September 16, 2007 - September 22, 2007

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Great moments in comic book history

(Images from Fantastic Comics #6)

Posted by Steve Monaco at September 22, 2007 12:31 PM

 

From the moldy bookshelf of forgettable lore

"Was this then the horrible price Tim Croft must pay for his disbelief in devil-magic philtres?-- the forfeiture of his own lovely fiancee's life-blood to the undead corpse of Haunted Hollow!"

From "Blood for the Vampire Dead" by Robert Leslie Bellem, author of Curse of the Lovely Torso.

Posted by Steve Monaco at September 21, 2007 10:17 PM

 

In Search of Steve Ditko

While I would never tell someone to break the law by downloading, if you are a comics fan of a certain age with no access to current BBC programming, you may want to let your conscience be your guide and find the new special, In Search of Steve Ditko. For reporter Jonathan Ross, meeting and talking to Ditko-- the artist many believe was the true creator of Spider-Man-- was a life's dream, and he flew with crew to New York to find comics' most reclusive genius. The result is a fascinating, wonderful look at a genuinely great artist.

Ditko's life, extreme right-wing politics, and-- best of all-- his glorious work are all treated thoroughly and well, with reverent comments by Ditko fans Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman. (The latter's notion for the famously-unexplained split between Ditko and Stan Lee was that Ditko would draw Spidey swinging by student protestors, undoubtedly thinking ill of them in the artist's mind, only to see Lee's dialogue change it to "Right on, kids, let's end this war!") He also talks to Stan the Man about the dispute bewteen them over who created what-- it's sad to watch this genuinely talented and lovable old comics great not have the generosity to give Ditko his due, and in a piece in The Guardian, Ross said it was the most uncomfortable, personally unpleasant moment of his career.

So . . . does Ross meet his idol? He's coy about it in the Guardian piece-- he wanted people to watch the show, of course-- but I'm going to do something I've never done before, and tell you the ending. Or at least some of it-- yes, with Neil Gaiman at his side, Ross meets his idol. And afterward, the look on their faces is enough to make an old comic-book lover weep-- Ross's childlike delight is palpable, and Gaiman seems so moved that he looks to be holding back tears.

I haven't seen an hour of television that moved me this much in ages, and I recommend In Search of Steve Ditko to everybody, but especially those of us who were young when Spidey was.

(The real Peter Parker-- Steve Ditko's 1944 high school yearbook photo, one of a total of four existing pictures of the artist.)

Posted by Steve Monaco at September 21, 2007 7:45 PM

 

God damn you!

Some things I Googled up with those three little words:

(If you've never seen this video, you must! Not safe for work or almost anywhere, but the most amazing TV preacher you'll ever see.)

Posted by Steve Monaco at September 18, 2007 11:49 PM

 

Other people's arguments

(By the great Peter Bagge.)

It's looking like an angry autumn in my usually quiet neighborhood, with lots of unrestrained front-yard griping and back-door bitchouts. And, as you might guess, I'm loving it!

As usual, lack of tranquility, domestically, is the cause of most of the beefing-- accusations of treating one another like shit, as well as financial failings and suspected whoring/whore-mongering. Sometimes it's a phone call, so all that's heard is a one-sided harangue. (Those are good, too!)

Today, returning from my afternoon 100-yard stroll, all I heard was a shouted farewell, delivered at top volume: "It's everything that you do!" I thought, what might have been the question that triggered such a response?

-- "Honey, what do you love most about me?"
-- "If I ran for President, why would people vote for me?"
-- "What's giving you the idea I'm getting ready to kick you out and get somebody new?"

More to come, I hope!

Posted by Steve Monaco at September 18, 2007 2:52 PM

 

Hitchpoo? Shamcock?

"Alfred Hitchcock" receiving a cleaning at Madame Tussauds wax museum.

Posted by Steve Monaco at September 18, 2007 1:34 PM

 

The Monday Movie Quiz #141

A quiz torn from today's headlines!

No, it's not a science fiction film, and that's not an android-- I used my impressive Photoshop skills to disguise the other actor in this movie poster scene, the better to thwart an easy imdb look-up. But hey, unlike the pig in the picture, I'm not a bad guy-- here's another picture clue, this one (taken from the actual film) of his female co-star.

Recognize her? If not, one more pic, this one to let you know what kind of film this was:

Put 'em together and figure it out, because this is a tough one, and not well known. If you think you know the title, send me an email by late next Sunday night, and-- if you get it right-- expect to thrill to the sight of your name in next week's slow-speed winner's circle.

Posted by Steve Monaco at September 17, 2007 12:45 AM

 

Last week's Movie Quiz winners

"Find one in every car." "Let's go get sushi and not pay." "I gotta get my wife's car out of this bad area." "They don't pay bills in Russia, it's all free." "“I was killing people while you were still swimming around in your father's balls! You little scumbag!” And many other well-known favorite quotes were mentioned by the people identifying last week's quiz movie in question, Alex Cox's splendid 1984 a-punk-alyptic Repo Man.

It was the first feature by British writer-director Cox, and he packed the film with funny dialogue, great (if unknown) character actors (like Sy Richardson, above, with the movie's star, Emilio Estevez), and a weirdness that hadn't been seen in mainstream movies at the time. Not so hard to do, of course, when the plot involves a radioactive Chevy Malibu and Harry Dean Stanton as a repo man named Bud. Stanton is even better than he usually is, and all of his scenes-- lecturing about tense situations and other repo man info, spitting out dialogue like "Goddamn-dipshit-Rodriguez-gypsy-dildo-punks!"-- are made of comedy gold.

(A good word should be said for Tracey Walter as the driving-phobic mechanic Miller, and the film's executive producer, none other than Monkee Mike "Wool-Hat" Nesmith!)

Quiz champeen Wayne Palmer put his finger on perhaps the movie's greatest mystery-- what happened to its director? "Though I still watch everything that Alex Cox puts out, after this and Sid and Nancy he really dropped into indy obscurity." Agreed, sad to say, and a shame, because some of his later films-- especially his Mexican film Highway Patrolman and the spaghetti Western spoof Straight to Hell (starring Richardson, Joe Strummer and Courtney Love)-- have been interesting, if not the home runs of the first two films.

A nice big turnout this time, so congratulations and a big box of the generic food product of your choice to the following winners: Wayne Palmer, Song-Un Lee, Travis Neal, Corey Anderson, Chris Hessler, Vince Tuss, Dean E. Carlson, Dack Anderson, Michael Mattson, Mark Torma, Nick Rupar, Mark Gisleson, Bill Hearne, Gene, Thomas Miller, Tim McDonough, Joe Rosenberg, Jim Moomey, Isaac Kaufman, Doug Smith, Michael Schurter, Michael Swanlund, E. Yarber, Dennis Lynch, Kevin Musolino, Nancy Louise Rutherford, Sarah Bergstrom, John Slade, Stacy Sarette, and Bob Redwing.

Posted by Steve Monaco at September 16, 2007 11:52 PM

 

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