BEST OF JULY 2025

Balladeer’s Blog’s annual end of year retrospective continues with this look at July’s best.

RICHARD DENNING’S PSYCHOTRONIC MOVIES – Before he was the governor on Hawaii Five-O, Richard Denning appeared in several campy sci-fi movies in the 1940s and 1950s. ** Those included Target Earth, about alien androids invading Chicago; Unknown Island, about “modern” people finding an island populated by dinosaurs; Creature with the Atom Brain, about atomic-powered zombie gangsters; Day the World Ended, about post-nuke survivors fighting a monster; The Black Scorpion, about two giant scorpions on the loose, and the iconic Creature from the Black Lagoon. They’re all HERE. 

COOL NAMED SPORTS TEAM: MESALANDS COLLEGE – Click HERE. 

THE DOUBLE DAGGERS (1877) – The second Dime Novel about the fictional masked Old West outlaw and champion of the underdog – Deadwood Dick. This time he and his Nighthawks face a traitor within and defeat a new set of villains. Plus, our hero falls in love and gets married in the finale! Click HERE. 

FIVE LOST OUTLAW TREASURES OF THE OLD WEST – I examined what is known about lost plunder from Old West outlaws, including Henry Seymour’s haul of gold coins, the silver and gold buried by the Musgrove Gang, & the Ellis Payroll Robbery proceeds. Click HERE.

THE PENOBSCOT CAMPAIGN FROM THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR – The massive 1779 American effort to drive the British out of the area of Maine that they had seized and renamed New Ireland. Click HERE. 

ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION – Story of the Second Traveler (1879) about an island where gold is as plentiful as grass, the foodstuffs alter human anatomy, there are birds large enough to ride and three-eyed humanoids with tails. Click HERE.   A Voyage to the World in the Center of the Earth (1755) about an advanced human civilization deep in the Earth HERE.   

FORGOTTEN TELEVISION – Stagecoach West (1960) starring Wayne Rogers as a gunslinging stagecoach driver who has adventures HERE.   Cimarron Strip (1967) starring Stuart Whitman as a U.S. Marshal in the Old West HERE. Decision (1958), an anthology series about people in dangerous situations HERE. And Casey Jones (1957) with Alan Hale playing the legendary train engineer during the 1890s HERE. 

THE NEGLECTED RAILROAD WAR OF 1878-1880 – Real life conflict involving Railroad Barons plus several gunslingers like Doc Holliday, Texas Ben Thompson, Prairie Dog Morrow, Bat Masterson and more HERE.

ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY ISSUES AT MARVEL – The 100th issue stories from the Defenders, Spider-Man, the Avengers, Iron Man, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Hulk, Captain America, Daredevil & the Black Widow and Power Man & Iron Fist. All of them are HERE.

WHEN CRYSTAL JOINED THE FANTASTIC FOUR – She replaced Invisible Woman when she was pregnant with Franklin. A long run of stories HERE.

THE DEFENDERS – Their first 11 stories HERE, Versus the Avengers, Loki and Dormammu HERE. 

GARTER COLT (1968) – A Spaghetti Western about a female gambler-gunslinger HERE.

NEGLECTED GUNSLINGERS – The man called “X”, Sally Skull, Pistol Pete, Russian Bill, Dusty Delia, John Bull, Whispering Smith and many, many more HERE.

INDIANA JONES REBOOT RUMORS – Click HERE.

COOL NAMED SPORTS TEAM: LAKE SUMTER STATE HERE.

SILENT MABEL NORMAND COMEDIES (1916-1920) – The iconic comedienne’s films like Mickey (1918), Fatty and Mabel Adrift (1916) with Fatty Arbuckle, Pinto (1920) and many more HERE.   

BODIE, CA – Gold rush site turned Old West Ghost Town HERE.

NEGLECTED GUNSLINGER BIG STEVE LONG – Read about him HERE.

COOL NAMED SPORTS TEAM: LAMAR COLLEGE HERE.