JULY 1963: ADVENTURES OF THE FLY #27

Today’s bloggy thing continues my 138-plus-part series on the comic books that hit the newsstands in the month of July 1963. That month was pivotal to my comic-book career because it was the month when Fantastic Four Annual #1 ignited my desire to write comics.  I’ve added the “plus” to my description of this series because there may be a few issues I missed in my initial explorations.

Adventures of the Fly #27 [September 1963] was published by Archie Comics. Archie himself makes a cameo appearance in a paid ad, but, save for the address on the letters page, there’s no mention of the company. The indicia lists the publisher as Radio Comics.

John Rosenberger is the cover artist, though the cover is nothing more than a slightly better rendered copy of the splash page of the cover story. Charlton Comics did this frequently with its covers and other comics publishers did it as well, albeit less frequently.

The inside front cover of this comic book features four “no cost” ads from the Dean Studios of Des Moines, Iowa. The “no cost” items are a male or female miniature dog that you can hold in your hand, a 10-second Polaroid camera; a tiny, powerful Bulovia Radio, and a new real, live miniature monkey that, like the dog and the radio, you could hold in your hand. The advertising copy is really small. Near as I can figure, these “no cost” items are a come-on for the company’s hand-painted photo enlargements. The supply of each item was said to be limited.

A modicum of online research turned up a terrific article from 2009 titled “Top 10 Outrageous Comic Book Advertisements.” Here’s what the article says about the miniature dog offer:

Please give me a home at no cost – Paris Hilton must have read this ad to get her tea cup dog, poodle, or whatever it is. They give you good advice and say you can keep it in a box and enjoy teaching it tricks. Yes, like play dead, because keeping your dog in a box will suck all the life out of it. But hurry, they only have a limited supply of miniature dogs. Imagine the storage facilities.

The Truth – You could get a dog (and some ads offered a monkey) if you could get 20 of your friends to order hand colored enlargements of photos they send in to Dean Studios, the ad’s sponsor. I’m betting not many people could sucker 20 other people to pay for this rip off, but I assume a few did. Getting the mutant dog or the half-dead monkey with HIV must have been quite a reality check.

Did anyone of my beloved readers ever fall for this one?

Written by Robert Bernstein, a regular contributor to DC Comics at the time, the cover story is told in two chapters: “ The Great Z-17 Mystery!” (8 pages) and “The Menace Of The Invisible Planet!” (12 pages). Rosenberger pencils and inks both chapters.

A test pilot (Captain Greer) and the experimental plane he’s flying go missing in space. The government calls on the Fly and Fly-Girl to investigate. But, before we get to that point of the story, we get some quality time with their civilian identities.

Attorney Thomas Troy defends a chorus girl charged with murder on the basis of circumstantial evidence. The district attorney and the judge both think Troy did a great job. The jury agrees and acquits. She’s grateful. Troy asks her out to dinner and she accepts. The D.A. is envious:

Don’t judge me too harshly, Miss Leroy. As district attorney, I must prosecute whomever the grand jury indicts! Personally, I, too, thought you were innocent!

That sounds wrong to me, but I’m no Bob Ingersoll, master of legal stuff in comics. Maybe if I loan him this issue, he’ll write about it in his “The Law is a Ass” column at ComicM!x. End of free plug.

Meanwhile, actress Kim Brand is impersonating a chorus girl so she can “absorb the night club atmosphere” for her new movie. Neither this scene or the courtroom scenes have much to do with the rest of the story beyond the foreshadowing observations that people aren’t always what they seem.

Cut to the testing and disappearance of the Z-17 plane. When said plane disappears beyond our atmosphere, Troy and Brand change into the Fly and Fly-Girl to find it. Almost as soon as they hit space, they are surround by force spheres and drawn toward a space ship. Inside the ship is...Captain Greer.

The two chapters of the story are separated by a page of half-page ads for products we’ve already discussed in earlier installments of this JULY 1963 series. There’s the Convoy of Terror nuclear naval battle game and Task Force. The latter is described as “America’s most exciting war game.”

Back to the main story...

Greer is an alien spy who can control his protoplasm and change his body into any shape he wishes. Knowing the Fly and Fly-Girl would be the greatest threats to his world’s planned invasion of Earth, he became the most qualified test pilot in the world. He needed to be the pilot for the Z-17 to capture the heroes.

The would-be invaders, who have mastered the science of illusion, take the Fly and Fly-Girl to their invisible planet. They intend to test the powers of the heroes and discover their secrets. Fly-Girl does a little flirting with Greer, hoping to turn him into an ally. It’s a silly plot development that goes nowhere.

Because the Fly and Fly-Girl’s powers are magical in nature - given to them by the Fly World - the scientific devices of the invaders are useless. When they learn, the Fly World will send its armies to battle them if they invade Earth, the alien shape-shifters decide to cut their losses and run.

Fearing punishment for his failure, Greer murders the small group of scientists studying the Fly and Fly-Girl. He then disables the force field surrounding the invisible planet so he can escape with the heroes. They leave Greer behind because he’s an arrogant dick. Just because you’re a villain doesn’t mean you have to be so darned unpleasant.

That final chapter of the cover story is followed by a page of ads we’ve seen before. One is for U.S. Royal Bike Tires - with Archie as spokesperson - and the other is for Popsicle.

“On the Fly” is a single-page letters column.  From Freehold, New Jersey, reader Donald Schank wants to see THE BLACK HOOD.  The Hood does appear in this issue...teaching karate in a one-page feature by Bernstein and Rosenberger.

Ian Darwin of Ontario, Canada points out a lettering error.

Jeff Baker of Fort Worth, Texas asks why the comic doesn’t publish an imaginary story where THE FLY and FLY-GIRL’s secret identities are exposed to the world. The editorial response:

Probably because we’re afraid the sensational revelation will push the Cuban, Berlin and Viet Nam crisis off the front page. But it’s definitely a thought.

Mark Leland of Covington, Kentucky would like to see a FLY cartoon series on television.

From Nottingham, England, George Taylor requests a story where THE FLY falls for FLY-GIRL.

John Yanacek, Woodbridge, New Jersey asks a question about the buzz guns use on occasion. He would also like to see THE FLY published every two weeks.

Kenny Siw of Berkeley, California, wants to see “a crime-fighting team-up of all your heroes.” The editorial response:

THE FLY, FLY-GIRL, THE JAGUAR, THE BLACK HOOD and all the others are discussing it. It’s definitely in the planning stages.

Finally, Jimmy Down of Adelphi, Maryland, would very much like to see THE SHIELD again. The editorial response says that nothing is impossible in comics.

In case you hadn’t noticed, on the letters page, the editors always used all capital letters for the names of the heroes.

“The Black Hood Teaches Karate” in the afore-mentioned single-page feature by Bernstein and Rosenberger. During my brief tenure as the editor of Marvel’s The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, I ran at least one such martial arts teaching page by Frank McLaughlin, the creator of Judomaster. If I had stayed on staff longer, I would have tried to get more of these pages...and more McLaughlin writing and art...for the magazine.

Next we get a page of half-page ads offering “amazing sea-shrimp” for only $1 and 100 Toy Soldiers for $1.25.  Outside of Marvel t-shirts, I never bought anything from comic-book ads. All my money was going towards comic books, trading cards, Famous Monsters of Filmland and monster movies at the neighborhood theater.

Fly-Girl sort of solos in “Fly-Girl’s Pet” (5 pages) by Bernstein and artist John Giunta. The Grand Comics Database sums up the short story thus:

Professor Drexel creates a perfect assistant for Fly Girl: a large robotic insect named Insecto. But while the two are on patrol, Insecto attacks Fly Girl unexpectedly.

Wrapping herself in a cocoon to protect herself from Insecto, Fly-Girl summons the Fly telepathically. The Fly saves her lovely ass. We then learn Fly-Girl was responsible for the robot going crazy. It’s a mechanical device and, when she tried to communicate with it telepathically, she broke it. This theme of this story was clearly not female empowerment.

Before I sum up my feelings about the Fly and Fly-Girl, we have a few more ads to cover. The first is a full-page pitch for Daisy B*B guns and related items. The Daisy B*B Range lets you have shooting fun indoors. Because what could possible go wrong with that.

The Junior Sales Club of America takes over the inside back cover to recruit youngsters to sell greeting cards and earn “nationally  famous prizes” that number in the dozens: Lady Sunbeam Hair Dryer, a chemistry set, a Daisy pistol, a rocket-firing airplane and many others. I didn’t fall for this one either.

The back cover is a contest sponsored by the makers of the Bendix Automatic Bicycle Bake. To enter, you had to fill out the form and complete this sentence: “The Bendix Automatic Gear Shift and Power Brake makes a bike more fun because...”

The contest was open to boys and girls who had not reached their 15th birthdays before September 1, 1963.

The cherished first prize in this contest was a one-week. expense-paid trip for four to Disneyland via United’s DC-8 Jet Mainliner.  The 1000 other prizes included General Electric portable TV sets,  General Electric transistor radios, Kodak flash camera sets, Etch-a-Sketch drawing boards and Ray-O-Vac magnetic flashlights. Had I seen this comic in 1963, I would have entered the contest.

I don’t think I ever bought an issue of Adventures of the Fly until it became Fly-Man and started doing an awkward imitation of Marvel Comics super-heroes. I thought the Fly and Fly-Girl were two of the dullest super-heroes in comics.

I did occasionally buy or trade for Adventures of the Jaguar, also published by Radio Comics. I thought the Jaguar was a much cooler character and he had at least three gorgeous women fighting for his affections. I had started noticing girls by this time, thanks to a southern blonde who had transferred into the Catholic school I was attending and also to a taller blonde who was the first girl in my class to...ah...develop. Which she did magnificently.

That’s all for this week. I’m taking a few days off for my daughter Kelly’s graduation from The Ohio State University. I’ll be back on Wednesday for another rip-roaring installment of Rawhide Kid Wednesday. See you then.

© 2014 Tony Isabella

LOCO WEED

My daughter Kelly will graduate from The Ohio State University on Sunday with a degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice. At last, I’ll have a crime-fighter in the family. I’m already working on a pilot script for a series about a FBI agent and her comics-writing father.  Hollywood...have your people call my people.

While this is a truly joyous occasion for the Isabella family and our friends, Kelly’s special day adds to the sometimes overwhelming busyness of my life. Once again, I ask for and thank you for your patience if I’m far less than swift in responding to your e-mails and private Facebook messages.

Taking a realistic look forward...

I’m still packaging and shipping orders from my most recent online Vast Accumulation of Stuff sale. There will be more online sales, but not until I fulfill my existing obligations.

My actual Vast Accumulation of Stuff garage sales will commence on Friday, June 6, and Saturday, June 7 from nine a.m. to noon. If I still have customers in the garage come noon, I’ll stay open a bit longer to accommodate them.  I’ve some fun new ideas for the garage sales, but I’m not ready to discuss them at this time.

Tony Isabella’s Bloggy Thing will continue to post on a nigh-daily basis. I’ll be taking a day off here and there when I’m traveling. Otherwise, I hope to provide new content every day. Tell all your friends, especially if they want to sponsor this blog.

Tony’s Tips will continue to appear weekly at Tales of Wonder. If you like what I used to do in Comics Buyer’s Guide and what I have been doing here, you’ll like that column as well.

Comments on both features are a wee tiny fraction of the number of hits they receive. I’d really love it if more readers posted their thoughts to these columns. Though comments to the bloggy thing have to be approved by me before they appear - this eliminates spam and trolls - I try to approved them as quickly as possible.

Spam and trolls. Worst meal combination ever.

While it is a challenge I might not be able to meet, I’m hoping to complete every assignment and every interview currently on my desk by the first of June. Man’s reach should ever exceed his grasp, my friends, or what’s a heaven for?

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Updates accomplished, I now turn to the page of random notes I have been jotting down since the last time I devoted a bloggy thing to the random thoughts in my head.

When I first read a solicitation for Marvel’s Original Sin, I was more than a little interested. Someone has murdered “the” Watcher who has been a friend and ally to Earth’s heroes since Fantastic Four #13 or so? That gets my attention. I was hoping the series would be a cosmic murder mystery. That might still be part of it, but, the more I read the solicitations for connected spin-offs and the issues of ongoing series tied to the event, the more my initial interest is waning.

If I’m reading these solicitations correctly and not just reading too much into them, the Original Sin event will reveal previously unmentioned sins by many Marvel heroes. As someone who has already expressed his alarm over and distaste for the demeaning/darkening of beloved heroes at Marvel and elsewhere, I really don’t want to learn more bad things about those heroes.

I try not to get too worked up about comic books before I’ve read them. I’ll read the initial issues of Original Sin and its myriad spin-offs in the fervent hope that there is more to them than I am getting from the solicitations. I hope they are so brilliant that they put my fears to rest. I know I could, if it comes to that, at least appreciate a good redemption tale or two. That said, from a reader standpoint, my willing suspension of disbelief is going to  be sorely tested if the main point of Original Sin is to expose the darkest secrets of beloved characters and leave them so tarnished I don’t want to spend time with them anymore.

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On a related note...

Spider-Man will soon meet Silk, a new female super-hero bitten by the same radioactive spider that bit Peter Parker. Apparently, per writer Dan Slott, the spider had one more bite left in him/her/it before it died. This character and storyline spins - ouch - out of the Original Sin event.

In just the few days since the coming of Silk was first reported, I have read a number of negative comments. One fan said it made him nostalgic for the Spider-Mobile of the 1970s. Me, I’m giving Slott the benefit of the doubt.

In an article posted on the NY Daily News website, Slott was asked where Silk has been all the years since Peter Parker became Spider-Man. Slott responded by repeating the question: “Where has she been all these years? That sounds like an incredibly big secret, he said twirling his mustache.”

I’m intrigued.

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Regular readers of this bloggy thing know I often read comic books years after their original publication. This affords me a greater variety than if I were to resume my way-way-way-in-the-past habit of reading each week’s new books.

If my preferred reading method leaves me confused because I haven’t read comic books that were published before or concurrently with whatever issues I’m reading, that’s on the writer and the editor. Every issue they produce should be reader-friendly.  It’s a skill not seemingly held in high regard these days, but it really should be taught and cherished.

This is a preamble to an unreasoning fear I have that Avengers: Age of Ultron (the movie) will even remotely resemble the sick, twisted disaster porn that was Age of Ultron (the comic-book event).  Every time I come across one of those oddly-numbered Age of Ultron issues of an ongoing title and read it, I loathe the event more.  I never got the point of it and I haven’t been able to figure out how much it affects the “real” Marvel Universe. It was an ugly event, more the kind of thing I expect from DC Comics than Marvel.

I do know Joss Whedon has stated that the movie story is original and not an adaptation of the crappy AU comic books.  The “crappy” is my adjective. I’m sure Whedon is way too classy a guy to dump on even bad Marvel comic books.  But one doesn’t need actual reasons to feed an unreasoning fear. I’m ashamed of myself.

In other Marvel media news...

I’m writing this about an hour before I watch this week’s episode of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I have no idea how Coulson and his allies will be able to restore the organization. I keep hoping for Tony Stark to do or say something, even if we learn about this secondhand. I’m also hoping that there won’t be any soul-crushing cliffhanger at the end of this season. I don’t think I’m gonna get my wish on that one. But I’m with Coulson for the duration.

Don’t yield. Back S.H.I.E.L.D.!
 
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 opens this week, but I know I won’t see it until sometime next week. I wish there was a way to block comments on movies I haven’t seen but really want to see. Sigh.

That’s all for today. I’ll be back tomorrow with either another of these random bloggy things or another installment of my JULY 1963 series. It depends what kind of shape I’m in after watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

© 2014 Tony Isabella

RAWHIDE KID WEDNESDAY 55

The Rawhide Kid is my favorite western comics character and one of my favorite comics characters period.  Something about the short of stature (but big on courage and fighting skills) Johnny Clay spoke to the short of stature (but big on comics-reading skills) teenage Tony Isabella.  After rereading the Kid’s earliest adventures when Marvel Comics reprinted them in a pair of Marvel Masterworks and an Essential Rawhide Kid volume, I wanted to reacquire every Rawhide Kid comic, reread them and write about them in this bloggy thing of mine. This is the 55th installment of that series.

Why did it have to be snakes? The cover of The Rawhide Kid #70 [June, 1969] is penciled by Larry Lieber. The Grand Comics Database opines Lieber also inked the cover.

“The Night of the Betrayers” (22 pages) is a Western version of The Prince and the Pauper. Even the villains are European. The tale is written and penciled by Lieber with John Tartaglione on the inks. As with the other issue-length Rawhide Kid adventures of the era, this one has never been reprinted.

The fast-paced story begins with the Rawhide Kid stopping to assist magic elixir huckster “Dr. Druid” with a busted wagon wheel. Their initial conversation got a laugh out of me.

RAWHIDE: That medicine you’re sellin’–-does it really work?

DRUID: Not a chance! That’s why I need a wagon that does! I’ve got to keep on the move!

This is an ambush. Three owlhoots grab the Rawhide Kid from behind and chloroform him. When the Kid wakes up, he’s in an escape-proof room. It’s a nice escape-proof room, but the bars on the window and door detract from its charm.

Count Zamora, the “premier of the sovereign state of Koslavia,” is behind the kidnapping. The Kid is the twin of young Prince Stephen. Zamora plans to have Rawhide replace Stephen, allowing the premier to become the actual ruler of the country. Stephen is horrified by this betrayal by a man he thought was his most loyal subject. The Count explains:

Loyalty ends where opportunity begins! The opportunity to unseat a noble sovereign...and substitute a mere figurehead whom I can control...as I never could you.

Turning to Johnny, the Count continues: 

You see, gunman, the crown will be yours–-but the power will be mine!

Rawhide doesn’t plan to go along with it. Zamora is surprised that the young outlaw has scruples, but is certain those scruples can be overcome. At gunpoint, the Kid and the Prince are forced to change clothes with one another.

Zamora tells his thugs to escort “the new Prince” to the cellar to be shown the price of defiance. That’s when Christina, daughter of the Count, bursts into the room. She’s not down with this scheme of her father’s at all.

Johnny takes advantage of the distraction to punch out the Count’s henchmen, only to be knocked out by a gas pallet. Zamora orders his daughter to her room.

When the Kid awakes, his hands are tied and he’s on a plank over a pit of rattlers. If Johnny doesn’t cooperate, the Count’s men will pull the plank out from under him. Our hero is left to consider his options while Zamora moves on to the next part of his plan.

Christiana, loyal to the true Prince Stephen, drops a flower pot on the sole henchman guarding the  Kid. She frees Johnny, then tells him her father’s plan to kill Stephen:

He’s been taken to town, dressed in your clothes! My father will turn him loose among your countrymen–-to be hunted down and slain as a fugitive.

The Kid sizes up the situation:

The Prince hasn’t the experience–-the savvy–-of a man on the run! He doesn’t stand a chance! I’ve gotta bust out of here and get to town pronto!

Things happen pretty fast. Prince Stephen wakes up in the town and is immediately spotted and mistaken for the real Rawhide Kid. He eludes capture for a few pages.

Back at the ranch, Christina distracts another guard to allow Rawhide to escape. Johnny punches out another guard, takes the man’s gun and heads for his horse.

The mob catches up with Prince Stephen. Fiscally conservative, the townspeople feels trials are long and expensive. The figure they’ll just lynch the man they believe is the Rawhide Kid.

Enter the real Rawhide, who rides into town on Nightwind, wings the guy holding the rope, scatters the rest of the mob and grabs up the Prince. The brave townspeople aren’t about to go up against two “outlaws” and decide to call it a day.

Rawhide and the Prince hatch a scheme of their own, knowing Zamora will be expecting the Kid to seek vengeance. They switch clothes. The Prince, pretending to be Johnny, knocks on the door. He tells Zamora Stephen is dead and, since the killing has already been done, he might as well profit from these events.

Zamora is impressed: Excellent! I admire a man who faces life’s realities-–and exploits them!  

While this mutual cooperation stuff is going on, Johnny sneaks his way into the house and gets the drop on Zamora and his goons. But one of the owlhoots sneaks up behind him. The Kid drops the rifle-toting henchmen easily, but, in that brief moment, Zamora and his men take cover and start shooting. The Rawhide Kid is pinned down.

Johnny leaps for a chandelier and swings down into the table some of his foes are hiding behind. The Count’s men are no match for the Kid’s guns. Zamora knows he’ll be next, but he’s counting on Johnny following him into a secret room.

The Count thinks: So come ahead, Rawhide! Come and see how your famed colts stand up against the blazing fire power...of a Gatling gun!

Pretty good as it turns out, but mostly because one last henchmen leaps at Johnny from behind. The Kid ducks and the thugs sails over him into the Gatling gun’s spray of bullets. The surprised Zamora loses focus for a second and, in the next second, the Rawhide Kid sends him into eternity.

Christina knows her father’s ruthless ambition “could only end in death for him...and disgrace for me!"

Prince Stephen will have none of that. Christina is a loyal subject of the realm, noble and untainted.

The Kid decides to push on. Asked to where, he answers:

Not “to,” but “away from!” Away from the sound of gunfire...and the memory of yesterday! Adios!

Digression. It’s a shame the Kid didn’t follow Christina and Prince Stephen back to Koslavia. My man Larry could have spun some mighty interesting yarns about an American outlaw seeking a new life far from the Wild West.

“The Night of the Betrayers” is another of my favorite Rawhide Kid stories. Lieber took the lessons he learned from creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s run on the title and added his own sensibilities. That made for great comics that were somewhat different from other Marvel titles. I like these isues   more with each rereading.

There are two half-page house ads in this issue. One is for Mighty Marvel Western #5, a 68-page comic book with a new cover by Herb Trimpe and reprints of Rawhide Kid, Two-Gun Kid and Kid Colt Outlaw stories. The other is for the Spider-Man and Thor plastic pillows that have been around for several months now. The full-color items cost $1.50 each plus fifteen cents for postage.

The “Ridin’ the Trail with Rawhide” letters page has three missives from readers. Tim Snow of Newcastle, New Brunswick, Canada bemoans the recent cancellations of Ghost Rider, Two-Gun Kid and Kid Colt. He suggests a bimonthly mag featuring all three of those heroes...and the Rawhide Kid.

The editorial response says such a magazine is in the works. Which was kind of sort of accurate. The Ghost Rider would return as one of several strips in Western Gunfighters. Kid Colt Outlaw and Two-Gun Kid would also return to regular publication but those titles would feature reprints of previous adventures.

Owen Mahon of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania gushes about Larry Lieber’s penciling. He suggests Larry take over Silver Surfer (drawn by John Buscema) or Sub-Mariner (drawn by Gene Colan). After a few jokes, the editorial response:

Larry’s just burstin’ with pride thanks to all the nice words you said about his talented pencils...but we doubt if anybody is big enough to take over the SILVER SURFER from Big John!

David Lomazoff of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is fairly critical of issue #68's “When Stalks the Cougar” but eventually concludes that it was a good story.

That’s “adios” for another Rawhide Kid Wednesday. I’ll be back on the morrow with more stuff.

© 2014 Tony Isabella

HOT CARS, HOT CHICKS, ONE BIG MONSTER

Last week was one heck of a week and not in a good way.  It wasn’t one of those weeks where the bear got me, but it certainly let me know I had been in a fight.  By mid-week, I was in serious need of some stress relief...and that relief came in the form of a pair of low-budget monster movies.

The movies were The Giant Gila Monster (1959) and Gila (2012). The former is the original, the latter is the remake. I watched Gila on Wednesday night and The Giant Gila Monster on Thursday afternoon.  I loved them both.

Directed by Jim Wynorski, Gila is set in the same late 1950s era as the original. It’s a little choppy in places, but that might be due to the film having four writers: William Dever, Steve Mitchell, Jim Nielsen and Paul Sinor. Here’s how the Internet Movie Database has summarized the movie:

A giant lizard terrorizes a rural mid west community with a group of heroic young people led by Chase Winstead attempting to destroy the creature.

We get to see the CGI monster in the opening scene when it attacks two young lovers. The young man meets his demise quickly, but the fate of the young woman, who we later learn is the daughter of the arrogant and heavy handed mayor, isn’t revealed until later in the movie. The monster looks pretty good and I think its occasionally jerky movements are meant at a homage to the original movie, which used a live lizard and miniature sets.

We quickly meet the cast members. Chase [Brian Gross] might be into drag-racing, but he’s a good guy who works as a mechanic to provide for his mother and his polio-crippled kid sister. His girlfriend Lisa [Madeline Voges] is feisty and gorgeous. The other kids in the group are standard background characters, though the movie gets some funny moments from a Swedish exchange student and the fellow courting her.

Bad boy Waco [Jesse Janzen] has a chip on his shoulder for the town he feels has never given him a break and for Chase in particular. Waco’s girlfriend [Christina DeRosa] is beginning to question her choice of man and sets her sights on Chase. Other key players are the sheriff [Terence Knox], his flirtatious, wise-cracking deputy [Kelli Maroney], the grizzled and well-armed veteran Chase for whom Chase works [Rich Komenich] and Chaee’s sister Missy [Jenna Ruiz]. Outside of Knox, I wasn’t familiar with this cast, but they all played their roles with an earnestness that suited the film well.

Once you accept the giant monster dining on citizens in the rural setting of the movie - and that’s a given with giant monster movie fans like me - Gila plays out in an exciting, suspenseful manner. The threat always seems real, especially when the beast is closing in on Chase’s mother and sister. Neither character changes of heart or the climatic battle between Chase and the Gila monster come out of nowhere. It’s a solid little movie.

My complaints about the movie are that it goes on a little too long after the climatic battle and it failed to include/improve on the scene in the original movie where the monster crashes its way into a teen dance. That moment in the original scene was limited by the movie’s use of a real lizard being prodded/poked from off-camera. In the remake, the scene could’ve been very effective and  perhaps even memorable.

My only other complaint is a gory scene earlier in the movie when two men are splashed with toxic waste. It’s nothing we haven’t seen in other movies and this movie doesn’t dwell on it.  But it still struck me at odds with the rest of the film.

Those are minor complaints. Gila is a blast and the perfect way to spend an hour-and-a-half on a lazy afternoon or in the spring chill of an evening. I recommended it to my giant monster-loving friends and readers. You can get it from Amazon where it’s currently priced at $14,.95.

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The Giant Gila Monster [1959] appears to be in the public domain. It’s available on YouTube and showed up in the fifty-movie Horror Classics pack I bought almost a decade ago and have barely watched since.  It’s also available from several different manufacturer of DVDs. You won’t have a hard time finding it.

I hadn’t watched this movie since I saw it on Cleveland television as a kid and, on viewing it again, was amazed at how closely Gila followed it. Hard-working hot-rodder Chase Winstead [Don Sullivan] is still supporting his wife and sister, though he’s not adverse to breaking the law ever so slightly, like when he “borrows” the tires off a vehicle damaged when the monster ate its driver.  But he is still the alpha male of the town’s teens and someone the sheriff relies on for help. His climatic battle with the giant monster is pretty much the same as in the remake, though the remake was able to do it better.

There are some other differences between the two. There’s no Waco. The town is too small for the sheriff to have a deputy. There’s a star disc-jockey who appears in the original, but not in the newer version. Do they even have star disc-jockeys anymore in these days of iTunes and such?

The main difference is in the monster. Mock CGI all you like, but it’s far superior to using actual lizards and clumsily irritating them into “acting” in the movie. And, as mentioned above, there’s no monster party-crashing in the remake.

Here’s some Giant Gila Monster trivia “borrowed” from the Internet Movie Database...

The Gila Monster in the movie is actually a Mexican Beaded Lizard.

Ken Knox, who plays disc jockey Horatio Alger "Steamroller" Smith, was a real disc jockey working at radio stations in Texas owned by Gordon McLendon, the uncredited executive producer of this film.

This was one of two features produced by an independent company in Texas and meant for release as a double feature. The other feature was The Killer Shrews (1959). Unlike many such features produced in the South, these films received national distribution.

Gordon McLendon, who owned a number of radio stations and theaters in Texas, was the uncredited executive producer and financier of this film. Some members of the McLendon family were given roles in this film.

Not mentioned was that Don Sullivan, who was Chase Winstead in the original, has a small part in the remake.

The Giant Gila Monster turns out to be the little movie that could. It has been referenced in dozens of movies, shown by Elvira, mocked by the oafish Mystery Science Theater 3000 - I'm not a fan of the show  - continues to be enjoyed by B-movie devotees and has been remade in much the same family-friendly manner of the original. That might not get it into a movie hall of fame, but it’s an ensuring success nonetheless.

The Giant Gila Monster was a delightful follow-up to my viewing of Gila. I recommend a double-feature of the two movies with popcorn, soft drinks and a box of delicious nostalgia.
 
I’ll be back tomorrow with "The Night of the Betrayers" as we celebrate another "Rawhide Kid Wednesday."

© 2014 Tony Isabella

TONY'S TIPS #53

This week's TONY'S TIPS at Tales of Wonder features my reviews of Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time, Dinosaurs Attack and John Byrne's Doomsday.1. Please check it out and post comments.

MIGHTY MOUSE ADDENDUM TWO

This is a page from the Yellow Jacket story in Adventures of Mighty Mouse #160 as discussed in today's bloggy thing. If you can identify the artist, please post a comment or send me an email. Thank you.

MIGHTY MOUSE ADDENDUM ONE

This is a page from the Mighty Mouse story "The Sinister Barbershop" as discussed in today's bloggy thing entry on Adventures of Mighty Mouse #160. If you can identify the artist, please post a comment or send me an email. Thank you.