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The Saturday Comics: Marvel Photo Covers

12 May

May 12, 2012

As I’ve shown over the past weeks, back in the 1980’s it was good to be Marvel. From Generic Comic Books to weird Fumetti comics to a No-Prize book that consisted of nothing but reprinted panels, anything Marvel put out sold. Why? Well, their fans are called Marvel Zombies for a reason. And this phenomena was not just an 80’s thing; the 90’s brought, among other things, NFL Superpro.

However, I have saved the best  for last. These are comics with photo covers, regular issues of their series and not some odd one-off special. Nowadays I guess this would be called “value added.” Although they achieved varying degrees of success, they at least showed potential.

 

This is the best of the bunch, and it really works for me. Nicely composed, realistic, and it even reflects the interior story. Of all these issues this is the only one that remains in my collection. Like the rest of these it isn’t particularly valuable.

This is my favorite because it fails on a couple of levels. First, they (I believe) highlighted the webs on Spidey’s suit- compare it to the cover above- and it just stands out badly. Next, the guy in the Cap suit is too earnest, too obviously posed.  And lastly, look at their feet. The are clearly not on the roof, they have been inserted into that background. I had this comic once but somehow over the years it disappeared.

I never owned this but I do recall seeing it on the stands. Does Spider-Woman look sultry or slutty? That’s the story of this cover in a nutshell. Plus The Wasp’s wings look like cardboard..

I don’t think I ever saw this issue until I started to research this post. It is the worst of the lot. The concept is not bad but the execution is terrible. A back-lit woman holding her hands in front of a pair of spotlights just doesn’t cut it.

You have to give Marvel credit for trying. In the 1980’s they were big and bad and, for better or worse, pushing the boundaries of what their fans would buy.

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Grandpa, No! Classic Japan Repost

10 May

May 10, 2012

This is the last, and most disturbing, of my Japan-themed blogs. This one has gotten me a lot of hits from search engines. Frankly that scares me.

From November 17, 2010

I’ve been mining News of the Weird pretty hard lately. Why? It keeps me from writing about reality TV. Of course, “Noots” is always good for a laugh, and if I see an Asian Paul Teutul I’ll post the picture, but on the whole, I think Shakespeare said it best in Hamlet:

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

In other words, no matter what stupidity you see on TV, the real world can always beat it for shear ridiculousness. I wonder what The Bard would think of Jersey Shore?

So here is today’s news nugget. I warn you, this one is uncomfortable.

About 20 percent of Japan‘s adult-video market is now “elder porn” with each production featuring one or more studly seniors and Shigeo Tokuda, 76, among the most popular. He told Toronto‘s Globe and Mail in October that he still “performs” physically “without Viagra,” in at least one role a month opposite much younger women. His wife and adult daughter learned only two years ago, by accident, of his late-onset career (which began at age 60 when a filmmaker hired him for his “pervert’s face”). Tokuda figures the “elder porn” genre will grow with Japan‘s increasing senior population. [Globe and Mail, 10-3-10]

Sigh.

Take a  break, drink a glass of water, I’ll wait.

Anyway, here he is, in one of the only pictures I feel even remotely comfortable posting.

The article claims he was hired for his “pervert’s face.” In Japan that gets you a job in porn. In America that gets you on the sexual predator list.

This is just a small, albeit gross, example, of the problem with health care: there’s too much of it. It’s too good. People are healthier and living longer, and this is the result.

More uncomfortable information from wikipedia. which is nearing the five-hundredth correct entry mark:

Male actors are usually anonymous in Japanese porn but Tokuda is now featured in his own branded series of videos for Ruby with actresses of various ages. Another studio specializing in elder porn is Glory Quest which launched the “old man” series Maniac Training of Lolitas in December 2004 and when that became popular, had Tokuda star with a variety of young AV actresses in the Forbidden Elderly Care (Forbidden Nursing) series beginning in August 2006. An additional series Big Tits Loving Grandfather Erotic Mischief* for Glory Quest began in April 2008. Not all of Tokuda’s roles involve sex and he enjoys acting different roles. He has said he hopes to be able to continue working in adult videos until he is 80 (with a laugh).

*isn’t that title a bit long for this sort of thing?

If you’ve stuck around this long without clicking away to something that doesn’t make you feel skeevy, you may be wondering how his family feels about all of this.

The 5 foot 3 inch slightly paunchy former “salaryman” is married with two children and a grandson. He says his wife of 45 years suspects he plays some role in the porn industry but doesn’t ask any questions and he has kept his “star” status a secret.

How? He’s been in over 350 of those things. He must have a Clark Kent thing going on.

TOKUDA: (to himself) Oh no! It is almost time to film another porn!
(to wife) I’m going out for the paper and some milk.
                   (takes off his glasses, takes out his loincloth.)
WIFE: OK, enjoy your walk.
(pause)
WIFE: How come I never see Tokuda and Big Tits Loving Grandfather in the same place? Oh well, time to fire up the DVD player.

Japan is a country of 127,360,000people. They have a life expectancy rate of 81.25 years and about 20% of the population is over 65 years old. This was bound to happen.

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