"The Flat Man" from Spellbound #3 (May 1952; Atlas/Marvel Comics)

Here is a short 4-page tale from May 1952's Spellbound #3 which was published by Marvel Comics (back when they operated under the Atlas Comics banner). The Grand Comics Database lists the writer as Hank Chapman, but they do not identify the artist.

Steve Banes sent this story to me last summer as a perk, so let me offer my belated thanks to him for the courtesy; although I've added that issues cover to the mix.

"The Flat Man" relates the experience of a small time hood who lets things unfortunately get away from him and thus pays the ultimate price. Enjoy!

65 Years Ago Today: D-Day

On June 6, 1944, the "D-Day" invasion of Europe took place during World War II as Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, France.

There were 156,000 Allied troops involved in the assault and 73,000 of those were American. There were 80,000 German defenders arrayed against them. 12,000 Allied fighting ships, 804 transport craft and 4,125 landing vehicles ferried those young men into battle or touched down on those beaches (or tried to). 10,000 Allied aircraft dropped supplies or combat paratroopers into withering enemy fire.

In the end, 9,758 Allied soldiers, sailors and air corpsmen lost their lives on that day. 6,603 of them were Americans.

Thanks to that greatest generation of Americans and our staunch allies, Nazi Germany and the other Axis powers were ultimately defeated.

It is in humble recognition of the sacrifices that our grandmothers and grandfathers from that era experienced, that the Catacombs humbly expresses our deepest thanks.

It is also worth mentioning in a comic book-oriented blog, that the golden age publishers, writers and artists of our favorite heroes took note of the unprecedented historical events of those years and had the fictional mystery men participate by calling for readers to buy war bonds, or ration certain products. Hell, within the pages (or on the covers) of those now rare comics, the heroes even slugged it out right along side the servicemen. Many of those creators also enlisted or were drafted into the military.

It may seem passé these days for modern audiences, but back then even Batman & Robin took up machine guns against the enemy, Superman & Captain Marvel hopped astride bombs or rockets that were earmarked for Tojo & company. Captain America himself socked it to "Uncle" Adolf Hitler on his first issue cover. Millions of comic books were carried into Europe folded into the duffle bags and back pockets of thousands upon thousands of young men, as cheap entertainment for the long months and years ahead.

It is difficult to separate the comics themselves from that era, because so many of them reflected the times. In our politically correct current climate, even the stereotypical portrayals of certain racial groups often prove problematical to cite, but WWII made its mark not only on the world, but in the comic books and comic strips of that age.

"Gal" Friday! Firestar

Firestar was originally created for the animated series Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. The creators had originally wanted to use the Human Torch, but the rights to the character were tied up. Kathy Garver provided her voice. Neither the animated series or a subsequent one-shot Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends comic book (which Marvel adapted from an episode for print) are considered part of standard Marvel continuity.

Firestar (Angelica "Angel" Jones) is a mutant with the ability to generate and manipulate microwave radiation, which allows her to generate intense heat and flames and to fly. Firestar essentially harnesses ambient microwave radiation from her environment, making her powers far stronger in an environment such as space, where the concentration of microwaves is much greater than within a planetary atmosphere. In the comics version, she has been a member of the Hellions, the New Warriors, and the Avengers.

Firestar was one of the few mutants left on the planet with her powers intact, after the Scarlet Witch altered reality and decimated the mutant population, nor was Firestar among the New Warriors who died in the catastrophe that sparked the events of Civil War.

Illustration by George Perez.

In Memorium: David Carradine & Shek Kin

Genre fans lost two iconic martial arts superstars over the last couple of Days. David Carradine, who came from a family line of actors, and who parlayed his name into dozens of roles over the past several decades in western, sci-fi, horror and action films, has passed away in unusual circumstances in Bangkok. Carradine achieved his greatest fame on the 1970's television series, Kung Fu as Kwai Chang Caine - a Shaolin priest wandering the American West.

Shek Kin has also passed away, and I am unclear of the actual spelling of his name here, but he appeared in dozens of martial arts films before he became immortalized as the nefarious druglord Mr. Han, opposite John Saxon and the great Bruce Lee in the classic martial arts film, Enter the Dragon.

To the families, friends and fans of these two terrific performers, the Catacombs sends many condolences.

1970's Flashback: Gladiator (Marvel Comics)

Due to his role in the current War of Kings event, I thought that it would be nice to profile one of my favorite X-Men supporting characters. Gladiator first appeared in X-Men #107 (October 1977), he was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Dave Cockrum in homage to Superman (since the Imperial Guard itself is an analog of the silver age Legion of Super-Heroes).

Gladiator is the Praetor (or leader) of the elite corps of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard — an army of powerful beings that enforce Shi'ar Imperial law on all planets within the Shi'ar Galaxy. The elite corps also protects and carries out the personal directives of the majestor or majestrix (emperor or empress) of the Shi’ar Empire. His given name is Kallark.

Gladiator's first known encounter with humans occurred when the Imperial Guard battled against the X-Men at the command of then-Shi'ar Emperor D'Ken. Gladiator and the Imperial Guard later fought the X-Men when new Shi'ar Empress Lilandra Neramani and Professor Charles Xavier arranged a trial-by-combat to determine the fate of the then out of control Dark Phoenix. Later still, Gladiator aided the X-Men in battle against the renegade Imperial Guardsmen who were serving the traitorous Shi'ar, Lord Samedar.

Gladiator once arrived on Earth and battled the Fantastic Four in the mistaken belief that they were Skrull shape-shifters. With the help of both Spider-Man and Captain America, the real Skrulls were exposed and captured. Gladiator was also present at the intergalactic trial of Reed Richards (for saving the life of Galactus).

Lilandra's sister, Deathbird, eventually staged a successful coup and became the new majestrix of the Shi'ar Empire. Despite Gladiator's loyalty to Lilandra and his reservations about certain aspects of Deathbird's rule, he continued to serve the Shi'ar Empire as Praetor of the Imperial Guard.

As a member of the Strontian race, Gladiator possesses a number of superhuman capabilities as a result of his unique alien physiology. He has superhuman strength, speed, stamina, durability, and reflexes, and is able to survive without breathing for an unrevealed period of time. The most powerful member of the Imperial Guard, Gladiator has performed feats such as lifting skyscrapers, staggering foes with heat vision, freezing them in place with frost breath, moving in space at hyper-speed and surviving supernovas. He has been described as capable of ripping planets from their orbits, and collapsing "the heart of stars" with his bare hands. Reed Richards originally theorized that Gladiator's powers were in part psionic,and this has been confirmed in his later appearances. It has also been discovered that Gladiator is vulnerable to some forms of radiation and a telepathic suggestion that causes him to doubt his powers will also weaken him considerably.

Above; left: Gladiator statue by Hard Hero (under license from Marvel) and illustration by Rob Liefeld.

At the Movies: Terminator Salvation

Terminator Salvation, written by John Brancato and Michael Ferris and directed by McG, is the fourth film in the Terminator series. The film stars Christian Bale as future Resistance leader John Connor and Sam Worthington as cyborg Marcus Wright. The film introduces a younger version of Kyle Reese, the doomed protagonist from the original 1984 film, played by Anton Yelchin (also in theaters as Chekov in Star Trek), as well as depicting the origin of the T-800 Model Terminator (made famous by Arnold Schwarzenegger). Terminator Salvation is set in the year2018, and relates the tale of the long teased war between humanity and Skynet.

Several of the guys over at Ain't It Cool News ripped it a new one, and at best the film has had mixed reviews. Some of this may have stemmed from a widely reported incident onset by actor Christian Bale, but I caught it over the weekend (when Angels and Demons late show was the closed caption version, so I took a pass).

I didn't think that it was too bad. To me Bale doesn't phone in his performance, as I had been led to believe. Sam Worthington is totally cool & awesome in this movie and I am now really looking forward to his role as Perseus in the Clash of the Titans remake. Anton Yelchin is really effective as Kyle Reese, Moon Bloodgood is sexy, but I feel cheated that they cut her topless scene (it had better make the DVD release) and Bryce Howard is even sexy in her rather limited role of Kate.

The effects are plentiful and well done, and it was nice to hear Linda Hamilton's voice over work. Of course, once the word was issued that the Governator would allow his image to be used in the film, anticipation was high for his old T-800 Terminator, and here McG truly delivered. T-800 doesn't show up until near the end, but his appearance is excellent.

I recommend seeing it in the theaters, but I know that a lot of you will wait for the DVD.

Countdown to Heroes Convention (3 weeks)

The annual Heroes Convention kicks off in Charlotte, North Carolina in just three weeks!

A long-time staple of the comic book community, with a current guest list that has swollen to almost 200 hundred industry professionals and exhibitors, this predominantly comic book oriented event holds an appeal for all ages visitors. For a glimpse at the festivities just follow this link: http://www.heroesonline.com/heroescon.html

Missing for the past several years, both Marvel Comics and DC Comics are set to return with large exhibitor booths featuring previews of upcoming titles, portfolio reviews and freebies.

Top artists and writers who are planning on attending include: Mark Bagley, Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Frank Cho, Chris Claremont, Matt Fraction, Adam Hughes, David Mack, George Perez and Jeff Smith - and that short list is just the tip of the iceberg.

Plan ahead, book your room, set aside some bucks and then head on down to Dixie and join us for a terrific comics-centric weekend of pure bliss. You'll be glad that you did!

Retro-View: Captain Marvel #43 (Marvel Comics)

Captain Marvel #43 (March 1976) is written by Steve Englehart and illustrated by Al Milgrom, who also drew the front cover, which features a pretty neat battle between Mar-Vell and Drax, but one other terrific creator contributed something to this issue.

The great Bernie Wrightson inked Milgrom's pencils on the cover, and his work really makes that cover image "pop". Coming shortly after Jim Starlin left the series, this pairing of Milgrom & Wrightson sorta evokes the Starlin issues - at least for me.

"Destroy! Destroy" begins with the Captain and his sidekick Rick Jones, taking a ride through space on a robot horse, dont' ask, but needless to say, a situation that continues from the previous issue. Suddenly we are treated to the thought processes of the Kree Supreme Intelligence, who has detected the destruction of both a planet and it's sun, by the android called Drax the Destroyer. It seems that Drax is acting out his rage over Mar-vell's recent defeat of Thanos, the Titanian born Eternal who caused the death of Drax's human body and his rebirth in his new form. Drax was all about revenging himself on the Titan, and now he has a good mad on for Mar-Vell to fill the void.

Well, the Supreme Intelligence takes matters into this own hand and stretches his mental influence across the galaxy cluing the Destroyer into where he can locate Mar-Vell and then his brain waves cause the Captain's metallic steed to buck poor Rick off and forces Marvel to land his "ride" on a nearby alien planetoid.

While there, Mar-Vell and Rick have a few words over the direction their lives have taken and Rick strikes off on his own for some quiet time. Meanwhile, the Destroyer plummets through the atmosphere and is just on the verge of laying a wallop on Mar-Vell, when the Kree Warriors "cosmic awareness" kicks in long enough for him to roll out of the way. After the two heroes engage in the requisite scrape, the Captain thinks that he has knocked Drax out, but then the Destroyer informs Mar-Vell that it is both his blessing and his curse to be virtually invincible.

Before we get to the end of their fight, we are shown how Rick has encountered a mysterious beauty, appearing again from events of the previous issue, and this saucy siren plays coy games in order to coax Rick into doffing his space helmet, and while initially reluctant to do so, Rick gets "teased" just enough to give it a go, when what do you know, off comes the helmet and down goes Rick.

The action skips back to the conclusion of the Mar-Vell and Drax bout, with the Captain getting bodily smashed into several asteroids, and then he is physically tossed back into the planets atmosphere showing the effects of heating up from re-entry. Drax is the winner, by a knockout!

Boy, you would be hard pressed to find something this fun on the stands these days. If you have any interest in this title, issues can easily be found at affordable prices. I bought this one for $3 in a back issue bin. It's condition would grade at fine+, and I would much rather pay three dollars for a cool back issue over anything off the stands today, but that's just me.

Okay, "Gal" Friday Returns! Olivia Wilde

Olivia Wilde plays Dr. Remy Hadley aka "Thirteen" on the Fox television series, House. In case you may not have heard, she has also recently made it to the top of the soft core food chain by being named #1 on the Maxim Hot 100 list.

That ain't too bad, but even better for those degenerates among us (including yours truly), the very "hot" Megan Fox - Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - recently commented that even she found Olivia intoxicatingly sexy. (Go ahead, take a cold shower as you ponder that scene.)

I'll wait!

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Oh! You're back already. Well then, enjoy this image of Ms. Wilde which was taken in 2005 by her husband, Tao Ruspoli.

The man has an eye for beauty, as the photo is very good; of course, he also has the luck of the Irish since he gets to go home to this every night.

Profile Antics: Mike Parobeck

Mike Parobeck died from complications resulting from diabetes in July 1996. He was only 30 years old. I can't believe that it has been that long since he passed away. He was a remarkable talent, with a long future ahead of him.

In his short comic career, he produced some really memorable artwork on such DC Comics titles as El Diablo, The Fly, the 1992 Justice Society of America series and the Elongated Man mini-series. I had issues of all of those books and not only were they very well-done comics, they were also lots and lots of fun.

However, Mike Parobeck gained his greatest fame working on The Batman Adventures, again for DC Comics, which was done in the style of the popular Bruce Timm Batman animated series. Both a critical and commercial success, The Batman Adventures spinoff meshed well with the style established on the cartoon show and helped make the comic more popular than was usual for a cartoon spinoff. His art helped establish Batman Adventures as a fun alternative to the regular Batman comics of the time, which were thought by many to be excessively grim and gritty.

Lo, The Lethal Legion (?)

I just noticed that Marvel Comics has solicited orders for something called Dark Reign: Lethal Legion #1-3 (June - August 2009). After reading the brief description, it appears that they are pulling another old super-villain team out of mothballs for a mini-series tied into their Dark Reign event.

I remember the first version of the Lethal Legion who originally appeared in The Avengers #79 (July 1970). Consisting of Grim Reaper, Swordsman, Power Man, Living Laser and Man-Ape, the Legion initially got the drop on the mighty Avengers, until the Reaper discovered a heretofore unknown connection between the Vision and his deceased brother, Wonder Man. Later on several members of that version of the Legion were tricked by the villain known as Count Nefaria into battling against the Avengers again, solely to allow Nefaria to secretly syphon off their super-powers for himself. The teams lineup has continually changed over the years.

Now, it seems as if villainy is all the rage at Marvel these days, and not just in Dark Reign. There are the Thunderbolts, who were originally the Masters of Evil (another group of Avengers foes), Deadpool, and Dark Reign's own uber-bad guy, Norman Osborn; who has long since outgrown his old Green Goblin shtick and become the Marvel Universe equivalent of Lex Luthor.

I like the various rogues gallery foes for most of Marvels heroes as much as the next guy, but endlessly spinning off so many series for their stable of baddies doesn't leave much room for the classic villains within the pages of the regular titles - does it? I don't know how I feel about this tendency, but I don't think that I really like it. I would much prefer seeing these guys work their dastardly deeds within the pages of the heroes own books.

Memorial Day Salute to the Armed Forces