Before Judo Master or Karate Kid.... by Dave Goode

The other day someone was asking me if I had a chance to write a comic book feature starring a character other than one of my own what would it be? I suppose he thought I was going to say Judo Master or Magnus,Robot Fighter. Or maybe Nightwing or Thunderbolt. Or perhaps he thought I was going to say Mighty Samson or Iron Fist. Instead I told him "Bobby Bell of the Young Shields of America". He responded with a confused look on his face and asked "who?"

To those of you not in the know Bobby Bell was the star of a series of PSA strips from the early days of the Silver Age of Comic Books.Created by the legendary team of Simon & Kirby he was the Captain of The Shield's Young Americans Club a.k.a The Young Shields of America. In his strips (featured in early issues of Archie Comics' The Fly) Bell taught readers basic judo and jiu jitsu self-defense techniques.

 

 Originally drawn to appear anywhere from 8 to 12 years old  young Bobby gave his martial arts lessons dressed in a Shield play-suit. Things got really bizarre in later strips when Bobby a.k.a Billy taught judo in the context of short stories where he fought bullies or a street villain known as the Gargoyle. Bobby by this time was depicted as being at least sixteen and just looked ridiculous walking the streets or going on a picnic in Central Park with his girl friend dressed in an imitation Shield costume.Was he supposed to be a crime-fighter? Or was he just a nut? I thought a T-shirt with a shield emblem on it would have been enough.

I would have liked to have seen the Bobby Bell feature as an 8-page back-up. In it he would have been an all-around athlete and top student. Sort of a modern day Frank Merriwell. But in middle school.Not high school or college. He would still have been a judoka. And he would still use judo to sometimes combat bullies. But he wouldn't be teaching techniques to readers who might injure themselves practicing them without proper supervision. Instead the emphasis would have been on judo's moral teachings. And oh yes he wouldn't be wearing the Shield underoos on the street. Below is the 1st page of what a Bobby Bell strip written by me would look like ably illustrated by my buddy Vance Capley of course.

 Look for Judo Comics by

Dave Goode and Vance Capley! 

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JUDO COMICS!!

THERE SHOULD HAVE BEEN MORE SEQUEL by Dave Goode

Without a doubt the best masked wrestler movies not to come out of Mexico were the Superargo series from Italy. The two movies starred Giovanni Cianfriglia. Someone who should be familiar to all fans of European costume dramas. He worked as a body double for Steve Reeves and did stunt-work in many Italian action movies. Cianfriglia portrayed the Earth giant Antaeus in HERCULES THE AVENGER and has a memorable fight scene with Mr.Universe winner Reg Park who plays the demi-god Hercules. He also has a great fight in GOLIATH AGAINST THE VAMPIRES against former Tarzan movie star turned sinew & sandal hero Gordon Scott. Scott portrays Maciste and Cianfriglia in the course of the battle portrays an "evil twin". For years it was rumored that it was Steve Reeves that was seen in long shots as the evil Maciste/Goliath as the two men grappled. But it was in fact Cianfriglia.

In SUPERARGO VS. DIABOLICUS(1966) Cianfriglia billed as Ken Wood plays the masked wrestling champion Superargo. In what is more or less an origin tale masked wrestling champion Superargo defends his title against his friend,a wrestled called el Tigre. During the course of the match el Tigre is accidently killed. Superargo is understandably despondent and looks for purpose in life.He finds it when his former commanding officer from the army,now the head of the secret service,recruits him for a special mission. And he uses his special abilities plus a bullet-proof costume and some Bondian gadgets to take on the modern alchemist Diabolicus and his sexy red-headed accomplice who refers to her employer as the "future ruler of the universe". This flick is a lot of fun with a lot of action. And Loredana Nusciak as Diabolicus accomplice(girl friend?) and Monica Randall as Superargo's girl friend Lidia are both nice to look at.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sequel SUPERARGO a.k.a SUPERARGO AND THE FACELESS GIANTS(1968) has Cianfriglia returning as the masked wrestler turned secret agent. Superargo's girl friend from the first flick is nowhere to be found. Instead the masked man is keeping company with Kamir a Hindu guru who has taught him to unleash his psychic abilities. Superargo is called in by the authorities to solve a case involving a group of missing athletes and ends up battling Professor Wond,played by former American western star Guy Madison,and his army of living robots.

 

 

 

I always thought there should have been a third movie so that fans of the masked wrestler genre would be talking about a Superargo trilogy today. Wondering what that might look like my buddy Vance Capley and I put together this faux page for a Superargo comic book.

CLICK THE PICTURE AND SEE DAVE GOODE AND

VANCE CAPLEY DISCUSS THIS FILM:

CLICK THIS LOGO TO SEE VANCE CAPLEY'S WORK

The Best Superman Movie (IMHO) by Dave Goode

For my money, the best Superman feature film to date, remains SUPERMAN AND THE MOLE MEN from way back in 1951. Produced by Barney A. Sarecky, written by Richard Fielding and directed by Lee Sholem, this little B-Movie was distributed by Lippert Pictures Incorporated. And it introduced the world to George Reeves in the role of Superman. With no Jimmy Olsen. And Perry White only briefly mentioned in the dialogue this black and white film seemed almost like an extended live-action version of the animated shorts the Fleischer Brothers produced for Paramount back in the 1940s.

The movie jumps right into the action.Clark Kent and Lois Lane arrive in the town of Silsby to cover the story of the world's deepest oil well. The drill however has penetrated into the underground home of a race of "mole men" who come to the surface to investigate what's going on. The town's people on first contact with the strange visitors from the center of the Earth form a mob intent on killing the creatures. Luckily Superman is around to prevent a tragedy.

More or less a sci-fi flick the movie's limited budget (estimated at 275,000 dollars) is obvious. George Reeves does some pretty effective Peter Pan take-offs.But his actual flying scenes are limited to two. One is a pretty cool overhead tracking shot where the viewer never actually sees Superman in flight.But at the same time you don't feel cheated.The other is a brief animated flight scene. It's pretty bad. But we still "believed a man could fly".  And of course there is the infamous vacuum cleaner/ray-gun that the Mole Men use. Something Irwin Allen might have tried on LOST IN SPACE. But it works.

What really works is the tightly written script.And George Reeves and Phyllis Coates as Superman and Lois Lane.Reeves is the perfect Superman. Even without a wind curl on his forehead. And his Clark Kent is even better. Though some purists might argue he's a far cry from the Clark Kent that Siegal & Schuster created. I've always preferred Reeves' mild-mannered reporter to the wimpy Kent played by other actors. And Coates was the perfect Lois Lane. Independent and gutsy.

You probably have seen this movie in it's edited form that was shown in two parts on THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN television series where it was titled THE UNKNOWN PEOPLE. But if you've never seen the 58 minute movie version I suggest you search it out.Those missing 15 minutes do make a difference.

Missed Opportunity by Dave Goode

You’re probably familiar with the episode in question. An old friend of Clark Kent,one Gary Allen is visiting Metropolis and is making plans to meet up with the mild-mannered reporter. What no one is aware of is due to exposure to kryptonite radiation Allen has become invulnerable to everything except kryptonite which has the same effect on him as it does on the Man of Steel. There is no real explanation for this. We just except it. Allen’s vulnerability to the “deadly rock” of the title leads to a case of mistaken identity and he is kidnapped by criminals who plan to use the kryptonite to kill him. Lois and Jimmy blunder into the picture and are also threatened with death. Of course the real Superman arrives on the scene to save the day.

This is a pretty mundane episode of the series and only the use of kryptonite and reference to the 2^nd season episode Panic In The Sky make it stand out. But it could have been so much more. You see the actor who portrayed Gary Allen in this episode was none other than B-Movie leading man Robert Lowery. The same Robert Lowery who a few years earlier had portrayed Batman in a movie serial. What an opportunity wasted. I’m not suggesting that Lowery should have worn the cape & cowl in this episode.Though how cool would that have been? I’m only suggesting that the writers could have made the Gary Allen character Bruce Wayne from Gotham City and made some reference to his ward Dick Grayson being unable to make the trip to Metropolis. Shazam...instant cult classic.

By the way this episode wasn’t the 1^st project Reeves and Lowery worked on together. During the 2^nd World War while in the service the pair made a sexual hygiene training film.

The World's Most Famous Movie Monster? by Dave Goode

 

My introduction to the classic Universal monsters (Dracula,
Frankenstein's monster and the Wolf Man)was in Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein at a Halloween party when I was about five or six.It's one of my favorite all-time movies.It's both funny and terrifying.In some places it's both at the same time.Just check out the scene in the sub-basement in the "house of Dracula".Or the film's exciting climax.

 

 

 My first Frankenstein movie was I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN ( a follow-up to I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF). This variation of the familiar story has a descendant of the original Dr.Frankenstein, portrayed by the great Whit Bissell, following in his ancestor's footsteps. The twist has him assembling a creature from recently deceased high school athletes.

 The creature is portrayed by Gary Conway, an actor who began his career as a model in "physique magazines". I thought that this version of the monster with a fullback's legs and wrestler's upper body would have made a great adversary for a comic book hero without super-powers or for a Mexiluchahero.

 The theme was touched on in several masked wrestler movies with the heroes squaring off against variations of the Frankenstein monster. In some cases, the Frankenstein's monster itself as in Santo & Blue Demon vs. The Monsters. It's sort of like Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein without the laughs. It does have laughs....but they're mostly unintentional. 

Smashing Robots in 4000 A.D. by Dave Goode

 My favorite Silver Age sci-fi comic book was Gold Key's Magnus Robot Fighter 4000 A.D. That first issue stood out from everything else on the stands. That fantastic cover that featured what appeared to be, serial & B-Movie star, Buster Crabbe smashing a robot with a "karate chop" defending an Ann-Margaret lookalike cowering in the background. 

 Over the decades since it's first appearance back in 1963 the Robot Fighter feature has become a cult favorite. I attribute this to three things...

 First and foremost was the art. Not only did you have Russ Manning, one of the all time great comic book/strip illustrators drawing the stories ,but you also had wonderful painted covers that gave the title the look of science fiction paperbacks.

 

 Secondly you had robots. Nothing, except for dinosaurs and gorillas on a comic book cover,  was guaranteed to sell a mag like robots. And with a title, like Magnus, Robot Fighter, you were sure to have plenty of robots.  

 Thirdly, there was karate. It was that karate stuff that we had been seeing more and more of in movies and on television. It was never stated that Magnus was using karate, but the reader had little doubt.  I imagined the Robot Fighter was using the form of karate developed by the legendary Mas Oyama - kyokushin.

 Interestingly, Magnus' creator, Russ Manning, didn't originally conceive of Magnus destroying robots with shuto blows. That idea came from his wife. However she originally suggested the idea of Magnus leaping up on the shoulders of robots and unscrewing their heads.

 Manning originally imagined his "Tarzan of the Future" using a stone hammer and not tameshiwari techniques to turn robots into scrap metal. After reading about that. I re-imagined Magnus wearing something different than the "red mini-skirt and white go-go boots". Like something out of a gladiator movie. Even with the stone hammer, it's impossible not to think of Magnus using karate, if only as a back-up.

Faux fun by Vance Capley

For years fan-boys have imagined a live-action Magnus movie. Today, with CGI, that's even easier to imagine. But back in the 60s, we could only imagine Ray Harryhausen and a team of stop-motion animators bringing Magnus' robot antagonists to life. That or you'd have to trade down and use the type of robots seen in Target Earth. Casting the leads for the Robot Fighter movie might have proved a bit easier. Someone once told me, when casting a hero, just go with Ron Ely.

In this case, that was more than just good advice. Ely, who would star as Tarzan on television, would have been spot-on as Manning's "Tarzan of the Future".

 

Connie Stevens or Mimsy Farmer could have played his love interest Leeja Clane.

WHO WAS THAT MASKED MAN ANYWAY? by Dave Goode

There aren't too many film genres as entertaining then the masked wrestler movie. Nothing epitomizes the similarities between pro wrestling and comic books quite like them. Muscled men in masks (say that 3 times fast) fighting the forces of evil using the same skills that made them champion grapplers to fight werewolves,vampires,mad scientists and their creations,alien invaders from space and sometimes organized crime.

 The majority of these movies come from Mexico. And so sometimes they are referred to as Mexiluchahero movies by fans of the genre. But in that alternate universe that runs through my head, I can see American comic book companies purchasing the rights to these flicks to produce 4-color adaptations of some of the best-known of these movies. And then continuing with a series of comics featuring the stars. An el Santo series  drawn by Steve Ditko. A Blue Demon series illustrated by the tag-team of Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson. A Tinieblas feature drawn by Jack "the King" Kirby and Gil Kane drawing a Mil Mascaras comic. Of course Mexico had their own masked wrestler comics starring Santo, Blue Demon and others. I just can't help but think of how great versions drawn by the premiere arts of the Silver Age of comics would have been. 

Enjoy the short adventure below featuring an American comic book fan turned masked wrestling hero.

Grab Judo Comics today! Click the pic:

I DON'T NEED NO STINKING SUPER-POWER! by Dave Goode

 

If you're of a certain age, the first martial art you were introduced to was Judo. Judo, and it's parent discipline jujitsu, were used by the good guys in pulp fiction and the movies to fight for truth, justice, and mom's apple pie. And if you were a comic book hero, not possessing "powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal man", then, at one time or another, you bashed the bad guys using judo.

 

 Before he was a master of 127 martial arts (or whatever ridiculous number it's up to now), Batman's hand-to-hand combat skills consisted of boxing, wrestling, savate, jujitsu, and judo. Batman was using judo as far back as Detective Comics No.28 (the second appearance of Batman) during the Golden Age of Comics.

Judo's principle, of using an opponent's size and strength against them, was very appealing to early comic book writers. Kid sidekicks used judo to triumph over burly bruisers like David over Goliath.

  Costumed heroines,

like the Black Cat and the Black Canary, were using it to take names and kick b---years before the world heard of Cathy Gale and Emma Peel.

Here's a look at Dr.Judo,a forgotten hero from the Atomic Age of Comics, in action.

Retro style comic art by Vance Capley.

Grab Judo Comics!Click the pic and order today!

America's Cheesiest Super-Hero by Dave Goode

America's Cheesiest Super-Hero 

by Dave Goode

One of the strangest things to come out of the era of Batmania (1966-1968) was the movie Rat Pfink a Boo Boo. This psychotronic classic is one of those ultra low-budget flick that seems like it was being written as they were going along. And that just may have been the case. It starts out as a rock & roll/juvenile delinquency flick hybrid and, about 40 minutes into the movie, it morphs into a parody of the Batman television show starring the great Adam West. It even has an obviously tacked on prologue to lead you to believe it was intended as a spoof to begin with. But I don't think anyone was ever fooled.

     Ron Haydock stars as Lonnie Lord, R&R star turned masked mystery man. And if anyone ever deserved his status as a cult star it was Haydock (1940-1977). Haydock was a recording artist, editor and writer for monster movie magazines and author of several pornographic novels under the name Vin Saxon. Oddly enough Haydock is billed as Vin Saxon in the credits for this movie.

Carolyn Brandt, a cult star in her own right, plays damsel in distress Cee Cee Beumont, and Titus Moody plays the hero's sidekick. The movie was directed by Ray Dennis  Steckler, who along with

Haydock,wrote the story. At the time Steckler and leading lady Brandt were man and wife. 

 

     

 I first learned about this flick from an article in Castle of Frankenstein. I instantly fell in love with the total cheesiness of the whole thing starting with the hero's costume. However, I didn't see the movie until I bought a VHS copy two decades later. I wasn't disappointed. But then again, my sites weren't set that high.

Good cheesy fun.

   And speaking of fun....Bob Burns as Kogar, the Swinging Ape was an added plus. It makes you wonder why none of the villains on the Batman TV series never had a "pet gorilla" to be unleashed on the Caped Crusader. Gorillas in comics were all the rage during this era.Of course in the alternate universe that runs through my head, there was a comic book adaptation of the movie and a series of comic books that ran for an additional 24 issues starring the ersatz Dynamic Duo.

Retro style comic art by Vance Capley