Batman 80 pg. Giant

I loved these 80 page giant books from the 1960's. Some times Mom and Dad would buy one for me or I would look at one when I was at my cousin Steve's home. Now Steve was older then me so he could read but I couldn't. I just looked at the pictures. One of my favorites was this one that you see above. The reason was the story of the Rainbow Batman. Like I said I couldn't read but i loved seeing Batman in that bright rainbow colored uniform. I can't tell you anything about the story but my young eyes loved those bright colors. The other story in this book that made an impression was the story of Batman Jr. and Robin Sr. As I got older I re-read the story at some point and remember its plot a little better. As I recall Dick Grayson had gotten older but never took on the name of Batman. Bruce got married and had a son. He asked Dick to train him to take over as Batman. That is how I remember it. I may be wrong and mixing it up with another story.
I have fond memories of reading these 80 page giants in the car as Mom and Dad had to go somewhere. They kept trying to get me to stop reading in the car as they were afraid it would make me sick. It never did then but now that I am older it is another story. Other fond memories are of being at Steve's and sitting on his bed reading them and looking with awe at his impressive collection. It's been awhile since I was at his home but the last time I was I still had that same feeling when I viewed his collection.

War of the Worlds Seaon One

Well I just got this so I haven't had time to view it but I wanted to let anyone know that War of the Worlds the TV series has season one available on DVD. Until a few weeks ago I didn't know that this was available. This series was on first run syndication in 1988. Just like this DVD set I didn't know about it till I ran across it on television. It centered around Dr. Harrison Blackwood and his group. The aliens who were captured in the George Pal movie in the 1950's were now accidentally freed by terrorist. Until this this time the threat of the aliens conquering Earth had been forgotten. Dr. Blackwood and his group are a human resistance group fighting them. My favorite character in the series was the US government liaison Colonel Ironhorse. Normally the military officer in shows like this tend to get in the way of the other heroes. However, the actor playing the part, Richard Chaves, and the writers were able to elevate this role and created a great character. He almost overshadowed the others and threatened to be come the lead in the series.
The show only lasted about two seasons. Season one was the best. New producers were brought in wanted to take the show in a new direction. The character of Colonel Ironhorse and Norton Drake, played by Philip Akin, were not considered important to that direction. So the actors were thanked for helping make the series successful and let go.
When the show came back for the 1989-1990 season their characters were killed off. That season the new direction looked at the war from the point of view of the aliens. With this it took on a darker tone. I tried to like this new direction but I could not get use to it. Perhaps of Ironhorse and Norton Drake were kept with the series I would have enjoyed it more but after only a few episodes I stopped watching. I must not have been the only one. The series was not renewed for the 1990-1991 season. While the series ended with the war being over it had alot of loose ends from what others have said. I can only believe that these loose ends were to be tied up next season.
So I recommend that you buy this if you see it for sale. You'll have to make up your own mind when season two comes out.

Hostess and Daredevil vs. Johnny Punk!

It's Saturday Morning and time for the adventures of Hostess. In today's episode Hostess fruit pies team up with Daredevil as they take on Johnny Punk.

Showcase Presents World's Finest Volume One

Ok I am a little bit behind on this. It came out a few weeks ago but I didn't see it till today. DC has finally put out Showcase Presents World's Finest Volume one. I can't understand why it took them this long to put it out. I do understand that a few volumes of Batman and Superman in their solo adventures have to be put out first so these stories make sense. I don't understand why we needed volumes of other books when this one containing the two heavy hitters in the DC line up was waiting in the wings. Any way it is out now and you can buy it at your local comic book store or click on the link to Amazon.com and this site will get a percentage of the sale.

Jimmy Olsen

Booksteve has an old comic book ad for Jimmy Olsen's first issue. As you can see above I am a Jimmy Olsen fan so I had to link to it. I didn't want to put the ad here so you will have to follow the link above to see it.

Ultra Brite commercial

For those of you who like to see old commercials or what stars did before they became stars here is a commercial for Ultra Brite toothpaste with Farrah Fawcett.

The Man for Attorney General

I voted on my way in to work today and I got a surprise. I only had only kept up with the news on the race for my states Governor and then I saw a name that I had seen for many years. Stan Lee for Attorney General. Now once I saw that I did remember seeing one of his signs and hearing a little bit about him. So I was not completely uninformed about this race but I have not heard anything about his opponent. As you can imagine I voted for Stan the man Lee. After all if you can't trust the man who created Spider-Man, Daredevil, the Fantastic Four and other Marvel heroes then who can you trust. Of course I know it isn't the same Stan Lee but it made me smile this morning.

Giving Thanks

I have something on my mind that has been bugging me. I won’t name names as I don’t want to upset any one or falsely accuse any one. Also, I may have accidentally been at fault with this myself from time to time without knowing it.

What I am talking about is when blogging Someone puts something on their site and someone else puts nearly the same thing but goes more in depth with it then the first person. Suddenly it is a hit and has the internet buzzing. The second person gets all the attention. Neither before nor after the fact does he or she thank the first person whose site they saw it on in the first place. I am sure that many times it is just coincidence but there are other times that it is not. I believe this has happened to me two times before with the same person. I can’t prove it was on purpose but once I can believe but two times I find hard to believe it was a happy accident. Anyway that is off my chest for now. Tomorrow I will be back to your regularly scheduled blog.

Paul McCartney and Wings: Magneto and Titanium Man

Ending this video series of comic book characters mentioned in song here is one of my favorites.
The song is set to clips from Marvel Comics cartoon series and it is pretty good. See for yourself.

Spin Doctors and Jimmy Olsen's Blues

Here is a video of the Spin Doctors song Jimmy Olsen's Blues. A very jealous Jimmy forces Superman to leave town.

This Day in Music History: Elvis and Love Me Tender

On this day in music history, November 3rd 1956, Elvis Presley had the #1 hit on the Billboard charts with Love Me Tender. It remained there for 5 weeks.
Before recording Heartbreak Hotel Elvis was flown to Hollywood for a screen test. He read a scene with actor Fran Faylen for producer Hal Wallis. Wallis signed him to a three picture deal.
His first movie was to be The Rainmaker with Burt Lancaster and Katharine Hepburn. This was to have been a major dramatic role for Elvis and could have given his movie career a different direction. This was not the direction that Col. Tom Parker wanted Elvis to take. Instead he got Elvis signed on to a movie called The Reno Brothers. Later it was called Love Me Tender. This set the standard for what Elvis' movies became known for. A simple plot with a lot of pretty girls and a few songs.
The song Love Me Tender is credited as being written by Elvis and Vera Watson. However, I have heard that it was really written by Vera Watson's husband Ken Darby. He just gave them the credit. Darby refused to work with the musicians that Elvis always worked with. He felt they couldn't do justice to his music so he used his own Ken Darby Trio. Mr. Darby scored all the music for the film.
David Weisbart produced Love Me Tender and also Rebel Without a Cause. During filming Elvis talked to him about starring in a film biography of the late James Dean that Weisbart was considering.
The story of the film Love Me Tender, which also starred Richard Egan, Debra Paget and Neville Brand, centers on three brothers who are Confederate Soliders in the Civil War. The war is over but none of them know it yet. Elvis is Cliff Reno and he has married his dead brothers wife. He is thought to have been killed in the war but it turns out that he is still alive. So sets the love triangle for the film. Elvis' character is killed before the end of the film but he gets to sing 4 songs before he dies. The ending seemed like a downer with Elvis the teen idol being killed so they re shot the ending and showed a spirit like Elvis singing the title song in the background. It made you feel like Cliff Reno was in Heaven and still singing.
RCA didn't want to release the song till the movie came out in mid November. However, after Elvis sang it on the Ed Sullivan Show the demand was so great they were forced to release it the first week of November.
In 1978 at WCBM a DJ name Ray Quinn edited Elvis' version and Linda Ronstadt's version of Love Me Tender together. The result was a duet that received a lot of radio play in the area but due to legal reasons over contracts it was never released to the record buying public.

The Fantastic Four enjoy the wonders of nature with Hostess

If anything ever goes wrong always remember to save those Hostess Fruit pies. Should one slip out of your hand you should dive under it so the pie won't touch the ground. At least it will land safely on your back.

The Monkees:Randy Scouse Git and Wonder Girl

Keeping with the series if you view this video you can hear Micky mention Wonder Girl. I know that he didn't mean the comic book Wonder Girl but hey she is in the song.

The Beatles: the Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill with Captain Marvel

I saw that Aquaman shrine recently showed that Barenaked Ladies did a song that included the comic book character Aquaman. It got me to wondering how many songs mentioned fictional characters. So here today is the song by the Beatles "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill." Listen and you can hear them mention Captain Marvel.

The Beatles in Cincinnati, Ohio

I ran across this on YouTube and just had to post it. It is a home movie of the Beatles in concert in Cincinnati, Ohio from August 1966. They concert was in the middle of the day because they were suppose to have played the night before but it was rained out. So they played around noon the next day. I heard that since they had planned for an over night stay they secretly asked an older couple if they would let them stay at their home. Of course they did and so they had a good nights sleep while the fans watched the hotels. The person who told me this was the son of a salesman for the radio station that was backing the concert. He said his Dad wouldn't even tell him where they were staying.

The Last Halloween

Believe it or not I was in high school when I did my last trick or treating on Halloween. My cousin who is the same age as me wanted to go too. So we went as two of the Marx Brothers. His favorite comedian was Groucho so that was his costume. At the time I had naturally curly hair so I went as Harpo Marx. The only one of the brothers who had curly hair. Just like all my other years trick or treating it was fun but this was a little different. I noticed that all the kids were smaller then us. Not some of the kids like the other years. This time it was all of them. I am sure there were a few die hards like us who were our size but I don't remember seeing them that night. We were only a block or two away from my house when a car pulled up at a stop sign. It was filled with guys from high school. Before they pulled away from the sign one of them said "Hey guys it's..." They mentioned our names and the driver blew the horn and the rest waved. We waved back and as they pulled away I felt a little embarrassed. I thought to myself "This is definitely the last time I go trick or treating."

Who Is Deathstalker

Photobucket Album

When I was growing up I read a lot of comic books. Mostly Marvel comics. In 1974 one of my favorites was Daredevil. At the time I started to really catch on to his books he was fighting a villain called Deathstalker. He had this morbid power that when he touched people they would fall over dead. I thought he would be a great character to go out as on Halloween night. Now Deathstalker had a huge overcoat that he wore and a big hat that was so big it's shadow covered his face. So it was an easy costume to make. A couple of days before Halloween it occurred to me that unless they read Daredevil the people giving out the candy won't know who I was dressed like. So I went down the street to the mini-market called Stop and Go and bought some glow in the dark vampire teeth. That way if someone asked who I was and they didn't know who Deathstalker was I could just pop in the teeth and say I was a vampire. So Halloween night I was off with my cousin Randy and our friend Joel McCracken to go trick or treating. Within the first group of homes my cover was really blown. As I approached one man giving out candy he was announcing each character as they came down the sidewalk. Once he saw me he said "Oh look! Here comes the Exorcist." I was just so stunned and thought "I never thought they would guess that."

The Night I Almost Won But I Didn't Want To Win.

Another early memory of Halloween was at a Halloween Party that was held at Immanuel Baptist Church in Covington,Ky. That was were one if my Aunts and Uncles attended church and I was invited by them to attend every year. I visited so often that I had just as many friends there as I did at my own church. They had a costume contest and I went as a hobo. These days some might say homeless but then they were still called hobos. I had on old baggy black pants and an old black suit jacket. I found an old cane and a hat and I took them too. Mom even made me look like I had a mustache. Now I had gone to parties at the church before and won prizes but for some reason this year Mom said not to try to win any prize. So I was surprised when they were picking the people for best costume I was a finalist.
Finally the winner was picked. Thankfully it wasn't me. Later I was talking to my Uncle outside the church. I asked him why did he think they almost chose me for best costume. Before he could answer the man who was in charge of the party, I think his name was Tim, over heard and answered. First he gave the obvious answer that it was because I had one of the best costumes. I asked him why he thought it was one of the best. He said it was because I looked like Charlie Chaplin. He looked a bit amazed when I told him I wasn't dressing like Chaplin.
I don't know what I would have told Mom if I had won. I guess I would have said I wasn't trying they just gave it to me.

This Day in Music History: Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton with Islands in the Stream

In the 1980’s Kenny Rogers was on a hot streak. Everyone wanted to sing with him or produce him. On this day in music history, October 29, 1983 Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton had the #1 song in the country with Islands in the Stream. A lot of the credit would have to go to the leader of the Bee Gees Barry Gibb. Kenny remembered a song that Barry sent him a few years ago. He was looking for new material and a producer so he got Barry, along with Karl Richardson and Albhy Galuten to produce his next album Eyes That See in the Dark. Islands in the Stream was the first single from the album and the song had many rewards. It was the only single that year to go platinum. It was #1 on the pop, country and adult contemporary charts. It won the award for best country single at the American Music Awards and it was named Vocal Duet of the Year and Single record of the Year by the academy of Country Music. Kenny and Dolly got along so well when recording the song that they continued recording together. They released a Christmas album in 1984. Toured together to promote their music and Kenny appeared on Dolly’s next album called Real Love.
While this may have been their first professional meeting they had traveled parallel roads. Both started in the sixties. Kenny was with the New Christy Minstrels and Dolly was a singer on the Porter Wagner show. Kenny left to form his own group the First Edition and Dolly left the TV show for a solo career. By the 1970’s Kenny had gone solo also. In the 1980’s it seemed like neither one could do wrong. Dolly had hit singles and big budget movies that she was the star of and Kenny had hit records and was the star of the Gambler movies based on his hit record. In 2000 Kenny had his first hit in 15 years when his song Buy Me a Rose reached #40 on the pop charts. Recently he has released a new cd of music.
Here is a video of them singing the song on television.

After listening to them sing the song on the video I have to say that Kenny is very good but it is Dolly who, in my opinion, really sells the song.

My Earliest Halloween Costume Memory

For the next few days I plan to reveal my most memorable Halloween costume memories. I may have told this story before but this is my earliest memory of a Halloween costume. Now my memory is really a little fuzzy at this time but I believe I was about 6 or 7 years old. I had one of those costumes that was all one piece with a mask that was tied to my face with a rubber band. The costume I decided upon this year was Green Lantern. I don't recall ever getting a Green Lantern costume in that early part of my life. I did see him in the cartoons that were based on the Justice League of America so I believe that is where my love for the character began. My cousin Randy and I would get together sometimes and both play like we were Green Lantern.
So that Halloween I couldn't wait to trick or treating with Randy and his brother Jeff. I was already dressed in my costume but the only thing missing was my mask. My Mom told me to get it and we could leave to meet them at their house. I looked everywhere but could not find it. My Mom said to look again. So I did. I traced my steps that day. I remembered putting the mask in an empty punch bowl that was sitting on the china cabinet in our kitchen. But now the mask was not there. I looked everywhere but it wasn't to be found. It was now time to leave and I still had no mask. So my Mom found a mask of, dare I say it, Satan and I had to wear that with my Green Lantern costume.
I wore that the whole evening. Getting odd looks from trick or treaters and the people giving out the candy. I got free candy so it was a good evening for me. Still it was embarrassing. If I had known about Green Lantern's enemy Sinestro at the time I could have said I was dressed as him when I was asked.
Later I arrived at home with my sweet treasure. Mom was still wondering where that mask had disappeared to. As I walked into the kitchen to put away the candy I hadn't eaten yet I glanced over at the china cabinet. My mouth nearly hit the floor. There sitting in the punch bowl was my Green Lantern mask. I told my Mom and she told me I should have looked there before we left. I told her I did and it wasn't there. Still I could not explain how it got in the bowl if it wasn't there before we left.
To this day I still believe that it was not there when I looked in the bowl before. How did it get there? Why was it missing in the first place? Did a ghost or demon play a Halloween trick to embarrass me? It's a Halloween mystery.

If you want to see the site where I got pictures of the animated GL you can click on the title.