Review - Cops and Monsters Web Series

So this is cool I saw someone involved with this series post up the 1st episode onto The Geek Asylum Facebook group and thought I'd check it out. The 1st episode is free, for the other 7 parts of it you have to go to Amazon Prime and I guess you have to pay if you don't have that. 

This is far from being the most slickly put together show but it's still pretty decent actually, with locations, acting and story all reasonable enough for what I would guess is made on a very limited budget. Episode 1 shows Maya Hedges getting her dream job of joining the Paranormal Investigation Team, who are a branch of the police who deal with the supernatural. She worked in normal detective work before but claims she wants the challenge of dealing with the vampires, zombies and werewolves of the world. Her new boss knows that her parents were killed by Werewolves and so may have an ulterior motive but gives her the job anyway. I thought it might be kind of a bit like a Scottish version of Grimm

It seems that vampires and werewolves have been living in relative harmony together but things could be about to change. There seems to be a serial killer on the loose and a strange Svengali-like figure behind the scenes manipulating events. I'm not sure exactly what his intentions are but he seems to be called, or represent the Cult of Many Faces. He kidnaps Maya's partner/ex-lover Martin and taunts her over it causing her to go maverick in her efforts to find him. There are some behind the scenes political wrangling & double dealing as well threatening the future of P.I.T.

The episode run time varies somewhat, the pacing is a bit hit and miss, the plot, dialogue and some of the situations are a bit unbelievable too but not in a suspend your disbelief kind of way more in a that's a bit daft kind of way? There are quite a few little niggles that are detrimental to the show, I think possibly it was too ambitious and maybe it could have changed elements of the story to allow for what they were able to do with their budget. For example why make werewolves when you haven't got any special effects to make werewolves with? Why not make it something else instead. And maybe don't go with a police force idea when you don't have enough actors to give the feel of it being a force rather than just a few people sat in a room. I did like it on the whole though, it's great and adventurous to see a group of people making something new. I don't know if this team has done a lot of stuff before but this has the feel of a fledgling effort, if that's the case then it's a great start.* 

 I can only imagine that with experience they will grow and possibly end up with something really good. I certainly hope so anyway. The series proper is made up of six episodes it seems and the other 2 videos are both self-contained stories set inside the same universe and I think they actually worked better. The 1st Trapped was let down by a bad fight scene, werewolf effects and dialogue that was a bit clunky in my view but the story was pretty solid. The Christmas special was the best of the lot to my mind and was actually pretty poignant. 

I kind of wonder if this would work better as a comedy!! It's almost as if the fact that it's trying to be serious is to it's detriment. This could be really great as a Garth Marenghi style spoof comedy, drama, cop, whatever else they wanted to add to it kind of show! Whatever they do, another series of this or another show altogether I hope they keep on going and learn and grow and refine themselves until somewhere down the line they end up making something really cool. They ain't there yet but the seeds are being sewn.

This also had a couple of faces I recognised in it, Sophie Aldred who played Ace the companion of the 7th Doctor (who I was not keen on at all at the time but I quite fancied her, not that that is at all relevant... I have no idea why I mentioned it... she's still pretty hot btw) and Simon Weir who's been in a fair few things here and there looked familiar too. 

*I researched a bit more after writing this and found they (Silly Wee Films) also did a movie called Night Is Day which is a Supernatural Scottish Superhero movie which is my kind of thing, so I may well check it out and review that too someday. Ooh it was £1.82 to hire but I see it is up on YouTube in full for free, result!!

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Edit - they are looking at funding for Series two now, check out the Kickstarter campaign here

Justice League of America - Vol.1 The Extremists

Written by rising star Steve Orlando (BATMAN, MIDNIGHTER) and illustrated by a league of superstar artists including Ivan Reis (GREEN LANTERN) and Andy MacDonald (DETECTIVE COMICS), this JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. SUICIDE SQUAD spin-off is a JLA for a whole new era--exploding from the pages of the blockbuster DC Rebirth event!

OK that's the blurb above on this new book giving you the who dunnit and all that, but how was it? Well I got this as a present from my dad and having not read any comics for a fair while now I wasn't up to date with events at all and I kind of judged the book by the cover a bit and guessed it wrong. I was thinking that this was a new alternate Justice League team called The Extremists. I saw Lobo and Killer Frost and figured it was a down and dirty team designed to do the jobs that the main JLA didn't want to sully themselves with. I seem to recall there was a team like this back in the 90's I think but I can't remember what they were called. I think Captain Atom led them and Amazing Man and maybe Booster Gold were in the team but the memory is hazy. I'll have to go through my long boxes and have a re-read sometime soon I reckon. Also I was given another book that I thought was another JLA team but was actually a prequel somehow to this. I read them in the wrong order too :( 

As a 1st book in the new series, similar to some of the others I have reviewed recently (See Saga, Super Sons, Trinity), this is very much an introduction to the team. You get the whole formation story and get some interplay between the new team members. Batman as ever is the driving force, he wants the team to be down to earth and seen by humanity rather than floating above it on the satellite. (This seem familiar too from somewhere) Black Canary is there to keep him in check and to keep him honest. Vixen has experience with the league, Lobo owes Batman for something and supplies the muscle and the attitude. Killer Frost is being offered redemption after seeming to have overcome her need to fatally feed off of others heat. The Atom (Ray Palmer's protegee Ryan Choi) and The Ray are young heroes looking to learn from their experienced colleagues. So this new team forms and pretty much straight off the bat (no pun intended), The Extremists turn up. I remember these guys when they 1st showed up they were very formidable and they have popped back every now and again. They are a cool looking bunch of evil world conquerors and could prove to be more than a match for this fledgling Justice League. Can the new team find their feet and gel quickly enough to overcome this potentially world threatening force?

This is a cool start up for this newest iteration of the League, interesting relationships are forming, some questions are being raised and one or two secrets are starting to emerge. Time will tell if I ever get to learn what happens in later books, I'll have to wait and see when my next level up day comes around again.

  

Late geeky Christmas presents :)

My mate Dawn bought me a few little geeky treats for Christmas :) Yay!!

Look now I can wear Iron Man socks whilst drinking tea from an Iron Man mug!! Hey I could even listen to the band Iron Man whilst I drink my tea!! And doing the ironing.... erm perhaps not that!!

This cute little Spidey-fellow has sucker pads that go onto the hands so you can suction him onto surfaces!! Hay that's one of his powers in the comics too.... almost!! Awesome!!

And look at this Batman flask/mug type thing!! I could totally take a cup of tea to work with me!! Not a bad idea at all actually!! Nice artwork too, this is a cool 70's style Batman I think, I like that style of Batman a lot!

And finally some kick arse Batarangs!! The top one folds and has magnets on it so it can go on the fridge and the 2nd one is a bottle opener!! They look pretty sweet sat on my shelf 😊

Victorian Jurassic Park

I've been wanting to go along to Crystal Palace Park for ages. I've known about it for yonks but I have never gotten around to going there. I heard a lot about it on I Know Dino Podcast which is a great listen for Dino-geeks. I mentioned it on my dinosaur themed episode of my heavy metal podcast High Speed Hangover too. 

In fact I used a photo from the park as my show picture too. Check that out if you love a bit of heavy music folks.

So I finally went along to the park on my recent week off work. For those not in the know Crystal Palace Park has a few claims to fame. There is a massive radio mast there which is a local landmark in the area. Plus historically the Crystal Palace was there. The Crystal Palace was originally in Hyde Park, the site of the Great Exhibition of 1851. Afterwards it was moved to the area which was named for it and with some modifications and enlargements it formed the centrepiece of the Victorian pleasure ground before sadly burning down in a fire in 1936.

It also has the dinosaurs. Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins was commissioned to sculpt the 33 dinosaurs, and they were completed in 1854. They were sculpted to resemble what the scientists of the day imagined the then newly discovered dinosaurs to look like. 

In this work, which took some three years, he collaborated with Sir Richard Owen and other leading scientific figures of the time: Owen estimated the size and overall shape of the animals, leaving Hawkins to sculpt the models according to Owen's directions.

A dinner was held inside the mold used to make the Iguanodon. The dinner party, hosted by Owen on 31 December 1853, garnered attention in the press. Most of the sculptures are still on display in Crystal Palace Park.

The models were classed as Grade II listed buildings from 1973, extensively restored in 2002, and upgraded to Grade I listed in 2007.

The models represent fifteen genera of extinct animals, not all dinosaurs. They are from a wide range of geological ages, and include true dinosaurs, ichthyosaurs, and plesiosaurs mainly from the Mesozoic era, and some mammals from the more recent Cenozoic era.

Iguanodon....

....and on......

..and on...

...and on!!!

Getting on a bit but not dinosaurs yet!

Here a blog, there a blog, everywhere a blog blog - 1

So I was considering doing a review of the cool Will Smith Netflix movie Bright. I watched it the other night and had seen loads of people posting up, "is this film as crap as the critics say" kind of posts. I checked it out and thought it was pretty damn good actually. BUT I am not going to review it.... nope instead I thought I'd point you all to a cool review by a fellow novice blog buddy. I think it's cool to share a fellow bloggers site with you and in future I will share a cool blog here whenever I see one. 

So without further ado here is the blog of Hartley O'Driscoll called Hartley reviews. He did a post about the movie Bright that pretty much hits the nail on the head as far as I am concerned. 

Check it out and bookmark his page

Nextflix Reviews - The Foreigner

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Jackie Chan has been entertaining me for decades and he's never failed to deliver the action that's for sure. I was 9 when Drunken Master came out in 1978 and I remember watching that and play kung-fuing around the house with my mates afterwards. I gotta say he is looking old now but he ain't lost it. This feels a hell of a lot grittier and real than his normally over the top outings for sure. His age adds real pathos to his acting too, you can feel his sadness at the loss of his last remaining family member and he feels believable as a devastated, quiet man seeking vengeance and the truth about the killers. He's a man with a tragic past but also a violent one with training that he hasn't forgotten. 

The Chan half of the action is just the tip of the iceberg really with the real story being multi-layered political intrigue. There is all kinds of secret phone calls and wranglings and machinations within the IRA and British government that keep the story deep and interesting. The man he has targeted to get the truth from Politician Liam Hennessey (Pierce Brosnan) seemingly doesn't actually know who did it and is himself trying to find out. Brosnan is great, his character is an ex-IRA man, now a politician dedicated to maintaining the peace accord and he wants to find the rogue cell who are breaking the peace and 'deal' with them. So Chan in his desperation seems to be attacking the wrong guy and in all honesty hindering Brosnan's chances to find the truth. There are levels within levels though and things are not simply black and white by any stretch of the imagination and there are lies and tricks and schemes interweaving with each other. 

This is a great movie, it has action it has a great story and superb acting and it's free to watch on Netflix, so get on it. And check out all Jackie's other movies too cos they are bloody great :)
Ooooooh and I just found out the director was Martin Campbell who did the 'flop' (that should never have been a flop cos it's a great movie), Green Lantern. Awesome!!

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Movie review - The Ghoul

I watched this film straight after A Ghost Story and I think that movie had drained my brain through sheer boredom and that didn't really help me with getting into it.

It started with some detectives investigating a case and talking about a ghoul, some one who was obsessed with hanging around police trying to find out grisly details about police procedures and having an overactive curiosity about gory crimes. So I am thinking they are looking for this individual. The next thing we see a guy who is clinically depressed and seeing psychiatrists to talk about his delusions about being a detective. He seems to mope around a lot, he spends some time trying to connect with an old flame and follows and befriends a fellow patient who he goes to a party with. At the party they talk positing the thought that "imagine instead of being a depressed person who dreams of being a undercover detective he is actually a detective pretending to be a depressed person pretending to be a detective"................ does that sentence even make sense? That was when I twigged that this was the detective from the beginning of the movie actually being undercover. I seem to have totally missed the point somewhere along the line I think, although I feel that the point wasn't really made in any way that was in the slightest bit engaging or able to pique my interest.

It's all a bit psychedelic maybe, it's definitely obscure and I suppose it's supposed to make you think but it just made me think that I'd picked some bloody naff movies this evening. There were hints of magic mentioned and a warning given but I felt no hint of menace or inkling of there being any kind of threat or trepidation and then there was some kind of ouroboros shenanigans and was he investigating crimes he himself committed in some weird cyclical twist? To be honest I didn't care enough about the film to try and fathom it out. Immortality something or other, existential blah blah..... pretty boring stuff.

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Super Sons - Vol.1 When I Grow Up

So here is DC Rebirth an event that I have no awareness of as I haven't been able to keep up with my comics for a few years now due to costs mainly. So this is all new to me and as this is a re-boot/rebirth I am not sure how much of this is just as new for other readers. I did hear that Damien Wayne, aka Robin the Boy Wonder had been killed. I think I heard it on a podcast, maybe Fatman on Batman. Well he's not dead now, I am not sure if in this reality he ever died or not? Comics continuity is difficult enough when you are caught up with things but dipping back into it after a prolonged period away can be quite irksome. I want to know everything my comic geekiness needs to know, but I have to resist the pull, my wallet demands it! Also it now appears that Clark Kent, Superman and Lois Lane had a son. Jon Kent is now 10 years old and has I suppose a 10 year old, half Kryptonian's powers. He seems pretty strong and quick, but he can't fly. He jumps around, much like Superman did in the original stories. I am not sure if his powers will increase as he gets older and his solar battery body soaks up more of the suns rays.

13 year old teenager Damien is an insufferable little git. There I've said it. He's got all the arrogance of Batman but rather than being taciturn about it he bellows it from the highest rooftops practically. He is so full of himself and how good he is at everything and is quite happy to belittle his companions that you might find it hard to like him. Jonathon Kent is younger and has been quite closeted by his parents and is cajoled/fooled into going on a mission with Robin. As a starting story for a new comic it is all about setting up the dynamic between the boys and their parents. The boys are breaking their curfews, Jon was put to bed at 9pm and Damien was ordered not to go on patrol as he hadn't done the studying he was meant to. So they are being naughty children, setting up that typical sidekicks doing if for themselves followed by getting caught conflict. The main story telling is about the interaction between the boys themselves and as Robin states often, they are not friends. They come to blows a couple of times, (although once may have been a ruse to trick an enemy), and bicker for the rest of it. They manage to spend enough time battling the enemies though thankfully and win in the end but don't really seem that much more of a partnership, but hey their father's distrusted each other at first and look what friends they are now. Saying that though this is a new universe and I don't think they are quite at the friendship levels they were previously. These reboots get confusing eh? This may not quite be the start of a beautiful friendship exactly but it's a very early step on the way which I am sure will unfold as the months go by. I've always liked Superboy and Robin comics in the past but these are new guys to me. I never even knew Clark had a son and Damien is almost an unknown to me too and frankly he's a horrible little monster so it will be interesting to see how and if they start to gel.

Nextflix Reviews - Don't Kill It (2016)

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Dolph Lundgren - The Punisher, Drago, He-Man!

Wow, I just started watching this film on Netflix I put it on in the background whilst doing some other reviews and I gotta say I am hooked now. It's got a great opening 10 minutes with about 5 murders a bar brawl and a sex scene that turns into a nightmare dream then Dolph Lundgren this films star and star of seemingly hundreds of B-movies wakes up in bed with his boots on!! 

So in a nutshell, something is possessing people in the Mississippi town of Chickory Creek and making them kill indiscriminately. If you protect yourself using lethal force then the possession passes on to you and you start killing everyone in sight! Hence the title of the movie Don't Kill It. Dolph plays Jebediah Woodley a demon hunter tracking the demon doing the possessing and in typical fashion is marked down as a lunatic by the local police Chief Dunham (Tony Bentley) and FBI investigator Evelyn Pierce (Kristina Klebe). When his story is shown to tally up with the facts they start to trust him and the hunt for the demon begins. The film doesn't take itself too seriously and although not an outright comedy there are a few moments, like the protracted murder spree where the demon passes around from one would be saviour turned demon to another. All to a soundtrack that is too up-tempo and rocking to be suitable for a serious film. Throw in a subplot of an angel, some religious zealots and some interfering FBI and it's a fun hour and twenty minutes.

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Other cool Dolph Lundgren films

     

Movie review - Freehold

This was not what I was expecting really. The cover made me imagine one of those groups of people locked in the house whilst some unknown force stalks them kind of deals. After watching a couple of movies the same night that really weren't my cup of tea this was a breath of fresh air. (See A Ghost Story & The Ghoul) So rather than a group of party goers trespassing in the wrong creepy mansion, this was the story of Hussein, a bloke living in his slightly pokey but comfortable flat. A cocky estate agent by trade, he seemed like he was working class but had a bit of the gift of the gab and took to the slippery underhanded ways that estate agents are renowned for with aplomb. He was a bit of an Arthur Daley, a little dodgy maybe, but underneath he's alright. Well, of course he's only alright if his underhanded ways haven't affected you somehow. Haven't screwed up your life and left you homeless and vindictive and possibly a bit deranged. Which is what they have done to the man secretly living in various hiding places around his flat and emerging at night to seek his revenge in subtle ways. Ways that escalate as the film progresses, leaving Hussein isolated and paranoid and sick until eventually there is a confrontation.

A couple of interesting points to note. There was an inexplicable rap by one of the actors during the closing credits which I thought was an unusual move. It was in his character and sort of told of his motivation I suppose but it was pretty incongruous if you ask me. At least the other main actor never got into the act and finished off with a rap battle I suppose! Also Javier Botet starred as the home intruder. People may not recognise him out of extensive make-up as he normally plays zombies and demons in films like It, The Mummy and the upcoming Slender Man. Even without make up his gangly frame is almost disturbing!

I quite enjoyed this film, it had some cool acting and believable characters, the premise whilst not 100% original was done well. There was suspense and a bit of sick humour but definitely not for someone who is wanting a horror bloodfest at all.

Movie review - A Ghost Story

"One of 2017's best films", "brilliant and profound", "a near masterpiece", wow great reviews there.

Hmmm.......

Yes it's one of "THOSE" movies. The ones that get rave reviews from... somewhere. I can't make out the names on the poster. I could be cruel or try to be funny and say perhaps they are from The Lunatic Asylum In-patients Review and the Sandwich Short of a Picnic Times but I won't do that. (Although I still made the joke lol, best of both worlds) 

I used to do a fanzine and I'd review everything using my patented 'cup of tea' ratings system where I would mark stuff out of how much it personally appealed to me. Just because I thought this was pointless, boring, silly and pretentious bilge it doesn't mean that it actually is. It just is for me. And my girlfriend and quite a lot of people on IMDB too. I am sure there are plenty of other people who's tastes differ a million miles away from my own who loved it. Cool. Good for them. I never want to meet these people though as their tastes are so diametrically opposed to my own that I fear we'd probably hate one another. Plus they'd probably also smell of wee and dribble a lot. (Joking!) 

First off I will warn you this is not a horror by any stretch of the imagination, nor is it scary or creepy or even trying to be. So what is it trying to do? 

So this is profound apparently but I just found it profoundly silly, if there was a reason that the ghosts are made out of sheets like an unimaginative child's 1st Halloween costume I can't fathom it. There is even a neighbour ghost later in a flowery sheet who our main ghost communicates to telepathically I suppose and we see subtitles of their banal conversation. 

It's also profoundly boring. Even before one of the two characters dies they just mumble to each other about nothing much. After the death they have even less interaction, the one mopes whilst the other watches. Eventually the living person moves out, we see other families come and go. There is a scene where the ghost goes full poltergeist mode for an unknown reason and starts throwing plates around, scaring the crap out've a mother and her children. Later during a party scene in the house the usual drunk/stoned blowhard nonsense philosopher gives a turgid diatribe on their thoughts of life, the universe and everything and on how we are all but motes of dust in the cosmic wind blah blah blah. It was like one of those typical deep sounding conversations you have when you are drunk and wake up and think, "blimey we didn't half talk rubbish last night!"

Then the film just gets profoundly ridiculous and then it ends and not a moment too soon just like this review!! 😜

Art

I can't draw, damn I wish that I could 😢 I think I probably have some of my terrible art attempts around somewhere at home as I never really throw away anything. I will scan up any worthy attempts that I see here, although most of them will be stick figure wars cos I did a ton of them back in the day. I will also post up links to any cool art pages that I see anywhere if you guys wanna check it out. 

Actually I think I might even pick up a cheap art book from Amazon and see if I can teach myself to draw.... hmm that might be a good idea for a project!!

So here is a great page on Facebook you might want to check out, I found it through the Geek Asylum group on Facebook. This guy Jim Williams does a fair few conventions and takes commissions too so go check out his page

Iconic Art

Inspired by a picture by Mike Deodato

Movie review - It

This was definitely the Horror hit from last year, the movie remake of the 1990 mini-series based on the 1986 book by Horror master Stephen King. I remember liking the TV series a lot back in the day although I am sure I only watched it once. I actually thought it had been a film back in 1990 that's how long ago I watched it I didn't even remember what the format of it was. I wonder if it's the 1st instance of the killer clown trope, (see also). I know it's certainly the most well known and probably had a big influence on the killer clown hoaxing epidemic that seemed to be all over the news in 2016.

The story is as I remembered it from when I saw it back in the day, a group of kids (The Losers Club) in Derry, Maine are menaced by the local bully Henry Bowers and his gang. This is small potatoes though as they are also being plagued by a demonic ghost clown called Pennywise who steals away Georgie the little brother of Bill Denbrough. He troubles them with visions of what they fear the most, teasing Bill that his brother is floating down there in the sewers. Unable to get the assistance of adults they vow to battle It and try to recover Georgie from the evil entity's lair. They discover that Pennywise has been plaguing the community intermittently for centuries emerging every 27 years. This is the same time period as the novel but for some reason it was changed to 30 in the TV serial.

The fact that this movie comes 27 years after the TV 2-parter is quite a good touch I think and as you'd imagine with the advances in special effects over that period Bill Skarsgård's Pennywise has a whole load more nasty visual tricks up his sleeves that Tim Curry's version of the clown had back in 1990. He uses a number of nasty, bloody visions to terrorize the children as installing fear in them is akin to "salting the meat" making them more tasty I imagine. There is something more unsettling about seeing children fighting for their lives but there is also a bit of a disconnect in my mind, I kept thinking of it a children's adventure story like Goonies or something as there are no adult characters involved in the battle with the clown.

In the 1990 series it was actually a double movie length 2-parter screened over subsequent evenings, for this 2017 remake we have to wait till September 6th 2019 for the denouement. That's quite annoying if you ask me but at least it's not 27 years I suppose! It's a bit odd though as there is a quote on Wikipedia saying it is set 30 years after the original with the kids all grown up, back to kill It for good. They don't seem to have decided on their time line, is it every 27 or 30 years that It emerges from hibernation to feast?

Maybe the wounded It needed 3 more years hibernation to recover?

Maybe I am just getting my facts muddled!

I do think it's rather a long gap between parts 1 and 2 though but who knows maybe in 27 (30?) years time if I am still around I'll be reviewing a 3rd reimagining of the novel.

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Classic Toys - Royal Mail stamp set

The Gemini Brothers in Space

Back in early 2014 I made a funny/silly Sci-Fi serial with my nephews and other members of my family and here it is. Have a good listen please and share it with your friends if you enjoy it.

Here is an interview I got my nephews to do with me

Each episode came with a silly advertisement/sponsor which I made some pictures for, so I will post those here too!

Episode 1 - Alien Abduction

Episode 2 - Close Encounter

Episode 3 - Emperor Fra

Episode 4 - Laser Battle

Episode 5 - No Escape

Episode 6 - Terrible Torture

Episode 7 - No Mercy


Episode 8 - Mad Medicine

Episode 9 - Dylthan Megabeast


Episode 10 - Final Fight

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If you have checked out the show you may well realise that it took a heck of a lot of influence from Flash Gordon. I used to love the old Buster Crabbe 30's series as a kid in the 70/80's when it was played on teatime television. They used to play that and King of the Rocket Men and Champion The Wonder Horse in the same teatime slot if my memory serves me correctly. I have listened to the original radio serial online too. Also the main factor was the film from 1980 with Sam Jones and Max Von Sydow, which I watched at the cinema and I am always happy to be the alt-geek and say that I much preferred it to Star Wars. In fact Star Wars may never have happened if George Lucas had managed to get the rights to film Flash like he originally wanted.

Flash Gordon was created  as a newspaper strip in 1934 by Alex Raymond for King Features Syndicate as a rival to the already popular Buck Rogers, you may recall there was a TV series of that as well, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and of course the parody starring Daffy Duck called Duck Dodgers in the 24th and a half Century. The strip proved very popular and soon spawned many spin-off items to cash in on the brand including pop-up books, colouring books, toy spaceships and rayguns. That kind of surprised me as I didn't realise that kind of cynical product tie-in was such an old trend. I assumed it started later than that for some reason but obviously not! In the last episode of my Gemini Brothers show I did parody it in the joke advert but I thought I was projecting a later trend. King also sold the strip to other papers around the World, 130 papers carried the story at one time with a few making slight changes to suit the local market. For example in Australia he was Speed Gordon as 'Flash' had negative connotations meaning 'overly showy' and was likened with dishonesty. During war time some countries stopped running the strip but it reemerged in those territories after it ended. In 1939 there was even a ride with his name on it at the famous New York World's Fair. Reading about it makes it sound a bit like the Nuka Galaxy Ride from the NukaWorld add-on from Fallout 4

Alex Raymond's art and costumes for Flash inspired the Superhero genre too, the art of both Superman and Batman were influenced by his work and Hawkman was based on the Hawkmen race who was led by Prince Vultan who was played so memorably by Brian Blessed in the 1980 film.

The radio serials started in 1935 with 2 series totaling 100 shows in all. It starred Gale Gordon as Flash and stuck closely at first to the strip in regards story but later veered off with Flash, Dale and Zarkov visiting Atlantis! There have been 2 live-action TV series one ran 1954-55 and the latest from 2007/8, it was cancelled after one season which was a real shame. Maybe Flash and the concepts of this type of clean cut, all American hero are no longer resonant with the general public. There have also been 4 animated series for the space hero as well and a number of comic books over the years, the most recent being a series from Dark Horse in 2010 and from Dynamite Entertainment in 2011.

I already mentioned the film from 1980, I saw that in the cinema and I even had the Pannini sticker album which I later sold on Ebay I think, curse my foolishness :( I remember drawing a massive space battle based on the attack on Rocket Ship Ajax, I think I might still have that somewhere!! If I find it I will post the picture up here :D

There are meant to be 2 new films of the hero in development at the moment with scripts being written, so fingers crossed we will see him fighting the good fight some time soon.