Tag Archives: superheroes

March 21, 2016 · 8:52 pm

WYNONNA EARP: FINALLY A TV SERIES

Wynonna EarpNever let it be said that Balladeer’s Blog’s readers don’t get things done! In 2013 I covered the neglected comic book heroine Wynonna Earp and hoped for a movie about her. Still no movie BUT the Sci Fi Channel is launching a television series based on the monster-slaying figure. 

The eponymous series debuts April 1st (but this is NOT an early April Fool’s joke, I swear!). Here’s a refresher on Wynonna’s action-packed saga.

WYNONNA EARP – December of 1996 saw the comic book debut of Wynonna Earp, a descendant of Frontier Marshal Wyatt Earp. Wynonna worked in present-day law enforcement in the American southwest. What separates her from her more well known ancestor is the fact that Wynonna was a United States Marshal, Black Badge Division.

The Black Badge Division was a top-secret branch of Federal Marshals established by President Theodore Roosevelt to deal with paranormal menaces. That’s right, Wynonna Earp was as sexy as Barb Wire or Xena and fought werewolves, mummies, zombies, gremlins and all other manner of supernatural foes just like Kolchak or the X-Files crew. In her earlier adventures Marshal Earp was drawn as a drop-dead sex-bomb who often gouged out the eyes of her opponents with her impossibly high heels while in her final few escapades she was drawn as a more sensibly-dressed heroine.

Wynonna Earp was the Continue reading →

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February 13, 2016 · 2:40 pm

SUPER PRESIDENT: FORGOTTEN TELEVISION

superpresident

Super President

Since it’s President’s Day holiday time here’s a look at a long- neglected television series.

SUPER PRESIDENT was an actual cartoon series from the 1960’s that has virtually disappeared. It’s rare to catch a glimpse of this DePatie- Freleng show anywhere or even to find people who have heard of it outside of oddballs like me.

This cartoon was not intended for laughs, like it would be today. It honestly featured a superhero whose “secret identity” was being President of the United States. First off, there’s the absurd fun of the name AND the fact that calling yourself Super President instantly blows your cover anyway, unless you think people are dumb enough to not figure out what you’re the president OF. (The Teamsters Union? The National Egg Council?)  

President James Norcross was our title superhero and like the Fantastic Four a half-dozen years earlier got his powers from a cosmic ray storm. He had super-strength, could fly via small rockets on his belt and as the topper could transform himself into any substance – steel, granite, water, electricity and on more than one occassion – “ozone”. (Ozone?) Super President also had a nifty Omnicar that could drive, fly and serve as a submarine. The Omnicar was stashed in a secret room in the White House that served as SP’s version of the Batcave (How was this addition to the White House added without attracting attention and how much did it cost?). Continue reading →

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January 21, 2016 · 9:43 pm

THE SCARLET AVENGER: FORGOTTEN SUPERHERO

Superheroes are dominating the box office these days and are well-represented on the small screen, too. Reaction to Balladeer’s Blog’s look at the forgotten MLJ superheroes has been so impressive I’m throwing in a bonus hero from MLJ.

Scarlet AvengerTHE SCARLET AVENGER

Secret Identity: Jim Kendall

Origin: Jim Kendall, his wife and child were on board an airplane which was also transporting a shipment of gold bullion. A criminal gang tried to hijack the plane to get the gold and in the resulting mayhem the plane crashed near a remote mountain.

Kendall was the only survivor, his face paralyzed from the crash and never able to smile again. (Shades of the Avenger from Justice, Inc.) He vowed to wage war on the type of criminals who caused his wife and child’s death. Believed dead, Jim Kendall covertly used the fortune in gold bullion to finance his crusade against crime.  

First Appearance: Zip Comics # 1 (February 1940). His final Golden Age appearance came in late 1941.

Powers: Continue reading →

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September 17, 2015 · 8:48 am

MLJ COMICS SUPERHERO PANTHEON

With the flood of superhero movies every summer in recent years Balladeer’s Blog will feature periodic examinations of the more obscure comic book companies. This time out it’s MLJ.

FoxTHE FOX

Secret Identity: Paul Patton, newspaper reporter and news photographer.

Origin: When his co-worker Ruth Ransom got kidnapped, Paul Patton felt he could fight crime AND enhance his journalism career by first donning a costume and thwarting criminals as the Fox and then getting a “scoop” on those adventures, complete with photos. And this was decades before Peter Parker made a living with news photos of his exploits as Spider-Man.

First Appearance: Blue Ribbon Comics #4 (June 1940). His final Golden Age appearance came in 1942. 

Powers: The Fox was at the peak of human condition. He had acrobatic skills greater than Olympic athletes and was a master of all forms of unarmed combat. His stealth skills were the equal of any burglar or ninja. The white eye-lenses on his mask permitted him to see in the dark.   Continue reading →

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September 1, 2015 · 7:49 pm

ANT-MAN: THE EARLY ADVENTURES PART TWO

By request from a Balladeer’s Blog reader here is my look at the early adventures of this superhero.

Tales to Astonish 407 TALES TO ASTONISH # 40 (February 1963)

Title: The Day The Ant-Man Failed

Villain: The Hijacker, a costumed supervillain who wielded a gun that both knocked out its victims and made them lose their short-term memory. That gas was derived from an ancient Inca formula. In later years the Hijacker fought Black Goliath and the Thing.

Synopsis: The Hijacker is robbing armored cars all over New York City by knocking out the drivers and leaving them with no memory of their attacker. With the help of Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four Ant-Man devises a gas mask made of unstable molecules.

The gas mask is to protect our hero from the Hijacker’s gas and the unstable molecular makeup of the mask will allow it to shrink and grow along with the rest of Ant-Man’s costume and equipment. Continue reading →

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August 25, 2015 · 6:48 pm

ANT-MAN: THE EARLY ADVENTURES

Ant-Man 1This past summer Marvel Comics added Ant-Man to their growing list of mega-successful film adaptations of their costumed crime-fighters. By request from a Balladeer’s Blog reader here is my look at the early adventures of that superhero.

1 TALES TO ASTONISH # 27 (January 1962)

Title: The Man in the Ant Hill

Villain: Various hungry ants

Synopsis: The emphasis in this debut story was on Incredible Shrinking Man– style antics. Dr Hank Pym has perfected his shrinking and growing formulas – later retconned to Pym Particles delivered via serum, pills or gas. Testing them on himself the good doctor shrinks and finds himself stuck in the “jungle” of his own back yard struggling to get back to his growth serum. Continue reading →

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August 16, 2015 · 10:41 pm

NEDOR SUPERHERO PANTHEON

With the flood of superhero movies every summer in recent years Balladeer’s Blog will feature periodic examinations of the more obscure comic book companies. 

Cavalier

THE CAVALIER

Secret Identity: Rance Raleigh, owner of an antique and curio shop

Origin: In Raleigh’s store was a portrait of the Duke de Chantreigh, sometimes said to be an ancestor of Rance. When that portrait would frown it was a supernatural sign that danger was coming. Rance would then suit up as the Cavalier and go into action. The first time was when Jake Miles, who was investigating munitions factory sabotage was hit by a truck outside Raleigh’s shop before he could tell him what he had discovered. 

First Appearance: Thrilling Comics # 53 (April 1946). His final Golden Age appearance came in 1948 

Powers: The Cavalier possessed the strength of a normal athletic male but was highly skilled with a sword and at unarmed combat. In addition he often used esoteric weapons and relics from his shop, just like the Golden Age Hawkman would wield artifacts from his museum. Continue reading →

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February 4, 2015 · 11:37 pm

FANTOMAH: PART TWO

Fantomah 2Balladeer’s Blog’s examination of the neglected Golden Age superheroine Fantomah concludes with a look at the final eight stories penned by the one and only Fletcher Hanks under his pseudonym Barclay Flagg.

VII. JUNGLE ACTION #8 (August 1940)

Locale: The Temple of the Boiling Mud, hidden deep within Fantomah’s jungle territory.

Villain: Mister X, another Great White Hunter type, who plans to steal the sacred relic in the Temple of the Boiling Mud then ransom it back to the natives for a fortune.  

The Tale: Fantomah discreetly follows Mister X as he makes his Indiana Jones-ish way to the Temple. After he succeeds in crossing over the boiling mud pit that surrounds the tiny patch of land that the Temple stands on, he penetrates into the Temple itself. Fantomah appears to Mister X and warns him against stealing the relic. The natives believe that if the relic is removed the boiling mud will rise up and flood the entire jungle, wiping out all life. Continue reading →

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February 4, 2015 · 1:16 am

NEGLECTED SUPERHEROINE: FANTOMAH

latest (353×379) Balladeer’s Blog presents the first in my new series about neglected comic book superheroes and heroines of the distant past. With superhero movies and television shows being so popular right now it put me in the mood for some of the obscure and forgotten figures from the Golden Age. Here are my pithy story-by-story takes on our debut figure.

FANTOMAH – This superheroine was created in February of 1940 by Fletcher Hanks under one of his pseudonyms – Barclay Flagg. Hanks is a piece of work all by himself and is described as anything from “a primitive who created Outsider Art” on the good side to “the Ed Wood of comic books” on the bad side.

All of Fletcher Hanks’ comic book creations read like the chronicled psychotic episodes of a not particularly skilled ten year old artist, but his Fantomah stories are my all-time favorites. In the works of Hanks perspective, relative sizes and coloring can all change from frame to frame and the text often doesn’t even match what is being drawn. Continue reading →

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October 8, 2014 · 8:18 pm

FLASH: THE MOST HATED MAN ALIVE PART THREE

HER CAMPAIGN FAILING MISERABLY, WENDY DAVID DECIDED TO TRY HER MOST AUDACIOUS REWRITING OF HER PAST YET, MUCH TO FLASH'S CHAGRIN.

HER CAMPAIGN FAILING MISERABLY, WENDY DAVIS DECIDED TO TRY HER MOST AUDACIOUS REWRITING OF HER PAST YET, MUCH TO FLASH’S CHAGRIN.

 

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