The Black Hood

The Black Hood was really a hero from Archie Comics. However, Archie had a hard time reintroducing comic book buyers to their superheroes. They had been trying for years but with no luck in gathering interest in them. So in 1991 they licensed them out to DC Comics in hopes they could have better luck. However, DC didn’t do very well with them either. It isn’t, in my opinion, that they were bad. Some of them were pretty good. I think the problem lay in that they didn’t add them into the DC Universe. Instead they started a sister line of comic books with Impact Comics. The one I found most interesting was the Black Hood. It seems that the hood that was worn to mask the face of the crime fighter was enchanted. No matter who wore it they were always filled with the notion to fight evil and all of their abilities and talents were enhanced. Wearing of the hood was also addictive. Once a person wore the hood they had a hard time not putting it back on. The hood had existed for centuries and had been worn by a French woman who was much like Joan of Arc and a western crime fighter whose adventures inspired the creation of the Lone Ranger. My favorite was when it was wore by an African-American gangster named Giles “Hit” Coffee. He was a main man on many crimes in town and for a few issues he came into possession of the hood. No matter how hard he tried he always put on the hood and stopped the crimes that he had helped to set up. It was driving his the other criminals crazy on how the Black Hood knew where to be to always stop them. Eventually he was successful in taking off the hood and it wound up with a teenage boy. The teenager eventually became a younger version of Marvel Comics the Punisher who was very popular at that time.
I think they should have stayed with “Hit” Coffee as the Black Hood. It would have been fun to see him bring down the cities criminal organization from the inside. It would have also been fun to see how he kept them from finding out that he was the Black Hood. Either way for a few issues Giles “Hit” Coffee qualified as a black superhero in the history of comic books.

The Impact Black Hood ran for 12 issues and one annual before all of the Impact books were canceled.

God is always willing to forgive us

And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.
Luke chapter 17 verse 4 KJV

Since forgiveness is an expression of love, a person whose life has an endless supply of love should be demonstrating an endless supply of forgiveness. We can experience unlimited love in our relationship with God. It is this resource that makes it possible for us to forgive others again and again. First, we recognize that God forgives us time and time again. Second, we want to express God's love in a world that needs desperately to witness it.

Black Goliath

Black Goliath is really the second Giant-Man. The first Giant-Man was Dr. Hank Pym. Dr. Bill Foster was his assistant and was introduced in the Avengers #32 in 1966. He did not become the superhero Black Goliath until 1975. His first appearance as that character was in Power Man #24.
Dr. Foster got Pym particles while in the employ of Hank Pym and it gave him the ability to grow 15 ft. tall and the strength to go with it. As all good men and women of comic books do he decided to use his new powers to fight crime. In 1975 he very briefly had his own series for five issues. He has been a member of various groups such as the Champions, the Defenders and the West Coast Avengers. While with the West Coast Avengers he changed his name to Giant-Man. However, it was soon revealed that Foster was dying of radiation poisoning from a battle with Atom-Smasher years ago. Spider Woman is immune to radiation but when she saves Fosters life with a blood transfusion she looses her immunity. Later, in another battle Bill Foster looses his powers when everyone, except for Hank Pym oddly enough, who came into contact with Pym particles loose control of their powers. Over the years since then other teams and heroes have been able to call on their old friend Dr. Bill Foster for help. Recently he was seen in the mini-series Civil War as an undercover agent on the side of Captain America as a member of the anti-registration Secret Avengers. In issue #4 of that series Black Goliath was killed by a clone of Thor. His final words were oddly prophetic. He said “Get ready for the shortest comeback in history Thor.” With his death many on Iron Man’s pro-registration team changed sides. They started to question Iron Man’s cause. However Tony Stark did pay for his burial. He had to buy 38 plots as they could not shrink him back to normal size. The character of Bill Foster was created by Stan Lee and Don Heck but his identity of Black Goliath was created by Tony Isabella and George Tuska in Power Man.

Firestorm

Firestorm didn’t start out as an African-American superhero. He was at first Ronnie Raymond a teenager who was in the wrong place at the wrong time when a nuclear accident happened and he was able to merge with Professor Stein and together they became Firestorm. Ronnie was in charge of the body because Stein had been knocked out before the accident. However, Stein was able to mentally talk to Ronnie to advise him on what actions to take. Ronnie was able to remember what they did as Firestorm but the Professor was not. When Ronnie saw the toll that it was taking on the Professor’s life Ronnie told him of their shared identity.
As Ronnie Firestorm in some ways resembled Richard Rider who became Nova over at Marvel Comics. In some ways their comic book careers mirrored each other. Both of their series were hits but popularity quickly died. They stayed in the comic book buyer’s eye by being members of superhero teams. Nova was in the New Warriors and Firestorm hit it big with membership in the JLA. Their popularity came back and both were given new series but the Fury of Firestorm lasted the longest. Eventually it too was canceled. It was during Infinite Crisis that we found out that only Ronnie died on their last assignment, investigating the murder of Sue Dibney, but the Professor was still alive in space. He merged with an African-American youth named Jason Rusch. Jason told Stein that Ronnie was dead. After helping him through his grief Jason and Stein became the new Firestorm. His adventures continue to this day and many of them dwarf the adventures that Ronnie had as Firestorm. Mr. Raymond will always be my Firestorm but it is great to know that Jason and Martin will continue in the role.

This Day in Music History: The Beatles and I Want to Hold Your Hand

On February 1,1964, this day in music history, the dividing line between the rock and roll eras in America was completed. On one side of the line was Bobby Vinton who had the last hit of early era and on the other side was The Beatles with the first hit of the new rock and roll era. That song is I Want to Hold Your Hand. Other performers of the early era would still have hits from time to time over the next year or two but today is the anniversary of the beginning of the British invasion.
Brian Epstein, The Beatles manager, thought he would never get his group to have any hits in the USA. For one year the Beatles had become huge stars in England and the next logical step in their careers was to have them go to America. They were on the EMI label in England and he kept trying to get Capitol, the American label that EMI owned, to put them on their label. Their answer was always no. They said they may be a hit in England but you don’t know how to make records for America. So they licensed some of their songs to smaller labels in America like Swan and Vee Jay records just to give them a presence in the States. Mr. Epstein was not going to give up. He tried one more time when he took a trip to New York and gave a demo tape to Brown Meggs the director of eastern operations for Capitol Records. Mr. Meggs thought the record might do well in America. Before he left New York he met another man. He was a talent scout who saw how big the Beatles were when he was in England. He was at the airport in England when he saw a huge crowd greeting The Beatles when they were returning home from Sweden. When he left New York Mr. Epstein had signed The Beatles to Capitol Records and to a television deal to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show.
I Want to Hold Your Hand was released in England on December 5,1963 and went to #1. When American DJ’s saw how big it was they didn’t want to wait for Capitol to release it in the USA on January 13,1963. Some of them had friends who had been to Britain and bought them copies and they started playing it immediately. Capitol advanced their date to December 26,1963. A few weeks later it was #1 in the USA.
If you scroll down you can see a rare photo of the Beatles back stage at the Ed Sullivan Show.

Beatles backstage

Here is a photo of the Beatles backstage of the Ed Sullivan show. Ed is pretty clear and you can tell George is standing in front of him. It looks like John is to his left and I believe Ringo is on George's right. With all the people with hand held cameras and recorders it seems to be the media event announcing their apperance on the show. This is all speculation on my part but that is what I think it is.

Remembering George Harrisons Birthday

I remember reading that George Harrison said that he was born in February 1943 in the book The Beatles Anthology. He didn't say what date it was so I am placing this on here on February 1st. I thought when I was writing last December on the day Lennon died that it seem crazy to celebrate the day someone who's work you liked and respected died. Why celebrate that day? It almost sounds like your glad they are gone. Why not the day they were born? So from now on I plan on posting celebrations of the day those people were born and will try to ignore the day they died. So if any of George Harrison's family comes across this then I just want you to know that he is fondly remembered and he gave all of us a good time with his music and movies.

This Day in Music History: Blondie and The Tide Is High

John Holt originally wrote and recorded the song "The Tide Is High" with his Jamaican band the Paragons. When Blondie was in London someone gave the group a compilation tape and that song was on the tape. When Deborah Harry and Chris Stein of Blondie heard the song they loved it and thought it could be a hit. It was the music more then the lyrics that they fell in love with. Deborah said "The musicality of it was just beautiful-beautiful melody, beautiful treatment. The harmonies on the original are very exciting." The difference between the original recording and Blondies is in the harmonies. Deborah again said that "the harmonies are slightly different because theirs are men's voices, so they are hitting some lower notes then I would hit." While there were many songwriters in the group they decided to record this outside song. It was included on their new LP. Their faith in the song was well founded when it was released as a single in November of 1980. It climbed the chart up to the #1 position on this day in music history January 31, 1981.

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home!

The classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon series Wait Till Your Father Gets Home comes to DVD this year but no exact date has yet been announced. Harry Boyle was your typical conservative Dad and he often clashed with his children the smart and liberal daugther, his older but dumb unemployed son and he smart money minded younger son (around 10 years old). The mother was very loving of them all but when there was trouble with the kids she always told them to Wait Till Your Father Gets Home. The show was released locally in first run syndication.

Pre-order season one of WKRP in Cincinnati

One of the funniest shows of the late 70's is now on DVD. WKRP was pretty accurate on what it was like to work at radio station and very funny at the same time. Season one is being released in April. You can click here to pre-order season one of WKRP in Cincinnati on DVD No cover art yet but I will show it to you when I know it is available. Till then I hope you like the TV guide cover.

This Day in Music History: Rose Royce and Car Wash

After years at Motown co-writing and producing hits like I Heard it Through the Grapevine for Marvin Gaye, War for Edwin Starr and many songs for the Temptations like I Can't Get Next to You, Papa Was A Rolling Stone and many more Norman Whitfield proved he was a mastermind when it came to making hit music. In the early 1970's he put together eight men and one woman to form the group Rose Royce. They had a few hits but their biggest was the title song for the hit comedy film Car Wash. Mr. Whitfield was asked to score the film and he asked Rose Royce and the Pointer Sisters to preform some of the non-stop disco/funk music for the film. Mr. Whitfield said he tried to have the music fit the mood of each scene. For example you would have some tense music in the scene where someone tries to talk a man out of holding up the place. With that in mind the opening theme seems like a car going through an automatice car wash. You hear handclaps as the water sprays the car. Then the bass comes in as the brushes are cleaning the car. As the car is finished running through its cycle the music is at its height. All of this came together to make Car Wash the #1 song in the country on this day in music history January 30, 1977.

Do you fall into discouragement after spiritual highs?

Elijah was afraid and fled for his life.… Then he went alone into the desert.… He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die.
1 Kings 19:3-4 NLT

Elijah experienced the depths of fatigue and discouragement just after his two great spiritual victories: the defeat of the prophets of Baal and the answered prayer for rain. To lead him out of depression, God first let Elijah rest and eat. Then God confronted him with the need to return to his mission in life—to be God's prophet.
Elijah's battles were not over; there was still work for him to do. Often discouragement sets in after great spiritual experiences, especially those that produce a high level of emotional excitement or that require a lot from us physically. When you feel let down after a spiritual "high," do what is necessary to restore your inner resources. And remember that God still has a purpose and plan for you.

Marvel in house ad

Remember seeing these ads for King Size books of your favorite comic books? Sure you had to pay twice the price but you knew it would be worth it. Even if the extra pages were reprints from the 40's or 50's chances were that story was new to you. Also, speaking of events you can come here on Feburary 1st for a my event celebrating Black History month when I will be posting character blogs of an African-American superhero each day.

This Day in Music History: Stevie Wonder and Superstition

This day in music history, January 27th 1973, the #1 song on the Billboard charts was Stevie Wonder with Superstition. A few months earlier he was working on his new album called Talking Book. He was certain that the song he was working on for the album, Big Brother, would be a big hit and should be the single released from the album. Motown was certain it should be Superstition. Stevie said he wrote the song for Jeff Beck. He felt it more suited Jeffs style of music. Stevie said he was certain Jeff would release Superstition before he did since he was still working on the album. However, since Stevies version of the song was already finished Motown released his version before the album in November of 1972. A few weeks later it was the #1 song in the country.

This Day in Music History: Ringo Starr and You're Sixteen

On this day in music history, January 26th 1974, Ringo Starr had the #1 song for one week with You're Sixteen. The song had been a hit for Johnny Burnette in 1960 when it went to #8 but Ringo took it all the way up to the top. The song was produced by Richard Perry when he produced the Ringo album for Mr. Starr. Mr. Perry said that working on that album was one of the highlights of his career and that it would be hard to top. Perhaps it was because he got to work with all of the Beatles. No matter what problems they had that caused them to break up the other three always seemed to want to help Ringo. John and George were in Los Angeles where most of the album was recorded so it was easy just for them to call and drive over to help out. George co-wrote with Ringo the song Photograph the albums first #1 song as well as played on it. He also played on "I'm the Greatest" a song that John wrote and preformed on. Too bad Paul was on the other side of the world at the time. If he had been in L.A. we may have had the first full member Beatle reunion. Chances are at that time John wouldn't have shown up if he knew Paul would be there. Still Paul also helped out on the album. Richard Perry was working with Paul on the music for a TV special he was doing in London. At that time he was also producing Ringo's new album and they were recording part of if in London at the same time. Paul was good enough to write a song for Ringo and he also sang on You're Sixteen. Yes if you listen closely to the record you will hear what sounds like a kazoo solo. It isn't a kazoo or any musical instrument at all. It is actually Paul singing the part only he made it sound like it was a kazoo. So Paul is singing on the song with Ringo.

Real Obedience

"But what do you think about this? A man with two sons told the older boy, 'Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.' The son answered, 'No, I won't go,' but later he changed his mind and went anyway. Then the father told the other son, 'You go,' and he said, 'Yes, sir, I will.' But he didn't go. Which of the two was obeying his father?"They replied, "The first of course." Then Jesus explained the meaning "I assure you, corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the Kingdom of God before you do. For John the Baptist came and showed you the way to life, and you didn't believe him, while tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even when you saw this happening, you refused to turn from your sins and believe him."
Matthew 21:28-32 NLT
Real obedience
Someone has said that the road to destruction is paved with good intentions. In this parable, Jesus is showing us that our actions prove our obedience or disobedience. Even though the one son had no intention of obeying, the fact that he obeyed in the end made him the obedient son. The other son said the right thing but didn't follow through, and he was therefore disobedient. We are reminded that our professions of faith are only as valid as the actions that follow them. Which brother in this story illustrates your walk with Christ?

Obeying God brings great joy

Obeying God brings great joy
Is your life dreary or joyful?
[Jesus said,] "I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey me, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father and remain in his love. I have told you this so you will be filled with joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!"
John 15:9-11 NLT
Finding joy
Why should joy flow from obedience?
Because of the "never say die" misconception in some quarters that the Christian life is, at best, a dreary existence and at worst, a grim process of spiritual survival.
No! Jesus wants our lives to be rich and full (John 10:10). The Bible demonstrates repeatedly that joy can be our companion—even during life's worst moments. William Vander Hoven has noted: "Life need not be easy to be joyful. Joy is not the absence of trouble but the presence of Christ." We've all known believers who understood that truth. Despite hard times they were filled to overflowing with joy. Tell the truth—is anything more eye-catching or more attractive than that?
Whatever your current difficulty, the more you are convinced of Christ's unconditional love for you, and the more you are committed to loving him in return by obeying all that he commands, the more you will know the supernatural joy of Jesus.
You want me to know your love, Lord. I demonstrate love and experience love as I obey you. Rekindle my desire to live as you command. You want me to overflow with joy. Make my eyes dance with joy. Despite my troubles, put a supernatural spring in my step. Fill my soul with delight as I seek you and obey you and taste your goodness. Make me attractive to those trapped in joyless lives.

Happy Anniversary to Howard the Duck

I talked about the 33rd anniversary of Marvel Two-In-One earlier well I should also point out that January of this year is also the 31st anniversary of Howard the Duck #1. He was created by writer Steve Gerber and first appeared in Adventure into Fear #19 in 1973 for Marvel comics. Not long after that he was given a back up feature in Giant Size Man-Thing.
Howard's story starts on another planet called Duckworld. It looks very much like our Earth except that the dominant life forms are ducks that speak english. Howards life is thrown upside down when a power hungry villain named Thog wants to rule every universe. He uses his power to shift the cosmic axis and hoped to collapse them all into one universe under his rule. What it did was drop Howard from Duckworld into ours. He landed in the Florida everglades where he met Man-Thing and his friends. Together they defeated Thog but instead of Howard going home as they planned he fell again and landed in Cleveland, Ohio. There he met and befriended a pretty young lady named Beverly. It was around this time Howrd the Duck proved popular enough to get his own comic book. The series was mostly about how he tried various jobs to fit into this new world and along the way would save the world from minor villains. In many storylines it was a parody of modern science fiction and fantasy stories of the day. The distributors of Marvel comics was accused of making the first issue scarce but buying up and hording the book so that it became a collector's item. The fact was hinted at in one of Stan Lee's Soapbox articles that you can read here. If this was really done or if it was done on purpose I can't say for certain but the allegations were there. It seemed like almost over night the price of the book went from twenty five cents to ten dollars if you could find the book. What really helped its popularity was when they ran Howard for President for the All Night Party. Every where you looked you saw stickers and buttons of Howard the Duck for President. He lost to Jimmy Carter. The book was so popular that it spawned a newspaper strip and later George Lucas and Universal produced a big budget film called...Howard the Duck. It was a huge flop. George Lucas and the stars, Lea Thompson, Jeffrey Jones, Tim Robbins and Chip Zein as the voice of Howard, would like us all to forget. But we will never forget people. How could we forget THAT movie? Howard the Duck the movie also taught me a lesson. How your mentality of seeing a movie at midnight is completly different then at 3pm. I saw the film at a midnight show the first time. I really enjoyed it. When it came out on VHS I rented it and watched it at 3 in the afternoon. The movie was lousy. I couldn't wait to get it back to the rental store.

Howard the Duck is one of the early characters who brought to light the problems with character creations in the comic book industry. Steve Gerber has had a long battle with Marvel comics over his character. It resulted in Mr. Gerber being taken off the book. While the book was published for a few issues more many major industry artist like Jack Kirby and Gene Colon sided with Gerber. They produced some parody comics like Destroyer Duck to get Gerbers side of the story told. With Gerbers vision of the character gone Howard the Duck was eventually canceled. It was brought back a couple of times since, one with Gerber as the writer, and the character as appeared in other books over the years but all had mixed results. The original series ended in 1979 with issue #31 but in the 1980's Marvel put out issues 32 and 33. More recentlty Howard showed up in a Civil War mini-series tie in. It was there that Howard found out that the Government took a stand that Howard didn't exist. He had caused them so much headaches that decided to ignore him. He was very pleased as this ment that he would not have to pay taxes or anything else.

Ad for a new G.I. Joe character...Bulletman

Remember seeing this G.I. Joe ad for the new member of their Adventure Team? He was Bulletman the Human Bullet. Wasn't Bulletman a Fawcett character? Didn't DC Comics buy the rights to all of those characters? Eagle Eye G.I. Joe looks a lot like the Six Million Dollar Man who was popular on TV at that time. Hasbro should consider themselves lucky they weren't sued.

Happy be-lated Birthday Keith Pollard

I just found out that January 20th was Keith Pollards birthday. Keith was the main artist on Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and Mighty Thor for most of the 70's and 80's. He also had a pretty good run on Green Lantern and Wonder Woman over at DC. Thanks to being the artist for the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe he can safely say that he has drawn every character at Marvel Comics. He is also the co-creator of the Black Cat along with Marv Wolfman. Happy Birthday Mr. Pollard. I hope you had a good day.