Comic Soon! Green Lama #2

Few comics fans are aware that artists JOHN SEVERIN and WILL (LITTLE ANNIE FANNY) ELDER collaborated on a masked Western hero series entitled BLACK BULL. Well, the BULL IS BACK in BOTW 67!  Also returning are two treats from the legendary BOB POWELL. THE LEMONADE KID (from ME’s B-BAR-B RIDERS circa 1951) solves a tricky murder and that ruff ridin’ gal sheriff, KITTY CARSON, cleans up another prairie problem in just four pages! As usual, THE DURANGO KID, THE HAUNTED HORSEMAN and REDMASK OF THE RIO GRANDE gallop into action, too.

Considered by many to be “the best serial ever made,” DAREDEVILS OF THE RED CIRCLE is the latest cliffhanger release from Smarty Pants Entertainment. Look for it by May 1, 08. From the wrapper:
 
Diabolical mastermind Harry Crowel, a.k.a. Prisoner 39013, escapes and, with a seemingly endless supply of henchmen, sets out to destroy all holdings of industrialist Horace Granville, who put him in prison. One target is an amusement park, home of the three Daredevils of the Red Circle, who perform death-defying stunts. When Gene, the lead Daredevil’s kid brother is killed, our three heroes swear to capture No. 39013. It’ll be harder than they suspect; the villain is holding the real Granville captive, and with a near-perfect disguise, has taken his place! Splendid interplay between Miles Mander and arch villain, Charles Middleton continues through all 12 episodes. A mysterious cloaked benefactor known as The Red Circle aides the daredevils in their crusade.

CHARLES QUIGLEY, HERMAN BRIX (BRUCE BENNETT) and DAVID SHARPE make a superb trio of action heroes in what may well be the best of the cliffhanger serials, DAREDEVILS OF THE RED CIRCLE. CAROLE LANDIS, who became a major star before her untimely death, MILES MANDER and the great screen villain CHARLES MIDDLETON (Ming The Merciless) give great support. Directed by the action ace WILLIAM WITNEY with JOHN ENGLISH.

GREEN LAMA No. 0 and No. 1 sold well for AC so creator JAMES RITCHIE III got the thumbs up to proceed with No. 2. He is writing and penciling and should have the first pages to the inker by now. GREEN LAMA No. 0 got sizeable re-order from Diamond and we are hoping for the same… or better… for No. 1. More about GL at http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=279770726
Check the next AC Newsletter for samples of art from No. 2!!

The BLUE BULLETEER: CAPTURED BY THE CLOAK video has been completed along with a 15 minute interview with star MARIA PARIS that all FemFans will enjoy.

SYNN has been added to the film in the luscious form of AMY LoCICERO. Her performance is a delight.

Technical work is ongoing on the co-feature, PLANET OF THE DAMNED (starring AMY LoCICERO as an Alien Giantess). Smarty Pants new talent find, Jarrett Towe, is whipping up CGI effects right now so completion should not be far off.

Bill Black is editing the MARIA PARIS thriller, THE SANGOR SYNDROME, which incorporates early footage of AC characters SYNN (SYDNEY FOX) and THE SHADE (BILL GREENMAN). Back in the mid 1970’s, Bill Black filmed BLOODSUCKERS FROM OUTER SPACE which featured early versions of SYNN and THE SHADE.

BRENNA BARRY is anxiously awaiting her call to action to complete GHOST OF GARGANTA, sequel to GIP’s successful AMAZING COLOSSAL WOMAN. Catch her as the long-fanged Lady In Red in SANGOR as well.

 These three projects must be completed so that Black can start on the next BLUE BULLETEER actioner in which MARIA PARIS sports a new BB costume. Our heroine faces THE CLOAK (MIKE ACORD) again and is joined by SYNN (AMY LoCICERO) and…. THE BLONDE BOMBER (LINDY STAR TAYLOR).

With 18 LON MADNIGHT segments already in the can, MIKE ACORD (LON) and Bill Black prepare to film five more. Is there no stopping those guys? FEMFORCE fans may not be aware that GARGANTA (BRENNA BARRY) guests with LON in the QUEEN OF BLOOD segment and MARIA PARIS as BLUE BULLETEER is featured with our ghost host in CREATURE FROM HAUNTED SEA. Completists won’t want to miss those.  The ultra talented Mike Acord and Sam Waters (SPOOKY SAM in the LON intros) are also featured in most of the other GIP productions. Sam is the sheriff in GOG, the film professor in POD and will be a crime kingpin in the new, upcoming FEMFORCE film. Mike plays Dr. Grayson Frost in SANGOR wherein he is captured aboard an Alien space craft to have his brain leeched then dropped back to earth to be slammed by a hurricane. Those are just two of the perils faced in Florida guerilla filmmaking! Mike also returns as Ernie, the deadpan TV anchor in GHOST OF GARGANTA.

If you have been stung in the past by purchasing vintage TV private eye DVDs and then finding the picture quality is pure crap… rejoice. Smarty Pants Entertainment has released 6 Volumes of GOOD STUFF! Producer Bill Black has converted his personal collection of 16mm original prints to digital video to assure a quality product. Seen here are RICHARD DIAMOND (David Janssen), SHANNON (George Nader), MARKHAM Ray Milland), TIGHTROPE (Mike Connors), PETER GUNN (Craig Stevens), SIMON LASH (Jock Mahoney), MIKE HAMMER (Darren McGavin), DANGEROUS ASSIGNMENT (Brian Donlevy), HAWAIIAN EYE (Anthony Eisley), THE FALCON (Charles McGraw), MR. LUCKY (John Vivian), STACCATO (John Cassavetes), MEET McGRAW (Frank Lovejoy) and PHILIP MARLOWE (Philip Carey). Future volumes will include: HONEY WEST (Anne Francis), 77 SUNSET STRIP (Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.), THE DETECTIVES (Robert Taylor), MICHAEL SHANE (Richard Denning), JOHNNY MIDNIGHT (Edmond O’Brien), NAKED CITY (James Franciscus), BOURBON STREET BEAT ( Richard Long), CAIN’S HUNDRED (Mark Richman) and more MARKHAM, TIGHTROPE and GUNN. Click Here to find links to all 6 Volumes as well as our other available DVD titles.

Reel Arts Studio is now taking advance orders for the latest AC Comics statue, YANKEE GIRL! Please go to AC Central on the AC site to order or Click Here. Those of you readers who have followed the buxom heroine’s long career in the AC Universe know that her life has not been easy. In fact, its a struggle. But often down, YANKEE GIRL is never out! Here, in this dramatic pose, our heroine has been pummeled in a fight but she picks herself up and rises to the challenge just as we expect her to do!  As you know, the first RAS AC figure of BLUE BULLETEER sold out. Get your order in for YANKEE GIRL This figure is beautiful!!! And from every angle! Woo! Woo!

I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF and THE CREEPING UNKNOWN come to DVD for the first time. In 1956, Hammer Films produced the first in a series of four films based upon a successful British TV sci-fi series, QUATERMASS. In THE CREEPING UNKNOWN, Yank actor BRIAN DONLEVY portrays Dr. Bernard Quatermass, a driven scientist who has successfully launched Earth’s first manned rocket ship into outer space. Of three astronauts, only one survives, the fate of the others is a mystery. But the surviving spaceman brings back an Alien life form that has driven him mad and that is consuming his body as it grows. And grow it does…. into THE CREEPING UNKNOWN. Taught, sci-fi noir well crafted by director Val Guest. Donlevy stands out as the guerilla scientist bucking both government and police.

First starring role for MICHAEL LANDON was I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF (1957). Don’t let the ludicrous title (drummed up by American International top executive Sam Z. Arkoff’s daughter) fool you, this is a good one. Tony Rivers (LANDON) is quick to anger and always spoiling for a fight. His unacceptable deportment leads his school principal in conjunction with a friendly cop (BARNEY PHILLIPS) to send him to a analyst who specializes in maladjusted teens. But Dr. Gordon (WHIT BISSELL) has his own secret agenda. He uses troubled teens in his experiments in regression. Here it is neither wolf bite nor full moon that transforms boy into beast. No, it is hypnosis employed to unlock the savage primitive nature deep inside all of us. Fortunately for the viewing audience, Tony’s feral instincts were near the surface… as close by as the chip on his shoulder. Soon Rockdale High teens turn up murdered and the hunt is on for the TEENAGE WEREWOLF. It’s great to see familiar character actors like Bissell, Phillips and Malcolm Atterbury (Tony’s dad) get a chance to shine. Landon is perfectly cast as the antihero all angst-ridden teens can identify with. It worked asI WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF was the biggest success of all the many AIP monster flicks of the 1950’s. Watch for GUY WILLIAMS (LOST IN SPACE) as a uniformed patrolman one year before he became a star in TV’s ZORRO.

And what is a college campus without a monster running amok? Okay, maybe not dull but certainly not as thrilling.  Dr. Donald Blake (ARTHUR FRANZ) is thrilled to import an unusual fish from Madagascar for his research. It is a coelacanth, a prehistoric critter thought to have been extinct since the Jurassic era. Unfortunately this particular specimen had been treated with radiation which somehow mutates its bodily fluids. When a German Shepard dog laps up bloody water melted from the ice that the big fish was packed in, it becomes a killer wolf. A dragonfly that lights upon the coelacanth, stings it, then grows to have a two-foot wingspan. Since the title of the film is MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS, you can figure out what happens to Don Blake when he cuts his hand on the teeth of the prehistoric fish. It happens again when he accidentally drips Jurassic juice into his pipe. The dire effects are short lived and after each murder Blake reverts to his professorial self unaware of his bestial behavior.  His pretty fiancee (JOANNA MOORE, mother of TATUM ONEAL) frets over Don’s erratic activities and gets mauled by a Neanderthal for her attentions. TROY DONAHUE (soon to become a movie heart-throb) plays Blake’s pet student and WHIT BISSELL (I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF/FRANKENSTEIN) is the dubious medical doctor.  JACK ARNOLD (CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON) directs. STAN LEE, head honcho at Marvel Comics at the time (1958) must have been in the audience as it was not too long after that he “created” a Dr. Donald Blake who was transformed into another long-haired big guy, THE MIGHTY THOR.

In part of AC’s attempt to gain independence, all three of these thrillers are now available RIGHT NOW on the AC web store and will not be released thru Diamond.

Here’s a special treat for fans of 1940’s superheroes… GOLDEN-AGE GREATS SPOTLIGHT Vol. 3. In this 120 page compilation you will find many costumed heroes of the early days of comics publishing never before reprinted. Here is BLACK FURY, THE DYNAMO,  SORCERESS OF ZOOM, MARGA- THE LEOPARD WOMAN and U.S. JONES seen for the first time in over 65 years. And, as you would expect, Fox stalwarts such as THE FLAME, THE DART and THE GREEN MASK are represented as well. THE EAGLE, who we have seen in AC’s MEN OF MYSTERY title, appears in a rare early story sporting a completely different costume. GAG SPOTLIGHT 3 will appear in the AC web shop in May, 08.

The November SYNN shoot went very well. As far as we can see, AMY LoCICERO is just PERFECT as our SYNN! Sue Acord made a fab costume. Synn sez it’s “Groovy!” We are all thrilled with how SYNN looks!!
 
Maria Paris, after reading over 70 issues of FEMFORCE, thot we should add more of the drama and back story from the comic into the BLUE BULLETEER: CAPTURED BY THE CLOAK video. So we came up with a SYNN cameo and the Femfans will be thrilled that we did! Just imagine getting BB and SYNN together in the next BB epic!!
 
DVD sales continue to climb and we are hard pressed to get orders filled. Also this month we are releasing a media blitz on the new GREEN LAMA comic so our time is doubly taxed. I also must complete two Volumes of TV CLASSIC DETECTIVES. I’ll re-edit BB/Cloak adding Synn scenes as soon as I finish the ‘Tecs. Then back to PLANET OF THE DAMNED. Gulp! Mike Acord is lining up 6 more LON MADNIGHT shoots for December. I’ve painted a big wall green at the sprawling AC offices for Green Screening Brenna Barry and Dr. Farb to finish out GHOST OF GARGANTA. New and more powerful movie lights have been ordered.
 
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!