Tag Archives: Superman

The Saturday Comics: Sunday Comics Rarities

23 Apr

April 23, 2010

Today Mr. BTR presents a compilation of some cool old newspaper comics that you may not know ever existed. I honestly feel that if some of these were still running today there’d be more interest in buying the newspaper.

SUPERMAN

Superman began in 1939 and ran until 1966. This is the first Sunday installment, a retelling of his now-iconic origin. And speaking of iconic, think Lex Luthor was always bald? Not so. He was depicted with red hair until he appeared hairless in this strip. Multi-dimensional imp Mr. Mxyzptlk debuted here, and another iconic image- Superman changing clothes in a phone booth- started here too.

THE WORLD’S GREATEST SUPERHEROES

This version ran in 1978 and 1979 until the focus changed to primarily feature Superman and ran until 1985. It showcased a great roster of DC heroes, including the Flash, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, Superman, Green Lantern, Black Canary, Aquaman, and Black Lightening. Paul Levitz, current DC Comics executive and known for his run on Legion of Super Heroes, was one of the writers.

STAR WARS

The Star Wars strip has been collected in a few places over the years but is still not very well-known. This is considered a part of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, meaning that it is non-canonical and doesn’t necessarily follow the continuity established in the movies. Like the Star Wars comic books, they follow their own storylines that are based on the movies but are never referenced outside of the strip.

STAR TREK

Being a big classic Trek fan I was shocked to find this. I’ve got most of the comic books but I never knew this newspaper version existed. I didn’t become a Trek fan until Star Trek II so this must have gone under my radar. It ran from 1979 to 1983, just after Wrath of Khan premiered so it was out of publication right when I would have loved to read it.

DARK SHADOWS

I was a baby when Dark Shadows first ran on TV but I’ve become a huge fan watching it on DVD. (BTW- out of 1,225 episodes I’m up to 1,045.) This ran for one year, from March 1971 to March 1972. The TV series ended in April of 1971 so this was the only daily Dark Shadows left for fans to enjoy, though the Gold Key-published comic book ran on an irregular schedule until 1976.

DALLAS

Another surprise here. I never watched the show but I am sure I should have come across this somewhere. As you can tell from the Sunday strip above, JR was causing trouble here too. It ran from 1981 to 1984.

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I’ve Been Netflixed!

18 Apr

April 18, 2011

Netflix is cool. I get it through my TiVo so I don’t even have to bother mailing any DVD’s back. Good thing too because I think my mailman steals.

Anyway, much as I like it, Netflix has a couple of drawbacks, the biggest one being that some films are not available over the ‘net, they’re disc only so you can only get them through the mail. Another one is that if you order a season of a TV show, like Columbo, for some reason 2 out of the six episodes are disc only despite being in the same set as the other four. I don’t get it.

But that’s Ok. TiVo doesn’t get it either. Check out these weird recommendations I came across last night.

What is the connection between Superman II and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan? How does enjoyment of one equal the other? I gave it some thought and I think I got the answer. Superman II starred Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor. Luthor was a super genius villain; Bobby Heenan was a super genius heel wrestling manager. I get it. Netflix thinks outside the box. I like that.

Hmm. Godzilla. Doctor Who. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three? I got it! Godzilla destroys large cities; Pelham One Two Three is set in a large city. Doctor Who was played by 11 actors over the years, all playing the same role. Pelham One Two Three was recently remade with Samuel L. Jackson playing the same role as Walter Matthau and John Travolta playing the Robert Shaw role. (Travolta replacing Shaw is not in any way an upgrade, believe you me.) You see? Netflix makes sense once you think about it. It is a nice little intellectual game.

This is a little harder. Arrested Development (a GREAT show you should be ashamed you never watched) and The Office make sense. But Pulp Fiction? Pulp fiction was known for its dialogue and quotes, like “that is a tasty burger” and “this is some fucked-up repugnant shit.” Larry Sanders’ sidekick Hank added “Hey now!” to the American lexicon. (Think that’s a stretch? Let’s see you do any better.) And how did Hank come up with hey now? ”When I was a kid, I used to say ‘hey,’ and then later I said ‘now,’ but I never put it together until later.”

You may not be aware of this but this is funny because the version of 100 Years of Horror that is available instantly is better than the one that isn’t. It is a bigger set and ten years more recent. Anyway, what is the connection between 100 Years of Horror and Fierce Creatures? Easy. Fierce Creatures is a horrible move. And that comes from a fan of a Fish Called Wanda.

OK, they are both British and I read somewhere that Douglas Adams was a fan of Pink Floyd but c’mon Netflix, this is just silly.

And lastly, here’s one Netflix asked me. I’ll leave you with this one to ponder.

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