My Favorite Comic Covers - Origins Of Marvel Comics!

These volumes are sentimental faves. They offered reprints in context at a time when such collections were quite rare. These collections always struck me like Stan offering up his very personal history, but as we've learned his memory was not up to the task. Johnny Romita's covers are exceptional.

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Hercules Unleashed!

I spent a rather interesting day yesterday watching Hercules movies. Many months ago I picked the nicely priced Hercules Collection. I got it mostly for the classic Hercules starring Steve Reeves, but it also included a host of other pepla stars such as Reg Park, Gordon Scott, and others. I watched the Herc movie yet again, but the first time on dvd and the first time in widescreen and later I snatched up the sequel Hercules Unchained and finished the Reeves Herc specific canon. I didn't know that another movie on this collection, Hercules and the Captive Women was a sequel to the first two.


Now that varies according to sources, but whether it's the third "real" Hercules movie or not, it's still a spectacle. Again in widescreen this one offers Reg Park as Herc and he's not half bad. His beard doesn't sell as well as the one on Reeves, but nonetheless he finds quite a bit of trouble when he's shanghied by his friend to check out some indistinct trouble that threatens the kingdom. He doesn't know his grown son is part of the plan too. After some mishaps he ends up saving a chick from Proteus a shape-changing monster but despite her turning out to be a princess the kingdom of Atlantis ain't happy she's back, especially her mom. More stuff happens and eventually Herc ends up saving the princess and his friends but the island is of course destroyed. One thing this movie had were some neat villains, especially the "super soldiers" who all look alike (Stormtroopers of the ancient world perhaps) and form an "unbeatable" army.


This is followed by Hercules and the Prisoner of Evil which pits Hercules (Park again) against a witch and "werewolves". These monsters are pretty scary actually in some scenes. I won't say much about this one as it has some neat twists in it. But it's pretty clear this is a Hercules picture in name only. The setting seems to be more like Transylvania than Greece and all the men wear pants. This is in fact an "Ursus" movie which got retitled for American distribution.

The third Reg Park offering was Hercules the Avenger and it was largely a compilation of footage from Park's first two movies, the aforementioned Hercules and the Captive Women and one directed by Mario Brava Hercules in the Haunted World. It has Herc go to Hades to rescue his son's soul where he fights zombies and whatnot in some pretty moody stuff. Meanwhile Antaeus, the son of Mother Earth impersonates Herc and hooks up with another misguided queen to kill and steal from the people. Hercules returns in time to fight him and send him back to momma.


The final flick I enjoyed was Gordon Scott in Hercules and the Princess of Troy which was a TV pilot. This one is not dubbed and despite some odd effects on the film negative still delivers a sharp adventure in a short order running just under fifty minutes. There's a pretty neat monster in this one and some surprisingly robust action sequences.

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The Last Comic Book On Earth!

I love it when comic book characters read comic books, especially when they go to the trouble to reproduce an actual cover. The panel above from Kamandi #4 is more than a bit clever by using the companion Kirby book of the time - The Demon.


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Gunga Din And The Temple Of Gold!

I'd never seen the classic RKO flick Gunga Din until yesterday. Loaded with a few Borders coupons I headed off to the store to get some specific REH tomes, but alas there were none to be had. The coupon was time sensitive, so I wanted to get some value out of it, and eventually I found a copy of this Cary Grant heroic vehicle directed by George Stevens. I love great commentaries on old flicks and this one seemed to offer a good one by Rudy Belhmer, a critic I've come to trust on over things. So I tumbled and I'm glad I did.


I probably knew that Gunga Din inspired Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, or at least I'm sure I read it somewhere. But gosh almighty there's a lot of parallels to the later flick. You have the Thug cult of Kali, a hidden temple, a dangerous rope bridge, and lots of heady action. Cary Grant is outstanding, a true action star in this one, he dominates the screen even when up against a powerful personality like Victor McLaglen. These two along with Doug Fairbanks Jr. offer up a trio of British hero types who are at once engaging, manly, and funny.


I won't belabor the obvious cultural points, but always movies of this type and period show the limits of understanding. But villains are villains though they are given some depth and even nobility despite being murderers all. Eduardo Chianelli as the Guru head of the cult is profoundly threatening like a spider, but also a true believer. Sam Jaffe as Gunga Din the waterboy is a real stretch, but it works by and large. I'm not as convinced as others that only Jaffe could've done it, but he does a fine job all around.

There's a real sense of threat in this movie, at least early on. Death and the threat of death though more suggested than shown really amp up the intrigue. Despite the clowning of the heroic trio, you are never allowed to forget that doom is just around the corner.

Great flick!

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GUNGA DIN
by Rudyard Kipling

You may talk o' gin an' beer
When you're quartered safe out 'ere,
An' you're sent to penny-fights an' Aldershot it;
But if it comes to slaughter
You will do your work on water,
An' you'll lick the bloomin' boots of 'im that's got it.
Now in Injia's sunny clime,
Where I used to spend my time
A-servin' of 'Er Majesty the Queen,
Of all them black-faced crew
The finest man I knew
Was our regimental bhisti, Gunga Din.

It was "Din! Din! Din!
You limping lump o' brick-dust, Gunga Din!
Hi! slippy hitherao!
Water, get it! Panee lao!
You squidgy-nosed old idol, Gunga Din!"

The uniform 'e wore
Was nothin' much before,
An' rather less than 'arf o' that be'ind,
For a twisty piece o' rag
An' a goatskin water-bag
Was all the field-equipment 'e could find.
When the sweatin' troop-train lay
In a sidin' through the day,
Where the 'eat would make your bloomin' eyebrows crawl,
We shouted "Harry By!"
Till our throats were bricky-dry,
Then we wopped 'im 'cause 'e couldn't serve us all.

It was "Din! Din! Din!
You 'eathen, where the mischief 'ave you been?
You put some juldee in it,
Or I'll marrow you this minute,
If you don't fill up my helmet, Gunga Din!"

'E would dot an' carry one
Till the longest day was done,
An' 'e didn't seem to know the use o' fear.
If we charged or broke or cut,
You could bet your bloomin' nut,
'E'd be waitin' fifty paces right flank rear.
With 'is mussick on 'is back,
'E would skip with our attack,
An' watch us till the bugles made "Retire."
An' for all 'is dirty 'ide,
'E was white, clear white, inside
When 'e went to tend the wounded under fire!

It was "Din! Din! Din!"
With the bullets kickin' dust-spots on the green.
When the cartridges ran out,
You could 'ear the front-files shout:
"Hi! ammunition-mules an' Gunga Din!"

I sha'n't forgit the night
When I dropped be'ind the fight
With a bullet where my belt-plate should 'a' been.
I was chokin' mad with thirst,
An' the man that spied me first
Was our good old grinnin', gruntin' Gunga Din.

'E lifted up my 'ead,
An' 'e plugged me where I bled,
An' 'e guv me 'arf-a-pint o' water—green;
It was crawlin' an' it stunk,
But of all the drinks I've drunk,
I'm gratefullest to one from Gunga Din.

It was "Din! Din! Din!
'Ere's a beggar with a bullet through 'is spleen;
'E's chawin' up the ground an' 'e's kickin' all around:
For Gawd's sake, git the water, Gunga Din!"

'E carried me away
To where a dooli lay,
An' a bullet come an' drilled the beggar clean.
'E put me safe inside,
An' just before 'e died:
"I 'ope you liked your drink," sez Gunga Din.
So I'll meet 'im later on
In the place where 'e is gone—
Where it's always double drill and no canteen;
'E'll be squattin' on the coals
Givin' drink to pore damned souls,
An' I'll get a swig in Hell from Gunga Din!

Din! Din! Din!
You Lazarushian-leather Gunga Din!
Tho' I've belted you an' flayed you,
By the livin' Gawd that made you,
You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!

Invaders From Mars!

I watched both the 1953 original and the 1986 remake of Invaders From Mars yesterday. I've long had VHS copies of both, but I don't think I've ever watched them both back to back. My VHS copy of the classic movie by Cameron Menzies was pretty grainy and not really all that much fun to stumble through. I replaced it with a dvd version several months ago, and recently I picked up the Tobe Hooper version as part of a Midnite Movies double feature. To be frank, I don't really have much affection for the remake. I saw it in the theater, but don't really have any strong memory of it. Getting it on VHS many years ago was simple completism. I've watched it once I think.

But I have to say watching them back to back really opens up both movies a bit for me. For one thing my dvd copy comes with two versions, a British cut and a longer American cut. When I got the dvd I watched the British cut and the picture quality seemed not unlike my VHS copy. I was pretty disappointed. But this time I watched the American cut and this is the cleanest version of the movie I've ever seen. It's really a feast of images.

Tobe Hooper made his version out of an affection for the original, but sadly the pacing of the 1986 movie is too slow. Stuff happens but the editing of scenes is relaxed and there are things we don't need to spend so much time on that make the story almost stop in places. The stuff at the school for one just gets on my nerves. They needed to stay focused on David's home and his parents more. But that would've meant getting rid of much of Louise Fletcher's stuff and she's one of the most entertaining things in this movie, her over-the-top villainy is fun to watch.

There is a weird dreamlike logic to the original, supported by the high-art style they used. The movie has a steady beat to it as the story gets a bit more peculiar all the way through right up to the rumble through the Martian tunnels. The fact they had to make do with men-in-suits and other limited effects put the premium on the story and the pacing. Sadly Hooper is able to use more elaborate physical effects and that seems to slow things down too. You build a wonderful set and you want to show it off, I get that, but it's to the detriment of the story.

I will say it's always refreshing to see any movie that relies so heavily on physical effects for its monsters though, as I'm about tired of the endless CG critters we get nowadays.

I really found the story of young David compelling in the original this time, more than ever and the themes of the story, ripe with paranoia really shine through. The death of the little girl was shocking and gave the story a weight it would otherwise lack. The deaths in the Hooper version were less involving, more played for humor even in spots. None of that in the original. It was creepy.

I like that Jimmy Hunt, the actor who played the original little boy "David" in 1953 showed up as an adult policeman in the 1986 movie. That kind of insider stuff is cute and doesn't hurt the story if it's done quietly. It's not like Stan Lee showing up and taking you out of the movie, just a hidden gem for folks in on the secret.

So I find I like the original a lot more than I ever imagnined I would. The remake is still unremarkable.

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Scott Un-Free!

This cover from Gemstone's The Overstreet Guide To Collecting Comics, a Free Comic Book Day offering, totally cracked me up. I'll have to try and snag one just for the cover. It got me to thinking though how ironic it is for any toy packaging holding a Mr.Miracle "action figure". He wants to break free from those plastic confines, and of course he will, unless he finds himself in the clutches of a "collector". Now that's an Anti-Life Equation for you.

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The Monster Reads!

I love this gentle image of Boris Karloff toting a little girl and prowling a spinner rack. It's impossible to see all the books on that rack, but I've identified three of them. These comics date the photo in 1958. Fun stuff!

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