This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero blog post will be in the style of the look at all of Marvel’s January 1970 publications. That post was popular enough to inspire this one.
AVENGERS Vol 1 #84 (January 1971)
Title: The Sword and the Sorceress
Avengers Roster: Thor (Donald Blake MD), the Scarlet Witch (Wanda), the 2nd Goliath (Clint Barton), Black Panther (King T’Challa), Quicksilver (Pietro), the Black Knight (Dane Whitman) and the Vision (not applicable)
Villains: The Enchantress and Arkon
Synopsis: The Black Knight, fearful that his sentient sword the Ebony Blade is infecting him with its bloodlust, uses the mystic brazier at Garrett Castle to find a way of destroying the weapon. This endeavor leads him to Polemachus, the parallel Earth ruled by the Avengers’ old foe Arkon.
While searching for the Well at the Center of Time, the only safe place to hide the Ebony Blade, the Black Knight is captured by Arkon and his new consort – the Enchantress, another old foe of the Avengers.
NOTE: The Enchantress actually wound up transported to Polemachus when she seemed to be destroyed during her most recent clash with the Avengers, in which she pitted the team of heroes against Ultron-5’s version of the Masters of Evil.
The Enchantress mystically sends a dream about the Black Knight’s capture to the Scarlet Witch, whom the villainess blames for thwarting her plans in the previous issue. Next, the sorceress teleports Avengers Mansion to Polemachus so that she and Arkon can kill their mutual enemies.
After a lengthy battle with the two villains, our heroes win out over Arkon and the Enchantress and return Avengers Mansion to Earth. Continue reading
JANUARY 8th, 1776 – In Charlestown, Massachusetts, British troops and American Tories were attending a performance of General John Burgoyne’s play The Blockade of Boston. The play was a farce ridiculing the supposed inadequacies of the American rebels. An unknown number of American soldiers carried out a raid on the town, panicking the theater audience, capturing 5 British soldiers and destroying 8 Tory buildings. 
THE MARK OF ZORRO (1920) – Douglas Fairbanks digs into his comedic AND acrobatic skills in this first screen adaptation of Johnston McCully’s masked hero of 1820s California (The Curse of Capistrano had just been published the year before and Fairbanks bought the film rights for United Artists.) 
Excellent fight choreography, heroic opposition to tyranny and the rousing, marathon chase and fight scene near the film’s finale make The Mark of Zorro an absolute must-see for anyone curious about silent movies. Nearly every frame of the film is a portrait.
As always, 
MICROMEGAS (1752) – Written by Voltaire. The famed philosopher’s contribution to the nascent science fiction genre dealt with one of the earliest known instances of beings from other planets depicted visiting the Earth. Amid the fantastic elements of the story Voltaire fits in examinations of the philosophies of Aristotle, Locke, Descartes and others.
Here at 
Whether you like or hate Donald Trump is irrelevant – it became clear long ago that the cesspool of corruption which masquerades as America’s political system is targeting Trump to make a public example of any non-career politician who dares to oppose the establishment.
For this weekend’s light-hearted, escapist blog post about superheroes, Balladeer’s Blog goes back to the Justice Society of America, this country’s very first superteam. Years ago, I covered the early years of the JSA, from their first appearance in 
ALL-STAR COMICS Vol 1 #28 (April 1946) 
Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog may remember that I’m a Silent Movie geek. Last time around I took a look at the magnificent film poster for Douglas Fairbanks’ Thief of Bagdad. This time around it’s posters for one of my favorite underrated Fairbanks flicks, Don Q: Son of Zorro. 
Balladeer's Blog 