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| Green Lantern 76 |
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Green Lantern #76 Another Side
Everyone knows that famous scene from the Denny O'Neil / Neal Adams' run on Green Lantern / Green Arrow, but I had to chuckle when I saw what the Madmen over at Apokolipse Werks posted up this past week- A decidedly un-PC (and yet, they may have a point!) take on the classic exchange of words between man and superhero...
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Super-Vixens: Jocasta
Up next we have the lovely bride of Ultron, gorgeous iron maiden Jocasta, the Do-It-Yourself Mail Order bride if there ever was one!
Created by Henry Pym’s frankenstein creation Ultron, It was only natural that Ully would want his bride to be infused with the life-force of Janet Van Dyne-Pym, Hank’s wife (as well as the nimble WASP)! Using advanced technology, a kidnapped Wasp, and a brainwashed Henry Pym, and a Brainwashed Henry Pym, Ultron hoped to transfer Janet’s soul into the metallic shell of his mate!
Alerted by Hank’s trustworthy ants, the Avengers intervened just as Janet’s life-breath was almost completely absorbed by Jocasta, and the sudden separation resulted in two-two-two girls in one! And although she did start off with her hubby’s diabolical bad habits, Jocasta quickly saw Ultron as the crumb he really was, and crossed over to the side of the Angels!
George Perez really knew what he wa doing when he created the visuals for this character. It was like he’d been studying just what was so attractive about TINa, the platinum kitten of the METAL MEN, and added MORE curves and general sexiness, and came up with Jocasta…Sexy? heck, he even got her a sexy-as-hell Metal GARTER BELT as part of the design, or at least that’s what I always thought it was!
But it was her potrayal in the later issues under the care of David Michelinie and John Byrne’s hands where I really felt she could branch off into a multi-dimensional character, as they depict her as a naive, curious girl very observant of the “human interplay” between her fellow Avengers. There’s this great scene where Tony Stark’s putting the moves on Ms. Marvel, and Jocasta is bored of the bland chatter. She tries to connect with the Vision, whose off-standish attitude only made her look more warm and human in contrast!
But the best is perhaps when general fly-in-the-Avengers-ointment Government Official Henry Peter Gyrich realizes she’s “alive”, and demands to know if she’s cleared for security. She then shames him, asking him if the government is so paranoid now they’re screening the machines!
Monday, March 24, 2008
The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes
Just dug out my DVD copy of Walt Disney’s Seventies Teen Comedy THE COMPUTER WORE TENNIS SHOES the other day…MAN, how I love this movie!
You know, the first movie I ever saw at a Drive In Theater (the long-gone Waialae Drive In, for those keeping track) was THE STRONGEST MAN IN THE WORLD, a movie I was to later find out was the THIRD in a series starring a VERY young Kurt Russell, or the FIFTH in a series if you count Fred MacMurray’s two movies “Absent Minded Professor” and “Flubber”, as they all happened at the same college.
We kids of the Seventies were blessed with not only great live action Disney flicks like ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN, FREAKY FRIDAY and all those HERBIE movies, but also a television program called “The Wonderful World Of Disney” on Sunday nights that would show older Disney flicks as well!
I religiously watched this show (and it still hold a dear place in my heart, as many of you may have guessed by the NAME of my blog!) and as it happened, a few months after I had seen “The Strongest Man In The World” at the Drive In, they aired “The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes” on television!
I was like ‘HEY! It’s that same kid from Strongest Man In The World…at the SAME College! And he’s involved in ANOTHER kooky experiment! COOL!”
The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes(1968) was the adventures of a student named Dexter Riley (Russell) who attended Medfield College, a kid who always seemed to be in the middle of some zany scientific experiment that would give him and his school fame and fortune. It was followed by “Now You See Him, Now You Don’t”(1972), and then the aforementioned “Strongest Man In The World”(1975). In each movie, Dexter is involved in some experiment that gives him out of the ordinary abilities like super-strength or invisibility- well, in this one, he gets electrocuted by the school computer and absorbs all the knowledge, becoming a walking memory bank!
Yes, the movies all had a similar theme, but something about Computer Wore Tennis Shoes always seemed to ring a little bit truer...It seemed to have more heart. There was actual attempt to flesh out his friends and teachers, and you always felt like his friends really loved him, and his teachers (especially Mr. Quigley, played by super TV Dad William Shallert) really had his best interests in mind. Throw in Joe Flynn as the insufferable Dean Higgins and the extremely over-the-top Cesar Romero (he of Joker fame) as the dastardly A.J. Arnau, and you had a top notch comedic cast of well-thought out characters, each who made the show even better in their own way!
There were a couple of scenes that come immediately to mind which really show that “heart” I mentioned in them:
After Dexter becomes the walking computer, he becomes a media sensation, and the fame attached to it find him beginning to ignore his colleagues, but when he is involved in a casino bust, his friends raise the money to bale him out, and a humbled Dexter realizes what true friends his pals are.
The College has sent Dexter to compete in a College knowledge/trivia debate, and since they need 4 students to enter, Dexter brings along his not-too-bright buddies to round out the team. But towards the ending of the debate, Dexter’s powers are starting to wear off, and he is having a difficult time answering. Finally, it is down to the last question, but Dexter just cannot get the answer out. His knowledge is gone! But his pal Schuyler pressures Dexter- “But Dex, You KNOW this one! Remember?” then they all realize that it doesn’t matter if Dexter knows it- SCHUYLER knows it! Schuyler answers the question and wins the tournament, a sweet victory for the kid who never had confidence in himself!
Of course, it wouldn’t be me it I didn’t mention the attractive young ladies in the movie as well, and there were a couple that really caught my eye- first up was Dexter’s infinitely patient girlfriend Annie, played by cutie Debbie Paine:
And the stoic leader of Medfield’s challengers the Springfiled Rockets, Ms. “J” Reedy (what did the J stand for? I’m betting it was Jane) played by pretty actress Hillyard Anderson:
Nothing much has been reported on either of these fine actresses after The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes…whatever happened to them? I’d be really interested in knowing what they’re up to nowadays!
Friday, March 21, 2008
Super-Vixens: Maskara
And Now for something completely different…!
My friend Gerg turned me onto this innovative yet disturbing comic awhile ago called MARSHAL LAW. Created by Pat Mills and Kevin O’Neill, this was the futuristic tale of “Hero-Killer” Marshal Law, a very “Judge Dredd”-ish vigilante hell bent on cleaning out the super people of his world. You see, in this future, the entire world is populated by super-heroes, born or genetically created, and they have taken over civilization, and Marshal is the sole person to keep the Heroes in check.
The great kick out of these issues is that every Archetypical Super-Hero is portrayed/skewered in the stories, and there have been spoof groups of everyone from the Justice League, The Legion Of Super-Heroes, The Avengers AND the Golden Age Justice Society. In between, Mills & O’Neill built up a the most interesting and colorful supporting cast, and it is just fascinating to see what new concoction they come up with for each new “Hero”!
In later years, many other series would follow this trend, great comics like The Authority, The Pro, and even Waid and Kingdom Come. Whenever a storyline employed a gaggle of archetypical heroes and villains, Gerg & I would always describe them like “Oh, you gotta check out this comic…the characters are like Marshal Law!”
Anyway, In one of the earlier issues, Marshal Law has to attend the wedding of a high-profile super-hero. He brushes with a few heroes who are outside the wedding, watching a fight, and one of these was a very sexy doll named Maskara, whose costume gave new meaning to the term “underboob”! She and her cohorts try to unmask Marshal and are baffled when the face underneath is some joe schmo that no one knows! While they are pondering, Maskara puts on Marshal’s police hat, a truly sassy move if there ever was one, and that just killed me!
Ultra short-skirt aside, I don’t know why she stood out for me, since almost all of O’Neill’s girls were pretty sexy, plus the chick is wearing a MASK, and it’s not like I could see her face! But affect me she did, and even years later, I would be comparing Maskara to the later Super-heroines in the Marshal Law series!
Maskara
by Pat Mills and Kevin O’Neill
[Marshal Law #4]
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Super-Vixens: The Huntress
I remember my friend showing me his copy of the latest issue of ADVENTURE, one of the many DC titles he collected. He showed me the cover and said "Check this out!"
On the cover, it showed Batman in a coffin, and the blurb simply read "Death Of Batman!" I skeptically waved my hand dismissively, saying, "Aahh, He ain't really gonna be dead!" to which Jas replied, "No, for real!...It's the Batman of Earth 2!"
"Earth 2?!" I exclaimed. "See, I told you it was a fake! I knew it wasn't the real Batman!"
Jas shook his head and had to explain to me that while it was true that this wasn't the "real" Batman, it was still a significant story, and that was the first time I heard of the "other" Earth of DC, and the incredible Justice Society. It was reading the Death of Batman issue that I came to know them, and that was how I first set eyes on the gorgeous Huntress!
She was the first character I asked "Ooh, who's that?", and found out she was the daughter of the Earth II Batman and Catwoman (!). From there I always took notice of the svelte vigilante, and thrilled to her appearances in comics like Batman Family!
The Huntress
Real Name: Helena Wayne
First Appearance: All Star Comics #69 by Joe Staton and Paul Levitz
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