Monthly Archives: July 2020

GRAVEYARD SHIFT VOLUME THREE IS NOW AVAILABLE

Graveyard Shift volume 3

You loved the first GRAVEYARD SHIFT story … You shrieked with rapturous delight over GRAVEYARD SHIFT VOLUME TWO … Now prepare yourselves for the THIRD Volume of Jon Malin and Mark Poulton’s “monsters as superheroes” team.

Jon Malin, one of the iconoclastic comic book outlaws pursuing his creative vision free from the toxic corporate influence of the Big Two publishers, teams up once again with Mark “Hawkman” Poulton and new teammate Aaron Alfeche.

Graveyard Shift logo tshirt

This third adventure for Graveyard Shift will feature more of the horrors and spectacle of the previous epics as the team tries to save the entire world from a werewolf infestation. This job is so big that the team must join forces with three NEW heroic supernatural creatures.

*** UPDATE: For my review of ALL THREE volumes of Graveyard Shift click HERE. Continue reading

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MARK GORMLEY: WHO’S FOOLING WHOM?

Mascot new lookBalladeer’s Blog’s fans know that I don’t consider myself a music expert. I may enjoy anything from operas and symphonies to all categories of pop and rock, etc but I never claim that my tastes are governed by some overriding musical aesthetic. I just know what I like and what I don’t like.

And that brings us to Mark Gormley. At first this guy’s work struck me as music’s answer to oddball filmmaker Neil Breen and I assumed that his cult following loved Gormley in an ironic way. The more I look into it, though, there are many people who seem to be providing actual, profound justifications for considering the man genuinely talented. Those same people even praise his “Power Stance,” which I have always found incredibly silly.

Below is one of Mark’s music videos preceded by a brief introduction from the Uncharted Zone‘s hosts. Let me know if you think I’m a musical Philistine for laughing at the Gormster or if you think those who hail him as a genius are just keeping the straightest faces this side of Leslie Nielsen. I’m open to being set straight if I’m missing something about this guy but he strikes me as a hybrid of Ned Flanders, Floyd R Turbo and Tiny Tim. Here he is with his song Little Wings

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TOM SAWYER – 1973 MUSICAL

Tom Sawyer

Tom Sawyer

TOM SAWYER (1973) – The TOM SAWYER I’m referring to here is the 1973 musical version which is unforgivably forgotten by many people. This musical has some incredibly catchy songs, memorable dialogue portions and terrific performances from all cast members, young and old.

Most importantly the film nicely distills the essential elements of Mark Twain’s popular story in a nearly seamless way. Anything you loved from the book when you read it is to be found here: Tom’s tall tales to Aunt Polly to explain why he’s late for supper or didn’t show up at school, Tom tricking other kids into paying him to whitewash a fence for him, Tom and Huckleberry Finn witnessing Injun Joe’s murder of Ol’ Doc, Tom chivalrously taking a thrashing for Becky Thatcher, Tom and Huck running away and being given up for dead and of course Tom attending his own funeral.

masc graveyard newAll that and a great musical number during an excellently mounted 1870s Fourth of July Celebration. Injun Joe gets a much more merciful end in this movie than he did in the book, so that’s a plus, too. 

Johnny Whitaker, known to generations of us as “that kid on those Family Affair reruns”, plays Tom in his best incarnation ever. Jodie Foster portrays Becky Thatcher, and in this version Tom shoots Judge Thatcher to  prove his love for Becky (I’m kidding!). Continue reading

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MACAU EARNS THREE TIMES AS MUCH AS LAS VEGAS IN GAMBLING REVENUE

Though Las Vegas may be the king in terms of American gambling it is not so worldwide. For instance, Macau earns three times as much as Sin City. See the infographic below for details: Continue reading

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DANGEROUS DAN: NEGLECTED GUNSLINGER

The Frontierado Holiday is coming up on Friday, August 7th! As always, Frontierado is about the myth of the old west, not the grinding reality. Balladeer’s Blog’s looks at neglected gunslingers of the American west are always a hit each year and here is another one.

Not Dangerous Dan Tucker

NOT Dangerous Dan Tucker

DANGEROUS DAN – David “Dangerous Dan” Tucker was no relation to the legendary “Ol’ Dan Tucker” from the folk song. This Dan Tucker was born in Canada in 1849 but his family moved south to the American state of Indiana when he was a child. In his late teens or early twenties, Tucker moved west to Colorado and began working as a machinist.

It was in Colorado that the soft-spoken young man picked up the handle Dangerous Dan (despite his real first name being David), a name he earned from being good with a gun during the wild and dangerous “Hell On Wheels” years of rapid railroad expansion throughout the Territory. By the mid-1870s this prototypical “strong, silent type” was forced to leave Colorado over a still-hazy incident in which he stabbed the wrong man to death.

Dangerous Dan relocated to New Mexico Territory, where he managed a Stage Coach Station near Fort Selden. That station was along the infamous Jornado del Muerto Desert, the “Journey of Death” between Santa Fe and El Paso. In his time there Tucker proved effective in fighting off attacks from Apaches, Mexican bandits and occasional homegrown outlaw gangs. 

By the summer of 1875 the legendary Sheriff Harvey Whitehill of Silver City, NM (Grant County) hired Dan as a deputy, kicking off the most well-known period of the gunslinger’s life. Early in 1876, outside Johnny Hall’s Dance Hall & Saloon on Broadway in Silver City, a man was fleeing after having disemboweled another man in the saloon, only to fall to Dangerous Dan’s gun. Continue reading

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EXPLAINING “DEFUND THE POLICE” FOR OVERSEAS READERS

Mascot with demo and repub headsOverseas readers know that I’m an Independent Voter and I’d like to see BOTH the Democrat and Republican Parties splinter into multiple smaller parties. It may be the only peaceful way out of our current situation. Anyway, those overseas readers often ask me for some non-partisan perspective on American political events. Here’s another round.

Q: WHY DO JOE BIDEN AND OTHER DEMOCRATS WANT THE POLICE DEFUNDED? (This question came in response to multiple Democrat jurisdictions in the country, like in Minnesota and California, voting to replace their police departments or defund and diminish their police departments. Plus the way countless Democrat politicians like Biden have taken to referring to the police as “the enemy” and “an occupying army.”)

Privileged White DemocratA: “Democrats” often just means PRIVILEGED WHITE PEOPLE WHO THINK THEY ARE SPEAKING FOR PEOPLE OF COLOR BY AUTOMATICALLY SIDING AGAINST POLICE. These Democrats have convinced themselves that it’s only “privileged” people like themselves who see the police as a source of comfort and/or protection during and after the commission of a crime. They think that ONLY the police haters speak for “communities of color” and insist black people who like the police are “internalizing white oppression.”  

At least the true believers among the Democrats have deluded themselves this way. OTHER, more blatantly partisan Democrats view the recent nationwide outrage as an excuse to replace actual policing with their own – as usual – highly politicized organizations which will reflect ONLY the will of those people of color who agree with the privileged white Democrats about the issues rather than reflect the will of the community as a whole.

We’ve all seen the Democrats do this in the news media and in the “educational system” (LMAO) and it amounts to a political litmus test just to obtain AND HOLD a position. Does anyone seriously think that any black people who DON’T hate the police will be made welcome in the organizations with which the Democrats replace the police? Does anyone seriously think that any black people who are – or are just ACCUSED of being – right-of-center, let alone conservative or Republican – will be made welcome in the organizations with which the Democrats replace the police?

Democrats like criminalsSoon we’ll be hearing about how NINETY-PLUS percent of the replacement “police” organizations are Democrats, just like in “teaching” (LMAO) or in the major media outlets.

And if a few such figures of color who actually want to make their communities SAFER actually DO slip through the Democrats’ screening process, how long before convenient “complaints from Democrat co-workers” force them out?

And by screening process I mean the way that more and more jobs require degrees or at least courses in assorted Democrat-Sanctioned “Studies” and/or “Sensitivity Training”. Sensitivity as defined by privileged white Democrats, that is. Police work will be added to the list of occupations (like teaching, reporting, etc) that are, in reality, no longer open to everyone but only to people who espouse – actively and outspokenly espouse – one particular set of political opinions.    

Hopefully enough people of color will keep speaking out, like in New York where they are TRYING to make it clear to their self-styled White Democrat Saviors like Cuomo that they want various units of the police REINSTATED. Crime has skyrocketed in New York City under the Democrats and poor people of color often find themselves at the mercy of criminals just so that self-styled White Democrat Saviors can pretend they are “helping communities of color.”

Jakhary JacksonFor just one of many examples of the way so many of the loudest anti-police voices right now are coming from privileged white Democrats, see below. A black police officer in the Democrats’ Portland, OR makes it clear that there are often MORE PEOPLE OF COLOR IN THE POLICE RANKS AT THESE INCIDENTS THAN THERE ARE AMONG THE ANTI-POLICE FANATICS.   

FOR THAT ARTICLE: Continue reading

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PULP HERO G-8 AND HIS BATTLE ACES: STORIES TEN THROUGH TWELVE

Dragon PatrolBalladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the neglected Pulp Hero G-8. This continues a story-by- story look at the adventures of this World War One American fighter pilot who – along with his two wingmen the Battle Aces – took on various supernatural and super- scientific menaces thrown at the Allied Powers by the Central Powers of Germany, Austria- Hungary and the Ottoman Muslim Turks.

G-8 was created by Robert J Hogan in 1933 when World War One was still being called simply the World War or the Great War. Over the next eleven years Hogan wrote 110 stories featuring the adventures of G-8, the street-smart pug Nippy Weston and the brawny giant Bull Martin. The regular cast was rounded out by our hero’s archenemy Doktor Krueger, by Battle, G-8’s British manservant and by our hero’s girlfriend R-1: an American nurse/ spy whose real name, like G-8’s, was never revealed. 

Dragon Patrol10. THE DRAGON PATROL (July 1934) – This story eerily foreshadows elements of the Hindenburg disaster of 1937 and of the horrific London Blitz of 1940. The actual dragon on the Pulp magazine cover is mere poetic license. The real menaces in this G-8 tale are two Zeppelins customized for super-silent raids over Paris itself. The Zeppelins are ravaging the City of Lights with special incendiary bombs that leave so much of the metropolis in charred ruins that the French are contemplating surrendering. (This was before the French had made a National Pasttime out of surrendering.)

The main villain this time out is Kapitan Geist (“Captain Ghost” in German), the salty senior commander of the twin Zeppelin unit who approaches his airborne missions like a seasoned sea captain of the skies. Geist’s Zeppelin is called “Fafnir” to emphasize the dragon motif but we never learn the name of the other one. Continue reading

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AMERICA: PART OF THE “ALIEN” FRANCHISE

Mascot new lookIt’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these blog posts here at Balladeer’s Blog.

“We’re a world of 7 billion people, 10 billion blogs and 20 billion political poses” is always the opening line. So let’s have some fun framing American politics as part of the Alien franchise.

Ellen RipleyRIPLEY and the other humans in the Alien films are American VOTERS. As we struggle to survive in this dangerous setting we need to stand together against the common threats. And that applies whether a voter considers themselves Independent or Democrat or Republican. Political labels have become meaningless for US as the Neo-Feudalists view all of us as peasants and cannon fodder, anyway.  

Alien XenomorphTHE XENOMORPHS are the DEMOCRAT office holders and their fellow members of the Hive Mind: the corporate media, “teachers” (LMAO), entertainers, SJWs and anyone else who plays along with the Democrat approach of taking offense at everything and filing complaints until only other Democrats work in your field. And Democrat power-holders and “activists” (LMAO) have no traces of individuality, just like the Xenomorphs. No personality, no independent thought and certainly no personal strength. Their numbers and unquestioning obedience are their fascistic advantage.

Carter BurkeWEYLAND-YUTANI CORPORATION are the REPUBLICAN office holders and bloated rich pigs who care only about profit, potential profit and possible “sacrificed profits” if they don’t exploit every single situation for every dime that can be extracted from it. BURKE in particular represents Republican trash like the Bush Family, Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney, the stuffy white guys at National Review, etc. The Xenomorphs could be stopped if the Republican money-grubbers would forget the bottom line for once and stand with human beings. This will never happen. They will sell us out every time if it adds just one dollar to their bank balance.   Continue reading

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HARVEY COMICS SUPERHERO PANTHEON

Though Harvey Comics eventually became better known as the publisher of such comics as Casper the Friendly Ghost, Wendy the Witch, Hot Stuff and others, they had a large number of superheroes in the 1940s. Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at some of those heroes.  

Human MeteorTHE HUMAN METEOR

Secret Identity: Duke O’Dowd, cab driver

First Appearance: Champ Comics #6 (April 1940)

Origin: When Duke O’Dowd was serving overseas in the French Foreign Legion he earned the friendship of Wah Le, ruler of a lost, super-scientific city in Tibet. Judging Duke worthy, he gave him a high-tech belt which granted him superpowers. O’Dowd used those powers to fight crime as the Human Meteor.

Powers: The Human Meteor’s belt possessed “radium emanations” which let him fly at incredible speeds and protected him from all metal weaponry, including bullets and shells. The belt also granted him a degree of superhuman strength via its “electric energizer”. Wooden weapons could penetrate the Human Meteor’s protective force field, or “contra-magnetic field” as Wah Le called it. An “explosatom gun” was briefly used by the Human Meteor. 

Comment: Wah Le’s super science included a televox which enabled him to monitor the Human Meteor’s adventures from Tibet as well as give him advice via a wrist television device. This hero’s sidekick was a white shoeshine boy named Toby.

Black OrchidBLACK ORCHID

Secret Identity: Judy Allen, Private Investigator

First Appearance: All-New Short Story Comics #2 (March 1943)

Origin: Private Detective Judy Allen adopted the costumed identity of Black Orchid in order to take on especially dangerous or connected criminals.

Powers: Black Orchid was in peak physical condition and excelled at unarmed combat. She was also more agile than an Olympic gymnast and was a highly skilled criminologist.

Scarlet nemesis and black orchidComment: Judy Allen’s partner at her Private Detective practice was Rocky Ford. In an amusing twist he was secretly the superhero called the Scarlet Nemesis. Ridiculously, even though Black Orchid and the Scarlet Nemesis worked together several times they never figured out that the other costumed figure was their own investigative agency partner. Some “detectives”. 

(If you’re wondering, the Scarlet Nemesis had no super-powers either, but his costume included a forehead light-beam like miners wore. He could use that light to temporarily blind adversaries.) Continue reading

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BREAKHEART PASS (1975)

Breakheart PassBREAKHEART PASS (1975) – (Frontierado is coming up August 7th and, as always, it’s about the myth of the Old West, not the grinding reality.) Alistair MacLean may be more closely associated with espionage and crime thrillers like When Eight Bells Toll, The Eagle Has Landed and Puppet on a Chain but his lone Western, Breakheart Pass, is a very solid story which transfers MacLean’s usual themes to the American West.

Charles Bronson stars as Deakin, a former man of medicine turned gambler, con-man and gunslinger. Needless to say his wife Jill Ireland is along for the ride, this time playing a woman being wooed by oily Governor Fairchild (Richard Crenna). Ben Johnson portrays Marshal Pearce, Ed Lauter IS Major Claremont and Bill McKinney takes on the role of Reverend Peabody.

Breakheart Pass 2Some critics bash this above-average film because they apparently thought Alistair MacLean’s name on the script meant it would be an over-the-top Western Spy actioner along the lines of Robert Conrad’s old Wild Wild West television series crossed with Where Eagles Dare. Instead, Breakheart Pass comes closer to grittiness than slickness and is all the more enjoyable for that. Continue reading

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