Thorsday with Jack Kirby : Thor 173 part 2

It has been three weeks since I posted the first part of this and while I initially wanted to continue with the Erik Larsen Thorsday I have decided to finish this first since I have not posted as regularly as usual lately. Which, keeping in mind my erratic posting schedule, is not saying much.

As I feared Christmas is approaching faster than expected and thanks to the jobcenter which needed more paperwork for my application for continued support I had to go to Ludwigsburg this week which cost me two days - one for running the errand and one to recover from the ordeal.

What can I say ? I´m not getting younger and running errands gets more and more tiresome. Also there are only two shopping days left - or is that one and a half ? I have no idea how long shops are open on Saturday or on the 24th of December - I still have to buy AT LEAST three presents not to mention The Big Christmas Contest I was planning to do this year and which I probably have to cancel. Or at least postpone. Today I wanted to go to the bank and pay some comic orders but I got up too late and so I will have to do that Tomorrow. Yesterday I was making a new animated GIF of Yaya Han in her Scarlet Witch costume but when I tried to add a few screenshots for a better version the laptop froze and I could not finish it. Which might have something to do with the fact that I was preparing the other screenshots at the same time. As I predicted not only do I have to cut them but reduce them to half their size otherwise they are not usable. Anyway, I had to finish with the ones that were open and then I had to restart my browser and of course that was it for the animated GIF. So when I got up Today I fired up the laptop right away giving it another try but at six o´clock it still wasn´t finished so I had to break it up again to start with this post. Maybe I can give it another try later or Tomorrow.

Now you are probably wondering about the cover above and what it has to do with THOR 173. I have already used the cover of that particular issue in the first part and since I didn´t want to repeat myself - and because I am including the black and white pages of the german issues I thought why not use the german version of the cover ? I know that my reader always get a kick out of seeing the different covers from other countries.

But the thing is that in Germany THOR did not always have its own title and even back in the days of the Williams Verlag often was relegated to the role of back up feature in DIE SPINNE. So while THOR 171 and 172 was published as MARVEL COMIC SONDERHEFT 3 by Condor issue 173 was split into two parts as back up stories in DIE SPINNE 7 and 8. Not that german readers did mind much because we were happy for anything that came out and back then Condor did not publish that many comics that you could not afford to get them all. So while it may be a bit complicated for Today´s comic readers to find the german THOR issues back then you just bought all the different titles anyway so sooner or later you got all the stories.    

Speaking about getting the story, when last we left our asgardian hero Goldilocks was ready to make his big entrance disguised as the fake Thor to find out to what shenanigans the Circus of Crime´s  is up to and what role Ulik plays in their nefarious schemes. Let´s join the story in progress.

According to the blog statistics this is my 795th post which means that post 800 is only five posts away. Maybe I can reach that goal this year but I don´t know if there are going to be any new posts since there are still a few posts I didn´t manage to finish and which are still in the limbo of the draft folder. I would like to wrap that business up before 2017 starts.

Since we have only two other celebrity birthdays Today I want to give a belated shoutout to one of the biggest movie cult sirens of my youth : sexbomb Joyce Hyser who celebrated her 59th anniversary on Tuesday.

And before you ask : you don´t know Joyce Hyser, you don´t remember the movie JUST ONE OF THE GUYS for which she is best known but I bet you remember this scene where she shows her incredibly big ..... talents.

Back in the 80s your best bet to see some naked breasts were screwball comedies because you knew even if the script was totally worthless and the actors without any kind of talent you were going to get boobage. Joyce Hyser may not be famous and may not have played in the best movies but every prebubescent boy growing up in the 80s saw this movie.

And to think she almost didn´t do it. Joyce had a no nudity clause in her contract and was against showing her wonder twins especially after a female friend told her : " Honey, WITH THOSE BREASTS if you GO TOPLESS in that scene, NO ONE you meet will EVER look you INTO YOUR EYES again ." Thankfully Joyce Hyser shot the scene showing her breasts and without showing them and in the end decided that the scene didn´t work if she didn´t go topless. This is what I call " poetry in motion ". 

So the thanks of an entire generation of hormone driven boys is yours for logic winning over superstition. Or naked breasts winning over whatever.

Coming to Today´s celebrity birthdays, like Joyce Hyser spanish singer / actress / tv presenter Edurne also rips off her jacket and shirt during her performance of Shania Twain´s smash hit Man, I Feel Like A Woman on Tu Cara Me Suena but everybody who has seen the video knows that she is wearing a corsage underneath. Which she fills out quite nicely. Edurne became known in Spain as a candidate on the casting show Operacion Trinufo in 2006 and as part of the cast of Mas Que Baile, the spanish version of Strictly Come Dancing and she has gone on to present the tv program Todo Va Bien and represent Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with her song Amanecer. Edurne has now come full circle as she is one of the judges on Got Talent España. By the way I have mentioned it in previous posts where I added videos from Tu Cara Me Suena but this show is not the same as Lip Synch Battle so besides dressing up and having to do a spot on celebrity impersonation all the contestants are singing live.



The third birthday I have to mention is german tv personality Annina Ucatis who turns 38 and was a candidate in my Search For Power Girl series although she didn´t look that part when she first started out.

Now I know what you are thinking but Annina did not start as a model either, she studied economics after graduating from school and became a property clerk and real estate agent. Because she always has wanted to have big breasts she went through two operations that turned her from a C cup to a DD and she decided to put the twins to good use as a model. With her augmented breasts she posed for magazines like HUSTLER. 

But as she herself admits Annina had become addicted to plastic surgery and wanted to become bigger so when german surgeons denied her a third operation she went to Spain where she finally got her 42G melons.

In 2007 she was still working as a real estate agent but was fired because her breasts were too big and damaging the company´s image although her clients never complained and never had a problem with her large breasts. Anyway, Annina decided f - word all that and started a career in the porn industry and soon was Germany´s best known big bust model. For a time she was together with celebrity whore Oliver Pocher but I guess she was just too much woman for him. In 2009 she joined the cast of Big Brother where she was often shown naked or taking a shower and the network had no problem with using her double airbags to boost the ratings. After she left the show the network did a reality show spin off with her before she became part of a third reality show where she worked as a - surprise - real estate agent. In 2013 she married a real estate mogul who is 20 years older than her and I bet he has no problem with the size of her breasts.

Now before you forget that this is supposed to be a comic blog because of all the hot celeb boobery I want to pimp a comic about which I have written before, El Eternauta written by Hector German Oesterheld and drawn by Francisco Solano Lopez whom some readers might know from Kelly´s Eye published in Britain in Valiant and in Germany in Kobra or the brilliant erotic comic The Young Witches. Like I said, there are not a lot of shopping days left before Christmas and if you still need a present for somebody El Eternauta is available in a nice hardcover in Germany. 



Firstly, what does it say about Today´s tv that a lot of the pilots that were so bad they didn´t dare put them on tv back then have been turned into shows ? The witch, werewolf and vampire sharing an apartment ? Change the witch for a ghost and you have Being Human. The saga of an italian Mafia family ? The Sopranos. With Lost Flight they just got rid of the first part. Exoman is Mantis. The Asphalt Cowboy is basically a cross between McCloud ( no relation to Highlander - I think ) and The Highwayman with Sam Jones although without the truck - which truth to tell wasn´t great.

Secondly, maybe it´s because I have a soft spot for cheesy entertainment but IF these shows had aired I would have probably watched them. John Denver as a balladeer / crime fighting badass ? Joe Penny as a samurai who does all kinds of things with his sword except cut people - because his weapon of choice is a truck ? Sign me up. An entire show about Evel Knievel ? That´s the best. And with the Fuzz Brothers the title alone is worth the price of admission but then you have Louis Gossett Jr. , man. And I won´t even get into the glory of Vincent Price and Peter Lorre as crime fighting antique dealers. Or Christopher Lee as Lucifer and Sammy Davis Jr. as his devil minion. DeForrest Kelley as a coroner. Leonard Nimoy as an ex race car driver with super powers. Adam West as a tv actor who thinks he´s a real cop. Al Bundy as French Connection´s Popeye Doyle.

How can anyone resist the kung fu action of Men Of The Dragon that also has hot babe on babe martial arts catfights ? The Orphan And The Dude is just comedy gold. As is probably a western show by Ed Wood about a gun slinging insurance inspector investigating the DD Ranch. Although it does sound more like Russ Meyer or Hugh Hefner should have produced that.

I tell you, if I had a tv station I would have a show that just has these pilots but if that was a german show they would ruin it like Schlefaz.



A television show that GOT approved is Faerie Tale Theater and as it fits with the weather here is The Snow Queen, the episode I could not post on Lauren Hutton´s birthday. As usual I found the good stuff too late. 



Assuming I can get up early enough I will spend most of Tomorrow with some overdue Christmas shopping so I don´t know if I can finish this post by then much less do a FLASH FRIDAY post. So as this may be very well the post that will be up on Christmas the cartoon video of the day is one of the best Christmas tv specials of all time, A Charlie Brown Christmas.



For my spanish readers here is La Navidad De Charlie Brown, the version with the latino dubbing although this is the one I´m least familiar with.



And last but not least for my german readers - if there are still any left - Fröhliche Weihnachten, Charlie Brown the version from my childhood. This is one reason why I did not care that much if the Peanuts DVDs I bought had the german version or the english one. If it was the german version it´s the one I know, if it´s the english one it´s one I haven´t heard before and if it has both than that´s the best. Anyway, if I don´t get to do a post on Christmas I want to wish you Föhliche Weihnachten, Feliz Navidad and a Merry Christmas, Hanuka, Kwanzaa or however you call the winter solstice celebration. And remember : you´re halfway out of the dark !



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I shed my light upon the darkness ! Evil has no place to hide itself ! Green Lantern goes forth to conquer !

Tv cult sexbomb Alyssa Milano - The Return

Today´s title is a little throwback to 80s movie sequels which always had this tag line. Those who were already readers of this little blog last year know this is a re - post but there are a few things I wanted to add to last year´s post taking advantage of Alyssa Milano´s 44th birthday ( and yes, I got her age wrong last year ) even if the new additions are a bit risky.

Because of the new stuff I have cut all the non - essential portions where I have not added anything which is fine if you have already read the old post but if not use the link above. Now hot Alyssa Milano is of course best known as the most charming, sexiest and all around greatest of all the Halliwell witches, Phoebe Halliwell on the cult tv show CHARMED.

Before that she starred in the tv hit WHO´S THE BOSS ? where she grew up in front of the national tv audience. I vividly remember SELLING SAM SHORT ( season 8, episode 4 ) in which puberty has already hit certain areas of her body in particular her chest. Alyssa is at that delicate threshold young women reach when their breasts are already fully grown but the rest of the body hasn´t had time to catch up. She is wearing a green top that is straining heavily under her grown up breasts. I found the episode on YouTube but the quality is too bad to make an animated GIF.



But back to Alyssa Milano. During her time on WHO´S THE BOSS ? she produced and starred in her own workout video called TEEN STEAM, which ( despite its quasi - raunchy title ) was an exercise video for kids -- and was absolutely never used as an entertainment piece for guys in their parents' basements. I´m sure nobody used this tape of Alyssa´s tight and fit teenage body stretching, flexing and bending for recreational reasons.



I have to apologize because when I did this post last year I totally forgot about Double Dragon where Alyssa Milano´s body was booming and she put her firm teenage butt cheeks on display in a pair of cut off jeans.

After that italian - american actress Alyssa Milano got our italian beef swelling as she was trying to get away from her good girl image, slutting it out and getting naked in a few movies like POISON IVY II  where her male co star got to live out every horny Samantha Micelli fan´s sexual fantasy.

But my favorite is the vampire movie. I´m saying the vampire movie because here in Germany it´s called EMBRACE OF THE VAMPIRE, KISS OF THE VAMPIRE or PASSION OF THE VAMPIRE depending on which tv station shows it. Alyssa who had played Tony Danza's daughter, teaching viewers the joys of watching a young girl develop, then buy a bra to handle her blossoming charms, and finally lose her virginity lost the bra and her massive talent spilled over onto the big screen. In this erotic direct to video classic she embraced more than gothic occultism, but lesbianism with a nymphomaniac Charlotte Lewis and threesomes too. Alyssa´s body in this one is incredible and she has her breast nude scenes in this one.
  

In the same year Alyssa starred in an episode of OUTER LIMITS where she didn´t leave much to the imagination thanks to the lower restrictions of the Sci Fi channel. She was well on her way to become a sexsymbol.

After that she went on to star in CHARMED where her 36C 23 36 measurements got the better of spoiled brat Shannon Doherty who left the series to be replaced by Rose Mc Gowan. Anyway, none of the other Halliwell sisters really did much for me where sex appeal is concerned.

Come on, you know Alyssa is the only reason why we guys watch the show. It´s to see her as a amazon, stripper, genie, harem girl or mermaid.

And that´s not counting all of her appearances where she just squeezed her huge overdeveloped XXL boobs into impossibly tight corsages.

When Rose McGowan joined the cast she and Alyssa entered a weekly competition to see who could wear the skimpiest outfits, wear a bikini more times and generally display their nipples or showcase their boobs.

Since Alyssa knew that her body is the reason why people watch the show, this continued even after she took the reigns as a producer.

Happy male viewers were treated to boobage, sideboobs, cleavage, buttocks and nipples from both women for an impressive eight years.

Now after the fiasko with the CHARMED DVDs around Christmas last year I bought all the remaining seasons in one order when they were available for a much cheaper price. When I started watching the show I expected to have to wait until maybe the third or fourth season to get to the good stuff because I knew some of my favorite scenes ( seen farther above ) are in the fifth season but Alyssa steals the scene from the get go.

After the third season Shannon Doherty leaves the cast ( her character dies in the series ) and Rose McGowan comes in as a long lost half sister.

CONAN`S DAUGHTER : " I DID NOT HAVE SEX WITH DOCTOR DOOM ! "

This changed the dynamic of the show considerably because Shannen´s character Prue had been the oldest sister, a role which Holly´s character Piper had to fulfill now. And Alyssa´s character Phoebe, who had always been the plucky and irresponsible youngster of the group became kind of a mentor for Rose´s character Paige trying to get her to avoid all the mistakes she herself made. Like the regeneration on DOCTOR WHO the show gained new life and went on to become a world wide success that is still in reruns which makes it difficult for a new version to compete with.

So while the departure of Shannen Doherty may have been for the best it´s difficult to find out the real reason for this. There are stories that both did it with Julian McMahon who played Cole but most sources say that while Julian WAS with with Shannen Alyssa was dating co star Brian Krause. I tried to unravel this as best as I could but keep in mind that as somebody who was not there when it happened I have no inside intel and have to rely on outside sources. So this is probably not the whole truth.

Now I found the following on a chat so I don´t know how accurate it is. Since I didn´t write it it´s in italic type except for the parts I added. I DID take the liberty to cut parts and shorten or lengthen it for a better fit.   

CHARMED started out as CHARLIE`S ANGELS with witchcraft, and a vehicle for Shannen Doherty. Spelling assured Shannen that none of the drama surrounding BEVERLY HILLS90210 would affect the show and her star status. And that the production would make this her vehicle. Spelling was a master at promotion, everyone turned in curious to see a spelling show with Shannen at the helm. Holly was a new actress with small credits, having been a supporting cast member on Picket Fences. Holly was brought in as a friend for Shannen, upon her request. Shannen´s input was asked in the earlier stages of development, including the casting process for her sisters. Then the last minute replacement of Lori Rom ( who quit after shooting the pilot ) by Alyssa threw everything off.

Shannen's lead status slowly changed according to the viewers who tuned in to see Alyssa and her big tittes ( not my words ) after a few seasons. 

It was then retooled to give Alyssa the love story and other plots to keep male viewership, and Shannen felt her suggestions and requests for storylines and direction was minimized because Alyssa " popped " and production took advantage of her sex symbol status. Shannen felt her contractual agreements weren't being honored and her courtship between Spelling had waned. She felt the three actresses should work towards a less " soapy " alternative. Earlier episodes show this transition from a crime / supernatural drama into a camp soapfest. Shannen felt that her time on the series was at an end, and requested to be let go from her contract. She felt the show wasn't as good as it could´ve been.

Now there are two conflicting stories. In one version Shannen went to Spelling and said that he either fired Alyssa or she would walk which resulted in Shannen leaving the show. In another Alyssa was the one that gave the ultimatum. The crew was not overjoyed with Shannen leaving because while they didn´t love Shannen, they preferred her over Alyssa.
 

Alyssa and Holly were at odds over what they should do. Alyssa felt the show was fair at giving storylines and wanted to keep the trajectory of the viewership. Holly felt obligated to and a sense of friendship with Shannen Doherty and wanted to band together to work towards a mutual ground with production. Because of this tension, there were some hard feelings around, mostly between Holly Marie Combs and Alyssa Milano.

Alyssa's contract of course had been renegotiated as well as Holly's and that is why the two stayed longer. Rose came around this time, and CHARMED survived the shake up with the cast feeling happy about that.

Shannen left with her rights intact to receive royalties and percentages from the show, and she didn't care if they let her go. She had money still coming in from the series run, and the DVD sales. So in all, she made a lot of money. Also, her reputation remained intact as well, she felt that her time on CHARMED showed that she could be professional.

And that´s all for anything else you have to consult the CHARMED FAQs .

BEYOND THE CHARMED LIFE : OF CITY SPINNERS AND MISTRESSES

Since the bonus part of this post will be all CHARMED I should probably cover the other series she was in. After WHO´S THE BOSS she played Jennifer Mancini on MELROSE PLACE which I initially watched because of all the hot babes like Daphne Zuniga, Marcia Cross ( she had a storyline where she went crazy which in tv terms means " nymphomanic ", what a performance ! ), Stacy Haiduk or Lisa Rinna ( her lips are sexier than Angelina Jolie´s ). Later on I watched it because of Alyssa and her brother Dr. Michael Mancini on the show whom I always called Wylie Coyote because he always had very elaborate plans to get what he wants.

In those shows the guys and girls are always trying desperately to get together with a certain partner only to loose interest and start betraying them with somebody else as soon as they have accomplished their goal. In any case, the life lesson that I learned from Wylie is that when you start lying you stick with it. Because even if you would tell the truth people would not believe that now you are telling the truth and what you said earlier was a lie. So even if they find out you lied you have to say you didn´t. Because if you were not lying but it looks like you are lying because there is some proof against you what would you do ? You would say that you are not lying. Which is the only thing you could do. And in the end lying is always better than telling the truth. Ask any politician.

Speaking about politicians on SPIN CITY she played Meg, the daughter of New York mayor Randall M Winston Jr who was always causing trouble for Michael J Fox´s character who was the mayor´s chief political adviser. 

I would have liked to see more episodes of the show but in Germany it was shown closed to the public by putting it in ridiculous time slots.

First it was shown at two o´clock after midnight and then at five o´clock in the morning when nobody could see it. Later on it was shown in the afternoon during the weekends. They always do that with american hit shows like NORTHERN EXPOSURE or SEINFELD so that they don´t get good ratings and later can proclaim " Those shows may be a big hit with the uneducated americans but we germans are much more sophisticated than these stupid cowboys and not so easily entertained. " And then they go and copy every american show there is and do a horrible version of it.

Anyway, Alyssa reprised her role in 2001, the mischievous little minx.

Alyssa was on MY NAME IS EARL but since I didn´t watch many episodes ( my mother can´t stand it ) I can´t say much about it. I found the initial idea interesting - somebody trying to fix his bad karma by making a list of all the people he wronged and then putting things right - but the show is just too " redneck " for me. In lack of a better term. I know that some people get off on this kind of comedy but as someone who comes from the lower levels of society I know that just because you are poor doesn´t automatically mean you are uneducated or stupid. Was she Earl´s wife ?

 
Another sitcom with Alyssa I missed was ROMANTICALLY CHALLENGED. I´m not even sure if it was shown on german tv. Either it ended up the same way as SPIN CITY or it was shown on one of the cable channels you generally don´t watch like Comedy Central. It lasted - what - 6 episodes ?

The same goes for MISTRESSES. Except the six episode part, they had at least two seasons. But so far I have only seen some clips with Alyssa from the show via the internet so I don´t know anything about the quality.

Before we come to the link / video section there is the comic connection part we have to do. Yes, there is a comic part since this is still a comic blog - appearances may be deceiving. The obvious ones are that Alyssa played the daughter of Arnold Schwarzenegger in COMMANDO ( which was called PHANTOM COMMANDO in Germany ) and Arnold also played Robert E. Howard´s CONAN who was adapted as a comic by Marvel comics which was for the most part illustrated by the incomparable John Buscema. 

Also her love interest on CHARMED, Cole, was played by Julian McMahon who also was Doctor Doom on what are now considered " the good " Fantastic Four movies and whom I first saw in this Danii Minogue video.



On the DC side of things she has done the voice of Aimee Brenner on DC SHOWCASE PRESENTS : THE SPECTRE and SUPERMAN / SHAZAM ! : THE RETURN OF BLACK ADAM and Poison Ivy on an episode of YOUNG JUSTICE.

So this is the re - posted Alyssa Milano and for her best CHARMED outfits click the link for the bonus round . As there is nothing I can add to that it will not be re - posted and there is also a link to the original Alyssa Milano post where you can read more about her HACKTIVIST comic book series.  

As last year´s entertainment block was all about Alyssa Milano this year I get to cover the celebrity birthday and I have picked a few important ones - at least for me - starting with Til Schweiger who turns 53. The american movie audience knows him from Quentin Tarrantino´s history changing  Inglorious Basterds and he´s Germany´s best known and most successful actor with his own production company ( when you want to be in good movies in Germany this is your only chance ) which produced such independent blockbusters like The Icebear or Knockin´ On Heaven´s Door. 

A lot of people may not be familiar with Karel Svoboda´s work but for me it was always synonymous with good entertainment as he provided the music for Three Wishes For Cinderella ( which is a Christmas standard on german tv ), Maya The Bee, The Wonderful Journey Of Nils Holgerson With The Wild Geese, The Adventures of Pinocchio and Vicky The Viking ( or Wickie And The Strongmen how it was called in Germany ). There were some stinkers as he did the music for the godawful John Sinclair but the less said about that the better. I looked for Three Wishes For Cinderella on YouTube but since they had only short clips here´s an episode from Vicky The Viking. I guess he was the first cartoon hero who was a nerd because he always solved his problems with brains instead of brawn. And yes, it´s an animated episode not one of the new crappy 3D episodes.



Speaking of good tv entertainment from my youth, another birthday shoutout to the great beyond goes to Rudi Carrell whose Am Laufenden Band was THE biggest Saturday night tv show in Germany during the 70s.



Apropos 70s cult shows, I must pay homage to Gordon Jackson who is best known for playing George Cowley on The Professionals. The last time I mentioned the show on the blog I didn´t post a video because the size was so small but it seems that is all they have on YouTube. In any case, here is the first episode especially for my german readers who finally want to see the full episode instead of the cut version that aired on german tv.



We couldn´t end this post without an Alyssa Milano video and since most of the stuff about CHARMED is in the other post here is a compilation.



Like every year Christmas is approaching faster than expected ( I haven´t even done all my Christmas shopping or found the time to organize the Big Christmas Contest ) and since I don´t think my posting ratio will improve during the next weeks ( which is one of the reasons why I am writing this post in advance ) here is the first Christmas special.



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I wanted to demonstrate that I was not the goody - two - shoes character I played on Who´s The Boss ? so I took riskier roles and had to do a lot of nude scenes but I think anybody who watches Embrace of the Vampire will see that I had the talent and body to back up those nude scenes.