This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero blog post will look at DC’s variation on the original Planet of the Apes. The Kamandi series was a post-apocalypse tale with animals mutated into quasi-human forms and with human intelligence.
KAMANDI Vol 1 #1 (November 1972)
Title: The Last Boy on Earth
Villains: Wolf-Men, Tiger-Men and Leopard-Men
Synopsis: Years after an event remembered only as The Great Disaster, a teenage male named Kamandi lives with his grandfather in the remains of a military post called Command D. (Yes, the post name inspired our hero’s name Kamandi.)
Kamandi is rowing around flooded Manhattan and vicinity in his daily recon. When he returns to the command post he sees that anthropomorphic wolf-men have killed his grandfather.
Kamandi slays the wolf-men in turn and abandons his former home, driving off in the late wolf-men’s wagon. (Oddly, horses did not gain human form and intelligence and are still used to ride and as beasts of burden.)
After some time, the young man gets caught in the middle of a large-scale battle between an army of tiger-men and an army of leopard-men, all wearing the clothing and wielding the weapons of the humans who used to rule the world.
Kamandi winds up taken prisoner by the tiger-men and their general, Great Caesar. Continue reading
THE 14 AMAZONS (1972) – This often-overlooked Hong Kong martial arts film was directed and written by Cheng Kang and produced by the iconic Shaw Brothers studios. The 14 Amazons is a female-centric take on China’s historical Yang Family, many of whom were accomplished generals over the centuries. 
This 1972 film starts out with the death of one of the Yang men and proceeds from there. By this point there are so few male Yangs still alive that the wives, sisters, and other female relatives of the late hero band together and set out for revenge. 
ANOTHER WORLD (1873) – This highly detailed account of life in Montalluyah (“God’s own city”), the capitol city of Mars, was written by British author Benjamin Lumley under the pen name Hermes. The book is presented as excerpts from historical accounts, including a biography of the Great Martian Reformer Tootmanyoso. 
THE MASTER MYSTERY (1918-1919) – The first film footage of Harry Houdini performing his stage act dates to 1907, but it wasn’t until this 15-part serial that he hit the big screen in a series of adventures. Chapter One of The Master Mystery debuted on November 18th, 1918 and starred Houdini as a federal agent named Quentin Locke. 
Every cliffhanger ending for the chapters of the serials involves a deathtrap which Houdini escapes from at the start of the following installment. 
For obvious reasons I held off a day before posting this item about the very odd incident on September 11th, 1911. 
FOR PART ONE (2016) OF THIS RETROSPECTIVE FROM 
RESISTANCE, INC: FAUX REBELS OF THE ANTI-TRUMP HYSTERIA – One of my widest-reaching blog posts ever. The type of privileged white Democrats that I criticized in the piece were so outraged it gave away how the blog post touched a nerve with those pretentious poseurs. The link is below, but first some excerpts: 
“Resistance, Inc” or maybe “ResistCo” would be a better name for them. None of these allegedly “rebellious” groups lacks funding and the mask-wearing members gleefully launch physical attacks on anyone who disagrees with them.
SHARYL ATTKISSON: A LIST OF FALSE NEWS STORIES ABOUT TRUMP (As of January of 2019. The list would be much longer now.) Click 
INDIANA WESLEYAN CONQUERS DIVISION ONE – Each year plenty of NAIA teams upset higher division opponents and sometimes a few will even topple Division ONE teams. The INDIANA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY WILDCATS welcomed D1’s VALPARAISO UNIVERSITY BEACONS yesterday. After a scoreless 1st Quarter, the Wildcats went up 17-7 by Halftime, then had to hold on against a Beacons rally to cement the Upset 24-22. 
NORTHWESTERN (IA) ALSO TAKES DOWN D1 – Not to be outdone, the NAIA’s NORTHWESTERN (IA) COLLEGE RED RAIDERS stunned their hosts the DRAKE UNIVERSITY BULLDOGS. The Bulldogs led 14-10 at the Half and 14-13 to end the 3rd Quarter but the Red Raiders tied it up 21-21 in the 4th. In Overtime, NC won out 27-24. 
ARIZONA CHRISTIAN TOPPLES DIVISION TWO – Speaking of the NAIA downing D2 teams, the ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY FIRESTORM played host to the FORT LEWIS COLLEGE SKYHAWKS. The Firestorm completely dominated the Skyhawks, leading them 14-3 at the break enroute to a 49-25 smackdown victory. 
Time for another roundup from 
NOVA Vol 1 #1 (September 1976) 
