Early Catwoman Clone
I was rather struck by the cover above for Cats Prowl at Night, a cover from a 1949 Dell Mystery novel, it must have been an early homage to Catwoman who appears in Batman #1 from 1940.
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I was rather struck by the cover above for Cats Prowl at Night, a cover from a 1949 Dell Mystery novel, it must have been an early homage to Catwoman who appears in Batman #1 from 1940.
I guess we'll have to wait until the final cut to see if it deserves the fanboy.com seal of approval. I also wonder if they will mock Jar Jar after they've been kissing up to Lucas so much?
Illustrator Michael Flemming is doing an amazing series called the Star Wars ABC set. Shown above is B is for Banta, I love the amount of charm and detail that he packs into each illustration. You can find Michael's blog here:
I've always enjoyed looking at Heidi Kenney's craft projects on her Flickr page, but the other day I found the above creature and I was blown away! The doggie in question is Tock from the classic children's tale the Phantom Tollbooth.
Heidi presented Tock as a gift to the author Norton Juster at a recent event, it should also be noted that the illustration of Tock was created by Jules Feiffer who is an amazing cartoonist. You can find Heidi's blog here, and if you like work you can even buy some of her crafts here.
Shown above are the opening titles for Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine from 1965. If the style of claymation looks familiar it's because it was created by none other than Art Clokey whose best known for Gumby. And it should also be mentioned that the music on the soundtrack is the Supremes. The film also stars Vincent Price, Frankie Avalon and a bikini clad female robot who looks rather human.

I fell in love with the little bee illustration above the minute I spotted a package of Glico Pretz Hachimitsu Lemon. But i was blown away when I sampled the wheat treats inside, they tasted rather good (very subtle flavoring). Here's a close up of the bee for my fellow fanboys who love whimsical illustrations:

The above poster for promoting the PEZ Spaceman Candy Dispenser was illustrated in 1959 during the height of the space race. I came across the poster at artsnotdead.com so I was inspired to go and do a search to see the actual Astronaut dispenser in action, however sadly the actual item didn't match the quality of the advertisement. Although on the flip side I discovered that the name PEZ was derived from the German word for peppermint, Pfefferminz which the first PEZ flavor.

I was looking for a good 4th of July story, so the first thing that popped into my head was Captain America. While browsing all of the early covers of Captain America I found all of the expected foes of the Captain: Hitler, monsters, Tojo, zombies, robots, and the like. But then I came across issue #11 above which features Captain America trying to save Bucky (who seems to be the most useless sidekick in all superhero history) from the "horror of the feuding mountaineers!" And of course these hillbillies don't wear shoes, can't shave, reject dental care (in any way shape or form) but are all armed to the teeth!
The mountaineers are of course a reference to the infamous Hatfield-McCoy feud. Although I think seen in the context of 1940s America the poorly groomed hillbillies are seen to be the enemies of progress, science, modernism and thus America itself. One would think that the leasure suit movement of the 70s made the nation safe for casual fashion statements, but alas the anti-mountian man movement may be back in full swing again...
This is a very silly commercial for Go Go Tea starring Aya Matsuura, who's J-pop arists and actress associated with the Hello! Project. Aya's favorite food is cookie dough ice cream.
Strange things happen around Glister Butterworth! Shown above is a sketch of the first panel from the upcoming comic book Glister by Andi Watson. Watson's work always seems to offer a nice taste of whinsy and adventure framed within a well designed (and detailed) layout. And also not to mention his color choices tend to feature a nice sophisticated palette, which is unusual for comic books.
When I cam across the above clip entitled Star Fleet 1980 from England I'd never heard of the show before, but after doing some research it seems that it's a translated version of a marionette show created by famous manga artist Go Nagai who's most famous for his titles like Devilman and Cutey Honey. Here's a great description of the show from Wikipedia:
"X-Bomber (Xボンバー Ekkusu Bonbā) is a marionette tokusatsu TV series. Created by manga master Go Nagai, the show, aired on Fuji TV from October 4, 1980 to March 28, 1981, with a total of 26 episodes. This show was billed in Japan as being filmed in "Sūpāmariorama" (スーパーマリオラマ), a puppeteering process similar to Gerry Anderson's Supermarionation works. This show is basically a cross between Nagai's Getter Robo and Star Wars. Just like Getter Robo, the show's protagonists ride three vehicles that combine into a giant robot. Big Dai X, the show's robot, is more similar to the kind seen in the popular Super Sentai series than your average Nagai robot."

It's not that often you see many packages decorated with hot pink and featuring pancake flavored anything! That's why the above Pretz package caught my attention. The artwork on the package features a character design created by Japanese children's book illustrator Osamu Harada. If you like the look of his work you'll want to explore this website:
By the way the Pretz tasted amazing, it was like having an IHOP experience on the run!
Today is the 100th birthday of science fiction master Robert A. Heinlein who was born in July 7th, 1907 and passed away in 1988. As a dyslexic youth I always prefered to watch science fiction on television rather than read it, but I have to say that reading Heinlein was always a great pleasure for me (my favorite is the Moon is a Harsh Mistress). What's also enjoyable about his work is that even while you may not always agree with his point of view, his writing always makes a great conversation starter with fellow fanboys and fangurls.
By the way shown above are various covers from from both books and pulp magazines featuring Robert Heinlein, if you'd like to see more go and check out the Heinlein Book Cover Museum.

There's a great article today in the LA Times on Star Trek fans films (shown above is the U.S.S. Odyssey from Star Trek: Hidden Frontier):
They just keep on Trekking
The 'Star Trek' franchise lives on through fan films, crafted by people outside the industry. In terms of money, it's a whole different universe.
"Fan films are movies made by people outside the entertainment industry who write or improvise a script set in a familiar universe (like "Star Trek" or "Star Wars" or "Batman" or "Harry Potter") and shoot it themselves. It's not illegal as long as nobody makes any money from it — although some companies, Marvel in particular, don't like their characters and worlds messed with. Anyone can do it, but it's not easy. Time-consuming. Costly. And if you want to do it really well, there are actors, special effects, props, background music, costumes, makeup and distribution to consider. That's when making a small fan film becomes a Herculean labor of love.
Rob Caves, creator and executive producer of "Hidden Frontier," wanted his series to be good. He's a diminutive 28-year-old with an almost unnervingly calm demeanor. As a kid watching "Star Trek: The Next Generation" with his father, and later "Deep Space Nine" on his own (he never liked the original series), he leaned less toward the usual "Trek" fan impulse of "I wish I lived there" and more toward "I want to make that"."
I wish I could get this level of service at my local comic book shop! Shown above is a subtitled scene from Lucky Star, epiosde 13. I just love all the manga and otaku jokes in Lucky Star, in my mind the show is an anime South Park for otaku.

It's hard to believe it, but sixty years ago today (July 8th, 1947) the first news story about UFOs appeared in Roswell, New Mexico:
"The intelligence office of the 509th Bombardment group at Roswell Army Air Field announced at noon today, that the field has come into possession of a flying saucer. According to information released by the department, over authority of Maj. J. A. Marcel, intelligence officer, the disk was recovered on a ranch in the Roswell vicinity, after an unidentified rancher had notified Sheriff Geo. Wilcox, here, that he had found the instrument on his premises. Major Marcel and a detail from his department went to the ranch and recovered the disk, it was stated. After the intelligence officer here had inspected the instrument it was flown to higher headquarters. The intelligence office stated that no details of the saucer's construction or its appearance had been revealed."
It's interesting because while we're still debating if the above episode even happened, the real revolution is that in scientific circles it's now been pretty well accepted that someplace out there are aliens (who may or may not be like us). I think the major turning point in this debate was when Carl Sagan started to push this idea in the 80s about forty years after Roswell. And I half suspect that we might encounter alien life forms in our lifetimes, although they might only be humble microbes living on Mars or Titan.
This latest episode of Happy Tree Friends seems to be a twist on Weekend at Bernie's. By the way I'm quite impressed with the look of the merchandise associated with Happy Tree Friends:
Cotton Monster is the creation of Jennifer Strunge. Her website is filled with an amazing cast of hand made creatures which reminds me of the Muppets with a slight touch of the Groovy Goolies. Her work shows a strong sense of imagination, and a very graphic yet charming use of color and texture. By the way you can adopt (wel purchase) one of the little devils here.
Found via Neatorama and Everlasting Blort.
I discovered the above t-shirt design at nerdyshirts.com, I wouldn't mind having a poster of this too...
Shown above are some very surreaistic animated commercials for Kizakura sake from 1959 to 1980.
This commercial is like Rocky, but with beer drinking penguins...
Voltes V came out in 1977, so these commercials must be from the late 70s. The first few commercials are what you'd expect, but several of the later commercials feature a Japanese kid in the 70s talking to and interacting with Voltes V.
So now you want your own Voltes V? Well shown below is the GX-31 Soul of Chogokin Voltes V which was released in 2006:
How can they leave Shat out of the film? At least we get Nimoy, here's the description of the above video:
"William Shatner talks about the new Star Movie details with information from an inside source who has been cast in the movie."
I just found the above amazing photo from Japan on Flickr, here's the description:
"Some of the classes build displays for Culture Festival, a once-a-year school event with shows, food, decorations, etc. This class filled cups with paint and made a sort of water mosaic in a hallway."
By the way Flickr has a Totoro Art group worth checking out too...
It's life Jim, but not as we know it (yet):
Alien Life May Be "Weirder" Than Scientists Think
"Think life on Earth is weird? It might be even weirder on distant planets and moons, according to a new report. Instead of thriving on water, extraterrestrial organisms might live in a sea of liquid methane. Or instead of getting energy from the sun, they might thrive on hydrochloric acid. These possibilities could revolutionize future space missions in search of life elsewhere in the solar system, says the report, issued today by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).
The report concludes that scientists need to consider an expanded list of characteristics that define life, including so-called "weird" life-forms that may thrive where Earth organisms couldn't. Instead of dispatching spacecraft to dig into the subsurface of Mars, considered a prime candidate for primitive life because of its watery past, the report says the probes may have better luck on Saturn's moon Titan, which has seas of liquid methane and ethane."
I love the look the look the above Blade Runner umbrella from ThinkGeek, it's just the perfect thing for wandering around late Los Angeles in 2019:
"Early in the 21st Century, the Tyrell Corporation advanced robot evolution into the Nexus phase - a being virtually identical to a human - known as a Replicant. They're all around you, even now. That guy next to you? He's a Replicant. How do we know? He's walking the streets in the rain with no umbrella. That, and he failed the Voight-Kampff. In the pre-apocalyptic future, the air will be so thick, it will be dark in the middle of the day. Coupled with the almost constant rain, you'll need to find a way to stay dry, and light your way to the noodle shop down the street."
My Flickr friend from Los Angles TokyoBunnie just informed me of her new online design store Bored Inc.. Two items that caught my eye (shown above) are a Monsters decorama vinyl sticker that you can apply to your fanboy walls, and below that is Dead Pets: Dead Kitty Coin Purse. Also worth checking out is this cute TokyoBunnie Coin Purse.
Also TokyoBunnie has a great blog worth checking out at tokyobunnie.blogspot.com.
The above illustrations were rediscovered by digial archivist Paula Wirth, they're from a card game called "Space Race". The set was published in 1969 but I wonder if the art work isn't from an earlier time as it does have a late 50s feeling to it. The illustrations shown above are 'Lost in Space', 'Lost on the Moon', 'Repairs in Space', and 'Danger - Comets!'
In honor of Bastille Day today I thought that I'd show off some classic French animation. Shown above is one of the first animated films ever made, it's called Fantasmagorie and was animated by Émile Cohl in 1908. It's sort of amazing for me to think that in just a year this film will be acentury old, it sounds like a long time but in the scheme of art history that makes animation a rather new medium.
To make this film, Cohl placed each drawing on an illuminated glass plate and then traced the next drawing-with variations-on top of it until he had some 700 drawings. In 1908, chalkboard caricaturists were common vaudeville attractions and the characters in the film look as though they've been drawn on a chalkboard, but it's an illusion. By filming black lines on paper and then printing in negative Cohl makes his animations appear to be chalk drawings.
This is how I've been keeping cool through the last week! Shown above is the packaging of White Rose Vanilla Crunch, which is pretty much ice cream on a stick with bits of chocolate. They're smaller than American ice cream treats, but if you're counting calories that's a good thing. The inside contents don't look quite as good as the packaging, but they do taste great on a hot Summer night.
Shown above is silly commercial that showcases young romance and Pote-Long, which is a potato based snack from Japan produced by Morinaga & Co.
I love the vintage look of the above hardware, it's a wonderful example of Tron inspited 80s futurism. MB Vectrex was a home videogame system and Scramble was created in 1982 by Konami which featured a plane going through a mysterious terrain loaded with UFOs and tanks.
The above animation is so upbeat with all of those cute little cartoon pizza toppings, and then takes a quick turn to the dark side! By the way of you live in Japan they deliver. By the way if you'd like to get some cute pizza wallpapers you should check out their Flash website.
It's funny on the Six Million Dollar Man I never recall Oscar Goldman sporting a tacky leasure suit, although the saving grace in this 70s attired action figure is that at lest he's allowed to have an exploding briefcase! I guess there are advantages in being the Six Million Dollar Man's Boss...
The above clip is rather funny, although the manga in question is more cheesecake than hentai. Dōjin Work (ドージンワーク) is a new anime series in Japan that just went on the air this July 4th, the show is based on a four panel comic strip (by the same name) about a young girl named Najimi Osana who is about to make her debut as a dōjin artist (dōjin are fan made comics). Of course being a fanboy I'm already somewhat partial to the show as it seems to be filled with references to the world of fandom.


Images found via BasuGasuBakuhatsu Anime Blog.

It looks like Farscape is coming back to the Sci Fi channel, although they're not quite sure in what form:
"The biggest announcement was that FARSCAPE would be returning care of SCI FI Channel and Jim Henson Productions via a new 10-episode webisdoe series, but there were some other questions we needed answered about projects on one of our favorite networks."
You have to admire a Star Wars fanboy that takes his hobby seriously! The above home Star Wars theater system and collection is located in Seattle, Washington. To see the full slideshow go to modernhometheater.com.
Found via techtechtechy.blogspot.com.
There are so many clever t-shirt shops it's hard to be impressed anymore, but I rather liked the fanboy reference in the above t-shirt which can be found at ThinkGeek.

Shown above is the trailer for 'In the Shadow of the Moon' and it's well worth checking out. I guess it's no secret that I'm a space exploration fanboy at heart (and I got my L5 Society membership card from the late 70s to prove it too), so when I read about this upcoming British documentary I got very excited. The film is about the Apollo missions from 1968 and 1972, when nine American spacecraft voyaged to the Moon, and 12 men walked upon its surface. This era feels like a lost golden age to me, so my hope is that this film might spark some interest in getting humans back to the moon and maybe visiting Mars too. The film should be hitting theaters in early September, so tell your fellow fanboys (and fangurls) about it.
Shown above is a 1:18 1966 Flocked Batmobile limited edition made by Hot Wheels, if you're lucky enough to be at Comic Con at the end of July. They'll be selling about 100 a day for $300 each for a few lucky fanboys.
Shown above is a clip from episode 2 of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (さよなら 絶望 先生) which translates into English is Goodbye, Despair Teacher. The teather in question (doing the cake math above) is Nozomu Itoshiki a high school teacher who takes all aspects of life, language and culture in the most negative light possible. Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei just went on the air at he start of July, and there will be 12 episodes of the show. Not only do I like the dark comedy, but I also like how they use photographic images in combination with the traditional animation look. Here are some images from episode one:


And here are some covers from the manga which the anime series is based upon:

The toy shown above is a Star Wars themed faux laptop aimed at kids. Here's the description from Oregon Scientific:
"Are you part of the Dark Side? Pick up the interactive light sabre and choose a learning path with Darth Vader. Darth Vader laptop is the ultimate learning toy for your children. Enter Sith’s realm and let Darth Vader challenge young children’s skills in mind-blowing games in logic, music, and other breathtaking activities."
Found via Engadget.

Thiry-eight years ago today (July 20, 1969) the human race accomplished its single greatest technological achievement of all time when a human first set foot on another celestial body.
Above: Buzz Aldrin with a seismometer on the lunar surface.
Shown above is a poster for the 1962 film the Bride Napping which I found at shaolinchamber.com, an amazing where they have a great Chinese poster collection online (with a special focus on the Shaw Brothers).
My favorites at a glance are (some slightly NSFW) Divorce Hong Kong Style, the Human Godess, Girl with the Long Hair, Adultery Chinese Style, and of course Oily Maniac (a horror film from 1976).
Special thanks to Chris Liendo for the tip!
In most cases I advise against sporting a fanboy oriented tie in a work setting, however the Space Invader tie shown above is an exception to that rule as the pattern is very subtle and thus in good taste:
"For men who used to be the boys at the local arcade, this Space Invaders tie is the perfect balance of 80s adolescence and grown up charm. Inspired by the popular arcade video game, this tie looks just like the game screen full of rows and rows of attacking aliens."
Found via GeekAlterts.

How come 1.2 miles wide merits moon status while Pluto doesn't rate as a planet?
Saturn's sixtieth moon discovered
"A new moon has been discovered orbiting Saturn - bringing the planet's latest moon tally up to 60. The body was spotted in a series of images taken by cameras onboard the Cassini spacecraft. Initial calculations suggest the moon is about 2km-wide (1.2 miles) and its orbit sits between those of two other Saturnian moons, Methone and Pallene. The Cassini Imaging Team, who found the object, said Saturn's moon count could rise further still."

The more I get to know about Barack Obama the more I like him:
"Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama is the "Harry Potter parent" who has read all six books about the boy wizard's adventures with his older daughter, his wife said Wednesday. In an interview with The Associated Press, Michelle Obama said her husband has read the books aloud with 9-year-old Malia and saw the latest movie, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," with her last Sunday.
Both are awaiting the release of J.K. Rowling's seventh and final book in the series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," this weekend, but finding time to read won't be easy, she said. "The challenge will be scheduling Harry Potter reading time in between Iowa and New Hampshire and fundraising, but I guarantee you they will figure out a way to do it," Michelle Obama told the AP. "Harry Potter is huge in our house"."

Above: The manga from Cat's Eye.
So after a week of hard work I got to catch up with my DVR and watch Cat's Eye which is playing on ImaginAsianTV (thank you Time Warner Cable). The last time I saw this classic anime show was back in the 80s. Back in the day the only way to see this stuff in the United States was to watch it on VHS tapes. The problem for most early anime fanboys like myself was that you were watching a copy of a copy of a copy, so my first shock in looking at Cat's Eye was the lack of static and high audio quality. It was also a real pleasure to hear the audio without any tape hum, and back in the day there were no subtitles so it was a real treat not to guess what was being said by each character.
In fact the nice thing that ImaginAsianTV is doing is that unlike Adult Swim they're showing the episodes in Japanese so you get a better flavor for the show, it's like having a high quality version of a YouTube experience. Although I admit that it's odd to shift gears when they go to a commercial which is always in English.
On the whole I have to say that Cat's Eye has held up pretty well for an anime tv show that was made over twenty years ago. Looking back at it I can see why I became an anime fan in the first place, the quality of the animation looks better than pretty much any animation made in the United States at that time for television or even theaters. The other thing the show reminded me was that in an era before the Simpsons, Cat's Eye was aimed at an older audience which American animation was avoiding in the 80s.
There's a great Photoshop competition at Worth 1000 with the theme If Trekkies Ruled the World. Shown abobe is 'Mr. President' by CocaCasta.
I found the above short animated film on DailyMotion, it took my a bit of Googling but I found some information on it:
"Dynamo is the graduation film by Fabrice Le Nezet, Mathieu Goutte and Benjamin Mousquet three Supinfocom students. It'a a 3D animated short made up to look like stop-motion. "Dynamo tells the story of two characters who live on a planet and work together to keep it rotating. The mechanics of the planet are dependent on its two inhabitants", but one day it just stops."

Shown above is the playful package design for Bourbon Kikori No Kirikabu which are cookies with a chocolate coating shaped to look like tree stumps. To be honest the cookies didn't taste that great, but I love the look of all of the cute little illustrated creatures that adorn the box art:

The above tribute to vintage video games was created by PES:
"The concept of Game Over was to take something electronic and remake it by hand, and essentially do it in this style that I’ve been developing where familiar objects that look like other things are swapped in. This is a style that obviously I’ve been working on for a few years now, and I used it in KaBoom!, but this is basically a re-creation of something that’s computerized or electronic, done by hand. And also, a lot of the lore surrounding old video games is virtually unknown to the general public. For instance very few people know that the original Pac-Man character was modeled after a pizza. And this is confirmed by the creator of Pac-Man in a couple interviews that are online. And I thought that that was a beautiful idea – but let’s put that together in the most direct form. Let’s actually animate a pizza as a Pac-Man with a missing slice. That’s just an example of some interesting background thing that I thought was cool to bring to life."
What I love about this cover for Goon #19 by Eric Powell is that it combines a very cartoony feel with a painterly technique that you might see in a classic pulp fuction magazine cover. It's so rare to see a cover with so much humor that also features a great lighting technique at the same time. Although I have to admit that when I viewed the final cover Dark Horse had ruined it by putting a purple banner over the top of the artwork and used second rate typography to boot. But anyway the description of the book sounds interesting as well:
"The long winter of our discontent is over-feast your eyes on the return of Eric Powell and The Goon! That's right, Powell has finally escaped Albatross's basement and returned to the sweet, nurturing bosom of funny books. The regular ongoing series picks up right where it left off as the Zombie Priest's sanity cracks up. His endless swarms of beastly little minions attack the Goon and Franky en masse, and there's no telling how long the brand-new Norton's Pub will last this time around!"
The above commercial was created for Nike by Takeo Hatai:
"Takeo Hatai has been in animation and computer graphics for more than 16 years. He directs his first TV commercial in 1997 for MTV which won several awards and nominations such as Siggraph or the Japanese Computer Grand Prix and decide to go abroad in 1999 in the search of “something else”. Having directed 3 commercial films for Bouygue Telecom by that time, he goes to Paris where he decides to reside. Now he directs commercial films for names such as Honda, Nike and Shiseido from “Le Pivot” his 3D post-production studio based in Paris and produces digital art in his spare time."
If you can read Japanese his blog is here.
Danger Will Robinson! This Hello Kitty Robot looks like it might chant "Cute! Crush! Destroy!" It's also going to cost Kitty fanboys and fangurls a pretty penny too, each robot is $6,299.99 (but they are available for presale right away):
"Hello Kitty had release this fabulous Hello Kitty Robo. This robot can communicate with your using the Hello Kitty's voice. It can chat with you in 3 different situations: 1 As a close friend; 2 With the family; 3 Guessing game. This is a perfect robot for whoever does not have a lot time to stay with child. Hello Kitty Robo can help you to stay with your child to keep them from being lonely."
Found via GeekAlerts.

78 years ago today Stanley Kubrick was born in New York City, and cinema would never be the same again. It sounds selfish but I remember that upon hearing that he had passed away in 1999 that my first emotion was of being cheated out of looking ahead to his next film. Kubrick was always cloaked in secrecy and waiting ten years between film always seemed to add to the anticipation of what was to come.
Here are a few of my recent random thoughts on Kubrick:
Barry Lyndon: I feel like this film has been over looked, yet it has so much to say about life. I'll always channel surf and come across the Shining and Full Metal Jacket, but never Barry Lyndon. The blame on this one may go to fanboys who prefer science fiction and horror flicks, but as someone who loves cinema I have to say that this film is true gem.
Eyes Wide Shut: Now that I look back on it, the only problem with this film was Cruise and Kidman. Cruise did a great job acting in Magnolia and Kidman was A+ in the Hours, but their lack of chemistry seemed to ruin Eyes Wide Shut for me. Then again I also feel that Leonardo DiCaprio has ruined every recent Martin Scorsese fim.
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence: Looking back on it I think Steven Spielberg did a great job directing this film, I think his only sin was releasing it so soon after Kubrick passed away. I wonder of this film came out today if it wouldn't get a bit more respect? Even though it looks like a Spielberg it does feel very produced by Kubrick. I think as time goes by this film will get more respect.
It's funny before this I never heard of the Center for Puppetry Arts, but it sounds like they'll be worth a visit for fanboys traveling to Atlanta: