For the last few days I done a lot of work that you don´t always see on the blog but sometimes it can´t be helped. Because sometimes I get some stuff stuck in my head and until it can´t be released in some form I can´t focus on anything else. It took me a few days to finish my last THORSDAY post and while I had already prepared everything for FLASH FRIDAY I could not get to it and Yesterday finally decided to leave it until next Friday.
I was planning to do an ARTHUR ADAMS appreciating post Yesterday but then made the mistake to go to the internet where I found a lot of amazing artwork but by the time I finally had it all ready for the post it was already too late. And as I said, I spent a lot of time Yesterday and Today working on a post I probaby should not have done in the first place.
But things are as they are so I am trying to do a quick post in honor of Jerry Orway´s birthday. Which posed another dilemma. How should I do a decent post if I don´t have the time to collect the necessary material ?
It´s true, Jerry Ordway has been and still is a big part of my comic reading diet, from his ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN issues during John Byrne´s relaunch of the Post - Crisis Superman and beyond ( I just read volume nine of the Man of Steel trades with The Supergirl Saga last weekend ) to his brilliant The Power Of Shazam graphic novel and the following mini series to other series too many to list them all here. The best would be if I found a lot of his artwork - preferably a few whole issues - in one place.
Since our THORSDAY post was Marvel - centric I was naturally looking for something Jerry Ordway had done for DC. There are a few issues of THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD he did when George Perez was no longer on the book but so far I have only posted a few issues from that run but the gap between those first issues and the Jerry Ordway issues was just too big.
Then I remembered that he had done work on a few issues of JSA back in the day when Geoff Johns was still writing good comic books and did his magnificent THY KINGDOM COME story. If you want to read everything you need to know about the Justice Society of America encapsulated in one story this is the one. Way back when the hardcovers were offered at a bargain price at amazon I bought all three of them although I already possessed all the single issues and I have never regretted that decision. It´s just easier to go for those collections instead of pulling out all the floppies, I have read those books over a dozen times and I still take them out and read them all over again from time to time. Longtime readers may remember that I wrote a special post in September 2009 about the story.
Anyway, while Jerry Ordway did some work on these issues it was only a few pages in most of them and the idea to put all the pages of the scattered issues into one post didn´t really last very long. But - BUT - there is an issue where he did all the artwork which is a special issue and what better for a birthday post ? It is the JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA ANNUAL 1 and it has everything you could want from a good comic : parallel earths, the heroes from INFINITY INC but most important pre - NEW 52 Power Girl and her cleavage window. Clocking in at 36 pages this post will be a bit longer than regular posts but it is a special occasion after all.
Man, after posting all the pages I really have a hankering to read that issue again. And - maybe - if there is enough reader interest, post more issues from that JSA run. But before I can even consider doing that I have to finish this post which took me three days thanks to a blackout Yesterday.
In most posts I put the links before the entertainment section but Today they are so intertwined with the celebrity birthdays and videos that the only one I can put apart is Jerry Ordway´s own blog which provided the original art of the JSA Annual and which has more art by Jerry Ordway.
Our first birthday is Karen Gillan who celebrates her 29th anniversary and if you are looking for the right drink to sip during the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas Special - or while you are rewatching your favorite episodes - you might want to check out DOCTOR WHO COCKTAILS ( If the Tardis had a bar ) which naturally serves a mean Amy Pond drink. Speaking of Doctor Who links, so far I haven´t had the time to decide which I want to add to the blogroll but you can find podcasts about the good Doctor on DOCTOR WHO PODCAST ALLIANCE , WHOCAST ( the german Doctor Who podcast ) and THE DOCTOR WHO PODCAST . Also I´m not sure if I have not already posted the link for THE CONFESSIONS OF WHO but here it is once again.
Back to Karen Gillian, there is a whole generation out there who don´t know her from being a companion of Doctor Who but rather as Nebula from the Marvel movies, a character that was introduced to the Marvel universe during Roger Stern and John Buscema´s brilliant run on Avengers.
Speaking of John Buscema, since I haven´t continued with my TOP 10 JOHN BUSCEMA AVENGERS COVERS series there are also a few links about Big John that have accumulated. And the first one really has to be John Buscema´s all - time Top Ten Avengers covers on STEVE DOES COMICS .
Because that post is the one which basically started this series. There is also a post on the famous story Come On In The Revolution´s Fine ! from Avengers 83 that was Marvel´s hamfisted attempt to adress women´s lib and which is also part of volume 9 of Marvel Masterworks - The Avengers which I finally could get my hands on. I have been looking for this a few years now because it also contains Avengers issue 81, the first comic that I read with the new team members the Scarlet Witch and - most important of all - the Vision. It was also probably the first time I saw John Buscema and Tom Palmer´s art combo on the Avengers and it really blew my mind.
Simayl from SILVER AND BRONZE AGE SUBJECTS seems to have a similar affection for John Buscema which he shares in the post They Made The Avengers : John Buscema and it´s no surprise that John Buscema provides 3 of Jason Motes´ Top 20 Avengers Comic Book Covers over at SCIENCE FICTION . And since we are on the subject of Avengers covers SCANS DAILY has a nice gallery of Avengers sketch covers by the likes of Steve Epting, Terry Dodson or Bill Morrison and our pal Old Groove from DIVERSIONS OF THE GROOVY KIND has more John Buscema classics ready for consumption with The Road To Opar ! from Tarzan 2 and The Altar Of The Flaming God ! from Tarzan 3 by creators Roy Thomas, John Buscema and Tony DeZuniga.
Furthermore TWOMORROS PUBLISHING has a John Buscema interview conducted by Roy Thomas from Alter Ego Volume 3 issue 13, they also have a conversation between Stan Lee and Roy Thomas from Comic Book Artist 2 and last but not least, if you want to complete your John Buscema comic collection or just need some information about who wrote or inked which story or what the title of that story was you can simply go to the John Buscema checklist by Michel Maillot available on MIKE JERSEY FREE .
Aimee Garcia turns 38 and since I still haven´t continued with Modern Family I only know her as the not so little sister Jamie Batista on Dexter.
Next gorgeous, buxom ( easy with a 34E chest ) and shapely stunner Karin Taylor celebrates her 45th birthday and the Playmate Of The Month in June of 1996 of jamaican, brazilian and chinese descent is not the only playmate in Today´s entertainment section. The astonishing fashion model and dancer is one of the few actual lifeguards that appeared on Baywatch.
I wish I had more to say about Jon Stewart who turns 54 but I just have not seen enough episodes of The Daily Show and I really don´t want to comment on his forays into wrestling. The Daily Show is a show that can never, has never and will never exist on german tv - namely a show that analizes what politicians do and makes them accountable. There are a few shows that have done something similar but always in a humorous we are just making fun of it but don´t seriously want to rock the cradle so we won´t get ourselves into trouble kind of way. But a serious show that seriously does take politicians to task ? Never on german television.
Anyway, I was looking on YouTube for videos of John Stewart but there were too many from The Daily Show to look through them all and there also were none with interesting guests like Janet Jackson, Halle Berry, Mariah Carey or some of Today´s birthday candidates. There are some from The Jon Stewart Show from the stone age of tv entertainment with Jennifer Tilly and Teri Hatcher but the quality was just too bad. I will probably post the video with Teri Hatcher on her birthday this month.
Continuing with the anniversaries Judd Nelson celebrates his 57th birthday who is most famous for The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo´s Fire opposite a then young Demi Moore who turned 54 on the 11th this month and filled out quite nicely since then and also definitely improved on her stripper skills of which you can see more on her movie cult siren post .
After taking a cold shower let´s come back to Judd Nelson. There are some videos like Top Ten Things You Never Knew About The Breakfast Club I could post but I think if you know too much it destroys the magic. You can find lots of videos like that or interviews with the actors easily enough if you want. I also did not find a good clip from the overlooked cineastic gem From The Hip so it should be no wonder to regular readers that I chose the episode of Tales From The Crypt with Judd Nelson.
Since we are on the subject of horror literature adaptions, Ed Harris celebrates his 66th birthday and among his many credits - which are too numerous to list them all - is playing General Starkey in Stephen King´s The Stand which also starred Molly Ringwald from The Breakfast Club ( and many other John Hughes flicks from the 80s ) AND Busenwunder Laura San Giacomo who celebrated her 54th birthday on the 14th of this month.
She could have been a big star with her superior physical attributes as her mammoth 39E melons put other actresses busts to shame and even got porn stars envious since Laura´s magnificent mammaries are all natural if she hadn´t dressed like a nun. She still couldn´t hide her double airbags.
Joe Dante turns 70 who was a constant companion during my childhood and teenage years since he directed movies like The Howling, Innerspace, The Burbs, Explorers or Small Soldier and contributed to Twilight Zone : The Movie, Amazon Women On The Moon, Amazing Stories, Masters Of Horror and even now he directed an episode of Legends Of Tomorrow.
He also directed the Gremlins movies with Phoebe Cates who was later immortalized as one of the major wet dreams of males during the 80s and on through her participation in another teeny comedy, in fact her part is the only reason why people still remember the movie. I´d wager the bet that there are not more than a handful of people who have actually seen the movie while there are not many people who do not know this scene. It is so iconic that other actresses are still compared to Phoebe Cates.
Since I already posted the Top 10 Most Gratuitous Movie Scenes - and it also doesn´t have anything to do with Joe Dante - here are the Top 11 Underrated Nostalgia Critic Classics which includes the Explorers.
Randy Newman celebrates his 73rd birthday whose music can be heard on the surprisingly good Toy Story movies, Monsters Inc, The Simpsons, The Mupper Show, Monk, Parker Lewis Can´t Loose, heck even on an episode of Kottan ermittelt, Forrest Gump, Harry And The Hendersons, Three Amigos, Overboard, Maverick, Malice and G. I. Jane the last two with the aforementioned MILF sexbomb Miss Demi Moore - talking about randy !
Apropos randy, french illustrator Tomi Ungerer turns 85 and the first things that came to mind was his Das Kamasutra der Frösche ( I think the english version is called Joy of Frogs ) which I bought as a birthday present. Me and my Dad didn´t mesh very often - to phrase it diplomatically - but I knew he was going to love this book and it was one of the few instances where he really liked something I got for him. Anyway, beside books for grown ups Tomi Ungerer also did a lot of children´s books - he published over 140 books - so when I found out that he had done one called The Sorcerer´s Apprentice I was beyond myself. As it turns out it was not an adaption of the wendish folk tale Krabat was based on ( on which I wrote a lengthy post ) but the story Disney incorporated in the Fantasia movie.
Now putting my initial disappointment aside it is still a great children´s book like most of Tomi Ungerer´s books and I don´t have to put up a lot of links because Burgin Streetman not only has a link for The Sorcerer´s Apprentice on her blog VINTAGE KIDS BOOKS MY KID LOVES there are links to other children´s books like The Three Robbers ( which I either read as a kid in school or at the local library ) as well as an interview in 3 parts. And you can find more interviews with Tomi Ungerer here and here .
As for Tomi Ungerer´s The Sorcerer´s Apprentice somebody made this nifty video so you can experience it for yourself - if you haven´t already.
How apt that Today is also the birthday of Anna Nicole Smith and not only because she almost was my first candidate in my The Search For Power Girl series on the old boob blog. But as if that wasn´t enough Joe Dante directed two episodes of Police Squad and two songs of Randy Newman were used on The Naked Gun : From The Files Of Police Squad both with Leslie Nielsen who was Anna Nicole Smith´s co star in The Naked Gun 33 1/3 - The Final Insult. Daimn, she would have been a heck of a Power Girl !
Which must have been what 89 year old billionaire J. Howard Marshall was thinking when he married the then 26 year old Playmate Of The Month of May 1992 and Playmate Of The Year 1993 in 1994. His family was probably not very thrilled about this since they assumed she only married him for his money which she planned to inherit as soon as possible by having lots of freaky sex with the old guy in as many positions as you can think of. Of which horny J. Howard Marshall probably was aware from the get - go.
This must be the absolutely best way to go : after getting filthy rich you marry a young and flexible blonde Playmate Of The Month with giant 41DD boobs whose only goal in life is to kill you with sex. Who knows to which endurance testing hardcore sex orgies the overinflated living blow up love doll submitted the lucky guy - we only know that it took her thirteen long months to succeed. Man, that was probably the best year of his life !
Anna Nicole Smith didn´t last much longer either with her untimely death in 2007 but instead of engaging in all the negative gossip and rumors about the steady decline of her film career I want to remember her at her best.
Originally I wanted to close the post with a video about Jerry Ordway´s issues for The Supergirl Saga or All Star Squadron but then I found this one with Jerry Ordway and Curt Swan. Speaking about Curt Swan, since I didn´t get to do my tribute post on his birthday this year there are still a few Curt Swan links I haven´t posted and I want to start with the double whammy of The Miraculous Return Of Jonathan Kent ! and The Secret World Of Jonathan Kent from Action Comics 507 and 508, a story I wanted to cover in the post. It is also part of the Superman In The Eighties trade paperback and one of the main reasons why I thought about buying it.
Since I might still cover it in an upcoming post I don´t want to say too much about it but if you know the story - or aren´t afraid of spoilers - there is a review on MAJOR SPOILERS ( nomen est omen ) and there are a few pages from that story to be found on SCANS DAILY . SUPERMANARTIST has a post on who inked Curt Swan on Superman over the years, once again DIVERSIONS OF THE GROOVY KIND comes to the recue with My Son ... Is He Man Or Beast ? from Action Comics 400 by Leo Dorfman, Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson and Who Stole My Super - Powers ? from Superman 220 by Jim Shooter, Curt Swan and George Roussos and for yet more great Superman stories from the 70s and 80s by Curt Swan and other wonderful artists you have The Crusty Curmudgeon´s Comics Classic - Superman : Digging For Gold In The Bronze Age, Part III on PRONTO COMICS . Enjoy !
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