For Part One of these Iron Man 1970s classics click HERE.
IRON MAN Vol 1 #54 (January 1973)
Title: Sub-Mariner: Target for Death
Villain: Moon Dragon (Her first appearance)
NOTE: This issue was co-written and co-illustrated by Bill Everett, who created the Sub-Mariner back in 1939 (BEFORE Aqua-Man), when Marvel Comics was known as Timely Comics.
Synopsis: We pick up an unknown amount of time after the previous issue. Tony Stark is now in Seattle, restructuring much of the Stark International corporate activities there to fit into his company’s new direction of no weapons manufacturing.
Our hero reflects to himself how the mysterious new supervillain the Black Lama escaped in our previous installment after his disciple Raga was defeated. (The Black Lama will emerge as a major adversary of Iron Man in the near future.)
Elsewhere, deep below the waters of the Pacific Ocean, a vessel constructed through the superior technology of the Eternals of Titan travels like a submarine for the moment. This vessel launches a futuristic satellite into orbit, a satellite with cloaking tech and other capabilities.
On board that subaquatic vessel is Moon Dragon (Heather Douglas), currently using the idiotic nom de guerre “Madame MacEvil.” (LMAO) Besides the stupid name, Marvel’s writers had clearly not yet fully decided on her backstory or on what role she would play in the Thanos War being set up in this issue. Continue reading
HAMMETT (1982) – Directed by Wim Wenders and produced by Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope Studios, Hammett is a criminally neglected valentine to Hard-Boiled Detective Stories and Film Noir. The flick is based on the novel by Joe Gores. 
Booze and coughing fits figure prominently in the movie, as you would expect given a protagonist who was an alcoholic with tuberculosis. For the sake of convenience the story that Hammett just finished before blacking out was one featuring his character the Continental Op (as in an operative for the fictional Continental Detective Agency). 
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – The RANDOLPH-MACON COLLEGE YELLOW JACKETS clashed with the ELMHURST UNIVERSITY BLUEJAYS for the D3 title. 
CENTRAL DISTRICT CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – The PARKLAND COLLEGE COBRAS took the court against the JOHN WOOD COLLEGE BLAZERS. 
Independent Voter site Balladeer’s Blog comes to you from the Biden Crime Family’s corporate fascist kleptocracy, where Democrats try to dictate what the rest of us are allowed to say, wear, post on the internet, etc. Many of their oppressive actions would not be possible without the utter worthlessness of elected Republicans, whose apparent motto continues to be “Screw our constituents! As long as we remain wealthy enough to survive what the Democrats unleash, that’s all that matters!” 
A FLIGHT TO THE MOON (1813) – Written by George Fowler. This story introduces readers to Randalthus (no last name given), an 1800s American man who has come to regard the moon with a mixture of near-pagan worship and pioneer longing. 
An alert reader reminded me that I did not remember to put up a blog post with links to all my reviews of female author C.L. Moore’s six Jirel of Joiry pulp stories from the 1930s. Here is that collection of links in one convenient blog post. 
Time for another round of Balladeer’s Blog’s recurring feature Transgress with Me. As I’ve often mentioned in the past, I used to be a Democrat before their increasing intolerance and fascism drove me to leave the party and become an Independent Voter. 
*** RACHEL LEVINE AND LIA THOMAS ARE MEN, NO MATTER HOW MUCH DEMOCRATS (“THE PARTY”) ORDER THE REST OF US TO PRETEND OTHERWISE. 
FIRST SEMIFINAL – In this game the ELMHURST UNIVERSITY BLUEJAYS played the WABASH COLLEGE LITTLE GIANTS. 
Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog know that all – or at least most – roads lead to bad movies with me. Since 1976 the movie Track of the Moon Beast has been a cult hit for the Psychotronic-minded and for those people who were lucky enough to catch it at various drive-ins during their heyday. 
Frustratingly, the song was not quite complete and had a few interruptions by dialogue from the film. For decades clearer versions of California Lady were incredibly rare. Mike Wolfer found and has uploaded two versions of the song at his YT Channel (subscribe 
The first was the studio recording of the song (below) and the second was the entire EP from Frank Larrabee. California Lady is at the 10:03 mark and is a much smoother, less worn recording of the song and is MUCH MORE LIKE THE PERFORMANCE IN THE MOVIE. No interruptions in either case, so you can enjoy this cult item the way it was meant to be heard. 
GHOSTWATCH (1992) – This was a British made for t.v. movie that aired on Halloween Night in 1992. Ghostwatch is a nice – albeit boring – little novelty item for the way it anticipated the paranormal “reality” (LMAO) shows of today. 
The telefilm also can’t help but put viewers in mind of the Paranormal Activity series and countless other Found Footage horror movies. Ghostwatch involves much older technology of course but for once, since the make-believe t.v. crew is filming their investigation of a haunted house, it MAKES SENSE for people to be filming everything. 
