Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips – A Retrospective!

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Long time readers know that I am a huge fan of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips comic stories.  Perhaps David Harper summarizes my feelings best when he describes his admiration for Brubaker and Phillips by saying they are…

the finest and most consistent creative partnership in modern comics. When you hear Brubaker and Phillips are working on something, the question isn’t “will I buy it?”, it’s “when can I buy it?” They’re the type of team where your pull list simply has a “Brubaker/Phillips all” item on it. That’s rarefied air, at least for me.

Harper goes on to create an excellent overview of Brubaker and Phillips work in This Noir Life: A Retrospective of the Brubaker/Phillips Partnership at sktched.com.

15 Fun Facts About the Indiana Jones Movies

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Sean Hutchinson, Michael Arbeiter and Mental Floss present 15 Fun Facts About the Indiana Jones Movies.  Here are three of my favorites…

1. ONE DOG INSPIRED BOTH INDIANA JONES AND CHEWBACCA.
While developing the film with Spielberg and screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, Lucas named the main character “Indiana Smith.” But Spielberg protested that it was too similar to the 1966 Steve McQueen western Nevada Smith and requested a change. The three agreed that the last name should be as universal and nondescript as “Smith,” so Lucas threw out “Jones” as a possibility. Indiana came from Lucas’ dog, an Alaskan malamute named Indiana. The big, hairy pup was also the inspiration for Chewbacca from Star Wars.

14. SEAN CONNERY SAID NO TO A CAMEO IN THE CRYSTAL SKULL.
As tempting as it may have been for Sean Connery to re-team with Ford on The Crystal Skull, the happily retired former James Bond turned down the part.

15. THE CRYSTAL SKULL INSPIRED AN ALTERNATIVE PHRASE TO “JUMP THE SHARK.”
Ever since Henry Winkler attempted to sail over a shark in a late-season episode of Happy Days, the phrase “jump the shark” has been used to describe the point where a television series goes off the rails in its ridiculousness. The Crystal Skull spawned an alternative phrasefor that, known as “nuking the fridge.” And Spielberg seemed surprisingly pleased about it.

“What people really jumped at was Indy climbing into a refrigerator and getting blown into the sky by an atom-bomb blast,” Spielberg told CNN. “Blame me. Don’t blame George. That was my silly idea. People stopped saying ‘jump the shark.’ They now say, ‘nuked the fridge.’ I’m proud of that. I’m glad I was able to bring that into popular culture.”

Twilight Zone: “The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank” [Season 3, Episode 23] / Z-View

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Twilight Zone: “The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank” [Season 3, Episode 23]
Original Air Date: February 23, 1962

Director: Montgomery Pittman

Writer: Montgomery Pittman

Starring: James Best, Sherry Jackson, Edgar Buchanan and Dub Taylor.


The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…

When Jeff Myrtlebank rises from his coffin the town folk are at first frightened but fear turns to joy at having Jeff back… that is until they notice that he is not quite the same…

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15 Out-of-This-World Facts About “Forbidden Planet”

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Bryan Reesman and Mental Floss present 15 Out-of-This-World Facts About Forbidden Planet.  Here are three of my favorites…

7. ROBBY RACKED UP A LOT OF OTHER CREDITS.
Forbidden Planet made its lovable bucket of bolts a star, and throughout his career Robby racked up more than two dozen film and TV credits, including The Invisible Boy, The Thin Man(TV series), Lost In Space, The Twilight Zone, Wonder Woman, Morkand Mindy, and Gremlins.He has also done TV spots for Charmin, AT&T, and General Electric (that last one in 2012).

15. THE FILMMAKERS WERE RECYCLERS.
Forbidden Planet was shot on same stage as The Wizard of Oz, with bits of Munchkinland used for Altaira’s garden. In an interesting twist, some of Forbidden Planet‘s costumes (including the crewmen uniforms and Altaira’s clothing) were re-used in Queen of Outer Space, a 1958 sci-fi movie starring Zsa Zsa Gabor in which a space crew that has crash landed on Venus attempts to overthrow its female dictator, who has banished men from the planet.

5. ROBERT KINOSHITA DESIGNED ANOTHER ICONIC ROBOT.
That electronic entity being, of course, The Robot from the ’60s sci-fi series Lost In Space. While their design was somewhat different, the two cybernetic companions shared a similar “talk box,” a display that lit up in tandem with the rhythm of their speech. Robby actually guest starred on three episodes of Lost In Space.

Twilight Zone: “A Piano in the House” [Season 3, Episode 22] / Z-View

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Twilight Zone: “A Piano in the House” [Season 3, Episode 22]
Original Air Date: February 16, 1962

Director: David Greene

Writer: Earl Hamner, Jr.

Starring: Barry Morse, Joan Hackett and Don Durant.


The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…

Fitzgerald Fortune [Morse] buys an old player piano that has the power to make people reveal their inner-most secrets.  Fortune arranges a party to take advantage of his guests, but as often happens in the Twilight Zone, things don’t go as planned.

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Was the Biggest Batman the Best?

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So how big is Batman, really?  That, of course, depends on which Batman you’re talking about.

The comic book Batman was supposed to be about 6’2″ and 210 pounds.  Adam West came closest to that version at 6’2″ and 200 pounds.  All of the other actors who played the Dark Knight, except for Ben Affleck, were smaller.

So does size matter?  Who made the best Batman?

You can check out a larger version of the chart here.

Source: Bleeding Cool.

15 Surprising Facts About “Splash”

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Roger Cormier and Mental Floss present 15 Surprising Facts About Splash. Here are three of my favorites…

2. RON HOWARD TURNED DOWN BIG DIRECTORIAL ASSIGNMENTS TO DO IT.
Ron Howard said no to directing Mr. Mom (1983) and Footloose (1984) to stay attached to Splash.

4. JOHN TRAVOLTA, CHEVY CHASE, BILL MURRAY, AND DUDLEY MOORE TURNED DOWN PLAYING ALLEN.
It was Louisa Velis, Howard’s longtime assistant, who suggested that Howard let Hanks audition. Steve Guttenberg also auditioned. He found out he didn’t get the part at the same time he heard he was getting screen tested for Police Academy (1984). Michael Keaton remembered being offered the role of Allen’s brother, Freddie—a part that eventually went to John Candy .


5. DIANE LANE TURNED DOWN PLAYING MADISON.
She said no to appear in Streets of Fire (1984) and The Cotton Club (1984).

Midnight of the Soul by Howard Chaykin

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It’s hard to believe that it was almost four years ago when I first posted about a new series from Howard Chaykin called Midnight of the Soul.  There was just a cool shot of a guy on a motorcycle [not the same as above] with the following…

Joel Breakstone came home from the Second World War
with a Purple Heart, a German Luger, and
a desperate taste for alcohol.

In one long night, he’ll lose all three and regain
everything he gave up to get them, in a story of
redemption, in the only parallel universe
that counts… The Real World.

After that teaser appeared there was nothing… until today.

Bleeding Cool has posted a preview of the series with art.  Be advised before clicking over that the series contains adult language.  If you’re of age and not offended then check out “Midnight Of The Soul Is A Labor Of Love” New Miniseries From Howard Chaykin.

Twilight Zone: “Kick the Can” [Season 3, Episode 21] / Z-View

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Twilight Zone: “Kick the Can” [Season 3, Episode 21]
Original Air Date: February 9, 1962

Director: Lamont Johnson

Writer: George Clayton Johnson

Starring: Ernest Truex, Russell Collins and John Marley.


The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…

Charles Whitley [Truex] lives with other elderly residents of an old folks home.  They think he is going crazy, but he believes he has found the secret to return to childhood.

Rating:

Twilight Zone: “Showdown with Rance McGrew ” [Season 3, Episode 20] / Z-View

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Twilight Zone: “Showdown with Rance McGrew ” [Season 3, Episode 20]
Original Air Date: February 2, 1962

Director: Christian Nyby

Writer: Rod Serling based on an idea by Frederic L. Fox

Starring: Larry Blyden, Arch Johnson and Robert Cornthwaite.


The Overview: Beware of Spoilers…

Rance McGrew [Blyden] is the star of a 1950’s western series.  Each week McGrew outdraws and out smarts the likes of Billy the Kid, Jesse James and other outlaws.  The reality is that McGrew is terrible with a gun, afraid to do his own stunts and a prima dona.

When McGrew suddenly finds himself transported to the past and face to face with the real Jesse James, he knows that there will be no second takes.

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13 Things You May Not Know About Bonnie and Clyde

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Vintage Everyday presents 13 Things You May Not Know About Bonnie and Clyde. Here are three of my favorites…

3. Bonnie was an honor student and a poet.
During her school days, Bonnie excelled at creative writing and penning verses. While she was imprisoned in 1932 after a failed hardware store burglary, she penned a collection of 10 odes that she entitled “Poetry from Life’s Other Side,” which included “The Story of Suicide Sal,” a poem about an innocent country girl lured by her boyfriend into a life a crime. Two weeks before her death, Bonnie gave a prescient poem to her mother entitled “The Trail’s End” that finished with the verse:

“Some day they’ll go down together;
And they’ll bury them side by side,
To a few it’ll be grief—
To the law a relief—
But it’s death for Bonnie and Clyde.”

 

1. Bonnie died wearing a wedding ring—but it wasn’t Clyde’s.
Six days before turning 16, Bonnie married high school classmate Roy Thornton. The marriage disintegrated within months, and Bonnie never again saw her husband after he was imprisoned for robbery in 1929. Soon after, Bonnie met Clyde, and although the pair fell in love, she never divorced Thornton. On the day Bonnie and Clyde were killed in 1934, she was still wearing Thornton’s wedding ring and had a tattoo on the inside of her right thigh with two interconnected hearts labeled “Bonnie” and “Roy.”

9. Bonnie and Clyde remained close to their families, even on the run.
In fact, it was their predictable pattern of stopping to visit family that aided the team of Texas Rangers and deputies who ambushed and killed them.