Babe of the Geek: Melissa Benoist!

This time around, Babe of the Geek turns the spotlight on TV's Supergirl, Melissa Benoist. Melissa has really made the role her own after just one season (with the second one coming very soon, I believe). She's at once sexy and adorable, intelligent and determined... every inch a Supergirl!

I have to admit, while I thought she was attractive, it wasn't until I saw the pilot episode that I realized she could, indeed, pull off the role... and not only on the small screen, but in real life, too! Somewhere here you'll find a picture of Melissa with some Girl Scouts, in costume!

Melissa was born in Houston, Texas, but raised in Littleton, Colorado. She has two full sisters and five half-siblings. She graduated from high school in 2007, and from college in 2011. While going to college, she made her first film appearance in Mariah Carey's Tennessee in 2008. She made guest appearances in single episodes of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Blue Bloods, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and The Good Wife in 2010, guested in two episodes of Homeland in 2011, and appeared in the movie Whiplash in 2014.

In May, 2012, she auditioned for Glee in New York, singing a different song for each of her five auditions, followed by two screen tests. From this, she was cast as Marley Rose in Glee, appearing in 42 episodes, starting in the fourth season and finishing up in the fifth season. After that she made appearances in the movies Danny Collins, The Longest Ride, and Band of Robbers before being cast as Supergirl, fitting in the movie Lowriders in there somewhere. She will be seen in Patriots Day this year, and in Sun Dogs and Billy Boy in 2017.




In order to study up for the role of Supergirl, she started reading the New 52 Supergirl comic book. When she appeared on the Ellen Degeneres Show, Ellen gave her Superman-styled costumes for each of her dogs (one of whom was coincidentally named Otis, the same as Lex Luthor's sidekick in the Superman films).  She's cited Susan Sontag and Gloria Steinem as inspirations for her role as Supergirl. She once said, "I was a DC fan, not so much of the comics. I loved Michael Keaton's Batman. I grew up with those movies." She's noted that it's impossible not to feel empowered when donning her costume.

Two things she has in common with Helen Slater (who was the first live-action Supergirl, and plays Supergirl's adoptive mother in the TV series) is that they're both 5'8" tall and are both actually brunettes who dyed their hair blonde for the role. 


In June 2016, Melissa and others told the stories of people killed in the 2016 Orlando gay nightclub shooting in a video released by the Human Rights Campaign. She was nominated for the 2013 Teen Choice Awards for Choice TV Breakout Star for Glee, and nominated for the 2016 Saturn Awards for Best Actress on a Television Series (winning it for Breakthrough Performance Award) for Supergirl. 

Melissa married her former Glee co-star Blake Jenner in March, 2015... so she's obviously off the market, single geek guys! 

I'm sure I'm not the only geek looking forward to seeing what this season brings us on Supergirl, especially since rumor has it that it's going to be integrated in what's called the "Arrowverse," with crossovers already in the works!

Covers Redux!

Time for another edition of Covers Redux! Let's see if you can spot any changes in these covers when they were reprinted that I miss!

First up, here's Sgt. Fury #59 and the reprint in #155. As you can see, the cover was shifted down slightly, and the blurb was moved to make room for the UPC. It also appears to have been reduced a tiny bit and maybe some art added on the left. Note in the upper right corner that the explosion has been eliminated, and one of the paratroopers has had his chute finished in the revised art. But what's really interesting is that Fury and another Howler (Dino?) don't have parachutes attached to their harnesses anymore! The straps go up and disappear behind the logo on the reprint, and don't extend beyond that!


Next, Silver Surfer #8 and Fantasy Masterpieces (2nd series) #8. The cover's been reduced slightly, and the dot pattern has been removed. An all-new blurb was created and put in a different position, too.


Next, Amazing Spider-Man #70 and Marvel Tales #53. Obviously, the new cover dress design necessitated some changes, so the image was shifted down and cropped on top... and then someone decided to add some word balloons/bursts and a new blurb!


Here's Incredible Hulk #108 and the reprint from Marvel Super-Heroes #62. It looks like some changes were made to the art on the left side, and of course a new set of blurbs were added. The original cover looked so much better! Also note that the golden helmet (colored grey in the reprint) has been relocated! That's an odd decision to make. Note all that Juck's hand is in a different position. Actually, nick seems to have been moved slightly (he's now over the Hulk's hand), and I think the other guy was moved, too.


Amazing Spider-Man #133 and Marvel Tales #110... Slightly cropped on one side, but other than that, I don't see any changes.


Brand-new cover when Sgt. Fury #49 was reprinted in issue #144.


Likewise, when Fantastic Four #52 was reprinted in Marvel's Greatest Comics #39, an all-new cover (looks like by Gil Kane, although the inking is a bit off in places) was created!


A much better-inked Gil Kane cover was produced when X-mEn #32 was reprinted in issue #80... The new cover's better than the original, too, in my opinion!


Last one for this post, here's Incredible Hulk #113 and the reprint in Marvel Super-Heroes #87... an all-new cover was drawn by Herb Trimpe (I think the original was by Marie Severin). Same basic cover design, but I think this time, the new cover is a definite improvement on the original!

Children's Book Theater: Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids in "The Shuttered Window," Part 2!

And now, the conclusion!

Children's Book Theater: Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids in The Shuttered Window, Part 1!

Doing a two-day posting for this edition of Children's Book Theater, given the length of this one! As you no doubt recall, CBS and Filiation had a long-running hit on their hands in the 1970s and early 80s with Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, which not only featured animated versions of the characters from Bill Cosby's standup routines, but also live inserts with Cosby himself! It's very disappointing to me to think about how this show promoted such pro-social messages, and then today, word comes out that Cosby himself was very likely being a very terrible person even at this time!

Hopefully, knowing what we know now of Cosby won't change your enjoyment of this edition, however... Dell apparently published several books based on episodes of the TV show under their Dell Color Yearling imprint, and I'm sure these appeared at the same time as the Gold Key comic book series. This is the only one of the books I've found to date, and it's titled, "The Shuttered Window."

Sci-Fi Pulp Cover Gallery!

Let's see what I've got on tap for today!

OK, this isn't quite a pulp, although the magazine did start in that era. Still, this is a very groovy cover on the March, 1973 issue of Amazing!