The Little Book of the Amazing Spider-Man (2017)

These are fun little books.  Roy Thomas wrote the introductions., and they are translated into several languages.  The main text is all in English.  The books take the reader through Spider-Man's origins, the many iterations he has gone through (lacking the Japanese Spider-Man, of course) in media, and loads of the comic book issues.   Roy talks about Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, plus many of the other wonderful writers and artists that have worked on the books.  He does include the monumental Superman vs Spider-Man crossover, which was very important at the time.  Tom Holland is missing, but his first appearance as Spidey was the next year, and was kept under wraps during filming.  That is understandable.

The Devil's Rain (1975) - Trailer

                    

Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022)

 

Set in 1976, Gru is trying to join the Vicious Six, the top super villain group at the time.  Gru is not quite 11 years old, but already has a plan for his life.  That is pretty impressive.  He feels like the minions are holding him back.  We all know how this is going to work.  The macguffin of the story is a Chinese Horoscope amulet, which is pretty cool looking.  The villains are pretty funny and unique and given those odd powers that the Gruniverse is known for.  The minions also have to prove their worth to Gru as well.  It all works out, with a few call forwards to the Despicable Me movies and lots of 70s music (some of this was better than others).  Gru has risen!  Well, at least started to rise.

MOTW- Keylla

 

Keylla, subtitled the Photothermal Monster, lives, or rather lived on the Planet Q.  The scientific team on Space Station V2 gets blinded by the brilliant eye blast of the monster.  The Science Patrol springs into action and arrives to help out.  It turns out they need a BM circuit to stop the station from exploding.  That circuit is on Planet R, of course.  There they run into not just Keylla but the monster Saigo.  These monsters don't like each other much, and appear to be the only creatures on the planet.  Keylla proves to be a tough battle for Ultraman.  Everything is works out for most of the participants in the episode.

Xenorama #4- reprint edition

Great higgledy piggledy!  What is this?  Could it be a blast from the (not really) distant past?  It sure appears as if Xenorama #4, from October of 1993 is about to be reprinted as a special edition in the near future.  It is going to be a "warts and all" sort of thing, with it being exactly as it was, some 29 years ago.  I have not changed a word of the articles.  I did add a new opening and closing, and the cover will be in color, since I can, don'tcha know.  It sure has been the easiest issue to finish, ever.  It should be done in the next few days, or possibly even tonight.  I have had a few readers ask me about doing reprints of those early issues, so this is the first experiment in that arena.  Don't hold your breath for more, though.  It will make you blue.

Batfink (1967)

This is the title to Batfink for disc 2.  I am still amazed that this series ever made it to DVD.  It is all 100 episodes, and those are not easy to watch in a row, since they were never meant to be.  When I was young, this show was a rarity when it was aired, though I saw it more than Johnny Cypher.  I saw it as than Mighty Mouse, though.  That was ubiquitous on the early morning kid shows.  I liked it, and still do, since it has a sense of humor about it.  Hugo a Go Go is a great villain, and he gets to talk to the narrator a lot.  The rest of the villains are pretty fun as well.  It is way better than Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse.

Sven- The Brides of Dracula (1960)

 

A young French schoolteacher has a new job in Tranylvania.  No one wants to take her to it.  The Baroness Meinster asks her to be a guest for the night in her castle.  While there, Marianne meets and frees Baron Meinster, the son and vampire.  After she escapes, she is found by Dr. van Helsing.  This leads him and the local priest to figure out there is yet another vampire on the loose, and after several more deaths (mostly the girls at the school) van Helsing manages to destroy this disciple of Dracula once and for all.

The Brides Of Dracula (1960) - Trailer

                            

Nerd Chronicles 4: A Gigantor Influence

                      

Pee-wee Herman National Tequila Day