Thanks!

Just a word of thanks for all the many uplifting birthday emails and messages I've received today. It's overwhelming! A special thanks to those of you who chose to actually donate to help support the Booksteve Blogs! That was unexpected but much appreciated as we continue to have to scramble to make sure we stay on top of things.

I'm working on a short paid project right now so postings here may be intermittent for the next week or so but should continue apace on my other blogs that are regularly updated.

This year marks my seventh year in blogging and there are a few surprises in the works so stay tuned! Once again, thank you all for your support here, in 1966, 1974 and 1976, in four colors, adventures and all the rest!

To paraphrase Jackie Gleason...Internet audiences are the best audiences in the world!

Bronze Age Sub-Mariner Splash Page Saturdays # 46

Okay, Adam Austin and Joe Gaudioso are back again, under their real names as Gene Colan and Mike Esposito. Hardly the best work of either man, however.

I like Llyra. She really looks evil to me here and not as cartoony evil as usual. Tiger Shark is well drawn, also. You certainly don't see too much of our hero, though and what you do see is drawn from an odd angle.

What really gets me here, however, is the sparse background inking. I understand that if it were overly detailed it could conceivably distract from the main image. That does not, however, mean that it had to be left as sketchy as it has.

And still with the bright yellow. At least not too much of it this time.

Note, by the way, that this feature is now coming on Saturday rather than Sunday and that we've lost some alliteration. There's no definite pint where one can say the Silver Age has ended and the Bronze Age begun but 1972 seems pretty reasonable to me to be considered early Bronze.

Do You Like Adventure?

If you haven't checked out our DAYS OF ADVENTURE blog lately, we're heading quickly into the classic era of ADVENTURE COMICS with daily coverage of HOUR-MAN, SANDMAN and more superheroes coming up right around the corner.

http://adventurecomicsblog.blogspot.com/

Booksteve Rarities January Update Highlights

Here are a few highlights from the new additions to the BOOKSTEVE RARITIES shared DVD site this month! Jimmy Wakely was a popular B Western cowboy who headlined his own DC comic book for a while. Yakima Canutt is acknowledged as one of the greatest stuntmen in film history. We also have 14 ultra-rare silent OUR GANG shorts and ten ultra-rare episodes of Shirley Temple's late fifties TV series with a ton of guest stars! LOVE HAPPY is essentially a Harpo Marx movie co-starring Chico,with inserts by Groucho (with Marilyn Monroe!) and is usually left out of the Marx Brothers marathons such as the several shown last weekend on various channels. Anyway, take a look---then go here to order and see many, many more! http://oldtimeradiotapes.homestead.com/StevenSiteHome.html

JIMMY WAKELY: The Complete Westerns

All 27 cowboy westerns starring Jimmy Wakely are now available on DVD! This ten-disc box set contains Rainbow Over the Rockies (1947), West of the Alamo (1946), Oklahoma Blues (1948), Ridin' Down the Trail (1947), Springtime in Texas (1945), Partners of the Sunset (1948), Song of the Wasteland (1947), Range Renegades (1948), Outlaw Brand (1948), The Rangers Ride (1948), Silver Trails (1948), Song of the Drifter (1948), Lawless Code (1949), Lonesome Trail (1945), Six-Gun Serenade (1947), Cowboy Cavalier (1948), Gun Law Justice (1949), Gun Runner (1949), Across the Rio Grande (1949), Roaring Westward (1949), Brand of Fear (1949), Song of the Sierras (1946), Moon Over Montana (1946), Courtin' Trouble (1948), Song of the Range (1944), Trail to Mexico (1946), Saddle Serenade (1945), Riding the Dusty Trail (1945, aka Riders of the Dawn). Bonus feature includes a film short a Jimmy Wakely's TV show. Ten-disc set.  $50.00

OUR GANG: The Silent Film Shorts

Also known as The Little Rascals, the silent film comedy shorts are among the most difficult to collect and this two-DVD set contains 14 previously-unavailable comedy shorts! Seeing Things (1924), It's a Bear (1924), Mysterious Mystery (1924), One Wild Ride (1925), Dog Daze (1925), Every Man For Himself (1924), Good Cheer (1926), Buried Treasure (1926), Monkey Business (1926), Thundering Fleas (1926), Shivering Spooks (1926), Fourth Alarm (1926), Boxing Gloves (1926), and Bouncing Babies (1926).

YAKIMA CANUTT's CANYON HAWKS (1930)

Cattleman Benson finds Mildred and her brother George living in one of his cabins and their sheep are on his land. Attracted to Mildred, he not only lets her stay, he deeds part of his land to her. This leads to trouble with the other cattlemen. This film stars Yakima Canutt and is not the "altered" version that is available through other venues. Uncut and unedited.

LOVE HAPPY  (1949)

The final Marx Brothers movie, with Vera Allen, Raymond Burr, Illona Massey and a very young starlet named Marilyn Monroe. The Marx Brothers help young Broadway hopefuls while thwarting diamond thieves. Groucho hated this movie so much that in his autobiography, Groucho claimed "A Night in Casablanca" was his final film with his brothers. 

SHIRLEY TEMPLE STORYBOOK

With the talents of Jonathan Winters, Joseph Wiseman, Agnes Moorehead, Cobert Culp, Michael Rennie, Tor Johnson, John Astin, Jack Weston, Jonathan Harris, Martin Landau, Jerry Colonna, Angela Cartwright, Joe Besser, Imogene Coca and Mel Blanc, this children's series starred and hosted by Shirley Temple from 1958 to 1961 was a success in syndication. This five-disc box set contains the following episodes: The Land of Oz, The Princess and the Goblins, The Reluctant Dragon, The Terrible Clockman, The House of Seven Gables, Madeline, Pippi Longstocking, Kim, Winnie the Pooh and Babes in Toyland. Ten classic hour-long episodes on this five-disc set. $25

Review: Broken Springs, Shine of the Undead Zombie Bastards

BROKEN SPRINGS, SHINE OF THE UNDEAD ZOMBIE BASTARDS is one of that relatively new breed of low-budget horror movies that almost no one ever sees. They get no theatrical distribution, rarely turn up on cable and receive little publicity on DVD outside of the filmmakers themselves selling them at various conventions. This one deserves more.

If you’ve ever seen one of these films, they often reek of enthusiasm more than talent and regurgitate scenes from other movies the filmmakers have endlessly digested. When it comes right down to it, BROKEN SPRINGS is also your standard zombie film. The difference is that it’s better made. The script is good, the direction and photography very good, there’s a surprisingly effective score and the acting, although hit or miss, is overall pretty good!

The basic plot—we’re in the deep rural south and the local moonshine gets contaminated by chemicals from a local mining operation. Anyone who has even a taste of it suddenly becomes violent, brain-dead and cannibalistic in the manner of the typical George Romero zombie. And as the day progresses, an awful lot of people taste the shine.

Our hero is a young actor who at first glance is a dead ringer for Seth Green. As played by Teague Quillen, he’s instantly ingratiating and becomes our identifiable POV character as he determines to save his mother while more and more townspeople are turned and the odds of success seem less and less likely.

There are a lot of quirky characters around but the filmmakers are to be congratulated for not going all out with the hillbilly stereotypes the way some others might have done. Among those you do get, beyond our high school hero, are the stalwart truck driver, the not quite all there guy who runs a zombie attack website, the creepy, voyeuristic but ultimately heroic AV guy, the local BINGO TV show host, the radio preacher who’s all about promoting the end of the world and finally the moonshiner with a heart of gold and a colorful turn of phrase who both causes the problem and saves the day.

By way of full disclosure, that last is my Facebook pal Shannon Wallen. We met through a mutual friend. Shannon is a major horror movie buff, a former TV horror film host and once actually appeared on the cover of a comic book being eaten by zombies! Shannon also did some behind the scenes work.

The actor who plays the preacher, so charming in his on-screen interview in the behind-the scenes clips on YouTube, is the only performer who comes across somewhat amateurish…and yet he’s a professional actor! Potentially the showiest, hammiest role in the whole picture, he somehow manages to not only avoid making the most of it but to actually sound at times as though he’s just reading his lines. Considering that most of the rest of the cast actually are amateurs, I’m surprised that doesn’t happen more often here but with the exception of one or two minor characters, it really doesn’t.

BROKEN SPRINGS was shot in 2008 in the Kingsport tri-cities area of Tennessee and Virginia. The cinematography is excellent with the scenic area being a highlight of the picture. The camera takes full advantage of both the beautiful natural surroundings as well as some of the urban areas. Likewise, the director uses some artsy but not overly artsy tricks including black and white photography to accent some scenes.

Neely Lawson is the man behind BROKEN SPRINGS. He wrote, produced, directed, edited and cameos in it and in the end he makes it all work beautifully. It’s reminiscent of the best zombie films of the past few decades but with the setting and the moonshine angle giving it just enough of an original touch. The special effects cover a wide range with some toward the beginning looking especially fake but by the end, even in freeze frame, I’d swear they were actually blowing these zombies away. Very realistic at times. Knowing what kind of budget (or lack of budget) he had to work with, I have to say this does NOT look in any way like a cheap production!

The music score, also, often a low point of these kinds of projects, is nearly perfect here, helping the tension build throughout.

Overall, I’d have to say if you aren’t zombied out, BROKEN SPRINGS, SHINE OF THE UNDEAD ZOMBIE BASTARDS, unwieldy title and all, is a well-directed balance of humor, horror, heroism, some great scenery and a nice music score. Booksteve recommends!

Superman in the UK in the Sixties

Silver Age Sub-Mariner Splash Page Sundays # 45

This week's splash is a lovely piece but seriously, what is it with the too-bright and too-much yellow!!??

Nicely framed and with one of the best close-ups of Namor's face ever that wasn't drawn by his creator, Bill Everett. I wish I could say the portrait was by credited artist Marie Severin but what I see looks like supposed inker Jim Mooney retouched by Jazzy Johnny Romita. Whoever did it, though, I enjoy it immensely.

And the background frames it nicely. There's even an attempt at actually making it look like its underwater, something that sometimes got forgotten.

It's symbolic but actually quite impressive in a sea (pun intended) of hit or miss splashes during the Conway period.