South Sea Girl in "Horror in the Hills" (Leader/Universal Features;1946)

Matt Baker draws "South Sea Girl" from Seven Seas Comics #2 (July 1946),originally published by Leader Enterprises/Universal Phoenix Features. South Sea Girl was also known as Alani, and she differed from most jungle girls by her location and her usual garb, a sarong (probably inspired by popular Dorothy Lamour films).

This story was later reprinted in Voodoo #2 (Ajax; Farrell, 1952 series) with the main character's name changed from Alani to El'nee. The cover for this issue featuring Captain Cutlass (credited to Robert Webb) is included today as a bonus.

The Catacombs is grateful to Don "Zu-Gogo" Falkos for providing the scans for this story. Note: The copyright for this issue, its contents and artwork belong to the original publisher and/or the creators and is reproduced here solely for entertainment purposes.

Enjoy!

From the Dust Bin: Nevada Jim Westerns

I received a package of old paperbacks in the mail yesterday that has prompted me to post something a bit different today.

Australian author Leonard F. Meares has become one of my favorite authors over the last few years and I only became aware of him when I saw an online gallery of James Bama covers from the late 1960's that were used on Meares Americanized Nevada Jim Western series. The covers for many of those lovely Bantam Books paperbacks are pictured above. Originally published by the Horwitz Group as "Big Jim Rand", Nevada Jim Westerns follow Jim Gage, a former Cavalry sergeant who leaves the service to track down the murderer of his brother, and then once this task is successfully accomplished over the course of several novels, his further exploits continue in the town he eventually settles in called Cornerstone.

Meares was perhaps best known for an even longer running series of novels, again originally published overseas by the Horwitz Group as Larry and Stretch westerns, but adapted for Bantam as "Larry and Streak" westerns. In fact between 1955 and continuing until his death in 1993, the prolific Meares could turn out around thirty books a year. He eventually wrote 746 novels, the majority of which were westerns under a variety of pseudonyms such as Ward Brennan, Glenn Murrell, Shad Denver, Brett Waring and Marshall Grover (this too was changed by Bantam Books into "Marshall McCoy", for Meares American volumes).

Of course James Bama, whose cover artwork on the Nevada Jim Westerns attracted me to Meares terrific writing, is famous for producing almost all of the covers for the first sixty-seven Bantam Books paperbacks reprinting the adventures of pulp hero, Doc Savage. Bama went on to enjoy a career as a fine art painter of naturalist western subjects.

Whether as Marshall Grover or Marshall McCoy, Leonard Frank Meares westerns are - in my humble opinion - superior to many western authors who may be more familiar to most fans. I won't name any in particular, but simply put, there are some top gun writers whose work on "oaters" (aka cowboy tales) has always bored the living hell out of me. Meares doesn't. His westerns resound with the same level of cinematic clarity and excitement that fueled the heyday of Hollywood's classic film westerns on the big screen. More mythology and folklore than reflection of reality, Meares heroes travel the the unknown west meting out true two-fisted justice to evil back-shooters, ruffians and land barons in a most satisfying manner.

I have painstakingly sought out, tracked down and acquired a dozen beautiful copies of the sixteen Nevada Jim Westerns that Bantam released (out of 70 "Big Jim Rand" novels that Meares actually penned). The pricing on these old paperbacks can vary wildly and many often fetch prices up to $50-70 dollars each, even in less than desirable grade. I believe this is largely due to Meares excellent writing talent and just how wide his fame spread worldwide. I also have to add that many online sources mistakenly identify Larry and Streak volumes as Nevada Jim Westerns, so word to the wise, while I've read & enjoyed his Larry and Streak paperbacks, my favorite Meares series is his Nevada Jim Westerns. Bantam Books tightly edited the longer, original Horwitz material and they also excised some of the more racist elements in depictions of minority characters and this served the Americanized volumes very well.

The following list of Bantam Books Nevada Jim Western editions are the entire actual run as best as I can determine: A Man Called Drago, Bury the Guilty, Guns of Greed, Die Brave, No Gun is Neutral, Limbo Pass, The Killers Came at Noon, Seven Westbound, Behind the Black Mask, Killer Bait, Big Lobo, Satan's Back Trail, Gun Flash, Justice for Jenner, Crisis at Cornerstone and Bounty on Wes Durand.

I am still looking for high grade Bantam editions of A Man Called Drago, Big Lobo, The Killers Came at Noon and Justice for Jenner. Depending upon the condition, I will pay up to $25 each. I can't recommend these novels highly enough.

Rulah Jungle Goddess in "Terror's Trail!" (Fox;1949)

Today's Rulah Jungle Goddess tale doesn't quite channel "The African Queen", but our resident jungle gal is saddled with a bumbling charter boat skipper called Cap'n George, whose inadvertently undermining efforts to help Rulah overcome a gang of kidnappers who're out for ransom, actually make for some fine comedy relief in a nice change of pace.

This tale was originally presented in the one-shot All Great Jungle Adventures #nn (1949) from Fox Comics. The Catacombs is grateful to Don "Zu-Gogo" Falkos for providing the scans for this story. Note: The copyright for this issue, its contents and artwork belong to the original publisher and/or the creators and is reproduced here solely for entertainment purposes.

Enjoy!

As an advance head's up, next week will feature my second "Go Ape Shit" theme week, with classic comics stories running daily from Monday through Friday.

Rayboy's Review: Incredible Hulk #607 (Marvel)

The popular "Fall of the Hulks" continues in Incredible Hulk #607, as the Leader and M.O.D.O.K. observe Victor Von Doom’s futile efforts to strike back at the Intelligentsia who hit him last issue with a neural anesthetizer, leaving him dumber than dirt. The pair then contemplates how best to deal with their biggest threat – Bruce Banner – as their nefarious master scheme unfolds. The Intel seeks to abduct the other eight smartest people on the planet, and they already hold Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four.

Henry Pym (aka The Wasp) disrupts their evil reverie by temporally phasing into their headquarters, after he discovers certain elements of the Intel’s machinations. The trio of Super-Scientific minds, banter back-and-forth, before the Leader reveals to Pym that his Avenger teammates are currently withering under assault of the Red She-Hulk.

Pym/Wasp pops in just in time to aid the Avengers in escaping from the Red She-Hulk, then witnesses the timely arrival of Bruce Banner and Skaar (aka Son of the Hulk). As Skaar engages the Red She-Hulk in battle, Banner attempts to forcibly teleport Hank Pym to safety, knowing that as scientist-supreme Pym is the next likely target of the Intelligentsia. Pym's not on board with that idea, and a sequence of technical one-up-man-ship between Banner, Pym and the Leaders ensues which suddenly leaves Pym lingering at deaths door. [If you're having difficulty following some of the components of Fall of the Hulks, you aren't in the minority.]

As the mighty Avengers arrive in force and in response to Pym's s.o.s. (Has this title become the Incredible Wasp?), a temporary situational alliance is formed to save Pym, who is then immediately abducted just as had been planned all along by the Leader. Afterwards Banner is left somewhat at odds with the Avengers who he blames for interfering and for their part, they doubt that they can really trust old Bruce.

This issue closes out with Banner having to finally come clean about his true motives - to save Betty Ross no matter what the cost - and Banner pulls together a strong coalition of heroes including Skaar, A-Bomb, Korg of the Warbound, Amadeus Cho, Spider-Man, Sub-Mariner and Wolverine to make that attempt.

Based on some of the other reviews that I've read online of this very issue, I would have to say that plenty of folks seem a bit confused by this storyline, but the answer lies less with lack of clarity and more along the lines of event overkill.

Writer Greg Pak does make a valiant effort given that he is working within an editorially mandated crossover, that fed out of the earlier Planet Hulk, World War Hulk and Civil War events. This kind of publisher inbreeding has usurped ongoing story development and characterization within individual series to the detriment of editorial cohesion. No wonder things are a bit muddied, and reader preferences be damned. Still, some of Pak's dialogue is downright hilarious and fun to read!

Look, I can enjoy over-arching stories, and the Marvel Universe was truly built upon stuff like this, but the branding that separates stuff out from a series simply to foment cross-pollination and also the way that these types of marketing efforts actually drag on endlessly, is going to do nothing but alienate loyal fans - at some point. Lest you think otherwise, and before I forget, let me mention how outstanding Paul Pelletier's artwork is on this book. If nothing else, pick this book up for Paul Pelletier. His efforts on this title are rocking it out of the park, in fact the original pencils to page #22 (pictured above; top) will soon be hanging in a prime location within the Catacombs. There are dual original art pages for the entire issue, as the inks were applied to separate scans of the pencils. I'm picking up the pencils only version for this page.

I do recommend Incredible Hulk #607, and have high hopes that its conclusion will be satisfying enough to me as a reader that I won't really care that all this does is set up yet another "event".

The Origin of Ty-Gor (MLJ Publications;1940)

Today I'm presenting another Catacombs debut, this story is taken from Blue Ribbon Comics #4 (Jun. 1940); originally published by MLJ/Archie during the golden age. "The Origin of Ty-Gor" was written by Joe Blair and drawn by the great Mort Meskin.

Like so many other jungle boys, lords and kings; Ty-Gor, Son of the Tiger is a knock-off of Tarzan. Here you get to experience his origin, witness the tragic death of his parents and see how an orphaned baby known as Tyrone Gorman ("TY-rone GOR-man, get it?") becomes adopted by the tigress Malma.

The Catacombs is grateful to Don "Zu-Gogo" Falkos for providing the scans for this story. Note: The copyright for this issue, its contents and artwork belong to the original publisher and/or the creators and is reproduced here solely for entertainment purposes.

Enjoy & Happy Easter to you all!

At the Movies: Clash of the Titans

The newly released Clash of the Titans has earned nothing but scorn for its post-production (and badly-botched) 3-D transfer effects, and I appreciate all of the early reviews that prompted me to save those few extra bucks and instead catch a regular "2-D" version. However, I suspect that many current reviewers (yes, I'm talking about the usual gang of genre mavens) are also leaning towards trashing this updated remake, primarily due to their misplaced and slavish devotion to the 1981 Ray Harryhausen original. That's too bad!

I even read one guys warning on a comics forum to "run away from this dog" and save your bucks. I can't agree with that. Perhaps these offended folks have chosen to forget the originals many plot holes. Maybe they prefer the originals larger slate of recognizable Shakespearean-trained actors who basically stood around hamming it up in Olympus. Possibly they were just enamored of the mechanical owl Bubo (who does make a terrific comic relief cameo as a nod to the earlier film). Whether the critics take exception to the remake out of their nostalgia for cheesy special effects or not, director Louis Leterrier need not hid his head in shame.

Clash of the Titans is a fun film-going experience starring Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Alexa Davalos, Liam Cunningham, Gemma Arterton, Ian Whyte, Nicholas Hoult, Jason Flemyng, Mads Mikkelsen, Pete Postlethwaite, and Elizabeth McGovern. It's a popcorn movie and if you don't like suspension of disbelief scenarios where you just turn your brain off and enjoy a wild ride, then give this movie a pass by all means. If you enjoy seat of your pants thrills and watching mythological characters facing off against wicked large creatures and capricious gods, then you might want to catch this one folks.

The original Clash starred newcomers Harry Hamlin and Judi Bowker as Perseus and Andromeda. The relationship of these two central characters is vastly different this time around, and this aspect is also at the heart of some reviewers contempt for the remake. Again, that's too bad. Perseus is portrayed entirely different by Sam Worthington and rather than focus on how many times he stresses during this version how he will tackle his quest "as a man", how about focusing on how he actually plays Perseus - as a man - and less of a demigod. That point is central to how this film differs from the first one, and here it works pretty well. Look if you love the original Clash of the Titans, then fine, but back then Harry Hamlin never even got dirty while running around on his quest. In short, like most period pieces from those days, they made it look too darn easy.

I think taking on giant scorpions, a trio of weird witches, the gorgon Medusa, the brutish Calibos and the massive Kraken would at least leave you a little soiled at the end of the day, and Worthington's Perseus definitely reflects that. And so what if he didn't opt to rule by Andromeda's side this time out, considering who else is available, he can be forgiven. Hell, I much preferred luscious Gemma Arterton's ageless Io myself, not that Alexa Davalos isn't fine in her role as Andromeda. She just serves a different function this time out and this character is more limited than in the original.

Since I've already gone this far to err on the side of classic movie sacrilege, let me also add that Liam Neeson is far more effective than Laurence Olivier was as the King of the Gods, Zeus. Ralph Fiennes is truly awesome as Hades and as a final suggestion to anyone who looked forward to this movie; just go see it and judge for yourselves, but do skip the 3D version. I think the reviewers were right on that score!

"Gal" Friday! Moon Bloodgood

Exotic beauty? Check. Slate of genre roles? Check. Attention of the Catacombs? Definitely!

Moon Bloodgood guest starred on this weeks episode of the Fox television network series "Human Target" (based on the DC Comics property). If for nothing else, I've grown to appreciate Human Target for its penchant for featuring some of the hottest chicks in Hollywood.

Ms. Bloodgood also appeared on TV science-fiction dramas Day Break (2006-2007), where she portrayed the girlfriend of a detective who was framed for murder and arrested in the span of a day, but continually found himself reliving that same day and as Livia Beale in Journeyman on NBC. She was in the films Eight Below, Pathfinder, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li and starred as Blair Williams in Terminator Salvation, the fourth film in the Terminator series, plus she reprised her role in the video game and prequel series of short films Terminator Salvation: The Machinima Series. In 2009 she joined the cast of the show Burn Notice in its third season, as Detective Michelle Paxson and she will be starring on TNT's untitled alien invasion pilot produced by Steven Spielberg. Bloodgood also provides the voice of Uriel the Archangel in the video game Darksiders.

For the benefit of red-blooded Americans of all persuasions, Moon Bloodgood appeared on the cover of the June 2009 issue of Maxim in a string bikini. While I could care less about the sport of basketball, it is worth mentioning that Moon is a former Laker Girl (just for the image it conjures in your mind). Aah!

Feast Your Foolish Eyes!

April Fool's Day seems like a great opportunity to post a montage of recent Catacombs acquisitions, so feast your eyes on a few bronze age gems that have recently been archived by yours truly.

A few of these are nestling into new berths in the dust bin, since I never had them in the first place, while the largest part of these books simply replace copies that I sold or traded off over the years of my wayward youth.

I've comfortably eased back into searching out lots of bronze age books, after a brief sabbatical where I focused on silver age stuff & decent modern age titles.

For the record the titles depicted above are: The Savage Sword of Conan the Barbarian #47 & 54, The Rook #3, The Invaders #2 & 6, The Fantastic Four Annual #11, Marvel Two-In-One Annual #1, Marvel Two-In-One #20, Marvel Premiere #29 & 30, Marvel Spotlight #'s: 14, 16, 17, 19, 22 & 24, The Son of Satan #'s: 1, 4 & 6, Giant-Size Chillers #1 and The Avengers #116.

I wish that the Grand Comics Database featured more uniform sizing in their cover scans. That was the source of these images, and I must add that most of my copies are in higher grade than many of these.

Have a great holiday and keep your fingers crossed that the tricksters will go easy on you today!

1980's Flashback: Six From Sirius

Six From Sirius was a mini-series created by Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy and published by Marvel's Epic Comics imprint in 1984. It was later followed by a 1985 sequel mini-series, Six from Sirius II. The plot featured the intergalactic adventures of six agents working for a governmental organization of the Planet Sirius-6. Set against the backdrop of outer space, the well-liked series was chock full of action, intrigue and suspense!

The team consisted of leader, Jakosa Lone, Grod, Starn, Zematin-Lar, Skreed and LaMasque, with major supporting characters Phaedra and Collator Jaquandor. The Sirius Six are tasked with locating five beings with crucial information (The Five Elders) who have to be found quickly or the galaxy will be plunged into total, final war! There was only one problem though, the five were dead!

I remember enjoying each of the two Six from Sirius minis, in particular the witty buddy-style banter between several of the characters seemed lifted from any number of big budget genre blockbusters. Gulacy's richly painted artwork on these books was so intricately detailed that some panels appeared almost to be photographic in execution.

Having regularly scaled back large portions of my personal collection for extra dough as I was raising a family, I haven't actually had copies of these issues for many years. My memory of them isn't quite what I would like it to be, but needless to say I have never completely forgotten these very fine books. I am a bit stumped to find so little written about them online, so if you are interested in reading them, you will just have to take my word for it that they are worth tracking down and if it helps, Dynamite has reissued a collected volume of at least the first mini-series.

Sheena, Queen of the Jungle in "Blood Hunger" (Fiction House;1942)

Sheena, Queen of the Jungle was the first female comic-book character with her own title, and the character inspired a wealth of similar comic-book jungle queens. She possessed the ability to communicate with wild animals after having grown up with them since being orphaned in the jungle. She was fiercely proficient in fighting with knives, spears, and bows, and improvised with other makeshift weapons. She was deeply in love with Calum McConnell.

Following her publishing debut in Joshua B. Power's British magazine Wags #1, in 1937, Sheena first appeared stateside in Fiction House's Jumbo Comics #1, and in every subsequent issue (Sept. 1938 - April 1953), as well as in her groundbreaking, 18-issue spin-off series, Sheena, Queen of the Jungle (Spring 1942 - Winter 1952). Sheena was created by Will Eisner and S.M. "Jerry" Iger.

This is the first story of several from Sheena, Queen of the Jungle #1 (Spring;1942). The interior artwork is credited to Robert Webb and the cover art is credited to Dan Zolnerowich. The Catacombs is grateful to Don "Zu-Gogo" Falkos for providing the scans for this story. Note: The copyright for this issue, its contents and artwork belong to the original publisher and/or the creators and is reproduced here solely for entertainment purposes.

Enjoy!