It´s Schwarz Weiß Sonntag with Bob Layton

Today I wanted to do the usual annual IRON MAN post in honor of Bob Layton´s 63rd birthday - I even had picked the name SHELLHEAD SUNDAY - when I realized that I had already said pretty much all there is to say about the Golden Avenger. At least until I finally read the omnibus book and I also didn´t want to just post some pages I found on other websites.

I thought about doing a post about my Valiant haul which I had promised to do but after I went to all the trouble to do a SAVAGE DRAGON post Yesterday so I can have a Marvel post Today I wanted to come up with something else. Now people often tell me that I should do away with the entertainment block in my posts because they cost a lot of time. And some don´t like the high babe factor in them - or was that boob factor ?

Anyway, because Yesterday was Kevin Sorbo´s birthday and he played Hercules on The Legendary Journeys I remembered there is one other Marvel series Bob Layton is famous for : HERCULES, PRINCE OF POWER.

There were only two small problems with that : a. ) I haven´t read the two HERCULES four issue mini series, only the graphic novel HERCULES : FULL CIRCLE and the later mini series HERCULES, TWILIGHT OF THE GODS where Ron Lim did the art and b. ) I didn´t have any Hercules pictures for a post.

Luckily there is a hardcover with the two mini series which I found at a reasonable price at amazon but it will arrive two weeks too late to be of any help on this post. As for the second problem that was much easier solved but I did find much more original artwork than color pages which is the reason for the post title. And pardon my german but the alliteration just doesn´t work in english. Anyway, here are some examples of Bob Layton´s version of the womanizing, hard hitting, hard drinking, prank prone, hot headed Lion of Olympus. He´s just such a likeable demi god.

There are quite a lot of people to thank since this post was unscheduled starting with COMIC ART FANS where I found most of the black and white Hercules pages and which you probably already know if you are interested in comic art in any way. COMIC ADDICTS has a post on the first Hercules mini series where I found some of the color pages I used for this post and MARVEL COMICS OF THE 1980s provided the covers for the second issue of Hercules . If you have read any of my previous link sections ( I´m never sure if people really do read these parts ) it shouldn´t surprise you that they have various posts on Bob Layton with original black and white art for some covers like Iron Man 118 and Iron Man 243 or a black and white Hercules vs Iron Man piece . Speaking of black and white, the Champions homage cover to Avengers 4 and the picture from the graphic novel above was posted by John M at THE MIGHTY BLOG OF HERCULES ( where else ? ).

Not necessary for making this post but still of interest is the interview with Bob Layton about Hercules : Twilight Of The Gods on iFANBOY and SCANS DAILY has a post on the hilariously funny Thor 356 written by Bob Harras with art by Bob Layton and the assistant editor´s month issue featured a fight between Thor and Hercules told by none other than Hercules himself. For some reason the story is shockingly absent from The 12 Greatest Battles Of Hercules over at COMIC VINE and to wrap things up, speaking of Thor vs Hercules battles there´s a nice original art piece of Thor arm - wrestling Hercules by Bob Layton on THE BRISTOL BOARD . 

Now people ask me how I decide who I include in this section because there is probably at least one playmate birthday every day and my criteria is playmates I know where there is something I have to say about ( and hopefully some picture that is safe to post on the blog ). If I have to look her up that means I don´t remember her and she won´t be mentioned.

That´s definitely not the case of Kerri Kendall, PLAYBOY´s Playmate Of The Month for September in 1990 who turns 46. Besides her nude pictorial she was in 30 PLAYBOY special editions, numerous videos - especially in the Wet & Wild videos - and she was one of the few who got her own videocassette. I bought it at the Karstadt in Stuttgart because they had a different selection of videocassettes than in Ludwigsburg together with a few movies and when the guy in front of me saw the videocassette he said " Daimn, I should have bought that instead of " well, whatever movie his woman made him buy. I´m positive he came back really quick to get it.

Like myself Kerri was constantly daydreaming in school and she must have developed at an early age because she started modeling at the age of 15 when she entered the Miss Mission Beach competition. As the youngest contestant she still was named " People´s Choice " and returned at the age of 17 to win the title. Kerri spent the next year competing in bikini contests and hot legs competitions around Southern California, averaging about two contests a week even through the winter. The day after she turned 18, Kerri had a photographer shoot nude photos and submitted them to PLAYBOY and the rest is history. Despite being named Miss September 1990, she continued to work at an outpatient surgery center.

I´ve had the GIF of Catherine Zeta - Jones from The Mask Of Zorro since Antonio Banderas´ birthday and now I can use it for her 47th birthday. There is a video for her below and I have explain the reason for that.

Because also celebrating his birthday and only one year older with 48 ( unless the rumors are true that Catherine Zeta - Jones lied about her age ) is Will Smith who has been in movies with superheroes based on comic books like Suicide Squad and movies with superheroes not based on comic books like Hancock as well as in movies based on comics like the Men In Black movies. He became famous all over the world when he played the lead role in the mega sitcom success The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air. 

Of course a big part of that show´s success and continued appeal around the world ( there are probably only a few people on the face of the planet who can´t recite the lyrics to the title song in their sleep ) is Tatyana Ali who grew from a cute little girl into an incredible sexbomb over the course of that series and who got to show her musical skills.

Much to the chagrin of the show´s producers she really bOObed all out in later movie appearances like The Clown at Midnight or Fall Into Darkness .

Anyway, back to Will Smith originally I wanted to post the video of The Graham Norton Show with Gary Barlow where Gary plays the theme to The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air but apparently Will is such a frequent guest on the show that not only did I find an episode with him and Catherine Zeta - Jones but also one with him and Michael Douglas who turns 72 Today. I was ready to flip a coin to decide which one to post but the embedding on the episode with Michael Douglas was disabled so you have to click this link to watch it in HD anyway. And thus there is only one video I can post.



Staying with hit tv show stars Heather Locklear turns 55 but since I always was more of a Dallas guy than a Dynasty guy and more a Heather Thomas fan than a Heather Locklear fan I have no story to add. I never saw any episodes of T. J. Hooker which was shown in Germany around the time when private networks started and they were desperate for material to fill the time slots so they broadcast any old show they could get their hands on. I DID see her in Melrose Place, which I watched because of Alyssa Milano ( I finally managed to pay tribute to her last year but I had to split it into two posts - the main post and the bonus round with her best episodes on Charmed - because I might have gone a bit overboard with the GIFs ) with whom she reunited on the set of Spin City. Spinning this a little further she was on that show together with Michael J Fox AND Charlie Sheen and they both appeared in an episode of Two And A Half Men. She doesn´t have as many comic book movies under her belt as Will Smith but she was in the second Swamp Thing movie which I´d have to re - watch to make an adequate statement about the quality of that movie. 

Today there are really all kind of weird connections in this section as Will Smith  is most famous for The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air and our next celeb birthday candidate is Michael Madsen who celebrates his 58th birthday and was in a movie called The Prince Of Air. And while one of Michael Douglas´ biggest hits is Basic Instinct Michael Madsen starred in a movie called Fatal Instinct. I don´t know what inspired whom here but Michael number two is best known for his appearances in Reservoir Dogs and the Kill Bill movies with Uma Thurman. Speaking of Uma Thurman, Michael Madsen had his share of hot sexbomb co stars as he worked with Natasha Henstridge on both Species movies, with my favorite Bond girl Halle Berry in Die Another Day and in My Boss´ Daughter with all wet Carmen Electra.

As for comic book movies, the actor who guest starred on Hawaii Five O and who was in Quentin Taratino´s The Hateful Eight - which I just saw a few weeks ago - had a role in the first Sin City movie, he also played Supershock on Powers ( which was a bit disappointing ) and was the voice of Baby Man in Axe Cop and of Kilowog in Green Lantern : First Flight.

Mark Hamill turns 65 and I just found another video about the short lived 90s Flash tv show where he played the Trickster. Somehow Hollywood didn´t know what to do with him after Star Wars, a fate that seems to have befallen Tobey Maguire after the Spider - Man movies. It seems Germany is not the only country to waste the potential of good actors.

I added this video to have one with comic art although I´m not sure if this french comic connection is real or just what some people want to see.



I couldn´t rightfully call myself a spanish man if I didn´t acknowledge Pedro Almodovar´s 67th birthday in any form. There is clearly a before and after not only in spanish cinema or in european cinema but in cinema period.



After Mark Hamill I want to give a shoutout to another inspirational face from my youth that delivered hope on the big screen, Christopher Reeve who for me is still the definitive Superman. Dean Cain and Tom Welling did well on the small screen but nobody can hold a torch to the main man. 

Speaking of Tom Welling, initially I wanted to post a trailer for the next season of Supergirl but then I found this clip about the episode of Smallville with Christopher Reeve that I find more appropriate. God, what a great super hero show that was. Seeing this makes me want to re - watch Smallville´s Justice Society of America double episode right away.



But before I can do that I have to finish this post so I will leave you with an interview of Bob Layton where he talks about the Hercules mini series - by the way, his first Hercules limited series predates Frank Miller´s Wolverine mini series so it is officially Marvel Comics´ first mini series. 



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