Pop Culture from an Alternate Dimension

       The cover of Amazing Fantasy comics #15 is a famous image. Jack Kirby's drawing of Spider-Man swinging among the skyscrapers with someone under his arm was the first time people saw the web-slinger in 1962. However, Steve Ditko, who did the interior art, had also drawn a cover but it was vetoed in favor of a cover by Kirby. In 2007, Jonathan Ross interviewed Ditko and the artist mentioned that Spider-Man was originally supposed be the secondary colors of orange and purple instead of the primary colors of red and blue. Co-incidently, there was a comic character in 1941 called The Spider Queen who wore red and blue, and also had web-shooting bracelets.       In 2008, the Library of Congress anonymously received Ditko's original artwork for that first Spider-Man story and there was another surprise. Under the partly cemented logo and white gouache was a much more webby header; that I recreated as well as cleaning up and re-coloring the origin...

         I previously mentioned that CBS made two pilot movies for a Captain America series that wasn't picked up. The year before they made a pilot for Dr. Strange that wasn't greenlit either. The story goes that after having Wonder Woman, The Hulk and Spider-Man, they didn't want to be known as the "superhero channel". What if they had leaned into it? They could have been CW before CW. So, before Netflix decided to put their heroes together as the Defenders, I present a crossover that should have been. It might even have been better than this:  The 1987 MARVEL Universe Macy’s THANKSGIVING Day Parade Float Is The GREATEST Thing You've Ever SEEN  

       Archie has been in comics since 1941. The character was popular enough to get a radio show starting in 1943. Cartoons of Archie and the gang ran from 1968-1978. There have been a few live-action pilots that went nowhere. Then in 1997 the CW network had a grim take with their series Riverdale that lasted seven seasons. In 1976, however, ABC put on a "special" of Archie . It featured short sketches and musical interludes. It wasn't picked up as a series but two years they tried again with The Archie Situation Comedy Musical Variety Show . It had the same cast and again did not make it to series.       Dennis Bowen, who played the title character, was also a student at Buchanan High in five episodes of Welcome Back Kotter . Deryl Maury (Jughead) was part of The Massacre at Central High . Hilarie Thompson was on the tv series of Operation Petticoat  after she was Veronica. Audrey Landers, who was Betty Cooper, had better success on the series D...

  In July of 1987 ABC aired a movie based on Will Eisner's comic The Spirit. It starred Sam J. Jones as the title character and Nana Visitor (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) as love interest Ellen Dolan. Trivia: 28 years later the two actors appeared in Seth MacFarlane's  Ted 2 . The sidekick in the comics was a racial stereotype called Ebony, in this production he was renamed Eubie and played by Bumper Robinson. The movie leaned more towards camp, as was the way comic productions were handled then. It was meant to be a pilot, with more episodes already written, but was never picked up. Who knows, if the series was picked up it might have been a more accurate representation of Eisner's work than the Frank Miller movie. Preview Clip | The Spirit | Warner Archive

       In 1974 ABC Television aired a tv movie of Wonder Woman starring Cathy Lee Crosby. A year and a half later ABC tried again with Lynda Carter. This version was more like the comics and took place during WWII. It was picked up as a series and ran on ABC from April 1976 to February 1977. Then CBS picked it up for two more seasons, made it modern and now she worked for an intelligence agency like the 1974 pilot.       I have wondered what the series would have been like if they stuck with Crosby version. I imagine the rogue Paradise Island friend of Diana's would come back having been experimented on with Cheetah blood and become a powerful nemesis. As the show went on, they would probably incorporate more from the comics.       Above is sleeve for the DVD case and the outer slip sleeve case for this imagined series.       There was another proposed Wonder Woman series in 1967. Whenever you pick on an adaptati...

    This is one I have thought about for a while and when I heard about Teri Garr's passing, I figured I would continue in earnest. Star Trek's second season ended with a "backdoor pilot" for a possible series that could have been America's answer to Doctor Who. While travelling back to 1968, the crew of the Enterprise meet an enigmatic character named Gary Seven. The episode is mostly about him and is actually an origin story for a possible series. The episode even ends with Spock saying that "Mr. Seven and Miss Lincoln (Garr's character) have some interesting experiences in store." It was not, however, picked up as a series so I imagined a DVD cover if the series was made and added some ideas of what stories be used. I also figure Gold Key would do a comic of it so I created an imaginary 1960s comic cover as well. Here is fan made opening credits for the series that doesn't exist, to give you an idea: Assignment Earth Opening (Improved)

  The Green Lama started as a pulp character in Double Detective magazine in April 1940 moving to comics in the December 1940 issue of Prize comics. He was drawn in the outfit he wore in the pulps: green Tibetan robe over his everyday suit. By the time he got his own comic book he was wearing a cape and tights. Doc Savage started in the pulps with his first story "The Man of Bronze" in 1933 and moved to comics in The Shadow comics in 1940. In the pulp stories he usually wore a brown business suit. Soon he had his own comic title and in issue 5 he received a blue hood with a mystic ruby in the forehead. His costume became leather boots, tight blue pants and that hood with bare chest and arms. That's a good start but not "superhero" enough. I've added blue gauntlets and special "science" goggles that let him see infra-red, ultra-violet and whatever else the writer wants. Most importantly he gets full tights with a logo on his chest; the alchemy symbo...

  As superhero comics became more popular in 1940s the "cape and tights" look became the standard. When the Crimson Avenger first appeared in Detective Comics the year before Batman, he wore a suit, fedora, overcoat and mask. He carried a gas gun and had an Asian sidekick. Soon he was wearing red tights and cape. Sandman originally wore a green double-breasted suit, fedora, cool gas mask and a cape. His weapon of choice being a gas gun. At the end of 1941 he, surprisingly, no longer had a cape but now wore purple and yellow tights. The character they seemed to be based on was the Green Hornet. He wore a suit, fedora overcoat and mask. What if he followed the trend? I got inspiration not only from the Crimson Avenger and Sandman but other insect based heroes of the time, the Red Bee (I didn't make that up) and Yellow Jacket.  Obviously the Hornet should have a striped costume. I added a split cape that could look like hornet wings when in action. Above you can seen my vers...