Dave-El's Not So Proud Moments In Comic Books: Karate Kid

As a comic book reader, I like to boast of having read some high quality projects like Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons as well as other Alan Moore projects like Swamp Thing, Miracleman and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Or series like Neil Gaiman's Sandman and Grant Morrison's runs on Animal Man and Doom Patrol. 

Or Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples and anything by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips.

But for all the good stuff I've read, I've also paid good money for comic books of a more questionable value. And I'm not talking about a random single issue of something that I found to be not that good.

No, I'm talking about committing to a series and wondering why the hell did I read that. 

One such comic book series of this type that I followed in the 1970s was Karate Kid.

No, this is not about the Karate Kid series of movies. You may notice in the closing credits there is a blurb crediting DC Comics with permission to use the name Karate Kid.

Because Karate Kid, the super hero, got here first before Ralph Macchio took to the silver screen.

Who the hell was Karate Kid anyway? 

Karate Kid is Val Armorr from a thousand years in the future and is a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Karate Kid's super power is... "Super Karate!"

Now that's just silly. Who would call a super power "Super Karate"?  Val is a master of every form of martial arts to have been developed by the 31st century. He can severely damage various types of hard material with a single blow.

Let's watch him "karate" a meteor into rubble.

He can hold his own against Superboy through use of what he called "Super Karate".

Never mind! It is called "Super Karate".  

So how the hell did he get his own book?

In the 1970s, a big trend in movies were martial arts movies as exemplified by Enter the Dragon starring Bruce Lee. Suddenly there was plethora of Asian masters of martial mayhem kicking and chopping across the screens across America.

Marvel Comics wanted in on that and launched The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu starring Shang Chi (who will be getting his own Marvel movie in a couple of years).

DC saw that The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu starring Shang Chi was selling pretty good and decided they wanted in on that.

And thus Karate Kid vaulted over the centuries and landed in then present day New York for a series of…

Well, I want to say “exciting adventures” or “thrilling adventures”.

I will settle for “adequate adventures”.

Here is Karate Kid in line at the bank.

Paul Levitz in his first work writing for the Legion of Super Heroes wrote the first issue which brought Val across time to the present and kept him there.

Starting with issue #2, the book would be written for most of its run by Barry Jameson. I only recently learned, nearly 40 years after the fact that Barry Jameson was an alias for David Michelinie.  

Anyway, Karate Kid gets his own comic book. It was pencilled by Ric Estrada and inked by Joe Staton, both of whom had a cartoonish style.  

In their own way, the team of Estrada & Staton were good at what they did. Their work showed expressiveness and a fluidity of motion.  But if DC wanted Karate Kid to be their answer to Marvel's Deadly Hands of Kung Fu starring Shang Chi, this cartoonish approach seems outdated compared to the more detailed work Paul Gulacy, Mike Zeck or Gene Day was providing for Shang Chi's adventures.

The art in Karate Kid wasn't even on par with what we got from Karate Kid's first solo story in an issue of Superboy and the Legion of Super Heroes by Mike Grell.  

We eventually learn that Karate Kid was staying in the past as a test of sorts to proof he was worthy of marrying Princess Projectra. 

Karate Kid goes back to the future to kick Black Dragon's ass and tell Projectra's pop he's gonna marry his daughter and the king is all, "Well, damn son! Go for it!"  

Barry Jameson leaves the book and Bob Rozakis & Jack C Harris tag team the writing on the book until it's cancellation with the DC Implosion.   

I have no information on why David Michelinie used the nom de plume of  Barry Jameson for his run on Karate Kid.  Was he embarrassed by the whole thing? His work on Karate Kid was not particularly noteworthy but I've read worst thing things by David Michelinie that he's put the "David Michelinie" name on.  

I did not buy the complete run of Karate Kid. I left when "Barry Jameson" left. But I was there for 10 straight issues. 

Why, I do not know.  

The Coronavirus Conflagration: A Grim Milestone

The catastrophic calculus of the coronavirus pandemic continues to count upward.

Yesterday, at least 150,000 people in the United States have now died of the coronavirus. 

It is described as a "grim milestone". 

What it is not is a grim total. This situation is going to get worse and more people are going to get sick and more people are going to die. There will be more milestones to come with an increasing gradient of grimness. 

So much illness and death from a virus that Donald Trump once dismissed as a fake panic created by Democrats. 

Trump even now thinks this whole pandemic thing is a overblown and if we stopped testing, we'll stop finding coronavirus cases so the numbers of those with COVID 19 and those who have died from it will go down. Not identifying the disease does not make the disease go away. But Trump isn't looking at the lives of people impacted by the 
coronavirus but at the numbers that make him look bad.  

We now have over 150,000 dead from a virus that Donald Trump once said that the number of cases would be close to zero within days. 

Here in the sweltering heat of July the death toll mounts from a virus that Donald Trump said would go away in April when the weather got warmer.  

While Americans grapple with feelings of dread as the bodies pile up, Donald Trump is worried about other things.

His administration is rolling back housing desegregation measures. Never mind thousands of Americans, out of work due to the economic shutdowns caused by the pandemic, are facing evictions. 

Donald Trump is more obsessed with maintaining 
monuments and symbols honoring the Confederacy while Americans struggle to keep the lights on and food on the table while COVID-19 ravages our nation.  

Trump's answer to demonstrations against police brutality and racial injustice is to send his own version of the god damned Gestapo, squads of heavily armed and unidentified federal officials to violently strike at protestors who are wearing masks to help protect themselves from the coronavirus pandemic as they find themselves shrouded in clouds of tear gas. 

The coronavirus pandemic continues its conflagrations across the United States. Hospitals are stressed, ICUs are maxed out and the morgues are full. And Donald Trump fiddles while America burns. 

Of course Trump thinks he's doing a great job. Since COVID-19 hasn't killed his fat ass already, then Trump thinks the problem is solved so everybody get back to work and get back to school. 

The problem is NOT solved. Everything anyone with a modicum of sense and wisdom was worried about back in March is still there to be worried about. 

Anyone with a modicum of sense and wisdom should be very afraid and very worried right now.  

No one ever accused Donald Trump of having a modicum of sense or wisdom.  

And so the catastrophic calculus of the coronavirus pandemic continues to count higher and higher.  

Life After Work III - The Search For Work

Hi there! Dave-El here and welcome to I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You with an update on my employment status.

I don't have one. 

Yay, I say unto thee that I remain in that state known as L.A.W.

Life After Work

While I remain for the moment sufficiently financially solvent, I have a bad habit of indulging in my favorite activity. 

Sleep. 

Oh my God but do I love an afternoon nap.

The thing is when I lay down to take a nap in the afternoon, I go to sleep faster, sleep deeper and sleep longer than I do at night. 

Which is why, sufficiently financially solvent or not, I think I need to go back to work doing...something. 

Sleeping all day is no way to live. Or...

Is it? 

OK, Dave-El! Focus!  

I am on Linked In and a variety of job locating services that seem to match me up to jobs either way ABOVE or way BELOW what I can do.  It's like the choices are either CEO or assistant janitorial intern trainee.  

I'm also with a service that provides resources for resume and brand development as well as networking. 

Brand development? What is my "brand"? 

"I AM DAVE-EL! I HAVE THE MEATS!!" 

Next week, I will be attending a virtual job fair. 

Below is a graphic of an example of what part of this virtual job fair will look like. 

LexCorp? I understand the pay and benefits are rather generous but I'm not on board with that whole "anti-Superman" thing. My cousin Kal-El would be hurt if I took a job at LexCorp.  

Kal-El: So, Dave-El, are you back to work? 

Dave-El: Why, er, yes, cousin. I've got a new job. 

Kal-El: Glad to hear it. Where are you working now? 

Dave-El: Well, this might be hard to hear but I'm working at LexCorp. 

Kal-El: LexCorp? Lex Luthor is my arch enemy! How could you work for LexCorp? 

Dave-El: Uh..... er.... that is.... well....  I have the meats?  

In addition to being able to sleep whenever I damn well want in the middle of the day, I think I've just become so accustomed to my current state as described by Bachman–Turner Overdrive in "Takin' Care of Business":

"Look at me I'm self-employed. I love to work at nothing all day."  

OK, that's enough with this blog post for today. I've got to go do some important things, you know. Stuff like... well..

This. 

Tuesday TV Touchbase Bonus: The Ad Breaks of FEAR!

I'm doing this bonus Tuesday TV Touchbase post to address not a particular TV show but some specific TV advertising. 

Warning: this is more political post than a TV post.   

If you watch any ad supported television programming, the commercials are virtually inescapable. 

A darkened police station where a recording answers the phone informing the caller that because the police have been defunded, there is no one to take your call. Options are given for various levels of distress the caller may be experiencing. "If you are being raped, press 1." 

Or an elderly white woman sitting alone at home, she becomes aware of a masked man lurking furtively outside. She picks up the phone and a recording tells her that because the police have been defunded, there is no one to come to her aid right now. 

Or the woman and her child (both white) anxiously seeking cover under a bed from the violent home invaders in her house. She tries call for help but all she reaches is a recording: because the police have been defunded, sorry, you're on your own. 

Each ad is includes a montage of violent clashes between police and "rioters" as an announcer intones that this is what life will be like in Joe Biden's America. And each ad ends with Donald Trump almost cheerfully telling us that "I'm Donald Trump and I approve this message." 

Welcome, gentle TV viewers to the ad breaks of FEAR!!

During any given half hour of television while watching Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy, one or more of these ads will air. 

Never mind that I don't want to hear from this fat fuck during my Wheel/Jeopardy time. These ads are an abomination on so many levels.  

The ads lie.  They say Joe Biden supports defunding the police. No, Biden does not. Biden has clearly distanced himself from the "defund the police" movement. 

Yes, "defund the police" is not inherently a removal of all funds from police operations but rather reallocating some resources to other programs to address problems police are not equipped to actually handle. But since "defund the police" can be construed as a removal of all funds from police operations, Biden has wisely said he's not in favor of that to head that objection off at the pass. Not that it apparently matters in the Trump ads say what they want to say anyway.

The images of police vs. "rioters" are suspect. Police lobbing tear gas and rubber bullets into a crowd of peaceful protestors will get you the same footage as lobbing tear gas and rubber bullets into rioters and looters.  

In addition to factual errors, the worst offense of these Trump ads is the unrelenting fear mongering, the base appeal to the worst of humanity, cultivating fear and distrust. For a guy who is ostensibly the leader of the United States to push a message of such fear, hate and anger is anathema to what the god damn office is all about.  The fucking President of the fucking United States of America should NOT being trafficking in such hysteria.  

Which only underscores how little Donald Trump understands about the job he is so desperately trying to keep. 

And that damn jaunty "I'm Donald Trump and I approve this message" tag is particularly irksome.  When a political candidate goes dark and negative, the candidate usually does the "I'm ________ and I approve this message" tag in a tone to match the message. Not Donald fucking Trump! He just spent 30 seconds trying to scare the shit out of his base and he's fucking happy about it. 

And that's another thing about these ads. Trump's campaign is spending millions of dollars for ad buys to talk not to the American people but to just that tiny sliver of the demographic pie that Trump can't afford to lose. It was an appeal to fear that pushed that base to put Trump in the White House in 2016 and Li'l Donnie thinks that fear is the key to keep him there in 2020. Meanwhile, anyone outside of that base is not stupid enough to buy what Trump is selling in these ads. 

I'm just sick of seeing this fear mongering shit on my TV screen 2 or 3 times in a half hour. I either fast forward when I can or at least mute the TV. 

That's all for now. Until next time, stay safe, remember to be good to one another and Li'l Donnie, stay the hell off my TV, would ya, I'm trying to watch Alex Trebek here. 

Tuesday TV Touchbase: The Alienist, Fleabag, Classic Jeopardy

Once again we are back with the weekly post where I answer the question no one is asking, 

"What the heck is Dave-El  watching on TV?"

The Alienist: Angel of Darkness
This sequel to the 2018 series The Alienist picks up a year later. It's 1897 and tensions between classes are at fever pitch and it's not just the dividing lines between those who have more than enough and those who have too little. the women's suffrage movement is in full swing, demanding that women have the right to vote, for their voices to be heard ans respected. 

Sitting in an electric chair at the intersection of the inequities of wealth and of gender is Martha Napp, an unwed mother convicted by a jury of men of killing her infant child. 

There's a large gathering of women outside the prison in protest who do not think justice has been done. 

There's also a large contingent of police officers with billy clubs at the ready to beat back any such protests.

Yes, this story is set in 1897, not 2020. 

We the viewers at home know Martha is innocent. On the night of her baby's disappearance, we see Martha is quite anxious to know what has become of her child while we can clearly see Dr. Markoe, the director of the hospital, is up to no good. 

We the viewers at home can only watch helplessly as the last restraint is fastened and the infernal chair that Martha Napp sits upon is charged up. I must admit cowardice as I hit the fast forward button through what happens next. 

The narrative picks up with the disappearance of  a second, infant, kidnapped out of the high-end mansion on 5th Ave, where the Spanish consulate general resides with his wife.

As if the Spanish consulate general doesn't have enough on his plate what with the United States determined to start a war with Spain over pretexts inflated or outright fabricated. The bloodlust for war with Spain is being stirred up by newspapers owned by William Randolph Hearst.  

Hearst doesn't give one single god damn about Martha Napp, the possible injustice of an innocent woman being put to death or the inequities in the system towards  the poor and towards women that make such injustice. Social injustice doesn't sell newspapers. War sells newspapers. 

As Hearst puts it, "That’s what the common man wants to read over his grits. The United States standing up to bullies.”

Into this mess of murder, deception, social unrest and the looming clouds of war enter our intrepid heroes.  

Batman: Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, the titular “alienist” (the Victorian term for psychiatrist). 

Robin:  John Schuyler Moore, New York Times cartoonist and society man-about-town, now a reporter for the Times. 

Batgirl: Sara Howard, the first woman to become a police investigator in New York, now heading up her own detective agency. Being a female private detective in 1897 is impressive but mostly her client base is wealthy women who just know the servants are stealing the silver ware.  Well, it pays the bills (those beautiful coordinated ensembles that Sara sports during the day are paid for somehow) but Howard's interests lie elsewhere. 

She is still determined to vindicate Martha Napp, even after her execution. And her services have been secured by the Spanish consulate general's wife to find and retrieve and her abducted baby. The tense political situation (which will lead to the Spanish American War a year later) leaves the distraught mother convinced that they will receive no help from the NYPD.  

While the TV series is called "The Alienist: Angel of Darkness", the book by Caleb Carr on which this is based doesn't factor in Dr. Laszlo Kreizler very early or often. Since the TV series has "The Alienist" in the title, Kreizler is shoe-horned in to justify having the TV series named after him.  Kreizler is still a poor master of his own social skills and remains very much a man of this late Victorian era. Especially in regards to his interactions with women, he can still cause offense when none is intended.  

John Moore is now a reporter with the New York Times, using his position to champion for social justice on behalf of the poor and downtrodden. However, he still remains in the orbit of high society, inexplicably engaged to Violet Hayworth, Hearst's god daughter. If we expected after Kreizler gave Moore that ring, John would've put it on Sara Howard's finger, well, that didn't happen. Apparently John did ask her and she said no.  Since we find out that Moore's wealthy and generous grandmother has died, it is possible that John, described by Lazlo as a "virtuous man", is getting married for the money.  

If anyone is the star of  "The Alienist: Angel of Darkness" other than the Alienist, it's Sara Howard. For all the horrors both real and metaphorical she is forced to confront, Howard remains a veritable placid lake. After working her way through a male dominated police force and now a male dominated profession of private detective, Sara Howard has to keep herself in check, lest she be dismissed as merely an emotional or hysterical woman. It is an accusation that comes her way when she dares to offer one last protest before the switch is thrown for Martha Napp's execution. 

Scenes at the hospital with desperate, lonely women giving birth are filled with blood and metaphysical horror. This hospital not only has women who are poor and indigent but it is also a dumping ground for the mistresses who have become inconveniently pregnant by their wealthy married paramours. The inequities of wealth and of gender continue to loom large over this distressing narrative. 

 "The Alienist: Angel of Darkness" can be a hard show to watch. the violence can be harsh and brutal.

But I find this view of life in the latter days of the 19th century fascinating. The dichotomy of the expanding modern world of electric lights and telephones sitting next to horse drawn carriages. In a sense, it's like watching people pretend to be civilized. 

And in a world racked by murder, horror and injustice, it may well be that civilization is a pretense. 

No, I'm not sure if I'm talking about 1897 or 2020.  


The Marvelous Mrs Maisel
Just a quick pop in to confirm I've begun the 3rd season. Midge absolutely kills at a USO show. More on season 3 next time.

While I'm in the Amazon Prime neighborhood, I'm also catching up on another series.  

Fleabag
For a show that is ostensibly a comedy, Fleabag is not an easy show to watch. 

I mean, I get why this show and it's creator and star Phoebe Waller-Bridge have been shown so much award show love. There are genuine laughs in this show but at it's center is a character who is on a downward spiral of despair, failure, self-loathing and other depressing words. The character of "Fleabag" can perhaps be summed up by erstwhile boyfriend Harry: "Don't make me hate you. Loving you's painful enough."

Or as Fleabag puts it herself: 
"I have a horrible feeling that I'm a greedy, perverted, selfish, apathetic, cynical, depraved, morally bankrupt woman."


And she appears to be right about that.  


Fleabag is a British TV series based on Phoebe Waller-Bridge's one-woman show first performed in 2013. While she is referred to as "Fleabag" in reviews and commentary, due to the title of the show, she is never given a name on camera.

Fleabag shreds the fourth wall, providing asides, commentary and exposition. Sometimes this fourth wall breaking is non verbal as Fleabag makes eye contact with the camera to shrug, smirk or roll her eyes.  

Jeopardy 
This past week, Jeopardy ran episodes from the first ten years of the show including the first one hosted by Alex Trebek. Alex seemed a tad more excitable than the more calm, laid back elder statesman of television that he has become. We get to see Alex Trebek in classic form with a halo of curly hair on his head and that mustache. Even after Trebek lost the curls and the 'stache, Will Ferell was still playing him with the same hair in the classic Celebrity Jeopardy sketches on SNL.  

These episodes feature cheesy graphics and music that sounds composed on a Casio keyboard in someone's bedroom in 1984.  

This flashback to the 1980's included the 2nd episode which ended with a Final Jeopardy three way tie of ....zero! All three contestants bet the farm and got the question wrong. Ain't nobody coming back from that one.  

That's all for now. Until next time, stay safe, remember to be good to one another and keep it down, would ya, I'm trying to watch some TV here. 

Seriously Can't They See the Emperor Is Naked

After Friday's post about Donald Trump's campaign finance team and Kimberly Guilfoyle, I appear to be looking at another story connected to Trump's campaign financing operation ...but without Kimberly Guilfoyle. 

I don't care what kind of pull Kimberly Guilfoyle aLEGgedly has to draw readers to this blog, I can't LEGitimately put her in every post. 

Today's story starts with a fundraising email went out last week from Donald Trump's campaign with the subject line, “Ronald Reagan and Yours Truly.” 

If you pony of $45, you can get a "limited edition" set of coins, one with the image of Ronald Reagan and the other with Kimberly Guilfoyle...  

Whoops! Sorry! 

If you pony of $45, you can get a "limited edition" set of coins, one with the image of Ronald Reagan and the other with Donald Trump. The coins are mounted with a photograph from 1987 of Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump shaking hands. 

If you're wondering about the impetus of this great 1987 meeting between a President and a future "President", it was actually no big deal. Donald Trump was in a standard White House receiving line and it was his turn in line to shake Reagan's hand. 

I'm sure Li'l Donnie recalls the moment differently. 

"Ronald Reagan said he was honored to meet me, that I was going to be President one day. Before he was President, Ronald Reagan made movies. A lot of people don't know that. I made movies too. I starred in Home Alone 2. Everyone says I made that movie so much better. It was a loser before they begged me to be in it."  

The fundraising email implies an important link between the two men. 

The response from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute to his email was, to be succinct, "Oh hell no!" 

They have told Donald Trump’s reelection campaign and the Republican National Committee stop using the 40th president’s image and name for fundraising.

Here's what Melissa Giller, chief marketing officer for the foundation, had to say about this: “We own the likeness of President Reagan and they used his image for a coin without our consent. We called the RNC and asked them to cease and desist the use of President Reagan on the coin, and they agreed.”

Now here's the thing that got my attention and prompted today's post.  RNC Communications Director Michael Ahrens said the foundation’s objections “came as a surprise.”

"Came as a surprise"?  

Really?  

The group known as the Republican Voters Against Trump used excerpts from Reagan’s “A Vision For America” speech to make a case against Trump. Reagan’s words next to Trump is not a good look for Li'l Donnie. 

The “never Trump” Republican Lincoln Project used excerpts from Reagan’s hopeful 1984 reelection ad “Morning in America” to contrast against what it characterized as “Mourning in America” under Trump.

Ronald Reagan's messages of hope contrasted with Donald Trump's fear mongering are the complete antithesis of each other.  

And Michael Ahrens says the objections to using Reagan's image “came as a surprise.”

It's bad enough that Donald Trump dwells in some alternate reality where he is universally beloved and respected but the snivelling sycophants who work to keep him in power apparently live there too.  

"Came as a surprise"? 

As much as it might make Trump feel better that his only opposition is a ragtag gang of left leaning socialist antifa Democrats, the thing is that the reality that the emperor is wearing no clothes is being seen by a wider range of people. 

There are Republicans who can see the truth that Donald Trump is not good for the Republican Party but even more importantly not good for America. 

Donald Trump would be damn lucky if he had even a fraction of the good will Ronald Reagan had from the American people.  Look, Reagan had his failings as President. The Iran Contra scandal was an example of executive power and privilege run amuck. Reagan was slow to recognize and respond to the the AIDS crisis. 

But one thing that was never in doubt about Ronald Reagan was his love for this country and his dedication to his service to it's citizens. No one could accuse Reagan of placing adoration of himself above his service to the United States.  

Naturally Donald Trump weighed in to accuse those who run the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute as not being true Republicans, in the pocket of the Washington Post and being a bunch of meanies to poor ol' Li'l Donnie. 

Trump also took issue with Fox News reporting this story. 

In his attack on the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, Trump paints a clear picture why the foundation wants as much clear distance as possible from this malingering, malicious miscreant and just how far away he is from the legacy and the example of Ronald Reagan.  

Michael Ahrens says the objections to using Reagan's image “came as a surprise.”

Anyone with a modicum of sense and decency, any with even one eye open should not be surprised. 

Seriously, can't Michael Ahrens see the Emperor is naked? 

Cinema Sunday: Cat-Women of the Moon

Today's Cinema Sunday takes a look at a classic science fiction tale from 1953 called...

Hold on! Let's look around to make sure no one suspicious is watching this.  

OK, I think we have the all clear.  

Cat-Women of the Moon, an epic tale of mankind's first foray into space to visit the moon. 

Or as it is described on Amazon Prime, 

"Astronauts travel to the moon where they discover it is inhabited by attractive women in black tights."

And for the record, black ballet flats too.

No high heels! These cat-women may be there for fanservice but it's practical fanservice.

This first expedition to the Moon faces disaster because they let a woman on board the space ship. 

That's right, ya lugs heard me! A woman on a space ship!  A dame!  A skirt! A shrew! A babe! Whattaya expect, letting a woman on a space ship?  

Look! She's taking time to check her hair and make up on the bridge of the space ship! Of course! She's a dame! 

By the way, the seats on the space ship have safety belts in case there's trouble. 

On the other hand, those seats are common office swivel chairs with wheels on 'em so there's that to contend with.  The navigator's station is a regular wooden desk. 

Helen, the ship's navigator, guides the space craft to land on the dark side of the moon. She's subconsciously guided there by the telepathic powers of the cat-women. 

The movie may have gone to Ed Wood levels of cheap with office chairs and wooden desks on the space ship but the surface of the moon is rendered very well.

Helen guides the 4 men of the crew from the ship to a cave which has a breathable atmosphere and 2 giant spiders which demonstrates the moon surface effects ate up all the budget. 

Eventually, our intrepid explorers find the titular Cat-Women of the Moon, part of an ancient and unknown civilization hiding underneath the surface of the moon. 

The Cat-Women of the Moon are living on borrowed time with the air available to them in limited and dwindling supply. 

They very much would like to hitch a ride on a rocket and high tail it to Earth where there is more air. They've been anxiously waiting for Earth science to become advance enough to send a frickin' rocket to the frickin' moon. 

The Cat-Women of the Moon possess telepathic powers that they've been using to influence Helen. 

For reasons of plot, their telepathy does not work on men.I guess that's what the black tights are for.  

The music score for this movie is pretty good for a low grade sci-fi flick. The music is credited to "Elmer Bernstien" and yes, it is a misspelling of Elmer Bernstein, the Academy Award winning composer slumming it for whatever work he can get while the Red Scare of the 1950's was fucking up his career.  

Laird Grainger (Sonny Tufts) is the leader of the expedition, a by the book type of guy with a tendency towards reason and rationality which puts him at odds with Kip Reissner (Victor Jory), a take action kind of a guy who likes to solve problem with his gun. Laird is more susceptible to the manipulation of the cat-women while the tough as nails Kip knows immediately that the cat-women are up to some kind of shit and he ain't got time for it.  

Three of the cat-women, identified as Alpha, Beta and Lambda, take point in the narrative with various degrees of manipulating the men. They need to learn from the men how to work the rocket so the women can steal it and, as Alpha puts it, "We will get their women under our power, and soon we will rule the whole world!" 

The cat-women are bringing lesbian literature and a stock of vibrators with fresh batteries?  

Alpha is pulling Helen's strings to get Laird to cough up rocket intel while Beta gets her info from a spaceman using his greed for gold and then kills him. His name was Walt and seriously, no one liked him. So killing him is a plus mark for the cat-women.  

Lambda is not on board with the plan for her guy because dang it, she's fallen in love with him. Lambda confesses to crew member Doug  about the cat-woman plot, saying, "I love you Doug, and I must kill you". 

Doug tells Kip whose all "A-HA!!! I knew it!" and the chase is on. 

Alpha and Beta, dragging Helen along, make a break for the space ship.  Kips runs offscreen firing his gun after Alpha and Beta. We then hear him shouting back, "The cat-women are dead! Helen's all right!"

The movie ends with our crew (down 1 dead guy) heading back to Earth and they're all, hey, that was a thing that happened.  

The End. 

I think Cat-Women of the Moon ends because the camera ran out of film. 

I am intrigued by the blurb on Amazon Prime for this movie: 

"Astronauts travel to the moon where they discover it is inhabited by attractive women in black tights."

I don't want to make assumptions that the blurb writer for Amazon Prime is a fashion conscious gay man. 

Whoever wrote this could've written something like: 

"Astronauts travel to the moon where they discover it is inhabited by attractive women with strange powers."

Or...

"Astronauts travel to the moon where they discover it is inhabited by attractive women with a sinister purpose."

Or just cut it short a couple of words: 

"Astronauts travel to the moon where they discover it is inhabited by attractive women."

Instead the blurb writer for Amazon Prime is compelled to call attention to the black tights of these women on the moon. 

I guess it could be weirder if the blurb writer for Amazon Prime was drawn to some other aspect of their appearance.

"Astronauts travel to the moon where they discover it is inhabited by attractive women with cat eye make up."

That is that for today's Cinema Sunday. Until next time, remember to be good to one another.