 Archive - April 2010 |
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| Fred's Twitter | |
| Hembeck.com Contents Page | Links A'Plenty |
| Who Fred? | |
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| April 28th, 2010 | |
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| Time for an even ten new film reviews over
at Hey, Did I Tell You About That MOVIE I Saw Recently?... Including Alfred Hitchcock's only screwball comedy, "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", starring Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery (pictured above), as well as two of the screwiest movies I've EVER seen, "College Confidential" (featuring Steve Allen as a sex-surveying prof and Jayne Meadows as the reporter investigating him) and the William Castle/Marcel Marceau reanimated corpse fantasy "Shanks". Plus, several giant monster flicks of varying quality, a REALLY funny Lucille Ball pic, and the theatrical movie that gave Lynn and me one of our biggest surprises ever (which'll likely cause most of you to mutter, "Well, duh..."). Go look, and I'll write some more! |
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| April 27th, 2010 | |
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As I'd somehow missed the previous issue,
Jack Kirby's cover for TALES OF SUSPENSE#49
afforded me my first look at Iron Man's sprightly--and
svelte--new outfit, and to this day, it remains
one of my favorite images of the now-famous
armored Avenger!! (Doesn't hurt that a certain
X-Man known as The Angel shares air space
with him, back in the days when a crossover
was still a special treat.) Click yon image to see the original cover and both medium and large sized versions of my humble redo. Bottoms up, Tony!! |
| April 22nd, 2010 | |
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The folks at DC Comics recently i ued a complete
collection of Steve Ditko's work on his late-sixties
creation, The Creeper--and you GOTTA know
that's one tome gracing MY bookshelf!! As a small-sized salute to the giant-sized talent that is Ditko, click the accompanying thumbnail to get a look at my version of the cover of BEWARE THE CREEPER#2!! (And follow this link to re-check out my GHOST RIDER 2 redo, now amended to include Brad Parnell's full-color interpretation! Thanks Brad!!) |
| April 21st, 2010 | |
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| Anybody in the vicinity of the the New York state capitol this Sunday may want to stop by the fifth, bi-annual Albany Comics Con, which I'll be attending along with a star-studded list of of fellow guests!! I've been a guest at the last three shows, and they were all tremendous fun, and there's no reason to suspect this one'll be any different!!! Hope to see you there!! | |
| April 18th, 2010 | |
| We have another quartet of new illos for you today, friends--two spotlighting our pal the Webslinger, and a pair assembling two seemingly random groups, though there IS a definite theme running through one set. See if you can figure out WHICH one!!... | |
| SPIDER-MAN versus The VULTURE!! | |
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| SPIDER-MAN versus The MOLTEN MAN!! | |
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| SANDMAN, BOOSTER GOLD, The ENCHANTRESS, JUDOMASTER, BAT-MITE, GREEN LANTERN Galius-Zed!! | |
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| GREEN ARROW, BLACK CAT, GREY GARGOYLE, WHITE TIGER, RED TORNADO, BLUE DEVIL, YELLOWJACKET!! | |
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| For a closer look--you know the drill--simply
click on the above images! (That's White
Tiger in case you couldn't quite read his
name in the blurb...) And if you wanna bid on any (or all!) of the above, head on over to our current list of Ebay auctions!! See you soon!! |
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| April 17th, 2010 | |
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| Ahoy, film fans--time for 15 more quick cinema
comments from yours truly, all of which can
be found over at... Hey, Did I Tell You About That MOVIE I Saw Recently?... This time around, we've got six silent movies (one with about ten minutes of talking shoehorned into it, another featuring the lovely Anita Page, pictured above); one full-color silent star bio pic; Robert Taylor starring in one movie with Barbara Stanwyck, another with Chester Morris; an early Harryhausen epic; two Shelley Fabares flicks, one with Fabian, the other with Elvis; the very latest take on Sherlock Holmes, and (yes!) the proverbial others! And later tonight? I'll be checking out 1960's "College Confidential" starring Steve Allen and Jayne Meadows--THAT, my friends, should be a real doozy!! |
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| April 16th, 2010 | |
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Y'know, I never did see that movie with Academy
Award winner Nicolas Cage playing flame-domed
motorcyclist Johnny Blaze--but then, I'm
betting Nic never saw my version of Gil Kane
and Joe Sinnott's cover for 1973's GHOST
RIDER#2 either! But YOU can--simply by clicking the accompanying image to get yourself a closer peek! (Looks like ol' Johnny boy's leaving Las Vegas for sure this time, huh?...) |
| April 12th, 2010 | |
| Taking a break from the random groupings this time around, here then are four new illos featuring some of our familiar funny book friends! | |
| SPIDER-MAN and The HULK!! | |
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| IRON MAN and CAPTAIN AMERICA!! | |
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| DAREDEVIL versus The KINGPIN!! | |
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| SPIDER-MAN versus The SANDMAN!! | |
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| For a bigger view, click your mouse on the
above images! For an opportunity to bid on any or all of the above, here's the link to our current slate of Ebay auctions! See you again soon! |
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| April 10th, 2010 | |
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| Time for an even dozen new movie reviews
over at Hey, Did I Tell You About That MOVIE I Saw Recently?... There's a pair of Sherlock versus the Nazis flicks; twin Elvii (one blonde, one brunette); Barbara Stanwyck as Annie Oakley; outlaw Chester Morris carrying a tot across a desert; one of this year's big Oscar contenders; and a famed rockabilly legend as a sadistic hit-man! All that plus five early thirties starrers featuring Walter Huston (TCM was celebrating his birthday, y'see), only one of which co-starred Jean Harlow (with another featuring Boris Karloff in a pivotal career role). So WHY'D I hoist HER pic up top? Hey, great actor, no denying it, but have you SEEN Walter Huston? Trust me, I made the right choice!! |
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| April 8th, 2010 | |
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| The fine folks over at The Hero Initiative have a new fund-raising project--50 custom
drawn illustrations done by 50 big-time cartoonists
(well, 49 plus me...) on copies of ARCHIE
#600 with previously blank covers, each and
every one offering their own unique take
on the Riverdale gang. Follow the link above
for more info, and to see mine at a larger
size, simply click the image above. (And hey, Archie Comics--if you ever do the story where Big Ethel proposes to Jughead, gimme a call!!...) |
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| April 7th, 2010 | |
| Four more randomly assembled groupings--no
secret themes here, people!! Enjoy!! |
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| HAWKWOMAN, IRON MAN, PHANTOM STRANGER, IMPOSSIBLE MAN, ICEMAN, NEGATIVE MAN!!! | |
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| ATOM, CAPTAIN MAR-VELL, GUY GARDNER, CREEPER,
PHOENIX, DAREDEVIL, HUMAN TORCH!!! |
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| ELECTRO, NIGHTCRAWLER, ANGEL, POWER GIRL, NIGHTWING, SASQUATCH!!! |
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| CH'P, SUN BOY, GORGON, HALO, NIGHTMARE, AQUAMAN!!! |
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| For a larger look, click the above images. To bid on any or all, here's the link to our ongoing Ebay auctions. More soon!! |
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| April 5th, 2010 | |
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| Time again for some 19 new cinematic comments
over at Hey, Did I Tell You About That MOVIE I Saw Recently?... We've got for you a hundred year old monster movie, a legendary comedy team's big screen debut, two Joe E. Brown comedies, two with Preston Foster, two with James Gleason, five with TCM's April star of the month--all sans Fred--Ginger Rogers (and yes, there 's some overlap with the above). Two with the lovely Fay Wray (pictured above), both minus a monkey (though one boasts a now-visible man, the other featuring the menace of synthetic flesh). Clean cut teens and Satanists, each suffering separate cases of road rage. The first ever movie broadcast on TV. The origin of Olive Oyl's speech pattern. The Presley co-star who died violently--and mysteriously--two decades after appearing on the big-screen with The King. Sherlock versus the Nazis. The President who was shot and survived. Flying cows and felines who use the toilet--they're all there! Keep reading until you get to "The Guilty Generation". Go take a look! (And as a heads up in case any of you want to join me, at 3:45 AM eastern time Tuesday morning, I'll be taping my new favorite actress, Barbara Stanwyck, in the title role of the 1935 film, "Annie Oakley", and a few short hours later, at 6 AM, Howard Hawks' "The Criminal Code", which is notable for having clips featured in Peter Bogdanovich's 1968 "Targets", being watched--and relished by--Boris Karloff's fictional Byron Orlok film star as the character's big break. Tune in--I know I will!!) |
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| April 3rd, 2010 | |
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Unlike my buddy Herb Trimpe--who created the original--I've only been commissioned to produce my own version of HULK #181 (aka The Debut of Wolverine) twice. The first time was a full ten years back (and you can see it in this article), the second time just a few months ago. That you can see--as well as Herb's initial crack at it--by clicking the thumbnail image nearby. Compare 'em if you'd like--I'd hope the newer one is the better, as I always try to improve a redo given the chance. There aren't many obvious differences, aside from doing the blurb in reverse as on the original, and using another approach to Wolvy's eyes (gee, I wonder how much Mr. T changes each time he does a new 181?...). |
| April 1st, 2010 | |
| Briefly noted: If you can't make it to WonderCon this weekend, and you're in the vicinity of lower upstate New York, you may want to stop by CollectorFest in Newburgh on Saturday the 3rd--which coincidentally, yours truly will also be attending as a guest (10 AM to 4PM, give or take a few minutes on either side). Follow the link for further info. Hope to see you there! And no, this ISN'T an April Fool's gag. Maybe I'll have one for you NEXT year... |
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