Category: News

Here’s the sort of wackiness you needed this weekend!

A dysfunctional family of superheroes with bizarre powers, the seven members of the Umbrella Academy spent their childhoods fighting evil and honing their extraordinary gifts under the tutelage of their guardian and mentor, Dr. Reginald Hargreeves. In this story from the past, the UA team fights a mysterious murderer and learns a powerful lesson…

Conceived and written by Gerard Way (of My Chemical Romance), [[[The Umbrella Academy]]] features art by Gabriel Bá (Casanova) and Dave Stewart (Hellboy) and was originally published by Dark Horse Comics. It won the 2008 Eisner Award for Best Finite Series/Limited Series, and if you haven’t read it yet, watch this to find out why…

The SyFy mainstay series EUREKA is coming to a close with a hand full of episodes that begin on the network on Monday at 9pm (ET). We begin our look at the show by talking to star Colin Ferguson and EUREKA creator Jamie Paglia on how they are prepared to say goodbye. Plus more with SyFy’s FACT OR FAKED Investigators, including the things they saw that made them believers and Frank Miller finally gets a GO for SIN CITY 2.

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One week till the End of the World!

Hold on, amigo. Before you donate the contents of your bank account to Bart Simpson’s favorite charity, tell your boss where he can stick that twelve-dollar raise he gave you, and go sky-diving off Mount Rushmore–get a grip on yourself!

It’s not really the end of the world. Not the end of the real world, I mean. It’s only the end of the world in Aztlan: The Last Sun, the first in my brand-new series of 21st-century Aztec murder mysteries– available now as an e-book from Amazon.

Imagine if Cortes never conquered Monteczuma. Imagine if the Aztecs expanded their empire from Tierra Del Fuego to Baffin Bay. Imagine if 2012 rolled around and that empire was plagued by a series of grisly murders that recalled the human sacrifices of ancient days?

No need to keep on imagining. It’s all in Aztlan: The Last Sun.

Growing up in the 1960s, I first heard “Shazam” from the lips of Gomer Pyle, USMC and only later learned it had something to do with a defunct character, Captain Marvel. When I then saw ads in the comics for a Saturday morning series called Shazzan, I was confused, thinking it was somehow connected. Nope, the CBS series created by the great Alex Toth and produced by Hanna-Barbera and had the following narration:

“Inside a cave off the coast of Maine, Chuck (Jerry Dexter) and Nancy (Janet Waldo) find a mysterious chest containing the halves of a strange ring. When joined, the ring forms the word “Shazzan!” and with this magical command, they are transported back to the fabled land of the Arabian Nights. Here they meet their Genie, Shazzan (Barney Phillips). Shazzan presents them with Kaboobie (Don Messick), a magical flying camel. Shazzan will serve them whenever they call, but he cannot return them home until they deliver the ring to its rightful owner. And thus begins their incredible journey.”

Adding an extra “ho” to the Jolly Green Giant’s “ho ho ho”, the 60-foot tall Shazzan was a jovial genie, calling the kids “little masters” and never tired at saving them with regularity. The series ran from September 9, 1967 and ended on Saturday, September 6, 1969 and featured two escapades per thirty minutes and achieved just enough popularity to be repeated as part of countless series in the 1970s and 1980s before finding a home on cable. The complete 36 episode series has been collected for the first time thanks to the tireless folk at Warner Archive.

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To me, Jonny Quest was one of the best animated series a kid could grow up on in the 1960s. The prime time show had nice designs, great storytelling and you could imagine yourself getting mixed up into adventures with Race Bannon and Hadji. It was relatable and fun and exceedingly well done.

By the 1990s, though, Indiana Jones and his brethren raised the stakes for action/adventure in live action as well as animation. The Cartoon Network recognized this and commissioned an updated version known as The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest which aired from August 26, 1996 to April 16, 1997. To make the concept contemporary, they added Jessie Bannon as the duo became a trio while Dr. Benton Quest and Race Bannon went looking into the unexplained. Given the fondness for CGI at the time, some of the stories also meant visits to the three-dimensional QuestWorld (hoping to tap into the audience’s fascination with virtual reality)

The show never quite worked and still doesn’t hold up to repeated views, but for diehard fans, Warner Archive has released the first season in two volumes of thirteen episodes each, the latter set recently released. The show certainly suffered when showrunner Peter Lawrence was fired in 1996 and John Eng and Cosmo Anzilotti arrived to take over. You can tell where Lawrence left off after the first season’s initial 13 episodes (volume one) as his real world –based storylines were replaced with more traditional SF/supernatural stories. The goal, turning the beloved character, into a global icon and franchise fizzled given poor execution and despite a massive marketing campaign.

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The paranormal doesn’t stand a chance as SyFy launches a new season of FACT OR FAKED next Tuesday (April 17th) at 9pm ET. Join us as we talk to investigators Ben, Austin & Lanisha about what dark things these new episodes will uncover. There’s also more with Jessica St Clair and Lennon Parham, creators and stars of NBC‘s new comedy, BEST FRIENDS FOREVER. Plus it had to happen – comic book sales begin to shoot DOWN in March!

The Point Radio is on the air right now – 24 hours a day of pop culture fun for FREE. GO HERE and LISTEN FREE on any computer or mobile device– and please check us out on Facebook right here & toss us a “like” or follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.