Bookcover Spotlight #245

I love this cover. 70's revenge porn, I imagine, but it's very kinetic. 

Jonny Quest

Jonny Quest is one of my favorite cartoons but I've never seen all the episodes. Here I'll just be looking at the original series. I'm going to be sharing thoughts as I go. 

We start off in the jungle (honestly, it feels like so many episodes take place in the jungle?) and after seeing a black panther pad its way through the undergrowth we then segue to a couple of tribesmen paddling a canoe. They're in trouble though because a pteranodon swoops down from a plateau and makes off with one of the tribesmen. From there we check in with Jonny and Hadji, who are fishing, and we get more of Bandit's inane antics. Why are the Quests hanging out in the jungle again? Well, it turns out Dr. Quest is looking for the source of a mineral trinoxide, which is essential for the space program. Naturally, the trinoxide comes from the "land of the Turu" upriver- Turu being the aforementioned pterosaur, of course. They soon spy a canoe floating by with a body in it- and after rescuing the guy they find out it's Aku, who gave the trinoxide sample to Dr. Quest initially. 

Aku relays his story, how the pteranodon took his brother, and Quest realizes Turu is from the same area that the trinoxide comes from. So they charter a boat African Queen style and head upriver to check it out. Ooh, and the boat is called Amazon Queen as well, I see, so my instincts were right regarding the classic movie nod. Anyway, they are warned by the skipper about crocodiles, and before long the boat is attacked by a whole bunch. They shoot them all though so that's easily sorted. After making camp they hear some unearthly screeching- Turu is here- but they don't actually see it. We then get some moonlight shots of Turu flying around. 

Turu then attacks the boat before flying back to the plateau, where we find his master. Some white haired dude who treats it as a pet and who has a bunch of locals mining something for him- trinoxide no doubt. Dr. Quest and Race soon spot the old man, but he sees them too and sends Turu to kill 'em. There's a cool moment when Quest and Race use rocket belts to get up there- this was the 60's, after all, and James Bond- style rocket belts were all the rage, I guess- and the pteranodon gets ahold of Quest and carries him off, but Race shoots it with his bazooka and frees Quest. 

They go up again under cover of darkness and soon discover the miners- and the rare trinoxide ore they're digging. They're discovered though and it's a fight to the end with Turu. Race hits it twice with the bazooka- I'm actually feeling for Turu here- but the creature ends up trashing the boat again before coming back. I imagine this was kind of intense for kids, with the creature squawking up a storm and the dramatic battle. They end up taking out Turu with a few more hits, and the poor thing falls into a tar pit. Despondent and anxious to rescue it, the old man falls into the pit too! As I've mentioned previously, this cartoon was a little more hard hitting than a lot of its contemporaries. 

So... with Turu gone the tribesmen are free. We never do find out who the old guy was, or how he tamed Turu, but whatever. Soon the Quest group are heading back downriver, and other than a run-in with a crocodile their adventures seem to be over. Not a bad installment- the tense music and Turu antics were pretty fun. 

I give this one 3 of 5 stars.  

Amazing Adventures War of the Worlds #29

Chicago Illinois--April 2019!

P. Craig Russell brings a very distinctive look to this series. Here we get a shot of Killraven and Volcana as reflected through a mirror and it's kinda trippy. Picking up from last issue- they have just rescued Eve 3,031 from Martians- and their human collaborators- and Killraven and crew are looking to get the girl to safety. She's due to give birth soon- in fact, she has a contraction- so priority # 1 is getting the civilians out, but at the same time Killraven is determined to strike a blow against the overlords. There's a neat alternating set of panels where the freedom fighters are fleeing through pneumatic tunnels while at the same time Atalon and the maniac who sacrifices babies find the Martian banquet chamber- charred and full of dead Martians (thanks to Killraven and Ash last issue). I got a kick out of some of the dialogue too-- Atalon tells the Sacrificer that "your lack of faith is disturbing." Gee, where have I heard that before? This came out several years before Star Wars, by the way. 

Killraven and crew make a pit stop at a communications center overlooking the slaves, telling them that they need to flee as soon as he activates some molecular disruptor that Adam 3,031 has mentioned to him. Love the art here. Ash, meanwhile, takes off to find her sister Melonie- if she still lives- and Hawk debates with Killraven as to the wisdom of taking Eve with them. Hawk says she'll slow them down, and that a warrior can't afford compassion, but Killraven replies that perhaps one is already dead without compassion. Nice. 

The molecular disruptor frees the slaves from their chains, and Ash finds her sister... but sadly, Melonie no longer remembers her. Do the Martians mind-wipe their prisoners? Ash is devastated, and her and Killraven have a moment before heading off to kick some more Martian ass. Atalon, meanwhile, is rallying his Death Breeders to hunt down the fleeing Adams and Eves- and by extension Killraven and his folks. Funny that these losers don't identify with their fellow humans- they stay loyal to their Martian overlords, even when the invaders have been killed. Anyway, battle is joined as Killraven reaches the Crucible chamber- where Ash was experimented on. Some of his companions are irritated when he zones out, but he has a plan. He uses an ionic blade to disrupt one of the reactors and they they flee on snow skimmers, just in time as explosions bring Death-Birth down behind them. 

Interlude- we shift to M'Shulla and Frost, who are having a moment. He is putting together that Grok is someone meaningful to her. 

"You said the Martians wanted to produce replicas... that you could make duplicates of people that already lived."

She is about to tell him who Grok is when Killraven arrives. What do they say about bad timing? The banter here, by the way, is awesome. This is starting to really flow. And oh- Eve is about to give birth. Plus Atalon and his men are on their trail. We have a cool chase on snow skimmers and our heroes escape- I'm not sure Eve, pregnant as she is, survives all that- but we have a nice finish to this issue.

Top Ten Tuesday #221

 Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week a new Top Ten list will be posted. Everyone is welcome to join. Link back so everyone can check out other bloggers' lists. It's a fun way to get to know fellow bloggers.

This week is books on my fall 2020 TBR. My reading has been down lately- for months- so who knows, some of the books from spring might still be here! Let's have a look see.  

Song of the Week #60

This week I'm enjoying some contemporary jazz. Enjoy!!

And... some ambience also. 

Sunday Post #368

 The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews

It's Monday! What Are You Reading is hosted by Book Date  

Another Friday is here and I'm composing this as I enjoy some Chinese takeout. How are you? I've been binging some Netflix this week- mostly Away and 3%. Want to get back to Riverdale too. I know.  

I may have spoken too soon on new Blogger. I haven't had too much trouble but this week I started having issues saving images, so that's been a pain. 

To start off I'm sharing some Pink Panther fun I stumbled over this week.  

 

Song of the week

PULP COVER OF THE WEEK: 

BOOKISH LINKS

I'm really digging these Japan walking tours. 

Amazing

Some ambience

Outpost

 

California Monster

Caravan

mermaid

Night lights

gust

Missing Person

Grand Theft Tyrannosaur