Monster of the Day #1616

It’s no surprise that a character as gothic as the early Batman had gothic adventures. Indeed, just two issues after his debut in Detective Comics #27, Batman was facing a bonafide vampire. (Although I think this was later retconned.) To make the latter even MORE gothic, the vamp ran around in a red cassock and hood and called himself the Monk.

This is a pretty famous panel for obvious reasons. And yes, he used a silver bullet. Pre-1941’s The Wolf Man, so silver was still more associated with vampires than werewolves.

Sorry the image isn’t on the front page, Imgur wouldn’t let me drag images this morning. I’ll try again after work.

So, did anybody see anything good over the weekend?

  • I watched The Tick, or at least the first half of it. It seems to me sort of like what would happen if you dropped the characters from Adam West’s Batman into a grim and gritty superhero setting.It’s kind of off putting and probably not as funny it could have been. However I enjoyed it after a fashion.

    I also “watched” (played is kinda the wrong word) the Telltale Game Tales from the Borderlands. I’ve begun having issues with it since finishing, but while I was going I had a hard time stopping.

  • Ericb

    “It: the Terror from Beyond Space” (though as far as I know Mars is still in space), an old favorite from my childhood. I remember catching just a few minutes of it (including the first sight of the monsters feet) when I was very, very young but had to drop it because I had to go to bed. I didn’t know film’s title and I literally spent years patiently waiting for the movie to show up again so I could see what the monster looked like. I love that they brought along grenades, bazookas and gas bombs for a rescue mission on what they thought was a barren planet. It still holds up though and is a text book example of economic story telling.

  • Gamera977

    Lol, reminds me of some of the Mego ads where they showed superheroes and Universal monsters together Somehow Superman punching out Dracula and Batman wrestling with the Wolfman fills me with glee!

    Only monster/horror related thing I did this weekend is bid on the awesome Morbius figure kit of the Creature from the Black Lagoon toting Julie Adams on Ebay for a birthday present for myself. (Now I guess everyone here are going to go bid against me!)

  • Gamera977

    Always wanted to see an episode of ST:TNG or ST:DS9 where Worf shows up with a photon bazooka….

  • Ericb

    Worf was more of a “tear’em apart with my bare hands” type of guy. I bet that Miles O’brien would have loved a himself a photon bazooka though.

  • Rock Baker

    No, I shall just say Happy Birthday!

  • Rock Baker

    Revisited IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY, the Summer sequel to A CHRISTMAS STORY. Still charming, still hysterical. A family friend dropped by Saturday with that documentary about Cannon films, ELECTRIC BOOGALOO. Though some neat information was sprinkled throughout, it was mostly a collection of snarky digs at a studio which usually got more right than given credit for. As a movie watcher, the Cannon logo always brought a sigh of relief in the knowledge that the resultant picture was more than likely going to be a professional product which delivered the goods. The logo could often be trusted more than a lot of other studio banners, honestly. A Sunday screening of the 80’s INVASION USA confirmed this. While the script had a few rough spots (mostly in Richard Lynch letting his personal hatred of Chuck Norris too easily take him off track), and it featured those magical LAWS rockets which could repeat fire, the film was slick enough and fast paced enough that these seemed rather minor issues that would’ve been far more glaring in a pretentious major studio film. I also screened ROCK-A-DOODLE again for a review I’m working on for Baker’s Log. Strange movie, but it is a fun one.

  • Flangepart

    So…Batman (officially) hates guns because his parents were shot…what if the killer had used a knife? Would he have to spread his peanut butter with his spoon? And if a lead pipe…how would he feel about plumbing?

  • Eric Hinkle

    Happy Birthday!

  • Eric Hinkle

    Back when he first started out, Batman killed people left and right. He was more a Pulp magazine vigilante than anything else.

  • Eric Hinkle

    I suppose everyone has heard about Tobe “Texas Chainsaw Massacre/Poltergeist” Hooper’s death? First Craven, then Romero, now him.

  • Like Cullen, I watched some of the new Tick series, and was similarly ‘meh’ about the whole endeavor. They should really call this version Arthur instead. I just made me want to go back and rewatch the Patrick Warburton version instead as that was damned near perfect. Which, unsurprisingly, is what 15 year old son promptly did after only a single episode of the new series.

    Thursday, I went to the theater and watched the Rifftrax guy take apart The Five Doctors, which was one of the funniest shows yet, I was exhausted about 45 minutes in from laughing so hard and constantly. It was also the best attended of any of the shows I have seen here, despite being the rebroadcast and not the live night, which I hope bodes well, they had cancelled the rebroadcast before this one here due to poor pre-sales.

    I also caught up on Midnight, Texas at some point, which I am enjoying way more than I expected to.

  • I prefer Ollie Hopnoodle’s Haven of Bliss to It Runs in the Family.

  • Mr. GJ is laid up in a boot for the next 8 weeks, so there has been a lot ore sitting around watching TV time than usual.

  • Ken_Begg

    I kind of like that Tick creator Ben Edlund creates a new tone for each of the three programs featuring the Tick. But mileage, of course, varies.

  • Ken_Begg

    Happy Birthday, buddy!

  • Ken_Begg

    Holy crap, are you guys going to be able to make T-Fest?!

    [Plot Twist: Ken’s a selfish dick.]

  • We should be fine. He has a torn tendon in his ankle (amongst other issues) but is fine as long as he stays off the foot for any distance. He has a knee scooter for anything strenuous and made it around Indianapolis last week with no problems. The plane tickets are bought, so one way or another we should get there, although we all know my plane karma is less than stellar. And I am stuck taking United, which is bad karma even if the flights all go on time.

  • I will say this for The Tickit: I binged the six episodes they had for it. The Defenders I stopped before the first episode ended and haven’t gone back to it.

  • Happy Birthday (a bit belated…)

  • Every time I hear United get bad mouthed I feel a little sad. Long years ago, when I was young and slightly less handsome, agents working for the airline went out of their way to help me home from Anchorage, Alaska when I missed a flight. Hard to think they might have slipped so far.

  • Eric Hinkle

    May he heal swiftly and may everything go well for you too.

    And what’s wrong with United these days? I’ve only flown a few times but I was fortunate when I dealt with them.

  • Marsden

    I watched The Tick. Peter Serafinowicz is a perfect Tick, and his costume is very good,too The eyes are still uncovered but the mask is still good. I thought Patrick Warburton was great but I didn’t like his version of the costume. The show can’t be classified into a simple category, it’s got a lot going on. When I first watched it I had expectations from the Fox cartoon, which I still love, and the other live action version, this is different. It’s as close to a comic book as you can see in a live action format, because in some scenes there’s blood and slaughter and in other’s there’s the Tick monologueing about Destiny’s warm hand in the small of his back by himself on a rooftop. I really like that even though the criminals act like criminals and try to kill people The Tick does not approve of murdery methods of crime fighting.

    I watched most of Defenders but I haven’t finished yet, I don’t have unlimited time to watch show after show. I’ll be finishing it up soon, so far it’s great! I just wish Iron Fist wasn’t such a dope.

  • Last time I flew them I had to drive a rental car from Chicago to Virginia because they would not help me in any way when they cancelled my flight home and planned to leave me stranded for 4 days with no offer to find me accommodations or an alternate route home. I have had other experiences nearly as bad. Combine this with their new policy of charging $30 extra per person on economy tickets to be allowed to a) have a carry-on bag or b) be allowed to sit with your other party members and they can suck my big toe. If I had *any* alternative this time around I’d have taken it.

  • Thanks. He’s had a rough year so far but hopefully things will improve soon.

  • That I can agree with!

  • The Rev.

    Agreed; that was a damn good Rifftrax show. Pretty much straight funny throughout.

    I saw one episode of “Midnight” and it was interesting enough that I might check it out at some point.

    My wishes for a speedy recovery to the husband!

  • That’s really crappy service right there and I’m sorry to here about it. It’s been forever since I was on an airplane; seems like customer service sank in that time. Real sad to hear.

  • Gamera977

    Lol, it’s not till Labor Day next week. I went ahead and bid on the figure so that if I win it’ll get it only a few days late.

  • Rock Baker

    That one I haven’t seen yet, but I’d like to get it.

  • Oh is that a nice looking figure! (No worries on me even putting in a bid; I’m currently beyond poor.)

  • Thanks! Will we see you next month?

  • Gamera977

    Most people of course paint the figures up in colour. I saw one painted up in black, white, and shades of grey a few years ago replicating the look of the B&W movie and loved it. I’m going to try to pull off the same thing.

  • Rock Baker

    Well, I would’ve expected that such things were standard on perfected space craft Just In Case. After all, space flight was still considered a military priority when films like this were made. Better to have it on board and not need it than find a situation where you need it and don’t have it. It’s well within the frame of pulp science fiction.

  • Darren McGavin actually returned for that one, although Jerry McConnell is rather an overgrown Ralph.

  • The Rev.

    Barring unexpected catastrophe, yes. No weekend classes to mess with things, at least at this point. I tend to clear my schedule that particular weekend whenever possible. I can’t wait to see you! Missed you so much.

  • Jamie B.

    Ken’s a selfish dick?

    That isn’t a plot twist, that is a trope. ;)

  • Jamie B.

    I finished The Defenders today. It was….okay.

    Iron Fist was one of my favorite super heroes growing up, and I’ve hated how he is depicted in both his own series and this one.

    Haven’t finished The Tick just yet. Galaxy Jane and I need to find a bit of free time.

  • Rodford Smith

    There was a photon mortar in TOS episode “Arena.” (Actually, more like a photon grenade launcher on a bipod.)