ONE HUNDRED BEST JUSTICE LEAGUE STORIES #2

I didn't like most of Denny O'Neil's dozen or so JUSTICE LEAGUE stories, but issue #71's story "And So My World Ends," shows him at his best, providing a (very temporary) farewell to J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter.

Years later, O'Neil's idea of an ongoing war between J'onn's people, the Green Martians, and their enemies the Whites has become a major source of story-ideas in the DC Universe and in many adaptations in other media. In 1989 J.M. de Matteis attempted to "deconstruct' the O'Neil story in a MARTIAN MANHUNTER mini-series, but within a few years this rewriting was subsumed and the idea of the tragic war became paramount.

MONSTER MASHUPS #41

"Graveyard Shift," a 1973 episode of William Castle's CIRCLE OF FEAR anthology, includes five film-monsters brought to life for no explicit reason. All five were once played by former actor Fred Colby, but now his monstrous creations want his pregnant wife to choose one of them to incarnate the baby in her womb.

Like most of the show's episodes, "Shift" suffers from flaccid writing and poor motivation. Oddly, Castle himself has a brief scene in the show, playing a producer who reflects back on his great monsters, whom he calls "Wolfman," "Mummy," "Claw," "Scarface," and "Doctor Death." However, in the IMDB credits, the second and fourth monsters are replaced by "the Apeman" and "the Hunchback," and those names seems closer to describing what was put on screen here.

The weakest aspect of the script is that the story seems set up to imagine Fred as having conjured the monster-phantoms from his own psyche, perhaps because he's now a lowly security guard instead of "an actor." But the script seems to bend over backward NOT to make that connection. Was someone on the show averse to showing Fred to have a dark side to his already nothing personality?

ONE HUNDRED BEST JUSTICE LEAGUE STORIES #1

I found this DC "greatest hits" on markdown for $3, so even though I knew I wouldn't agree with its choices, I bought it.

Robert Greenberger's text is pretty much what I expected: it's a list of touchstones for hardcore fans, discussing things like the different headquarters that the group used over time. My personal preference would've been for the "greatest moments" in terms of the stories that were best in terms of action, drama, mythical insight, or whatever.

So here's my first nominee; 1967's JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #51. This was the culmination of the months-long "Zatanna plotline," in which the daughter of the magician Zatara went looking for her lost father in various DC stories, all scripted by Gardner Fox. After Zatanna crossed paths with Hawkman, the Atom, Green Lantern, the Elongated Man and Batman (sort of), Zatanna united all of these heroes (again, sort of) to aid her in rescuing Zatara from a mystic land. Fox's scripts could sometimes be too dry, but there's a lot of good humor and human interest here.

SUPERHEROES ARE DAMN-NEAR EVERYWHERE #294

Tertiary RICHARD DENNING acted in TWICE TOLD TALES with--

Secondary BRETT HALSEY, who voiced a character in the 1992 X-MEN cartoon--

Primary CHRIS POTTER as GAMBIT.

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Tertiary SANDY DENNIS acted in PARENTS with--

Primary RANDY QUAID, who also played DOC HOLLIDAY in PURGATORY

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Secondary REGINALD DENNY  acted in a 1961 pilot-film of THE PHANTOM with--

Primary ROGER CREED as THE PHANTOM.

SUPERHEROES ARE DAMN-NEAR EVERYWHERE #293

Secondary LYDIE DENIER acted in an episode of THE NEW ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD with--

Primary JOHN BRADLEY as ROBIN HOOD.

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Primary ALEXIS DENISOF played WESLEY WYNDHAM-PRYCE on ANGEL.

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Tertiary BRIAN DENNEHY voiced a rat in RATATOUILLE along with--

Primary BRAD GARRETT, who voiced  NOAH in PROJECT GEEKER.

SUPERHEROES ARE DAMN-NEAR EVERYWHERE #292

Secondary REBECCA DE MORNAY acted in an episode of JESSICA JONES with--

Primary MIKE COLTER, who both guested as LUKE CAGE on JESSICA JONES as well as playing the character in his own show.

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Secondary PATRICK DEMPSEY acted in TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON with--

Primary PETER CULLEN, voicing OPTIMUS PRIME.

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Secondary JUDI DENCH acted in THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK with--

Primary VIN DIESEL as RIDDICK.

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Tertiary CATHERINE DENEUVE acted in THE HUNGER with--

Secondary SUSAN SARANDON, who also acted in SPEED RACER with--

Primary EMILE HIRSCH as SPEED RACER.

MONSTER MASHUPS #40

For some time I've been meaning to do a quick writeup of the amusing if somewhat superficial "harem adventure with monsters," ROSARIO + VAMPIRE, and now I've completed a writeup of the serial's final arc, here.

Though much of the action takes place at a "school for monsters," most of the time the various creatures of the academy don't "cross over" in any important way, except for the principals of the series-- the mortal Tsukune Aono (who morphs into a monster halfway through the storyline), his true love the vampire Moka, the succubus Kurumu, the snow maiden Mizore, and a witch, Yukari. There are also assorted recurring "guest stars," such as Moka's vampire-sister Koko and another witch named Ruby-- but these five are the core personalities of the series.

There were also two seasons of an anime adaptation, reviewed here, but it's comparatively superficial, and plays up the sex angle so much that I observed that "the series is filled with so many gratuitous panty-shots that it manages the signal feat of making them all rather boring."

SUPERHEROES ARE DAMN-NEAR EVERYWHERE #291

Tertiary WILLIAM DEMAREST  acted in NIGHT HAS A THOUSAND EYES with--

Primary RICHARD WEBB, a.k.a. CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT.

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Tertiary KATHERINE DEMILLE acted in THE BLACK ROOM with--

Secondary BORIS KARLOFF, who was also an evil tribesman in TARZAN AND THE GOLDEN LION  with--

Primary JAMES PIERCE as TARZAN.

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Secondary MYLENE DEMONGEOT acted in OSS-117: MISSION FOR A KILLER with--

Primary FREDERICK STAFFORD as OSS-117.

SUPERHEROES ARE DAMN-NEAR EVERYWHERE #290

Primary ALAIN DELON played ZORRO in a 1975 version of, well, ZORRO.

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Secondary JENNIFER DELORA acted in ROBOT HOLOCAUST with--

Prumary NORRIS CULF as NEO (not the one from THE MATRIX).

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Secondary JULIE DELPY acted in AVENGERS AGE OF ULTRON with--

Primary ROBERT DOWNEY JR as IRON MAN.

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Secondary DOM DELUISE voiced a character in an episode of DISNEY'S HERCULES with--

Primary TATE DONOVAN as HERCULES.

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Primary PETER DELUISE played TUG, one of the not-fortunately-named SOLARBABIES.

SUPERHEROES ARE DAMN-NEAR EVERYWHERE #289

Tertiary MAJANDRA DELFINO acted in SHRIEK IF YOU KNOW WHAT I DID LAST FRIDAY THE 13TH with--

Primary KIM GRIEST, who also played EVE in LAST EXIT TO EARTH.

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Secondary CLAUDIA DELL acted in GHOST PATROL with--

Primary TIM MC COY as TIM CAVERLY.

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Tertiary GABRIEL DELL acted in many "Bowery Boys" flicks, including MASTER MINDS, alongside--

Primary BILLY BENEDICT, a.k.a. ZOMBIE PARKER of ADVENTURES OF THE FLYING CADETS.

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Secondary MYRNA DELL acted in THE LOST TRIBE with--

Primary JOHNNY WEISSMULLER as JUNGLE JIM.

SUPERHEROES ARE DAMN-NEAR EVERYWHERE #288

Primary MARIA DEL MAR played SAM HOUSTON in the TEKWAR series.

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Tertiary DOLORES DEL RIO (not shown) acted in ALI BABA GOES TO TOWN with--

Secondary JOHN CARRADINE (not shown), who also acted in STAR SLAMMER with--

Primary SANDY BROOKE as TAURA.

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Primary BENICIO DEL TORO played a more combative version of LAWRENCE TALBOT in THE WOLFMAN.

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Secondary KIM DELANEY acted in SOMETHING IS OUT THERE with--

Primary MARYAM D'ABO as TA'RA.

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Secondary DANA DELANY voiced LOIS LANE in several animated projects, among them the JUSTICE LEAGUE teleseries, alongside--

Primary MARIA CANALS-BARRERA as HAWKGIRL.