At the Movies: Captain America: The First Avenger

Director Joe Johnston (The Rocketeer) and screenwriters Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely have delivered a "note perfect" movie rendition of the origin of Captain America: The First Avenger. Actor Chris Evans absolutely nails the role of Steve Rogers, the skinny but plucky reject who repeatedly gets written off as being unfit for military service, and then volunteers for a top secret research project that turns him into the star-spangled superhero dedicated to defending America's ideals during World War II. It's the key aspect of this particular character that Steve Rogers was "Captain America", before he underwent the super-soldier transition, and that's why this film works as well as it does. The inner quality of the man informs the character of the hero. This is the very thing that Dr. Erskine saw in him to begin with. Evans is topnotch, and damn, do they really work wonders in the CGI-process that altered his physical appearance into a 90 lb asthmatic. Wow!

No matter how much box office this flick banks, in a month chock-full of potential blockbusters, Captain America is yet another outstanding effort from Marvel/Disney Studios. Man, that Avengers movie is going to be something to see, and I hope they manage to blend all of these performances together come next May. The strong cast here really embodies many iconic roles from Marvels fictional universe, which is nice considering that certain inevitable changes were made to the Howling Commandos. Still it is ridiculously awesome seeing a version of those guys kick-ass on the big screen. The quality of the work done by Tommy Lee Jones, Stanley Tucci, Hugo Weaving, Sebastian Stan, Dominic Cooper, Toby Jones and the rest knocks this movie right out of the park. British actress Hayley Atwell WILL break your heart in her role as Agent Peggy Carter. I loved how this relationship was less love interest and more romance. My god she's good in this film, and tough, and beautiful. Don't take my word for it either, news stories are already pointing out how much search engine activity she's generating online. I know that I'm in love with her!

Trailers have clearly established that the bulk of Cap's origin and story occur during the "big war", but the framing sequence set in the modern era is ideally realized too. Everything from the score, to the special effects, costuming and performances just gets it "right" from start-to-finish. And I've got to say that the ending is PERFECT. Look for cameos, both expected (Samuel L. Jackson) and one subtle glimpse at a character who was originally a WW2 ally of Cap's.

I could ramble on, but doing so would likely veer far into spoiler territory, so just go SEE this terrific movie and enjoy it for yourself. Captain America: The First Avenger is easily one of the best superhero films ever made. I'm really proud of Johnston and the guys for not screwing this one up. The "King" would be proud. Highly recommended!

Samar in "Captured by the Amazons" (Quality;1940)

Samar returns to the Catacombs today in a short adventure tale called "Captured by the Amazons" from Feature Comics #36 (Sept.1940); originally published by Quality Comics and illustrated by John Celardo (aka "John Charles").

 

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!

"Gal" Friday! Katy Perry

As a singer-songwriter and actress, Katy Perry is known for her unconventional style of dress. Her attire is often humorous, bright in color, and reminiscent of different decades, and she frequently uses fruit-shaped accessories, mainly watermelon, as part of her outfits.

Her rise to fame began with the release of her second single "I Kissed a Girl" in 2008, which went on to top international charts and an engaging slate of hits such as "Hot n Cold", "California Gurls", "Teenage Dream", "Firework", "E.T." and "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" have cemented her status as a Queen of Pop.

It doesn't hurt that she is absolutely smoking hot, too! Perry lends her voice to the role of "Smurfette" in the upcoming 2011 film The Smurfs. She married British comedian Russell Brand on October 23, 2010. Oh, and please click on the smaller image (above; left), for an eye-popping look at the mighty fine assets of this weeks sexy "gal" Friday selection. Sheesh, talk about fireworks. Damn!

SDCC: San Diego Comic-Con International!!

The biggest trade show of the comic book industry really gets underway today after last nights blowout preview. By the way, I'm not there. (Too big a crowd for little old me).

Any merciful visitors attending this west coast event who happen to acquire any promotional stuff from Bioware for Dragon Age 2 or, even better, Mass Effect 3, can trade it to yours truly for some cool stuff too.

Just say in!

Top 10 Defunct Comic Book Publishers: Harvey Comics

Casper's Ghostland #12 -1959 series]

Alfred Harvey founded Harvey Comics in 1941 (after acquiring Brookwood Publications) and featured a combination of characters it inherited from Brookwood, licensed characters such as the Green Hornet and Joe Palooka and its own original characters. It was Harvey’s stock of licensed characters which became the bulk of their output. These included Famous Studio staples Casper the Friendly Ghost, Baby Huey, Herman and Katnip, and Little Audrey. Harvey also licensed characters from popular newspaper comic strips, such as Mutt and Jeff and Sad Sack. Additionally, Harvey developed original properties such as Richie Rich, Little Dot, Hot Stuff the Little Devil, Stumbo the Giant and Little Lotta. Many of these classic titles were created by their most prolific artist, Warren Kremer. Trivia: Harvey's well-known mascot was "Joker" a jack-in-the-box style character.

While the company tried to diversify its line with brief forays into superhero, suspense, horror, western and other genres, kid comics ultimately were their true forte. In 1959, Harvey purchased rights for the entire Famous Studios roster, then repackaged and distributed these shorts to television as Harveytoons, even as the company continued production on new comics. Casper the Friendly Ghost, who had been Famous' most popular original character, now became Harvey's top draw and associated characters such as Spooky the Tuff Little Ghost, The Ghostly Trio, Casper's horse Nightmare and Wendy the Good Little Witch were added to the Harvey line.

Richie Rich #32 (Apr.1965)

Due to a declining children's comics market, Harvey ceased publishing in 1982 and founder Alfred Harvey retired. Diamond Comic Distributors owner, Steve Geppi, paid $50,000 for Harvey's entire archive of original art from the Harvey comic Sad Sack, plus additional properties in 1984. Since then the entire Harveytoons media catalogue has been passed around through a variety of entities, but for generations of youngsters, their classic lineup of family-friendly characters remains timeless.

Cave Girl in "The Amazon Assassins!" (ME; 1953)

It's Tuesday, so as promised here is another Cave Girl story from Cave Girl #12 (1953); originally published by Magazine Enterprises, once again written by Gardner Fox and illustrated by Bob Powell.

This is the last story from this issue, and in it you'll see Cave Girl defending the Wambooli people against attacks by the Amazons. Sadly, she gets captured and is forced to fight lions. And here I thought that sexy Amazon warriors always stripped down there prisoners for some neat one-on-one time. Oh well, I hate to see that bubble burst.

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!

At the Movies: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2

Short and sweet is going to have to suffice, since I just realized that I had forgotten to go back and actually post my intended review of this film. Fans of the books shouldn't be too disappointed with the final installment of this blockbuster franchise, as it is a faithful adaptation of the novel. Changes are evident from the source material, but minimized for the most part. Great acting, and a satisfying conclusion make this one not too miss.

"Gal" Friday! Paige Duke

After a third party posted nude pictures of former Miss Sprint Cup Paige Duke, NASCAR invoked a morality clause in Duke's contract to fire her. Paige claims that the photographs were previously taken by her then boyfriend while she was a freshman in college and while she was in her second season with the program. NASCAR offically claims that firing Ms. Duke was justified, since she is the face of the brand at racing events and that she has to have a good image behind it. In this case, the nude photos that were released negatively impacted their reputation and would therefore adversely reflect on their brand. They say that the firing is harsh only because it is a hard lesson for her to learn.

Look, I know bullshit when I smell it and it is laughable for an organization run by and catering to beer-swilling, tobacco-chewing rednecks to adhere to a "morality" clause in the first place. Hell, half the audience in the stands at Nascar events can't even spell the word morality, much less understand it.

The important thing to focus on here is that a coterie of boardroom holier-than-thou types just decided that a smoking hot young girl, who was hired for being just that, no longer measures up. As far as I'm concerned, Paige Duke just became the "official" spokesmodel for The Comic Book Catacombs. At least until next Friday!

"Daisy Duke" she ain't, and in my opinion she's way hotter, but this weeks "Gal" Friday selection has suddenly found herself leaping from the frying pan directly into the fire. Paige Duke is a local "gal" from Clemson, South Carolina after all, so she has the firm support of the Catacombs (and I DO mean that literally).

Nyoka the Jungle Girl in "The Sinister Jungle Myth" (Charlton;1955)

Nyoka the Jungle Girl is often described as having been created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, but although the 1941 movie serial starring Frances Gifford as Nyoka was officially based on Burroughs' story "Jungle Girl" (which first appeared in the pulp magazine Blue Book and later was expanded into a novel) there is no character named Nyoka and no Nyoka-like character in that original story.

Fawcett Comics used the film version of Nyoka as the basis for a one-shot Jungle Girl Comics #1 (1942); and she continued to appear in her own self-titled series irregularly until 1953, when Fawcett ceased publication. Nyoka was subsequently sold to Charlton by Fawcett after the National Comics Publications v. Fawcett Publications lawsuit. Her first Charlton appearance occurred in Nyoka, Jungle Girl #14 (November 1955), in this full-issue tale called "The Sinister Jungle Myth". No creative team credits are available.

 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!

Top 10 Defunct Comic Book Publishers: Warren Publishing



Blazing Combat #3 (Apr.1966)

After first introducing what he called "Monster Comics" in Monster World, James Warren expanded his magazine line in 1964 with horror-comics stories in the magazines Creepy and Eerie. Offered in a larger black-and-white magazine format, rather than standard comic-book size, and selling for 35 cents as opposed to the regular comic-book price of 12 cents. This format allowed Warren to avoid the restrictions of the comic-book industry's self-censorship body, The Comics Code Authority. By publishing graphic adult stories in a magazine format to which the Code did not apply, Warren paved the way for such later graphic-story magazines as the American version of Heavy Metal; Marvel Comics' Epic Illustrated; Psycho and other Skywald Publications.

Russ Jones was the founding editor of Creepy in 1964, but a year later, Archie Goodwin succeeded him, with Joe Orlando acting as a behind-the-scenes story editor. Goodwin, who would become one of comics' foremost and most influential writers, helped to establish the company as a major force in its field. From 1965 to 1966, Warren published the highly controversial four-issue series, Blazing Combat, a war-comics magazine with anti-war themes.

Originally based in Philadelphia, the company relocated to New York City in 1965 and experienced a slate of difficulties. Editor Goodwin resigned, plus a change in distributors combined with a downturn in the market imposed a real cash flow problem on Warren resulting in the loss of many of their established artists. Things started picking back up over the next two-and-a-half years, aided by the premiere of its third horror magazine, Vampirella, and the return of many of their original artists; even Goodwin returned later on. An infusion of Spanish and international artists such as Esteban Maroto, José Ortiz, Alex Niño, Rudy Nebres, Alfredo Alcala, Gonzalo Mayo, Pablo Marcos and Leo Duranona, would also dominate the magazines roster during these years.

New editor Bill DuBay transformed Warren's magazines to create a uniform style and he also increased the frequency of Warren's magazines to nine issues a year. Warrens many innovative magazines included Creepy, Eerie, Famous Monsters of Filmland, Help, The Spirit, The Rook and Vampirella.

Their regular stable of top artists included Orlando, Neal Adams, Gene Colan, Frank Frazetta, Angelo Torres, Roy G. Krenkel, Gray Morrow, Al Williamson, Johnny Craig, Reed Crandall, Alex Toth, John Severin, Russ Heath, Wally Wood, plus emerging talents like Dan Adkins, Frank Brunner, Rich Buckler, Dave Cockrum, Nicola Cuti, Richard Corben, Ken Kelly, Pepe Moreno, Mike Royer, Tom Sutton and Bernie Wrightson. Writers whose byline figured prominently at Warren included Goodwin, Cuti, Dubay, Bruce Jones, Doug Moench, Budd Lewis, Don McGregor and Steve Skeates.

 James Warren's declining health and personal business problems eventually led to internal conflict and personnel turnover. Sadly, Warren Communications suspended publishing in late 1981 and declared bankruptcy in 1983.

Famous Monsters of Filmland #110

Cave Girl in "Prey of the Headhunters" (Mag.Ent.;1953)

Cave Girl hasn't visited the Catacombs for quite some time, and that's a damn shame since I've got several excellent stories remaining from her golden age repertoire. I'm thinking that she might just end up as the featured jungle girl over the next few Tuesdays, so if you like today's exciting adventure tale called "Prey of the Headhunters!" from Cave Girl #12 (1953); originally published by Magazine Enterprises, written by Gardner Fox and illustrated by Bob Powell, then please come see us again.

For now pay close attention as Pierre Lamond (a jewel thief acting as a jungle guide) unknowingly steals a strange chemical from Alfred Randolph that could kill anyone within a mile radius. Knowing that her animals would be endangered, the lovely Cave Girl goes after the fiend and shows him the error of his ways.

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!