|
|
Post by beccabear67 on Aug 30, 2018 22:21:59 GMT -5
My plans to read along got shanghaied after #26. #27 is still delayed but also a lot of real life stuff has appeared to take away time from me. I'll bookmark and come back when I get the chance to catch up.
|
|
|
|
Post by beccabear67 on Aug 30, 2018 22:25:37 GMT -5
p. The Defenders letters page offers up some interesting names, in the Guardian issues: Issue 27 has one from a J. Marc DeMatteis. DeMatteis later wrote The Defenders comic. He's one of my favorite comic writers between The New Defenders and Moonshadow. |
|
|
|
Post by badwolf on Aug 31, 2018 10:34:45 GMT -5
p. The Defenders letters page offers up some interesting names, in the Guardian issues: Issue 27 has one from a J. Marc DeMatteis. DeMatteis later wrote The Defenders comic. He's one of my favorite comic writers between The New Defenders and Moonshadow. DeMatteis was on the book when I started reading it regularly, so that era is kind of "my" Defenders. Though I have read many back issues since and I do love Gerber. I think we're coming up on the one Gerber issue I did read as a kid. |
|
|
|
Post by dbutler69 on Aug 31, 2018 13:48:41 GMT -5
Thoughts: That's a bit more like it! After an inauspicious start in GS Defenders #5, Gerber gets things back on track. He also officially ties the Guardians into the alternate future of Killraven and the War of the Worlds (which was going strong, at the time, with awesome P Craig Russell art). Meanwhile, Jack Norris is a complete tool. I could sympathize with the guy, if Gerber didn't make him out to be a complete whiny jerk, which just gets multiplied over time. Next up, the debut of Starhawk. And he doesn't look much like Stallone! Yeah, I couldn't stand Jack Norris. what an annoying character. It's been a few years since I've read these, but I remember waiting for the moment when he was no longer in the series. |
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Aug 31, 2018 23:42:12 GMT -5
Thoughts: That's a bit more like it! After an inauspicious start in GS Defenders #5, Gerber gets things back on track. He also officially ties the Guardians into the alternate future of Killraven and the War of the Worlds (which was going strong, at the time, with awesome P Craig Russell art). Meanwhile, Jack Norris is a complete tool. I could sympathize with the guy, if Gerber didn't make him out to be a complete whiny jerk, which just gets multiplied over time. Next up, the debut of Starhawk. And he doesn't look much like Stallone! Yeah, I couldn't stand Jack Norris. what an annoying character. It's been a few years since I've read these, but I remember waiting for the moment when he was no longer in the series. He stuck around a long time, too; well after Gerber and into David Anthony Kraft's run. Looking at things again, Val is hardly sympathetic to his loss, which kind of casts her in a bad light; but, he is so demanding and venomous about it, you don't really sympathize with him. I was never overly fond of how Gerber or most of the rest portrayed Valkyrie, as they never tried to humanize her much. Kind of hard to relate to a character like that, which was always a problem I had with Thor. |
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Sept 1, 2018 8:08:11 GMT -5
Defenders #32 Creative Team: Gerber, Buscema & Mooney, Goldberg, Costanza and Wolfman Synopsis: After Nighthawk attacked everyone, while Chondu's brain was inside him, Doc has turned to a rather extreme specialist; the Son of Satan...  Damon comes up a cropper, telling Doc it's not demonic possession ('cause there is no such thing, no matter what con artists like Benny Hinn claim). He scampers off and Doc uses the old Eye of Agamotto (shoulda started with that) which reveals Chondu's face. Jack Norriss recognizes him from the Vermont State Fair and yells at Valkyrie to remember, too. (This is why he is such a tool; even when he is helping, he's an ass). Hulk asks where Bird-Nose is, if this is Chondu. We cut to the precise place, where his brain is sitting in a bowl. Morgan and Nagan are arguing when Nagan introduces the latest addition to the Headmen, Ruby Thursday, a sexy woman in an over-done bathing suit and a reflecting ball for a head... .jpg) She demonstrates her ability to mold her plastic head into all kinds of shapes and forms, which creeps out Morgan (the guy with the sagging face). Back at the Sanctum, Doc uses the ol' crystal ball to find Kyle and discovers that his brain was removed from his body. The gang sets off to find it, while Kyle undergoes a mystical trip to the past.  There, we learn that Kyle was a rich brat, whose mother died, while his father was abroad. When he came home, e stuck Kyle in boarding school, and we get Gerber's version of the movie, If. Kyle goes to college, F's up, gets his girlfriend killed, expelled, drafted; but, a heart murmur keeps him from going to "Nam. Pop dies in a plane crash and he inherits everything and lets Pennyworth run things (we know how that turned out). He joins the Squadron Sinister and the Grandmaster fixes the heart problem, with the potion that doubles his strength, at night. Then we are back.   The Defenders show up in Connecticut and find the house of the Headmen and are welcomed by some glowing figure, which explodes, taking out all, including the Hulk. It was Ruby. Weird thing is, Nighthawk was with them and it wasn't Chondu! Thoughts: This one ranges a bit; but, the central look at Kyle's pathetic life is revealing. He was Richie Rich, minus the friends and gets dumped in boarding school, only to be bullied. He used money to get in and out of trouble, leading him to the Squadron Sinister. The Defenders are what has finally made him grow up. During the whole thing, we see Kyle as a child, dressed as Nighthawk. Meanwhile, Ruby is both oddly attractive and creepy as all hell. The missing head and featureless plastic ball is really unsettling, almost as much as Crumb's headless woman. Ruby turns out to be even more powerful than the other two schlubs. Great, horrifying character! The letters page has one from a Jo Duffy, who takes Gerber to task for the ending of Defenders 29; or more precisely, Jack Norriss' involvement. She likens him to Rick Jones, though Rick was at least useful, if annoying. See kids, the way to a job at Marvel was to be a letterhack! That probably also explains why there was so little real growth in their comics, for the next couple of decades. Well, partially, anyway.
|
|
|
|
Post by badwolf on Sept 1, 2018 14:55:05 GMT -5
My first introduction to the Headmen was through that OHOTMU entry. I was instantly fascinated with them, they were so bizarre and horrific.
I don't really like the way Byrne draws Ruby...well, Ruby's head, so small, though I suppose it makes her even more disturbing looking; there's no way you can tell yourself it's just a mask.
|
|
|
|
Post by dbutler69 on Sept 1, 2018 16:02:10 GMT -5
Yeah, I couldn't stand Jack Norris. what an annoying character. It's been a few years since I've read these, but I remember waiting for the moment when he was no longer in the series. He stuck around a long time, too; well after Gerber and into David Anthony Kraft's run. Looking at things again, Val is hardly sympathetic to his loss, which kind of casts her in a bad light; but, he is so demanding and venomous about it, you don't really sympathize with him. I was never overly fond of how Gerber or most of the rest portrayed Valkyrie, as they never tried to humanize her much. Kind of hard to relate to a character like that, which was always a problem I had with Thor. True, more so with Valkyrie than with Thor though, I think. Thor is rather princely, but I'm sure some people can relate to his squabbles with his old man, though. |
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Sept 2, 2018 21:54:00 GMT -5
Defenders #33 Creative Team: Gerber, Buscema & mooney; Annette Kawecki-letters, Phil Rachelson-colors, Marv is still hanging on. Synopsis: Bambi is looking into the Orb of Agomotto and he looks POd!  Turns out, when Doc discovered Chondu's brain in Nighthawk's body, he magiced another switcheroo, shifting Jack Norriss' brain (what there is of it) into Nighthawk's body and shifting Chondu into Bambi (not sure what happened to Bambi's brain; Gerber kind of ignores that point). He sees them arrive in Connecticut and get taken out by Riby Thursday. he tries to escape the Sanctum; but, soon learns that opposable thumbs are a pretty big luxury item, on the evolutionary scale. It's had to open doors using the mouth of a fawn!. Meanwhile, the gang is getting prepped for mind wipes, so Chandu can control them (except this is Jack Norriss in Nighthawk's body. It's getting so you need a program to tell whose brain is where). A couple go out in a canoe, in Central Park and run into......not, Elf With a Gun. they meet up with alien monsters, who drag them under the water and into a spaceship, which takes off. Um.....okay. Back is Connecticut, Nighthawk/Chondu/Jack is introduced to Ruby, who turns her head into Mick Jagger lips and plants one on him...  They adjourn to another room for a report and Jack tapdances and the Headmen prove even dumber than he is. he suckers them into spilling their plans and motivations. Meanwhile, Bambi/Chondo kicks his way through a Sanctum window and gets outside, only to be nabbed by the aliens and dumped with the rest of their victims. The Defenders wake up and aren't under Chondu's control' so, the Hulk goes nuts, Doc tries to calm him, Ruby attacks, it all goes pear-shaped, Doc spots the brain and Nighthawk/Jack grabs it and flies off. Ruby oozes something pink on the Defenders and the Headmen escape. nighthawk/Jack gets caught in the tractor beam from the alien ship and pulled inside, where he runs into Nebulon!  Thoughts: This just keeps getting weirder. The Headmen, took Kyle's brain out of his body and put Chondu's in it, allowing him to control it. Doc spots it and reveals Chou is inside. he then conducts magical brain transplants, puttin Chondu into Bambi and inserting Jack's feeble mind into Nighthawk's body. Bambi's brain gets lost in the shuffle and we are supposed to ignore the fact that Chondu's physical brain is actually in Kyle's body, not just his consciousness residing there. Doc may have removed the consciousness of Chondu; but, his actual brain tissue is still there. everyone is worrying about Kyle's brain, yet no one gives a thought to poor Bambi! The alien bit and Nebulon is kind of a pointless distraction, other than to turn this even weirder than it is; and, when you have a smoking hot female body with a reflector ball head, which turns into giant wax Jagger lips to kiss Nighthawk, who is Jack Norris and not Chondu or Kyle Richmond, you ain't gettin' much weirder! well, unless Bambi's mind ended up in Elf With a Gun's body and went on a rampage, killing hunters! All I know is that the weirdness looks pretty good, with Buscema and Mooney meshing well.
|
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Sept 2, 2018 22:52:08 GMT -5
Defenders #34 Creative Team: Gerber, Buscema & mooney; Iv Watanabe-letters, Irene Varatoff-colors, Marv Wolfman-laissez faire Synopsis: Okay, Chondu's brain is in Kyle's body; but, his consciousness is in Bambi, while Jack Norriss' consciousness is in Kyle's body, which is holding a bowl that contain's Kyle's brain. He's on Nebulon's ship, which happens to have Bambi, which has Chondu's consciousness in it and Bambi's is nowhere to be found. Nebulon explains what happened to him after his last appearance, and how he met up with the ludberdites, a race of fish people who feel it is their obligation to help lesser species and Nebulon says there is no species lesser than humans. Up yours, buddy! He dumps Jack/Nighthawk back in the hold, where Chondu/Bambi attacks him, until others stop him. Back in Connecticut, the homeowner whose house the Hulk previously smashed is laughing, until Hulk recognizes him and hurls a chunk of wall at the new framing of his in progress house repair. Now who's laughing? They head back to NY and find a carpenter and glazier at the Sanctum, repairing the damage done by Chondu/Bambi. Doc goes off to think and Hulk gives a lesson in labor relations, that involves a massive green paw and a pink, brittle face and the tradesmen get back to work without any more lip. A meteor crashes in the middle of New York and a little bald man walks out, offering to teach people how to travel like that. Hulk is passing buy and sense that this guy took Bambi. He's right, as the bald guys is Nebulon in disguise. They fight and Hulk gets sent away in a red sphere. Nebulon turns back into bald guy, opens his briefcase and offers his course in celestial mind control.  People snap it up and women find him attractive. Hulk smashes out of his buble, lands in the deserted streets, finds a flyer and goes to find smart-friend Magician. On the spaceship, Jack/Nighthawk and thehumans weaken, due to something. On Earth, Doc Val and a disguised Hulk (but not Banner) travel to a celestial mind control seminar, incognito.  They have to pass through a metal detector, which finds Val's hidden sword and one of the guy's wants to frisk her. Val tells him he will end up in a way that even a proctologist can't fix (well, Gerber says crushed wrist but my take sounds cooler.  ) They get seats up front and the bald dude starts his pitch. He tells everyone that they are Bozos and that they should reach under their seats and put on their real face, which they do.  They then go find Cookie and pull some kids from the audience for some games, show some cartoons and then have a parade. Then, WGN continues its programming day. Oh, wait, that was the Bozo Show, not the Bozo Seminar. My mistake. Doc gets called on stage to give his woes and he responds differently. Nebulon is revealed and the Hulk tries to smash. Nebulon reveals his Earth sampling, who act like zombies, chanting "Bozo" at people, Doc shields Nighthawk, then sense Chondu inside Bambi and he taps into Nebulon, who disappears. Thoughts: WTF? Bozos? Wat da hell is up wit dat? Why is Nebulon going through this whole charade? Well, it's Gerber satirizing the EST movement. EST stood for Erhard Seminars Training, which took place over twoo weekends, for 60 hours of intense schenanigans. They were marketed as training people to change their minds to alter their life situations for the better. They were barred from wearing watches and prevented from going to the bathroom, except during approved breaks. The advocates claimed that people were confronted with their repetitive negative behavior patterns, while others suggested it relfected a cult mentality and was akin to a form of mind control. One of the elements was Erhard (or a trainer) telling people that they were "a-holes, all". It was filled with controversy and ultimately subject to ridicule and attendance declined and it morphed into a new form, called The Forum. it was similar to methods used by Amway and other "motivational" and "improvement" schemes. The list of people who went through the seminars include the similar types who grasped at other gurus and malarky, including Scientology. Anyway, Gerber is mocking it (as did the film Semi-Tough). Whether it is brilliant satire, maturing a juvenile comic or mindless elf-indulgence, allowed by an uninvolved editor is up to interpretation. One thing is for sure; it is goofy and it is different. It's gonna get even weirder, before it is over! This is almost the kind of thing Monty Python would do, though their satire was a bit sharper than Gerber's trying to shoehorn this into a superhero book is a pretty tricky thing. Gerber was memorable in doing this; but, it wasn't exactly setting the world on fire, with sales. Still, it beats the same old hero/villain punch-em-up, which is why Gerber is remember more fondly then most of his contemporaries.
|
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Sept 3, 2018 15:39:21 GMT -5
Defenders #35 Creative Team: Gerber & Buscema, Klaus Janson-inks, John Costanza=letters, Petra Goldberg-colors, Marv Wolfman-figurehead-in-chief. I kid Marv. He was a damn fine writer and put together a pretty good line of black & white magazines, with greater freedom; bit, he was a flop as EIC, as was Len Wein, as was Gerry Conway, as was Archie Goodwin. They had no real power to do anything significant, to improve the line (such as royalties and financial incentives, merchandising, marketing, or anything else that would have made a difference). They pretty much left people to their devices, hoping it would lead to better investment; but, money has a way of improving things. Synopsis: Our story opens in the Soviet Union. We all know what life under the Soviet regime was like, right? The Worker's Paradise still has the same problems as the Decadent West; they just keep it quiet and handle it more brutally (and there was a lot more crime than Gerber and Wolfman would have us believe, on the opening page.) A man tries to mug a young woman and is rescued by....  Gee, he looks curvier than when he fought Captain America! RG beats up the mugger, then hightails it when the police show up to arrest her; 'cause....Communism! She gets to her secret lair, a small apartment, just in time for a call from Dr Strange, for Dr Tania Belinsky, whose help is needed in a small matter of (small) brains. She agrees to help and Doc then returns Jack Norriss' consciousness to his own, pathetic body. Hulk wants to find Bambi and storms off and Val and Jack go to help, while Doc watches over Kyle's brain. Meanwhile, the Headmen are doing something icky, with bodies under sheets, when Nebulon and Bambi pop in. Nebulon realizes that Bambi tapped into his brain, bringing them there and Bambi tells the weirdos that he is Chondu.  Nebulon buggers off (after Ruby hits on him) and they take Chondu to fix him up. Dr Belinsky arrives with diplomatic escort (read: KGB minders) and Doc makes with the pleasantries. Someone watches from the shadows (don't they always?). Hulk is at the zoo, lookking for Bambi and causing a ruckus, when Val and Jack catch up. Ruby returns Chondu's brain to his body and he wakes up to find that Nagan and Morgan made a few modifications...  He's slightly miffed about it. Doc and Doc Belinsky get on with the operation, after she mentions that her minders think she might defect, though she says she has no desire. Doc asks if they could be persuaded and she says she doesn't believe in magic. That, children, is called foreshadowing.........fore-sha-dow-ing........foreshadowing. Chondusnatches a body ( a high steel contruction worker) and is spotted by Jack and Val, after Hulk disappeared (which is covered in Omega the Unknown, we are told. hey, if I wanted to read that I would; stop trying to force the issue!). Chondu spots them, spazzes out and it's on!. The steeljack is dropped on a roof and Val and Chondu go at it. They drop through a roof, into a restaurant and Chondu burns Val with hot coffee. he then tries to gore her with his horn. Val has had enough, grabs him by the horn and knees him in the face. the police stop her from snapping his neck and she walks away. The cops tell her she is under arrest.  Thoughts: DON'T F*** WITH VALKYRIE! This stuff is great! The Headmen are a total bunch of losers (except Ruby), yet the Defenders are pretty much the superhero equivalent (especially Nighthawk). they deserve one another. This is why Gerber is so fun, here. He is just having a ball with misfits and weirdos, rather like the Marvel Bullpen, of the era (drugged out hippies and comic book misfits, with a few old timers grumbling about damn, dirty hippies). So, if you check the scorecard, Jack's mind is back in his body, Chondu is in his new altered body, in an artificial brain, Kyle still has Chondu's organic brain and Drs Strange and Belinsky are starting an operation to swap them out. Any questions? Red Guardian made her debut here. The original was a guy, who was the Soviet equivalent of Captain America and who got his but whooped. He had been tight with Black Widow. He didn't know from Tania Belinsky. Gerber and Wolfman would have you believe that crime was rare in the Soviet Union. There was tons of it; just not as openly as in the West. Repressive states never conquer crime, even if they treat it brutally. There is still black marketeering, murder and sex crimes. the Soviet Union had its share of serial killers; they just didn't advertise it in Pravda. Meanwhile, I really hated it when a character drops out of a series and we are told to check elsewhere to find out what happens. In the days before comic shops, digital downloads and the internet, we had to schlep around to different newsstands to find various comics. You couldn't find everything on one display and, often, you couldn't even find the next issue at the same newsstand, the following month (or two-months, depending on frequency). Hell, in the mid-70s, you were lucky if the store still carried comics the next month! If you were like me and lived out in the country, it was even harder. So all you whippersnappers who whine that your LCS forgot to pull your issue can try biking 10 miles to see if, maybe, the next issue is on the nearest stand, or drive 20 miles and check all over the next city to see who even carries comics and if they have DC and Marvel (Kirby help you for anything else); then wait 10 years to find a comic shop and dig through their boxes to find that issue you missed, if you can even remember the storyline! (through snow, both ways!)
|
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Sept 3, 2018 16:14:14 GMT -5
Defenders #36 Plant Man. Now we are getting to badass villains! Can Trapster be far behind? Creative Team: Gerber, Buscema and Janson; Joe Rosen on letter, Klaus colored it and Marv rubber stamped it. Mary Skrenes assisted Gerber with the script and they worked together on Omega The Unknown and Howard the Duck, where she created Beverly Switzer. She also collaborated by Steve Skeates, submitting scripts under just his name and under the name Virgil North, due to bad blood with Joe Orlando. Synopsis: We start out with a recap of Kyle richmond's past, from childhood to brain transplant and he wakes up to the face of Dr Tania Belinsky. She is about to tell Kyle of events, when three masked goons (with bandit eye masks, if you can believe it) show up to nab her. She promptly whoops their colelctive hides. meanwhile, Dr Strange is arranging for Tania to extend her stay in the country...  Doc is alerted to the commotion and finds the cops dragging out the three goons and Tania standing over Kyle. He is intrigued (and possibly aroused). Val is hauled into the police station and booked and despite what the cops usually see of women in skimpy outfits being booked in police stations, it is not for soliciting. Not many hookers fight monsters with swords, in crowded restaurants. Well, except in Tarantino films.  They get a call about a nut on a roof, demanding a vet. Turns out it is Jack, seeking treatment for the wounded Aragorn (hurt by Chondu). The landlord is up there, threatening him with a shotgun, when the Hulk shows up and throws him off the building! Luckily, there was a lower roof nearby. Jack tells him to shut up, before Hulk comes back for a snack. They hop away to get medical aid for the pegasus. Doc and Tania are eating in the hospital cafeteria (and Tania is probably missing Russian cooking, by this point) and see a newspaper feature on the Bozo seminars. We cut to three hoods who have decided to try it, to be better crooks. One is reluctant and walks off when cheerleaders start calling them Bozos.  The others get complimentary masks and he talks to plants. Val is accosted by the big tough gal of the holding cells and tries to be peaceable, then holds up her tormenter by the throat, with one hand and basically tells her who rules the block now. Doc brings Tania to his place; but, he gets a phone call before he can get out his Barry White records. He hears that Kyle has vanished from his room and heads out to find him, alerting the others; but, Val is in jail and Hulk is busy with hurt animals and ASPCA vets. Red Guardian follows and they see a beanstalk coming out of Kyle's room. Doc gets attacked by Plant man; but, RG comes to his aid, then gets knocked loopy. She wakes up to find Doc and Kyle, and herself, trapped inside a giant pod, on a giant vine, controlled by the Plant Man, who wants $50 million or Kyle gets it.  Thoughts: Bozo supervillain seminars, Plant Man, Hulk is back, Val is in a women-in-prison movie, and Doc and Red Guardian are gardening. Goofy stuff. Let's see Netflix adapt this! Things are kept intriguing, though it's mostly set up for the next issue. if one of the three goons was Plant Man, were the other two costumed thieves, as well? Doc casually uses mind control on the Soviet minders, which isn't exactly heroic; but, they're Commies, so it doesn't count! Had this been a non-Code book, I think the jail scenes would look a lot more like a Pam Grier movie. Or Sybil Danning. Either way, I'm pretty sure Sid Haig would be involved!
|
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Sept 3, 2018 16:40:33 GMT -5
Defenders #37 LUKE CAGE IN DA' HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Creative Team: same bunch, plus Ray Holloway on letters and Don Warfield on colors. Marv is still in the editor's chair. Shouldn't be too much longer. Synopsis: While the vet takes Aragorn inside the building, Hulk screams that they are taking horse away and the cops turn up, mad about the damage form some other comic (Omega #2, which I didn't read and Marv can send me a copy if he wants me to read it that badly!). He stomps off, destroying police choppers along the way. Jack hears about the hospital incident, over the police radio and hotfoots it to a phone booth (remember those?) to put in a call to my main man, Luke Cage! Doc finally blasts through the plant pod and magics Kyle back to his bed. He levitates himself and Red Guardian away and Plant Man fires giant spores at them, until Cage shows up and slaps the motha down!  Doc and Tania are being squeezed by the spores and Doc takes his time before freeing them (and thanking his costume designer for the big tunic) and magics them down below. Jack recognizes that RG isn't Val and asks where his wife is. Cage gets the best line when he responds that a lot of husbands are in that situation! We cut to Val in jail, when she is accosted by the big gal again, though she doesn't beat the crap out of her. val seems awfully weakened here. Plant Man hightails it back to the Bozo Seminar and finds his buddies shooting their old selves, which happen to look like the Eel and Porcupine. Yep, they were losers. He gets zapped by Nebulon, who is going to use them to attack the Defenders, so he doesn't get the blame. Everyone pays a visit on the mending Kyle and Tania and Cage have a debate about altruism and rent. Kyle puts Cage on retainer, then asks to speak with Doc alone. he is shaken by his experiences and asks if this is reality. Doc feeds him metaphysical mumbo-jumbo and leaves and remarks on Kyle finally finding his spiritual side, just in time to run into Eel and Porcupine in the corridor and get gassed. Thoughts: Well, that was fun. Plant Man is beaten easily, by Cage, though Doc, who has fought Dormamu, had trouble. Anyway, Cage is here for a while; so, put on some Curtis Mayfield and some Isaac Hayes and sit back for some groovin' action from the man himself. Honkeys beware! I still think Strange wants to play doctor with Tania!
|
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Sept 3, 2018 17:03:20 GMT -5
Defenders #38 Creative Team: Gerber, Buscema, Janson, Watanabe, Warfield and Wolfman Synopsis: Doc, Cage, and Red Guardian awake on some landscape, to the voice of Nebulon.  He makes some messianic rants, then ops out. Doc tries to magic them away and fails. They go into a cave, start a fire, and run into an ape monster. Jack tells Kyle about Doc being gassed and the Eeel & Porcupine and Celestial Mind Control and Kyle grabs his threads. Meanwhile, Val is attacked by Big Bertha (or whatever her name) in the prison cafeteria and gets hauled away by the guards. Wait, why is she in prison? She hasn't even been arraigned yet, let alone convicted or held over for trial. Someone call Bob Ingersoll! The stranded trio fight ape monsters and killer insects, while Kyle suits up as Nighthawk and heads for the Bozo house, crashing through their window. he gets attacked and handles himself pretty well. He confronts baldy, who sends him through a door, which leads him to the other-dimensional cave fight. Kyle alerts Doc and they head for the door. The Bozos try to hold it shut; but are no match for Doc, cage and Nighthawk. They bust through and meet up with Eel and Porcupine. While all of this goers on, a couple are riding in the Grand Canyon....  Back at the Bozo house, Doc and the boys (and gal) are attacked by the thugs and Cookie and Frazier Thomas (old WGN Chicago reference). Cage whoops some and grabs Eel, who shocks him and slips free. Porcupine attacks Nighthawk and gets kicked senseless. he crashes into Eel and takes him out. Doc disposes of the ape monster. They leave the Bozo house triumphant. Thoughts: Nice slugfest, while Val continues her prison movie. It is an all too common mistake of comics to ignore the legal process for crooks. Even Daredevil, which featured a lawyer, rarely handled it realistically. Motivational seminars for supervillains is not a bad plot hook. It also works well as a parody of EST. For you youngsters who don't get my reference, Family Classics was a staple of WGN, starting in 1962. it was created by Fred Silverman, who was an exec there, to run movies on Friday evenings, when kids could see them. When the networks started showing prime time movies, they moved it to Sunday afternoons, which is where I knew it. The show featured family friendly movies, like the old Errol Flynn swashbucklers, Zorro, Babes in Toyland, National velvet and all kinds of adventure films, weepy kids, and holiday films. Thomas hosted right up to his death, in 1985, and Roy Leonard took over, until the show was dropped in 2000. Frazier Thomas did other things at the station, including the Bozo Show, along with Bozo and Cookie. Here he is in 1978, talking about the meaning of the Pledge of Allegiance, as it should be... (I still prefer the oath I took as a Naval officer, to protect and defend the Constitution, the law of the land, not the flag, which is a symbol., not the heart of the democracy). Frazier Thomas was beloved in Chicago and the city mourned his passing far more than Richard J Daily (he was less of a fascist, which helped.  )... Cookie was Bozo's assistant, played on the WGN show by Roy Brown, who did it 25 years, until declining health led to use of reruns.
|
|
|
|
Post by badwolf on Sept 4, 2018 9:01:39 GMT -5
I wonder why Val did not give her name as Brunnhilde. I don't think it was a "secret" identity. Was that not know to be her name at the time?
|
|
) They get seats up front and the bald dude starts his pitch. He tells everyone that they are Bozos and that they should reach under their seats and put on their real face, which they do.
)...