The Atomic Superman by Dave Goode

Back in the mid-1960s I remember seeing a copy of a poster for NEUTRON,THE ATOMIC SUPERMAN in a copy of Castle of Frankenstein magazine. Pure coolness. A couple of years later I got to see it under the title NEUTRON,THE BLACK MASK. And it was just as good as the poster. Neutron would be my introduction to South of the Border super-heroics. Despite the fact that Neutron wore the boots ,tights and mask of a luchador unlike Santo ,Blue Demon and Mil Mascaras he wasn't fighting the forces of evil in between his scheduled wrestling matches. He was a full-time crimefighter.

 

This is a "MacGuffin movie" with everything revolving around the good guys keeping criminal mastermind Dr.Caronte from getting his hands on the neutron bomb. Also there's a subplot that would be familiar to Republic movie serial fans. The viewer is left guessing which one of the 3 heroes is the mysterious masked Neutron. His identity is revealed at the end of the picture. But by the time of the sequel LOS AUTOMATAS DE LA MUERTE a.k.a NEUTRON VS.THE DEATH ROBOTS everyone seems to have amnesia. And no one remembers the hero's secret identity.

In the third film NEUTRON CONTRA DR.CARONTE it's revealed that one of our 3 heroes was in fact the masked super-criminal Dr.Caronte.

 

 There were two more Neutron flicks after the Dr.Caronte trilogy LOS ASESINOS DEL KARATE and NEUTRON CONTRA EL CRIMINAL SADICO. But these two flicks were lacking a certain coolness. For one thing Neutron was no longer wearing his cool black mask with the 3 lightning bolts. Secondly there was no musical interlude with the pop group Los Rebeldes Del Rock performing their hit song Melodia De Amor.

 

There was also a series of Neutron Fotonovelas. And luckily enough the hero was once again wearing the lightning bolt mask. Atomic Superman? I wonder if anyone was disappointed that Neutron was a costumed athlete ala' Batman or the original Daredevil and didn't posses "powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal man".

 *Editors notes: Wolf Ruvinski, aka Neutron, was a rudo who wrestled in South America, Mexico, and the U.S. He wrestled professionally until 1950 leaving only after he was injured. He was also a a pretty good actor, appearing in over 50 films all the way up to 1996. In 1968, Ruvinskis appeared on TV's I Spy in the episode titled "Shana". You can read more about Wolf Ruvinskis here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Ruvinskis 

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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