Last weekend’s escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looked at the earliest Dr. Doom stories and was a big hit. This time I’m looking at the earliest Red Skull stories.
CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS Vol 1 #1 (March 1941)
Story 5: The Riddle of the Red Skull
Synopsis: Even though America has not yet entered World War 2, Nazi agent the Red Skull has been sending his calling cards to assorted American military and intelligence figures, then inevitably ambushes and kills them shortly afterward with poison from a hypodermic needle.
Major Croy is the latest figure to receive the Red Skull’s card. Steve Rogers and J.B. Barnes try to protect him but he waves off the offer. The Red Skull shows up and kills Croy.
Captain America recognizes how deadly the Red Skull is and orders Bucky to stay out of this case. The sidekick investigates on his own and gets captured by the Red Skull and his men. Captain America shows up and frees him, but the Skull and his underlings escape.
The next day at Camp Lehigh, Rogers and Barnes witness the fiery destruction of industrialist George Maxon’s latest military aircraft during a test flight. The Red Skull is behind this, too. That night the Skull shows up at the home of General Charles Manor in the Virginia suburbs and kills him.
Before he can escape, Captain America shows up. It turns out that the Red Skull has been using George Maxon as an agent and Maxon dies in the fight with Cap. The Red Skull himself is still at large and Cap discovers a note proving that the Skull answers directly to Hitler himself. Continue reading
PART TEN – We begin this installment with a much more mature and sober-minded Ozidi. We’ve seen him go from his wild and unavoidable embrace of violence during his revenge quest against the murderers of his father to destructively maintaining that reflexive violence after his vengeance had been achieved. 
SALLY THE ZOMBIE CHEERLEADER – This horror hostess is portrayed by Nicole Galeano aka Nicole M. King aka Nicole M. Brooks. The Zombie Cheerleader started appearing on Public Access Cable around 2001, and in 2005 the undead pom-pom girl launched one of her best-known Movie Hostess programs – The Zombie Cheerleader’s School of Horror. 
The Zombie Cheerleader’s School of Horror lasted into 2007 and the supporting cast consisted of her daughter Genevieve Brooks as Zombette, an underclass and undead cheerleader who assisted the star, as did the monstrous Mr. Hairyhands, played by Daniel Brooks. 
THE BARZEITSON EXPERIMENT (1888) – Written by female author Rebecca Rogers. 
PART 76 – As always, it’s fascinating to read the over 100-year-old opinions of James Larkin Pearson (and by extension his Fool Killer), including the opinions that one doesn’t agree with. Here are the Fool Killer’s targets in July, 1915:
I WOKE UP EARLY THE DAY I DIED (1998) – Directed by Aris Iliopulos, this is the film that was made based on that notorious unproduced script written by THE Ed Wood, the master of badfilm behind Glen or Glenda, Plan 9 From Outer Space and more. 
There’s no dialogue, Easter Eggs regarding Wood’s various Golden Turkeys abound and excerpts from the actual screenplay appear on screen at times in case viewers are skeptical that the weirdness they’re witnessing really was in the original script. 
CORONET BLUE (1967) – Another intriguing but short-lived television series created by future 
A TIME TO BE BORN, A TIME TO DIE – After our amnesiac hero pulls himself out of New York Harbor he adopts the name Michael Alden based on the name of the physician treating him and the hospital in which he is laid up. His fingerprints come back with no match and Michael goes on the run from his enigmatic pursuers and struggles to learn what “Coronet Blue” means. 
NAIA OVER NCAA DIVISION TWO – And another NAIA football team toppled a team from a higher division. The LANGSTON UNIVERSITY LIONS visited D2’s LINCOLN (MO) BLUE TIGERS yesterday and saw their 12-7 1st Quarter lead become a 14-12 Blue Tigers edge come Halftime. Neither team scored in the 3rd Quarter, but Langston U. consummated the Upset 19-14 in the 4th. 
NUMBER THREE TAKES A FALL – Down in NCAA Division 3 the RANDOLPH-MACON COLLEGE YELLOW JACKETS welcomed the number 3 team in the nation – the JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY BLUE JAYS. The Blue Jays were on top 14-7 at the Half, but RMC went up 21-14 in the 3rd Quarter. In the 4th, the Yellow Jackets prevailed 28-21. 
FANTASTIC FOUR Vol 1 #5 (July 1962)
To save any innocent bystanders from harm, our heroes do so. They meet the armored Dr. Doom, who explains that his experiment which went awry and caused his expulsion long ago left his face scarred, so he now hides it behind a steel mask.
SWORDSMAN OF SIENA (1962) – In the Spanish-controlled Italian states of the 1500s, English mercenary Thomas Stanswood (Stewart Granger) is currently employed by the Italian nobles of Siena. The resented Don Carlos (Riccardo Garrone), Imperial Governor of Siena, is forcing a political marriage between himself and the beautiful Orietta Arconti (Sylva Koscina). 
Meanwhile, Orietta’s younger sister Serenella falls in love with the mercenary and can tell his sympathies really lean toward the rebels, like hers do. Amid action and intrigues in which Thomas saves Orietta from the rebels called the Ten, Serenella gets killed by Don Carlos’ men. 
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