Last Night we watched the two disc set of 'One Step Beyond', an early paranormal anthology TV show series.

I had seen it at one of those 'big box' electronic stores, so placed it on our on-line video queque to watch.

This was a TV series that starred John Newland, who directed and narrated on-screen all of the 96 episodes of the 1959-61 series.

I have not blogged about this TV Series before, because unfortunately it never had a comic book series! 

Unlike Rod Serling's Twilight Zone, (see middle left), and Boris Karloff's Thriller/Tales of Mystery, this TV Series doesn't have any comics for the HoRRoR / MoNSTer / Sci-Fi collector!

Thus, we only have the DVD sets which have come out, and more seem to be produced every month on older TV Shows.  This DVD set had the following episodes that we watched: 

The Riddle, The Lovers, Anniversary of A Murder, Goodbye Grandpa, the Dark Room, AND The Sorcerer which had a great performance by Christopher Lee as a German Officer!

This DVD set is definitely one to watch for those that enjoy similar TV Shows, like the aforementioned Twilight Zone and Thriller!  

For those interested in HoRRoR / MoNSTer comic books, we have several in our eBay Featured Store!  Just click on the link or the pictgures to see what we have in stock!

Michael

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The NEW  Fall TV Season is starting at the end of this month and I was thinking about our 'watch list' of shows for this season.  It was then that I realized that I missed a show that I 'hadda' watch when it was on... X-Files!

IMHO, Gillian Anderson is one of the main reasons that the TV Show lasted so long, and was sucessfully transferred to comic book format !

Gillian was born in 1968. She moved to New York when she was twenty-two, and started her career in theater.

She moved to Los Angeles in 1991, spending a year auditioning. Although she had once vowed she would never do TV, she ended up on a few shows including the Class of '96.

As a result of her guest appearance in Class of '96, Anderson was sent the script for The X Files at the age of 24, by Chris Carter.

The TV series eventually ran for nine seasons, and included one theatrical film.   

Her role as Dana Scully kept the show 'grounded' in my opinion, so as to keep it interesting for a more mainstream viewing audience. Sometimes these sci-fi shows garner too much of a cult following that turns off the mainstream viewership and ends up withe show having a shortened run.

I remember the first X-Files Convention held in San Diego, the comic book was a very hot commodity and hundreds  of those comics were autographs as conventioneers stood in line for those signatures! 

For those interested in the X-Files Comic Books, we have several comics listed in our eBay Featured Store.

Michael

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That's Right!

The Ultimate Patriotic Super Heroes Team 'Reagan's Raiders' Existed Back In the 1980's!!

Published in 1986, there were three issues of this title 'Reagan's Raiders'.

Created by artist Rich (Deathlok / Black Panther) Buckler and actor Monroe (Alice's Restaurant / Goodbye Columbus) Arnold, this was part of the black and white comic book explosion when hundreds of new comics were published by many publishers now defunct!

How did this happen??  Well their secret origin is as follows: 

Using a 'physo-nuclear conversion process', Project Alpha Soldier staff scientist Professor Cashchaser transformed President Ronald Reagan, Vice President George Bush Sr., Secretary Of Defense Casper W. Weinberger,  and Secretary of State George P. Shultz into the patriotic super-team known as Reagans Raiders!

Oddball as it may seem, this series was actually a good read, and not derogatory to the then President as you may think it would be!

For those interested in these unsual comics, we have them and many more listed in our eBay Featured Store .

Michael

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This Guy's Mind Was Set!

From the Sci-Fi Channel TV Show

Who Wants To Be A Superhero?

Season Two 

'MINDSET' 

'My Take' On This Super-Hero !

This is 'My Take' on One of the Ten Contestants from this SCI-FI Channel Mini-Series that was seen on Thursday nights at 9 p.m. this summer! 

Season 2 ended on September 7th!  Tina and I are looking forward to a Season 3! 

For those new to our blog, we have been watching this show since the Preview of it at the San Diego Comic Con International in July 2006, watched the full First season, caught the Preview at the 2007 SDCC and just finished viewing the Grand Finale of the Second Season this past week!

Why?  Because this is an actual fun and entertaining reality show!

This blog post is about 'Mindset' who was asked to turn in his costume in Episode 2.

These observations are from his limited screen time on the show, his 'After Show' 10:39 minutes with Feedback, and some other videos.

Mindset's Secret Identity in 'real' life is Phillip Allen, a 24 year old cashier.

His superpowers consist of:  Telekinesis. His advanced brain makes him an excellent problem-solver. His armor is impervious to modern weapons. Telepathy and limited precognition give him a 'danger sense'!!

Phil was at the Miami audition for Season Two... and made it to the ten contestants chosen for the Season.

He says the challenges were a little too 'Nickelodeon' for him...

Stan Lee says that he was 'too prideful'.

Phil says he used a reasonable tactic in his efforts against Dr Dark.  He thinks the best mission that he was involved with was the wind tunnel. That 'was great!' he said.

Whereas Braid, the superhero who was asked to leave at the end of Episode One, had little to said in the 'After Show', Mindset had a LOT TO SAY!

He didn't like his costume makeover, and had multiple comments to make about his fellow contestants, like 'Ms. Limelight' etc etc!

Mindset's catch phrase was:

'For The Future!'

Well, he didn't have much of a future in Season Two.... he just wasn't likeable enough for Tina or myself!

Additionally he didn't get along with the other contestants... just didn't seem to be a team player, which both Seasons have shown you need to be at the beginning!

Mindset's vulnerability seems to capture his superhero persona:

He has little resistance to diseases and toxins. He has limited understanding of theis era's culture. He is in poor physical shape. He is adverse to physical activity and prone to gain weight because he finds our foods so enticing....

Just not a good choice as a reasonable contestant able to win the Season 2 title... sorry!

Thanks for reading this popular culture - comics - comic books blog post and check back with us for some more after show thoughts on Season 2 in the near future!

Michael 

Season Two Contestants:

Click Here for My Take On Whip-Snap !  

Click Here for My Take On Parthenon !

Fall.... Halloween...

Ghost Stories..... Boo !!!

Those do seem to follow each other .... right??

Well we are prepared because we have several 'Ghost Stories', 'Ghostly Tales', 'Ghosts', 'Ghost Manor', 'Many Ghosts Of Doctor Graves', and so forth!!

One of the best Comic Book Titles  was 'Ghost Stories' from Dell Comics. 

You know Dell Comics... 'Dell Comics Are Good Comics'... how they went to HoRRoR comics from that tag line remains a mystery to me....???

The series ran for 37 issues from September 1962 to October 1973.

The series started when mystery and suspense shows were hot on TV, as with Gold Key's Boris Karloff Thriller and Twilight Zone being published as comic books due to the popularity of their namesake TV shows.

A history note:  Dell Comics did not submit their comics to the CCA, (Comics Code Authority), after other publishers in the mid 1950's did a form of self censorship. So to run a HoRRoR story anthology comic in the early 1960's was an oddity for this company.

The comics in this run are tame compared to those from EC Comics of the early 1950's, but stand up to time when reading today.  Good reading for those that like HoRRoR comics but without all the grim and gritty gore that some publishers print today.

I would recommend this series to those that would like a good mystery read. For you collectors out there, there are not that many high grade copies of this series on the CGC Census, as these comics were not generally stored away properly. The copy to the middle left from our eBay Featured Store is the highest graded copy of issue #34 to date !

For those interested in the Dell Comics run of GHOST STORIES comic books, we have several unslabbed and CGC slabbed comics listed in our eBay Featured Store .

Michael

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