KAPITAN MORS DER LUFTPIRAT – From 1908 to 1911 the masked Captain Mors, a combination of Robin Hood, Captain Nemo and Robur, appeared in weekly adventures running 32-33 pages. The character’s creator is not known but over his 3-year run various writers were linked to this German series, which was basically a late Dime Novel but early Pulp Magazine.
The enigmatic Captain Mors has been called “the Patron Saint of Steam Punk” even though he was far from the first figure to be featured in that subgenre. His series ran for 165 issues of TEXT STORIES – this was not a comic book. Mors is up there with France’s hero the Nyctalope.
After the initial run of 3 years and a few months, the Captain Mors stories were reprinted around Europe in various languages until 1916. The good captain at first adventured in the skies above, then later took his crew to other planets aboard his “world ship” (which we today would call a spaceship) the Meteor.
Captain Mors’ origin is very derivative of Captain Nemo’s. Mors’ wife and children were killed by a German-Russian criminal organization which also forged documents to frame him for heinous crimes. He adopted the nom de guerre Captain Mors, donned a mask and set about using his Luftschiff (airship) and other futuristic inventions for revenge and then for crusading against other evildoers.
With his mixed crew of Europeans and people from India the captain flies around the world – and later the solar system – robbing from the rich to give to the poor and dispensing his own brand of justice to malefactors. Like the much later Doc Savage, Captain Mors possesses impressive physical strength as well as uncanny scientific genius. His archenemy is rival genius Ned Gully. Continue reading
FIRE DRILL aka Simulacro de Incendio (1897) – On January 24th of this year, Gabriel Veyre (at left) held the very first exhibition of silent film shorts in Cuban history at a theater in Havana. 
FILM COMMERCIAL FOR LA TROPICAL BEER aka the Missing Sorcerer (1898) – This was the very first film directed by a native Cuban – Jose Esteban Casasús, a noted pioneer of Cuban Cinema. Lasting just under a minute, this short advertised the brewery & product of La Tropical beer and was produced by Cinemataca de Cuba.
CONSTITUTIONAL ASSEMBLY (1901) – A film capturing the 1901 assembly, the equivalent of our Constitutional Convention. Following the defeat of Spain in the Spanish-American War, Cuba produced its first constitution a few years later. That document was openly based on the United States Constitution but had 115 articles instead of America’s 7. 
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – The last teams standing in this tournament were the 2nd seeded UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE PENMEN and the 5 seeds – the PACE UNIVERSITY SETTERS (Irish Setters). The Setters were up 35-33 at the Half, but after the break the Penmen forced Overtime with a 64-64 tie. USNH edged Pace 72-71. Royce Williams led the Penmen with 21 points and teammate Paul Greene got a Double Double of 18 points & 13 rebounds. 
FIRST SEMIFINAL – The 4 seeds – the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA AT BEAUFORT SAND SHARKS – took the court against the top seeded COLUMBUS STATE COUGARS. The score was knotted up at 41-41 come Halftime, but from there the Sand Sharks managed enough separation for a 91-87 Upset win. Hudson Norton tossed in 18 points to lead USC-Beaufort. 
SPIDER-MAN Vol 1 #36 (May 1966) 
She makes a point of showing up at an astro-science exhibit that Peter is visiting and is exasperated once again as the fragments of meteorites and other displays capture Peter’s attention instead of her blonde hotness. (Save your own life and just walk away, Gwen!) 
A TRIP TO THE NORTH POLE or DISCOVERY OF THE TEN TRIBES AS FOUND IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN (1903) – Written by Otte Julius Swenson Lindelof.
STANISLAV SZUKALSKI (1893-1987) – Just as L. Ron Hubbard went from being a pulp story writer to founder of a nutzoid religion, Stanislav Szukalski went from being a celebrated, even brilliant, artist to founder of an equally irrational belief system. 
The topic of this blog post, however, is Zermatism, the insane philosophy that Szukalski founded in 1940. He named it after the city of Zermatt, where he was convinced that survivors of a pre-deluge civilization settled. 
FIRST SEMIFINAL – The HERKIMER COLLEGE GENERALS took the court against the GENESEE COLLEGE COUGARS. The Generals were on top 36-30 by Halftime, and from there they floored it. Herkimer College left the Cougars further and further behind as they won the game 86-65. Kenny Freeman and Jayson McGhee led the Generals with 20 points each, while teammate Oladele Oladitan logged a Double Double of 19 points & 10 rebounds. 
AMY PRENTISS – Long before she was known as Archer’s mother, the talented Jessica Walter had churned out powerful performances of all kinds in movies and television. Jessica’s short-lived run as the sleuth Amy Prentiss is a reminder that a program can be a bit too far ahead of its time to thrive. 
THE MYSTERY OF DR. FU MANCHU (1923) – One of the earliest, if not THE earliest, big screen adaptations of Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu novels, which launched in 1913. The tales depicted the brilliant Chinese figure Dr. Fu Manchu at most plotting global domination but most often uniting many Far Eastern races against White Colonial nations to drive them out of Asia. 
