Tag Archives: blogging

FIRST TWENTY DEFENDERS STORIES FROM THE 1970s

To me there’s nothing like the ORIGINAL historical context in which fictional heroes were introduced, so I’ve examined 1930s, 1940s and 1960s superhero characters, often reviewing their first 20 stories. Here are the first 20 Defenders stories from the 1970s.

Marvel Feature 1MARVEL FEATURE Vol 1 #1 (December 1971)

Title: The Day of the Defenders

Villain: The Omegatron

Defenders Roster: Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange, MD), the Hulk (Bruce Banner, PhD) and the Sub-Mariner (Prince Namor McKenzie)

Comment: The Defenders were originally far different from the mere “street level” heroics that fans of Marvel Television adaptations associate with the team’s name. In 1971 Marvel had just one Avengers team in addition to the Fantastic Four and the X-Men. The Defenders often fought to save the entire world or even the entire universe or multiverse.

Doctor Strange and the Hulk had been around since the 1960s. The Sub-Mariner was introduced in 1939 (so BEFORE Aquaman), back when Marvel Comics was called Timely Comics. 

Synopsis: The evil scientist Yandroth, an old one-off foe of Dr Strange, has been spending his years since his defeat at Strange’s hands mastering sorcery as thoroughly as he had previously mastered science. He is on his death bed after having devised a scheme to ensure that the world will be destroyed shortly after he dies.

With typical villain bluster, Yandroth has Dr Strange summoned to his death bed and taunts him about his plans and tells him that in five hours the entire Earth will be destroyed by his creation the Omegatron unleashing every nuclear and biological weapon in the world. Before passing away, the villain reveals that he used BOTH sorcery AND science to create the Omegatron, ensuring that it cannot be defeated by JUST sorcery or JUST science. It will require the proper combination of the two.

Marvel feature 1 splash pageKnowing he has no chance of stopping this menace with his magic alone, Dr Strange mystically summons the Sub-Mariner, Monarch of Atlantis, to his side and explains the situation. Since even Namor’s realm of Atlantis will be destroyed by the Omegatron he allies himself with Stephen.

The Sub-Mariner suggests that Dr Strange also enlist the immensely powerful Silver Surfer to fight beside them. The sorcerer conjures up an image of what the Surfer is up to at that very moment. He and Sub-Mariner see that the Silver Surfer is, for the umpteenth time, trying to penetrate Galactus’ barrier which keeps him banished on Earth. Once again the Surfer fails and plummets back to Earth.

Since the Silver Surfer will need hours to recover from his crash landing back on our planet, Doc and Namor instead summon the Hulk to help them. Our heroes track down the Omegatron to an abandoned lighthouse in the northeastern United States. Continue reading

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FLASHMAN’S GUIANA – LOST FLASHMAN PAPERS

Flashman faceFor Flashman Down Under, Flashman in the Opium War & Flashman and the Kings click HERE   For Flashman on the Gold Coast click HERE  For Flashman of Arabia click HERE 

Balladeer’s Blog now moves on to another Harry Flashman adventure never completed before George MacDonald Fraser’s death.

Lee Horsley Flashman

IF HE WAS BRITISH, LEE HORSLEY WOULD HAVE MADE A PERFECT HARRY FLASHMAN.

Projected Title: FLASHMAN’S GUIANA

Time Period: 1876-1877

NOTE: The title Flashman’s Guiana is a play on “Booker’s Guiana,” as the colony of British Guiana (19th century spelling) was often sardonically referred to in the 1800s. That reference came about from the way the Booker business empire virtually ran the colony. From a 21st Century standpoint we might look on it in a sinister Weyland-Yutani way.

… Strictly for storytelling purposes, of course, if you’re a lawyer representing the Booker Group. Honest. Really. (Although after this latest merger I don’t know if anybody would still care.) Anyway, as you readers have requested, this time I’ll establish the action then go back to detail the setup.

crossed sabresThe Action: Sir Harry Flashman and his wife Elspeth visit British Guiana right after their American Tour ended in August, 1876. A combination of Her Majesty’s Government’s interests and Flashman’s own hunger for large amounts of filthy luchre to sustain his and Elspeth’s grand new lifestyle wind up launching the British blackguard into his latest adventure.

Sword and pistols in hand, Harry leaves Elspeth back in the capital city of Georgetown while he takes part in a covert search for gold in the jungle region disputed by Great Britain and Venezuela. Continue reading

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Filed under Neglected History, opinion, Pulp Heroes

COLLEGE BASKETBALL POSTSEASON FOR 2021 IS UNDERWAY

GREAT PLAINS ATHLETIC CONFERENCE

Mount Marty College LancersQUARTERFINAL ONE – In this game of the GPAC Conference Tournament the 8th seeded MOUNT MARTY COLLEGE LANCERS battled the top seeds – the MORNINGSIDE COLLEGE MUSTANGS.

The Lancers put the vaunted Mustangs on Upset Alert by Halftime with a commanding 45-30 advantage, then held on by their fingertips in the 2nd Half for a 76-73 triumph. In this shocker Chad Moran led Mount Marty College with 22 points.

Jamestown JimmiesQUARTERFINAL TWO – The 3 seeds – the UNIVERSITY OF JAMESTOWN JIMMIES – took on the 6th seeded DORDT COLLEGE DEFENDERS in this Quarterfinal.

By the Half the Jimmies were clinging to a tight 41-38 edge. After the break the University of Jamestown went medieval on the Defenders, outscoring them 48-30 to win the game by a final score of 89-68. Mason Walters led the victorious Jimmies with his Double-Double of 23 points and 11 rebounds.  Continue reading

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FOOL KILLER FIFTY-ONE: NOVEMBER 1911

Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the many facets of Fool Killer lore. FOR PART ONE, INCLUDING THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT IN THE 1850s, CLICK HERE

Fool Killer grayPART FIFTY-ONE – The Fool Killer is back to hurl his Truth Bombs at some more malefactors. NOTE: This month the Fool Killer added a Blacksnake Cattle Whip and a Double-Geared Buzz Saw to his arsenal of weapons. The one to whip the foolish, the other to slice skin off their backs. Some of the Fool Killer’s targets from James Larkin Pearson’s November of 1911 edition of The Fool-Killer:

*** The roughly seventeen multi-millionaires whose wealth supposedly allowed them to control the entire country. In more recent years that number has been lessened to around fifteen, but the basic sentiment remains the same – the country seems to exist for the profit and power of a very, very few.

*** Women who chewed tobacco. Pearson and his Fool Killer supported women’s right to vote but for some reason women chewing snuff really, really bothered him.

*** The federal authorities responsible for sending 12 year old Albert Dewey Carter to five years in prison for stealing $5.00 from the post office. 

*** Writer Upton Sinclair, whose wife Meta had just left him for poet Harry Kemp.

*** Corporation lawyers who “smothered their consciences for a fat salary.”  Continue reading

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Filed under Mythology, Neglected History, opinion

COLLEGE FOOTBALL RESULTS: MORE FEBRUARY MAKE-UP GAMES

NAIA

Arizona Christian Univ helmet GOODSHOWDOWN IN GLENDALE – The ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY FIRESTORM welcomed the LANGSTON UNIVERSITY LIONS to town on Saturday. Neither team scored in the 1st Quarter but by Halftime the Firestorm held a 10-7 edge over the Lions. Both ACU and Langston notched a Field Goal in the 3rd Quarter, while the 4th saw the Firestorm shut out LU while putting up 14 points of their own for a 27-10 victory.

saint-ambrose-university-fighting-bees-helmet-newGETTING STUNG – This game pitted the SAINT AMBROSE UNIVERSITY FIGHTING BEES against the visiting UNIVERSITY OF SAINT FRANCIS (IL) FIGHTING SAINTS. The Fighting Saints grabbed a quick 6-0 lead in the 1st Quarter only to see the Fighting Bees go up 7-6 by the Half. After the break came a scoreless 3rd Quarter before Saint Ambrose University clinched a 14-6 win in the 4th. Continue reading

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DAREDEVIL: THE FIRST TWENTY STORIES FROM THE 1960s

Here’s a look at the first twenty Daredevil stories from the 1960s. These days Daredevil is mostly known for the dark and brooding element that the legendary writer and artist Frank Miller brought to the character, along with that whole Ninja element of DD’s background. 

dd 1DAREDEVIL Vol 1 #1 (April 1964)

Title: The Origin of Daredevil

Villain: The Fixer

Synopsis: At Fogwell’s Gym, a red and yellow costumed figure calling himself Daredevil barges in on the thugs and underlings of the Fixer (Roscoe Sweeney), the criminal behind the fixing of boxing matches at various levels. The hoods don’t want to tell Daredevil where the Fixer is and a huge fight breaks out. Our hero defeats the thugs with his agility, his red billy-club and – as we will learn shortly – his radar senses.

Daredevil has a flashback to his origin: he is really Matt Murdock whose father Battling Jack Murdock was a struggling boxer. To earn enough money to raise his son and send him to college, Battling Jack learned to play the game and throw fights when ordered to by the Fixer. Jack forbade his son to ever fight, which made Matt the object of ridicule by his peers so the younger Murdock trained himself in the martial arts (later retconned to being trained by Ninjas).

One day in his teens Matt heroically shoved a blind man from in front of a crashing toxic waste truck, saving his life but letting himself get hit by that vehicle. The nuclear waste and toxic chemicals in the truck blinded Matt Murdock but also gave him radar senses that more than compensated for the loss of his vision.

NOTE: In a tongue-in-cheek way, the creators of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles always implied that some of the toxic materials from that same truck poured into the sewer, mutating four turtles and a rat. Though they weren’t part of the Marvel Comics universe that Ninja Turtles joke went further still with the way that the evil group the Foot, fought by the TMNT, was an obvious take on the Hand, an evil group opposed by Daredevil.  Continue reading

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TRUMBO (2015): DEMOCRAT HYPOCRISY IS HILARIOUS

democrat republican or awakeThe political intolerance of the shallow, uninformed and emotionally unstable fascists called Democrats knows no bounds. They unabashedly call for the personal and professional destruction of everyone who thinks differently or votes differently than they do while ignoring the fact that they are practicing their own – even more fanatical – form of McCarthyism. In fact, Democrats are such fascist filth that if someone doesn’t denounce the Democrats’ countless objects of hatred as fanatically as THEY do, they want the person destroyed. “Lack of sufficient zeal” I guess.  

This movie is further proof that American Liberals are the biggest hypocrites in history.

This movie is further proof that Democrats are the biggest hypocrites in history.

TRUMBO (2015) – How about “Are you now or have you ever been a racist or imperialist or Islamophobic or privileged?” Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog know how sick I am of the increasingly meaningless Democrats vs Republicans paradigm. It’s just that right now American Democrats are far more pompous, divisive and hubristic and in need of being cut down to size.

Case in point: the movie Trumbo. Only America’s Democrats could be so lacking in self-awareness that they would – in this age of non-stop harassment of dissenting opinions, of police, of Trump supporters, an age of Cancel Culture, the Political Correctness Police and SJW persecutors – yes, only the monumentally hypocritical trash called Democrats would be so lacking in self-awareness that they would trot out (for the millionth time) the story of Dalton Trumbo and some of the other figures who were black-listed during the Communist Witch Hunt of decades ago.

For the past few decades Left-Wing Archie Bunkers  have been the ones black-listing and inflicting draconian punishments on people who dare to hold different political opinions than they do.

We are still suffering under the “Racist” and “Privilege” and “White Supremacy” Witch Hunts that Democrats continue to pursue with the same sickeningly judgmental attitude and spurious statistics that Joe McCarthy was accused of. How many careers (and therefore lives) have we all seen ruined by the cold, merciless asses of the political left? Often over  simple remarks or organizations the victims belonged to or political contributions they made YEARS earlier. Plus DemoKKKrats accuse people of being racists/ white supremacists as a scare tactic the way accusations of being a Communist were used back then.

Anyone under 30 (maybe even 40) who watches Trumbo needs to focus on the OBVIOUS parallels to the way Democrats hound and persecute dissenters and any behavior they choose to interpret as “racism” or more generally as “hate.” When you watch right-wing zealots obsessively looking for “pernicious communism” and “secret communist messages” in Trumbo’s screenplays make a point of noting the similarities to the way Democrat zealots obsessively look for “white supremacy”, “xenophobia”, “imperialism,” “colonial narratives” and on and on through the entire list of their paranoid fixations.  

Democrats are monumental hypocrites who thrive on censoring dissenting ideas and black-listing people who hold those ideas even though they pretended to disapprove of censorship and black-listing when those tactics were used against them. Continue reading

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Filed under Bad and weird movies, LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion

ANALOG ARCHIVES AND CHANNEL 7

analog archivesPreviously here at Balladeer’s Blog I covered YT Channels that featured what I considered the very best of the emerging subgenre of Analog Horror or “Unfiction” as a lot of people have labeled it. Those descriptive terms have been coined to help keep these creative efforts distinct from pure ARGs (Alternate Reality Games).

Last year I reviewed Local 58, Kris Straub’s latest venture, but many readers have since been expressing their discontent with the way the new 2020 episodes never materialized. Per Straub, that’s because Local 58‘s Analog Horror tale was going to incorporate a fictional pandemic, so given real-world events he decided to hold off and reorganize the series.

masc graveyard smaller(If you’re in the mood for Analog Horror which does NOT back away from pandemic and lockdown lore, check out Walker Creek Broadcast Station, but be aware that such lore is only incidental to the main storyline.)

At any rate, being left hanging like that with Local 58 left many of you asking about similar Analog Horror/ Unfiction series which are already completed. I’m happy to say that two of the most popular series are now available COMPLETE and IN ORDER. Even better, they have been edited into one long-form YT video each for your viewing convenience, rather than spread out episodically. (You damn whiners. I’m KIDDING!)  Continue reading

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Filed under Forgotten Television, Halloween Season

MARDI GRAS MASSACRE – (1978)

Mardi Gras MassacreMARDI GRAS MASSACRE (1978) – Category: A neglected Bad Movie classic, but its hard-core gore will prevent it from ever having a Plan 9-sized cult following

It takes a twisted sort of genius to make multiple disembowelment murders look boring, but that’s exactly what Jack Weis accomplishes in Mardi Gras Massacre! Today may be Fat Tuesday, but let’s rechristen it “Splat Tuesday” in honor of this late 70s splatterfest. 

The actual “massacre” part of this movie is an incredible disappointment. An insane, hate-filled man with a knife – no, not Jim Bowie (rimshot) – is roaming around New Orleans during Mardi Gras targeting prostitutes as sacrificial offerings to the Aztec deities he worships.

That sounds promising for a horror film but the disembowelment ritual is reenacted word for word and movement for movement for EACH VICTIM! There is no variation and also no suspense because after the first killing we know exactly how all the subsequent sacrifices will play out. The only chills come from listening to the awful disco music that plays during the ceremonial slayings. (“NOOOOOOOOOO!”) Continue reading

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FEBRUARY FOOTBALL: RECENT SCORES

Because of so many reschedulings caused by Covid last fall here are football scores from the past few days.

NAIA

Roosevelt LakersHISTORY WAS MADE – The ROOSEVELT UNIVERSITY LAKERS played their first ever intercollegiate football game. It was played in snow … in freezing temperatures … but they STILL won, notching the first win in program history! Their opponents were the visiting SAINT AMBROSE UNIVERSITY FIGHTING BEES. Recently, Roosevelt University merged with Robert Morris University (IL), whose sports teams were called the Eagles but in the merger all teams will now go by the RU team name Lakers.

As for this game the Lakers, boasting members of the old Robert Morris-Illinois football program due to the merger, were on top 13-6 at the end of the 1st Quarter. That became a 20-6 advantage by Halftime. Neither team scored in the 3rd Quarter, then exchanged Touchdowns in the 4th for a final count of Roosevelt U 27  Fighting Bees 13.

Saint Andrews University KnightsCOMEBACK KIDS – The SAINT ANDREWS UNIVERSITY KNIGHTS took it on the road against the BLUEFIELD COLLEGE RAMBLING RAMS yesterday. The Rambling Rams led 14-7 in the opening Quarter and 20-9 at the Half. The Knights exploded in the 3rd Quarter to take a 42-27 lead but Bluefield College countered by going up 43-42 in the 4th. The Knights notched a late TD to emerge with a 48-43 victory.   

saint-xavier-cougars-helmet-newCOUGARS ON THE ROAD – The SAINT XAVIER UNIVERSITY COUGARS traveled to face the UNIVERSITY OF SAINT FRANCIS (IL) FIGHTING SAINTS. The 1st Half of this gridiron grudge match ended in a 9-9 deadlock, followed by the Cougars grabbing a 12-9 edge to end the 3rd Quarter. The Fighting Saints knotted things up at 12-12 only to see Saint Xavier University go on to win the game by a score of 19-12.    Continue reading

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