datajunkie

¡Ultratumba, El Monstruo de Londres!

2011-02-09T20:21:00.000-08:00

Ultratumba is a noble attempt at more Gothic horror style fotonovela (notice that I said attempt) but quickly devolves into ludicrous insanity! Enjoy!

An unfortunate accident in the lab....

...leaves Malcom horribly disfigured....

...and prone to murderous double exposures!

Ultratumba el Monstruo de Londres 01 La Maldicion de Malcom

In best "Mystery of the Wax Museum" style, Malcom hides his scarred visage behind a mask of his own face!

The Hawley Griffin/Larry Trainor look ALWAYS wows the babes!

A word of advice Malcom - keep the mug under wraps!

Overact much?

Seriously though, images like this are why I love fotonovelas so much.... the feverish, surreal quality that is almost like a Man Ray photo montage. Low-brow pulp or High-brow art? Hyper Dave sez both!

Ultratumba el Monstruo de Londres 02 La Muerte al Acecho

Now, I swear I've seen this panel from Issue 3 re-used as a punk 7" 45 cover or band poster somewhere.....

Super shock-o-rama split scream effect!

Ultratumba el Monstruo de Londres 03 Las Cloacas de la Calle Nelson

Ultratumba el Monstruo de Londres 04 Legado de Sangre

Easy on the throttle there boy!

Disfigured guy + full figured babe=Ultratumba!

Again, in all seriousness, I LOVE the angle and lighting in some panels, such as here, which looks very much like a shot from an early B&W Mario Bava film!

Ultratumba el Monstruo de Londres 05 Terror en la Noche

Sure, ALL the girls prowl around dark cellars of creepy castles at night in bikinis and satin capes... at least in ULTRATUMBA they do!

Ultratumba el Monstruo de Londres 06 Un Cadaver en la Torre

Now THAT'S gonna leave a mark!

Blonde bikini babe with brainy girl glasses and a gun! Sounds like a good time to me!

Ultratumba el Monstruo de Londres 07 Huye Maldito Huye

Ultratumba el Monstruo de Londres 08 El Castillo del Odio

Ultratumba el Monstruo de Londres 09 La Noche de los Chacales

These fotonovelas also share a common quality with the "Roughies" of the mid-60's exploitation films, a psuedo-violent (in that it's obviously faked) feel and somewhat misogynistic vibe spiced with brief nudity and having a generally grubby and nasty low-rent tone.....

...with ray guns!

The guy on the left and I have the same reaction to THIS image! Surreal doesn't even begin to cover it!

Ultratumba el Monstruo de Londres 11 Los Gatos Infernales

Ultratumba el Monstruo de Londres 12 La Diosa Inmortal

Don't you just hate it when this happens?

Just another night at the local bar (if you live in San Francisco, that is).

Ultratumba el Monstruo de Londres 13 El Fantasma del Ahorcado

Splitting Head? Rough knight?

I just love this second panel - Warren's a bit thick - Que pasa my ass! How can he NOT notice the 4 foot of sword sticking out her back! Corrine's not much better - "¡Esta Muerta!" Well yes, 4 foot of sword sticking out anyone's back will make them MUCHO muerta [dead]!

Ultratumba el Monstruo de Londres 14 La Herencia Tragica

-Your funny comment here - [Sorry, this one's a bit too much like low-hanging fruit for me, but by all means, be my guest...]

Ultratumba el Monstruo de Londres 15 La Asesina de las Rosas Rojas

Meanwhile, back at the Hyperdelicatessen....

She's breaking the fourth wall with a "get-me-out-of-here" look that has had me cracking up all day! Did I mention that I heart fotonovelas? Here's why!

Malcom grants her wish! She's outta here!

Ultratumba el Monstruo de Londres 16 Volver a Morir

Uh-oh - Police violence!

Ultratumba el Monstruo de Londres 17 La Muerte al Final del Camino

Ultratumba el Monstruo de Londres 18 El Amor Tiene Gusto a Sangre

I concur - ¡No es posible!

Ultratumba el Monstruo de Londres 19 Las Poseidas de Godrocks

As the series went on, the plots became just plain loopier...

Ultratumba el Monstruo de Londres 21 El Mundo Perdido

Ultratumba el Monstruo de Londres 23 Terror en Crantonville

...and loopier!

Everybody was Kung-Fu fighting!

Ultratumba el Monstruo de Londres 26 Los Hijos del Gran Mogol

Seriously - people put their names on this? Wow!

Finally, Malcom meets Miss Right!

Ultratumba el Monstruo de Londres 27 Pesadilla Sangrienta

What can I say....

2011-02-07T21:00:00.000-08:00

Live Action Versions!

2011-01-31T16:19:00.000-08:00

More fun from the video archives of Hyper D!

Astro Boy - Live Action Version!

Gigantor - Live Action Version!

Santo Y Hyper Dave Vs El Cerebro Del Mal

2011-01-31T14:39:00.000-08:00

Well, in an attempt to do the almost inconceivable, I've decided to watch all the "Santo" films in order (that is to say all I can lay my sweaty little hands on). I'll either learn Spanish by osmosis or go insane with wrestling fever, or possibly both, but either way you'll get some choice ringside commentary as amusement. Since there's 53 or so, depending on if you count walk-ons and cameos, and I do one a week, I should be certifiable a year from now.

As far as I know, there wasn't a fotonovela of this, so I got busy, and illustrating this drivel are some pages that I extracted from an alternate dimension with the old datajunkie cross-probabilty multiversal artifact scoop [Patent pending]. Yes folks, when I call this a cut-price brain emporium, I'm not speaking metaphorically - so on that note - let's begin.
The first film, "Santo Vs El Cerebro Del Mal" (1958) is shot in Cuba, not Mexico as this gringo assumed, so already I'm hoping my preconceptions and expectations may indeed be wrong.

The picture starts with 3 ubiquitous thugs putting the whammy on Santo and bundling him unconscious into the back of a boat of a car and driving off with our insensible hero out cold in the back seat. I can only assume that three hoods cruising around with an unconscious masked wrestler in the back seat was not the oddest thing one might have seen in pre-Castro Cuba, as nobody gives it a second glance.
After the obligatory driving around sequence accompanied by some overly familiar stock music cues, we arrive at the standard-issue disused warehouse, containing the obligatory mad doctor, complete with compulsory lab coat, rack 'o' test tubes, bunsen burner and of course the mandatory hypodermic needle in hand. We're only 8 minutes into this, and already MY cerebro is feeling more than a little mal. The usual mad lab routine ensues.

Cut to el doctor dining out at the la Roca cafe, as we are introduced to our squeaky clean leading couple, Cornelius and Elisa, all teeth and hair. There's some chit-chat about a mysterious "Dr. Lobo" and some coy business about whether the evil doctor needs protection from his alter ego. "Me?" he says, gesturing to himself with his pre-requisite pipe, as though we haven't seen this bit a million times before.
Meanwhile, two of the henchmen, skull-whacked stumblebum Santo in tow, enter the grounds of a Dr. Lowel's estate and make short work of the two plain clothes men in attendance, abduct the good doctor, and it's back to the warehouse we go.
Later, the Police Commissioner (or Chief of Detectives) chews out his bruised flatfoots, who offer the very plausable defense that they had the upper hand until that pesky masked wrestler appeared. Seems reasonable to me. After this there's some back and forth in a very Republic serial style, the doc and the leads back to the cafe, him and his henchmen back to the warehouse where they give the brain zap to another victim while Santo mooches around like a needy puppy.

Things pick up when another wrestler in a black mask and tights ("El Incognito") prowls around some rooftops with what looks like a voltmeter until he finds the lab. When the doctor dispatches the goon squad to investigate after the lucha libre detector goes off, he hides on a handy roof and they of course, in best potboiler tradition, think that a stray cat has set off the alarm. When they're gone, he splits.
Senor Loube, the latest addition to the doctors army of zombies (OK, it's two guys), hightails it to the bank where he is manager, and while the doc and his crew watch him on TV, he absconds with the loot. Insert expository newspaper headline here, then cut to interminable flamenco number, followed by another scene with the mad doctor and the two clueless love interests blathering away.
But things do pick up when our black masked wrestler friend gains skylight egress into the mad lab and absconds with the oh-so-vital bit 'o' paper (evil brain juice antidote no doubt), and they slow right down again when we cut back to the doc and his thick-headed companions leaving the nightclub "Casino de Capri". Too much flamenco obviously.
Things become livelier when it becomes certain the henchmen are going to put the snatch on Elisa. The way the doc has been stroking her hand every chance he gets makes this a foregone conclusion, plus it's mad doctor trope #7. The ensuing fight as they pound on our hero and grab the girl has a very Ed Wood feel - all one long shot, with sound added after and really bad day-for-night. Later in the Chief of Detectives office, the hero gets hot under the collar, the chief asks some obvious questions, and the doctor overacts. Cut to obligatory shot of henchmen playing cards - hoods always play cards between jobs, right? We cut to our black masked wrestler protagonist returning to the lab, only to be discovered by Santo. A fight ensues - finally! THIS is what it's all about, masked guys tussling in a secret laboratory! Yeah man! Blackie K.O.'s Santo and administers the antidote, but the hoods are on the way back! Santo snaps out of it as his recuer flees just in time to escape detection, and Santo departs with the henchman, playing the role of the brainwashed puppet.

Meanwhile, in best Republic serial tradition, the doctor gives his police protection the slip via a secret exit #27 (behind a swinging bookcase) There's more interminable driving, and a car chase that seems to go at about 10 MPH before the cops pull him over for a minor traffic infraction! Oh, the irony!
But wait - there's even MORE driving around - I swear, 20% of this film is just shots of traffic! And then there's some back and forth (in that Republic serial style) and yet another musical number and then the doc returns to the card-playing henchmen. The trussed up Elisa shoots him that hurt look common to all trussed-up damsels in distress. The doc sells the brain-whammy formula to yet another malefactor, who of course, makes a bee-line to our favorite cafe, la Roca (damned short on locations, this film) where of course, he bumps into our hero Cornelius (literally and figuratively) who is dining with the Chief of Detectives. Our hero and the bad guy almost do the old valise switcheroo schtick. Oh come on!
The Chief of Detectives puts a call in to our black masked wrestling protagonist, which is probably the first decent plot turn in the flick, after 50 minutes...
Clueless Cornelius goes and confides in the doc, and finally shows some smarts when he observes him heavy-handedly slip something in his drink, and after imbibing (no, wait - you're supposed to FAKE drinking it, you MORON) he plays possum while the doc blabs the whole plot! Staggering in a wildly over-acted style as the mickey finn kick in, our hero just makes it to the phone and calls the Chief, but of course, collapses before he can get a word out. LOSER!
"Police Baffled" screams the headline, or some such cliche.
Blacky finds that the henchmen's card game is still going, with Elisa still all tied up, and Santo still play-acting the loyal puppy when the mad doctor makes the scene. As the film has about 15 minutes to wrap everything up, of course the masked wrestler detector goes off, so Santo looks anxious, Elisa more so and the doctor gets that "smug evil genius look" that tells the experienced viewer that his schemes are just about to unravel in the usual way... *sigh* Somehow, I was expecting more.....

Meanwhile, the chief calls in the troops, who depart en masse (in three cars no less) to apprehend the gang. As the cavalry enter, Santo and Blacky take out the henchmen and the prof legs it with the girl. the fight scene's not much to write home about, and Santo still comes across as a bit of a stumble-bum, and is, let's face it, a bit of a disappointment, to say the least.

The doc escapes through the secret passageway to his house and comes out from behind the bookcase with Elisa, only to see Cornelius still out cold on the floor from the knockout drops he received a few scenes back. The cops and the wrestlers surround the joint, and the Chief of Detectives gives him the usual on the bullhorn. The Doc uses Elisa as a hostage while Santo slips around the back. The back masked wrestler tries to talk the Doc down, and gets gut shot for his troubles.

Cornelius comes to, his the prof once from behind (very unheroic if you ask me), and gets knocked cold again. Ho-hum. Santo bursts through the door (which looks suspiciously like the hinges have been removed) and mixes it up with the villain before the cops run in and shoot him as he tries to stab Santo. He gives with the soft focus death-bed blah blah blah - Elisa's all choked up, although why is a mystery to me. There's some airport farewells and expository dialogue and we roll credits. Wow!

Well, this was heavy going, to say the least. I needed 2 pots of depraved, weapons grade coffee to get through this one. Not an auspicious start to the series at all. This comes across like an old Republic serial, as directed by Ed Wood, in all the wrong ways. Turgid, cliched, predictable and slow moving, redeemed only by virtue of the fact that it is the masked one's screen debut. I can only give it two and a half masks in the old Santo score.

Here's some of the original promotional material from the film -

Until next time - stay off the ropes kids!

This post is dedicated with love and respect to my old boyhood chum, Mr. Des Mangan, star of stage, screen and Eurovision Song Contest - I couldn't have done this one without you mate! Big shouts out to Ashley, Simon & Judy Mac, who can tell one and all how a twisted teenager grew up to be an even more twisted adult. I know you tried your best, it's OK, it's really not your fault.... I know you did your best.....

Datajunkie - a refreshing antidote to all those overly serious blogs & bloggers out there in blog-o-vision land.....

¡El Conde Dracula y Los Vampiros!

2011-01-28T21:24:00.000-08:00

Señor Hyper es muy cansado. Ninguna energía para el diálogo ingenioso. Apesadumbrado.

Dracula 32

Dracula Historias Reais 8

Escalofrio 7 - El Ataud Del Vampiro (1958)

Foto Misterio 33

Arana Negra [Black Widow] Fotonovela Fun!

2011-01-26T13:15:00.000-08:00

More fotonovela madness here at Mr. Hyper daves discount brain emporium - Don't ask! Just download!

Arana Negra 010 Una Amistad Muy Peligrosa

Arana Negra 013 Tres Pretendientes para la Muerte (incompleto)

Arana Negra 014 - Disparen Sobre Malva Rigg (no cover) (Espanol)

Mucho Gusto Senor Bond!

2011-01-25T12:32:00.000-08:00

I often wondered why there wasn't a 007 monthly color comic produced at the height of the spy-guy craze in the 1960's.
Truth is, there was, it rocks, and it's from Chile. Some of these issues are rather faithful adaptions of the books, and so they're in Spanish - big deal! You don't need a brain the size of a planet to figure out what "De Rusia con Amor" is in English.....
The covers are amazing and the interior art is serviceable at worst, often better. I've bundled 19 of the first 20 issues [I'm missing Issue 11] into two zip files for you lazy dogs....

Issues 1-10

Issues 12-20

Namur!

2011-01-24T19:42:00.000-08:00

Did I mention that I heart fotonovelas? Words fail me, and that's saying something! She's a hard hitting, high kicking babe in a dominatrix outfit! What's not to like! When I say I'm in love you better believe it - LUV!

Namur 1

Namur 2

Namur 3

Namur 6

Namur 8

Namur 11

Namur 29

Tomorrow, we take a small break from them as we check out - Senor Bond, James Bond, in some AMAZING 1960's 007 books from my new favorite comic company, Zig Zag - from Chile no less!

If this keeps up I may never read an English language comic again!

¡Casos de Alarma!

2011-01-20T15:37:00.000-08:00

So we're going to take a break from the good clean weirdness of the Lucha Libra fotonovela to trawl some deeper waters.
"Casos de Alarma" (or "Alarming Cases" for those of you on the thickish side) are geared to a more adult audience, and appear to be based on true, if somewhat lurid, case histories "ripped screaming from todays headlines" of murder, infidelity, and more murder.

Most (if not all) end with at least one (if not multiple) deaths and purport to teach some moral message amidst all the carnage.

I know how you are.... I know what you like.... and I'm only too willing to gleefully purvey this complete and utter trash your way.
My assumption is that most of the people reading this are sick puppies with a head full 'o' bad wiring [and I DO mean that in the nicest way possible] so I figure nothing I do will make things any worse.

They are, of course, in Spanish, but you don't need to be a genius to follow the stories, as there's LOTS of pictures.....
These also have that same fevered, delirious quality shared by all fotonovelas, and as an added bonus, all come from the early 1970's, so there's lots of polyester and bad hair in effect!

Enjoy!

Casos de Alarma no. 39

Casos de Alarma no. 44

Casos de Alarma no. 64

Casos de Alarma no. 66

Casos de Alarma no. 67

Casos de Alarma no. 69

Casos de Alarma no. 85

Casos de Alarma no. 93

Casos de Alarma no. 94

Casos de Alarma no. 97

Casos de Alarma no. 99

Casos de Alarma no. 102

Casos de Alarma no. 103

Casos de Alarma no. 105

No post today?

2011-01-19T13:14:00.000-08:00

Bad bad bad Mr. Hyper!

Even More Santo

2011-01-19T02:39:00.001-08:00

I think I may be learning Spanish by osmosis as I read these.....

Santo Edicion Completa Recopilada 1
Santo Edicion Completa Recopilada 2
Santo Edicion Completa Recopilada 3
Santo Edicion Completa Recopilada 4
Santo Edicion Completa Recopilada 5

Santo Filmography -
* Santo contra el cerebro del mal (Santo Vs. The Evil Brain, 1958)
* Santo contra hombres infernales (Santo vs. The Infernal Men, 1958)
* Santo contra los zombies (Santo vs. The Zombies, 1961) aka Invasion of the Zombies (dubbed in English)
* Santo contra el rey del crimen (Santo vs. The King of Crime, 1961)
* Santo en el hotel de la muerte (Santo In The Hotel of Death, 1961)
* Santo contra el cerebro diabolico (Santo vs. the Diabolical Brain, 1962)
* Santo contra las mujeres vampiro (Santo vs. The Vampire Women, 1962) aka Samson vs. the Vampire Women (dubbed in English)
* Santo en el museo de cera (Santo In The Wax Museum, 1963) aka Samson in the Wax Museum (dubbed in English)
* Santo contra el estrangulador (Santo vs. The Strangler, 1963)
* El espectro del estrangulador (Santo vs. The Ghost of the Strangler, 1963)
* Blue Demon contra el poder satánico (Blue Demon vs. Satanic Power, 1964) (cameo appearance)
* Santo en Atacan las brujas (Santo in The Witches Attack, 1964) aka Santo en la casa de las brujas
* El hacha diabólica (Santo in The Diabolical Axe, 1964)
* Santo en los profanadores de tumbas (Santo in The Grave Robbers, 1965)
* Santo en el Barón Brakola (Santo in Baron Brakola, 1965)
* Santo contra la invasión de los marcianos (Santo vs. The Martian Invasion, 1966)
* Santo contra los villanos del ring (Santo vs. The Villains of the Ring, 1966) (Santo's last B&W film)
* Santo en Operación 67 (Santo in Operation 67, 1966) (Santo's first color film)
* Santo en el tesoro de Moctezuma (Santo in The Treasure of Moctezuma, 1967)
* Santo en el tesoro de Drácula (Santo in Dracula's Treasure, 1968) aka The Vampire and Sex (a separate adult-rated version)
* Santo contra Capulina (Santo vs. Capulina, 1968)
* Santo contra Blue Demon en la Atlántida (Santo vs. Blue Demon in Atlantis, 1969)
* Santo y Blue Demon contra los monstruos (Santo and Blue Demon vs. the Monsters, 1969)
* Santo y Blue Demon en el mundo de los muertos (Santo and Blue Demon in the World of the Dead, 1969)
* Santo contra los cazadores de cabezas (Santo vs. The Headhunters, 1969)
* Santo frente a la muerte (Santo Faces Death, 1969) aka Santo vs. the Mafia Killers
* Santo contra los jinetes del terror (Santo Vs The Terror Riders, 1970) aka The Lepers and Sex (a separate adult-rated version)
* Santo en la venganza de las mujeres vampiro (Santo in the Revenge of the Vampire Women, 1970)
* Santo contra la mafia del vicio (Santo vs. The Mafia of Vice, 1970) aka Mission Sabotage
* Santo en la venganza de la momia (Santo in the Mummy's Revenge, 1970)
* Santo en Las momias de Guanajuato (Santo in The Mummies of Guanajuato, 1970) (co-starring Mil Mascaras and Blue Demon)
* Santo en el misterio de la perla negra (Santo in the Mystery of the Black Pearl, 1971) aka The Caribbean Connection (this film was released in Spain in 1971, but was only released in Mexico in 1975)
* Santo contra la hija de Frankenstein (Santo vs. Frankenstein's Daughter, 1971)
* Santo en Misión suicida (Santo in Suicide Mission, 1971)
* Santo contra los asesinos de otros mundos (Santo vs. the Killers from Other Worlds, 1971) aka Santo vs. the Living Atom
* Santo y el tigresa en el aguila real (Santo and the Tigress in the Royal Eagle, 1971)
* Santo y Blue Demon contra Drácula y el Hombre Lobo (Santo and Blue Demon Vs. Dracula and the Wolf Man, 1972)
* Santo contra los secuestradores (Santo Vs. The Kidnappers, 1972)
* Santo contra la magia negra (Santo vs. Black Magic, 1972)
* Santo y Blue Demon en las bestias del terror (Santo and Blue Demon in the Beasts of Terror, 1972)
* Santo contra las lobas (Santo vs. The She-Wolves, 1972)
* Santo en Anónimo mortal (Santo in Anonymous Death Threat, 1972)
* Santo y Blue Demon contra el doctor Frankenstein (Santo and Blue Demon Vs Dr. Frankenstein, 1973)
* Santo contra el doctor Muerte (Santo Vs Dr. Death, 1973) aka Santo strikes again, aka The Masked Man Strikes Again" (one of only four Santo films that was dubbed in English)
* Santo en la venganza de la llorona (Santo in the Revenge of the Crying Woman, 1974) (co-starring boxing champ Mantequilla Napoles)
* Santo en Oro negro (Santo in Black Gold, 1975) aka La Noche de San Juan
* Santo en el Misterio en las Bermudas (Santo in The Bermuda Mystery, 1977) (co-starring Blue Demon and Mil Mascaras)
* Santo en la frontera del terror (Santo at the Border of Terror, 1979) aka Santo vs. the White Shadow
* Santo contra el asesino de televisión (Santo vs the TV Killer, 1981)
* Chanoc y el hijo del Santo contra los vampiros asesinos (Chanoc and Son of Santo vs. The Killer Vampires, 1981) (cameo appearance)
* Santo en el puño de la muerte (Santo in Fist of Death, 1982)
* Santo en la furia de los karatekas (Santo in Fury of the Karate Experts, 1982)

...and we're still not done yet! Yow!

Santo Y Blue Demon Contra Hyper Dave! En Color!

2011-01-17T22:03:00.000-08:00

You were warned and only have yourself to blame.
More of the same tomorrow!!

Santo 006

Santo 516

Santo 706

Santo 739

Santo 865

Santo 866

Despite the cover, this issue features Blue Demon battling female pirates! Arrr!

Blue Demon 09

Blue Demon 13

Blue Demon 18

Comic Book Babe Cosplay!

2011-01-17T13:57:00.000-08:00

Kinda busy today, no time for bloggy... boo hoo!
But this will be where I'll be tomorrow night, getting my sketch on -
More info here and here.

¡Santo and Blue Demon Vs Datajunkie!

2011-01-15T05:49:00.000-08:00

Lucha Libre Photonovelas!
I can't tell you how excited I am about these - weirdly surreal photomontage style comic strips featuring masked wrestlers were huge in Mexico in the 60's. These "fumetti" [as they are called in Italy, where they are also well known] starred many stars of ring and screen including Neutrón, Blue Demon, Huracán Ramirez and of course Santo.
As a kid I would puzzle over dubbed versions of Santo's 1960s &70s film romps that would turn up on TV or at the drive- in, and, cardboard sets and low budgets aside, they had a certain hysterical quality about them that made them irresistible.
These magazines take that bizarre vibe and push it right to the edge... and over. Check out these feverishly delirious examples below.....

I'm pretty infatuated with the photonovelas right now, so we may be rocking these for a bit......
Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Santo 1 Original de Mexico por Bruno Bernasconi

Santo 01

Santo 001

Santo 002

Santo 004

Santo 005

Santo 007

Santo 039

Santo 042

Santo 053

Santo 055

BlueDemonNº01

BlueDemonNº02

BlueDemonNº03

BlueDemonNº06

Santo: "Este datajunkie es un weirdo!"
Blue Demon: Si Santo!"

Drake, John Drake.....

2011-01-14T19:24:00.000-08:00

Welcome once again to Mr. Hyper Dave's discount brain emporium!

Now (as you know), i'm a big fan of "The Prisoner" and it's pre-cursor "Danger Man", or "Secret Agent" as it was titled in the US market.
As much as I love Mr "shaken-not-stirred" Bond, James Bond, Those Men from U.N.C.L.E and all those other slick spy-guys from the swingin' 60's, my preference has always been towards a more "realistic" portrayal of the grim espionage business - Harry Palmer, Callan and the king of the hill, John Drake. As portrayed by Patrick McGoohan, Drake was ALL work and NO play, who was often played for a sucker by his handlers and also allowed his conscience, not his orders, to be his guide. This aspect of the character continues from "Danger Man" to become a major part "The Prisoner", it's quasi-sequel.

So, on with the funny books, a la Danger Man!

Danger Man [1961]

TV Crimebusters Annual 1962

Secret Agent 1

Secret Agent 2

Danger Man from Lion DJ compilation

This last one is a compilation I put together from the UK weekly comic Lion which ran a 2 page serial for 3 months - cool eh?

There are a lot of things to like about the show "Danger Man". One of the many distinctive and memorable features of the show was the musical score by Edwin Astley, which heavily featured the harpsichord and some very, very idiosyncratic "cool jazz" arrangements, ultra-heavy on the bongos, making it on of the more memorable TV scores of the 1960's. I tried my best to add a whole bunch of material to the original LP (some scrounged from the internet), and I hope you'll enjoy them, including alternate covers of the "Danger Man" theme by other artists, a couple of songs featured in the show and some goodies from "The Prisoner" as well. Be seeing you.....

Secret Agent OST

Oh yeah, there is this too.....

Next up? El Santo and The Blue Demon!

Phantom Agents / The Samurai

2011-01-14T09:00:00.000-08:00

Bit of a flashback to my childhood in Australia : If you grew up down under in the 1960's you'll know what these are - otherwise, probably not....
More comics tomorrow....

Phantom Agents Movie Trailer

The Samurai Movie Trailer

Blue Bolt!

2011-01-12T22:13:00.000-08:00

Very, very early Simon and Kirby from the late 30's (since we seem to be doing a fairly heavy Kirby riff this week).
And insomnia sucks!
BlueBoltc2cDatajunkie.cbz

YOU are Number 6!

2011-01-12T03:26:00.000-08:00

Now if you've never seen "The Prisoner", the CLASSIC late 60's TV show masterminded by Patrick McGoohan [not the crappy remake from last year], you really should make the effort. I once thought that this show was an allegory. Not any more. Now, in the world we live in of almost omnipresent video cameras and data-mining and so on, I now think of it more as a survival manual, an illustrated "How-To" if you like.

A very loose spin off from spy show "Danger Man" (also known as "Secret Agent") - McGoohan plays "Number 6", a prisoner in "The Village" - a microcosm for the communities in which we live. All he has to do is play along, and he can have a nice peaceful, if somewhat controlled and monitored existence.....

The look and feel of the show is hard to define, but I have heard it described as "What if MI5 was running the chill room at a rave?" Works for me. Here's a taste -

Ace published three paperbacks (pretty scarce) based on the series, and while many feel the first by SF writer Thomas Disch is the best, I actually prefer the third, as it really captures the dreamlike feel of the show. Don't worry too much about number two..... heh heh heh! They were republished as hardbacks in the '80s - I'm sure they turn up on eBay if you're inclined to seek them out.

Amazingly enough two of my passions combine head-on when Jack "King" Kirby did a well executed (but unpublished) comic adaption during his stint at Marvel in the 1970's..... here's some pages to give you a taste.......

Looks good huh? So anyway I went ahead and reconstructed the thing from various sources, hither and yon... and here you go!
Prisoner Datajunkie Reconstruction.cbz

Hey - even I'M in The Village..... wha' happen!?!

Here's a nice overview, also from youtube, where you will find lots more about and from the show...

[Re-post with revisions of blog text and cbz file]

Omega Octane!

2011-01-11T17:47:00.000-08:00

I'm sure you often wonder what does that old hyper dave get up to when he's not blogging, or making music with "Art of Hot" and so on...
Well, I'm a frigging movie star is what!
Allow me to the film-maker, Casey Hages to explain - "I shot this short in late '06 with my friend Alberto Hernandez. "Omega" played a few Bay Area festivals. The movie even made the front page of our local rag the Bay Guardian. It was done in a classic B-movie style with a hint of an '80's nostalgia motif.
Synopsis: A heart warming tale about an alcoholic time traveling archaeologist on a mission to capture an escaped prisoner in modern day San Francisco."

I did it because I got to Play a time travelling archeologist from the future [type-casting, right?] and dress up like an old serial hero... and before you ask, it's MEANT to have that "1980's cheap-o Dr Who" look, OK?

Here's the complete movie [Parts 1-7] on youtube.....

Enjoy!

Jack Kirby's "Speak-Out" Series!

2011-01-10T07:31:00.000-08:00

Secret Agent, Man!

2011-01-09T06:56:00.000-08:00

More strip fun, this time Al Williamson's Secret Agent. Looks like Russ Heath and others fill in for one story line. Nice!

The Official Secret Agent 1

The Official Secret Agent 2

Also, I fixed the link for Twin Earths Sundays 1!
Sorry about that Chief... That'll never happen again.
Yeah, right!

Twin Earths - Dailies

2011-01-09T05:57:00.000-08:00

More fabulous Alden McWilliams 1950's SF strip "Twin Earths"....
I'm fighting off a cold or flu or something, so I'm not too chatty today.
Enjoy! I'm going back to bed!

Twin Earths 1

Twin Earths 2

Twin Earths 3

Twin Earths!

2011-01-08T14:20:00.000-08:00

Alden McWilliams is vastly under-rated as comic book artist, that's for sure!
I first encountered his work in the latter issues of Gold Key's Star Trek Comic in the 70's, but his work on the long running 1950's SF newspaper strip "Twin Earths" is something to behold...
So - behold already!
Get thee to the downloaderie, me hearties!!

Twin Earths Special Edition 1

Twin Earths Sundays 1

Twin Earths Sundays 2

Really, it doesn't get much better than this......

We now return you to "The Return of the Datajunkie"!

2011-01-07T17:53:00.000-08:00

Q:I didn't know you were planning a come-back?
A:I hate that word! It's a RETURN!!!
From the film "Sunset Boulevard" (1950)

Oh, yes, it's me.... I'm back, for better or worse - No plan, no back-up, and oh yeah... I've got nothing to lose....
Took a nice long break from this, filed some reports, did a whole bunch 'o' interesting stuff, but all the while i've been scanning and collating and doing the due diligence in the definitive datajunkie manner.

OK cats & kittens, here we go, and as I said on the dance floor earlier, you might want to find something to hang on to....

First up - themed compilations! If I can't get these published as real paper type books, the virtual e-book is da next best thang! First up, two collections of horror stories from Eerie Publications by Dick Ayers and Chic Stone (a couple of these came from some Skywald mags).

Dick Ayers Eerie Horror Compilation

Chic Stone Horror Datajunkie Compilation

These should be obvious from the covers...

Satan's Greatest Hits

Squishy Swamp Stories

Jungle Jitters

Weird SF 1

Enjoy!

There are no such things as problems...

2009-07-13T19:30:00.000-07:00

Only situations.

Normal broadcasts will resume shortly.

Hyper Dave is alive and well and as happy as a clam.

The strange thing is, all the positive comments on my recent hiatus are from people who actually are willing to put their name to what they say....

The Negative comments, such as...

"Watermark. What an ass. If you're going to share, you share. Boo Hoo, people don't know I scanned it and are getting to read it. No, apparently you don't get comics at all. Just be happy that people are getting to enjoy something that you did. If not, don't scan it because I am sure someone eventually will without the ego".... are of course anonymous.

Venomous gutless loudmouthed knuckle-draggers like this buffoon used to get me down, but now... i'm just over it. It must really, REALLY suck to be this guy.

Also, a big tip of the lid to Zen Tiger!

Go visit him at

www.cosseyedcyclops.blogspot.com

which should keep you busy for a year or two.

Still taking a few deep breaths...

2009-05-20T07:55:00.000-07:00

Well, once again the kettle's on the boil, the ball is in the other court and i'm holding my breath to see if the toast lands butter side up or butter side down... stuff like that. I'll keep you posted.

What happened to the Charlton books?

2009-05-06T07:50:00.000-07:00

Ask "Keith in Bakersfield". Or perhaps his evil twin. Or someone just like him.

Due to stuff i've taken the time to scan, collate etc turning up elsewhere with no credit, no props, no links, no nuthin'.... I need to step back and reconsider this (yet again).

I'm seeing whole posts plundered as is for heaven's sake!

Well from now on.... everything gets watermarked. Everything. Hard core. Every friggin' page.

Thanks to "Keith in Bakersfield" and his cyclopean ilk.....

All it takes is the mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging fanboy stereotype to remind me that while I love comics, I have the lowest regard for most people that read them.....

So thanks "Keith in Bakersfield" for reminding me that not everyone who reads this blog is actually what you could call respectful or civilized.

I shouldn't really be so hard on the poor mook.... I mean, have you ever BEEN to Bakersfield......
Punishment enough right there.....

I'll be back in a bit after i've scrawled my name in crayon all over my comics so the mean kids won't steal 'em. Just like grade school all over again.... *sheesh*

Fass times 5!

2009-05-02T13:50:00.000-07:00

In a nutshell - More Halloween horror comics backlog from last year - prior to my most recent hiatus. Nice scans. Pretty good analysis of cruddy pop culture. Usual griping mixed in. Some wise-cracking. Business as usual pretty much. Ho-hum. Corrected bad URLs Tuesday May 5th after someone once again points out my HTML sucks, more ho-hum.....

Strange Galaxy From April '71 features the usual mix of old and new - standouts are two great stories by "Darling" Dick Ayers, the pretty straight forward SF tale "Monster from Dimension X" and the over the top eye-popping "Isle of Demons". The lead story, "The Human Monster" by "Reynoso" is none too shabby either. Rounding out the issue are four Pre-Code reprints - "Death Strikes Four", "Terror Unlimited", "Skeletons Have Secrets" and "Devil of Doom".

Weird Galaxy April 1971

Weird Worlds from August '71 starts out with "The Invaders" by "Reynoso", an obvious re-working of Basil Wolvertons' "Brain-Bats of Venus". Also included are"The Strange Spaceship", "The Horror On Radar", "Witchcraft"
and "Witches Revenge" by Ayers.
While there are only two Pre-Code reprints this issue - "Hands of Terror" and "Pit of Horror", this issue features not one but two text pieces "Innerspace" and "The Cosmic Monster".

Weird Worlds August 1971

As a minor trivia point, it has previously been noted (by one of our long-time readers whose name escapes me as I type this) that many of the covers for these Eerie SF-themed mags from the early 1970's are reprinted from German "Perry Rhodan" publications. Curious datajunkie factoid #287 - collect 'em all kids!

Weird for June 1974 is pretty representative of the Eerie Publications of the period. Starting out with "The Fanged Monster" By "Cristobaca" (?), "The Supernatural" by "Reynoso", "Shock" (which I'm sure is ripped panel by panel from a Pre-Code story, maybe an E.C. tale?) and "He Rose From The Grave", both by what looks like Fass staple Oscar Fraga. The three page text piece for this issue "The Mummy" is more in the style of Countrywides' more lurid "mainstream" fare, reading more like some skewed form of sensationalistic journalism more at home in the "World Weekly News" than an example of horror fiction. "Satan's Demon" is signed by "Felix Saborido" who has a tight 1950's-esque style that ends up looking like a cross between Howard Nostrand and Chic Stone and makes you wish he had done more work for the line. The final story "The Beast" features art by the "unknown genius" of the various titles, although the cursed were-aardvark protagonist (in a cape no less) is less than frightening. No Pre-Code reprints at all this time round.

Weird June 1974

Most of the stories in Tales from the Tomb, September 1974 are unsigned -
"The Living Corpse", "The Skull", "Horror Doll", "Mask of Horror" and "Monster" (this does look like Oscar fraga to me), but three are - "Tear 'Em Apart" by "Rubena Marchionne", "The Demon" by "Reynoso" and the very impressive "Deadman's Rope" by ""Maudiaficca" (?). Now I likes me a good Warren (or Skywald) mag as much as the next weirdo, but this issue doesn't stink as much as some folks would think. I have an appreciation for some of the more "off-the-wall" stories in the Fass product of the late 60's / early 70's phase, but it seems to me some of these stories wouldn't be too out of place in an issue of "Creepy" or "Eerie" from the same year. If anything, the art and denouements seem to share some of that heavy, oppressive quality that characterized "The Horror-Mood" at it's best (or worst).

Tales From The Tomb September 1974

Terrors Of Dracula from August 1979 reprints the cover for the June 1974 issue of Weird.... wotta class act! While the interior stories were reprinted/re-used with frightening regularity, the covers were at least re-worked when recycled, but I guess at this point no-one gave much of a sh*t any more.....
they were just grindin' 'em out! Sweet! Let's get to the run-down, shall we?
"The Strange Vampire", "Garden Of Corpses" "Horror Without a Head" are worthy if unsigned, but "Bloodbath" is the notorious LSD freak-out story by Chic Stone you may have heard about. Way to go Chic!
(When They Meet The) "Vampire" and "A Head Full of Snakes" are signed by "Macagno" and would again not be out of place in a Warren mag. "Vampire" (again!?!) features Dick Ayers at his blood-letting best! 'Nuff Said!
"Satan's Warlock" features a darkly expressionistic style by "Marchionne" that is actually quite disturbing in more than a few panels. Closing out the issue are "The Demon Is a Hag" (who is also a gender bender as well it would seem) and "The Skinrippers" (ouch - that's gonna leave a mark!). The inside front and back covers, and the outside back cover feature black and white reproductions of various covers from the late 70's sans copy and text, and are a real treat!

Terrors Of Dracula August 1979

While i've tried to list artist credits as they appear (usually on the splash or last pages of the story), I still want to know - WHO WROTE THIS STUFF?
While it has been demonstrated by myself and others that a lot of these stories were lifted/ripped panel by panel from Ajax-Farrell, Harvey and Iger shop horror stories from the 1950's, some of these stories from the mid to late 1970's don't seem to be. It might be assumed that Chic Stone may have written his stuff, what about Dick Ayers body of work for Eerie? What about the other stories? Another one of life's mysteries, I guess......

In other news, regarding the whole cbz techo-kerfuffle, i'm using Stuffit Deluxe to process these files, but I think the thing is this: I'm a mac guy, and OS X does what OS X does. It would seem that most comic viewer apps are PC based, and OS X has my hands tied behind my back. So while I wade through my backlog of pdfs generated last year from prior to my break, i'm thinking that I might just do an end run with the whole problem, and just post the files as zips. Then you can do whatever the hell you want to with 'em. Let's just try and ignore all that cash I spent on Acrobat Pro, shall we? I know I will. Jeez, it's like Betamax all over again! Sheesh! Sometimes I can't even get even! Put yer 2¢ in now, or forever hold yer piece.

Now, a quick word about torture, since this seems to be the recent hot topic in the media - while I like a good horror story as much as the next guy (probably more in fact) and there seems to be some elements of the big "T" in almost any fictional horror construct (particularly Pre-Code horror books, Italian "Giallos" and the black and white magazines of the 70's), torture seems to be a real throwback to much darker aspect of human history, say "The Spanish Inquisition" for example. I must admit to scratching my head over the consensus among many people that allows rationalizing it as an acceptable option in certain circumstances. Thanks, but no thanks. This is the 21st century after all. As a species, we are at our best when we rise above our violent animal natures, and I find this apparent descent back into primal savagery more than a little disturbing....
Plus it's certainly an arguable point that it doesn't really work all that well: re-read Orwell's "1984"... at a certain point, poor old Winston Smith ends up to agreeing to anything rather than get his face chewed off by hungry rats, as would we all. Then my droogies, let's keep the torture out of the headlines and back in Italian splatter movies and horror comics where it belongs - OK?

Also, don't forget to tell your friends about Free Comic Book Day this Saturday. At the movies, I'm sure some of you have already seen "Wolverine: Origins", and I'm sure I will to (sooner rather than later), I just find it kind of amusing that everyone's favorite beserker mutant Canadian is played by one of my countrymen from Down Under. I guess it makes a weird kind of sense, as everyone knows all Australians are more than a little bit nuts, while Canadians are... well... Canadian. Just kidding folks! So no hate mail from Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver please.

While we're on the topic of things that make a weird kind of sense, these have been appearing on those mysterious large boxes you see on street corners all over the city. I think it's a gag, but I'm not 100% sure. Call the number (I did). It's a hoot!

So, in signing off - it's your old pal Hyper Dave, still chasin' that rainbow down a one-way street, reminding you to wash your hands early and often (just like your Momma told you)..... and don't let the bastards grind you down!

PS. Don't forget to check out my OTHER blog if you like the electronical type music (or indeed, if you're just curious as to what the heck it is I'm doing when I'm not ruminating over the "stinky little books"). More free stuff there from the archives of my Fab-O combo "art of hot". Miss it not!

PPS. If you like the alternative radio station thang, check out my fave KPOO which plays a great selection of rare oldies, soul and funk classics featuring DJ's with names like Johnny Brooklyn or the (in)famous Bobby "Spider" Webb. They even have a doo-wop show for Heaven's sake!

Re-Post + Technical Difficulties + Rant/Gripe = Another Day In Paradise!

2009-04-24T12:35:00.000-07:00

OK - we may be having technical difficulties withe the .cbz files.... is anyone else having problems with viewing them? Please do advise me, so I can adjust the production process accordingly. Personally, I'm tempted to just go back to doing everything as pdf's - they work well for me, and maybe I should just stick with what I know, and with what seems to work. There are quite a few applications that allow you to gut a pdf file into the component jpg's, if that's what you want. This thing is enough of a time consuming process as is, without me getting hip deep in any duplication of labor.

In other news, I have a small rant/gripe, and that is with the actual quality of some of the scans I'm seeing out there. Some of them are, to put none too fine of a point to it, complete and utter crap. What is the point of scanning a book when the end product looks like shit? It's kind of like buying a $20.00 steak and burning it to a crisp - what's the point of getting the book on the damn scanner if the file you produce is small and the scans are fuzzy, low resolution crap? Seriously dude, just don't bother. When I download a piece of junk like this, I must admit I get more than a little frustrated, and I'm sure I'm not alone in this.
So, for the dummies out there, let's run though the drill, shall we?
The scan needs to be AT LEAST 1200 pixels wide. Larger is better for magazines (I like 1350). The final product gives you one panel of the six-panel grid filling the screen. Seems like common sense to me.

If you're going to scan at 72 dpi, you should do two things -
a) De-screen. There should be an option in the preferences or pull down menu.
b) Scan at 200% or higher. Larger is always better. If the book is in black and white, scan it in GRAYSCALE for heaven's sake. Yes the yellow pages effect can be good, but it TRIPLES the file size! Seems like a lot of bandwidth for a small return.

Personally, I scan at 300 dpi/100% and then shrink 'em down in Photoshop using the "Save for Web" function (also in the pull down menu). When you've finished, a good simple rule of thumb should be this - one page should be around 1 MB. I've seen scans where the file size is under 200K per page! The artifacting is painful to see. The process is call "Digital Comic Preservation", so I cannot understand for the life of me how some of these jokers don't get the concept of doing it right the first time. Why make a cruddy copy of something fellas? Sooner or later, someone will only have to do it again in the future, you dopes!

End of rant/gripe!

So, in keeping with the previously mentioned concept of sticking with what I know, here's a tasty re-post of some choice Charlton books, as pdf's. OK?

Ghostly Tales 99

Ghostly Tales 100

Ghostly Tales 101

Ghostly Tales 114

More Buried Treasure!

2009-04-22T11:00:00.000-07:00

More amazing stuff from your old pal, Hyper Dave!
Unpublished Kirby! More Alex Toth! Sword and sandal fun from Frank Frazetta!
And if that's not enough, some great "Good Girl" art by the master - Bill Ward! Va-va-va-VOOM!

Buried Treasure 2

In other news, i've been ultra-busy with all things musical....
If your curious go here or here for more.....

Yo Ho Ho!

2009-04-21T11:00:00.000-07:00

Pirate time! Pretty self explanatory. Dig in mateys! More 'o' the same tomorrow, me hearties!!

Buccaneers 21

Buried Treasure 1

Mo' Horror!

2009-04-19T20:15:00.000-07:00

More thrills and chills for you gals and ghouls from that bone-chilling blogger, Mr "Hair-raising Horror" himself, Mr. Hyper Dave. More Charlton, more from Fass, more audio.... what's not to love?

Weird Vampire Tales 1 from 1979 is the usual nasty, vile, putrid, icky low-rent slush we all know and love....so don't ask! Just download! At least in this digital age the newsprint doesn't make your fingertips go all smudgy and black.... just your mind!

Weird Vampire Tales 1

Two Steve Ditko stunners from "The Big C", and the scripting for both the Gorgo and Konga stories (by Joe Gill I assume) are handled with a light whimsical touch. Mr. Ditko picks up on this, and the Konga story is a real treat, including a running gag featuring a picture of the (obligatory) scientist's girlfriend acting as a Greek chorus (look, just read the darn thing, it will all make sense). The aforementioned scientist gives our ape protagonist a shot of shrinky-dink juice, so he can get a dose of his own medicine... sort of a simian version of "the Incredible Shrinking Man". The Gorgo story is also pretty neat as it features an intelligent bottle-nose dolphin, making this a weird hybrid.... kind of like "Flipper" meets "Godzilla"...... and people wonder why I have such a soft spot for these old Charlton books.

Return Of Gorgo 3

Konga's Revenge

Plus more audio full of spooky radio ads, three for "Bloodfiend", plus "Blood-O-Rama Shock Festival", and my favorite - "Chiller Carnival of Blood". But wait! There's more! How about three radio spots for Dario Argento's classic "Suspiria"!

Coming next week - I think i'll round up some "Buccaneers" and we'll dig up some kind of "Buried Treasure" since we're still living in a world full 'o' pirates....

The HORROR of it ALL - Now in Spook-a-phonic sound!

2009-04-17T09:03:00.000-07:00

Well, I hate to say it, but you are a predictable lot. Horror comics, horror comics, horror comics.... that's ALL I hear. OK then, if it's horror comics you want, then horror comics you shall have.

First out of the gate, is the OTHER "Tales from the Crypt" from Myron Fass' Eerie Publications. For some strange reason, old Bill "E.C." Gaines was none too pleased with this one, so this is the one and only issue bearing this title. Nice try Myron. Pre-Code reprints of stories "Skeleton In The Closet","Experiment In Terror","Blood and Old Bones", "Forever Dead","Thief of Souls" & "The Beautiful and The Dumb" (both omitted from the Contents page!?!) and "Horror Harbor". All this in the new cbz format no less!

Tales from Myron's Crypt

Now, for those of you who have been asking and asking and asking for me to re-post some of my greatest Charlton hits... OK! Enough is too much.
Here's two for now, more later (re-posts are such a drag, man).

Creepy Things 6 has "Vampire of Hanover" with art AND story by Pat Boyette. Cover & cute 1-pager "Turned-Off"by Mike Zeck and the hirsute cover story "The Hairy One" by Tom Sutton.

Creepy Things #6

Ghostly Tales 99 starts out with cover and story "Here Comes The Bride" by "Sturdy" Steve Ditko, plus two tales by Wayne Howard - "The Statue" a nifty 1-pager, and also the very droll "Meeting of The Damned".

Ghostly Tales #99

Now what's this Spook-a-phonic sound thing all about? It's simple - here's a whole bunch of classic "Spookshow" radio ads, plus one for "Monsters A-Go-Go", and six great ads for one of my favorite SF films of the 70's, "Zardoz". Put 'em in the music player of your choice and listen to the scary sounds while you read the spooky comics! Neat-o!
Get 'em here!

OK... I gotta go - I'm starting to creep myself out here!

PS. Download link for Capt. 3D works fine for me...

The Super-Hero As Savior

2009-04-15T06:45:00.000-07:00

savior |ˈsāvyər| [noun]

A person who saves someone or something (esp. a country or cause) from danger, and who is regarded with the veneration of a religious figure.

Since the conceptualization of "The Superman" by Frederic Nietzsche, continuing with Siegel and Schuster's creation of "Superman" through to Alan Moore's "Miracleman" (AKA "Marvelman") and "Watchmen", we have considered the relationship between the average man and the exceptional man.
These figures occur throughout history, they appear in religious writings, fables and legends and more.

Now, if an actually-for-real super-hero appeared on our Earth, wouldn't it go down like "Dr. Manhattan" in "Watchmen"? If it looks like a duck, and walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck...... therefore, if it has God-like powers......

In fact, it is an on-going under-current within ALL "long-underwear" comic books (even if the writers, artists and editors choose to look the other way), but rarely has it been done with such conscious intent, sheer illustrative power, lyrical style and all-round élan as by Gil Kane and Roy Thomas in "Warlock". Of course it couldn't last.

Like all things of a difficult and complex nature, most people scratch their heads, don't quite get it, sales tank and it vanishes or gets mainstreamed. Still, the first three issues are among the finest books Marvel ever published, and although the 4th issue is mostly notable for Gil's obvious absence, it still continues the thinly disguised biblical allegory begun in Marvel Premiere #1. I won't run further issues as
a) I don't have 'em.... and
b) I don't think they're all that good.

But the handful of initial issue are pretty impressive.
To put it bluntly, The High Evolutionary plays the God-like father figure, creator of a world, and Adam Warlock stands in for Jesus, and plays the son-like figure sent to redeem the previously mentioned planet(in this case Counter-Earth).

Gil Kane's artwork has never been more lyrical, presenting page after page of bold layouts, and Roy Thomas shows us why he is second only to Stan Lee in the pantheon of Marvel writers. This is powerful stuff, and blew me away as a kid. "How can they get away with this "Jesus Christ, Super-Hero" stuff?!?" I asked myself as a kid....

I still wonder today, how it slipped under the radar of certain conservative special-interest groups of the day. Jim Starlin got what was going on here, and with Al Milgrom, revisited the issues and concerns of the early parts of this series in the mid-1970's (before the series was once again cancelled).

More recently, "The House of Ideas" hasn't known exactly what do do with Adam, and his recent appearances have him plodding around in outer space, a poor imitation of his former self.....

Oh well....

Marvel Premiere 1

Marvel Premiere 2

Warlock 1

Warlock 2

Phurther Phanzine Phun!

2009-04-12T23:05:00.000-07:00

Yet more stellar issues of this fabulous 'zine.

Issue 21 starts out with checklist of zombie films in the cinema to supplement the article from the previous issue. Given the predominance of the zombie in the latter part of the 20th and early 21st Century in the pantheon of monsters, supplanting the old classics (Frankenstein's monster, the werewolf, the vampire, the ghost and the mummy) that have dominated the genre since its' inception, this piece is still topical today.
Following this comes a nice piece comparing and contrasting the film legacy and career trajectories of Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, an insightful examination of the pivotal 50's SF film "Invaders from Mars" and a lengthy addendum on a previously published article on "Vampires in the Cinema". All these pieces are well researched and written, comprehensively illustrated with numerous photos.
Photon 21

As excellent an issue as 21 is, number 23 features some of the most informative and erudite treatments on the topics discussed. In pride of place, probably one of THE best retrospectives on the often misunderstood body of work of Tod Browning ("London After Midnight", "Dracula", "Freaks" et al.), as well as an insightful and informative piece on the development and making of "Freaks", a film that still continues to shock and amaze, revolt and fascinate, and have an ongoing impact on popular culture today... ("Gooble gabble, gooble gabble - we accept you, one of us!"). It should also be noted that despite the title, this is the first cinematic venture to treat the disabled as having the same feelings, emotions, wants, needs and desires as so called "normal" people. Rounding out the issue is a detailed examination of one of the best (and again over-looked) films of the Universal horror cycle of the 1930's - James Whale's "The Invisible Man". Given the recent resurgence of interest in Whale's career (and personal life), this article offers insight on the film that bridges his works between "Frankenstein" and "Bride of Frankenstein". Again profusely illustrated by many rare photos. Solid stuff.
Photon 23

Issue 24 is the ultra-nifty 10th Anniversary issue and features a retrospective on John Brahm's rarely seen werewolf film of the 1940's "The Undying Monster", a HUGE piece on "2001", a Lon Chaney Jr. obituary by Forry Ackerman, an insightful consideration on "The Auteur in Science Fiction Films" and an absolutely AMAZING article on Italian meastro Dario Argento, again illustrated by many rare behind the scenes photos - as this piece comes pre-"Suspiria", it is oddly prescient. Plus an accompanying piece by his long-time close collaborator Luigi Cozzi is to die for!
Photon 24

Wrapping it up is Number 26, which has a detailed examination on Mario Bava's body of work, interviews with Jack Arnold, Roger Corman and Herman Cohen, another great piece on "Phantom of the Paradise" including a special panel discussion by the stars of the film, and a comprehensive evaluation of Jaques Tourneur's "Curse of the Demon". Trust me, there's even more in these 4 issues - sharp and perceptive reviews (including some by John Carpenter!), some gag articles (One-Shot One-Sheets being my fave) and letters from fans and pros alike.
Photon 26

But "What's with the fanzines, Mr. Hyper?" I hear you say. Well, I have chosen to do a bunch of these for a couple of reasons, but mainly because I'm scratching around to find items that are not readily available in the torrent-verse.
Give it a week or two though, I'm pretty sure these will get grabbed, ripped and seeded by some joker..... it's no skin off my ass. I'm getting philosophical over this. Really, as long as it gets out there, I'm not to bothered. I could watermark them or something, but that seems to be like writing on the pages with a crayon, something I would not do, literally or metaphorically.
Also, I miss 'em. Reading is something I love (Ya think?), and reading one of these from cover to cover would take many, many hours. Time well spent if you ask me. Off the top of my head, all I can think of to compare in recent years is "Psychotronic", "Scarlet Street" or "Filmfax" (and the sorely missed "Outre"), which still carry (or carried) the torch, but these old 'zines had virtually no ads, and were done for love of the genre. Nothing is finer than a labor of love, whether it's an old fanzine, a garage band, a mini-comic, an indy film, or indeed this enterprise here. 'Nuff Said!

Sorry, no rant today. I'm guessing that would be a good or bad thing, depending on your perspective, but hey - at least the posts are getting a little bit more regular (and bigger too)! OK, I guess we'll return soon-ish with more 4 color fun, as it seems you folks seem to like the funny books more than my off-trail exercises into OTR, fanzines and other stuff.
*sigh*
Seems that I am fated to be known as "a comic-book guy" in the compu-tronic blog-o-sphere, for better or worse, despite my feeble efforts to broaden my scope into other arenas. Kind of a shame really, as I feel I'm an auto-didactic polymath (google that one up kids), and as the old song goes, "Don't Fence Me In". Can't blame a fellow for trying to re-shuffle the deck now and again, now can you? Still, I guess you have to play the cards as they're dealt to you - it's better than nuthin' I s'pose. Oh well.....

In closing, I hope you are all happy and healthy this Easter weekend, and all the ever-expanding craziness in the world hasn't got you down too much....
Just remember these 3 important rules -
1)Be yourself.
2)Don't freak out!
3)Surf that wave.

¡Aye Caramba! Yet another late night with a hot scanner! Sheeesh!

PS. To "The Quiet Man" regarding that Bernard Bailey info and quote... i've waded through the datajunkie archive and still can't find the damn article - possibly printed in an issue of Alter Ego from the last two years is the best I can do, but I am still looking though!

PPS. For any and all requesting re-posts (mainly of Charlton stuff), I'll do what I can, but why not try seeing what google can do for you (while I'm off doing whatever it is I'm doing). There's A LOT out there on the inter-web these days if you just take the time to have a serious look! Honest!

Phanzine Phun!

2009-04-09T19:48:00.000-07:00

Well yes, once again I find myself embroiled in the day to day world, and have not had the time to put aside for the old blog-a-rooney, buy hey, here I am now, so don't be too hard on the old Mr. Hyper. But first.... the rant!

So, before we get to today's tasty morsel, I want to have a quick word about pirates (turns to camera 3 for a quiet, off-the-cuff, intimate bit with audience, as per Jon Stewart). Between those madcap fun-loving scalawags zipping around off the coast off Somalia, the absolute deluge of torrents (which make up the majority of Internet traffic today), and of course "Tales of the Black Freighter", we seem to be entering a 21st century renaissance of piracy, in one form or another. I don't know what these means, except that as a species of knuckle-dragging mouth-breathing killer apes (with iPhones), we also seem to be a pack of thieving ne'er-do-well animals to boot. It seems that if it's not nailed down or on fire, it's up for grabs. So here we are in the bright shiny future, and we still can't seem keep our hand away from other peoples pockets, groping for their loose change. "I'm all right Jack, f*ck you, it's every crumb for himself" seems to be the M.O. (that's modus operandi [mode of operation in Latin] for those of you who don't read crime fiction) of every man and his dog. Now I know what you're thinking..... that I can be a wee bit of a dodgy bastard on the odd occasion. I know I've crossed the line with some of the things I've posted, and I may be wrong, but there is to my mind a fine, but discernible, line between bending the rules here and there and breaking them into little itsy bitsy teeny weeny pieces.... and then jumping up and down on the pieces until there's nothing left but air. But who am I to judge, eh? I'm just a guy. However, it does tickle my funny bone that as we move into the 21st century, we seem to be moving, in some weird way, backwards in time. Or maybe piracy never really went away in the first place, just got given some newer, less scary names for the sake of the industrial era... colonialism, economic exploitation, and so on.....

OK, that's more than enough of that one, let's move on to the fanzine fun shall we? Now I love fanzines, and that's the simple truth of the matter. Back in the day, I would sit for hours reading these things adoringly (and even did a few myself), and my introduction to these came from my old high school chum, Mr. Desmond Mangan (in my opinion, the MST3000 guys owe him a debt of gratitude and a substantial cash settlement if you ask me, but that's neither here nor there). Anyway, Des turned me on to horror movie fanzines (and Hammer films and a whole lot of other coolness as well), and in my teenage years the big faves were Gore Creatures, Cinefantastique (before it turned to crap), Little Shop of Horrors and Photon. Here we have Photon #20 from 1970, which features some excellent articles on zombies in the cinema, a "White Zombie" film book (a la Famous Monsters), a study of Wax Museum movies, a thoughtful piece on why science fiction movies will never be as good or as meaningful as science fiction books, a brief Lon Chaney Jr interview as well as some nice interior illustrations by some Richard Corben guy.... I wonder whatever happened to him anyway... the kid looks like he has some talent!

Photon 20

Like so many other things, the Internet has pretty much made the fanzine an obsolete item, having been replaced by "push-button publishing" AKA the blog (such as this one for example). I can't help but feel that DEVO were right (and Darwin was not-so-right), as people start to contemplate using Twitter to do movie reviews. A movie review in 140 characters? Where I come from (the land of OZ, err... Australia) a twit is another word for moron, numb skull, chowder-head, bozo, dingbat.... in short a total f*ck-knuckle. Verbose curmudgeon that I am, I can barely complete a sentence using 140 characters. But seriously, where's the eloquence? Where's the poetry? English can be one of the most beautiful, dynamic and moving languages in the world, when used with care and passion. What can you do with the SMS equivalent of a postcard? Sweet F. A. So everything devolves into some half-assed "Having a wonderful time, wish you were here" re-dux? Give me a f*cking break! As far as I can tell, nobody with anything meaningful to say can do jack shit with 140 characters. Fellini couldn't even make a movie with less than 140 characters, so there! Yep, that's us over there by the cement mixer, a pack of thieving bastards that can't even finish a f*cking sentence - and with computers yet! Boy oh boy, we are so f*cking f*cked!

Cue sound FX: Voice of HAL 9000 - "Now Dave, why don't you take a stress pill and we'll talk about this". "No thanks you computerized weasel" I reply "I'll be just fine once I lobotomize you, you binary-brained bastard! Now, once I get my screwdriver, you're screwed!"

Whoops, I guess that qualifies as a special-extra-bonus rant, just for fun! Hope you had as much fun reading it as I had writing it!

Anyway, this one's for you Des, where-ever you are old pal of my youth, hope you're doing well and still loving these creaky old bits of pop-culture madness as much as I do!

Be seeing you!

Like, uh.... Science Fiction Double Feature!

2009-03-27T12:55:00.000-07:00

They just don't make 'em like that anymore -

I've touched on the funnybook film adaption sub-genre before, but recently I came across these two gems that just exemplify how truly wonderful they could be. You take a excellent film, mix in a master of comic book art and viola: magic!
"The Time Machine" as re-imagined by Alex Toth and "Fantastic Voyage" by Wally Wood and Dan Adkins. What's not to like? I had both these books as a kid, so they hold a special place for me. Of course the movie adaption has gone the way of the dodo, the whalebone corset and the dinosaur. They may be a relic of the past, but I sure do miss 'em. Of course, things are completely reversed now to the point that where we once had comic book adaptations of popular films, we now have movie adaptations of popular comic books. Who knew? Well me actually, but that and $2.00 might get me a cup of coffee, so who cares, right?

The Time Machine

Fantastic Voyage

As I have said before they just don't make 'em like that anymore.... In this age of on-demand media everything, nothing is special. Anticipation seems to be a dying phenomena, and where is that feeling that once was so sweet? We want it, and we want it NOW! Which is more than a little bit sad. It's kind of like when as a kid, the circus would come to town. It happened two or three times a year, and all the kids would get exited. It brought us together in a shared experience, something we have lost as we now set our own schedules and do our own things when, where and how it suits us. Something is gained, but something else is lost - in a way, it's like a household that no longer eats the evening meal together. We live together, but we are alone. We see each other, but we might as well be on another planet from our kindred spirits. Why talk when you can twitter? As we flit from here to there in our personalized media bubbles, we are of the world, but not in it. When I see some fool strolling down the street, earbuds in, sunglasses on, their mouth wrapped around a cigarette or straw or some other surrogate teat , I can't help but think about the sequence from Ken Russell's film "Tommy", where new arrivals at the holiday camp get their "deaf, dumb and blind" kits that block out all exterior signals. Walking down the street, fully retreated back to the security of the womb. What a waste.

So, that's my little gripe for the day. Me, i'm gonna get out and enjoy the sunshine, and try and make an effort to smile and poeple i'll never know on the street, start a conversation or two with a total stranger and otherwise be a part of the human race.
Me? I love movie comics, I love anticipation, and suspense, a sense of shared experiences that draws me closer to my fellow man..... and oh yeah, I sure play mean pinball too..... finding one's the hard part!

Sounds for spies and Dangerous Guys!

2009-03-26T12:42:00.000-07:00

Welcome once again to Hyper Dave's discount brain emporium! Here's a little bit of an experiment: i'm going to dip my toe in the waters of vinyl sharity. Think of this as a tip 'o' the lid to the late Patrick McGoohan, who passed away not so long ago.

Now (as you may or may not know), i'm a big fan of "the Prisoner" and it's pre-cursor "Danger Man", or "Secret Agent" as it was titled in the US market.
As much as I love Mr "shaken-not-stirred" Bond, James Bond, Those Men from U.N.C.L.E and all those other slick spy-guys from the swingin' 60's, my preference has always been towards a more "realistic" portrayal of the grim espionage business - Harry Palmer, Callan and the king of the hill, John Drake. As portrayed by Patrick McGoohan, Drake was ALL work and NO play, who was often played for a sucker by his handlers and also allowed his conscience, not his orders, to be his guide. This aspect of the character continues from "Danger Man" to become a major part "The Prisoner", it's quasi-sequel.

There are a lot of things to like about "Danger Man". One of the many distinctive and memorable features of the show was the musical score by Edwin Astley, which heavily featured the harpsichord and some very, very idiosyncratic "cool jazz" arrangements, ultra-heavy on the bongoes, making it on of the more memorable TV scores of the 1960's. I tried my best to add a whole bunch of material to the original LP (some scrounged from the internet), and I hope you'll enjoy them, including alternate covers of the "Danger Man" theme by other artists, a couple of songs featured in the show and some goodies from "The Prisoner" as well. Be seeing you.....

Secret agent, Man!

Oh yeah, there is this too.....

Mr Hyper's got some splainin' to do!

2009-03-15T10:33:00.000-07:00

Sound FX - Cue drum roll.

...aaaand we're back!

OK, that's not gonna work this time. Let's drop the glib facade a notch or three and get honest here. Let's just say that I needed to prioritize aspects of my life, and to be frank, blogging had become a chore, a drudge, a burden that I didn't feel like carrying for a while. Also, I became tempted to make some political commentary about the upcoming election at that time (and a certain Governor from Alaska who shall remain nameless), and while my leanings in that arena are pretty obvious to anyone with half a brain, I had promised myself when I started this many years ago that I would avoid the always contentious issues of religion and politics. I get myself in enough bother without stirring things up with the two major hot-button topics of the planet. The only issues we're covering here are back issues. Well, perhaps that's a simplification, but you get my drift.

While we've been apart (and yes, i've missed you too!) a whole mess of stuff has gone down, and I have chosen those words with surgical precision. Yes it's a mess, and yes things have gone down, most notably the world economy. There are some positive aspects though, and i'm sure you know what I mean. Bernie's goin' to the slammer, my pessimism about how the election would turn out as unwarranted and gas prices are WAAAY down. As David Byrne once said, "There's good points, and bad points, but it all works out, some times I have a little freak-out..." In fact I may be having one right now. As may you.

The grim fact is that the world is changing rapidly and forever. Where things are going... well, who can say? Not me, not today. 2009 will be about survival, make or break. As Hunter S. Thompson said, "When the going gets weird, the weird get going". Change is opportunity, and radical change would raise the ceiling of those opportunities to almost unlimited. The old saw about "The more things change, the more they stay the same" may just not hold true any more. I think so, but beyond that i'm at a loss, today anyway.

But what about your genial host? While I took a time out from blogging I have been busy, and i'll fill you in on all that in the coming weeks. One thing I got some opportunity to enjoy was actually surfing the web. Strange as it may sound, I had little energy for that after uploading files, blogging, checking html and comments, add in the usual round of emails, my myspace and or facebook and so on.
Plus there is the house rule - no non-specific internet use after sundown. Next thing you know it's 3.00 AM and what the heck was I doing for the last 6 hours. All that porn's not going anywhere you know. Whoops, new topic eh?

Oh yeah. As a sidebar, we do have some new house rules here at the casa del hyper -

- don't get lippy and talk back to a mugger. Bad idea. Doesn't play out well.
- don't check your ex's social networking page "just to see how she's doing". Really bad idea. My head's messed up enough as it is in that regard.
- don't eat a steaming hot bowl of tasty seafood bisque while at the computer keyboard. Really messy bad idea. Cha-ching! One new keyboard later.....

Of late, I have been able to spend more time surfing the internet, which has been very enjoyable, as there's a lot of cool stuff out there now, lots more than was previously available - quality varies, but some people really take pride in their work, so good scans, encodes and rips abound. And don't even get me started on torrenting. WHEW!
But in the surfing of the inernet, I came to an unavoidable line of thinking that kinda rocked me to my sox-

"Mother of Mercy is the ol' datajunkie obsolete?" Me and Romney Wordsworth, saimese twins joined at the shoelace.

This is a heavy question i've been reflecting on lately.
As I DO want to continue doing something LIKE this, I am confronted with a dilemma. Let's look at the numbers, shall we?

Between the whole torrent phenomena (destined to mushroom as belts tighten globally), the proliferation of blogs like this one (and the ever-expanding audio sharity continuum) not to forget the many excellent sites like archive.org, goldenagescomics.co.uk, the triumphant return of The Zombie Astronaut and more, I cannot help but think that i've done my usual "canary in the coalmine" thing once again, and other people have picked upon and expanded/refined/adapted & adopted/embraced the possibilities that I did when I first happened on them so many years ago on the web - transmitting/sharing public domain OTR, scans of old paper and digitized downloadable public domain comics etc. [i must confess here that my original inspiration was sciencemonster.net and Gwangi's late lamented OTR blog, so it's not like I actually thought it up or anything].

So, has the ol' datajunkie man become, like those stinky little books and crackly recordings and other things he loves so much, "A Relic of The Empire"? Let's consider -

We'll get to the other elements in a bit, so let's just stick to the comics - it seems most comics available on the internet are formatted as cbz's or cbr's. i liked the pdf for a number of reasons: security [it's really difficult to put malware etc in a pdf], stability, versatility and so on. However, I can't help but wondering if the pdf is the betamax of digital comics. Plus, there seems to be security issues with the pdf's now. Nice one Adobe! Time will tell, but I feel I may have backed the wrong horse. Please do me know what you think about the format - pdf or cbz? Don't say both or i'll throw you down the stairs (that's a Donald E. Westlake line, by the way).

So, to sum it up on the negative side of things, i've probably picked the wrong format and there's a lot of sites where you can get a lot of things i've posted and a truckload more. Sure, i've got some things to be proud about by way of exculsiveity - the Lucky Mojo/Valmor catalog, the Skywald and Myron Fass magazines, that cool Pussycat magazine, El Guardian Invisible, Kurtzman's "Lucky" V.D. strip with the "Ignorant Cowboy" track zipped in, collecting all those Kirby "Prisoner" pages from various issues of TJKQ into a pdf... plus my head-on charge at Tower, Charlton (DITKO baby!), Captain Action and of course my fetish for Atlas Comics of the 70's.... these are solid accomplishments, but I can't help but thinking there's a whole bunch of people better equipped and/or motivated than yours truly to continue in the task of digitizing all the old paper in the world as we create a vast cross-indexed database of like, everything (which seems to me to be what is happening, and yes, i'm expecting that Vogon contructor fleet any day now). I think I may have done my share.

With regards to the old time radio, there's still a lot of it out there, but with bandwidth and computer speeds being what they are, with whole movies are downloadable in less time than it takes to make dinner, the OTR is not the thing it once was on the internet. My download stats prove this, so there. The ratio of downloads is about 10 to 1, comics to radio.
I like it, but some of these encodes are 10 years old and rather crunchy by todays' standards. So let me know what you think about the audio postings...

So then, there's lots of (or at least more than a few) people out there doing aspects of what I was trying to do, often better, and with more regularity.

If that's the case, what's so special about me now that you can get pretty much some of the same material (sometimes it's even my scans!), or similar, in a variety of locations, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. This will grow as more media gets digitally preserved/encoded. Maybe I should just pack it in.

But maybe not. Upon closer examination, i've got some concerns with a lot of what's out there, that possibly things get left out with some of presentations.

While the content is presented (in varying degrees of competency: remember kids, scan those comic pages at 1200 pixels wide or more!), there seems to be something lacking...

This brings me to the final point - in the ultimate analysis, it all comes down to stink. Or should I say my "stink". One of the key elements of "datajunkie" is the ongoing commitment to text: meta-text, sub-text, context and of course me babbling on and on with lots of text. While many of the sites and blogs I see are more than admirable, they seem to fail to grapple with any of the material presented in a real context and providing any kind on analysis, superficial or deep. Most seem to degenerate into a prefunctory show-and-tell excercise, of which I must confess to using as a fall-back position all too often. So, it would seem that i'll have to be writing more and doing the old sharity "here-it is gotta-go" routine less. Which is a pity, because it IS an easy out.
So I guess we'll be having more analysis and insightful commentary rather than just presenting stuff for the sake of sharing. I mean, I should grapple with the WHY of it's importance, other than just for a cheap laugh or the "gee-whiz that's cool" factor.
Sure this stuff is cool, or weird, or funky, but they almost always show us something about the time and culture that generated them. Which in turn, informs us about ourselves and the human condition, life, the universe and everything.
Really.
I think that I can infer a LOT MORE about a culture and society by it's trashiest form of disposable culture than it's "fine" art or "high" culture. You just have to know how to interpret it. Maybe i'm getting a little "John Berger/Joseph Campbell" with all this - deconstructing Pre-Code Crime comics or Italian zombie movies or whatever it may be, for what they tell us about their time and the people that lived in them. You'll learn more about the 1950's from a comic book than a history book. You may disagree, but hey, that's my riff and i'm sticking with it.

So we'll just carry on then, shall we? Openly resist change, that's me. You know that i'm all about the old school.

So to be boring and state my problem as clearly as possible - WTF am I doing here, EXACTLY? You tell me, because I can't seem to get a handle on it. And it's got to be more than just show-and-tell, that's fer sure. Should I just give way to my worst impulses and wollow in my obsessions in such a public arena? The fact that everyone else is doing it means less than nothing to me. On the other hand, I also get the feeling that there is hardly anyone receiving these broadcasts anyway... another short-wave radio message the last man on Earth.... which is a pity, because your humble host feels he has a unique perspective, due to the unrelenting strangeness of my bizarre experiences and my debatable super-power as a magnet for the weird and strange. This of course may be because I am somewhat weird and strange.

I will admit that I can see virtually no difference between the body of work of two dis-separate creative individuals like Wally Wood and Brian Eno, and the laundry-list cataloging of most of the material on popular culture seems to show most commentators on popular culture seem to be more at home dwelling in the microcosm, looking at things through the microscope. Me, i'm out in the laboratory carpark looking in the trash can like some low-rent P.I. Blessing or curse, for me, there is no edge, there are no real categories. The labels eventually fall off the jars. It's all one thing. It's all us, acting out in whatever arena calls to us, whatever opens the flower of our heart. Gee, ain't that purty.

Part of me wants to call it a day, and take the easy way out, but I can't help it sometimes. This wonky crap gets me hot (on an intellectual level at least) and I can't help but want to share my enthusiasm, my insights, my perspective. I must also add that there is a certain satisfaction in executing the whole digital preservation process from start finish, from the acquisition or selection of the item through scanning and processing into the final uploading and posting. It's really not the same as torrenting a bunch of stuff and plonking on a blog.
I have been tempted by the ease of just re-presenting wholesale other peoples material, without any re-working whatsoever, but to my way of thinking that's just "not cricket". One has to put one's own spin on it, at least, if I can labor the cricket thing just a bit more.

So then, perhaps the question isn't "WTF am I doing here?", but perhaps, "How did I get here in the first place?" (which then begs the even more existential questions: "Who am I?" and or course "Where are we?" ).
this, however is just like picking at a loose garment thread... next thing you know, you've unravelled the whole shebang. Maybe i'm just being too critical. One suffers from enough identity slippage as it is. Some days I feel like the punchy boxer in the old Warner Brothers cartoons -'Duuuh, i'm makin' a come-back". Sheeesh!

Often I have to forcibly remind myself (with a metaphorical hat-pin) that i'm not in the business of building houses, more like making bricks. And if you have to ask me what that means, i'm going to have to remind you about the stairs again. You wouldn't be here reading this if you didn't have a brain, so use it.

But at this point i'm open to advice (or criticism for that matter), so help a brother out and drop me a line, bouquets or brickbats, don't bother me none. Should I broaden my scope, or just stick to my guns and press on regardless?

So there you have it. Normal(!?!) transmissions will resume shortly. And remember, it's OK.... i'm from the internet, i'm here to help. Now everybody just lie down on the floor and keep calm.

PS. Saw "Watchmen", give it an 8. Some stuff left out, can see why. Will go and see it again (IMAX this time). OK, i'll stop talking like a nutjob in a pork-pie hat. At least they got my man Rorschach right. The perfect mix of Travis Bickle meets Mr A.....
At least when people ask me who I would be if I was a superhero and I say Rorschach they'll dial it down a bit with the wise-guy comments. I mean to say, if you're going to be a crazed vigilante, be a CRAZED vigilante. Go for the gusto! Human "bean juice" indeed! Hey, it's a great adaption, and among many things done right, they kept the opening monologue (one of my favorite moments by Mr Alan Moore) pretty straight on - "Dog carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. This city is afraid of me. I have seen it's true face. The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown". Warms my heart (just kidding folks).

PPS. Here's the first of many overdue Halloween 2008 posts, a nice collection of Pre-Code horror strips reproduced from line-art from various places, hither and yon.. This leads off with the vastly under-rated Howard Nostrand's amazing Will Eisner meets Franz Kafka tour-de-force. With lines like "He put his grimy fingernails to his mouth, sweat beads formed on his inky brow. Fear... cold and absolute... choked him, knotting his throat in an unconsuming ball", this is existential horror at it's best! Also you'll find Bob Powell's notorious "Colorama" (OK, so here it's presented here in black and white, that's how we roll 'round here - ass-backwards and McLovin' it), an amazing strip where you are the camera, so to speak. While many of you are well aquinted with this strip, for those of you reading it for the first time, I envy you the experience of the discovery of this strip, and Powell's almost storyboard-like POV frame by frame execution. There's more excellent strips by Joe Kubert, Dick Ayers and more Nostrand and Powell. My main point in compiling and presenting this was to point out (and de-bunk) the myth that E.C. was the only producer of intelligent horror during the "Horror Boom" of the 1950's. The contents of this pdf shows that more eloquently than I can express at any length..... and some lazy son-of-a-gun will probably download it, rip it apart and turn it into a .cbz file and have it torrented up and/or up on their blog by Monday morning. Who cares man... I originate, they imitate and this you can appreciate.

Super Tardy Halloween Special

PPPS. Here's a clip of my old band from Australia. Who's that handsome fellow on the bass? Must be me! Seems like a lifetime ago..... *sigh*

So as we part (this time for just a few days, not half a year, give or take) I will leave you with the words of the immortal Gary Glitter -
"So did you miss me? When I was away? When I was away for so long...
Did you miss me? When I was away? I know you couldn't see me at all. I know you couldn't see me at all...
Hello! Hello! It's good to be back, it's good to be back....... Hello! Hello! Hello!"

More "What's up now with the what's up now?" soonest my little lovelies....

Just a quick note.....

2008-11-07T13:20:00.000-08:00

No, I didn't get hit by a bus (although in this town that is a frighteningly high possiblity... just google up "MUNI hits pedestrian" and you'll see what I mean).
First and fore-most I can only say that while my little corner of the internet is mostly about those "stinky little books" otherwise known as comics with a dash of other low-rent elements of pop-culture, some of that "Life, The Universe and Everything" stuff kinda bleeds through. Therefore the inverse should also be true, and this is the case in recent weeks, between backing up all my data (400+ gigs and counting folks), getting the band back together (more on that soon) and a host of other stuff, I have not had the time, energy or indeed, inclination to put in the time blog-wise that this (and you) richly deserves.
As strange as it sounds, I would rather do nothing than continue this disturbing trend of what I can only call "Hit-And-Run Blogging", that is to say a cool post with some great artifact to share, ut me making some lame excuse for having nothing of real value to say about it. There have been some occasions in the last few months where I didn't even have the energy to make a solid pun. Very sad.
So, you'll have to excuse my elliptical and random oscillation, but i'm fine, happy healthy and all that, just finding myself being pulled in a lot odf directions. It would come as no surprise that something has to give, and unfortunately this was one of them.
Oh dear, how sad, never mind.
The good news is, I have a whole bunch of Halloween themed posts lined up, and they're way to good to sit on, so until further notice every day is Halloween!

Mars Attacks Devilina!

2008-10-17T13:06:00.000-07:00

What a great selection of Mars Attacks! graphics that is! Sometimes I even impress myself!
Plus, you also get this ULTRA-TRASHY Atlas mag!
I guess I just rock harder than Spock!
And with that i'm done for the week!
See you Monday!

Devilina 2

Horror Stars on OTR Part 2! [Re-Post, but whatcha gonna do...]

2008-10-14T06:55:00.000-07:00

And for those of you who cried "Encore!" - here it is! If you are like me (there's a scary thought right there!), we all love to see the old Horror stars of the golden years of Hollywood strut their stuff and do their thang - so their radio performances are indeed an undiscovered treasure trove of more portrayals of murderers and madmen. Unfortunately, the same issues that haunted Bela Lugosi, and possible dificulties with working with him as PERCIEVED by the entertainment industry (ie the RUMOUR that Bela had a less than perfect grasp of English and was a hassle to work with) means that his radio performances seem to be few indeed.... so that's all we gots for ol' Bela, but we still have more stuff from Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, Vincent Price, John Carradine, and some-one not mentioned till now, Basil Rathbone. Allthough not stereo-typed as a "heavy" like the others mentioned (I must say that Vincent Prices' roles were much more diverse in the earlier part of his career, often as a heroic leading man - he was the best known radio version of "The Saint" after all), Basil Rathbone did play Wolf Frankenstein in "Son of Frankenstein" with Boris as well as tons of performances as Sherlock Holmes with Nigel Bruce on the screen AND radio and LOTS more cool stuff besides. So as i've said before, i'll watch ANYTHING with any of these actors, and i'll pretty much listen to any of their radio performances too. Here's another bunch of radio shows as a zip file on the Holloweenie tip -

Hollywood Playhouse starring Vincent Price as a bullfighter(!) in "Hour of Truth".

Vincent Price more true to form as a complete homicidal nutter in Hollywood Star Times' adaption of that classic meller, "The Lodger".

Plus Vincent in the EXCELLENT Suspense episode about ham actors (...oh yeah!) - "Rave Notice" from 1958!

John Carradine on the Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis Show!

John Carradine on an episode of the quiz program "Information Please" .

Basil Rathbone in the weird-oh TALES of FATIMA - "Time to Kill".

Boris Karloff(!) on SPOTLIGHT REVIEW with Spike Jones & the City Slickers.

More Boris on INNER SANCTUM in "Corridor of Doom", plus an episode of "Philco Radio" with him too!

Peter Lorre in a gem from "Mystery in the Air" - "The Queen of Spades" and also another ripping yarn from the same series - "Beyond Good and Evil".

PlusPeter Lorre on the Bob Hope Show from 1947 with a very funny "Inner Sanctum" parody by the two.

Peter Lorre in the May 25 1941 episode of INNER SANCTUM "Death is a Joker".

Horror Stars on OTR Part 2

Shocktoberfest Double Whammy!

2008-10-13T09:46:00.000-07:00

Wrapping it up on the new Skywald aquisitions... This issue has more than it's share of reprints, but they're all good, so who's complaining!

Nightmare 21

Plus -
You ALSO get a fab collection of radio trailers including such monster classics as The Blob, Caltiki The Immortal Monster, It Conquered The World, Monster From Green Hell, Yog, Ghidrah, Godzilla, Atragon, King Kong Escapes as well as Blaxsploitation masterpieces such as Shaft, J.D.s' Revenge, Sugar Hill, Cleopatra Jones, Black Ceasar, Dr Black & Mr Hyde, Coffy, Blacula, Scream Blacula Scream, The Thing With Two Heads, The Mack.... AS WELL AS a weird assortent of primo psychotronic trailers such as Psych-Out, Death Race 2000, Swinging Swappers, The Child, A Man Could Get Killed, Up, Mustang, Night of The Lepus, Locker Room Girls and more!

Just the thing to turn your music player into a simulation of some kind of crappy retro radio station!

Radio ads

PS. I also fixed the bad HTL on the last post. Sorry 'bout that chief!

The Phantom Stranger

2008-10-11T14:10:00.000-07:00

The sad thing is, after scanning and collating and running the files the Ye Olde Photoshoppe I find myself with no energy to make with the blah-blah-blah!
Some may think this is a good thing (or not), but that's where we are today. Enjoy!

Phantom Stranger 7

Phantom Stranger 8

Phantom Stranger 9

Phantom Stranger 14

Phantom Stranger 26

PS. Fass comin' up soon-ish.... OK!

H. P. Lovecraft on Old Time Radio [Re-Post]!

2008-10-10T13:43:00.000-07:00

Poor old H. P. Lovecraft. Unlike Poe, he has not fared too well in translation. His stories, with a few exceptions, really just don't translate well into other media. Which is a pity. Don't get me wrong, "Re-Animator" ROCKS, as does "From Beyond" and "The Haunted Palace" with Vincent Price is pretty darn good too - but something gets lost on the way. On the other extreme, the film version of "The Dunwich Horror", with my man Dean Stockwell, was a little iffy to say the least. Too much of Lovecraft's work depends on the internal monologue of the characters, and of course his prose style. Here is a MUCH better adaption of "The Dunwich Horror" from the Golden Age of Radio, with Ronald Coleman. I really like the way they present the story as a "live" you-are-there-as-it-happens radio broadcast, much as Orson Welles had done years earlier with his notorious War of the Worlds presentation on the Mercury Theatre. So it back, turn out the lights, and listen to....

"SUSPENSE - Nov 11th 1945 - The Dunwich Horror"

Some Ultra-Quick Shocktober-fest Fun!

2008-10-09T12:48:00.000-07:00

Just a quickie today old chums... great art by Joe Orlando and Alden McWilliams (amongst others) in this scare-riffic ish!

True Ghosts 2

Halloween Eye Candy!

2008-10-08T11:41:00.000-07:00

Here's a buch of preliminary cover sketches by Roy G. Krenkel done for Warren in the early 60's.

Pre-Halloween warmup!

2008-10-07T04:31:00.000-07:00

No time to chat, and as much as I hate to blog and run, that's exactly what i'm gonna do. Here's some spooky stuff to usher in our annual Halloween fright-fest here at Castle Datajunkie!

Scream 6

Plus - our supporting feature!

One Very Cool LP

SF 4 Me...SEE!

2008-10-04T10:13:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I wish I was Robby the Robot. Things would be so much simpler....

See, I wish I could look that cool....

"....and the ice-cubes come out here."

I can't help but feel there's some deep Freudian overtones to these pix with Anne Francis though...
Anyway, here he is, my brother from another mother, in "Forbidden Planet" - the radio version from Australia(!?!).
"Forbidden Planet"!

Plus, what the hell... here's a nice Charlton SF book to sweeten the mix!
Enjoy!

Space Adventures #5

Once Again, I'm The King Of Ooops!

2008-10-02T13:25:00.000-07:00

When I was doing my big post on these guys -

I somehow forgot this -

So, here it is!

Peacemaker 5

Also, thanks to datajunkie brain-trust member Lamont who wisely informs us - "He's Sparkman,from United Features Sparkler Comics".

Of course he is!

More TV Fun!

2008-10-01T15:49:00.000-07:00

OK - first up, I had to pull the "Dear Lonely Hearts" post as the file seems to be corrupted. I'll repost it later in the week - my apologies to all who downloaded it.
Now that we've got that out of the way, let's have some more TV comic fun!
As a kid, I grew up with three types of comics, American, British and Australian (and not too many of those - hah!). For those of you unfamiliar with the U.K. weekly comics, here's two consecutive issues of TV Tornado featuring a bevy of 1960's boob-tube characters plus Magnus Robot Fighter!

TV Tornado 22

TV Tornado 23

PS. Longtime datajunkie fan P-E Fronning has posed us a puzzler -

"I need help identifying a superhero. I recently found out that there was a comic fan and amateur (in every sense) sculptor here in Sweden who has, during the last 50 years, created a sculpture park with all types of comic characters. I've only seen a couple of photos from there and one of those shows a sculpture of a superhero character that I've never seen before. On the base of the sculpture reads "Atom Mannen" which would in English be "The Atom Man".

However he doesn't look anything like any of the atom men I've seen. Of course sometimes names aren't translated directly so he might be called something completely different. Now, it must be said that it's not certain he is American, perhaps he's even Swedish but it's not likely. I would appreciate if you'd have quick a look 'cause if someone would know it would be you. Cheers!"

Well I have NO clue as to who this geezer is... anyone out there know?

The Horror Art Of Dick Ayers!

2008-09-30T11:59:00.000-07:00

Dick Ayres is another one of those journeymen artists who gets short-changed when fans talk of pencillers of note, which is a pity. Most fans probably know him for his inking of Jack Kirby, but I think his "eye-popping" art for Myron Fass (as well as his Pre-Code Western work for Magazine Enterprises and his horror work for Atlas) show how good a penciller/inker he was.
These two issues show that he still had what it takes many years later.
Enjoy!

CAULDRON OF HORROR 3

HAUNTER 1

Just More Needles in the Camel's Eye...

2008-09-27T13:27:00.000-07:00

Where have I been?
What have I been doing?
Well not blogging, that's for sure!
Maybe this will explain....

Brian Eno - Needle in the Camel's Eye

Those who know
They don't let it show
They just give you one long life
And you go, oh oh, oh oh

Goes to show
How winds blow
The weather's fine
And I feel so so-so, so

Birds of prey
With too much to say
Oh what could be my destiny
Another rainy day

Why ask why?
For by the by and by
All mysteries are just more
Needles in the camel's eye

Those who know
They don't let it show
They just give you one long life
And you go, oh oh, oh oh

Why ask why?
For by the by and by
All mysteries are just more
Needles in the camel's eye.

On the other hand, that may explain nothing at all.....

And in other news -

Psycho 21

The weather's fine and I feel so so-so.....

Way-out west!

2008-09-19T12:30:00.000-07:00

Well folks, your old pal Hyper Dave is finally starting to feel like his old self again, but i'm not gonna push my luck. Still takin' it easy with lots of home-made chicken soup and fresh juice sounds pretty good.
Here's some western-style re-post to keep you happy while I get some convalescence, with ads!

Wyatt Earp 65

Flying Saucer Fun!

2008-09-18T13:02:00.000-07:00

Here's some Atom-Age weirdness with some nice Bob Powell art. Mr Hyper's feelin' better, but he's still gonna get in the bed and take it easy just the same. Thanks to anyone who sent me their home-made remedy recipes, but in some cases I feel the cure would be worse than the disease! Maybe i'm an old-fashioned guy, but plenty of fluids and plenty of rest seems to work the best for my tired old bones.....
You kids today.... I dunno....

Vic Torry and his Flying Saucer

Nightmare 14 and 17!

2008-09-17T13:10:00.000-07:00

Art is always informed by, influenced by, and ultimately springs from the environment that creates it. New York in the early 70's was a pretty crazy place... if you don't believe me, get a hold of a copy of "Taxi Driver" and watch it again, viewing the crowd shots and street scenes of Times Square, 42nd St. and such as historical documentary footage. With that in mind (not to mention the political upheaval going on in America at that time) It's easier to understand why the Skywald books were as extreme and nihilistic they were....

Nightmare 14

Nightmare 17

Remember.... it's ONLY a comic-book.... it's ONLY a comic-book.... it's ONLY a comic-book....

No Fun!

2008-09-16T11:59:00.000-07:00

Either i'm coming down with something, or i'm fighting something off, but I slept 12 hours (!?!) last night and my energy level is still too damn low for snappy patter....
Therefore, I have a heavy date with my bed and a large amout of orange juice and chicken soup.

Thankyou and goodnight!

No smart-assed title today!

2008-09-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

Once again I find myself too pooped to come up with snappy patter, witty badinage or groan-inducing puns (which may be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your personal taste). So, while I attempt to re-charge my batteries, please enjoy these... and do feel free to talk amongst yourselves... just make sure it's not about me.

Strange Suspense 75

Space Adventures 9

Space Adventures 10

Space Adventures 11

Headlight Comics 'R' Us!

2008-09-13T13:51:00.000-07:00

Here's something... 13 stories of classic good-girl art! This should keep you busy until I get back on Monday!
Phån†øm Lådy Omn¡ß√§!

No blog for YOU!

2008-09-12T12:53:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I had a rough day at the office dear.
Something tomorrow (I hope!)

TV Time!

2008-09-11T13:30:00.000-07:00

I know there's some great pun or fabulous observation or some kind of "Days of Future Past (or Passed)" thing lurking in here, but it's been a long day and i'm just too pooped to see it.
Suffice it to say that these are two really good comics, with great art and interesting stories. Korg has story and art by the under-rated Pat Boyette, while Nicola Cuti and John Byrne do a swell job with the Gerry Anderson adaption.
Many people seem to have a low opinion of Charlton Comics, but these two books are pretty darn enjoyable (in my humble opinion). Read 'em and see!

Korg-70,000BC #9

Space:1999 #4

WEIRD Adventure!

2008-09-10T12:52:00.000-07:00

The Michael Fleischer / Jim Aparo Spectre is something else again. This short but memorable run in Adventure Comics features a much more vengeful depiction of the character, more consistant with the Golden Age Spectre. Here The Spectre turns crooks into various inanimate objects before dispatching them as "Judge Judy and executioner" as it were. The grim tone was apparently set by EC alumni, Joe Orlando.... who said at the time while recounting the various features he tried in Adventure while editor:
"And then I introduced The Spectre, I had just been mugged in broad daylight on upper Broadway, where I was living at the time. The feeling of helplessness and anger and loss of manhood (my wife was with me at the time). As I watched the two muggers strutting away with my wallet gave me the Walter Mitty idea of fantasy revenge. "That's what i'll do to you bums, i'll bring back The Spectre!". The Spectre will rid the world of the evil vermin that preys on upstanding hard-working middle aged comic book editors."
- Joe Orlando [Amazing World of DC Comics #6 : May '75]
He then goes on to gush about Aquaman (who replaced The Spectre), but statements that Orlando made later, however, showed a somewhat more bitter, cynical and world weary point of view about the series cancellation, and indicated that DC was somewhat uneasy with this new "Blood and Guts" version of "The Spectre" (which is, in reality a return to the characters' roots) and were only too happy to replace him in Adventure with Aquaman: "Something clean, in water" quipped Orlando. Well at least he was replaced entirely, rather than having the character demeaned by the likes of Percival Popp. But for a while there, particularily when it was "Weird Adventure" The Spectre was the most extreme of superhero/vigilantes in comics. Just like the criminals he stalked in the funnybook pages, it seems that DC and the Code were scard of The Spectre... or perhaps just what he represents.

Fleischer (one of the more innovative comic scripters of the time) was well aquainted with the original 1940's stories, and mystery-line editor Joe Orlando was more interested in pushing the horrific aspects of the character. When you add art by Jim Aparo, who was really hitting his stride at DC, this short run seems to have been remembered by many folks, even to the point of DC reprinting the run (in Wrath of The Spectre 1-3) and then having Aparo illustrate 3 scripts completed by Fleischer before the plug got pulled in the 70's.

Since then, The Spectre has kind of bounced around the DC Universe in one form or another, but to me, this 70's incarnation was the character's high point.....

Adventure #431

Adventure #432

Adventure #433

Adventure #434

Adventure #435

Adventure #436

Adventure #437

Adventure #438

Adventure #439 & Adventure #440

Man From Planet X [Re-Post by Request!]

2008-09-09T10:07:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know, i've been the KING of re-post of late (not apart from a couple of weekends off) but what can I tell you? Contrary to the opinion of some, i DO have a life, and a very rich and enjoyable one it is too.
There's some great art in this Fawcett Movie Comic, and the script (by Otto Binder?) actually makes WAY MORE sense than the movie does - which i watched when i was scanning the book way back when... now how's that for devotion!
Man from Planet X!

PS. This one comes from many and diverse materials, so you have my apologies for any "funkiness" with the pdf... it's what i had to work with... OK?

PPS. Tomorrow, i'll finally finish up with THE SPECTRE!

The Horrors of RE-POST!

2008-09-08T09:50:00.000-07:00

Well, I had a busy and productive weekend, and today is my first day off in I don't know how long, so this is all I have for you....

The Clutching Hand 1

Web Of Evil 3

Semper Fi and all that jazz.....

2008-09-05T12:08:00.000-07:00

Fightin' Marines 108

Fightin' Marines 113

Fightin' Marines 114

Fightin' Marines 116

Fightin' Marines 118

War from the "Big C" - with excellent art by the usual suspects, Pat Boyette, Tom Sutton (cover to #116), what looks like an inking job by Wayne Howard, and surpisingly, a cover by Marvel Comics stalwart Dan Adkins (for #118).
Enjoy - just don't forget to keep your head down!

And in the interest of equal time ("The Great Debate" and such) here's a bunch 'o' longhairs with another viewpont!

Tom Lehrer - Send the Marines

When someone makes a move
Of which we don't approve,
Who is it that always intervenes?
U.N. and O.A.S.,
They have their place, I guess,
But first send the Marines!

We'll send them all we've got,
John Wayne and Randolph Scott,
Remember those exciting fighting scenes?
To the shores of Tripoli,
But not to Mississippoli,

What do we do? We send the Marines!
For might makes right,
And till they've seen the light,
They've got to be protected,
All their rights respected,
'Till somebody we like can be elected.

Members of the corps
All hate the thought of war,
They'd rather kill them off by peaceful means.
Stop calling it aggression,
O we hate that expression.
We only want the world to know
That we support the status quo.
They love us everywhere we go,
So when in doubt,
Send the Marines!

Elvis Costello - Oliver's Army

Don't start me talking
I could talk all night
My mind goes sleepwalking
While I'm putting the world to right
Called careers information
Have you got yourself an occupation

Oliver's army is here to stay
Oliver's army are on their way
And I would rather be anywhere else
But here today

There was a checkpoint charlie
He didn't crack a smile
But it's no laughing party
When you've been on the murder mile
Only takes one itchy trigger
One more widow, one less white nigger

Oliver's army is here to stay
Oliver's army are on their way
And I would rather be anywhere else
But here today

Hong Kong is up for grabs
London is full of arabas
We could be in palestine
Overrun by a chinese line
With the boys from the mersey and the thames and the tyne
But there's no danger
It's a professional career
Though it could be arranged
With just a word in Mr. Churchill's ear
If you're out of luck you're out of work
We could send you to johannesburg

Oliver's army is here to stay
Oliver's army are on their way
And I would rather be anywhere else
But here today

And I would rather be anywhere else
But here today
And I would rather be anywhere else
But here today

Midnight Oil - U. S. Forces

U. S. Forces give the nod
It's a setback for your country
Bombs and trenches all in rows
Bombs and threats still ask for more

Divided world the C. I. A.
Who controls the issue?
You leave us with no time to talk
You can write your own assessment

Sing me songs of no denying
Seems to me too many trying
Waiting for the next big thing

Will you know it when you see it
High risk children dogs of war
Now market movements call the shots
Business deals in parking lots
Waiting for the meat of tomorrow

Everyone is too stoned to start emission
People too scared to go to prison
We're unable to make decisions
Political party line don't cross that floor
L. Ron Hubbard can't save your life
Superboy takes a plutonium wife
In the shadows of Ban the Bomb we live

Sing me songs of no denying
Seems to me too many trying
Waiting for the next big thing

Nå†iønål Låmpøøn Strips [Re-Post, By Request]

2008-09-04T07:10:00.000-07:00

Here 'tis -

Deadman

Dragula

Son of God

Tomorrow? Send in the Marines!

G. I. In Battle 2

2008-09-03T05:25:00.000-07:00

Presented as an artifact of it's time, for your edification is G. I. In Battle #2, probably the nastiest Pre-Code comic i've ever laid eyes on. Full of venomous Cold War era propaganda, racial slurs and mindless violence, this chills me to the core more than any over-the-top horror or crime books of the the same time period.
If this offends you - GOOD! If this repulses you - EVEN BETTER! This IS offensive and repulsive and a whole lot more besides.
The fact that Wertham never mentioned WAR comics in SOTI should tell you ALL you need to know about that charlatan....
And they said that I was the one who was crazy....
Sheesh!

G. I. In Battle 2

Tomorrow - DRAGULA suck again!

Eerie Repost & More! [By Request!]

2008-09-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

This issue features for your "enjoyment", an AMAZING gore-fest from "Darling" Dick Ayers (who has stated in print that he enjoyed the work) - "A Corpse for the Coffin", plus the chilling "Thing in the Cellar" by Chic Stone and a choice Pre-Code reprint "The Tiger's Paw" : ".... it was a Voodoo sign and it meant CERTAIN DOOM!"
Witches Tales Aug. '70

The February issue from earlier the same year feature 2 stories by Mr Ayers, in fine form (he was apparently known around the Eerie offices as the "eye-popping artist"!) plus some other nasty work by unfortunately unknown hands. Grim and gritty, we will never see their like again, and yet they are too strange to remain buried!
Witches Tales Feb. '70

But let's not forget the ubiquitious Chic Stone, who was penciling and inking all over the place in the late 60's and 70's - Marvel, Archie, Tower, DC plus magazine and advertising work, you name it, he did it. Plus he did about half a dozen stories for these guys, and Terror Tales from September 1970 features one of his most notorious "The Slimy Mummy".... again - WHO WRITES THIS STUFF? WHAT ARE THEY ON?
This piece of weirdness is backed up with a nice Pre-Code story, "Experiment in Terror". Bizarre, yet thrilling!
Terror Tales Sept. '70

Plus selections from these two of Stanley Morse Horror rags!
Chilling reprints "Creekmore Curse" which features Pre-E.C. art by Al "Stiff-Figures" Feldstein and Shock features reprints from AGC's notorious "Clutching Hand" 1-shot! Eeek!

Chilling Tales June '71

Shock Nov. '69

Coming up tomorrow - one if THE scariest Pre-Code comics i've EVER laid eyes on.... Miss it NOT!

This is your ol' pal, Hyper Dave reminding you that if the future has no future, then tomorrow would be a thing of the past.....

The R∑@l W@tchm∑n!

2008-08-29T04:55:00.000-07:00

BB 1

BB 2

BB 3

BB 4

CA 78

CA 80

CA 82

CA 83

CA 84

CA 87

CA 88

MS 1

TB 1

TB 51

TB 52

TB 54

TB 57

PM 1

PM 2

PM 3

PM 4

In other news [in response to some recent comments], yes what I ran as Space Adventures 57 is in fact issue 52. Minor whoops, but i've been posting truckloads of comics of late, and I finally made a mistake. Oh dear, how sad, never mind.
Some one also said they were having trouble downloading the hyperfileshare links, but they work fine, so I don't know what to say... maybe it's a regional issue, or maybe they can't read the small print... you need to go through two pages before you actually get to the download link... if you can't follow instructions, don't complain to me.. OK?
Also, some one else was asking if the Konga books were related to the Herman Cohen film of the same name... well, since it says "From The Herman Cohen Production" on the cover, i'd be forced to say yes.
Now, a little bit of friendly advice from your old pal Hyper Dave - if you're going to put ANYTHING in writing [not just on the Internet], why not have a wee think about what you're doing first, just so you don't come off looking like an brain-dead air-head. Before anyone takes this personally, let me say that I myself need to heed this advice as much [if not MORE] than anyone else, as i've been known to spring into action without a sensible amount of pre-meditation... "Nuff Said?
Anyway, i'm pooped blog-wise after all this weeks frantic activity, so i'm takin' the weekend off... see you on Tuesday gang!

Oh No! It's A Giant Monster!!

2008-08-28T10:45:00.000-07:00

He's GORGO-riffic!

The first issues of these two titles are reprinted in FANTASTIC GIANTS #1 - Possibly one of the best all-Ditko books you'll ever read.

This was the first book that Steve did after his acrimonious departure from Marvel... a parting of the ways with Stan Lee over "creative differences" regarding certain elements of Spiderman. Just look at these pages below -

Simply amazing!
This 64 page stunner reprints Konga #1 and Gorgo #1 plus 2 short "weirdies" done right after his leaving Marvel! Chip on his shoulder? Could be....
64 pages of Steve Ditko & Joe Gill! This pdf is sooooo big I hadda upload it two parts! Yowza!

Fantastic Giants Part 1
Fantastic Giants Part 2

Gorgo 3

Issue 12 [non-Ditko] features an appearance (guest shot, crossover... hmmm - do monsters "cross-over"?) by "Reptisaurus" (AKA Reptilicus).

Gorgo 12

Steve's back on board with this one... Look Out!

Gorgo 15

Even though Steve Ditko DIDN'T do the artwork on issue 20 it has something great going for it. Pure weirdness.

Lookin' good, Oh Green One!

Gorgo 20

But WAIT! There's MORE!

Gorgo's Revenge

Don't let the cover fool ya, it's pure Ditko inside!

Return of Gorgo 3

Everybody KONGA!

These monster books [Gorgo and Konga] are among the best comics Charlton EVER produced - taking an almost ridiculous format and investing it with more depth than the material deserved.

Konga #4

Konga 5

Konga 8

Konga 9

Another gem by Ditko and Gill as Konga gets shrunk to bite-size....
It's the [incr]edible shrinking Konga!

Konga's Revenge 2

OK, so this isn't by Ditko, but it's still a fun book. Interiors by Montes and Mastroserio, cover by Giordano, script by Joe Gill (I would assume).

Konga's Revenge 3

Some of these are re-posts, but a few are here for the first time. 13 monster books from your old pal, "Hyper" Dave. Share and enjoy!

Coming next... a BIG surprise for all you Charlton fans!
Stay tuned!

¡Viva La Difference Del Charlton!

2008-08-27T08:20:00.000-07:00

Hey cats and kittens, once again it's your old pal Hyper Dave with more stinky old comic books (in the new improved electrical-type format). As usual, i'm pressed for time, so let's get cracking!

This Ditko weirdy was featured as a back up in E-Man...
Think Mr. A on nitrous oxide and you've got it!

Killjoy

'Nuff Said on THIS gem!
Space Adventures 36

These two are pretty schlocky... but we like drek too, right gang?

Unusual Tales 47

Space Adventures 57

Master Of Kung Fu? Who he? Yang ROCKS!
Yang 5

Pat Boyette at his best!
Korg 1

PS. To all that asked me stuff - Vincent Price post coming up soon, also Part 3 of The Spectre, NatLamp re-post in the works, and i'm sorry Vince, but that's all the Bill Ward stuff I have....

Variety IS the spice of LIFE!

2008-08-26T06:58:00.000-07:00

If you don't know by now that I LOVE comic books, then you must have just dropped by for the first time - but let me say this, the current market place does disturb me with it's continuing fixation on the overly muscle-bound "Rock 'em, Sock 'em, Kisses They Never Got" super-dee-dooper type books. Probably 85% of all current US comic books feature some guy or gal in a union suit slugging it out with one or more black hats, dressed in the same kind of togs.

Getting kinda ho-hum if you ask me.....

But this was not the way of it. So without any more gabbing from me, here's a nice mix of NON-Superhero books [some re-posts, some new] to illustrate my point, along with some nice quotes from a bunch of people FAR brainier than I....

Witching Hour 5

Sameness is the mother of disgust, variety the cure.
Petrarca Petrarch
(1304 - 1374)

Land Of The Giants 1

Diversity is not an abnormality but the very reality of our planet. The human world manifests the same reality and will not seek our permission to celebrate itself in the magnificence of its endless varieties. Civility is a sensible attribute in this kind of world we have; narrowness of heart and mind is not.
Chinua Achebe
(1930 - )

Dr. Spektor 2

Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live; it is asking others to live as one wishes to live. And unselfishness is letting other people's lives alone, not interfering with them. Selfishness always aims at uniformity of type. Unselfishness recognizes infinite variety of type as a delightful thing, accepts it, acquiesces in it, enjoys it.
Oscar Wilde
(1854 - 1900)

Al Williamson Sampler

Fact of the matter is, there is no hip world, there is no straight world. There's a world, you see, which has people in it who believe in a variety of different things.
Frank Zappa
(1940 - 1993)

Voyage to the Deep 2

Not on one strand are all life's jewels strung.
William Morris
(1834 – 1896)

Vengeance Squad 2

One country . . . one ideology, one system is not sufficient. It is helpful to have a variety of different approaches . . .
Dalai Lama
(The current Dalai Lama, 14th)

"The Mummy" from MONSTER WORLD 1

Human beings like variety, and they also like partnership... these are scientific values we can point to.
Susie Bright
(1958 - )

Unknown Worlds 36

Variety is more than a means of avoiding boredom, since art is more than an entertainment of the senses.
Rudolf Arnheim
(1904 - 2007)

Space Adventures 57

You just have to keep trying to do good work, and hope that it leads to more good work. I want to look back on my career and be proud of the work, and be proud that I tried everything. Yes, I want to look back and know that I was terrible at a variety of things.
Jon Stewart
(1962 - )

UFO's from Outer Space [Yeah, it's another re-post!]

2008-08-25T08:07:00.000-07:00

That big romance post yesterday kinda wore me out.
This is all I got.
Take it or leave it.

SPACE ADVENTURES #60 [#1]

SPACE ADVENTURES #2

OUTER SPACE #1

Romance-Au-Go-Go!

2008-08-24T10:57:00.000-07:00

I love romance comics... mainly as anthropological artifacts of the social patterns of a far off time....
Also, some of them are pretty darn funny, since they're mostly written by men!
Take some of those Charlton books below... it's a safe bet they were all written by Joe Gill... and when I think of romance, Joe Gill is the first thing that pops into my head.....
Actually - No. I'm being sacastic.
The art, on the other hand, ranges from ghastly (and NOT in a good way) to sublime, for example the Tom Sutton psycheledic cover to I Love You 118, plus outstanding work by Gene Colan, Jay Scott Pike and John Rosenberger.
See? This blog isn't just the boy's club-house after all!

ACG's Romantic Adventure #23

First Love 37

Secret Romances 22

True Life Secrets 23

Secret Romance 11

Just Married 60

Love Diary 49

Hollywood Romances #58

Love Diary #66

Career Girl 56

I Love You 118

Secrets of Young Brides 8

Girls Love 122

Girls Romances 139

Girls Romances 141

Secret Hearts 116

There's 16 of 'em...
They're beautiful...
.... and they're all YOURS!

See you tomorrow, you sappy mush-heads!

Kirby Speak-Out Series / Pussycat #1 [Re-Post]

2008-08-23T12:15:00.000-07:00

"The King" hit DC with his creative juices running, expanding (seemingly) in all directions at once... and in addition to the stellar books seen below, he also did -

The Jack Kirby's Speak-Out Series!

Like this promotional poster did any good against indifferent news-stand distibution.

Excellent art in both these issues!

... and let's not forget those wacky collage pages!

Spirit World

Days of the Mob also has a supernatural theme running through it. Check 'em out!

In The Days Of The Mob

Plus an amazing lil' item with some of the best "Good Girl Art" i've ever seen by Bill Ward, plus there's also selections by Wally Wood, Bill Everett and Jim Mooney in here too! Check out that page below - they certainly don't do 'em like THAT anymore. Yow!

The Adventures of Pussycat #1

Skywald Repost-O-Rama!

2008-08-22T12:22:00.000-07:00

You asked for 'em, and you got 'em!

PSYCHO #4!

PSYCHO #5!

PSYCHO #8!

PSYCHO #9!

PSYCHO 16!

Psycho 17!

PSYCHO ANNUAL 1972!

NIGHTMARE #5!

NIGHTMARE #7

NIGHTMARE #10

NIGHTMARE #12!

NIGHTMARE #15!

NIGHTMARE #16!

NIGHTMARE 19!

NIGHTMARE 1973 Winter Special!

The Green Lama Strikes! [Re-Post]

2008-08-21T10:36:00.000-07:00

A blast from the past... but one of my faves....

OK... OK... gotta hold it together with this one.... let's see now... millionaire playboy Jethro Dumont (hee hee!) battles evil as... The Green Lama (bwah-hah-hah)... the world's foremost (and probably only) Bhuddist crimefighter (bwah-hah-hah-hah-hah!).

Veteran voice actor Paul Frees played The Green Lama and his alter ego Jethro Dumont (a millionaire playboy named Jethro!?!) with more conviction than I can muster...... Look, I gotta finish up quickly before I loose it completely.....

The Green Lama - "The Man Who Never Existed"
The Green Lama - "Million Dollar Chopsticks"
The Green Lama - "The Last Dinosaur"
The Green Lama - "The Perfect Prisoner"

Something that's hopefully NOT re-post tomorrow!

Ditko Atlas Omnibus

2008-08-20T10:22:00.000-07:00

This would be the companion piece to the Jack Kirby one I posted a while back.....

Ditko Atlas Omnibus

Yes, i'm over my PKD phase for the moment, back to the funny pages we go.....

Let's Try This One More Time...

2008-08-20T10:18:00.000-07:00

Chilling, June 1970

Shock, May 1970

Fixed the Gold Key links too...
How 'bout dat!

Still Dicking Around...

2008-08-19T07:15:00.000-07:00

The weirdest thing for me, re-reading a lot of PKD as I am right now, is that many of his books take place in San Francisco, where I live. My apartment's in Dave Holden's neighborhood for heaven's sake. Strange sychronicities occur, let me tell you...
Just as long as I don't see a JohhnyCab or some ad on the side of a bus for the Home Voigt - Kampff Test things will be OK..... the world's pretty Dicke-ed up as it is already.
Now as to the sudden recent upsurge of Hollywood interest in "adapting" his works to the screen, it's really hit or miss...
For every "Blade Runner" or "A Scanner Darkly" we get an "Imposter"
or a "Total Recall"- from the short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale".
Now I hear they're going to try "Ubik".....
I fear the worst.....
But Remember -

You don't know Dick!

2008-08-18T11:58:00.000-07:00

Or maybe you do... either way, you'll enjoy these 3 OTR SF episodes adapted from stories by Philip K Dick.

X Minus 1 - May 22nd 1956 "The Defenders",

I've been looking high and low for this issue of Galaxy for way too long.... and now it's ALL MINE! Bwah-hah-hah!
Sorry, that was most unbecoming of me. So here are the illustrations from the first printing of the story.

Plus these two -

X Minus 1 - October 10th 1956 "Colony",

Exploring Tomorrow - March 12th 1958 "Made In Avak"[aka "Fair Fight"]

More cool PKD audio stuff here and here, and if you think I would enjoy a blog called Infocult you'd probably be right.
And Remember - Wild new UBIK salad dressing, not Italian, not French, but an entirely NEW and different taste treat that's waking up the world! Wake up to UBIK and be wild! Safe when taken as directed.

Horror Stars on OTR

2008-08-18T05:54:00.000-07:00

Well gang, it's your old pal Hyper Dave with a little midnight treat for those of you, like me, who love the old classic Hollywood horror films of the 1930's, 40's & 50's - and the stars of these films: Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Peter Lorre and Vincent Price. I'll watch ANYTHING with one of these actors in it, and I mean ANYTHING. It should then come as no surprise that this fearsome foursome also appeared on radio in similar roles to the ones they played on the big screen. So here's 13 different radio shows featuring these guys strutting their stuff, and as an added bonus, one of them also features that other notable horror actor from the same period, John Carradine starring with Lugosi in "Mystery House".

Peter Lorre in the MOST EXCELLENT episode of SUSPENSE from Jan. 19th 1943 "The Devils' Saint.

Peter Lorre gives an amazing performance in Mystery in the Air from August 21st 1947 episode "The Horla".

Peter Lorre in Mystery in the Air from Sept. 4th 1947 - "The Mask of Medusa".

Peter Lorre as Spike Jones' "musical" guest on "Spotlight Revue" from 1948. This has to be heard to be believed!

Boris Karloff reprises his stage performance in a radio adaption of "Arsenic & Old Lace" from 1946.

Boris Karloff in "Creeps by Night" from May 7th 1944.

Boris Karloff plays "Happy Sam, The Record Man" on "The Jimmy Durante Show".

Bela Lugosi and John Carradine in the off-the-wall classic, "Mystery House - The Thirsty Death".

Bela Lugosi in the Feb. 2nd episode of SUSPENSE "The Doctor Prescribed Death".

Bela Lugosi pretty much scares the crap out of an innocent Beverly Hills shopper in an episode of "Candid Mike", precursor to "Candid Camera"

Vincent Price as a crazed musician in the June 1st 1944 episode of SUSPENSE "Fugue in C minor" with Ida Lupino.

Vincent Price as a yet another crazed musician in "Hollywood Star Time - Hangover Square".

Vincent Price in "OBSESSION - Paranoia".

PS. Someone asked me what I thought of the new "KIRBY' book by Mark Evanier....
As The King himself once said - "Don't ASK - Just BUY!"
Possibly the best book on a comic creator, and the reproduction and design are superb.
No true Jack Kirby fan should be without it.
And remember friends, this is clean-up time and we're discounting all our silent electric UBIKs , by this much money. Yes, we're throwing away the bluebook. And remember, every UBIK on our lots has been used only as directed!