When I first imagined a Mighty Samson movie based on the Gold Key
comic book from the Silver Age I stunt casted Clint Walker or Denny
Miller as the mutant superman of a post apopaletic future. Largely
because of their physical stature. But since this was
a fantasy anyway I reimagined Kirk Douglas in the role. After all the
paintings on the covers of the comic books have Samson resembling
Douglas as he appears in the movie THE VIKINGS ( 1958 ). Peter Cushing
would be perfect as the scientist Mindor. And rounding
out the cast as Sharmaine , Mindor's daughter and Samson's love
interest , would be 60s fan boy favorite Deanna Lund. Of course the real
star of the flick would have been Ray Harryhausen's special effect
mutant monsters.
Sam Katzman was the type of producer you could imagine making
movies based on the stories found in " men's sweat magazines ".The man
who cast Johnny Weissmuller as Jungle Jim after the former Olympic champ
became too old to be a believable Tarzan would
see the potentialof casting Steve Holland as a jungle adventurer.
Especially after realizing he could use the covers of the sweat mags as
posters. Just write in a scene to match the action of the cover
illustration.You could do the same with the WW Two covers
Holland posed for as a two - fisted American fighting man.
Steve Holland was also the model for Jason Striker , the martial
arts hero for a series of books written by Piers Antony and Roberto
Fuentes. The series came out in the 1970s when everyone was " kung fu
fighting ". And at the time I thought Jason Striker
, the black belt judoka and karateka would have made a good subject for
a series of movies. But not starring Holland. Though the covers
featuring Holland would make great posters. The person playing Striker
would have been American karate and kick - boxing
champ Joe Lewis.
Thanks
largely through Jack Larson's performance as Jimmy Olsen on The
Adventures of Superman television series the powers to be at DC Comics
decided the character was popular enough to receive his own comic book
title. So Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen
No. 1 would premiere in 1954 cover dated September/October. The title
was originally a bimonthly. But would become a monthly feature. And
would run for 163 issues until March 1974.
One of the best remembered episodes from the Superman television
series was from the second series and titled Semi-Private Eye. A spoof
of hard boiled detective fiction it featured the immortal Elisha Cook
Jr. as private detective Homer Garrity. After
Garrity and Lois Lane (Noel Neill) are kidnapped by gangsters Jimmy
dons a fedora and trench coat to do a hilarious Bogart ala' Chandler
impersonation as he bumbles his way through the episode. The climax has
Garrity and Olsen using judo to overcome the
two kidnappers while Superman carries Miss Lane to safety.
During the Silver Age of Comics Jimmy Olsen was depicted as being a
judo
expert. He used the martial arts from time to time in both his own
comic book and World's Finest. One of my favorite examples of Judo
Jimmy in action was in a story titled The Dragon
Delinquent in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen No. 91 cover dated March 1966.
The story written by Leo Dorfman and drawn by Pete Costanza freely "borrows" from the cult film High School Confidential (1958). The
story also, aside from Superman, features DC's
resident judo experts Batman & Robin.
Of course by the Bronze Age Jimmy had added karate and other
martial arts styles to his bag of tricks. The thing I've wondered about
for years was what rank Jimmy held in judo. Was it ever mentioned. The
reason that I wonder about it is that in the Silver
Age Bat-Girl was introduced as a "brown belt" in judo. And Batman
himself says in issue of the Justice League as being able to qualify as a
"black belt". Not that he was a black belt. Only that he could
qualify as one. At the start of the Bronze Age
Robin , the Boy Wonder was described as being a "brown belt in karate ". Wouldn't it have been amusing if Superman's pal was ranked higher
than any of them.
When I first started collecting (saving) comics back in the early
1960s I was lucky enough to live next door for about three years to a
kid who read comics. But never saved them. This gave me extra comics
that I could trade. And other comics that I never
had to buy. One of these comics was FLY MAN No.31 (May 1965). The Fly
Man was originally a character called The Fly who was created by Joe
Simon and Jack Kirby. This comic book introduced me to several
characters that were new to me. In the course of the
story the Fly Man teamed up with the Shield, who I immediately pegged
as a Captain America imitation. Little did I know at this time in my
life the reality. And there was the Comet, a sci-fi superhero in an
ugly green and orange costume. And then there
was the Black Hood, a "man of mystery" on a flying robot horse
named "Nightmare". To this day I can't put my finger why, but I
thought the Black Hood was neat. Maybe it's because the other heroes in
this comic were super-powered. And I always liked
heroes who didn't have "powers and abilities far beyond those of
mortal man".
I started trading for back issues of The Fly that featured the
Black Hood. I would later find out that the Black Hood character came
from the Golden Age of Comics. He debuted in Top Notch Comics No. 9 (October 1940). He was the creation of Harry Shorten
and Al Camy who was the original artist on the feature. Shorten was a
pretty interesting character himself. Writer, editor and publisher
Shorten played halfback for the NYU football team. He earned a degree in
geology there before going on to a brief career
in pro football. Aside from creating the Black Hood he co-created
that Shield character with Irv Novick. And I would find out that
character actually pre-dated Captain America. He also created the long-running single panel comic There Oughta Be A Law
with illustrator Al Fagaly. Later Shorten would become the publisher of
Midwood Books. A publishing house that produced adult, but not
pornographic books.
The Black Hood was Police Officer Kip Burland who was framed for a
crime he didn't commit by a criminal mastermind known as the Skull.
Burland would be trained by a mysterious hermit known as the Hermit (you have to love the Golden Age) and fights crime
as the Black Hood as he attempts to clear his name. I've never read the
original origin story. But I wonder if part of his training regimen
involved judo and jiu jitsu. I'm sure he must have used the seo nage
technique at least once in the course of his Golden
Age adventures.
During the Silver Age of Comics the Black Hood would be Archie
Comics No.2 martial arts hero after Bobby Bell of the Young Shields of
America Club. But where Bell gave judo and jiu jitsu lessons in the
pages of The Fly. The Black Hood taught karate basics
in the pages of The Fly and The Jaguar.
His martial arts skills would
serve him well when in Mighty Comics No.42 (January 1966) he faces off
against a villain known as the Karate Master in a story written by
Jerry Siegel, the co-creator of Superman,
and drawn by Paul Reinman. And no Karate Master doesn't have the same
ring as Judo Master.
CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO GET YOUR COPY OF DR. JUDO!
There is a myth about The Green Hornet television series that ran
on ABC from September 9,1966 to March 17,1967. That in every episode the
titled hero Britt Reid, alias the Green Hornet (portrayed by Van Williams)
would get his rear end handed to him by the bad guys only to be rescued
by his sidekick Kato (played by Bruce Lee). The bio-flick DRAGON:THE
BRUCE LEE STORY ( 1993 ) did a great deal to perpetuate this myth and
create some new ones. Being one of those Hollywood movies "based on a
true life story". Give or take a lie or two.
Actually the Green Hornet was a capable combatant. Sure he usually
took out
the bad guys with his gas gun or hornet's sting. But he could
hold his own against one or two thugs using a mixture of judo and boxing
techniques. And often did. But Lee's Kato was using that new fangled karate (
actually kung fu ) stuff. And the way he was doing it was a lot more
impressive than the usual brand of 60s " television karate ". Though if
you're of a certain age you will remember lively debates on the
playground of who would win in a fight between James West and Kato.
After The Green Hornet series premiered I began listening to my
dad's recordings of The Green Hornet radio series which told the story
of Britt Reid who masqueraded as the criminal mastermind the Green
Hornet to fight crime from the inside. Pretty cool stuff. And it also
introduced me to the Flight of the Bumblebee written by Nikolai
Rimsky-Korsakov that was used as the Green Hornet's theme music.
Later I
would discover the serials THE GREEN HORNET (1940) and THE GREEN
HORNET STRIKES AGAIN (1941) from Universal. Click here for the first serial >>>HERE<<< and here for the second serial >>>HERE<<<
If I was ever to hit the lottery one of the things I would try to
do is put together a retro Green Hornet movie set in the 1940s. There
would be a portrait of a masked man in a white hat on a great white
stallion in the office of Dan Reid (Britt Reid's dad) at the Daily
Sentinel newspaper. And Kato would be using karate against the bad guys.
Though everyone except for Kato and the Hornet would be referring to it
as judo or jiu jitsu and his shuto blows as "judo chops".
Grab some cool stuff and support this blog! We have comics, t-shirts, mugs, wall art, and much much more:
I had just started reading Batman and Detective comics a
couple of years before the Batman television series premiered. I was
introduced to Batman through a crossover story in one of the Superman
titles and thought the character was pretty cool. So I started picking
up titles that featured this other " caped crusader ". When I did I
discovered a character that over the years would become my favorite
comic book/comic strip hero. Robin, the Boy Wonder...alias Dick
Grayson. Actually I liked him as Robin, Nightwing, or just Dick Grayson.
As a kid when playing Batman with friends I got to be Batman because I
was the tallest. But I secretly wanted to be Robin.
Honor student, top athlete and wholesome boy next door. Dick Grayson
was the ultimate big brother even if there was no Tim Drake or Jason
Todd during the Silver Age to look up to him. Seriously I imagined Tony
Dow portraying him.
That is until the Batman series premiered.
There is a certain gold standard when it comes to casting comic book
/comic strip heroes and heroines. It starts with Buster Crabbe as Flash
Gordon and continues with Irish McCalla (Sheena of the Jungle) , Lynda
Carter (Wonder Woman) and Burt Ward as Robin , the Boy Wonder. Actor
Burt Ward as Robin looked like artist Carmine Infantino's Boy Wonder
come to life. Burt Ward (born Bert Gervis Jr.) was a sort of " boy
wonder " in real life. At age two he was billed as the world's youngest
professional figure skater.
The publicity department for the Batman show
had put out some press releases describing him as as a brown belt in
karate. As part of his audition he demonstrated some ukemi and
tameshiwari techniques so these claims might have had some validity.
The funny thing is that in a 3-part story that ran in Batman No.234
(Aug.1971) , Batman No.235 (Sept.1971) and Batman No.236 (Nov.1971)
written by Gary Friedrich and illustrated by Irv Novick and Dick
Giordano Robin gives a karate demo at a commune where writer Friedrich
describes Robin as being a karate brown belt. Hold the phone! Robin was
only a brown belt in karate? This was as bad as Barbara " Bat-Girl "
Gordon in her first appearance in Detective Comics No.359 (Jan.1967)
written by Julius Schwartz and drawn by Carmine Infantino and Murphy
Anderson being described as a brown belt in judo.
I can't understand why
any writer would depict someone fighting a guerrilla war against crime in
the streets as being anything less than a 5th dan black belt. Perhaps
this was writer Friedrich's way of of paying tribute to Burt Ward's
martial arts skills. I wonder if there was some story during the Silver
Age where Robin was described as a black belt?
Love the good old days of comics? Then grab JUDO COMICS by Goode & Capley
Here's the link: LINK
