December 7, 2018 · 7:55 pm

JUSTICE SOCIETY 4: INITIATION

Christmas Season kid-friendliness romps along with the 4th installment of the very FIRST superhero team in history: DC’s Justice Society of America. FOR PART ONE CLICK HERE

I will review the original issue and then detail how I would “script-doctor” the story for modern audiences.

All-Star 6ALL-STAR COMICS #6 (August 1941)

Title: THE JSA INITIATES JOHNNY THUNDER

Heroes: GREEN LANTERN (Original), HOURMAN, ATOM (Original), JOHNNY THUNDER, HAWKMAN (Original), DOCTOR FATE, FLASH (Original), SPECTRE, SANDMAN

Villains: Assorted Criminal Gangs

Synopsis: The Flash announces he is stepping down as the team’s Chairman. The Justice Society of America initiates Johnny Thunder, the Jar Jar Binks of the time, as a full member of the team. Naturally the JSA members all wind up having to bail out Johnny against the criminals he faces, yet they still welcome him to the team.

Hourman 2The heroes have to save Johnny from counterfeiters, bank robbers, extortionists, thieves dressed in gorilla costumes and headless zombies created by a mad scientist. (Shades of G-8 and His Battle Aces!) In the end, with all the criminals defeated, Johnny Thunder becomes a full member of the JSA. God knows why.

How I Would Revise It: Continue reading →

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December 7, 2018 · 10:18 am

JOY BEHAR’S FAVORITE TRUMP BOOK FOR CHRISTMAS: TRUMP’S ENEMIES

Joy Behar IdiotJoy Behar, whose pitch-perfect impression of hate-filled, slobbering anti-Trump fascists has made her famous, recently told a Balladeer’s Blog reporter during an interview that never happened that she has a book recommendation for Christmas.

Joy Behar’s favorite Donald Trump book is titled Trump’s Enemies: How The Deep State Is Undermining The Presidency.

Trump's EnemiesJowly Joy enthusiastically called it “A terrific look at the cesspool of corruption which masquerades as the American government. De facto Third Party President Donald Trump is uniquely qualified to rock the crooked DC boat since he is NOT a career politician like all the other Made Members of America’s Criminal Class of Officeholders.” 

Or maybe I was the one who blurted that out. It’s all a blur now. But at any rate TRUMP’S ENEMIES can be bought HERE 

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December 6, 2018 · 11:18 pm

CHRISTMAS CAROL-A-THON – SCROOGE (1935) ON THE TEXAS 27 FILM VAULT

Scrooge 1935Balladeer’s Blog’s 9th Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon continues!

Before MST3K there was … The Texas 27 Film Vault!

In the middle 1980s, way down on Level 31 Randy Clower and Richard Malmos, machine-gun toting Film Vault Technicians First Class hosted this neglected cult show.

SCROOGE (1935)

ORIGINAL BROADCAST DATE: December 14th, 1985 to the best that can be determined.

Flash Gordon Conquers the UniverseSERIAL: Before showing and mocking the movie our members of the Film Vault Corps showed and mocked a chapter of Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940).

In that serial Ming the Merciless unleashes a disease called the Purple Death on Earth, prompting Flash Gordon, Dale Arden and Dr Zarkov to fly to the planet Mongo to find a cure and defeat Ming for good.

HOST SEGMENTS: None have been unearthed for this episode yet. As always if any other fans of this show have any info they would like to share feel free to contact me – see my About page for details.    

We’ve come a long way toward tentatively reconstructing a tiny bit of this show’s history over the past few years so hopefully more memories will be jogged.

MOVIE:  Continue reading →

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December 6, 2018 · 2:04 am

BEST OF FEBRUARY 2018

Balladeer’s Blog’s year-end retrospective continues with the Best of February.

Texas 27 Film Vault

Randy (right) and Richard way down on Level 31 hosting The Texas 27 Film Vault.

TEXAS TWENTY-SEVEN FILM VAULT: 33rd ANNIVERSARY – February 9th is the anniversary date for the first episode of this Pre-MST3K version of MST3K.

Join Randy and Richard for their looks at old schlock classics and vintage Republic Serials. 

This time around I celebrated the show’s history PLUS included an appeal to any more Texas 27 Film Vault fans out there. Click HERE     

Black PantherBLACK PANTHER: PANTHER’S RAGE OVERVIEW – From the 1970s comes this 13-part Black Panther saga by Don McGregor featuring the Black Panther’s attempts to preserve his kingdom during the blood-soaked uprising led by the callous and cruel Erik Killmonger.

If the overrated and over-praised Alan Moore had written this story it would have been a movie or mini-series by now. Panther’s Rage has action, philosophy and other adult topics as well as a quest through Wakanda’s hidden realms: The Land of the Chilling Mist, the Domain of the White Gorillas, Serpent Valley and the Forest of Thorns. Click HERE  

Theodore Roosevelt1912: BATTLE OF THE THREE PRESIDENTS – Readers loved this look at the Presidential Election of 1912 in which incumbent William Howard Taft faced Woodrow Wilson AND former President Theodore Roosevelt, who was running on the Progressive (Bull Moose) Party Ticket.

For Balladeer’s Blog’s take on that historical contest click HERE

Flashman on the MarchFLASHMAN ON THE MARCH – The very popular series of reviews of my Top Five Harry Flashman Novels by George MacDonald Fraser wrapped up with this item at Number Five.

Flashman’s involvement in the 1868 Abyssinian Campaign features all-out action, death traps, sword-play, gun-play, historical intrigue and plenty of bedroom antics. Click HERE

biden crazedVICE PRESIDENTS: JOKES ABOUT THESE ULTIMATE SECOND BANANAS – Many readers felt this examination of Vice Presidents was even funnier and more irreverent than my Presidential Pros and Cons blog posts.

You can decide for yourself by clicking HERE

Charles Evans HughesPRESIDENTIAL LOSERS: PROS AND CONS – If you’ve enjoyed my humorous looks at America’s past presidents and vice-presidents you should certainly enjoy this item.

Quick takes on the prominent losers in presidential races, from Hillary Clinton on back. Featuring facts, insights and insults on each of them. Click HERE

DEMOCRAT ATROCITY ROUNDUP: FEBRUARY 28th – What more need be said? Click HERE 

DEMOCRATS: WILL THEY EVER GROW UP? – Sure, Republicans are bad, too, but Democrats are snobbish fools who actually seem to think they’re the country’s official “intellectuals” and are THE moral models for everyone else. Just like religious nuts of years ago. Click HERE

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December 5, 2018 · 6:35 pm

AN ALL DOGS CHRISTMAS CAROL (1998): CHRISTMAS CAROL-A-THON CONTINUES

All Dogs Christmas CarolBalladeer’s Blog’s Christmas Carol-A-Thon 2018 continues with a look at this animated sequel to All Dogs Go To Heaven.

The dog-angel characters from that reasonably successful film use their Heavenly powers to get the dog-gangster Carface Caruthers (Ernest Borgnine) to change his ways. The portions of this direct-to- video flick dealing with the actual Christmas Carol adaptation are very good. 

Unfortunately that element takes up barely half of the story. The overall tale is about a demonic figure called Belladonna (Bebe Neuwirth) who wants to use a gigantic magic dog bone to manipulate all of Earth’s dogs in a plot to destroy Christmas. Dog-Angels Charlie Barkin (Steven Weber) and Itchy (Dom Deluise) from the previous movie need the help of canine crime-lord Carface to thwart Belladonna’s plans. Hence the plot to “Dickens” him into becoming a better man … or dog, actually.   Continue reading →

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December 5, 2018 · 12:23 am

JUSTICE SOCIETY 3: MISTER X

The Christmas Season rolls along with the 3rd adventure of the very FIRST superhero team in history: DC’s JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA. FOR PART ONE CLICK HERE

I will review the original issue and then detail how I would “script-doctor” the story for modern audiences.

All-Star 5ALL-STAR COMICS #5 (June 1941)

Title: THE MYSTERIOUS MISTER X

Heroes: HAWKMAN (Original), HOURMAN, FLASH (Original), SPECTRE, GREEN LANTERN (Original), DOCTOR FATE, ATOM (Original), SANDMAN

Villains: MISTER X AND HIS CRIME GUILDS

Synopsis: With organized crime in America on the ropes thanks to the various members of the Justice Society a mysterious masked figure called Mister X decides to fill the leadership vacuum. Organizing nationwide crime into Guilds and Unions for each type of criminal offenders Mister X plans to get “tribute” from his gangs AND to kill the entire Justice Society of America. 

The JSA does battle with the Arsonists Guild, the Kidnappers Union, and so on through gangs of jewel thieves, armed robbers and con artists. The greatest threats come from a gambling syndicate using an occult relic which hassles even the Spectre and from Mister X’s use of random bombings to extort protection money from entire cities.

All the criminals are defeated and Mister X is unmasked and sent to prison. 

How I Would Revise It:  Continue reading →

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December 4, 2018 · 5:02 pm

CHRISTMAS CAROL-A-THON: TWELVE HUNDRED GHOSTS (2016)

Christmas Carol-A-Thon 2018 rolls along. Heath – one of Balladeer’s Blog’s long-time readers – has done a Supercut version of A Christmas Carol. The video runs 53 minutes and is sheer genius! Plus the rest of the videos on Heath’s channel are worth checking out as well! 

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