Tag Archives: Marvel

The Saturday Comics: The Man From Atlantis

23 Mar

March 23, 2013

sat com logo

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From 1977 to 1978, Patrick Duffy starred as Mark Harris, The Man From Atlantis in 4 tv movies and 13 tv episodes of the series of the same name. He was a half-human, half-Atlantean hybrid, living on land with little memory of his past.

Hmm. Sounds a lot like Aquaman.

Looks kind of like him too.

duo

So it should come as no surprise that the comic adaptation of the show was published by Marvel Comics.

Not DC? No, why would DC want to publish a pretty clear copy of their own character? Marvel, on the other hand, had no problem with an Aquaman ripoff. And why should they? They already published the adventures of their own sea king.

submariner

The comic was not very popular. And while Aquaman had his own Hostess ad, The Man From Atlantis never even got an action figure out of the development stage.

hostess aquaman

Anyway, the tv show didn’t last long and neither did the comic, tanking after only seven issues.

all

What the what now? What’s that guy doing there?
Hey, it’s the real Mark Harris, the very flamboyant homosexual who married the very ancient Martha Raye just before she died, slept with her once, and inherited her estate.

Mark Harris. That’s the legacy of The Man From Atlantis.

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Terrible Toys / Saturday Comics: Bag on Head Spider-Man

2 Mar

March 2, 2013

treasure chest of sat com

This one begins in Saturday Comics and ends in The Treasure Chest of Terrible Toys.

Everyone knows that Spider-Man’s black costume, which he picked up on an alien planet, turned out to be a symbiote which tried to bond with him and control him. That creature eventually became Venom, one of Spidey’s greatest foes (and bad guy in Spider-Man 3. Hey- is this also a Late Night Movie House crossover? Yeah, why not?)

Anyway, the only thing that can get the alien off of Peter Parker are powerful sonics. Spidey goes to the Fantastic Four where Reed Richards uses a special sonic gun to free Pete and trap the alien. (Not that he stays trapped for long…) Problem is, Spidey had no clothes on under the suit, so he borrowed an old FF costume to go home in. Of course, the Fantastic For do not wear masks, so Spider-Man had to get inventive.

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Which brings us to the toy. Eventually every single person in every single panel of every single comic book ever published will get its own action figure. And this is no exception.

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Allan Keyes and I are on opposite sides of the fence on this one. He says that this is the one action figure he actually would go out and buy. I think it is totally ridiculous. (BTW- note the packaging. Yet another Spider-man costume variant.)

Hasbro Marvel Universe Future Foundation Spider-Man Bag Head Fantastic 4 FF Variant One Per Case 2012 (10)

I just can’t see spending money on this. It was funny in the comic as a two panel joke, but as an action figure? Really? This looks like it is headed to the Island of Misfit Toys to me… or maybe just the Treasure Chest of Terrible Toys.