"Gal" Friday! Lucy Pinder

In the summer of 2003, Lucy Pinder was spotted by a freelance photographer while sunbathing on Bournemouth beach (Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the county of Dorset, England). As a result of the photographs taken that day, she signed a professional modelling contract with the Daily Star.

Although Lucy initially shied away from exposing her upper torso during what was fast becoming an active modeling career, she eventually relented and the rest is history (you'll have to seek those incredible photos out on the world-wide web; well-worth the effort too). Lucy is one of my very favorite British pin-up queens. In the interests of complete disclosure, I must admit that I wouldn't trust myself around anyone involved with her. Think foul play!

[Now let me set aside the empty six pack and tamp out the doobie. Let's just pretend it's a few hours later and I've gotten better control of myself. Yeah! That's more like it.]

Admittedly Lucy Pinder was featured in the Catacombs at some point in the past, but it's my party and I'll cry if I want to. Sigh, I just love British pin-up "gals".

Things to Come!

I've got four interviews waiting in the queue or rather, I am waiting on four interviews to post here in the Catacombs. I have an upcoming dual interview of writer Chuck Dixon and artist Sergio Cariello, that touches on a pair of exciting projects these fine creators are currently shopping around - hoping to be published. Chuck Dixon's portion of that posting is already in my hot little hands, and I'm hoping that Sergio will forward his half in the next few days. Um, pretty-please-with-sugar-on-top.

Francesco Francavilla has also agreed to a crossover interview, but he just got hit with some new work that may delay that one - at least for a short while. In the meantime, check out his "Pulp Sunday" blog over in my links section.

Now, if only Joe Jusko would "finally" uncork his interview and send it on over. Joe is a busy guy. BUSY!! Still, he promised that he would get it to me when I spoke to him at the Heroes Convention earlier in the month. PS: I've only been waiting on that one since last year.

And you guys think that I sit on my dead arse deep in the Catacombs twiddling my thumbs. Not really! For today, console yourselves with this awesome new commission piece by the great John Byrne. The lucky owner requested Batman versus some of Spidey's most fearsome foes. Enjoy!

Rulah Jungle Goddess in "The Cat Killers!" (Fox;1948)

Rulah Jungle Goddess returns to the Catacombs today in a fun eight-page story from All-Top Comics #12 (July 1948); originally published by Fox Feature Syndicate, Inc. The Grand Comics Database discounts both Jack Kamen and Matt Baker as illustrator on "The Cat Killers!"; but the artwork is still pretty neat. The cover is included, because it's just getting to be a habit, so sue me!

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 creators and is reproduced here solely for entertainment purposes.

Enjoy!

Battle of the Cons!!

A single lousy business week separates two terrific conventions at the tail-end of the summer of 2010! The Baltimore Comic Convention falls on the weekend of August 28-29, 2010 and then Dragoncon (in Atlanta, GA) hits on the following weekend, September 3-6, 2010. Mind you, each show has its own unique charms, but Baltimore is more of a pure comics show and Dragoncon is a media smorgasbord of actors, authors, comics pros and nearly naked female cos-players (I just had to throw that in there). You can see my dilemma?

Here are the scheduled guest for Baltimore: Mike and Laura Allred, Sergio Aragones, Ivan Brandon, Tom Brevoort, Jim Calafiore, Eric Canete, Bernard Chang, Howard Chaykin, Sean Chen, Cliff Chiang, Frank Cho, Mike Choi, Steve Conley, Amanda Conner, Shane Davis, Dan DiDio, Al Feldstein, Francesco Francavilla, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Ron Garney, Sterling Gates, Bryan J.L. Glass, Michael Golden, Cully Hamner, Dean Haspiel, Jonathan Hickman, Greg Horn, Adam Hughes, Jamal Igle, Georges Jeanty, Van Jensen, Geoff Johns, J.G. Jones, Denis Kitchen, Barry Kitson, Rich Koslowski, Michael Lark, Greg LaRocque, Erik Larsen, Steve Lieber, Luna Brothers, David Mack, Laura Martin, Ron Marz, Todd McFarlane, Mark McKenna, Mike McKone, Bob McLeod, Terry Moore, Mark Morales, Chris Moreno, Sean Murphy, Steve Niles, Phil Noto, Ryan Ottley, Jimmy Palmiotti, Jeff Parker, Lauren Perry, David Petersen, Brandon Peterson, Chris Pitzer, Paul Pope, Eric Powell, Jack Purcell, Mike Raicht, Tom Raney, Chris Roberson, James Robinson, Budd Root, Don Rosa, Craig Rousseau, Stephane Roux, Jim Rugg, Tim Sale, Stuart Sayger, Bob Schreck, Louise and Walter Simonson, Jim Shooter, Allison Sohn, Andy Smith, John K. Snyder III, Jim Starlin, Brian Stelfreeze, Paul D. Storrie, Karl Story, Billy Tan, Ben Templesmith, Mark Texeira, Herb Trimpe, Timothy Truman, Billy Tucci, Dexter Vines, Neil Vokes, Doug Wagner, Matt Wagner, Mark Waid, Marv Wolfman, John Workman, Bernie Wrightson, Kelly Yates, and Chrissie Zullo!

And .....

Here are the scheduled guests for Dragoncon: Doktor A, Neal Adams, Glenn Barr, Dan Brereton, Amanda Conner, Darwyn Cooke, Peter David, Huck Gee, Donato Giancola, Kelley Jones, Stan Lee, Joseph Michael Linsner, Todd Lockwood, Travis Louie, Don Maitz, Mike McKone, Mike Mignola, Kathie Olivas, Jimmy Palmiotti, George Perez, Brandt Peters, John Picacio, Tim Sale, Shag, Greg Simkins, Vincent Villafranca; plus celebrated sci-fi/fantasy/horror actors such as Sean Astin, Rene Auberjonois, Morena Baccarin, Robert Beltran, Avery Brooks, LeVar Burton, Jason Carter, Erica Cerra, Claudia Christian, Bill Daily, John de Lancie, Lexa Doig, Barbara Eden, Gigi Edgley, Michelle Forbes, Jonathan Frakes, Joel Gretsch, Larry Hagman, Linda Hamilton, Danielle Harris, Virginia Hey, Marta Kristen, Sean Maher, James Marsters, Paul McGillion, Robert Duncan McNeill, Jason Momoa, Edward James Olmos, Ray Park, Adrian Pasdar, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Elisabeth Rohm, Saul Rubinek, Michael Shanks, Rekha Sharma, Armin Shimerman, Marc Singer, Marina Sirtis, Shawnee Smith, Kevin Sorbo, Brent Spiner, Jewel Staite, Sam Trammell, Laura Vandervoort and Garrett Wang; plus noted genre authors such as Kevin J. Anderson, Jim Butcher, A.C. Crispin, Bill Fawcett, Christopher Golden, Laurell K. Hamilton, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Rosemary Laurey, Todd McCaffrey, Rebecca Moesta, Jody Lynn Nye, Mike Resnick, John D. Ringo, Brandon Winn Sanderson, Susan Sizemore, Michael Stackpole, S.M. Stirling, Janny Wurts, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and Timothy Zahn.

Attempting to take in both shows will require me to split my budget between the two (unlikely, barring an intervening Powerball win) or throw support towards a single one of these great weekends. Any suggestions?

In Memorium: Rik Levins

Richard "Rik" Levins passed away June 12, 2010 at the age of fifty-nine from cancer. Levins was best known for his solid work as an artist on Captain America, where he worked with writer Mark Gruenwald for over three years (1991-1994) and The Avengers (for Marvel). Other titles that he contributed to included Americomics and Femforce (for AC Comics), XO Manowar, H.A.R.D. Corps and Solar: Man of the Atom (all for Valiant), among others.

The Catacombs expresses its sincerest condolences to his family, friends and fans. Rest in Peace!

"Gal" Friday! Vera Farmiga

This weeks "Gal" Friday selection changed - twice - sometimes that just happens, when I follow my muse. I won't say which ladies got "bumped". I'll just wait and feature them some other time. For now, let's appreciate a photo (above; top) that really just takes your breath away.

Vera Farmiga is best known for her roles in the films Running Scared, The Departed, Orphan and Up in the Air. She was nominated for Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, BAFTA and Academy Awards for her luscious turn opposite George Clooney in, Up in the Air.

Farmiga is the daughter of Ukrainian immigrants and she gets the nod here today thanks to her genre role on the 1997 television series, Roar, alongside the late Heath Ledger. "Roar" chronicled the extraordinary life of Conor (Ledger), a reluctant 20-year-old orphaned prince who was forced to rise above tragedy and lead his people to freedom. Conor led a band of ragtag allies that included Caitlin (Farmiga; see photo above left), a beautiful former slave. Their primary struggle was against Longinus, a supernatural creature whose true essence was that of a 400-year-old Roman centurion ready to do the bidding of the evil Queen Diana, an emissary of the Romans.

That simple, sexy black & white photo up top certainly makes me want to "roar".

Jann of the Jungle in "With Fang and Talons" (Marvel;1973)

The last bronze age Jann of the Jungle reprint from Jungle Action #4 (Apr. 1973) was called "With Fang and Talons". Written by Don Rico and appropriately drawn by Jay Scott Pike, this adventure was originally presented in Jann of the Jungle #9 (Jan. 1956) by Marvel/Atlas Comics.

Thank you for following along with Jann, and rest assured that she will be back again someday. Hopefully you will also see her "Jungle Action" peers, Lorna & Tharn pop into the Catacombs at some point. This issues incredible Gil Kane cover is included as a bonus, and if you've got the money, it is currently for sale on eBay at a very reasonable price. I was considering purchasing this cover, but I just negotiated a sweetheart deal on some high end bronze age gems that was just too good to pass on (Giant-Size X-Men #1 and X-Men #94-101)

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 creators and is reproduced here solely for entertainment purposes.

Enjoy!

Parts Unknown and Beyond!

Al Williamson's recent passing got me to thinking about how fortunate I've been as a life-long comic book fan. It never ceases to amaze me how many industry professionals and veterans I've met during my life, literally hundreds of talented people, and all without having to go very far afield to see and meet them.

You see, I've been attending comic book conventions, both big and small, since I was in high school (back in the late 1970's). Although the larger conventions, with suitably greater guest options, etc., are hard to beat; sometimes the smaller venue weekend shows truly rise to the occasion.

In 1990, Parts Unknown: The Comic Book Store (located in Greensboro, NC), held a pretty awesome two day event on Saturday Oct. 13 & Sunday Oct. 14. The mini-con was hosted at their original location at the old Cotton Mill Square in Greensboro (the store has since moved to another location).

That weekend has always been one of my favorite comic book memories. So, what made that little show so special? Just take a look at the guest list: Will Eisner, Dave Stevens, Al Williamson, Mark Nelson, Joe Orlando, Mark Schultz, Angelo Torres, Murphy Anderson, Archie Goodwin, Bo & Scott Hampton, Richard Case and Marie Severin. Um, yeah - "Wow"!

To put this in a better perspective, the late Dave Stevens had to take a break from the shooting set of the feature film version of his creator-owned independent comic, "The Rocketeer", in order to attend. I'm glad that he did too, since that was the only time that I ever had a chance to see Mr. Stevens in person. As you can see, Parts Unknown had also pulled together an impressive list of former EC Comics veterans, including Williamson, Orlando, Torres and Severin. Each of them had gone on to enjoy long careers elsewhere, but it was a no-brainer to have them all together again. Of course, the late Will Eisner was the creator of the timeless detective, The Spirit, and he was also recognized as one of the masters of the comic art form, and Murphy Anderson was one of the artistic rocks that DC Comics built its entire Silver Age universe around.

I lived in Charlotte, NC at the time and had vastly underestimated the drive time to get to the show - on the last day of that event. With barely three hours to spare, I managed to drag my wife and two very small children along on a terribly overcast day to make that con, but I've gotta tell you, walking into the cavernous upstairs hall where the event was held was actually fairly magical. I'm pretty sure that my jaw was hanging open as I walked in. Being such a "Johnny-Come-Lately" also had some unexpected and unique perks. I actually didn't have to wait in a single long line to see any of the guests and I enjoyed quite a bit of conversation time with each of them.

The program book (pictured, above left) became one of my favorite mementos, having autographs from most of the guests and even small sketches by Severin, Nelson, Goodwin and Stevens himself. I had Dave draw "Unk", the little sidekick to Aurora, a sci-fi gal from the old Pacific Comic, Alien Worlds. It saddens me to report that my own copy went missing in storage a few years ago and is now one for the ages, but a treasured memory nonetheless.

For the most part, I've happily been a loyalist to Shelton Drum's "Heroes Aren't Hard To Find" stores and his annual Heroes Convention. Shelton started introducing me to comic book folks like Bill Sienkiewicz, Mike Baron, Sam Grainger and fantasy painter Clyde Caldwell, while I was still a slightly snot-nosed (not really, but you know what I mean) nerd, with his first small mini-cons at Eastland Mall in Charlotte. So with this years Heroes Convention only slightly faded after a couple of weeks - bear with me while I tip my hat his way also.

Thanks to John Hitchcock of Parts Unknown, Shelton Drum and the staff of Heroes and the unknown (to me) organizers of Dragoncon in Atlanta for bringing the entire comic book and genre industries co close to home. It means a lot!

Jann of the Jungle in "Rampage" (Marvel;1973)

We continue the bronze age reprints from Jungle Action #3 today, which was published in February 1973 by Marvel Comics. This adventure starring Jann of the Jungle was originally presented in Jungle Tales #1 September 1954, back when "Marvel" was still called Atlas Comics.

"Rampage" was once again written by Don Rico, but the art on this fine tale was provided by Art Petty, and the spiffy cover for Jungle Action #3 is beautifully drawn by the very much alive & well Jim Starlin (who I just had the great pleasure of meeting at the recent Heroes Convention in Charlotte, NC); however I must also mention that this cover illustration features inks by Frank Giacoia. The final "Jann of the Jungle" story from the Jungle Action series will be posted on Thursday of this week.

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 creators and is reproduced here solely for entertainment purposes.

Enjoy!

In Memorium: Al Williamson

Legendary EC Comics artist Al Williamson, whose work in the 1950s, on titles such as Weird Science and Weird Fantasy, helped make that company so special, passed away on Sunday at the age of 79.

Williamson also produced classic work for Warren Magazines on Creepy and Eerie, in the 1960's & 1970's and he gained additional recognition for his syndicated newspaper strip, "Secret Agent X-9". In the 1980's he became well-known for his work adapting the popular Star Wars films for comic books and newspaper strips. From the mid-1980s to 2003, he was primarily active as an inker, mainly on Marvel Comics titles starring Daredevil, Spider-Man, and Spider-Girl.

Williamson was a major stylistic influence on many artists, and encouraged others, helping such creators as Bernie Wrightson and Mike Kaluta break into the business. I am very glad that I had a chance to meet him in 1990 in Greensboro, North Carolina. He was a class act!

The Catacombs extends it's heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and fans.

Change Ahead ....

I should have mentioned this before this late in the day, but I'm experimenting with a new look for the Catacombs beginning (cough!) this morning. Let me know what you guys think (and thanks to those who already have).

I'm also in the latter part of a 100 degree day down South, and really haven't stopped sweating since this morning.

Yeesh!!

Jann of the Jungle in "The Day of Jungle Wrath" (Marvel;1972)

Jungle Action #2 was published in December 1972 by Marvel Comics. The title is best known for hosting the long-running Black Panther lead feature, but the first several issues featured reprints of some of Marvels jungle characters from their old Atlas Comics period of the 1950's: Lorna the Jungle Queen, Tharn (aka "Lo-zar"), and Jann of the Jungle.

"The Day of Jungle Wrath" was originally presented in Jann of the Jungle #14 (Dec. 1956), with a script written by Don Rico and art by Jay Scott Pike. The cover for Jungle Action #2 is beautifully drawn by the late Gil Kane (which is included as your weekend bonus). The remaining two Jann of the Jungle stories from the Bronze Age Jungle Action series will be posted on Tuesday and Thursday this week.

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 creators and is reproduced here solely for entertainment purposes.

Enjoy!