"Gal" Friday (or something)! Felicia Day

I've rarely missed a "Gal" Friday post. In fact, I don't think that I have - at least for a very long time - but I took Friday off from work, went way out of town with my original nuclear family (parents & brother David), and engorged myself on my favorite meal (Lexington-style barbecue). I factored in plenty of time to actually do a quickie post later on, but then settled down for the evening to play the Dragon Age 2 DLC, "Mark of the Assassin", which I had recently downloaded. End result, I was having too good a time to remember posting yesterdays "gal". So, I'm calling a weekend audible, shunting that lovely selection to another spot on the schedule, and instead going with Felicia Day. Ms. Day stars in a new web miniseries based on the popular Bioware fantasy gaming franchise Dragon Age, called Dragon Age: Redemption. She also voices her elf character "Tallis" (the protagonist from Dragon Age: Redemption) in the down loadable content "Mark of the Assassin". She is the star, script writer and producer of the original web series The Guild, a show loosely based on her life as a gamer; plus she is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Academy of Web Television.


Felicia is also a very accomplished young lady. Before she made a genre name for herself on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dr. Horribles Sing-Along Blog, Dollhouse and she lent her voice as Veronica Santangelo in Fallout: New Vegas; Day studied operatic singing and ballet professionally, performing at concerts and competitions nationwide. Home-schooled throughout much of her childhood, she began college at the age of 16. An accomplished violinist, Day was accepted to the Juilliard School of Music, but chose to attend the University of Texas at Austin on a full scholarship in violin performance. She double majored in mathematics and music performance. Day was a National Merit Scholar in 1995 and graduated as valedictorian of her class. She is an avid player of a wide variety of video game genres. Much of her work on The Guild web series was based on her personal experience with video games.

I have to add that I saw her at Dragoncon in Atlanta this year, where she proved to be a very popular guest. Mark of the Assassin was an excellent expansion quest for DA2, so if you've not played it yet, be prepared for some quality time (thanks in part to Felicia Day).

The Planet Comics Cover Gallery!

Here's a neat grouping of twenty covers from the popular golden age series, Planet Comics, originally published by Fiction House. The issues run from #1-7 and #11-23. Artists whose work is spotlighted here include Lou Fine, Will Eisner, Charles Sultan, Bob Powell, Nick Cardy, John Celardo and Dan Zolnerowich. The Catacombs is grateful to Don "Zu-Gogo" Falkos for providing the scans for these issues. Note: The copyright for all issues, contents and artwork belong to the original publisher and/or creators and is reproduced here solely for entertainment purposes. Enjoy!

Judy of the Jungle in "Liquid of Life" (Standard;1947)

Standard ...Better...Nedor...Pines; jeez, could Ned not make up his mind? Oh, well, regardless of the golden age identity crisis made manifest by this publisher, their stouthearted heroine Judy of the Jungle stars today in "Liquid of Life" from Exciting Comics #58 (Nov.1947); originally published sixty-four years ago by the aforementioned company of many names. Illustrations are wonderfully provided by Ralph Mayo, and I'm tossing in the terrific cover by some guy who went by the name of Alex Schomburg. 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!

Jo-Jo, Congo King in "The Leopards of Learda" (Fox; 1948)

Jo-Jo and Tanee travel to the kingdom of Caldi in today's classic tale from Jo-Jo, Congo King #14 (April 1948), titled "The Leopards of Learda". In this screwed up jungle realm, beasts speak like men, and vice versa. Ignore the company pseudonym credit for "Stan Ford", the artwork is by Jack Kamen. 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 publishers and/or the creators and is reproduced here solely for entertainment purposes.

Enjoy!

Og, Son of Fire (Dell;1937)

Creator/writer/editor Irving Crump's "Og, Son of Fire", a cave boy who lived half a million years ago, was originally introduced in the pages of Boys Life magazine in December 1921. The artwork on these strips from The Funnies #4 / #5 (Jan./Feb. 1937); originally published by Dell, may be the work of artist Stephen Slesinger, since the illustrations are re-purposed in color from a black & white 1936 Big Little Book version copyrighted to Slesinger. Dell serialized "Og, Son of Fire" in issues of "The Funnies" from January to November of 1937 (comprising issues 4-14 in two page snippets). I'll be presenting all of them in pairs on subsequent Tuesdays until I run out. 
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!

Happy Birthday, Ashley!!

Today I just wanna wish my daughter Ashley, a very happy 23rd birthday. She's the one on the right in the photo (below) alongside her smiling siblings, Ian and Stacy. The Wells Trio were in attendance at their cousins wedding in Charlotte, NC on Saturday, and actually managed to stand for a rare photo together. I didn't go since it was on the former in-law side of things, but from all reports things went off without much of a hitch (other than the nuptuals, of course). There was the whole three hour late cake thing to contend with, but for a measly $700 dollars, what could you expect from the caterer anyway?

Ashley usually marches to the beat of her own unique drummer, so as soon as I got home from work today, we grabbed some munchies of choice for an impromptu picknick at a nearby park. That's what she wanted to do, and fortunately the autumn winds died down, and it ended up being a pleasant & sunny day with the kids and Ashley's friend, Brandon.  Later in the evening,  Ian's lovely girlfriend, Kait stopped by the hacienda, and we all closed out the day snacking on pizza, strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese icing; plus I nicely ceded over the TV from videogames, to her personal channel selection, Food TV.

A relaxing day for sure, and another successful year for this years double graduate. Now, who wants to help clean up the mess (?) Guys? Um, where did everybody go?

At the Movies: Immortals

Gods vs. Titans

Eons after the Gods won their mythic struggle against the Titans, a new evil threatens the land. Mad with rage over the loss of his family to disease, King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) has declared war against the gods for failing to answer his prayers to spare them. Amassing a bloodthirsty army of soldiers disfigured by his own hand, Hyperion has scorched Greece in search of the legendary Epirus Bow, a weapon of unimaginable power forged in the heavens by Ares. Only he who possesses this bow can unleash the legendary Titans, who have been imprisoned deep within the depths of Mount Tartarus since the dawn of time, and who thirst for revenge against the gods who defeated them. In the king's hands, the bow would rain destruction upon mankind and annihilate the Gods. But ancient law dictates the Gods must not intervene in man's conflict. They remain powerless to stop Hyperion...until a peasant named Theseus (Henry Cavill) comes forth as their only hope. Secretly chosen by Zeus, Theseus must save his people from Hyperion and his hordes. Rallying a band of fellow outsiders including visionary oracle/priestess Phaedra (Freida Pinto) and cunning fellow slave Stavros (Stephen Dorff), one hero will lead the uprising, or watch his world fall into ruin and his Gods vanish into legend.

Now forget all of that bullshit, since that is about as much script as director Tarsem Singh utilized in making this epic film, which tries too damn hard to mimic earlier (better) genre flicks like 300, Troy and Clash of the Titans. Most of the praise that this movie is earning is due to Singh’s unique visual styling, and yes, Immortals certainly looks awesome in select parts, but those parts were strip-mined from other, more coherent films like the ones that I’ve cited above. There’s not any real acting going on here, this is largely a set piece dictated by studio marketing gurus to appeal to a young demographic. “Hey, let’s make a huge CGI spectacle that looks like – oh, say, Clash of the Titans or one of those other sword & sandals things”. You can almost hear the boardroom geniuses smacking their lips over the quickie profits that Immortals is bound to make in the short term, particularly when they shell out perks, access and tchotchkes to dipshit reviewers like the gang over at AICN, who all REALLY seem to love this movie and then overly talk it up. Go figure!

Henry Cavill as Theseus in "Immortals".

Immortals seems like just another superhero movie, but a modern era/Image Comics kind of affair only; where form trumps substance and visuals are expected to carry the whole book, minus an acceptable story. That being said, Henry Cavill at least manages to look heroic here and I am now curious to see what he will do as Superman. Frieda Pinto is incredibly beautiful (but deserving of better roles). Was that a body double in her nude scene (probably)? Stephen Dorff was pretty good in his supporting role too. The final battle between the Gods and the unleashed Titans was truly awesome, and it’s too bad that more of the film wasn’t like this all-too brief section. Still, can’t recommend Immortals based solely on about ten minutes of screen time.