New Monica Rambeau video

I know it seems like I've been on a Monica Rambeau kick lately, and a lot of it has to do with the article I wrote that is coming out in the December issue of Alter Ego magazine (watch for it!).

And now this fellow has made a little video tribute to Marvel Comics' second Captain Marvel (and the only one with no direct connection to Mar-Vell, the only black female one, and the one with the longest run of appearances in a single, uninterrupted comic series).

New writer signed for "Shazam",movie

Boy, am I h=behind the itmes on this nes! This came from a Hollywood Reporter article from a few months ago.

"August 19, 2009 Actor-turned-writer Bill Birch has been tapped to reboot "Shazam!," Warners' adaptation of a DC Comics series featuring Captain Marvel. Geoff Johns, one of the three DC Comics heavyweights hired by the studio to act as consultants on DC projects, is also helping with the kick-start, co-writing the story with Birch. It's somewhat fitting that Birch takes on "Shazam!" as his very name echoes the name of the comic's hero, Billy Batson, a teenager who becomes Captain Marvel when he utters the magic word "Shazam!" The name is an acronym for six gods and heroes of the ancient world as well as their attributes: the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Aries, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles and the speed of Mercury."

This makes I think four writers or wrioter teams for the project so far. There was William Goldman, the team from Toy Story, John August, and now this guy. At least it is good to see that Michael Uslan cares enough about this project to keep plugging away. I know he has a great love for the character from personal conversations with him, and I really hoe this movie is as good as it is right!

RIP Fankie Coghlan, Jr.

Frank Coghlan, Jr, the young man who played Billy Batson in the "Adventures of Captain Marvel" serial passed away peacefully in his sleep on Monday, September 7, at age 93.

Time is taking away all the people who were there at the beginning of the Captain Marvel saga, and this is the latest.

Frank played boys and teenagers in Hollywood from 1920 (Daredevil Jack) to 1946 (One More Tomorrow). He had the size, look, and voice that made it easy to believe that he was younger than his years, but as Billy Batson, he could handle himself in good boy-hero fashion.

He was in hundreds of movies and serials, but his work as Billy Batson is what he remains known by. The Los Angels Times obit identifies him as such and even includes a poster for the serial Read it here. He even had a small part written for him in the Shazam! TV series when an episode was shot in the San Diego Zoo, which he was working for at the time.

His autobiography was published in 1993 under the title "They 'Still Call Me Junior." I have yet to read it. There is a lovely little interview with him in PC Hamerlinck's Fawcett Companion.

Here is what I wrote about him in my chapter about the serial:

"Frank Coghlan Jr. Was called by Cecil B. De Mille “The Perfect Homeless Waif “ (The Fawcett Companion P.C. Hammerlinck, pg 123). He spent the first two and a half decades of his Hollywood career playing young boys. For the first half of this period he was credited as "Junior Coghlan," and for the second half of it he was frequently in uncredited roles. Some of these roles were in very popular movies, like Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), Gone with the Wind (1939), Knute Rockne All American (1940), The Courtship of Andy Hardy (1942), and This Is the Army (1943). His film career slowed after 1946, and he was working as the Director of Public Relations for the Los Angeles Zoo when the producers of the Shazam! TV series on CBS were looking to film an episode there. When he told them he had played Billy Batson in the serial, they wrote a part in the TV show for him."

You can see more about Motion picture serials and The Adventures of Captain Marvel in my Captain MArvel Culture preview pages.

By all accounts he was a very nice guy, and he will be missed.

Help finance this project - Buy my posters

Hi Friends. I have just finished an article about the female Captain Marvels for Alter Ego Magazine. It should be out in the October or December issue.

On a related note, I am raising more funds to finish off this project by selling off some things that I no longer need, some pieces of my life that I am leaving behind. I used to collect posters. At every comic convention, every free giveaway, every movie premiere, if they were giving away posters, I would take some. Some had been given to me as gifts, some I even sought out and bought. But now they are just taking up space, cluttering up my room, and not doing me any good. I don't have the wall space for them, and besides, I'm not a kid anymore.

So who wants about 300 posters from the 1980's up to today? Mostly they are movie posters, sci-fi and fantasy, although some of them are for comics, books, games, sports, art, music, and I even have a few that have the World Trade Center in them. I don't have the time to put them all up on E-Bay, so I will accept any reasonable offer, so long as you either come to pick them up or pay for shipping.

You can see photos of them all at http://s846.photobucket.com/albums/ab21/captainzorikh/Posters/

Below is the list of what's available:

Movies & TV
300 DVD (3)
Alien Raiders (small) (3)
Alien Raiders (4)
Apollo 13 (2)
Babylon II (2)
Beowulf (2)
Black Dahlia
Blade Runner- National College Preview (2)
Blade Trinity 1
Blade Trinity 2
Boogeyman (2)
Braveheart weapons
China O'Brien 2
Cloverfield
The Core
Cutthroat Island
Daredevil – Ben Afleck
Daredevil – Bullseye (2)
Daredevil - Elektra (2)
Daredevil – Kingpin (2)
Darkman (3)
Dead Presidents
Deadly Spawn (6)
Death Prof & Planet Terror/Death Proof (2)
Death Proof & Planet Terror/Machete (2)
Doomsday (2)
Dragons – Animal Planet (William Stout)
Eight Legged Freaks (3)
El Cantante
Escape From L.A.
E.T. 20th Anniversary (5)
The Exorcist (remake)
Face/Off
Fanboys (6)
Fido
Final Destination 2 (2)
Flyboys
The Fourth Protocol (3)
Ghost Ship
Golden Compass
Grant Morrison's MBX (online animated)
Harry Potter Soundtrack
Hellboy (small) (2)
Hellboy (big)
Hellboy II
Hell's Beacon (signed)
Highlander/The Cutoff (Karate International) (2 sided)
House of the Dead (2)
The hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney)
Indiana Jones (4)
Into the West – TNT (2 sides) (2)
Iron Man (launching) (2)
Iron Man (4)
Iron Man (2)
Jackass 2
The Jacket (2)
James Scott (audio play)
Jurassic Park – The Lost World (2)
Kill Bill (3)
Kull the Conqueror (3)
LifeForce (9)
Lord of the Rings – Two Towers (small) (2)
Lord of the Rings – Two Towers (big)
Lord of the Rings – Return of the King – Gandalf
Lord of the Rings – Return of the King - Frodo
Master and Commander (2)
Master & Commande (2 sided) (2)
McHale's Navy (4)
Millenium Actress (2)
Mongol (59)
Mr. Ed Salad Bar – Nick at Night
Ninja Babes from Space (2)
One Piece (2)
Pathfinder (2)
Perfect Creature (2)
Punisher 2004 (Skull) (2)
Punisher 2004 (Thomas Jane) (3)
Punisher War Zone
Red Planet
Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (2)
Remo Williams: The First Adventure (6)
Return of the Aliens: The Deadly Spawn
Robin Hood: Men in Tights (7)
The Rock
Rollerball (remake) (3)
Sci-fi Channel (2)
Scorpion King (8)
Seeing Red
Silence of the Lambs
The Sixth Day (3)
Slacker Cats
Slayer (3)
Stardust (2)
Stargate - Ark of Truth
Star Trek Nemesis (4)
Star Trek 2008
Star Wars – Revenge of the Brick
Star Wars – The Phantom Menace – Taco Bell 1 of 4 (with coupons)
Star Wars – The Phantom Menace – Taco Bell 2 of 4 (with coupons)
Star Wars – The Phantom Menace – Taco Bell 3 of 4 (with coupons)
Sweeny Todd – Depp (2)
Sweeny Todd – Depp & Carter (2)
Tales of the Broken Moon
Timeline (3)
To the Devil – A Daughter (2)
Tomb Raider soundtrack
Tomorrow Never Dies
The Tune (singed & personalized by Bill Plympton)
Transformers (2)
Twilight (2)
Underdog
Underworld (2)
Urban Legends - Final Cut
War of the Wizards (11)
War of the Worlds
Watchmen - Silk Specter (5)
Watchmen – Comedian (2)
What About Bob
X-Men (2)
X-2 (3)

America Film Market 1989
America Film Market 1990
New York International Independent Film and Video Festival 2005 (2)

Theater
It Ain't Nothin' but the Blues

Books
Hatter: The Looking Glass Wars - (2)
Star Wars – Legacy of the Force
Tigerheart (Peter David) (2)
Waldenbooks Other Worlds Club

Comics
100% - Vertigo
2001 Nights (3)
Arrowsmith
Batman Adventures
Big Daddy Danger - DC
Black Dragon
Black Tiger
Chronicles of Sara
DK2
Feather
The Filth – Grant Morrison – Vertigo (2)
Fables
Galtow
Helix Comics
Human Target - DC
JLA: Obsidian Age
Magnus Robot Fighter – Aklaim
A Man Called Ax – DC (3)
Marvel in Previews
More Than Mortal Sagas
Ninjak – Aklaim
The Pummeler
Replacements
Savage Swod of Conan
Sin City
Spiral/Black God
Troublemakers - Aklaim
Turok - Aklaim
The Warrior's Way
Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia – Original Universe
Warrior's Way
Will Eisner Tribute
WS: Eye of the Storm - Wildstorm
Zombie Loan/Alice on Deadlines

Big Apple Convention September 2005 10th Anniversary (Arthur Suydam) (3)
Big Apple Convention November 2007 (Brian Kong)
Big Apple Convention June 2008 (Michael Golden - Iron Man) (16)
Creation Convention National Tour 1983
MoCCA Art Fest 2005 (2)
Whitney Comic Art Show 1983

Computer Games
Asheron's Call (2 sides)
Dragon Age Origins (2 sides) (24)
Lair (3)
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
Middle Earth – The White Hand
Tenchu
Warhammer Online Age of Reckoning (2 sides)

Non-Computer Games
Andromeda 2500
Dragon Quest
Kult – Illusion #1, 1994
Shadowstar Games
Sorcerer's Crusade
Who's Who Among Vampires – Children of the Inquisition

Toys
Batmobile 1950's
Justice League
JLA – Starro
Superman #14
Watchmen

Art
Architecture calendar posters (2 different)
Architecture in Congrass 2000 - 1985
Cheshire Cat
Dragan Ilic
Dragan Ilic signed & numbered (1 of 100)
Excedrin 1
Excedrin 2
Wavertree ship in South Street Seaport
Heavy Metal (Royo)
Red Grooms Grand Central Terminal (signed & personalized)
Salute to Brasil 1979
Sagres – Portuguese ship
Sci-fi – Columbia House
Space

Sports
Boxing - John Duddy vs. Dupre Strickland 5/18/2007
Boxing - Tyson - Holyfield 11/9/1996
Dr. J – Converse
Football Cards, uncut sheet
International Fight League
NASCAR Sprint Cup 2008
New Jersey Red Dogs Arena Football 1999
New York Knights Arena Football 1988 (3)
Pepsi-Gatorade (2 sided)
Tommy Moe-signed
USA Basketball “America's Team” 1992
Super Bowl XV – New Orleans

Music
The Beatles First US Visit
Hudson River Revival 1986
Apocalygma Berzerk
Battery Cage
Bella Morte
Imperative
KMFDM
Psyclon 9
Retrosic
Seabound
System Syn

Other
Cindy Crawford in fantasy armor - Pocari Sweat (Japan)
D-Day 50th Anniversary (3)
Famous Grouse “Henge” scroll
Famous Grouse map of Scottish whiskey distilleries
Head of Charles Regatta
“Marihuana” Warning
School of Visual Arts – Churchill & Eiffel Tower
School of Visual Arts – Imagination Birds
Stuyvesant Scroll
Taco Bell “80's, what a Decade” 1990 calendar
Timespell (Multi-media show in Watkins Glen, NY)
Tower Records book covers (2)
Tower Records calendar 1987 (3)
Tower Records calendar 1989

Most of the posters are in great shape, though some are a little battered from having been up on a wall or in transit.

If you are interested, contact me at zorikh@juno.com or 917-865-1214

I can't believe I missed this...

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=257692

Writing article on Female Captain Marvels

I am currently writing an article for Alter Ego Magazine about the female Captain Marvels; Monica Rambeau, Jerry Ordway's Mary Batson/Bromfield, Phyla-Vell, and Carol Danvers (in the "House of M").

One thing I have noticed, is that each one of them have gone by at least two other superhero or villain names, and that some of them spent the briefest parts of their career as Captain Marvels.

I won't say too much more about them here now, watch for the issue coming out in December.

If your local comic book shop does not carry the magazine, you can order Alter Ego from TwoMorrows Publishing at http://twomorrows.com/. You can find my previous article for the magazine, comparing and contrasting Billy Batson/Captain Marvel with Rick Jones/Mar-Vell/Genis-Vell at http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_55&products_id=728.

New Monica - the Marvel Diva

So Marvel Comics has put out a new comic about the "real life" adventures or four under-utilized female characters, Monica Rambeau (Captain Marvel/Photon/Pulsar), Patsy Walker (Hellcat), Felicia Hardy (Black Cat), and Angelica Jones (Firestar). It's basically like "Sex in the City" with superheroes (although it's unfair for me to say so, I never watch that show). The new series is called "Divas."



Monica is easily the most accomplished and able of these characters, having been a harbor patrol officer, ship captain, and leader of the Avengers, as well as having the stroingest powers and being the only one who can fly. She carries a bit of a chip on her shoulder about that, bitching about how when the leave a rooftop party it's like they are in high school and she's the only one with a driver's licence, and when at a "speed dating" event she introduces herself by simply saying "I'm Monica. Impress me."

And it seems she has a bit of a thing for Brother Voodoo, being a New Orleans girl and everything. Nice to see that cultural touch.

It's nice to see Monica get some attention, especially seeing how another female Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers (Ms. Marvel/Binary/Warbird/Captain Marvel) has had a whole series for the past couple of years. Ms. Marvel may have been introduced as "the feminist superhero," but I hold that Monica was more of a feminist. Though Carol was a security chief at Cape Canaveral and editor of "Woman Magazine, she lost both those jobs, and let's face it, that bare-belly-button costume strained her "feminism" credibility. Also, her battles with alcoholism, bouts of schizophrenia, and aggressive attitude made her a bad role model.


Monica, on the other hand, has always been a competent professional at whatever she did (her brief period as the insecure leader of the Avengers notwithstanding, she was being mentally manipulated by Dr. Druid). though she was held back in her harbor patrol career by a sexist chief, she was always more about getting the job done than whining about what was holding her back.
Monica, on the other hand,