"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.

Heroes: "The Eclipse, Part I"

The solicitation for last nights episode (11/24/2008):

"After reuniting Sylar and Elle, Arthur orders them to find Claire and bring her to him. Matt, Hiro and Ando team up together and follow Daphne to her hometown to discover what she's been hiding. Meanwhile, Nathan and Peter Petrelli travel together to Haiti in search of the the only man that can stop their father from destroying the world, the Haitian."

So .... a dark eclipse event begins and wreaks havoc with all of the heroes' powers. [Yeah. I already know what you're thinking out there. In this very story arc, Tim Kring and his hapless company of pathetic writers, have specifically told us that Nikki/Jessica/Tracy received their powers through DNA manipulation/gene splicing/whatever, and .... Nathan Petrelli also received this treatment when he was apparently born without any inherited powers. Dr. Mohinder Suresh? Yep, he injected himself with his Maia-induced-formula and inadvertently became a monster. What do any of them have to do with some funky eclipse, which the shows creators NOW claim to have given the characters their abilities?] Arthur Petrelli orders Elle and Sylar to bring in Claire. But,hold the fort here, Noah Bennett is in the house and he wipes the floor with Sylar & Elle, before hustling off with poor Claire (who took a bullet that was meant for H.R.G.), and she isn't self-healing at the moment.

This episode may just as well have been titled "Thin Ice". In media comments Kring has made in recent days (visit Ain't It cool News) it appears that he may have become burned out on his own show. No wonder, this show is quickly becoming a lame duck with all of the ridiculous inconsistencies, but it's not fair to keep harping on something that can't help but spin out of control once it's own originator gives up on it.

I will probably watch next week, but barring a miracle which would change my mind about the faded glory of this series, I am about finished here. Too bad! I really liked this show, and H.R.G. can still kick ass with the best of them. He's my favorite hero out of the whole bunch.

1970's Flashback: Howard the Duck

Howard the Duck was created by writer Steve Gerber and first appeared in Marvel Comics Man-Thing feature in the series Adventure into Fear #19 (Dec. 1973). Howard is an anthropomorphic duck who becomes trapped on a human-dominated Earth. His adventures skew between social satire, parodies of genre fiction & film with a tongue-in-cheek awareness of the medium. He eventually graduated from a backup feature in Giant-Size Man-Thing, and acquired his own series with Howard the Duck #1 in 1976.

Gerber wrote 27 issues of the series, illustrated by Frank Brunner (who left over creative differences with Gerber), with Gene Colan replacing him as the regular artist. The series gradually developed a substantial cult following, and Howard's entry into the 1976 U.S. presidential campaign under the auspices of the All-Night Party, was later immortalized in a reference in author Stephen King's The Tommyknockers. Marvel attempted a short-lived Howard the Duck newspaper strip from 1977 to 1978, initially written by Gerber and drawn by Colan.

Gerber gained a degree of creative autonomy when he also became Howard the Duck's editor, in addition to his writing duties, which was unusual for mass-market comics of the time; however the stories became increasingly experimental. For example, Gerber once found himself unable to meet the deadline for his regular script, so he substituted an entire issue of text pieces & illustrations satirizing his own difficulties as a writer.

In 1978 Gerber and Marvel clashed over issues of creative control, and Gerber was abruptly removed from the series. This was the first highly publicized creator's rights case in American comics, and attracted support from major industry figures, some of whom created homage/parody stories such as Destroyer Duck by Jack Kirby, with Gerber in order to dramatize the case. Disney had also threatened to sue Marvel for infringing Donald Duck's copyright and this forced a different design, including the use of pants (seen in the lameduck 1986 Spielberg/Lucas film and later comics).

Howard the Duck still pops up from time-to-time, including his recent cameo in the crossover mini-series Secret Invasion. Steve Gerber passed away in February 2008.

"Magno & Davey vs. The Clown" (Ace Periodicals)

"Magno & Davey vs. The Clown" (Part II)

"Magno & Davey vs. The Clown" (Part III)

This superhero yarn from Four Favorites #8 (May; 1945) was published by Ace Periodicals. I've previously posted two other stories from this issue featuring Lash Lightning & Capt. Gallant, but it has been awhile since they appeared here in the Catacombs.

Magno and Davey were created by golden age writer Paul Chadwick, who shares a name with a contemporary comic book guy (the creator of Concrete; published by Dark Horse), but there is no apparent connection between the two Chadwick's. Trivia is fun stuff isn't it? Maybe this is just an example of Earth 1/Earth 2. Ya' never know!

Enjoy!

Upcoming on the blog will be more adventures of Rulah Jungle Goddess, the return of my "Gal" Friday feature and a few reviews of upcoming comics & films. Oh, and more "1970's Flashback" stuff. Joy!