BALLADEER’S BLOG
How much Seventies can you handle? If dialogue like “Think I’ll take the money and just groove for awhile. Man, I can dig it!” appeals to you get ready for some “relevant” “now” and “with-it” comic books! Skywald Publishing tried to make its mark with adult black & white comic books in the 1970s. Some of their horror and sci-fi titles picked up a little momentum but when it came to superheroes, Skywald made the biggest blunder imaginable. They screwed up the copyright, making their superheroes like Hell-Rider and Butterfly public domain.
Their female horror character Lady Satan partially suffered that same fate, but changes to copyright law in 1974 made it so that only her first two issues from 1973 fell into the public domain and from the third story onward she was an owned IP. Anyway, the adventures of Hell-Rider and Butterfly (the first black female superhero) stood out with their toplessness, drug use and references to sex. Otherwise they were mediocre. Here are Skywald’s two public domain superheroes. Solid! … And all that stuff.
VICTIM: Hey, stop shooting that flamethrower in my face! WOMAN: That man is the worst nuisance on the beach!
HELL-RIDER
Secret Identity: Brick Reese (“Brick?”)
First Appearance: Hell-Rider #1 (August 1971)
Origin: Brick Reese (“Brick?”) rebelled against his affluent background. After graduating from Harvard Law School he drifted around the country, experimenting with sex and drugs, eventually joining the roguish but “heroic” biker gang called the Wild Bunch (Think the Howling Commandos meet the biker gang craze of the 60s and 70s).
After 6 months of this lifestyle, Brick got drafted and sent to serve in the Vietnam War. When he had just a few weeks left in his tour of duty he was seriously wounded, with his injuries being such that they threatened to paralyze him at any moment for the rest of his life. Rather than live with that forever hanging over his head, Brick volunteered to be a human guinea pig for the experimental drug Q-47. Injections of that drug every day for a month cured Reese but, unknown to anyone but him, also granted him superpowers with which he battled the forces of evil as the superhero Hell-Rider. Continue reading
Independent Voter site Balladeer’s Blog presents another look at – among other things – the scandals and screwups of Joe Biden, the career criminal and senile demagogue who was installed in the White House. 
THE NEW HUMANS (1909) – Written by B Vallance. No other name has come to light for the author of this thought-provoking work. Explorer Montgomery Merrick is roaming around the wilds of 1909 Uganda when he falls down a mountainside and into a concealed valley. 
PART FIFTY-TWO – Some of the targets from the December of 1911 edition of James Larkin Pearson’s version of The Fool-Killer: 
SCORPION THUNDERBOLT – Yes, it’s Scorpion Thunderbolt, the horror movie that has absolutely NOTHING to do with EITHER scorpions OR thunderbolts! They could have titled this thing Terms of Endearment 2 and it wouldn’t have been any less appropriate. 
Independent Voter site Balladeer’s Blog takes another look at Democrats, those nauseating scavengers of human misery who pretend to be THE moral models for the rest of us. Well, actually, it might be more appropriate to point out that they are very often the CAUSE of human misery with their fascism, intolerance and inability to think for themselves. 
But either way, Democrats pompously pretend to be THE moral models for the rest of us. It’s the same type of behavior that alienated so many people from the religious right long ago but Democrats are saying “Hold our beer” and showing how rabid intolerance, political witch-hunts and pretended moral superiority are REALLY done. 
DOWN GOES NUMBER TWO – The CONCORDIA (MI) CARDINALS played host to the 2nd ranked team in the nation – the MARIAN UNIVERSITY KNIGHTS. In this very odd game the Knights grabbed a quick 7-0 lead in the 1st Quarter, only to see the Cardinals go up 16-14 by Halftime. After the break the defenses dominated and 16-14 wound up being the final score as well. 
OTHER UPSETS IN THE RANKINGS – The 24th ranked ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY FIRESTORM took it on the road against the 16th ranked OTTAWA UNIVERSITY (AZ) SPIRIT and toppled them 45-35 ### And the INDIANA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY WILDCATS downed their guests the number 22 SIENA HEIGHTS UNIVERSITY SAINTS in a 17-10 clash. 
FOURTH QUARTER COMEBACK – The POINT UNIVERSITY SKYHAWKS traveled to face the BLUEFIELD COLLEGE RAMBLING RAMS. A 7-7 1st Quarter tie became a 20-7 advantage for the Rambling Rams at the Half. The 3rd Quarter ended with the Skyhawks pulling to within 20-14 before exploding in the 4th for a magnificent 28-23 comeback victory. 
MARVEL PREMIERE Vol 1 15 (May 1974) 
Balladeer's Blog 