Yesterdays Heroes....... Bring on The Bad Guys

When I started to look into heroes from a past age and time, I originally thought what a good idea it would be to bring all the heroes together as a group.... Very like the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen , as was done so well by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neil in 1999.

That was a great concept, and as most of those Heroes came from the Mid 1800's - Early 1900's that worked well.

However, many of my Characters came from much different time frames. The Ancient, Modern and New ages.  So with out a time machine added into the mix Robin Hood would never rub shoulders with Flash Gordon, or The Green Hornet with The Loan Ranger. What would Tarzan make of She-Ra

However, if it was to happen maybe it would have looked like this......


With a little help from a old man  "WHO" lives  and travels in a Blue Box.

But who would the most worthy villains be to take on this collection of Heroes.?

Bring on the Very Very Bad Guys.

What about a combination of  Ming the Merciless and The Mekon,  Loki Norse God of Mischief and Skeletor.    Four manical Rulers brought together to destroy the Universe...... BUT who would control the others. Four deadly and driven men who really should not play together that well on paper. The question would be after they defeat all the Heroes, who would knock off the other Villains !!!! 

Let the Battle commence.


Have a Very Happy New Year , love and best wishes from Me and my Dawgs


until next time    ENJOY !

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2018

It will be soon time to say Good-Bye to 2017 and HELLO to 2018

I hope that this passed year has been kind to you all and that the New Year will bring Health Wealth and Happiness all round

Happy New Yew



Until Next Time     ENJOY

A MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE X MUTTS

Merry Christmas.


I thought I would share with you one of the first Dawgs I drew back in 2010.

I have slightly cleaned this one up, but on the whole it is in the original form.


A parody of a famous XMEN cover.

The cleaned up 2010 Xmas Edition

The First one I did. with the Dog names. 

Happy Christmas and ENJOY

The Forgotten Hero Called MANDRAKE the Magician

The next forgotten Hero is yet another character from a News Paper comics strip. Created by Lee Falk, who also created The Phantom, who I already wrote about a few weeks ago.


Mandrake the Magician first appears in the King Features Syndicated publications in  June 1934

He was not a masked hero like many that where taking to the stage at that time, in fact Mandrake was a very old fashioned looking gentleman even back in the 1930's.

Mandrake Fighting Crime in Style

 

No mask or cape as such, Mandrake dressed in a Top Hat, he wore a Tuxedo all the time, carried a swagger cane... ok he did wear an opera cape, but that completed the look. He dressed like someone going to an evening at the Opera or Theatre. A later addition to Mandrakes back story was that his Hat and Cane were originally his father Theron who had also been a man of great power and magic.

Mandrake lived in a large Mansion called Xanadu which was built in the hills outside New York City. Here he lives with his companion, body guards, man-servant, friend Lothar.

Lothar had met Mandrake in Africa. Lothar was a Prince and heir to the throne of Seven African Nations that had combined to form a greater Nation over years. Lothar  processed great strength, stronger than 10 men and super hard skin what was near impossible to cut of pierse . He also had some natural denfense against magic, both good and evil.   It is unclear if these abilitites were natural or a result of some secret African Magic themselves. Lothar was both protector and friend to Mandrake.

Another person who lived at the Mansion was Princess Narda of the Mystical European country of Cockaigne. Both she and Mandrake became sole mates and completely infatulated with one another at their first meeting. She gave up her like of luxary and travelled with Mandrake as his Stage assistante and love interest. They would later marry.

The African Prince Lothar &  Narda , Princess of Cockaigne

Mandrake was known as a Stage preforming Magican, but his magic was in fact real. Some was illusion and hypnotic suggestion, and some of it was old fashioned slight of hand and smoke and mirrors. BUT on the whole Mandrake was a man of MAGIC. Narda and sometimes Lothar would play a part in Mandrake stage extravaganzas, as well as assisting him in fighting crime. .



Mandrake Performing with the help of Narda with an ever watching Lothar close at hand.  

His powers was his ability to caste illusions, and added to this he had some telepathic abilities too.
He would play up his abilities by saying words and spells he had made up, and gesturing with is hands and cane. His cane was his Magic Wand. It is unsure if the cane had any magical abilities, but it looked good. This was part of his stage persona, but found that this worked well when he fought against evil and its disciples.

He confessed he had learnt his magical arts in a secret hidden College of Magic, or as he called it Collegium Magikos in the Himalayas in his youth.

Although not as famous or as lasting as such, his look and can still be seen today in a few of the modern day heroes from the DC Universe. Manly Zantanna, Daughter of  Zatara, also in  look of the Teen Titans  Zach (Zachary) Zatara cousin of the Justice League Heroine

In his day Mandrake had his own  radio show, his own movie house serial, comic strip, appearances in comic books  and in the 1980's he was featured alongside some of the other characters from the King Features Syndicate as part of the Defenders of The Earth...... And at present a NEW Feature Film is planned to feature the man himself.

It could may be a Magical Time ahead for any Mandrake Fans.

Next Time to round off my look at Heroes from as past age, I will look at The Defenders of the Earth too


Until then    ENJOY !

38,000 and anthor Big THANK YOU from that Modern Stone-aged Family

Sorry not been Blogging a lot recently.

Life tends to get in the way and much of my time is now used in other areas.

However, recently I realised that 38,000 people such as you have so far tuned into my site.

So as I usually do, here is a special THANK YOU


Years Ago I did a Flintstones post, as part of a TV and Movie series,  I did this  back in October 2012.

Here is that Original.

Here is a re do of Wilma Fred and Dino.... along with Betty & Barnie Rubble

THE VERY  MODERN STONE-AGED FAMILY

Until Next Time .......ENJOY and THANKS

He was the thorn in the the side of Dan Dare for Years.... Meet the Evil that is call THE MEKON

Every Hero needs an Arch Enemy. Dr Who has The Daleks, James Bond had Blofelt and Spectre, Superman had Lex Luther,  Batman had The Joker....... and Dan Dare's Nemesis was THE MEKON

The Mekon appeared in the very first Dan Dare story back in the 1950's, and would appear again and again proving to be as popular with the readers as our British Space Hero and his chums.

Dan Dare meeting the strange leader of the Treen Nation

The Mekon was the Ruler of The Treens of the Northern hemisphere of Venus. He was also their Supreme Scientist. The Mekon was the product of genetic engineering. He like others before him was bred for Intellect and Intelligence.  However having been created for mental abilities his physical body was no so well constructed.

The Mekon looking down on high. Like a God or divine  dainty

Unlike the other Treens his head was over sized to allow for his much bigger brain. His body by comparison was weak and showed signs of atrophy. His arms were thin and his legs were unable to bare the weight of his extremely large cranium. His overall frame was considered small, little more than a Treen child. But looks can be deceiving as they say.

The Mekon moved by the used a Hover Chair in which he sat or you could say perched. This Chair which was controlled by his own mind power. His arrogance and self belief that he was the Superior being in existence meant he would always be higher than his subjects, so they would always look up to him, and in turn he could look down on them like an angry God.  If he fell from the chair or was ousted, he was unable to do little but crawl as his feeble body was so weak . The Mekon believed he was the most supreme being in the Universe.... and the most intelligent to boot. There was no Pride attached to this belief, to The Mekon this just the basic fact that he was the only one that mattered.

He controlled the other Treen's with fear and the belief that their Race, his Race was superior to all others. The Treens had always been a war like people, and having a strong leader was all they needed. They followed his orders without question. Even if it meant their certain death in the process.

On the other hand is they did not comply with his orders he would have them killed. Do or Die, or Don't Do, and Still Die should have been the Treen Moto.

Like all dictators The Mekon could never comprehend his was wrong or could ever make a mistake. His advisers would and could only advise him in the manner they were allowed to, Thus meaning Nealy all of his attempts to conquer and destroy would ultimately fail as The Mekon had no concept that anything he though or any way he acted could ever be wrong.

The Mekon main problem that he would over complicate things and over think a solution.

To be honest he was too clever for his own good...... That is why Dan Dare would always win in the end.

The Mekon

Well that brings my tribute to Dan Dare and Co

Next Time another forgotten Hero

Until then enjoy !!!!

Yesterdays Heroes ..... Dan Dare's Venus Allies and Enemies

Last time I re introduced everyone to Dan Dare, a force of good in the Universe. BUT from his very first adventure back in 1950 he would go on to meet a race of people who would be a thorn in his side thereafter.

On the Planet Venus Dare and his crew found three different races living there.

The Brown-Golden Skinned Therons, The Blue Skinned  Atlantines and the Green skinned Treens. Two of the races lived in the Northern Hemisphere of the Planet, whilst the third lived in the Southern part. The arrival of the Pink Skinned Earth Men proved to be of interest to all the different races for different reasons.

The Green Skinned  Treens  lived in the Northern Hemisphere of the Planet. In the same part of the planet lived The Blue Skinned Atlantines. These two races did not live in Harmonie. As the Treens over the years had done their utmost to enslave the Atlantines.

The Most technological  of all the Peoples living on Venus were the Brown-Gold skinned Therons.
They were a peace loving race who had tried to help both the Treens and the Atlantines evolve with the help of Therons technology and teaching. Although the Atlantines were not savages, they believed their culture and way of life was sufficient for their needs. They looked more like the Therons than the Treens. Their Blue skin and their over developed forehead ridges were the main differences.  However the Treens were interested in learning from the Therons, and learnt from their benefactors greatly. BUT where the Therons used their technology for good and peaceful purposes, the Treens started to use it for their own less than peaceful purposes..... and they would soon turn the borrowed knowledge against their benefactors.

The Therons

The Peace Loving Therons   appeared most like the Human Earth men when Dan Dare and his crew first landed on the planet,  but later Dare found out the Blue skinned Atlantines were themselves more Alien in appearance, but still basically of Humanoid in structure.

However, The Treens looked most Alien of the three races. They appeared more Frog Like in their facial features and had a war like nature. They had little concept of Good or Bad, and on the whole they appeared to be a very unemotional race. They were very militaristic  nature and believed they were the natural rulers of the planet.


The War Like Treens

The Atlantines informed Dan Dare that they had originally come from the planet Earth and had left to explore the Universe long before Homo sapiens had ever evolved.  How they travelled from earth to Venus was not full known as much of the records of this time no longer existed. Like wise the knowledge and ability to build such equipment to allow space travel had been lost over time. In fact the Atlantines appeared to live a simple more primitive existence. This again was not known if it was by design or some major incident in the past.



The Atlantines

The Atlantines were not war mongers, but had been fighting a long on off war with the Treens for centuries. The Treens had been the aggressors whilst the Atlantines had tried to stop their race being completely destroyed or subjugated by the more aggressive and war mongering Treens.

.The Therons had tried for many years to help civilise the Treens. Helping them build cities and stop the constant in fighting between the many different Treen Villages and tribes. The Therons did manage to unite the Treens but as soon as the Treens nation had united it turned against its benefactors. Feeling that they had failed in their mission, the Therons decided to leave the Treens to their own devices.

The Therons knew that the Treens would be incapable of attacking them in their part of the Planet as each side of  Venus was separated by an area called the "Flamelands". This was an impassable wide area that ran along the equator of the planet. Only the Therons Superior technology had allowed them to build Craft able to pass through the area in safety.

With the Treens now united as a race as all fractions had now been united by the aid of the Therons help, they needed some one or thing to control and ensure that their race continued to grow in both Power and importance.

Next Time we will meet the Leader of the Treens, and the arch Nemesis of Dan Dare.

He's Mean and Green and we will meet him next time !

Until Then ENJOY !

Yesterdays Heroes Meet The British Spaceman From The Past DAN DARE

The Subject of the next Hero From Yesterday is the Very British Space Hero DAN DARE or Colonel Daniel McGregor Dare to use is full title.

The Man of the Future With both Feet Planted firmly in the Past

First appearing in the first Edition of the  British Comic called  The Eagle published on 14th April  1950.  The Stories of Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future was set in the then Futuristic World on the mid to late 1990's.

Taking Space and Future travel and exploration of the stars as it theme the stories were based around the Hero, Colonel Dan Dare and his trusty crew keeping peace and order in the cosmos.

Mixing together a very British Army Officer in style main character with a  nod to World War Two RAF Pilot and Aircraft that could fly in space was a hit with young boys and their fathers straight away. As many of them had been brought up reading stories of the fictional Hero Biggles and seeing Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers on the Movie Screens,  Dan Dare and his Crew were received gladly

With his trade mark square jaw line, and his "unusual" Eye Brows this Pipe smoking officer was the Hero of every boys dreams..

The Stories were simple, good guys verses the Bad Guys. Using 1950's then modern technology mixed with what was envisaged as life being like some what 40 - 50 years in the future. The dress of  Dan Dare and his crew were mostly an up dated look at the then Army Uniforms. The Space Suits looked like a mixed between Fire Fighters Uniforms and Diving Suits. BUT the look worked.

Col Dan Dare in his Flight -Space Suit

The Rocket Ships mixed Air Craft Design with Rockets. Again these looked right at the time.

The Heroes spoke and acted like British Film heroes of the 1940's. The stories were about honour and sacrifice and doing the right thing.

The Art work of the stories was mainly printed in COLOUR again unusual for the time in British Comics. Detail was paramount, as many of the Space Crafts seen in the stories would have Cut Away drawing so that the Reader could see how the Craft Worked and how it was powered.

Dan Dare's adventures continued to be published until the Eagle Comic 1967. The Eagle then was combined with another British Comic of the time, The Lion, and Dan Dare was again seen in print but only in reprinted stories.

Dan Dare Pilot of the Future/

Over the years Dan Dare and Crew have returned in new stories, most have tried to keep the same 1950's future feel but he has never been as popular as he had been in the original ground breaking Eagle Stories.


Like all good heroes they need their Evil Nemesis. And Next Time we will have a look at the little Green Man who was a thorn in the side of Dan Dare and his Crew throughout The 1950's & 1960's.

Until next time    ENJOY !

ANOTHER re vist to a past Bloged set of Heroes...... The Green Hornet & Kato

I did a version of these two back at the beginning of my blog in 2011 - 2012

I was always proud of the Car the Black Beauty and always wanted to go back and re do my Dawgs Version of the Green Hero in my up dated style..... so here goes.

The 2017 Version of the 1960's TV Duo
 

The origins or the Green Hornet and Kato

Created by George Trendle & Fran Striker in 1936 as a Radio Serial for the Broadcasting  company WXYZ based out of Detroit that had already had a hit with their Lone Ranger Serial.

Unlike The Lone Ranger who's adventures where based in the Old West, the Green Hornet was based in the modern time the 1930's


Although the back story of the main characters has been adapted and slightly changed over the years, mainly to allow for the character to exist in the modern era, The Green Hornet has stayed true to his humble beginnings.

Wealthy Newspaper Publisher Britt Reid owner of the Daily Sentinel by day, by night he becomes Green masked vigilante , The Green Hornet.

He is helped by the Kato, who by day is Britt Reid's Chauffeur - Body Guard and Valet. BUT by night he dons a Black Mask and helps his employer fight crime.


Kato Master of all Oriental Fighting Skills

Unlike Britt Reid, Kato does not have a secret code name. His back ground too varies from Being Filipino, to Korean, Japanese to Chinese.  These changes reflected the times from Pre second World War to post War Years. It is now accepted Kato is of Chinese origin.

The Third character in the Serial was the Green Hornet's trusty Car.... The Black Beauty. Which was also a normal looking car by day, but by night had rocket launchers, flame throwers and machine guns popping up from under its body work.

The TV series Black Beauty may not have been a flashy as the TV Bat-Mobil but she sure had some firepower.

Like the Lone Ranger and Tonto, The Green Hornet and Kato soon found fame on the silver screen, but are most remembered for their TV series in the 1960's, with Van Williams playing Britt Reid aka The Green Hornet and the then unknown Bruce Lee as Kato.  The Fighting Skills and Athletic Skills of Bruce Lee help usher in the Age of all things KUNG - FU


Along with the Black Beauty, the Green Hornet & Kato had many weapon in their arsenal.  From Walking Canes that transformed into Guns and Fighting Staffs, to Throwing Stars, Daggers and Hornet Darts. the Green Hornet maybe did not have a Bat Utility Belt, but he had his fare share of toys.

The Green Hornet & Kato dressed for Action

However, beginning in 1966  The Green Hornet did not have the same effect on TV as had Batman, and the series only lasted 26 episodes  and was  cancelled in 1967  a year before Batman also got cancelled.

On the whole the series was good, but times and tastes had started to change from Crime Drama's to more Sci Fi  Based Adventures

When I was researching The green Hornet I never realised that the concept of him was always to be a modern day legacy of the Lone Ranger.

The Writer connected the two main characters as both being family. The Lone Ranger sometimes given the name John Reid was the  Brother of  Daniel Reid (who had been the Captain of the Texas Rangers who had been massacred thus causing the origin of the Masked Man of the West.)

In turn the Ranger would later adopt his late Brothers Son Dan Junior who would join him and Tonto in his adventures. After Dan Junior retired from Crime Fighting, he married and had two sons, Jack & Britt. This the same Britt Reid would be the 1930's Green Hornet.

In addition to allow Heroes to Grow Up it is now accepted that the 1960's Britt Reid would be the son of the original Hornet......  Completed or WHAT !!!!!

So The Lone Ranger is The Great Great Uncle to the Green Hornet. ..... I do not think Tonto is related to Kato in any way !!!!!!.

Two Sets of Heroes related and on the same agenda

<sup>Nest Time a Hero from the past who lived in a Future as as imagined in the 1950's


Until Then    ENJOY</sup>