RICHARD SALA'S MAD NIGHT IS ONE THRILLING SPOOKY ADVENTURE

Robert Berry
rberry@retrocrush.com

I've never read anything quit like Richard Sala's "Mad Night" before.  The black and white artwork is a mixture of Archie comics and creepy woodcuts and the story is like a Nancy Drew adventure with David Lynch as a guest writer.  In the opening pages, a gorgeous raven haired girl with glasses is quietly exploring her college library when quickly murdered by some dark creepy dude with a mechanical hand who proceeds to extract some fluid from her neck with a hypodermic needle.  He returns to his underground laboratory and uses it to create some sort of mysterious formula.

The twists and intrigue keep on coming throughout the 232 page graphic novel from Fantagraphics which was originally serialized between 1998-2005 in Sala's book "The Evil Eye".  Priced at just over $16, it's one of the more thrilling and original comic book adventures I've enjoyed in quite some time.  An evil puppet lady, an army of sexy pirate girls, a giant killer octopus, and a precocious heroine named Judy Drood who's a great detective with a mean right cross all add up to an exciting story that I'm eager to shortly read again.  If you're looking for something unusual and fun for an adult comic book fan, or someone that just digs a good mystery, you can't do much better than this.  CLICK HERE to look at and buy all of Richard Sala's catalog at Fantagraphics.  Also, visit Richard's site at RICHARDSALA.com for more mysterious goodness.

PAT "MR. MIYAGI" MORITA DIES

The beloved Pat Morita passed away on Thanksgiving Day at the age of 73 of natural causes in his Las Vegas home.  His work both as Arnold on the original Happy Days series, and as Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid films were fantastic.  Morita was nominated for a supporting actor Oscar for his work in the first Karate Kid film, which still ranks as one of the most funny, inspiring, and quotable characters in film history.  Morita has more than 100 acting performances to his credit, and even had a stint as a standup comedian in the 60s where he was known as "The Hip Nip."    Here's a neat old article from 1967 about his act at the time. We'll be preparing a nice tribute soon on an upcoming podcast. In the meantime, I'll have a glass of sake in your honor.  I learned a lot about life's confrontations from you as Mr. Miyagi, and your restaurant was never as good once Al took it over.

-Robert Berry
rberry@retrocrush.com

GROSSEST LOOKING CEREAL EVER!

I was at the grocery store the other day looking for some sugary goodness and was startled to see this latest offering from the fine folks at Kellogg's.  How could anyone not think that the box looks like a giant bowl of perfectly rolled up turds?.  All that's missing is some puffed corn to make it the most scat-a-riffic breakfast of all time.  I wonder if perhaps this is some tribute to the company's founder, RJ Kellogg, who was a near crazy health nut who espoused the benefits of frequent enemas.

This sort of thing is the stuff of pop culture legend.  Not since the ill-advised Robin Prince of Thieves cereal, which looked like a bowl of sugar frosted cocks has a cereal looked so foul.  Steve over at The Sneeze was on the same wavelength and picked up on this right away.

You just wonder if this cereal was created on a dare.  I can only imagine a room full of bored cereal scientists wondering, "Hey I bet I could get kids to eat cereal that looks like little pieces of shit!"  Or is this a way for folks to consider carpophagia without all the pesky risks of horrible disease?

Of course, I suppose it's fitting that the backside of the box would be even more repulsive than the front.  Johnny Ryan, known by many in the industry as the Scatmaster of the comic book world, scanned a picture of it and sent it to share with retroCRUSH readers across the universe.

CLICK HERE FOR THE ENTIRE STORY, and MORE CRAZY PIX!

THE SPIDER PIT SCENE
A HISTORY of the LONG LOST SCENE FROM KING KONG
AND PETER JACKSON'S ATTEMPT TO RECREATE IT

The original King Kong is one of America's greatest movies.  Though the versions that have existed through the years have gone through dramatic edits.  In 1938, 5 years after its original release, there was wholesale chopping of over 4 minutes of footage deemed too shocking and violent for the audiences.  We detailed much of this in an article on The Censored Scenes of Kong a couple years back.  Luckily dedicated film preservationists were able to track down those scenes, but there's long been a sequence that was cut after an initial screening by the film's director himself, Merian C. Cooper, that's never been found.  Known as the "Spider Pit Scene", a thrilling segment in which men are eaten alive by various creepy crawly creatures after Kong shakes them from the log into the ravine, had been spoken of by folks who read the script, with only scant evidence of its existence.

CLICK HERE FOR THE ENTIRE EXCITING ARTICLE

STELLA STEVENS

THE RETROCRUSH INTERVIEW

Stella Stevens is best known for her roles as the comic Appassionata Von Climax in Li'l Abner, a kind hearted prostitute named Hildy in The Ballad of Cable Hogue, a retired hooker named Linda Rogot who is married to Ernest Borgnine in The Poseidon Adventure, and a tough Captain Taylor in the all female prison movie Chained Heat.  She's also been in over a 100 other movies and TV shows.

CLICK HERE TO FOR THE STELLA STEVENS GALLERY AND INTERVIEW

THE AQUAMAN ARGUMENT
BY BRADLEY MASON HAMLIN

As a kid in the 1970s, Aquaman became my favorite character in the comics—and his comic book had already been cancelled! I read the back issues and followed his terrific series in Adventure Comics, written by David Micheline, which included the incredibly dramatic death of Arthur, Jr., otherwise known as Aquababy. But most importantly, Aquaman was a founding member of the Justice League of America, the best comic book team ever!

Perhaps the highest achievement of Aquaman, and certainly what made him a household name, was his involvement within animation. Filmation Studios created a truly faithful version of Aquaman for the Superman-Aquaman Adventure Hour in 1967. That’s right, not the Superman-Batman Adventure Hour, Aquaman! The Adventure Hour was my first experience with Aquaman and remains without a doubt the definitive version of the character for me. Later, Aquaman teamed up with the exclusive cast of headliners to form the Super Friends—his place forever cemented in pop culture history.

So, what happened?

CLICK HERE FOR THE ENTIRE ARTICLE, INCLUDING A TON OF COOL PHOTOS, AND A COMPLETE COVER GALLERY OF THE ORIGINAL SERIES

GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN' ISN'T WORTH 50 CENTS

Rappers can sometimes do a great job in movies, but 50 Cent's attempt to follow their footsteps in Get Rich Or Die Trying, to put it mildly...totally sucks. A shitty story, shitty acting, shitty rapping, shitty pacing, and shitty shit shittiness makes this one pretty shitty film.

50 plays himself, only he's called Marcus so they can embellish the truth. He's shot within the first 3 minutes of the film and then there's a flashback scene to his childhood. We're going to spend the next 90 minutes "learning how it all began", or as Fifty would say, "learfing fow fit fall fegan". Half of what he says through those piano key teeth of his is too hard to decipher. A scene where he's talking with his mouth wired shut (from one of his many gunshot wounds) is no more difficult to understand than the lines he delivers prior to that.

50 has about 3 different expressions in the film

1) Angry face with mouth shut
2) Angry face with mouth open
3) Goofy smiley face with big teeth sticking out

Every minute he's onscreen, 50 just seems empty inside.  He looks tough, for sure, but his character just comes off as a hollow shell of a man who's just reading his lines and going through the motions.

CLICK HERE FOR THE ENTIRE REVIEW

If you’ve never seen Dean singing his heart out in the 1990 cult classic Rockula with Toni Basil and Thomas Dolby you’re missing out on a rare treat. He’s also well loved for his role as Chainsaw in Summer School which he says has been in a loop on HBO since 1987. We recently talked with Dean about losing his mind on ALF, hanging with Billy Bob Thornton in a Zombie movie, singing in a rock band about Mr. T, and his thoughts on masturbation.

CLICK HERE FOR THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW