Curse of the Phantom Shadow!

Hey, film fans, here's a nice Halloween "heads up" for you from independent filmmaker Mark Ross. Mark currently lives in the Las Vegas area and he is in production on a short concept film called "Curse of the Phantom Shadow". The film is a personal homage from Mark, based on his appreciation for The Batman, Dick Tracy, The Phantom, The Shadow, Spy-Smasher, and Captain Midnight. Ross has blended ideas from those original concepts plus elements of old-style B-movies, Republic movie serials, and pulp magazines of the 1930s/1940s. The film takes place in a stylized art deco 1948. Mark is also striving for something more than your typical "fan film", by casting professional SAG actors who have appeared in Hollywood productions. 

Until recently, he was 100% self-financed from his personal savings, but Mark is now trying to raise money to finish his film through Kickstarter. He has two ambitious upcoming shoots that require an infusion of cash to accomplish. "Curse of the Phantom Shadow" needs to film its big action scene on a green screen stage in LA, with a rented vintage 1940s tow truck. As a reminder, unlike most Kickstarter projects, Mark's film is actually in-production and largely complete. Click on the link if you're willing to help him out for as little as $1; but any contribution helps. Oh, and tell them that the Catacombs sent you!

"Gal" Friday! Pollyanna McIntosh

Since I'm going to the Carowinds Amusement Park tomorrow evening to enjoy their annual "Scarowinds" Halloween event AND with the second season of AMC's "The Walking Dead" premiering on Sunday night, I thought it would be nice to choose an appropriate seasonal lass for this weeks "Gal" Friday post.


Pollyanna McIntosh grew up in Portugal and Colombia before returning to her birthplace in Scotland where she first began performing on stage at The Edinburgh Festival. She left home for London at sixteen, and soon became involved as both an actress and director in indie filmmaking and theatre. A move to Los Angeles in 2004 coincided with her marriage to actor Grant Show.

It was as lesbian party girl, Thumper Wint in the 2007 comedy "Sex and Death 101" (starring Simon Baker & Wynona Ryder), that critics really began to take note of her unique talent, citing a blend of powerful sexuality and irreverent humor. McIntosh can be seen in a limited release suspense thriller opening today that features her in a demanding turn as the titular character in director Lucky McKee's "The Woman", which first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Starring alongside Angela Bettis (May/Dexter) and Sean Bridgers (Deadwood), McIntosh plays a feral woman at the end of her rope after being forced into "civilized" society by a lawyer and his family who capture and imprison her character. AICN describes the film as unusually brutal and gory, so if it's playing in your area and if you like that sort of thing, then check it out.

2011 Halloween Film Festival: Stake Land

Once again, the Catacombs has chosen a few select feature films to review in recognition of this months perennial holiday, Halloween. Last years films were all science fiction-horror hybrids with plenty of nudity to appeal to horny genre pervs, and I freely admit that the inaugural selection for my 2011 Halloween Film Festival really made me wish that I had chosen a repeat performance of that. Instead I chose a few random movies, both new and old, that I had not seen. First out of the gate is an independent 2010 post-apocalyptic vampire film from director Jim Mickle. Honestly, Stake Land left me dumbfounded. The reviews for this overly-praised movie used phrases like "gritty", "stylistic flexibility", "nerve-wracking", "harrowing", "bloodcurdling" and "clever". Seriously? What the hell were those critics smoking? Were they paid off or something?  I mean, damn. I totally missed that directors cut, or was sent an entirely different version by Netflix. Does Ashton Kutcher punk bloggers now?

When an epidemic of vampirism strikes, humans find themselves on the run from vicious, feral beasts. Remember that point, because this is actually where Stake Land ultimately fails, by violating its own internal logic later in the film. When his family is slaughtered, young Martin (Connor Paolo) is taken under the wing of a grizzled, wayward hunter simply known as "Mister" (Nick Damici) whose new prey is the undead. As the pair journey through the locked-down towns of America's heartland, they are joined by a ragtag band of fellow travelers including a nun (Kelly McGillis), a marine newly returned from the Middle East (Sean Nelson) and a pregnant woman (Danielle Harris). As this disparate family cautiously moves north toward Canada (which is now New Eden), they are plagued by a fundamentalist Christian militia called The Brotherhood, headed by Jebedia Loven (Michael Cerveris; aka "The Observer" on Fringe) that believes the vampires were sent by God to do his work. This particular sect is much more of a threat to the group than the vampires, who frankly just aren't all that scary. The most threatening type of vampires, called berserkers, are harder to kill as their chest carapaces have become like toughened leather, so they have to be staked through the base of the skull to kill them, and even when some of them actually show up, there isn't any real sense of palpable tension on display in the film. 

Nick Damici as "Mister" (top) and Connor Paolo as "Martin" (bottom)

Only genre veteran Harris manages to evidence any visible degree of fear through her facial demeanor, and that ain't saying much. Most of the time the whole cast doesn't truly seem to take their predicament seriously enough, if you ask me. These aren't Christopher Lee vampires we're talking about, or Bela Lugosi vampires or even twinkly-Twilight Robert Pattinson vampires. The mindless vampires in Stake Land are portrayed as savage, feral, NON-SPEAKING beasts. At least up to the moment when Cerveris cult leader returns after having become a vampire himself. As the cast suddenly starts getting whittled down by an unseen (and thinking) vampiric opponent, Stake Land quickly burns through whatever amount of goodwill you may still accord the film, as this aspect completely breaks with the previously established on-screen scenario. By this point in the film, the characters have survived quite a bit, and this about-face moment mars an otherwise semi-consistent B-film. To its credit Stake Land at least looks greater than the sum of its parts, thanks to effective cinematography, and it is here that perhaps the movie earns comparisons to "The Road", but only here. The overall acting is absolutely sub-par, and its too bad to see Kelly McGillis in a film like this after her sterling early career triumphs in Witness, Top Gun and The Accused. Everything else about this movie is somewhat akin to a film school "Horror 101" student project. I can't recommend this movie at all, other than as a curiosity. There are better post-apocalyptic vampire films of recent vintage available to waste your Halloween rental dollars on (I Am Legend, Daybreakers, Priest, etc.), so skip this utterly shitty romp of a flick. The only other thing that I can add is that I completely understand why this movie only grossed about $22, 970 at the box office.

My Favorite Martian .... New York Comic-Con Special!!

Hey, if you are planning on attending this weekend’s New York Comic Con, and if you’re a fan of the classic 1960s TV show My Favorite Martian, Starring Bill Bixby and Ray Walston, then Hermes Press has something cool for you.

Debuting at the NYCC, My Favorite Martian: The Complete Series-Volume One will be sold at a special convention price of $29.99, which is a whopping $20 off of its retail cover price! If you’re new to Hermes Press’ line of classic reprints, this is a good one to start with. My Favorite Martian had a great run in comics with scripts by the prolific Paul S. Newman and terrific art contributions from Russ Manning, Dan Spiegle, and Mike Arens. Now, Hermes Press has digitally remastered the original Gold Key comic book of the ‘60s in another of their library of quality hardcovers. Packaged with a sweet retro ‘60s design, My Favorite Martian can be found at the Hermes Press booth (#1903) this weekend at NYCC (while supplies last). A second volume, which collects the British comics, is due out next year.

My Favorite Martian: The Complete Series-Volume One, Hardcover, 224 pages (regularly $49.99), on sale at NYCC for only $29.99!!

Rulah Jungle Goddess in "Blood Lust of the Biting God" (Fox; 1948)

The Catacombs favorite golden age cutie, Rulah Jungle Goddess reappears after entirely too long an absence in the terrifically-titled "Blood Lust of the Biting God" from All Top Comics #11 (May 1948); originally published by Fox. The Alec Hope credit belongs to either Matt Baker or Jack Kamen, but the GCD doesn't help clarify the matter; so flip a quarter and take your pick. I'll be posting some newly discovered Rulah jungle adventures in the near future, so if you're a fan (like me), please stop by from time to time. 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!

Stargazing Dog

Takashi Murakami tells the story of a man who has not kept up with the rapidly changing pace of society and how that failure has brutally sidelined him as a result in "Stargazing Dog", a smash hit manga bestseller with sales over 560,000 and a movie that opened this summer. 


Daddy is down and out. Life has conspired against him, and everything is coming undone. Fed up, he sets out in his car to just get away from it all to nowhere in particular. All of the people around him having abandoned him, but he discovers that the one companion he can count on utterly is his dog who follows him blindly, faithfully and completely, to the end. 


NBM Publishing proudly presents the original Japanese phenomenon in a new black & white volume for only $11.99. 

Thanks, Stefan!

"A Never-Ending Battle" at New York Comic-Con (Oct. 13-16, 2011)

Attendees of the New York Comic-Con (next week; Oct. 13-16) will be treated to a special documentary preview of  “A Never-Ending Battle,” the first episode of a new film from the creative team responsible for the award-winning PBS documentaries “Broadway: The American Musical” and “Make ‘Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America.”

The screening is made possible by special arrangement with Ghost Light Films,Inc., Reed POP and Bonfire Agency, LLC (this early heads up for Catacombs regulars comes from Ed Catto of Bonfire Agency). Featuring rare footage along with new interviews with industry legends such as Joe Simon, Stan Lee, Jim Steranko, Neal Adams, Michael Chabon and Jules Feiffer, segments of the first episode – “A Never-Ending Battle: 1938-1954” – will be previewed on Friday, October 14, 2011 at 4PM in Room 1B01 of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center at 655 West 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan. An on-stage interview and Q&A with filmmakers and cultural historians Michael Kantor and Laurence Maslon will take place immediately following the screening.

With principal production funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts, “A Never-Ending Battle” is slated to air as the first episode of a three-part series on PBS stations early in 2013. The series will explore the American art form of the comic book superhero and its complex interrelation with American culture over the last 75 years. Throughout this period, comic books artists, writers and publishers have unleashed thousands of exotic, bizarre, heroic and seductive adventurers upon the American public; some have become instantly recognizable all over the globe, many have crashed miserably under the weight of their own lack of inspiration, but all were created in the hope that they would connect with some aspect of the American consumer. In this regard, the film explores how the evolution of the costumed crusader reflected our social, political and cultural history. Fervent fans, casual viewers, and everyone in between will discover much to marvel over in this informed overview of the adventures of America’s most popular genre of historic fiction.

"Gal" Friday! Nicky Whelan

As a heads up for anyone out there who might be sympathetic to my plight, I'm just gonna mention that I would REALLY like to be in possession of the necessary skill set to lure this young lady into a relationship. Mind you, that's not an unusual affliction here in the Catacombs, as generally each weeks new (and lovely) "gal" Friday selection holds a special level of appeal that could easily get me to commit to being treated like dog shit for the rest of my life. With a smile on my dopey face, I might add!

Anyway, I don't recall where or how this Australian hottie came to my attention, but as I ruminated over her pending post. Ruminated?  Yeah, lets just agree to call "it" that! Her blond good looks, sexy accent, overall physical perfection, and lest I forget, my own affable desire to finesse everything else, all conspired to leave me in a bit of a foul mood.

Adding insult to injury, there were plenty of dumbasses this week who plain out annoyed me. At work. At home. On the highway. And everybody debating anything in the political arena.

Still, "Gal" Friday must proceed, so feast your eyes on Australian actress and model Nicky Whelan. She is best known for her role as Pepper Steiger in the Australian television series Neighbours. Stateside, Whelan appeared in the final season of Scrubs as Maya, an Australian medical school student and in the 2011 film Hall Pass, which co-starred Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, Jenna Fischer, and Christina Applegate.

It's tough knowing that I'm not going to get her for Christmas, or my next birthday, or at home as a surprise on a crappy day. That makes me sad, and I usually prefer brunettes too. That makes it a double-bummer!  Take a gander at these sweet pics, down a brewski, and toast the fickle deities of the universe; because they don't play fair at all.

Dr. Voodoo in "The Ape Men" (Fawcett; 1941)

Since Halloween arrives at the end of the month, I intend to gear my golden age comic book posts towards the unusual or eerie as much as possible.

In the jungles of Brazil, Dr. Hal Carey's parents gave their lives tending to the natives of a tribe called the Blancas (because they were “white Indians“), and raised their son Hal to take over for them after they died. Shortly after this happened, Hal (later christened Dr. Voodoo) defeated the evil medicine man Okoro and became the leader of the tribe. During his golden age career Dr. Voodoo's adventure were very well drawn by noted golden age artist Mac Raboy. The stories were like those of Prince Valiant, only set in a jungle, with Hal, his girlfriend Maxinya and a jaguar called Jappa facing everything from headhunters to tribes of giants and dragons. This short tale simply titled "The Ape Men" is from Whiz Comics #13 (Feb. 1941); originally published by Fawcett, with art by Raboy and story by John Hampton. 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!

Potpourri!

This week has been a bit too full of stuff & goings on. Month Two of the DC relaunch (blehh), Steve Jobs passing (a true innovator), well-known character actor Charles Napier passing, new books-movies-fall TV, etc. So bear with me for a few extraneous comments that I just wanted to get off of my chest and thanks for the kind indulgence.

Alan Davis joins regular writer Ed Brubaker as the ongoing artist of Captain America beginning with Captain America #6 and I am so there! Cap has enjoyed quite a bit of renewed popularity in recent years thanks to Mr. Brubaker (and a handful of topnotch artists), but as much as I like the "Living Legend of World War II", I haven't bought very many issues. Don't get me wrong, I was pleased with how they revived Bucky and set him up temporarily as the replacement for Steve Rogers as Cap, but Marvel has been a bit of a mess for me under the Quesada regime and the most that I can manage is to "cherry pick" those few things that actually entertain me. Right now that only includes Alpha Flight, Avengers: The Children's Crusade, and Thor. I hope that the Defenders relaunch will measure up, and I have no doubt that the presence of Alan Davis will make Captain America a do not miss.

What's up with "Lord of the Jungle" from Dynamite? Their upcoming adaptation of the classic Edgar Rice Burroughs hero Tarzan doesn't even bear his famous name. Shades of Disney. Has the House of Mouse driven off another public domain character, by locking up trademark rights to the name?  I mean that animated Tarzan flick they made in 1999 was good fun, but I have wondered how their version would impact other licensed or fair use of this character ever since. What is the status of the Burroughs estate these days and if they still retain their original ownership rights, why would they even want this title published without the most recognizable name in jungle lord history sitting on top of it?

Spider-Man: Edge of Time is an exciting new video game by the Activision-owned developer Beenox. The story was written by Peter David, and the game begins in the present day, as Peter Parker/Spider-Man battles Anti-Venom. But before long, Anti-Venom robs Peter of his powers and apparently kills him...

The game then rewinds to events in the year 2099. Miguel O'Hara/Spider-Man investigates the Alchemax scientist Walker Sloan. While spying on him, Miguel discovers Sloan's plans: to travel back in time and obtain power and fortune by founding Alchemax much earlier than it was originally established. Miguel arrives just as Sloan enters his Gateway, but jumps through the portal too late to stop him. Trapped between times, Miguel watches helplessly as the original Spider-Man is murdered by Anti-Venom and history is changed for the worse. Upon his return to 2099, having been unaffected by the time change due to being trapped in the portal when the change took place, Miguel discovers that Sloan's changes to the timeline have reduced New York City to a dystopia.

In the new timeline created by Sloan, Alchemax has been founded in the 1970s, apparently replacing the Daily Bugle, and Peter Parker himself works there as a scientist. Realizing this, Miguel uses Peter's DNA, stored within the company's archives, to create a chronal link between the two so that he can warn Peter of the truth about Alchemax and his impending death on the 66th floor of the building. This allows the two distinct versions of Spider-Man to join forces across time to set everything right.

This game is superior to last weeks X-Men: Destiny, which although fun enough, was just too basic and abrupt in playthrough for the money. You can actually play X-Men: Destiny from start to finish in about five hours or so; not so much with Edge of Time. The graphics on this Spider-Man game are also much more intense, and there are many challenges to be experienced that will add to the overall gaming experience. Highly recommended!

1980's Flashback: Ambush Bug

Art by Keith Giffen

Ambush Bug was created by artist Keith Giffen as an intentionally silly character who first appeared in several Superman-related comic books in the early 1980s. His real name is supposedly Irwin Schwab, but he has mental problems that prevent him from truly understanding reality, so even his actual identity may be no more than a delusion on his part. Ambush Bug's primary power is teleportation. At first, this was a function of his suit; as he was limited to teleporting to where small receiver bugs were located. Following an explosion, Ambush Bug internalized this power. It became apparent, in DC Comics Presents #81 (May 1985), that the Bug must say, "Simon says," to utilize this power, although that is no longer necessary.

His origin is disputed, although the most commonly accepted origin is that Brum-El (a historical allusion to Beau Brummel, as well as a reference to Superman's father Jor-El) of the planet Schwab sent his clothes from his supposedly doomed planet, hoping that his wardrobe would survive, only to have it intercepted by a giant radioactive space spider. In the resulting crash, only two articles of clothing survived: the Ambush Bug suit, which was subsequently found by Schwab; and "Argh!Yle!", an argyle sock with a Doctor Doom-like complex, complete with metal mask.

This oddball hero became popular enough to be featured in two comic book miniseries and several specials, all plotted and pencilled by Keith Giffen and scripted by Robert Loren Fleming. Although he is largely considered an absurd character, his popularity amongst artists has led to many "cameos", sometimes with as little as his antennae being visible. He has appeared semi-regularly in the new Doom Patrol series since 2010 along with his partner called "Cheeks, The Toy Wonder", a doll he thinks is alive (complete with its own costume).

Ambush Bug #1 (June 1985)

Cave Girl in "The Man Who Conquered Death" (Magazine Enterprises; 1954)

Cave Girl returns to the Catacombs today in an eerie tale called "The Man Who Conquered Death" from Cave Girl #14 (1954); originally published by Magazine Enterprises. This is a different type of jungle adventure for her, written by Gardner Fox and illustrated by Bob Powell. Blending elements of science fiction and horror to great effect, Fox demonstrates why he later became a mainstay of similar silver age stories over at DC Comics. Cave Girl witnesses the death of her monkey friend Chico (who is killed by a boa constrictor) and then learns that King Tom of the Bokeela tribe has been murdered. Later she doubts her own sanity as both seemingly return from beyond the grave. As she investigates the mystery of their revival, Cave Girl herself is imperiled in a bizarre time trap. 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!