Super-Vixens: Silk Spectre

Laurel Jane “Laurie” Juspeczyk, the beautiful Silk Spectre, daughter of the original Silk Spectre , and one of the main characters in Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons epic WATCHMEN series.

When we first meet Ms. Juspeczyk in WATCHMEN #1, she is going off on poor old Rorschach and so my first impressions was that she wasn’t a very likeable charcter. Fortunately in that same issue she is shown in a better light when she dines with Daniel Dreiberg, the Nite-Owl character, and I warmed up to her a bit. Over the next few issues, through her relationship with Dr. Manhattan and her growing attachment to Daniel, I started liking her character more and more, until I was dying to see her get into (and out of) her Silk Spectre costume… and I wasn’t disappointed!

One thing I’ve always though was pretty cool was the way that the original Silk Spectre’s costume had that 40’s glamour style with leotards and fishnets, while Laurie’s costume looked very 70’s disco-queen looking, both costumes reflecting the times.

You know one thing I really liked about Laurie’s costume-the detail with her heels. Artist Dave Gibbons treated the shoes like an accessory to her costume, and was very keen on illustrating her putting the shoes on (see pic), and also vice versa…I thought it was a nice touch when she took a tumble down a hillside and one heel flew off!

Silk Spectre: Watchmen #1-12 by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

Super-Vixens: Heater Delight

YOWSERS! What can I say about gorgeous intergalactic alien prostitute Heater Delight that you can't discern just by glancing at the illustrations? She's an effin' BABE!

I had a friend who was a major Warlock fan, collecting the series from its inception in Marvel Premeire, through POWER OF WARLOCK 1-8, Warlock's STRANGE TALES continuation, the incredible WARLOCK 9-15, the Marvel Two In One Annual and the epic conclusion in AVENGERS ANNUAL #7.

Now, I had the opportunity to read all of my friend's Warlock comics, and there were a lot of important issues I noted to pick up, however, the first issue I bought on my own was WARLOCK #12, the side- story featuring Warlock's sidekick friend Pip The Troll, and introducing sultry Heater as the "Damsel In Distress"! Yes, I just NEEDED this issue! I mean, even besides gorgeous Heater, the story was damn funny to boot!

Poor Heater is slave girl who promises Pip the Troll "Unbelievable Pleasure" if he frees her. After much abuse and lumps, Pip manages to get the girl free just in time for said girl's boyfriend to show up and claim her! He could have freed her himself, but Heater didn't want him to get hurt! And what about the reward? Why, Heater was talking about giving him her pleasure cruiser, or course!

I love Pip's line: "Soon as I figure the most painful way to do it, I'm gonna locate and kill them two!"

A Masterpiece by Jim Starlin and Steve Leialoha!

Favorite TV: The Brady Bunch!

When I was in fifth grade (in …oh, around 1975 or so), my favorite TV show on the air was the Sherwood Schwartz (creator of Gilligan’s Island, as well) family sitcom, the  Brady Bunch!

It all started one afternoon when I was complaining to my mother  about “Not havin’ nothin’ to do”…to get me off her back, she  changed the channels on the TV and said, “Why don’t you watch this show? It’s about kids.”   Well, I didn’t have too much interest in it at first, but since there wasn’t ANYTHING ELSE going on that day, I checked it out, and immediately fell in love with the show!

  As I recall, that very first episode I saw was this one where Bobby saves Peter’s life by pushing him out of the way of a falling potted plant. Oh my gosh, the show was so funny, I knew I was gonna have to tune it to it every day! And tune in I did, til (like most things I love) it became an all-consuming obsession- I remember countless days when the family’s shopping outing or dinner plans had to wait 'til I finished watching my show!

One of my weekday chores that year was picking up my little brother from preschool. What I would do is plan my chore around the TV shows I wanted to watch.  Gilligan’s Island ended at 4:30, and Brady Bunch started at 5:00, so that gave me a half hour to truck on down to the Preschool and pick him up while the CBS News ran at 4:30 to 5:00.

Now, the church where the preschool was not that far away, but even still, if I got caught at enough red lights, I would inevitably miss the first 5 minutes of the Brady Bunch, upsetting me to no end! Ah, the priorities of a 5th grader!

What was it about that show that I loved so much? Well, enough theories have been bouncing around for years now, reasons  such as: “The Brady Bunch represented a family you wanted to be in” or “The show provided an escape from the harsh real world”, and I do agree with those sentiments, but for me, the two things that really drew me in to the show were:

1. The Music: I used to use a hand-held tape recorder, and tape the beginning and ending songs- they were so darn catchy, and I LOVED it whenever the kids sang! “Time To Change” , “Sunshine Day”, and “Good Time Music”, anyone?*

 

And the beginning songs- each season featured a different recording (except Season Two and Three…I guess the kids didn’t change enough to warrant a remake) and every one of them had a little something different to them that made each one special- back then, my fave was Season Four, with drums that seemed a bit more kicking (right at the moment they sing the line "that this group"...)! Why, I loved the opening song so much, I even got  into the Peppermint Trolley Company, the group that sang the intro to Season One! (Very good album, BTW)

2. What else? Marcia, Marcia, Marcia! Yep, I was in love with Marcia, played by Maureen McCormick,. though at the time, I thought her name was spelled “Marsha” Silly me, they even SHOWED the correct spelling during the ending credits, but I never noticed! Didn’t really care for her in those Technicolor slacks, but oh my how she could rock a mini-dress!

So, As I mentioned earlier, I started watching the show around Season Three, and at the time, had NO IDEA that I was watching a syndicated show that had in fact been canceled four or five years earlier! But reality came and hit me on the head soon enough- I remember one Friday afternoon watching  the episode where Bobby and Cindy (and, yes, Oliver) sell Greg some shampoo that turns his hair orange. Then, the following Monday, I tuned in and had one of the biggest shocks of my life, when suddenly The Brady Bunch kids were played by an almost unrecognizable group of little kids! “What’s going ON?” I asked out loud!

I watched the episode –(it wasn’t the first episode where Mike and Carol get married, I think it was the one where the kids challenge each other on what to get with Trading Stamps) and eventually, I got it. These WERE the same actors…just a hella lot younger! Then when my mother came home, she explained to me the fact that the show was OLD, and the kids were actually all grown up now. She even added, “Just like Family Affair”.

 I was confused. “SO…that show is old, too?”

 “Oh yeah, the kids are all grown up, now!” Then she added, “in fact, Buffy died of a drug overdose.”

WHAT! I couldn’t HANDLE THAT! “But…But, all the Brady kids are alive, right?” 

“As far as I know,” she said, to my relief.

    I didn’t have to wait long for PROOF that the cast of the Brady Bunch was alive and well, when the sappy BRADY BUNCH VARIETY SHOW came out a few months later. Gads, I just couldn’t WATCH IT! But then they followed with more reunion specials, the awesome BRADY GIRLS GET MARRIED, (where I got to see a grown Jan and Marcia in a show all their own), and even that slightly corny A VERY BRADY CHRISTMAS !

I loved those Bradys so much that I even made sure I tuned in to every episode of the animated series "The Brady Kids", a show that really utilized the kids singing- each episode had at least one song by them (I remember really liking the song "Merry Go Round", for some reason!)...and who can forget those wacky co-stars Marlon the Bird and Ping and Pong the Pandas?

  I even tried to watch that dreadful new Bradys Today show (was that the title? I can't even remember anymore), but gave up after just one episode! No matter, I could always go back to my beloved original series, and Lo and Behold, one by one all five seasons eventually got released on DVD, and I got to experience the show ALL OVER AGAIN!

*Funny thing about “Good Time Music”…When I got older, I tried to get all the songs the Brady kids sang, and though “Time To Change” and “Sunshine Day” regularly appeared on albums, I NEVER saw Goodtime Music on any of them! I researched the various LP tie ins they released, thinking for SURE It would be on at least ONE of them, but to no avail. It was only years and years later when they finally released a CD proper of Brady Kids songs (It's a Sunshine Day, released by MCA)  that they revealed in the liner notes that Goodtime Music was the ONE SONG they never recorded for any album! BAWWW! So the episode performance is pretty much the ONLY thing that exists, recording-wise!

Even searching online, I've only been able to find the version from the "Very Brady Sequel" soundtrack- some files even mislabeled as the song from the TV show!

 Too Bad, this was really a terrific song- from the episode “Adios, Johnny Bravo”, it features only Greg and Marcia singing, and I have to say, Maureen  sounds just fabulous here! And my, did she look nice, too! So PRETTY!