the first excellent version of the Marine Boy book cover

This is a prototype of the cover... how awesome does this look?  I am thoroughly impressed and amazed at it, it's that great.  It sure is eye catching, isn't it?  There's everything you could want on the cover.  The colors are just incredible.  I think the words a little bit too close together, but since this is a first draft, I'm sure the incredibly talented Dan Ross will make the final version completely astounding.

Dang! Just dang!  I keep staring at the cover.  Probably should not even say anything else.

Spectacular Comic Book Spoilers Classics - Amazing Spider-Man #40

Who knew that the Green Goblin inspired the song "Cats in the Cradle"? Here's all the proof you need. This is an interesting little series. This is the first one I've ever seen. I could live without the voices, but if I did the reviews I'd do it as well, probably. John Romita, Sr. does the great artwork. His stuff by now was different than Steve Ditko. I always thought he was told to copy Ditko for the first few stories, while leading the reader into his own style. He did it well.

Avengers #46

"The Agony and the Anthill!"

Words:

Roy Thomas

Pencils: 

John Buscema

Inks: 

Vince Colletta 

Letters: 

Sam Rosen

We open with Cap deep in thought and the other Avengers noticing.  Seems he's in love with the mysterious Agent 13, whom all of us now know as Sharon Carter.  Hawkeye shows up with the newly retired Natasha (ha!).  Finally, Jan arrives with her new chauffeur "Charles" who was first known as the Human Top but now calls himself The  Whirlwind (how does he turn his head?)!

Kaufman Lawler Feud: Chapter 22 - The Lawsuit, The Chicken Suit...

... and a phone call. Andy finally sues Jerry and calls the studio. It's a real phone call and Andy still manages to get heat from it. Funny how now they'd just have a two way monitor system set up so they could see him.

The Ultimate Guide to Martial Arts Movies of the 1970s

I can't believe I've had this book for almost a year and haven't really reviewed it.

This is a lavishly illustrated and well written book by Dr. Craig D. Reid.  His story itself would make a pretty good movie, since he's a martial artist as well, and did voice dubbing in the late 70s and early 80s over in Hong Kong.  He also was a writer/stuntman/actor/choreographer.  So he knows his stuff.  The best reviews are the ones when he talks about the history of Shaolin, as that's so intriguing to me.  I think almost every picture in the book comes from a Shaw Brothers movies, which is pretty cool as well.  Even in still pictures you can see why they were the undisputed masters of the era.  His martialogies include the percentage of fights in the movie, such as INFRAMAN being 25.14% fight scenes.  He even includes the cartoon "STORY OF THE CHINESE GODS".  I'd love to see an uncut version of that, sometime.

Ghost of Zorro 4

"Victims of Vengeance" 

One really gets spoiled by the excellent fight choreography and stunts in Republic Serials. They are very energetic and yet maintain a certain rawness, like a real fight would actually be, if a person could take that many fists to the face at once. Many movies of the time seemed to let their stuntmen flail at each other, hoping for a decent fight scene, which rarely happened.

Xenorama Presents... Marine Boy- Underwater Adventure

It's almost ready!  After over 12 years of work it's done!  There are all sorts of fun things in the book to read and look at, I promise you, including quotes from the late Peter Fernandez, whom I had the pleasure of speaking to several years ago about the show.

Dinosaur!

This first aired in 1985. Looking back on it now I can see it's the beginning of the end of dinosaurs being "terrible lizards" and starting to become real animals. This was narrated by the late Christopher Reeve who does a great job. The stop-motion animation is remarkable. I sure do miss it. This is the whole show, all 48 minutes of it. Interestingly enough, the name Brontosaurus is used throughout the show. I thought by '85 everyone knew there was no such thing as the Brontosaurus.

Space Ghost!

Mostly just a fun collection of pictures, some of which will appear in the next issue of Xenorama.  There's a hint as to one of the articles!  Alex Toth did most of the design work on these cartoons, and those critters are amazing.  Weird and cool and very 60s stylish all at once.

Kaufman Lawler Feud: Chapter 20 - Lawler vs. Ventura

Here's Jerry vs Jesse "The Body" Ventura- at least the closing moments. Apparently Jimmy Hart had to dress as a chicken, but perhaps this wasn't the worst match stipulation Jimmy ever had to endure, as you will see.