This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at Marvel’s Astonishing Tales Vol 1 when it featured separate stories about Dr. Doom and Ka-Zar.
ASTONISHING TALES Vol 1 #1 (Aug 1970)
Ka-Zar Title: The Power of Ka-Zar
Villain: Kraven the Hunter
Synopsis: After several guest appearances in series like The X-Men and Daredevil, Ka-Zar got this tryout for a series of his own. He is a Tarzanesque hero who operates in Marvel’s Savage Land, a hidden prehistoric jungle in the middle of Antarctica – a jungle heated by geothermal sources. Kraven the Hunter arrives in the Savage Land to capture Ka-Zar’s saber tooth tiger Zabu.
After a clash with our hero in the dinosaur-ridden jungle, Kraven wins and flees with Zabu in a net. Ka-Zar trails the villain to his ship where he plans to transport Zabu in a cage to the U.S. Ka-Zar defeats all of Kraven’s crew members but falls to a sneak attack by the Hunter himself. He survives a fall into the ocean and resolves to follow Kraven to America to rescue Zabu.
Dr. Doom Title: Unto You is Born … the Doomsman
Villain: Andro the Doomsman
Synopsis: Marvel’s popular villain Dr. Victor Von Doom got this tryout for his own series. From his castle in the fictional nation of Latveria, Dr. Doom watches the latest American Apollo flight to the moon. He teleports one of his communication devices to the moon right in the astronauts’ way on the lunar surface. Through the device he taunts the world that his teleportation technology is superior to any country’s rocket tech.
Meanwhile, Prince Rudolfo, the rightful ruler of Latveria, leads an attack on Doom’s castle with his freedom fighters. This distracts Victor from his just-finished android creation called Andro the Doomsman. While Dr. Doom defeats Rudolfo and his forces, Andro comes to life and wanders off. Continue reading
Recent movie news about the latest screen adaptation of The Odyssey happened to make me reflect on the lack of a big screen version of the poet Virgil’s epic The Aeneid. For newbies to the tale, I’m posting this very brief synopsis of the story – the first half a mythic voyage like Jason and the Argonauts and The Odyssey and the second half a tale of warfare as Aeneas leads his fellow survivors of fallen Troy in their mythic conquest of what would become Rome. 
SOLO (1980) – Written by Jack Higgins. Solo is not exactly one of my favorite espionage novels but it is definitely my favorite by Jack Higgins. It’s the story of efforts to catch an international assassin code-named the Cretan Lover. Luckily that ludicrous codename is often shortened to just “The Cretan” throughout the novel. I’ll use the same review format that I used for my look at The Top Seven Robert Ludlum Novels. 
SECRET OF THE INCAS (1954) – Considering that some of the costume and design staff members for Raiders of the Lost Ark have openly stated that they did repeated viewings of this neglected Charlton Heston film while putting together the “look” of that 1981 blockbuster I admit to being as puzzled as they are that Secret of the Incas isn’t mentioned as much as old serials are as an influence. 
Location filming in Peru greatly improves the quality of this overlooked film. Footage of Machu Pichu’s 1950s condition is fascinating and Peruvian singer Yma Sumac as priestess Kori-Tica performs a few folk songs in honor of Inca culture. Expect a movie closer to Film Noir with archeological trappings rather than an action spectacle and you may enjoy Secret of the Incas as much as I do. Beautiful Nicole Maurey plays Heston’s love interest. 
Remember when Marion Ravenwood tells Dr. Jones “You’re not the man I knew ten years ago.” Well, it’s tempting to think that Harry Steele IS what Indy was like ten years ago. Brasher than Jones in Raiders and as ruthless as Han Solo, Steele is also fluent in multiple languages, including Quechua. As a veteran relic hunter he’s also well-versed in ancient cultures and is buddies with the scholars at Cuzco’s museum. 
DR. LUCIFER (1957-1959) – The actor playing this Movie Host was named Richard Dix, but to be clear he’s NOT the same Richard Dix who starred in old westerns and was jokingly mentioned in Blazing Saddles. This Richard Dix was a legend in Baltimore, MD for his stage and television work with a few movies thrown in. 
PHILIP HALL’S AIR SHIP – This tale was first published in the October 11th 1879 edition of The Argonaut. Inventor Philip Hall has constructed a steam-powered flying machine that also uses controlled explosions from compressed cartridges. 
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