THE GREATEST TAG-TEAM MATCH IN MEXILUCHAHERO MOVIE HISTORY by Dave Goode

Of Universal's classic monsters my favorite was the Wolf Man. Lon Chaney Jr. starred in a series of films during the 1940s beginning with The Wolf Man (1941). This was followed by Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man (1943), House Of Frankenstein (1944), House Of Dracula (1945), and Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). These films have come to be known as the "Larry Talbot Saga".

There was also a novel by Jeff Rovin titled Return Of The Wolf Man that continued Talbot's story. It begins where Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein left off. And if you're a fan of classic horror movies I can't recommend this book enough.

Werewolves are also popular in Mexico's Cinema of the Psychotronic. No where so much as in flicks featuring Mexiluchaheroes. Blue Demon's first starring role was in Blue Demon, El Blue Demonia (1965). It featured the blue-masked luchador battling a scientifically created wolf man. Blue Demon would take on another werewolf in Santo & Blue Demon vs. Dracula & The Wolf Man (1972).

Santo y Blue Demon contra Dracula el Hombre Lobo directed by Miguel Mi Delgado from ascreenplay by Alfredo Salazar is a favorite of fans of the genre. Largely because it's one of the few team - ups where Blue Demon isn't playing second fiddle to a steel guitar. In this one the two anonymous adventurers stand on equal ground. The same can't be said of the relationship between Dracula (Aldo Monti) and Rufus Rex, the Wolf Man (Augustin Martinez Solares). It reminds me of the one between Armand Telsa (Bela Lugosi) and Andreas Orby (Matt Willis) in Return Of The Vampire (1944). With the wolf man as the vampire's slave.

There's plenty of action in this flick. Especially between Blue Demon and the Wolf Man in the movie's climax. But the best remembered scene is the one where the two masked heroes, dressed like the Men from U.N.C.L.E., play a game of chess while standing guard over the movie's heroines.

For this week's blog my buddy Vance Capley and myself did a Mr. Incognito mash-up page featuring some characters that may be recognizable to fans of Universal Studio's movies of the 1940s.

Dig the art?
Then get it on a t-shirt, cup, magnet, and more:
https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/8658884-luchador-vs-wolfmen

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.

If you enjoyed this weeks blog, check out some of the cool stuff below:

 

CLICK THE PICTURE TO ORDER
YOUR LIMITED EDITION
MONSTER MAGAZINE SIGNED ISSUES 3&4
WITH OUR TRADING CARD SET COMBO PACK TODAY

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.

Hope you enjoyed this weeks' blog! Help support us by buying cool items!!

 

 

Thanks for stopping by...see you next week!

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 

Now for another great Dr. Judo comic: 

 Support the fun by buying cool swag! Here's the latest:

https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/2830210-dr-judo-yin-yang

More designs available!

https://www.teepublic.com/user/vancecapleyart1972

Grab Judo Comics and other fine publications here:

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/VanceCapley

Santo Science Fiction by Dave Goode

For years I've referred to Santo vs. The Vampire Women as the "Gone With The Wind of Mexiluchahero Movies". But if the genre has it's Citizen Kane than it would be Santo el Enmascarado de Plata vs. La Invasion de los Marcianos. Or as it's known in America , Santo vs. The Martian Invasion. Directed by Alfredo B. Crevenna and written by Rafael Garcia Travesi if this flick had been dubbed into English it would have enjoyed the same cult status in America that Santo vs. The Vampire Woman does. It still rates high on the Top 10 lists of fans of the genre.

Co-starring Wolf Ruvinskis and Maura Monti the story in some ways resembles the 50s sci-fi classic The Day The Earth Stood Still. Though the poster would make you think you were going to watch a Mexican version of Robinson Crusoe On Mars. What appears to be a Martian advance guard comes to Earth to force the human race to live in peace and stop experimenting with the A-Bomb. Living in peace seems to be a good idea. But gosh darn it we don't want aliens from another world to force us into it. So it's up to the Man in the Silver Mask to save the Earth.

Usually when I think of comic book adaptations of el Santo's movies it's Steve Ditko I imagine drawing them. The original artist on Spider-Man and Dr.Strange would have been perfect illustrating the adventures of a silver-masked grappler wrestling against the principalities and powers of darkness. But for this science fiction flick adapted to the comic book page I can only think of one of three Silver Age Superman artists illustrating it. Curt Swan working in a tag-team with George Klein or Murphy Anderson. Or Kurt Schaffenberger just to see his take on the Martian women. And finally Wayne Boring who drew the Man of Steel with the beefy , barrel-chested physique of a professional wrestler.

 Look, kids!! It's Dr. Judo and flying saucers over Hollywood!

Now, representing the very first Judo Comics TV from March 10th 2010:

 We've been making comics even longer...here's proof! Grab

JUDO COMICS!

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.

 Buy comics: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/VanceCapley 

Watch cool videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU1NMSBpws__S2VKuqp9fuA