This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at some of the early stories during the time when Daredevil and the Black Widow were a team, like Captain America and the Falcon or Power Man and Iron Fist.
DAREDEVIL & THE BLACK WIDOW Vol 1 #92 (October 1972)
Title: On the Eve of the Talon
Villains: Blue Talon and Damon Dran
NOTE: The Black Widow had been a guest star in the past several issues of this series, but the title was not changed to Daredevil and the Black Widow until this issue.
Synopsis: Unscrupulous San Francisco tycoon Damon Dran has a troop of his henchmen capture Black Widow and bring her to him. Dran wants to know what Natasha did with a very high-tech item that she recovered recently from the Top-Secret experiment called Project Four.
Meanwhile, Dran sends his martial arts mercenary Blue Talon to kill Daredevil. Blue Talon is unaware that Daredevil has had his old friend the Black Panther come to San Francisco to disguise himself as Daredevil, complete with white-skin makeup. Continue reading
THE CASSANDRA CROSSING (1976) – My review of this hilariously bad disaster movie starring Sophia Loren, Richard Harris, Ava Gardner, Burt Lancaster, Martin Sheen and O.J. Simpson. Passengers on a train are exposed to a deadly virus because of terrorists. Click 
GRIPS: ONE OF THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL SUPERHEROES EVER – From 1986-1992 Grips, a combination of Wolverine and the Punisher, had ultra-violent and otherwise adult adventures in Kris Silver’s independent publications. Only Faust exceeded Grips in the 80s and 90s, and artist Tim Vigil worked on both series. Must be read to be believed. Click 
A VERY MISSING PERSON (1972) – Eve Arden starred as amateur sleuth Hildegarde Withers from a series of mystery novels. Hildegarde solves a murder involving high-level figures in New York City. Also includes my review of the 1930s movies about the character. Click 
MOMMA THE DETECTIVE (1981) – A Mother’s Day look at this made for tv movie about Esther Rolle as an amateur detective who solves a high society murder. Think of shows like McMillan and Wife, The Snoop Sisters, etc. Click 
A VHS CHRISTMAS CAROL LIVE – I was going to save my review of this 45-minute StarKid musical adaptation of the Dickens classic for Christmas Day itself, but I changed my mind. 
The cast members perform their roles in costumes which make each of them pastiches AND composites of recognizable 1980s pop singers. They don’t stoop to doing impressions of those singers, they stay in character and stay true to the musical vibe of the score. But you can’t help but smile at the 80s pop culture mainstays they put you in mind of. 
For overseas readers, let me be clear that the title of this blog post is no joke. Abraham Lincoln also caused Democrats to froth at the mouth with hatred even more than they usually do and he was removed from multiple state ballots in the 1860 election, which he went on to win. 
I’ll have more to say on this in the days ahead, but holiday preparations limit my time today. Here are items written by others about this latest anti-Trump travesty: 
These are the legends about Charlemagne and his Paladins, not the actual history, so there will be dragons, monsters and magic. 
Ruggiero (at left) was hoping that Logestilla would use her own magic to cure the Paladin Astolpho of the spell that Alcina had cast – a spell that had trapped Astolpho in the form of a tree. The hippogriff – the large, winged horse/ eagle hybrid which had flown Ruggiero to the island last time around – refused to accompany the warrior any further, so our hero walked on alone. 
GOLEM (1980) – My review of this Polish science fiction film that is sort of a blend of Eraserhead and Patrick McGoohan’s series The Prisoner. An authoritarian dictatorship has risen in the aftermath of a global nuclear war. Click 
CANADIAN-MADE SUPERHEROES 1941-1950 – From well-known names like the superheroine Nelvana of the Northern Lights (at left) and the superhero Thunderfist to less celebrated figures like Freelance, Nitro, the Blue Raven and Commander Steel. Plus superheroines like the Wing, Ghost Woman and many more. Thirty-eight characters in all. Click 
PATHFINDERS IN SPACE (1960) – The neglected British sci-fi television series. Includes my review of its sequels, Pathfinders to Mars and Pathfinders to Venus. Click 
JUSTICE SOCIETY/ JUSTICE LEAGUE TEAM-UPS – 1975-1979 
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – The KEISER UNIVERSITY SEAHAWKS did battle with the defending champs – the NORTHWESTERN (IA) COLLEGE RED RAIDERS yesterday for the NAIA title. The Seahawks converted their 7-0 1st Quarter lead into a 17-7 advantage by Halftime. 
Here is the latest current events roundup from 
A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1973-1987) – Don Imus as Scrooge? Wolfman Jack as the Ghost of Christmas Present? Barbara Walters as Mrs. Cratchit? Murray the K as Bob Cratchit? Yes, believe it or not. 
SHAKEM AKHET BLASTS THE DEMOCRATS FOR DOING NOTHING FOR BLACK VOTERS. He courageously calls out The Party. Click 
BRANDON STRAKA AND THE #WALKAWAY MOVEMENT WERE STILL ROLLING – A March of 2020 blog post about former Democrats (like myself) leaving the party over its intolerance and growing authoritarianism. Click 
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