DC SUPERHEROES OF THE SIXTIES TO EIGHTIES

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog picks up from last weekend’s look at DC’s 30s-50s characters by examining some of their 60s-80s heroes. 

FLASH VS HIS ROGUES GALLERY – I looked at the 1960s to 1980s stories in which Flash did battle with many of his foes assembled during their Semi-Annual Convention of Flash Villains and its related mayhem.

Readers got some landmark tales as the Scarlet Speedster took on his recurring foes like Mirror Master, the Trickster, Captain Cold, Pied Piper, Captain Boomerang, the Golden Glider and others. Click HERE.

BLACK LIGHTNING – Beginning in the 1970s, High School teacher Jefferson Pierce became the costumed superhero called Black Lightning. He used his new powers to fight crime and other dark forces in Metropolis’ Suicide Slums.

Black Lightning faced a variety of villains, like the Whale, Syonide, Cyclotronic Man, Steel Fist, the Annihilist and the criminal organization called the 100. Click HERE. Continue reading

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NEWS, MEMES AND POLITICAL CARTOONS ROUNDUP: JAN THIRD

Another roundup here at Independent Voter site Balladeer’s Blog coming to you from an America where the repulsive Biden-Harris Regime spent years lying that their political targets were the greatest danger regarding domestic violence, thereby enabling the New Year’s attacks

        You’ll notice Biden didn’t blast the pro-terrorist Democrats who marched to celebrate the attacks “globalizing the Intifada” the way he did to people who simply didn’t support his policies.

AND AN ADDITIONAL REMINDER THAT DEMOCRAT MEDIA OUTLETS IGNORED THE BIDEN CRIME FAMILY BEING TIGHT WITH AND GETTING FUNDS FROM THEIR CHINA ACCOMPLICES.   

SPENCER’S TERRIFIC TAKEDOWN OF THE MAKE-BELIEVE “FACT CHECKERS” OF THE CORPORATE MEDIA. Fact-checkers (LMAO) are anything BUT.

SUIT: TRANS CHILD MOLESTER PRETENDING TO BE A WOMAN WAS IMPRISONED WITH BIOLOGICAL WOMEN AND COMMITTED REPEATED SEXUAL ASSAULTS. More HERE. Democrats, we know you don’t care about children and now you’re determined to show that you don’t care about real women when it comes to your Trans religion.

TEACHERS IN NEW JERSEY NO LONGER NEED TO DEMONSTRATE BASIC COMPETENCE IN MATH, READING AND WRITING TO BE HIRED. More HERE. And the circus that Democrats have reduced America’s school systems to continues. This is why there is so little respect for the Democrat clergy members who pretend to be “teaching.” Continue reading

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CHARLEMAGNE: ASTOLPHO REUNITES BRADAMANTE AND RUGGIERO

These are the legends about Charlemagne and his Paladins, not the actual history, so there will be dragons, monsters and magic. 

FOR MY FIRST CHAPTER ON CHARLEMAGNE’S PALADINS CLICK HERE.

ASTOLPHO REUNITES BRADAMANTE AND RUGGIERO – The last Paladin to depart the island realm of the good Queen Logestilla was Astolpho, as he and the queen savored each other’s company. Finally, Astolpho announced his departure, knowing his duty was to return to the war raging on the Continent between Emperor Charlemagne’s forces and the Muslim invaders from North Africa and colonized Spain.

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Queen Logestilla provided her swiftest ship and best crew to transport Astolpho from her island west of Ireland back to Charlemagne’s Empire. The good fairy queen gave the Paladin a mystic tome which included instructions on how to overcome all manner of enchantments. 

Her final gift to Astolpho was a magic horn which, when blown, could drive off supernatural creatures and/or shatter the strongest of spells. The ship carried the Paladin to the port city he requested and, astride his horse Rabican, he was soon on his way to rejoining the bulk of Charlemagne’s army.

Along his way our hero clashed with groups of brigands who were taking advantage of the unsettled state of the Empire due to the ongoing war by acting as bandits. Astolpho also overcame a wolfpack and then a giant serpent, which he drove off with a blast from the horn given to him by Queen Logestilla. Continue reading

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FOR NATIONAL SCIENCE FICTION DAY: AN 1888 TALE OF A SENTIENT TRAIN ON A RAMPAGE

I just learned at Jacqui Murray’s great blog that this is National Science Fiction Day, so here’s a post to mark the event. 

TrainA MEXICAN MYSTERY (1888) – Written by W. Grove. (No other name available) This is the first of two novels by Grove. This one features a sentient and evil train referred to only as The Engine.

In 1864 Mexico the Emperor Maximilian holds a contest for the best design of a new locomotive. The winner or winners will be awarded a lucrative contract to build trains to run all across Mexico on rail lines already laid – a project overseen by a Scottish engineer named John Brown.

Brown meets Pedro da Luz, the wealthy descendant of Montezuma AND Spanish Conquistadors. The brilliant but mysterious da Luz works out of the Mexican town of Xiqipu and his train engine is a marvel of technology, capable of automatically handling many duties that other trains require human workers for.

One of those duties is piloting the train and another is the feeding of wood into the Engine’s furnace to keep it running. At the contest before Emperor Maximilian da Luz’s creation outshines all the other entrants, but then things begin to go wrong. The Engine has depleted its on-board supply of wood and, in its hunger, uses its mechanical arms to uproot telegraph poles, chop them up and feed them into its furnace.

train 2The furious Emperor disqualifies Pedro’s Engine and awards the prize to another designer. Da Luz rants and raves to such a bloodthirsty degree that his fiancee Inez dumps him, adding to his anger. Meanwhile, the Mexican people begin regarding the Engine with superstitious awe and claim it is possessed by the Devil.

Pedro da Luz pretends to be repairing the technical glitch in the Engine in order to remove it from the vicinity but in reality he makes further “refinements” to its programming. The next day da Luz feigns surprise when daybreak reveals that the Engine has apparently left on its own and is nowhere to be found.

The story unfolds as diary entries by the Scottish engineer John Brown, mentioned earlier. Da Luz turns up dead days later, a victim of a stabbing in Mestra. Mysterious events start happening at train stations throughout Mexico, like fatal accidents and the disappearance of wood for train engines. Water towers are drained in the dead of night as well. The missing Engine, apparently acting on its own, is sighted around the country.   Continue reading

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1925: MONTH BY MONTH

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM BALLADEER’S BLOG! To mark the day here’s a timeline of American events from a century ago.

JANUARY

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1st – The Rose Bowl Game, first played in 1902, pitted the undefeated UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH against the undefeated STANFORD UNIVERSITY INDIANS (later the Cardinal, as in the color). The Fighting Irish, under iconic Head Coach Knute Rockne, defeated the Indians 27-10. 

        Also the 1st – The UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY GOLDEN BEARS hosted a New Year’s Day Bowl of their own, taking on the UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA QUAKERS. The Golden Bears won 14-0.

nanking university

        Also the 1st – A detachment of U.S. Marines arrived at the Christian-founded Nanking University (established 1888, see above pic) in China to protect Americans there from recent unrest and looting. 

        Also the 1st – American astronomer Edwin Hubble, whom the Hubble Telescope was named for, announced confirmation of the existence of galaxies outside the Milky Way.  Continue reading

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DECEMBER THIRTY-FIRST ROUND-UP OF NEWS, MEMES AND POLITICAL CARTOONS

A current events roundup here at Independent Voter site Balladeer’s Blog coming to you from an America where Republicans need doused with a bucket of cold water and forced to look at their barely-existent “majority” in the House now that the California Slow Count is over. They don’t have the same numbers they thought they had on election night.

JOURNALIST SHARYL ATTKISSON ONCE AGAIN EXPOSES THE BIASES OF THE CORPORATE MEDIA’S MAKE-BELIEVE “FACT CHECKERS.” I still consider Attkisson to be America’s greatest actual journalist since Ida Tarbell.

CONGRESSWOMAN MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE COURAGEOUSLY ADDS HER VOICE TO THOSE CALLING TO EXPOSE ALL THE CONGRESSMEN – FROM BOTH PARTIES – WHO USED TAXPAYER MONEY TO PAY SEXUAL (AND OTHER) HARASSMENT SETTLEMENTS WHILE IN OFFICE.

           FOR OVERSEAS READERS, this Slush Fund that goes back years has long been exposed but because figures from BOTH gangs of white-collar criminals are involved Congress has “bipartisanly” ignored it. At least SEVENTEEN MILLION DOLLARS of taxpayer money was spent on those settlements and representatives like Marjorie Taylor Greene and others who keep speaking out about it get attacked and ostracized and ridiculed.

          Greene, Thomas Massie and Lauren Boebert are among the few demanding names of the offenders be made public since taxpayer funds were used. This is just one of the reasons why Greene and Boebert in particular get subjected to so much trashing and ridicule by their colleagues, especially through dubious leaks against them. 

           FOR JUST A FEW OTHER REMINDERS OF THESE BIPARTISAN COVERUPS OF ATROCIOUS CONGRESSIONAL CONDUCT: The Congressional Bank Scandal more than 30 years ago, in which elected white-collar criminals FROM BOTH PARTIES were sticking taxpayers with overdrafts on checking accounts of Congressmen. *** The BCCI Scandal and the earlier Savings & Loan Crisis saw members of both major parties involved in wrongdoing and/or questionable ethics.   

AND YET ANOTHER DEMOCRAT COURAGEOUSLY LEAVES THAT INTOLERANT PARTY BEHIND AND BECOMES A REPUBLICAN. Representative Hillary Cassell joins so many of us in leaving the irrational, hatemongering mess that the Democrats have become.

DEMOCRAT JOHN MORGAN – A MEGADONOR TO JOE BIDEN – CONSIDERS LEAVING THE DEMOCRATS TO RUN FOR OFFICE AS A THIRD PARTY CANDIDATE. Hopefully he will. Morgan praised Trump’s transformation of the Republican Party and called him “a f**kin’ genius.”     

CHINA’S GOVERNMENT HACKED THE U.S. TREASURY. This happened on December 8th, but the outgoing Biden-Harris Regime covered it up until now. Have I mentioned lately that buying Joe Biden long ago was the best investment that China’s government ever made?

LATEST REPORT ON HOW JOE BIDEN WAS OBVIOUSLY UNFIT FROM DAY ONE. All of us who were paying attention noticed it during the 2020 campaign. Continue reading

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CHARLEMAGNE: ATLANTES VS RUGGIERO AND BRADAMANTE

These are the legends about Charlemagne and his Paladins, not the actual history, so there will be dragons, monsters and magic. 

FOR MY FIRST CHAPTER ON CHARLEMAGNE’S PALADINS CLICK HERE.

ATLANTES VS RUGGIERO AND BRADAMANTE – We left off with Ruggiero and Princess Angelica resting in Brittany from their long flight on the hippogriff after Ruggiero had saved Angelica from the Orc sea-serpent near the enchanted islands west of Ireland.

Overnight, the selfish Princess Angelica surreptitiously searched among Ruggiero’s belongings and found the mystic ring which the clever dwarf Brunello had stolen from her several installments ago. She put the ring back on her own finger, turning invisible as she did so, then fled eastward.

As soon as Ruggiero noticed that Angelica had vanished, he began searching for her before ultimately giving up. By now far away, the scheming princess used her invisibility to steal food and a horse from a poor shepherd and rode hard toward her father’s distant kingdom in Cathay.  Continue reading

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SANTA CLAUS (1925) A SILENT SHORT IDEAL FOR CHILDREN

While we’re still in that “Christmas into New Year’s” week here’s a look at a terrific seasonal silent movie.

SANTA CLAUS (1925) – This 28 minute and 44 second movie was directed by Frank Kleinschmidt, the famous explorer and documentary filmmaker. Santa Claus has an irresistible charm and with its short running time might be the ideal way of introducing silent films to modern day viewers who are unfamiliar with them.   

Kleinschmidt filmed this project in Alaska, so viewers get plenty of snowy scenery plus animal life from the far north. The movie presents some very clever lore surrounding Santa and his activities.

Santa Claus opens with Saint Nick himself welcoming us with arms spread wide. The story proper gets underway as we join two children – a brother and sister – who sneak out of their beds overnight to wait for Santa in their living room.

That right jolly old elf eventually materializes in the children’s home like he’s “beamed down” on Star Trek.  The boy and girl hug Santa and want him to explain what he does the rest of the year. Continue reading

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NEWS, MEMES AND POLITICAL CARTOONS ROUNDUP: DEC TWENTY-NINTH

From Independent Voter site Balladeer’s Blog it’s another current events roundup.

JOE BIDEN’S OWNERS IN CHINA’S GOVERNMENT HACKED INTO YET ANOTHER TELECOMS FIRM TO SPY ON AMERICAN CITIZENS. I will say for the umpteenth time that buying Joe Biden was the best investment that China’s government ever made. Joe Biden is humanoid bacteria.

A REMINDER OF THE PHOTOGRAPHIC PROOF OF JOE BIDEN MEETING WITH CHINA FIGURES FUNNELING MONEY THROUGH HIS SON HUNTER BIDEN EVEN THOUGH JOE KEPT DENYING HAVING EVER MET THEM. Much more HERE. And Democrat media outlets ignored Biden’s lies.

BIDENOMICS: HOMELESSNESS IN AMERICA INCREASED BY A RECORD EIGHTEEN PERCENT THIS YEAR. And that’s on top of the 12% increase in 2023. Joe Biden’s war on the working class and the poor has taken its toll.

EVEN THE BIDEN REGIME’S OWN HUD FORCED TO ADMIT HOMELESSNESS IS AT ITS HIGHEST LEVEL IN MODERN HISTORY UNDER JOE. And that’s just part of Biden’s dark, horrific legacy.

GALLUP POLL: ONLY NINETEEN PERCENT ARE SATISFIED WITH THE STATE OF THE U.S. UNDER JOE BIDEN. The career criminal’s actions since being knocked out of the race by Trump in the debate certainly didn’t help. More HERE.

NEWSWEEK’S SENIOR EDITOR-AT-LARGE STATES THAT DONALD TRUMP’S FOREIGN POLICY DURING HIS FIRST TERM WAS “NOTHING SHORT OF GENIUS.” Delusional Democrats will hate him and ostracize him now for speaking such truth to their power.  Continue reading

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TALES OF CHARLEMAGNE: RUGGIERO AND PRINCESS ANGELICA MEET

These are the legends about Charlemagne and his Paladins, not the actual history, so there will be dragons, monsters and magic. 

FOR MY FIRST CHAPTER ON CHARLEMAGNE’S PALADINS CLICK HERE.

During the post-Christmas period through at least Twelfth Night in January Balladeer’s Blog covers tales of Charlemagne and his Paladins.

RUGGIERO MEETS PRINCESS ANGELICA – When we last saw Bradamante, the Paladin in White Armor, she was continuing her quest to find her beloved Ruggiero. He was a Muslim warrior who was allied with the Saracens who had invaded the realm of Emperor Charlemagne from colonized Spain. 

Muslim sorcerers had been throwing menaces in their way to keep them separated because of the prophecy that said Ruggiero would convert to Christianity over his love of a woman. That woman was obviously the skilled and courageous Bradamante of the White Armor. 

After having freed many noble fighters held captive by the Sorceress Alcina in our last installment, Ruggiero mounted his winged hippogriff and flew off eastward toward Continental Europe from the island realm of the good Queen Logestilla. Continue reading

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