Well, as I mentioned on this past Monday's blog...we are back from that show, and the fifth blog in a series that I want to post here is still timely after Wednesday night's BIG Announcement on my Facebook member and Group Pages, (as seen near the bottom of this entry)!

That's because Malachi Throne, who portrayed an unusual role in the 1960's Batman TV Show, is the Feature of today's blog!

I say 'unusual' role, because the role that Malachi Throne played was at first 'uncredited' as to whom the actor was, as seen to the left.  You should have read who was thought to have been playing the role at the time!

False Face was the villain in episodes #17 & 18 in the First Season of the Batman TV Series that started airing January 12th of 1966.

So he was an early villain in the TV Series. When the series first aired there was some concern that another Batman villain, that of Two-Face was thought to be "too gruesome and violent" to be a villain on a show that was aimed at both a younger audience and adults!  So False Face was used instead. However the plastic mask was kind of scary in itself!  Originally the character False Face was to be done with makeup, but for whatever reasons the plastic mask was used.

It wasn't until the end of the second of the two part episodes that Malachi Throne was credited, as seen to the left!

There have been earlier interviews with Malachi about these two episodes, so I'm not going to repeat the why and how this was done.

Instead I'll just mention that this was the only time that the villain False Face was seen as a guest villain of the week during the three seasons the show was on. For more on the series itself, please see this Wikipedia entry by clicking this link.

As a side note...The original series ran on the ABC Network from January 12, 1966 – March 14, 1968. There were 120 episodes aired during the three seasons that the show was broadcast.

Of course most 'mainstream' people are aware that there are comic books, graphic novels, TV Shows both live action and animated, plus Feature Films that have featured Batman.

False Face has not had a series in the DC Universe, such as The Joker has had, but you can see that there have been multiple series and one shots published on Batman, as seen in this link in the listings provided by the GCD a.k.a. Grand Comics Database!

Okay... enough about Malachi Throne as 'False Face' on the Batman TV show... What about the man himself?

Well...I had met Malachi briefly over at Richard (Captain Galaxy) Herd's booth when the con was just setting up on Friday.  (I'll post those new con photos in a future blog post.)

So when I walked by Malachi's own booth later, I re-introduced myself to him and met his wife Marjorie, who are both shown in the top left photo of this post.

Malachi was born December 1st of 1928. The earliest listing of acting credits for Malachi on the IMDB shows a 1959 date. Just like Yvonne Craig, (whom I blogged about yesterday here), Malachi acted on several western TV Shows that I watched during their first airings, including 'Death Valley Days', 'The Big Valley', 'Laredo', and the 'Wild Wild West', just to name a few here. 

Add to those, the other non-western TV Shows including 'Combat', 'The Outer Limits', 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.', 'Time Tunnel', 'Star Trek', and 'Lost In Space', I must have seen him many times on TV during his long career.  So it was very nice to meet him in person at last!

For a complete list of Malachi Throne's appearances both on TV and in Film, please see this IMDB page.  

For those of You that couldn't attend this convention, I'll be blogging about more media guests and comics creators in the days to come...

If You can't wait for my posts, you can check out more of who was there at Wizard World Anaheim by joining their Facebook Fan Page right here for one,  AND / OR You can go direct to their web site to see who else appeared there at: Wizard World Anaheim.

My special thanks to Malachi Throne for taking the time to pose for photos for this blog post and talking about his appearance on the 1966 Batman TV Series with me!  I would post a link to his web site or fan page, but I did not learn of any when meeting him...There is one that says it is the 'Official Malachi Throne Web Site', but I have not been able to verify that as of this posting.  That one centers on his Star Trek and Batman appearances.  

Which reminds me why I am posting another Batman related blog post today, after running one about Yvonne Craig yesterday...     

That's because yesterday I posted the BIG Announcement that I had made the night before at my Facebook member and Group Pages. I'm reposting it here today, as there are even more entries that have posted at the new Facebook Fan Page created by the Editor of the book shown to the left:

"Michael D Hamersky is happy to announce tonight, (after hinting for a while), that the book he has contributed to will be released in October of this year! “Gotham City 14 Miles” is an anthology of critical essays about the 1960s “Batman” TV show! The book is being published by Sequart and is edited by Jim Beard! I'll keep you posted ...as it gets closer to release! Here's a link to the New Fan Page: http://bit.ly/GOTHAMCity14Miles!"

So the above BIG Announcement was what I have been hinting at for several months now in this blog, and at my Facebook Group Page (a.k.a. http://www.Hamersky.com!  As you can tell... I'm pretty excited about seeing this book being scheduled for print.  My thanks to Jim Beard for asking me to be one of the essayists in his book!

~ Michael D Hamersky @ ComicBookCollectorsBlog.com

Note: Our online comic book store was still 'open' for business during this past weekend, as this was only a three day con, and we caught up with shipping orders as of Tuesday the 20th. So if you purchased something and paid for it during that time...Your order is on its' way!  BTW, Batman Comics, Detective Comics and other DC Comics that have featured False Face and Batgirl who was blogged about yesterday, can be found in our online store at:

http://www.comicbookscircus.com/

 

---

 

"Hammering Out the Web For You Since May 12th, 1998!"       Note: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works! To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to:     Make It So Marketing Inc. PO Box 130653 Carlsbad, CA 92013

Check Out More Of Our Own Endeavors:   Yeah, that's me in the photo shown to the left, taken at the 1973 San Diego Comic Con! I first set up as a 'dealer' at the 1972 SDCC at the El Cortez Hotel. So I've been around comic conventions for a little while, LOL! Tina and I now have an on-line exhibitor table at the first "virtual" comic con titled the "Facebook Comic Con" (FBCC)! You can view our table and interact with us there on Facebook by clicking this link.  So if YOU are a Facebook member, please 'join' our Facebook Comic Con - Make It So Marketing exhibitor table for updates, specials, links to this blog, and other wall comments that we post every day!    Also, if you are a Facebook member and would like to join my Facebook Network, feel free to send a 'friend request' to 'Michael D Hamersky'.         ------------------- Talking about comics: if YOU are a comics creator, (writer, penciler, inker, colorist, letterer, etc.), OR even a Comics / Magazine Publisher, feel free to contact me regarding YOUR works for a possible mention / review! I've made a special blog post about: "How To Best Submit YOUR Publication For Possible Review!" for those creators / publishers that would like to possibly have their publications mentioned or reviewed. Just click on the link provided in this paragraph! ~Michael @ ComicBookCollectorsBlog.com   WEB PAGE NOTE:  This blog post is written for the IE Browser standards. Chrome, Safarai, Netscape, Firefox and the others serve the page up differently. The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768. NOTE; All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

 

Well, as I mentioned on Monday's blog...we are back from that show, and the fourth blog in a series that I want to post here is pretty timely after last night's announcement on my Facebook member and Group Pages!

That's because Yvonne Craig, who is well known for her role in the 1960's Batman TV Show, is the Feature of today's blog!

The role that Yvonne played was actually a dual role, that of Barbara Gordon and her alter ego 'Batgirl', as seen to the left!

Batgirl was added in the third season of the TV Series. For more on the series itself, please see this Wikipedia entry by clicking this link.

The original series ran on the ABC Network from January 12, 1966 – March 14, 1968. There were 120 episodes aired during the three seasons that the show was broadcast.

Of course most 'mainstream' people are aware that there are comic books, graphic novels, TV Shows both live action and animated, plus Feature Films that have featured Batman.

Batgirl herself has had 27 different comic book titles, ranging from one-shots to one title that ran for 73 issues from April of 2000 to April of 2006, as seen in this link in the listings provided by the GCD a.k.a. Grand Comics Database!

But I wonder if they know that Yvonne Craig, (Batgirl herself), has a book that was printed a little while back that was titled 'From Ballet To The Batcave And Beyond'?!

I posted a photo of Yvonne holding the book at the top right of this blog post, but the photo to the left is a closer look at the front cover.

If YOU would like an autographed copy of this book, all YOU have to do is use this link to http://www.YvonneCraig.com to purchase a copy!

While you are there, check out the other links on the site. Great Fun for fans of Yvonne's other appearances as well!

Which BTW, reminds me that Yvonne is an accomplished actress in other roles besides Batgirl on the Batman TV Show.  Even though that is all I've blogged about so far, LOL!

I recall seeing Yvonne in earlier appearances in TV Westerns.  As long time blog readers know, I grew up during the period when TV Westerns ruled the airwaves as well as comic books!  I must have had most of those comic books based on TV Westerns during one point or the other during my lifetime! 

Yvonne was in 'Tales of Wells Fargo', 'Bronco', 'Laramie', 'Wagon Train', 'The Big Valley' and 'Death Valley Days' just to name a few!

Plus being a long time fan of Elvis Presley...I definitely remember her roles in 'Kissin' Cousins', and 'It Happened At the World's Fair'!

For a complete list of Yvonne's appearances both on TV and in Film, please see this IMDB page.  

For those of You that couldn't attend this convention, I'll be blogging about more media guests and comics creators in the days to come...

If You can't wait for my posts, you can check out more of who was there at Wizard World Anaheim by joining their Facebook Fan Page right here for one,  AND / OR You can go direct to their web site to see who else appeared there at: Wizard World Anaheim.

My special thanks to Yvonne Craig for taking the time to pose for photos for this blog post and another one that I'll be posting down the line on her films with Elvis.  Running out of room in this blog post, LOL! Besides, this post was more about her days on the Batman TV Show!  Which reminds me...     

AND Now to post in my Blog the BIG Announcement that I made last night at my Facebook member and Group Pages:

"Michael D Hamersky is happy to announce tonight, (after hinting for a while), that the book he has contributed to will be released in October of this year! “Gotham City 14 Miles” is an anthology of critical essays about the 1960s “Batman” TV show! The book is being published by Sequart and is edited by Jim Beard! I'll keep you posted ...as it gets closer to release! Here's a link to the New Fan Page: http://bit.ly/GOTHAMCity14Miles!"

So that's what I have been hinting at for several months now in this blog, and my Facebook Group Page (a.k.a. http://www.Hamersky.com!  As you can tell... I'm pretty excited about seeing this book being scheduled for print.  My thanks to Jim Beard for asking me to be one of the essayists in his book!

~ Michael D Hamersky @ ComicBookCollectorsBlog.com

Note: Our online comic book store was still 'open' for business during this past weekend, as this was only a three day con, and we have caught up with shipping orders as of Tuesday the 20th.  BTW, Batman Comics, Detective Comics and other DC Comics that have featured Batgirl, can be found in our online store at:

http://www.comicbookscircus.com/

 

---

 

"Hammering Out the Web For You Since May 12th, 1998!"       Note: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works! To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to:     Make It So Marketing Inc. PO Box 130653 Carlsbad, CA 92013

Check Out More Of Our Own Endeavors:   Yeah, that's me in the photo shown to the left, taken at the 1973 San Diego Comic Con! I first set up as a 'dealer' at the 1972 SDCC at the El Cortez Hotel. So I've been around comic conventions for a little while, LOL! Tina and I now have an on-line exhibitor table at the first "virtual" comic con titled the "Facebook Comic Con" (FBCC)! You can view our table and interact with us there on Facebook by clicking this link.  So if YOU are a Facebook member, please 'join' our Facebook Comic Con - Make It So Marketing exhibitor table for updates, specials, links to this blog, and other wall comments that we post every day!    Also, if you are a Facebook member and would like to join my Facebook Network, feel free to send a 'friend request' to 'Michael D Hamersky'.         ------------------- Talking about comics: if YOU are a comics creator, (writer, penciler, inker, colorist, letterer, etc.), OR even a Comics / Magazine Publisher, feel free to contact me regarding YOUR works for a possible mention / review! I've made a special blog post about: "How To Best Submit YOUR Publication For Possible Review!" for those creators / publishers that would like to possibly have their publications mentioned or reviewed. Just click on the link provided in this paragraph! ~Michael @ ComicBookCollectorsBlog.com   WEB PAGE NOTE:  This blog post is written for the IE Browser standards. Chrome, Safarai, Netscape, Firefox and the others serve the page up differently. The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768. NOTE; All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

 

Well, we are back from that show, and the third blog that I want to post is about seeing one of the actors that I really enjoyed watching on another one of Irwin Allen's TV Shows... David (Al) Hedison of 'Voyage to The Bottom of the Sea' fame!

I was up in Kodiak, Alaska when this show first aired.  Trust me, it was a BIG HIT among those of us that enjoyed 'sci-fi' type of TV Shows!

The original series ran from September 14, 1964 – March 31, 1968 on the ABC Network.  We still had a black and white TV set in Alaska, but that was OK because the premiere episode was shown in black & white, (even though it was filmed in color)!

I soon picked up the Gold Key Comics that featured this TV Show... they were favorites of mine for years!  Here's the link to the GCD where you too can see the front covers of the 16 issue run.  The comics were published from December of 1964 until April of 1970, just before I graduated High School.  That was a long time period of time for the comics being printed, although there aren't that many issues in the run as they were published almost on a quarterly basis!

David of course is known for much more than just 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea', but hey, this is a comic book oriented blog, LOL!

David, shown to the left during his 'Voyage' days, was also in a great Sci-Fi film, 'The Fly', back in 1958 when he was known as 'Al Hedison'!

For a complete list of David's appearances both on TV and in Film, please see this IMDB page.

BTW, to show you how popular Irwin Allen's TV Shows were... The third season of 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea' ran simultaneously with two more Irwin Allen-produced TV series: the second season of Lost in Space and the premiere, (and only) season of The Time Tunnel. 

(Not too subtle hint about a future blog post... I also have photos from this same convention of a certain actress who starred in Time Tunnel to post here!)

My thanks go out to Diane Kachmar, who is pictured at the top left of this blog post.  Diane is the co-author of a book with David Goudsward titled 'The Fly At Fifty', which has a foreword by David Hedison.

Diane C. Kachmar is also a University Librarian at Florida Atlantic University. She maintains www.DavidHedison.com where YOU can purchase David Hedison signed photos, etc. 

BTW, Diane is the author of Roy Scheider: A Film Biography (2002). You can also visit her on the web at Author's Den. She is one busy gal as you tell!   

For those of You that couldn't attend this convention, I'll be blogging about more media guests and comics creators in the days to come...

If You can't wait for my posts, you can check out more of who was there at Wizard World Anaheim by joining their Facebook Fan Page right here for one,  AND / OR You can go direct to their web site to see who else appeared there at: Wizard World Anaheim.

Again, my thanks to Diane and her husband, John Kachmar, for being so nice to me during my time at their booth with David Hedison!     

AND my thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now over the 3,100 total posts in number! 

Well, we are back from that show, and the second blog I want to post is about seeing one of my favorite cartoonists, Scott Shaw!

Besides being a cartoonist, Scott is also a storyboard artist, writer, animation producer, lecturer, designer, art director, and comic book creator... whew!

Scott was there at the very beginnings of the San Diego Comic Con!  He also worked at the San Diego Zoo for a few years, just like his dad did. 

If this sounds familar to my long time blog readers, that's because my dad also worked at the San Diego Zoo at the same time Scott's dad did, and Scott and I worked at the Zoo during most of the same years, but he had an early morning shift, while I was there later in the morning.  Whereas he was one of the early organizers at the Con, I didn't start as a dealer at the El Cortez SDCC location until 1972.  But I digress...

Scott and his son, Kirby, were located in the Artists Alley section of this Wizard World, which was at the far end of the con after you walked in the entrance.

So, it being the first afternoon of the con, I gravitated to that area, before the media guests were fully set up and ready to go.  With a 'Press Pass' I was able to see several persons before the doors opened and they became swamped with attendees.

Scott and Kirby were already set up, and I had a good talk with both of them, as seen by the above two photos that I am publishing here.

Scott, whose partial credits of his works are found via this link, had several of those works displayed on his table for sale. One that I had seen briefly at an earlier Comic Con International: San Diego show at a booth next to Scott's there, was one that I picked up this time. 

Why?  Well, I enjoy reading 'promotional comics', those comics that are published to help promote a company's products or services. 

This one was "The Adventures Of Captain Rochester", A Rochester Electronics Publication. It was issue #2 of the title.

The artwork on the covers and the interior pages were illustrated by Scott Shaw!, so naturally I had to read it!

The script was by George Karalias & Paul Gerrish, art by Scott Shaw!, coloring by Tom Luth, with lettering by Dan Nakrosis.  Edited by George Karalias & Scott Shaw!

I found this issue to be chock full of information, and a fun read!  Which is why I enjoy reading 'promotional comics' like this!

So what is the background and theme for this comic book title? Here's what I found from the web site: 

Captain Rochester and the Quest for Traceability, Authorization and Quality.

"To combat the increasingly severe problems caused by counterfeit and sub-standard semiconductors, Rochester Electronics joined forces with the Semiconductor Industry Association to establish the SIA Anti-Counterfeit Task Force. In addition, Rochester continues to participate in international anti-counterfeit efforts, including the Reliable Electronic Component Suppliers Classification program in China (RECS).

To further this cause, Rochester Electronics introduced Captain Rochester - a strong and entertaining industry hero who promotes safe and secure methods of dealing with the procurement of semiconductors. As an icon, he has come to be a symbol of what is right about the industry. As Smokey the Bear is to preventing forest fires, Captain Rochester is to preventing customers from making mistakes in buying counterfeit or sub-standard devices. As new plots and adventures unfold, Captain Rochester will do more than battle against the "dark side" of the industry - he will interact in positive and beneficial relationships with other characters who will represent real-world allies dedicated to facilitating the purchase of legitimate semiconductor products."
 

That's pretty cool in my book! 

Scott had these issues for sale at his table. I'm not sure if he sells them via the mail.  I didn't pick up any for resale purposes, so we don't have them in our online store, sorry!

To see more info on this cool series, plus view a animated video of Captain Rochester, check out the company web site at:

http://www.rocelec.com/about/captrochester/ 

Plus, I've already posted links to Scott's websites before, but this blog keeps adding new 'followers' all the time, so here are just a couple of Scott Shaw!'s websites:

http://www.oddballcomics.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Oddball-Comics/244154350651?ref=ts 

For those of You that couldn't attend this convention, I'll be blogging about more media guests and comics creators in the days to come...

If You can't wait for my posts, you can check out more of who was there at Wizard World Anaheim by joining their Facebook Fan Page right here for one,  AND / OR You can go direct to their web site to see who else appeared there at: Wizard World Anaheim.    

My thanks to Scott Shaw! and Kirby.  It was fun talking with you guys on Friday, and during the rest of the show. See you again, real soon!

AND my thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now over the 3,100 total posts in number! 

Well, we are back from that show, and the first blog I want to post is about meeting two of the stars of one of my favorite TV Shows from the 1960's:  Land of the Giants!

I know that several of you have only seen this series as re-runs, and maybe some of you haven't seen it all?!  So here is a brief history of the show:

Land of the Giants was an hour-long American science fiction television program lasting two seasons. I first watched it beginning on September 22, 1968 and viewed the final episode on March 22, 1970.

This was another of my favorite shows that was created and produced by Irwin Allen. He had several TV Shows that I enjoyed when I was in junior and senior high school.

I believe that this 'Land of the Giants' was the fourth of those science fiction TV series that he produced.

This show was aired on the ABC Network and was from 20th Century Fox Television. It isn't such a big deal now, but back then this series was filmed entirely in color.  Unfortunately it only ran for 51 episodes, lasting for two seasons.

On Friday I met Don Matheson and Deanna Lund at the booth.  Don Marshall, who also starred in the show, was also at this con. However I didn't see him until Sunday. 

Other stars that were on the TV Series included Gary Conway, Kurt Kaznar, Stefan Arngrim, and Heather Young. 

Besides the five issue comic book series from Gold Key Comics, of which issue #1 is shown at the top left, there were also three novels that Murray Leinster wrote in 1968 and 1969 based on this television series.  We sometimes get the comics and paperbacks in, but they don't last too long in our online store. There are several collectors that want these items from this popular TV Series!

The Land of the Giants booth at Wizard World Anaheim was a last minute addition, and I wasn't able to blog about the stars attending, prior to the con starting...

However, I am glad to have met both Deanna and Don, and found that Deanna has a couple of websites that she recommended to me that I am listing here.  She is also on Facebook, but does not have a Fan Page as of yet.  When she does, I'll update this blog post or run another one.

At the table, Deanna had a couple of promos from http://www.Giantslog.com and she also mentioned to me the http://www.DeannaLund.com which I am also listing here.   

For those of You that couldn't attend this convention, I'll be blogging about more media guests and comics creators in the days to come... If You can't wait for my posts, you can check out more of who was there at Wizard World Anaheim by joining their Facebook Fan Page right here for one,  AND / OR You can go direct to their web site to see who else appeared there at: Wizard World Anaheim.  

Special Thanks to Deanna Lund who spent extra time with me on the first day of the con going over all the material published above, plus more to be blogged about her in the months to come as she was also on the Batman TV Show that I have a book coming out out on.

My thanks to Don Matheson also.  I'll be blogging separately about Don Marshall, who I didn't see until Sunday.

AND my thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now over the 3,100 total posts in number!