Tuesday TV Touchbase: High Potential, Brilliant Minds, Wednesday and Jimmy Kimmel Live

 A lot of television to cover this Tuesday.

Let's get to the Touchbase

High Potential returned for it's very much anticipated 2nd season. Picking up from the last episode of season 1, the first two episodes of the new season continue the ongoing struggles of Morgan Gillory and the LAPD Major Crimes Unit to rescue the victims of the Game Maker.

The Game Maker makes Morgan and the MCU confront a series of elaborate puzzles to play his games in order to find his kidnapped victims before they die. 

Morgan is particularly stressed out by the Game Maker's machinations, communicating to her he knows where she live and can get to her children. And his games are challenging her enhanced intelligence and awareness in a way she's never experienced before, leaving her very anxious about solving the Game Maker's games before his victims die.   

The MCU squad is keenly aware Morgan isn't trained for this line of work but over the past year, have come to realize her value to the squad and are concerned for her well being. Even hard edged Adam Karadec who definitely did not want Morgan around at the start of last season sees Morgan in a different light.

Finally, Morgan solves the problem of the Game Maker.  He tries to commit suicide to avoid being arrested but Morgan has her groove back and anticipated his final step. The Game Maker is not dead which means he could be a problem in the future.

As much as I enjoyed the challenges Morgan experienced in this trilogy of episodes, I am looking forward to a return for High Potential to the "crime of the week" for awhile.  I prefer to see Morgan ahead of everyone, not scrambling to catch up.

Brilliant Minds returned for it's 2nd season. I was really surprised that NBC renewed this show for another season. 

The season opener begins with Dr. Oliver Wolf attempting to escape from a mental hospital.  The who is what where when now?

A graphic tells us "Six months ago..." and we're at Bronx General where Dr. Wolf is still head of neurology but he's still gobsmacked by the revelation his father who has believed for 30 years now to be dead is in fact not dead. Oliver's issues with his dad have caused him to back burner his relationship with Dr. Josh Nichols. (There's still gay stuff with Dr. Dana Dang still hot and heavy with paramedic Katie.)  

New to the cast this season is Dr. Charlie Porter, a 2nd-year resident transferring from Cornell. Porter is cocky and arrogant, lacking any of the compassion that is essential to how Oliver Wolf approaches his patients. We've made up our minds early: we hate Porter.

Brilliant Minds is standard medical show fare but Zachary Quinto as Oliver Wolf helps to keep it interesting.   

Andrea and I finished up Wednesday.  The 2nd season ends as the first season did with a major calamity striking Nevermore Academy, another dead principal and the kids getting sent home early.

The evil machinations of Isaac Night nearly destroy the Addams Family.  We learn the origin of Thing; he used to be Isaac's hand. (THING is an anagram of NIGHT). 

Isaac places Wednesday in mortal peril by burying her alive. Enid can only dig her out in time by assuming her wolf form. But she had been told that the next time she becomes a wolf, she will remain a wolf forever.  

Once extricated from her grave misfortune, Wednesday has a 3 word comment: "I enjoyed that." 

Enid as the wolf scampers off into the woods. With Nevermore Academy closed, Wednesday opts not to return home with her family but joins Uncle Fester for a road trip to find and save Enid.

(For all the Wednesday/Enid shippers out there, the show's producers say their relationship is NOT heading in that direction.)

Wednesday has been renewed for a 3rd season. Geez, I hope we're not made to wait another 2 years to get it. 

I need to say a quick word about Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Getting caught in the crosshairs of Trump and his sycophantic FCC chairman seems to have been a good thing.

After being pulled from the air by Disney/ABC for a week, the show returned with some of the biggest ratings in the show's history and his first monologue back from exile garnered over 10 million views on You Tube.

Jimmy Kimmel is as funnily acerbic as ever in his relentless barbs against Li'l Donnie.  Whatever cost ABC and Disney might have feared if they did not capitulate to Trump was outweighed by the cost of giving in to him. Disney+ cancellations and the falling price of Disney stock quickly took their toll. 

Also it was the fucking right thing to do to stand up to a wannabe dictator who can't take a goddam joke. 

Viva the First Amendment and viva Jimmy Kimmel Live! 

OK, that is that for this week's Tuesday TV Touchbase.  

Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.

The Tylenol Terror

Back when I was a young Dave-El, I had no context for my perception of the world around me.

But I had a feeling, an instinct that something was... for lack of a better word, wrong.

Why was everyone else in this world coping with things that caused me nothing but frustration, confusion, anger?

I could see and hear the evidence presented by the world around me: I was different from the other kids. 

I would "act out" in bursts of temper fueled by rage, anxiety, fear, a veritable storm of emotions I had no control over.

After one such outburst, my mother frustrated over my behavior told me that a counselor at school said I needed to talk to someone but my mother said she didn't want people to think I was crazy.

Given my episodes of irrational behaviour, I think that ship had already sailed. If my mother wanted to shame me with the label of being crazy, that was NOT what I took from that.

"Wait! I could TALK to someone about this?"

That wouldn't happen for many years until I was an adult. 

Do I hold my mother's reticence from getting me help against her? God rest her soul, no, I do not. It was a different time, a different culture. 

The word "autism" was a whispered threat that parents were not prepared to cope with. 

It was not until I was in my late 50's that I was diagnosed with ADHD, a condition on the autism spectrum.

At least I know now it's not my fault.

I was a victim of the Tylenol Terror!

Last week, before he headed off to do battle with evil escalators (see today's earlier post), Donald Trump held a press conference to declare Tylenol is the cause of autism and telling pregnant women not to take it! 

Really? Maybe I misunderstood.  Mr. Trump, could you clarify what you mean?

"DON'T TAKE TYLENOL! There's no downside. Nothing bad can happen! It can only good happen!"  

(That's not a typo. He really said it that way.)

Standing behind him was Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Secretary of Health and Human Services basking in the glow of a job well done. 

RFK Jr has long been a proponent that there are external causes of the dread scourge known as autism, accusing vaccines and over the counter medications of leading to the rise in autism.  Such as the pain killer acetaminophen.  

Trump singled out the brand Tylenol because he can't pronounce "acetaminophen".

(To be fair, neither can I.)  

RFK Jr has no credible scientific basis for this. But by God, he promised Li'l Donnie he was going to deliver a report on the cause of autism by September. 

Then the worm in RFK Jr's brain reminded him there was only a week left to go in September. "Oh shit! I better get on that!"

So RFK Jr spun through his Rolodex of conspiracy theories to foist one on Trump as the cause of autism.  

• Lemon meringue 
• Aluminum foil
• Flintstone's vitamins
• Pepperoni 
• Cheddar cheese
• Aglets (the little things on the end of shoe laces) 
• Bush's Baked beans
• Jell-O Pudding Cups
• Grape soda
• Doritos Locos Tacos
• Mountain Dew Baha Blast
• Pokemon 
• 4 Out Of 5 Dentists
• Major League Baseball 
• Ostriches 
• Tylenol

A-HA! Tylenol! That'll make Der Führer happy! 

So Trump held his little press conference and urged pregnant women to "tough it out" and don't take aceta.... aceta.... TYLENOL! Don't take Tylenol.

Ok, everybody! Time to go to work!

Wikipedia updated their "False or  misleading statements by Donald Trump" page with this bullshit.  

(Yes, Wikipedia has a very large page dedicated to Trump's lies. How cool is that?)  

Medical experts immediately pushed back Trump's declaration, on claims that acetaminophen causes autism are misleading and not at all backed by science.  

The Food and Drug Administration also later clarified that "while an association between acetaminophen and autism has been described in many studies, a causal relationship has not been established and there are contrary studies in the scientific literature."

What Donald Trump and Robert Kennedy Jr's brain worm fails to understand is that there is not an increase in incidents of autism but just a stronger awareness of it and improved diagnosis and understanding of autism.  Autism has ALWAYS been there.  We couldn't see it or didn't understand it when we did. 

There is also widening definition of an autism diagnosis, from the more famous examples in media (such as Dustin Hoffman's character in Rain Man) involving more extreme limitations of communication and social interaction to those of us who can suck it up for a few minutes at a time and try to blend in with the so called normies.  

Trump is creating a crisis where one does not exist, creating another category of "them" to ostracize and marginalize.   

Autism may be a problem but there are already solutions involving therapy, medication and the simple act of awareness and human kindness.  

Human kindness? Well, that leaves Donald Trump out.

And why he's resorting to pushing the Tylenol Terror. 

The Escalator Escalation

 "An escalator can never break; it can only become stairs."

---Mitch Hedberg  

So last week, Donald Trump went to the United Nations to address the General Assembly. When Li'l Donnie and Melania were about to take the escalator from one floor to the next, the escalator just stopped.

And MAGA world lost it's fucking mind!

Fox "News" commentators ran amuck amuck amuck with wild accusations and conspiracy theories that somebody with nefarious motives were out to get their precious president. 

Trump posted online a LONG diatribe about the escalator mishap...no, excuse me, ATTACK that nearly KILLED him and Melania. If they hadn't been holding the hand rails, the sudden stop of the escalator would have caused them to lurch forward and be RIPPED to shreds on the jagged metal teeth of the escalator of DEATH!

Jesus Christ! Li'l Donnie wasn't this dramatic when a bullet singed his ear in Butler PA last year.  

There was the actual matter of his speech to the U.N. where Trump like all the other world leaders addressing the General Assembly was allotted 15 minutes.

Li'l Donnie took a big chunk of his 55 minutes bitching about the U.N., about the escalator and the non-functioning telepromter.

Was someone at the United Nations fucking with Li'l Donnie? 

And he bitched about how he didn't get the contract to refurb the U.N. building back in the 1990's and how the United Nations chose another builder for more money and lesser quality work.

And then there was other stuff. 

I could simply say "Donald Trump lied his ass off" and I would be done.  But let's go into the weeds a bit.

He bragged that grocery prices are down. 

NO, they are fucking NOT! I buy groceries! I can SEE the prices on shit! They are NOT going down, you motherfucker!

He bragged he ended seven wars all by his liddle self!

Such lying going on here. Some of the countries he cited were not in a state of war, some are not even near each other and some that were at war with each other are still fucking FIGHTING each other. 

He told the other assembled leaders their countries are going to hell.

This road to hell that Trump imagines these countries are on is paved with fighting climate change ("the biggest con job in history") and welcoming immigrants.   

Li'l Donnie also took time to single out the mayor of London for doing a very bad job.  Trump offered no detail to this job performance review but come on, the mayor is Sadiq Khan, a Muslim! (You know, one of THEM!) What more evidence do you need of his doing a bad job. Trump accused Sadiq Khan of wanting to put London under Sharia Law. The good people of London have been voting Sadiq Khan into office as mayor since 2016 so apparently they're cool with the guy and whatever he's doing. What's wrong with those people? Can't they see what Donald Trump sees, that he's doing a BAD job? 

Anyway, Trump rambled his way through all 55 minutes of his 15 minute address to the U.N. in what could only described as a complete and total embarrassing display of ignorance, hatred and unbridled narcissism.

Unless you're Karoline Leavitt or a Fox "News" pundit who praised his great and inspiring eloquent oratory. 

Do they not understand we can SEE and HEAR him, right? 

That was just the mess at the U.N. I haven't even touched on the subject of whole "Tylenol causes autism" debacle. 

I'm gonna need another post for that later this morning.

And holy fuck on a stick! What NOW? Trump declares WAR on Portland, Oregon?!?! That'll have to wait for another day.  

TOTALLY RANDOM VIDEO LINK! 

This blog post was brought to you by Jeep Wrangler! Take it away, Breanna Banaciski.

Blog Bidness: Tpyso Aer aa Wya Oof Lfie

Uh oh! "Blog Bidness" means this is a blog post about the blog.

Proceed at your own peril.

graphic courtesy of Matthew (@MCeeP) on 18 July 2018

I was looking over the blog yesterday (Saturday) afternoon and noticed that the Movie Time blog that went live at 5:00 AM had a title of Cinema Sunday.

I stopped using Cinema Saturday and Cinema Sunday for my movie posts in the summer of 2024 and replaced them with Dave-El's Weekend Movie Post.

Which in turn was replaced with Movie Time as my branding for this blog's posts about movies.

When I watch a random movie on TCM, I will create a placeholder post and then eventually, weeks, months or in the case of yesterday's post, YEARS later, I will actually write the blog post.  

I watched those Nicholas Ray movies about 2 years ago when I was still using Cinema Sunday.

I wasn't paying attention that the blog post title was out of date.

And apparently so was no one else.

My son Dean will text me when I get something egregiously wrong with a post like a missing word or something is misspelled. Not today.  

I fixed the post. Not that anyone cares.  

Sometimes when I go over older posts in my blog, my heart sinks when I find some irritating and obviously bad errors.

• Leaving out the word "the".
• Mixing up "has" and "as". 
• Inexplicable word swaps. (I found a post where I meant the word "law", I wrote the word "loan".) 
• Errors that change the meaning of what I wrote. (Like meaning to write "Donald Trump is NOT a smart man" and I leave out the word "NOT".)  
• What in the hell is word "afe"? I have no damn idea but it will show up instead of "are".  
• Even as I type this, I keep having to correct "world" back to "word".  

Well, in the world (I meant "world" that time!) of blogging, tpyso aer aa wya oof lfie.

Er, excuse me.

Well, in the world of blogging, typos are a way of life.  

Over on Tom Brevoort's blog, the word "the" frequently shows up as "teh".  So who am I to judge? 

On a side note, when I wonder if anyone is paying attention, someone at blogger.com apparently is.  I had another post flagged for violating community guidelines.

The most recent Your Friday Video Link post, my love letter to Duluth MN, was flagged by Blogger.com.

I have no idea why.  

I love Duluth. 

I wanna visit Duluth.

I think I wanna live there.

I said nothing bad about Duluth.

Why, Blogger, why? Tell what I did that so wrong? 

Damn it! Tell me what I did that was so wrong? 

On the subject of paying attention, my blog post from July 29, 2018, Kimberly Guilfoyle: Fall of a LEGend continues to be the #1 blog post for several days now, outnumbering other blog post views by a margin of 4 to 1. 

To see this:

Welcome, pervs?  Their attention I got.  

I do not understand my own blog.

Now, if I really want to piss off people, tomorrow the blog will have not one but TOO... damn it! TWO posts about what a dumbass Donald Trump isn't... FUCK! I mean, IS, what a dumb ass Donald Trump IS! 

I hate Tpyso! I mean, TYPOS!!

And I am SO glad my suffering amuses you.  

Movie Time: They Live by Night, In A Lonely Place and The Lusty Men

It's Movie Time!

After a break last weekend, I'm back with a movie post about not one, not two but THREE movies, all directed by Nicholas Ray.

Ray lived a rough and tumble life and directed films about people who were broken and lived on the outskirts of an otherwise normal or respectable life, much like the man himself.

First up is They Live by Night is a 1948 American film noir that was Ray's directorial debut. Based on Edward Anderson's Depression-era novel Thieves Like Us, the film follows a young convict on the run who falls in love with a woman and attempts to begin a life with her.

Life has other plans.  

Meet Arthur "Bowie" Bowers. When he was 16 years old, he was an accessory to murder. At 23 years old, he's cooling his heels in prison for that rap when two older bank robbers, Chicamaw and T-Dub, make their escape and they bring Bowie with them. He's gonna be their getaway driver when they get back to robbing banks.  

Whether Bowie agrees with this plan is irrelevant.

Their first big bank robbery goes off without a hitch but the subsequent getaway is another story when  Bowie crashes the car and Chicamaw kills a police officer investigating the crash. 

Chicamaw and T-Dub book it for another town leaving an injured Bowie in the care of Chicamaw's neice,  Catherine "Keechie" Mobley.  

Bowie and Keechie, as they saying goes, take a liking to one another. Bowie's of the mindset that he doesn't want to do anymore robberies with Chicamaw and T-Dub.  

Bowie and Keechie get hitched and run off to a remote resort cabin to spend Christmas together while avoiding the long arm of the law as well as Chicamaw and T-Dub.   

Bowie and Keechie's idyllic interlude is interrupted when Chicamaw and T-Dub track them down. Chicamaw coerces Bowie into agreeing to another bank robbery.  

During the second robbery, T-Dub is killed while Chicamaw and Bowie escape in separate directions.

Chicamaw gets killed during a liquor store hold up. 

Bowie reunites with Keechie who reveals she's pregnant. Still dreaming of a normal life together, the young couple leave the resort to travel east, driving mostly at night.  Bowie is still in the cross hairs of the law for his role in two bank robberies and his escape from prison. 

Complications with Keechie's pregnancy force them to seek help which in turn gets Bowie turned into the police.

Bowie is killed in a hail of bullets. 

I suppose I should have said "spoiler" but man, this is not the kind of movie where we're going to get a happy ending.

But it's the sort of movie that can make a man's career and They Live By Night showed Nicholas Ray could deliver a solid, taunt film noir fraught with tension, violence and heartache. 

Two years later. Nicholas Ray was in the director's chair for another film noir, this time starring Humphrey Bogart,  In a Lonely Place. 

The post promises a surprise finish. It does not lie.  

Bogart is Dixon "Dix" Steele, a down-on-his-luck Hollywood screenwriter who has not had a successful movie since before World War II. Dix has a bad habit of not staying out of his own way, given to paranoia which expresses itself with a hair trigger temper. 

A young night club hat check girl named Mildred turns up dead, brutually . Since Dix was the last one to see her alive and with his rep for having a violent temper, the cops have our hapless screenwriter pegged as a likely suspect.

One thing keeping this from a being a total lock is Dix has an alibi, in the form of a neighbor named Laurel (Gloria Grahame) who can place Dix being at home at the time of the murder.  

Dix and Laurel begin a friendship that turns into love. Inspired by Laurel, Dix is motivated to get back to work, writing a screenplay.  

But Dix can't stay out of his own way, prone to moodiness and anger.  

And Laurel is starting to wonder if Dix may have killed Mildred. She did see him at home during the time of the murder but she didn't have eyes on his front door the entire evening.  

The detective investigating Mildred's murder isn't helping. Despite Laurel's testimony, he still sees Dix as the most likely suspect for the killing.  

Laurel's doubts about Dix's innocence and her concerns with his behavior are creating a great deal of anxiety so she makes plans to leave.

Discovering her plans, Dix flies into a rage and attacks Laurel, strangling her. Laurel's life is saved when a friend of Dix drops by with good news: Mildred's ex-boyfriend has been charged with her murder and Dix is off the hook for that murder. 

As for this murder he did just try to commit.....

Laurel gasping for breath, bruises around her neck... yeah, this is awkward.  

And whoa!  Yeah, a surprise finish indeed with Bogart's character off the hook for one murder but almost commits another and for no other reason than his out of control paranoia and rage directed at the woman he loves and who wanted to love him back.

Well, that's fucked up now.

The original ending of the story was Dix does indeed strangle Laurel to death.  Nicholas Ray originally shot that ending but he didn't like it.  Working with Bogart and Grahame, Ray improvised the ending we got. Ray thought it was more powerful to see Dix walking away from Laurel, knowing he had lost her love and it was his own damn fault.  

In A Lonely Place is not one of Humprey Bogart's more famous movies but many film critics consider this one of his strongest performances.  It's clear Dix is suffering from some form of depression and needs professional help. Flailing and lost, even with the help of someone with good intentions such as Laurel, Dix is doomed to a downward spiral.  

We move on to 1952 to our next film directed by Nicholas Ray. It's time for... The Lusty Men.

Well, is this Movie Time's first gay porno?

No, it's not.

The Lusty Men is a Western film starring Susan Hayward and Robert Mitchum.

When I say "western", you might think this is set in what is commonly referred as the "OId West".  While horses and cowboys are involved and it's set in the American West, the movie takes place in the modern day.

Robert Mitchem is Jeff McCloud, a longtime professional rodeo competitor. But he's putting those days behind him after he's injured in a bull riding incident.  

Jeff hitchhikes back to his childhood home which is now a decrepit place now owned by a rancher named Jeremiah. 

Though it is run down, it is a dream home for cowhand Wes Merritt and his wife Louise, who are painstakingly saving Wes's meager wages to buy the house. 

Jeff gets a job working as ranch hand with Wes who recognizes Jeff as a rodeo competitor.  Wes has dreams of becoming a rodeo performer himself and looks to Jeff for guidance to become a success.   

With Jeff as a trainer and partner, Wes hits the rodeo circuit. Louise objects to this but reluctantly goes along with it on the condition Wes will stop when they've earned enough to buy the house.  

Which he does not do. Yes, he does earn enough money to buy the house but he will not quit. Wes is seduced by the success he's experiencing on the rodeo circuit, all the fame and money that comes with it.

Meanwhile, Louise is becoming increasingly disenchanted with the whole deal, the itinerant nature of rodeo life, watching men ("lusty men?") becoming damaged or even dead from bull riding, living in constant anxiety the same will happen to Wes. 

Jeff develops feelings for Louise and asks if she could love another man. Although feeling isolated and neglected, Louise reaffirms her loyalty to Wes.

But damn he's making that hard. 

Wes gets cocky and arrogant, deciding he doesn't need Jeff anymore taking part of his winnings as his partner and trainer.

Jeff opts to get back into the rodeo game himself despite his injuries and being out of shape. He actually does well even with these obstacles and regains Wes' respect. 

But a single misstep during a bronc riding event gets Jeff killed.

Wes decides to quit as he and Louise return home.  

The Lusty Men may be billed as a western but it's pure soap opera but it's a well done soap opera with Nicholas Ray capturing the desperate intensity of life on the rodeo road. 

Three years later, Ray would direct his most famous film, Rebel Without a Cause, starring James Dean (which I've actually never seen.) 

Nicholas Ray was described as "one of postwar American cinema's supremely gifted and ultimately tragic filmmakers".  Ray was a hard drinking, hard living adventure seeker who had numerous affairs with many women. (And perhaps men as well; there were rumors Ray was bi-sexual.)   

After peaking as a director in the 1950's, Ray found fewer opportunities to direct.  The last feature film he completed was 55 Days In Peking in 1963.  

Towards the end of his life, various ailments wreaked havoc with lung cancer, a brain tumor and more before he died of heart failure in 1979.

Nicholas Ray inspired a generation of directors such as Martin Scorecese, François Truffaut, Curtis Hanson and Wim Winders. 

Nicholas Ray circa 1950

Your Friday Video Link: DULUTH!!!

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Comic Books From September 1975

It's time once more for my bi-monthly look back at comic books I bought 50 years ago.

Today, we'll look at what Li'l Dave-El spent his quarters on in September 1975.

We start of with a rather unique comic that is still regarded 5 decades later as a classic: 1st Issue Special#9 featuring Dr. Fate written by Martin Pasko and illustrated by Walt Simonson. 

Maybe DC was envious of Marvel's supernatural super hero Doctor Strange in the hands of an up and coming writer and a hot new fan fave artist (Steve Englehart and Frank Brunner) and said, hey, who we got to fit that bill? 

So up and coming DC writer Martin Pasko was paired with fave fan artist Walt Simonson (from Manhunter in Detective Comics) to bring new life to the golden age mystic master Doctor Fate. 

What we get is a pretty solid tale of action, mystery and drama with Pasko and Simonson building on and adding to the mythology of Dr. Fate. It was Pasko & Simonson who introduced the concept that Kent Nelson is subservient to the helmet of Dr. Fate.

For a detailed look at this issue, click here for Attack of the 50 Year Old Comic and Alan Stewart's review of 1st Issue Special#9.

While DC was working at a high level of more grown up comics with Dr. Fate, Superman was putting up with this goddam juvenile bullshit in Action Comics#454.  

I'm guessing this is one those infamous editor Julius Schwartz gets a cover (in this case from Bob Oskner) and commissions a story around it. Cary Bates, Curt Swan & Tex Blaisdell gives us a tale of "Superman's Energy Crisis" where the solar energy that fuels his powers is being sucked away.  Also Toyman is up to shit.   

The issue is rounded out by a 5 page adventure fearturing the Atom by Martin Pasko (him again) and Jose Delbo, "The Campus That Swallowed Itself" which I don't remember a damn thing about.   

Detective Comics #454 gives us another standard issue David V Reed/Ernie Chan crime stoy that has Batman framed for crimes he did not commit.  There is a short but sweet Hawkman tale re-uniting E. Nelson Bridwell and Jose Luis Garcia Lopez who did very well with the Hawk guy two months before

Flash#238 has a lead story where our Scarlet Speedster is outmaneuvered by a villain who can switch bodies with people. 50 years later and I will fight to the death that Irv Novick was the best penciller on the Flash.

The back up is the Green Lantern serial by Denny O'Neil and Mike Grell with Hal Jordan's space faring battles with the Ravagers of Qys.  

This is also the storyline that introduced GL's alien pal Itty who rode on his shoulder and gave GL someone to talk to. 

(As Elton John said, "It's lonely out in space.") 

From Justice League of America#125, Batman villain Two-Face teams up with Green Lantern foes Weaponers of Qward? Really?  

This is Gerry Conway's first foray into writing JLA. The book was in a writer's limbo with no one person on scripting duties since Len Wein left in 1974.  Conway was one of several writers (such as Cary Bates, Elliott S! Maggin and Martin Pasko) who rotated into and out of the book until Steve Englehart comes on board in about a couple of years.

Conway would assume the writing chores on this title on the regular starting with issue #151 and stay with the gig for nearly 100 issues.  

If you think some of these covers seen crudely drawn, well, I agree with you.  Ernie Chan was pressed into service as DC's main cover artist.  Chan was better suited to working on Marvel's Conan the Barbarian and not so much super heroes. 

But damned if DC didn't use him for everything.

Limited Collectors' Edition #41 was a tabloid sized book spotlighting TV's Super Friends.  Writer E.Nelson Bridwell and artist Alex Toth provide an all new framing sequence to a pair of class JLA adventures by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky and Bernard Sachs.  I'm not sure what prompted me to drop a whole damn dollar for this since I hated the Sekowsky/Sachs art team.

Alex Toth was the lead designer for the Super Friends TV show and he also provided the iconic cover for this tabloid special.

Except for Superman's head.  

DC was very particular about protecting the Superman brand and would order his head to be re-drawn if it didn't adhere to the asthetic established by regular Superman artist Curt Swan.  

In this case, the Superman head Alex Toth drew was swapped out with a head drawn by Curt Swan & George Klein from a Superman annual back in the 1960's. 

By the way, this shit used to happen to Jack Kirby all the time while he was drawing the Jimmy Olsen title back in the early 1970's.  

Next up is an odd title. It might have seem like a no brainier to spin off the popular new Bat character Man-Bat into this own title.

But without creators Frank Robbins & Neal Adams? The odds of success were not good.

Underneath a pretty damn good Jim Aparo cover, Man-Bat#1 was written by Gerry Conway and drawn by Steve Ditko & Al Milgrom. In addition to the mutated Kirk Langstrom as Man-Bat, we got a very unique look at Batman. 

Man-Bat would make it to issue #2 with an entirely different creative team (Martin Pasko, Pablo Marcos and Ricardo Villamonte) and that was it.  A follow up tale by Pasko & Marcos would be run in the back of Detective Comics later the following year.

After debuting with an all reprint issue #1, Super Team Family#2 features it's first all new team up of Wildcat and the Creeper by Denny O'Neil, Ric Estrada & Bill Draut. 

Even though Creeper is on Earth 1 and Wildcat is on Earth 2.

Maybe this is the Wildcat that Bob Haney would pair up with Batman in Brave & the Bold.  Haney was not bothered by such middling details as what hero belonged to what Earth.

The reprint in the issue is an awesome Neal Adams drawn team up of Batman & Deadman.

And a Green Arrow short from way back when. (Spoiler: the unexpected guest star is Superman.)

Superboy #213 has Jim Shooter & Mike Grell pit the Legion of Super Heroes vs. a giant space lizard.

The back up by the same team is a spotlight on the Legion's answer to Marvel's Wolverine, Timber Wolf.  

Superman#294 leads off with the same team from this month's Action Comics as Bates, Swan & Blaisdell pits Superman against old JLA bad guy Brain Storm who convinces Superman he's the only man on Earth. 

Now, THIS is how you handle a rapture. 

The back up is  an installment of "The Private Life of Clark Kent" written by the seemingly ubiquitous Martin Pasko with at by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and Vince Colletta.

I forked over two bits for  Superman Family #174 for an ALL NEW Supergirl adventure by Elliott S! Maggin & Kurt Shaffenberger and a trio of reprints featuring Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Superman.  

Next up is Wonder Woman #221 which was written by Martin Pasko (he was everywhere!) and drawn by Curt Swan & Vince Colletta.  This was part of the series where various members of the Justice League were monitoring her adventures after she had a memory wibble-wobble.

This issue features long time WW adversary Dr. Cyber who has beef with Wonder Woman because she was beautiful and Dr. Cyber was not.

This issue was a rare acknowledgement of the Diana Prince, Wonder Woman era where WW lost her powers and Diana was made into a kick ass super spy.

Hey, wasn't Wonder Woman tied up on last issue's cover? Yeah, this happened a lot.

I shelled out 2 quarters for DC Special#19 which was a collection of reprints featuring DC heroes versus giants, like it says on the cover.

Oh, look! Wonder Woman's tied up again. Well, at least Steve Trevor gets to join in on the fun.

Rounding out the titles I bought in September 1975 was World's Finest Comics#234 written by Bob Haney with art by Curt Swan and John Calnan.  Yep, Swan was a busy guy drawing this issue, Wonder Woman as well as two lead Superman stories in one month.  

A family seeks to leave Earth in a stolen space station, an alien experiment arrives on Earth while Superman & Batman go into SPACE to solve this typically messed up Bob Haney plot.

And that is what I spent my money from the ol' spinner rack in September 1975.  

Rosie the Dog Goes To A Pride Festival

So Rosie the Dog came home for a visit to attend the Greensboro Pride Festival which was on Saturday. 

Rosie was accompanied by her emotional support humans, son Dean and friend Jan. And I joined them as well in my role as "honorary gay".

It was an event filled with joy, love and kindness.

Except of course for the alleged "Christians".  

As always at these events, there was some small bedraggled contingent yelling their judgement that we're all going to hell if we don't turn to Jesus Christ. 

If Jesus showed up, he would cross the street to get away from you self righteous pricks. Jesus would find more like minded people on stage with the drag queens.

(Speaking of Jesus showing up, that rapture thing from yesterday was a bust. Unless Jesus did show up and no one qualified for rapturing.)

I tried to be a good ally but damn, it was too hot and too loud and too crowded. 

I hate to admit this but I left Rosie and her emotional support humans to explore the Pride event as I returned to my car. The heat and the noise were a bit much for me and I was feeling dizzy. 

The important thing is that Rosie along with Dean, Jan and other friends they met up with were having a good time in an environment that was welcoming and safe. 

In our current political climate, that kind of resource, that kind of community is a precious thing.

Tuesday TV Touchbase: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

 Before we get on with today's Touchbase, it appears the First Amendment ain't quite dead yet.

Jimmy Kimmel will be back on TV tonight.

I imagine he might have something to say.  

So season 3 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds closed out recently and I feel bad for saying this but...

Well, the season didn't suck per se but it was decidedly underwhelming. 

After two very strong seasons, it was almost a given that season 3 would have some trouble living up to that standard.

With Jonathan Frakes in the director's chair, there was some expectation that "A Space Adventure Hour" might be comparable to season 2's Lower Decks crossover but it kind of missed the mark. The best part of that episdoe was the post credit's "blooper reel" from the sci-fi show within the show.

"Four and a Half Vulcans" had some laugh out loud funny moments but the absurdity of the premise (4 humans being turned into raging assholes by being made into Vulcans) was too broad and missed how Vulcans are supposed to work in Star Trek. Kudos to Patton Oswalt as Doug the Vulcan. 

The faux documentary "What Is Starfleet?" was an interesting idea for an experiment but was somewhat lacking in actual execution.  

There were some commendable highlights for this season. "The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail” and "Terrarium” were particularly strong episodes.  The latter is an excellent spotlight on Erica Ortegas and also will rip your heart out. Don't you dare make me feel bad for a Gorn.  

The season finale "New Life and New Civilizations" is a wobbly wobbly timey wimey mess that resolves the plotline with the evil Vezda and ends Marie Batel's time on the Enterprise.  The sequence where Batel and Christopher Pike actually get to live our their lives together to old age is especially moving and also ominous. Who keeps knocking on the door? Oh yeah, it's EVIL!

 "New Life and New Civilizations" almost feels like a series finale. The producers planned it as such before they got news of their season 4 renewal.   

I'm glad Star Trek: Strange New Worlds did not end there, deserving a chance to redeem itself after a weak and uneven season. 

That is that for this week's Touchbase.

Coming up...  the return of High Potential and Brilliant Minds.   

Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.