BEST OF JUNE 2024

Balladeer’s Blog’s annual end-of-year retrospective continues with June’s best. 

THE SWAMP FOX (1959-1961) – The forgotten television series about a young Leslie Nielsen portraying Francis Marion, the guerrilla leader known as the Swamp Fox during the Revolutionary War. Click HERE.

BALLADEER’S BLOG’S FAVORITE RUM BRANDS – I presented a pair of lesser-known rum brands. Click HERE.

ANNA MARIA LANE (left) AND SALLY ST. CLAIR (far left): REVOLUTIONARY WAR HEROINES – A look at two heroines from the American Revolution. Click HERE.

BLACKE’S MAGIC (1986) – A Father’s Day look at the series which featured Hal Linden and Harry Morgan as a father-son team of stage magicians who solved seemingly impossible murders and other crimes on the side. Click HERE.

BAD MOVIE REVIEW: TELEVISION SPY (1939) – I examined this forgotten sci-fi film regarding the hilariously overstated potential of television for espionage purposes. Starring Anthony Quinn and Richard Denning (The Governor from Hawaii 5-0). Click HERE.

THE BLACK COAT – My look at this comic book series about a costumed Revolutionary War hero. Click HERE.

ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION: THE FEARSOME ISLAND (1896) – The discovery of a Caribbean Island on which an exiled mad scientist from Spain enslaved the population and made them erect his castle full of futuristic devices. Click HERE. 

NEGLECTED REVOLUTIONARY WAR BATTLES IN FEBRUARY 1777 – Often overlooked actions. Click HERE.

A REMINDER THAT JOE BIDEN DIDN’T BECOME UNFIT THE NIGHT OF THE DEBATE – HE WAS CLEARLY UNFIT BACK IN 2020, WHICH WAS WHY HE RAN THAT “HIDE AWAY” CAMPAIGN. – Excerpts from U.S. and overseas news outlets. Click HERE.

ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION: AFTER LONDON (1885) – A look at post-apocalypse England. It’s a gritty world that’s a combination of Mad Max and Game of Thrones. Click HERE.

MICRONAUTS: THEIR EARLY STORIES – I reviewed the series from its 1st issue to number 14 and Micronauts Annual #1. See the team’s war to end Baron Karza’s dictatorship in the Microverse/ Quantum Realm. Click HERE.

THE FOOL KILLER: HIS 1919 RETURN AFTER HIS WORLD WAR ONE HIBERNATION – Like the fictional figure had done during the U.S. Civil War, he hibernated from 1917 to 1919 before seeking out new targets. Click HERE.

THURSDAY’S GAME (1972, 1974) – A light comedy about a pair of husbands (Gene Wilder and Bob Newhart) who claim to be at a Thursday Night poker game each week while secretly having adventures. Also starring Cloris Leachman, Nancy Walker, Ellen Burstyn, Rob Reiner and Valerie Harper. It’s like a hybrid of Neil Simon Broadway comedies and Mary Tyler Moore Show sitcoms. Click HERE.

ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION: SOME OF KONSTANTIN TSIOLKOVSKY’S WORKS FROM 1895 ONWARD – I reviewed Dreams of Earth and Sky (1895), On Vesta (1916) and Out of the Earth (1920). Click HERE.

DAZZLER: HER EARLY STORIES – The 1981 launch of the solo series of this mutant superheroine with plenty of guest stars like the X-Men, Iron Man, Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four. Click HERE.

ROM THE SPACEKNIGHT – A look at Marvel’s licensed Rom series from the 1980s as the Spaceknight from Galador battled Dire Wraiths and other cosmic menaces. Click HERE.

THE MANCHU EAGLE MURDER CAPER MYSTERY (1973, 1975) – One of the WORST movies I’ve reviewed. Former Bowery Boy Gabe Dell stars as a would-be private investigator in a very weird film. Also starring Sorrell Booke, Jackie Coogan, Huntz Hall, Joyce Van Patten, Dick Gautier, Barbara Harris, Nita Talbot and more. Click HERE. 

JACK OF HEARTS – An examination of the 1970s stories of this overlooked Marvel superhero with unusual energy powers from his exposure to Zero Fluid. Guest stars like Iron Man, White Tiger, Iron Fist, the Thing and the Hulk. Click HERE.

ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION: ICAROMENNIPUS AND TRUE HISTORY – Detailed reviews of these two stories from around ONE HUNDRED FIFTY A.D. A pair of tales from Lucian about trips to the moon and encounters with the life-forms and civilizations there. Click HERE.