Saturday, June 6, 2009

Pushing Daisies--Watch it Tonite!

Tonite, the unfortunately-cancelled tv series Pushing Daisies is airing it's next-to-last episode "Power & Water".
The main guest-star is Fantastic Femme Gina Torres as Lila Robinson, the mother of private eye Emerson Cod's estranged daughter.
(I'll use any excuse to run a couple more pix of Gina!)

Thursday, June 4, 2009

The Coming of...Captain Future (both of them)!

Created and written by legendary sci-fi writer Edmond Hamilton, Captain Future I was a futuristic Doc Savage-type pulp hero with an entourage of aides including robot Grag, shape-changing android Otho, and Simon Wright the Living Brain.
An "ultimate-human" type hero with Olympic-level physical abiilties and genius-level mind, the Moon-based Cap, aka Curt Newton, battled evil all over the universe, first in his own title, and later in the sci-fi anthology pulp Startling Stories.
Strangely, when his publisher put him into comics, Cap was rechristened "Major Mars", even though he was still Curt Newton, and the other characters remained the same!
That publisher then created an entirely NEW comic book hero and assigned HIM the "Captain Future" name!
Captain Future II was present-day (1940s) scientist Andrew Bryant who exposed himself to a combo of gamma and infrared radiation which granted him super-strength, flight, and energy-emitting powers! (instead of frying him like bacon, which is what would happen if it were you or me!)
In a unique twist, if he over-extended his powers, Cap would have to return to his lab and "recharge" himself!

This version is the one revived by Alex Ross in Project SuperPowers.
Interesting graphic note: in Alex Ross' redesign, Captain Future II now wears a reversed Project SuperPowers logo "S" on his chest instead of the original lightning bolt which looks exactly like the SHAZAM! Captain Marvel's!

Check both of them (including Cap I's FIRST pulp and comic appearances, AND Cap II's FIRST appearance) out on shirts, messenger bags, mousepads, mugs & other kool kollectibles by clicking here!

Coming in August...The Classic Captain Future 12-Month Calendar for 2010!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Fantastic Femmes--Karen Mok

Born Karen Joy Morris (sister of writer / producer Trevor Morris) the award-winning actress / singer / songwriter is better known as Karen Mok in English-speaking countries, and Mok Man-Wai in the rest of Asia (except Hong Kong).
Equally-adept at comedy, drama, and action, Karen often does her own stunts.
Trivia:
Karen has done over a dozen solo albums, most of which have gone Gold and / or won awards.
She's also performed on five soundtracks (only one of which was a film she also appeared in)!
Karen is a devoted activist for both animal and human (civil) rights!
She speaks four languages; Chinese (both Cantonese & Mandarin), Italian, French,and English)
Genre appearances include...
Coffin (No name listed)
Black Mask (Tracy Lee)
DragonBlade: the Legend of Lang (Ying Ying)
Twins Effect aka Vampire Effect (Ivy)
So Close (Detective Kong Yat Hung)
Shaolin Soccer (Team Moustache Player 2)
Haunted Office (Pat)
Silent Moebius (performer: "Sailing")
There are several other Hong Kong films which may be genre (judging from the titles), but I don't have enough info to list them.
If I get more data, I'll revise this entry.

Check out...
Karen's Official WebSite
WebSite for Karen Mok: the Fragrance