1980s Mormon PSA Commercials – Saturday Morning Weirdness

Wouldn't Ya Like to Be a Mormon, Too?

In 1977, the Mormon “sex in chains” case dominated tabloid headlines throughout the UK. Its details could not be more salacious: in the town of Ewell, Surrey, pristine and wide-eyed Mormon missionary Kirk Anderson was abducted by buxom and comely (former Miss Wyoming World) Joyce McKinney. She and an accomplice drove to a cabin in Devon, where Kirk was chained to a bed and raped by Ms. McKinney over the course of a few days. The public was enthralled, not just by the sexy time details of a man being raped by a woman—not actually a crime in England at the time—but because of the sneak peek this case offered into the mysterious world of the reclusive Mormons. It was from this media event that many rumors about “Mormon underwear” stem. It was going to be tough to put a positive spin on this one.

Top 5 Saturday Morning Cartoons - Saturday Morning Weirdness

One of the things that I miss the most about my childhood is getting up early on a Saturday morning, pouring about six bowls of cereal and watching my cartoons.  It was the best time of the week for me and while my parents slept, the house and the TV were all mine.  I would watch anything and everything and while there were plenty of stinkers (I'm looking at you, Rubik, the Amazing Cube), there were more than enough great shows to keep me enthralled.  My only rule for the list is that I had to have watched them when they originally aired.  There are a bunch of reasons why these shows are in my Top 5, but in the end, these were the shows that made me happy as a kid and still hold a place in my heart.  So, here are my picks for Top 5 Saturday Morning Cartoons.

Top 5 Fridays: Top 5 Bromances in DC Entertainment

Welcome to another exciting edition of Top 5 Fridays! With Valentines Day around the corner, it made me think of my past love life...and how it sucked. However let's be real, we've all dealt with heartbreak before, but more often than not there always is that one friend who will always be there for you...Your Bro. So today we'll be covering the Top 5 Bromances in DC Entertainment. When I say DC Entertainment, that means that I won't be looking to just the comics, but also TV shows and cartoons. As per usual this is my list, so if you don't see your favorite bromance up here, I apologize. ENOUGH TALK!  Let's begin!

DC's Legends of Tomorrow Season 1, Episode 3 Review and **SPOILERS**

Director: Dermott Downs
Writers: Marc Guggenheim and Chris Fedak
Release Date: February 4, 2016

Legends of Tomorrow has managed to accomplish something that many of DC's other media outputs failed to do; form a team of C-list characters and actually make them interesting. The Atom, Rip Hunter, White Canary, Captain Cold, Heatwave and Firestorm have joined forces in order to face the immortal, Vandal Savage, every Thursday night on the CW. Last episode, I was impressed by the quality in both character development and action that the show presented. Can this episode match that? Lets find out...

Midnighter #9 Review

My Arm is Complete Again

Written by: Steve Orlando
Art by: Aco, Hugo Petrus, Romulo Fajardo Jr. and Tom         Napolitano
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: February 3, 2016

I know that I haven't been the biggest supporter of this run of Midnighter and I've talked about my problems with it in my reviews and on our podcast...probably a little too much.  Well, this week the rumor that it was being canceled hit the Internet and while I was expecting a huge outcry, it didn't happen.  Maybe it will when and if it becomes official, but for now, all is quiet on the Midnighter front.  Either way, I'd like to get my two cents in and be done with it.  I think it's a shame it's being canceled, not for myself, but for all those people who love it.  You know, those reviewers and readers who keep telling the world how great this book is month in and month out.  "Best Book Ever", they yell..."Book of the Year", they claim.  How could this book possibly live up to the slew of perfect scores that were thrown at it?  The answer...it couldn't.  There was not a perfect issue in this run and that's nothing to be ashamed of.  I just wonder how many people bought an issue after seeing a 10/10 review score and felt let down by what they got...which was not any fault of Steve Orlando.  Again, I was not a fan, but at least I can say with full honesty that I rated each one as fair as I could and in the end, it just wasn't for me.  By the way, my average score for this series was a 6.3 which is actually higher than a couple books that I considered myself a fan of.  Odd.  Here is my review for this month's issue...

Batman Beyond #9 Review and *SPOILERS*

When Animals Attack!

Written By: Dan Jurgens
Art By: Bernard Chang, Marcelo Maiolo, Dave Sharpe
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: February 3, 2016

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

It's the future!  Too bad it's one of those dystopian ones that make for great stories, but are terrible to live in........ It's a good thing we're not Tim Drake, huh?  Anyway, Batman has a lot to do now that Brother Eye is pushing up daisies because with that villain's fall came a new problem........ the surviving people are hungry and want Neo Gotham's food!  Yeah, refugees are storming the gates of Neo Gotham, wanting what everyone else has and to add to the drama, young Matt McGinnis has taken the severed arm of the borged-out John Stewart and made his way to Metropolis....... He hasn't been out there too long though because he hasn't started talking to it like Tom Hanks did with Wilson in Cast Away, but who knows, there's always a chance.  I guess it's up to Batman to track down Matt before he gets into trouble, but from what we saw during last issue's cliffhanger, he might just have some animal men on his trail............ animal men that aren't the ones from Kamandi, even though I bitched, moaned and complained about it last issue....... So yeah, that was all for nothing, let's check this issue out and find out what they are........ they're Splicers........ Spoilers.......  Let's check it out.

Green Arrow #49 Review and *SPOILERS*

Hungry Like The Wolf

Written By: Ben Percy
Art By: Szymon Kudranski, Gabe Eltaeb, Rob Leigh
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: February 3, 2016

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

Going into this book I can't help but think of the ending to Lost Boys and how Grandpa said that the one thing he could never stomach about living in Santa Carla was all the damn vampires....... and I guess that this is the werewolf equivalent to that........... Seattle's a nice place, except for all the damn werewolves........ and the rain....... Yeah, it's not exactly the same, but I can tell you that this book has way too many werewolves in it......... which to me is, if we have more than zero, it's too damn many.  So yeah, Ollie's a werewolf and what I got from the last issue of Green Arrow is....... he digs it.  I guess there isn't much else to say after the whole Green Arrow likes being a werewolf thing so let's jump into this issue and see how that works out for him............ hopefully a silver bullet is involved so we can just be done with this, but I doubt it.  Let's check it out.

Action Comics #49 Review

6'2" My Ass!

Written by: Greg Pak and Aaron Kuder
Art by: Ardian Syaf, Jonathan Glapion, Scott Hannah, Sandra Hope, Tomeu Morey, Wil Quintana and Steve Wands
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: February 3, 2016

I am getting sick and tired of bitching about the Truth story and what it did to one of my favorite characters so instead, I'm going to tell you what it didn't do.  It didn't kidnap my wife, make my kids cry or slash my tires.  It didn't call me up during dinner or set a bag full of shit on fire on my porch. It didn't kick sand in my face, force me to listen to Rush or watch the movie "From Justin to Kelly".  The Truth didn't do any of those things, but guess what?  If I could trade my memories of reading it for a couple of those things, I would.  It's up to you guys to guess which ones and while you make your choices, I'm going to get on with my review.

Arrow Season 4 Episode 12 "Unchained" Review and *SPOILERS*

RETURN

Director: Kevin Fair
Writers: Speed Weed and Beth Schwartz

First Aired: February 3, 2016

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

Last week on Arrow, we had a pair of more personal conflicts rather than the usual fighting of bad guys. The main focus was on Diggle, trying to convince his little brother Andrew, who turned out to be alive AND working with Darhk, to come back to the right side of the law. Meanwhile Felicity has to conquer her fear of failure after her accident. It ended up being about 90% positive as the Diggle brothers reconciled, Felicity returned to form and got the new code name Overwatch, but we lost Amanda Waller to terrorist...which means no more Suicide Squad for Arrow.
This week we get two treats as Team Arrow not only has to fight the Calculator, a master hacker who could possibly even put Felicity to shame, but has to help an old friend as Arsenal returns to Star City. How does it hold up? Lets find out...

Batman and Robin Eternal #18 Review

Very Weakly...

Written by: Ed Brisson
Art by: Scot Eaton, Wayne Faucher, Allen Passalaqua, Gabe Eltaeb and Saida Temofonte
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: February 2, 2016

A weekly comic book takes a lot of commitment from all parties involved.  I'm obviously talking about the writers and artists, but I'm also talking about the readers as well.  In fact, I'm talking about them the most because I am one of them.  Sure, that is a bit selfish, but we are the ones paying money each week and all we ask for is to be entertained by a good comic book.  I'm only speaking for myself here, but I don't think the creators have lived up to their part of the bargain.  Sure, there have been good issues and moments, but overall, this weekly has been inconsistent and the good times have been few and far between. Did this issue start a swing towards the positive and get the story in order before the home stretch?  Let's find out...

Green Lantern #49 Review and *SPOILERS*

Prattling On

Written By: Robert Venditti

Art By: Martin Coccolo, Billy Tan, Mark Irwin, Tony Avina, Dave Sharpe

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: February 3, 2016

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

Green Lantern's been a bit rough lately, what with the Renegade story not really going anywhere besides for completely overlooking the end of Godhead and blaming all those Medusa-ed planets on Black Hand alone.  Yeah, not much going on in space and with the Green Lantern Corps gone, not much of a reason to really be a Renegade either.  With all that it made perfect sense to put Hal back on Earth to see what adventures he could get into with Krona's Gauntlet........ and I was all for it and couldn't wait, but the adventures he's gotten into are all about a terrorist cell setting a bomb off in his hometown and demanding to be a sovereign nation, while Hal looses himself in his emotions about his nephew getting hurt in the attack.  While all of that might sound kind of cool, it's been pretty boring and the only thing I'm really looking forward to is Zero Hour Parallax showing up and killing Hal............ because I guess that's what a Parallax from Zero Hour does.  Hopefully all the things I just talked about are made impressive here and I can quit my bitching and can just get back to having fun with Green Lantern.  Let's check it out.

Swamp Thing #2 Review and *SPOILERS*

Parents Just Don’t Understand

Written By: Len Wein

Art By: Kelley Jones, Michelle Madsen

Letters By: Rob Leigh

Cover Price: $2.99

Release Date: February 3, 2016

*Non-Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

On this rainy, sixty degree day in fucking February of all things, I feel ready to return to the humidity of the Houma, Louisiana swamp, where our clotted green vegetable man hangs his hat. If he grows a hat, that is. Actually, he could probably just take his head off and leave it on the nightstand, if he were so inclined. That’s the upside of being the Swamp Thing. The downside is that you’re a shambling horror that causes most red-blooded people to recoil in abject terror. That’s how life is, you know? You can have a really good jump shot, but you also have uncontrollable flatulence. Or you are an expert archer, but you have an unnatural compulsion to lick the undersides of public toilet seats. Life will always find its balance. This comic’s found its balance with issue number two, which I read, enjoyed, and then reviewed. What’s that? “Show all work?!” Well read on then, “professor!”

Batman Europa #4 review and *SPOILERS*

Veleno, Burlone, e il Pipistrillo

Written By: Brian Azzarello, Mateo Casali 

Art By: Gerald Parel

Layout: Giussepe Camuncoli

Cover Price: $4.99 

Release Date: February 5, 2016

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom* 

Here we are! The end of Batman and Joker's lackluster road trip across Europe. When we last left our heroes, they failed to save Nina, and a man who dressed as the amalgamation of Joker and Batman had left them a clue in the form of burning coals. This leads Batman and Joker on the road to "where all roads lead"...Rome.
To say I haven't liked this series would probably be a HUGE understatement.  The story is bland, the Joker just stands around and looks pretty most of the time, and we don't get one friggin' hint at who is causing all this trouble. I wouldn't even be surprised if we got NO answers this issue and were left with some kind of ambiguous ending!Is that what happens? Let's finish this...

DCAU Tuesdays: The Dark Knight's First Night Review and **SPOILERS**

Writers: Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski
Directors: Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski
Release Date: 1992

Here's a secret, my favorite version of DC Universe did not originate comic books. It isn't the Post-Crisis Universe, the Pre-Crisis Universe or even the Dark Knight Returns Universe. My favorite version of the DC Universe is the DCAU. Starting with Batman the Animated Series in 1992 and ending with Justice League Unlimited in 2006, the DCAU was a shared continuity between DC television shows produced by Bruce Timm. Through the course of 14 years Timm explored pretty much every corner of the DC Universe and distilled DC characters into their most iconic incarnations. To celebrate this accomplishment, I decided to introduce DCAU Tuesdays into the Weird Science family of reviews/trash talk. And to begin at an appropriate place, I have decided to review the pilot for Batman the Animated Series; The Dark Knight's First Night. On with the show then..

The Weird Side #5

Story and Art By: Paul B.

Hello Weirdos and welcome to another installment of The Weird Side.  This week Jim and Eric take on the demonic forces of a resurrected Dan and I'm not sure if the Weird Ones will be able to prevail.  On top of that we have Stinky Jamie continuing to be stinky in Glen's Revenge and Jim and Eric's masturbation habits in Blasts From The Cast.  So get your crucifix ready.......... and maybe some lube as we check out this week's Weird Side.

The Flash Season 2 Episode 12 "Fast Lane" Review and **SPOILERS**

Run Your Speed Force

Story By: Kai Yu Wu & Joe Peracchio, Brooke Eikmeier

Directed By: Rachel Tally

Starring: Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, Tom Cavanagh

First Aired: February 2, 2016

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

It’s Tuesday! It’s Tuesday! That means the Flash is on! Around the Reggie homestead, we call it “the quiet hour,” which means the missus has to write her questions on an index card for later discussion and the cat needs to go out with the empty milk bottles. Nothing short of an adjacent fire or comical, spring-loaded whoopee cushion could draw me away from this television show, and I’m delighted as could be to bring you my review and gushing praise for this most glorious of comic book adaptations! Keep reading!

Injustice: Gods Among Us: Year Five Chapter #7 Review

Rinse and Repeat

Written by: Brian Buccellato
Art by: Mike S. Miller, J. Nanjan and Wes Abbott
Cover Price: $0.99
Release Date: February 2, 2016

Another week and another Injustice and while I've been impressed with Year Five so far, it has gotten a bit stale in the character department.  This is the Year of the Villains and while it started out on a high note with Bane, Killer Frost and the Rogues joining the fun, there hasn't been much progression of the overall story so far.   So, I got pretty damn excited when I downloaded this chapter and saw Hawkman getting all savage on the cover.  Could this be the shot in the arm that the book needs to get some momentum going?  Let's find out...

Batman Beyond #9 Preview

Written By: Dan Jurgens
Art By: Bernard Chang, Marcelo Maiolo, Dave Sharpe
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: February 3, 2016

While the world flocks to Neo-Gotham, Batman tracks Terry’s brother, Matt, to the former City of Tomorrow: Metropolis! But they both get more than they bargained for when they meet the new muscle in town. Check out the DC Universe debut of the Splicers, previously seen in the Batman Beyond animated TV series!

Here I was complaining last issue that I thought it was nonsense bringing the animal men from Kamandi into this series when it turns out that they were spicers all along......... Yeah, they didn't look exactly like I remembered splicers looking, but what the hell, it was explained and I'll go with it and hell, if it's decided that the splicers will somehow lead into the animal men from Kamandi's timeline, I'm okay with that too.  

Cyborg #7 Review and *SPOILERS*

Ghost Dad 2: Ghost Mom

Written By: David F. Walker
Art By: Claude St. Aubin, Andy Owens, Adriano Lucas, Rob Leigh,
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: January 27, 2016

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

The Technosapiens have taken a hike and the world is as it should be again....... except for Cyborg's weird ass evolution of this tech........ that's definitely not how things should be.  Really, though I was trying to pad this opener with nonsense, but it got me thinking...... What is Cyborg anymore?  He's got this tech that covers his body and when he concentrates real hard, he can make himself look completely human again...... and hell, he can even choose what he wants his fashion to be on top of it.  In my mind, it seems that Victor, while retaining what he had mentally that made him human, has now become something that the Lawnmower Man would envy and as we'll see in this issue, the government is keeping an eye on all cybernetics and tech because after the Technosapien war......... Well, there isn't a good reason they shouldn't be........ especially when they have Vic walking around with tech that has abilities we've never seen before and really, just being a threat to national security.  Let's jump into this issue and see what goes down as Cyborg becomes an enemy of the state.  Let's check it out.

Supergirl Season 1 Episode 12 "Bizarro" Review and **SPOILERS**

Hate-Fest

Director: John Showalter
Writers: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa & Rachel Shukert

Supergirl has been shockingly good during its run. I remember how I trashed the trailer for the season, expecting it to be a cash in on the big S shield...but I've actually enjoyed the series. We had aliens and villains we know and love, the surprise side character no one expected, and great emotional moments from the whole cast. Last week, we had Supergirl team up with the Martian Manhunter to take down a White Martian that has come to take him down. It was a great episode that really showed off a human side to the Martian. However the show isn't called Martian Manhunter, and in the last minute, our Girl of Steel watched as a girl who looked just like her threw cars around on the news. That's right, this week introduces a new version of our backwards bruiser: Bizarro! Lets dive right in and see if this episode am bad...I mean good!

Wonder Woman ‘77 Chapter #14 Review and *SPOILERS*

Clay You, Clay Me

Written By: Marc Andreyko

Art By: Richard Ortiz, Romulo Fajardo Jr.

Letters By: Wes Abbott

Digital Price: $0.99

Release Date: February 1, 2016

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

Happy February! It’s Groundhog Day Eve, and to celebrate the occasion DC Comics’ digital line has sneak-dropped a brand new Wonder Woman ’77 chapter—if it sees its shadow and scurries back into its virtual hidey hole, we get six more weeks of Batman ’66 Meets the Man From U.N.C.L.E.! I kid, I kid…it may have appeared like a thief in the night, but I’ve been hoping to check out the urbane world of Diana Prince that so stoked my childhood imagination. And no, I’m not talking about boners! Read on, ya perverts!

Deathstroke #14 Review

Metal Gear Slade

Written by: James Bonny
Art by: Tyler Kirkham, Arif Prianto and Dave Sharpe
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: January 27, 2016

I enjoy Deathstroke for the action movie fun and James Bonny has been dishing it out in spades. Sure, the story of Slade trying to get his daughter back from whoever actually has her is a great backdrop to all this action, but the explosions, dismemberment's and gun play are what I come for and I have yet to be disappointed.  What other book can jump from fighting a god on Paradise Island to battling the Suicide Squad in Belle Reve to kicking ass in Lexcorp in a few issues and make complete sense? Well, this one can and this is the issue where we head to Lexcorp and while that sounds like so much fun, sometimes...screw it, it was fun and here's my review.

Fanboy Theories: Vega System's Pointless No Lantern Agreement

I am going to open up this Fanboy Theory by saying I LOVE OMEGA MEN! Its a fantastic dark and gritty space tale with a group of memorable characters. However, as is the problem with holding my second favorite lantern as one of the leads, it keeps bothering me on this huge plot hole....WHERE IS HIS TEAM?! Where is Carol?! Where is anyone who gives a flying #$%^ about Kyle Rayner?! He's been out in this system for months and not one person has tried to find him?! I get Lanterns aren't allowed, and that's what I'll be tackling today: How useless IS the "No Lantern" agreement is! This is all just my personal thoughts and reasons on how this agreement means nothing. I'm not critiquing the story as a whole, just this one plot point that seems to make no sense.

Logan’s Run Original Novel Review and *SPOILERS* - Just For the Hell Of It Mondays

Logan’s Cup Runneth Over

Written By: William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson

Originally Published: 1967

*Non-Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

Welcome to the wonderful, futuristic world of 2116, where you don’t need to work and you can dedicate yourself to hedonistic pleasures; where nearly every place on earth is quickly accessible via a network of human-sized pneumatic tubes; where everything is controlled by a computer intelligence, named The Thinker, that ensures the continuation of mankind. And all you need to do to keep this happy society puttering along is agree to be exterminated at age twenty-one. Don’t agree? Well then you’re a Runner, and you will be hunted by a Sandman who will shoot you with a Tracer. Makes sense, right? No? Well then you must never have read the science fiction novel Logan’s Run by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson! Sure, you might have heard of the movie—perhaps you’ve even seen it—but not everyone knows and fewer people care that it was based on a novel that came out nine years prior. Well, I read the book, and then I wrote a review about it, and you can see it if you read on!

Weird Science DC Comics Podcast Ep 56: Things Get Dark

It's a long one and things do indeed get dark.  There is talk of putting dogs down, a double murder suicide and plenty of zit popping and toilet plunging.  Oh yea, there is also Comics as Jim and Eric review all of this week's DC Comic releases including Batman and Robin Eternal, Grayson, Justice League of America and so much more.  Plus, you get the Digital Spotlight featuring The Adventures of Supergirl, Eric's TV segment with Arrow, Flash, Legends of Tomorrow and Lucifer talk as well as the News, DC Comics News, Reggie's Recklessness, Ryan Clark's Other Side, Professor DC and Listener Mail.  Holy Crap that's a lot of stuff! Enjoy...