JUST A FEW OF MY FAVORITES by Dave Goode

And now for something visual that's not to abysmal. And I'm not to talking about an old Steve Reeves movies. But close. The other day I was thinking about two of the greatest movie entertainments ever. Gladiator movies and masked wrestler flicks. And how both had some of the greatest posters of any genre. I wasn't thinking about which genre had the best. That's an apples or oranges discussion. But both would make great comic book covers.

This week's blog looks at some of my favorites from the masked wrestler genre. And when I say my favorites I mean just that. Too many times when someone says their favorites what they mean is "the best". I mean "my favorite". If I call something the best I usually follow it with "IMHO".

El Santo made more movies than any other masked wrestler so it follows that his movies would have some of the best posters. How do you not love the poster for Santo vs. The Vampire Women? That would have made a great cover for a novelization of the movie. But there are other great posters from the genre. 

Blue Demon and Mil Mascaras movies had great posters too. 

And then there were the posters from Europe's Superargo series. As well as the Neutron series.

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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