Sadly it is still an underrated and very underappreciated DAREDEVIL run although I hope that this will change very soon now that it is almost entirely available in EPIC COLLECTION form. But for the longest time only parts of it were available as trade paperbacks which is one of the reasons why I wrote so often about it. And the reasons for that are completely selfish. You see, I want to be able to read this run in the form of some nice hardcovers but so far only the crossover issues from INFERNO and ACTS OF VENGEANCE have found their way into an omnibus hardcover. So of course I had to buy them when they were offered at a bargain price.
INFERNO is one of my favorite Marvel crossovers which is why I started a series going through all of the various titles although I haven´t covered the DAREDEVIL part yet ( part 1 with my initial thoughts and AVENGERS issue 298 / part 2 about how the crossover was never published here in Germany and the forgotten Avenger Gilgamesh which was also my first attempt to write about AVENGERS issue 300 / my second attempt to write about AVENGERS issue 300 / the third and finally successful post about AVENGERS issue 300 ) . I hope we can get back to that topic some day.
Ann Nocenti´s DAREDEVIL was also one of the reasons why I bought the MARVEL VISIONARIES - JOHN ROMITA JR hardcover since it includes issue 253, a special Christmas story with the Kingpin. That was another series I started, pimping the MARVEL VISIONARIES hardcover since they were pretty inexpensive back in those days and they contain many key Marvel moments. I wrote a few post with a special attention to which issues in the hardcovers were important - especially for people who only know the Marvel characters from the movies - and it is also currently on hiatus.
Now while I haven´t done an Ann Nocenti birthday post before I HAVE written about her run on DAREDEVIL, first in June of 2015 and then in August of 2016 when the EPIC COLLECTION A Touch of Typhoid came out.
I also posted most of the pages from DAREDEVIL 252 - which is one of the few issues still not included in an EPIC COLLECTION - on Al Williamson´s anniversary last year . Which means that I don´t have to bore my readers with all of the reasons why I love Ann Nocenti´s DAREDEVIL so much. One of the reasons is of course John Romita Jr´s art since he was just starting to come into his own and I remember that I often said that I really liked his style when most other comic fans I knew just asked " Which style ? "
Another reason is that she introduced a lot of socio political issues in the stories without hitting you over the head with a sledgehammer like the SJWs do it Today. No, back in those days she would introduce an issue through a certain character who explained his viewpoint and very often you agreed. And even if you did not you could at least understand where he was coming from. But that was not all. Ann would then have another character have a different viewpoint on the issue which he shared with the reader and often you could also agree with his opinion. So there was a debate going on and you as the reader could make up your own mind.
With all the problems and important stuff Ann never lost sight of why readers bought the comics in the first place - namely super heroes fighting villains and lots of action. And what made reading the book so satisfying was the fact that even if somebody would do really bad things and most people would take the Punisher´s viewpoint that society would be better off if we simply killed those bad people she had Matt Murdock still find some way of redemption inside the confines of the legal justice system.
Now originally I wanted to make this a birthday post only with original art pages but like with the Al Williamson tribute post I got captivated by Ann Nocenti´s engaging storylines so that I decided to include some of my personal favorites as well. There are still a lot of original art pages since I am a huge fan of John Romita Jr ( and I am not going to put up links to all the posts I did about him so just use the tag at the bottom of the post ) but there are also some regular pages from stories like the ACTS OF VENGEANCE crossover that gave us a very different version of Ultron.
The Ultron story was part of the latter half of Ann Nocenti´s run in which´s culmination all the different characters - including Karnak and Gorgon of the Inhumans who were searching for Medusa´s child - get stranded in hell and have to fight not only their own inner demons given form but also Mephisto. A lot of readers didn´t care much for these issues since they reasoned that it was not what you want to read in DAREDEVIL.
What I could not understand. For starters I didn´t want to read the same stories that I read when Frank Miller was on the book. He was great with all the noir crime stuff but what is the point of having a different writer when you get the same stories as before ? Ann Nocenti´s stories were much more about the characters and their inner monologue and even if the main story was about cases that involved Matt Murdock´s free legal help clinic the main focus were things like Matt´s growing frustration with not being able to help victims or his infatuation with Mary / Typhoid Mary.
Also this was not the first time Daredevil tackled with Mephisto during Ann Nocenti´s run on DAREDEVIL. In issue 266 titled A Beer With The Devil he has his first run in which should not surprise anybody since Matt Murdock decided to dress up as the devil to intimidate gangsters. So you could say that up to a certain point he imitates the devil. Anyway, it is one of the best issues of this run and proof that you can tell good single issue stories. You can read more about it in this Christmas post and in the story Mephisto said there would be another encounter between the two.
And with that we are at the end of this part of the post. I have no idea what Ann Nocenti is writing at the moment but from what I heard on the internet it´s the same one - sided, narrow - minded political propaganda that you find in most comic books Today. Which is one of the reasons why I wanted to spotlight a time when she wrote more nuanced stories and was not convinced that she possessed the only truth and that her mission in life was to enlighten all of us poor misguided and deluded fools. As for reading recommendations check out the EPIC COLLECTIONS A Touch Of Typhoid and Heart Of Darkness and the rest of Ann Nocenti´s DAREDEVIL.
As I have said in previous posts when I am writing about topics that I have covered before - like Ann Nocenti and John Romita Jr´s run on Daredevil in this post - I don´t have any links to add because I already included them in previous posts. On the other hand there are some links that I bookmark for certain posts I plan to write but then I never get around to do them.
So this year I decided to start posting these links in posts where I don´t have any other links to add. They have nothing to do with Today´s topic but they are still things that I think my readers might find interesting.
I want to start this litany of coolnes with my old link partner Terry Hooper - Scharf over at COMIC BITS ONLINE ( whose blog is required reading for any fan of four colored entertainment worth his salt ) with whom I´m in a friendly competition ( at least I hope it is a friendly competition ) who writes the longest posts. If you think my post about François Walthéry´s classic comic series NATASCHA is long you should try reading his entry about the Justice League of America . Anyway, I have the feeling that I am at a disadvantage in this competition for two reasons. First off, lately I am trying to make my posts shorter so I am handicapping myself. On the other hand some people might say I am cheating because sometimes my post addendum is way longer than the " real " post. Plus Terry doesn´t put this stuff into his longer post. So I think that in the end it balances itself out.
The second reason is that Terry is an insider with a lot of connections and while I can do my research as good as possible I am reliant on what I can find on the internet. While Terry just goes : " Yeah, speaking about Joe Staton and the Justice Society of America when I met him in 1978 in a pub on the outskirts of Bristol he told me over a beer we shared .....insert funny anecdote ". And I can´t compete with that. He is also one of the most knowledgeable historians of british comics which you can see in his posts about Alan Class Publishing , the company that published Marvel Comics in Great Britian as well as Archie Comics´ The Mighty Crusaders .
Yes, I have a few anecdotes myself and I can write about german and spanish comics and also movies and tv series and how they are translated but I am still not on the same level. But like I said, it is a friendly contest so it doesn´t matter who looses because in the end the readers win.
In this spirit REAXXION has an article on a Barbie comic by Marvel that was slammed as " sexist " but which actually describes really accurately how video games are made while RIP JAGGER´S DOJO brings us a double serving with The Lonely War Of Captain Willy Schultz not only one of the best Charlton comics but also one of the best war comics ever written and a review of the third volume of Marvel Firsts : The 1970 a trade I can only recommend for any fan of Marvel´s Bronze Age. I have gotten three of these trades - as well as the omnibus that has all the Marvel firsts from the 1990s - from amazons bargain book section and reading them has really been an education. As somebody who is taking his first steps in restarting his comic career I find it fascinating how they introduce new characters.
I wish I would have had access to this kind of material when I was making my first issue because I was struggling how to pace it and here the Marvel veterans present the readers a complete hero universe in one issue. I think sometimes we as comic readers take for granted how magnificent Marvel Comics used to be and Today´s hacks that work at Disney could take a page out of this books. One last thing for all those who plan to invest in these trades : keep in mind that new characters were not always introduced in the first number of their own series so sometimes you will get the odd backup story from another series. But they are all worthwhile.
Speaking of worthwhile reads, Ben Smith on THE COMICS CUBE presents the essay Dr. Pseudo - Science : How I Learned To Stop Forgetting And Read Warren Ellis , EL BLOG AUSENTE invites us to join into appreciating Jim Kelly : The Quintessence of Coolness, from COMIC BOOK RESOURCES we have Scott´s Classic Comics Corner with 5 Marvel Silver Age Books You Should Own and we close with Andrew Weiss´ post on ARMAGIDEON TIME about Kitchen Sink Press´ two part spoof World´s Worst Comics Awards an interesting comic book which I still haven´t managed to find anywhere.
Before we come to the celebrity birthdays I have missed SINCE my last post I have to mention a birthday that should have been IN my last post.
It´s former Mtv vj Maria Guzenina who turned 50 on January the 12th and I completely brainfarted on her anniversary even though I wrote her birth date on the bookmark. Maria was one of the hottest vjs from the 1990s and those who watched Mtv at that time surely remember her fondly.
And the thing is that Maria wasn´t even on my radar where sexy vjs were concerned. But then one day me and my brother were watching Mtv and she did an introduction for Beavis & Butt - Head that left us speechless.
And since I mentioned them and the younger generation may have never heard of them here is a documentary about one of the best cartoons ever on tv and which could not be broadcast in Today´s SJW - infested society.
We continue with a birthday from January the 15th and Michael Schanze who celebrated his 72nd return. He became famous in Germany with the children´s television show Eins, Zwei oder Drei which every kid at that time watched religiously so you don´t have to explain him to people of my generation. He has a long career and has worked with all the greats like sexy Wencke Myhre for whom I had the hots when I was still in school.
Because she was not only funny and had the tireless body of a playmate of the month when she was in her prime but her wardrobe could even rival Caroline Munro´s Sinbad outfit or the uniforms of the female members of the Legion of Super Heroes. Fashion went horribly wrong somewhere from being only one step above lingerie in the 80s to what women wear now.
I have no idea how she pulled it off but despite her stunning physique that made movie actresses jealous and always wearing mini skirts and plunging cleavages she never was typecast as a sex symbol in Germany.
On January the 16th cult movie director John Carpenter turned 71 who made such pop culture classics like Halloween, The Thing or Escape From New York with sexbomb Adrienne Barbeau. Besides the comic book movie Swamp Thing from 1982 and Creepshow which was inspired by classic EC horror comics like Tales From The Crypt Adrienne Barbeau was in another cult movie by John Carpenter, The Fog. Adrienne also showed her breast side as the bustier one of the Lamborghini Babes in The Cannonball Run.
Speaking about Cannonball Run, one of my pet pevees on this blog is celebrating all the brave actresses who turn insufferable dreck into bearable entertainment by taking their clothes off or at least show what their Mama gave them and who don´t get enough recognition for that.
Now if you have seen Cannonball Run you will remember the hot waitress with the extra - large double whoppers in the opening scene whose name is not in the opening credits, in the end credits or on any internet page ( and believe me fella, I´ve looked ). Well, just recently I found a clip with some scenes of Farrah Fawcett from the movie and her scene is also in there. So far I just called her The Busenwunder Waitress but now I can tell you that her real name is Vickie Reigle. Now in Germany Vickie is not really a good name for a woman - just ask german singer Nikki who had to suffer a lot of dirty jokes because of her name ( what rhymes with " Nikki ? " ).
The Fog also had JaMILF Lee Curtis who started her career with another John Carpenter movie : Halloween. Jamie quickly became famous for her impressive set of lungs as one of Hollywood´s scream queens although she later became quite literal famous for her impressive set of lungs as her boobs had busted out and she quickly got the nickname " freezeframe " because her hot scenes in movies like Trading Places or Perfect became the most paused on the vcr thanks to her 34C - 22 - 34 measurements.
Today she is best known for her steamy striptease on True Lies, the best striptease in movie history - at least according to a poll conducted in 2007.
Which is all the more impressive if you keep in mind that Jamie Lee Curtis was 36 at the time. So she did her best movie scene when her body was in remarkable shape - she exercised every day for this - and I cannot even begin to imagine how epic it would have been if she hadn´t kept on her underwear and gone full monty frontal nudity. Because James Cameron had seen her in A Fish Called Wanda and wrote the role of Helen Trasker specifically to see her nude body. A lot of other actresses auditioned for the role and while I could definitely see Demi Moore in that part ( who is the number one in my Top Movie Stripteases thanks to her spectacular performance in Striptease ) or even Kim Basinger, Michelle Pfeiffer, Geena Davis, Rosanna Arquette, Madonna, Jennifer Jason Leigh and possibly Lea Thompson or Sharon Stone I thank God that it wasn´t given to Emma Thompson, Melanie Griffith, Debra Winger, Anette Benning or Joan Cusak.
I have already done a number of posts on JaMILF Lee Curtis : the original post which mostly contains pictures with links to animated GIFs , one post with all the pictures I could find , a re - posted version with a few GIFs added and the post I did on her in 2016 which has lots of spectacular GIFs.
Speaking of spectacular GIFs, the reason why I am mentioning Demi Moore - besides the opportunity to feature her - is I wrote a new version of her cult siren entry ( part 1 / part 2 ) with more GIFs of Demi girating her booty than you can shake .... okay, I´m not going to finish the sentence.
Now I could say that I picked this video from Joe Bob Briggs Monstervision because Jamie Lee Curtis is in Halloween III but the truth is that I was much more influenced by the huge boobs of the mail girl. I don´t know her name but she is the breast of all the mail girls on the show and she would have no problem whatsoever filling out Power Girl´s magic boob window.
Today´s entertainment block is a bit tv heavy but I just have to include one of the forgotten heroes of my childhood. In America he is probably best known as Gobinda from Octopussy but for me and anybody who grew up in Europe during the 70s Kabir Bedi who turned 73 will always be The Tiger Of Malaysia. I despair because there are entire generations who have no idea who that is. Back then we had tv series like Sandokan, Arpad The Gypsy or Yao and tv really was as cultural diverse as they are Today pretending to be but such shows are of course not politically correct.
Sometimes having bad luck can be a blessing and in this instance it was the fact that not only the episode of Sandokan - The Tiger of Malaysia I had posted in a previous post had been deleted but also the next one that I had bookmarked for this post. Because otherwise I never would have discovered that there also exists a long running Sandokan cartoon.
From the small screen we make our way to the big screen with Caroline Munro who celebrated her 70th birthday and who should not be mistaken with Carolyn Monroe whom readers of this blog may have seen in some posts where I mentioned Bart Sear´s ultimate version of Power Girl.
Caroline Munro is a cult siren really deserving the title since she starred in everything from Bond movies like The Spy Who Loved Me to sci fi flicks like Starcrash ( which I had the misfortune to see and can only recommend for Caroline Munro fans because of her skimpy wardrobe ) to horror movies like The Abominable Dr. Phibes and Dr. Phibes Rises Again to Hammer productions like Dracula A. D. 1972 and Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter to tittilating sword and sorcery classics like The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad .
Which is where I first saw her. I went to the cinema in Kornwestheim to see it and Caroline´s supple cleavage - which she showcased in a variety of very tight fitting outfits - was a big part of the appeal of that movie.
We have finally made it to Today´s birthdays with Paul Young who turns 63 and a video I bookmarked years ago in the hopes of using it someday.
It´s back to comic books with our next candidate. In our last post we had french bande dessinee artist André Franquin Today we have belgian comic artist François Walthéry who turns 73 and who was heavily influenced by Franquin´s art. Walthéry started out at the famous comic magazine Spirou assisting Peyo on The Smurfs, Johan and Peewit ( a comic about a knight and his varlet in which the smurfs first appeared as supporting characters ) and Steven Strong or Benni Breakiron ( a comic about a super strong boy who loses his powers every time he catches a cold ) but he is best known for his comic Natascha which tells the adventures of a sexy air hostess.
According to Walthéry he based Natascha´s face on Celine alias Linette, a neighbourhood girl he knew while the body was modeled after Brigitte Bardot although I think there is also a bit of Marilyn Monroe in there.
Other inspirations for Natascha came from Dany Carrel, singer France Gall and Mireille Darc whom the older ones among my readers may remember from her revealing role in The Tall Blond Man With One Black Shoe which she reprised in The Return Of The Tall Blond Man With One Black Shoe .
Coming back to Natascha, I had the pleasure of meeting Walthéry at one of the many conventions we went to last year trying to peddle my new comic books ( they were so many that I am not entirely sure during which one ) and I even got an original drawing of Natascha in a bikini no less.
For me François Walthéry is one of the big comic masters and his Natascha is one of the comics I am trying to emulate with my new comic. I always try to bring the sexiness into the stories but where he pulls it off without getting smutty - even if he shows a lot of nudity - I always end up with porn. To top it all off his art is so detailed and elaborate and it is crazy how many panels he can put into one page. I know that his comics are four times the size of mine but I still wish I was only half as good as him.
As regular visitors know I had written more about François Walthéry but after doing a bit of research I realized there is no ways that I can squeeze all the pictures I want to put on the blog into this section so I decided to do another spin - off where you can read all about Walthéry´s Natascha .
We are staying with comics and another master craftsman Alfonzo Azpiri who passed away in 2017 which I totally forgot. And while I don´t like to write about dead people in this section it sometimes helps me remember these things. Like François Walthéry Alfonzo really deserves his own post.
Now since this post is about Ann Nocenti and John Romita Jr´s brilliant run on Daredevil you probably expected to see a video about that but I could not find a good one. So instead I am posting one that serves as a small preview of our next Daredevil post for which I have already prepared all the necessary material. I thought about saving it for that post but I have another video about Gene Colan that I will include in that post.
Since I have already posted a picture of Yaya Han in this post AND mentioned Power Girl let´s bring the two together with Yaya Han´s flawless Power Girl cosplay and our final video. Seeing Yaya Han with the blond wig makes me want to see her in a Natascha movie. Hollywood changes the ethnicity of characters all the time and who wouldn´t love to see Yaya strut her giant 40D ( ! ) oppai in a skimpy flight hostess uniform ?
So far I had written five posts on Yaya - two of them are pretty safe but the other three are absolutely not safe for work - and I keep mentioning her on various JLA casting posts and any other posts involving exotic sexbombs like Kiana Tom, Ava Cadell, Akira Lane, Miko Lee, Gail Kim or Minka and I swear the completely NSFW BIG YAYA HAN POST is still in the pipeline. In the meantime I have made two new posts about Yaya which showcases a part of her anatomy that I have ignored too often - her legs.
Of which we get to see more in this video although it is difficult not to get distracted by her breast features. The last Yaya Han video I posted was all about Yaya´s skills as a costume maker but this one is all about the erection infection. You can bet your bottom dollar that blow up sex doll Yaya will get you to cream your pants with her asian ejaculation sensation.
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