THE VAMPIRE GIRLS by Dave Goode

THE VAMPIRE GIRLS by Dave Goode

The first Mil Mascaras movie that I ever saw was Las Vampiras (1969). Directed by Federico Curiel from a screenplay co-written by Curiel and Adolfo Torres Portillo this may have been Mascaras' best known film to American audiences due to it's constant showings on UHF stations here during the 70s and 80s.The movie is pure psychotronic fun. But with a coven of beautiful female vampires and their muscular henchmen this flick can't help remind one of Santo Contra Las Mujeres Vampiro (1962) , the Gone With The Wind of Mexiluchahero movies.

This one features John Carradine who portrayed Count Dracula in House Of Frankenstein (1944), House Of Dracula (1945) and Billy The Kid Vs. Dracula (1966). Here he plays Count Branus, the vampire king deposed by Aura (Marta Romero) and Veria (Maria Duval) to shapely green-skinned vampire girls. You fans of the masked wrestler movie genre might recognize Miss Duval as the damsel in distress from the previously mentioned Santo Contra Las Mujeres Vampiro a.k.a Samson Vs. The Vampire Women. This time around the damsel in distress is played by beautiful Maura Monti.

This is everything you would expect from a superhero vs. vampires movie with masked wrestler Mil Mascaras teaming up with reporter Carlos Mayer played by Pedro Armendariz Jr. to track down and destroy the living dead. Mascaras is great in this. Nobody is better at playing Mil Mascaras than Mil Mascaras. Built like the lead in a gladiator movie he moves like we imagined a comic book hero would move before the advent of CGI. Maybe not the greatest actor. But like Steve Reeves and Arnold Schwarzenegger he has a presence. I've imagined for years about getting the rights to the Spanish language movie and re-dubbing it into English ala' What's Up Tiger Lilly?.

To along with this week's blog is a comic book cover imagined by Dave Goode and illustrated by Vance Capley featuring the poor man's Mil Mascaras.

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Yet Another Lost Opportunity by Dave Goode

Yet Another Lost Opportunity by Dave Goode

For my money the best Superman feature film made was the first. SUPERMAN AND THE MOLE MEN was released on November 23, 1951 and starred George Reeves as the caped crusader from Krypton and Phyllis Coates as Lois Lane. This flick led to production of THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN television series. A series that holds a special place in the hearts of many a Silver Age fan boy. With the success of the television series there was some talk of a sequel to SUPERMAN AND THE MOLE MAN. But it wasn't to be. Instead after the second season of the series, in which Noel Neill replaced Phyllis Coates as reporter Lois Lane there were several compilation movies made from episodes of the series with new bridging segments. Of course Noel Neill was the first live action Lois Lane appearing in Columbia's two Superman serials SUPERMAN (1948) and ATOM MAN VS. SUPERMAN (1950). Both serials starred Kirk Alyn as the Man of Steel and his alter ego mild mannered reporter Clark Kent.

The cool thing about ATOM MAN VS. SUPERMAN is that it featured Superman's arch enemy from the comic books, Lex Luthor portrayed by character actor Lyle Talbot. Sadly Talbot never got a chance to reprise the role on the television series. More's the pity. But the truth is the television show's half hour format was too limiting for a villain of Luthor's magnitude. And I'm sure no one wanted to see Luthor just appearing as someone working for a crime boss. But what if that sequel to SUPERMAN AND THE MOLE MEN had been made. Might not criminal scientist Lex Luthor have been Superman's antagonist in such a movie? Just last week I had a dream in which I was watching such a flick with Luthor performing experiments on gorillas. Increasing their strength a hundred fold and outfitting them with mind control helmets to do his bidding. Insert your own story line to fit your tastes.

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Brothers by Another Mother....and Father as Well by Dave Goode

Brothers Of The Spear was a comic book feature that first appeared as a back up in Dell's Tarzan No.25 (Oct. 1951). Created by writer Gaylord Du Bois and artist Jesse Marsh it told the story of Dan-El (no relation to Kal-El) and Natongo. They were two African kings whose kingdoms had been usurped. The two swear an oath of brotherhood and the first years of the series is spent with the heroes trying to reclaim their respective kingdoms. Russ Manning would take over the art chores on the feature in Tarzan No.39 (Dec. 1952) and stayed til the run in the back of Tarzan in 1966.

What made this jungle adventure series so unique was that Natongo and Dan-El were a pair of black and white adventurers who were equal partners. Something you readily find in today's popular culture. But was special for it's day. This remember was a time in American history when the Civil Rights movement was just beginning. In adventure flicks of the period you might find a black man. But he was regulated to sidekick status. A few years earlier it was as a comic sidekick embodying just about every negative minstrel show stereotype you could find about black people.

Some time back someone suggested to me a casting for a Brothers Of The Spear movie in the 60s. Ron Ely as Dan-El. And as Natongo, World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Muhammad Ali. I thought that inspired casting as that Ali had a similar physique to that of Russ Manning drawn heroes Tarzan and Magnus, the Robot Fighter.

Another good choice for Natonga would have been Rafer Johnson who was on the same United States Olympic Team (1960) as Ali then known as Cassius Clay. Decathlon champion Johnson was no stranger to jungle adventure movies having played the villain in the Mike Henry Tarzan movies TARZAN AND THE GREAT RIVER (1967) and TARZAN AND THE JUNGLE BOY (1968).

Below is a new Golden Adonis comic by Dave Goode and Vance Capley featuring Pharaoh Love, the Bronze Hercules.

Audie Murphy: Real and Reel American Hero by Dave Goode

Audie Murphy

Real and Reel American Hero

by Dave Goode

For years I've referred to Audie L. Murphy as "The real Captain America. Hold the Super-Soldier Serum". But I knew him first as a western movie star. It was in high school while telling a friend about an Audie Murphy flick that I had just seen. And he mentioned that the slightly built, baby-faced cowboy star was the most decorated combat veteran of World War Two. I would later see the movie TO HELL, AND BACK where Murphy would play himself in the Universal movie production based on his best selling autobiography. I learned how he was rejected by the Marines, the Navy, and the Paratroopers before the Army accepted him. He wasn't old enough to vote. Three years later he still wasn't able to vote. But when he was discharged from Uncle Sam's service he had been awarded every medal the United States of America gives for bravery and valor. Including the Congressional Medal of Honor. Still I'll always remember him as a western movie hero.

There really is no such thing as a less than entertaining Audie Murphy western. He really wasn't a great actor. But Universal Pictures put him in movies that played to his strengths. Five of my favorites were RIDE CLEAR OF DIABLO (1954), RIDE A CROOKED TRAIL (1958), DESTRY (1954), GUNSMOKE (1953), and DUEL AT SILVER CREEK (1952).

I always thought that last film should have been titled SHOWDOWN AT SILVER CREEK. It would have given it a more western feel. In it Murphy plays a gunfighter known to friends and enemies alike as the "Silver Kid". Watching this movie back when I was twelve or thirteen it got me to thinking that Murphy might have been good playing Marvel Comics western hero the Rawhide Kid. What do you think?

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Speaking of cowboys, Vance Capley is drawing a cowboy!