Author: Craig Zablo

Ole Shell Head

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Iron Man was never really one of my favorite characters. I did read the title when David Michelinie was writing it with art by Bob Layton. They had a great run, but when they left the book so did I.

The Iron Man movie trailer hit the internet today and I’ve gotta tell ya, it looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun. I guess I’ll have to give ole Shell Head another try.

Some Surprises and a Disappointment

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Last night’s UFC 75 card provided some surprises and one major disappointment.

Houston Alexander vs Alessio Sakara

Alexander was coming off a first round knockout of Keith Jardine [who’s a pretty tough dude]. Although Jardine had jumped all over Alexander and looked to be headed for an early KO, Alexander weathered the storm and ended up knocking out Jardine. So, was Houston the real deal or simply the beneficiary of a lucky punch?

The fight starts quickly with both fighters aggressively moving in. Sakara takes Alexander down, but can’t keep him there. Alexander is strong but sloppy. He’s throwing punches and lands a knee which puts Sakara down for the count. I’m somewhat surprised to say that Alexander could be a real contender. I hadn’t even mentioned this fight in my pre-fight post due to the fact that I wasn’t convinced that it would have much meaning. Alexander winning so quickly and easily twice in a row against good fighters has changed my opinion.

Micro Cro Cop vs Cheick Congo

I was surprised at how big Congo is. The guy is in shape and huge. My prediction was that Cro Cop would win and he did take the first round. The second and third rounds were Congo’s and I think that the difference was that he fought most of the first round backing up. Cro Cop pushed the action and Congo seemed ill at ease. For whatever reason, Cro Cop allowed [or couldn’t stop] Congo’s forward motion in the last two rounds and he easily won a unanimous decision.

I have to admit, I was surprised the Cro Cop lost.

Matt Hamill vs Michael Bisping

I like both of these guys, but felt that because Bisping had more experience and was a more rounded fighter, he’d pull out a victory. Talk about surprises and even disappointment.

Both men came in shape and ready to fight. I thought that Hamill would rely on his superior wrestling skills to take down Bisping, but in the end Hamill wouldn’t be able to end it and Bisping would pull out a victory. My guess is that’s what Bisping thought as well. Well, we were both wrong… sort of.

Hamill came out and stood toe-to-toe with Bisping. He not only was winning the stand-up, but when he took Bisping down, he let him up, only to punish him with more hard punches. The first round was easily Hamill’s. The second round looked to be more of the same. Bisping was backing away looking for an opening, but Hamill continued to land the better shots. Bisping knew that he couldn’t take Hamill down, so what he really needed was Hamill to make a mistake. When Hamill took Bisping down, he let him up rather than make a mistake and get caught in a submission. Round 3 was basically more of the same.

I had the fight two rounds to one for Hamill. Everyone watching the fight with me felt that Hamill had won [some even gave him all three rounds]. The judges must have been watching a different fight. Bisping won on a split decision! I was surprised and disappointed. I was disappointed because of the bad decision and surprised because Hamill had come out and defied expectations. He didn’t rely on his wrestling and won the standup against the more experienced fighter.

We’ll see more from both of these warriors. My guess is that at some point they’ll have a rematch. Who knows, maybe even the judges of their fight will get to see it.

Rampage Jackson vs Dan Henderson

I picked Henderson to win because I thought that his Olympic-level wrestling skills would be enough to defeat Jackson’s punching power. Although Jackson couldn’t knock out Henderson, he was still too strong, quick and skilled for Henderson to do much with. Jackson’s skills were better than I gave him credit for, and I had him winning a pretty easy decision. So did the judges.

Overall for the night, I was 1-2 on my prefight predictions. The sad thing is that the one fight I did predict right should have gone the other way.

And Still No Wild, Wild West

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Time magazine has come up with their 100 All-Time Best TV Shows. Using their picks only, I whittled it down to my top 25 [listed below]. It’s a bit different from the list using Classic TV’s Top 100, and disappointing in that neither list allowed me the chance to have The Wild, Wild West in my picks.So without further delay, in alphabetical order, my top 25 All-Time Best TV Shows based on Time Magazine’s Top 100:

24
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
American Idol
Bob Newhart Show, The
Cheers
Cosby Show, The
Dick Van Dyke Show, The
Hill Street Blues
Honeymooners, The
I Love Lucy
Leave it to Beaver
Lost
Mary Tyler Moore Show, The
Monkees, The
Oprah
Sanford and Son
Seinfeld
Shield, The
Sopranos, The
Star Trek
Survivor
Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson,
Twilight Zone, The
West Wing, The
Wiseguy

UFC is FREE Saturday

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The UFC is back this Saturday with more action. This time its FREE and on SPIKE starting at 9pm.

The main event pits Rampage Jackson against Dan Henderson in a title vs title match. Sounds like the WWE, doesn’t it. Well, I can assure you it’s not. Both men are 6’1″ and about 205 pounds. Their records are fairly similar [Jackson is 27-6, while Henderson is 22-5]. I’ve never seen Henderson fight, but most claim he’s the real deal. I was shocked that Jackson took out Chuck Liddell so easily, so it makes me hesitant to go against him. Still, Henderson is one tough wrestler… ok, I’m going with Henderson.

Matt Hamill brings his 5-0 record against Michael Bispings’ perfect 14-0 streak. These two seemed destined to meet up when they were both contestants on The Ultimate Fighter 3, but Hamill’s injury took him off the show before they could enter the octagon together. Now they’ll determine who the best fighter is… and I’m going with Bispings’ experience.

Micro Cro Cop comes off a devastating knockout loss to face Cheick Kongo. Cro Cop wins or his stock drops off the charts. That being the case, I’m taking Cro Cop.

Am I wrong?

 

Living with the Dead

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While we’re on the subject of first issues of new comics as we were HERE and HERE, there’s one more that I thought I’d mention. It’s called “Living with the Dead” by Mike Richardson [writer], Ben Stenbeck [artist] and Richard Corben [covers].

It’s a “hilariously funny” look at the life of two slackers who’ve, at least until now, survived a zombie plague. When they discover a beautiful young girl across the way things get really interesting.

I’m giving it a shot since I enjoyed “Shaun of the Dead.”

XXXombies

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Another first issue that caught my eye while going through Previews was Crawl Space: XXXombies #1 by Rick Remender, Kieron Dwyer and Tony Moore. The idea is it’s 1977 and a low rent movie producer has brought together a cast of adult film stars for a weekend shoot in LA… just as a zombie plague hits.

Mix together Remender, Dwyer, Moore and zombies and I’m there. You can be too if you give your local comic shop owner a “heads-up.”