Before Mister Machine...There Was Captain Marvel (II)!

A decade before Machine Man/Mister Machine appeared on the scene...

...to fight the good fight (even when he went all to pieces)...

...another artificial man with a propensity for disassembling himself while fighting evil had an all-too brief run in the world of comics...

...and this guy had a couple of less-than-obvious connections to Marvel Comics!

Want to learn more?

Click HERE to read his origin and find out some kool background info about him!

And click HERE to see him in combat against someone who looks a lot like a certain Caped Crusader!

Last Week on RetroBlogs...

The blue-and-green costumed 1960s version of The Shadow...

...ends his series by running a gauntlet of villains! in Hero Histories!

True Love Comics Tales presents the perfect "beach read"...

...a complete gothic romance in graphic novel form!

And Phantom Lady's most notorious tale gets a kinder, gentler redo...

...in the final Phantom Lady's Twice-Told Tales installment at Heroines!

What's Coming Up?

Check in next week to find out!

Join the Summer Fun on RetroBlogs!

This past week you may have missed these RetroBlogs Mini-Marathon entries...

This never=reprinted, John Buscema-illustrated, adaptation at Secret Sanctum of Captain Video!

This never-reprinted origin story at War: Past, Present & Future and Hero Histories!

Plus the explanation of how this female spy vs Nazis story...

...became this superheroine vs Commies tale at Heroines!

What's Next?

Watch this blog to find out!

Summer Fun on RetroBlogs!

Every summer we run mini-marathons on the various RetroBlogs...

At Secret Sanctum of Captain Video, we'll present no less than three different, never-reprinted comic versions of this legendary Ray Harryhausen film, one of them featuring art by the late, great, John Buscema!

(but we're not going to tell you which one!)

In a cross-over between War: Past, Present, and Future and Hero Histories, there will be never-reprinted tales of two World War I aviator-heroes from the 1960s!

Hero Histories will also feature the final, never-reprinted tale of the campy Silver Age version of The Shadow...

...and the first (also never-reprinted) story of the Silver Age Plastic Man by Gil Kane!

War: Past, Present and Future will also present another never-reprinted story published in the 1960s, Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos in...ready for it?...KOREA!

What's summer without a good "beach read"?

And there's nothing better than a never-reprinted Gothic Romance at True Love Comics Tales!

Justice doesn't take a holiday during the summer, as the 1950s hard-boiled saga of private eye Johnny Dynamite receives a re-telling at Crime & Punishment!

Don't think we've forgotten

Western Comics Adventures

Heroines!

Seduction of the Innocent!!

We just haven't finalized the plans for them...yet!

Before Ant-Man...There Was FLY-MAN!

Actualy, there were two of them!

A Golden Age superhero...

who only appeared twice!

And this longer-running Silver Age hero...

...who was co-created by Jack Kirby, Ant-Man's co-creator!

Read about them at our "brother" RetroBlog; Hero Histories!

Visit Our Other RetroBlogs: Hero Histories

From the Golden Age of Comics...

...to the Bronze Age...

...with occasional stops in the Silver Age...

...we cover the comic book characters you may have never seen before, and, if it wasn't for us, would never see again!

Check it out!

Polar Vortex II: the Wrath of Cold!

With winter finally hitting the US full-force...

... we invite you to re-visit the kool Polar Vortex posts on this blog

STRANGE TALES "When a Planet Dies"
UNUSUAL TALES "Night of Red Snow"
TALES TO ASTONISH "I Found the Abominable Snowman"
Part 1 / Conclusion
STRANGE WORLDS "I Captured the Abominable Snowman"
WILD! "Frozen North"
PLANET COMICS "Life on Other Worlds: Pluto"
COSMO CORRIGAN "Exiled to Pluto"
COSMO CORRIGAN "Martians, Mercurians and Money"
COSMO CORRIGAN "and the Space ShowGirls"
NORGE BENSON "Plummeting to Puto"
WEIRD THRILLERS "Graveyard in the Antarctic"
Plus, every RetroBlog featured a post with a winter/Arctic/extreme cold theme!

Here's the list (with links)...

Crime & Punishment

NORTHWEST MOUNTIES

"Mountie Guns Break the Snow Siren's Secret!"

Hero Histories

DOC SAVAGE

"Polar Treasure"

Heroines

NELVANA OF THE NORTHERN LIGHTS

"Attack from Etheria"

Secret Sanctum of Captain Video

WINKY DINK

"at the Arctic"

Seduction of the Innocent

Adventures into Darkness

"Frozen Death"

True Love Comics Tales

Lovelorn

"World's Most Dangerous Game"

War: Past, Present & Future

CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED

"Battle of the Bulge"

Western Comics Adventures

Original Ghost Rider

"Coffin of Snow"

Read them in front of a roaring fire with a mug of hot chocolate!

Al Plastino (1921 – 2013)

Though most fans know his 1940s-60s work on DC's Superman and Batman...

...Al Plastino had quite a varied output, ranging from Golden Age comics to almost becoming Charles Schultz's replacement on Peanuts!

Mark Evanier has a nice pro/fan tribute to Plastino HERE.

And, you can read about a recent controversy involving Al's long-missing art for a Silver Age Superman story featuring the late President Kennedy HERE.

As for me, I'd like to link you to a tale from Plastino's early days...and a character he co-created, which unfortunately went nowhere.

The wild thing about The Rainbow, is that he was one of the first comic characters inspired to become a super-hero by reading a comic book!

Have a look HERE.

The Lone Ranger: Complete Series Box Set at an Incredibly-LOW Price, plus Classic Lone Ranger Movie Blogathon Posts!

See this kool Brand-New box set with every 1950s episode (even the John Hart ones)?

If you look on the net, the cheapest you'll see it for is $129.99!
Want to get it, still in shrink-wrap, for...hold your breath...

...$79.99?

Yes!

$79.99!

Go to Costco!

It's supposed to be $99.99 (which is still a great deal).
But, apparently due to the collapse of the new movie, they're taking an additional $20 off to move it off the shelves!
(I found this out yesterday, when I went shopping at Costco...)
BTW, it's not available through Costco's website, only at the warehouses!
Who would've thought a movie about one of our favorite heroes doing badly at the box office would work to our benefit?

Art by Leroy Neiman

Our contributions to the Dynamic Duos in Classic Film Blogathon are now up, including...

A look at the Republic Film serials at Hero Histories.

The two feature films starring the TV Ranger and Tonto at Secret Sanctum of Captain Video.
and
The previous cinema flop, 1981's Legend of the Lone Ranger at Western Comics Adventures.

The Lone Ranger

Our contributions to the Dynamic Duos in Classic Film Blogathon are now up, including...

A look at the Republic Film serials at Hero Histories.

and

The two feature films starring the TV Ranger and Tonto at Secret Sanctum of Captain Video.