Yep, I Was In Love With Belle!

As I’ve mentioned a number of times on this blog,  I was a HUGE Disney fan as a kid, from live action movies like ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN, HERBIE THE LOVE BUG and THE COMPUTER WORE TENNIS SHOES to the classic animated features like ALICE IN WONDERLAND, THE JUNGLE BOOK and THE RESCUERS. But it wasn’t until around 1988 (About the time OLIVER AND COMPANY came out) that I dove head-on into the wonderful world of Disney Collecting, or Disneyana, as they call it.

  The format of choice for me at the time was the LASERDISC, a doomed format, to be sure, but my, did the Disc Jackets looked nice! I wanted to get every one of them! Unfortunately, as any collector of Disney Movies knows, I was to be rudely awakened  from my dream of owning all the movies, When I would find out that most of the films were OUT OF PRINT, or MORATORIUM, as they called it! Gasp!

Even worse was the fact that one of the titles that was out of print was SLEEPING BEAUTY, one of the MAIN motivators for me STARTING  my collecting dream!

Oh well, although there were a lot out of print, there were more than enough still available to keep me (and my checkbook) busy for awhile!

   Strangely enough, even though I was struggling in earnest to collect the Disney movies of my childhood, I didn’t have all that much interest in seeing the latest film THE LITTLE MERMAID, my friends had to practically DRAG me to see that one…I think at the time I was collecting from a “nostalgic” angle, and the “newer” didn’t really do anything for me. But of course, I ended up loving The Little Mermaid, and by the time I’d seen THE RESCUERS DOWN UNDER, I was a rabid fan, collecting anything and EVERYTHING associated with my beloved animated films!

  We made a trip to Disneyland that summer,, and I blew almost all my money in the Disneyana stores on Main Street more than anything else!  I didn’t have time for rides- there were official Alice In Wonderland Teacup Sets  and Collectible Sleeping Beauty Plates to be purchased! Took a lotta pics inside Sleeping Beauty’s castle, though!

  Now that I’ve set the stage, you can understand just how excited and worked up I was when Disney announced it was beginning work on its 30th animated feature, a movie called BEAUTY AND THE BEAST!

  Disney was beginning this routine of always giving a “Sneak Preview” of the upcoming Theatrical release at the beginning of the latest Home Video release, and though I’m not sure, I believe it was on the release of Rescuers Down Under that we first got a glimpse of Beauty and The Beast, or more specifically, Belle, the “Beauty” of the film, in a partially done scene of the girl singing and walking through town.

I was…CAPTIVATED! I remember watching that sneak peek clip over and over…Couldn’t wait for it!

  Soon Disney released the Soundtrack to Beauty and the Beast, and I thought it would be great to get to hear some of the songs BEFORE we saw it, so I ran out and bought it! Now at this time I had just moved from a cramped little apartment into a big empty house, and didn’t really have much in the way of furniture. So all we did was sit around on  the bare (though carpeted) floor and play cards. I used this as a great opportunity to really get to know the tunes, and I have great memories of "Belle's Theme" echoing throughout that empty house as we dealt each other cards! Before you knew it, all of us had memorized all the songs and even had kind of worked out he whole story, through

the songs and snatches of dialog scattered within the score.

  It’s pretty interesting to learn songs without knowing the context.  I remember, when listening to “Belle’s Theme”, a lady cries “I Need…Six Eggs!” in a strangled voice, and my friend said, “What the heck is wrong with Belle?” I said I didn’t THINK it was Belle, but we just had to wait to be sure! (Turned out to be some anonymous haggard mother!)

Well, finally the day came around when Beauty and The Beast arrived in theaters (over here was at the WAIKIKI 3 Theater, long gone now…) and even with my high expectations of the film,, I was still completely and utterly overwhelmed! I don’t know how much of it was due to the fact that I already knew all the songs, but it was like seeing pictures of a place for years and then finally getting to visit the place for real- everything seemed so familiar, yet so vibrant and ALIVE!

All the songs came alive for me watching the movie, but there WERE a few songs from the soundtrack that were slightly different in the movie, For example, Gaston’s’ Song had it’s ending (where Lefou tries to cheer the letters of Gaston’s name and realizes he can’t spell) cut off when Belle’s father bursts into the bar, and I was especially annoyed at the ending of “Something There”(probably my favorite track in the movie), where the sweet ending is talked over by a whining Chip! Ahahahaha!

One of the greatest things about this movie was the CHARACTERS- every one seemed so well thought out and realized- especially the three main ones- Belle, Beast and Gaston.

Beast had to show you he was a raging monster who was gentle inside, and Gaston showed you a boor who went from a conceited buffoon to an all-out murderer!

 And Belle.

GEEZ, I have to say, Disney really created a masterpiece with her! One of the most perfectly developed (take that how you want) heroines ever, and the animation team really hit a home run here- her facial expressions and gestures were so realistic- my fave “quirks” of hers were the arching of her eyebrows when she was suspicious, and oh, that strand of hair that just wouldn’t stay in place! And I have to say, there couldn’t have picked a better voice for Belle than Paige O’Hara!

  Oh yeah, I fell in love! Yep. With a cartoon character! One of about five animated characters I fell in love with, actually. (And who were the other four? That’s for future entries!) After Alice (Of Wonderland fame) and Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty), Belle became one of my favorite Disneyana things to collect, I was that far gone!

I went individually with each friend who was part of that card- playing group, and they all agreed it was great! Then I went with fellow co-workers who hadn’t seen it, All in all, I went about 9 times, and you know what, I actually started feeling possessive of the movie! It got to the point where I was excitedly waiting for people to laugh at certain places (Like Gaston’s “Every last inch of me’s covered in HAIR!” line, for one) and Ooh at others (Belle appearing at the top of the stairs in her yellow ballroom gown) and even now, when I watch my home videos, I miss those reactions!

Disney had tied-in Beauty and The Beast to Burger King, and they were going to have Happy Meals (or whatever the Burger King equivalent of it was) featuring a different  BATB action figure each week. I have to comment that these were pretty quality dolls. Heavy plastic, DEFINITELY collectible. First week was Beast, so I picked up that one, then when week two featuring Belle rolled around, my friend Gerg (one of the card-playing gang), who was as infatuated with Belle as I was, decided to accompany me down to Burger King to get one too. When we GOT there though, he chickened out, mortified to be seen getting a Belle figure. So I rolled my eyes and said I would order for both of us.

  So I get to the counter, with Gerg sheepishly behind me, and we ordered two Happy Meals (Or whatever it was called), and were shocked when we were handed two trays with small drink cups, small fries, small cheeseburgers, and…no figures!

  Gerg’s face turned to a face of concern, and I went back to the counter, saying, “Uh, didn’t these come with toys?” The old Filipino lady looked at us from above her glasses, and, holding up a Belle doll in her hand, said, “But the toy is THIS, you know!” And me and Gerg said “Yes Please!” to which the confused lady handed over the two dolls to the two weird dudes. But it was totally worth it! The dolls hands were even molded so they could fit together, and as you can see, I still have these cherished figures on my shelf of Disneyana, see below:

Along with the figures, there were books and other collectibles to be found, and when Disney released trading cards featuring stills from the movie, I had to get those, too! My dilemma was how to get the whole set without buying pack after pack, and every friend I knew that collected cards said that if I just bought a whole box, I was pretty much guaranteed to get at LEAST a whole set, maybe even more If I was lucky! So I invested the money and bought a sealed box of packs, and though at this moment I can’t recall just how many individual packs were in that box, after opening every one of them, I was still ONE CARD SHORT of making the complete 95 card set!  Well, I wasn’t gonna go and buy any more individual packs, and I sure as hell wasn’t gonna buy another BOX!

 Luckily for me, a Comic and Card store up the street sold recent trading cards individually, and for 75¢ I was able to pick up that last card! Offhand, I can’t remember which one it was- funny, you’d think I’d have that card burned into my brain! But BOY was I satisfied when I completed that set! Oh, and I even bought one of those snazzy plastic boxes to  store/display the set, too!

 Disney decided to release the “Working-In-Progress” version of the film that was shown to audiences before the actual film came out on laserdisc months before the “real” movie was set to be released (I suppose as a sort of teaser), and I have to say I was the first in line to get my copy! First off and most importantly, since the Laserdisc was kind of a avant-garde release, it warranted a more mature cover, and the image, taken from the soundtrack, is probably my favorite of all the one sheets made! I even had a poster of it mounted and framed, and as you can see hangs where it’s hung for over 16 years in my little office corner.

When the Laserdisc finally came out, I bought them both in CAV (Deluxe format) AND CLV (regular Format), though no one knows why! It’s not like I was ever gonna watch the CLV version, but I was THAT excited when it came out! Ahahaha! It was years (and only rather recently) that Disney finally got off their duffs and released a good and proper Deluxe DVD treatment of this Academy Award Nominated (YES!) Animated feature, and when I got it, I made myself put off watching It till I was really in my Disney Mood. So just the other week I finally brought it out and soaked it all in, and folks, it’s real! It’s still as good as I remember- BETTER, even!

 Car found it quite amusing when the movie was over and I mumbled “Man, I FORGOT how much I was in LOVE with Belle!” Ahahahaa! Yes, It's true!

Super-Vixens: Silver St. Cloud

One thing that legendary master storyteller Steve Englehart always brought to a comic when he began writing duties was to create brand new characters for his run of the strip. Like he did with the oriental character Mantis in The Mighty Avengers, Steve created an interesting new character for the BATMAN storyline in DETECTIVE COMICS, a love interest, at that, in a girl called Silver St. Cloud.

  Love Interest? For The BATMAN? Yep, you heard right!  Well, more specifically, a girlfriend for Bruce Wayne, and when you factor in his “Playboy” persona, that’s even more unbelievable than a girl going out with Batman!

     Silver was a fully developed character (Take that any way you want, it’s correct in either one), Cool , Sexy (more on that later) and most of all, INTELLIGENT! In fact, it wouldn’t be too long before the smart platinum haired girl would deduce (correctly) that her beau was none other that the Dark Knight! It would be this knowledge that would push them apart- She  just couldn’t imagine having to worry about him EVERY NIGHT when he became his alter ego.

  When Marshall Rogers came onboard Detective Comics, his pencils, along with master Terry Austin’s inks, became THE look for Silver St. Cloud, just this GORGEOUS creature! Fans of Rogers’ later run on DR STRANGE will agree, when it comes to pretty girls with white hair whether it be Silver St. Cloud or Clea, Marshall Rogers had it down! And Oooh, that pic above with her talking to Bruce in bed…probably my favorite Marshall Rogers illo ever!

 Now, I don’t know what kind of significance Silver St. Cloud has for comic readers of today, but back in my childhood, Silver was THE ONE, spoken in that same reverence used when talking about Tracy De Vicenzo, AKA “Mrs. James Bond” in ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE, kind of like painted as “The great tragic romance of Batman’s life!”

 Silver St. Cloud

First Appearance: Detective Comics #470 (June 1977)

By  Steve Englehart and Walt Simonson & Al Milgrom

Moody Blues: To Our Children's Children's Children

The first Moody Blues album I ever owned was the amazing Long Distance Voyager, featuring the rocker “The Voice”. A friend of mine saw this interest I had with the group, and turned me onto the Moody Blues double album anthology “This Is The Moody Blues”, which covered the Moody Blues’ first seven albums, from "Days of Future Passed" to "Seventh Sojourn". At the time I dug it for the songs you’d expect the casual Moodies fan to like: “Nights In White Satin”, “Tuesday Afternoon”, and “The Question” among others.

  But once I started listening to the entire anthology as a whole, I  began to realize that EVERY song on the album was great. Great enough that I was curious as to what the individual albums themselves might hold! So I took the leap into the “classic” Moody Blues catalog, and I’ve been a MAJOR fan ever since! I love everything the group’s done, from “Days Of Future Passed” through “Octave” to “Strange Times”, but my hands down favorite album of all is their incredible “To Our Children’s Children’s Children”.

  This was the Moody Blues’ fourth album proper, and although ALL Moodies Albums have some kind of theme, this seems to be the most cohesive as a concept album. This album was released in1969, right as mankind had just set foot on the moon, and this album reflects the wonder and excitement of the amazing “leap for mankind”.

  The album opens with the thundering sound of a rocket taking off, leading us into the song “Higher and Higher”, about the amazing opportunities technology can take us. "Man with his flaming pyre has conquered the wayward breezes!"

Then off into “Eyes of A Child”, reflecting how small man is when thrust into the vastness of outer space. Then some fun moon dancing on the song “Floating” before the ultimate light-speed instrumental “Beyond”… Whenever I hear this song, I always get the rush of flying through space! This was terrific to hear for the first time in its entirety because on "This Is The Moody Blues", it was played only as a backing track to the poem "Om".

  For some reason, probably my favorite song here is Mike Pinder's “Sun is Still Shining”, a sitar-driven groover singing about enjoying life in outer space rather than being stuck bored at home on Earth. A cool song!

The second half of the album sees the Moody Blues getting quite philosophical with songs like “Gypsy”, ”Eternity Road” “Candle of Life” and the song Justin Hayward labeled the worthy successor to Nights In White Satin, “Watching and Waiting”.

  I remember when I first heard “Gypsy”, I thought it was about real gypsies moving from town to town, always looking for a place to call home. Then one day I realized it was about how in the future we will be constantly travelling to find new planets to colonize.

And with “Eternity Road”, I’d always imagined some Biblical road that led to the Pearly Gates, but upon closer listening, I realized they were singing about how space exploration is limitless in the infinite universe.

 Then there’s the epic “Watching and Waiting”. MAN, this is an awesome song. There was this great book writer George Gaylord Simpson penned called “The Dechronization of Sam MacGruder”

This novel was about a scientist who time-slipped back to the prehistoric age, and spent the rest of his life alone, knowing it would be millions of years before the creatures populating Earth would evolve into mankind…this song really seems to fit the theme of this story…It’s like Adam being born into a perfect planet, waiting for someone to share and appreciate life with him. An incredible closer to the album.

Candy Clark

The first time I saw American Graffiti must have been around 1978 on the telly, which would have made me about 12 years old, and I have to tell you, Debbie was everything a 12 year old kid could fantasize about: Super Cute, Loud, Naughty, Sassy, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, willing to give the unpopular loser (Terry the Toad, as played by Charlie Martin Smith) the time of day! Why, she was an…an…ANGEL! Ahahahaha!

So yeah, I was pretty infatuated with Candy Clark! I remember this one time, a kid brought to class the AMERICAN GRAFFITI novelized paperback that was the movie tie-in book, one of those books that had a bunch of pages with black and white pictures in the middle, you know the ones I mean. Anyway, I desperately wanted to see if there were any pictures of Debbie in that paperback, but that stupid kid refused to let me see it, because he was more interested in running around the class showing all the girls the picture from the movie of some guy mooning his butt out a driving car! Grrr…

I’ll tell you a funny coincidence… I was SO infatuated with Candy Clark: I remember a neighbor had a copy of HUSTLER laying around with a cute blonde on the cover, and the first thing my mind said was “WOW! that girl looks like…DEBBIE!” I remember wondering if it WAS Candy Clark! After all, this was the year when the scandal of Angie “Police Woman” Dickinson nude shots were all the buzz, so WHY NOT pics of Candy Clark?

Well, it wasn’t Candy Clark, and I would have forgotten all about it, but in an interesting turn of events, the model on the HUSTLER cover turned out to be none other than Dale Bozzio, she of MISSING PERSONS fame! I remember when they showed the cover of the magazine, I immediately recognized it, exclaiming, “Hey! Dale was that model I thought looked like Candy Clark!” (It’s the December 1982 issue, if you care to look it up) Funny thing though, looking at the cover NOW, she doesn’t look much like Debbie, after all! HAHAHA!

I remember a year or so after I’d fallen in love with Candy Clark, they released a sequel to American Graffiti called MORE AMERICAN GRAFFITI (how original!), and I really had to BEG my friends to come down with me to see the movie, because I desperately needed to see it!! One of the main reasons I wanted to see this, of course, was because Candy Clark was one of the cast members from the original movie that would be reprising her role.

Well, I’d like to say that It was great and I was blown away, but the fact of the matter was, I hadn’t realized that the Debbie character was wearing a fluffy blonde WIG in the first movie, and no such wig was found atop the head of Candy Clark in the second one! GASP! Why, I didn’t even RECOGNIZE Candy when she first appeared…it was only after watching the scene that I figured it out, and folks, I mean to tell you…I WAS CRUSHED!

But to be honest, it wasn’t just her- the movie was supposed to reflect the late sixties hippie-culture, peace, Vietnam War, etc, and well, it just didn’t have that magic the first one had.

Oh well…I still had the original movie to keep me company!

Years later, the American Graffiti Movie came out on Laserdisc(!),and I was able to enjoy the movie without having to either rent it or wait for it to appear on TV, and once again, I was instantly taken back to my Debbie-obsessed days! THEN, even MORE years later, when the Collector’s Edition DVD came out, I watched it, and yep, fell in love AGAIN!

I may pass on ever needing to see “More” American Graffiti again, but the original will always remain one of my very favorite movies of all time, and you can be sure that each time I re-watch it, I will have Candy Clark on the brain, as well!

Favorite Songs: "Undertow" by Ivy

Years ago, a cool co-worker made me a tape mix of a peculiar new group by the name of IVY. They struck me as a sort of 4AD sounding band, and of course I fell in love with them immediately. The tape she'd made for me was from Ivy's first ep LATELY, and songs like "Wish it All away" and " Can't Even Fake it" are faves even to this day! From there I got their album REALISTIC, and wallowed in their dreamy, ethereal sounds...loving it all!

 Fast forward to 2001, and Ivy's come out with a new album called LONG DISTANCE. I didn't know what to expect, but NOTHING could have prepared me for their "new" sound- HUGE, droning, and TOTALLY ATMOSPHERIC! Songs Like "Blame it on Yourself","Lucy Doesn't Love You"and "Digging Your Scene"still retained that jangly IVY sound a bit, but it was in songs like "Edge of the Ocean", "Midnight Sun" and the incredible album opener called "Undertow" that I realized just how much IVY had "evolved" from its earlier days, and in a totally good way! 

This new sound has been more or less the direction the group has gone, with albums like APARTMENT LIFE and IN THE CLEAR, as well as side groups like PACO expanding their horizons even more!

Favorite Songs: "Sort of Haunted House" by Too Much Joy

 I  had about three or four different friends who would regularly make cassette tape mixes for me just like John Cusack in that High Fidelity movie, and over the years I’ve been introduced to many, many terrific groups (many of which I have mentioned here on this blog!)!

   Now, it doesn’t happen very often, but once in  a while there will be a certain group or artist that will appear on ALL my friends mixes at one time. None of these friends know each other, and a couple of them don’t even live here, but somehow, sometimes there is something in the air and  ALL my friends will get “turned on” to a new artist simultaneously! Even stranger was that most of the groups didn’t have radio or TV airtime, so most of these songs reached my friends through “the vine” as it were!

  Some of the groups I remember appearing simultaneously on two or three cassette mixes at the same time  were groups like Suddenly Tammy, Throw That Beat In the Garbage Can, Voice of the Beehive, and more recently groups like Bishop Allen.

  Anyway, back in 1991, one of the groups that appeared on a bunch of tape mixes was a insanely wacky and catchy group called Too Much Joy. Apparently, their album Cereal Killers managed to make its way to three friends of mine at the same time, and they in turn, all attempted to turn ME onto it…and I liked it, I liked it! With Songs like “Long Haired Guys From England”, “My Past Lives” and  “Crush Story” , this was certainly a GREAT way to be introduced to the band, to be sure!

  Afterwards, I would see TMJ appear regularly on tapes and I got to know other songs like their zany take of “Seasons In The Sun” and the downright cracked “Take a Lot Of Drugs”, but the song that really stood out for me and became my favorite track from the group was a ditty called “Sort of Haunted House”.

   Although the song appeared on the Mutiny Album somewhere in the middle, my friend Gerg had used the song as the cassette mix closer, and what a melancholy closer it was! Filled with catchy guitar picking, groovy bass riffs and that traditional Dark Humor TMJ was famous for, it instantly won me over the very first time I heard it!

 The song is about a guy whose house is haunted by the memory of his late girlfriend, He welcomes her ghost because he loves and misses her, but as the song progresses, we find she got killed by a stray bullet when he shot her lover in their house! He is riddled with guilt and wants to be punished, but when he gets acquitted of the crime, he decides to make amends by  killing himself. He wants to join her wherever she is, stating, “I join you now, in Heaven or in Hell”, but in true Too Much Joy black comedy fashion, adds the thought, “I pray HE’S not there as well!” Hahaha!

 As I recall, the album Mutiny didn’t fare that well, and many blamed it on Too Much Joy’s change from a zany punky band to a more insightful (if not still decidedly skewered) outlook, but whenever I hear this bittersweet, brilliantly crafted song, I always feel that they were heading in the right direction!

 A perfect song to get you all into the Halloween Spirit!

Sort of Haunted House by Too Much Joy

Super-Vixens: Colleen Wing

Funny thing about Colleen- it seemed like as time went by, little by little she lost her “ethnic” look, looking less and less chinese with every issue she appeared in!

In fact, by the time she appeared in X-Men #118, she looked positively caucasian, and this being the first issue I ever saw her in, I was in a world of confusion…Here was this white girl with a chinese last name, but talking Japanese, and claiming to be “Bushido”! In fact, she actually said “I Am Bushido”, which isn’t really the correct term, as bushido is a code of ethics more than an affiliation.

  Anyway, moving on to collecting the Byrne/Claremont Marvel Team-Up issues, by this point Colleen more closely resembled The Wasp than Suwan, and It wasn’t until I managed to collect the early IRON FIST stories that I got to see her as a “chinese” girl proper.

  In an interesting side note, my friend Gerg gave me a bunch of issues from the new Iron Fist series by Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction, and I was pleasantly surprised to see Colleen looking oriental again, albeit retaining her auburn hair!

 Colleen Wing

First Appearance: Marvel Premiere #19

by Doug Moench and Larry Hama

Super-Vixens: Laurel Kent

Back in Superboy starring the Legion of Super-Heroes #219, a mysterious girl named Laurel Kent appeared before the group with powers of super-strength, and the twist at the end of the story revealed that the girl was a future descendant of Clark Kent, who was, of course Superman. So this chick was Supes’ great grand niece, or something like that.

 Apparently when Jim Shooter created an invulnerable, indestructible super-girl, Mike Grell decided with all that strength, she didn't’t need no stinkin’ costume, and garbed the super heroine in a skimpy red silk bikini outfit cut into a design he’d recycle over and over again…and I was all for it!

 Gorgeously drawn by Mr, Grell, Laurel was the perfect oxymoron of a beautiful, petite waif with the power to knock you into next Thursday! Sadly, later artists wouldn't take it from this angle, and beefed up Laurel’s physique to match her strengths, thereby turning her into “just another super heroine”.

 Laurel Kent

First Appearance: Superboy #217

By Jim Shooter and Mike Grell

Super-Vixens: Laura Lee Landers

The year was 1976, and the news of the most unbelievable incidents going on around New York! The Villain Jester had emerged as the newest  do-gooder on the block! His arch-enemy Daredevil had supposedly turned bad, toting a machine gun, robbing banks, and murdering NY policemen! And if that wasn’t enough, assassinated brothers Robert and John F. Kennedy had allegedly been found alive and well!

  It was at this time that pretty Laura Lee Landers used her powers of Super-Apathy and took to the sunny shores of Sydney Australia’s beaches, where temperatures were topping the 90º mark!  The question on everyone’s minds was “Did she know something we didn’t?”! At least, that’s how they printed it in the April 11, 1976 edition of the Daily Bugle that day!

Laura Lee Landers

Daredevil #136

By  Marv Wolfman and Bob Brown with Jim Mooney

Dave Clark Five + KISS = Any Way You Want It!!

Dave Clark Five song “Any Way You Want It”  was covered by 70’s Rock giants KISS

-and was included on their famous live album KISS ALIVE II!

Dave Clark Five was one of the major players in that very first “British invasion of the 60’s…in fact, they were right up there with the Beatles when it came to hit singles! Their songs always rocked because they seemed to have pounding, solid backbeats to them, (no doubt partly because Dave Clark was the DRUMMER of the band!) but they also had a flair for the sweet pop tunes too-witness the single “Because”.

 I’ve always felt that lead vocalist Mike Smith sounded an awful lot like Paul McCartney on most of their early tracks, although everyone I tell that to looks at me like I’m hearing things! Whenever I hear “Bits and Pieces” I’ve always had a vision of Paul McCartney singing it, and probably always will! Here’s DC5’s “Any Way You Want It”, complete with Dave’s pounding backbeat and Denny Payton’s driving saxophone!

 During their mock interview in the video KISS-EXPOSED, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley talk about how, in their early days as a duo, they would sit on street corners and sing Beatles songs. They even give us a little sample of “I’ll Be Back”, complete with Liverpudlian Harmonies! Their love of The British invasion was never more clear than when the phenomenal album KISS ALIVE II came out.

These were live recordings of the years touring for Destroyer, Rock N Roll Over, and Love Gun, and a kick ass album it was. The concert footage filled up three sides, and they decided to fill side four with unreleased songs. These songs are great to listen to-songs like All-American Man, Rocket Ride and Rockin’ In The U.S.A.are as good as any of their official album tracks…but it was the album closer that really made my day: “Any Way You Want It” by the DC5!

 Of course this song was probably just a novelty recording for them, but even so, you can really hear the love the boys have for this early sixties song. Gene and Paul trade off vocal lines as they rock, all building up to cool dual harmonies during the chorus! This is a very faithful cover of the Dave Clark Five song, with two very cool additions: A build up to a sweet Peter Criss drum roll snap, and a VERY Beatley guitar twang at the end!

This song always creates a cool "vicious Circle" for me-whenever I hear the DC5 version, I have to listen to the KISS version, and whenever I hear the KISS version, I have to dig out my old Dave Clark Five collection again!

Super-Vixens: Beverly Switzle

Up next are two beautiful gals who are (or WERE) usually associated with talking ducks a la Donald Duck, the two being Marvel’s Howard The Duck, and Frank Cho’s same-named fowl Frank in his original strip University (squared)

 First we have the gorgeous red head Beverly Switzler, your typical “Damsel in Distress”, til Howard came along and rescued her. The two began a lifelong partnership, one that was filled with many separations and diversions, but they always found themselves back together in the end!

 As conceived by Steve Gerber, Bev was supposed to be the optimistic, steadfast character (albeit a bit naïve at times) to contrast Howard’s grouchy, pessimistic outlook on life, and as such, always radiated a sunshiney aura whenever she was in the story. In fact, every reader would wonder how Howard could be such a downer when he had such a beautiful maiden as his partner!

 Originally pencilled by Frank Brunner (he of Red Sonja fame, among others), the role of penciller ultimately fell to Gene Colan, and I personally think his version to be THE version that all others must compare to!

 At some point, Beverly was semi-written out of the comic when she heroically married the evil Dr. Bong to spare Howard’s life, but Steve managed to bring her back every now and then, and years later, in the pages of THE SENSATIONAL SHE-HULK, brought her back (sort of ) for good!

Beverly Switzler

First Appearance: Howard the Duck #1

By Steve Gerber and Frank Brunner

Super-Vixens: Brandy Carter

Casual readers of Liberty Meadows may wonder what I’m doing calling Frank a duck, but the fact of the matter is, that’s just what he was during his original manifestation in the pages of University(squared) before ultimately becoming the neurotic human in Liberty Meadows!

 Of course, the change didn’t make all that much difference since most of the readers were reading the strip for Brandy, anyway!

 Originally part of an ensemble cast, Brandy has gone on to become Frank Cho’s signature character. She’s supposed to be styled after Lynda Carter of Wonder Woman fame, and Frank even wrote hilarious story where Brandy goes to a comic-con, and all the nerds and geeks obesessively follow her around!

 I remember when my friend Gerg first introduced me to the strip, after reading a few weeks of stuff, I said “It seems like this guy Frank Cho is using thin plots and storylines simply as an excuse to draw Brandy!” Then I thought about it, and added, “Gee, what a dream job! I wanna draw a strip like this!” Ahahaa!

Brandy Carter

in University2 and Liberty Meadows

by Frank Cho

The Ghost On Saturday Night

One of my favorite Children’s books growing up in the 4rd grade was The Ghost On Saturday Night, written by Sid Fleischman with terrific illustrations by Erich Von Schmidt.

   This was the tale of a young boy named Opie who was trying to save up money to buy a Horse Saddle. You see, His Great-Aunt Etta had promised him that when he saved up enough money to buy a good saddle, she’d buy him the horse to go underneath it!

   Unfortunately, Opie was a small boy, and all the really good after-school jobs went to the bigger kids, but there was one talent that Opie had that no one else did- He knew his way around town like the back of his hand. He could walk anywhere in town blindfolded, and so his way of earning money was to run errands or guide people around town whenever there was a thick fog in the town (which there usually was) !

  One night during an extremely thick fog, he is asked by the barber to guide a csutomer to his hotel. The stranger is a chilling, scary looking man, who says nothing, but gives Opie a free pass to attend a show he is performing. Opie later finds out the man is Professor Pepper, a famous GHOST-RAISER, and that Saturday Night he planned on ressurecting the Ghost of Outlaw Crookneck John!

   "That night, Opie went, and it turned out to be the scariest night of his life!"

Favorite Albums: Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera

As a HUGE fan of THE WHO, I can tell you there are very few groups that managed to get the same feeling and sound of The Who during the Quick One/Sell Out period…

But ELMER GANTRY’S VELVET OPERA sure does a great job!

 The first time I heard the opening track “Mother Writes”, I was already awestruck at how much John Ford’s Bass Guitar playing sounded like John Entwistle of The Who. And everyone knows how much of a feat that is in itself!

Listening to this makes me wonder if John Ford was using "Rotosound Strings" like Entwistle, too!

Then the next song “Mary Jane” was equally as catchy, with more brilliant bass playing! Then onto “I Was Cool”, a song that had a real “After The Fox” feel to it…a real zany song. 

Then “Air”, “Lookin’ For an Easy Life”..track after track…they were all so good!  The song “Flames” features some snappin’ drums and killer guitar, and  “Long Nights of Summer” is a winsome song, complete with a David Bowie-ish flair to it! “Now She’s Gone” is a heavy song with a very “Sparks”-ish backing track ! What a driving Bass line!  

And if there was any doubt about the Who influence here, “Dream Starts” even features a VERY John Entwistle flavored FRENCH HORN solo a la “Pictures Of Lily”!

   The arrangement and structure of these songs are what really hooked me, though…they are so darn catchy!!

The CD re-release features some very nice extra songs, faves include the really sweet “Dreamy”, The “Whipping Post” flavored “Salisbury Plains” and the rockers “Volcano” and “A Quick B” (a spoof of the WHO title a Quick One?), which features some San Francisco Jorma Kaukonen style guitar!!

An AWESOME under-appreciated and unknown album!

Favorite Comics: Avengers #53

I began reading Marvel Comics’ X-MEN series during the highly acclaimed Byrne/Claremont run featuring the “All-New, All-Different” team, and so had no real knowledge of the original 1960’s team. But as my love of the “Uncanny” X-men grew, my curiosity of the Lee and Kirby team grew too, til I HAD to know more about them!

This was back in the pre-internet days when access to information of most comics was almost nil. The only real way to get info on any comic you liked was to talk to the local comic shop dealer or other collectors, and in that I was lucky because I had a couple of friends who were BIG collectors of Marvel Comics, and were always ready to educate me about any Marvel History I needed to know.

So one day after telling my friend I wanted to see what the “old” X-Men looked like, he came to class and handed me a comic. It was issue #46 of a Marvel reprint title called Marvel Triple Action, and it was here I got my very first glimpse of the original X-Men: Cyclops. Marvel Girl, Beast, Angel and Iceman, and right off the bat I was blown away- WOW! How colorful, dynamic and totally COOL they looked!

The comic also introduced me to the Avengers for the first time, and I IMMEDIATELY dived into the story, relishing the interesting dialog and powerful artwork, not knowing at the time that the tale was concocted by two GREATS of the Silver Age  (Writer Roy Thomas and Artists Big John Buscema), only knowing that the story “In Battle Joined!” was the most KICK-ASS story I’d read in awhile! Begun in the pages of X-Men #45, this was a story of the Avengers and the X-Men united against mutual baddie Magneto. The X-Men have been captured by Magneto, and the Angel has escaped to get aid from the Avengers- but they arrive just in time to see Cyclops knocking out former Avenger Quicksilver…

“In Battle Joined!"

Hawkeye, Goliath, Wasp and the Black Panther have come upon X-Man Cyclops standing over the fallen figure of Quicksilver. Not sure of the situation, they tell the youth to freeze. Cyclops, however, suspects they’re only robots created by Magneto, and isn’t taking any chances. He fires at Hawkeye, and when Black Panther jumps down to subdue him, a couple of blasts from his optic visor give Cyclops enough time to get away!

It seems that when the Angel escaped Magneto’s prison back in X-Men #45, he went directly to the Avengers mansion for assistance in rescuing his fellow X-Men. Since Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were last seem leaving with Magneto back in Avengers #49, the Avengers are happy to team up tackling the master of Magnetism.

On the Atlantic flight over to Magneto’s island, Janet discovers a miniature bugging device hidden among Angel’s wings. The Avengers now believe he’s in cahoots with Magneto, and is setting them up. While he swears he ‘s innocent, they tie him up and leave him behind when they investigate the fortress. Thus we return to our opening scene where the Avengers have just arrived to see Cyclops flee!

 Magneto is watching the entire drama play out, delighted that his plans are coming to fruition. Of course, it was all part of his plans for Angel to escape and get caught with the monitor on his wings. “ Now they and the X-Men, who might otherwise been allies- will be at each other’s throats!”

  Toad doesn’t like the idea of bringing in the Avengers…they should have been satisfied capturing the X-Men- their REAL enemies! Magneto electrocutes Toad for his doubt, and Toad questions why Magneto always abuses him when he alone out of ALL the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants has been loyal. “Because I don’t NEED your Loyalty!” snaps Magneto. He explains that he’s only kept Toad around because it amused him, and now Toad is just angering him. Wanda steps in and begs Magneto to leave Toad alone, and Toad says “One day soon, Magneto shall know who his true friends are.”

  Meanwhile, The Avengers have become antsy sneaking around the hidden fortress, and as usual, Hawkeye and Goliath start to bicker and fight. Soon the Black Panther, who initially tries to STOP the fight, is involved, and it is up to Jan to step in and remind them that there is a task at hand.

This moment of discourse is just what Magneto has been hoping to hear, and he releases a machine that unleashes crackling electronic commands upon the unsuspecting X-Men.  When the sensations vanish, we realize just what the machine has done to their minds when Cyclops states, “There was something we were going to do! Yes- We were going to find the Avengers…and DESTROY THEM!”

  Any doubt that the X-Men are on the wrong side of the good guys is gone when the Avengers confront the angry teen mob and Cyclops orders: “Kill Them! Kill The Avengers!”

  Beast strikes the first blow at Black Panther, and the others follow his lead. After fighting for a while, the Avengers they find they are having a hard time beating them. Then Black Panther realizes it is because they subconsciously think of the X-Men as heroes, not villains. With this change in attitude, the Avengers make quick work of the youths, much to the confusion of Magneto, who thought the X-Men would be the victors!

  His confusion only increases when he turns and finds The Angel has infiltrated the control room! Soon, the Avengers smash in, as well! Goliath knows Magneto must be dying of curiosity to find out what went wrong with his plans, and elucidates. “We guessed the bug on Angel was a plant, and tied his hands loosely! Wasp whispered in his ear our plans, then pretended to quarrel to lure you into an ill-timed attack!”

  Magneto knows the only option is escape, and brings down a wall of metal parts onto the Avengers, giving himself enough time to get away! He orders Toad to get the escape ship, hitting him to get a move on. “He orders me to save him - and strikes me as he does so! Thus has he EVER rewarded my unwavering Loyalty!” thinks the Toad.

  With a quick move, the Toad sets the machine generators to overload- soon the entire island will be decimated by the huge explosion!  He leads the Scarlet Witch and a still dazed Quicksilver to a waiting escape ship. As the ship takes off, Magneto reaches out with his magnetic powers to lift him to the jet, but finds that his powers have no effect! Toad reminds him that he once built an entire ship out of non-metals, just to prove he could do it. As Magneto tries to hold onto the ship, He says, “Toad…Stop!! I am Your Master!” to which the Toad solemnly replies, “No Magneto. The Toad calls no man master- ever again!!”  He steps on Magneto’s fingers and sends him hurtling to the jagged rocks below!

  Meanwhile the Avengers and X-Men (who seem to have recovered from the hypno-ray) have made it back to their ship in time to witness the Toad and his crew leaving.  They quickly shove off themselves, and a few minutes later, the very horizon rocks as the entire island goes up in a fiery explosion! Soon, the ocean is littered with smoking debris and machinery from the fortress, and among the bits of twisted metal floats the remains of Magneto’s once mighty metal helmet!

*    *    *    *    *

What a STORY!! I loved and re-read this issue so darn much that not only did I eventually collect all the back-issues of Marvel Triple Action featuring The Avengers (as well as Triple Action successor Marvel Super Action) but immediately began subscribing to the current issues as well -and what do you know- John Byrne was the artist HERE, too When I got older, I made it a priority to get my hands on all the ORIGINAL Avengers issues, and I was simply beside myself the day I got my very own copy of AVENGERS #53, the issue where that X-Men/Avengers story originally ran and the very issue you see scanned here!

Besides the overwhelming “pride of ownership” that came with obtaining this piece of Marvel history, there are several other good reasons to own the actual copy, and not just that they got the COLORS of Beast, Angel and Goliath right(!) in the original comic-I was ECSTATIC when I read the original issue and found there were TWO EXTRA PAGES that Marvel Triple Action had cut out! HOLY TOLEDO! This was like the Modern-Day equivalent of a DVD bonus! If I thought I loved that story BEFORE…MAN! Now it was BEYOND LOVE!!! Ahahahaha!

To this day, those Avengers issues from around issue #46-60 are still some of my favorite stories ever; Roy Thomas is still one of my favorite writers, and John Buscema one of my very favorite artists… When you consider that back then I was simultaneously reading both Thomas/Buscema stories AND Byrne/Claremont stories, there’s no wonder I call this my own personal “Golden Age” of comic reading in my life!