I was a bit worried that I could not do this post but thanks to being bed ridden for most of the week ( health issues with my knees again ) and after binge watching the first season of the BBC´s The Three Musketeers I have the time to write a bit. Now while I did have enough covers from my research last year I always go the extra mile so I looked for a few more covers. I mean, the guy wrote more than 4,000 stories of which 1,500 were for DC alone. Which makes it kind of difficult to choose but on the other side if I manage to do all the covers I have so far there is still the possibility of doing posts just for some of the series he wrote like ATOM, THE FLASH, HAWKMAN or GREEN LANTERN. Anyway, I´ll try my best to do a second post but if you haven´t read last year´s Gardner Fox posts there is one about his superhero DC comics and his science fiction comic work .
Before we come to the obligatory link section of this post I want to do something I haven´t done in a long time which is some comic pimping.
The reason why I don´t do this more often is that as I have often said, these bargain deals at amazon disappear very quickly and I don´t pimp books that I haven´t bought myself. The problem with that is that since my comic spending budget is nearly non - existent ( thanks to my health insurance not covering the costs for my new pair of glasses which cost a month´s salary and I don´t mean what I currently get from the jobcenter but rather what a guy would get at a regular job ) I have to wait until the books in question are at the absolutely lowest price which also means that most often than not I snatch up the last copy. The last books I got was the Supreme Power - Powers & Principalities hardcover for less than 4 EUROS and the Captain America - Nightmare hardcover for a bit above 6 EUROS.
While both of these are not what you call hot sellers they are decent read with very good art and you can´t complain with a price of 10 EUROS for both. Normally you pay 25 bucks for each. But those were the last two copies so I could not put it on my blog. Now I have done bargain posts before and included some comics that I have not bought yet so keep in mind that I can´t tell you anything about the content of some of the books. I still have to pay for each book purchase myself and as long as DC, Marvel and the other comic companies don´t start showering me with review copies that means that I am limited with what I can review. That said there are some books where I know something about the content as most of the following are omnibus. Right now there are a lot of them out there and especially at amazon they often go for completely overblown prices so here is a selection from their current bargain book section.
First up we have the DEADLY HANDS OF KUNG FU omnibus volume 1 which weighs in at a whopping 1152 pages and goes for a regular price of 125 bucks. The bargain section price for this is 90 EUROS and the new books price is 83. I don´t own any issues from this series but as a fan of SHANG CHI : MASTER OF KUNG FU I knew that this existed. If you are into martial arts stuff from this era you will find plenty about that in the articles that are included and if you are a fan of George Perez - and who isn´t ? - you will find his earliest work here. DEADLY HANDS was a black and white magazine and it features stories with Shang Chi and The Sons Of The Tiger.
There are also some Iron Fist stories in here but not the first appearance of Hector Ayala a.k.a. White Tiger since he had his debut in issue 19 and this collection only covers the series up till issue 18. You can find fifty preview pages at the MARVEL MASTERWORKS RESOURCE page, there is an article on Rudy Nebres´ work on The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu at THE GEEKSVERSE and DIVERSIONS OF THE GROOVY KIND offers The Testing of Shang - Chi by Steve Englehart, Jim Starlin and Al Milgrom from issue 1.
Next we had the S.H.I.E.L.D. : THE COMPLETE COLLECTION omnibus and the SPIDER - MAN BY TODD MCFARLANE omnibus with an emphasis on " had " because we they were in the bargain section for two days. They may be back by the time I can finally finish this post so watch out for those but in the meantime I´ll just skip to the next bargain book that is still available.
Which is the SQUADRON SUPREME omnibus and attention, this is the new 1240 pages thick version NOT the old 450 page omnibus which goes for 75 bucks !!! The regular price of this is 125 bucks but you can get it from the bargain section for 73 EUROS. So basically you are paying less than for the old 450 page omnibus and you get a new omnibus which not only has all the contents of the old omnibus like of - of course - the complete 12 issue mini series and the Squadron Supreme : Death of an Universe graphic novel and Captain America 314 but also 13 Avengers issues, 3 Defenders issues, 2 Quasar issues and Thor 280. I may be a bit biased but I always thought SQUADRON SUPREME to be a bigger achievement and far superior to WATCHMEN. I know it´s heresy but with all the great things WATCHMEN does it is a story outside of continuity that doesn´t have to work with an already existing universe. Anyway, if you don´t own the old SQUADRON SUPREME omnibus this is one hell of a package deal for a really low price.
A bit slimmer - okay, a lot slimmer with 752 pages is the CAPTAIN AMERICA RETURN OF THE WINTER SOLDIER omnibus which is why it has a regular price of 100 bucks. The bargain section price is 85 EUROS but you can find it with the new books for 51. Do I really have to explain how glorious Ed Brubaker´s run on this series is at this point ? Granted, you don´t get a lot of Steve Epting art at this, the final installment of this grand opus but you have a lot of other wonderful artists like Jackson Guice or Chris Samnee.
Speaking about the grand superhero opus, the piece de resistance here is of course the ALPHA FLIGHT BY JOHN BYRNE omnibus meaning that I was very close to buying it myself a few times. There are a few reasons why I haven´t bought it yet and most have to do with money. I first was really tempted to buy it when it was at the new books section for 67 EUROS which is almost half price. Now this is one of the few omnibus that is really worth paying the full price and my rule of thumb here has always been that the price should be page count divided by ten equals price.
Like if an omnibus costs 100 EUROS I expect it to have at least 1,000 pages. So far I have only payed the full price, 100 EUROS for the SECRET WARS II omnibus which was okay because it has over 1100 pages. But if it only has around 750 pages - like the ACTS OF VENGEANCE CROSSOVERS omnibus I recently bought mainly for the Daredevil tie in issues by Ann Nocenti and John Romita Jr - I´m not okay with that. Which is why I bought it from the used books section for 60 EUROS. Coming back to the ALPHA FLIGHT BY JOHN BYRNE omnibus you don´t have to think twice about it in that regard since it has 1248 pages and surprisingly enough has a regular price of 100 bucks instead of 125 bucks as one might expect. It´s right now at the bargain books section for a measly 75 EUROS and the new books price is even lower at 69 EUROS but don´t expect it to last long.
Now you might ask what the other reasons are that I still haven´t bought this. So without going too much into detail a. ) I don´t have that much disposable income at the moment, b. ) I just recently bought volumes 2 and 3 of ALPHA FLIGHT CLASSIC and c. ) I am much more interested in the SHANG - CHI, MASTER OF KUNG FU omnibus volume 3 which is all Mike Zeck goodness. Sadly it seems to be stuck at a price of 83 EUROS at the new books section which is so far beyond my price range that it isn´t even funny. So you should snatch up the ALPHA FLIGHT omnibus really quick and if you have missed your chance ( as I guess it will have disappeared from the bargain book section by the time I have finished writing this post ) check it from time to time since it might be available at a lower price again somewhere down the road. For those who don´t know the series - or at least this incarnation of Canada´s premier super hero team - from Jack I already did a post on Alpha Flight and there will at least be another one in my Death In Comics series. If I ever get to post regularly again.
Since I mentioned my rule of the next book, ULTIMATE MARVEL omnibus vol 1 is kind of overpriced since it only has 768 pages but has a regular price of 100 bucks. It is currently available at the bargain section at almost half price with 53 EUROS and at the new and used books section for 48 EUROS. I think the reason for that is that the content has been already released in various forms but if you don´t already own the first six issues of Ultimate Fantastic Four, Ultimate X - Men, The Ultimates and the first seven issues of Ultimate Spider - Man or you want to add them to your comic collection in a nice hardcover collection here is your chance.
I also want to mention two books from Marvel´s Masterwork line - since those are very expensive and only affordable through discounts, MARVEL MASTERWORKS INCREDIBLE HULK vol 10 hardcover with 272 pages and a regular price of 75 bucks which you can find in the bargain section for 52 EUROS and MARVEL MASTERWORKS BLACK PANTHER vol 2 hardcover with 352 pages also at 75 bucks regular price and a bargain price of 50 EUROS.
Wow, if I had known that part would be so long I wouldn´t have included so many links but it´s too late to change that now. So let us start right away because the entertainment block is also pretty lengthy. There were not many links that tie directly into Today´s topic but since it goes in the direction of the DC universe in general and especially the part with the Justice Society of America and the Justice League of America I want to mention Tristan Cooper´s post at DORKLY who has 6 Tragic Justice League Episodes That Tore Our Heart Out. Even if that´s the cartoon and not the comic book this is one of the best adaptions of the team on the screen.
Tom Bondurant takes a look back at the 1993´s Superman event Reign of the Supermen at his Grumpy Old Fan column on COMIC BOOK RESOURCES and THE BRISTOL BOARD has a rare find : the complete original artwork of the ten page story Fears Of A Go - Go Girl by Jack Kirby and Vince Coletta that was originally supposed to be published in Soul Love 1, a proposed romance comic for afro - american adults back in 1971 but got canceled.
Speaking of comic masters, I don´t know when I will be able to write my next post on Will Eisner and his brilliant The Spirit but there are a few webfinds I came across after my last one. John DiBello at 13TH DIMENSION picks his 13 Greatest Spirit Title Pages, to continue with the Best Of lists Will Eisner naturally has more than one entry in 1979 SEMI - FINALIST´s list of 100 Favorite Comic Book Covers, a series in four parts, Patrick A. Reed at COMICS ALLIANCE presents the first appearance of Will Eisner´s The Spirit, PECULLIDAR NOTATIONS has 2 complete Spirit stories and last but not least DANGEROUS MINDS has a post on Connie Rod, Will Eisner´s porny pin - up who taught preventative maintenance to the U.S. Army.
Now you might ask how I´m making the bridge from Will Eisner to Bernie Wrightson but there is an unfinished The Spirit story Bernie worked on. As you may know Bernie passed away just recently but as always I haven´t had the time yet to do a proper post. And while that may come up in the not too soon future I wanted to put a few links I came across during my post research on the blog right now. FLUTTERING has a nice collection of Bernie Wrightson´s work for Mary Shelley´s Frankenstein, SCANS DAILY also has a few pages and you can find more of Berni Rajtsona´s Frankenstein on the romanian website DARKER MAGAZINE . I hope it´s okay to post it.
Speaking of great comic artists who have had a big influence on me while growing up and who have since passed away, just two days ago was Don Martin´s birthday. And while this is also a post for which I need more material than I have at the moment there is a great post on Don Martin´s hero Captain Klutz ( Kapt´n Hirni in Germany ) over at DIAL B FOR BLOG .
And to wrap things up, Mark Waid has An Open Letter To Freelancers on THRILLBENT which I haven´t posted for the longest time because there are some things he addresses where I am not sure if he acts according to them as he´s writing Marvel´s ALL NEW ALL DIFFERENT AVENGERS right now and for me that really doesn´t gel with the dictum that the quality of your work is all that matters. But that might be just my personal opinion and besides that I think it´s good advice AND much needed advice when you look at the way comics are done and comic creators and especially freelancers - because comic companies are doing their best to get rid of any permanent staff that could demand royalties - are treated right now.
We start Today´s celebrity birthday roll call with german comedian Kaya Yanar who turns 44. He is best known for his tv show Was guckst du ? ( What are you looking at / what are you watching ? ) that toys with well - known cultural stereotypes. He also was one of the hosts of Stars bei der Arbeit ( Stars at Work ) which despite the title did not show stars at work - which would be showing them at what they do every day - but instead had them trying a job they hadn´t done before. One of their most famous episodes with the highest rating was with 34D MILF Busenwunder Verona Pooth for obvious reasons. Verona is such an incredibly hot sexbomb this guy´s glasses were actually all fogged up when she took off her jacket !
I have mentioned her in one or two posts but I haven´t done a real post on her despite the fact that her birthday was just at the end of last month. Maybe I can rectify that soon. Anyway, I did get the DVD of the first season of Stars at Work ( currently at amazon for a measly 8.50 EUROS ) and it´s totally worth to see this episode on a big high definition tv.
Since I don´t have a video with Kaya Yanar I picked a video from Extreme Activity with Verona Pooth because it has the highest babe ratio. With Janine Kunze, Ruth Moschner and Verona we have a trifecta of german sexbombs although Verona is the real eye catcher which explains why she was on the show so many times. So far I have not gotten around to make a celebrity birthday post on Verona because I still haven´t found the video with her megahot zipper wardrobe malfunction on Stefan Raab´s Tv Total.
I had three videos with Verona Pooth and Janine Kunze on Extreme Activity but I´m saving the other for the third person´s next birthday.
Busta Rhymes also celebrates his birthday Today, he is now 45 years old.
He always did his own thing without much care for fads or trends and worked with such hot women like Mariah Carey ( the video I Know What You Want is inspired by Frank Miller´s SIN CITY look ) or Janet Jackson. Man, at the time it came out this was the hottest Janet had ever been.
Of course Janet had even more incredible guest starring roles later on like in Jermaine Dupri´s Gotta Getcha where she plays a busty stripper dressed up as a school girl / teacher which was too steamy for german music tv.
Now that´s what I call casting at it´s best because Janet was just born for that role. Not only is she predestined to play a stripper since she has the best bod in showbiz she has some incredible stripper moves that make real striptease pros envious. Okay, I don´t know if the script said explicitly " busty stripper " but with her huge melons it´s the only kind of stripper Janet can believably portray. Anyway, the reason that I mention all this is that Janet Jackson celebrated her 51st birthday on Tuesday this week.
With all the health related problems and others I had lately I naturally missed it. I thought about doing a repost of her cult siren post from last year but since there is nothing indispensably important or urgent I could add check out the 25 hottest Janet Jackson GIFs courtesy of GUYSPEED .
Speaking of Busta Rhymes´ connections to hot cult sirens, his video Make It Clap appeared in an episode of Fast Lane which I watched - mostly in vain - hoping to see Tiffani Amber Theissen who has the best natural breasts in Hollywood according to Howard Stern and has been scorching the tv screen for quite some time with her curvaceous hardbody and her big 37DD Beverly Hills to the delight of males worldwide in hot outfits.
I never was a big fan of the Beverly Hills, 90210 show but that quickly changed when I saw wet Tiffani Thiessen´s booming breasts in a bikini - which was a product of mother nature - and Tori Spelling´s growing boobs - which were a gift of Daddy and the best plastic surgery money could buy. There was a special episode that got my attention in which Tori Spelling was dancing in a leather hooker outfit while shooting a rock music video.
If you can call her wild fertility inducing movements dancing. She really was just shaking her big boobs in the general direction of the camera. But that she did very effectively. I never was a big Tori Spelling fan but in that scene she really squeezed her breast into a tight leather top and just pushed them straight in your face. Now that´s what I call entertainment.
Those directors got it made, they just go " Okay guys, in the next four episodes Tiffani dresses up as a prostitute. And she has to do at least one striptease and two nude sex scenes in each episode. Which is really necessary for her character. Oh yeah, and send her to my trailer for .... extreme rehearsal. We have to go over the scene ... orally. " Those horny perverts are to thank for that Tiffani was so often in bikinis on that show.
Speaking about hookers, besides appearing on Beverly Hills 90210 Tiffani also was on Saved by the Bell with Elizabeth Berkley who revealed her real stripper nature in Showgirls. The movie was called a flop when it first come out but in the meantime it has become a cult classic mainly based on Elizabeth´s stripper moves which left me no other chance than cast her as one of my alternate choices for the Nympho Supergirl from Earth XXX in my second alternatives post for casting the Justice League movie .
But double jointed Elizabeth not only licks the chrome off your steelhard pole she has the all important " pumping pelvic thrust " move down to pat. I bet that comes in handy with that portable casting couch she allegedly has and I would not mind being at the receiving end of that a few hours.
Speaking of mega hot cinema sexbombs whose career took a nosedive Busta is also on the soundtrack of Mean Girls. Does anyone remember the time when Lindsay Lohan had real boobs ? I miss the busty Lindsay Lohan.
Maybe it´s just me but I think Disney forfeit a great opportunity to make money when they squandered the possibility to make a real live action Kim Possible movie with Lindsay Lohan when she was still at her prime.
We are staying with women who have provided wank material for entire generations with Sylvie Rauch who turns 55. She appeared in a few erotic movies before doing porn together with her older sister Sybille Rauch which were her most successful ones. She also starred solo in a few flicks.
Before becoming one of the most successful porn stars with one of the biggest german porn companies ( her sales records breaking movie BORN TO LOVE even guest starred british porn superstar Sarah Louise Young ) Sibylle played in a lot of the erotic movies that swept Germany in the 80s but her most famous roles were in the israeli series of erotic comedies EIS AM STIEL ( Lemon Popsicle in english ) that were among the most watched movies in Germany at that time. The movies follow a trio of friends on a quest to loose their virginity and as usual sex hijinks and breasts ensue.
Sibylle used that popularity to jump start a singing career ( this was the time when women with big breasts like Sabrina Salerno, Danuta or Samantha Fox became big stars thanks to the predominance of music videos ) and she was the publisher - as well as the face and body - of the german HUSTLER from 1992 till 1995. She did a lot of cocaine and I thought she had died in 1997 but apparently she survived her suicide attempt.
Next we have Cher who celebrates her 71st anniversary and the last thing I know of her is that she appeared in Burlesque together with Christina Aguilera. Another film that took me a long time to see being such a huge Christina Aguilera fan. Although I missed the beginning. My brother would probably tell me that she doesn´t get naked in the movie anyway ( duh, it´s for people six years and older ) but he doesn´t understand what Burlesque is and you watch this movie for Christina´s hot performances.
Before my readers forget that this is mainly a blog about comics here´s another video from NerdSynch explaining why Superman´s costume is one of the best. Yes, there should be no need to explain this but looking at the way they are constantly doing new versions of it - even on Supergirl where they have nailed the character to a t - it is time people got it.
We are coming full circle to Gardner Fox with our cartoon video since he invented the Multiverse that later allowed DC to incorporate Fawcett´s Captain Marvel into the DC universe when they acquired the characters.
New to the blog ? Everything you need to know about TALES FROM THE KRYPTONIAN : top ten posts / more posts of interest / best of the best
When twelve year old Billy Batson speaks the magic word " Shazam ! " a lightning bolt strikes down from the heavens, transforming him into the world´s mightiest mortal, Captain Marvel !
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