I'm Better Now, and I Would Like a Big Mac Please

Howdy, and believe me you do NOT want to have the excuse I am going to provide for going over a week without saying HELLO.

Can you say "stomach flu"? I thought you could. Better say it than HAVE it. By Wednesday I thought I was getting better, but it's a nuisance when the only way to not "have to go" is to not eat. Yup, the ol' express train to the colonary exit had slipped its brakes again.

Thanks to the passing of time, a nice doctor, and a little something we call Diphenoxylate-Atropine, the floodgates are holding.

So to celebrate a return towards dietary health(!), let's remember when every good ol' Big Mac came in its own non-styrofoam carrying case. In fact the thing was recyclable and caused less environmental damage than making it out of cardboard.

But, there were some people worried that CFCs (which Big Mac boxes were not made of) were ozone-harming when produced. So, basically to honor a media scare story and the public's beliefs that Big Mac clamshells were made of the evil styrofoam, they did away with the tough little waterproof critters.

Ah, but sometimes the foresightful few (geeks) can rescue the perishing. That's what I did, and now, you can see it too!

Tieing One On for Watchmen!

Well, we saw Watchmen Saturday afternoon.

I think the film does a great job of giving you an experience similar to what you get from the comic.

As an old guy, I was pleased to recognize the characters Mick Jagger, Truman Capote, Andy Warhol, Pat Buchanan, and others. I did miss "Dick Cavett," and I also didn't notice Janis Joplin singing "Me and Bobby McGee" in the background -- but both were listed in the credits.

Ozzy's endgame scheme in the movie makes at least as much sense as the comic's version -- although we DID get a SQUID, if you noticed.

Anyway, this was just a chance to share my latest piece of suggested merchandising: The Smiley WatchTie.

What do you think?

Attack of the Robot

From 1996, it's Attack of the Robot, written by Joe Edkin and illoed by Erik Doescher and Tim Harkins.

You see, this robot attacks. And Superman, Green (Kyle Rayner) Lantern, Captain Marvel, and Wonder Woman fight it. They help people who are almost hurt by the robot's attack.

And they catch the bad guy, Lex Luthor, who was behind the attack of the robot.

"You may have stopped me this time," he said, "but someday I'll get my revenge."

Note Supes's long, flowing locks post-Return but pre-Haircut.

Also herewith presented are images of the tattoos included in the center staple. For your consideration I have flipped the images so they're readable.

The Holy Grail Mystery Solved

The author is Frank C Tribbe.





The copy I bought through Amazon was sgned and dedicated by Tribbe to a pastor who'd previously interviewed him. Also inside were two letters from the author to the pastor.





This quotation from one of the letters pretty much sums up the book's stance:





"Several of the Turin Shroud scientific researchers are now convinced, as I am, that the Face on the Turin Shroud is the true source of the Holy Grail stories. For the first millenium the Shroud was folded in a casket with only the Face showing, surrounded by a cloth-of-gold with lattice pattern -- early French greile, or grill, then grail. Legends, pilgom stories and bits of history, plus writers' and troubadours' imagination did the rest."

Photobucket link: http://i371.photobucket.com/albums/oo152/MarkAAlfred/TribbeGrailShroud.jpg

Well -- isn't that an interesting theory! There's probably no reason why it could not be true.





However --





This little book is subtitled, "A Fully Illustrated Research Odyssey." Illustrated it is. Research? How can I tell?

This book has a bibliography. It has photo credits for the many photos. The author is obviously well educated and insightful. But how can it be a "research odyssey" when there is NOT A SINGLE FREAKIN' footnote or reference given for anything? A bibliography IS NOT ENOUGH.

So, if you want to read more about this interesting little idea, this is the book for you. I had a hard time deciding whether to shelve it with my "Arthur" books or my "Shroud" books -- although the Shroud won out.

The Silver Bridge, by Gray Barker

This book was originally published in 1970 by Barker's own Saucerian Press, and is here reissued by Metadisc books -- it looks like from the same plates, misspellings and all.





This is a fascinating mythic account of the Mothman furor of the late 1960s in the area around Mount pleasant, West Virginia.





It's not just "documentary style." No, Barker imputes an ultra-terrestrial impart to Indrid Cold and his fellow alternate-dimensional companions. He features a character, The Narrator, whom I suspect to be an aspect of Barker's own personality.




photobucket link: http://i371.photobucket.com/albums/oo152/MarkAAlfred/SB.jpg

"A keen observer of the human condition," as they say, Barker drily describes the educated and uneducated, the sophisticated and the less-than-adequate, as they are confronted with Twilight-Zone-type things: human shapes with wings that can pace a 85-mph car; little guys in black suits with droning voices and hypnotic eyes; a high-tech flying saucer that lands in the middle of the road on antique-airplane-looking rubber tires; and other such weird things.



It's a fascinating book, and more of a "meditation containing fact" than a strictly investigatory report. It's aeons more worth your time than the silly Mothman's Photographer II.

Bootleg Toy Bonanza

For Valentine's Day, Joyce and I drove down to (what's left of) the Outlet Mall in Gainesville, TX. All the important (to us) stuff was still there: Burke's, 75% Off Books, the kitchenware store, a few clothing & shoe outlets, plus ... a toy liquidator store!

When I first saw this "MAVEL TEAM UP," my first thought was, "Superman and Spider-Man in the same package? Impossible." My second thought was, "They spelled MARVEL wrong." My third thought was, "BOOTLEG!"

Sure enough, here we have another lead-painted (*probably*) Bootleg Bonanza!

As you can see, they got the costumes about right, and these little guys are pretty well done. Superman, having the same cape as Batman (only red), has a scalloped edge to his cape instead of a straight-across edge, but that's about my only quibble.

Man, you have to admire the brazenness of this MAVEL TEAM UP.

Counting Down the Watchmen Time!

Here are the latest offerings in the do-it-yourself Watchmen toys contest.

Pretty silly, I know, but with Valentine's Day only a couple of days away, I'm too juiced-up with love to think clearly.

Talk to you next week!

Book Review of The Mothman's Photographer II

This is a very silly book and a perfect example of why most run-of-the-mill types (the "normal" people) dismiss paranormal investigation as the province of goofs and whackos.

Here is what I mean. I'll use the author's stream-of-consciousness and "synchronicity" "investigations" -- as if applied to Amazon, the company from whom I bought this book:

AMAZON -- right off, I get a feeling of strife and anger. The Amazons were a mythological race of women warriors. That reminds me of militant feminism, a bunch of man-haters.

Also, the legendary Amazons sliced off a breast so as to more easily draw back their bows in battle. So that means that any company named after them must be in favor of elective plastic surgery.

And the word AMAZON starts with the letter A -- which looks like an upside-down oxen yoke. That means that Amazon seeks to enslave us by hitching us to its bank account.

Oh, and don't forget that the word AMAZON sounds like the word AMAZED, so the company must be trying to "baffle us with BS."

Oh, yeah! The last part of the word AMAZON is also in the word ZONE, so that must mean that they want me to be Zoned Out on their products.

Also, AMAZON contains the name of the evil DC Comics abdroid AMAZON, so that must mean that Amazon is being paid by DC Comics to use this name.

And most "meaningful" of all, when I started typing this review, my 25-disc CD changer, set on RANDOM, played the Beatles' "Something."

So that means there is SOMETHING to what I am saying!

Seriously folks, that example is about as deep and meaningful as this book is. It has transcriptions from radio shows where the author rambles about things that deserve true investigation, but he treats it in such a silly fashion that anybody who doesn't belong to the gosh-wow school of gullibility will, like me, cringe.

However, there are several chapters which are made up of transcribed talks by veteran investigator John Keel. Unlike the author of this book, Mr Keel is an investigator who lines up cold, hard facts, and shows them to you, BEFORE proposing a theory.

Really, folks, this book ranks right up there with the JFK people who think the Zapruder film shows JFK's driver shooting him, or the people who believe that aliens built the pyramids.

I have 1900+ books in my home library, half of which concern mysteries and unknown things. I believe that many sightings of UFOs, cryptid animals, and other anomalies were really things seen by people who reported what they saw. But books like this are not worth a serious reader's time and money, unless you have lots of time for unsubstantiated gobbledygook which appears to be mostly based on feelingsv scary stories and psychic impressions.

They're Just Animals, say these guys

Not every invesigator of Fortean critters thinks they beasts are hobgoblin manifestations of Earth energy or such.

Photobucket link: http://i371.photobucket.com/albums/oo152/MarkAAlfred/Mystery%20Paperback%20scans/InsearchofLM.jpg

Some just think they're real-life animals that are *really good* at hiding.







For example, Peter Costello's fascinating chronicle, In Search of Lake Monsters, is an exhaustive listing of sighting from all over, with investigations into familiar water-horses such as Nessie or Champ, as well as some Norwegian animals seen in (temporary) pools of water!

But nowhere does Costello suggest that they aren't flesh-and-blood types.

Similarly, John Napier is happy to tell us that Bigfoot is "another form of life on Earth." And he means a form that leaves feces, footprints, and a bad stink.

Photobucket link: http://i371.photobucket.com/albums/oo152/MarkAAlfred/Mystery%20Paperback%20scans/BigfootNapier.jpg

Does This Cape Make Me Look Fat?: Pop Psychology for Superheroes

Now available at your local Big Lots!, this is a fun little tome that's silly all the way.

It's a semi-serious take on a self-image-boosting book for any superhero stupid enough to believe something they'd read in a self-help book.

Covered are topics such as that addressed in the title/cover image, what sidekick choices reveal about your parent/child issues, how to select a costume or superhero name that's impressive yet not trashy, and so on.

It's a fun little read, peopled by variations on ten or so figures in varying versions of a few outfits, giving you the literary impression afforded on the TV screen by Filmation's DC superheroes cartoons.

Smart yet silly, flashy yet trashy, this is a really fun book.

More Ultraterrestrial Observations: Enter Jacques Vallee

Jacques Vallee was hired in the 1960s by the French government to collate and do data-entry computer surveys of UFO reports in France and Europe. Like John Keel in the USA, the more he analyzed, the more he noticed that there were PATTERNS in the data of reports.

Photobucket link: http://i371.photobucket.com/albums/oo152/MarkAAlfred/Mystery%20Paperback%20scans/Dimensions.jpg

These patterns -- the physical appearance of "aliens," their times of day or location of appearance, and other things -- suggested that these critters were somehow conforming to stereotypes that were familiar to Earthlings, but that wouldn't be apparent to little green guys from the planet Kwatloo.

How would an extra-terrestrial know to appear and reappear in the location of a fairy ring mentioned for centuries in local, word-of-mouth folklore? How would he know to repeat certain familiar phrases spoken hundreds of years ago by local gypsies?





Maybe these appearances had more to do with "Inner Space" than "Outer Space."

Photobucket link:http://i371.photobucket.com/albums/oo152/MarkAAlfred/Mystery%20Paperback%20scans/Confrontations.jpg

Then, in more recent cases, a human element seemed to appear. Could human intelligence agencies be mimicking the alien experience for their own ends?

Read the books and study on the idea yourself.

By the way, the character of the French scientist in Close Encounters of the Third Kind was based entirely on Vallee and his research.

What a Super Deal!

Last night, at Target, I was browsing through the DVD section. I saw Christopher Reed / Superman's image on a case that I didn't recognize. I grabbed it just for fun and looked it over.

(Photobucket link: http://i371.photobucket.com/albums/oo152/MarkAAlfred/SuperDVD4.jpg )

Big deal -- all 4 Reeve Superman movies. But I already had them in the gazillion-dollar Ultimate Superman 14-disc extravaganza.

Then I turned the DVD case over to see that the films in this set had commentaries. Well, so did the Multi-Extravaganza! Except ...

History Time: When the big block Extravaganza was first released, I bought it. Then I found that, due to a screw-up on Warner Bros' part, the disc for Superman III did not have the DVD "extras" promised as advertised. The disc only has the movie, a trailer, and "Cast Bios." Now, Warber provided a phone number to call to get the disc replaced or whatever. I called the number many times, only to get a recording and no way to interact with said recording. So, I was stuck.

Until ... last night I was at Target (this is where we came in) ...

The Superman III disc in this Target set is the "Bonus" version left out of my Mega-Extravaganza set! It's got a commentary, a making-of featurette, and deleted scenes.

So, friends, if you want ONE version of all four Reeves Superman films with some extras, but don't want to pay 60 bucks or however much used copies of the 14-disc set cost nowadays ...

Go to Target. The four movies, on two double-sided discs, are $9.99.

Contemplations on the Ultraterrestrial Theory

In another instalment of paperback scans on mysterious topics, let's look at the topic of UFOs from the "Ultraterrestrial" view.

In short, the ultraterrestrial view was, early on, popularized by John Keel, taking up the torch from Charles Fort, who once wrote, "I think we're property." Basically, the source of the UFO phenomenon isn't STAR TREK-type aliens jaunting around in their (physically real) space ships.

Keel sifted through thousands of reports of weird encounters and noticed patterns and spikes in UFO sightings on certain days, or times of days. Now, he wondered, how would aliens from the planet Kwatloo know to keep showing up at 9PM on Thursdays? They don't have a copy of the Farmer's Almanac.

No, to Keel it seemed apparent that these weirdos were weirder than that. The fact that the ships could vanish from radar or make impossible 90-degree high-speed turns was evidence that perhaps the things weren't strictly physical.

Keel's books are filled with insights and observations and analyses. Perhaps the space critters weren't from Out There, but from a place like e e cumming's "universe next door" or Another Dimension, Beyond That Which Is Known To Man (to quote Rod Serling).

Read Keel's UFOs: Project Trojan Horse for an insight into his discoveries. Heck, read ALL his books! (The paperback title for UFOs: Project Trojan Horse was Why UFOs .)

Thus the term Ultra-Terrestrial. Not a physical reality, but perhaps a metaphysical world whose inhabitants could appear and de-materialize, or take various physical forms. They could slip next-door into our world, stir us up like a kid with a stick plays with an anthill, and then slip sideways back to LuluLand.

The sad ending of Keel's writings was the hard-to-find The Eighth Tower, published by Signet in 1977. My used paperback copy cost upwards of $50. The cover blurb above the cover illustration sums it up: "Are we all biological robots ruled by a cosmic force that exists beyond space and time?"

Keel's gloomy conclusion is yep, we are. It's as if the history of man is dictated by telepathic broadcasts that run in a great cycle, spurring receptive humans to great thoughts arising in great cultures or civilizations, and then sowing dissident images and thoughts to tear it down and start again.

But, to Keel, it seems that the record being broadcast is stuck in the same cycle. Perhaps if the record didn't skip, we might be spurred to greater things, and perhaps transcend our "Radio America" origins.

But no, Keel feels, either the radio station is abandoned, or the DJ is locked out of the control booth. We're all stuck in an endless cycle of civilization and madness and decay, and being mere biological robots, all culture, all human history, even Keel's observations, are meaningless.

Wow, how cheerful!

Book Review: Vampires: Encounters with the Undead

This book, "edited and with comentary by David J Skal," is pretty good. Here's my "official" review...

You can't fault Mr Skal for his selection of stuff -- fiction, nonfiction, excerpts from longer works. All that material is on-target and really a wonderful portmanteau of Vampirian lore.

But, despite the tagline on the cover, "edited and with commentary," the commentary is, at times, rather thin gruel.

I would have hoped for commentary specific to the selections, more like annotations, or explanations of this or that thing that appears in the story or article. Instead, in the sidebars, we often have excerpts of other stories that were published at the same time as Story X, or interminable lists of decades of vampire movies or lists of vampire books, etc.

The amount of actual commentary, compared to this "padding," is a small percentage.

It's also ironic that, in the acknowledgements, Mr Skal thanks his copy editor. Now, nobody's perfect, but in this book I came across a few dozens of simple misspellings, letters dropped from words, etc; paragraph indents at the tops of pages when we were continuing a sentence started the previous page; and so on.

And what's with the sudden change in type size for just one word, or one line? This happens more in the sidebars than in the main text, but for some of us it's kind of jarring.

These little irritants keep this book from being A-Number-One, for me at least. If these things don't bug you, then run -- do not walk -- to dive into this anthology.

Latest Book with Many Pictures and Little Text

Howdy, folks, and check out this book.

It's called DC Comics Covergirls, with text by Louise Simonson.

Just like it says ... It's fun because of the big reproductions of many covers. The author being female, she does make the obvious observation about how hyper-exaggerated and pneumatic many of the female forms are drawn.

Since I'm a white-bread kind of guy, it is a little disturbing to see a few of the images from the chapter on the Vertigo and Wild Horse-type books. For that matter, Brian Bolland's cover with Batman body-pressing Catwoman while her whip is wrapped around his neck ... admire the craftsmanship; shudder at the image.

Anyway, this book is a lot of fun, and ONLY $14.98 cover price( at Borders anyway). Wow!

Make Your Own Watchmen Collectibles!

Assuming you like Watchmen, keep an eye out for the good ol' Smiley Face as you shop your neighborhood thrift stores. With a little luck and some judiciously applied red model paint, you can amaze your friends with your exclusive Watchmen merchandise, not available in any store!











How about a Watchmen tissue box?


Or a Watchmen coffee mug? (The phone jack was necessary to balance the mug on the scanner.)

Let me know what YOU can invent?

Have a Cool Yule, Ghoul!

All I Want for Christmas Is a Superman Movie Viewer!

Once again thanks to Mike at Bartlesville's Time Warp Comics, here's an unopened Superman Movie Viewer.

The art on the front is adapted from the (Curt Swan) Aurora Superman model kit.

The Superman art on the back looks to be a Kurt Schaffenberger Supes.

Compare and Contrast!

While reading a fine old comic, Action 288, I was struck by the final panel in the title story, "The Man Who Exposed Superman!" There's a fine drawing by Curt Swan showing Clark Kent, with Krypto, standing in front of the abandoned Kent home in Smallville.

Something about their stance struck a chord in my memory, and soon I was able to place where I'd seen that image before -- on the cover of the 9/11 comic, volume 1.

Anyway, that's what's roaming about the little grey cells this evening.

Have a great weekend!

Another Reason to Hate Doctor Light

(Apologies in advance for the partial display of the images here in the blog. The links into photobucket will show the whole image. I'm still learning, folks! Thanks for your patience.)

I picked up this little gem Saturday from my friend Mike at Time Warp Comics in Bartlesville, OK (my home town).

Here's what My Comic Shop.com (https://www.mycomicshop.com/) has to say about "The Secret of the Sinister Lighthouse":

Part of series Mini Comic Sugar Crisp Super Heroes "The Secret of the Sinister Lighthouse" features Batman, Robin, Superman, Wonder Woman and Aquaman in a 16-page, full color mini comic (4-1/2 x 3-1/2 inches). The Super Friends must unite against the illuminating villainy of Dr. Light. Published in 1980 as a cereal box giveaway item from Post Cereals. No cover price.

Read for yourself!

Farewell to Uncle Forry

Fangs for the memories:
Of Frankenstein and Drac,
Of Wolf Man and his pack,
The punning binge that made Moms cringe
But kept kids coming back;
We thank you so much!

Fangs for the memories:
The spider scene in Kong,
Senior and Junior Lon,
The Joie de vivre each kid received
Which told us we belonged;
We thank you so much!


Here's a 1x1-inch sketch of Forrest J Ackerman, scanned from Famous Monsters of Filmland #104, January, 1974, and played with a little.

No Hair Gel on the Wig, Please!

In Action 273, cover-dated February 1961, DC had Supergirl artist Jim Mooney propose several "newer" hairstyles for Linda Lee. It seems readers were complaining about those brunette pigtails.

As I recall, the (maybe fixed) poll gave Linda the "Campus Cuddle-Bun" style. Frankly, though I don't care much for Streaky the Super-Cat, Streaky the Super-Haircut I DO like!

What do YOU think?

Here's the link to the photo, since BlogSpot seems to not like to show it directly upon clicking:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_1urA8os4CpiTk4frdBOMYf-ZPge1lqQrIKkET5W49cUsUERVWcXAUUD-LZRjh1l4Mq_tq3y0gcFHkfv-6ET1DH39r4u0LWZY2Hi4NKFdm5hFkX9YdjZMelRgBdt027mE2Ytx/s320/Linda+Lee+Hair.jpg

Not Available (any more) in Any Store!

To help with your Super Christmas shopping, here's an ad from about 50 years ago. *sigh* If only we had that proverbial time machine to buy all this neat stuff.

No, not so I could sell it as MINT IN BOX nowadays, either!

Just Checking In

Here's a Christmas image to say "Howdy" to all my Super-Pals while I am at work today.

John A Brown was a local Oklahoma Department store.

Hitting the "Mute" Button

In UFO/Unsolved Mysteries circles, "mute" isn't a button on yout TV remote. It's short for "mutilation" of livestock or other animals.

Since the 1960s or before, folks have been finding their free-roving animals -- livestock, dogs in the backyard, horses -- dead and cut up, sometimes with parts removed.

Sometimes investigations point to predators. Other times, cellular damage and other findings indicate a technological cause.

Once in a while, lights in the sky or other activity hs been noted where animals are later discovered. Occasionally, an animal has been found with its legs broken in a way only possible if it were dropped from a height.

The whole cultural "meme" of black helicopters spying on you came from the cattle mutilation tales.

Now, explanations have run from from them ol' little green men, to government experiments. The aliens want to modify animal flesh as part of their plans to create an alien-human hybrid. With these views, you'll often hear that pig DNA is nearly identical to human DNA, etc.

The government side of the theory bank usually takes the view that the US government (or parts thereof) are taking samples from randomly "free-range" critters to test for radiation poisoning or some such. One of the latest offshoots proposes that the animal parts taken are analyzed for the presence of prions, the chief indicator of Mad Cow Disease, BSE (Bovine Spongiform Enchephalitis).

All I know is, when I read about such things I get hungry for a hamburger!