TV Sherpa: Kitten

Kitten is another public domain superhero. In fact, she's the sidekick of Cat-Man, as seen in our last "TV Sherpa" entry. So it's only natural she'd be Entry #2.

Rather than have Kitten be a young girl or a teenager, I elected to have her portrayed as a grown woman. Specifically, she's a woman inspired by Rene Bond. That accounts for the brunette hair and the exciting proportions. The latter, by the way, are perhaps toned-down a bit from Rene's actual measurements after she blazed a trail with breast implants in the 1970s.

The actress is named Eve East. This is one of my more obvious inside jokes, but darn it all, I love the name. Beyond that reference, I wouldn't read too much into it. Eve plays a significant role in the more contemporary Captain Satellite world, too. After leaving acting, she went into politics and wound up getting elected mayor of El Oceano. Maybe one day, we'll do a latter-day pic of her in that role.

Another five star commission by Kabuki Katze! But hey, you don't have to just tell me about how great it is. You can tell her, too!

Who Created the Comic Books?

I have something in mind for next week, assuming my Internet doesn't keep going down when a cloud floats across the sky. This likely means yet ANOTHER delay in my long-promised Super Riders entry, with the only solace in that respect being that it should be following soon afterward. Sorry about this - it's another reason I'm loathe to serialize anything here. It just takes me too darn long to follow up on things!

Meantime, I'd like to point out that I've added a number of new sites to my blogroll. I'm not 100% certain all of them will be staying there indefinitely, but they're all worth a peep. Particularly recommended if you enjoy comics and the occasional amateur detective work I do here is Martin O'Hearn's Who Created the Comic Books?. This blog is dedicated to assigning credit to previously uncredited comic books. It's a fascinating and valuable read!

Club Devo - Now All-New!

Well, it looks like Devo is striking out on their own as an indy band again! Referring to "these post-Warner Brothers days", their website at Club Devo has relaunched and has a whole new look. They're already doing some exciting things over there!

I'm a big fan of Devo, and anything that gets their message out is OK in my book. Duty Now For The Future!

Ideal's Robot Commando

As I procrastinate in working on a couple of planned entries, I thought I'd point you to David McRobie's Xenorama. He's been doing theme months lately, and April is TV commercials. In that spirit, I post this video for Ideal's Robot Commando toy.

I love this ad, since it emulates giant monster movies so well. This is the kind of thing that won't fly anymore, due to the FCC's pesky regulations about depicting things that can't actually happen. Those flying planes would nix this one now.

Still, it's a great spot. I was never so dumb when I was a kid to think my toys could perform super feats, but hey, I guess that's a thing.

TV Sherpa: Cat-Man

Bit of an explanation for this series, yes? Yes.

Cat-Man is a Golden Age superhero who has fallen into the public domain. This is an important distinction, because it's why I drafted him into my particular universe in the first place. I wanted Captain Satellite's world to have its own pop culture, and that meant it would need its own specific set of comic book heroes to make the rounds of other media. It seemed silly to divert time into crafting brand-new characters for such a limited role, so I instead latched onto the concept of re-imagining PD heroes for this purpose.

Cat-Man was an easy choice in this regard. He sort of looks like Batman. His costume is appropriately silly, and went through so many permutations that there's no one "right" way to depict him. I wanted to create a fictional TV show in the mold of the 1960s BATMAN, and Cat-Man was perfect for the part.

As far as "Bruce Chase", that's the name of the ACTOR, not Cat-Man's in-story alter ego. The name was one that originated as a possible secret identity for Captain Satellite, and I thought it would be fun to reuse for an overblown superhero thespian. Bruce is a guy that I imagine as a synthesis of William Shatner and Adam West, only even broader and more exaggerated. Hammy acting, for the win!

This series is the work of Kabuki Katze, and it owes its name specifically to her work. You see, "TV Sherpa" was HER joke, and it came from this series of commissions. She was delighted to recycle it for this series when I asked for it, and I really think it adds to the feeling to have a faux TV Guide cover with Our Hero.

I keep referring to this as a series, don't I? Yes, my friend, there will be three more of these in your future. While you await them, why not peep out Kabu's gallery page for this piece?

Shigeru Araki

"The heavens call...
The earth cries out...
The crowds roar...
All calling on me to strike back at evil.
Now listen up, villains!
I am the warrior of justice,
the Masked Rider Stronger."

(Translated quote courtesy of Igadevil's old Kamen Rider Stronger page.)

I'm preempting my examination of the Super Riders for a few days (look for it Thursday at the earliest) to reflect on some sad news. My pal Igadevil reported over the weekend that Shigeru Araki, best known as Kamen Rider Stronger's alter ego Shigeru Jo, has passed away at the age of 63. Araki is only the second Showa Rider to go to his final rest, and the first was Akira Yamaguchi (Joji Yuki/Riderman) way back in 1986.

It's a sobering thought, but as time marches on, this sort of news will likely become more commonplace. It wasn't that long ago that Shunsuke Ikeda (Ichiro from KIKAIDA-01) left us. Though most of these guys were young when they starred in shows in the 1970s, the calendar pages keep turning. They're not immortal, even though they seem that way to us as their fans. That's why it's important to appreciate these folks while they are still around to hear the accolades.

In a sad irony (as I noted in my comment on Iga's entry), Kyoko Okada, Araki's co-star in STRONGER as Yuriko Misaki, passed away in 1986 at the age of 27. That means that the three main cast members of KAMEN RIDER STRONGER - Araki, Okada, and Akiji Kobayashi (died 1996) - are all gone. Doesn't seem possible.

This Is Hardcore Service

Not that long ago, I was discussing my power supplier with my friend Kabuki Katze. Why? The reasons escapes me, but she was fascinated that a local company like Beauregard Electric even exists in this day and age. And I have to say, despite grumbling on occasion, I'm glad it does.

Remember, I live in what is essentially a rural area. That means there are a lot more things that can knock out our power. Generally speaking, it's usually restored in a reasonable amount of time. We get quality service and we pay reasonable rates. Plus, there's the sense that the people there care about doing a good job.

Don't believe me. Check out this picture:

We recently had some storms that not only knocked out power to certain areas (not mine this time), but led to impressive flooding. Those are BECI workers rowing a boat into a flooded forest to try to find the source of an outage and gets lights back on for those folks. Hardcore service, man.