Halloween week continues with Hillary dressed as the new Batgirl.
And here’s the reference Francesco pointed me to – with the look from Batgirl #35.
Followed by an animated gif someone made of the cover.
And after all is said and done, it was nice to get a thumbs up from Batgirl’s writer Brenden Fletcher.
All for now – Halloween week continues in Sally Forth week tomorrow.
Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!
After the end of World War II my Dad was stationed in Germany until the fall of 1946 and eventually served as the Headquarters Company Commander, 1st Division, 3rd Battalion, 26th Infantry. A point of distinction was that this put him in command for a time of the motor pool for the International Military Tribunal at the Nuremberg Trials.
Here’s an excerpt from a letter home to his sister Pat from April 1946.
I think I told you I am now commanding officer of the Court House Motor Pool.
I have so much property it isn’t funny. I am signed for over 200 vehicles. Everything from 4 ton wreckers worth $20,000 to Packards, Buicks, Fords, Jeeps, 2 1/2 ton trucks, 100 civilian box’s making over 300 vehicles. I’m waiting for me to mess things up and then it will be a toss up to see if Goering or I get hung 1st.
Sunday I went through the prison. All information about it is so secret so I will stop here. It was very interesting and after it is all over I’ll tell you about it. No press men or correspondents can get near the Place.
We are very short of officers in the Battalion now and are kept very busy. I’ll close now as Johnson just came in from the Grand Hotel and is talking to me so I can’t concentrate.
Love to All,
Dick
The folowing are picture found on the internet of Nurenburg circa 1946.
Note: Pictures are linked to their source when called for.
The following are videos that were taken about a year earlier than the timeframe my Dad served in the 1st Division. As Nuremberg was considered the ceremonial birthplace of the Nazi Party, hosting the Party’s annual propaganda rallies, it was considered a fitting place to hold the war trials and mark the Party’s symbolic demise.
The following are pictures of Schmölln, Germany, a town my Dad’s Infantry Company occupied in the waning days of World War II. The pictures from July of 1945 are from the photo album of Donald Katz, the Captain of Company I-304-76. The pictures from 2010 are from my nephew Dave Keefe, a US Marine who visited the town to honor his grandfather’s service in the War.
Note: Click on pics to see larger.
The last two pics are of the mess hall. Here’s a close up shot with 1st Lieutenant Richard Keefe on the left (my Dad) and 2nd Lt. Jay Hamilton on the right.
The lettering on the window states “International Casino” because their cook was a chinese-american.
Back in 2002 I interviewed Frank Mucedola, the Tech Sergeant for Company I’s 3rd Platoon, and he had this to add.
“I don’t know whether you can read what it says on the window or not but it says “Company I International Casino – Dine and Dance: $65.” The gimmick there was that regulations during that period of time were that the troops, meaning the American troops, could not fraternize with German women, or fraternize period, with any Germans – of course most of them were German women. Now, if you got caught fraternizing it cost you one month’s pay. Now the basic pay in those days for the private was 65 bucks. So my pay in those days was $114, so if I got caught I’d be fined $114. If you’re father got caught and his pay was $200, he got fined $200. So the private, his pay was $65, he got fined $65. So that was the gag “Dine and Dance $65”.
With Germany’s defeat, the German civilians in Schmölln considered themselves relatively fortunate to be in American hands, as towns east of Schmölln that were being overrun by the Russians were being devastated due to the a fierce hatred that existed between the two countries during those war years.
In 2003 the people of Schmölln installed a plaque in remembrance of the Americans who occupied their town that half century ago.
For more on the plaque go to:
German City Honors 76th Infantry Division
To end with, here’s a Then and Now pic of Richard Keefe (1945) and his grandson, David Keefe (2007).
To see the artwork of David Keefe, check out davidkeefe.net
A. V. Club just had an article on the 14 comic strips that should be films.
An excerpt…
Sally Forth is one of those oddities that always make the comics page a little better, even though it’s not typically all that memorable. And yet its style—both illustration and writing—are more like a self-aware soap opera than a comic strip.
Fantasy casting via Sonia Saraiya:
And to direct…
With films like his most recently acclaimed Boyhood, I give him the thumbs up.
Until a film date is set, you can check out Sally Forth online at…
A yearlong subscription to all of King Features’ comics (new and vintage) plus two years worth of archives for every single strip is a pittance at $19.99 a year. Unsure? Try a 7 day trial subscription for free.
As mentioned in a previous post, the inspiration for King Vultan’s headstrong daughter Princess Tyree was Tionne Watkins – or T-Boz from TLC.
Thinking back, she wasn’t the first celebrity I had used for inspiration when it came to Flash Gordon supporting characters. When Flash needed help fighting werewolves, Kurt Russell was called in, cast as Thorne.
I brought him back a few times after that to team up with Flash. He ultimately met his demise due to a crooked arms dealer who had sabotaged their equipment…
Before Tionne Watkins, there was Tisha Campbell as the strong-willed hawkwoman, Teesha. See how I cleverly changed the name so it wouldn’t be obvious?
This last likeness wasn’t for the strip, but a request to weatherman Al Roker.
Back in 1998 the New York Daily News had dropped a bunch of their adventure strips, including Flash Gordon. As Al Roker was known for being a staunch supporter of the comics (having wanted to be a cartoonist when he was younger) I alerted him of the Daily News dumping Flash – and he generously wrote a nice piece on his blog lending his support.
Here’s the art I sent him (pre-weightloss I might add)…
That’s all I can think of for now as far as celebrities go. Friends and family making cameos are another matter – but that’ll have to wait…
A reminder that you can find my work on Flash Gordon online at…
A yearlong subscription to all of King Features’ comics (new and vintage) plus two years worth of archives for every single strip is a pittance at $19.99 a year. Unsure? Try a 7 day trial subscription for free.