Hostess Fruit Pies and Iron Man

Saturday and time for another look into the adventures of Hostess as they team up with Iron Man.

Ok I'm no superhero but won't the immobilizing ray wear off and they can get away while Iron Man is back to work as Tony Stark? I think he could have at least gotten security gurads to take them to the police. Maybe the pies will make them too full to move and they'll take a nap.

This Day In Music History: The Platters and My Prayer

August 4, 1956, on this day in music history the #1 song in the country was My Prayer by the Platters. They traveled a long but successful road to the top of the charts. They were the first black artist to have a #1 single on the pop charts. They had a style like that of the Mills Brothers or the Ink Spots. It was under the guidance of their manager and producer, Buck Ram, that they attained a contract with Mercury Records. He was also the manager of The Penguins and they were the ones that Mercury wanted. Buck said he would sign them to the label but only if they took The Platters also. John Sippel was a west coast label executive and urged Mercury to sign them both.
Over the years they had many hits with songs like Only You and The Great Pretender. It was when Jimmy Kennedy stopped Buck on the street and said he was very impressed with the sound of the Platters. He offered Buck some of his songs. The one he liked was My Prayer. It was originally a French song written by Georges Boulanger as Avant de Mourir. Jim Kennedy wrote the English lyrics in 1939.
Mercury Records didn’t like the song and refused to release it. Then an A&R man heard it was going to be released by the Four Aces. That changed the labels mind and they rushed it into release. The song stayed at #1 for two weeks.

Custom Figure

Here is the Dove as a custom pocket figure.

Flying Saucers Comics

Earlier on this site not too long after I started it I mentioned Flying Saucers Comics. I mentioned that issue #5 that you see above was the only issue I had ever seen of the book. I thought that it may have been the only issue published as back then sometimes a publisher will do that in order to make sure that he has the copyright to the title. Well according to the Grand Comic Book Database there really were 5 issues published. Issues 1-4 were published in 1967 and two years later issue 5 came out.

Below is the cover to issue #2.

Here is the cover to issue#3.

Finally here is the cover to issue #4.

There you have it. What's that? Oh you want to know what the cover to issue one looked like. Well for those of you who didn't click on the Grand Comic Book Database title above I will show it to you.





Wait for it.









It's coming up.











It's almost here.











Ta Da! Here is the cover to Flying Saucers Comics issue #1.

Yes that's right. Issue #5 was an exact reprint of issue #1. The only difference was the price and probably the ads. I don't know why the did this but now I kind of understand why it seemed that it was the only issue I ever saw of the book. It wasn't that it was the only issue. It was just that it had twice as many issues published compared to the others in the series. One mystery solved and a new one has risen. Why did they reprint it two years later and continued with the same numbering?

Dove In Love

The Titans Tower has a treasure chest full of info on my favorite, Dove I. Apperantly he was dating Lilith a fellow member of the Teen Titans. George Perez had plans for a post Crisis series showing what happened to certain Titans members. I don't know if this special series happened. Does anyone reading this know? I kind of doubt it as Dove I died during the Crisis.

War Bonds

Here is an ad that appeared in 1944 in All Flash Comics to buy War Bonds. It is very subtle. Look at the fence in the last panel to see it.

Dove

If you have been wondering why I have made mention of 3-D Man in an earlier joke it is because I have been searching for a hero to be a sort of mascot for this site. I wanted him to be from the Marvel line and even though you can count the # of issues that 3-D man was in on one hand, he has always held a place in my comic book lovers heart. However, I didn't think enough of the public, comic book collectors or otherwise, had heard of him. There were others in the running like Human Fly, Jack of Hearts etc. But I wound up going with a gone but not forgotten DC hero. The Dove! Not Hawk and Dove just Dove. For some reason the Dove got to me as soon as I read of his adventures with his brother Hawk. So it is Dove who is the mascot for this site.
I did this as I still wanted to run a character based sit but didn't want to divide my attention as I had done earlier between too many sites. As you can see if you look to the right you will see a roster for our Legion of Heroes. If you have another forgotten hero who you think should be added to the list then let me know. If I agree then they will be added and you will also be given a link with the posting, but you must also submit some news or photo or a possible header logo with them for the site and you will be a member of the Legion of Heroes. Thank you and have a good evening.
PS. Don't try to click on the Legion member names as they don't go anywhere. It is just a roster.

Early Cell Phones

Here are a couple of scenes that showed what RCA was looking into back in 1945. They eventually became the cell phone and the directional finder that you can now get in your cars.

The Monkees on DVD

I’m in a Monkees kind of mood this week. Now I never saw the Monkees on TV till they hit the rerun circuit on Saturday mornings. As result of only seeing them on reruns I never saw the original opening or the commercials that they made for there sponsors. Also, I never got to really know which ones were season one or season two episodes. With this DVD I can see that season one was really the best yet more traditional season. While the records surpassed the TV show in popularity, the Monkees were designed to first and foremost be a TV show. Produced in 1965, years before the Monterey Pop Festival and the summer of love, the show was made more like Leave it to Beaver or at least it seemed compared to season Two.
Season one had more structure and guidance. As a result the production and writing were better. Sure the guys were off doing appearances and concerts as the band they were slowly becoming but they were living the life of television stars. It was during the summer hiatus from the show that things changed. Suddenly they were free to do what they wanted to do. All they had to do was show up on time at the recording studio or at the concert. When they got back season two started the same but quickly the chain of command changed and you had to wonder who was in control. The guys even said that they were uncontrollable. A special room was created for them with four lights. One light for each Monkee. If Davy was wanted on the set then his light would come on and so on for the others. The show was still funny but the structure was gone. Another more visual way that showed the change in attidude to the audience was there apperance. Look at the two photos above. In season one in the promo shot for the series they are dressed in suits and ties. While they rarely if ever dressed this way on the show this image was more presentable to parents who were in charge of what their children could watch. During their second season they were dressing more like the bottom photo. They were trying to keep up with the times and look more mod. Also the change in clothes for me undermind any belivability that the show had. The were still playing a struggling band but wearing what then were expensive cloths. Well not Micky as you can see his wardrobe of choice was a tablecloth worn as a poncho. Between the show, concerts and recording for the albums there was chaos. In interviews they even said that they were starting doing scripts for the show that they originally turned down as not good enough for season one. The Monkees had some of their friends come on the show so that they may transition the series into a variety show. However, NBC didn’t want that they still wanted a sit-com. Unable to agree the series was canceled. They did have plans to do a series of specials for NBC but only one, Thirty Three and a Third Revolutions Per Monkee, was produced. It was so bad that NBC scheduled it against the Oscar awards. When Nesmith was asked what he watched on TV that night he said like everyone else I watched the Oscars. It is included as an extra on one of these sets with commentary by Micky Dolenz. I remember at one point Micky asked the viewer if anyone was bored besides him. It did give at least one beautiful song. A soulful rendition of I’m A Believer by Micky. The music had changed so much that I almost didn’t know the song. Anyway this set was a wonderful buy for season one and a wonderful Christmas gift from my wife when she gave me season two. Even if you have only heard their music and never saw the show you should get this DVD collection.

In the end the series gave its fans good memories of innocent fun. It also created a family. The stars became like brothers off screen as well as on. David once said that when he was cast on the show he found 3 brothers he never knew he had. In a commentary on one of the episodes Mike laughs as he says "There's Micky and that tablecloth of his." He sounded like a brother or very close cousin watching a home movie and not a former co-worker. From what I remember Peter was harshly fired from the group by Micky and David during their last tour. However, when Micky was a DJ in New York they aired a conversation between Peter and Micky. Peter and some of his friends drove a car to New York just to hear Micky's show. Micky seemed happy to hear from Pete. He said to Peter "You mean you drove up here just to drive around town to listen to my show?" Peter replied "Well actually we're parked."

It doesn't sound like they can stay mad at each other does it? I have recently heard they are all mad at each other again and refused to ever work together again. Don't bet on it. Family members have fueds but over time wounds heal and you do get back together again. You have to because underneath it all you really do love each other.

Bottles

I love these old MGM cartoons. It is rare to see animation done as well as they did it back in the 1930's.

We Don't Need No Stinking Ads

I was looking through this book recently and I noticed something that was different about it compared to other comic books of its time. There are almost no ads in the book. In the entire book there were only two ads. One was a half page ad for coins and the other was on the back cover selling 3 complete fishing outfits, which you can see above. If this was published by Marvel, DC or Archie every third page would have been an ad for some one or at least an in house ad. No wonder Dell stopped publishing comic books and started making computers. No one was wanting to advertise in their books, including themselves.

contest

I am going to hold a contest for a new header logo that I will put up in September. The only thing is that it must be about the Monkees and of course have the title of this site on it. The winner will get this copy of their comic book from the 1960's. I cannot guarantee what the condition it will be in when it arrives. The book that you see above is the one that you will get. So send me your designs if you have my address or put the site where I can find it in the comments on this site. Thanks and good luck.

"Hey Hey We're The Megos! I Mean Monkees"

I was searching the net for custom made figures and found this site by artist Al Bigley. You have to take a look. He has to be one of the biggest Monkees and comic book fans I have ever seen and I have seen alot of them. I love how he took the lid off a CD box set and made it look like part of the package for the figures.

The Human Bomb

One character that I have liked since DC brought him back in the 1970's is the Human Bomb. Yes I said the Human Bomb. A character who was received so poorly that I once heard that DC said they would never publish him again. So far they seem to have kept that promise. Too bad because he has a lot going for him as a character.

His name is Roy Lincoln. He is a scientist who discovered a very powerful explosive formula. In a hurry so that it would not fall into the wrong hands Roy drank the formula and his whole body became a human bomb. Most of the formula settled in his hands so that anything he touched would explode. Still the same could happen if anyone touched any part of him. So he had to wear a protective suit in order to not accidentally kill anyone. When the time came that he had to get into some place where he normally could not off came the gloves. Usually he punched the door and it would esplode but the same could have happened at a mere touch.

Just as Ben Grimm became a sentimental character because he would never be human again the same could have happened for Roy Lincoln. True he was still human but he was trapped inside this suit and could never know the touch of another human being.

If you look at the cover of Freedom Fighters #1 Roy is up front and seems to be the star of the book. I think DC had there hopes high for him and were bitterly dissapointed. Perhaps a few changes in the costume would have helped. First is that the costume has only one color. White. As you look at the fan based custom figure above it doesn't look finished. Perhaps if it was a red suit or any other color it would jump out more. Second is we can only see his eyes. If he had a clear hard plastic opening that showed his face more then the readers would feel more connected. They could see the range of emotions on his face as he always seems close to curing his self-inflicted curse and then to see it all taken away as he has to run off to save the world. Part of me hopes that one day DC will use him again. Another part of me hopes they don't as they may change what I like about him. At least for now I have some happy memory of the Human Bomb and his Freedom Fighters.
You can see more custom action figures if you go to this site.