the superman files - disc 1 (Leaping Fox)

Anyone following along could have bet money that this would happen next, and it did.  Although, it wasn't a project to be taken lightly.  In fact, the last several months, off and on, have been spent plumbing the depths of the 8,600+ discogs listings for songs with "Superman" in the title.  Yes, there is a lot of repetition, but I have come to the overwhelming conclusion, especially in the modern day:  if you name your song "Superman," you are guilty of a cheap and easy writers' cliche.

But, we are a long way from that...right now, we are at disc one, which is an entire disc of Super-History, including themes from vintage films, shows, and much more.  But, just like our previous Bat and Spider collections, here is what's NOT included:

Basically, the short answer is "spoken word." Except for an excerpt (try typing that ten times quickly) from the historic first episode of the "Adventures of Superman" radio series, there's no other radio play, book-and-record, audio adventure, or comedy sketch of any kind.  As with the Bat set, there are no songs from the LP's which are completely super-themed, because if you cared to have them, you'd need the whole thing anyway.

We went ahead and included material from the 12 years of "Superfriends" animated shows, even though they obviously have connections to other heroes too....but then again, as it's not called the "Batfriends," it was probably a good choice.  There is also a smattering of Superfriends rarities, too, which is rather exciting, even for me, and I already had them! So...enjoy.

Star Wars 40th Anniversary Film Cel Relic Card (Topps, 2017)

It just so happens that today is the 40th anniversary of the release of Star Wars.  So, in honor of that, from the newest Topps card set, also called the Star Wars 40th Anniversary, here is one of the 50 "film cel" cards, that each contain a film frame from a genuine print of the film.  The one I chose was, of course, about the Cantina.

The film frame, also from that part of the film, is near the end of the scene--that's a Sandtrooper walking past Han Solo, who is sitting nonchalantly at his table, while one of the Snaggletooth(s) looks on.  This is, of course, directly before him walking around the corner of the booth, and straight into Greedo.  If you look closely at the frame, you can see the soundtrack peeking out of the left margin!

If you want to know everything there possibly is to know about the Cantina scene, check out my comprehensive book on the subject, which can be downloaded for free.  It is the "featured post" at the top of the right side of this blog.

Shin Godzilla (NECA, 2017)

Collectibles from SHIN GODZILLA in the United States were, let's face it, non-existent, unless imported.  I suppose we were lucky to get to see the movie at all, even in the very modern arrangement of short-term, special-event showings.  In the old days, that never would have happened.

Anyway, it was very nice of NECA to add the new design to their roster of wonderful action figures.  By the way, this makes #9 if you are counting.  What happened to #8, you ask? Well, you really shouldn't ask, but since you did, it was a "Loot Crate" exclusive, one of those monthly subscriptions for boxes of random junk...excuse me, collectibles, and it was called "Reactor Glow Godzilla."  It was a direct repaint of the 1995 "Burning Godzilla," except the "burning" spots were now glow-in-the-dark green.  Trust me, even though the secondary value will remain high due to its limited distribution, it's just dumb. And I'm a completist, that is, until the thing I'm trying to complete becomes something that never happened in the life of the character (here, the actual Godzilla films), and feels like a shameless cash-grab.  Then, I skip it. Which I did.

See?

Back to Shin Godzilla, I haven't even had time to open the package, but he's a weighty sucker.  Also, his tail is going to be nice and long, because there are two segments to attach instead of the usual one.  If anyone's wondering, I found this at ToysRUs, and boy was I surprised.  They had him and the previous figure (2001 Godzilla) on the shelf.

Make Way For Angilas

Last week at the thrift store, I found a bag of bootleg PVC Godzilla figures.  I knew they were bootlegs because firstly, I'd seen the full set advertised on the same sites that sell Bootlego (Chinese Lego knock-offs), and secondly, the "burning" part of the Burning Godzilla (1995) figures came in lots of wrong colors, including red, dark blue, etc.  It seems an odd thing to bootleg, and an odd time to bootleg them, but all I could think of was that the "red" Burning Godzilla was supposed to kind-of, sort-of pass for a Shin Godzilla. 

Case in point.  I did not get very many different figures (actually 4), and my selection included only 1 Gigan, who was missing the lower half of his...beak.  Also only 1 of the Blue Burning Godzillas, and he was missing an arm.  So, you get what you pay for, I guess. Also, 1998 Zilla, really? Big demand for that one overseas?

Back to the subject at hand, in the bag were nine small Anguiruses (if that is indeed the plural of Anguirus).  Suddenly there was a small army of the little guys living on my kitchen table, and as I was arranging them, a thought struck me.  Here it is:

the spiderman files - disc 2 (Leaping Fox)

Disc two of this set contains the third category of Spider-Man-related music:  songs about Spider-Man....or not! I say "or not" because, unlike Bat-Man, there is a handful of songs titled "Spider-Man" (with or without hyphen) that have absolutely, positively, nothing to do with the super-hero.  You will see what I mean.  In fact, there is a song from Europe (and its cover versions) with such a title, that is about a serial killer!

The inside cover provides a list of spoken-word sources that were excluded from this compilation.  The two hybrid albums that Marvel experimented with in the 1970's were used to supply us with a few tracks (I mean, Great Scott, there's a song about Dr. Octopus! A song about Dr. Octopus!).

the spiderman files - disc 1 (Leaping Fox)

Today, we are continuing my ongoing project, which replaces compilation discs I made in the past years with newer, more comprehensive, and historically-organized ones.  The next subject to tackle is songs about Spider-Man (which will be 2 discs).  As we did with the first series (Bat-Man), let's first discuss what is not included herein:

Unlike the subject of Bat-Man, there are not nearly so many complete LP's devoted to Spider-Man.  Most of the ones that exist are "spoken-word," but in the 1970's, Marvel experimented twice with LP's that were a combination of songs and spoken-word.  I used a few tracks from these two LP's, because 1) they suit our purposes here extremely well, and 2) songs about Spider-Man aren't nearly as common as ones about Superman or Bat-Man.

Otherwise, the exclusions are identical to the previous Bat-Man set, meaning spoken word, audio adventures, radio, book-and-record, and things of that sort were left out.

Disc 1 explores the various themes of different Spidey television shows, and concludes with a look at the music of Spidey video games, from their humble beginnings in 1982 to the year 2000...which is very nice, because we end the way we began, with the extremely famous "Spider-Man" 1967 theme.

As always, enjoy!

"Electronic Detective" Sample Game flexi-disc (Ideal, 1979)

"Electronic Detective" was a computerized detective game, manufactured by Ideal in 1979.  It included twenty "Suspect Cards" (that, by the way, would be a little politically incorrect today, and included various predictable 1970's stereotypes), and the player had to deduce which of them was the criminal, using the keypad built into the game.

Apparently, the game was incredibly complicated.  The copy I recently bought did not work, (which is too bad, because it would have been worth upwards of thirty bucks) but did happen to include the "Sample Game" flexi-disc, and I'm always up for mysterious recordings.                

You see, the legendary Don Adams was the pitch man for the game.  He's pictured on the front of the box, and also appeared in the television commercials. Therefore, he would also be narrating the flexi-disc that teaches you how to play, right? Right?!

Unfortunately, nope, he isn't.  Instead we have a guy doing the best imitation of a Brooklyn gumshoe that he can muster.  The various button combinations, as well as writing it all down on your "fact sheet" really get in the way of the narrator having any fun with the material.  

The funniest moment is near the beginning, when he simulates the beginning of an actual game (even though he makes it very clear, you are not using the actual computer to play an actual game).  He says, ugently:  "You hear two gunshots! BLEEEP-ZAP, BLEEEP-ZAP Followed by a funeral dirge! BOOP BOOP BEEP DEEP BOOP....." This is supposed to symbolize a murder (and funeral), but it couldn't be further from the truth.  To bring Don Adams back into the mix:  "Would you believe....a Cylon Raider firing at a Simon game?" Don Adams? More like MAD's Don Martin.

And now, you can hear it for your own self:

the batman files - disc 3 (Leaping Fox)

Let's wrap this set up with disc 3--inside, the art includes the same list of omitted LP's:

And finally, the good stuff:

There are several highlights on this disc! Enjoy!

the batman files - disc 2 (Leaping Fox)

Continuing from where we left off, the remaining two discs cover the insanity surrounding the 1966 Batman television show, in about every way you can think of:  official, unofficial, "satire," tribute, and just plain old money-grubbing cash-in.  The interior artwork gives a helpful list of the "100% Batman" albums that are not included as sources for this collection:

Highlights of this disc include Jumpin' Gene Simmons (not that one), UK heroes Mike & Bernie Winters, and the often-imitated, but never-duplicated Frank Gorshin.  I remember hearing that record as a kid (on the Dr. Demento show, no less), and no matter how many times I have heard it, you just have to admire his Riddler.  He just gave it his all.  Contrast that with Burgess Meredith; fine actor and screen personality that he was (and end-all, be-all Penguin), his single is not only incredibly boring, but has identical backing on both sides! Yawwwnnn.

Enjoy!