This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero blog post centers around Marvel’s Power Man. Last year I covered his first twenty issues HERE. Here are more of his 1970s tales.
POWER MAN Vol 1 #21 (October 1974)
Title: The Killer with My Name
Villain: The original, villainous Power Man (Erik Josten)
Synopsis: The flood of glowing headlines that Power Man has been getting after crushing Cottonmouth’s drug ring in the previous issue get soured a bit one day when Luke goes to Noah Burstein’s clinic. He has gone there to visit his girlfriend, Dr. Claire Temple, but she has left behind a note for him saying she has left New York and can never see him again.
The hurt and angry Power Man returns to his Hero for Hire office above the Gem Theater. Luke gets attacked there by the original Power Man, a former operative of Baron Zemo who was given his super-strength by the Avengers foe the Enchantress.
That villain, real name Erik Josten, is demanding that Luke stop using the Power Man name since he has been using it for years. The resulting destructive battle causes the building to start collapsing, trapping a little girl inside. Naturally, Luke Cage wins the fight and saves the child. Continue reading
PETER PAN IN KENSINGTON GARDENS – Here at Balladeer’s Blog I like to cover neglected items, even when it comes to popular subjects like Peter Pan. Before the figure became established in the public consciousness as the leader of the Lost Boys in Neverland, J.M. Barrie presented Peter in a very different form. 
This was followed by the 1904 stage play about Peter Pan, which established the more well-known lore regarding the character. In 1906, the six chapters from The Little White Bird were published in a separate book as Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. That was followed by the 1911 novelized version of the 1904 play, with the novel adding some finishing touches to Peter Pan lore. 
A VERY MISSING PERSON (1972) – This made for tv movie was the pilot for an unsold series that was meant as another rotating slot in the ______Night Mystery Movie offerings from the networks back then. 
The last Withers mystery completed by Stuart Palmer during his lifetime was published in 1954, but he left behind an unfinished novel titled Hildegarde Withers Makes the Scene. Fletcher Flora used Palmer’s notes to finish the novel, which finally saw print in 1969. 
AN INTER-PLANETARY RUPTURE (1906) – Written by Frank L Packard. This work of Science Fiction is set in the far-off year 3102 A.D. Since the year 2532 all of the Earth has been united under one single government, which is headquartered in America’s Washington, D.C. (Yet this was written by a Canadian.) 
FANTASTIC FOUR Vol 1 #129 (December 1972) 
Crystal, Johnny Storm’s longtime girlfriend and former member of the Fantastic Four, was forced to move back to the Inhumans’ hidden city of Attilan due to her body’s negative reaction to air pollution in the human world. 
THE SCARLATTI INHERITANCE (1971)
Her heart and loins are finally stolen away by Italian-American Giovanni Scarlatti, a laborer in her father’s factory. Though he speaks broken English, Scarlatti’s mechanical genius is first-rate. The rebellious Elizabeth combines her own business acumen with Giovanni’s aptitude for inventions and before long the two lovers are married and have taken over the companies run by her father and plenty of his friends. 
PART ONE – This opening segment examined the Six Ages of the World section, a mythological look at the history of the world from Creation to the coming of Jesus Christ. The Book of the Dun Cow contains a mix of pagan and Christian materials, and in Part One I also reviewed its presentation of myths regarding Great Britain, legends of Saint Columba and its version of the story of Tuan mac Cairill, the only non-Ark survivor of the Great Flood and who chronicled the ancient races of Ireland like the Tuatha de Danaan, Fir Bolg and Milesians. Click 
PART TWO – The four sections covered in Part Two: Two Sorrows of the Kingdom of Heaven, featuring Elijah and Enoch in Heaven and their observations regarding the Antichrist, the end of the world and the Final Judgment; The Intoxication of the Ulstermen, about the Samhain partying of the Ulstermen and the peril it led to; The Raid on Dartaid’s Cattle, about a raid to rustle the cattle of the she-warrior Dartaid; and The Raid on Fliodhaise’s Cattle, featuring Queen Maeve, King Ailill, Fergus mac Roich and Queen Fliodhaise, her lusty ways and her cattle. Click 
Full Title: A NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE AND ASTONISHING ADVENTURES OF JOHN DANIEL, A SMITH AT ROYSTON IN HERTFORDSHIRE, FOR A COURSE OF SEVENTY YEARS. (1751) – Written by Ralph Morris, supposedly a pseudonym used by an unknown man. 
The unmarried son, Daniel (yes his name is Daniel Daniel) has a knack for inventing things and builds a flying machine. Its general shape is like one of our modern-day airplanes but the wings are leather over metal rod frames and in order to fly the wings must “flap,” which they do, powered by a pump. 
MOMMA THE DETECTIVE (1981) – Happy Mother’s Day to the ladies who brought all of us into this world! Every single one of us alive today was given birth to by a woman, and to help mark their special day here’s my review of a made for tv production about a sleuthing mother in New York City. 
Rolle starred as “Momma” Sykes, a freelance cleaning woman and cook who works for several well-to-do clients in a New York high rise. 
Momma Sykes’ son Alvin Sykes (Kene Holliday) is a detective with the New York City Police Department and he happens to be the one assigned to this particular case. His gentle exasperation as Momma persistently pursues her own parallel investigation to his sets the tone for what apparently would have been his “Bert Convy in The Snoop Sisters” role if this had gone to series. 
GRIPS 
As I indicated in the title of this blog post, I consider the Grips tales to be what low-budget, disreputable Grindhouse movies of the past were to glossy, professional films from major studios. The writing and artwork in Grips seldom approached the standards of the Big Two publishers, but the visceral violence, profanity and often taboo subject matter more than made up for the overall shoddiness of the finished product. 
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