Character Collectible Spotlight: Green Lantern!

Green Lantern, of course, was never made as a Mego... but if he had been, here's what one customizer thought he would've looked like! Real GL collectibles after the jump!

The Indexible Hulk #30!

Issue: Tales to Astonish #74

Title: “The Wisdom of the Watcher!”

Credits: Written by Stan Lee, layouts by Jack Kirby, finished pencils by Bob Powell, inks by Mike Esposito (as Mickey Demeo), letters by Sam Rosen.

Supporting Cast: None

Villain: The Leader, unknown alien.

Hulk Intelligence: Getting back to “normal” quickly!

Guest-Stars: The Watcher.

Plot: The Hulk and the alien who was also after the Watcher's device begin to battle! Although the Watcher will not interfere, he doesn't wish his equipment damaged, so he teleports the two of them far away! As the fight continues, Banner starts to feel his control slipping away, and the Hulk's personality reasserting itself. The two battle on land and sea, and at one point, it appears the alien has won... but the Hulk emerges, and stuns the alien before throwing him away into space! However, the Watcher intervenes and sends the alien back to his home world. By this time, the Hulk is pretty much back to savage brute. The Watcher sends the Hulk back to the Watcher's home, where he picks up the globe. Then, the Leader causes the Hulk to return to Earth. Upon arrival, the Leader snatches the globe from the Hulk and dons it. The globe will give him the knowledge of all the universe, but it's too much for the Leader, who falls to the ground! The Hulk decides the Leader is dead!

Invention Exchange: The Watcher's knowledge globe.

Reprinted In: Incredible Hulk Special #3, Incredible Hulk (Simon & Schuster 1978), Essential Hulk #1.

Notes: Adapted as episode 21 of the 1966 Hulk animated series. As noted last time around, this whole story is predicated on the idea that the Watcher keeps a home on a distant planet – also that he watches more worlds than just the Earth. This seems to be contrary to what we've come to expect from Uatu, who seems to focus on Earth.

The Beatles Cartoon, Episode 3!

This episode begins with "Please Mister Postman," and opens with the Beatles walking down a street, complaining that they're starving, because Ringo spent every last cent they had with them... on 15 rings! Paul insists that Ringo hand them over so they can pawn them, but Ringo lost them shaking hands with autograph collectors ("You mean ring collectors," John corrects him). John decides they're going to have to telegraph Brian for money (kind of a nice surprise that they even mention Brian Epstein here)!

Later, at the telegraph office, they discover that they can't even send a telegram for money, because they haven't the money to pay for the telegram! But then they spot a nearby Cannibal Telegraph Service, where they communicate via drumbeats, using hollow tree trunks. Ringo sits down and starts calling the local operator, but she tells Ringo all lines are busy. Next, he tries long distance, gets to Brian's secretary who promises to send the money, but then the operator wants ten pounds, because Ringo forgot to reverse the charges! George offers to give her ten pounds -- with a stick!

Later, as they wait, they try getting a coconut to eat, but the one they pick is empty (and labeled "No deposit, no return"). Next, they spot a monkey feeding an elephant, and Ringo tries to get fed, too, but it's no dice! Next, they find some eggs, but then realize they're alligator eggs, and run away! Finally, they see a young lad eating a full turkey dinner being fed to him by his mother, and hope maybe they can get some scraps, but the boy is eating every single speck, save for a spot of gravy which they fight over.

By the way, in this short, we've already seen cannibals, an elephant and a monkey, and now this -- and there are clearly tall buildings in the background. Where the heck are the Beatles, anyway?

Later, despite their hunger, the Beatles are dedicated to appearing at the charity performance they're booked for, the show must go on! And so, they begin playing "Please Mr. Postman" (which has the last verse edited out). Outside the theater, the postman is arriving with a letter for them, and must fight his way through the crowd of screaming girls. Finally, the song ends and the postman gets to the stage, where he hands the letter to John, who opens it -- but it's not from Brian, it's from Liverpool Light Company, it's final notice, pay now or their lights go off! Ringo says not to worry, they're a million miles away from Liverpool, but then the lights go off in the theater they're playing in!

Next up, it's the sing-along portion of the show! This time, John is introducing, with Ringo (of course) being the prop man! Since John describes the song as a real "jump tune," Ringo pops off-stage and then back, this time dressed as a paratrooper! John asks Ringo to take a flying leap, and Ringo jumps off the stage! Suddenly, Ringo's body starts rising upwards, with the parachute opened before, and Ringo says, "Wouldn't you know it? I had my blinking parachute on upside down!"

So then, the song starts, "If I Fell." The song begins as normal, but the first regular verse is edited out! However, all the lyrics are correct on-screen, so that's a good thing! The pictures accompanying this song involve a little girl and her doll for the most part, without much of the Beatles on-screen themselves!

John then introduces the next song (complaining that some of the kids were hardly singing at all, as we've come to expect). John calls Ringo again, and says he'd like the stage decorated in a way to make the folks join in, and Ringo goes off, and comes back in dressed as a WWI soldier pulling a cart with an Uncle Sam "I Want You" poster on it! John really gets on Ringo's case here, and quite literally beats him up!

And so, the song begins, "Do You Want to Know a Secret," and the accompanying pictures have no Beatles -- lots of hearts, flowers, a stylized Hofner Violin Bass Guitar (like Paul uses), and some floating eyes, but no Beatles! And only one minor lyric goof... in the middle eight, the screen shows "I've known the secret for a week or two," but what George actually sings is, "I've known the secret for the week or two." Which doesn't really make much sense, changing the article, but there you go!

The final segment is based on "Devil In Her Heart," and it opens at the Transylvania Picnic Grounds, where George and Ringo are relaxing with a picnic casket. Yes, I meant casket. George opens it, and there's heart of artichokes, French fried potatoes, blood sausages made with real blood, all of which make Ringo lose his appetite (curious that George then pulls out a sandwich that wasn't mentioned, and starts eating it). Ringo decides to go for a stroll, and George warns him that there's some strange things going on around there. Ringo says, "Oh, you and your silly superstitions." Besides, he's got his magic ring on to ward off evil spirits. Ringo walks off, but George can't help worrying about him.

Ringo finds himself in a spooky forest after a while, and decides he needs to go back to George (who, according to Ringo, "Always needs someone to look after him, poor lad."). Unfortunately, Ringo can't remembe the way! Fortunately, someone approaches -- a headless horseman carrying a skull instead of a pumpkin! Ringo asks if he knows the way, but the horseman replies that he's never had a head for directions, and rides off laughing!

Ringo flips a coin to decide which path to take, but when the coin is in midair, it sprouts batwings, and flies off! Ringo chases after it, running into the side of a witch's house! The witch falls for Ringo immediately, and invites him inside for some soup. When Ringo tries to demur, she pulls him in through the window! Ringo's not thrilled at the idea of marrying the witch, but she demonstrates she'd make a good wife by spelling up a feast, sews up some clothes, and flies her broom around.

Ringo still declines, so the witch decides to prepare a special brew to cause him to come under her control! She fills a squirt gun with it, and gets ready to shoot it into Ringo's mouth, but Ringo runs off as she pulls the trigger (the brew hits the chair Ringo was sitting on, making the chair fall in love with another chair, and chasing after it), and the song starts! As Ringo runs, the witch keeps missing him, and finally whisks him up on her broom and tosses him back into her cottage as the song ends!

The witch paints a heart on Ringo and prepares to hit him with her brew, but then there's a knock at the door! It's George! But the witch doesn't let him in... she starts walking towards Ringo, but trips and falls into her pot! Ringo lets George in, and thanks him for saving him from a fate worse than death... but then the witch emerges from the pot, transformed from an ugly witch to a sexy one! Ringo's eyes bug out, and he starts chasing the witch around! George remarks, "Teenagers! I'll never understand them!"

Of course, anyone who's a fan of classic Looney Tunes will realize that a similar thing happened in a Bugs Bunny cartoon with Witch Hazel, with Bugs transforming her into a sexy witch, too! Odd that George should make the "teenagers" comment, as Ringo was well into his 20s at the time this show was made!

Still, these were some fun cartoons, although I'm a bit weirded out by John beating up Ringo in the singalong portion -- that's just not right for Saturday mornings, and not right for John! It's bad enough that there's constant "Stupid Ringo" jokes, but fortunately the last cartoon had none of those. And yes, I'm still trying to get accustomed to the voices being given to the Beatles here... one of these days, I may just break down and re-record the sound on one of these cartoon segments and replace the vocal tracks with voices sounding more like the Beatles themselves (I can do a decent John and a passable George myself).

Cool Stuff!

First up in this edition of "Cool Stuff" is this Bugaloos lunchbox!

Famous Monsters #34!

Comic Book Ads!

From Hanna-Barbera Fun-In #9, here's a full-page ad for Kenner's SSP Racers, and I think that maybe my family got into these later than I remembered, because I definitely recall that we had the Black Widow!

Kirby Kovers!

You know, it's a good thing I stopped trying to number these, given that when I was checking back on the last one, I discovered I'd missed at least one number already!

Anyway, here's this installment's first cover, and it's Mister Miracle #11! You may recall I've made a big deal about how Kirby liked to use triangles in his cover designs? I see a few here -- the pole, Mr. Miracle, and the smoke form sides of a triangle (although with the lowest corner cut off). This is a great cover, because it doesn't look like there's any possible way Scott Free could escape this trap!

Cliffhanger! King of the Rocket Men, Chapter 10!

The Monkees, Season 1, Episode 4: "Your Friendly Neighborhood Kidnappers"!

This episode of The Monkees was written by Dave Evans (who would write seven more episodes), and directed by James Frawley. The songs performed in this episode are (once again) "Last Train to Clarksville" and "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone," both written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, as well as "Let's Dance On," also by the duo. "Steppin' Stone" would appear on "More of the Monkees," while "Clarksville" and "Let's Dance On" are both on "The Monkees." Guest stars in this episode are Andre Phillippe as Trump, Victor Tayback as George, David Hull as the Contest Manager, Ken Del Conte as Swine #1, and Louis Quinn as Horace.

CBT: Shiny as a Droid!

Cover Redux!

First up in this installment of "Cover Redux," we have Sgt. Fury #46, and the reprint from issue #141! All I can spot for changes here are that the cover was reduced overall, and art added on the left and cropped on the right, and then the soldiers on the bottom were actually cut out (from a stat, I'm guessing) and moved to the right! Aside from coloring, do any of you have other changes to add?

Dog of the Geek: Brian Griffin!

Breed: White Labrador

Original Appearances: Family Guy (Fox Broadcasting 1998-2001, Cartoon Network/Adult Swim 2004-Present)

Other Appearances: Straight-to-DVD specials, videogame, pinball game, books, and much more. He's also guest-starred on American Dad.

Biography: Brian Griffin is the pet dog of the Griffin family in Quohog, RI. He was born on a farm in Austin, Texas, one of a litter of five puppies by Biscuit and Coco. He was abandoned by his mother (Brian would later blame his cocaine habit on this), and somehow made his way to Rhode Island to attend Brown University (being one class short of graduating). He also served in the Peace Corps before meeting Peter. Apparently, Brian has spent so much time with the Griffins that he thinks of himself as human more than canine, having dated several human women (although he did sire a puppy with Seabreeze, a prize dog owned by Lois Griffin's father. Brian is a smoker and an alcoholic, but is well-cultured despite this. His dog instincts still have a tendency to kick in, though, especially when it would be most humiliating for him. Even though Peter considers Brian to be his closest friend, Brian ends up being paired off at least as often with youngest Griffin Stewie (the baby evil genius).

Powers: Ability to walk upright and speak. Apparently also to be able to get a driver's license.

Group Affiliation: Griffin family.

Miscellaneous: Brian Griffin is voiced by Family Guy series creator Seth MacFarlane, using his natural speaking voice.

It Oughtta Be...

...a store!

Okay, this is going to be the weirdest installment of this yet, because I'm clearly breaking my own rules here. This is not asking for someone to adapt something from one medium into another, oh, no! This installment is asking for someone to take my idea and give it life... LIFE!

What is it? The ultimate monster store. Picture it in your mind... racks and racks of DVDs of all the classic monster movies that nobody else ever seems to carry, as well as some not-so-classic ones. An entire wall of monster masks all year 'round. Boxes of monster comics and monster magazines for your perusal. Shelves of monster models and action figures. T-shirts, posters, and more!

Call it "Monster World," if you want, I don't care. Have a theater attached to it that shows monster movies on the weekends.

And put it somewhere that can support it, so that I can come out to see it brought to life, somewhere like Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, New York, etc.

I want this to be the kind of store that I walk into and immediately think, "There is no way I brought anything close to the amount of money I'll want to spend here."

Cool Stuff!

Going to finally finish up the Hanna-Barbera stuff this time, and then get into something else!



Yogi Punch-Out Book!

Comics They Never Made!

Here's another round of my fictitious "Drive-In Movie Classics" comics!