Spider-Man Has The Power To Slay Dragon Man!

Who doesn’t like listening to music on vinyl? Growing up I have fond memories of listing to the likes of Weird Al Yankovic, Alice Cooper, Billy Idol, Motley Crue and the WWF Wrestling Album to name a very few. But I also have some good memories of listening to comic books on vinyl…I am sure you long time comic readers remember Power Records released by Peter Pan Records as kids of the 70’s and 80’s grew up with these. I for one checked them out all the time from the library in Waynesville and most of the time the vinyl was missing, but my brother and I did have some of our own that we got from garage sales. One of my favorites from this series is the one featuring Incredible Hulk called “At Bay” that had old jade jaw taking on Abomination and Rhino at the Hulk Buster Base, a very fun listen and a good adventure for one of my favorite superheroes. Plus thanks to Power Records, I first discovered Holo-Man, an original superhero that I have covered here on Rotten Ink before. For this update, we are going to have some fun and not only chat about Power Records but also just some fun stuff going on in my life as well as in comics! So grab your record player and crank it to 11 as it’s time to power out with Spider-Man!

Synthetic Plastics Company was a plastic manufacturer that was founded by Daniel Kasen that opened in the 1920’s in New Jersey. Their main products were buttons and game pieces like poker chips, and they made a good living at making this stuff. But they would get into making vinyl records after World War II when Daniel’s brother entered the picture and they opened Peter Pan Records, that would spawn many other side labels like Power Records, Diplomat Records and Parade Records to name a few and would push for cheaper made vinyl records so the could sell them at cheap prices. These labels would mostly focus on children releases based on popular properties like Bugs Bunny, Sesame Street and Batman as well as Gospel, Comedy and budget releases and would crank out releases as they owned the press that made them. But while many listeners had these cheap made releases, they also knew that the sound quality was very poor and this was something that stuck with this company all during their time in business. Over the years and with many name changes, many of you might be shocked to know that Synthetic Plastics Company is still around and switched their home base from New Jersey to Florida and are now called Inspired Studios and are just shell of what they used to be, but it’s still very cool knowing they are still out there.

So with us talking about record companies and music, let’s take a look at the newest CD release of Dee Snider of the 80’s band Twisted Sister that was released in July 2018 and a release that I have wanted to check out for some time. Growing up, I was fan of Twisted Sister as well as Dee Snider’s other band Widowmaker, not to mention a big fan of his Horror Movie Strangeland and loved watching him out class the PMRC at the infamous 1985 Senate hearings. The release is called “For The Love Of Metal” and was released by Napalm Records and has 12 tracks. So let’s sit back, relax and get talking about this release shall we? When popping in this CD, the first thing I noticed is that Dee Snider has not missed a step when it comes to delivering amazing rock n roll vocals to heavy songs. And I must also say it blew me away just how heavy and rocking this release was. I also noticed that Dee also sounded a little bit like Alice Cooper in some of these songs and to be honest some of the songs even sound like they could have been song by him and released on “Brutal Planet”. I would say that my favorite track on this release would be “I Am The Hurricane” followed by “For The Love Of Metal” as both tracks I think really do capture the attitude and singing talent of Dee. Over all if you enjoyed Twisted Sister and like the singing style of Dee Snider this is a release that you should check out as one thing is for sure Dee Snider is a true icon of Rock N Roll!

What’s really crazy is to think that here in the Dayton area we have very little music shops left as places like Armadillo Records, Renaissance Music, CD Connection, Trader Vics, Gem City Records, Dingleberry’s and NRM Music are all shops of the past and all we have left is Omega Music, Toxic Beauty and Skeleton Dust and a few other mix media stores like Second Time Around, Game Swap Kettering and Buybacks to name a few who have solid and good music selections. I have so many great memories and moments at many of those long gone record shops and pretty much grew up visiting Renaissance Music and even to this day Geoff Burkman, who was the owner of the shop remains one of my close friends. Renaissance was a very cool place and one that I always felt at home at. The store had an amazing selection of music on vinyl, cassettes and CDs and was my go to store to get my 80’s hairbands. It was also the place I would get Horror Movies on VHS and later DVD as well as get posters, buttons, fanzines and Horror Indie Comics. It was a place over the years I would sit and chat with Geoff for hours about music, movies and comics. Even in school for one of my classes, I job shadowed Geoff for a class report and we watched Dawn of the Dead together that day on Laserdisc. I can still see and hear the old Renaissance Music TV commercials in my mind from time to time as they would have Geoff wearing a Godzilla mask and talking like Mr. T and calling himself Mr. G…classic. In fact many years later, Geoff would play Mr. G again in episodes of Baron Von Porkchop’s Terrifying Tales Of The Macabre. Geoff Burkman and Renaissance Music also appear in the Independent B Movie film Wolf Hunter directed by Matt Hoffman as well. NRM is another place I used to love to go as it was in the Town And Country Shopping Center that was near the High School in Kettering I went to for a short time, and I can remember cutting class and going their to pick up music to listen to on my Sony Walkman. And that’s just the two stores as I have great memories of all the stores I mentioned above and miss the atmosphere of a good classic music store and searching for the next album of a band I liked or even discovering new music. No matter how the world changes, you just cannot sell me on digital media and that goes for music, movies, comics, video games and books. For this blogger, physical will always be the way to go. Below are some of the closed music shops that brought lots of tunes to this metal heads ears when growing up.

So as you can see, in my opinion music and comic books go hand and hand as both have been a main source of entertainment for me growing up. And I am going to say this, I really wish an indie comic company would return and make classic style Rock N Roll Comics like Revolutionary Comics headed by Todd Loren did back in 1989-1994, and yeah, I know companies like Blue Water tried but failed and I am talking about comics done by fans of the bands doing unauthorized comic issues on bands like Cinderella, W.A.S.P., Danzig and Billy Idol to name a few. But let’s move past a dream I am sure will never be made true and let’s focus on Spider-Man and this adventure made just for Power Records. I want to remind you all that I grade this comic on a 1-4 star scale and am looking for how well the comic stays to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So let’s see what Spidey has in store for us as he takes on a massive Dragon Man!

Spider-Man Power Record # 0  **
Released in 1974       Cover Price $1.49       Marvel/Power Records     # 1 of 1

A group of college students and their teacher are out looking at the stars. Two students sneak away to make out while stars fall from the sky that turn out to be Dragon Men lead by the massive Draco King Of The Dragon-Men, who have came to earth with the plan to take it over. At the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson is mad as the story of the Dragon-Men has broke and none of his reporters have covered it yet. He sends Peter Parker to get some photos of the aliens or lose his job! Peter Parker turns into Spider-Man when his Spidey Sense goes crazy when he passes sewer manholes, and this leads him to travel around the sewer system where he finds Draco and his Dragon-Men who have a giant laser gun they plan on using in New York that will leave all machines and humans paralyzed! Spider-Man is able to trick Draco and the Dragon-Men and use his webbing on the guns controls and floods the sewer, washing away them and their fancy massive gun. Spider-Man later is back on the streets of New York and finds in the newspaper that the bodies of the Dragon-Men had been found and are robots and not aliens at all. To clear his mind and gaze at the stars above, Spider-Man sits on top of the Empire State Building and is lost in thoughts when Draco appears and shares that he is no alien but is really a missing scientist who fused his own blood with that of a giant iguana and has transformed into a massive fire breathing dragon humanoid. As Draco attacks, Spider-Man uses his fast speed to dodge him and Draco falls 20 feet onto a roof below. As Spider-Man rushes down to check on his foe, he only finds a small iguana there that crawls away into a crack in the wall.

This Spider-Man adventure was an original story made just for Power Records, and while entertaining, you can tell it was rushed and was not a priority to Marvel who did not bring their A-Game. This comic’s plot has Spider-Man on the hunt for Dragon-Men who are said to be from space and are now in New York and have a sinister plan to take over thanks to their massive fire-breathing leader Draco. Spidey, being the hero he is, not only tracks them down but also exposes that the Dragon-Men are robots and not aliens, destroys their massive destructive weapon and as well figures out that Draco is a mutated missing scientist! Spider-Man in this issue is the friendly neighborhood web head we all love and is filled with one liners as well as the fighting skills to back up his mouth. I also have always liked that Spidey uses his mind to also figure out how to stop the baddies and not just his fists. Peter Parker even in this issue has some pressure as his boss J. Jonah Jameson threatens to fire him if he doesn’t get pictures of the Dragon Men for the paper, and he also has to blow off the attention of Mary Jane Watson in order to get said pictures and this upsets his red headed love interest. Draco is a massive fire breathing dragon man who has a massive ego and wants to rule the world as he feels his superior mind puts him above normal humans…even if he started out as one. The Dragon Men are just robots who do what their creator asks, and while threats, they are by no means as threatening as such super villains as Green Goblin, Rhino or Shocker. While I am thinking about it, this story almost feels like it could have been an issue in the “Spidey Super Stories” comic series as it’s fast paced and the villain is over the top in appearance. The cover is pretty great and eye catching as it also reminds me of a cheesy b-movie poster. The interior art is also good and is done by an unknown artist as no credits are given. Over all this is a fun read and is a must for fans of classic 70’s Spider-Man adventures, but keep in mind the story is not mind blowing and is just a middle of the road adventure that feels like a back up story. Check out the artwork below to see what you get in this book and record set.

The Book and Record Sets should make a comeback in the world of comics as they were a fun way to bring in younger readers as well as add a new level of fun for older readers. In our modern world with digital, CD and Vinyl all still being around for us to listen to audio on, I am going to guess it’s only a matter of time before a company does it again…heck, maybe Sparkle Comics will bring this trend back! Now it’s time for us to leave New York and let Spider-Man do what he does best and that’s stop crimes. For our next update we will be heading to the world of snack food to take a look at Jell-O Man! So until next time, read a comic or three, listen to a CD or two and as always support your local Horror Host! So let’s get ready to meet next time and talk about a mascot for snack food.

 

The Red Hand Of Justice The Red Demon

Welcome back to Rotten Ink.  For this update, I decided to take a quick look at a hero called The Red Demon that I just discovered earlier this year, but was created way back in 1947.  Wow, think about that, The Red Demon is 70 years old! That’s one thing I love about comic books is, much like horror hosts, movies, music and novels, you find yourself discovering new to you characters and adventures all the time.  Over the years, I have gotten to travel to many conventions thanks to my time with Independent B Movie, Andy Copp, Baron Von Porkchop’s Terrifying Tales Of The Macabre and Sparkle Comics that have allowed me to discover such forgotten gems and discover treasures hidden among the vast merchandise that fill the cons. And I always love finding a vintage style superhero who fights crime in a costume in a big city that pre-dates the heavy hitters like Spider-Man and Daredevil, yet came after the likes of Batman and Captain America. So with a smile on my face, it’s my honor to share this hero with you, The Red Demon!

Judge Straight is the youngest judge in his home state.  After a day in court where he sentenced a man to death, the doomed man’s wife goes off on the Judge about having no compassion for those who are less fortunate. This leads him into doing some of his own crime research and entering the hideout of the gang the murder victim was working for and finds a devil costume in the dead man’s room.  After putting it on, he solves some crimes and decides that when he needs to be more than just a court judge to dish out justice, he will become The Red Demon and serve it more swiftly. The origin and motivation of The Red Demon is very simple and classic superhero stuff, and while in this day and age, this style of origin is dated it still is very fitting for the character as he predates this style of hero origin becoming cliché. Plus I truly think that while The Red Demon was inspired slightly by Batman, he himself clearly inspired Daredevil who was created in 1964.  Both look very similar; not to mention both while not playing superhero work for the judicial law! The character was created and drawn by Bill Draut originally to be a back up character in Stuntman, a comic being made by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon but was canceled before the first Red Demon comic was published so it ended up in Black Cat Comics starting in issue # 4 put out by Harvey Comics. The stories were written by an unknown writer, and after a total of 5 appearances, the character fell to the wayside. While he might not be a household name or even all comic readers top 50 superheroes list, he still is a great hero who deserves lots of respect, and if you like classic heroes make sure to check him out!

On February 26^th 2017, Sparkle Comics was a guest at the Jim & Dan Comic and Toy show that was being held at the Wright State Student Union Building that had us selling copies of Shocking Macabre Theater # 1.  Our team was Damien Brunk, Juliet Fromholt and Scott Scarborough, and we made a little extra print money and also got to go and shop a little.  That’s where, in a .50 box of comics, I found The Red Demon! The comic was squeezed among copies of Conan The Barbarian and Archie Comics and had a sticker from Half Price Books on it that the person had bought for .10 back in 1998.  Once I saw the cover, I knew I had to read it and cover here on Rotten Ink. Before we get into the review of this cool looking comic, I do need to remind you all that I grade comics on a standard 1-4 star scale rating and am looking for how well the comic stays to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So let’s get ready to see just how swift the justice of The Red Demon is, shall we? I also want to note that this reprint issue makes the art black and white and not color like when they first premiered in comics.

The Red Demon # 1  ***
Released in 1990     Cover Price $2.00     Recollection     # 1 of 1

“The Midnight Killer” news has broken around Loston City that the famed criminals the Stefano Brothers have been arrested and delivered to the cops thanks to the masked crime fighter The Red Demon who is listing to the news on his radio like the whole city.  This causes him to remember back to when he first became the crime fighter.  It all started when he, as his real name Judge Straight, tries a man named Joe Monsi for the murder of crime boss Bull Brewster and sentences him to death! The man’s wife screams at Judge Straight about having a text book for a heart and that her husband was not guilty! The words stick with Straight, and he decides to walk the streets looking for criminals so that he can understand them better.  Thanks to Brewster’s lost cat, he is able to find his old hideout and members of his gang, which is now being lead by Eel Egan who allows Judge Straight to hideout when he gives him a bogus name and story. While at the hideout and in the murdered man’s room, he finds a devil costume that the criminal was wearing when murdered and decides to wear it and bust crime! And thanks to some glowing hair tonic he figures out Eel was the killer and brings him to justice and saves Mr. Monsi’s life. “Double Trouble” has butler James Jenkins sentenced by Judge Straight for 40 years in prison as he is convicted of burglaries that have been taking place all around the upper class parts of town. But feeling bad and that he might have made a mistake again, he hits the streets and acts as if he is just a butler for his real self and meets two strange performers at a night club named Imp and Marline The Magician.  He soon finds out that the pair are responsible for the crimes, and while Imp is taken to jail, Marline falls to her death off a cliff trying to fight The Red Demon! “The Man Who Didn’t Know His Own Strength” when a judge friend of Judge Straight is killed by a man he convicted 8 years before named Blinky Bruin, the young judge is upset and becomes The Red Demon to crack the case and prove who killed his friend. The Red Demon meets up with Blinky Bruin and his gang and makes short work of them and turns them over to the law to be tried by his alter ego Judge Straight.  But before the trial can happen, Blinky escapes and once more The Red Demon must track him down and does so hiding out in a kids play room.  When the two fight, a fire starts and Blinky gives his life to save the child and The Red Demon showing that not all bad guys are fully bad.

This was an amazing classic superhero reprint comic that made me a fan of The Red Demon as I found the three stories inside these pages very entertaining and well worth the read and .50 I paid for it! All three stories have a very similar plot that’s this: Judge Straight in court convicts someone of a crime they did not do, and when feeling bad about his judgment, he wears his costume and becomes The Red Demon to prove them innocent and bring the bad guys to justice. My favorite story out of the three was “The Midnight Killer” as I loved the idea of a mad chemist named Eel making a glow in the dark hair tonic so at a costume party he could turn off the lights and kill his boss and blame another man for the crime, amazing stuff! Judge Straight is a man who lives by the book and is harsh with his sentencing and has a reputation of being cold hearted and robotic as he does not bend the rules, with that said he is also a terrible judge as he has a nasty habit of finding innocent people guilty and only feels bad after court is over that makes him wonder if he did the right thing. As The Red Demon, he is more fair and wants to really find the guilty and bring them to the law so that they can face justice for their crimes and doesn’t mind using his fists and wits to do so! His criminals are like less outrageous Dick Tracy villains with Imp being a master of disguise, Blinky Bruin being strong as an ox and so on. The cool thing about this comic is that all three stories were great and showcased just how simple the golden age heroes were, and this made me feel as if I was in a time warp when comics were not over blown splash pages and origins of heroes are silly. The cover for this reprint comic is eye catching and worked on me while at a comic convention, with the interior art being done by Bill Draut and is great classic stuff and reminds me of Steve Ditko work. Over all if you love classic superheroes this comic is 100% for you, and even if you’re not but want to check out classic heroes I would suggest you check this out as well. Below is a sample of the artwork from this comic.

The Red Demon is much like other classic heroes for me like The Phantom, Dick Tracy, The Shield and The Fly, and he is now one of my favorite classic heroes as I enjoyed his crime fighting adventures that much! While he is by no means as iconic as Superman nor even as memorable as Captain America, he falls into that space where he is a forgotten hero to many, and yet it’s clear that some older comic readers still remember him. But for our next update, we will be leaving Loston City behind and will find ourselves in Egypt coming face to face with the Universal Monster, The Mummy! So until next time, read a classic comic or three, watch a classic movie or two and as always support your local Horror Host! Make sure to bring your sunscreen as Egypt can be hot this time of year and stay clear from the pyramids as who knows it might have a curse on it!