CROSSOVER MADNESS

 Herman Melville turned over you know where when he learned that ORIGINAL GHOSTBUSTERS had the ghosts of Moby Dick and Captain Ahab be best of friends in the afterlife. Note the Samta makeover.

  

MONSTER MASHUPS #159

 Here lie the feminine fear-figures of MONSTER MARRIAGE SHOP, starting with --

URURU THE WEREWOLF.

ROBIN THE HARPY.

HARNIS THE SUCCUBUS,

CAMILLA THE VAMPIRE.

MEISA THE GORGON.

YUKO THE UNICORN.

KANAME THE AKANAME (scum-sucking demon)

ARK THE SELKIE.

SARA THE SALAMANDER and EYERENE THE CYCLOPS. 

BAPHOMET THE DEMON.

RAR #102/103: BLACKHAND AND RUNNNG DOG

 TIM HOLT #39 brings back an Evil Indian trope not much seen since colonial days: the cannibal Indian. Blackhand plots to devour hero Red Mask and four famous westerners in the belief that he'll gain the supernatural power he needs to beat the Whites.

The negatively named Running Dog devises a giant rattle filled with rocks in TH #41, into which he places victims-- and then it's "shake, rattle and pulverize."

 

 

  

CROSSOVER MADNESS

RED MASK unites with four famed westerners-- Jesse James, Billy the Kid, Grat Dalton and Wild Bill Hickock-- to battle a common threat in a mere six pages.

 

MINING POLITICAL MINEFIELDS

 For whatever reasons, I've never encountered the word "systemic" in any context but its current political meaning. So I was intrigued to learn, courtesy of Rachel Carson's 1962 SILENT SPRING, that it also had a biological connotation:

What makes an insecticide a systemic is its ability to permeate all the tissues of a plant or animal and make them toxic. -- Chapter 3

I know that the term "institutional racism" dates back to 1967, but a quick online search does not say when "systemic racism" came into vogue. I have no reason to think that the coiner of the term knew of the biological association, but it would be appropriate given the portrait of "whiteness" by authors like Kendi and Higginbotham is one of irredeemable toxicity. That amply explains why the "anti-racists" think it's OK to stigmatize white people even if they've committed no specific sins against POC, because they've all absorbed, as by cultural osmosis, the toxic nature of racists-- though the same authors would rage against "typing" POC by their cultures.

CROSSOVER MADNESS

 

RETURN OF THE BAD MEN is an efficient B-western in which one of Randolph Scott's usual stolid heroes is forced to contend with a gang of famous outlaws, including several who never knew one another in history: the Daltons, Bill Doolin, Billy the Kid (a very brief appearance), the Youngers, three bandits I'd never heard of, and the standout Sundance Kid, portrayed by Robert Ryan as a cruel sociopath. Anne Jeffreys plays a fictional lady outlaw, niece of Bill Doolin, and when she's challenged for being in a man's business, she name-checks Belle Starr as her model. This was a loose sequel to another outlaw-teamup, BADMAN'S TERRITORY, which I have not been able to re-screen yet.  

RAR 101: SANCHO THE YAQUI

 I've only read the opening of the Mex-western "Yaqui Gold" (CHAMPION COMICS #3, 1940), but probable sidekick Sancho makes a forceful debut. ADDENDUM: This ongoing serial petered out in three episodes, as if the author was told by his editor to wrap things up, in order to make room for a new feature. The muddled ending states Sancho's not just a sidekick, but "The Black Panther," the ruler of a new Aztec rebellion, albeit one that never gets started. He covets the lead White girl for a potential bride, but she doesn't accept him or the lead White suitor either-- which is so atypical an ending that I think the author meant to elaborate some more involved plot and was forced to just throw up his hands and whip together the existing conclusion.         

RAR 100: APACHE CHIEF

 APACHE CHIEF is technically the first RA superhero to join any version of the Justice League.

   

MINING POLITICAL MINEFIELDS

 More comment-preservation, re the Iran conflict.

______

It's the Libs on this thread showing irrational paranoia. You want to celebrate Iran as the "good guys" in this geopolitical contest, simply because "they didn't attack first"-- even though Iran sent agents to assassinate a sitting US president, which in your world is not an "attack." 

And then there's the rush to assume that whatever Iran says is an honest representation of the facts on the ground, that they control the Straits because they say they do. Here's what they control: drones that can attack cargo ships if those ships don't pay up. Can other European and Middle Eastern countries choose to fight? Sure, but apparently, according to Louis Vittert (on a recent O'REILLY SHOW), they won't because Euro insurance companies have already rolled over, stating that they won't pay for cargo ships being attacked, but they will pony up for extortion. Vittert has a refreshingly practical take that you Libs could benefit from-- don't assume that either Iran or the US is telling the unvarnished truth, but judge what happens from the actual results. The constant carping of the media, Vittert points out, has strengthened Iran's position, not anything Trump did, because thanks to the Menace of the Midterms, the Iranians feel they can ask for more stuff despite their having been the aggressors in the conflict. To Trump it's like, "I'll use American resources to protect American interests, but I'm not doing squat for Europe. They can roll over and show their bellies, or they can fight."     

CROSSOVER MADNESS

 I've just reviewed the 1951 pirate-spoof DOUBLE CROSSBONES, which includes such legendary pirates as--

Blackbeard.

Anne Bonney.

And Alan Napier as Captain Kidd.

MONSTER MASHUPS #158

 I gave the 1984 SHE a negative review eight years ago, but I'll admit, after a re-screening, that it isn't as unimaginative as most post-apoc films, which, if they have monsters at all, usually keep it down to some stumbling zombie-mutants. SHE does boast--

THE NOOKS, mutants who are totally okay after their arms get sliced off.

GODAN, a psychoknietic mutant who tries to build a cult around his godhood.

 A colony of vampires who appear on the surface to be high-society types.

A self-regenerating fellow named Xenon, who can not only rebuild any body part (arm, head) out of nothing, the severed parts also grow into duplicates of Xenon-- though this monster's real threat is that he sounds like Robin Williams on speed.

There's also a mad scientist (assisted by a big bearded guy in a tutu) and a gang of warriors called "Norks," but I consider both of these "villains" rather than "monsters."       

CROSSOVER MADNESS

 I wouldn't have bothered noting the Beagle Boys (in issue #20 of their own title) interacting with Clarabelle Cow, but the line predicting their getting nabbed by Scamp is a keeper.

 Next issue has the Beagles hoaxing Super Goof into stealing the Brooklyn Bridge for them.

MONSTER MASHUPS #157

 

Here's Kirby's monster-hero The Demon taking on a super-werewolf, The Howler. It's one of the King's best fight-scenes in that title, though he avoids having his were-beast transmit his curse with something as visceral as causing wounds with fang or claw.

MINING POLITICAL MINEFIELDS

 Another messboard-mess.

________

I doubt most Libs will have any interest in my subject. For many of you, "bravery," the opposite of "cowardice," inheres in giving in to superior numbers, or at least to influencers who appear to have the ear of government figures and/or big corporations. This is not usually the way BS has framed his idea of bravery, since I believe (though I have no quotes ready) that he has touted the bravery of the Israeli people for standing up to the greater numbers of their Muslim neighbors.

But for BS, based on that quote, it seems "cowardice" now means just not saying the name of one's opponent in some particular address. I saw BS use the same sophism on Michael Knowles when they debated the Iran conflict. But MK has not avoided Trump's name in her ongoing critiques of the conflict, so BS's claim seems particularly looney-toons.

I doubt that BS cares that much about MK's criticisms of Iran. I think he's still sore that MK wouldn't join him in condemning Candace and Tucker. the former being a figure who built her success in part on getting built up on BS's platform the Daily Wire. I personally think Candace and Tucker have said a lot of dumb things-- but are those opinions so pernicious that they can cause the entire Right to fall apart? BS must know that it makes no difference if Lefties can accurately quote particular speakers to make the Right look bad. Lefties are more content to shriek "Nazi Nazi Nazi" or "Pedo Pedo Pedo," they dont care about accuracy in the first place. I think MK would denounce Tucker and Candace if they were saying things that could really turn the "great middle" against the Right, and that is indeed one big reason MK opposes the Iran conflict. But they're really outliers. The middle doesn't care if Candace talks trash about Erika Kirk, and I frankly don't think BS cares about the Kirks either.  

MONSTER MASHUPS #156

No combinations of distinctive monsters occur in GHOST SWEEPER MIKAMI until the 1996 story-arc "Survival Mansion." In this tale, the GS team is trapped by evil munitions makers who have started making monsters, whether of real demonic derivation or of artificial creation, to sell as super-weapons. The villains try to use the sweepers as test subjects of their monsters' toughness, but Mikami and her aides Yokoshima and (a now mortal version of) Okinu kick the asses of--

A ghost woman.

  Zombie dogs.

A Gun-Golem (my name for it).

A troop of miniature GI JOE dolls (huh?)

A (sometimes) sexy djinn named Gura.

And an artificial version of the Hindu bird-god Garuda.

MONSTER MASHUPS #155

 I liked the first crossover between the DC Universe and the Monster-verse, but a second one sounded like gilding the lily.

I did rather enjoy King Shark becoming a kaiju.

 Giant Shark gets to fight Godzilla while Giant Croc fights Kong.

JLA mixes it up with LEGION OF DOOM.

 

Interesting tete-a-tete with Black Manta and Cheetah.

Harley says "hi" to Big Bat.

New appearances of King Ghidorah and Rodan (or variants thereof).

Cheetah also gets kaiju-ized.

Some unnamed monsters appear, as well as Skar King from the sequel.

All in all, not quite as good as the first one, but a decent read.  

 

MINING POLITICAL MINEFIELDS

 And here's another political post that I don't think quite fits THE ARCHIVE, if only because of its limited scope, responding to a forum poster posing the rhetorical question, "Do Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly have TDS" (because they oppose Trump's current Iran conflict)?

____________

Tucker and Megyn have WDS, "War Derangement Syndrome." They oppose interventionism on the part of the US without considering the consequences for allowing the interventionism by other nations-- Iran through state sponsored terrorism, China through the attempt to gain a hierarchy over world resources. 

Tucker's become a fanatic and his arguments are all over the place, when they're not made-up. But in his recent interview with Megyn, he said one true thing (paraphrasing), to the effect that he can understand Israel wanting to gain hegemony over the Middle East, given that every nation wants the best outcome for its own sovereignty. That's not always what's best for the citizens, and we've ample evidence that, say, Iran's rebellion against the Shah, whatever one thinks of Western imperialism, turned out worse for the Iranians than what they rebelled against. But it's true that no country, not even the US, can go around playing policeman indefinitely. But Tucker's disagreement with Trump's program-- that of trying to "push" nations in a perceived good direction-- does not mean that Tucker has some massive insight into world affairs. Tucker just has an opinion, that's all.

Megyn is much more nuanced, and one of her recent statements is that she feels (again paraphrasing) that interventionism is going to hurt the GOP in America. At least one of her fears is that in the midterms the Iran invasion will cause the GOP to lose the House and Senate to the vile Progressive Mad Libs, who will naturally seek to undo everything Trump has done out of TDS. This is a possibility that Cons must take seriously. and I don't doubt that some of them are worried, not just about keeping their jobs, but about the return of Mad Lib dominance to American politics. I know the Dems will eventually gain power again, but I'd like it to be delayed long enough that the Dem party might find its way to a more Centrist, less extreme position-- and for that to happen, the GOP needs to stay in control long enough to give their programs a fair test.    

CROSSOVER MADNESS

 I'm not a fan of the DC spook-books, but GHOSTS seems one of the weakest of the bunch. In issues #97-99, DC tried to pump some energy into it by having a meaningless "teamup" between Doctor Thirteen and The Spectre. The title concluded (appropriately enough) thirteen issues later.

RAR #99: STRONG BOW

 Though heroic ranch-owner Spurs Jackson was the star of all six issues of SPACE WESTERN, backup stories included some solo stories by his two buddies, Hank Peters and the Indian (possibly Pueblo) Strong Bow. The latter, despite being a typical laconic Red Man, gets the only good joke in the series.

And in SPACE WESTERN #42, Strong Bow has to help his people fight off "Aztecs from Vulcan," who are masters of fiery technology.

CROSSOVER MADNESS

 I never expected to find a villain-crossover in the pages of the short-lived SPACE WESTERN COMICS (six issues). But after separate stories introduced such interstellar evildoers as "Korok of Mars" and "Vodor of Venus," the two of them teamed up and tried to destroy Earth, only to be thwarted twice by SPACE WESTERN's heroic modern-day cowboy, Spurs Jackson.

First, the two schemers sent mole-like creatures from Earth's moon-- somehow living there by boring into the ground-- to wreak damage on Spurs' homeworld.

Then in one last story, the villains seek to destroy Earth with a comet. They fail and the title died before they were permanently captured by the cowboy crusader.

 
  

CROSSOVER MADNESS

 Most manga serials didn't delve into any crossovers, but GHOST SWEEPER MIKAMI (1991) crossed over the main character, Japanese exorcist Reiko Mikami, with the folkloric character of THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN.

 To be sure, it's really just a minor demon that tosses together a lot of tropes from the Pied Piper story and reworks them for its own convenience (much like the manga author), such as changing adult humans into children or controlling rat demons. But one could argue that it's still a loose adaptation of the original, though it counts only as a "high-charisma" crossover.

The manga got an adaptation into an episode of the 1993 TV anime, under the title "Everyone, Turn Into a Kid!" Again, the name "Piper of Hamelin" just gets cursory mention. 

Other manga-episodes, as well as their anime adaptations, brought the ghost-sweepers in contact with Santa Claus and with the Japanese folklore-figure Yuki-Onna. The one movie made from the franchise was not based on a manga from the author and has the GS team encounter a very Nippon-ified version of the vampire Nosferatu.   

ADDENDUM: After the anime ceased, the story "Battle with Wolves" had Mikami encounter both Norse Fenrir and Greek Artemis.

  

And the Mikami groups also meets the supernatural sea-princess Otohime, from the folktale URASHIMA TARO.