Cover Redux!

First up this time, it's Incredible Hulk #152, and the reprint in Marvel Super-Heroes #100. This time, the art was enlarged a bit, the top box was removed and new burst lines were added, plus the blurb on the bottom was reduced to make room for the UPC code.

Famous Monsters #44!

Rest in Peace, Krosby

Yesterday, at about 5:30 pm, we took Krosby, our two year old boxer, to the vet to be put to sleep. It was a difficult decision to make, but we know it was for the best. As I'd written the other day, Krosby's vertebrae in his spine had started to fuse together, which not only made it difficult for him to move, it was also causing him to shake, his breathing would get labored, and he didn't have the energy he used to have. For the past week, he'd mostly been laying on the couch, and we had to really work to get him to eat even once a day. He'd been on painkillers, which would help ease the pain enough that he could get up and walk around for a little bit, but even just during the past few days while I'd been home, I could see that he was continuing to get worse.

The only future he was going to have was to get more and more uncomfortable, and we couldn't stand to see him suffer any longer. I had to carry him out to the van to take him to the vet, and once we got there, the kids waited out in the lobby while Jessi and I were in the room. Jessi went to wait with the kids while I stayed with Krosby as the vet injected him with the sedative to put him out of his misery.

I'm still upset about this today, and as I'm writing this, I'm still on the verge of tears. It's not fair that this happened to him, dammit! He was so full of energy before, happy, playful... he didn't live anything close to a full life. Jessi and I had expected that we were going to go through this with KO and Krypto long before Krosby was going to be gone... but I guess that's the way things happen sometimes.

I'm an agnostic in my beliefs... but if there is any kind of afterlife for dogs, I hope Krosby has found his own Elysian Fields where he's running and playing and happy again.

Here are some photos of Krosby from happier times... and that's how we're trying to remember him.













Rest in peace, Krosby... you deserved so much better than this. You were loved, and you are missed.

The Monkees, Season One, Episode 10 - "Here Come the Monkees"

This episode was written by Paul Mazursky and Larry Tucker, and directed by Mike Elliott. Songs featured in the episode are "I Wanna Be Free" and "Let's Dance On," both written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart. Both songs were included on the Monkees' self-titled debut album, but a second version of "I Wanna Be Free" (which appears first in the episode) would have to wait for official release until Missing Links, Vol. 2. Guest-starring in this episode were Bing Russell (who could also be seen in The Deadly Mantis as a state trooper, a radio operator in The Land Unknown, as Robert in The Magnificent Seven, two episodes of the original Twilight Zone, an episode of The Munsters, as Dan "Red" Thorpe in Billy the Kid Vs. Dracula, an episode of I Dream of Jeannie, the race track starter in the original The Love Bug, Deputy and later Sheriff Clem Foster on Bonanza, and his last genre-related role was as a Club Ritz Patron in Dick Tracy. He's the father of Kurt Russell), Jill Van Ness, Richard St. John (he'd appeared in episodes of Mister Ed, Hazel, and a tv short based on Dick Tracy, probably the unaired pilot), Robyn Millan (she was Roz on The Patty Duke Show, and also guested on episodes of Mission: Impossible, The Partridge Family, The Magician, and Tucker's Witch), episode writers Mazursky and Tucker, Joe Higgins (he'd guested on a Twilight Zone in 1962, played Nils Swenson on The Rifleman, played Mr. L.C. Porett in Flipper and Flipper's New Adventure, guested on episodes of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, I Dream of Jeannie, My Favorite Martian, Daktari, It's About Time, two other episodes of The Monkees -- "The Prince and the Paupers" and "Find the Monkees" -- and played Sheriff Chuck Bevans on Sigmund and the Sea Monsters), and June Whitley Taylor (who'd guested on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, The Lone Ranger, Mister Ed, The Flying Nun, The New Adventures of Wonder Woman, The Incredible Hulk (1977), Rescue from Gilligan's Island, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, and appeared in four episodes of Alice).

This 'N That Time!

How long has it been since I've done one of these?

ITEM! As this is being written (yesterday for posting today), I'm enjoying some home time, always a nice break from the road. Can you believe it's been a year since I left for truck driving training in Salt Lake City? Since then, I've changed the company I was working for, and have accumulated nearly a year of experience. Unfortunately, I'm also still dealing with the injuries I sustained from being rear ended in June and July of last year, because I can't get to the chiropractor for regular treatments. Overall, I suppose things are going well enough with the truck driving, although I still hate being away from home for so long. I'm hoping in a few weeks to be able to start applying for positions with other companies that will at least get me home every weekend, if not every night.

ITEM! Speaking of truck driving, I'm very seriously considering working up a documentary/video diary the next time I'm on the road. It would be shot entirely with my iPhone and iPad, and basically will have me on-camera summarizing each day on the road, telling where I've been, what kind of situations I've had to deal with, and so forth. Of course, I'll have to edit the various pieces together during hometime, so it may be a few weeks after the last day of "filming" before I have a finished video available to show. I'll be uploading it to both YouTube as well as on Facebook once it's done.

ITEM! One of the ways I keep myself from going crazy on the road is to make sure my iPad is filled with videos and comics. During my last time on the road, I completely ran out of videos to watch and comics to read, because I was out for so long (I took some hometime in Pennsylvania, where my wife's family lives, and Jessi and the kids flew out there)! Even after purchasing some books in Pennsylvania, I still ended up reading all of those before I was home again! But I'm making sure it's fully loaded for the next time I'm out.

ITEM! For those of you who have been wondering, Krypto is back to his old self again, having come through his surgery and illness from a few months back. Sadly, I can't say the same for Krosby, the youngest of our three boxers. He spent a few days at an animal hospital after Jessi noticed he wasn't well, and x-rays showed that several vertebrae have started fusing together. For the time being, we've been giving him pain medication to help with the pain, but the sad truth of the matter is that there's really nothing that can be done for him other than pain medications. He definitely isn't acting like the happy, energetic dog that he once was. It's a tough decision to make, but we'll probably be deciding over the next few days to have him put to sleep so that he won't continue to suffer. This is apparently something that can happen with boxers (although this is the first we've ever heard of it, and we've known a lot of boxer owners over the years).

ITEM! While the ultimate future of this blog is still unclear, I am happy to report that weekday postings have been done through September of this year. Unfortunately, some features have yet to make their reappearance (such as the Beatles cartoons and Popeye reviews), but at least there won't be a gap other than on the weekends. Next on the agenda is preparing the annual Halloween Countdown features, and RAOG will be returning to daily status for that, as I don't want to miss a day! The blog will be taken over with appropriate features, such as Monster Stuff (you know, like Cool Stuff but with monster-related items), Horror Comics (which is why the Comic Reading Library posts have stayed away from horror comics during the summer for the most part), Monster Magazines, as well as the a Comics They Never Made feature with my faked-up horror comic covers. I hope you'll stick with RAOG through the month of October, because there's always a chance of some non-monster bonus features popping up!

Cool Stuff BONUS! Battlestar Galactica Cards!

Figured I'd make this a separate entry for your convenience!

Cool Stuff!

First up this time around is the Golden Press edition of the Doc Savage novel "Death in Silver." Golden Press did at least two Doc Savage books, and I used to have them both back when I had a collection of Doc books (sadly, I sold them way underpriced about ten or so years ago, when I was out of work).

Comic Book Ads!

First up in this installment of Comic Book Ads, here's a house ad that originally appeared in Blue Beetle V4 #5, pushing Charlton's Hercules book as well as Space Adventures! Remind me one of these days to write about the Hercules stuff, okay?


From the same issue, here's an ad for Art Instruction Schools... that's not the most impressive art for an art school ad, is it? Although I suppose for commercial art vs. comic book art, it's probably about right!


Moving on, here's an iron-on transfer ad from Gold Key's Bugs Bunny #177.... I always like to spotlight these ads when I come across them, even if they don't always differ too much. I'd still love to get the Hulk, Popeye, and Spider-Man iron-ons featured here!


The Sea Monkeys ad on the bottom of this page is pretty much what we've seen before... but the "Skitoons" ad on the top is all-new to me. Does anyone know about these?


Next, we go to this ad from the inside front cover of Buster Crabbe #2... not much to say about this one!


Another one from the same issue... the top half is an ad from the same company that had the inside front cover ad... but the Buster Crabbe picture offer is something else, isn't it? Funny how the photo is obviously hand-colored for this ad!


The same issue also included this full-page subscription offer!


Was it ever really a craze to wear Foreign Legion hats?



Here's another couple of ads from 3 Flags Trading Corp... they were into a lot of stuff, weren't they?

Hopefully, starting in the next installment of Comic Book Ads, I'll be doing something a bit different... ads from old Fawcett comics, but grouped together so you can check out multiple ads from the same advertiser!