Five Favorite Supernatural DC Comics Villains

I week or two ago I did my top 5 supernatural heroes, so doing the villains seemed a natural. But it wasn’t so easy. This was a hard category to research. Can you guess what came up every time I put “Supernatural Villains” into google? Yeah. It’s pretty clear that while the Supernatural Heroes of the DC Universe are big names and stand out, the villains aren’t quite household names the same way.


I did manage to find five, so here we go in no particular order.



Solomon Grundy

This is a zombie super villain who was very powerful. And at the same time was sort of tragic figure. I guess most zombies are. I first became aware of him by his portrayal in the old Superfriends cartoon.Why did they use him? Good question. (even dumber? He was in the live action Legends of the Supeheroes. WTF??) Anyway after fighting the Golden Age Green Lantern in the old days, he fought Superman and Batman before getting all tied into the Swamp Thing’s mythos. There was a time when he was loyal to Jade and even helped Infinity Inc, until he is tricked into attacking and killing several member and became evil again. He also appeared in the Batman story The Long Halloween which I considered reviewing for this year. Maybe next year.

Random Thoughts-Happy Back to the Future Day!

I’m know I know, but how could I resist talking about this one? Back to the Future was a movie I adored and watched a million times. Then Back to the Future II was released, and it was one of the coolest movie experiences ever. Seeing the scenes from the first movie recreated was something that amazed me for years. We take things like that for granted today. The bifforhific 1985 was just awesome, and what can I say about the future portrayed in the movie? Which is, today Wednesday, October 21, 2015!

Yeah there were problems. The story could be picked apart. And one thing that bothered me was all the promo’s for the third movie. I mean, we had Doc wearing a western shirt, Doc exclaiming the old west was his favorite time period, Marty playing a western shooting game  on a video game, Biff watching a Clint Eastwood movie (gee, I wonder if the scene he’s watching would come back to the play in he next film?), and the Delorean inexplicably show the date of 1885 a couple times in the film. Not to mention the trailer at the very end which for some reason made it on to the VHS release. That always bugged me, why end with a cliffhanger just to spoil it? These teases hurt the second movie and for me anyway, spoiled the third in many ways.



Ok, getting way off track. Of course the reason why this day is special is because the date that Marty and Doc went to in the future was in fact October 21, 2015. And I am not going to lie…that is so cool! It also makes me feel old, since it means it’s been nearly 25 years since I first saw the movie. I love that this movie is so famous and so loved that BTTF Day is a thing. When most movies set in the future hit their predicted date no one cares, or notices. Not with this movie! We have a beautiful book coming out, a new release for the movie, and countless articles and tributes. As I said before these articles seemed to start as soon as 2015 did. This trilogy doesn’t often get the respect it deserves which I get. Putting it up against trilogies like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings it probably doesn’t measure up. But the fans of this movie are loyal and passionate about it and this movie will never go away. I could do a list (and probably will) of hit movies that no one hears about anymore. This is not one of them! So why is this future so loved? Because it’s a happy one not an apocalyptic hell!

Top 5 Supernatural DC Comics Superheroes

A few months back I spent a lot of time talking about my favorite characters in the DC universe. I covered heroes, villains, supporting characters, and even favorite teams. But there is one small group I left off, and since we are in October it seemed to the perfect time to go through them. The magic based characters.


DC has a very rich line of supernatural characters, from heroes like Animal Man to villains like The Floronic Man. But which one’s to do I especially love?



#5.Deadman

Deadman is another one of those characters I know from his crossovers with other characters, like Superman and Batman. He is a, well, dead man who was once a circus performer. After he was killed his spirit is given the power to possess any living being by a Hindu god named Rama Kushna. The cool thing is that the guy has a very strong personality and the character is one that is easy to like. The best thing he ever did was infiltrate the alien alliance during the “Invasion” even in 1988.




#4.Zatanna

One of the first comic books I ever read had the mistress of magic in it, and I had no idea who she was at the time. But I learned. Daughter of a golden age hero named Zatarra, Zatanna was awesome! She had unlimited magic, well ok limited to the fact that she had to recite her spells backwards. Which was kind of cool! She was a member of the Justice League of America back in the day. At first we was a novice hero and her powers were pretty basic. As time went on as her character evolved so did her powers until she was more mystical in nature, even resurrecting the devastated city of Metropolis in one appearance.

Fifteen Scary Superman Stories for Halloween

When I was a kid I used to read specific comics at Halloween which were either set at Halloween or creepy enough I decided it counted. The big one was Superman! I know Batman seems to be more closely associated with Halloween, but Superman is no slouch in dealing with the occult.




Then a week ago Longbox of the Damned featured Superman #344 where he fought Dracula and Frankenstein.


And…the story sounded stupid. Throwing The Phantom Stranger in as a deux ex machina at the end. It got me thinking of those stories I read as a kid, and I was able to cobble together a list of other Superman issues which are good enough to read on Halloween. The Man of Steel has fought everything from ghosts to vampires, and the stories are usually creepy and even scary.



I am including a few books that I did not read but thought were worth a mention, and a few that Superman was in but even if he wasn’t the focus of the book.



This list started out as 5. Yeah, I know. Anyway….



Justice League of America #145

Of course Superman is part of the story, so it counts. Superman fights for his soul in the afterlife while the rest of the JLA must defeat Count Crystal and the Carnival of Souls. It’s a pretty spooky tale which includes The Phantom Stranger yet again.

Special TV-“The Simpsons” Halloween Specials, Six Segments I Loved/Hated

Last year I focused on the Halloween episodes Roseanne had, not mention discussing my absolute favorite Halloween episodes (and a few I hate). But with all of that there was one series that got seriously snubbed, with barely a mention. A series which goes above and beyond every Halloween, with a new classic every year. Yes of course I am referring to:

Why didn’t I talk about it last year? The Simpsons had so many great Halloween episodes how could I pick just one!! Ah, The Simposns….I was never a major fan. It just never grabbed me though I did see many episodes in college when the show was in re-runs. However, even I have to admire the Halloween specials (or Treehouse of Horror if you prefer, I miss the old name). They are clever, well made, and usually a lot of fun. Since they take place outside the show’s time lime the creators can do whatever they want. And they do!


 



So today I wanted to discuss six (well, seven you’ll see what I mean) of them that I just love, and to be fair more that didn’t do anything for me. Before I begin let me make this clear, I am going mostly by memory for these. I would love to sit and review every single episode, and maybe if they are ever released all together on a DVD I will (there is one DVD out but it only has a sample of episodes, and I ran out of time or I would have ordered it off Netflix). But for now this is what I have. And I would be lying if I said I remember, or have even watched, every episode. So obvious one’s will be missing like “The Devil and Homer Simpson” where Ned Flanders turns out to be the devil. If I saw it I don’t remember it. And “The Shinning” seems to top everyone’s list but somehow I missed that one. Besides having never seen the classic movie the parody would be a bit lost on me.



   





So these are the standout’s that I enjoyed and still remember. By the way these are in no particular order.



The Raven (Season 1)

I really can’t say what it is about this one, it’s really nothing amazing. It’s just James Earl Jones narrating while Homer recites Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven”. But something about it just works. Is it because Jones is bad ass no matter what he does? Is it because the poem is just awesome? Is it because Homer’s reactions are classic Homer? Is it because it is simple, but effective? Whatever it is, I love it.

Underrated Trek:Distant Voices (DS9)

Welcome back to Underrated Trek, where I take a special look at Star Trek episodes that I love…which may not be the most popular or even liked by most. This is probably my last of these this year as we get into the holidays. This episode was pushed off my DS9 list I did a month or so ago, so I decided to give it it’s own special article. Besides, it isn’t the worst but its not the best either. The real amazing thing? They managed to do a interesting episode around Bashir as a character. That’s a freaking miracle!

Can a Bashir episode actually be good? Let’s take a look

Five TV Shows I’d Love to see on DVD

TV Shows on DVD is truly an awesome thing. Not only do you get to see your favorite shows whenever you want, but they are usually remastered and unedited!  But despite the vast library of TV shows on DVD, there are still a few I would love to see but most likely will not. Even some that make sense, like WKRP for instance which had tons of music in every episode, still manage a full series DVD release. While other shows still have not seen the light of day. WTF? Until last year or so the Batman TV Series would have been on here, but that finally came out and I own the whole things



Here are five I would love to see someday:



Head of the Class

I’ve gone on and one about this show, one of the more underrated shows from the 80’s. When it was good, it was really good. I am not even much of a Howard Hesseman fan but he was cool here. It was a series of genius’s in a high school but was well cast and all the characters were likable So, why isn’t this series out on DVD? I mean it was a reasonably big hit in is day. Heck not even the first season has even seen the light of day! I’d love to see the first few years of this show released. I mean, Coach manages to get released but no this show?