Happy Halloween!

Back in the 60's Tom Fagan organized the annual Rutland Halloween Parade centered around Marvel and DC superheroes alike, and the festival would occasionally show up in the pages of the comics, like Amazing Adventures 16 where the Beast encountered the Juggernaut!

The Human Fly

One of the more obscure titles that Marvel published in the 70's, The HUMAN FLY was a character that my friend Larry really dug for some reason, and I specifically remember a much-read copy of issue 18 at his house!!

 The Human Fly was a puzzling one....the by-line read that he was “The WILDEST Super-Hero…because he’s REAL!”, but me and most of my friends weren’t sure if he REALLY was a “real” character or just a “Made Up” character we were MEANT to think was real.

Come to find out the Human FLY WAS based on a real person, stuntman Rick Rojatt:

“Rojatt, a Canadian, says he once was a Hollywood stunt man—although the California union has no record of him. He also says he was in an auto accident in North Carolina six years ago which killed his wife and 4-year-old daughter and badly injured him. He had 38 operations in four years, he says, which allowed him to walk again but left him with a body that is “60 percent steel parts.” He says he conditions himself by rising at 3 a.m., running six miles and then plunging into a bathtub full of ice cubes.”

-From People Magazine 1976

Howard the Duck #18: "If You Knew SOOFI"

How many of you remember Anita Bryant and her Anti-Gay “Save The Children” crusade which resulted in her getting a pie in the face and inspiring Steve Gerber to create the villainous organization SOOFI (Save Our Offspring From Indecency) in HOWARD THE DUCK?

Like the Save The Children Organization, SOOFI had similar plans to “Cleanse America” of its “filth” …and targeted Howard for indecency because he was walking around without any pants on! HAHAHAHAHA

It’s a widely held belief that Gerber alluded the “person under the mask” of SOOFI Leader Supreme Soofi to be none other than Anita Bryant herself; though no real mention of Anita is mentioned, the folksinger was well known for her association with Florida Orange Juice, and the SOOFI’s round orange “Citrus Heads” (as Howard calls it) certainly hints at this, and when the Supreme SOOFI confesses to Howard that she is “a Girl from the Sunshine State”, who else could it be!?

Howard The Duck was such a GREAT comic- Steve Gerber infused the most sharp and witty satirical takes on the problems of the 70’s into Howard’s exploits!

Posted by zinkognito @ zdorama.blogspot.com

FreakAngels (Complete Run)

 FreakAngels as originally an online comic, and it was a joy to tune in each week and read the four of five new pages of story and beautiful art. They were part of my weekly ritual, and for the first time in years, I've been having a hankering to re-visit my old friends back in Whitechapel...

Outcast, Vol.5: The New Path

Volume Five of the awesome OUTCAST arrived so it's time to dig out my earlier trade paperbacks and read the series all over from book one again!!! Really love this series.

Desolation Jones: Made in England

Reading Desolation Jones again for the umpteenth time. Man I love this book. Such a cryin' shame that Warren Ellis baled on this one after (thankfully) completing this first story arc "Made in England".

As I re-read this again, I consciously tried to pin down what I love about this comic so much, and you know what, it comes down to the characters. I LOVE the characters here, especially Jones' relationship with Emily, the chemically-altered Special Agent who got operated on to produce alluring pheromones but instead with a botched trait which gave off an aura of near-revulsion instead.

No man or woman can stand to be near her, and so it is Jones alone who can endure her company and be there for her when her loneliness becomes unbearable. Very touching.

Unfollow, Vol.3: Turn It Off

I have to say that while I was initially intrigued by the idea of a billionaire giving away his fortune to 140 chosen people, by the time the second book came out, it had veered so far from what I was expecting that I decided to drop the book. But then I read that the third trade paperback was going to be the conclusion of the series, and, having invested my money into the first two books, made a point to pick it up later when I could get it cheap.
 What instead happened was, I got tickets to see the new Bladerunner 2046 movie but found that tit was going to be tow hours before my showing. With so much time to kill, I wandered into a comic store in the neighborhood, and, seeing the third Unfollow book. decided to pick it up and read it after all.
Meh, have to say it still didn't grab me and will probably not read it again, but it was an adequate way to kill some time.

East Of West, Vol.7

Been a YEAR since East of West Volume Six came out (Volume Seven was scheduled to be released in early June but kept getting postponed til September) and so I decided to dig up all my books and start reading them all over again from the beginning. Gonna take my time reading this one so I'll be preoccupied with this for awhile....Damn, this is such a great freaking series!!!!!