Movie of the Week: Earth Vs the Flying Saucers

Taking a one-week break from the Godzilla movies this week, to present "Earth Vs. the Flying Saucers!" If you watch the full movie, please restart the slideshow of posters and the like afterwards!




Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Cool Stuff: Original Comic Art!

I promised some Sekowsky JLA this time, didn't I?



We start off with page 3 from JLA 8!



Page 5 from the same issue!



No Sekowsky on the cover of JLA 94... this one, obviously, is by Neal Adams!



Adams again, with the cover of JLA 96!



Haven't had any Charlton stuff for a while, and I don't remember if I've ever posted any pages of Charlton super-hero stuff, so here's page 12 of some issue of Judomaster, art by Frank McLaughlin!



Page 13 from the same story...



...and here's page 16! Man, if I was a participant in Bahlactus' Friday Night Fights, this group of pages would've been a nice entry, eh?



Page 17!



Page 18! Wow, this is a JLA & Judomaster celebration, isn't it?



OK, here's a different "J" title... the cover to Charlton's Jungle Jim 25 was by Pat Boyette, one of Charlton's finest comics artists!

I'm making this installment a bit short, because next time around, I start with Kamandi by Kirby!

Jon

Movie of the Week: Godzilla Vs. Mothra (Godzilla Vs. The Thing)

So, you know the drill by now, right? If you want to watch the full movie, then afterwards, scroll down a bit for a slideshow!

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Jon

Coming Distractions!

Just to give you an idea of what's coming up in this here blog o'geekery...

Of course, you probably already know about the...



...which will start here on Oct. 1st, and run through the entire month! Any of you who are thinking of doing a Halloween-related posting every day in October in your own blogs, let me know so I can add your blog to the blogroll on the left! And if you know of any other blogs doing a Halloween countdown, let me know about that, too!

Upcoming Children's Book Theatre Presentations

In October, I'll be presenting the Crestwood Books version of "The Creature From the Black Lagoon!" And that will be followed in November (I think) with a Masters of the Universe book, and that should be followed up with a Superman Big Little Book!

Speaking of November...

My birthday's coming up then, and I'll be spending at least part of it (November 9th) at the Portland Comic Book Show, so look forward to a report on that visit!

Christmas Is Coming!

Yeah, I know, it's September and I'm mentioning Christmas already? Well, that's because I'm already working on December posts (what can I say? I love being ahead on deadlines... and this also allows me to take breaks from posting if my real life intrudes on the geekery). This year, as I did last year, there'll be a Christmas Countdown of Comics Covers, with all the comics covers from last year, plus new ones just added to the stash! I may also be mentioning during the Cool Stuff postings for December what stuff I may have wanted for Christmas in the past, or actually got... or would still like to get!

New Blogs of Geekery Are A'Comin'!

One of the reasons I've been working ahead on this blog is so I can also work ahead on some spin-off blogs! You already know about the Give-A-Show Blog, but the new blogs will be a little different... each blog will have a specific theme, and will feature a photo of one item per day... some with comments, some without! I think the first one to start up will be the Godzilla blog (which will include other giant monsters, too, and that will start up November 1st), and that will be followed up by the Dracula blog (starting December 1st), which in turn will be followed up by the Frankenstein blog (which should start January 1st)! I've got other daily blogs in mind, too... but I'll keep those a secret for now! I can tell you I've already written posts for those first two new blogs to run through the end of May, 2008 as of last night, so you know they'll be running for a while (my goal is to get both of those ready through at least June or July before starting on the Frankenstein one). As those start getting closer to their start dates, I'll remind you of them, and provide links!

Jon

By the 10's: Six-Gun Heroes/Gunmaster/Judomaster!

Here's one of those interesting "By the 10's," where the publisher changes as we go! We start with Six-Gun Heroes at Fawcett...


Issue 10


Issue 20

...and now we jump to Charlton!


Issue 30 - as Charlton's using the inventory from Fawcett... at least, the title started with Fawcett inventory when it started!


Issue 40


Issue 50


Issue 60 - by this point, Gunmaster, Charlton's masked superhero-like western character, was taking over!



Issue 70



Issue 80

With issue 84, the book was renamed Gunmaster, but was cancelled in 1967 with issue 89. at which point Judomaster took over the numbering!



Judomaster 90

Unfortunately for the title, it was cancelled for good with issue 98!

Stick with the Random Acts of Geekery for a new By the 10's soon!

Jon

Give-A-Show Fridays: The Kenner Kids and Bullwinkle!

Cool Stuff: Looney Tunes Collectibles Featuring Bugs Bunny!

Remember when the Looney Tunes characters were being marketed all the time, long before the late, lamented Warner Bros. Studio Stores were even a glimmer in someone's eye?



I can well imagine the delight of any child who received this Looney Tunes Big Parade Coloring Book!



Bugs Bunny coloring book #1032 here... my best guess is that the art for all of these kind of items were done by the staff of Dell or Gold Key, depending on who had the comics license at the time.



Bugs and Elmer were getting along pretty good on the cover of this Bugs Bunny coloring book, #1851!



Is it just me, or is anyone else amused by the fact that all the color by number books feature the title character or characters on the cover doing color by number stuff, like the Sticker Fun books with characters doing sticker fun?



One wonders if Elmer ever appeared on the cover of any Bugs Bunny coloring book wearing his hunter's outfit!



I always got a kick out of these Big Little Books with the flip-it "cartoons" printed in them! How about you?



Ah, I forgot the paint with water books always showed the title character demonstrating that, too!



I'm shocked -- shocked, I tell you! -- that this Daffy Duck Sticker Fun book doesn't show Daffy using stickers! Not so shocked at what Elmer is wearing, though.



Yes, even the Road Runner coloring books, like this one, seemed to be "infected" with those annoying sons/nephews or whatever they were... They were all probably speaking in rhyme, as well. I guess it would be rather tedius for their dialogue to just be "beep beep!"



Good god almighty, what's happened to Yosemite Sam? The guy looks like he's on prescription drugs to handle his bad temper!

Next time around, a bit of potpourri!

Jon

Random Videos of Geekery: Batman the Animated Series - Heart of Ice!

Movie Monsters #4, Part 1!

Time to start a look at another monster mag, and this time around, I've selected Movie Monsters #4! As with all prior entries in this series, you can click on any page to get a larger view.

Movie Monsters was Atlas/Seaboard's entry into the monster mag field. This issue was the last one of this magazine's short run. As we get into this, you'll see some ads that will be very familiar to you if you've ever read any of the 1970s Atlas comics!



And, as always, we start with the cover, painted by George Torjussen. I'm not sure what monster is supposed to be portrayed here, to be honest!



Page 2 features one of those "get rich quick" ads that littered comics for the longest time, and of course, page 3 has the table of contents and credits: Publisher Charles Goodman, Editor-In-Chief Jeff Rovin, Art Director John Chilly, Assistant Edtior Richard Meyers, Production Manager Steve Mitchell, Editorial Staff Gary Gerani, Carl Macek, and Keith Morris, and the cover credit.

Jeff Rovin would go on from his stint at Atlas/Seaboard to author or co-author many books, including the Encyclopedia of Super-Heroes, the Encyclopedia of Super-Villains, and the Encyclopedia of Monsters! Steve Mitchell's name rings a bell, but I can't place him. And is that Carl Macek the same guy who eventually brought Robotech to the USA?



And with page 4, we start out with the first article of the issue, and as you can see, it covers Ray Harryhausen's 20 Million Miles to Earth! Lavishly illustrated, the article details how Ray came to make the movie, and briefly summarizes the movie.









It's a pretty decent -- and lengthy -- article, and I find myself wondering why the heck it didn't end up being cover-featured!

Next time around, some ads, and Lon Chaney, Jr.!

By the 10's: Jungle Comics!

OK, I don't believe I've read any of these, so I'll just present the covers, and only m make the occasional comment!


Issue 10


Issue 20 -- Is Kaanga supposed to be trying to stop that leopard? Because he overshot!


Issue 30 - Don't try to resolve in your head how this pose would work out in three dimensions...


Issue 40 - Lots of trouble with leopards and black panthers in Kaanga's jungle... maybe they take offense at all the leopardskin clothing worn by the humans?


Issue 50's cover makes me tempted to make an outrageous pun about the rhino, but I won't...


Issue 60 - I'm not sure how smart it is to fire an arrow into one's enemy when they're holding one's girlfriend over a cliff... unless one is trying to rid oneself of one's girlfriend.


Issue 70 - Man, whoever runs this zoo or arena not only feeds their lions humans, they stack the skulls into nice neat piles when they're finished with 'em!


Issue 80 - more black panther trouble!


Issue 90


Issue 100, with special cover guest-star Rick Baker! Would you believe Bob Burns?
(if you don't get the references, Google those names)


Issue 110 - Kaanga's being pushed off the cover of his own book!


Issue 120 - Something's wrong with that woman's breasts, seriously!


Issue 130


Issue 140


Issue 150 - if I were a comics editor and I was blurbing "Rhino Rampage" on the over, I think I would've included at least one rhino on said cover...


Issue 160 - and Kaanga's nemeses, the leopards and black panthers, are teaming up against him!

I don't know why they bothered... three issues later was the last issue of Jungle!

Jon