"Gal" Friday (In Memorium)! Bettie Page

Sad news today that classic 1950's pin-up queen Bettie Page (who achieved even more genre immortality with her inclusion in Dave Stevens [also gone this very year] 1980's comic book, The Rocketeer) has passed away at the age of 85. So, Bettie trumps today's planned pick (but we will see her next week). Let's also take a moment to remember some other folks that we lost this year:

Hollywood lost many actors of note in 2008, including: Heath Ledger, Paul Newman, Charlton Heston, Roy Scheider, Barry Morse, Cyd Charisse, Richard Widmark, Suzanne Pleshette, Hazel Court & John Phillip Law.

Comedians that we'll miss include: Bernie Mac, George Carlin, Harvey Korman & Dick Martin, plus animators Bill Melendez (A Charlie Brown Christmas) and Ollie Johnston (one of Disney's famed "Nine Old Men", who worked on Snow White & Bambi), director Sydney Pollack, sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke, country singer Jerry Reed, special effects whiz Stan Winston and Dungeons and Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax.

Last, but not least, this year the comic book industry lost Steve Gerber (Howard the Duck), the aforementioned Dave Stevens (The Rocketeer), Jim Mooney (Supergirl), Will Elder (Mad magazine), Creig Flessel (golden age Sandman & Shining Knight), Jack Kamen (EC Comics & Rulah Jungle Goddess for Fox Comics) and Michael Turner (Witchblade & Fathom).

They will all be sorely missed!

1970's Flashback: Combat Kelly and the Deadly Dozen

This short-lived series, like the earlier Captain Savage and His Leatherneck Raiders (later renamed "Battlefield Raiders"), spun off of Marvel Comics more successful war title, Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos. Obviously, this book patterned itself after the popular 1967 film, The Dirty Dozen starring Lee Marvin.

The Deadly Dozen (like the movie bunch) was a group of hardened convicts who volunteered for combat duty in exchange for pardons. The Dozen were: Larry "Hillbilly" Wagner, a Southern country singer who carried his guitar into battle (apparently to serenade the enemy with it); Jake Jensen, a middle-aged African-American pickpocket; Howard Shigeta, a Japanese-American; Emory "Snake-Eye" Simpson, a self-serving sleaze and not to be trusted; Donald Sample, a lock-pick & spy who was serving time for theft of valuable US government papers; Michael "Bullseye" Miller, an African-American mechanic & sharpshooter; Roland "Ace" Hamilton, a psychotic "pretty-boy" and bloodthirsty knife-fighter who was also from a wealthy, upper-class family; Jack "Mad-Dog" Martin, a pilot; Doc Watson, a middle-aged 19-year veteran of the Army; Ralph "Hoss" Cosgrove, an uncooperative tough guy ex-wrestler who served under Cpl. Dugan (see below), but not under Kelly, and Laurie Livingston, a British woman.

Kelly himself was Corporal Michael Lee "Combat" Kelly, a red-haired Irishman from Boston with a great deal of similarity to Nick Fury, although Kelly is younger and clean-shaven. Kelly had been "fightin' and killin' all his life", before being tapped by Capt. "Happy" Sam Sawyer to lead the Dozen. Kelly had a short, but successful career as a heavyweight boxer before being drafted, but one thing had led to another and he'd killed a man with his bare hands. He was "drafted" from the military prison where Capt. Sawyer had found him.

The Dozen were originally led by Cpl. Timothy "Dum-Dum" Dugan, who led the unit for only one issue [Sgt. Fury #98; May 1972] before Kelly was given command of the group, thus allowing Dugan to return to the Howling Commandos. Likewise, the Deadly Dozen had other Howler's on assignment for short periods; Dino Manelli & Percy Pinkerton of the Howling Commandos both served with the Dozen, as did Jay Little Bear, the bow-wielding Native American member from Captain Savage and His Leatherneck Raiders who was doing time on a "bum rap."

The Deadly Dozen worked alongside the Howling Commandos for two issues, and then continued on their own for seven more issues. By the end of the series all of the Dozen were dead, Miller & Wagner were killed in combat in issue #4, Martin sacrificed his life for the team in issue #6, Laurie (who by this time had become Kelly's lover) was crippled by a Nazi's surgical experiment in the final issue, during which the rest of the group was also killed, Kelly then resigned from the Army to help care for Laurie.

1970's Flashback: Cancelled Comic Cavalcade

Cancelled Comic Cavalcade was published in-house by DC Comics (in very limited quantity) following the infamous "DC Implosion" in 1978. The two issues that were produced feature new material that was originally intended for series that were abruptly cancelled. Because of its scarcity and its significance to the history of DC Comics, original copies are highly sought after by collectors, and it has been widely bootlegged.

In 1978, in response to inflation, DC increased cover prices from 35 cents to 50 cents, but the publisher also substantially increased the number of story pages in each issue. This was promoted — along with the launch of many new series — as the "DC Explosion". However, Warner Publishing (which had purchased DC two years earlier) responded to the resulting poor sales figures (which were worsened in part by bad weather and shipping delays from the previous winter) by instructing DC to immediately cut their output to only twenty titles of 32 pages each, priced at 40 cents. Industry pundits immediately dubbed this the "DC Implosion".

The abrupt cancellation of so many titles left a substantial amount of finished and incomplete material that would not be published. Ostensibly to secure the company's copyright in the material, internal DC staff members "published" some of these stories along with other inventoried stories in two volumes on the office photocopier. A total of 35 copies of each volume were produced, and distributed to the creators of the material, to the U.S. copyright office, and to Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide as proof of their existence. The title is in homage to DCs 1940s anthology series Comic Cavalcade. Although color covers were created, the interior pages (having been reproduced on a photocopier in the days prior to widespread use of color photocopy technology) were black and white. The first issue carried a cover price of only 10 cents and the second carried a cover price of $1, but this was in jest, as the books were never actually "sold".

Cancelled Comics Cavalcade #1 contained the following material: Black Lightning #12 (later printed in World's Finest Comics #260), the cover to Black Lightning #13, Claw the Unconquered #13 & #14, The Deserter #1, Doorway to Nightmare #6 (later printed in The Unexpected), Firestorm #6 (later adapted as back-up stories in The Flash) and The Green Team: Boy Millionaires #2 & #3.

Cancelled Comics Cavalcade #2 contained the following material: Kamandi #60 & #61 (the OMAC back-up strip would later appear in Warlord #37 & 38), Prez #5, Shade, the Changing Man #9 (The Odd Man back-up story would later appear in Detective Comics #487), Showcase #105 (featuring Deadman, later mostly printed in Adventure Comics #464), Showcase #106 (featuring The Creeper), Secret Society of Super-Villains #16 & #17, Steel #6 (later reprinted with edits in All-Star Squadron), The Vixen #1 and covers for Army at War #2, Battle Classics #3, Demand Classics #1 & #2, Mister Miracle #26, Ragman #6, Weird Mystery Tales #25 & #26, and Western Classics #1 & #2.

Reviews: Angel: After the Fall #14, Spike: After the Fall #4 & Broken Trinity #3

Critics!

What do they know?

Well, if the whole point of critiquing a comic book, a novel, a film or an episodic TV series is to, perhaps, warn somebody not to waste valuable minutes or hours of their lives on crummy entertainment, then critics certainly perform a necessary service, but do remember that opinions are like @$$holes; and everybody has one.

I just looked through a small stack of a buddy’s recent comic book purchases and I was less than enamored of several titles therein. IDW released Spike: After The Fall #4 in October and Angel: After The Fall #14 in November 2008. Spike #4 is written by Brian Lynch and illustrated by Franco Urru & Angel #14 is written by Lynch, with artwork by Stephen Mooney (and Angel’s original creator, Joss Whedon also helps out with the plot).

Stephen Mooney at least manages to produce identifiable likenesses of the original Angel television series actors, but Franco Urru needs to focus more on this crucial aspect, since I assume the target audience is largely built upon fans of the former TV show. That’s not to say that the artwork is particularly well done in either case. I have absolutely no idea what the criteria for hiring these guys may have been, but based on what’s on display within these two issues, the bar wasn’t set very high at all.

I really can’t comment on the writing, as there was nothing about either book that made me want to read them (and I had enjoyed both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel on TV). IDW Publishing is also apparently one of those companies who routinely dress up their obviously poorer comics fare by using higher grades of interior paper and heavier cover stock at a price of $3.99 a copy. Um, why? Newsprint would be so much cheaper, and possibly better for their bottom line, and I’ve just got to say that this stuff does not deserve anything better. These books are crap, no, make that CRAP. Why anybody would burn their hard-earned dollars for this kind of dreck is beyond me. Obviously Angel: After The Fall has survived on the stands for more than a year, but my recommendation is to give these books a wide pass.

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Things didn’t get any better with Top Cow/Image’s Broken Trinity #3 (also released in November). The cover blurb says that this issue is "the fatal conclusion" to this crossover mini-series which weaved together characters from Witchblade and The Darkness, but even the presence of established comic’s writer Ron Marz didn’t prompt me to dig into this story. The artwork by Stjepan Sejic and Phil Hester, visually seems to tie into the IDW books, but that is not a complement!

I would have LIKED to have found some redeeming aspect of any one of these books to mute my criticisms, but even alternate covers (in the case of IDW) didn’t merit such an effort.

One of my 2009 New Year’s Eve resolutions will be a heartfelt prayer that the dwindling comic book fan base will stop buying this kind of poorly realized shit. It’s so representative of why the industry continues to fade away. For Pete’s sake people, please quit wasting your good money on utter crap like this!

Enter .... The Squadron Sinister

One of my favorite Marvel Universe concepts was introduced back in the waning days of the silver age when Roy Thomas debuted a team of villains within the pages of the mighty Avengers that were villainous pastiches of the DC Comics super-group, the Justice League of America.

The Squadron Sinister were created by Thomas and first appeared in Avengers #70 (Nov. 1969). They were assembled by the cosmic entity known as the Grandmaster to act as pawns in battle with champions chosen by the time-traveling Kang the Conqueror; the superheroic team the Avengers. The Grandmaster created four villains (Nighthawk, Doctor Spectrum, Hyperion, and the Whizzer), to face Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and Goliath. The four then battled the Avengers, but all were defeated and discarded by the Grandmaster after he left Earth.

The Squadron Sinister was reunited several years later, when Hyperion encountered the alien Nebulon. Hyperion had been miniaturized and imprisoned in a glass sphere by Thor in their earlier conflict. Hyperion promised the alien the planet Earth in exchange for his freedom. The Squadron then created a giant laser cannon in the Arctic and planned to melt the polar ice caps, thereby covering the Earth's surface in water. Only Nighthawk had reservations and after trying in vain to contact the Avengers, (Nebulon had rendered the Squadron Sinister invisible and intangible while in the presence of the Avengers), he located the Defenders, who agreed to help Nighthawk and they all teleported back to the Arctic.

Comprised of Doctor Strange, the Hulk, Sub-Mariner, and Valkyrie, the Defenders battled against the Squadron and defeated them. Nebulon was overwhelmed by sheer force of numbers, and at the last moment reverted into his true alien form and teleported away with Hyperion, Dr. Spectrum, and the Whizzer. Nighthawk opted to remain behind with the Defenders and ultimately joined the team. One year later, Nebulon returned the Squadron Sinister to Earth in possession of a new energy-draining weapon, with which the Squadron Sinister planned once again to conquer the world and they also found themselves battling the Defenders yet again. Despite an initial victory, the Squadron was soon defeated by the Defenders and the Avenger Yellowjacket.

Several years later, the disbanded Squadron members were contacted individually by the Avengers, who were seeking assistance in freeing their fellow member the Wasp, who had become bonded to the original Dr. Spectrum's Power Prism. Billy Roberts (the second Dr. Spectrum) tricked the Avengers and reclaimed the Prism, but he was defeated in battle.

The team then vanished into obscurity for several years. During this time, Hyperion battled Thor and the Thing, and traveled with the female warrior Thundra to the alternate-universe Earth of the heroic Squadron Supreme, where he impersonated that teams version of Hyperion for several weeks before he eventually died in battle. The Whizzer returned to a life of crime, but wishing to cut his affiliation with the Squadron Sinister, he adopted the alias of Speed Demon along with a new costume. Speed Demon briefly joined the super-villain team the Sinister Syndicate, before reforming and being recruited to join the superhero team the Thunderbolts.

Soon after this the Grandmaster reappeared and reunited the Squadron Sinister with an apparently resurrected Hyperion and an all-new Dr. Spectrum (Alice Nugent, a former lab assistant of Henry Pym). The group tried to coerce Speed Demon and Nighthawk into joining, but both were initially reluctant. Ironically, the New Thunderbolts themselves were responsible for the pair rejoining the Squadron Sinister. Speed Demon was ejected from the New Thunderbolts for committing a series of robberies, while Nighthawk (who had recently begun working with the team) quit in protest after Baron Zemo rejoined and he learned that he was being used simply to finance their activities. Courtesy of a phenomenon known as the Wellspring of Power - an inter-dimensional source of superhuman abilities - the Grandmaster increased the Squadron Sinister's powers and they battled against the New Thunderbolts, as Baron Zemo also wished to control the Wellspring. Zemo managed to defeat the Grandmaster, but in the ensuing chaos the Squadron Sinister scattered and escaped.

"Gal" Friday! Canadian Beauty

This lovely "gal" bills herself as "Canadian Beauty" on My Space, and she has posted some very nice little video snippets there to whet your appetite for fetching brunettes cavorting seductively in bikini's. The one that's devoted to our troops is especially appropriate for us old veterans who remain concerned about our fighting forces and the goings on overseas.

She lists her residence as New York and her age as 30, so I don't know if she is originally from Canada or not, but despite the anonymity of this particular pick, she is well worth checking out.

1970's Flashback: Starfire (2nd version)

The 2nd DC Comics character known as Starfire first appeared in Starfire#1 (August 1976), by writer David Michelinie and artist Mike Vosburg. This version was a dark-haired swordswoman from a far off world, but that didn't save her, the series lasted for only eight issues.

Starfire's world was involved long ago in a protracted civil war between two castes: the Warrior-Priests and scientists called the Lightning Lords. Ultimately unable to defeat the other, each caste engaged alien races to serve their cause. The warrior-priests allied with the Mygorg and the Lightning Lords with the Yorgs. However, these two alien races were also hereditary enemies and soon resumed their own war on this new planet. As the conflict escalated, the Mygorg and Yorg turned the tables on their new allies by enslaving them. The world was quickly divided among the two races, Mygorg and Yorg, which vowed to continue their war against each other. The original, humanoid inhabitants continued to survive in slavery. Starfire was eventually born as the daughter of two Mygorg slaves of different skin colors. Her father was "yellow" and her mother "white". King Sookarooth of the Mygorg took notice of the young girls mixed heritage and beautiful appearance and arranged for her to be raised and educated in his palace, Castle Mollachon.

When Starfire reached her eighteenth birthday, Sookarooth presented her as his future mate. Starfire fled in disgust but was pursued by the royal forces. She was saved by a warrior-priest named Dagan. The two became lovers and Dagan trained her as a warrior. Starfire became highly skilled in swordsmanship, archery, tracking, and other skills typical to a warrior-priest. Their shared life ended when Dagan was captured by Sookarooth, who had the warrior-priest tortured and executed. A vengeful Starfire returned to Castle Mollachon and raised its slaves in revolt. She slew King Sookareth herself and vowed to free all of her worlds’ people from slavery, however the series ended before a resolution could be reached.

In an issue of another short-lived DC Comics series, Star Hunters #7, Starfire (and Claw the Unconquered) were revealed as two of the "eternal champions of the Sornaii" on the world of Pytharia [pseudo Earth]. The implications of this revelation were never explored as the Star Hunters series also ended in a cliffhanger.

"The Jeweled Murder" (Rulah Jungle Goddess #23; Feb. 1949)

"The Jeweled Murder" (cont.)

"Gal" Friday! Alice Goodwin

I really love the scrumptious cheesecake models who appear in British tabloids like The Sun or Zoo Today, whether they are established professionals or amateurs who are just starting out, they just seem wholesome to me - despite the nudity.

(It's all in good fun!)

Alice Goodwin caught my eye when I spotted a photo of her over at Frank Cho's Apes and Babes forum. The poster who placed her picture there didn't identify her by name, so ye Catacombs editor-in-chief had to launch a search in order to ferret out this beguiling gals nom de guerre (not that I believe this gorgeous young lady is using a fictitious name, but you know what I mean).

Just look at the photos at left and you will get a small hint of her considerable charms. She is a great pick to restart the "Gal" Friday feature here on the blog, and hopefully some of you will feel encouraged to seek out more of her "revealing" photo shoots online.

This girl is definitely one to kill for!

There's No Escape From .... The House of Secrets

House of Secrets originally series ran for 80 issues between Nov/Dec 1956 to Sept/Oct 1966. Primarily a mystery-suspense anthology, the companion series to House of Mystery featured the adventures of modern sorcerer Mark Merlin, dual-personality anti-hero Eclipso and Prince Ra-Man the Mind-Master. The series was revived three years after its cancellation, beginning with issue #81; Aug.-Sept. 1969, with horror and suspense tales that were introduced by a host called Abel (his brother Cain, hosted House of Mystery).

The House of Secrets came to be the name of the actual edifice in which Abel lived. Mike Friedrich and Jerry Grandenetti explained its origins. The Sandman series (which featured Abel as a recurring character) later revealed that it existed both in the real world of the DC Universe and in the Dreaming, as a repository for secrets of all kinds.

Swamp Thing also made his debut in issue #92 (June/July 1971).

Dare You Enter .... The House of Mystery

House of Mystery was originally published by National/DC Comics in December 1951 as a horror anthology, featuring weird tales of the supernatural or mystery-themed stories. However, Dr. Fredric Wertham’s Seduction of the Innocent crusade led to a growing backlash against similar horror comics in the mid-1950s, and the advent of the "Comics Code Authority" with its restrictions on horror-themed story lines (banning stories dealing with such fare as werewolves, vampires, etc.), so the series was revamped as a science-fiction adventure series, with those monster and other mystery-suspense type tales that were permitted by the comics code.

Beginning in the mid-1960s, the book was taken over by super-hero stories headlining the Martian Manhunter (House of Mystery #143; June 1964) and the introduction of Dial H for Hero (House of Mystery #156; January, 1966).

The title once again changed format beginning with issue #174, when EC Comics veteran Joe Orlando was hired by DC to take over as editor. As the Comics Code Authority provisions were being challenged at that time by both DC and Marvel over its content restrictions, Orlando wisely chose to return the series to its original horror themes. The first issue under Orlando reprinted old horror/suspense stories, but the new direction truly began with House of Mystery #175 (May-June 1968) which introduced Cain, the "care taker" of the House of Mystery, who would introduce nearly all stories that would run in the series before its cancellation in October 1983. Cain also hosted the spin-off series Plop! and became a recurring character in Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman.