Plastic Man comedy adventure show

Plastic Man got his own saturday morning cartoon back in 1979. It lasted a couple of seasons then was syndicated untill the late 80's. Recently the entire series was released on DVD. And since I had fond memories of this show I ended up getting the first disc in from Netflix. The basic premise of the show was Plastic Man worked for the government,and had two sidekicks. The southern belle Penny,who had a major crush on Plas. And the hawaiian comedy relief Hula Hula,who was known for always having bad luck. So every episode Plas would get a message from the Chief and go out in his Plastic Plane,that had VTOL abilities, and fight crime. So far it seems like every show had two Plastic Man adventures in them. The first one is usually about 19 minutes long,and the second one is a little bit shorter. The stories are above average for the era,with lots of jokes that totally flew over my head when I first watched it as a kid. And the animation is the usually Ruby-Spears quaility. On this disc was a special feature that was a basic history of Plastic Man,and it also mentions a Plastic Man Pilot from a few years ago. They show alot of the conceptuial art and it looks great. Sadly this pilot was not picked up. The only main drawback to this dvd is the picture quailty. It seems that they didn't go in an clean it up at all, there is piles of debris and dust on the print,and it does kinda hurt the overall presence of the show. But considering that in all my years of collecting cartoons I have never found more than 5 episodes of this show out on the grey market,I will just have to be happy that this was released. Plastic Man Comedy Adventure show gets a B-.

Showcasing the Essentials 02

Showcase presents House of Secrets Volume 1

Art by Neal Adams,Dick Giordano,Gray Morrow,Alex Toth,Don Heck,Bernie Wrightson,Gil Kane,George Tuska,Micheal Kaluta,Wally Wood,Murphy Anderson,Jim Aparo,Sergio Aragones,Nick Cardy,Jack Sparling and various others

Written by Gerard Conway,Marv Wolfman,Len Wein and various others

This reprints issues 81-98 of the first volume of House of Secrets,which was a long running horror anthology title from DC comics. This title along with House of Mystery was used a lot as a place to try out new artists and writers. An average issue most of the time had four or so short stories of various lengths. Hosted by Abel,of Cain and Abel fame,he is the caretaker of the house of secrets and introduces each story with a short usually funny blurb. One of the things I love about this trade is that it is perfect for a quick pickup and read. I has held the top spot on the back of my toilet for almost a year now. Most of the stories have O Henry twist endings, and thankfully they are not always obvious from the beginning. The three main highlights to this collection for me are the origin of the House of Secrets,Swamp Things first appearance,and one panel gag strips by Sergio Aragones. The origin story is the first story in issue 81,with great moody art by Jerry Grandenetti and written byMike Friedreich. It tells how the House was built by Senator Sandsfield who was a few cards short of a deck and how every piece of material used to build it all came from Kentucky. A man buys the abandoned house for cheap and is trying to move it to Tennessee. But not too far from the Kentucky/Tennessee state line all hell breaks loose. The first appearance of Swamp Thing has stunning Bernie Wrightson artwork and was written by Len Wein. It is the Swamp Thing origin that most comic fans already know but with a few small changes. I have read this issue before in a reprint but find that Wrightson's artwork looks even better in black and white. Abel's Fables is the short gag strips by Sergio Aragones,and are very much like his gag strips you used to find in between the panels of Mad Magazine. Sure with so many stories there will be a few clunkers,and some of them just haven't held up. But over all 80% of the stories are worth reading,and it is a great sampler of many great artist. Some of whom are barely remembered now. Showcase presents House of Secrets gets a B.

TPB winners 01

Fables-Legends in Exile
published by Vertigo/DC comics

The first volume in the currently ongoing monthly series,Legends in Exile sets up a lot of the plot for the first few years of the series. Basic premise is every fairy tale,tall tale,or piece of folklore you have heard is true. And the characters from these tales live in a series of interconnected worlds. Some years ago a great evil referred to as the Adversary starts to take over the various worlds,and most of the characters are captured or killed. Some escape to the real world,The ones that can pass for human live in a Burroughs of NYC called Fabletown. The non-human ones live on a farm in upstate New York. Fabletown has it's own mayor who is Old King Cole,but the town is really ran by Snow White. Who is Cole's second in command. The fables of Fabletown self police themselves and the head of security is Bigby Wolf AKA the big bad wolf of Lil red riding hood fame. The story starts off with Snow White's sister Rose Red being murdered in her apartment. At first the main suspect is Jack,of Jack in the beanstalk,lil Jack Horner,and various other fables with a protagonist named Jack fame. Bigby is in charge of the investigation and over the next couple of issues find many clues. The Fables celebrate each year a holiday that marks when they left their homelands to come to NYC. And at this celebration Bigby reveals who the killer is,and it is a shock. This is the first storyline so it uses much of it time introducing us to the various main stars of the series. We find out that Sleeping Beauty,Cinderella,and Snow White were all married to the same Prince. Who it turns out is an incredible cad and has an ability to seduce pretty much any woman he wants. While truthfully not the best outta what i have read from the series so far,I am currently on the 5th trade, Legend in exile is a good read that has amazing artwork. And as you read the next couple of trades you can see where the author has laid the groundwork for the series. This series is written by Bill Willingham,who before I had read this I only knew from his 80's indy series Elementals. And has great artwork by Mark Buckingham. What I love about Buckingham's artwork is how he draws the females characters. While still gorgeous they don't have the over the top anatomy that most comic females have. They look like real life women,sure the are all very beautiful,but they still look real. My only real gripe about this series so far is the covers don't accurately portray what is happening in the issues. Most of the covers have a slightly surreal style,that kinda clashes with Buckingham's cartoony but realistic artwork. One word of warning this is a Vertigo series which usually means that it isn't for young readers,and this series isn't. With a fair amount of foul language and some graphic violence and some nudity I wouldn't let any kid under about 15 read it. But still Fables is a great series that thanks to Jamie D of WWW.comicgeekspeak.com for recommending. Legends in Exile gets an B+.

TPB losers 01

Batman Hush Volume one

written by Jeph Loeb

art by Jim Lee

Published by DC COMICS

This is the first of 2 tradepaperbacks reprinting the 2002-2003 12 issue storyline. For quite a few years now I have been hearing how this is the best Batman storyline in many years. Some have even compared it to Frank Miller's classic The Dark Knight Returns. I ended up getting both volumes as a gift last X-mas from one of my aunts. The story starts off with Batman rescuing a kidnapped child from Killer Croc. After he saves the kid Catwoman appears and steals the ransom money,Batman prosues her across the Gothem skyline. But somehow the rope he is swinging on is cut and he falls to the ground in the process fracturing his skull. Alfred the butler summons Batman's childhood friend,Thomas Elliot,who is now a well known brain surgeon. After Batman recovers he finds out that Poison Ivy had used Catwoman to steal the money. So he goes looking for Ivy. Him and Catwoman track her down to Metropolis. And discover that Ivy has taken control of Superman's mind. Using a Kryptonite ring,that Superman gave to Batman years ago in the chance that Superman goes evil or beserk,to keep Superman at bay. Catwoman shoves Lois Lane off a skyscaper and seeing his wife in danger snaps Superman outta the mind control. And he teams up with Batman and Catwoman to capture Ivy. Some days later Batman and Catwoman in their civilian indenties are attending an opera,when Harley Quinn shows up and in the fight someone kills Dr Thomas Elliot. It appears that Joker is the one that killed Dr Elliot,so Batman goes after him. Thanks to Jim Gordon and Dick Grayson,Batman doesn't kill Joker even though he seems to want too. This is also when we get the first appearance of a man with his face covered in bandages,He is referred to as Hush. And the story goes on from there. It is a basic who's who of all the main Bat villians. And after all the running around it turns out that Hush is really,Spoiler skip if you don't wanna know, Dr Thomas Elliot. The best part of the entire 12 issue run is a small part were at the end of one issue you are lead to believe that Hush is really Jason Todd,the second Robin who was killed by the Joker many years ago. While the artwork by Jim Lee is some of the best work he has done in many years ,the story fell flat to me. It felt like an idea I would have come up with while bored in 7th grade study hall. But then even though Jeph Loeb used to get all kinds of praise for his comic work ,the things I have read from him haven't impressed me that much. While reading both trades I was reminded of the first issues of the "Many Deaths of Batman" storyline from the early 90s. This was an issue where besides one word it had no other dialogue at all. I get the feeling that if Hush had no dialogue I might enjoy it more. Batman Hush Vols 1 and 2 get a C-. But the artwork by itself gets an A-.

Showcasing the Essentials 01

Essential Killraven

published by Marvel comics

Killraven is a mostly forgotten 70's sci fi series. First appearing in Amazing Adventures 18,May 1973. Killraven works on the premise that the War of the worlds actually happened,and the Martians come back in 2001 and take over the world. Jon Killraven is a child that is raised by the Martians to be a gladiator in the arenas. The storyline starts in 2018 when Killraven escapes from the slavepins and with a rag-tag band of humans fights back against the Martian overlords. This storyline runs from issue 18 of Amazing Adventures to issue 39,and covers 2 years in the story of the series. Killraven was created by Neal Adams and Roy Thomas,but sadly Adams only did the first 11 pages of the first issue. The rest of that issue was done by Howard Chaykin. By issue 21 Don McGregor takes over the writing duties and last till the final issue. The art chores passes from Herb Trimpe to Rich Buckler to Gene Colon. But finally at issue 27 P. Craig Russell takes over the art and besides a few fill in issues stays on till issue 39. One thing that Killraven is remembered for most now is the first interacial kisses in color comics. One thing I love about the series is how even though it is perfect for a child to read,it has multiple levels so that adults will enjoy it. Killraven mainly appears in Amazing Adventures,besides a one time appearance in Marvel team up. In that story he teams up with Spider-man who is traveling thru time. Sadly Killraven's run in Amazing Adventures was cut short. So in the early 80's McGregor is allowed to wrap up most of the main storyline in one of the first few Marvel Graphic Novels. This Graphic Novel has some of the best P. Craig Russell art I have ever seen. After the publication of this GN Killraven disappeared and didn't show back up till a Marvel Knights 2001 One-shot,that is written and drawn by Joe Linsner. While this one-shot has the best art ever for a Killraven story some plot point contradict stuff from the original run. I first encountered Killraven by his entry in the Deluxe Official handbook to the Marvel Universe. And never got to read any of the story until I bought the Essential TPB last year. So to wrap it up,If you are a fan of Sci-fi,space opera,or fantasy check out Essential Killraven. I give it a A.

Movies to avoid 1

The worst movies ever

Passport video

I knew something was fishy when this documentary of the 50 worst movies ever made had a run time of 1 hour. And damn I was right. Alot of the time they spend at most 30 seconds on a movie. And usually they barely tell why this film is one of the worst ever. Another big gripe is they inculde Jack Hill's Spiderbaby on the list. This late 60s horror movie,starring Lon Chaney Jr and Sid Haig,is one of the unsung classics of the horror genre. I had seen this dvd on the shelves many times and almost have bought it. Thankfully Netflix had it and it wasn't even worth a Netflix rental. Avoid at all cost.

A sidenote I think I have come down with the flu. So I doubt I will be updating much the next week or so.

Why isn't this better known 01

The Tick Luny Bin Trilogy issues 0-3

story and art by Eli Stone

This is the second storyline in the Tick series by Eli Stone. The Tick is hypnotized and returns to the Evensville clinic. Which is a mental hospital he escaped from in the first issue of the Ben englund Tick run. When he gets there the evil doctor that worked with the Tick during his first stay there tries his best to convince Tick that he is a normal person and should give up his superhero gig. While this is happening Arthur goes and recruits M.O.A.V,the mystic order of arachnid vigilante, to help him bust the Tick out. The membership of M.O.A.V. is made up of the other patients of Evensville that escaped at the same time Tick did. Since Tick is in the hospital Barry,the former Tick, decides to work a deal out with a group of super villains. They are lead by Chairface Chippendale. And the deal is Barry will bust them while they are committing crimes,but he will let them go instead of turning them over to the police. Well since Barry is a little bit insane he ends up just beating the shit outta the various villains. So a small group lead by Chairface goes to bust The Tick outta Evensville. This all comes together in the third issue,where two groups,one made up of Arthur and the MOAV and the other a group of villains with Chairface show up. The evil doctor tries his best to remove Tick's mask but no matter what it won't come off. This causes the doctor to proclaim "The mask is the Tick and the Tick is the mask." An explosion happens and most of the villains are captured. Arthur,the Tick and MOAV escape unharmed. But the evil doctor is badly injured and before he dies he reveals a secret about the Tick to Arthur. Sadly this isn't revealed to us the readers. When I first read this was already a huge tick fan cause of the Foxkids cartoon, I had heard of the NEC comic,and even owned a couple of issues. But had never read any of them. Thanks to the great owner of Lynns Comics in Nederland Texas, I started reading this series. He gave all 4 issues to me and told me go read them if you don't like them you can keep them for free,if you do like them give me 12 bucks for all 4. Needless to say I loved them,and over a course of about 2 years managed to acquire most of the previous Tick comics,and bought every new Tick series that came out. The storyline was really good,lots of oddball humor with a touch of seriousness that was the trademark for the original Ben Edlund Tick run. The artwork was also good,sure it's black and white,but the shading gave it a depth that most current color comics don't seem to have. The Tick Luny Bin Trilogy earns a B+.

I love the cheap bins 02

Americomics #3

Published by AC comics

1983

The second and final appearance of one of the Charlton Action Heroes from AC comics. This issue contains 2 stories. The first one "Return from Pago Island" story/inks by Rik Levins edits/inks by Bill Black stars the Ted Kord Blue Beetle. While he is taking down a warehouse full of criminals,Ted is surprised by the original Beetle Dan Garrett busting through the wall. It seems that Dan is mad at Ted for abandoning him at Pago Island,and is back for revenge. After a fairly lengthily fight it turns out that the Dan Beetle is a robot that Ted's crazy uncle created. Ted manages to take it down and the story ends. The second story "The Blue Beetle to live again" Written by Leo J Laney and Neal Stannard,with art by Leo J Laney and Bill Black. Two very Kirbyish looking gods bring the 1940's Dan Garrett Beetle back to life. Some gangsters have kidnapped Ted Kord and Dan goes to save him. Using the powers granted to him by vitamin X,Dan manages to take out all the gangster fairly quick.At the end him and Ted shake hands and plan on teaming up again. This issue unlike the Sentinels of justice one isn't that great,the first story has good art and an ok story,but is nothing special. The second story has art that is a weird mix of Kirby and Ditko. The story is fairly cliched and not that good. Americomics #3 earns a 5.5. And that is mainly for the front and back covers.

Sweet zombie Jesus

WOW!!!!

I have been looking for this softcover for a few years now. I have seen it for sale on Ebay,but refused to pay what most people wanted for it. Well all the waiting finally paided off. I am currently on vacation on the Mississippi gulf coast. And there is a great comic shop in this area that I try to visit everytime I am down here. Well I was looking at the Tradepaper backs and hardcovers and found Kimota sitting on the shelf.I was figuring it would be priced at at least $30. But it had no price anywhere on it,well besides the original price. And since I know that it is not only out of print,but in high demand I figured it would be priced way over what I want to pay. Well I pick it up and go to dig through the $1 bins. The owner of the shop walks by and ask me if I had read much Miracleman. I told him I had read it all and only needs this book and issue 24 to complete my collection. Turns out he has a few copies of 24 and goes to the back to pull one out. He brings it to me and it looks near mint. So I gather up 24 and kimota and head to the register. Figuring I am looking at at least $80. He tells me Kimota is $10 and 24 is $25. I tell him I'm more than glad to give him 40 or 45 for both,but he refuses. So I paid for both and then went back to the dollar bins and bought about 20 comics. Kimota is a guide to one of the most under rated comics of the 80s/90s. Written by Alan Moore and later on Neil Gaimen,Miracleman was one of the earliest deconstrution of the superhero genres. This guide has interviews with almost everyone that was ever involved with the series. And shitpiles of unreleased artwork. I'm only about half way thru it and already have learned so much about the history of the comic. I urge anyone who has read Miracleman to seek out and buy this book. Kimota earns a sold 9.5. If it had more color artwork it would get a perfect 10.

I love the cheap bins 01

Americomics Special #1

Sentinels of Justice

published by AC Comics in 1983

Written by Dan Saint John

Art by Greg Guler

Backgrounds by Matt Feazell

This is one of two issues published by AC comics in the early 80's that features the old Charlton Action Heros. In this issue Blue Beetle,Ted Kord,Captain Atom,Nightshade and The Question are the super team Sentinels of Justice. They are called together to meet up with the police commissoner. He tells them about a rash of robberies that all involve alternate forms of energy. So he sends the four masked heroes to protect a new solar battery. Turns out a villian ,The Manipulator,is the mastermind behind these robberies. He has assembled a team consisding of Iron Arms,Fiery-Icer and "the lunatic terrorist group" The Madmen. The next day at Whittier Hall the battery is being shown to the public,Captain Atom and Nightshade are inside in their civilian identities. And Beetle and Question are outside keeping watch. Beetle spots a hovercar,and radios Question and they both head into the hall. An 8 page battle happens with the heroes taking out every villian but the Manipulator. But seems Manipulator has an ace up his sleeve. He presses a button on the cuff of his jacket and The Banshee flys in through a window grabs the Manipulator and flies off. The four heroes try to follow him,but it turns out that Iron Arms isnt as defeated as they thought he was. So they work together to take him out. On the final page we see Manipulator bragging about he has a spy inside the Sentinels of Justice team,and we see a shadowy figure who it turns out is the real lead villain. Sadly we will never find out who this shadowy man is. Since right after this book was finished the Charlton Action Heroes were sold to DC. This was a fun comic. It was the basic first story of a superteam that any comic fan has read many times,but you can see where it has plenty of pontential. The artwork while not the best is still nice and clean. I would have loved to see what AC had planned for futher issues of this title,but that never happened. But since I found this for $1,it is more than worth what I paid. If you are a fan of either the Charlton run of these four heroes,or the later DC run it is worth finding a copy. One thing I liked about it was it was printed on slick paper,but it wasn't the super shiny paper that is used a lot today. Americomics Special #1 gets a 7 outta 10.

31 days of horror Day 31

The Return of the living dead

Source- MGM original DVD release

Besides Texas chainsaw massacre this is my favorite horror film of all time. I was lucky that my uncle took me to see it when it first came out. It has just right blend of horror and comedy. Freddy is on his night at a new job. He works at a medical supply warehouse. His co-worker goes to show him something in the basement. It is a corpse in some kind of military drum. One of them hits it with a wrench and a yellow gas starts leaking out. They both pass out. Across the street in the cemetery,Freddy's girlfriend and 5 of his friends are hanging out waiting on him to get off work. Freddy and his co-worker wake up to discover all the dead bodies in the warehouse have become reanimated. They end up cutting one up with a saw and stuffing it into a trash bag. They haul it across the street to a morgue that also has a crematorium. The mortician is a friend and agrees to burn up the reanimated parts. Well the smoke produced by burning the parts gets up in the clouds and causes it to rain. Then all hell breaks loss all the corpses in the graveyard come back to life and you end up with Freddy,the mortician,the co-worker and most of his friends barricading themselves into the morgue. One by one they die then it becomes apparent that from the exposure to the yellow smoke earlier Freddy and his co-worker are also becoming zombies. The cast in this film is just amazing,from a young Linnea Quigley and Jewel Sheppard to Clu Gulager James Karen Don Calfa,the cast does great work. The effects are very very good for what is a small budgeted mid 80's film. And the soundtrack is amazing,sadly some of it is changed on both DVD releases. But the VHS release is the original soundtrack and it isn't too hard to find now. This is a film that I end up watching at least 8 or so times a year,and usually at least once on Halloween. Return of the living dead gets an A+.