Fat or Skinny? Make up your mind!

Two ads from 1950s comic books. One saying to stop being so skinny. The other saying to get rid of some of that weight.

What?? Which do girls go with? No wonder so many are screwed up with weight issues, one way or the other.

Although, I do understand that being too scrawny is unattractive at times. However, the mixed messages here really collide.

Proof that the original Batman kills

Batman started out killing, even if accidentally a couple of times. The pics here from Batman #1 show this quite clearly.

In one panel, looking through the sights of a plane's machine gun, he even says, "Much as I hate to take human life, I'm afraid this time it's necessary."

The monster he "accidentally" strangles with a noose from his Batplane and then says something about the monster probably being better off, and then he just cuts him loose. Whatever helps you sleep at night, Batman.

The other monster is knocked off the ledge by the Batplane, as a quick and tidy way to finish the story that went on too long.

Three deaths in the opener.

Kids with real-looking guns

Before, they were just putting escaping gorillas back into cages. Now they are stopping crime!

I wonder how many kids tried scaring people into thinking their toy gun was real? I know that's why they started making toy guns look fake, because of the shootings by cops who thought this gun was real.

I wonder why the bad guy didn't just shoot the kid. What, was he really worried about the physical prowess of the kid. In the movies, the bad guy would've shot back at an adult in this situation.

If this were today, imagine the liability lawsuits.

"My Johnny was just trying to stop a bank robber and you SHOT him!"

Voltron comic situation part IV

I know I am beating a dead horse here, an old dead one, but I was really mad when I found out that a comic series I was able to download for free from Wowio.com was no longer at that website--and that the print version's last issue was never even printed.

Devil's Due Publishing must never have any planning. They put out one issue at a time, hope it sells, and then might print another issue.

Years ago, I had a bit of a problem with VOLTRON being cancelled in the middle of a Mark Waid story. No issue #12 was ever produced. When I tried to ask them about it on the website, I got this as an answer: " I know that DDPwant's their Aftermath line to be around for a good long time. Only the readerscan make this happen. If you haven't checked out Defex, Infantry, Breakdown orBlade of Kumori, I highly suggest them! Especially if you liked Voltron, Ithink you might enjoy Defex + Breakdown."

I just have to say now, in retrospect even though I completely knew it then---Defex 6 issues only, Breakdown 6 issues only, Blade of Kumori 5 issues only, and Aftermath--zero issue only.

And looking at DDP's website now--no series is above issue #5 except for Hack/Slash. Hack/Slash is a decent comic but only because I downloaded it for free through Wowio.com (they get corporate sponsors to attach ads to the comics)--I never would have bought it. However, it is good now because it lasted more than six issues. Comics grow, they mature.

Devil's Due gives independent publishers a truly bad name and they ruin it for the rest of the indies out there.

Read original posts on Voltron Comic incident:

http://mjb0123.blogspot.com/search?q=voltron&updated-max=2007-04-28T20%3A23%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=20

Markosia's Midnight Kiss

Markosia comics

Midnight Kiss limited series #1-5

Usually, we readers of independent comic books are wary of these limited series. I have read too many BAD Image series that just go nowhere and do nothing. I have read whole series where even I could not express the plot or actually name a single character. This is completely not the case with Midnight Kiss by Tony Lee and Ryan Stegman. It is a good read that actually makes you hunt down the next installment.

This series is on the level with all multi-verse breaking universes. I see Time Bandits in here. I see The Never-Ending Story within these pages. Our heroes have to go through tales of legend to defeat a higher evil. The interesting part is that all of these legends absolutely HATE the main character Matt Sable. It's ingenious.

Overall, the series was an intriguing read. I wanted to hunt down all the issues, for one thing. I originally found these as a free download on Wowio.com but it's not there anymore. You might be able to track it down somewhere else. Anyway, you have to read it as a digital because they never even printed issue #5 and good luck finding it in TPB form.

This may seem old news now. This is a series from 2005. But it deserves better treatment than, for whatever reason, being cancelled in the middle of a limited series, no matter what schedule the artist was on. I will say this to Markosia:

Cancelling a book in the middle of a storyline is one of the main reasons that independents fail and you ruin it for the rest of us. Years ago, I had an issue with DDP's Voltron series you can read about here: VOLTRON. Other comics suffer this fate, especially ones that start out thinking they can be an ongoing series. But to not allow a limited series to finish hurts the entire independent comic book industry. Why would anyone start a new series when there is a huge chance it won't last? I know many fans like myself that would only pick these up as free digital downloads, or in the fifty-cent bins and only when ALL the issues are there.

Instead, Markosia decided to keep producing that utter crappy Starship Troopers. I have read some of those and, quite frankly, they stink--no character development whatsoever and I can't even tell what is happening in the action panels. I read those in about four minutes--what kind of stink is a comic book you can read cover to cover in four minutes?

Read author Tony Lee's version of the Midnight Kiss series on Comics Worth Reading.

A review of Atomic Robo volume 6 number 1

Written: Brian Clevinger

Art: Scott Wegener

Colors: Ronda Pattison

Letters: Jeff Powell

Publication Date: 2011-09-07

Format: Comic, Full Color, 6.5 x 10, Soft Cover, 32 pages

Price: $3.50

Diamond Code: JUN111232

UPC: 811316010658

Seriously, Atomic Robo lives up to the billing as "The World's Greatest Science Adventure Magazine!"

We all know that is a reference to The Fantastic Four and the "world's greatest comic." We all know the importance of the FF in the comic world. Atomic Robo is that important of a comic.

Even in this sixth incarnation, and they all stand alone so don't be afraid to start right here, the comic is just a flat-out good read.

Pacing is excellent. It really reminds me of the classic 80s Justice League by Giffen and DeMatteis, with humor and realistic dialogue.

Dialogue is fantastic--I mean, when's the last time you read a book where you went back to dialogue because you wanted to know what every single line meant? As you read it, yes, you easily understand the plot and what they are doing, but the scientific jargon just makes you want to go back and actually understand it because you can tell it is based on, at least, real theories. When Reed Richards comes up with some kind of explanation, the reader just keeps reading--it's all just like "reversing the polarity," which we all know is sci-fi jargon for the writer fixing the situation without actually knowing how to do it. Here in Atomic Robo, after analyzing the dialogue, it really makes sense. I actually looked up some of these terms from the book simply because they were really cool and I wanted to know more. When's the last time a comic made you go look something up?

Atomic Robo has never disappointed. And it isn't starting now as this adventure is well under way. I know we all have a bunch of new #1s that we somehow hope may be good, but here is a #1 that is truly good. Plus, this is a mini-series--what are you going to do, buy 52 comics every month to keep up? And go back and get the other Atomic Robo series. If you like comics, trust me, you'll love Atomic Robo.

Internal Logic of a story

From Forbidden Worlds #14, 1953.

I love these old comics. Several brilliantly-paced short short stories in a whole mag. Most of the time, they are great little stories about fantastic fantasy, horror, and sci-fi episodes without getting dragged on for dozens of pages. They are like reading short Twilight Zone episodes in comic form.

That is, except when there is an internal logic fault. I can go along with just about any story as long as its rules are set up. I can always imagine Superman flying along, and laser pistols humming out in other sci-fi stories.

This page is the last of a short about a radioactive dinosaur turning into a monster after a nuclear test. See what I mean? I can take that premise fine. I can take that the radiation caused the egg to mutate. He hatches and can talk. Fine. He goes on a rampage and nothing, not even bullets, can stop him. Fine. The scientists discover that a chemical cysteine will stop the monster. Fine.

But then, just a panel after more bullets bounce off the creature, the scientists injects the monster in the belly with the cysteine with a normal hypodermic needle.

See what I mean? Bullets bounce but hypodermics go right through! Just some other method of getting the cysteine into the monster's system--any method, gas, pill, whatever--would make it suitable and plausible for me. But the injection here, the internal logic error, takes me out of the story world I was in. Even though I am in a story that makes no scientific sense whatsoever, and I know that, I am taken out of the world with a simple fault.

Case in point, that movie Superman Returns. People cannot understand how excited I was about my favorite hero finally being brought back into movies. Maybe new Superman movies would come out every few years, just like the Batman franchise. But the internal logic errors destroyed the chances of that happening. That is why people hated the movie.

In the movie, Superman amazingly rescues a crashing plane and in dramatic fashion, what appears to be the limits of his strength, sets it down in the middle of the ballpark. Wow. Lex Luthor later stabs Superman with Kryptonite. Fine. Kryptonite hurts Superman and takes away his powers. Fine. But at the end, when the mountain of Kryptonite is lifted into the sky by an already hurt and depleted Superman, what appears to be a weight that appears dozens of times greater than even a crashing 747 and is composed entirely of the substance that takes away Superman's powers and hurts him, even I, a huge Superman fan, simply said, "No way."

I wanted to believe that even Superman, when all his strength is gone, when there is no one else to save the world, could dig down deep inside himself and come up with the inner strength to do this miraculous feat. Much like any action movie when the main character is shot and dying, he still runs around and takes care of business. Somehow that shot and dying protagonist is allowable. But a Kryptonite-stabbed Superman lifting a HUGE mountain of Kryptonite simply isn't plausible in the sense of internal logic. And remember this fact as well, the populace at large, even people that don't read comic books, will allude to the fact that Kryptonite is a deadly substance that can bring something down. People will metaphorically call something a "Kryptonite."

This is why a lot of movies suffer. Internal logic errors. The world is broken. And we as an audience cannot take it.

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Summer movies

I don't know why, but I kept track of all the movies I watched this summer. I think I wanted to keep track of movies I watched through Roku, and the list got a little out of hand. I think I also wanted to list out my proclivity for shit.

The Magic Sword (Basil Rathbone)

A Study in Scarlet (with Reginald Owen)

Prisoners of the Lost Universe (1983, with Richard Hatch)

Planet Outlaws (Buck Rogers re-edited serial)

Battlestar Galactica (the three-part pilot in movie form)

Texas Legionnaires (Roy Rogers and I have NO idea why it was called this)

The Last Starfighter

Spellbound (Hitchcock)

Casino Royale (1967)

Bruce Lee Fights Back from the Grave

Bulldog Drummond Comes Back

Bulldog Drummond's Peril

Bulldog Drummond's Revenge

Bulldog Drummond in Africa

Bulldog Drummond Escapes

The Fatal Hour (Mr. Wong)

Danger on the Air

The Beast with a Million Eyes

Cosmos War of the Planets

Assignment: Outer Space

Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet

Warning from Space

Terror By Night (Sherlock Holmes)

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon

Dick Tracy (1946?)

Dressed to Kill (Sherlock Holmes)

Mr. Moto's Last Warning

Kung Fu--The Invisible Fist

Goliath and the Sins of Babylon

The Avenger (1962)

Kung Fu Fever

Casino Royale (1954)

Man from Planet X

From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga

The Rocketeer

Rage of the Master

Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women

Mothra

Rebirth of Mothra

Rebirth of Mothra II

Africa Screams

Beyond the Barrier

The Real Bruce Lee

Two Wondrous Tigers

Dirty Work

Donovan's Brain

2010: Moby Dick

Zontar: The Thing from Venus

Ghidorah: The Three-Headed Monster

Robocop

Kennel Murder Case

The Dawn Rider (John Wayne)

Blue Steel (John Wayne)

The Lucky Texan (John Wayne)

The Man from Utah (John Wayne)

Mystery of Wentworth Castle (aka Doomed to Die--Mr. Wong)

Managed Money, Pardon my Pups, and Glad Rags to Riches (Shirley Temple)

Brideless Groom (Three Stooges)

All 12 episodes of Fawlty Towers

All 6 episodes of Black Adder II

Buster Crabbe

This summer, with my Roku and my Netflix, I watched a lot of old Flash Gordon. Apparently, a lot of Hollywood did because they are iconic. As you watch, I swear, you can see these old serials and movies in current movies. Most definitely with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, and they admit it too. Buster Crabbe was perfect. He even did a Buck Rogers serial.

With Netflix, I just started watching the 1970s Buck Rogers starring Gil Gerard and Erin Gray. I don't know why I am watching these again--I remember loving them in my teens on Saturday afternoon TV. Special effects still hold up today, even if the disco dancing doesn't. All that aside, they are ok. Gotta put them in perspective. Even with Twiki and Dr. Theopolis being blatant ripoffs of R2-D2 and C-3PO, this is good TV. And funny, it lasted TWICE as long in number of episodes as the original Battlestar Galactica.

I just put two and two together watching the second episode, "Planet of the Slave Girls." Buster Crabbe's name showed up in the credits as a special guest star. He plays a pilot and what's his name? Yep, Gordon!

They treated it really well. He even got to say how he had been doing this since before Buck Rogers was born. Yes, Buck is supposed to be 500 years old, but when Crabbe says, "I know so," I think the whole audience really did know so too.

Buster Crabbe died in 1983, just a few years after this appearance. Since I just discovered it, Mr. Crabbe, I need to salute you for a job well done all those years. You inspired a lot of imagination. Quite literally, movies would not have been the same without you.

Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica commentaries

Sea Monkeys are nothing! Get a miniature dog!

From an old comic book ad:

This is a premium for handing out twenty "Get-acquainted" coupons. Apparently, although the ad is not clear, they have to get 20 new customers under your name and you get the dog.

Was this legal?

I love how scared the dog looks, especially with the words, "PLEASE, give me a home!"

How did they ship it? More importantly, did Mom or Dad have to sign anything? I knew enterprising enough kids where they would get the new customers.

I wonder if there is any way to research if this company actually gave out any of these dogs?

Kids! Carry a rifle and stop gorillas!

From an old comic book ad:

Just in case of emergency, kids should be carrying their own rifles. You never know when a gorilla is going to escape and you are going to have to save the day!

I know it is just an air rifle, but you have to strain to see that. Plus, the cartoon really makes you think it is real--the gorilla did! Note the girl carrying a bow and arrow. Note also that the two kids simply carried these into the zoo!

Also, I find it fascinating that the zookeepers don't have anything--or are they hiding rifles? Is that why the gorilla knew what a rifle looked like?? Animal Cruelty?

The Call of Cthulhu movie

Available for full download at Internet Archive!

Superhero could have been MORE super

A page from Showcase #35 starring the diminutive Atom, written by the excellent Gardner Fox (who DC basically based their entire existence on).

Anyway, I just noticed this. The Atom can travel by phone. He can go so small he can literally ride the current to the other end.

Fine--I can take that premise. It is science fiction, after all.

But the imaginative leap I am thinking about is the idea that the Atom could have revolutionized the entire world and even saved it for the environmentalists with this idea.

He could save the world from the tyranny of fossil fuels and gasoline. What if he could set up some stations to shrink cargo and shipments all over the world? I know he may only have a limited amount of the white dwarf star material that he uses to shrink stuff, but even doing this from one end of the US to another would be incredible.

I always wondered why Marvel's Ant Man also did not do something like this--imagine revolutionizing the cargo industry. Hundreds of shipments could be reduced into one load, saving all sorts of time and gas.

Well, I guess they don't do this because they are superheroes and it would make a really boring comic to watch the wheels of industry ship a few loads of coal across the nation.

Just another aspect that if there are ever superheroes or villains of any kind like this, they would probably really be selling stuff. Maybe Billy Mays was really a superhero--Super Spokesman! Can even sell products after he is dead!

When old words don't mean they same as they used to

Here's an old Captain Marvel comic. In case you don't know, Captain Marvel is a boy named Billy Batson that turns into the Superman-like Captain Marvel by saying, "Shazam!"

In the second panel, the gangster says, "Hsst! Billy's sound asleep! I'll grab him! I noticed that whenever he's molested Capt. Marvel usually shows up!"

In the 1940s, the word "molested" did not have the main connotation of what it is today, that's for sure. If you read this panel today, you think that gangster is up to something else...

Superman Glossary of Kryptonian Names

From DC's 80-Page Giant #11.

Rocket Boomerang

From DC's 80-Page Giant #9 starring the Flash. Goofy Captain Boomerang wants to rob banks but that stupid Flash won't let him. So he builds a boomerang-shaped rocket to send Flash off into space. He then goes to try robbing another bank.

If I had enough money to build a boomerang-shaped rocket, and one capable of blasting into space, and one capable of carrying a 180-pound superhero (without any thought of aerodynamics) into space...

I wouldn't need to rob any freaking bank!

This was even before the moon landing, so Captain Boomerang would have a technology he could sell and make freaking billions.

If I were Flash, I would have told him that.

Best Comic Book Covers Ever

Strange Worlds #5

Alchemy Bankrobbing

Two pages from DC's 80-page Giant #9 starring the Flash.

Dr. Alchemy has the Philosopher's Stone and can transmute lead into gold.

Why the hell is he robbing banks??

First, you see him change pipes to gold. Then he goes to rob a bank. Then, in order to throw Flash off his trail, he turns some trash cans to gold on the other side of town so that he can rob a bank.

Does it take a rocket scientist to think, "Wow, I can take some of this gold to the freaking bank!! No more bankrobbing for me!"

If I were Flash, I would have told Dr. Alchemy this.

Best Comic Book Covers Ever

Weird Mysteries #5

I Love My ROKU--and TV will never be the same

For my birthday in January, my wife bought me that ROKU player. Plug and play into my TV like a DVD player that connects to my wireless and Voila! I get Netflix and other "channels" straight to my TV. Netflix Watch Now is available at the touch of a button. I can access a movie faster this way than if I had the actual DVD.

I just realized that the last time I watched regular television before this week was the Superbowl.

I did this week access my cable provider's ON-DEMAND feature to watch Torchwood: Miracle Day and Falling Skies. But only through ON-DEMAND. This is because I missed Torchwood when it started last weekend even though I really wanted to see it.

Why should I be tied to the TV at a very precise time? ON-DEMAND fixes that, however, the selection is way too limited, plus shows are only available for a limited time, like Falling Skies episodes are only available for a couple weeks or so. And extremely limited commercial interruptions, if any, so a show that would normally take a full hour to watch can be completed in about 45 minutes.

Now my Netflix Watch Now is like having the library of movies and TV that Bill Gates mentioned in that book of his, The Road Ahead, way back when. I get not only complete seasons of TV but complete television shows. It remembers where I leave off, even if it's in the middle of an episode. Thousands of movies are available, enough where I am never at a loss for something to watch.

No more pointless TV surfing--"What's on TV now?" Flipping channels for upwards of half an hour before you actually find something to watch. And then only settling for something that's on that you really don't want to watch in the first place.

I can get YouTube through my ROKU. Crackle.com movies (although they really break it up poorly with commercials--you wouldn't mind the commercials if they were more fluid or seamless).

I get PANDORA through the ROKU. I have a channel that can access just about any radio station that has an online feed. There's podcasts and net shows too. There's a classic movie and TV channel called Pub-D-Hub that is fantastic for old stuff. I can access the movies and audio files of most anything on Internet Archive (archive.org). And I like bad old movies, so I this is awesome.

I barely watch commercials anymore. So I realized, for shows like Falling Skies appearing on TNT, what is going to happen to these shows? In order for TNT to make and show, don't they need ad revenue? Here's a show I like and will watch but don't want to be tied down to a specific time. I absolutely hated that before ROKU. If I want to do something, I don't want to say that my show is on tonight and I can't. I want to watch it later, when I am available. I think that they will be adding more commercials soon to ON-DEMAND stuff, but that's ok. I will take the commercials if I can watch when I want.

Then there are other shows that I simply wait for Netflix now. They will get added eventually. There is no show that I am so dedicated to that I simply have to watch it now. So what about shows like CBS' Big Bang Theory or USA's Psych? Will they suffer in ratings because of this? Will they stop being made because of this?

Currently Big Bang Theory is not available through Watch Now--we rented the actual discs through Netflix. We heard from a friend that it was a good show, we started renting from disc one of season one, and we were hooked. We love it. We watched every disc available as quickly as we could. We tried to keep up with the new season as best we could--I think we managed to watch three weeks in a row. But then stuff happens. We missed one and then another, and pretty soon we kind of forgot. But if they were available now, we would probably watch in a heartbeat, even with commercials.

However, I ain't paying for single downloads through iTunes or HULU or something. And if I pay for single downloads or a monthly subscription fee, I don't want any commercials. And the worst part of that line of thinking is that I might be very limited in trying new shows.

It is changing. The pricing structure of television and cable is changing to where I see no cable in the future, only internet providers. Commercials are changing. Shows clinging to other shows for ratings like Thursday night lineups are changing. Besides live sports, I don't see what is going to be on TV anymore. Even TV news will have a structure where it is first available at 5 pm but you can start it at 5:06 if that is when you get home--no more missing the first top stories and having to wait until 5:30 or 6 to see it. Cable news shows will be first offered at a certain time but if you aren't available until half an hour later, you don't miss it.

I love my ROKU and haven't watched TV since. It's been seven months now. I haven't missed a thing but commercials. And I wouldn't say I've been missing them.

Best Comic Book Covers Ever

Cow Puncher #6

Best Comic Book Covers Ever

Avon's Strange Worlds #1 from the 50s.

Best Comic Book Covers Ever

Avon's An Earth Man on Venus from the 1950s.

Danger--Ads Ahead

From an old comic book. No, this ain't dangerous at all...

Hitler Stamps

Mom! Mom! Can I have some????

DC Universe relaunch--I bet it fails

The DC Universe is relaunching.

Yet again.

#1 issues again. I already can't keep track of back issue series for what came first, second, third. How many Green Lantern #1's do you need? How many Supergirl #1's?

The DC Universe is actually relaunching 52 titles. That will be 52 #1 issues in the coming months. The website for DC says it is actually one day, August 31, 2011.

I will bet that out of 52 series, only 20, less than half, will still be kicking two years from that date. So on August 31, 2013, I will see.

To survive:

Teen Titans

Flash

Wonder Woman

Green Lantern

Green Lantern Corps

Justice League

Justice League International

Batman

Detective

Catwoman

Action

Superman

Supergirl

Superboy

Birds of Prey

And about five I really can't foresee without knowing the creative teams. I mean, the old 80s Animal Man survived for 80+ issues solely because of Grant Morrison's original run on it. It literally limped along for 50 issues based on what that guy wrote and abandoned.

Other titles will merge. Whether those will continue numbering or what, I don't know anymore.

And anyway, what does it matter--I never buy new comics anymore. I am a back issue guy because I can get just about anything from years gone by for less than they charge on cover now.

Mile High Comics, baby. Free shipping over $10 order. I constantly get codewords to save 50-60%. Plus I get stuff that's in the 50-cent bins at Acme Comics in Peoria and then fill around missing issues at Mile High. Best stuff. Plus, I get to collect in retrospect. It's actually pretty cool to buy all the titles I never could afford way back when. Now I can because just about all of them are cheaper than cover price.

I love knowing what issues flow, in order. I loved knowing that Uncanny X-Men #281 went in order. Lately, you have no idea, with interwoven storylines throughout multiple titles. If you need a checklist, it is too damn confusing. For even me, and I love comics. (That checklist thing all started with Mutant Massacre but those stories were mostly standalone...)

My Stripgenerator comics--part two

My Star Trek commentary book

Every episode analyzed from a geek's WTF? point of view.

My Stripgenerator comics--part one

Fourth Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver

I really want this!

Available at Entertainment Earth!

Some brief thoughts on The Last Starfighter

The Last Starfighter--what a great movie. It still is.

You could have named something “Star Turd” in the early- to mid-80s and I would have loved it. (Spacehunter 3-D, anyone?)

I like how it approached video games--there was always a story. In fact, the simplest games had the best stories. Today's games are too much--no imagination. It was more fun to think of the backstory while you were playing an old game.

When he looked at the mobile of the planets was just a perfect cinematic moment.

The character Otis says, “When your chance comes, you gotta grab on with both hands and hold on tight.” If I were ever approached, I’d be gone.

Wil Wheaton was in it, billed as “Louis’ Friend.”

I still think they’re A+ special effects. And I just love Grig and his laugh.

To be approached, taken into space…I mean, I’ve been dreaming about this since I was born. This movie, coming after Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, and a slew of others, fed into that desire.

I love the bridge of the ship of the bad guys. I love the bad guys on the bridge. Excellent creature effects.

The “meteor gun,” the Rod from God, is still really cool today.

"I'm just a kid from a trailer park!" To which the alien responds: “If that’s what you think, then that’s all you’ll ever be.” It’s like Yoda, I mean, there’s a great set of morals and stuff that impress upon you, just as much as any good movie should.

And it seems like an actual spaceship, not an X-Wing or BSG Viper. It moves, like the cool Death Blossom move.

I like that he would have gone back into space without her. I actually like that.

Map from The Goonies

Star Trek Red Shirts

Curt Danhauser cartoon

http://www.gordonwatts.com/StarTrek/ who got it from

http://www.ridgecrest.ca.us/~curtdan/TREK/TAS.cgi?FILE=Larson

Millennium Falcon in hyperspace

Ain't this the coolest graphic of the Millennium Falcon? From a Star Wars comic when they were adapting The Empire Strikes Back.

Superman ripoff destroys Chicago!

These first two pages of the Wonder Boy installment story from National Comics #1 from July 1940 is eerily reminiscent of a certain Super origin story. However, at least Siegel and Shuster had the decency to have the Kryptonian's rocket crash in the middle of nowhere in Kansas. This one has the kid destroy half of Chicago where "many people are killed." Yet in just the next panel, he is "ready for adventure."

File this one under one of those WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING? categories.

Whispering Walls

From Feature Comics #29:

Scholastic Bowl

http://www.pjstar.com/features/x617854914/Macomb-takes-second-in-Class-A-Scholastic-Bowl

PEORIA —

Matt Butcher of Lacon watched the two teams carefully Friday and suddenly read off his stapled packet.

"In any order, list the three complete cube roots of 8i," he said.

The teams had 30 seconds to calculate the basic components of an imaginary yet definable number. It's a test that many people couldn't handle if given 30 minutes.

The Richwoods Knights buzzed in, answering incorrectly. Their opponents, the Auburn Knights, missed as well. They both left out the option of a positive or negative square root of 3.

The IHSA Scholastic Bowl State Finals were held Friday at the Peoria Civic Center Ballroom, with teams from across the state in both Class A and Class AA competing for the championship. Richwoods competed in AA while Macomb High School battled in A.

"We have two practices a week from September through March," said Richwoods head coach Dan Moore. "We worked hard."

Biweekly practices, however, weren't enough to beat some stiff competition. After several impressive wins in the regional and sectional tournaments, the Knights lost all three of their state matches, failing to qualify for the championship or consolation matches.

"We did not come close," Moore said. "We played some good teams and got beat."

Richwoods fell to St. Ignatius College Prep School of Chicago 449-133, lost its second match to Carbondale High School 458-145 and the third match to Auburn High School in Rockford 476-160.

Macomb High School did better, winning its first three matches handily and landing in the Class A championship against Lisle Senior High. After a close first half, Macomb fell behind in the second, eventually falling 352-268, finishing second in the state.

Despite not doing as well as expected, Moore is thinking about how the team could do next year and what to prepare for.

"We have a couple of players graduating, so we're losing seven seniors, so we'll have a pretty new team," he said. "I did notice a lot of modern literature and a lot of Greek history questions this year. That's something to get ready for."

Jackson Adams can be reached at 686-3196 or jadams@pjstar.com.

Copyright 2011 pjstar.com. Some rights reserved

"Say It With Flowers" Danger Man episode

I was watching old Danger Man episodes again--I rent them through Netflix--and came across an episode called "Say It With Flowers." In it, Drake is being told to go find a guy that might be a double agent. Drake says, "Perhaps he's just decided to retire." His contact guy giving him the job questions, "Retire?"

Fascinating--this is what is behind the entire idea of THE PRISONER. Can you retire from this job???

Also, another episode on the disc, "To Our Best Friend," has a Russian spy infiltrate a British agent and marry him, years before he is actually important. They conclude that she stayed for five years at some kind of village in Russia that was completely made up and immersed in an English lifestyle and culture in order to acclimate her to the job.