Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
***
Thrills, spills and life-changing shocks. That's what I expect when I enter a cinema.
And that's just from eating a choc ice.
But what of the films that were awaiting us as we entered the place of which Elvis Costello once remarked that stars are only painted on the ceiling above?
I must confess I don't think I've seen any of those - not even The Care Bears Movie II - but I'm going to have a guess that Highlander is the best of the bunch, as I've actually heard people talking about it, unlike the others.
However, there is always the possibility that I could be wrong in my assessment.
In other news, seeing that list has made me realise that - whenever I see the words, "Care Bears," - inside my head, I'm seeing Ewoks.
It sounds bad for our hero... ...but, perhaps all is not lost, as Caliph Abu-Ben Ar's son is a man who wants to do away with slavery!
That in mind, he, for some reason, sets out to create a machine which will recreate him as a mortal - but with a portion of his power intact.
Now what are our heroes supposed to do?
And how does the Molecule Man fit into it all?
In that one single issue, Simon acquires and - loses - employment as a security guard for Cordco Delta Lab 3.
And, as if that wasn't enough to keep us enthralled, we also get a reminder of his origin story!
Sadly, as I've not read that previous issue, I can shed no light upon who those punks might be. Possibly, the Sex Pistols but I feel the UK Subs are also acting mightily suspiciously.
One in which her powers show themselves for the first time, triggered by the demise of her grandmother.
Needless to say, it's not long before she gets noticed - and is recruited by the White Queen!
And it's all thanks to Tom DeFalco and Mary Wilshire.
And it's all thanks to Tom DeFalco and Mary Wilshire.
And, finally, for this month, as far as I can make out, more of the expected fun occurs when Sage becomes a king - only for Groo to turn up.
Posts
19 comments:
Usually, comic characters spawn a tv series. With Firestar, the reverse is true! 'Spider-man & his Amazing Friends' wasn't a patch on the original Spidey cartoon, yet nevertheless a Firestar comic must have been birthed from it! Not much potential, though - I bet it rapidly tanked! 'Highlander' is certainly much better than 'The Money Pit', Steve - although that's not a high bar to clear!
Phillip
Blocked by firewalls at work and thusly deprived of research on the internet (Mikes Amazing World) Charlie is left with two comments given he never read any of the books above
1) Me and Wife #1 disnsee “Money Pit” with Tom Hanks. It was ho-hum slap-stick story about buying a house that had one expensive problem after another.
2) I am still bemused as to why Marvel had 6 (!) artists on Spidey this month. I mean, it is their flagship title. One would think that the marble bag would be pulled pretty tight managing that book? Whereas having six different artists suggests that it was unsupervised.
I saw one of these movies and bought just one of the comics.
Actually paid money to see HIGHLANDER in the theatre. Thought the premise was interesting but found the execution lacking. Then it spawned a bunch of sequels and a TV series and I was like “Really?” Never watched any of ‘em. Over the past decade or so, enough of my friends talked up the original movie in glowing terms that I finally decided to give it a re-watch. Let’s just say I didn’t think that it had gotten any better over the years.
b.t.
Oh, and SWORD OF SOLOMON KANE 4 was the only comic from this batch that I bought. Don’t remember much about it…
b.t.
I must’ve seen The Money Pit. My best friend when I was 16 thought it was great and would have made me watch it. Can’t remember a single thing about it though.
I didn’t go see Highlander because, to be honest, even to a teenager it looked stupid. The involvement of Queen didn’t help. I eventually watched it on VHS and it was shit.
And it spawned a sequel! Which I went to see because I was bored, and that was even more shit.
Haven’t read any of these comics.
Hey - has anyone else watched the Wonder Man TV series on Disney+? It’s quite sweet!
MM, I watched Wonder Man on Disney+ and enjoyed it. Probably my favourite Marvel TV series (or perhaps equal with WandaVision). I didn't have any of these Marvel issues but using Secret Wars 2 #9 and Forester #1 as anchors on Mike's Amazing World of Comics, it appears I had:
2000AD #1 (the new Eagle monthly which featured Dredd, DR & Quinch and Judge Anderson. All under a beautiful Bolland DR & Quinch cover).
Cerebus #81 (the Sacred Wars spoof where Moon Roach gets the black costume. Quite topical!)
Love & Rockets #15 (Another brilliant cover. This time Rena Titanium by Jaime)
Miracleman #4 (Four issues and the Fantastic Four have yet to appear!)
Swamp Thing #46 (now getting to the business end of American Gothic)
Of the movies, I saw Highlander and The money pit, both later on VHS. My memory of Highlander (having not seen it since) seems more sympathetic than other posters. I actually found the scene where (SPOILER) his wide has aged significantly compared to Highlander (to Queen's Who wants to live forever?) quite moving, but I was a soppy teenager at the time. Clancy Brown played the villain, and he's always good.
DW
Wife
DW-
Yeah, Clancy Brown is the coolest!
I'll watch anything with that guy in it.
....uh, except for Sponge Bob. (yeah, he's in that)
I gotta draw the line somewhere.
M.P.
Talking of "spin-offs" ( Firestar getting a comic), Highlander's spin-off tv series improved on the movies (with many movie spin-offs, the reverse is true.) It had two or three fantastic villains. Xavier St.Cloud (played by Roland Gift, of 'The Fine Young Cannibals'), chilling arch-enemy, James Horton - and also that villain who dies in the Sulphur Mine death dual ( I forget his name, but it was in the 'Band of Brothers' episode! ) Also, regarding pop-star characters, as well as Roland Gift, later Roger Daltrey was a regular, in the final series or two!
Phillip
Sorry - I don't know why I capitalised sulphur mine!
Phillip
Also, Highlander employed "flashbacks" more than any other tv show (even Kung Fu.) However, it's very much a young person's idea of how memory works! Some present day event triggers McLeod to flashback to a similar event, up to 400 years ago. Once you reach middle-age, even events that happened decades ago (sometimes last week? ) are dream-like, vague and inaccurate! A crystal-clear memory only exists when you are young (and have less to keep track of? )
Highlander used understatement for dry humour, too. During a bank siege, by a bunch of mercenaries/soldiers, McLeod disarms a knife attack. Taking note, the villain's leader tells McLeod he looks like he's served/was a soldier. Nonchalantly, McLeod replies, "I've put in my time!" ( in fact, he's served in countless armies for over 400 years - which "flashbacks" regularly reveal.) To me, the lead actor (Adrian Paul)'s delivery, etc, seems very much Sean Connery influenced, in many scenes!
Phillip
Matthew - On Sunday, my brother was telling me about Wonder Man. He said it starts with Simon as an aspiring actor ( yes - but that came later! ) As a kid, Simon loved a sci-fi/adventure(?) tv show whose hero wore a Wonder Man-style costume. My brother said Wonder Man also featured Trevor/the fake Mandarin actor. Intriguing - but what about Baron Zemo? The Grim Reaper? Lacking Disney/Netflix, I'll get the Reader's Digest version. That being said, I wish such shows would stick to some of the original details, at least!
Phillip
death duel - not dual! - palm slaps forehead!
Phillip
A few other “March ‘86” comics that haven’t been mentioned yet:
DEADMAN #1 — first of a four issue mini-series with stunning Garcia-Lopez art
G.I. JOE YEARBOOK 2 — with brilliant hyper-kinetic art by Mike Golden — stupid but super-fun
Peter Bagge’s nutty NEAT STUFF #3
SEDUCTION OF THE INNOCENT #5 — pre-code reprints, including two vintage Toth stories
SHADOW OF THE BATMAN #4 — Baxter reprint of Englehart/Rogers Batman stories
THE SPIRIT #17 — four Eisner classics from 1947 in gorgeous black and white
b.t.
And yes — Clancy Brown in full “OTT Baddie” mode is the one saving grace of HIGHLANDER.
b.t.
b.t., Also: Batman #393, the other comic that month by Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy. That's a team that even a few years earlier would have been of interest, but in the era of Moore, Miller, and Simonson's Thor their seemed dated.
It was actually quite similar to their MOKF run, in that they went for a James Bond spy thriller vibe. The Batman doing Cold War-type stuff in the Soviet Union wasn't a good fit for the character imo.
Btw, Solomon Kane #4 was drawn by Mike Mignola, who's work was starting to look recognizable (although still not quite worth tracking down the comic for).
The 16th century middle eastern setting was a bit ludicrous. Comic book creators really should do a least a bit of research for a period piece.
-sean
You'd think in a film with a title like Highlander, Sean Connery would finally have had the right accent for his part. But instead he was one of the most implausible screen Spaniards ever.
And that guy who actually did play a Scotsman - the Highlander himself - had an even more ridiculously inappropriate accent. Quite the achievement for an actor appearing alongside Connery.
-sean
Sean - James Cosmo got shoehorned in, as either Angus or Dougal (what's the difference?), for token genuine Scottishness. Cosmo was a stock Scotsman in almost every TV show, in the late 70s/early 80s.
On Lambert's accent, I don't know what the hell it sounds like. Lambert was in a yakuza film on Legend a bit back that was halfway (only halfway, mind you) decent. It involved a samurai-type chopping yakuza goons up, on a train. A bit gory/not for the squeamish/whilst eating your tea.
Phillip
Charlie - Is the following song known to you? It's Paul McCartney's younger brother ( on Rewind TV abour 10mins ago):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRe1gwqwOw8
Phillip
Post a Comment