Fantastic Femmes--Parminder Nagra

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Jerry Robinson 1922-2011

Another great from the Golden Age of Comics has passed.

Jerry Robinson, a versatile writer/artist who co-created the Joker, Two-Face and Alfred, as well as naming Robin, for the Batman series, passed away yesterday.
After beginning his career as an assistant to Bob Kane (during which he did the work listed above), he became an in-demand penciler-inker, first collaborating with, then becoming studio partners with, Mort Meskin.
Together, Robinson & Meskin created the characters AtoMan and Golden Lad for Spark Publications.
Much like the team of Joe Simon & Jack Kirby, they also collaborated on various already-existing strips, including The Green Hornet, The Vigilante, Fighting Yank, Johnny Quick, and The Black Terror, often switching penciling and inking duties to keep things interesting.

But his comic book work was just the tip of the iceberg for the amazingly-talented Robinson!
For much more about both the artist and the man, visit his official website HERE.

YouTube Wednesday: Batman

Last Wednesday, we looked at Superman, so this week let's peek at Batman...

First, the 1943 serial (which predated the live-action Superman serials)...

Note: this is the trailer from the 1965 re-release which identifies the first serial, Batman, by the title of the second serial, Batman and Robin!
Then, the trailer for the 1966 Batman movie produced between the first and second seasons of the tv show!

And, if you're wondering why they did it that way, intead of doing the movie first, then the tv series...
1) Many American households still didn't have color tvs in 1966, so they saw the show in b/w, even though it was broadcast in color!
The movie was the first time many fans saw the live-action heroes in color!
2) The bigger budget enabled the producers to build and film a number of additional vehicles and props including the BatCopter, BatBoat, and BatCycle, and a larger Batcave set, which were then reused for the remainder of the tv series' run!
In 1989 Tim Burton brought a kool gothic feel to Batman..

...which Joel Schumacher destroyed in Batman & Robin!

and Christopher Nolan restored in the reboot, Batman Begins...

..and continued in Dark Knight!

Bonus: though it's not live-action, here's "The Dark Knight Returns" from the 1990s animated series...

...because Michael Ironside as a middle-aged Batman is just too good to miss!

Happy (Belated) Anniversary, Batman!

With all the hubbub about the new Green Hornet film, it totally slipped my mind that January 12th marked the 45th anniversary of the debut of the pop-art oriented Batman tv series, without which, there wouldn't have been a Green Hornet series to "inspire" Seth Rogan's flick!
Here's a special treat for the pop art graphics aficionados among you...

The iconic LIFE magazine cover featuring Adam West...

...and the pic it was flopped and cropped from!

YouTube Wednesday: THE GREEN HORNET vs BATMAN!

Continuing our weekly feature "YouTube Wednesday"...

It's Christmastime, so let's go with the most-demanded Green Hornet vids of all... 

When Titans Clash :

Batman vs The Green Hornet!

A decade before Superman vs Spider-Man, this was the first inter-company superhero crossover.
The Hornet and Kato had already cameoed on Batman, in the episode "The Spell of Tut", where they appeared in a window during a Bat-Climb.
Celebrities ranging from Sammy Davis Jr. to Edward G. Robinson popped up for brief appearances during these sequences. Even characters from other ABC series like Lurch (Ted Cassidy) from the Addams Family and Col. Klink (Werner Klemperer) from Hogan's Heroes showed up!

Curiously, the visiting duo are regarded as heroes, not villains, and Britt introduces Kato by name.
(Metafiction aficionados have been driven nuts by these interludes, trying to fit them into their respective universes...)
And, as we've pointed out before, both Batman and The Green Hornet featured their characters watching each others' show on tv!
All that was basically ignored when it was decided that, to boost Green Hornet's decent (but not Batman-level) ratings, GH and K would appear as "Visiting Heroes" on Batman.
For whatever reason, none of the established Batman villains were used. (And The Green Hornet had no costumed or even ongoing opponents.)
Instead, a new baddie, Colonel Gumm, played by Roger C. Carmel*, was introduced, along with a plotline involving counterfeit stamps which drew The Hornet and Kato to Gotham.
The motif of GH and K being perceived as villains was utilized, resulting in the Dynamic Duo being as eager to capture them as to jail the corny counterfeiter!
In addition, it's shown that the two heroes' millionaire alter-egos, Bruce Wayne and Britt Reid, have known each other since childhood, and constantly competed over almost everything, including women!
So, it was inevitable the two costumed frat-boys would square-off in the climax...

On-set photo of Van Williams and Adam West during the climactic fight scene

Unfortunately, the gambit didn't pay off.
The Green Hornet's ratings didn't improve, and the show was cancelled.
(Note: the show's ratings were good enough to make them eligible for renewal, but, since the producers didn't want to implement network-demanded budget cuts, the network axed the series anyway.
Batman, OTOH, continued, with a reduced budget and cut from being twice-weekly to weekly, for another year, before being cancelled.)
Without further adieu, here is the legendary two-parter; "A Piece of the Action" and "Batman's Satisfaction"...






*Roger C. Carmel played numerous flamboyant villains on everything from The Man from U.N.C.L.E. to Hawaii Five-0 to Transformers to Star Trek, where he portrayed Harcourt Fenton "Harry" Mudd on both the classic and animated series!
He's also the answer to the trivia question; "Who's the only actor to play a villain opposite Batman, Captain Kirk, and The Green Hornet?"

MORE Halloween Horror by Francesco Francavilla

If you haven't already visited the blog, hit Pulp Sunday during it's 31 Days of Halloween.
Hot artist Francesco Francavilla, who's presently working on such iconic characters as The Batman, Daredevil (and The Black Panther), The Lone Ranger, The Green Hornet, and Zorro (see a pattern?) is presenting a daily feature in October of illos rendering classic movie monsters and horrors in pen and ink!
Miss it NOT!

Beware...the Black Bat!

It's interesting to see how there are no new ideas in fiction, just innovative ways to combine existing ideas...
Take The Black Bat.
(Actually, Black Bat II. The first Black Bat was a gentleman detective similar to The Saint, who ran around town leaving calling cards with a bat. He didn't wear a costume, use gimmicks or have enhanced abilities.)

The Black Bat we're talking about was two-fisted, hard-fighting DA Tony Quinn, who got hit in the face by acid thrown by criminals.
It didn't disfigure him, but it did blind him!
Quinn learned to function without sight, slowly enhancing his other senses and even returning to practice law!
Then, an extremely-risky eye-transplant operation not only restored his sight, but actually enabled him to see in total darkness!
Quinn decided to keep his restored / enhanced sight from the world, pretending to still be blind, and using his connections in the police department and DA's office, to secretly battle criminals who evade capture and prosecution!
Donning all-black garb which incorporated a bat-like motif (to frighten criminals who are, after all, a cowardly, superstitious lot.), a pair of .45 automatics, and assorted low-tech gimmicks like smoke bombs and grappling hooks, Quinn took on spies and gangsters, not hesitating to kill when necessary.
Like most pulp heroes,  The Black Bat is assisted by a team of plain-clothes aides with specialized skills whose main function in the story is to discover plot elements and be caught by villains, requiring dramatic rescue by the hero.
Considered a vigilante, The Black Bat is hunted by the police, especially Captain McGrath who believes that "blind" Tony Quinn not only can see, but is The Black Bat!

As you can see, the character is a real amalgamation of elements of everything from Zorro to The Shadow to The Green Hornet.
But, ironically, NOT The Batman!
In one of those weird coincidences that occur in media (print/radio/tv/movie) production, The Black Bat and The Batman debuted almost simultaneously!
Black Bat's debut in Black Book Detective #1 was cover-dated July, 1939. (BTW, The Black Bat never had his own title! He only appeared in Black Book Detective!)
Batman's premiere in Detective Comics #27 was listed as May, 1939.
However, cover dates varied from 3-5 months ahead of actual on-sale date, so there's a potential overlap of at least a couple of months, and since conception and preparation of material for print took anywhere from three months to a year, deliberate copying was highly-unlikely.
That didn't stop their publishers from suing each other, claiming plagiarism!
Luckily, editor Whitney Ellsworth, who had worked for both publishers, created an out-of-court deal so that the two characters could co-exist on the newsstands.
One of the provisos was that each character would stay within their respective format...no pulp version of The Batman, no comic book version of The Black Bat.
There was a slight problem there, since The Black Bat's publisher (who also published Captain Future) was incorporating his pulp characters (including The Black Bat) into his new comic book line (which also featured original-to-comics characters like The Fighting Yank!
With a few minor changes, Tony Quinn aka The Black Bat, became Tony Colby aka The Mask (with an owl-motif garb) who appeared in the first 20 issues of Exciting Comics (but never made the cover)!

Interest in The Black Bat continues to this day, with both reprints and new tales currently in print!
And we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ have decided to incorporate The Black Bat into our retro-kool collection on t-shirts, mugs, and other collectibles.
Why not combine one (or more) of our goodies with either the reprint or original tales for a pulp aficionado's dream-come-true gift set?

Fantastic Femmes--Tia Texada

NOTE: This page has been updated with new material

HERE!

Design of the Week--Green Slime!

Each week, we post a limited-edition design, to be sold for exactly 7 days, then replaced with another!
This week...
It's the kool poster art for one of the weirdest, wildest sci-fi films of the psychedelic '60s.
The Green Slime was an Italian-Japanese-American co-production about alien spores who attach themselves to a space station, grow to five feet tall, start ingesting the human crew with the intention to do the same to the population of Earth!
It's fast-paced, has pretty good sfx (on a par with the Godzilla and Gamera flicks of the period), and the multi-national cast features some solid actors including Robert Horton, Richard Jaeckel, and Luciana Paluzzi.
The writers of this amazing opus included Bill Finger, co-creator (with Bob Kane) of The Batman, and Ivan Reiner, screenwriter of Wild, Wild Planet and other Italian genre films!
The funkiest part, though, is the now-legendary theme song written by Charles Fox, who previously had done the music for Barbarella!
It's NOT on American (Region 1) DVD, though Japanese imports are available.
There is an OOP pan and scan VHS, but it's a little pricey!

We thought the poster would fit in perfectly as a Halloween-oriented t-shirt, mug or other collectible gift for you or your pop-culture-oriented loved one!
Get it...before the Green Slime gets YOU!

FREE Bonus: Link to a downloadble mp3 of the way-out Green Slime theme song!

Batman and...The Green Hornet!

When last we blogged, we commented on the fact that Batman, not Superman, would be the first DC character to interact with Doc Savage.
But, then, Batman was usually the first to meet up with other publishers' characters..
Almost a decade before Superman vs. Spider-Man, Batman met up with another company's character...The Green Hornet!
(Note: Most people disregard this as a legitimate cross-over since it was live-action and not a comic, but, AFAIC, characters are characters, and if it's not a pirate / illegal production, it's REAL and it counts!)

In the two-parter "A Piece of the Action" / "Batman's Satisfaction", The Hornet & Kato visit Gotham City while tracking counterfeit stamps.
Since The Hornet's M.O. is pretending to be a criminal, Batman naturally assumes the Vermilion Villain is there to cut himself in on...you guessed it, a piece of the action!
But, since The Hornet is, in fact, a hero, he has to find a way to a) put the counterfeiters out of business and b) avoid a confrontation with the Caped Crusader!
To add to the problem, it turns out that the characters' millionare alter-egos, Bruce Wayne and Britt Reid, have known each other since childhood, and have been competitors at almost everything from then to now!

It ain't a classic by any stretch, but it is fun, and the Big Finale Fight is more Bat-fistcuffs than Hornet-martial arts, but it does have it's moments.

It also provides the answer to the trivia question:
Who's the ONLY actor to play a villain opposite Batman, Captain Kirk, and The Green Hornet?*
(Most people say Frank Gorshin or Julie Newmar, who had memorable appearances on both Star Trek and Batman!)

If you haven't seen them, the episodes will pop up as both Batman and The Green Hornet are in syndication, and airing in a number of cities.
In one of the Great Crimes Against Art, neither show is available on DVD, but I suspect with the Seth Rogan Green Hornet film coming next year, at least Van Williams & Bruce Lee will finally be made available!

*Roger C. Carmel, who played Harcort Fenton "Harry" Mudd in three Star Trek (2 Classic, 1 Animated) eps and Colonel Gumm in the Batman / Green Hornet crossover on Batman!

Doc Savage meets...Batman?

Over the years, there have been a number of attempts to bring pulp characters into comic books.
Among the more successful (artistically, if not commercially) were the '70s Denny O'Neil-Mike Kaluta Shadow comic and Doug Moench Doc Savage b/w magazine, and the '90s Dark Horse Shadow and Doc Savage titles (including, surprisingly, The Shadow movie adaptation).
There have also been numerous crossovers, beginning with a Shadow-Avenger team-up, a pair of Shadow-Batman crossovers that explained Batman's anti-gun stance, and even a Doc Savage-Thing team-up!
Now, DC is trying, again, to do Doc Savage. beginning with a Doc-Batman team-up.

It make sense in that both characters are near-perfect examples of human physical and mental development with an inordinate love of gadgetry.
But, let's face it, many fanboys, myself included, want to see Clark, the Man of Bronze, meeting Clark, the Man of Steel (his direct literary descendant)!
Maybe later...

A curious aspect is that they want to integrate Doc into the DC Multiverse, mentioning that both DC-owned Blackhawk and Rima the Jungle Girl, as well as another licensed character (from another company), The Spirit, will appear, which makes it unlikely that the comics will ever be reprinted in book form (due to licensing complications).
Presumably, these characters will appear in a 1930s-1940s setting, possibly prior to America's entry into World War II.

You can check out all DC Comics Doc Savage news here.

Fantastic Femmes--Nichelle Nichols--Nyota Uhura I

Discovered by jazz great Duke Ellington, Nichelle toured with Duke and Lionel Hampton as their lead singer for several years.
Adding acting to her repitore, she appeared in a number of roles in films and on tv shows including The Lieutenant, produced by Gene Roddenberry, who remembered her when casting his next series...Star Trek!

Her role as Uhura ("Nyota" wasn't added until the 1980s) was ground-breaking in that she wasn't playing a servant or someone's wife / girlfriend / sister, but a fully-qualified officer equal to (or better) than anyone around her!
Due to a large volume of racist hate mail, Nichelle considered quitting during the first season, but Dr. Martin Luther King, jr interceded, convincing her to remain.
Several notables including NASA astronaut Mae Jemison and actress Whoopi Goldberg have directly-attributed their choice of careers to her appearance as Uhura on Star Trek.
On the animated sequel Star Trek [1973-74], besides performing as Uhura, Nichelle provided voices of numerous "guest characters" including Dr. Sarah April, the Enterprise's first Medical Officer and wife of Captain Robert April, the ship's first commander!

Nichelle has kept busy, acting both on-screen and voicing animated characters, releasing several albums of her jazz performances as well as turning to film producing!

Trivia: During the last season of Star Trek, Nichelle was offered the role of Peggy Fair on Mannix, but turned it down.
In the 1970s and '80s, she was a spokesperson for NASA and aided in recruiting female and minority astronaut candidates.
Nichelle is one of the people Robert Heinlein dedicated the novel Friday to.
She's penned two books: a sci-fi novel; Saturn's Child (co-written with Mary Wander Bonanno), and an autobiography; Beyond Uhura.

Genre appearances include...
Lady Magdaline's (Lady Magdaline aka Maggie)
Heroes (Nana Dawson)
Futurama
"Where No Fan Has Gone Before" (as her head in a jar)
"Anthology of Interest I" (as herself)
Simpsons "Simple Simpson" (as herself)
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command "Yukari Imprint" (Chief)
G vs E aka Good vs Evil (Henry's Mother)
Spider-Man [1997] (Miriam the Vampire Queen)
Adventures of Captain Zoom in Outer Space (Sagan, High Priestess of Pangea)
Inside Space (Host)
[A Science FACT series on the Sci-Fi Channel, so it qualifies IMHO]
Batman: the Animated Series (Thoth Khepera)
ABC Weekend Specials "Commander Toad in Space" (SS Stella)
Gargoyles (Diane Maza)
Supenaturals (Sgt. Leona Hawkins)
Star Trek [1966-69] / Star Trek [1973-74] /
Star Trek: the Motion Picture /
Star Trek II: the Wrath of Khan /
Star Trek III: the Search for Spock /
Star Trek IV: the Voyage Home /
Star Trek V: the Final Frontier /
Star Trek VI: the Undiscovered Country
Star Trek: 25th Anniversary [VG]
Star Trek: Judgement Rites [VG]
(Lieutenant [later Commander] Nyota Uhura)
Tarzan [1966-68] (Ruana)

Check out...
Uhura.com (Nichelle's Official Site)
Nichelle Nichols (FanSite)

Other actresses to play Nyota Uhura include...
Zoe Saldana in Star Trek [2009]

Fantastic Femmes--Katie Holmes

Though she became famous as ingenue Joey Potter on the night-time soap Dawson's Creek, Katie's best-known as the wife of fellow actor Tom Cruise.
It's a shame, because her credits include well-reviewed performances in film (starting with The Ice Storm), tv, and even the Broadway stage!
Trivia:
Rumored to have been offered the lead in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv series.
Turned down reappearing as Rachel Dawes in The Dark Knight because it would've kept her away from her daughter, Suri, for too long.

Genre appearances include...
Batman Begins / Batman Begins: the Video Game (Rachel Dawes)
Abandon (Katie Burke)
The Gift (Jessica King)
Muppets from Space (cameo as Joey Potter from Dawson's Creek)
Disturbing Behavior (Rachel Wagner)

Check out...
KatieHolmes.com (FanSite)
Katie-Holmes.org (FanSite)
KatieHolmes.net (FanSite)

Other actresses to play Rachael Dawes include...
Maggie Gyllenhaal in The Dark Knight & I Believe in Harvey Dent
Emma Lockhart as young Rachel in Batman Begins

Batman Meets the Shadow...sort of!

There have been numerous examples of actors who previously played heroes appearing on superhero or sci-fi shows as other unrelated characters.

(This does not count actors meeting their later counterparts like Buster Crabbe on Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Christopher Reeve and Helen Slater on Smallville, or Adam West on Batman the Animated Series!)

The Lone Ranger meets Commando Cody!
Clayton Moore (The Lone Ranger on The Lone Ranger tv series) played the lead villainous henchman in Radar Men from the Moon!

Batman meets Superman
Robert Lowry (Batman in the Batman & Robin serial) appearing as a government agent on Adventures of Superman!

The Shadow meets The Green Hornet
Victor Jory (The Shadow in The Shadow serial) playing a villain on The Green Hornet [1966]!

Captain Midnight meets Captain Kirk
Richard Webb (Captain Midnight on the Captain Midnight tv series) as a psycho Starfleet officer on Star Trek!

Doc Savage / Tarzan meets Superboy
Ron Ely (Doc Savage in Doc Savage: the Man of Bronze & Tarzan on Tarzan [1966-69]) portraying the retired Golden Age Superman on Adventures of Superboy!

James Bond meets Superboy
George Lazenby (James Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service) as Jor-El in Adventures of Superboy.

But, tonite, for the first time, we witnessed the meeting of two actors who played heroes, and neither was a heroic character!

Adam West (Batman on Batman [1966]) met Alec Baldwin (The Shadow in The Shadow [1995]) on 30 Rock!

Well, I thought it was cool...

Fantastic Femmes--Brandy Norwood

Note: this page has been updated with NEW info  
HERE!

Fantastic Femmes--Vivica A Fox

Recently announced as the star of a new series entitled The Cougar, Vivica isn't playing a superheroine, but herself as a celebrity seeking true love, presumably with a younger male!

Genre appearances include...
Father of Lies (Barbara Robinson)
Loonatics Unleashed "The Cloak of Black Velvet" (Black Velvet)
Alias (Toni Cummings)
Ella Enchanted (Lucinda)
Kim Possible: A Sitch in Time (Future Monique)
Kill Bill: Vol 1 (Vernita Green aka CopperHead aka Jeanie Bell)
Idle Hands (Debi LeCure)
Solomon (Queen of Sheba)
Set It Off (Francesca "Frankie" Sutton)
Batman & Robin (Ms B Haven)
A Saintly Switch (Sara)
Independence Day (Jasmine Dubrow)

Check out...
A WebSite (not sure if it's a fan or "official" site)
A FanSite

Fantastic Femmes--Cree Summer

Note: this page has been updated with NEW info  
HERE!

Fantastic Femmes--Alicia Silverstone

Note: this page has been updated with NEW info 
HERE!

Fantastic Femmes--Ming-Na

Note: this page has been updated with NEW info  
HERE!

Fantastic Femmes--Linda Harrison

Note: this page has been updated with NEW info HERE!

We bet that, after Linda Park, you thought we'd do Battlestar Galactica's Grace Park, right?
Nope, we're presenting our third (and last) "Linda"! (We will get to Grace a little later on...)
Like Linda Park, most of this Linda's credits are genre credits!
And, Like Lynda Carter, she ALSO played Wonder Woman! In fact, she was FIRST, although the general public never got to see her!

In 1966, at the height of the "camp" craze spawned by Batman, the show's producer William Dozier tried three more comic characters as tv series.
One, The Green Hornet, ran for a 26-episode season.
The second, Dick Tracy, never made it past the pilot.
The third, Wonder Woman, reached the "test reel" stage, with about 10 minutes of footage being shot. Linda was Wonder Woman, opposite a plain-Jane Diana Prince played by Ellie May Walker. After seeing the footage, 20th Century Fox execs vetoed even going for a 30-minute pilot and the project died.
The footage has surfaced on a number of bootleg vhs and dvds and the Internet.

A year later, 20th began pre-production on the first Planet of the Apes film.
Concerned that the ape makeup, so critical to the success of the film, might not look right on film, a screen test was done with Edward G. Robinson as Dr. Zaius, James Brolin as Cornelius, and Linda as Zira playing opposite Charlton Heston.
The concerns proved valid. The makeup was redesigned before main unit shooting began. (You can see the test footage on the Planet of the Apes Special Edition and Behind the Planet of the Apes DVDs)
Linda was then cast as "Nova", the non-speaking human female lead in both Planet of the Apes, and it's immediate sequel, Beneath the Planet of the Apes. (And yes, I know she has one line in BtPotA!)

She married 20th Century studio boss Daryl V. Zanuck between filming the two Apes movies.
After BtPotA, Linda changed her name to "Augusta Summerland" and did minor tv and film roles
She divorced Zanuck and retired from acting in 1978.
Linda returned to acting in 1985, in Cocoon, produced, ironically, by her ex-hubby, Zanuck!

Genre appearances include...
Planet of the Apes [2001] (Woman in cart)
Cocoon / Cocoon: the Return (Susan aka Mom)
Planet of the Apes / Beneath the Planet of the Apes (Nova)
Planet of the Apes Makeup Test (Zira, played by Kim Hunter in three films)
Way, Way Out (Peggy)
The Fat Spy (Treasure Hunter)
Wonder Woman "Who's Afraid of Diana Prince?" [test footage] (Wonder Woman)
Batman "The Joker Goes to School" / "He Meets His Match, the Grisly Ghoul" (CheerLeader)

Check out...
Cult Sirens: Linda Harrison
The Forbidden Zone (PotA FanSite)

Nova returned in the animated Return to the Planet of the Apes episode "Flames of Doom", voiced by Claudette Nevins. Note: most purists consider both the animated and live-action PotA tv series to be "alternate universe" and / or non-canonical.
"Nova", played by Lisa Marie in the 2001 PotA movie remake, was a chimpanzee. Not the same character.

Other Wonder Women since Linda include...
Wonder Woman (1973) Cathy Lee Crosby
New, Original Wonder Woman / New Adventures of Wonder Woman (1975-1978) Lynda Carter
Super Friends / The All-New Super Friends Hour / Challenge of the Super Friends (1973-83) Shanon Farnon
SuperFriends: the Legendary Super Powers Show (1984) Constance Crawford
The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians (1985) / Superman (1985) "Sorceress of Time" "Birthday Party" BJ Ward
Justice League / Justice League Unlimited (2002-06) Susan Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning (WW as child in "Kid's Stuff")
Justice League: New Frontier (2008) Lucy Lawless
Wonder Woman (2009) Keri Russell
Video Game performers: Tara Platt, Courtenay Taylor