This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog will look at the British character Loner.
LONER – In 1988 the U.K. comic book Wildcat introduced a sci-fi character called Loner. This figure was, shall we say, reminiscent of America’s post-apocalypse rebel Sabre (lower right), who debuted in 1978 and made his last appearance in 1985. I’m not accusing anybody of anything. We all know that comic books recycle and borrow ideas all the time. And at least they didn’t spell it “Lonre.”
While Sabre’s adventures were about a heroic rebel fighting the dictatorship that had arisen in the wake of a global epidemic, famine and nuclear disasters, Loner’s adventures were set far away from the planet Earth.
In the year 2492 a huge spaceship called Wildcat searches the universe for a planet fit for the human race to settle on as Earth faces destruction from a meteor storm. Loner was the world’s highest-paid mercenary warrior and bought his way onto the Wildcat by chipping in twenty million in financing.
Armed with his custom-made, multi-projectile firearm “Babe,” Loner goes forth to explore potential new worlds for the human race to colonize. Naturally, he faces a variety of science fiction menaces while carrying out that mission of exploration.
NOTE: Like Sabre’s “flintlock” laser pistol, Loner’s gun may look like an antique pistol but is really a high-tech weapon in a deceptive vintage casing. Continue reading
CLEOPATRA (1917) – Born Theodosia Goodman in Cincinnati, OH on July 29th, 1885, Theda Bara was the first monumental “man-eating”, femme fatale sex symbol in American cinema. It was inevitable that she would portray one of history’s most notorious women. Only part of this film has survived, and the story is a mix of various accounts of Cleopatra’s activities. 
MOUNTAINS, SEAS AND GIANTS aka BERGE MEERE UND GIGANTEN (1924) – Written by Alfred Döblin, later famous for the novel Berlin Alexanderplatz. A 2021 translation of the book uses the title Mountains Oceans Giants: A Novel of the 27th Century. 
Earlier today 
Congratulations to de facto Third Party President Donald Trump, America’s populist leader, for enduring a storm of cowardly, destructive attacks that no president since Abraham Lincoln had to endure from their enemies on the way to another term. 
Not to be forgotten are the many legislative and court victories for election integrity since the 2020 debacle. Balladeer’s Blog covered all those efforts to prevent a recurrence of such fraudulent tactics every step of the way. 
It is such a waste that so few installments of National Educational Television Playhouse are available despite video copies still being in their archives. For six years, N.E.T. Playhouse offered up some of the most interesting, profound and innovative productions from around the world. That 1966-1972 run puts what passes for educational television today to shame. 
HAMILE (January 15th, 1970) – A Ghanaian adaptation of Hamlet written by that nation’s Joe C. De Graft and performed by actors from the National Theatre of Ghana. 
YESTERDAY THE CHILDREN WERE DANCING (February 26th, 1970) – A 90-minute CBC drama about the 1964 terrorist attacks in Canada launched by Quebec Separatists and plans for further attacks during the federal elections. 
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