Movie cult siren Janet Jones ( and stuff )

Today Janet Jones Gretzky celebrates her 51st birthday so I thought it´s time for another of the ever popular MOVIE CULT SIRENS posts. Which is my way to give props to the unsung heroines that transform many otherwise unwatchable b - movies into bearable entertainment.

And it´s also a possibility for me to talk about the POLICE ACADEMY movie franchise and a whole lot of other stuff that comes to mind. Now that I´m almost about to finish the post I am tempted to call it MOVIE CULT SIREN JANET JONES - AND OTHER STUFF LIKE WET T - SHIRTS, PLAYMATES AND POLICE ACADEMY but that´s just too long. Janet is of course best known for appearing in POLICE ACADEMY 5 - ASSIGNMENT MIAMI BEACH in a stunning white swimsuit presenting her best assets and she´s one of the reasons people still watch the movie. Or at least wait for the parts with her in them to be over before zapping to something else.


Nowadays nobody really watches the complete movies anymore because thanks to a seemingly neverending number of sequels Hollywood has managed to completely ruin the franchise. Not only with the movies but also with POLICE ACADEMY - THE ANIMATED SERIES of which I saw an episode or two and which thankfully has been wiped from my memory for which I will forever be thankful.


And I also can´t talk about POLICE ACADEMY without mentioning the comic series by MARVEL that either only lasted for six issues or was a six issue miniseries to begin with.


Since it was a big movie franchise comic ( well, obviously according to somebody´s standard ) it was also published in Germany but as usual the covers were buried under a lot of lettering and other stuff.



I never read an issue and probably have an higher IQ because of that. Coming back to the movie series of POLICE ACADEMY I remember seeing the first one in the movie theater and coming out pretty overwhelmed because at that time it was really a novel concept. And I still think the first part holds up pretty well. Not that it´s the big cinematographic gem but it´s funny and entertaining if you haven´t seen the gags repeated in all the other sequels. It sure lauched a few careers since it brought Steve Guttenberg a big career boost and gave Bubba Smith and Michael Winslow their big break.


Although I have to confess I´m not sure what Michael Winslow is doing right now. I know he did some really bad german movies starring Thomas Gottschalk and written by Thomas Gottschalk ( who else would cast Thomas Gottschalk in a movie who didn´t owe him a favor ? )


but also better stuff like SPACEBALLS and ROBOT CHICKEN. Steve Guttenberg was pretty big in the 80s and 90s but to the current generation he´s probably best known for playing corrupt town mayor Woody Goodman on VERONICA MARS with the lovely Kristen Bell in the lead role of plucky successor to Nancy Drew, Veronica Mars. I guess I just appeared on all search engines because I mentioned Kristen Bell.

Speaking about VERONICA MARS, Charisma Carpenter also has a part on the show who is of course best known for playing Cordelia on BUFFY and later on ANGEL. Which brings us to Enrico Colantoni, who plays ex - sheriff / ex - private eye / new sheriff Keith Mars and he also was on an episode of BONES which is the new series of David Boreananz who plays FBI agent Seely Booth and who also played Angel first on BUFFY and then on ANGEL.


And Kim Catrall - who later on had more SEX AND THE CITY - also appeared in the first POLICE ACADEMY movie. Like I said, it was pretty good but with each sequel the quality has gotten worse and worse and the only good parts were the ones with hot babes like Janet Jones who is the only reason anybody can suffer through these pieces.

The other reason is Leslie Easterbrook who plays megabusty police officer Debbi Callahan Callahan and had her best scene in POLICE ACADEMY 4 - CITIZENS ON PATROL where she was in a pool with a wet t - shirt .

There have been some requests for HQ pics of the scene but these are the best I could find. If you find any in better quality please let me know.

Leslie Easterbrook´s secondbest clip is in POLICE ACADEMY 5 when she´s on the plane and two boys stare at her cleavage thinking her fast asleep. If you pay attention you see how she first yells at them. But then when they try to check her out again you can see her flashing a proud grin and pushing her boobs up a bit ( sorry, I only found the french clip ).



Which shows what a sense of humor Callahan has and that despite everything she´s still proud of her quite distracting breasts .


She probably got that from Leslie Easterbrook, the actress who Callahan and appears on most of the films, who seems like the kind of actress I’d love to have lunch with. She knows exactly what kind of movies she’s in, and plays the part with a vicious commitment unseen in most comedies of this ilk. She’s perfectly o.k. with being objectified and in interviews seems amused and tickled at some of the things she’s had to do. Pragmatic, flirty, professional and practical, Easterbrook is one of the stars of the POLICE ACADEMY series and may well be one of the women who influenced my fixation on confident blondes with big breasts that kick ass like Power Girl.


Power Girl picture from Taguiar´s deviantART gallery

She would have been one hell of a Power Girl, which is kind of a coincidence since originally I wanted to do the TOP TEN OF POWER GIRL COSPLAY post which I now have to leave for another day. I have had several complaints from readers as to " Where´s the Power Girl ? We want more magical cleavage windows....stuff ! " but I promise it´s coming.


Back to Leslie Easterbrook and her role as Callahan ( of course named after Clint Eastwood´s famous character Harry Callahan in the DIRTY HARRY cult movies )


while she DID play the hot blonde she wasn´t the stupid bimbo. And to think that originally they wanted her character to be older and have a beard.

I had an audition and at that point Callahan was described as a 45 year old female Wayne Newton with a moustache. I was younger than 45, was blonde and had no moustache. So I had visions of, “ Well if they like me for this I may have to grow one ! ” And I think that may be the wrong hormone. So I looked at this material and it was very tough, it was a scene that’s not in the movie — very tough, mean, authoritative scene — and I had just finished doing Rhonda on Laverne and Shirley, and now here was this character who could control the world. She could beat up the guys, intimidate them with one look. I knew I had to become tough. I didn’t have the script, just the scene. I didn’t really know if I could play a tough guy. And I went up the stairs and you know, I didn’t dress real sexy, but I put on a tight shirt. And I did this silly scene and everyone stood up at the end of it, going," Oh it’s okay, stop, stop ! ” And I thought, my gosh, maybe that was a little over the top. I left there and thought I really loved playing that character because it was so far outside of my package of ammunition, so to speak, as an actor. I got a call three weeks later saying that they’re considering me for this and I thought, " Well, wonderful! This is really great! I’d love to play it. ” About a week later they sent me the script just to see if I would read it and if they decided to choose me, and I read this script and I literally cracked up, I just thought it was the funniest script I’d ever read. I just wanted to be a part of that. I gotta tell ya, I’ve been happy like that, but I don’t remember having that same feeling of elation, and I was just simply cast for that part from an audition, and the rest is history.


Leslie´s Callahan was kind of empowering for women, she was strong, intelligent, kick - ass tough as nails, independent and secure in her sexuality. Physically she was superior to most men who came across as rather stupid and one - minded most often suffering - or inflicting upon others - heavy injury while being distracted by her curves. Like in the scene where this poor guy almost chokes to death because the beefcake who is supposed to be spotting him is checking her out .


( there have also been requests for the full picture in high resolution )

Callahan was the hunter and all others were the prey. Another movie that´s still sort of known and didn´t fall into obscurity only due to Leslie Easterbrook´s participation in it is PRIVATE RESORT in which Leslie already showed her big talents.


Easterbrook first became famous as Rhonda Lee, the Marilyn - Monroe - like neighbor of Laverne & Shirley. Among the television shows in which Leslie has appeared are FANTASY ISLAND, LOVE BOAT, MURDER SHE WROTE, HANGIN WITH MR COOPER, THE DUKES OF HAZZARD, MATLOCK, HUNTER, and BAYWATCH. Soap opera fans will remember her as Devlin Kowalski from RYAN´S HOPE. She's also been doing voice work for the SUPERMAN and BATMAN animated series.

Easterbrook's vocal talents led to her being chosen to sing the National Anthem at Super Bowl XVII and has landed her starring roles in musicals; she also recorded a song for the soundtrack of POLICE ACADEMY - MISSION TO MOSCOW. As an NRA member and accomplished sports shooter, Leslie has put together a video, REAL BEGINNER´S GUIDE TO THE SHOTGUN SPORTS, and has served on the board of directors of the California Rifle & Pistol Association. Leslie also serves on the board of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, and supports a number of children's charities.

In 2005, Leslie replaced Karen Black in Rob Zombie's THE DEVIL´S REJECTS, the sequel to the 2003 horror movie HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES. Leslie's intense portrayal proved her to be an excellent actress and the definitive Mother Firefly as a result she has been dubbed " Unrecognised horror queen. " Leslie was given the part of Mother Firefly after Karen Black demanded a higher salary, but Leslie Easterbrook took the part and made it her own, giving the performance a disturbing edge that Karen Black lacked. In 2007, she played security guard Patty Frost in Rob Zombie's remake of HALLOWEEN and in 2008, she played as Betty in the thriller / horror film HOUSE. And before we close the chapter on Leslie Easterbrook for good there have been some requests for pictures from this scene from POLICE ACADEMY 3 - BACK IN TRAINING :

Now back to playmate Janet Jones Gretzky who was a few times on the cover and inside of PLAYBOY magazine


and yes, she that famous icehockey player´s wife.

As her appearances in the pages of PLAYBOY have proven she´s one hot masssita and since she looks absolutely boobielicious in a swimsuit she takes over Leslie Easterbrook´s part as eye candy - at least partially. In an X - Men movie I would cast Janet as Dazzler.


Or she could play my favorite X - Girl Tabitha Smith a.k.a. Boom Boom ( because of her big Boom Booms ) since they could be twin sisters.


And so you can get idea what that would look like here are some screencaps from POLICE ACADEMY 5 - ASSIGNMENT MIAMI BEACH with Janet Jones in a white swimsuit or just watch the movie. And if you do don´t be surprised to see Rene Auberjonois as the villain who also played Odo on STAR TREK - DEEP SPACE NINE.




Janet Jones, whose film credits include BEASTMASTER, STAYING ALIVE, THE FLAMINGO KID, A CHORUS LINE, AMERICAN ANTHEM and A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN also did a workout video where she also wears a white suit. Hmm, I guess white is her color. Now we all know why men buy workout videos and I made the mistake of buying volume 4 and 5 of the strip fitness tapes with Carmen Elektra only to find out that the first 3 parts are probably the better ones. Of course I only got them for therapeutical reasons for stress relieving purposes but that didn´t work out. Trivia tidbit : like Janet Jones Carmen Electra was on the cover of PLAYBOY and inside ( in fact numerous times ) and like Leslie Easterbrook she had a wet t - shirt scene in the movie MY BOSS´ DAUGHTER.


And she works it. Must be the skills she acquired stripping all those years.

Back to Janet Jones I guess I would have bought her workout tape and I wouldn´t have regretted it from the short clips I could watch on the internet. Janet really shows her best parts and in some instances there is some nipplage visible through the thin fabric. The tape is available through amazon so there still must be some demand for it. Although I´m not sure who can play it since the only way to get something equipped with a VCR is one of these combined machines that have a DVD player and those are going out of style because everything is Blue Ray now.


And speaking about hot BAYWATCH babes who also were PLAYBOY covergirls / centerfolds and workout tapes : Pamela Anderson hasn´t made a workout tape ( her most famous tape is more kind of a home video ) but she was on an episode of MARRIED WITH CHILDREN with Becky Mullen of which I found some pictures while doing the research.

 

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 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 very special massage - one of the best scenes of the movie. There is one decent guy 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 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.

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 and appearing in a few Andy Sidaris movies 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 ( 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.


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. One of THE coolest guys in the german comic scene. He also works in tv and movies and he wrote the original script for Sönke Wortmann´s THE MIRACLE OF BERN, and I don´t know if it´s a coincidence but from all people involved in the movie the only guy who never was in any interviews was the guy who wrote the initial script and who is involved with comics. Makes you think.


Another thing I wanted to mention since I have already opened the subject of the DIRTY HARRY movies is that during my research I found out that the translation on the german movie poster for the first movie wasn´t spot on. " Detective Harry Callahan. He doesn´t break murder cases. He smashes them. " was changed into " They called him Dirty Harry because Detective Harry Callahan handled the dirtiest assignments - and he handled them alone. " probably due to the fact that in the german language you say that somebody solves a case, not breaks a case. Which throws the whole breaking / smashing comparison right out of the window.

So the german text is a good solution although it kind of spoilers one of the big things of the movie, namely why the lead character is called Dirty Harry.



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 :

an overview of the police academy series ( by Whitney Seiboldt )

cartoons that never should have been - police academy

leslie easterbrooks on the afflicted, rob zombie and police academy

leslie easterbrook wiki / leslie easterbrook imdb / janet jones imdb

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

schwarzer turm homepage / john kenneth muirs review of dirty harry

dirty harry review on actionmoviefreak / dirty harry novels on bear alley

Well, the post was a bit all over the place but the next one will be more straightlined and about comics. Or not. Who knows with this blog. And I also hope nobody´s head exploded from erotic sensory overload by all the pictures of hot babes in this post like Carmen Electra.


Now there are a lot of videos I could put at the end of the post but since I featured DINNER FOR ONE in my last post I´m going to post another version of it, this one called EURO FOR NOONE featuring Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy about the monthly EU summit. Same procedure as last month. I even found a version with english subtitles.





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

Here, hold my Annihilus, there´s something I need to do.

Happy New Year ! and some S.T.R.A.F.E.

Finally 2012 has come and I want to wish all my readers a Happy New Year. I hope you survived the holidays in good condition and for those who do not have to work the next days ( I have to - bummer ) relaxing holidays.


I spent the last few days on which I didn´t work watching season 4 of DR. WHO since I had started while waiting for this year´s Christmas special. Now I could have watched it already BUT I wanted to see how the 4th season ends and I must say, BEST SERIES EVER. They really put out all the stops on this one so if you still don´t watch DR. WHO - shame on you.

I´m going to watch the special in a few minutes ( more like an hour knowing how long it takes to even do these short posts ) but I wanted to put a shoutout to my readers on the blog first. There haven´t been many posts last month but I hope to do more this month.

Of course I want to thank my longtime readers for sticking with me ( as TALES FROM THE KRYPTONIAN is now going for 7 years ) but I also want to greet all the newbies who just found the blog this year or Today. You´re all welcome and if you like what you read spread the word. Speaking of new and blog I want to give a warm " Welcome back ! " to fellow blogger Kitty Pryde whose blog I´D LOVE TO STAY HERE AND BE NORMAL has finally returned from a long hiatus. I haven´t read all new entries yet but that´s because the font size borders on the microscopic. So kudos, and keep blogging.

Since everybody and their dog is doing a best of 2011 list and last year I only posted other lists ( which I may be doing in one of the next posts ) I wanted to do my own version. I have always been a fan of COMIC SHOP NEWS Red K Awards and so I´m giving out my own version of an award. Being broke there is of course no money involved but the honor of being nominated is everything that counts - right ?


First I wanted to call them Outstanding Honored Recipiants For Excellence In Graphic Entertainment or short OHRFEIGE, but that was just too long. So instead I´ll go with Subzero´s Totally Random Awards For Excellence or short STRAFE. Okay, maybe that´s not so lucky but until I can come up with a better name that´s it.

BEST FOREIGN EDITION OF A GEORGE PEREZ COMIC

This STRAFE goes to the spanish edition of Marv Wolfman and George Perez Teen Titans CLASSICOS DC - NUEVOS TITANES. Not only are these some of the best comics ever written but the 500 page hardcovers are just beautiful to read and re - read, which you will do. Trust me.


True, I can´t say how they compare to DC´s newly released OMNIBUS but at 35 EUROS they only cost half as much and are at least affordable for the regular comic reader. Planeta has now lost the rights to DC but they went out in style and gave comic readers ( at least the ones fluent in spanish ) a big present.

BEST GEORGE PEREZ COMIC NOT F - ED UP BY THE NEW 52

Again we enter titans territory. Longtime fans of George Perez or the Titans have of course heard of the unfinished GAMES graphic novel. Long since has the story become one of many urban comic legends until it miraculously resurfaced as an actual comic project that is once again coming out. I have mentioned it a few times and I bought it as soon as it came out. But I didn´t read it right away. There are some comics, special ones, where I like to wait for a quiet moment and the right alignment of the stars to read it so I can give it my full attention.

The way last year had been going there was always something else to keep me occupied but this week I finally read it. Because if I was going to read one last comic in 2011 it had to be NEW TEEN TITANS - GAMES.


And let me tell you, it holds up to all the expectations you may have and more. I´m feeling a bit uncomfortable with these expressions but if the word " nerdgasm " has ever had any raison d'être ( pardon my french ) it´s to describe this comic. In one of the ads the graphic novel is called a swan song for the Teen Titans and I couldn´t phrase it better. George Perez´art is the best it´s ever been and reading Marv Wolfman´s words is like it´s only been a few weeks and not twentysomething years since he last wrote a Titans book. It´s seems that sometimes you CAN go home again.

The only negative thing I can say about it - but which I already predicted before reading it - is that it makes you painfully aware how low the TEEN TITANS have sunk since then. Which brings us to :

BEST TEEN TITANS COMIC NOT F - ED UP BY THE NEW 52

I´d like to say that the pre - new 52 TEEN TITANS comic was really that good, but to tell you the truth the last 6 issues of that run are still lying in my box at the comicshop and that alone should tell you everything there is to know. Too many changes in the writing departement, too many changes in the art departement and really, after Eddy Barrows left there hasn´t been anybody nearly as good on the book.

Adding to that the fiasko of the new incarnation of the book it should be no surprise that the best Teen Titans related comic right now is TINY TITANS by Art Baltazar and Franco. Aw yeah, Titans !


Every issue is funny, witty and can even be enjoyed by new readers who don´t understand all the in - jokes. This is something you can read with your kids and I especially like the " theme " issues like the " all redhead " issue or the " all Batgirls " issue. Highest recommendation.

BEST COMIC THAT CAN´T BE F - ED BY BAD TRANSLATIONS

I know it was technically published in 2010 and was on most Best Of lists in 2011 but since I only read it last year ( and I still haven´t gotten around to get CONGRESS OF THE ANIMALS ) Jim Woodring´s fantastic comic parable WEATHERCRAFT wins this category.


Back when I started reading american comics I probably never would have thought that one of the best comics I would read in the future would have no superheroes, be in black and white and have no words. But that´s the beauty of Jim Woodring´s FRANK series. He has his own way of telling ..... well, what exactly ? It´s not really a story as there is no narrator and the reader takes more the role of a spectator who is just a witness to certain happenings and has to come to his conclusions of his own.


If the events are real or taking place on a higher plane of existence - who knows ? If there is any logic to the comics it more closely resembles dream logic and so it is rather difficult to categorize the comics.


The only thing that is for sure is the feeling of spiritual enrichment you have after reading them. Comics for the mind, body and soul, beautifully drawn, printed in lush hardcovers by Fantagraphics all this without words. I guess that´s why everybody loves Jim Woodring´s comics.

click here for the weathercraft review on comics alliance

BEST WATCHMEN - LIKE COMIC THAT IS NOT WATCHMEN

Ever since Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons gamechanging WATCHMEN comic came out everybody has been waiting for the " next Watchmen " and there have also been a few who have been given that title. So far there have been none who really have come close - at least in my opinion - and I´m not sure if that´s even possible. WATCHMEN has had such a profound impact not only because of the great story, the great art, the big scope which it takes, the complexity and layers upon layers of story and meaning but also because of the time it came out. And because it was groundbreaking and a gamechanger. And that´s where the dilemma is. Once you have broken new ground you can´t un - break it again and then break it for a second time. What´s done is done. So most attempts to recreate such an experience are doomed to failure from the start.

Which is the reason why THE BULLETPROOF COFFIN by David Hine and Shaky Kane came totally out of left field for me. I hadn´t read any announcements, the covers I had seen didn´t really inspire me to run out and buy the comic and apart from an enthustiastic write - up on fellow blog COMICBITS ONLINE I never heard of it.


Now since I trust Terry Hooper´s taste in comics and because it was described as " a must read for fans of comics, superheroes, rayguns, dinosaurs, or pop culture or any combination of it " I ordered the trade and was totally overwhelmed by it. The comic is not like WATCHMEN in the sense that it is not a deconstruction of superheroes but it does manage to show you what really is possible in a comicbook. Comics like these only come around every decade.

I don´t want to spoiler anything but you will start to question things about comic convictions you believe to be true, you will change your thinking about real life and reality as this comic crosses over to the real world and even involves timetravel. No joke. The story is brilliant and even the art that didn´t impress me at first is totally point on. I don´t know if any other artist could have pulled it off. As the sequel begins this year it´s not too late to get this comic and remember rule number one : The Doctor lies.

BEST INFINITELY ONGOING COMIC BY THE SAME CREATOR

This is a no - brainer as Stan Sakai´s USAGI YOJIMBO has now entered it´s 25th year of publication. The black and white samurai saga is still going on strong with stories going from ghost stories to murder mysteries to moral plays to funny comedy as well as everything inbetween.


With a brush stroke that looks really simple while being anything but, Stan Sakai does epic as well as small world stuff depicting everyday medivial Japan and the human spectrum of emotions in funny animal characters that will make you laugh, shout and cry. This is better than any history book and far more entertaining. It´s a series everybody should be reading and it´s going to be on my pull list as long as it lasts.

BEST INFINITELY ONGOING COMIC BY THE SAME CREATOR WHO KILLS THE LEAD CHARACTER ON A REGULAR BASIS

Savage Dragon is dead. This is a sentence you can read in a lot of issues of SAVAGE DRAGON written, penciled and inked by creator Erik Larsen.

And not because they like to remind readers of it but because it happens again and again and again. I don´t know if Dragon is just an especially tenacious character but he just won´t stay dead. He really gets more mileage out of his recuperation powers than Wolverine but Erik Larsen still manages to make you think that THIS one is the final nail in the coffin. This time he even went so far that Dragon´s son Malcolm took over the book with stepsister / secret crush Angel. There were many readers who were sceptical about this risky step all but ready to leave the title at the first signs of weakness. But within a few issues Erik won them over and the book is better than ever.


Nobody is sure if Dragon is ever coming back, if it´s really Dragon who´s coming back or if they even want him to come back. What nobody questions is that this comic that takes place in real time ( yes, really ) has kicked into overdrive with the EMPEROR DRAGON storyline and is only gaining momentum.

BEST CONSECUTIVE SERIES OF COMICS BY THE SAME CREATOR

I know this sounds a bit complicated but now that STRANGERS IN PARADISE and the equally brilliant but shorter ECHO has ended that´s my way of honoring Terry Moore.


When the end of SIP was announced I was sad because I thought it would leave a whole - not only in my pull list but my life. I hadn´t come aboard with day 1 but rather after the third trade had been out and only after a recommendation by WIZARD magazine. One of the things I will be always indebted for to them.

And it was a rough transition. But then Terry moore started ECHO and showed that he can also do drama ( and brilliant sci fi ) in a METAL BIKINI book of all series. Now he has also finished this story and the new RACHEL RISING continues on this path of comic book greatness adding horror to the genres where Terry Moore leaves his distinctive mark.

BEST AMERICAN COMIC ANTHOLOGY WITH DIFFERENT CREATORS

I have mentioned it once or twice, one of the best series of last year - at least in my opinion - has been the new DARK HORSE PRESENTS. With a WHO´S WHO list of creators like Mike Mignola, Neal Adams, Paul Chadwick, Dave Gibbons, Richard Corben, Evan Dorkin, Fabio Moon, Steve Niles, Howard Chaykin, Geof Darrow, Eric Powell, Frank Miller, Steranko and Harlan Ellison it´s totally worth the 8 bucks for 80 pages. Except issue 3.


That was 104 pages for the same price. But really.

Anybody who can pluck down 4 bucks for a 22 page comic from the big two but has problems paying twice as much for what is almost four times the page count can´t calculate. So far every issue has delivered and what is more I have made the experience that my favorite comics are not always the ones by creators I already know but rather comics like Carla Speed McNeil´s FINDER or Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse´s RESIDENT ALIEN.

BEST GERMAN COMIC ANTHOLOGY WITH DIFFERENT CREATORS

Another winner that shouldn´t surprise longtime readers Levin Kurio´s HORROR SCHOCKER series is another one that gets some STRAFE.

Issue 27 has just come out and it´s everything a german comic and horrorfan could want. With every issue Levin manages to keep the high quality level of this homage to old classics like TALES FROM THE CRYPT, HAUNT OF FEAR and the likes while adding a modern touch. Showing that you really can tell a great story in just a few pages he serves up little horror vignettes that always deliver no matter if it starts in everyday life, ancient Rome or the farflung future.


In fact the stories that take place in post apocaliptic futures are always entertaining and full of social commentary about human society. Other fanfavorites are the Stories from the Styx starring Charon, the Ferryman or stories with an historical background and people that really existed like Hermann Cothmann, burgomaster of Lemgo who was called The Witchjudgde.


The list of artists is not as famous as the one of DARK HORSE PRESENTS but not less talented.





Besides HORROR SCHOCKER Levin Kurio also somehow manages to publish several other comics throughout the year like WEISSBLECH´S WELTBESTE COMICS ( Weissblech´s World´s Best Comics ) with such great titles like SCHAURIGER SCHUND ( Scary Trash )


of which the latest issue includes a new look at old classics like HEIDI courtesy of Dirk Eggers, Stefan Hagenow and Carsten Dörr .


preview pages weissblechs weltbeste comics 20 - schauriger schund

preview pages hammerharte horrorschocker / preview pages issue 27

And with that it´s once again time to wrap up things if I ever want to get some sleep before going to work on Monday. I managed to give out ten awards which is a lot and maybe I can come up with a few more in one of my next posts. For now I want to wish you all the best for 2012, good health ( which is only appreciated once it´s gone ) and great comics.


Today I´m leaving with two videos. The first one is DINNER FOR ONE a sketch that has been a fixture for my generation on Sylvester and really, you can´t start the New Year in Germany without seeing DINNER FOR ONE. So for all who missed it here´s your chance.



The second video is the brilliant last minutes of episode 11 of season 4 of Dr. WHO called TURN LEFT. I just love it how they can turn your whole world upside down with two words. And what´s even more Airwolf is that those two words are not only the message but also tell you who sent it.



New to the blog ? Everything you need to know about TALES FROM THE KRYPTONIAN : top ten posts / more posts of interest

I think I need three clones of myself

It´s been an awful long time since my last post but I have a really good excuse because I was busy, busy, busy with my new job, Christmas presents and - last but not least - my Christmas contest on this very blog.


So let´s do the update first. Thanks to my brilliant idea of announcing it at the german Comicforum and Paniniforum most of the books from GRATIS COMIC TAG 2011 are gone and the rest ( and some of the american comics ) are probably going out this week. Last week I sent out the first wave which set me back a whopping 10 bucks for shipping. Man, next time I really have to see if I can find a sponsor. So I hope all people who received some comics are happy with them and if you want to return the postage ( as somebody already did ) you have my address now.

Boy, the lengths I go to for giving away free comics. I even went into Ludwigsburg one more time after spending most of last Wednesday showing my brother the new location of the SAMMLERECKE in Esslingen. It really would have been cheaper to send the comics by mail but since I already had agreed to a meeting in person ( I thought I would go to the comicshop much later and spend more time there ) there was no way out.

So, I think still in the pot - for anybody still interested in getting free comics - are SPAWN Band 50 from INFINITY ( contains issues 99 and 100 ), MARVEL EXCLUSIV 26 - DAREDEVIL HÖLLENFAHRT, SQUADRON SUPREME Buch 2 - HYPERION vs NIGHTHAWK, PUNISHER - DIE LANGE KALTE NACHT and some issues of COMIX : issue 07 / 2010 ( 2 copies ), 08 / 2010, 04 / 2011 and 05 / 2011.

SPECIAL READERS REQUEST

In the comments of the last post somebody asked me to post some art of mine, since he read in my deviantart profile that I was an artist. Now there have been a few people asking for some art of POWER FREAKS and I DID look for it but the truth is I can´t find it at the moment. The only page I found is this one and I´m not sure if it´s safe to post. It´s the splash page for the first issue, art by my brother with inks by me.


The only piece of art entirely done by myself is this illustration ( that is also on the deviantart page I share with my brother ) which I did a few years ago and even sent to the letters page of LEAVE IT TO CHANCE but since I did that around the time the series went on hiatus ( I´m not sure if it´s been officially canceled ) I never found out if they received it.

It´s one of my earliest coloring jobs and being a big fan of crime stories that take place in sewers ( which I think must have something to do with all the EC comics I read ) I put the two main characters there - Chance Falconer and her red pet dragon. I thought about putting some of the gremlins there but then I opted to go for the simple design. I did it in the style used in the series or better TRIED to do but it turned out as a mix of that and Tintin. I think Today I would do it differently.


WHERE ARE THEY NOW ?

One of the things I hoped for with DC´s NEW 52 initiative was that we would see more art by some of the industry´s veterans who don´t do much comic work now. But instead of new titles by the likes of Kerry Gamill, Bob McLeod or Mike Zeck most of the new artists look like they were frozen in time during the iMAGE explosion.

One of my favorite artists has always been Ron Frenz who really should get more work and who did a brilliant zero issue for SUPERMAN BEYOND with the great Sal Buscema. As you can see by this comission piece he still has it.


For longtime readers of this blog it´s no secret that I´m still a big fan of John Byrne and after long weeks fellow blogger Pedro Angosto has finally worn me down by posting a whole plethora of beautiful John Byrne comissions. You can find more pieces here , here and here or just use the link for MAN OF BRONZE on the blogroll.


And since I already mentioned the blog I was really floored when I read that Jason Pearson apparently had some kind of personal crisis around the 10th of this month . He left what sounded very much like a suicide note on facebook and was incommunicado for a dreadful hour. Thanks to the intervention of some friends he´s better now but it´s kind of a shock when you hear that such a talented artist has a nervous breakdown.


YOU HAVE JUST ENTERED THE WEIRD ZONE

I don´t know if that´s a good sign or not but it has been a while since I did my news roundup posts where I include all the funny and interesting and strange stuff you can find on the interwebs. And the first thing I MUST post is this picture that expresses all our feelings about the TWILIGHT saga.


Next comes this aircraft identification chart courtesy of COMICBITS ONLINE ( also to be found on the blogroll ) which really explains a lot.


And I think I found this on facebook or Allyson Mack´s blog. Words to live by.


So Christmas is coming around and there´s still some shopping to be done and you never know what to get.

For all my readers in Germany my tip is go over to amazon.de and get some hardcovers because you can get them sent till Christmas if you order now. My tips would be - as I said before WEDNESDAY COMICS, DARK AVENGERS ( the complete collection ), WEATHERCRAFT, BULLETPROOF COTTIN, iZOMBIE, LOVE AND CAPES, ULTIMATE X - ORIGINS and THE NEW TEEN TITANS - GAMES by George Perez or the long overdue AVENGERS - ASSAULT ON OLYMPUS by comic legend John Buscema.

But I´m sure you´ll find something interesting. I´m wrapping this post finally up as this day has gone different than I thought. Instead of spending my time with watching female wrestling and getting some rest before having to work Tomorrow I have worked on this post for most of the afternoon.

And naturally we can´t end this post without mentioning Today´s celebrity birthdays. First up is Jenny Agutter who turns 59 and who played in such cult classics like LOGAN´S RUN and AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON. I did an exhausting post on Pop culture icons - Logan´s Run that you should really check out because not only does it have all kinds of stuff about the movie but also the tv series and the comic adaptions.


The other one is Joyce Hyser who celebrates her 54th anniversary 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 friend told her : " Honey, with THOSE BREASTS if you go topless in that scene, no one you meet will EVER look into your EYES again. " Thankfully she 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 .

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

And speaking of breasts - naked or otherwise - the Batgirl costume below is a re - design I could live with. I don´t think that next to prostitute Catwoman and stripper Starfire bikini Batgirl would stand out.

edit : the Batgirl bikini picture above and the one with She Hulk as a singer are courtesy of co4 on DeviantArt. Originally I didn´t put up a link to his gallery because there is some art that is not safe for work ( topless She Hulk and such ) but after posting a picture, a gif and the video of cult siren Joyce Hyser topless I would feel like a hypocrite. So I´m putting the link up but I´m also mentioning the NSFW part for all who don´t want to be exposed to that kind of stuff. I know, too late for that now but it´s different if it´s my decision and on my blog or a link people can follow.

As it´s now waay past 20.00 hours and there´s nothing good on tv I´m going to watch the Doctor Who special VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED. Since the Christmas special won´t air for a few more days I´m watching all the specials I haven´t seen yet like River Song - meaning backwards. I know where The Doctor will end up as I go further and further into his past.

Since I haven´t posted it yet here´s the trailer for this year´s Christmans special THE DOCTOR, THE WIDOW AND THE WARDROBE.



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The 2nd big Christmas Contest

Like I promised here is the official announcement of the second annual Christmas contest and what better day for it than Saint Nicholas Day ? Even if you won´t get something into your boots until Christmas I wanted to post the details.


Like the last time around here is a soundbite to get you in the right mood. Now what is the big Christmas contest ? Mainly an excuse for me to give away free comics. TALES FROM THE KRYPTONIAN will enter it´s 6th year in 2012 ( the gods willing ) and this is my way to give back something to all my loyal readers. Now the situation regarding review copies hasn´t improved much since last year so free comics means mostly that : free comics.

The big blunt of it are comics from this years GRATIS COMIC TAG as I have already promised to give away the issues I have reviewed. Although that didn´t work exactly as planned - I only managed to review a bunch of them - it´s about time to give them away. The end of 2011 is rapidly approaching and I don´t want to accumulate too much stuff for next year. Who knows ? I might even find the time to change the look of the blog back to the old look. Unless you like the new look better. I myself am not so sure. It was nice for Halloween but it´s a tad too depressing for winter and the new year. So unless there´s a massive outcry to keep the new look be prepared to this blog looking like it used to.

Now what is the loot ? As I said, first are the issues from the GRATIS COMIC TAG 2011 ( to which a few copies will be added next week ) namely : DIE SCHLÜMPFE, HOLZHOF COMIX, DIE MÜLLERS, BOULE & BILL, THOR, BLACKTOWN, ZARLA, MONSIEUR JEAN, TALES FROM THE VAULT OF THE GRINGO, DIE MUPPET SHOW, WEISSBLECHS GRATIS GRUSEL GEISTERSTUNDE, DER TOD UND DAS MÄDCHEN, PROFESSOR BELL, UNGEBREMSTER SPASS VOM BSE VERLAG, BONGO COMICS FÜR UMME, MOSAIK, ICOM - COMICS FÜR ALLE, DER GRATIS - COMIC ZUM FESTIVAL MÜNCHEN, DIE PEANUTS, GREEN MANOR, POLLY UND DIE PIRATEN and THE GOON.


And as if that´s not a lot I´m also throwing HELLBOY, STAR WARS - THE CLONE WARS and YTHAQ from the first GRATIS COMIC TAG 2010 into the hat.

Next are the FREE COMIC BOOK DAY comics from this year and since I didn´t get any of the ones I ordered I can only put MICKEY MOUSE from Fantagraphics Books and PEP COMICS featuring Betty & Veronica from Archie Comics on the pile. Additionally there is WOLVERINE ORIGIN OF AN X - MAN, MERCY SPARX - UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT, WILLIAM SHATNER PRESENTS and the IMAGE COMICS SUMMER SPECIAL from previous FREE COMIC BOOK DAYs. More free comics : 2 copies of DC COMICS THE NEW 52 ( for all who are interested ), X - MEN CURSE OF THE MUTANTS SAGA, INVINCIBLE IRON MAN 1 and INVINCIBLE issue 0.

Of course there are not only free comics on the menu, also to be given away for free are THE SAVAGE DRAGON issue 0 ( containing the origin story of Savage Dragon ), X- MEN and SPIDER - MAN 1, DELETE 3, the HUNDRED PENNY PRESS issues of ANGEL AFTER THE FALL and KILL SHAKESPEARE, issue 1 of WEDNESDAY COMICS, X - MEN SONDERHEFT GENERATION M ( contains the full miniseries ), DC COMICS presents SUPERMAN 1 ( containig superman man of steel 121 and SUPERMAN 179, 180 and 185 ), SPAWN band 50 from INFINITY ( contains issues 99 and 100 ), MARVEL EXCLUSIV 26 - DAREDEVIL HÖLLENFAHRT, SQUADRON SUPREME Buch 2 - HYPERION vs NIGHTHAWK, PUNISHER - DIE LANGE KALTE NACHT and VAMPIRE BOY 1 - DIE AUFERSTEHUNG form CrossCult. And last but not least some issues of COMIX : issue 07 / 2010 ( 2 copies ), 08 / 2010, 04 / 2011 and 05 / 2011.


I will probably also throw in some posters, postcards or other goodies but that´s it. Now you will probably ask yourself ( or the next person if have company and think he may know the answer ) what you hav to do to get a piece of the action. Well, almost nothing.

Last year I made it a kind of a contest because I thought it might be more exciting but apparently that was not the case. Or maybe some people thought because I wrote they have to send an e - mail with the quotes and the corresponding comics they had to send in actual comics to win. In hindsight I might have phrased it better. So this time around you don´t have to send me 5 of the comic quotes I leave at the end of the posts and from which comic, movie or tv series they are. You can if you want to but you don´t have to. All I need is an e - mail with your address ( e - mail address to be found on the " About me " section or just post a comment ) and if there are some preferences regarding the comics. I can´t guarantee that you will get ALL the comics you want but if it´s possible we can do the " I´d rather have the PUNISHER trade than the SQUADRON SUPREME one. "

Seeing as most of the comics are in german and keeping in mind that I have to pay out of my own pocket for the sending contestants from Germany are more likely to win but the contest is also open to non - german residents. Heck, I want to hear from TALES FROM THE KRYPTONIAN fans from all over the world.


There will not be a strict deadline but it would be nice if your e - mail ( with the words " christmas contest " in the about line ) could arrive around December 24th as the latest since I will probably start sending packages before that.

Simultanously I will also open a thread on the german Comicforum and PANINI Comics Forum to give away the issues of GRATIS COMIC TAG 2011. So good luck entering and I hope I can add a few more comics to the list until I have to send them. And maybe I can even review some of them.


From time to time I like to post some funny videos at the end of the post that don´t have to do anything with the topic and Today is no exception. One of the funniest things I have seen lately : the Chuck Norris commercial for World of Warcraft.



New to the blog ? Everything you need to know about TALES FROM THE KRYPTONIAN : top ten posts / more posts of interest