40 Years Ago Today From DC Comics -- Strange Adventures #206

Strange Adventures #206 (On Sale: September 28, 1967) has a very nice Mike Sekowsky and George Roussos cover. You can use this as a trivia question to stump your friends, "Who besides Infantino and Adams drew Deadman in his first year?" Chances are Sekowsky is not going to be their first guess.

Inside we have "An Eye for an Eye" by Jack Miller, Neal Adams and George Roussos. Miller took over editing and kicked Arnold Drake out of his own series. This is the book most people think of when they think of Adams' first super-hero story even though his Elongated Man back-up story appeared in Detective Comics on the same day.

Boston Brand has been given a second life in spirit form as Deadman in order to find his own murderer. His search leads him away from the Hills Bros. circus, but before he leaves he stops to visit Lorna Hill, the owner. She is meeting with her brother Jeff, who claims to have taken out an insurance policy of Boston's life. Jeff is facing money problems, which leads Boston to suspect Jeff of his murder.

Deadman takes over Jeff's body as he meets with a motorcycle gang led by Morty. Morty is blackmailing Jeff, claiming that he has evidence that Jeff murdered Lenny Deane in Dayton. While this gives Jeff an alibi for Boston's murder, Deadman suspects that Jeff is innocent of Deane's murder too. He finds evidence that proves Morty was the real killer. After saving Jeff's life, Deadman forces Morty to confess. When Deadman leaves his body, Jeff has no memory of the adventure, but he is now cleared of the murder rap. Reprinted in World's Finest Comics #223 and Deadman #1.

The backup story is a reprint from Strange Adventures #64, "The Earth-Drowners" is by Joe Samachson, Jerry Grandenetti and Joe Giella.

Edited by Jack Miller.

A Rocky Ending

Over on the Tony Isabella board I have been playing Bob Ingersoll's weekly Movie Quiz. Each week Bob comes up with a theme and then finds five films that point to that theme, with the final Friday film usually being a titular slam-dunk, i.e., the theme is in the name of the film. Anyway, today's movie was Rocky III, Bob's clue being "1982 When 'The Italian Stallion' is defeated by a brutal challenger, his former nemesis offers to retrain him in order to regain his fighting spirit." This got me thinking about when I worked at a theater in the 1970s.

In my half year or so working at a discount twin-screen theater one of the films we showed was the original Rocky. The theater got films in a few weeks to a month after everyone else got them, but we only charged $.99 a seat and had the best seating-to-screen size ratio in town, which made for a pretty nice viewing experience. We played Rocky for over a month and one of my jobs was to make sure there were no problems when a film ended and that people did not go out the emergency exit, which also allowed kids to sneak in (even at a $.99 movie it happened all the time), so I was always in the theater for the end of the movie.

The thing I noticed about Rocky was that I would get lots of questions from people asking me what happened at the end of the film. They just could not believe that Rocky lost the fight; they wanted the pat Hollywood ending. I would explain that Rocky lost the fight, but won his life, that he knew he couldn't beat Apollo but that to prove to himself that he was not "a bum" he needed to go the distance and had. Some people were satisfied with this, but some were not. To those still in doubt I would say, "Look where he was and who he was at the beginning of the film and look at where he ended up" and that usually turned on the light-bulb for most. A few though just never got that Rocky had a happy ending. Me? The first few times I saw Rocky I was in tears, but I am such a baby.

40 Years Ago Today From DC Comics -- Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #79

Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #79 (On Sale: September 26, 1967) features Neal Adams' first super-hero cover. Soon Neal would be doing most of the Superman family covers. I always thought Neal drew a beautiful Lois Lane.

Inside we have "The Bride of Titanman" by Richard Hughes and Kurt Schaffenberger, When a member of the Anti-Superman Syndicate uses an experimental weapon on Superman, the blast is deflected off his body and strikes Lois. The ray transports Lois to a parallel dimension inhabited by girls resembling Twiggy. Lois is arrested by the midget police force and put in a jail cell (Is Richard Hughes a pseudonym for David Lynch?). She is rescued by Titanman, a hero visiting from another planet.

Titanman falls for Lois and despite her feelings for Superman, she agrees to marry him. At the wedding she learns that Titanman already has seven wives and polygamy is legal. Lois wants to back out, but Titanman's mental powers sap her will to resist. Superman then arrives, but instead of helping Lois, he encourages the marriage.

The backup story is "Checkmate for Lois" by E. Nelson Bridwell and Kurt Schaffenberger. Lois investigates a mysterious millionaire who has converted an aircraft carrier into a castle. Lois fails to get an interview, but Lana Lang succeeds. Then several people who share similarities with chess pieces disappear. Lois tracks them and Lana back to the aircraft carrier where she unmasks the millionaire as Professor Lang, Lana's father.

Lois is then taken prisoner, because Lana, her father, and the others have been taken over by a ancient sorceress, two kings, and their followers whose spirits had been trapped inside magical chess pieces. The sorceress Lediv, inhabiting Lana, then lures Superman to the castle and arranges for his mind to be taken over.

Edited by Mort Weisinger.

More Homework

I had homework to pick an artist I was interested in and to copy a picture of their's in soft charcoal. I chose James Bama. I had to fix this once and then go over the blacks again to get the really dark tones in the hat, neck and deaper creases of the face but I think it turned out really well. I started out with a sort of blanket neutral tone on the face then darkened it where needed and erased it to lighten where needed. Bama painted this guy's face dark and then dabbed the lighter skin color over the top, creating the weather-beaten look of his skin. By daubing the eraser over the neutral tones I was able to simulate the effect.

My Still Life

I'm taking this basic drawing class in college (it's a long story) and our homework the second week was to "draw a still life with personal significance..." so I drew one that encompassed a few of the things that are important to me: A spring toy my son gave me one Father's Day, which signifies my family, a mask worn by Chris O'Donnell in the movie Batman and Robin, which signifies my love of film, my TiVo remote, which signifies my love of good television and techy gadgets, The Phantom #69, which signifes my love of comics and Don Newton's work, and my set of Unison pastels, which signify my love of artwork.

40 Years Ago Today From DC Comics -- Plastic Man #7

Plastic Man #7 (On Sale: September 21, 1967) has a cover by Carmine Infantino and Mike Esposito.

Inside we have "Plastic Man's Fantastic Old Man" by Arnold Drake and Winslow Mortimer. Three costumed criminals attempt to rob an art gallery. Plastic Man and his assistant try to stop the robbery, but fail. News about the robbery reaches Gordon Trueblood, who questions his friend Plastic Man about the crime. Plas reveals that it was his father, the original Plastic Man, who tried to stop the crime. Plastic Man, Jr. and Gordy then visit a rest home owned by the senior Plastic Man. He explains that the criminal leader, the King of Spades, also owns the mortgage on the rest home and is trying to take it over. The elder Plas has been unable to prove that the King is a criminal.

The two Plastic Men team up to trap the King of Spades and his partners. Their plan almost succeeds, but Gordy loses the evidence against them. Then the King takes over the rest home.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

I'd Like to Secede Please

Well, it sure isn't Lord of the Flies, but it is slightly more entertaining than watching flies. Kid Nation, the new reality program on CBS is a hopeless bore-fest. What did you expect?

Forty kids ages 8 to 15 are secluded in an abandoned New Mexico ghost town (OK, really a movie set used for Legend of the Lone Ranger and Silverado) where they will spend 40 days creating a new community with their own little hands. There has been the pre-show hoopla regarding the possible skirting of child-labor laws and 14-hour shooting days. And yeah, it appears that four of the kids accidentally drank bleach during the filming of an episode (bet that doesn't make it on the air).

CBS pushed this show with "kids forming a better society" trappings, but what you really have is a Survivor clone for those dancing around puberty. And not a good Survivor clone either, more of a Pirate Master type of clone, with fake mythology "the adults couldn't make a go of this town and it died, maybe you kids can do better." Too bad it is really a movie set, which is built near the foundations of what was once Bonanza City.

As in all Survivor clones, the kids are divided up into teams and compete against one another. They don't vote anyone off, but at the end of each show, kids can request to go home to their Mommy. The smart ones, eight-year old Jimmie in the first episode, will do this quickly.

Like Survivor there are camera crews all over the place generating reel after reel of film. Unfortunately all of it is dull and insipid. What is scary about this show is that what they are showing you is the interesting part (and if you figure 10 film crews filming for 14 hours a day, that is 140 hours of film a day or 560 hours of film they had to work with for just the first episode)! That the show lay there like a turd slowly turning hard as the sun bakes it is a sure indication that there is something horribly wrong with this show.

I think the real problem here is that 1) the pre-show hype talked about "kids forming a better society," but in reality it's just a reality show using fake competition and reward and punishment to get the kids to do things 2) the kids are just not very interesting, and 3) they're kids. You know how on every season of Survivor there are one or two really whiny players that you can't wait for the others to vote off? Well, on Kid Nation there are 40 of them and after one episode I'm voting them off my TiVo.

I Finally Know What GOP Stands For!

Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked a plan to give our troops in Iraq more leave time and have repeatedly blocked any effort to bring the troops home. The GOP, the Ghouls Of Politics have once again spoken up for more death. Watch how they try to wriggle out of this come next year's elections. Ghouls, that's what they are.

40 Years Ago Today From DC Comics -- Teen Titans #12

Teen Titans #12 (On Sale: September 19, 1967) has a nice Nick Cardy cover. Robin is once again returned to the spotlight role.

Inside we have "Large Trouble in Space-Ville" by Bob Haney, Irv Novick and Nick Cardy. D.J. Deejay becomes the world's first disc jockey to broadcast live from Earth-orbit, but the Titans detect a code in his snappy patter indicating that he had run into trouble in space. After foiling the efforts of the Deliverer, an international criminal, to levitate Earth's national monuments into orbit, they follow the disc jockey into space and find an alien being holding him captive. Reprinted in DC Showcase Presents:Teen Titans Vol. 1 TPB.

Edited by George Kashdan.

Petraeus Magic A No Show

Republican pundants have been saying for weeks that Petraeus would turn the tide in public opinion about Iraq. As has been the case for a couple of years straight now, Republican pundants were dead wrong. A CBS News poll shows almost no movement at all with regards to public opinion on Iraq from the bogusly-named Petraeus Report. The country appears to be finally waking up to the reality of Bush's insanity.

In fact, the percentage of Americans who believe we should either maintain or increase our current troops levels in Iraq was higher before Petraeus (30%) than it is after Petraeus (27%). The percentage of Americans who want a troop reduction or complete withdrawal increased after the Petraeus week (from 65% to 68%), and only a small minority of Americans actually believe Gen. Petraeus' claims that "the surge has made things in Iraq better." I think we need to call these people what they are: the brainless Bushies.

MoveOn Bitch-Slaps Rudy!

This has gotta hurt!

Cheating Your Way to the Super Bowl

Over on the Tony Isabella board I have been involved in a heated discussion regarding this weeks revelation that the New England Patriots have been cheating for years by videotaping the opponents defensive coaches signals. The NFL fined Patriot head coach Bill Belichick $500,000 and the team $250,000 and a draft pick. I contend that that is too lenient of a punishment. Others on the board disagreed with me. Pat O'Neil responded...

Maybe it's from not being a sports fan at heart, but I've never understood why trying your damnedest to get the other team's secrets is "cheating." It's not like they physically stole a copy of the playbook--that would be theft and it would be a crime. But using a camera or binoculars to read the other team's signals? Isn't that a bit like telling one side or other in a war that it's "cheating" to break the other guy's codes?

So if you don't agree with the rule it is OK to break it? The league rules are very, very specific about the use of video; you are strictly forbidden to aim a camera at the opponents sidelines. Period. As the LA Times asked today, how many other quarterbacks could have a league-leading 146.8 passing rating (like the Patriots' Tom Brady does) if they knew every defense they were facing on every play?

But addressing Pat's question in specific, it is not against the rules to read lips or to in any other way watch what the coaches on the other team are doing, with the sole exception that it is against the rules to video tape or otherwise record what they are doing so that you can replay it over and over at your leisure and know for certain what movement by a coach is a signal for what offensive or defensive play. To do so is to cheat; there is absolutely no "gray area" here. They cheated and they have been doing it for years and the result of their cheating is they won three Super Bowls in four years. Pat thought I missed his point...

I think you missed the essence of my question. I understand that it's a rule and breaking it should be punished. My question is more along the lines of "why does the rule exist in the first place"? Why did someone decide that using technology to better understand how your opponent is communicating is wrong? Binocs are OK but a camera isn't?

Why then do teams trade game film (I guess it's game tape these days)? Would it be OK for a team to tape the network coverage of an opponent and then use THAT in an attempt to break the signal code?

I think it is the difference between thinking you might have figured out some of the defensive plays and knowing that you know them all. The Patriots knew what defense they were facing on every play. In that, they had an unfair advantage that they came by illegally.

Now if they really want to fix this all they have to do is put a radio in the defensive captain's helmet and call the play in like they do for offense. It would require a defensive huddle every time if hand signals are not used, and the defensive coordinator would need to cover his mouth like the coach or offensive coordinator does today, but it would end the problem. But Pat thinks that the rule is irrational and that there is a simple solution.

But it's only "illegal" because of what I see as an irrational rule--you're not allowed to even TRY and see what signals precede what plays.

Why not go the way baseball does with batting and baserunning signals--simply make them so complicated that figuring them out is worthy of a CIA cryptographer. "The signal for steal is I run my left hand across my letters. But it's only the right signal if it comes after I've touched my cap twice. And if I then touch my cap again, it means the steal is off but it's a hit-and-run."

A baseball coach makes SO many gestures in the course of signalling his players that it's almost impossible for the opposing team to know which gesture is meaningless and which signals a play.

Yeah, but the signal in baseball is "steal or don't steal," not a very complex bit of information to pass along. There are dozens of defensive formations in football that could be called in and I don't see the baseball solution as viable. Here is a much simpler solution; don't cheat and if you do you're out of the game for good, your contract is immediately null and void and you must pay back any money you have been paid for the current season. If you cheat the league should tell you "Adios mother fucker! Hope you enjoyed your career" And how you feel about the rule it moot; it is illegal to video tape or otherwise record the defensive coaches on the sidelines. Period.

My good friend Tony Isabella also agreed with Pat.

I have to agree with Pat on this, Barry, but I'll add that I don't give a rat's ass about the NFL. I think professional football is a disgrace. I don't think it's sufficiently regulated, and I think it's an abomination how badly players are provided for when they suffer career-ending and life-threatening injuries. I think it's moronic how some fans act in so-called support of "their" teams.

Now if you put the fat-ass owners, coaches, and fans on the field...now that I would pay to see.

I of course disagreed with Tony on the major point, and on football being a disgrace, but everyone has their own likes and dislikes. Football is pretty much the only sport I can stomach to watch.

Tony's point about injuries did resonate with me though. Baseball and basketball players are paid way too much money for me to ever care about any of them. On the other hand, NFL players can make huge sums of money, but they will pay for it for the rest of their lives in physical problems. The league makes an obscene amount of money and a good portion of that should be spent of free long-term medical care for all who choose to sacrifice their bodies for the game. If you step out on that field, the league should guarantee your health care for the rest of your life.

3:10 To Yuma

Last month I told of how much I was anticipating James Mangold's remake of the classic 1957 western 3:10 To Yuma. Wow, was this film worth the wait.

This is a gorgeous piece of work, a classic western on its own, in the vein of The Unforgiven. Much more violent and dark than its 1957 predecessor, it is also more expansive in the story it tells, adding more action to the mix, yet retaining the core story of one desperate good man finding himself and one bad man finding his own good while waiting for the 3:10 train to Yuma.

Much of the story and some of dialog are exactly the same in both films. Legendary outlaw, Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) and his gang have just robbed an armed stage coach killing everyone on board except Pinkerton guard, Byron McElroy (Peter Fonda), whom Wade's right hand man Charlie Prince (Ben Foster), shoots in the belly. Rancher Dan Evans (Christian Bale) and his two sons find McElroy and take him to Bisbee, Arizona to find a doctor. Wade is alone in town and while Dan distracts him, the sheriff is able to capture Wade without a single shot being fired.

Railroad representative Grayson Butterfield (Dallas Roberts) asks for paid volunteers to join McElroy's posse to take Wade to the train station in the town of Contention three days away. They must put Wade on the 3:10 train's prison car bound for Yuma. Dan Evans, desperately needing money to save his farm, agrees to help transport Wade to Contention joining Tucker (Kevin Durand) and Doc Potter (Alan Tudyk), the town's veterinarian in the posse. The film is race to meet the 3:10 while avoiding Wades ultra-violent gang. But deceptions fail and the odds move in the gangs favor. Time seems to be passing far too slowly as Evans and Wade await the 3:10 to Yuma.

In Bale and Crowe we have two of the best actors working today and they both shine in this film. Christian Bale in particular just disappears in the role of Dan Evans, a good man who has just been beaten down by the bad breaks he has endured. In the end the journey to the 3:10 to Yuma is more about being seen as a man than saving his ranch and Bale is just pure perfection in the role. When his wife asks him not to go along on the posse Dan responds, "If I don't go, we gotta pack up and leave. Now I'm tired, Alice. I'm tired of watching my boys go hungry. I'm tired of the way that they look at me. I'm tired of the way that you don't. "

Yeow, is that great writing and Bale delivers it with a brutal honesty that defines the character.

This cast is packed with amazing talent. Ben Foster, who I first noticed in Six Feet Under and have since watched blossom as ah actor in Hostage, Alpha Dog and X-Men: The Last Stand, steals almost every scene he is in as Charlie Prince. Also, Alan Tudyk ("Wash" on Firefly and "Steve the Pirate" in Dodgeball) has a fine turn as Doc Potter. We also have very good performances from Peter Fonda, Gretchen Mol as Evan's hard-working wife, Logan Leman as Evan's oldest son William and Dallas Roberts as Butterfield.

Violent and raw though it is, 3:10 to Yuma is also beautifully photographed by Phedon Papamichael and has a wonderful, stirring score by Marco Beltrami. You get a sense of this from the trailer. Take a look and then get your ass to the theaters and see 3:10 to Yuma.

40 Years Ago Today From DC Comics -- Adventures of Jerry Lewis #103

This is one of those strange days when DC released only one new comic. If you ran to the store 40 years ago today, the only new DC comic on the stands was...

Adventures of Jerry Lewis #103 (On Sale: September 14, 1967) has another Neal Adams cover. Adams' inking style is very evident in the gorilla.

Inside we have "Somebody Stole Our School" written by Arnold Drake and drawn by Neal Adams. If I owned this one, I would tell you what it was about.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Bush Lies Some More; Edwards Speaks the Truth

After George Bush looked you in the face and lied his ass off last night, John Edwards paid for a commercial to tell you the truth. I'm still leaning towards Edwards myself, with Obama as a second choice.

Huckabeen!

My wife has been very impressed with Mike Huckabee. That all ended tonight. His performance on MSNBC as you standard Bush-loving political hack ended any chance this guy had of getting my wife's vote. "The surge is working" the little turd said and with those words he sealed his fate and let us all see his true self.

Setting 71% of the World On Fire!

It's the future. You pull your new car into a filling station and load up, only you are not putting gasoline in your car. You are filling up with salt water. Salt water, the most abundant element in the world may just be the answer to our problems in the middle east. According to this AP article, a cancer researcher in Erie, Pennsylvania has found a way to make plain sea water burn at more than 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit by exposing the water to radio frequencies. The radio frequencies act to weaken the bonds between the elements that make up salt water, releasing the hydrogen,

Way too soon to know if this will go anyplace, but it just might be the answer to a lot of problems. Now we just need it studied and developed so, should it turn out to be what some people seem to think it is, we can say a big hairy "F You" to the entire middle east and most of George Bush's friends in the oil business.

The People of Iraq Are Speaking With One Voice Too

On Monday the Daily Kos published an item from DemFromCT entitled Iraqis Say Surge Has Failed, which highlighted details from a new joint poll run by ABC News, the BBC and Japanese broadcaster NHK. Here are just a few observations from the poll, but check out the Daily Kos for the whole story:

• The number of Iraqis endorsing attacks on US troops has INCREASED since March (i.e. since the surge has taken effect): 57% as compared to 50% now endorse such attacks (93% of Sunnis, 50% of Shiites, 5% of Kurds). [Note those Sunni numbers!]
• The number of Iraqis saying security has WORSENED since the current US troop buildup (this is an answer to a specific question about the "Surge") is 70%. Only 12% think it has improved things in the country.
• The number of Iraqis in favor of an IMMEDIATE withdrawal of US troops is now 47%, up from 34% in March.
• The number of respondents expressing "a great deal of confidence" in Coalition forces is 4%. The number expressing "no confidence at all" in coalition forces is 58% (up from 52% in March). Overall 85% of Iraqis express little or no confidence in coalition forces (up from 82% this March).
• 53% of Iraqis strongly oppose the presence of coalition forces (the highest number ever, up from March of this year). Only 5% strongly approve their
  presence. In total 79% disapprove of their presence and 21% approve their presence. This is unchanged from earlier this year.
• On "Al Qaeda," 0% of respondents support attacks by AQ on Iraqis, 1% support AQ attempts to "take over communities," but 48% support AQ attacks on Americans.
• The Maliki government has an approval rating now of 33% (down from 41% in March)
  

40 Years Ago Today From DC Comics -- Justice League of America #57

Justice League of America #57 (On Sale: September 12, 1967) has another great cover by Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson and showcasing someone other than the big three.

"Man, Thy Name is -- Brother" is a JLA classic issue by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky and Sid Greene. When Snapper Carr writes a term paper on Brotherhood Week, three JLA members volunteer to investigate bigotry-related news items for him. Flash aids a young black boy in search of acceptance for his talents, and in turn is helped against a gang of robbers. Green Arrow teams up with an Indian youth to clear the youngster's name after he is accused of involvement in a mail holdup. Snapper accompanies Hawkman to India to help a famous philanthropist settle differences between two warring tribes Reprinted in the Justice League of America Archives Vol. 7 HC and Best of DC #3.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

The Uber-C Strikes Again!

Right-wing uber-cunt Anne Coulter was at it again. This past Thursday on the campus of Xavier University in Cincinnati Coulter gave another of her patented hate-filled speeches, but she needs to pick better topics. During her speech she said that Democrats, "believe public restrooms are only for snorting coke."

Unlike Republicans who believe that are for giving blow jobs. Tap! Tap! Tap!

Ya walked right into that one Anne, with the filthy mouth wide open as usual.

Opportunity to Finally Rove

As I told you more than two months ago, the Mars Rover Opportunity is finally going down into Victoria Crater today. The descent into the crater was postponed by stormy Mars weather I reported on in July. Once again the little "rovers that could," have survived to run another day. It will take NASA a few days to get Opportunity down into the 230 foot deep crater. Who knows what new mysteries the rover will find once it gets there.

Petraeus, SpinMeister General?

This is according to John Aravosis at AMERICAblog.com:

Petraeus yesterday before Congress:

When I testified in January, for example, no one would have dared to forecast that Anbar Province would have been transformed the way it has in the past 6 months.

What Petraeus said 6 months ago at his confirmation hearing (via CQ, subscription only link):

"You've seen it, I know, in Anbar province, where it has sort of gone back and forth. And right now, there appears to be a trend in the positive direction where sheiks are stepping up, and they do want to be affiliated with and supported by the U.S. Marines and Army forces who are in Anbar province. That was not the case as little as perhaps six months ago, or certainly before that."

Not an outright lie, but still he's twisting his own words. He spun Anbar positively in January, now he's trying to pretend like the positive developments in Anbar are some kind of huge surprise that we had no inkling of back in January. The man simply can't keep his stories straight because he's always spinning.

The People of America Are Speaking With One Voice

But are the Republicans listening?

From Daily Kos...

A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday and Saturday finds that a White House push to spotlight progress in Iraq, including President Bush's surprise stop in Anbar province last week, hasn't fundamentally changed attitudes toward the war.

While a third of those surveyed say the "surge" of U.S. troops this year has made them more confident the United States will accomplish its goals, a majority calls the invasion a mistake and predicts the war will be lost.

A record 60% say the United States should set a timetable to withdraw forces "and stick to that timetable regardless of what is going on in Iraq."

40 Years Ago Today From DC Comics -- Aquaman #36

Aquaman #36 (On Sale: September 7, 1967) has another nice cover by Nick Cardy and a blurb referencing the new Superman-Aquaman Hour which premiered on Saturday morning, September 2nd on CBS.

Inside we have "What Seeks the Awesome Threesome?" by Bob Haney and Nick Cardy. Aquaman and his family build a replica of Atlantis as an exhibit for surface dwellers to visit. The pavilion is attacked and demolished by three robotic creatures known as the Awesome Threesome. After wrecking the exhibit the terrible trio known as the Torpedo Man, Magneto, and the Claw destroy a gyro-moleculizer which is being displayed in another exhibit.

Aquaman and Aqualad battle the robots to a standstill, but they are unable to beat them. Then a creature emerges from the ground beneath the destroyed pavilion. The alien makes his way to the real Atlantis followed by Aquaman. The Awesome Threesome delay the Sea King, allowing the alien to be picked up by a flying saucer.

Edited by George Kashdan.

A Matter of Interpretation

The AP Headline screams, "Bush calls video reminder of dangers." It is referring to the new video by Osama bin Laden. Well, that's one interpretation I guess and a really dishonest one at that, but don't we all expect that type of silly crap from President Shit-For-Brains? Here is my interpretation and that of a hell of a lot of people in America and around the world. This video is a reminder that it has been six fucking years since you said you were going to get bin Laden "dead or alive" and he is still free and you are still a joke of a leader; a real honest to god shit-for-brains.

Your failures make videos so the whole world can laugh at you. Boy, do I feel safer now.

40 Years Ago Today From DC Comics -- Flash #174

Flash #174 (On Sale: September 5, 1967) features another cool cover by Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson. Almost a little Eisnerish. This issue features a milestone in the story of the Flash, as you will see. It kind of surprises me that this story has not been reprinted.

"Stupendous Triumph of the Six Super-Villains" is by John Broome, Carmine Infantino and Sid Greene (Infantino's last Flash issue). Mirror Master escapes from prison after tuning in on a parallel dimension inside one of his special mirrors. The other Earth is inhabited by a crimefighting Mirror Master and a criminal Flash. Mirror Master observes his counterpart using a mirror weapon that defeats the evil Flash. Mirror Master constructs a duplicate of the weapon, then breaks five of his fellow rogues out of prison.

The Rogues set a trap for the Flash, but Mirror Master's new weapon fails. After they escape, Mirror Master visits the parallel world to learn more about the weapon. He double-crosses the evil Flash, then learns how to use the mirror weapon.

After Mirror Master returns to his own world, he sets another trap for the Flash with the other Rogues. However, as they spring the trap, the evil Flash from the parallel dimension switches places with his counterpart. The Rogues then defeat the evil Flash. The Earth-1 Flash returns home and surprises the Rogues.

Barry Allen tells his wife Iris that he is the Flash and is surprised to learn that Iris already knows his secret since he talks in his sleep.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

How Hot Is It?

I decided to add an AccuWeather link to the page since the temperature seems to be the main topic of discussion lately. It seems much cooler this morning though.

Hot Parents

It was 108F yesterday and 106F today, so I went and got my parents and brought them over to our house. My Dad had an air conditioner put in almost 40 years ago, but I would bet he hasn't had it turned on in 25 to 30 years. Don't ask me why; it makes no sense, but I was not about to have them sweltering in their house another day.

Some things my parents do just seem stupid to me.