From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: Survive This! (2005)

Welcome back to Rotten Ink. As you can see, we are here to talk about the 2005 direct to DVD Horror Film called Survive This! and the promo comic that was given away with it. This is one of those films that very few people know about as it went under the radar when it was released and is long out of print now. And with that if you readers are ready for this “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” quick update, we will head to Pirate Island and see what erotic horrors await us. I do have to take a moment and say that I miss the days when home media would place mini comics inside as an extra and I think companies like SOV Horror and Scream Team Releasing should do this from time to time with their releases.

The Captain and his Ghost Zombie Pirates are the dealers of death in this movie and they have ways of killing off those who cross them on their island. The Ghost Zombie Pirates first use their swords and sharp tools and weapons in order to slash and stab flesh and are skilled with these weapons. Being ghosts, they can appear and use their grisly appearance to strike fear into the hearts of their victims and make them panic and easier to stalk and kill. They also have super strength and can rip people apart with their bare hands. They also can swarm and attack, but are also just as deadly on their own. They are also very quiet and can use this silence to sneak up and attack their attended target. They also can use the water to travel around as well as land making them deadly on both. The only weakness shown by them is The Captain’s love for his bride and if her stolen and removed heart is returned to her body, the Ghost Zombie Pirates will return to the sea and unharmed anyone left and by all accounts defeated and will not return. The Ghost Zombie Pirates and their Captain are a deadly lot and know how to murder and kill any foolish living human who makes the mistake of being on their island.

As you can see, these Ghost Zombie Pirates mean business and sure do have zero issues on taking a life! And now that we talked about them I think we should now take a look at the film that spawned them, and as always, our friends at IMDB will be the movie’s plots and I will write about the film’s production as well as my thoughts. So with that, let’s set sail and see what this film is about.

Survive This! (2005)

“Cory Lodge is the supreme scam artist, who put his world on the line when he baits the multi millionaire television producer Mr. Jillbralta into putting up 500K for a new reality TV show… “Survive This…” Cory and his beautiful assistant decide to film their show from the legendary haunted, Pirates Island. Soon Cory and the contestants learn the hard way why this island has be deserted… As the show’s super sexy contestants begin to die… one by one. Tune in and see just who may “Survive This…”

Survive This! Is your typical low budget direct to DVD release that flooded the mark in the early and mid 2000’s that mixed both Horror and “Erotic” elements together and would add a dash of bad comedy always with a loud soundtrack from bands most have never heard of. The film was released by Regain Records on home media and was co-written and directed by Ed Wahl who was coming off a kids show called “Zebby’s Zoo” and would bring together a strange collection of actors and performers together as cast in the film are such names as The Naked Cowboy, Gina Lynn, Sharissa, Dale Resteghini and Jennifer Pedersen among many others. The film’s production was the normal low budget fare and when released on home media it pretty much went unnoticed by Horror Fans. The film was pretty much meet with negative reviews. I should also note that Udi Harpaz was the man behind the score for this film.

This film is not great, but you can tell that the creators and actors behind this film did have a blast making it so that goes a long way, and I like that at least they ended up giving their film the comic book treatment so credit for that. I watched this film the same night I watched Nightwing, Rattlers and Willy’s Wonderland and this by far was the film that got lost in the shuffle as it was pure cheesy stuff that’s main highlights was the topless women and some of the bad dialogue, some of the gore effects are good and I have to say the score was not terrible and had its charm. But while the film is really bad on almost all most accounts it tried hard to bring at least the Erotic elements but failed on the Horror as the Ghost Pirates pretty much are just guys with cheap grease paint make-up smeared on and fake scars on their faces and just kind of lumber around. This is the type of film that would have played late night on Cinemax and would have been hosted on USA Up All Night and I think you know what I mean. Not much to say about this film besides dental floss this plot, boring characters, no Horror and is an indie film that I didn’t enjoy but I am sure it has its fans.

Well now that we talked about the Ghost Zombie Pirates and their killing ways as well as the film they are from I think we should now take a look at the promo comic based on this film. I want to thank an Ebay seller who had this DVD and Comic in stock and made this update possible and would like to also remind you readers that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So if you are ready, I can see some undead Pirates down the beach here on Pirate Island and we should start walking the other way and chat about this comic.

Survive This! # 1  **
Released in 2005     Cover Price FREE   Wallrocker   # 1 of 1

A couple are running for their lives on Pirate Island late at night and both meet a fate at the hands of the Ghost Zombie Pirates. We then join Cory Lodge and his assistant Jillian as they are pitching a competition reality TV Show set on the haunted pirate Island to producer Mr. J who agrees to help but will only fund half the million dollars that would be used for production and Cory has to come up with the other half that would be the prize money. Cory don’t have that money but cons his way into the show going into production and even picks up a guide named Ralph who will work for free, the set up crew on Pirate Island find themselves being killed by a Ghost Pirate. Its cleat that Jillian and Mr. J are fooling around, and Cory starts crushing and a contestant named Amanda all the while Ralph seems to be getting nerves and talking redemption to himself. As the all make it to the island Jillian is picking on Amanda who does not fit in with most of her fellow cast mates and when looking around the castle they are staying in Amanda sees a painting of a young woman and Ralph gives her a book to read about the history of the island and how a Pirate Captain fell in love with the woman from the painting (Elizabeth) and he wanted to marry her, but she has to stop as the show has started and Amanda has to play volleyball as well as tug of war and she keeps looses and is picked in the bottom three and has to spend the night buried in the sand neck down with a bucket on her head, but when the crew prank her again she quits the show. Meanwhile all of the celebrities who are suppose to guest on the show and who are lost on the island are killed by the Ghost Pirates are as well two local ladies who wanted to find the shooting location of the Survive This show and Ralph tried to shave but could not. The shows production is falling apart and Jillian is mad that Cory is paying attention to Amanda and calls in Mr. J who pulls the plug on the show, meanwhile Amanda finds out the rest of the Pirate Island history from the book and finds out what happened to Elizabeth and The Pirate Captain who were set up and killed on their wedding night by her father and the people of the island, they even removed Elizabeth’s heart. And Amanda finds out that Ralph is the spirit of Elizabeth’s father who wants to make right his wrong, but as night time falls the Ghost Pirates arrive in full force and attack and kill most of the contestants, Jillian and even Mr. J! But Amanda has an idea to save her and Cory as she finds Elizabeth’s missing heart behind the picture and they rush to the beach and throw it in, the heart finds the rotten corpse of Elizabeth and she can be happy again with her Captain husband and this as well stops the attack and the Ghost Pirates return to the see and the night of terror is over. Ralph fades away a sad spirit as Amanda and Cory embrace on the now peaceful beach.

First thing I have to say is that I liked this comic adaptation better then the movie as if cuts out lots of the long dragged out parts of the film…but it is flawed as well as all of the nudity and most of the bloody kills have also been removed for the comic. And I wished that they at least had kept the bloody kills in and even maybe amped them up a bit! The story as you can see is very basic the restless spirits of pirates are tormenting an island over being wronged and if the heart of the Captain’s bride is returned they terror would stop, and a young woman who is kind of an outsider is the one to find the heart and stop the madness. Cory Lodge is a con man who wants to make quick money and uses a terrible crew and a lack of ideas to bring what could be the worst reality game show the world would have ever seen, and even though he is kind of scummy he gets the lady in the end. Amanda is a woman who enters the contest, is picked on, quits, learns the history of the haunted island and is the one who unlocks the secret to stop the Ghost Pirates from showing up and attacking. Amanda is the only interesting character in the comic and film as at least she shows some emotions. Ralph is the spirit of a father who back in the day had his daughter and her pirate husband and friends killed, and he is kind of a ego driven kook who things that his daughter in death should come back to him even though he murdered her! The rest of the characters are just filler and around and are not flushed out at all with Jillian and Mr. J being shown to be scummy people as well. The Ghost Pirates who is the comics main bad guys show up very little and when they do its just glimpses in panels for the most part. The comic is not scary, but does have a classic spooky campfire tale feel to it and that makes it a fun read. The cover is cool but is also just the cover for the DVD so not much thought put into the DVD cover as I feel that it was the comic cover idea first, but I could be wrong. The interior art is done by “The Zombie” and is pretty good stuff and has a very cartoony look and I do like the way he draws the Ghost Pirates. Over all a cool promo comic that was slightly better than the film it was based on and if you like tales of Ghost Pirates and Haunted Islands then check it out. See the artwork below to see the style of “The Zombie” used in this comic.

Survive This! is a low budget film that tried to cash in on the world of Horror and Erotic and really did fail on both accounts, even though I have to say the ladies in the film are all very lovely. And while the Pirates in the film come off more like Ghost Zombies and in the comic they are pure Ghosts they have their charm in both. And with that I think if you like no budget films that has a sub plot of a reality TV Show then give this a read and a watch, or if you like adult film actress Gina Lynn checkout the film for her cameo. But with that, let’s leave Pirate Island and head to the world of Pro Wrestling as we get to see the Master Of The Heart Puncher himself Ox Baker be in the main event! So until next time, read a Horror Comic of three, watch a Horror Film or two and as always support your local Horror Host! See you next update as our year of Wrestling continues.

R.I.W Wrestling Legend: Demolition

The doors of the Rotten Ink Arena are open and this “R.I.W Wrestling Legend” update event is going to be a big one as our main event star tag team love Pain And Destruction and even claim that it’s their middle names! And of course we are talking about Demolition whose members in the WWF were Ax, Smash and Crush and was one of the companies biggest heel teams as well as baby face when they made the turn. And if you look around this is a packed house for sure and almost all of the fans in attendance are wearing Demolition t-shirts and are even holding up signs to show them support. And over at the snack bar Mr. X is selling some cheap beer and popcorn and I say we grab some snacks and find out seats as this is one wrestling tag team that I have been waiting to cover here at Rotten Ink Arena and as you hear their theme has started so let’s get ready to cheer for this iconic team.

Demolition was a tag team that started in 1987 for the WWF and the members were Ax (Masked Superstar) and Smash (Moondog Rex) and they were managed by Luscious Johnny V and were major heels who wrestled a very still wrestling style. They wore leather-studded outfits and hockey masks and when the masks came off they reveled face paint, and they had a rough attitude of dealing out destruction on the ring. And fans at the start of their tag career was very intimidated by them and kids even where a little scared as they would beat down their opponents and seemed to love doing so. But soon Moondog Rex was replaced by Barry Darsow, and the Smash we all know became the gimmick, as the fans seen through the face paint and knew it was Rex and WWF didn’t like this so the switch was made. Demolition would find themselves working House Shows as well as would be in Battle Royals and would be getting wins against teams like The Can-Am Connection, The Rougeau Brothers, The Killer Bees and The Islanders. And quickly Demolition would rack up the wins and even at this time the fans would be mixed as many would boo them as they were heels others would cheer them as they found them to be one of the companies best tag teams at the time and they stayed very busy in ’87 and would even get chances to work bigger teams like The British Bulldogs and The Hart Foundation. Their first major feud was against the team of Ken Patera and Billy Jack Hayes, and the two would trade victors with the end going to Demolition. At the 1987 Survivor Series Demolition would be apart of a 5 Heel Tag Team side and would be eliminated by DQ after the shoved the referee. In 1988 Demolition would win the WWF World Tag Team Titles from Strike Force (Tito Santana & Rick Martel) at WrestleMania IV and this would be the first of three title runs.

Demolition throughout 1988 would defend the titles successfully against many top teams like Hart Foundation, British Bulldogs, Strike Force and The Brain Busters. Their next major feud was with The Powers Of Pain (Warlord & Barbarian) that would end up having Demolition turn baby face when there then manager Mr. Fuji would turn on them at the 1988 Survivor Series and instead join the Powers Of Pain that would turn heel. After a long run and defending the titles against Powers Of Pain the moved onto having a series of matches against The Twin Towers (Big Boss Man & Akeem) and as well would hold them off. But in 1989 on WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event 22 they would loose the titles to Arn Andersaon and Tully Blanchard known as The Brain Busters. And the two teams would go to war with each other and they would finally win the belts back on an episode of WWF Superstar and this would lead to them having matches against members of the Heenan Family that included members Andre The Giant, Arn Anderson and Haku and they would end up loosing the titles this time to Andre and Haku. And during this time as well Demolition had been in Survivor Series matches as well as have been on many other WWF pay-per views. In 1990 Demolition would win their titles back after a ling feud with Andre and Haku at WrestleMania VI.

After getting the titles back Demolition would turn heel again and would add a third member to the team Crush (Brian Adams) and this shocked the fans as the team had been one of the companies most popular babyface teams and now they were cheating to win and turned their backs on the fans. The three would use the Freebird Rule when defending the belt and that means that any two members could be the ones in the match and this made it hard for opponents to prepare for the matches. And they would defend and retain the titles against The Rockers (Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty) but would loose them to the Hart Foundation at the 1990 SummerSlam, and this would start a feud with The Legion Of Doom (Hawk & Animal) and this would also have them back to being managed by Mr. Fuji, but later that year Ax would leave the company and this would leave Smash and Crush as Demolition and their spot on the card started to drop as they were used to put over other teams. They would also work for Super World Of Sports out of Japan as the WWF and them had a talent exchange. And in 1991 the team would end for the time being and their final match for WWF was on September 18, 1991 as they lost to George and Shunji Takano. Demolition started out being WWF’s biggest and baddest team, but sadly after adding Crush and the company signing the Legion Of Doom their time was up as they started to be booked to loose and even fans started to turn on them. But one thing about Demolition is that they for the longest time held the company’s longest total reign as champions 478 days a record they held until New Day broke it with a 483 days reign in 2015.

After Demolition was no more in the WWF they all went on to do different things like Ax would change his name to Axis The Demolisher and would work the indies with two new partners Smash (Moondog Rex) and Blast (Richard Charland) and he tried to use the Demolition name on the indies only to be shut down by the WWF. Smash would go on to become Repo Man in the WWF before leaving and working for WCW under names like The Black Top Bully and his real name Barry Darsow. Crush would end up staying in WWF for a while and would first turn into a babyface Hawaiian beach guy, then he would turn heel and paint his face again and be managed by Mr. Fuji, he then would join the teams Nation of Domination and the DOA before leaving the company in 1997. Crush under his real name Brian Adams would then sign with WCW and become a member of the NOW as well as later team with Bryan Clark to become KroniK. Sadly Brian Adams aka Crush would pass away on August 13, 2007 of an accidental overdose, he was only 43 years old.

Demolition Ax and Smash (Darsow) would come back together on the Indies starting in 2007 and once more captured the fans cheers as they became draws for the companies and would even start to capture Tag Team Gold again. They would work for companies like Chikara, IWC, KSWA, TWA and PWX and would also be making appearances at Wrestling, Comic and Horror conventions and proved that they still were one of the biggest and most loved tag teams in history. The reunion would end in 2017 when they wrestled their final match as a team at a NCWA event when they also teamed with George South and lost to the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express and Bobby Fulton. And a little latter after that match Ax would retire for in ring work and Smash would shortly follow him into retirement. Say what you will but Demolition was a tag team that often got compared to The Legion Of Doom, but they broke that notion and proved that they as well were a dominating tag team who fans loved to cheer or boo depending on being a Heel or Baby Face team.

Demolition was a tag team that I was a fan of from the start as they were awesome brawlers who had a cool look of spiked out ring attire and standout face paint with Smash mostly rocking a flame theme and Ax using lots of silver. I always liked them better as a heel team and liked when Mr. Fuji was their manager and watching them cheat in matches and seeing the fans get fired up with anger was awesome, plus they in matches seemed like they were always ready for a fight and would be so happy to beat up their opponents. The feud in the WWF that I enjoyed the most was with the Powers Of Pain as it was two power brawling teams beating the hell out of each other, but I also always liked watching them work with The Rockers as their styles clashed and yet worked really well together. Ax was always the team leader in my eyes and Smash and Crush were the ones that followed his orders as Ax just always had that vibe of being the mastermind behind their path of destruction, Smash was always the more popular one on the playground as my fellow classmates who watched wrestling always seemed to have his Hasbro action figure and he would be the one they talked about. Speaking of Hasbro figures I can remember when I got Demolition I thought the toys were so cool and I can remember bringing them to school to have them wrestle with other figures during recesses. One thing that has been said about Demolition over the decades was that they were the WWF’s answer to the Road Warriors (Legion Of Doom) as they could not signed them so Vince created his own, and I find this to be insulting to Demolition as they where more then just a clone and they created their own style and own mark on the world of wrestling. And I also have to say while I liked Ax and Smash better when it was just Smash and Crush they still were pretty dang cool. Back in 2016 while at a HorrorHound Weekend with Baron Von Porkchop I even had the honor of meeting Ax and Smash of Demolition and they were both awesome guys and even took a moment to take a picture with me. To sum it up, Demolition is awesome and if you have never watched any of their matches make sure to do so.

We are now at the point of this review were we will be taking a look at the DVD set and review some of the matches on the discs like always between 4 to 8. I want to thank Coliseum Of Wrestling & Boxing for having this set in stock and also want to thank Demolition for there hard work in the world of wrestling. I also want to remind you that I will only be breaking down randomly select matches from this set and will be breaking down the match and will be rating the matches on a 5 Star rating system. Here is what the stars mean ½ Means a really terrible match, * Means a bad match, ** Means a below average match, **1/2 Means a good average entertaining match, *** Means a good match, **** Means a great match, ***** Means an epic match. So if you are ready, let’s step into the ring with Demolition.

Best Of Demolition

Match 1: Demolition vs. British Bulldogs

Smash starts the match for Demolition and Davey Boy for the British Bulldogs and they two lock up and Smash ends up using ax handle smashes to beat Davey up, but Davey is able to tag in Dynamite Kid who takes the lead and starts beating up on Smash with lots of fast paced power moves as the two go back and fourth. Smash is able to tag in Ax who starts pounding on Dynamite and Ax starts working over his arm and Dynamite reverses the arm hold and makes the tag to Davey and the Bulldogs make quick tags as they work on Ax’s arm, but Smash comes in and cheap shots Dynamite from behind and the two start working over the injured wrestler with Smash even locking in a big bear hug. Dynamite is finally able to get a tag when he is able to boot Smash in the face and leap to Davey who comes into the match a house of fire and but weird enough Dynamite tags back in and quickly starts getting beat up again and tossed out of the ring. Once out of the ring Demolition’s manager Mr. Fuji starts kicking Dynamite, and this angers Davey and along with Dynamite they chase Fuji to the back. When the Bulldogs return they have a broken cane and start hitting Demolition with it, they also shove down the referee and this causes Demolition to win by DQ. This is a fun and yet clunky match that has The Bulldogs making lots of silly decisions in the ring, like Dynamite tagging back into the match seconds after being beat up, rushing the ring with a broken cane to attack and as well knocking down the referee makes them come off as dumb. Demolition pretty much dominate the match with a brawling style and are in control for most of it with both Ax and Smash beating up Dynamite Kid. The fans are into the match and are behind The Bulldogs, but you can also hear some cheers for Demolition who clearly was the team being pushed in the match as they were the Tag Team Champions. Smash works most of the match with Ax being his backup and they both look good in the match. Davey is the powerhouse of the Bulldogs with Dynamite being the one who takes the beating for the most part. Over all a good TV match that was quick and to the point and gave Demolition a win.

Grade: **1/2

Match 2: Demolition vs. Powers Of Pain

As soon as the bell rings Demolition and the Powers Of Pain start beating the hell out of each other, and in this match Demolition are the baby faces and Mr. Fuji is now the manager of Powers Of Pain! Once order is restored Smash and Warlord start the match and Warlord is in trouble as Demolition keep tagging in and out keeping him down and away from tagging his partner. Smash misses a corner splash and this allows Warlord to make the tag to Barbarian who exchanges moves with Smash who is able to get a tag to Ax who uses ax handle smashes to take Barbarian down to the mat, but behind the referees back Mr. Fuji uses his cane on Ax’s knee and this allows the Powers Of Pain to take control of the match, Barbarian even hits a massive shoulder breaker, and they continue to beat up Ax who finally is able to fight back and gets the tag to Smash who rushes in and starts punching both Warlord and Barbarian, but the Powers end up double teaming Smash and even hit him with the Doomsday Device! But Ax makes the save and while the referee is distracted by Mr. Fuji he takes the cane and hits the Powers Of Pain with it, but Fuji then enters the ring and throws powder into the eyes of Ax and the referee has had enough and decides to DQ Powers of Pain and give the match to Demolition. This is a 100% a Hoss fight as both Demolition and Powers Of Pain are going out to try and hurt one another buy using big brawling power moves, and both teams look strong during the match as its 50/50 throughout it with both teams showing that they want to win! The Doomsday Device that the Powers Of Pain hit looks really good and impactful, and its clear that the fans want Demolition to win as they cheer for them loudly throughout the match. The DQ finish is a little of a letdown as it’s odd that the referee ended up giving Demolition the win after the salt in the eyes, but the referee before that seen Ax several times hit Barbarian with the cane and did nothing about it. This was a fun brawl match that entertained the fans and did a good job of keeping the feud between these two teams going.

Grade: **1/2

Match 3: Demolition vs. The Rockers

Ax starts the match for Demolition as Shawn Michaels does for the Rockers and from the start its clear that Ax is the strongest of the two and he starts dealing out some damage to Shawn, but Shawn uses his speed to frustrate Ax who tags in Smash and this is Shawn’s cue to tag in Marty Jannetty and it goes the same as Smash uses his power to try to take the tide its Marty’s speed that keeps it from going one sided. Demolition is so frustrated they try and get advice from their manager Mr. Fuji on what to do all the while the fans are loving it. And the speed of the Rockers still keep Demolition off guard with them doing quick tags and even quicker strikes on the much bigger opponents. But Ax turns the tide when he hits a headbutt on Marty that rocks him, and then it’s Demolition’s turn to hit big power moves as well as kick tag in and out. Marty hits a back elbow on Smash and tags in Shawn who once more uses his speed to get big punches landed on Smash’s head, and as Shawn hits the ropes Ax pulls it down and causes Shawn to fall out of the ring. Once back in the ring Shawn is injured and Smash tries to get him to quit by placing him in a Boston Crab, Shawn will not give up and Ax is tagged in and he starts working over the back of Shawn, and they tag in and out just tormenting Shawn who is finally able to make a small comeback and get the tag to Marty who unleashes on Smash as series of punches and moves. Marty almost gets the three count after landing a top rope splash to Smash that is broken up by Ax. And the match ends when Ax cheap shots Marty and Smash is able to get the win via pin. This was a match that had the live fans cheering like crazy for The Rockers and booing Demolition as they cheated their way to a victory. Both teams looked great in this match and they told a great story of a smaller team using their speed to stand toe to toe with the much larger opponents. Both teams also make the other look like a million bucks as they both sell for one another and they both show that they are masters of the art of tag team as they psychology that both teams show is fantastic. The energy of the fans really helps bring out the excitement of this match and once more the match was used to put over Demolition but also used to help build The Rockers as Marty and Shawn work hard. A good match the mixed speed and power and these two teams work really well together.

Grade: ***1/2

Match 4: Demolition vs. Andre The Giant & Giant Baba

This match takes place in Japan and the fans are hot and cheering so loud and Smash starts the match off with Giant Baba who drops his opponent with a massive chop! Baba keeps the heat on Smash and tags in Andre who chops, kicks and steps on him. Smash escapes the attack when Andre misses sitting on him and give him a chance to tag in Ax. The match tide changes for a moment as Ax keeps pounding on Andre and Demolition makes quick tags and keep just punching and keeping him down on the mat. Andre is able to choke Ax and at the same time roll to tag in Baba who stomps on the gut of Ax as the fans cheer. Demolition then starts double teaming Baba who fights his way out of their corner and hits Smash with a swinging neck breaker, Ax breaks up the pin attempt and Baba then tags in Andre who beats up both Demolition with chokes and punches. But when Demolition start double teaming Andre this makes Baba also enter the ring and all four men start brawling. In the end Baba hits Smash with a big boot and then Andre drops an elbow on him and gets the pin and the win. Demolition carry this match as both Andre The Giant and Giant Baba seem to be moving in slow motion as they both are not in great physical shape. It’s Demolition who do most of the selling and moving around the ring and they come off strong and make the two aging Giants look like powerhouses still. The fans are so into this match as they are 100% behind The Giants as they cheer for all they do, and when they win the places roof comes off. Andre and Baba mostly lumber around the ring and punch, kick, chop and choke and while they are limited in the ring they still are still true superstars. This is more of an attraction match as its not technical at all but the story the four men tell in the ring and the energy of the fans make this match feel big.

Grade: **1/2

Match 5: Demolition vs. S.D. Jones & B. Brian Blair

For this match S.D. Jones is a temporary member of the Killer Bees and Blair and Ax start the match off and it’s clear that Ax is the stronger of the two but it’s Blair’s speed that allows him to take Ax down to the mat. And when Smash and Jones get into the ring they also find that Jones is fast as well as strong and he shows his skills as the fans are behind Special Delivery. The Bees move fast and hit moves and quick tag as they work over Smash who is cut off from his corner and land an atomic drop on him as well as elbows. But Ax cheats and knees Blair in the back and turns the tide of the match as he also gets tagged in and gets a chin lock on Blair and this slows down his speed, and they also keep him away from Jones and tag in and out just beating him up. Finally Blair is able to tag in Jones who starts fighting off Demolition, but Ax hits Jones with a cheap shot to the back of the head and Smash is able to get the win by pin. This is a pretty one sided match as it was clear that the WWF was building up Demolition as most of the match they just beat the hell out of Brian Blair and its mostly S.D. Jones who is the one who gets the offense on the Killer Bees side. Demolition look very strong in the match and while they do sell for the Killer Bees it was clear that the heels were going over. It was great seeing the fans cheer for S.D. Jones and even at times you can hear some fans cheer for Demolition. Over all a good enhancement match that just showcases the early brawling style of Demolition and just how far the Killer Bees had fallen down the card.

Grade: **1/2

Match 6: Demolition vs. Tito Santana & Mil Mascaras

Ax and Tito start off the match and Tito’s speed comes in handy, as he is able to fire off and land some strikes before Ax himself fires off some ax handle hits. Tito is able to hit a flying body press on Ax and gets a one count. Ax tags in Smash who starts to unload on Tito who in turn tags in Mil who starts working over the arm of Smash and even lands his trademark dropkick before tagging back in Tito who starts off good but quickly finds himself on a beating at the hands of Demolition. And when Tito finally can make the tag to Mil he as well starts off good but soon finds himself being double teamed by Demolition and they even toss him out of the ring, and Ax even behind the referee’s back uses the cane of Mr. Fuji to choke Mil. Demolition continues to tag in and out and keep Mil from getting the tag to Tito and they cut off many of his comeback attempts. But when Mil is able to make the tag he and Tito hit a double drop kick on Ax and knock him to the ground, Mil tags back in and locks in a Camel Clutch that is broken by Smash. In the end the referee watches Mr. Fuji trip Tito and he gives he and Mil the win by DQ. What a strange and very entertaining match as its Lucha Libre meets the Brawling Big Man WWF Style in a match that should have had a better finish then a DQ ending. Demolition comes off strong and much of the match has them in control of the match, but yet Tito and Mil as well come off as major opponents who when they turn the tide in the match give Demolition a run for their money. The fans in attendance where very much into the match as they wanted to see Mil and Tito pick up the victory and even cheer when the team does win with the lame DQ finish. Mil’s dropkicks look great, Demolition look strong and the fans were into the match what more could you ask for. While not a Five Star match it was an entertaining one.

Grade: ***

Match 7: Demolition vs. The Gladiator & Dave Pullman

Ax starts the match off just beating the hell out of Pullman and then tags in Smash who does the same thing by just punching him over and over again. Ax tags back in and rams Pullman’s face into the boot of Smash who tags back in and allows Pullman to tag in his partner Gladiator who does no fare well as Smash and Ax just tag in and out and beat him up, with Smash dropping Gladiator throat first onto the top rope and tags in Ax and they hit The Demolition Decapitation on Gladiator and get the win via pin. This was 100% a one sided squash match as Demolition just dominate and destroy Pullman and Gladiator who never even get to land a hit. The match does its job of making Demolition look like a powerful tag team who where rough and mean brawlers even though they were the baby faces in the match. The Gladiator is a masked wearing worker and he cracked me up as he from the moment he gets into the match is just beat up and pinned fast. This was a fun and one sided squash match that was entertaining because Demolition are awesome and the jobbers are awesomely cheesy.

Grade: **

Match 8: Demolition vs. The Intruder & Tim Patterson

Smash and Tim start the match and things don’t go well for Tim who is backed into the corner and Smash lands some big punches. When Ax tags in they place Tim on the ropes and they both just land some big forearm smashes on him, and then Ax puts his boot on the neck of Tim and starts trying to cut off his air and even starts working on his neck causing him lots of pain. When Smash tags in he allows Tim to tag in The Intruder who tries to hit Smash with no effect and is then thrown out of the ring for effort. Once back in the ring Ax tags in and Intruder is beat up on with some stiff clothesline and then hit with The Demolition Decapitation and they win the match. This is yet another squash match and Demolition just destroy and demolish these jobbers with Tim not even getting a hit off with The Intruder at least throwing a few punches that have no effect at all. Demolition look vicious in the match as they double team and even stomp put boots to neck. This is pretty much a normal squash match that is a fast easy win for the star team, and the losers are purely being used as enhancement. The Demolition Decapitation looks great in the match and masked wrestler The Intruder is super short and does not look like a pro wrestler from that time, but with that said I would love to see more matches of his! Over all a squash match that is entertaining.

Grade: **1/2

Demolition is one of the greatest Tag Teams from the WWF in the 80’s and early 90’s as they had a great look and could brawl and beat up with the best of them. But as you can see, the event is over and the lights have been turned on so that is our cue to head out and as we make our way to the doors I want to say that I hope that you readers are enjoying these wrestling updates as much as I am writing them. And I should also note that our next update will take us away from the squared circle and to the world of home video game consoles as I will breakdown the Best Horror Games for the Atari 2600! So until next time, read a comic or three, watch a wrestling match or two and as always support your local wrestlers. See you next time for some 8-Bit Terror brought to us all by Atari.

R.I.W Wrestling Legend: Killer Khan

Welcome back to Rotten Ink Arena, the place that we come to talk about Pro Wrestling and enjoy celebrating the legends of the sport that we all love. Today’s “R.I.W Wrestling Legend” update is going to be killer, and by that I mean it will be about one of the biggest, meanest foreign heels in wrestling through the 1980’s, the one and only Killer Khan, a man who broke the ankle of a giant and would challenge for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship several times terrorizing opponents and fans from America, Canada, Mexico and Japan. So let’s find our seats and order a drink or two as this update might get crazy and who knows what Killer Khan will do, and here he comes now so let’s get this update and matches started.

Killer Khan started his pro wrestling career in 1971 and was working for Japan Wrestling Association as well as New Japan Pro Wrestling and was going under the name Masashi Ozawa and was making a name for himself as he was booked strong and was becoming a draw for New Japan as he was put into many big matched with many names that would go on to become legends of the sport. He would leave Japan in 1978 and headed Mexico for a brief sting and would have matches against the likes of El Santo and Mil Mascaras. During his time in Mexico, he was going by the name Temojin El Mongol. In 1979 he would head to America and work for Championship Wrestling From Florida and start using the name Killer Khan, and he would be put in a tag team with Pak Song, the two would even win the companies tag team titles. Khan was also being booked as a singles wrestler and was racking up the wins, gaining attention and was hated by the fans becoming one of CWF’s top heels. After his run in CWF he would head to Georgia Championship Wrestling and Universal Wresting Federation and would have good quick runs at each, and while in GCW he would have his first run in with Andre The Giant. In early 1980 he would also do a run in Mid-South Wrestling circuit and by now Killer Khan was one of the top most hated heels in wrestling as he would have wins over many popular heels and his aggressive style made fans fear and hate him. In late 1980 Killer Khan was brought into the WWF for the first time and was made a monster heel that from the start was getting wins over names like Dominic DeNucci and Rick McGraw. By early 1981, he was already getting a WWF World Heavyweight Title shot against champion Bob Backlund and would even make an attempt at the WWF Intercontinental title held by Pedro Morales. And from there his first major long feud in WWF was against Bob Backlund as the pair would square off a number of times in title matches as well as stipulation matches like a Texas Death Match. After his feud with Backlund ended, Killer Khan would stick around striking fear and gaining wins and having a match even against the likes of Bruno Sammartino and Dusty Rhodes. But in late 1981 he set his sights on Andre The Giant and the biggest feud of his career was about to start as this was a legendary as Killer Khan would break the ankle of Andre and take him out of wrestling for a short time, the heat from the fans that Khan got locked him in as one of the companies top heels at the time. And once Andre The Giant returned from his injury the two would have an epic feud and would have even a “Mongolian Stretcher Match” and in the end Andre The Giant was the winner of the feud and it was so epic that in 1981 it won the Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s feud of the year!

After his feud with Andre The Giant came to an end, Killer Khan would stick around the WWF and have matches with names like Tony Atlas and would still try in failing attempts to capture the WWF Heavyweight and Intercontinental Gold. And in 1982 he would leave the WWF and head back to New Japan Pro Wrestling for a stint and then would end up back in America working for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling as well as Houston Wrestling and Mid-South Wrestling once again. In 1983 he would head back to New Japan Pro Wrestling before heading to Stampede Wrestling in Canada where he would have a feud with The Mongolian Stomper, and then he would head to World Class Championship Wrestling out of Texas and work against The Von Erichs as well as The Freebirds, that later he would later team with and teach member Terry Gordy the Oriental Spike finishing move. In 1985 Killer Khan would spread terror back in Japan this time working for All Japan Pro Wrestling and would have matches against Giant Baba as well as Giant Haystacks and The Road Warriors. Killer Khan would stick around in All Japan until 1987 and then would return back to America and work once more for WWF for a short run and this time around he was managed by Mr. Fuji and would be pushed once more as a major heel and would even take on WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan for the title at House Shows. His run in 1987 would be over by the end of that same year and while booked as a big heel he never was as big of a threat as he was his last run. During this stink in WWF he would have matches against many of the companies top baby faces including Outback Jack, SD Jones, Ken Patera, Tito Santana, Hillbilly Jim, Junkyard Dog, Paul Orndorff and George “The Animal” Steele to name a few. And after this run Killer Khan would quietly step away from full time work in wrestling and would retire from the sport shortly after and would open his own restaurant in Japan that he is still running to this day.

Growing up Killer Khan was one of wrestling’s greatest foreign heels at the time as he always seemed like a major threat to any baby face that was in the ring with him, and I mean the guy broke Andre The Giants ankle! And yes I know that Andre really broke his own ankle by accident and they used Khan’s attack to write him off TV in order for the injury to heal. And in 1987 when he made his return to the WWF I can remember thinking it was a bigger deal then it really was as I always looked at Killer Khan with the notion in my head that he would one day be a major threat to Hulk Hogan and would try and take his world title away, plus adding the sneaky Mr. Fuji as his manager just made him even more of a heel in my young eyes. Something about Killer Khan made him scary to younger fans at the time, as you never seemed to know what he was going to do and if he was going to take out your favorite wrestler. It’s also very odd that Killer Khan never got a LJN WWF action figure in 1987 as apart of Series 4 as it would have been a cool one to get, but he did make it to the Topps WWF Trading cards at that time. Plus his move the Oriental Spike always seemed so devastating and was a great finishing maneuver for that time and era. And for kids of the 1990’s they might know Killer Khan for playing Ishikawa the bodyguard to Konga in the 1994 film “3 Ninjas Kick Back” and in 2006 he had a cameo on the Japanese series “Lion-Maru G”. And for fans of Killer Khan who travel he owns and runs a restaurant in Japan that is called “Killer Khan No Mise Izakaya Kanchan” and its said to be amazing food and that Killer Khan will take pictures with fans as well as sign autographs, and if I ever get the chance this would be one must stop for me if I ever get the chance to visit Japan. To sum this up I have been a fan of Killer Khan sense I was a kid and I am very much looking forward to watching his matches again as I want to see his brutal style again or see if its as brutal as I remember.

We are now at the point of this review were we will be taking a look at the DVD set and review some of the matches on the discs like always between 4 to 8. I want to thank Coliseum Of Wrestling & Boxing for having this set in stock and also want to thank Killer Khan for his hard work in the world of wrestling. I also want to remind you that I will only be breaking down randomly select matches from this set and will be breaking down the match and will be rating the matches on a 5 Star rating system. I also only choose from single matches, as I want to break down his matches that showcase his style. Here is what the stars mean ½ Means a really terrible match, * Means a bad match, ** Means a below average match, **1/2 Means a good average entertaining match, *** Means a good match, **** Means a great match, ***** Means an epic match. So if you are ready lets step into the ring with Killer Khan.

Best Of Killer Khan

Match 1: Killer Khan vs. Ray Candy

Killer Khan starts the match off in charge as he knees Candy in the stomach and then body slams the big man before using his knees more to knock Candy into the corner and continues the assault on Candy who is not given a chance to fight back yet as Khan is super aggressive and wants to hurt Candy as its clear as he take him to the ground and drops several jumping knees on him over and over as well as axe handle hits. And then he puts the Iron Claw onto Ray Candy’s stomach and forces him to quite the match and Kahn wins by submission. This is a total squash match as Ray Candy is destroyed by Killer Khan who beats the hell out of him, lands some brutal movies like the dropping knee over and over and then finishes him off with a claw to his stomach. Killer Khan looks just like his name says a killer as he is super aggressive and is looking to destroy his opponent. Meanwhile on the other hand Ray Candy looks like a total jobber and does a good job of selling for Khan and being enhancement talent. Not much else to say besides Khan really is a killer in this quick squash match.

Grade: **1/2

Match 2: Killer Khan vs. Andre The Giant

This is a stretcher match were to win your opponent must be carried out on a stretcher. As the bell rings Andre stalks Khan and once he gets his hands on him he nails a big head butt and then starts unloading massive clubbing hits. Even as Khan gets out of the ring to try and escape the beating he is grabbed by the hair by Andre and forced back into the ring and his beating continues as Andre is fired up and is a very angry giant. Andre then takes Khan down with a big boot and then sits on him with his massive weight, crushing Khan, the referee calls for the stretcher and Khan shoves it away and the match continues and Andre hits Khan with a piledriver! But Andre misses a falling headbutt and this gives Khan a chance to stomp on the head of Andre over and over, and then gets Andre’s ankle the same one he broke tied up into the ropes and starts working it over. Khan then drops a knee on the head of Andre and the referee calls for the stretcher, and Andre pushes it away and then picks it up and hits Khan over the head with it and then starts beating on and sitting on Khan again causing the hated heel lots of pain and Khan once more fights off being placed on the stretcher. Andre then starts his attack once more of sitting on Khan over and over, and like before Khan fights off being put on the stretcher. Andre this time suplexes Khan before squashing him again with his sitting assault and then lands a big splash and then Killer Khan is placed on the stretcher and taken away given the win to Andre The Giant. This was a true battle between two big men and it was mostly a one sided fight as Andre dominated most of the fight and just pounded and squashed Killer Khan throughout the match. Andre is winded pretty early one and mostly just sits on and uses clubbing hits to take down Khan who does a great job of selling for The Giant. Andre does do some moves that later in his career he could not pull off like the piledriver and suplex and while limited even at this point the fans loved Andre and I found myself as well enjoying him in this match. Killer Khan pretty much only gets off one brief moment of taking the lead in the match and he gets the crowd hot as he goes after the ankle that he had broken some months back. While not a great technical match nor even really that great of a brawling one, the stipulation, the big match feel and the story telling of Andre wanting revenge is what made this a very entertaining match.

Grade: **1/2

Match 3: Killer Khan vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

As the bell rings both men show off and try intimidating one another and once they lock up its Bigelow that backs Khan into the corner, and once they break apart Bigelow stares down Khan. They lock up again and this time Khan backs Bigelow into the corner and this time when they break apart Killer Khan punches Bigelow in the gut and starts hammering him with punches, and then the two bounce off the ropes and clash in the middle and then they start slapping each other across the face and then Bigelow hits Khan with an atomic drop. Khan roles out of the ring to shake off the move and once back in the ring tries to shake the hand of Bigelow but of course this is a trick and Khan attacks him and even chokes him on the rope and this allows Mr. Fuji the manager of Killer Khan to hit Bigelow with his cane and Khan continues his attack and even gets a two count with a pin attempt. And Khan and Fuji continue to cheat behind the referees back. Bigelow is able to make a comeback and pull off a big clothesline, hits a body slam as well as a diving headbutt and gets a two count on Khan. As the match continues Khan is able to kick Bigelow in the face and goes for the green mist and it misses allowing Bigelow to hit him with a dropkick and a big splash and get the three count and the win. This is a match between to big guys that was just an ok match as Khan was on and hit many of his big moves and even went for the green mist spit, it was Bigelow who seemed a little off and was sluggish, looked like he was in a cocky mood and was just mediocre at best in the match. While Bigelow’s splash looked great as did a few of his moves it was clear he was not fully into the match. While Khan on the other hand tried to make the best of it and sold well for Bigelow and did what he could to get the match over. The fans in the arena seemed to enjoy it so that counts for something as Bam Bam Bigelow was a big baby face for the WWF at the time, for me though this was just an ok match between two wrestlers who have done better. And to be honest the more I think about it, Bam Bam seems like he is more worried coming off as a badass then he was getting a good match with Khan.

Grade: **

Match 4: Killer Khan vs. Randy Savage

As the match starts its Killer Khan who takes the lead and starts hitting Savage with big hits, but Savage is able to take over when Khan misses a knee in the corner and bounces off the turnbuckle allowing Savage to start landing some punches of his own and even hits a back elbow that hurts Khan, but Khan is able to land some knees to Savage’s gut when he backs him into the corner, and as Khan distracts the referee Mr. Fuji starts choking Savage with his cane and even hits him in the small of the back. Savage falls out of the ring and almost gets counted out, but makes it back just in time and Khan continues his attack working on the back of Savage and gets him into a backbreaker. Savage is able to get out of the hold by kicking himself off the ropes and then starts punching Khan in the face and drops him with a running elbow to the head. The Savage runs to the top rope and lands an axe handle hit and then goes for the pin, but Khan kicks out and uses his kicks to knock down Savage, and when Savage stands up Khan goes to spit the green mist in his eyes and misses as Savage dodges and then rolls up Khan to get the pin. This was a good match between these two as their styles work well together and while Savage gets the win Khan does not look weak in defeat as he puts a good beating on Savage throughout the match. The backbreaker that Khan puts on Savage looks painful and while it would have been nice to see Savage land is classic elbow drop finisher on Khan, the rollup win does protect Khan in defeat. This is a good match between two top notch WWF Superstars and their styles worked well together.

Grade: ***

Killer Khan is an awesome heel from the 1980’s wrestling scene and was one that has always stuck with me mostly due to his feud with Andre The Giant and his brawling style always made him standout from the other heels of the time in the WWF. I think the greatest thing about Killer Khan is that he could have a great match against any company’s top stars from Hulk Hogan to Kerry Von Erick to El Santo and every baby face in-between. But as you can see, the Rotten Ink Arena is closing for the night as the matches are over and the cleanup crew is out cleaning up all the thrown popcorn so before we leave these arena doors I would like to let you all know that my next update will have us coming back to the Rotten Ink Arena and this time we will be taking a look at one of the WWF’s biggest tag teams from the 80’s and early 90’s and I am talking about Demolition! So let’s head on out and let the crew clean up and until next time watch a wrestling match or three, read a comic or two and as always support your local indie wrestlers. See you next time as Demolition shows us destruction in the ring.

Wild West Round Up: The Law Rides Again (1943)

Welcome back to the Rotten Ink Ranch. I am sure you can smell that chili cooking over the campfire and you know that we will be talking about another classic western film that was released on DVD by Alpha Video around the old fire as we eat a bowl or two. This Wild West Round Up update will like always have one film that I will break down. I will talk about the plot of the film and will also use pictures to do so. I will also very quickly talk about the film’s production as well as the lead star of the film, and sometimes even the director, as they are very important to the film as well. Also for these updates I will find a chili recipe online and cook up a batch and watch the movie while eating a bowl or two…and the chili and the film will be graded on a 1-4 star scale! This should be a fun time as Rotten Ink Ranch has been kind enough to allow us to sit around a campfire and cook some chili and chat about good old western films. So if you are ready, let’s start The Law Rides Again and get this themed update started and the chili cooking.

The Law Rides Again was a cheaply shot western film that was released on October 12, 1943 and was released by Monogram Pictures. Like many films at this time, it was filmed quick and cheap to get into the cinema to cash in on the still hanging on cowboy popularity. The film over the years has held up and is one that is mostly met with positive reviews from critics as well as fans. The director of this film was Alan James, who over his career directed over 70 films with many of them being westerns as well as the Dick Tracy serials from 1937. And besides directing, James was also known for his writing skills as he wrote over 60 scripts. The film’s main star was Ken Maynard, who plays the part of U.S. Marshal Ken Maynard. He was a true star when it came to acting in Western films, and this was his second time playing the U.S. Marshal character. It also had Hoot Gibson, Jack La Rue, Chief Thundercloud, Budd Buster and Betty Miles added to the cast. The film was cheap to shoot and when finished Frank Sanucci was brought in to score it. The film did well at the theaters and that was mainly due to the duo of Ken Maynard and Hoot Gibson both who were really well loved by movie goers of the 1940’s. Over the years the film has built a following with fans who enjoy this era of Hollywood Westerns and as of this update’s posting holds a 6.1 out of 10 star rating on IMDB. The film has also been released on home media on multiple DVD labels.

For The Law Rides Again screening we decided to cook up some “Café Zupas Chicken Enchilada Chili” a slow cooking chili that should be very tasty and is by Emily Walker and sounds like it could be a very good meal as we chose to fix and eat it on a very cold January day in 2022. We both picked this chili as it sounded really interesting and would have to slow cook for around four hours. So after getting all the ingredients, we placed it all into the crockpot and followed the recipe and we will soon find out if it’s as good as its sounds.

I have a blast doing these western and chili updates and for sure the “Wild West Round Up” will be around for a while here at Rotten Ink. I will be grading both the film and the chili on a classic 1-4 star scale. I also want to say on my film ratings, I am basing it on a scale that is for this era of classic westerns. So pull up a rock and gather by the campfire as it’s time to eat some home cooked chili and watch a western flick brought to us from the folks at Alpha Video.

The Law Rides Agian
Starring: Ken Maynard and Hoot Gibson      Directed: J.P. McGowan
Not Rated     1943   58min   Alpha Video   DVD   Full Frame

A wagon train is spotted by an Indian Scout. He reports back to his tribe, and they decide to go on the attack! The people of the wagon train try to escape but they are no match and are caught and killed and many of the wagons are set on fire. The aftermath is spotted by Eagle Eye who in fear rides off heading into town.

Meanwhile in the Arizona Territory at the Commissioner’s Office Eagle Eye is inside talking to Commissioner Lee about the wagon ambush and is worked up over all that the tribe took and what they destroyed, and now the Commissioner is looking at U.S. Marshal Ken Maynard and Hoot Gibson to investigate and see why the Native Americans have gone against the peace treaty. Ken and Hoot end up with an idea to use connected fugitive Duke Dillon to help find who is creating the tension and making the tribe attack the wagons, and Duke agrees to help dig and find the info as they promise his punishment would be made lighter for the help. Meanwhile in town Indian Agent John Hampton is talking with Chief Barking Fox as they have gotten a herd of cattle for the Indians and as well John slips Thundercloud, a brave, some coins and the deal is done.

The Marshal arrives at the jail with Duke Dillon arrive at the stage coach office and Betty Conway takes over the job or driving it as they head toward the town so that Duke can find the person who is causing the drama with the tribe. Meanwhile as Eagle Eye stops to take a drink of water he is almost hit with an arrow as the tribe have spotted him and do not want him on their land, they give chase to them and it’s luck that he is able to give them the slip. Eagle Eye rushes to the station and informs Pete Conway the owner of the stage couch company that the tribe is on a path of destruction…and lucky for them Ken and Hoot arrive and are told of the situation and they go after the stage coach and after a chase they are able to leap from their horses onto the coach and get Betty to stop it. But they are all unlucky as the Native American Tribe has shown up and now Betty’s driving skills are being put to the test. And during this chase Duke is able to get the Marshalls gun away from him and kill him and then leap out of the coach just as they reach the safety of the town as the Native Americans turn around. Meanwhile Ken, Hoot and Betty are unaware of the escape of Duke and the killing of the Marshall. And just Duke’s luck where he lands he finds a house that he limps to.

John Hampton and his men have gotten word that Duke Dillon is working alongside the law in order to help point the finger at the people who are working up the Native Americans and causing these attacks, and of course its them that are doing so and they have an idea to kill Duke as he exits the coach…but of course he has already escaped. Meanwhile Sheriff Jeff is called when the body of the Marshall is found and Ken and Hoot are taken in for questioning, as Betty does not know them and they are the ones who originally stopped her coach before the Indian attack. Hampton stops by and tries to get information from Betty and Jeff as well as acts as if he is not sure why the Indians are attacking and even more he wants to know who was the criminal passenger who was on the coach that escaped. And when he doesn’t get what he seeks he acts like he will help Jeff in finding out why the tribe is attacking.

Ken and Hoot are locked up in a jail cell for over three hours now and they are getting antsy as they want to be on their way to track down Duke And with a whistle they get their horses to show up at the jail window and Hoot uses a lasso to get Ken’s gun off the desk and they then use the rope to also tie to the horse who pulls the window out and they are now free. Sheriff Ken arrives at the jail just in time to see them ride off as he had been spending the morning talking to Betty and letting his prisoners think about the crime he thinks they did in jail. Meanwhile John Hampton is relieved that Ken and Hoot escaped as they think now the investigation into the Tribe attacks will be over.

Ken and Hoot return to the trail and find the tracks of Duke as well as the old house he is taking shelter in. Before the head to the house Hoot tells Ken that even though Duke double crossed them he still might be useful into the matter of finding out who is behind the Tribe attacking. When they get to the house they leave the horses by the door and walk away to the back of the house, as Duke limps out of the home thinking about stealing a horse to get away Hoot and Ken bust him as it was a trap and the crook fell for it. When caught the three head into the home to talk about the original plan as Duke claims he did not kill the Marshall that it was a bullet from the attacking tribe that killed him. Meanwhile back in town Thundercloud visits with Hampton who just wrapped up a meeting with Sheriff Jeff and warns him that trouble could be on the way as a white man has scheduled a meeting with Chief Barking Fox at sundown and this worries Hampton as he thinks that the gig could be exposed. And worse for Hampton is Ken, Hoot and Duke have just arrived in town and Duke heads toward Hampton’s building as Ken and Hoot watch on.

Ken and Hoot are shocked that Duke headed straight for Hampton’s post and they think that they should go and get the Sheriff and Hoot breaks off to go do so as Ken keeps his eye on the building. Inside Duke and Hampton have a talk and Duke alerts him that he has no intention in helping the law and turning in Hampton for his work on angering the Indians, and all he wants is for him to help him escape. Duke even says that if Hampton refuses and has one of his men shoot him that the law will be at their door in no time as he tells him that Ken and Hoot are outside. Meanwhile back at the jail Hoot is having to explain to Sheriff Jeff, Betty as well as two other men why they had such strange behavior and why they escaped jail, and Ken is tricked into coming into the Indian Agent building and even punches and knocks out one of Hampton’s men in the lobby.

Ken starts looking around seeing if he can find Hampton and Duke and once upstairs he has a fist fight with two more of Hampton’s men and the odds being against him Ken is hit with a chair and goes down, the attackers all flee the scene when Hoot along with Betty, The Sheriff and the two other men arrive. Ken wakes up and joins the search party and when they arrive at the room of Hampton he plays dumb and acts as Duke is gone and he acts as if he has never heard of him before. When they all leave Duke comes out from behind a trick bookcase and tells Hampton that he thinks that the only way out of this is if they kill Ken, Hoot and Betty as they have all seen him. Meanwhile back at the jail Eagle Eye is telling Ken and Hoot that the meeting with Chief Barking Fox is a go at sunset. Hoot heads off to the meeting with the Chief as Betty heads to the fort to bring her fiancé who is a Calvary soldier, while Ken and Eagle Eye stay with the Sheriff and his deputies in case of trouble in town. While at the office of Hampton he is being convinced by Duke and Thundercloud that during the meeting they should attack and kill those who are close to exposing this crime ring they have. And when they find out Hoot and Betty have rode off Hampton sends men to go and get them.

As Hoot and Betty are riding he catches on that they are now being followed and tries to come up with an idea to loss their soon to be attackers, he even had Betty split off so that it would be harder for the bad guys to track them. And Betty outsmarts her followers and heads toward the fort, while Hoot as well makes his trackers look silly as he gets the jump on them and even steals their horses, leaving them walking back to town. Hampton and Duke’s attempt to stop Betty and Hoot was a failure. While back in town Ken gets on top of the roofs and makes his way to Hampton’s Indian Agent Post as the front door was heavily guarded. Once inside the office of Hampton he locks the door and starts snooping around and taking evidence, but is caught when Hampton comes from behind the bookcase and a fight breaks out alerting his men who arrive to late as Ken escapes and Hampton is knocked out.

Ken goes to the Sheriff with the evidence he has found about Hampton and his men stealing cattle from the tribe during delivery, and Hoot finds that the Chief has not been happy as they are promised lots and always delivered little by the white man. And when Hoot returns to town they all agree that Hampton is the man behind cheating the tribe and that he as well has been hiding and working alongside Duke Dillon and they now have one day to make things right with the tribe before a war breaks out. And the whole time they talk Thundercloud is at the window listening to the plan and figures out that he as well has been lied to by Hampton, and once back at his office he is knocked out and taken away by Hampton’s men. Meanwhile Ken, Hoot, Sheriff Ken, Eagle Eye and the two deputies are going to try and bluff until the Calvary arrives that Betty has went to fetch.

Hampton gets all his men ready for a gunfight as Duke now just wants his money so that he can skip town and be away from all this madness, but Hampton refuses and now he is stuck at the post. And now Eagle Eye and Sheriff Ken have also went to go get Chief Barking Fox to bring him to town as well to not only even the odds but to expose the scam that Hampton has been pulling on them. As Hampton empties his safe Duke takes out his gun and shoots Hampton and steals the money and tries to make his escape. And as Duke rides away he is spotted by Ken and Hoot who give chase and in turn Hampton’s men as well start to chase the other men. Duke gets off his horse and hides in the rocks as Ken and Hoot follow and try to get him to give up, but then things get worse as many of Hampton’s men show up guns ready and a shootout starts with Ken and Hoot being badly out numbered and out gunned, but just on time arrives the Calvary and during this gun fight even Duke is hit by a bullet and wounded badly. And when the Sheriff, Eagle Eye and The Chief join the fight its over as Hampton’s henchmen surrender, and when Ken and Hoot make it to Duke he dies. In the end the tribe and the town have peace and after chatting at the jail with Sheriff Ken, Betty and Eagle Eye our heroes Ken and Hoot then set out for more adventures.

Review: You can tell from the start that “The Law Rides Again” was made on a very cheap budget as very little gunfights breakout and the cast is kept pretty small as are the locations used. The pairing of Ken and Hoot is fun to watch, and while they are the heroes of the story and do lots of heroic and brave things, they also oddly have a comedy aspect to them that made me as the viewer take them not as serious as I should. It’s almost like they wanted to make a western comedy but got cold feet and just decided on a normal production. Ken Maynard is a good actor but for some reason in this movie for me he just did not pack that leading man punch that one would think of when it came to these classic western films, as just something was lacking in his performance and I think it was making his character have confidence. Hoot Gibson does a pretty good job of being the sidekick character who has good ideas and in the final gunfight shows that he might been the more skilled of the two heroes as his bullets save Ken twice from dying. I like the character of Betty Conway played by Betty Miles, a beautiful stagecoach driver who it appears could by all means take care of herself and I wish they would have allowed her to take part in the gun fight at the end of the film. And speaking of that gun fight, I wish there was a little more to it most of the take it was just characters firing the guns with close ups and once and awhile one of the actors would act as if they got hit by a bullet, and both of our films villains Duke Dillon and John Hampton meet their end with Hamptons being a good death for a cheat while I felt Duke’s was a little lacking. As far as bad guys go in these old western films, I would say that both Duke and Hampton are pretty dang good as Duke is just sneaky and Hampton is a full fledge conman. Plus the subplot of the Tribe attacking wagon trains and white men on their land should have been a bigger part as having them even attack the town in revenge for being cheated would have been a great touch. While this film does have many flaws it also has many charms as I felt the acting was good for the time, the fist fights were very cheesy and glorious and the fast pace and focus on our two heroes made for an enjoyable watch. And while not a classic by any means, fans of Ken Maynard and or Hoot Gibson will surly enjoy this one. I was really torn on what star rating to give this one as my gut was saying it was a *1/2 to ** star at best film, but the entertainment it gave me on a cold winters day in 2022 made me bump it up to the rating you will see it got below and yes I know I am being generous. Also the DVD print from Alpha Video is ok and while it does have a few audio and picture issues, they just added to the charm.

Now onto the Café Zupas Chicken Enchilada Chili first thing I have to say is that while cooking in the crockpot it had a great smell to it that filled the house and both Juliet and I thought so. Now for the test of the chili I can say it really does taste like a Chicken Enchilada that was blended up and made into a chili type soup. The tastes are bold but not like your normal chili taste, as the enchilada sauce is very powerful with each bite and it kind of over powers the dish. But the mix of chicken, corn and black beans do as well add to the taste and texture and helps take your tongue to the chili comfort food zone. While not as hearty as I like my chili, this one was an above average bowl that had some unique elements that made for a tasty meal.

Movie: **1/2
Chili: **1/2

Well that was some tasty chili and a fun and entertaining classic western movie featuring Hoot Gibson and Ken Maynard, two icons of the western genre, and again while flawed the movie really was a fun watch. As you can see, the camp fire is going out and the bright stars are filling the night sky and that means its time for us to hit the dusty old trail but before we do, I would like to let you know that our next update will be taking us back to the world of Pro Wrestling and will also kick off our WrestleMania month as we will have three updates all based on R.I.W Wrestling Legends with the first one being about Big John Studd, who is one of my all time favorite big man wrestlers and then you will have to wait and see who the second Legend is we cover! So until then, read a Western comic or three, watch a western film or two and as always support your local Horror Host. See you next update at the Rotten Ink Arena for a body slam challenge.

R.I.W Wrestling Legend: Cowboy Bob Ellis

Welcome back to another “R.I.W Wrestling Legends” update that is taking place here at the Rotten Ink Arena. As you can see, this update has a Texas theme as our subject for this update was a true legend and major draw in the Lone Star State and was also the man who created the legendary wrestling move the Bulldog! And this wrestler is Cowboy Bob Ellis, a true Icon of wrestling who was a fan favorite his whole long career who sadly does not get the coverage nor recognition he should. So if you are ready, grab yourself a beer and maybe a steak sandwich from the snack bar as its time to talk about this Texas wrestling icon that was one of the most popular Cowboys in wrestling for decades.

Cowboy Bob Ellis started his wrestling career in 1957 and was trained by Ed Lewis and Sandor Szabo and was a major star almost from the start and started wrestling for the NWA territories in the Texas area. He was known from the start as being the protégé of one of his trainers Ed “Strangler” Lewis and it help boost his statues on the cards as he was super skilled and was a great talent in the ring. And because of his popularity he was booked for many NWA territories like Stampede Wrestling, Central States Wrestling and even the AWA! And because the fans loved him, he was a major draw when his name was on the posters and they would come and pay to see him in action. Cowboy Ellis was a skilled wrestler who would wrestle a technical style and yet could also brawl with the best of them, and he looked liked an actor from the Western shows on TV and this made him popular with the ladies. During his time in wrestling, Cowboy Bob would win many titles and would be booked in big matches against the likes of such names as Buddy Rogers, Fritz Von Erich, Dick The Bruiser, Bob Geigel, Mighty Atlas, Angelo Poffo, The Sheik and Killer Kowalski to name a few. Ellis would create his own finishing maneuver that would be called the Bulldog, a move that is still used by many wrestlers to this day! Bob Ellis would even wrestle in World Wrestling Council out of Puerto Rico and like everywhere he wrestled, he was a draw for them. After a very long career that lasted decades Cowboy Bob Ellis would retire from in-ring action in 1982. All through his career, Ellis was respected and loved by fans, and as of this posting Cowboy Bob is still alive and is in his 90s! While never on the same level as a Ric Flair, Buddy Rogers, Hulk Hogan, Nick Bockwinkel or Bruno Sammartino, Cowboy Bob Ellis was a workhorse who was skilled in the ring and was dependable, was a draw, was loved by fans and did it all while wearing his cowboy boots.

The strangest thing about Cowboy Bob Ellis is that he very much is a true legend of Texas Wrestling and is also the man who invented the move the Bulldog so you would think his name would be used more often when fans and promoters talk about the legends of the sport and it’s a shame that Ellis is not even in the WWE Hall Of Fame yet as he should at least be apart of the Legacy inductions. Cowboy Bob Ellis was a great face that was ready for a fight and would be cheered by young and old as his skill and for many years was considered the best “Cowboy” in wrestling and was always looked at as one of the best wrestlers in general when on a card. The sad part about Cowboy Bob Ellis’s long and very successful career is that you can hardly find any real in-depth history of his in-ring career and oddly enough he does not even have a Wikipedia page, and that’s shocking as far less Legendary wrestlers do. Another thing that I think keeps Bob Ellis from being as big as he should be is that while he won titles in many federations he has never captured gold in any of the bigger ones like AWA, WWF and the major NWA ones. Plus while he was a nice guy in the world of wrestling, he later got involved in some shady stuff dealing with Horse Racing and this tarnished him in some fans eyes, as he was convicted of fixing races with others to collect money in bets. While in real life he may have done something very crooked and wrong, you still cant not take away from his in-ring work as a wrestler as he really was a icon who worked his ass off to put on some very great matches for the fans. I can remember the name Cowboy Bob Ellis from the years of watch and reading about wrestling, but this will be the first time I get to watch some of his matches and that really cool as I am looking forward to it.

We are now at the point of this review where we will be taking a look at the DVD set and review some of the matches on the discs like always between 4 to 8 of them. I want to thank Coliseum Of Wrestling & Boxing for having this set in stock and also want to thank Cowboy Bob Ellis for his hard work in the world of wrestling. I also want to remind you that I will only be breaking down randomly select matches from this set and will be breaking down the match and will be rating the matches on a 5 Star rating system. I also only choose from Single matches, as I want to break down his matches that showcase his style. Here is what the stars mean ½ Means a really terrible match, * Means a bad match, ** Means a below average match, **1/2 Means a good average entertaining match, *** Means a good match, **** Means a great match, ***** Means an epic match. So if you are ready lets step into the ring with Cowboy Bob Ellis.

Best Of Cowboy Bob Ellis

Match 1: Cowboy Bob Ellis vs. Bob Geigel

From the start of the match Cowboy shows Geigel that he is here to fight and why they call him the Pride Of San Antonio Texas and he comes after him strong, but when Geigel gets a cheap shot to Cowboy’s kidney area the match quickly turns in his favor as the pair go back and fourth exchanging holds with Geigel trying to find ways to cheat as Geigel keeps going for kidney shots as well as aims for his neck with punches. But even with cheating Cowboy keeps the momentum in his favor, until Geigel knocks Cowboy out of the ring and delivers more cheap shots that just angers Cowboy who unleashes on him and once more takes full control over the match as the fans cheer him on. No matter what small attempts Geigel makes to turn the tide Cowboy cuts it off and keeps control, in the end Cowboy and Geigel fight to a time limit draw. This is a classic style match with two guys that knew how to entertain as well as work the fans into massive cheers. Geigel is a perfect chicken heel who does dirty moves, begs not to be beat up and has the fans hating him, well mostly the ladies as they love Cowboy and during the match stand at ringside to cheer him on as well as even wipe the sweat from him as he walks by! Cowboy Bob Ellis really impressed me with his old school style and I would also like to see more of Bob Geigel matches. Over all a very good match!

Grade: ***1/2

Match 2: Cowboy Bob Ellis vs. Bobby Heenan

The match starts with Cowboy Bob and Heenan fighting before the bell rings with Cowboy even wanting to bash him with a chair that the referee stops. Once in the ring, Heenan uses an object to hit Cowboy in the eyes given him a small advantage over his bigger opponent, and Heenan then keeps on attacking the eyes making Cowboy blind and swinging wildly at anything that is moving. Cowboy finally turns the momentum of the match when he rams Heenan’s crotch into the post buying him some time to try and get his site back, but Heenan cuts him off again and goes for the eyes several more times. Cowboy finally has had enough and just goes crazy on Heenan and finishes him off with a massive hit to the face, knocking him out and giving the Cowboy the three count. This match is more about the art of selling then pulling off moves as both guys do a great job with selling for each other with Heenan almost being over the top cartoonish in nature and Ellis selling that he cannot see for a bit will remind fans of how Shawn Michaels use to sell in the 90s. Cowboy is great and delivers a brawling style match, while Heenan might be the greatest Manager of all time, his wrestling in this match is not great as his punches look very weak and 98% of the match his him cheating and bumping around the ring. Over all, a very silly match that had the crowd yelling and screaming so it did its job as its clear fans live Cowboy Bob Ellis.

Grade: **1/2

Match 3: Cowboy Bob Ellis vs. Jimmy Ford

Jimmy Ford jumps Cowboy as he is getting into the ring and does not even have his entrance gear off and lands some massive hits to him in the corner. Cowboy has enough real quick and beats up Jimmy and puts him into a sleeper hold and puts him to sleep and wins the match in 27 seconds! Wow, this was a total squash match and Jimmy Ford is the biggest jobber we have ever seen in one of these reviews, as he looks like a total curtain jerker, and Cowboy Bob looks like a million dollars as he shrugs off being jumped as the bell rings and then destroys the guy attacking him. Barely a match but was entertaining if you like Cowboy Bob as you see him set a company record. Can’t give it any higher of a score and only reason I gave it two is cause it made Cowboy look good and put him in the history books for a fast win.

Grade: **

Match 4: Cowboy Bob Ellis vs. Tony Romano

The start of the match has Cowboy and Romano testing each other and not being two aggressive as they want to make sure that they do not underestimate each others skills, and at one point when the action starts to be pressed by Cowboy Romano goes on the run! But Cowboy tracks him down and takes it to Romano who is being out worked in the ring. After a small comeback from Tony Romano, Cowboy makes the comeback and places him into the sleeper hold and puts him to sleep for the win. This match is clearly Cowboy Bob facing a lower mid-carder for International Championship Wrestling and was pretty much a squash match with Tony at least being able to have some moves thrown in to not make him a total jobber. Cowboy wrestles his more brawling style in this match and is great like before, but one thing I did notice is that he does not get the big cheers like he normally does from the crowd and it makes me wonder if they were just sick of seeing him every week, or if it was just a bad crowd that night. Over all a good match that was quick and straight to the point of getting Cowboy Bob another win on TV.

Grade: **1/2

Match 5: Cowboy Bob Ellis vs. Wildman Watson

It’s the battle of Texas as these two Lone Star State wrestlers square off in the ring with them at first exchanging hits, but Cowboy Bob ends up getting the upper hand first as he out wrestles Wildman who ends up showing Cowboy that he as well as some skill, and even sneaks in some cheating moves like biting Cowboy’s hand. Once Cowboy gets a chance to collect himself he takes back over the match and once more out wrestles the Wildman by getting him in all types of holds and does so fast and flawless. Wildman gets frustrated and starts attacking Cowboy’s eyes with his fingers causing him major pain, but by cheating and making Cowboy mad becomes Wildman’s undoing as Cowboy finishes him off with the bulldog and the three count for the win. A good match that mixed hard hitting and technical styles and pitted two Texas wrestlers against each other that worked well in the ring. While it was very clear that Cowboy Bob was the more skilled of the two, Wildman did a good job of putting up a fight and looking like a threat. I also liked that Wildman would cheat every chance he could and all it ended up doing was making Cowboy mad and making Wildman’s beating worse. While this was clearly just a match that pitted a popular veteran against an enhancement talent but the work the two did made it feel bigger than that. A good match that told a story and the fans loved to cheer for Cowboy Bob as he was on that night.

Grade: ***

After watching this DVD, I can say that I am a fan of Cowboy Bob Ellis now as he was a classic career long fan favorite who was skilled in both technical moves as well as could brawl like a slugger and when on could chain his moves together and they looked smooth and flawless. It’s crazy that he never got a good run in the WWF in the 70’s as I think he could have been a big star for them and could have had some great matches against their talent. And I would say if you like old school wrestling way before the Sports Entertainment fully took over, you should go to YouTube and watch some of his matches and see if you agree that he should be in the WWE Hall Of Fame via the Legacy. Well the this update is winding down and Rotten Ink Arena is closing up for the night so before we go I should let you know that our next update will take us to The Rotten Ink Ranch as it’s time for another Wild West Roundup so that means we will be talking a classic western film released by Alpha Video as well as enjoying a big bowl of chili. The film we will be talking about is the 1943 film The Law Rides Again that stars Ken Maynard and let’s be honest keeps up the western theme we have had this month! So as we exit the doors I want to say read a comic or three, watch a wrestling match or two and as always support your local wrestlers. See you next update for some chili and classic movie talk.

The Wild West Detective Known As Shotgun Slade!

Welcome back to Rotten Ink! You know what, I am thinking this month will be Cowboy Month. We will take a look at all things Wild West and that includes a cowboy-themed wrestler, but first let’s start off with a TV Show that turned the normal western formula upside down and added its own touch to the then-growing stale genre by sprinkling in jazz and private detective plots.  Of course you fans of TV know that I am talking about Shotgun Slade, a syndicated show that entertained viewers for a few years and left its mark on the western genre for trying to be something original. So if you are ready, let’s hit the dusty, inky comic book western trail and go on a case with the wild west private detective known as Shotgun Slade!

Shotgun Slade was a TV Western show that was syndicated starting in 1959. It was created by Frank Gruber and starred Scott Brady as the title character Shotgun Slade. The story would follow Shotgun Slade as he would try and solve crimes in the old west mixing the detective genre with the western, and this was a smart move as western shows was starting to lose viewers as detective shows was gaining in popularity. The episodes ran about 30 minutes each, and the show lasted for two seasons and a total of 78 episodes. It was a decent success in the ratings and had its fair share of viewers who enjoyed going along with Shotgun Slade as he solved crimes. The show would also have its fair share of guest stars with most being known for their roles in other western themed shows and movies. Names like Francis X. Bushman, Jeanne Cooper, Frank Ferguson and Brett King to name a few appeared in episodes. One other thing that made Shotgun Slade stand out is that the score music done by Gerald Fried had a jazz sound and wqas not your typical western style. This made viewers take notice of this very odd western show. Over the years Shotgun Slade has slipped away from being one of the well known shows in the western genre as it does not get much play in reruns, but it does have a cult following and those who remember or discover it seem to truly enjoy it.

Shotgun Slade is a show that I had heard of but never paid much attention to as I had seen the Dell Comic before as well as other merchandise at garage sales and antique malls and for some reason just never tracked down the show to give it a watch. That is crazy because, as you readers know, I am a fan of westerns in all forms of media from novels, comics, movies and shows and Shotgun Slade sounds like it would be up my ally. I have no excuse on why it has taken me so long to give it a watch. But I was really happy to find out that Alpha Video, who you all know is the company I love and use their prints of films in my “Wild West Round Up” Reviews (so make sure to give War On The Range a read if you haven’t yet), had released three volumes of DVDs featuring episodes of the show, and of course I had to get them and watch, and I have to say this show is lots of fun. The Shotgun Slade character is very cool and draws you in as a viewer as you go along with him on his case and try to piece together who are the crooks and who even hired him from time to time. I will say that the jazz soundtrack does set it apart form other western shows, but at times it also is kind of distracting and reminded me of some of the music cues used in the 1960’s Batman TV Show starting Adam West. After watching several episodes I have to say I really like the show as each episode flows well and the cases he takes are interesting and kept me wanting to see how he was going to solve them. Very cool and original concept by creator Frank Gruber and Scott Brady was the right choice to play Shotgun Slade, and with that I say if you like westerns, like detective shows and enjoy classic television make sure to go and get yourself these DVDs or heck look up episodes on YouTube and enjoy this fun and should not be forgotten show.

Now let’s talk about the character Shotgun Slade, who is a private detective who for the right price you can hire and he will crack any case. He was always armed with his trusty shotgun that had barrels stacked with one firing a 12-gauge shell and the other .32 caliber bullet making his gun very effective in any situation, and yes he is skilled with it. Because he was a detective for hire, this caused him to travel a lot and meet, friend and fight with many people along the way. He is super smart and uses not only his fist fighting and gun skills on his cases but also his mind to blend in and get the information he is looking for to solve his case. He is strong willed and when need be he also can be a smartass or even tough as nails. Shotgun Slade is played by actor Scott Brady, who was a big actor for many years and was even in such Horror Films as “Castle Of Evil (1966)”, “The Mighty Gorga (1969)”, “Nightmare In Wax (1969)”, “The Ice House (1969)”, “Five Bloody Graves (1969)”, “Wicked, Wicked (1973)”, “The Night Strangler (1973)” and “Gremlins (1984)” but he was mostly known for his roles in the western genre. Sadly Scott Bradley would pass away from respiratory failure at the age of 60 in 1985. And one thing about Scott is that he was a good character actor that I think is often over looked for his roles in Horror. But to sum it up, Shotgun Slade is a very cool character who is one part cowboy and one part private detective.

Like all good TV Western shows, Shotgun Slade had his fair share of merchandise for fans to collect that includes comic book, home media, board game, soundtrack and a toy shotgun replica of his famous weapon. And oddly enough that is pretty much it, and Shotgun Slade never got an action figure or even a lunchbox. But while limited on what fans could get their hands on, as you can see, some cool stuff over the years have been made available. And for those wondering, I own the comic, home media and the soundtrack on CD of Shotgun Slade. So if you are a fan, you can add to your collection by tracking down any of this cool stuff.

After doing the research and watching Shotgun Slade episodes as well as listening to the score music, I am very much looking forward to reading this comic book based on the character released by Dell Comics as this will be a first time read for me. And that’s something I might be doing more of in the future here at Rotten Ink is tracking down some of these old Dell Comics based on old TV Westerns and doing updates based around them as I have been trying to get the complete run of The Rifleman for a while now as that is one of my favorite shows of all time and needs to be covered here. I want to thank the Ebay seller who had this comic in stock and made this update possible and I also want to remind you that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, it’s entertainment value and it’s art and story. So with that lets head out to the old west and see what kind of case Shotgun Slade has to crack in this one and only comic book adventure.

Shotgun Slade # 1  ***1/2
Released in 1960     Cover Price .10     Dell Comics     # 1111 of 1354

“Outpost Outlaws” Shotgun Slade has been hired by The Shannon Stage Line by it’s owner Beth Shannon and arrives just in time as he watches as outlaws are robbing a stage coach and even shoot the driver Beth herself after she sees one of the outlaws face and that being Ben Watson. The outlaws escape as Slade is able to check on Beth who survived the shot and tells him that Ben hangs around the general store with the owner Jess and that her father also hangs around there as well to play checkers all day. Slade heads to town and goes to the general store and takes Ben Watson to jail, and unknown to him one of the outlaws sneaks out the back and threatens Beth with killing her father if she identifies Ben as one of the coach robbers! Ben ends up walking free and Beth lets Slade go from the case, but her father hires him back and its shown that Jess is the mastermind of the stage coach robberies and now he and his outlaws have a plan to flee the town, but before they do so they take Beth’s father hostage! Slade figures this all out and brings down Jess and the outlaws before they can run, gets Beth her money back as well as brings her and her father closer. “Cowtown” Slade has been hired by the Cattlemen’s Association in order to look into a rash of cattle thefts that has hurt many of the ranches, and before he can even reach the town to check in he is attacked by a unknown gunman who ends up loosing the back of his boot given Slade his first clue. Once in town he gets some rest and meets the Association who hired him including Will Lundeen a very rude rancher who is not happy to see Slade, cause as you guessed it he and his men are behind the cattle thefts! Slade while piecing the case together even finds an old mine shaft that the rustlers are using to move the stolen cows. And after going through the mine Slade finds that it leads to Lundeen’s ranch and he is able to make the arrest and solving the case of the stolen cows.

This is a really fun comic and does a pretty great job of capturing the nature of the show as the only thing missing is the western jazz music! This comic has two cases for Shotgun Slade one that has him bringing down some outlaws who are robbing stage coaches and the other has him stopping some cattle rustlers and along the way he charms pretty ladies as well as uses his awesome special shotgun to bring justice. Shotgun Slade is great at his job and finds the clues and solves the cases fast and is able to bring all the criminals to justice without having to kill them, but he does have to at times use his shotgun to wound them. The main bad guys in this comic are Jess a man who runs a general store but is also the leader of outlaws who rob stage coaches of their money, and he and his men do not care to take lives in order to get the money they seek. Will Lundeen is the other who is a ranch owner who along with his hired hands are stealing the cows from their fellow ranchers in town, and he as well does not mind sending his goons to kill. The cover for this issue is pretty cool and eye catching for fans of the show as it’s a promo photo used for the show set to a green background. The interior art is done by an Unknown Artist and is pretty great stuff as it has the typical Dell Comics look and style and Shotgun Slade kind of looks like the actor who played him on the show. Over all this is a great western comic based on a very underrated TV Show and is one that you should check out if you like the show or just western comics in general.

Shotgun Slade is a great TV Show that made for a great comic book as well and I am shocked that this show is not talked about to this day as it was very original and highly entertaining. And I myself would love if the missing episodes could be found and if it could be released as the whole series on home media, as I would buy it! But with our next update we keep the Cowboy Theme up and will next head back to the world of Pro Wrestling and be talking about Cowboy Bob Ellis! So until next time read a western comic or three, watch a western film or two and as always support your local Horror Host. See you next update for a rootin tootin good time in the squared circle.

Made For TV: World’s Strongest Man Contest 1977

Welcome back to Rotten Ink and to another “Made For TV” update and this time around we will be taking look at a sporting event that I have been a fan of since I can remember discovering it on ESPN when I was a kid and one that features Pro Athletes from all walks of life like Football, Pro Wrestling, Powerlifters and more an event that was structured to see who was the strongest of that year and of course I am talking about the World’s Strongest Man Contest, a very cool entertaining sporting event that has been going strong for over 40 Years and has seen some very cool names enter over the years. So adjust your rabbit ears and turn to Channel 3 as it’s time to talk about the first ever Strong Man Contest that started in 1977 and featured some names that I am sure many of you reading will recognize. So with that let’s talk about some Made For TV goodness.

The World’s Strongest Man Contest was created by David P. Webster and Douglas Edmunds and both had credit in booking events, and this was one that they created for pure entertainment and to air for CBS by Trans World International a company who was known for booking sporting events. And for the first one held in 1977 they picked powerful athletes from all types of other sports from Pro Wrestling to Bodybuilding as they wanted to have them all come together to take part in events that none would be fully ready for. And to enter the contest was by invite only and would take place over 10 weeks at Universal Studios and they would be not only competing for the trophy and title of World’s Strongest Man but also for cash prize money. The events themselves were odd and some dangerous and harmful to those involved, and this would change over time as the contest caught on and is still going to this day. And even in modern times the title of World’s Strongest Man seems to hold a little more weight and people seem to respect it more and more.

Let’s now take a few moments and take a look at the eight competitors that made up the first Strongmen for this contest. The bios will be brief and will kind of just tell you what each was known for as well as a few facts here and there. So let’s meet these athletes.

Jon Cole came from a powerlifting background and was even a multiple AAU US National Powerlifting Champion three years in the late 60’s and early 70’s. He was also known for squatting 900 Pounds and was considered a natural athlete even at an early age. He was a track and field star in High School and Collage and would become a famous powerlifter that was well respected. Sadly Jon would pass away in 2013 at the age of 69 of lung failure.

Franco Columbo was best known for being a Body Builder who was featured in the 1977 film “Pumping Iron” and being close friends with Arnold Schwarzenegger, but he was much more as he was a powerlifter, a boxer, a trainer and was a showman who could blow up hot water bottles and could lift cars by their bumpers! Franco would also have roles in movies like Conan The Barbarian, The Terminator, Predator, Big Top Pee-Wee and many more. He would win Mr. Olympia contests as well as set Power Lifting records, in other words Franco was the man! And I need not forget that he was also a licensed chiropractor. Sadly Franco would pass away in 2019 at the age of 78 after suffering a heart attacking while swimming and he drowned.

Mike Dayton was a strongman who was a Martial Arts master, a stunt man for films and later body builder was an entertainer who was known for his feats of strength like bending pennies in half, and busting out of handcuffs showing he was a true powerhouse. He would also win a Mr. America and would write books about Chi as well as other martial art styles and was respected very much by his fans.

Lou Ferrigno is known for many things from being a bodybuilder who won many Mr. Olympia Contests as well as IFBB events and has graced many muscle magazines over the years and even was in the WBF. He is also a known actor working on such TV shows as The Incredible Hulk, Trauma Center and King Of Queens and in such films as Hercules, Sinbad Of The Seven Seas, Cage and I Love You Man and even voices The Hulk in the current Marvel Universe Movies. Lou truly is an icon of bodybuilding and is who most people think of when The Hulk is brought up.

George Frenn was known for being a hammer/weight thrower who even represented America at the Pan American Games wining Bronze in 1967 and Silver in 1971 and was a well respected athlete who was also a powerlifter and organizer for lifting events as well as was a High School teacher and helped promote and compete in the Gay Olympics in 1982, and the odd part was he was not gay. Frenn would pass away in 2006 at the age of 64.

Ken Patera is known for three things one for being a powerlifter who competed in the Olympics and Pan American Games winning Gold and Silver Medals. Two for being a Pro Wrestler and working for the WWF as one of their biggest heels and even had runs in other federations as AWA and UWF and won many titles during his time as a wrestler. And he is also known for throwing a rock through a McDonalds window when they refused to sell him some hamburgers and this lead to a brawl with the cops and time spent in jail.

Bruce Wilhelm is an Olympic lifter and was looked at as pure athlete as was also a Track and Field star and wrestled in school as well, and was great at it. But his calling was weightlifting as he would win the US AAU Superheavyweight Weightlifting Champion twice and this helped his later career of being a Strongman. Bruce’s personality also got him over with the fans who all seemed to enjoy his good nature.

Bob Young was a NFL star and was a guard for the Saint Louis Cardinals and was the player who introduced powerlifting into the training for football players. He was the older brother of Doug Young, a powerlifting champion, and during his career as a player he would also be on such teams as the Broncos, Oilers and Saints. Sadly in 1995, Young would pass away at the age of only 52 after health issues.

So as you can see, this first contest is stacked with true Strong Men from all types of sports and backgrounds and each guy has a competitive nature that you know will make them go hard and try their best to win the money and the title. And really these Strongman Contest are something that my Brother and I would watch all the time on ESPN. And speaking of my brother, I would like to thank him for making this update possible as he got me this and many other Strong Man Contests on DVD! And I am not going to lie as I am very much looking forward to watching this event again as I have not seen if for decades! So with that, let’s turn on the TV and give this epic event a watch and a review.

World’s Strongest Man 1977
With: Lou Ferrigno & Ken Patera     Topic: Sports     1977

The 1977 event takes place at Universal Tours, and after a rundown of the competitors, the host Brent Musburger welcomes us to the event and explains some of the events the athletes will be competing in as well as the amounts of money they can win. Brent also explains the point system that each can get for placing in a event with 10 points going to the first place winner in each. And that in the end the four top competitors would go one on one in a tug or war match. And after that Brent says that over $14 thousand in the maximum amount that could be won, and once all the rules, points and money talk is out of the way we go to our first event.

The Barrel Lift is the first event and starts off with 150 Pounds and each man has to lift it over their heads and classic weightlifter Paul Anderson who is the Commissioner Of Power for the event gives some tips as well as explains that they have to deadlift the barrel up to their chest and then over their heads and this is all being timed, and they do not show the 150 lifts as Brent says all competitors did so very easily so they now have moved up to a 200 Pound Barrel and first up is Franco who struggles at first but is able to do so after a few tries, Cole is next and he as well struggles and is able to lift it over his head, but fails to pause at his chest making his lift void. Next up is the heaviest man in the event Wilhelm and he does his lift with ease making the 200 Pounds look easy. Young is up next and is able to muscle it up, then is Patera who does it fast and easy, then is Lou who as well makes it look easy but is ruled out when they think he used his knees to do the lift! It’s then Frenn’s turn and Dayton is next and unable to make the lift ruling him out. So out this round are Dayton, Cole and Lou as we go to our first commercial break.

The barrels’ weight goes up to 250 Pounds next and first up is Franco who tries, but is only able to get the barrel to his chest before bowing out as he is not able to lift over his head. Wilhelm then steps up and struggles and just barely is able to make the lift as the timer ticked down, and next Patera gives it a try and is able to get it to his chest but is unable to get the barrel over his head and this ends his time in the barrel lift. Last up is Frenn who is unable to even get the barrel up to his chest and this eliminates him from the event and allows Wilhelm to be 1^st place in the lift and scores him the 10pts and lesser points go to the others. And Wilhelm is super excited when he is declared the winner of this event.

The second event is The Bar Bend and all eight competitors must square off against each other at the same time and have to bend an iron bar over their necks, heads or mouth using their arm strength and can not use any kind of support to do so, as that means no elbows or touching any other part of their bodies to get leverage as this has to be full arm power to do the bend and each time the bar will get thicker and harder to bend and for several rounds they all do this with pure fast power. And with the third bar Fenn is disqualified fast for cheating as he used his elbows to try and help bend it, but the others are also straining to get the bar bent and the judges have to now base it on who got the bar bent the most, and its Lou who ends up winning the contest showing that he had the pure power to bend the bar and he gets the 10 points. Brent then interviews Lou about his win as the fans clap and cheer.

The Wrist Roller is next and has groups of four having to square off with each other as they roll a bar to lift weights 110 pounds up to the top of a platform in the fastest time and the first batch is Lou, Cole, Young and Patera with only two being able to go onto the next round and its Patera winning and Lou coming in second and both move on. Brent then takes a moment to chat with Patera who puts over all the other Strong Men in this event. After that the second batch comes up and is Franco, Wilhelm, Dayton and Frenn and this one is fast paced as Dayton and Franco come out the winners with Dayton showing his skill and speed in Wrist Rolling. Before the third and final round Brent talks to the top four in this final round that is Lou, Dayton, Franco and Patera and each hyped up that they are ready for this round. And in the end Dayton wins and Lou and Franco tie for second and Patera comes in third. When Brent talks to Lou and Franco, they say that they want to show that Body Builders are really athletes as well.

Before the next event we see that Lou and Franco are tied for first place to take the whole contest and they hope to stay in that spot with the next event being The Wheel Barrow Race that has them pushing a wheel barrow that weighs 750 pounds up a hill and the fastest times in each race will square off to see who earns the 10 points. This will once more be broken into three races with the winners of the first two races squaring off in the third and final. The first race has Franco, Cole, Frenn and Dayton and this one is a battle from the start but its Cole who ends up taking the win with Franco coming in second. The next batch is Patera, Lou, Wilhelm and Young and its Wilhelm that takes first and Lou who was in second place gets his placement stripped when the judges throw his win out due to him falling before the finishing line and Patera is given second place. The final race is Patera, Franco, Cole and Wilhelm and this is a fast win for Wilhelm and Patera ends up winning second after barely beating Cole and its Franco in last place. After the race Brent talks to Wilhelm and Patera and it’s clear that both men are gassed but both show class and put over all the other men in this event, as this was a tiring race that made them strain to push that much weight.

The next event is the Tire Toss and this each man has to toss a tire with the winner being the one with the longest distance, and each get a few throws to try and elemenate each other with Young, Patera, Wilhelm, Cole and Frenn leading the pact. And with Lou, Franco and Dayton out of the toss early the final four are Young, Cole, Patera and Frenn with the winner being Patera with Frenn coming in second and this was a major upset as Frenn and Cole were the odds on favorites to take this event as they are Hammer and Discus throwing champions. After the event Wilhelm grabs the microphone from Brent and interviews Patera himself. And then we get a flashback of the past events to showcase were each of our athletes stand in the points.

The next event is called The Tram Pull and has the competitors put into a harness and they must pull a Tram Train a distance and they have to do so while being timed. The first two up against each other is Patera and Young with Young winning the race. The next two are Cole and Frenn with this one going to both men who tied. Next up is Franco taking on Wilhelm with the big man Wilhelm winning very quickly and takes the lead over all with the shortest time. Then its Lou taking on Dayton with this one going to Dayton, but the over all winner was Wilhelm do to the speed in witch he won his match up giving him 10 more points. After the event Brent talks to the four men who won the points Wilhelm, Young, Patera and Dayton and Patera makes fat jokes about Wilhelm, and this makes Brent laugh as well as gets Wilhelm to act even sillier.

The Car Deadlift is next and has each man having to lift a car by the bumper and the tries need to be off the ground for it to count, and after each round the weight of the car goes up until they have a winner. They skip some of the match ups and we join the start of Franco and Frenn lighting the cars that weigh over 2 Thousand Pounds with Franco making quick work of the lift, but while Frenn lifts it he also injures his arm. Next up is Wilhelm who moves on and Patera who struggles and is out when he fails to make the lift. Cole and Lou go next and both make it to the next round, with Dayton and Young also moving on to the next round. Frenn is removed from the next lift due to injury and Franco moves on as well. More weight is added and Wilhelm is unable to make the lift and is out, Lou is able to make the lift and moves on, Cole as well moves on after lifting the car, Young drops out after trying two times to make the lift and just cant. Franco as well is out after not being able to lift it. The final two are Cole and Lou and more weight is added to the car and both make the lift so more weight is added and Lou gets the win with the lift with Cole taking second place.

The weird event The Girls Squat Lift is next and each strongman has to lift two girls in cages on each side squat style and more weight is added each round. And Brent and Paul Anderson do a goofy comedy spot before bringing out our strong men to start the event. Lou, Wilhelm, Patera, Cole, Young and Franco all move on as Dayton backs out and Frenn has been removed from the event due to injury. More weight is added and the remaining strongmen keep trying to lift with Lou and Patera being out while Wilhelm, Cole, Young and Franco make it to the next round. The next round Wilhelm backs out not to risk injury while Cole can not make the lift and as he leaves the stage he walks past The Frankenstein’s Monster who is talking to a young lady in the background, this was awesome. Next Young makes the lift and moves on as Franco is unable to make the lift and this gives Young the 10 points and the win for the event. Very tough one and many of the favorites did not move on and get the win in this event.

The next event is the Refrigerator Race that has the Strong Men having to run a race with a real refrigerator on their backs and this is all about getting the best time to move onto the finals, this is a now classic event for these contests and this was the first that fans got to see aired on TV. The first race has Lou and Dayton going at it with Dayton winning, Patera races next solo, Dayton and Franco are next and Franco sadly hurts his knee in the race and Dayton wins. Next Wilhelm and Cole square off and it’s Wilhelm that wins and does so with the fastest time and this gives him the 10 points.

The final event is Tug Of War and only features the Strongmen who made it into the Top Four spots and that’s Bruce Wilhelm, Lou Ferrigno, Bob Young and Ken Patera and they must square off against each other in the classic field day event of tug of war to prove who is the strongest. The first match is Lou taking on Young and the winner is Young after an epic struggle between the two with each man falling several times. The next match is Patera and Wilhelm with this one the big man Wilhelm makes quick work of Patera who blames the weight difference in why he lost so easily. Next Patera goes against Lou and gets the win and Wilhelm makes quick work of Young. And the World’s Strongest Man in 1977 was Bruce Wilhelm followed by Bob Young, Ken Patera and Lou Ferrigno. And after being interviewed Wilhelm gives a big scream of victory and admits that his weight advantage is how he dominated the Tug Or War matches. And with that the 1977 World’s Strongest Man Contest came to an end.

What a classic event and with this being the first every World’s Strongest Man it makes it even more awesome as it brought so many different guys together to truly see who was the strongest I mean you had Power Lifters, Bodybuilders, a Pro Wrestler, a Pro Football player and even a Hammer Throw champion all going after the title as well as the prize money. I have always been a big Lou Ferrigno fan not just because he played The Hulk one of my favorite comic heroes in one of my favorite TV Shows of all time, but also cause he is one of my favorite Body Builders of all time and it was great that he made it in fourth place. I also have to say that my brother and I always liked Franco Columbo and when he hurt his knee in the refrigerator race and then blew off the doctors who told him it was broke he always laughed our asses off, as he was so calm and unfazed by the injury. And guys like Bruce Wilhelm, Bob Young, George Frenn, Jon Cole and Mike Dayton are all badass dudes it was a shame that Frenn gets injured and has to be pulled from the contest and I would have liked to have seen Jon Cole make it further. And when it comes to Wilhelm his massive size made him dominate many of the events and just showed how good of an athlete he really was. Pro Wrestler Ken Patera is a wrestler we knew as I grew up watching him in the WWF and while he never was a favorite of mine it was great seeing him compete in this event, plus his phrase after loosing the Tug Of War to Wilhelm “I Told You There Is An Advantage Of Being Fat, The Man Out Weighs Me By 50 Pounds.” is a quote that my brother and I still say to this day…classic Patera stuff. Plus it shows you that Patera had heart as he did this contest with a back injury and still was able to capture third place! Like I said in the write up it was funny to see Frankenstein’s Monster in the background of a shot, but also it was very cool as it was filmed at Universal and it showed the studio was paying respects to the classic monsters in the late 70’s. There is just something so fun about these events as you watch these athletes compete in feats of power and strength that most of use never could do. And I am going to say this right now that I will cover more of these Strong Man Contests in the future as I plan to do a few more Made For TV themed updates to add a little more fun to Rotten Ink. Oh and if you want to see this event yourself I know parts of the event are on YouTube if not the whole event. And remember the man out weighed Ken by 50 pounds and that is why he lost.

I should also say that when growing up and watching this contest for the first time I thought the final four would have been the following with my first name being the winner and so on in order of what I thought they would place Lou Ferrigno, Ken Patera, Jon Cole and Franco Columbo. And man this was a very much fun rewatch and when doing so I felt like a kid again and looking forward to covering more of these in the future. And while The World’s Strongest Man update might be over we will be sticking in the world of sports for our next update as we will be talking about a true Pro Wrestling Legend and the original Nature Boy as you guessed it Buddy Rogers will be our next update. So until next time read a comic or three, watch a sporting event or two and as always support your local Horror Host. See you in soon as the Rotten Ink Arena doors are open for more celebration of WWF WrestleMania.

R.I.W Wrestling Legend: George “The Animal” Steele

The doors are open at the Rotten Ink Arena, and the fans are pouring in as this “R.I.W Wrestling Legend” update is one that will please the young and old. Our main event is the missing link wild man known as George “The Animal” Steele who in the 80’s was a major star for the WWF, and as you can see at the merchandise table, his shirts and Mine Dolls are selling like crazy. And it looks like in George Steele’s honor they are serving green drinks and food at the snack bar, so let’s grab some green hotdogs and a Mountain Dew and find our seats as this update event is going to be a crazy one. The lights are dimming and the matches are about to start, so let’s get ready to cheer on the one and only George “The Animal” Steele. Oh and we should keep an eye out as who knows if we will see Mine or even if George himself will go wild and run crazy in the crowd!

George “The Animal” Steele started his pro wrestling career in 1960 and was trained by Bert Rubi and started working the indies around Detroit, Michigan under the name The Student that was a masked wrestler as he wanted to hide who he really was as he was also a high school teacher at the time. During his run as The Student, he would be managed by Gary Hart who also acted as his mouthpiece and would hype of his brute strength. Around 1967 The Student would be no more and he would be called up to wrestle for the WWWF (that later would be WWF/WWE) and would also work a few other NWA territories and would be called George Steele and would be booked as a solid heel who would even challenge Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF World Heavyweight title. He would feud with Bruno and many other of the federations’ top baby faces and would headline matches in Madison Squared Garden and would have a small run against Chief Jay Strongbow before taking a small time away to work more on his crazy wild man persona. And once back George “The Animal” Steele was fully wild and would rip up and eat the turnbuckles, had a green tongue and would have a strange wrestling style that had his arms wiggling around, which confused and worried his opponents. And his heel persona continued and allowed him to feud with the likes of Hulk Hogan, Bob Backlund, Ivan Putski and Jimmy Snuka to name a few. And while he would never win a title, he did get many chances at them as a heel. During this time his interviews would be him loudly speaking a string of words, or yelling much like a young child would who is learning to speak. And I should also note during this time as a heel, he would also capture a few title from smaller NWA companies before he went to the WWF.

On May 11, 1985 on NBC was the first every Saturday Night’s Main Event, and in the opening match George Steele teamed with Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff in a losing effort against The U.S. Express and Ricky Steamboat. But after the match, George is blamed for the loss and is attacked and this makes baby face manager Lou Albano save him and in this moment Steele went from heel to face. And very quickly George became one of the company’s top faces as fans loved this wild man who would put on silly cartoonish matches. In 1986 George Steele would start to get a crush on Miss Elizabeth, the manager of “Macho Man” Randy Savage, and the two would have a feud and this would last well into 1987 with Steele even managing Ricky Steamboat as he went for Savage’s intercontinental title at WrestleMania III, but in the end Steele would be on the losing end of the feud and would never get the affection of Elizabeth. And keep in mind, Elizabeth was so nice to George and it was Savage, who was one of the company’s top heels, who hated the attention George was trying to get. During this time as well Steele would be getting big wins against such names as Hercules Hernandez, Iron Mike Sharpe, Iron Sheik and Bob Orton Jr. to name a few. In 1988 George Steele would introduce the fans to his stuff doll friend named Mine and he would bring him to the ring to watch his matches as well as would have the doll in his promos. He would be involved at WrestleMania IV and would be in the Battle Royal, but due to a real life knee injury he would just stay outside the ring and annoy the heels in the match. It was also starting to be clear that George was falling down the card and also his health was starting to be an issue and by late 1988 he would retire from the ring for the first time and would become a road agent for the WWF working backstage. He would be let go in 1990 and a short time later hired back, and he would hold that job until around 1997 when he left the company.

After leaving WWF in the late 90’s as a road agent George Steele would start working the indies taking bookings and appearances. He even returned to WWF for an episode of Monday Night Raw in order to team with Taka Michinoku against Jerry Lawler and Brian Christopher. And again in 1998 he would work for WWF as apart of The Oddities and would leave again in 1999. He would make a big mistake and be a part of the disaster wrestling PPV called “Heroes Of Wrestling” and was managed by Sensational Sherri and would face Greg “The Hammer” Valentine and this was in late 1999. At the start of 2000, he would have a match against Jeff Jarrett on an episode of WCW Monday Night Nitro. His last match took place in late 2000 at an ACW event against Sgt. Medallion. And even late in his career, he was very loved by fans and he helped many indies draw when his name was on the card. But while George Steele’s in ring work came to an end in 2000, he still made appearances for federations in including Impact in 2008 and WWF in 2010. And even all through his time working the indies, he was also working wrestling themed conventions. Sadly George “The Animal” Steele would pass away from kidney failure on February 16, 2017 at the age of 74. As some of you might know, George battled Crohn’s Disease starting around the late 80’s and battled it for much of the rest of his life. He also was an actor in such films as Ruthless People (1986), Ed Wood (1994) and Small Town Conspiracy (2003) to name a few. And he also was inducted into the WWF Hall Of Fame in 1995 and has appeared in a small amount of wrestling video games.

Growing up through the 80’s and 90’s was a great time to be a wrestling fan as Hulk Hogan was the biggest star in the sport and business was great and so many icons stepped foot into the ring as we also still had stars from the 60’s and 70’s competing. And one older star that I was a fan of was George “The Animal” Steele, the crazy man who would yell, chase around his opponent and would eat the turnbuckles all the while showing his green tongue. And yeah I know what you are thinking and you would be right, George Steele might not have been the world’s greatest wrestler and by all accounts he was just a gimmick wrestler who put on comedy matches, but man when I was a kid it worked. I had the George Steele LJN figure as well as his Bendy toy, and I always wanted a Mine doll and still do want one to this day. The best part of George Steele is that he was a heel that people believed could rip a person apart with his brute strength, and when he turned baby face, he was loved as people thought he was simple and misunderstood and fun loving. And let’s be honest, everyone in the stands and watching at home would mark out when George would eat and rip apart the turnbuckle having the stuffing go all over the ring. Also his cartoonish nature when wrestling, as a face would cause fans to laugh at his odd style of waving his hands around and silly faces that he would make at his opponents. When booked as a heel I have to say that George Steele really did come off as a threat as he would be totally wild and his hairy missing link look seemed to scare the fans as well as would through his baby face opponent off their game as he would wiggle his arms around and come off as a total crazy man. George “Steele” is also a wrestler I would pop for even way after he was winding down his in ring career but when he would show up on WWF or WCW I would cheer as seeing him in the ring brought back memories of my youth. Plus on a side note, Tim Burton and his team did a fantastic job of hiring George Steele to play Tor Johnson in the 1994 cult classic film Ed Wood based on the filmmaker’s life. Also the first ever WWF Ice Cream bar I ever got had George Steele on it and inside had a trading card of George as well! With that said George might not have been the most skilled in ring worker but he sure as hell was a very entertaining one.

We are now at the point of this review where we will be taking a look at the DVD set and review some of the matches on the discs like always between 4 to 8. I want to thank Coliseum Of Wrestling & Boxing for having this set in stock and also want to thank George Steele for his hard work in the world of wrestling. I also want to remind you that I will only be breaking down randomly selected matches from this set and will be breaking down the match and will be rating the matches on a 5 Star rating system. I also only choose from single matches, as I want to break down the matches that showcase his style. Here is what the stars mean ½ Means a really terrible match, * Means a bad match, ** Means a below average match, **1/2 Means a good average entertaining match, *** Means a good match, **** Means a great match, ***** Means an epic match. So if you are ready, let’s step into the ring with George Steele.

Best Of George Steele

Match 1: George Steele vs. Hulk Hogan

As the match starts, George starts by wiggling your hands around and Hogan stops his antics by flexing and stopping George in his tracks and as George gets out of the ring Hogan goes out after him and beats him up as the fans go crazy. Once back in the ring Hogan and George size each other up and neither wants to make a mistake and its George who makes the first move and with a wrack to Hogan’s eyes he takes the lead of the match by working over his eyes and even biting him. George takes the padding off of a turnbuckle and tries to ram Hogan’s head into it before he reverses it and rams Georges into it and then Hogan takes the match momentum and even bites the head of George! The two exchange hits and punches and with the help of brass knuckles George hurts Hogan and keeps using it to keep the Hulkster down. But after a while Hogan has had enough and after Hulking Up and some punches and a big boot to the face of George and when going for the legdrop, Mr. Fuji cheats and trips Hogan and as George distracts the referee he throws powder into the eyes of Hogan blinding him and causing him to fall out of the ring and is counted out and the fans are very mad by this. This is a match that on paper should not work well as both Hogan and Steele are wrestlers who work their own styles with Steele’s really being more of a gimmick and yet the two made it work as they blended both together and really got the crowd into it. No big moves are thrown and nothing really fancy is delivered, but the way Steele cheats and gets the heat from the crowd and the way the fans pop for Hogan at every move really does make the match feel big. I was also really surprised when Steele is the one who gets the win via pinfall. Over all a good match that had a big fight feel and showed that George Steele could have been a big heel even in the 80’s if booked right.

Rating: ***

Match 2: George Steele vs. Pete Mitchell

George Steele is managed by Freddie Blassie in this match and as soon as the bell rings, the weird movements of George throws of Pete and George moves in and attacks the face and head of Pete even biting him. George then destroys the turnbuckle and keeps his attack on Pete going who is helpless at this point and is just being destroyed. George even tosses Pete out of the ring and Blassie even delivers a kick to him, and George will not let him back in the ring. Once back in the ring George starts working on both arms of Pete stomping on them, and at this point Pete has not even landed one punch or move in the match. George continues beating up and tossing Pete around and in the end with a lifting hammerlock George gets the win when Pete is forced to give up. And after the bell George still beats up on Pete and Blassie loves it. This match is a total squash match and has George Steele destroying Pete Mitchell by just biting, knocking him out of the ring and stomping on him. George looks great as a heel in this match as he is vicious and does not allow his opponent to even fight back and his lifting hammerlock is fantastic looking. Poor Pete Mitchell looks like a total jobber and does nothing in the match besides sell like crazy for Steele. Not much more to say besides this is a very one sided match that while entertaining of seeing George be mean heel, is not much of a match.

Grade: **

Match 3: George Steele vs. Adrian Adonis

George starts the match by chasing Adonis around the ring and causes him to escape by getting out of the ring. Once back in the ring George charges at Adonis who is able to land a punch first and even chokes him with his scarf, and even uses the ropes to try and take the breath away from George. But with a quick punch to the face George makes his comeback that allows him to unleash a series of stomps and punches. George even slams Adonis on the entry ramp as the fans cheer with joy. But while hurt Adonis is able to land a few punches to the gut of George and then gives a few stomps, but George as well brawls his way back to being the one on top of the match momentum for a moment until Adonis takes back over for a brief moment with some punches. Adonis climbs the top rope and George crotches him and Adonis then elbows the referee knocking him out for a moment, George gets Adonis into the hammerlock and causes him to tap out but there is no referee to see it. George goes to check on the referee and when doing so Adonis rolls him up and gets the pin and the win. This is a brawling match that is kind of bland as Adrian Adonis is very lazy in the match and spends most of its short time resting on the mat or ramp and throwing very sloppy moves. This clearly was during a time when Adonis just stopped caring about the quality of his matches and he and George’s style just did not mix well at all. I do feel that he did sell really well for George throughout the match. George as well does his basic punches and stomps with his lifting hammerlock to Adonis being the most impressive move in the whole match. Over all it’s a very sloppy match that George Steele did his best to try and make it look good and entertaining and while he tried it just was not a good match.

Grade: *1/2

Match 4: George Steele vs. Greg Valentine

As the match starts, Greg tries to attack George from behind and it backfires, as George is able to see the attack coming and lands a punch to his gut and then starts beating up Greg more and more even ramming his head into the turnbuckle. But Greg makes a comeback after George botches an attempt at a bulldog headlock and Greg drops chops and elbows onto the down Animal and then unloads many elbows onto him as George tries to get up. After trying to land a top rope axe handle that misses Greg finds himself getting beat up by George who is now worked up with some anger and the fans are clearly behind him. And George then goes after Jimmy Hart the manger of Greg Valentine and starts to chase him to the back as Greg ends up going out after George to try and save his manager. And with that George Steele is counted out by chasing Hart around the ring and Greg wins the match via count out. This is another sloppy brawl that showcases two powerhouse wrestlers from the WWF from the 80’s slugging it out and showing once more that when pitted against the right opponent Georges limited move set can work and Greg was a good opponent for him to be working. Greg also does a great job of selling for George and does a good face flop when hitting the turnbuckles. George pretty much does his normal stomping, punching and acting weird while limited the fans love every second of him in the ring. The end being a count out was a little of a letdown but it did at least make both wrestlers look strong with Greg Valentine getting the win and George Steele still looking like a top baby face in his loss as he was not pinned and even was able to scare Jimmy Hart who was a hated heel manager. Over all super sloppy but entertaining for such a quick throwaway match that was clearly just a way to give Greg a win.

Grade: **1/2

Match 5: George Steele vs. Gorilla Monsoon

We start the match already in progress and Gorilla is down on the mat and is injured as George starts to work over his arm by stomping on it and keeps the pressure on Gorilla and even almost gets a three count on him. George starts working on the shoulders of Gorilla, who then ends up getting out of George’s hold and locks in a big bear hug as the crowd starts cheering for Gorillas comeback, George lands a big punch to his forehead and both men crash to the mat. Once back up George starts using an object to punch Gorilla who is very injured and weak by now, and George almost tosses Gorilla over the top rope and once Gorilla gets back in the beating continues as George uses an object to punch him in the head over and over. And after a sloppy comeback Gorilla locks on a bear hug again and like before George uses an object and the hold is broke and the pair fall to the mat. In the end Gorilla gets ahold of the object and George leaves the ring and gets himself counted out and Gorilla wins the match via count out. This is a very slow paced match and Gorilla Monsoon spends most of the match on the mat sweating like crazy and kind of so-so selling for George who is doing all the work and trying to make this match at least somewhat good. The match has the most basic moves thrown with most of them coming from George who is doing his normal brawling style that is mostly throwing punches. This match is really bad and many spots in the match happen several times making them very uninteresting. Not much more to say then George Steele looks good in the match and does his best to work with a clearly out of shape Gorilla Monsoon and while George has a limited style it was clear Gorilla was even more limited at this time. And really silly that they gave the count out win to Gorilla when they should have given George the win as he was becoming a great heel.

Grade: *

Match 6: George Steele vs. Mike Powers

As the bell rings, George Steele rushes Mike Powers and lands some clubbing blows and tosses him over the rope and goes after him and rams his head into the rails, and George will not even let Mike back into the ring. Once back in the ring Mike is placed in an arm bar and his arm is even bitten by George. And then George gets Mike into his lifting hammerlock and Mike quits and this give George the very quick win. Wow, this was 100% a squash match as George Steele busts out his brawling moves and his finishing move the hammerlock to make Mike Powers look like a jobber as he is unable to even land one move. The only move that stands out in the whole match is once more George Steele’s lifting hammerlock. And I have to say Mike Powers does a good job of selling for Steele throughout this quick match. Nothing special here but did its job of building George Steele.

Grade: **

So as you can see while George “The Animal” Steele was a wrestler who had a brawling gimmick style that could get fans to cheer when a face and boo him like crazy when heel and while not a technical wrestler he was one hell of an entertaining one that was one of my favorites growing up cause he made Pro Wrestling fun. And that brings me to this, in 2023 I feel like doing something very fun and will be a major treat for fans of wrestling like myself as I think every month this year I will have a “R.I.W Wrestling Legends” update! Remember back in 2021 we did this same thing for “Horror Host Icons”, but in April, what our household calls WWE WrestleMania Month, I will deliver two updates showcasing wrestlers! Again I know you fans of the squared circle are looking forward to seeing who we cover, now with that said our next update will take us out of the Rotten Ink Arena and back to the world of Star Comics as we go on adventures with Royal Roy one of the companies most popular original characters. So until next time, read a comic or three, watch a wrestling match or two and as always support your local wrestlers. And yes the land that Royal Roy rules over is called Cashelot…just think about that.

Star Trek VI: The Rotten DC Country

As you can see, you have found yourself on Rotten Ink and on another trip down memory lane with the crew of the USS Enterprise as this time around we will be talking about Star Trek VI that has Captain Kirk and his crew once more at odds with Klingons when he is framed for the murder of a high ranking Klingon. And like most of the past films in the series, DC Comics was the company who took up the task of making the adaptation. This sixth film has an interesting back story of cheap budget, anniversary and even rumors of a star taking naughty photos on the set, so with those teasers lets get to the bridge and take flight through space with Captain Kirk and his crew as we try and beat a murder wrap and find that undiscovered country.

So let’s take a few moments and talk about the film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. I will be taking the films write up from our pals at IMDB, and then I will talk about the films production as well as a little about my thoughts on the film. So let’s jump to warp speed and talk part six.

Star Trek VI: Undiscovered Country (1991)

“On the eve of retirement, Kirk and McCoy are charged with assassinating the Klingon High Chancellor and imprisoned. The Enterprise crew must help them escape to thwart a conspiracy aimed at sabotaging the last best hope for peace.”

The fifth film in the series was a disappointment at the box office for Paramount Pictures and the future of the Star Trek films was on shaky ground, but they knew that they needed to do something as the series 25^th Anniversary was coming up and they wanted to do something to celebrate it but also did not want to spend a lot of money on a new film. And then ideas and scripts started to be pitched and considered with the first one being about The Starfleet Academy and would feature younger versions of Kirk, Spock and other characters from the classic series and would have focused mostly on Doctor McCoy who would be telling the story of how they all meet to recruits at the academy. And this cool idea was viewed very negatively by most of the original cast, heads at Paramount and even Gene Roddenberry himself and this caused Harve Bennett to be fired from Star Trek projects. And during this time even Walter Koening tried to create a new script that would have Starfleet and the Romulans teaming up to go to war with the Klingons and would see almost all the cast die in the end besides Spock and McCoy…this as well was not green lighted nor was an idea for the original cast to meet the cast of Star Trek The Next Generation. And it was an idea by Leonard Nimoy and the screenplay by director Nicholas Meyer that ended up being the bases for the sixth film in the series.

After the screenplay was locked Paramount gave the film the small budget of only $27million and filming started April 16, 1991 and needed to wrap on September 27, 1991 as Paramount wanted the film in theaters in December for a Holiday release. And during filming many coast cutting measures was used to keep the film in the given budget and they even filmed some parts at the iconic Bronson Canyon in California that has been the set for many iconic TV Shows and Movies over the years including such Horror and Sci-Fi films as “White Zombie (1932)”, “The Vampire Bat (1933)”. “Robot Monster (1953)”, “Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1956)”, “Return Of Dracula (1958)”, “Equinox (1970)” and “Army Of Darkness (1992)” to name a very small few. I should also note that many classic heroes films, shows and serials has been shot here as well like Superman, Batman. Dick Tracy, Flash Gordon and Captain Marvel. The film would be scored by Cliff Eidelman and it would be released in theaters of December 6, 1991 and was meet with mostly positive reviews from critics as well as fans. But one sad thing is that Gene Roddenberry would pass away on October 24, 1991 at the age of 70 from heart failure and never got to see the film released. Star Trek VI would go on to bring in $96,888,996.00 worldwide and be the # 15 top grossing films in 1991 beating out such films as JFK, What About Bob?. Boyz In The Hood, The Rocketeer, Thelma & Louise, Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, People Under The Stairs, Child’s Play 3, Ernest Scared Stupid, Drop Dead Fred and Suburban Commando to name a few. Over the years this film is also considered one of the best in the Original Cast Star Trek films and is still talked about and respected to this day. And I can see why I have always liked this film and have good memories once more of seeing the film in school and enjoying it for all the strange moments of the prison and the aliens that made it up. This film is also iconic for me as it marks the final film that features the classic crew all together and truly marks the end of a era of Science Fiction characters for me as while I like the reboots of Star Trek no once can replace these actors in those roles.

Star Trek VI is such a fun film and from the first time I seen it via renting it on VHS when released I was a fan as I felt that it was a great story that once more pitted Captain Kirk against the Klingons and really built up the bond and friendship between Kirk and McCoy. While the cast was getting older it was awesome to see the character they played as well grow as well as be promoted and yet all still remain friends and stick by each other during the ups and downs. It’s crazy to thank that this film is the last to feature all of the original cast together and while it’s not my favorite film in the series I feel that it was a fun one to go out on as it brings Captain Kirk and the Klingons back together and a healing moment happens for Kirk. I also think that casting David Warner as the Klingon High Council member Gorkon was very cool as I knew him from the films Tron, The Omen, Nightwing, Time Bandits, Waxwork and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret Of The Ooze and seeing him as a Klingon was fun. And growing up I owned this film on VHS and later DVD, I also had the paperback and comic adaptations as well as the films score on CD. I need to also point out that while they cut the films budget very low the film does not feel cheap, just a little less polished than the other films in the series. If you have not seen this film and enjoy Classic Star Trek make sure to give this one a watch.

Like all Star Trek films the merchandise machine was in full effect as they wanted to make a little extra money off it just in case if the box office numbers needed help. And besides the comic and of course home media release you also got the soundtrack, magazines, toys, novel, posters and shirts and like all other Star Trek movie merchandise that came before it fans flocked to buy it all up. And over the years I have had and have much of this as I still own the film on DVD as well as many of the toys, the novel and soundtrack. And at one point I had a few magazines featuring the film. I must say I do really like the classic Playmates Star Trek toys as they were well done for the time and covered all eras of the classic series and films. So if you are a fan of Star Trek VI, make sure to track down some of its merchandise for your collection.

Ok before we move onto the comic review part of this Star Trek themed update we need to talk about the fact that actress Kim Cattrall and her character Valeris are super attractive in this film I mean Kim was already a 80’s Actress Sex Symbol with her roles in such films as Police Academy, Big Trouble In Little China, Mannequin and Honeymoon Academy to name a few all adding to movie goers noticing her beauty. And when she took a roll in the then newest Star Trek film the world of Sci-Fi started to really take notice of her looks and her acting talent. And man did she look great as a Vulcan and in a Star Fleet Office uniform! And come on any of you fellow Trekkies out there know just how great it is to see an attractive woman in a Trek uniform. Rumor has it that Leonard Nimoy was not a fan of Kim’s on set as he thought she was driven by ego and again just a rumor is that she and her boyfriend at the time took sexy pictures of herself on the USS Enterprise set and this was the final straw for Nimoy who caught her doing so and forced them to destroy the pictures and made it that she would never work on a Star Trek project again…but again this was all just a rumor. But one thing is for sure and that’s Kim made her mark in the world of Star Trek and looked good doing it.

Well I think we are at the point to travel to that Undiscovered Country with the crew of the USS Enterprise and DC Comics and see how this comic adaptation compares to the film it’s based on. And this is a comic I am looking forward to re-reading as its been a very long time sense I did so, and I also would like to thank Mavericks Cards And Comics for having this comic in stock and making this update possible. I would like to also remind you that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, it’s entertainment value and it’s art and story. So if you are ready lets head to the criminal trail of Captain Kirk and Doctor McCoy and see how and if they can beat the murder rap they are on the hook for.

Star Trek VI # 1
Released in 1991     Cover Price $2.95     DC Comics     # 1 of 1

Captain Sulu and his crew have just finished up a three year mission and as they are returning an explosion from a Klingon owned moon rocks the star ship and worse when they call the planet to see if they need help the Klingons refuse it, and Sulu ends up calling for the Starfleet for help. Days pass and at a big Starfleet meeting Spock gives a speech about helping The Klingons who’s ozone is damaged after the moon explosion and that in 50 Years their planet will be unlivable and that Klingon Ambassador Gorkon is willing to call for peace in order to get help, and the Starfleet are torn on if they should trust them and help and Captain Kirk is against helping them! But after talk they majority vote to help and Spock has volunteered Kirk and the Enterprise to host Gorkon through federation territory and to the meeting, Kirk is not happy as he hates them but does so with his classic crew as well a new crew member Valeris a Vulcan who graduated at the top of her class. That evening Captain Kirk and the Enterprise Crew host Gorkon and his crew for dinner and that includes General Chang who clearly does not like Kirk, and the dinner ends in arguments between the two sides. Latter the ship of Gorkon is attacked by torpedo’s being fired by the Enterprise to Kirk and the crews shock as well as two masked men beam aboard the Klingon ship and shoot and kill Gorkon! After the attack General Chang blames Kirk for the attack as well as Doctor McCoy who tired to medically help Gorkon for his murder and this forces the two to be put to trial via Klingon law and are found guilty and sent to a frozen prison planet. Meanwhile Spock, Valeris, Scotty, Uhura and Chekov are all trying to figure out what happened as the ships computers are conflicting with each other on if the torpedo’s came from the Enterprise as well as some interference is keeping them from talking with Starfleet. While on the frozen prison planet Kirk and McCoy meet female alien Martia who fills them in on the rules of this prison, while on the Enterprise Spock leads a search of the ship in order to find the assassins. Kirk and McCoy are able to escape the prison with the help of Martia who was a spy for the Klingons and is killed during the escape and are beamed back to the Enterprise where they have discovered that a new cloaked Klingon Bird Of Prey ship is the one who fired the torpedo’s and that Valeris is the one who was the traitor of the Enterprise and helped set up the assassination. Kirk gets the help of Sulu and they head to the peace talks as another assassination is going to take place and they bring down General Chang who was one of the masterminds behind this framing of Kirk and is in the Bird Of Prey that is now blown up that fired on Gorkon’s ship. Once at the peace talks Kirk and his crew stop the assassination and expose the members of both sides that wanted the peace talks to fail, and Kirk forgives the Klingons for the death of his son and as all things change for the good Kirk knows this was the final ride for the Enterprise with him in as Captain.

This comic adaptation is very well done and DC Comics once more proved that they knew how to adapt the Star Trek films into comics! The plot is best summed up this way Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy are framed for the murder of a high ranking Klingon and are sent to a prison planet were they have to try and escape the clear their names and expose the Klingon traitor who has set up the whole thing to cause more tension and possible war between Starfleet and the Klingons as he thinks his people have gone soft. This plot is very cool and is kind of deep as it shows Race Tension between several different alien races and shows that all people are the same and there is good and bad in everyone as we all have the goal of just living our lives, and it also shows that people will come together for a common goal and that can be something positive or something foul. Captain Kirk goes from being very angry and hating the Klingon race for the death of his son, and by the end learns that forgiveness and change is what is best for the galaxy. And like always Kirk is a ladies man and a hero and risks his life several time in order to escape and do the right thing and that’s solve a murder, make sure peace is meet and to clear his name of murder. Doctor McCoy who does not trust the Klingon’s does do his best to save the life of one, but does not understand the biology of them and is not able to help. Spock along with Scotty, Uhura and Chekov do what they can to solve this murder mystery and of course figure it all out and save lives and Spock is the key to help Kirk grow as a person. Valeris and General Chang are the two masterminds behind the killing of Gorkon as they both on the side that The Klingons and Starfleet should never trust each other and that being at war is what is needed. I think what is great is that General Chang is so ego driven that even before he is blown up he is bragging and thinking he is in charge of the battle, such a great and sleazy bad guy. The comic does a great job of keeping the pace of the story going and yet also keeps all the important speeches and exchanges between characters. I also have to say that while they are around Sulu, Scotty, Uhura and Chekov do kind of seem like background players in the issue as they are helpful and around they just are not major players in the issue. The cover for this issue is awesome and showcases all the major character from the film and the interior artwork done by Gordon Purcell is really good and he does a great job of capturing the likeness of the actors. Over all a great comic adaptation and is a very fun and entertaining read. Checkout the artwork below to see the style of Purcell.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is a great film and as you can see DC Comics did a great job of turning the movie into a fun comic and capturing the mood and adventure elements of the film on paper. I also want to say that I was really sad hearing about the passing of Nichelle Nichols in 2022 who played Uhura, as she was an amazing actress and will be missed. But with the review coming to an end it also makes me a little sad as we only have one more film and comic adaptation that features the some of the cast of the original series to cover and of course that is Star Trek: Generations and we will be covering that in 2024. But as our time with Captain Kirk and the crew come to an end I want to let you know that the next update will take us out of space and into the wrestling ring as we take a look at George “The Animal” Steele and kick off our year long celebration of Pro Wrestling and WWF WrestleMania! So until next time read a Star Trek comic or three, watch a Star Trek film or two and as always support your local Horror Host. See you next update and lets hope that Turnbuckles is not the only snack food offered at the Rotten Ink Arena snack bar!

Have Yourself A Very Bananaman Christmas!

Merry Christmas Eve and welcome back to Rotten Ink. Growing up I watched Nickelodeon at my Grandparents house as their cable provider had it while ours in Waynesville didn’t have it just yet and I can remember being glued to shows like “Danger Mouse”, “Count Duckula”, “Mr. Wizard’s World” and “You Can’t Do That On Television” and one that was also very popular that my brother and I would watch was “Bananaman” that was a silly superhero themed British cartoon series, and sadly as time has passed I find less and less people remember this amazing character here in America and that is why for this 10 Year Anniversary and Christmas Eve update I have chosen to talk about him! So grab some eggnog, get a plate of Christmas cookies as its time we chat about the one and only British superhero known as Bananaman!

Eric Wimp is a young schoolboy who was rocketed to Earth as a baby from the moon and when he eats bananas he turns into Bananaman an adult costumed hero who can fly, is invulnerable, can breath in space and has superhuman strength. Bananaman is a superhero who works alongside the police who call him on the banana phone in order to stop crime as well as stop super villains fro hurting his city. During his heroic deeds he also gets help from Crow his pet bird who helps out when our hero is in a tight situation and always brings back up bananas to give him more energy and strength. While Bananaman is a superhero he still is not the sharpest knife in the drawer and this sometimes leads him into danger and traps that of course he will escape from in the end. The character Bannaman was created by artist John Geering along with writers Steve Bright and Dave Donaldson who brought the comic strip to readers that ended up spawning into the cartoon series and made him one of U.K.’s most popular superheroes. And sadly for those wondering artist John Geering passes away in 1999 and the comic strip when not reprinting old adventures is drawn by Andy Janes. A true iconic character for those who grew up reading and watching his cartoon and I for one am glad to have been able to watch his show here in America thanks to Nickelodeon.

The show Bananaman started airing on October 3, 1983 and was on BBC and was 5 minute cartoons that was based on the comic strip and featured the voice of Graeme Garden as Bananaman and Tim Brooke-Taylor as Eric and was super popular with viewers who grew up loving this superhero that read his adventures in Nutty. The show would last for a total of 40 episodes for three seasons and the series ended in 1986. But even with no new episodes being made it ran heavily in reruns until around 1999. The episodes was written by Bernie Kay and directed and produced by Terry Ward. The show would go on to be released on DVD in the U.K. and those fans from America would have to import it like I did in order to watch again. A fun fact about this show is the British comedy troupe The Goodies are who voiced all the main cast of the cartoon like Bananaman, Crow and Eric! While Bananaman never hit the peak of popularity in America like it did in the U.K. for those who grew up watching it no matter what nation you know just how fun and silly this cartoon was.

Like all great Superheroes that have came before and after him Bananaman has his fair share of villains that try to bring him down and ruin the city. And to be honest I think he has a great rogues gallery and while not on par with the likes of Spider-Man, Batman and Dick Tracy when it comes to the baddies he still has some great ones like the following that are some of my favorites. General Blight is an evil Army General and is his arch nemesis and is always coming with a scheme including unleashing The Snow Man a freeze and heat caring Christmas style snowman. Doctor Gloom is another great one who is the mad scientist sidekick of General Blight who creates enemies for Bananaman including Appleman. And I also like Rhubarb Man a walking talking piece of Rhubarb who moves around like a human. Other villains include Skunk Woman, Desperate Dan, Bubble-Gum Bert, Clayman, Witchy Woman, Grannie Punk, The Weatherman, King Zorg, The Heavy Mob and Spaghetti Man to name a very few. Really if you get a chance to read any of Bananaman’s comics or watch his cartoons make sure to do so not only to enjoy his adventures but to also see his baddies in action.

Like all great cartoons Bananaman has had his fair share of very cool merchandise for fans to collect over the years with some being official and others being made by fans themselves to show their love for the character. So if you are a Bananaman fan like myself you can get such cool thinks as T-Shirts, Home Media, Stickers, Dolls, Toys, Buttons, Posters, Statues, Trading Cards, Halloween Costumes, Action Figures, Drinking Glass and so much more stuff with most being fan made stuff that is available here in America. So if you like Bananaman make sure to check Etsy and Ebay as I am sure you will find some cool stuff for your collection.

So now that we have talked about Bananaman and things about him from his merchandise to his baddies I think we should now move to this Comic Capers graphic novel that features some comic book adventures of our hero Bananaman! I would like to thank a seller on Etsy for having this in stock and making this update possible. I want to also remind you all that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, it’s entertainment value and it’s art and story. So if you are ready lets go to Nuttytown and head to 29 Acacia Road and see if Bananaman is home and what adventures he has in store for us!

Comic Capers: Bananaman GN  **1/2
Released in 2000   Cover Price $0.00     Beano Books   # ? of ?

“Eurovillain Contest” Eric is bored at home and decides to make a cable satalite dish so he can watch better TV when he finds that Lord Zorg has a show that is about what Eurovillain can stop Bananaman, and this of course causes Eric to turn into his superhero alter ego and head to Europe were along the way Weatherman and The Mole try and slow him down, but he ends up finding his way to Europe and the contest starts! The first baddie that attacks is Goudaman and his giant cheese wheel and at first the holes in the cheese are a maze that Bananaman can not figure out that us until he gets the idea to have a bunch of mice to follow him who eat the giant cheese wheel and Goudaman is defeated. Next Garlicman and his foul smelling breath attacks, but Bananaman uses a giant book to smash him after a fake court trail! And so many Eurovillain’s try to bring down Bananaman including Spaghetti Man, Ivan The Terrible, Abzorba, Doctor Gloom, Ragnar The Hairy and The Weatherman and all of them fail and are defeated by Bananaman and worse the judges have given all the baddies the score of zero making it that no one is going to win, that is until Big Rita a mechanic is mad at the poor scoring and shows up at the station and roughs up the judges as well as King Zorg and this makes her the winner of the contest. The second store is “The Secret Of Willie Boggins” on Arcadia Street young Willie Boggins as a secret when he eats a boiled egg he turns into General Blight! And as Bananaman goes after him our hero has a streak of bad luck that even hits his secret identity Eric Wimp. And after General Blight robs a bank he buys a whole big jar of pickled eggs and eats them at once and grows into a giant, and after Bananaman tries to stop him and fails he goes and eats a ton of bananas and turns into a giant himself, but the fight ends when both have stomach aches and have to use the bathroom.

This graphic novel was a fun silly very kid friendly read and showcases the true goofy nature of the hero known as Bananaman as well as several of his foes that all make appearances in this comic including General Blight who gets his own story out of the two presented. The plots of both stories are simple and yet affective with the first being a villain contest TV Show that has baddies going after Bananaman and a panel rates the villains to award the winner. And the second story has General Blight on a crime spree and even grows giant size and this forces Bananaman to have to do the same in growing to end the fight. Bananaman in this graphic novel is super silly and while he saves the day each time he kind of falls backwards into doing so and while he acts as if he knows what he is doing its clear at times he does not. But because he is silly this makes him a very charming hero and reminds me of Captain Klutz another hero we have talked about here on Rotten Ink and you should give that update a read here. And I have to say this graphic novel really did spark my love for the Bananaman character again as he is just such an awesome superhero with such a great nature. Also the fact he his a kid in his alter ego reminds me of Captain Marvel or Shazam as he is called now. Really sad that Crow is not in this as it would have been cool to have seen him around and helping out when needed. While many of his villains appear many of them do not get a lot of time on panels as they are defeated fast and our hero moves onto the next, I will though say that King Zorg gets his time to shine as he is the host of the TV Show contest and gets to say a few cheesy jokes before he his beat up by Big Rita who ends up winning the show. General Blight is the graphic novels main villain and he is able to win a few rounds with Bananaman as he runs him over with his bicycle, is able to rob a bank, turn into a giant and beat our hero is a fight showing he is truly the arch-nemesis for Bananaman! I also like how their big giant fight has to end early as all the food they ate made them have to potty bad and because they are so big they have to use cooling towers at a power station to relive themselves…so silly. The cover for this graphic novel is great and showcases both Eric Wimp and Bananaman and is eye catching with the interior art being done by an artist I could not find the credits for, but whom ever of the comic strip artist who did it they did top notch stuff. Over all this Bananaman Graphic Novel is not for everyone as I think those who do not know the character will find it to British in humor and way to kid friendly, but for those fans like myself it’s a fun read that takes you back to your youth watching the cartoon (or even in some cases reading the comic strip) and enjoying his adventures. Checkout the artwork below to see the style used in this book.

Bananaman was a great way to spend this Christmas Eve as he is such a very underrated superhero character here in America as sadly besides that very small run on the early days of Nickelodeon and those who imported shows or got on the Grey Market truly remember him, while in England he really is a well loved hero and still has a following and fan base to this day. I really hope that you readers have a great Holiday season spent with your family, friends and pets with lots of great conversations and plenty of tasty food. I also want to thank you for spending apart of your Christmas Eve here at Rotten Ink and making this 10 Year Anniversary very special and I hope you enjoyed the updates over the decade of blogging and hope it brought back great memories of your youth. So with that eat a Christmas Cookie or three, watch a Bananaman cartoon or two and as always support your local Horror Host. See you in 2023 for the best of 2022 Movie’s seen in the theater countdown.