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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WHO WAS THAT MASKED MAN ANYWAY? by Dave Goode

One of the things that surely helped to make Santo, el Enmascarado de Plata, a Mexican pop culture icon were the Santo comic books. After all before he wrestled against the "principalities and powers of darkness" on the silver screen, he fought the forces of evil in comic books.

The first Santo comics would appear in 1952. The man behind these periodicals was Jose' G. Cruz, a comic book artist/writer, and actor/screenwriter. The first series of Santo comics ran for 6 years between 1952 and 1958 producing 300 issues of serialized stories. Santo's first films Cerebro Del Mal and Santo vs. Hombres Infernales would appear in 1958 about the same time the first comic book series was ending.

In the early 1960s Cruz would produce a second series of Santo comics. This series would run up through the 1970s. And would immediately be followed by the third series. A fourth series began in 1986 and was printed in Columbia. It was the only series that didn't carry Cruz's name.

Each series used the same format. They used photos of the silver-masked
wrestler and other actors/models integrated with drawings of various surrealistic backgrounds giving the comics a nightmarish look. I never read these comics when I was a kid. But I discovered them as a teenager in high school in the 70s. It was in the 70s, about 1974, that the real Santo was replaced in these comics by a muscular model wearing trunks (not tights), wrestling boots and an imitation of the famous silver mask. But with an "S" insignia on it.

The model for this Santo impersonator wasn't another luchador. But was instead a professional bodybuilder. Mr. Mexico 1969  Hector Pliego. Pliego was a muscleman of some note. He also was a contestant in the 1977 Mr. World competition winning the lightweight class. I have to wonder if some Mexican sports promoter ever considered offering the muscleman a wrestling contract.

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Masks, Muscles, and Myth by Dave Goode

Just the other day I was marveling on the overall coolness of posters from the sinew & sandal and masked wrestler movie genres. Illustrations from either would make great comic book covers. Flicks from both genres can rightfully be considered superhero movies. And then I got to thinking once again why there was never a team - up between say el Santo and Maciste. After all if you can have a movie starring el Zorro and el Maciste you can have one between Maciste and Santo or one of the " Man in the Silver Mask's " ancestors. What I really wonder about is why Mexico never had many entries in the peplum film genre.

The most notable exception was THE RAPE OF THE SABINES ( 1962 ). The movie is a retelling of the story of the Sabine women and stars Wulf Ruvinskis as Romulos , the same character that Steve Reeves portrayed in the sinew & sandal flick DUEL OF THE TITANS ( 1961 ). Ruvinskis , the wrestler turned actor , is probably better known to some of you as the star of the Neutron movie series where he played the black - masked crime-fighter.

I was thinking about a mash - up movie featuring Mil Mascaras. Heck! Mascaras had the physique to star in a Mexican - made Hercules movie himself. But here he would have played himself. With say Alan Steel as the immortal Maciste. The plot would involve Maciste in the 20th century taking a job as a pro wrestler , like Arnold did in HERCULES IN NEW YORK ( 1970 ). In between bouts the two musclemen would have several comic book adventures. To give you some idea how that might look my buddy Vance Capley has provided a faux comic book cover featuring the Man of a Dozen Masks, Mr. Incognito and Brad King the Golden Adonis.

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DEVIL IN THE BLUE MASK by Dave Goode

There are two types of stories that fan-boys live for. Origins and cross-overs. El Santo was given a silver screen origin that combined elements of Lee Falk's Phantom and the original Golden Age Captain Marvel. And of course fans of the Mexiluchahero movie genre know that Mil Mascaras' movie origin owes a bit to the back story of pulp superman Doc Savage. But as far as I know the third member of the " Holy Trinity of Mexiluchahero Movies ", the Blue Demon, had no such cinematic origin tale. And now I'm sure that someone is going to respond with the title of a movie that gives Blue Demon a comic book type origin. But until then let me share with you my idea for his back story.

His origin would be similar to that of Marvel Comics' Daredevil. He's the
studious bookworm who gets picked on by the neighborhood kids who works out in secret to keep in shape. Maybe even following a Charles Atlas type training course that includes self-defense program. And of course his father would be a luchador and not a pugilist. The major change is that as a high school student he takes on the leader of the " Blue Demon " biker gang after being picked on one too many times. After whooping the leader and his second-in-command our hero is recruited by the gang as their enforcer. Deciding gang wars in singles combat. After his father is killed by crooked gamblers he becomes the Blue Demon to bring the
criminals to justice.

If you're new to the Mexiluchahero genre the Blue Demon movie you want to watch is La Sombra del Murcielago. Known in English as Shadow Of The Bat , this 1966 flick is considered to be Blue Demon's best. Produced by Luis Enrique Vergara and directed by Federico Curiel this flick written by Jesus Velezquez is a psychotronic classic. The idea that came from Vergara was a reworking of the Phantom of the Opera with Fernando Oses going over the top as a physically and mentally scarred former wrestling star. He even plays the organ. Blue plays the hero who eventually defeats the mad man who also takes an unhealthy interest in a nightclub singer played by Marta Romero. Blue comes across like a Mike Hammer type. But one who wears luchador gear. This one is great fun. It even has a Spanish language version of the sixties pop hit Wooly Bully. If you haven't seen it search it out.

For more information on the Blue Demon, both films and wrestling, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Demon 

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Steve Ditko...Luchador Artist by Dave Goode

When I first heard of the controversy involving the creation of Spider-Man's costume and Halloween costume designer Ben Cooper I was quite stunned. To be fair there is a superficial resemblance between the Spider Man costume created by Cooper's company in the 1950s and the one familiar to comic book readers.

But I always assumed that Steve Ditko's inspiration was the costume Warren Hull wore in the two Spider serials for Columbia , based on the popular pulp magazine hero. And this costume bore no  resemblance to the one the character wore in the pulps. But to me if a character has "spider" any place in his name he (or she) should have some sort of webbing on their costume. If anything Ditko's mask looked like that of Mexican wrestling icon el Santo. Only in red and covered with black webbing. Which makes me wonder if Ditko was a fan of lucha libre. After all the first person Peter Parker takes on after gaining his spider powers in Amazing Fantasy No.15 (August 1962) is pro wrestler Crusher Hogan.

If you've ever seen a Ditko-drawn fight scene you can't help but marvel at how the two protagonists look like acrobatic wrestlers in action. That's why for years I could readily imagine Ditko illustrating comic book adaptations of el Santo's and Blue Demon's movies. Or adaptations of Mil Mascaras movies while working in a tag-team with Wally Wood inking his pencils. Also a number of characters created or co-created by Ditko wore masks that would have done any luchador proud. In fact the villain in Beware The Creeper No.1 (June 1968) not only has a pretty cool mask. But talks about his physical training. The same type a champion luchador may have undergone.

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Maciste and The Saint by Dave Goode

 

Back in elementary school I traded a magazine about the U.F.O phenomena for a dozen coverless issues of Famous Monsters of Filmland. In one of those issues was a pic of a dark-haired beauty in a dungeon dressed like a "bride of Dracula " (only sexier) standing imperiously over a group of strangely garbed men stretched out on stone slabs. The caption that accompanied the photo said it was from a flick titled THE SAINT VS. THE VAMPIRE WOMEN. Hold the phone!!! I couldn't recall ever seeing George Sanders or Roger Moore ever taking on the Undead. Though decades later I found out about Simon Templar fighting Commie zombies in Avon's THE SAINT comic book back in the 1950s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later I was to find the pic was from the psychotronic flick Santo vs. Las Mujeres Vampiro (1962) , a flick I started to refer to as the " Gone With The Wind of Mexiluchahero movies ". When I first saw SANTO VS. THE VAMPIRE WOMEN it was in it's re-cut ,re-dubbed version distributed by legendary movie broker K.Gordon Murray. The movie was re-titled SAMSON VS. THE VAMPIRE WOMEN. For years I thought the movie was re-titled so no one would confuse the silver-masked hero with Simon Templar. In fact the flick was re-titled to have moviegoers believe they were going to see one of those peplum movies that were so popular at the time. It sort of made sense. On a superficial level el Santo and Maciste did somewhat resemble each other. Two seemingly immortal bare-chested champions of justice.

 

 

Maciste was the strength hero introduced into the cinema in the 1914 silent film epic CABIRIA. He was portrayed by dock worker and strongman Bartolomeo Pagano who played the character in over 20 films during the silent era. He was a Hercules-like hero who used his super-human strength in the cause of justice. The character was revived in the early 1960s following the success of the Steve Reeves' Hercules movie. Many of these 60s Maciste movies were re-titled giving the hero the more familiar (to Americans at least) names like Hercules ,Atlas , Samson and Goliath. In the Mark Forest flick SON OF SAMSON it's explained that Maciste is the son of the biblical strongman which explains his enormous strength. The character seems to be immortal appearing in different time periods. In THE WITCH'S CURSE starring Kirk Morris he shows up in Scotland in 1650. In SAMSON AND THE 7 MIRACLES OF THE WORLD starring Gordon Scott he fights injustice in 13th century China.

 

El Santo takes a page from the Phantom's book and the silver mask is passed down from father to son. But in the case of Santo it wasn't to create the illusion of immortality. So it's not to hard to imagine the immortal Maciste teaming up with one of the original Santo's descendants. I imagine a 60s movie where Maciste turns up in the 20th century and teams up with el Santo. Maybe the strongman takes up a job as a professional wrestler where the two heroes meet. This would have been a natural for Turkish cinema , that had no regard for copyright laws ,and gave us the infamous Captain America / el Santo team-up.

 

Idea by Dave Goode retro art by Vance Capley vancecapleyart.com

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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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