great news for a kid who loved both monsters and superheroes to read that Marvel Comics was going to produce make a Godzilla comic, and he would be interacting with their heroes.  sadly, there was only one Hulk vs Godzilla drawing and that was a gag panel.

incidentally, Herb Trimpe stated that one of the art requests he gets a lot is Godzilla vs the Hulk.  I wanted to see Godzilla vs Ultimo more, but that didn't happen either, alas.

we did get to see Godzilla take on the Thing and Devil Dinosaur, and a lot of other monsters, and some rustlers, and even Las Vegas.  I enjoyed every issue and was pretty sad when it ended, not due to poor sales, but due to the licensing fees Toho wanted.  once a month for two years I was in a heaven where monsters met superheroes, and it was great.

Vampires!

this is a really cool peplum movie!

there's lots of neat things to see here, including a battle of two Macistes!  or Goliaths, if you will.

Brains... good and bad!

this is another movie that left an impression on me, especially the end of it!



I really enjoy it still, even with with balloon brains.  it's an interesting premise.

The Brain from Planet Arous (1957)

MOTW- The Creature

one of the finest and best men in a suit monsters ever.

he also has some fine taste in leading ladies as well, in all three movies.

I was fortunate growing up, because someone at Channel 2 KWGN was a monster movie fan.  I saw all three of the Creature movies several times, but I'll never forget seeing it the first time. 

it was on Sci Fi Flicks, a Friday night show that aired one "Outer Limits" episode and then a monster movie.  what a great way to scare the audience, since usually the "Outer Limits" episode was scarier than the movie that followed it.  the episode this time was "Tourist Attraction" which was also a water based monster, and then the great "Creature from the Black Lagoon" was up.  I liked 'em both!

King Kong vs Godzilla

the first time I ever saw either monster, age 6:



and while I acknowledge that the Japanese version is superior, I still love the US version. I am sure there would have been a lot less Godzilla fans in the US without this movie.

many fans knock it these days, quite forgetting that until about 15 years ago, no one had ever seen the Japanese version.

trailer from the sea

I know I talked about It Came From Beneath the Sea earlier, but here's Friday's trailer of the day-


I really like this movie.  and I really dislike colorization of black and white movies.  that is all.

wild is the word!

for Wild Wild Planet!



this is the first (I think) of the "Gamma I Quadrology" which also includes "War of the Planets", "Snow Demons" and "War Between  the Planets". I think a case could be made for "The Green Slime" and "Battle of the Worlds" as well to be included, since it's such a loose continuity.  I like this one the best of the four.

Souther Knights #3

after the Knights relieve Johnny Barl of his obligations to them, they have to figure out how to support themselves.  they go visit Kristen's family and her father ("daddy is a little on the wealthy side") sets them up in the old Hampton House, contributions to the Knights will be tax deductable.

the Knights also decide to earn their own living expenses.

during the night, an assassin shows up to kill Richard Austin (Kristin's father).  bad timing when you have four superheroes in the house.  so while in Florida the Knights bust a drug running ring.  Roger Holland has ruined his life and swears revenge!

I really like showing how the heroes get their operating expenses.  it's rare that you see that.  I mean, who built the JLA's various bases?  and it's a good thing Tony Stark just had a mansion in the middle of NYC for the Avengers to use!

we also get some nice interplay between the heroes, and some background on both Connie and Kristin.  how many superheroes actually have parents that are still alive?  and Connie is the flipside, which we learn more about later.

Electrode's origin is pretty standard superhero fair, aside from the fact he wanted to be one and made it happen.  it's nice he doesn't even care who knows it, either.

Lou and Jr

my favorite Abbott and Costello movie, and my favorite Universal Frankenstein movie.


I don't remember the first time I saw this, but I know I have loved this movie nearly all of my adult life. it was not the first Classic Universal monster movie I saw, but it's the one I've watched the most.  plus Larry Talbot is the good guy, so I like that a lot as well. even the trailer is a crack up.

creature walking trailer!

here's one trailer for the third Creature movie-

I saw these three movies a lot growing up, so it's like watching old friends whenever I view the movies.  the DVD set is great.  oddly enough, here's a second trailer for this one.  this is the weakest of the three, but at least it's something slightly different than the first two.