Super-Vixens: KK

A while ago, my friend Gerg mentioned to me in passing that Warren Ellis (one of his favorite comic writers, don’t you know) had started up a brand new series that he was really getting into, and this particular comic was available online, absolutely free! Then our conversation got onto the topic of The Authority, and before I knew it, we were oof onto another subject, and I forgot all about asking for the details of said Ellis Comic.

  So, recently I was online, looking for pictures of children for some project, and for some reason, my google search brought up this alluring, mysterious and striking image of a goth laden girl crouching on the ground...WOW! Who WAS this girl? What WAS “Freakangels”? This bore further investigation!

Clicking on the link, I was taken to the official FREAKANGELS site, where I found it was a weekly online comic, illustrated by Paul Duffield, and written by….yep, you guessed it…WARREN ELLIS! Why, this was the comic Gerg had told me about, all those many months ago!

  Well, my late entry into the FREAKANGLES story may have been a blessing in disguise, for I was able to enjoy almost two volumes worth of FreakAngels pages, and I made sure to slowly read them and enjoy it, and I managed to stretch my reading to three evenings, TRUST ME, that took some WLL POWER!

 I got to know all the various members of the FREAKANGELS society and all their quirks and powers, and it was here that I fell in love with that aforementioned beauty from the promotion advertisements. Known simply as “KK”, she is the FIRST character you’re introduced to in the series, and- whatta gal! Shown as a beautiful goth/rocking chick with a penchance for sleeping around with all the wrong types, how could I resist! Plus, she is shown to have an almost instinctive knowledge about the powers and engineering of steam (and in a post-apocalyptic world, that’s good as GOLD)  and that meant she had both Beauty AND brains, a knockout combination!

  Through KK, we are introduced to the other members in the city one by one, and though the story gets divided up between the various members pretty well, the story never strays too far away from her, and  I still think of her as the “Main” character of Freak Angels.

 In an interesting side-story showing the sibling-like bickering between her and another Freakangel named Kirk, we find that the name KK was christened with was the fantastically eclectic tag “Kolfinnia Kokokoho”, which supposedly is a mixture of Norse and Japanese for Winter Owl, her parents probably meant it as a beautiful artistic name, but in the hands of her (sort of) siblings, it’s a motive for swift death! Not since Jughead Jones’ name was revealed to be Forsythe has anyone hated a birth-given name so much in comics!! Ahahaha!

 Though the comic is pretty much available for anyone with even the slightest curioustiy to check out, the series IS collected and available in hardcover and trade paperbacks, and I’m happy to say that not only have I picked up Volume One, but also Volume Two which just came out a few weeks ago! Just Beautiful!

K.K.

FreakAngels

By Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield

Super-Vixens: Sirrka

And on the OTHER side of the coin, we have Sirrka,  the FREAKANGEL “Goddess Of Love”! Where K.K. is as tuff and tomboyish as all-get-out with her gothic look, leather jacket, boots, and fishnets, Sirkaa would rather be draped in sultry and silky gowns. lacy bra and panties, or even nothing at all! 

Holding court in a makeshift palace of sorts where she resides with her entourage of sycophants, all ready to do her bidding, Sirkka’s way is one of touch and sensations, a talent she’s honed to perfection! That she is first introduced to us in bed with several of her lovers is an indication of the kind of character she is!

The cool thing about Sirkka is that not only is she one of the most beautiful and sexual of all the FREAKANGELS, she’s also one of the most powerful, at least that’s how it seemed early in the game! With Mind powers strong enough to heal, cleanse and kill, this is one chick who is the “whole package”! And you ain’t seen nothin’ until you’ve seen a girl clad in only a lacy see-through brassiere handling a huge makeshift Gatling gun and taking out a troop of would-be invaders! The chick is hot!

PS: Kind of a funny thing- Though I’ve purchase all the FREAKANGEL Trade Paperbacks as soon as they’ve come out, when it comes to scanning images from them for this blog, there seems to be some kind of half-tone that makes the scans look like crap. So I’ve been forced to make these collages from the free online uploads!


Sirrka
by Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield

Hat Makes The Man

While we’re on the subject of 80’s groups, there was this terrific locally-based band called Hat Makes The Man that me and my friends just loved. The band had a regular gig at Waikiki club Wave Waikiki that we checked out every weekend, but the group would pop up in other places too, and the bunch of us always made an attempt to see them wherever they happened to play. Merchant Street Block Party? Check! Mid-Pac Carnival? We’re there! Pearlridge Shopping Center Centerstage? Yep! We went to that one, too!

   But it was the Wave Waikiki gigs that we remembered the fondest- I remember, we’d sit outside before the club opened, and listen to Hat Makes The Man rehearsing inside. The great thing about that was that you’d hear the group playing songs they never did in their onstage repertoire, and I distinctively remember hearing them doing “Teenage Lobotomy” by the Ramones in their practice sessions, and wishing they’d do it in their set!

  Between the years 1984 and 1985 they managed to release two terrific albums, one their self-titled debut “Hat Makes The Man”, and a live album featuring new songs called “Searching…For The Fertile Fields”. The former was only available as a cassette at the time, although they did release “Fertile Fields” on Vinyl.

At some point, the band moved up to the “mainland” to try their luck, until, eventually, each member went onto different projects, most notably drummer Frank Quimby Orral with Poi Dog Pondering… ( a group that almost seems like a continuation of HMTM; several other Hat members have  helped on some of the early releases, and heck, the first album even featured different versions of Hat songs!)

Hat Makes The Man

Marti Nica Kerton (vocals, percussion, violin)

Byron Lai (lead guitar)

Frank Quimby Orrall (vocals, drums)

Peter Bond (vocals, rhythm guitar)

Matthew Harlan Miller (bass guitar)

The Beatles...Remastered at LAST!

While I patiently awaiting my CoCo DVD Box Set, I’m happy to announce the arrival of ANOTHER Box Set that has been a LONG LONG time coming, and that would be the glorious BEATLES REMASTERED CD COLLECTION, a beautiful box set that features all 13 albums and singles from England’s premiere band!

  I remember back when the Beatles first four albums (Please Please Me, With The Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night and Beatles For Sale) were to come out on CD, the big argument was why release an album on CD if you’re gonna release it in Mono. But since that’s how the albums were originally presented, that’s how they were done on CD.

Though I understood this logic, it really bummed me out because I grew up listening to the stereo mixes of most of these songs from the Capitol records, especially the awesome SOMETHING NEW, and though I bought all the mono CDs and enjoyed them dearly, in the back of my mind I always missed the kick that the stereo version had, especially in songs like the .thundering drumroll at the end of “Tell Me Why” !

But now we’ve come full circle, and each and every album has been given the remastered treatment, and though I haven’t listened to them all yet, what I’ve been blastin’ out over my stereo speakers has just been heaven!!

I first found out about this wonderful box set through Japanese site CD JAPAN of all places, and at the time, figured it to be a japan-only release. I really wanted it, but that 300 dollar price tag gave me pause, I must say! So I breathed a sigh of relief when I found out that they’d be releasing the Box Set in the states as well, and with a decent  price of $179.00 at Amazon, IMMEDIATELY sent in my order, this time without hesistation!

Super-Vixens: Delphine Courtney

I had a friend who was in love with a certain actress, stating she had the “most perfect and prettiest face created by nature!” Then a few months later he came across a plastic surgery site that indicated his lady of worship had had quite a few procedures done, especially in the eyes and nose department!

   Looking at the “before” shots of the woman’s “enhancements”, he sighed and said, “Ahh, I should have known…Nobody THAT perfect could have been for real!”

 Although he was talking about his favorite actress, he may as well have been talking about our next Super-Vixen, the lithe and lovely Miss DELPHINE COURTNEY… This was a woman who seemed to have it all- brains, style, AND beauty…and just like my friend’s fallen angel, was a complete and utter invention… quite literally, in the case of Ms. Courtney!

 In the issues of ALPHA FLIGHT leading up to the death of Guardian (who I’ll ALWAYS think of as “Vindicator”), Delphine Courtney ws the sultry smooth talker hired by Jerome Jaxon to corral ex-members of Beta and Gamma Flight into forming a team to battle Canada’s answer to the Avengers.

 Delphine was always shown in the latest styles, sexy outfits and slinky dresses befitting her sylph-like features, and I was loving it! It was here that I guess I should have remembered the lesson of my friend’s tragic tale, but I was too busy enjoying the view!

 We thought we were in for a helluvva cat-fight when Heather Hudson (wife of Guardian) began tearing at Delphine’s face and clothes, calling her a “Harpy”- but unfortunately, under all that satin and silk (and skin!) was nothing more than cold, unfeeling metal, as Delphine is revealed to be nothing more than an android, and a darn ruthless and evil one, at that!

 That Android would escape to “live” another day, and the next time she (it) showed up was disguised as The Guardian himself! While the reappearance of the character was cool, and the story really helped put a close to the Death Of Guardian storyline,  she (it) never did put back on that Delphine disguise, and I found that I really missed that old look of hers!

 Delphine Courtney

First appearance: Alpha Flight #8

By John Byrne

Favorite Albums: 10,000 Maniacs / In My Tribe

I’ve already written about how my friend turned me onto the Maniacs with the rocking tune SCORPIO RISING and their subsequent album THE WISHING CHAIR, but it wasn’t until the band released their second album that I became a hardcore 10,000 Maniacs fan for life. I had picked up the album on cassette so I could listen to it walking to work, and from the first listen I knew it was going to be one of my very favorite albums, ever!!

What’s The Matter Here?

Words cannot aptly describe what I felt the first time I heard the opening track “ What’s The Matter Here?” This song was just incredible, from its driving  drum beat and melodic guitars showcasing Natalie singing about the helplessness of witnessing child abuse…I still think this is one of the finest tunes ever written! But it didn’t stop there…. one after another, the perfect pop tunes kept coming at me!

Hey Jack Kerouac

If I hadn’t already associated the band with the beat poet/coffee house scene, the Maniacs’ ode to the tragic Jack Kerouac certainlywould’ve done the trick! Awesome Beat and melody, this one!

Like The Weather

The very first video I ever saw of the group, on the brand new VH1 video station, of all places. At the time I remember thinking Natalie looked a LOT older than the pic on the back of The Wishing Chair! This song is probably their first biggie.

Cherry Tree

A song about the shame of illiteracy. A peppy tune about an important subject! I remember my friend Herbert thinking that the Maniacs’ style of writing was “weird”, and he cites the quirky end of Cherry Tree as an example.

Hmmm…That ending never bothered me! In fact, it was pretty upbeat!

The Painted Desert

Lots of echo effect on the guitar chords really give this song the feel of the vast, wide-open space of the desert.

Don’t Talk

A real rocking song. They performed this one on Late Night with David Letterman one night, and it just knocked me OUT! As for the topic of this song; of not wanting to argue with someone who’s drunk off his ass, haven’t we all been in this kind of situation at one time or another? Heh Heh!

Peace Train

I’ve always liked the way the Beatles followed up I WANT YOU (She’s So Heavy) on side A of Abbey Road with HERE COMES THE SUN on Side B. After a loud, powerful saturated song, side two begins with a breath of fresh air. And that’s just what the Maniacs did when they ended side One of In y Tribe with Don’t Talk, and began side Two with “Peace Train”.

  A sweet, feel-good song, I rmember being really bummed out when I heard they were removing this song off future CD releases of In My Tribe, but in recent times it seems that it has been re-instated into its proper place. And if not, you can always still get it off the terrific “Campfire Songs” collection.

  There’s a video for this song out there somewhere, but to this day I’ve only seen snippets on Youtube, scenes of Natalie and the boys floating down a river on a raft like Huckleberry Finn…

A Campfire Song

 Obligatory Michael Stipe appearance here. It was around this time that everyone was buzzing about the two of them as an item, and boy does that seem silly in this day and age. A fun song to watch Natalie sing live when she invites unwitting audience members to sing the Michael Stipe parts! AHAHAHA

Gun Shy

 Another song that  Herbert used to point out as a “weird” written song. “They have this maddening way of ending their songs with these weird clipped statements”…

ell, in any cas, it’s a nice, thoughtfully sung song, about a girl porud that her brother’s grown up, but also sad because he’s joined the army. Beware, peaceniks!

My Sister Rose

Fun song a la DAKTARI about all the extravagance of a Sister’s Wedding Day. Yet another song Herbert singled out as strange. I remember when Natalie sang the closing line, “But You’re My-SISTER-ROSE-THE-SAME!” Herb leaped up and cried, “Yaah! See? That song had that kind of ending, too!” Hahahaha Too funny!

City Of Angels

A Powerful song, another that, Like “Painted Desert”,uses echo and effeets to really create the feeling of a HUGE, VAST CITY, bulidings towering over you,looking down endless streets…The drums really pack a wallop here, too. A song about the allure of  the big city, and the dregs of failures who came to “make it” and didn’t succeed. One of my faves.

Verdi Cries

And then we have Natalie’s epic closing song, the incredible “Verdi Cries”. Melancholy and moving- with wonderful picturesque lyricsgiving you at once the feeling of yearning, lonliness and homesickness!!! When you have an album open with a song like “What’s the matter here”, and end it with a song like “Verdi Cries”, it’s no wonder this album is so highly regarded as the Maniacs’ finest, an opinion I WHOLEHEARTEDLY SUPPORT!

Shortly after falling in love with the album, 10,000 Maniacs appeared on Saturday Night Live (guest host: Judge Reinhold), and performed Like The Weather and What’s The Matter Here. Like the Weather was fun and breezy, but it was the performance of What’s The Matter Here that did it for me. THIS WAS ONE OF THE GREATEST PERFS I’D EVER SEEN! There was no going back for me, and I became a rabid Maniacs fan from then on!