My Wall of Christmas Music

Here's an old chestnut from 2010...

Regular visitors to the humble home of Dougsploitation know that the "LP wall" is a revolving gallery of the finest long playing record art imaginable. The holiday season is always the hardest time of the year to decide what records to frame because I own so many great ones - and I acquire new ones each year. This year's six:

Not to be confused with the STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL, Christmas in the Stars is the STAR WARS Christmas Album. I found this recently at Amoeba Records, and didn't have time to listen to it before it made it to the wall. It features the original voices of R2D2 and C3PO!

As a companion I have the soundtrack to the 1977 Nelvana animated holiday special, A COSMIC CHRISTMAS featuring songs and music by Canadian Crystal Gayle lookalike Sylvia Tyson.

Christmas: A Gift of Music Vol 3 featuring a creepy collection of Christmas dolls and a selection of songs from a variety of artists from Dinah Shore to The Korean Orphan Choir. Those orphans can really sing!

Next up is last year's favorite Sing with Marcy. I won't go on about her again. I swear.

Santa and the 3 Bears is another animated soundtrack. This one is from a 1970 low-budget theatrical release which turned up on local stations in the late 70s as an hour-long special. The album came with a dimensional Santa decoration (still intact) !

Last, but certainly not least is Elvin The Little Black Elf from 1982, described as "A Musical Christmas Special About Our Newest Christmas Hero." I don't think the special was ever made, but it's nice to know the soundtrack was released. I love Elvin. Here's a few of my other favorites that didn't make this year's wall.

Four exciting Christmas adventures of THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN. Bionics and Christmas go together like Superheroes and Christmas...

Exciting Christmas Stories starring Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman. I miss Peter Pan Records.

Christmas at Home starring a big, scary baby.

Christmas with the King Family...one of my childhood obsessions.

Christmas with Colonel Sanders - he brought the world greasy, artery-clogging fried chicken so therefore he must know a lot about Christmas.

So much so that he even had another Christmas album - though it looks like the old guy may not make it through the evening.

Speaking of not making it through the night, I always read this album's title as "Merry Christmas from the Hillside Stranglers."

And finally, one of my all-time favorites, Imagine the Joys of Christmas presented by Sylvania light bulbs and featuring a family that clearly forgot to pay their electric bill. Sad.

Carmine Infantino (1925-2013)

Legends of the Super Heroes

Here's a re-post from October 2010.

Not a bootleg. Not an imaginary story. Not a hoax.

Yes. The notorious two-part NBC special from 1979 that has lived on in infamy as a bad childhood memory is now officially out on DVD thanks to The Warner Archive Collection. 

Part 1 is "The Challenge" in which several Justice Leaguers take on a cadre of super-villains. Part 2 is "The Roast" where the villains go all "Dean Martin" on the heroes' asses.

This videotaped canned-laughter oddity from Hanna-Barbera brought your Saturday-morning cartoon favorites to life in living color played by actual living, breathing actors!

Adam West, Burt Ward and Frank Gorshin of BATMAN fame recreated their roles from the 1960s ABC campfest. 

They are joined by TV stalwarts Jeff Altman (as the Weather Wizard), Charlie Callas (as Sinestro), Gabriel Dell (as Mordru), Ruth Buzzi (as Aunt Minerva) and Ed McMahon (as the host of the "roast" portion).

Lesser known actors brought the JLA heroes Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman and The Atom to life. Also featured (in the place of Superman and Wonder Woman) were Captain Marvel and newcomer The Huntress. 

The Black Canary was played by someone named Danuta - who never acted again. Imagine that.

On the villain side, Dr. Sivana, Solomon Grundy and Giganta (played by transexual performer A'leshia Brevard) rounded out the cast.

Other characters appearing included the ridiculous and offensive Ghetto Man, the cringe-inducing Retired Man (aka The Scarlet Cyclone) and Pat Carroll as Hawkman's mother! 

NIGHT COURT's Marsha Warfield has an uncredited cameo as "the phonebooth woman".

As for the storylines, special effects and writing - the less said the better. LEGENDS OF THE SUPER HEROES is best viewed as a product of its time - a time when just about anything could get onto primetime TV. These were the days of the STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL, THE PAUL LYNDE HALLOWEEN SPECIAL and PINK LADY & JEFF (starring the Weather Wizard himself!).

So if you are like me and can't get enough vintage bad TV and men in tights - check out LEGENDS - the legendary program so unwatchable that it HAS TO BE SEEN!

In Search of "My Batman"...

Here's an update of a post from 2008...

Okay, I know Christopher Nolan Batman series is a top-notch film trilogy. It's got a talented cast, superb acting, incredible stunts, sate of the art effects, impeccable production values, and drama of epic proportions. Now having seen all three, you may ask "Did I enjoy them?" Well, let's just say I survived them. 

Let me start by saying I am a Batman fan from way back. I've been buying, collecting and reading Batman (and various other DC) comics since about 1972 - when I was 8 years old.

I have a collection of hundreds of Batman toys and trinkets. I grew up on the old BATMAN TV series (Aunt Harriet! Batgirl! Lola Lasagna!), the wooden Filmation cartoons of the late 60s and of course the various corny but fun incarnations of SUPERFRIENDS throughout the 70s and 80s.

Also along the way there was the ridiculous 1966 feature with much of the TV cast, the newer (and improved) Filmation series from the late 70s (even though that show brought us the dreaded Bat-Mite!)

and the various odd projects like LEGENDS OF THE SUPER-HEROES (yikes!) and the infamous guest spot on THE NEW SCOOBY-DOO MOVIES.

While Batman continued to be marketed to us 70s kids in every shape and form from Underoos to Ben Cooper Halloween costumes, some of the best Batman comics ever were be published by National Peroidical Publications, aka DC Comics. 

Great runs like the sophisticated and gothic Denny O'Neill/Neal Adams issues which introduced the darkly seductive Talia (as seen in THE DARK NIGHT RISES) and the bold Steve Englehart/Marshall Rogers run in DETECTIVE COMICS (#469-476) which brought us the sexy and sultry Silver St. Cloud, were among the best and definitive interpretations. There was also some later good stuff in the early 80s from teams like Doug Moench/Don Newton and Mike W. Barr/Alan Davis. These were all "my Batman".

Along the way, there was some pretty dreadful stuff too, like most of WORLD'S FINEST and many BRAVE & THE BOLD outtings. Then came Frank Miller. 

Miller's THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS and BATMAN: YEAR ONE (issues 404-407 of the BATMAN monthly) changed everything. These two grim and gritty bookend miniseries told the last and first Batman stories, setting the new standard for storytelling about the caped crusader and leaving other creators to fill in what happens in between. 

At the time, I thought both Miller's writing and artwork were refreshing and unique- but by the time he returned for a sequel, 2001's miserable and offensive THE DARK KNIGHT STRIKES AGAIN - I loathed both him and his style. His most recent Batman maxi-series (did it ever conclude??), ALL-STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN THE BOY WONDER is pretty to look at (thanks to Jim Lee), but was not on my "must buy" list. Again, not "my Batman".

Tim Burton's BATMAN hit theaters in 1989, I was in fanboy heaven. Despite the miscasting of Michael (MR. MOM) Keaton as Bruce Wayne, there was finally a Batman that wasn't silly, corny and campy - though looking back, it might be after all. Then the dreadful Prince soundtrack kicked in. Ugh. But I liked it because there were lots of cool toys and other merchandise that I could buy and finally the Batman that I was reading about in the DC Universe kinda sorta existed elsewhere now.

Burton's sequel BATMAN RETURNS was a bit better, thanks to the Catwoman subplot...

and the great Siouxsie and the Banshees song "Face to Face" over the closing credits.

The less said about Joel Schumacher's BATMAN & ROBIN, BATMAN FOREVER and Pitof's (what the fuck kind of name is that?) ludicrous CATWOMAN the better. None of these were "my Batman" or "my Catwoman" - they were closer to being "My Little Pony".

Bruce Timm and Paul Dini's BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES and all it's various sequels were a lot closer to the Batman that I knew and loved, though I was not a fan of the futuristic and unneeded BATMAN BEYOND.

Another animated series called THE BATMAN ran from 2004-2006. I only saw a few episodes here and there. Looked okay, was a bit too Manga-oriented for my tastes.

Christopher Nolan's BATMAN BEGINS was a vast improvement upon the the Burton and Schumacher films - borrowing some elements from the O'Neill/Adams run. I was not and still am not impressed by the tank-like Batmobile. aka the Tumbler Definitely not "my Batmobile". I have only seen it BATMAN BEGINS once, and don't plan on watching it again any time soon, the same for the uber-popular sequel THE DARK KNIGHT. 

While die-hard fans of the 1960s ABC series wait for Fox and Warners Bros. to come to terms about releasing the show on DVD, Fox has released the 1966 theatrical film on blu-ray utilizing a deceptive DARK KNIGHT-themed advertising campaign. One wonders who might buy this expecting to see a grim and gritty Adam West.

The recent THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD animated series was pleasant and unxpected a return to "my Batman" - with great guest stars like Plastic Man, Captain Marvel, Wonder Woman, the Doom Patrol and the new Blue Beetle. The stories were smart, fun and placed the character firmly in a universe of super-powered friends and enemies that felt like the DC Universe I grew up loving.

As THE DARK NIGHT RISES continues it juggernaut across movie theater screens across the world, I wonder if there will ever be a film that lives up to the expectations that I have for "my Batman"...and will I ever see Aunt Harriet again?

Doc Savage - Part 3 The Cape-free Crusader

From April 2010: Continuing my look at the history of Doc Savage, today let's look at the many comic book lives of the character.

In this Gold Key issue from the 60s, Doc wraps his hands around a spitting cobra! Get you minds out of the gutter!

Doc headed over to Marvel in the early 70s with an all-new series done in the mighty Marvel style.

Readers (such as I) were introduced to Doc's team of fearless friends in this campy take on the character.

Doc is depicted as a "heart-stopping sight" - and his costume consists of tight white slacks and a skimpy black leather vest.

The text page in Issue #1 goes into detail about Doc's loyal teammates: Monk, Ham, Long Tom, Renny and Johnny!

Issue #2 featured the fearsome foe called The Feather Serpent!

Some dude called Silver Death was the villain in Issue #3.

Doc went topless and took on the Hell Diver in #4.

And then he faced the Night of the Monsters in Issue #6.

A giant sized adaptation of Warner Bros.' feature film  DOC SAVAGE: MAN OF BRONZE  followed. (More on the movie tomorrow!)

And oddest of all, Doc teamed up with The Fantastic Four's very own Thing in MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE.

A magazine-sized movie tie-in featured this iconographic image of Doc in all his manliness.

Doc donned rocket-powered skis for this magazine-sized adventure, but his tenure at Marvel was nearing it's end.

Years later, Doc & company showed up at DC, starring in an acclaimed four-part miniseries (recently collected into a trade paperback. Oddly enough, DC will be soon reprinting the Marvel stories in another trade collection).

A monthly series followed and ran for a while, but soon Doc was in comic book limbo once more.

Next he resurfaced in a short-lived series from an indie publisher called Millennium.

The homoerotic covers continued to follow Doc during this brief run.

So, that brings us right back to DC, where the new DOC SAVAGE comic debuted in April 2010. Doc also recently teamed up with Batman in a one-shot special and was featured in a miniseries called FIRST WAVE, which I covered in my tribute to Rima, the Jungle Girl. Come back tomorrow for my final Doc post.