Reading Room Annex: THE MEAN HORNET

Since it's just after April Fools Day, it's only appropriate we present a kool spoof/satire.
And since we've been on a Green Hornet binge, why not run the only spoof done (until the 2011 movie) of The Green Hornet and Kato?

Even though Mad (both comic and magazine incarnations) ran numerous parodies of everything from Superman (comic and movies) to Batman (comic, tv show, and movies) to Blackhawk, they never did any of the various incarnations of The Green Hornet!
(If Cracked or Sick did tales, I never saw them.)
There's only this never-reprinted six-pager from Marvel's Not Brand Echh! #9, 1968.
Written by Roy Thomas, Illustrated by Tom Sutton.

Here's a bonus: the original art to page 1!

Happy 70th, Captain America!

To celebrate his 70th Anniversary (March, 1941), we're presenting a gallery of Captain America art by Jim Steranko (above) and the character's co-creator Jack Kirby (all the rest).
Click on the art to enlarge
Enjoy!

Video Fridays: THE HUMAN TORCH

Continuing our weekly feature "Video Fridays"...

With the death of Johnny Storm aka The Human Torch II, let's take a look at several of his various media incarnations...
He first appeared in the 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon...

I included this because it's the only vid with the seldom-used opening narration!
BTW: the voice of Galactus is Ted Cassidy (Lurch from the The Addams Family tv series.) and The Silver Surfer is Vic Perrin (the Control Voice/narrator of the original Outer Limits.)


He also "apperared" on several lp albums including Golden Records "Amazing Spider-Man #1", "Fantastic Four #1" (Note: the most bizarre thing about these records is all the sound effects in the story were actually spoken with an echo effect.
So, when the cosmic rays hit the spacecraft, you hear an actor saying "RAK-TAK-TAK!"),

 and the Power Records book and record series including "The Way it Began".
BTW, the voice of the Human Torch / Mole Man / narrator is Peter Fernandez, the voice of the 1960s Speed Racer!

His next "appearance" was audio-only when Bill Murray (SNL, GhostBusters, Groundhog Day, etc.) portrayed him on a 1975 13-episode radio series modeled after the dramatic shows of the 1930s-50s!
Click here for the Fantastic Four: "Menace of the Mole Man" radio show mp3

or if you want "visuals" with your radio show...

Johnny did not appear in the 1978 FF animated series, replaced by Herbie the Robot (The Jar Jar Binks of FF history)..

Jack Kirby's original model sheet for H.E.R.B.I.E.

BTW, Johnny was replaced because The Human Torch was optioned for a live-action tv pilot which never got beyond Development Hell, not because the network thought kids would immolate themselves imitating him!

And finally, the trailer for the low-budget 1994 Roger Corman movie version starring Jay Underwood as Johnny! (The music is from Battle Beyond the Stars!)

BONUS: the ONE scene of Johnny in action as the Human Torch!

Interestingly, his animated form seems based on the Fleisher Brothers Superman from "The Mad Scientist" (the very first cartoon)!

 Classic Silver Age Torch T-Shirt

BTW, I'll be wearing this to the memorial ceremony...

The Human Torch is Dead! Long Live the Human Torch!

NEW YORK (AP) —While Marvel Entertainment has made no secret that a member of the quartet, which was introduced in August 1961, would die, exactly who among the group would fall has been a closely held secret, until the release of issue No. 587.

It's the Human Torch, leaving teammates Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman and the Thing to pick up the pieces and move forward.
Fifty years after cosmic rays transformed him into a man ablaze, the Human Torch will burn no more as the pop culture purveyor of super heroes and villains embarks on an ambitious story line that ends the Fantastic Four as a quartet.
In the newest issue, on sale today, of one of the company's longest-running comic books, Johnny Storm's life is taken amid a massive battle.

Battle cry of the Human Torch

Silver Age Torch meets Golden Age Torch

Enter...the Golden Age Human Torch (who's an android, BTW)!

Torch vs Torch!

Fantastic Four #54, one of Johnny's few solo cover appearances.

Pin-Up from Fantastic Four #3

Johnny Storm's Debut!