Master of Kung Fu Monday with Gil Kane !

It´s been a while since I have done one of these posts and in light of the upcoming SHANG - CHI : MASTER OF KUNG FU omnibus books I thought I could extend Gil Kane week a bit longer and post his covers for the series.

For the last few days I tried to post more DC covers by Gil Kane because in my last Black and White post only 6 out of the 26 I posted were DC.

But something else always came up and prevented that. Like on Saturday when I was all ready to go - especially since it was Robi´s birthday - but then I went looking for some original art and spent the day and most of the following Sunday putting all the stuff I found in order. So to make a boring story short after getting every piece of Gil Kane art available on the internet I have divided it up into theme groups so there will be several posts appearing in the next few weeks. Like this one right now.  

Speaking about the omnibus books, I´m still not sure if I should get volumes 1 and 2. I would like to read it all but art wise I´m much more interested in Mike Zeck´s art than anything else and I don´t know if volume 2 is worth spending so much money for 8 issues of Mike Zeck art.

Even with the lower prices at amazon volume 1 is still at 88 bucks which is just a bit above my price range. The 2nd volume doesn´t come out until September but I don´t know how low the price on that one will go. If it does get lower at all. Right now there are two really very reasonably priced omnibus hardcovers at amazon.de, STAR WARS : THE ORIGINAL MARVEL YEARS OMNIBUS 1 for 70 Euros and 2 for 75 Euros but I´m not sure if I really want to read those that urgent or if that´s the nostalgia kicking in. I thought about getting one of them as a belated birthday present for my brother but once I got my hands on them I would probably keep them for myself. I don´t think the way he behaved lately he really deserves them. But at the moment I´m a little tight with money anyway.

The problem is that I fear this is another instance of a once in a lifetime opportunity like with the X - MEN : INFERNO hardcover that was offered at half price and I didn´t buy it just because I had bought the trade a few months earlier. The thing is the hardcover had some additional content and now that I have the X - MEN : INFERNO PRELUDE and X - MEN : INFERNO CROSSOVERS this is the one that would complete the set.

So I´m checking daily if those omnibus books are still at that price and hoping I can order them at the right moment. In any case I will probably order volume 2 first because it has not as much Carmine Infantion art in it and as it is in the bargain books section the price may go up again pretty soon as volume one is in the regular book section. The price on that may also go up again but probably not as quick as can happen with the second volume. You see I haven´t really made up my mind yet. 145 Euros is a lot of money to spend but if you get 250 dollars worth of comics that´s not so bad and I would only need volume three to complete the series. Which may also be at a more reasonable price once the first two volumes have sold enough. And if I buy the books and don´t like them after reading I can always use them as collateral and exchange them for other omnibus books like the SHANG - CHI : MASTER OF KUNG FU.

But that´s all speculation so let´s continue with the Gil Kane covers before I go completely off topic and have to write another post for this.   

Gil Kane did three more covers for the series but since those are some of the fabled GIANT SIZED issues they will be featured in a Giant Sized post - maybe two. Marvel really only did these specials from August 1974 to December 1975 and the vast majority of the covers were by Gil Kane.

I couldn´t do a MASTER OF KUNG FU MONDAY post without mentioning Old Groove from the brilliant DIVERSIONS OF THE GROOVY KIND who started it all and since I´m not sure I posted this here is his latest post in that series, The Phoenix Gambit - Part I : Temples of Time from MASTER OF KUNG FU 59 by Doug Moench, Mike Zeck ( this was his first issue ) and John Tartaglione. For those of you craving more kung fu entertainment there is also a post on The Sons of The Tiger and White Tiger and one with the first adventure of The Sons of The Tiger from DEADLY HANDS OF KUNG FU, which will be also reprinted in an upcoming omnibus. Man, this is the year for enthusiasts of Bronze Age Marvel martial arts series. And speaking about enthusiasts of Bronze Age Marvel martial arts series, Joe Linton at THE PERIODIC FABLE has a three part essay on the innovative storytelling in MASTERS OF KUNG FU by Paul Gulacy ( part 1 / 2 / 3 ).

We start Today´s birthday roundup with one that is already over but it´s an important one. Like I have already mentioned last Saturday german comic legend Robi a.k.a. Horst Brack, der Bestrafer celebrated his 56th birthday. He has written scripts for tv shows and hit movies like The Miracle of Bern - although I think he never got as much credit as other people who were less involved and who got interviewed all the time. Right now the movie has been adapted to the musical format and it´s one of the biggest shows although I doubt there´s any money going Robi´s way. For the hungry comic masses Robi is best known for writing countless comics like the underground cult series MENSCHENBLUT or HORST.

Longtime readers may remember that I announced the german website of HORST as well as two more as I was doing the translations to english and spanisch . But because of various reasons, health problems, computer problems, software problems and all this tedious life stuff I did my last translations in June 2010 but the old stories are still there to read.

I don´t think there is a printed edition in english or spanish available ( hence the two blogs ) and for my german readers who don´t know the comic I can only recommend to get the original issues although most of them are in black and white. There was a new edition released by PANINI that collects the complete works in four trades but for some reason they thought they had to change the text. Which normally happens with new editions of foreign material - each publisher has to do his own translation - but with german comics ? Anyway, don´t worry if you can´t find the old issues. Besides this all stories have new lettering that makes it easier to read, the colors look gorgeous and there is plenty of bonus material.

Another hit series by Robi is ALRAUNE, beautifully drawn by Toni Greis and I don´t have to explain this series to german comic readers because everybody has this - at least the male part of the comic community.

Somebody once said this is the kind of porn comic that has such good writing you read it with both hands. And the art is so hot you wish you had a third hand. The 8 issue series has been collected in two hardcovers which are totally worth the money because for the first time all the pages are in color. I have both volumes and you can find it at the homepage of Schwarzer Turm or at good comic stores just don´t go to amazon because the price for it is ridiculous. Anyway, I don´t think there are more issues of LUNA coming out and usually I would say I´ll get the latest gossip in Erlangen but with the new health problems ( now the other knee is wasted ) and my non existent comic budget this may be the first time I won´t attend. The last time was pretty bad with my injured knee and I was practically a young god compared to my current state of health. So happy birthday Robi and much success from here if we don´t meet in Erlangen. 

We´re staying in the adult entertainment section with our first birthday of Today which is PLAYBOY´s Miss November 2000 Buffy Tyler. The buxom blonde ( 36D - 24 - 34 ) of german descent turns 38 and besides appearing in PLAYBOY videos she was in the movie Frostbite and the Howard Stern Show. I remember her because back at that time I was still buying and reading the PLAYBOY magazine on a semi regular basis. Ah, the good old times when there were plenty of naked women to be found in PLAYBOY. 

We have two DOCTOR WHO related birthdays, the first is David Tennant who has his 45th regeneration. He is of course known as the most popular Doctor in New Who and his long stay on the role has set the standard for all who followed ( no pun in - tennanted ). Currently he is on Broadchurch and Alias where he plays the evil Purple Man Zebediah Killgrave. I have started watching that show with my mother but after a few episodes she lost interest. I guess she like the action spectacle like Agents of S.H. I. E. L. D. more so I´ll have to finish it on my own. The second birthday is Eric Roberts who turns 60 and although most people prefer to forget it he portrayed the Doctor´s nemesis The Master in the movie with the eight Doctor Paul McGann. I was looking through the videos and I picked this one because it was the last time I was really surprised by a regeneration.



Today talk show host Conan O´Brien also celebrates his 53rd anniversary and sometimes he really has the best job in the world because he gets to interview such gorgeous women like Angie Harmon who - surprise - would love to play She Hulk in a movie. Although I´m not sure Disney would let her play her as a drinking, promiscuous, behind kicking gun toting chick.




Since there are not a lot videos about Shang - Chi on YouTube here is one with the master Bruce Lee after which Paul Gulacy modeled his version.



Since I will probably not write about Mangas inthe next future here´s a rather long documentary ( over one hour ) for my german readers.



Okay, you know this was coming. There can be no post about this kind of subject without the obligatory Yaya Han video. She´s the best, looks absolutely stunning and always comes up with great new cosplays.

I really thought I had to post one of the few bookmarked videos I have left but just then I came across this new one from FANTASY BASEL 2015. Yaya´s part is a bit short for my taste but perfect as always. She nails it. 



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

Happy birthday cult siren Becky Mullen

While going over the celebrity birthday post of wet t - shirt queen Leslie Easterbrook I realized that Becky Mullen, who I mentioned in that post and the one about Janet Jones Gretzky , celebrates her 52nd birthday Today which puts her in line with other famous people that were born on that day like Henry Ford, Emily Bronte, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vivica A Fox, Simon Baker, Hilary Swank, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Bush, Paul Anka, Jean Reno, Jürgen Klinsmann, Monique Gabrielle and me.

I´d like to do posts on all of them but I haven´t got the time so since I had to cut Becky Mullen´s part from the aforementioned posts because they were just overloaded with GIFs we´ll concentrate on Becky in this post. Becky is best known for three things, the first one starring in the Andy Sidaris movie HARD HUNTED as the bikini clad ( and sometimes topless ) assistant to radio DJ and sextherapist ( in the movie as well as in real life ) Ava Cadell who really should have been on television.

But don´t ask me what happens in that movie because they all blend into one movie for me. Becky only appeared in that one Andy Sidaris movie - maybe because she had other obligations - and was replaced by Sandra Wild who was better known to european audiences as one of the more voluptuos girls who took off their clothes on the show TUTTI FRUTTI .

I have already done it in my post about ITALIAN SOCCER MOM SIMONA VENTURA but for the benefit of new readers who might have missed this I should probably explain what TUTTI FRUTTI was. There was a show called COLPO GROSSO from Italy with some dancers dressed as certain fruits who would dance to a special song and when the last refrain said " chin chin " they popped their tops and the candidates had to bet ( before they opened their tops ) if they had stickers of fruits on their breasts or not.

If they had fruits - or rather stickers with fruits - on them the candidates would win points and if they had enough of them they could get the women who presented the european nations to strip. Who could get the most women the most naked was the winner and the points they would score were called country points or Länderpunkte, a word that has become a household expression in Germany. It´s not unusual to hear german tv viewers say : Well, we´re not going to see any Länderpunkte in this movie. Anyway, the show was done to promote the Ecu, the new currency for a United Europe ( no, that really didn´t work out that well ) but the important part was getting to see girls strip. Although the men always couldn´t remember which girl represented which country and so often the hottest looking girls never got their turn. This one was my favorite.

The show was adapted by various countries and it was called AY QUE CALOR in Spain and TUTTI FRUTTI in Germany. In Germany it was the show nobody watched ( or admitted watching ) but everybody saw.

When it was first shown in the 80s I was doing my military service in Munich and in my room there was cable tv - unlike at home. So every Sunday afternoon I took the ICE to Munich, bought some american comics at the station, went to the barracks, showered, shaved and watched TUTTI FRUTTI before going to sleep. And I always made sure to catch the beginning, I didn´t want to miss the big breasted hottie from the intro.

Boy, she was something else. I had some happy dreams back then.

In Germany the show was hosted by Hugo Egon Balder, Tiziana and Monique Sluyter, who may be responsible for my fixation on Power Girl.



I mean it must have been around the same time when I read Bart Sear´s version of Power Girl in the pages of JUSTICE LEAGUE EUROPE and when I saw Monique´s raunchy striptease as Marilyn Monroe on TUTTI FRUTTI.



For more on Monique Sluyter and Andy Sidaris I already wrote about that at length in my JLA movie casting : Andy Sidaris special post and I did another long post about Unsung 80s direct to video icon Andy Sidaris .

The second thing Becky Mullen is known for - and this is probably where most people remember her from - is being on an episode of MARRIED WITH CHILDREN with sexbomb Pamela Anderson in white lingerie.

It´s the episode where Al is having these dream sequences with first Becky, then with Pamela and then with both fighting over him but each time it´s about to get interesting Kelly - of course - wakes him up.

I really can´t decide who´s hotter in the episode, Pamela or Becky. I mean Pamela is Pamela, my very first candidate for the SEARCH FOR POWER GIRL series but Becky is nobody you would throw out of bed either. The scene when she takes off the business suit is just extremely sexy. WOW !


Becky appeared in a few erotic movies like SINFUL INTRIGUE, which is extremely difficult to find because there seem to be at least ten movies with this name and you want to get the right one. In the movie she´s a hot babe who gets taken advantage of by her bad boyfriend who makes her do some hardcore stuff which she´s not comfortable with.

Basically he treats her like a prostitute which is not okay. Even if she has the measurements to be the centerfold of a certain publication for men I already mentioned twice in this post you should treat her with respect. But her husband is not even trying, I mean no flowers, no presents, no nice dinner, just " Slut up, wife ! " and then it´s " Wham, bang, not even Thank you, Ma´am ! " What a dork. On top of that he cheats on her with every other woman he comes across like his nymphomanic hasian porn masseuse Mai - Ling ( really, like there are no other names for asian women, but that´s Hollywood for you ) played by ultrahot Chona Jason, who gives him a special massage - one of the best scenes of the movie.

Oh, there is one decent guy in the movie who has the hots for Becky Mullen - her neighbour - but of course she keeps him at a distance and only does it with him out of pity when he´s ill. Just like in real life.

The guy who treats her like a prostitute gets to do her every which way day in and day out the whole year while the nice guy finishes last.

There´s some kind of murder story involved but the important thing is that Becky Mullen gets to strut her stuff and wears some kinky outfits. If you have a chance you should watch the movie, it´s quite entertaining and the story doesn´t distract too much from the erotic parts of it.

Now, all of this might not be interesting but the reason why I´m even mentioning it at all is that besides having parts on almost every tv show from RENEGADE to CYBIL to MADtv to PACIFIC BLUE to HUDSON STREET to HIGH TIDE to BLACK SCORPION and appearing in Andy Sidaris´ HARD HUNTED movie she also played the part of Sally, the Farmer´s Daughter.

Not on Playboy Late Night or in an erotic movie but on the first season of GLOW, Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling one of the few shows with female wrestlers shown on german tv. At that time as a wrestling fan you took what you could get and I´m not sure if the show was really that serious.


 Although there was this one episode where one of the female wrestlers had an accident and sprained or dislocated her elbow and they kept repeating that footage over and over during the show. Which was really freaking me out. There were some weird characters on the show and I remember having a thing for Palestina who had quite a big rack.

This is the clip with the best quality I could find on YouTube where she goes up against Olympia. Man, I totally forgot that she never wore a bra.



There were other hot wrestlers on the show but the woman that made the biggest impact in wrestling outside of GLOW was Lisa Moretti who played Tina Ferrari. Lisa went on to wrestle for the WWF / WWE as Ivory and hold the WWF Women's Championship three times. Ah, good times.

I think GLOW aired around the time when the legendary CATCH UP show was on RTL presented by Joe Williams and Horst Brack der Bestrafer ( Horst Brack the Punisher, obviously named after the MARVEL character ).


While the wrestling matches ( NWA, CWA and WCW ) were interesting the best parts were the banter between straight man Joe Williams and heel Horst Brack. And of course the highlights of the shows was the interview section BRACK´s PRANGER ( Brack´s pillory ) where Horst Brack either buttered up his guests or trashed them depending on whether he liked them or not. But Horst Brack wasn´t just like most people all talk and even participated in a few wrestling matches. I tried to find the legendary fight against Rene Lassartesse but the only video I could find was this one with a tag team match between Horst Brack & Rolo Brazil vs Rene Lasartesse & Indio Guajaro.



Horst Brack a.k.a. Rochus Hahn a.k.a. Robi is also a prolific comic writer who wrote such german cult comics like MENSCHENBLUT, DR. DIPPERZ ( the german version of Dr. House only this one really IS insane ), HORST, LUNA, ARSINOE or ALRAUNE. One of THE coolest guys in german comics.


I remember that every time at the INTERNATIONALER COMIC SALON ERLANGEN he was nominated for best writer or best comic with his newest publication from SCHWARZER TURM and most of the times won.

Once again, time to wrap things up since I have been writing waay too long on this post already. But as usual here are the shownotes with the websites without making this post would have been pretty difficult :

becky mullen imdb / glow wiki / glow article ( lot of background info )

name the glow girls from season one quiz / catch up fansite

catch up wiki / horst brack facebook / rochus hahn wiki

So happy anniversary to Becky Mullen, a woman of quite many talents.

Our first video is a compilation of all the hot women that have appeared on MARRIED WITH CHILDREN like Becky Mullen, Pamela Anderson or porn star Traci Lords. This is something I can look forward to now that I have gotten the complete series on DVD at a real bargain price at amazon.



Here´s another video from GLOW, this one is Becky Mullen as the Farner´s Daughter going up against the as usual braless wonder Palestina.



Since I couldn´t post a video of TUTTI FRUTTI because of the nudity here is an entire episode of CATCH UP with Horst Brack and Joe Williams featuring - among others - " the total package " Lex Luger, Flying Brian Pillman, Midnight Express and Doctor Death and the Road Warriors.



I had put a video of Brack´s Pranger in the original post which has since then been deleted so here is a new one featuring german actor Martin Semmelrogge who once was on a book signing tour with Neil Gaiman who in turn wrote a few poems with the name Martin Semmelrogge in them.



We close the post with one of the biggest names in lucha libre Santo, el enmascarado de plata. I already posted one of his movies which run the full gamut from horror to crime to comedy. Here is another one from the horror section EL SANTO Y BLUE DEVIL VERSUS DRACULA Y EL HOMBRE LOBO. I love it when he goes up against classic horror monster especially because some of their names appear in the credits like Franqestein.



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