From daring devils to fantastic foursomes

I know, usually I do these mash up posts where I throw in everything but the kitchen sink on the weekend but I was busy de - cluttering my laptop. And sleeping. Sleeping is so important. So here are a few things I wanted to add to my last posts and I´m starting with the man without fear.

Going through the DAREDEVIL issues for the research on my last post I came across some covers by really high profile guest artists during the Mazuchelli period. John Byrne did the covers for issues 200, 201 and 203

Mike Zeck provides the cover art for DAREDEVIL issue 210 

Barry Windor Smith´s cover for issue 217 features a pin up of Daredevil and the Black Widow as well as a new logo that really doesn´t work for me

and issue 224 has even a cover by longtime Iron Man co - writer and inker Bob Layton, probably because it features the Iron Man villain Sunturion.

So on my next visit to the Sammlerecke comic shop in Esslingen I will see if I can find some of these issues either in the used comics section or down in the catacombs, maybe they have some worthwhile content.

BETTER THE ( DARE ) DEVIL YOU DON`T KNOW

And speaking about worthwhile content some readers might think I was a bit too harsh on the DAREDEVIL issues 346 to 362 but when I put issue 363 in the bag with the other issues I pulled them all out again and for some perverse reason actually gave them another read through and man, I was being nice when I called those issues bad. When you talk about bad 90s - over - the - top - grim - and - gritty comics this is one of the shining examples of that period. I know that I said not all comics during the 90s were bad but boy, when they were bad they really went the whole nine yards. These issues are abysmal. It gets a bit better once Gary Nord comes aboard but still - they don´t know what to do with the character.

Which is one of the reasons I´m enjoying the current DAREDEVIL run by Mark Waid ( and therefore soon ending DAREDEVIL run since Disney obviously hates me ) . He GETS Daredevil. It´s as simple as that.

In my last post I mentioned that out of a crazy impulse I ordered a dozen ESSENTIALS from amazon ( I blame my notorious lack of sleep and an ice cream intoxication for that ) and one of them is ESSENTIAL AVENGERS 5 which contains the issues from the AVENGER / DEFENDERS CLASH classic.

Yes, back then the story was called the AVENGERS / DEFENDERS CLASH but later when comic book wars became so popular everything SECRET, from KREE / SKRULL to INFINITY was called a war it became known as the AVENGERS / DEFENDERS WAR. Anyway, since I also own the hardcover with said story I leafed through that after reading it in the ESSENTIAL format. And I have to say as awesome as it is to be able to see the artwork in black and white it DOES look better - and read better - in color.

Especially on team books with many colorfully garbed characters the color really helps not getting lost. So while I really like the ESSENTIALS and hope to one day own the complete set there are some stories where springing for the extra dollar that the hardcover edition costs is worth it.

Anyway, one thing the hardcover has and the ESSENTIAL doesn´t is an introduction. I have mentioned a few times that one of the reasons why I buy the BIBLIOTECA MARVEL pocket books is that they have introductions and other articles about the issues in it, the creative team, the comic industry at the moment and so on explaining very well what´s so special about the issues you are going to read. The ESSENTIALS have none of that but maybe that´s the price we have to pay to keep these phone books under 20 dollars. In any case, the introduction in the hardcover by Steve Englehart - which he probably wrote for the 2007 trade paperback reprinting the story - stresses that back when it originally came out in 1973 Marvel GOT it. I don´t think that there was a particular reason in 2007 to think there was more behind mentioning that fact so often - maybe something that had to do with the comic industry at that time or the things going on behind the scenes at Marvel - but when you read the introduction now it really makes you hang down your head in shame. 

Because right now Disney definitely doesn´t get it and - coming back to the Daredevil issues I discussed in my last post Marvel didn´t get it then.

Or else they wouldn´t have tried to sell DAREDEVIL as part of the MARVEL EDGE line because that meant a heavier price tag. Normal comics cost 1.50 dollars around that time ( which right now makes you want to dive into the back issue bins because compared to Today´s comics it is dirt cheap ) and the MARVEL EDGE books went for 1.95. They also had better paper quality than the regular books but what good is it if the story and art are not up to par ? And as much as I love Shawn McManus and one day hope to be able to read his entire DOCTOR FATE run from the 80s he´s not a good fit for a superhero comic. The proportions seem out of whack, Daredevil looks like a deformed muscle freak on steroids and it´s just not the right environment. Back to the increased price tag I don´t think it really helps with a book that´s floundering and I guess that´s one of the reasons they went back to the cheaper paper and the 1.50 dollar price.

One last thing about Daredevil : I really enjoyed issue 354 which featured a team up between Matt Murdock and the Spider - Man of that period ( which explains the ugly Spider - Man logo on the cover ). Especially funny is the part where Matt Murdock and Ben Reilly compare notes, since one of them just faked his death and came back to life while the other found out he´s the real Spider - Man while his clone has been fighting crime for the last decades. The interaction between those two - who really have one of the longest buddy buddy relationships in the Marvel universe at least until now - is likewise entertaining. If you find these constant retcons and redos as unnecessary as me you will probably get a kick out of this issue.

By the way, I wasn´t kidding when I offered the german FALL FROM GRACE trade HÖLLENFAHRT as a No Prize. For postage reasons this is only for my german readers but if you think you need this in your collection just send me an e - mail with your direction .... and of course that you want that trade otherwise I have no idea what you want.

FANTASTISCH, FANTASTIC AND THINGS NOT SO FANTASTIC

In another post I put up some of the strange Fantastic Four covers from Mejico and Spain especially some that were pasted together from various panels. Well, here in Germany the Williams Verlag did the same whenever they could not fit an entire issue of FANTASTIC FOUR into an issue of DIE FANTASTISCHEN VIER. I already posted the cover to DIE FANTASTISCHEN VIER 112 in my first post about the Overmind Saga but here are a few more. As with DIE SPINNE, they did one cover for the german issue 1

as well as issue number 4 ( with Daredevil fighting Electro as a back up )

and issue number 15 against Doktor Unheil, like Doctor Doom was called.

When I started reading comics naturally I read most of them in the german translation and while I find some of the german names better than the american originals - especially with the Legion of Super - Heroes - names like GRÜNE LATERNE or DER ROTE BLITZ are exceptions. There are some horrible translations like Doktor Seltsam for Doctor Strange.

I´m not sure if this was around the time the Stanley Kubrik movie Doctor Strangelove was in german cinemas because that was also translated as Doktor Seltsam. In any case the editorial staff of Williams, the MMT ( Mächtige Marvel Team or Mighty Marvel Team ) was not happy with some character´s german names so they decided to go with the original names.

Which brings us full circle because there will be more Fantastic Four posts in the future based on my new Fantastic Four MARVEL MASTERWORKS.

I already mentioned that I mainly bought one of the hardcovers because it contains FANTASTIC FOUR issue 51, THIS MAN .... THIS MONSTER ! but what I didn´t mention is that after I read it I wasn´t sure if I should put it in the Fantastic Four section or in the Avengers section of my new comic book shelf. You see, back in those halycon days the Marvel universe was really interwoven between all the different series and when people say that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby laid out the entire foundation of the Marvel universe in FANTASTIC FOUR they are right. You see, not only is the origin story of .... but that would be telling. Let´s just say that the subtitle for that volume of the MARVEL MASTERWORKS could as easily have been SECRET ORIGINS OF THE AVENGERS and leave the rest to another post.

Another reason to re - visit the Fantastic Four comics I read as a kid is that I just recently bought the newest edition of Hachette´s Official Marvel Collection which are issues 44 to 51 and FF annual number 3.

The book is titled GALACTUS and for some reason they have managed to miscolour the big kahuna Galactus in almost every panel. And it´s not like he´s an unknown character and nobody knows what Galactus´ colours are supposed to be. Also the quality of annual 3 is really bad. They probably didn´t have a good source material for this but apart from this snafu any issues from the first 100 Fantastic Four issues or so are worth collecting.

To close up things for Today here are some Deja Vue covers from the iconic Fantastic Four issue number 49, IF THIS BE DOOMSDAY ! which include WHAT IF ? 41 ( What if ... the Avengers had fought Galactus ? )

the painted spansih cover for the issue from Ediciones Vertice

  

the cover for the spanish BIBLIOTECA MARVEL edition from FORUM

and Arthur Suydam´s version for the neverending MARVEL ZOMBIES book.

I´m sure there must be more out there, like SONIC THE HEDGHOG 104, ROBOLACTUS or this commission by OtisFrampton that replaces comics First Family with Star Wars characters but I want to leave it at those four. I also have the german, british and italian covers but since they are pretty much the original covers I´m saving them for another occassion.

THE FANTASTIC AND BYRNED OUT LINK SECTION ( WITH DEATHLOK )

And with that we are already kneedeep in the link section : for more of that old Deja Vue feeling go to COMIC BOOK RESOURCES which has 159 homage covers in this post , the COVERED blog has more than 1000 cover homages by the likes of Steve Rude and Arthur Adams ( including FF 49 ) and Dan Greenfield at 13TH DIMENSION has posted the 13 best variant covers for the new DARK KNIGHT III : THE MASTER RACE ..... so far.

DIVERSIONS OF THE GROOVY KIND has too many interesting posts to link them all. Man, I just can´t keep up with old Groove so here is a whole bunch : John Byrne was one of the most prolific artists on Fantastic Four, the Thing´s team up book MARVEL TWO - IN - ONE as well as Spider - Man´s team up book MARVEL TEAM - UP ( as well as everything in - between ) so if you want to read entire issues he was so gracious to post MARVEL TWO - IN - ONE 43 and MARVEL TWO - IN - ONE 53 which are both part of Mark Gruenwald´s brilliant PROJECT PEGASUS SAGA. I did write a post on that classic but I will have to revisit it one of these days.
 

More John Byrne goodness can be found in MARVEL TEAM - UP 53 and 54 , featuring the Hulk and Woodgod, MARVEL TEAM - UP 68 , which features the Man - Thing, GHOST RIDER 20 , a team up with Daredevil, TIGRA 6 and from Charlton Comics EMERGENCY 1 , SPACE : 1999 ( or MONDBASIS ALPHA EINS how it was called in Germany ) issues 3 , 4 , 5 and 6 and last but not least DOOMSDAY + 1 issues 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 and 5 . And speaking about Doom´s Day, Day 198 of COMIC BOOK RESOURCES A Year of Cool Comics series spotlights John Byrne´s Fantastic Four issue 258 which is a great Doctor Doom solo story, kind of those " A Day in the life " stories.

As always much thanks and kudos to all the people working tirelessly to make these posts which in turn help me make my posts. Which brings us to the video section of this post. I mentioned SPACE : 1999 so here´s an episode from MONDBASIS ALPHA 1 - Der böse Zauber ( The Evil Spell ).



We continue with Doctor Who, this one is a rare behind the scenes look at how the 25th anniversary story SILVER NEMESIS was made from script to finish. According to the description this was never released on DVD.



Halloween is coming up at the end of this month and many websites are doing countdown posts. I would like to do something similar but as this is rather a weekly blog than a daily blog I don´t think this would work so well. Instead I will be posting some videos that are appropriate for Halloween in the next posts until Halloween - and probably beyond - because I have just too many of them. Our first one is the Hammer Studios production TWINS OF EVIL from 1971 which has the twins Madelaine and Mary Collinson in the lead role who also happened to be playmates. The movie is interesting in that the witch hunters under the leadership of Peter Cushing and worse than the vampires they hunt.



Here is another german tv series I like to watch ( and which can currently be seen on reruns on german tv ) GRAF YOSTER GIBT SICH DIE EHRE. The series is about the exploits of Count Yoster ( Lukas Amann ), a writer of crime stories and his valet Johann ( played by film icon Wolfgang Völz ).



He has appeared on Doctor Who and his paintings are in the GRAF YOSTER episode so here´s a video about Vincent van Gogh.



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JLA casting : cult siren Sarah Louise Young

This is another solo post from my special SUBZERO edition of casting the JLA movie and as always I have nobody else to blame for this but myself.

I mean I could have just copy pasted the part from my original post, cut the inappropriate parts and leave it at that. But no, I had to include her biography since the younger generations have no idea who she is, then I had to add some pictures because that would have been a very long text block, and then I added some videos - well, the end of the story was that her part of the post became that long that I put it in a post of her own.

So here´s my reminisence about one of the biggest - and also one of my alltime favorites - porn stars on the planet during my teenage years :

Sarah Louise Young as Wonder Woman ( Diana Prince )

I guess I have to explain this candidate to the younger generations.

Sarah Louise Young is one of my all time favorite pornstars and with all the porn movies she made that were adaptions of famous stories like HAMLET, DECAMERON and NIKITA it´s kind of strange that she never did a porn version of Wonder Woman when she looks so much like her.

Sarah Louise Young was born on April 15th 1971 in Sidcup, Kent, England. Her mother was a seamstress and her father a successful structural engineer which may account for Sarah´s very successful structures.

Sarah went to an ordinary school, an A - student with the ambition of becoming a dentist. She was very shy and withdrawn and was scared of cameras that being the main reason why she would never let anyone take pictures of her when she was younger. At the age of 11 she was already mentally way ahead of her classmates and ashamed of her large breasts.

While her friends were interested in pop groups, she was more interested in men and soon she discovered what effect she had on them. At the early age of 13 she had her first sexual experience with a man, and did not find it very exciting. But one year later she had more sex and became to like it ever more. When her breasts became bigger and bigger, she became so ashamed that she wore large sweatshirts to hide them - especially from the male students who tried fondling her incredible breasts during recess.

In January 1986 she met a man at a bus stop who suggested going to a photo studio to take some trial pictures for the famous page 3 of the Sun. She was surprised because she found herself very unattractive. But Sarah thought that although this would never work, as the camera would only enhance her ugliness, it would be the ideal opportunity to overcome her dislike of cameras. After a talk with her mother to obtain her permission, the photo shoot took place in February 1986. The response to these pics was enormous and from there on her work took off and she was invited to join an agency. She admits that she is very shy, but when she's in front of a camera that disappears and she becomes a completely different person.

Reaching the age of 18 Sarah faced the next challenge. A friend phoned her and told her about a photo shoot taking place for PRIVATE magazine in the Costa de Sol. Sarah was in two minds whether to go because on the one hand the reports in England were all very negative about the porn industry, but on the other the friend was one of the best men's magazine models at the time and she could only tell of how well she was treated.

Sarah is very inquisitive by nature and could not resist to go and she soon came to the conclusion that all of the negative reports and comments about porn had no truth in them at all. She decided to pose for more photos with famous photographer Claus Alvin Vogel from Hamburg. Even at this stage, nobody in narrowminded England thought Sarah Louise Young would become the most accepted export in the erotic business.

In March 1989 her agent visited hardcore tycoon Hans Moser alias Sascha Alexander in Hanover at VTO. Hans had been married to Teresa Orlowski since 1982, whom he had made more famously known as ' Foxy Lady '.

Sarah's agent came to Hans Moser to make some bookings for his models. When he showed Hans the pictures of his girls he replied that there was nothing of his interest except this girl he said, " What's her name ? "

" Sarah Louise Young. " Hans took another look at the picture and he booked the girl for the next VTO production. Hans had immediately spotted the possibilities of this girl just as he had done in 1981 when he had plucked the photo's of Teresa Orlowski from another agent. For four years he had been looking for another ' Foxy Lady ', and had seen hundreds of pictures of girls until he discovered Sarah Louise Young.

However a few days later the production assistant Claudia informed Hans Moser that the appointment with Sarah had been cancelled due to illness.

Hans was very disappointed, finally he had discovered the new ' Foxy Lady ' and the appointment was called off. By this time Hans´ relationship with Teresa was going down hill rapidly and at the end of August 1989 Teresa took both his business and money from him. For 3 weeks Hans wanted to destroy everything around him, however luckily his brother Siegfried was there to stop him. But then Hans recalled Sarah and phoned her agent in London telling him that Sarah had to come to Germany so as he could make her into Europe's latest porn star. However Sarah's agent declined, as he wrongly believed that Sarah would not want to leave England.

Hans was devastated. However all was not lost. Two weeks later Sarah's agent called Hans in Hanover and told him that he had met Sarah at a photo shoot, "Imagine, I told Sarah about you and how I refused your offer and do you know what she said?" "Are you crazy, of course I'll go."

At the time Sarah had never even heard of Hans Moser, but Bill was quick to tell her of his reputation and showed her a couple of Hans' magazine's. Sarah was very impressed with the style and quality, but at the time she was becoming very tired of modeling, as she felt she was becoming brain dead for lack of its use and she needed more of a challenge. Her agent was reluctant to let Sarah go because she had just turned 18, meaning there would be a lot of new markets open to her with age restrictions such as America, France and Asia. So Sarah asked that if she took the job would she have the opportunity to work behind the cameras as well and Hans' reply was " Of course I'll expect you to ! " And so in September 1989 Sarah flew to Germany and met Hans Moser, one of the most influential Porn producers in Europe, who at the time was at his lowest ebb going through the most difficult, bitter and trying divorce with Teresa Orlowski.

However Hans was quick to notice that Sarah no longer looked exactly the same as she had lost a lot of weight after her illness, which had resulted in a fair reduction of her breasts. So Sarah was quickly rushed to surgery for a cosmetic correction to enhance her breasts to their natural size and beauty. The result was overwhelming. Her wonderful figure, the magical glow in here eyes and her natural charms were able to melt every man's heart and to burn every fuse just by seeing her. A star was born.

After recognizing Sarah's talents Hans decided once again to make her a star in both the business and in his life and on January the 13th 1991 Las Vegas was once again the venue where Hans Moser celebrated his third marriage. The world of pornographic productions were laying at her feet.

She co - stared with the best known actors of the scene, won many important prizes for her outstanding performances and was highly honored with a cultural prize in Spain, for her last big film ' Hamlet '.

Meanwhile her beauty can be seen on over 150 video covers.

 
Executive producer, writer, director, yes, Sarah achieved everything in the business, but as time passed by she felt more attached to the comfort of her home and her dreams of a family. She wore comfortable clothes, read many books, many of them cooking books and indulged her guests with her cooking talent. Exactly these qualities allowed Sarah to be so creative and always discover new things. As very creative in graphics, she used her fantasy symbolically and proved to be commercially competent.

But the business was changing. Price wars began to make big budget productions practically impossible and the market became flooded with low budget and private productions. And the opening of the eastern block made the whole situation even worse. Actresses / actors from the east swamped the market for lower fees and the situation became intolerable for Sarah who being far too sensitive for the business could not stand to work with people who hated the work but only done it for the money and who had absolutely no respect or compassion for either themselves, each other or the business. This all lead Sarah to decide it was time to quit performing in front of the camera and so she began working on a new future, without her husband Hans Moser, from who she is now divorced.

Yep, she was a big star over here in Germany when I was old enough to rent porn videos. That shows you what an old geezer ( and old pervert ) I am. Also, she was the first one who made porn videos for a price that horny teenagers like me could afford. I mean, new tapes. Because back in those days you could buy used porn videos at the video store but those were watched hundreds of times and only seconds away from combustion.

Even if Sarah is from England she got the greek look down to pat with the curly hair and even the nose. I know because when I was in middle school there was a greek girl I liked in our class who had a well developed body for her age. And we had a very busty form mistress I had the hots for.

Aaaah, the things I would have done to that busty form mistress back when I was in my sexual prime and could sustain an erection for hours !

Back to Sarah Louise Young there were rumors she planned on becoming a lawyer but nothing that was confirmed. She made a lot of her movies in Spain because they were so hot she had to shoot them outside of England.

As far as her movies go the list would be too long to include here and you can find it on the internet but THE YOUNG ONE is the best of the best.

And with that we´re going seamlessly into the video section of this post starting with an interview with Sarah Young at Cannes, I think she was there for the HOT D´OR awards show which is the french version of the AVN awards. The best scene is when she is dancing in a disco with a white latex dress shaking everything her Mama gave her ( around 1 : 30 min ).



Latin telenovelas not only have the best titles ( HASTA QUE EL DINERO NOS SEPARE could be translated to " Until money do us part " ) they also have the most buxom wenches like hot Malillany Marin in the clip below.



But not all latin sexbombs star in telenovelas. This tv hot presenter´s show for example was almost cancelled because of her porn outfit.



I was hesitant to post this one but if you can´t post a video about women eating bananas in public in a porn star post when CAN you post it ? The lure with the black hair that is shown in the preview picture has clearly the better technique and I can understand the guy who tries to convince her to let him substitute for the banana. What I want to know is if she had the balls to take on his indecent proposal or if she chickened out.



Since I cast Sarah Louise Young as Wonder Woman I thought the last video should be with Wonder Woman but not from the Lynda Carter tv series.

Don´t get me wrong, the series is fantastic and Lynda Carter´s portrayal of Wonder Woman became so iconic that DC hasn´t managed to follow up on that until the present day. There never was a tv series after that one.

But I have put one cartoon video on every Justice League casting post so far and I want to continue with that as long as I can. There also are no full episodes of the Wonder Woman tv series on YouTube and not that many clips with scenes from the show that are in good quality. I was looking for animated series but most clips were from shows like SUPER FRIENDS or THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD as there seems to have been no solo cartoon about Wonder Woman. I was just about to despair when I found the video below which is from an audio play with illustrations from the comics.



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Daredevil hijacks Black and White Saturday

Like always I totally blanked on the fact that Today is the Day of German Unity so all the shops are closed and my plans of buying some ice cream are nixed. Last year I reviewed a german comic in homage to this special holiday but because I have nothing prepared about german comics I won´t be doing that. I still wanted to do something special and since it has been a while since I did a BLACK AND WHITE post here are some special gems.

I have written a lot about Ann Nocenti´s and John Romita Jr´s DAREDEVIL run but the Frank Miller run on the title is still considered by many comic readers, critics and afficionados as the gold standard and if you see the beautiful splash page from DAREDEVIL issue 182 it´s easy to see why.

Only in black and white can you see the brilliant ink work by Klaus Janson, who I don´t like on all books he did but who is pure magic here. He and Frank Miller just clicked and it is in great part thanks to the work of Klaus Janson that the comic was such a success. As somebody who has dabbled in art and inking myself I know that you can learn more from a page of original art than from hours of lecture and even if I don´t have the money to buy expensive originals I try to get as many Marvel ESSENTIALS as I can get. I know it´s not as good as an ARTIST`S EDITION or the recently released ARTIFACT EDITION of Frank Miller´s DAREDEVIL by IDW - while we are on the subject of Daredevil art - but it´s better than nothing.

Recently I ordered a dozen ESSENTIALS from amazon´s " new and used books " section, which in the end was not as big as a bargain as I hoped. Getting a 20 dollar book for 10 bucks plus 3 for shipping and handling is a good deal, especially when you get some for 8 or 5 bucks but if you think ordering a bundle of books from the same dealer will lower the collective price for shipping and handling - well, let me just say that you are sadly mistaken my friend. If you order 6 books from the same dealer that´s still 3 bucks for shipping and handling each which means 18 bucks total. Now knowing the prices of the Deutsche Post you know a package would have to weigh more than 2 kilos to get anywhere near that postage but on the other side it´s probably one of the reasons why they sell 20 buck books for 10 or 9 bucks. But I don´t want to complain, I made a good deal.

And while the ESSENTIAL DAREDEVIL were canceled before reaching Frank Miller there is still some great art in them like this cover by Wally Wood.

DAREDEVIL is a great series to read in the ESSENTIAL format because to be honest not all the comics in the ESSENTIALS are the best of the best.

In my last post about the ESSENTIALS and the DC SHOWCASE PRESENTS I clearly favored the ESSENTIALS but I have to state for the record : yes, there is some great art but for every George Perez, John Buscema - or Gene Colan in the case of Daredevil - you have a Bob Brown, George Tuska or Don Heck. Who in their own right are great comic artists and I have already planned to do a post on one of the unsung heroes of my comic collecting youth : Rich Buckler. But you wouldn´t buy a MARVEL MASTERWORKS because of them. Also those artists sometimes don´t have the greatest stories to illustrate which means that while I want to read those issues and have them in my collection I don´t want to spend much money which makes them perfect for the black and white format.

And since we are on the subject of Daredevil and Gene Colan I wanted to mention that I recently acquired DAREDEVIL 363 because of the artwork.

I may have picked it up at the " comics per kilo " section and it´s an issue I was missing in my comic collection because I stopped with issue 362.

As usual I had perfect timing. By the end of Ann Nocenti and John Romita Jr´s run DAREDEVIL was on my pull list and back then if a new creative team came aboard I waited a few issues until making a judgement. So after a fill - in issue by Mark Bagley Lee Weeks became the new penciler with Ann Nocenti staying on board until issue 291 ( Kieron Dwyer did the art on issues 289 and 290 ) handing the reigns over to D. G. Chichester.

Lee Weeks stayed until DAREDEVIL issue 300 ( Ron Garney did the art on issue 296 ) although he provided covers for the consecutive two issues.

I remember that it was a pretty decent run, especially the LAST RITES finale, and I know that I bought all the issues but I can´t for the life of me remember whatever happened to them. Maybe I sold them, maybe they are in some dark corner and only surface when I have gone and bought all those issues again - who knows ? I know where all the following issues are. Which of course are the ugly ones. Because from here on it´s a bumpy road following DAREDEVIL. D. G. Chichester stays as writer and we have two issues by W. C. Wyman ( man, there were a lot of initials in comics in the 90s ), one issue by Ron Garney until Scott McDaniel - under the name Scott Alan McDaniel - takes over as regular artist starting with DAREDEVIL issue 305 ( again, guest art by Kevin Kobasic on issue 316 ). 

And this is where it really get ugly. The two part story in issues 305 and 306 with the brilliant villainess - wait for it - the Surgeon General ( oh, the humanity ! ) may be one of THE worst Daredevil stories ever and after the less than stellar DEATH MAN`S HAND crossover with PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL and NOMAD in issues 307 to 309 I was out for good.

So I can´t say much about what happened between issues 310 and 318 but judging from the cluster - f - word that was FALL FROM GRACE ( issues 319 to 326 ) I would say that missing those issues is one of the reasons why I managed to maintain my sanity. I remember there was a lot of hype about the story at that time and that it was pimped by all kinds of people not the least my comic dealer at that time but I didn´t let them pull the wool over my eyes on that one. Years later I got the german trade of FALL FROM GRACE out of sheer curiosity how bad of a train wreck it really is and let me tell you it is incredible. And for anybody who doesn´t believe me I´m offering the trade as a no prize. I certainly don´t need it here.

Anyway, out of FALL FROM GRACE - where Scott McDaniel did his best Frank Miller SIN CITY impression - came one of the ugliest Daredevil costumes ever which Matt Murdock would wear beyond D. G. Chichester´s and Scott McDaniel´s exit in Daredevil 332 ( Sergio Cariello does the art on issue 328 ). Or so it seems. Gregory Wright takes over as writer for the FATHOMS OF HUMANITY five parter with Tom Grindberg on the art before D. G. Chichester returns with issue 338 credited as Alan Smithee.

Now if you have a bit of movie knowledge - and let´s face it : in Today´s day and age it´s more probable than any comic book knowledge - you may know that Alan Smithee was a secret pseudonym film directors used when they wanted to disown a movie. It´s pretty much common knowledge.

Anyway, if a writer is credited as Alan Smithee you know that there was some kind of trouble and in the case of D. G. Chichester he insisted that he would be credited as such on the last five issues he was contractually obligated to write after he had learned that he was going to be replaced as writer on DAREDEVIL by group editor Bobbie Chase. Yup, even without help from Disney the guys at Marvel knew how to screw with each other.

You learn something new every day and I´m just grateful that Alan Moore doesn´t know about this whole Alan Smithee thing or he would probably demand that DC changes all his credits on new editions of WATCHMEN to Alan Smithee. I mean he is already credited as " The original writer " in all the MIRACLEMAN reprints by Disney. I just wonder how long it will take until he is credited as " The writer formerly known as Alan Moore " ?

But coming back from one of the best limited series in comics ever ( I´m explicitly not calling it a graphic novel because it is not a graphic novel despite how many people call it the greatest graphic novel ever ) like WATCHMEN to the crap fest that was DAREDEVIL from issues 343 on.

Which may be total speculation on my part since I haven´t read those issues. Maybe DAREDEVIL 343 by Warren Ellis and Keith Pollard is a really intricate examination of the human condition. Maybe issue 344 by the new creative team of Bwa - ha - ha Justice League writer J. M. DeMatteis ( more credit initials from the 90s ) and artist Ron Wagner was so totally Airwolf they just had to make DAREDEVIL part of the MARVEL EDGE line.

Remember those ? When Marvel had the brilliant marketing idea to publish all of their " edgy " books under the MARVEL EDGE banner ?

At the least it was one surefire way to avoid all these books. Not that it managed to keep me away from the book longer than issue 346. Which was not good. Like I said maybe the issues before this were better than fried bananas covered in chocolate on a stick. Issue 346 was something else. It was also poked through with a stick but the brown substance covering it all was surely no chocolate. I don´t remember much about the story - it is too painful - but it was a crossdressing, genderbending, amnesiac doubleganger, multiple Daredevil costumes at once stolen identity crisis kind of thing. And not in a good Grant Morrison way.

I mean, I tried to stay with the title because of the artists they brought in like Gary Nord, Shawn McManus or Cully Hammner at the very end of this volume ( of course I got those - grrrrr ) but something was just missing.

They brought back Daredevil´s red costume, they brought back Foggy Nelson, they even brought back Karen Page but even the best efforts of writer Karl Kesel seemed unable to bring the much needed critical and financial success back to DAREDEVIL needed to save it from the chopping block. So DAREDEVIL issue 362 by Karl Kesel and Gary Nord was my last.

Enter Gene Colan.

Yup, sometimes my timing sucks. And when I say " sometimes " I mean almost all the time. So the DAREDEVIL book was closing up shop and for whatever reasons Marvel decided to go out with a big bang and managed recruiting the artists who had made the book into one of their " must read " books decades before Frank Miller put pencil to paper : THE Gene Colan.

Gene Colan does six issues towards the end, issues 363, the Minus 1 issue Marvel did with most books in the summer of 1997, issues 366 to 368 and issue 370. Apart from issue 363 I don´t think I have seen any of the other issues during one of my many visits to the comic shop but on the other side I haven´t really looked for them. And if you really need to check them out they are all part of the new Daredevil Epic Collection WIDOW`S KISS. Here comes my usual complaint about the gutter loss which according to the reviews at amazon a lot of people have problems with as well as with the low quality of the material in this collection.

Remember this is towards the not so great end of the title and besides die hard Daredevil fans most people won´t be fooled by the Gene Colan namedrop. Man, this post got totally sideways from where it started.

Since this already morphed from a " Best of black and white art " into a Daredevil post I wanted to add that while David Mazuchelli´s collaboration with Frank Miller on BORN AGAIN is also part of the Daredevil Olympus nobody ever talks much about all his other issues he did on DAREDEVIL.

Besides issues 227 to 233 he provided art for issues 206, 208 to 217, 220 to 223, 225 and 226. I´m curious if there were any memorable stories.

Even though this was more of an impromptu post there are always some Daredevil links I haven´t posted yet. First is MICHEL FIFFE with a post about his love for the Ann Nocenti / John Romita Jr Daredevil run and RIP JAGGER`S DOJO has many posts on Gene Colan which I probably haven´t posted yet : Gene Colan RIP , Marvel´s Space - Born Artist ! , Out of the Holocaust ..... A Hue ! , The Mask Of Strange ! and Strange Looks ! .

BIG GLEE has a view pieces of original Gene Colan art, BLAH BLAH BLAH has a three part Batman story : Jungle Jeopardy by Doug Moench and Don Newton from BATMAN 365, Laugh Killer Laugh by Doug Moench and Gene Colan from DETECTIVE COMICS 532 and The Joker is Wild by Doug Moench and Don Newton from BATMAN 366, you can find the Gene Colan interview Roy Thomas did for ALTER EGO issue 6 on TWOMORROWS PUBLISHING and there is always THE INVINCIBLE GENE COLAN BLOG if you want more.

And since this post started out as a " Best of black and white art " post in honor of Today´s holiday Day of The German Union or Unification - I´m not quite sure - here´s a gorgeous black and white piece by Toni Greis. 

Because of the holiday I chose to post videos about Germany and what better way than to start with another episode of LIFE IN GERMANY that is all about what germans like to do during the Tag der Deutschen Einheit.



The next video from GERMANY VS USA is about awesome german products you might want to purchase before your return home.



Another typical german thing is - you might not believe this - comedy or like german stand up comedy was called back when I was young : kabarett or nonsens. Famous group Insterburg & Company is one of the bedrocks of german kabarett and I think I already posted another video with them.



Now I thought about what else is typical german and what could be more typical than Germany´s most famous MILF ? Don´t forget the german Fräulein ! Sonya Kraus is on german tv every time, all the time and if it´s not as host of her various tv shows which are constantly on reruns or as a guest on another show she´s on a special. You can bet your bottom dollar that if there is a special about the Day of German Unity she will be in it.

Sonya Kraus became famous for her skimpy outfits and her stunning body which she is not afraid to use to her advantage. Her most famous quote is :  " Your breasts can open doors for you. " . And other things too ....

As a former model Sonya did many shootings but while she confessed to read the PLAYBOY and look at other naked women in the pictures she has only done shootings for MAXIM and FHM. I think she did a nude shooting for a calendar or charity but so far she hasn´t done PLAYBOY pictures.

The clip I have chosen is from Sonya´s appearance on the game show DIE PERFEKTE MINUTE ( The perfect Minute ) and at that time there was a big brouhaha because she had very big breasts after being pregnant and the press was having a field day because the show was advertised as being " family friendly ". Now I don´t know what could be more family friendly that a pair of big breasts but then I also had not ignored all the promos where you could see Sonya´s new " porn boobs " as the press called them.

What do you know, it really IS like staring directly into the sun.

Anyway, Sonya appeared on the show wearing just jeans and a tight t - shirt and an ample cleavage and when she was handling these balls with great care - no pun intended - ( I never quite got what she was supposed to do but I didn´t care either ) and leaned forward for once in the history of german television the camera guy did what he was supposed to do and filmed it. At least SOMEBODY at Sat1 knew why people buy a High Def tv.

Despite all the hype - or maybe because of it - the show got the highest viewer rating that day and even doubled it in subsequent reruns.



Usually I include a cartoon video but since most of the ones I watched as a kid are made in Japan I picked MÄNNER OHNE NERVEN ( men without nerves ) a show that presented classic slapstick comedians like Laurel Hardy when he was still a solo act, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and so on. The show was narrated by the late great Hans Dieter Hüsch who also made all the sound effects and spoke all the actors - even the women.



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