Super-Vixens: Tara

I wasn’t a huge reader of DC Comics’ strip the WARLORD, but the two scantily clad sidekicks the former Travis Morgan carried along with him was enough for me to purchase the DC Digest reprints back in the day when reprinting comics in that form was the happenin’ thing.

The main one of the two (the other, of course, being redhead Mariah) was the striking queen of Shamballah, Miss Tara, the vixen whom was Morgan’s partner until he hitched a ride on a super train that left poor old Tara in the dust! Morgan’s grief over losing Tara must surely be akin to the sadness Keifer Sutherland felt when he lost Sandra Bullock in The Vanishing! :)

But it’s all good, because he’s happily re-united with her a few issues down the line!

Tara’s another fine example of Grell Babe Goodness!

Tara

First appearances:

First Issue Special #8 and Warlord #1 by Mike Grell

Super-Vixens: Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine

Another gal that is probably on a whole lotta silver-age super-heroine fan favorites list, the Contessa Allegra De Fontaine, or simple “Val” to close friends.

My earliest memory of the Contessa was sometime in the late 70’s. During that time, me and my friends were major X-Men fans, but here’s a shocker - back then, the X-men weren’t as popular as they are now, and the books and toys tended to feature the more prominent Marvel heroes like Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four. In fact, I had a lunch box featuring the “Marvel Super-Heroes” that seemed to feature everyone EXCEPT the X-Men, leading us to believe they were a strictly “second-tier” group.

Anyway, one day my friend Jas was out shopping with his mom, and in the department store book section of our neighborhood Liberty House, came across a glossy oversize item called the “Marvel Pin-Up Book”, featuring beautiful reproductions of great splash pages from past issues as well as new illustrations done up just for the book.

The X-Men’s pic was the Cockrum opening splash page from X-Men #107, but what was more interesting to us was that the bio that came with the pin-up listed Wolverine’s real name, “Logan”, which up til that point we never knew!

Anyway, as we excitely read that Pin-Up book from cover to cover, I came across the Pin-Up for Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D., featuring the all-time classic Steranko cover for Strange Tales #167. Now, I didn’t know anything about S.H.I.E.L.D. except what I knew from my beloved GODZILLA comics, (In fact, I recognized Godzilla’s main pursuant Dum Dum Dugan right off, and Nick Fury, of course) but I was instantly struck by the GORGEOUS and scantily clad agent to Nick Fury’s right…WOW! Who WAS that gal?

At the time, I wasn’t old enough to recognize Val as the “Emma Peel” archetype she was, but once I was old enough, I realized she was almost completely inspired by Diana Rigg, in looks, style, and even her name rings similar to “The Contessa Teresa De Vicenzo”! Heck, no wonder I was so taken back then! Because you know:

Diana Rigg=Hotness

Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine

First appearance

Strange Tales Vol. 1, #159 (Aug 1967)

Created by Jim Steranko

All In The Family-Remembering You

When I was in the fourth grade, my scheduled bedtime was 9:00, but on Monday nights  I was allowed to stay up a half an hour later to watch ALL IN THE FAMILY, since it started at Nine and ended at 9:30. This was considered special treatment for me, and I totally appreciated it!

I remember my dad remarking what a weird kid I was, being probably the only fourth grader whose favorite shows were All In The Family and MAUDE. But they weren’t the ONLY shows I liked, it was the only ones I got to stay up later to watch! Daytime syndicated shows were Brady Bunch, Family Affair and Gilligan’s Island, but nights were for One Day At A Time, Jeffersons, Maude, and yes, All In The Family!

  I’m not sure what made the show so interesting for me, but I watched it diligently every week. The stories were always great, even if most of Archie’s racial slurs were above my head! The Jeffersons, the Lorenzos, Mike, Gloria and ever-suffering Edith...they all had to sit back and watch Archie learn the hard way about being bigoted and hard headed!

 The Bunker household became as well known to me as my own house, and I never dreamed that it was a set I was watching. I remember years later, watching MARRIED WITH CHILDREN, and thinking, “Hey! It’s the Bunkers’ House!” because it had the same layout. In fact, I sometimes wonder if that was supposed to be a sly joke.

 Come to think of it, I remember having the same reaction when the show “IT”S YOUR MOVE” came out, and thinking they were living in the apartment where ONE DAY AT A TIME was shot! But I digress…

One part of the show that I always HAD to watch was the ending credits, because I just LOVED the ending song “Remembering You” , that jazzy piano piece by Roger Kellaway with lyrics (added later) by Carroll O’Connor. I remember they would usually cut off the song before the first chorus would end, so I would wait in anticipation for the odd times the song played “complete”, so to speak. Plus, back then they had TV announcer voice-overs talking during the song, and that just drove me mad.

 Searching on Youtube, I came across the ending credits someone had uploaded, and sure enough, it cuts off before the piano gets to the “re-mem-bering-you” line…SHUCKS! 

Searching further, I discovered this wonderful video of SOMEONE playing the entire song on the piano! It was just amazing…first thing, I’d never HEARD the ENTIRE song before, and it was done with such gusto! I have to say I probably watched and re-watched this video five times that first night, it’s so good!