Die Hard (4½ Stars)

Merry Christmas!

Ho, ho, ho!

Success Rate:  + 3.6

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Die Schule der magischen Tiere (4 Stars)

Amazon Friday #34

The name of this German children's film means "The school of magical animals". It was made in 2021, and it's based on a book with the same name. It takes place in an unnamed German town. I tried to narrow it down, but it was filmed in several different locations in Austria and Bavaria. It centres around a class in the prestigious Winterstein school. The age of the children isn't named, neither in the film nor the book, but the actress who plays the main character, Ida Kronenberg, is 11 years old. We can assume that the children are in the school's Year 6, which would be the first year of a senior school in Germany.

Ida has just moved to the town with her mother, who's opened a new hairdressing salon. As you can expect, it's difficult for a new girl to fit in. Nobody lets her sit next to them in class. 

Her only friend is Beni, who's also an outsider.

The class has a new teacher, Miss Cornfield. She says she's from Scotland, but she has a perfect German accent. That's hardly surprising, because she's played by the German actress Nadja Uhl. The class's first reaction is negative, because she looks like a witch, but they soon accept her when she says that school is more about having fun than learning. She wants the class to be a magical community. Two of the children will be selected to receive magical animals, and others will follow.

Miss Cornfield has a friend called Mortimer, presumably Scottish as well, whatever nationality the actor is. He knows a place in Sweden where intelligent talking animals live. He frequently drives there to collect animals for Miss Cornfield's class. The two children selected to receive the animals are Isa and Beni, which is no surprise. What does surprise me is that the other children aren't jealous. Ida is given a fox called Rabbat, and Beni is given a tortoise called Henrietta.

The animals are a secret. Nobody outside the class is allowed to see them, especially not the headmaster, Mr.  Siegmann.

That's the background for the story itself. Someone is stealing things from the school, such as the school clock. The headmaster tells the school caretaker to investigate, without success. Ida, Beni and their animals are the only ones able to find clues.

And no, I have no idea why the two children at the front have Rubik's Cubes.

"Yes, Miss Cornfield, we promise to leave our Rubik's Cubes at home!"

This was the most successful German film in cinemas in 2022. Deservedly so. Even though it's a children's film, it has elements that can be appreciated by adults. It doesn't have the depth of complexity of the Harry Potter films, which makes it easily accessible to young children. Its age rating is 0. It deserves to be shown outside of Germany.

Smallville 2.12 - Insurgence

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The photo above shows Lieutenant Maggie Sawyer of the Metropolis Police Department. She's in charge of the police force facing a major hostage crisis. That makes her a strong woman. She's a character from the Superman comics, who first appeared in comics written in the 1980's. Unfortunately, she was only featured in a few Smallville episodes. I felt that they could have made more of her, especially in the last few seasons.

"Insurgence" opens with a beautiful shot of Lex Luthor sitting at his desk, trying to remain calm while seething inside. He's just lost a $150 million contract. He was underbid by his father at the last moment. This is something I don't quite understand in the series. Lionel Luthor is the head of Luthorcorp, whereas Lex is only in charge of a fertilizer plant. Isn't Lex still a Luthorcorp employee? What are the circumstances where they'd bid against one another? The podcast often doesn't answer my questions.

Lex wants to know how his father gained the information he needed to win the deal. He's convinced that he must have had inside information. First he suspects his assistant, but instead of firing him he orders him to find out what happened. Evidently Lex wasn't satisfied with his results, because we never see him again after this episode. When the assistant leaves the room, Lex snaps. We see the same fit of rage that he showed three weeks ago in the episode "Dichotic". He throws his computer off his desk. It looks like an expensive piece of equipment, and computers cost more 20 years ago, but it's nothing compared to the money he lost by losing the contract. It's just a useless temper tantrum. Although in this case, it's not so useless. Lex also knocked a plant over, and when he picks it up he sees a listening device attached to it. His office is bugged. He runs round his office, smashing things and ripping things off the wall, and he finds several bugs.

In the podcast Michael Rosenbaum complains about this scene. He says it's out of character for Lex Luthor to lose his temper, because he's always perfectly calm. I disagree. A person who's calm might just be suppressing his anger, so the longer he's calm the more violent his eventual outburst will be. I've been a calm person all my life, but I remember that when I was at school I meditated in order to remain calm. When I was 21 my mother left home, and I snapped. I smashed my bedroom window with a lamp. That was the anger that I'd been keeping pent up for years. Was it out of character? So it might seem to an onlooker, but the anger had been inside me for years, so it was part of my true character. I've never had an outburst like this since. Is it possible that it'll happen again? I don't know. It would have to be something extreme to push me so far. I don't meditate any more; calmness has become part of my personality.

When he's cooled down, Lex takes revenge in the Luthor fashion. He hires a company to plant bugs in Lionel Luthor's office in Luthorcorp, on a Sunday when the office is closed. On this very Sunday, his father is visiting the office with Martha Kent. This causes arguments in the Kent household. It's Jonathan and Martha's wedding anniversary, but Martha says she has to go because it's important business. At Luthorcorp Lionel offers Martha her own office, which she thankfully declines, because it's too far from home.

He proceeds to hand Martha a wristwatch. I have no idea what brand it is, but it looks very valuable. I thought companies only give their employees a watch like this when they retire.

But look at the inscription on the back. It looks like a romantic gift.

Martha doesn't want the gift, but Lionel tries to win her over with his charm, gently caressing her hands. Today that would be called sexual harassment, but Lionel gets away with it. She gently but firmly turns him down, even when he appeals to her intellect by saying she's a woman whose abilities are wasted on a farm.

The company planting the bugs is already in Luthorcorp. Clark visits Lex and tells him that Lionel and Martha are in the building, so Lex rings the company and tells them to leave immediately. It's a four man task force. The group's leader is a professional, as far as industrial spies can be professional. He tells his team they have to pack up and leave. But they rebel against him. They say that they didn't just come to Luthorcorp to plant bugs. They're in the office of one of the richest men in America, so they want to rob him. They begin to burn open the safe, while one of them is searching the building. He finds Lionel and Martha and brings them to the others.

Lionel calls the police with a panic button. It's what every blind man needs. This doesn't stop them. They continue to work on the safe even as they hear the police sirens below. They have Lionel Luthor as a hostage, so they feel confident they'll win riches beyond measure.

Finally they break into the safe. You can see the disappointment on their faces. Lionel had told them they wouldn't find anything of value, but they didn't believe him. There's no money, and there are no jewels.

All they find are piles of bars with a green glow. Evidently Lionel has been gathering and refining the meteor rocks. Why? At this point of time he had no way of knowing what they could do. He probably had a feeling they might be considered valuable one day, so he collected them in advance. Naturally, the robbers consider them to be worthless junk.

There are a pile of files in the safe. The robbers throw them on the floor in frustration. Martha notices that the top file is about her son. How long has Lionel been investigating him?

The safe also contains the octagonal piece of metal that was first found by Dr. Hamilton in the episode "Obscura". It's changed hands a few times. I didn't realise that Lionel Luthor now has it. The robbers ask Lionel what it is, but he's blind and can't see what they're holding in front of him. Martha knows exactly what it is; it's the key to the spaceship that brought Clark to Earth. She plays dumb and just says it's an octagonal piece of metal, which was already obvious to everyone. Lionel says that it's a worthless keepsake, but the ringleader Pine puts it in his pocket.

Clark super-speeds his way to Metropolis. He sees a way into the Luthorcorp building, but before he can use it he's stopped by Lieutenant Maggie Sawyer. She tells him to leave the operation to the police, because any intervention by civilians could lead to the hostages being shot. Clark sees another possibility. He can leap from the top of the adjacent Daily Planet building onto (or into) the Luthorcorp building. He's never attempted a jump like that before, but it's worth the try to save his mother.

Meanwhile, Lex is on the phone with Pine. He asks about the contents of the safe. When Pine mentions the octagon, Lex tells Pine there's a secret elevator down to a tunnel that leads to a garage three blocks away. He'll pay a million dollars for the contents of the safe. Lionel overhears the conversation, but doesn't recognise Lex, because he's speaking through a voice box and calling himself Mr. Green. Lionel doubles the offer. Pine accepts Lionel's offer, because he knows who Lionel Luthor is, but he doesn't know who the anonymous person on the other end of the phone is. I'm sure that Lionel suspects Lex by this point, but he doesn't make any accusations.

Clark breaks in, but he collapses when he's near the meteor rocks. Martha pushes the trolley with the rocks back into safe. Clark easily overcomes the gang members. Lionel shoots Pine dead. It's a good shot for a blind man. Martha whispers to Clark that he should set the files on fire. Whatever Lionel has written about Clark, nobody should be allowed to read it.

When the police break in, Maggie is surprised to see Clark, but she doesn't say anything. I really like Maggie. She's a strong, no-nonsense woman. She doesn't even let herself be intimidated by Lex Luthor. In the comics she's a lesbian, but that wasn't possible in "Smallville". Television wasn't as progressive as comics 20 years ago.

In the confusion, Martha takes the octagonal piece of metal. She takes it home and hides it in a tin of flour, not telling anyone about it, not even her husband.

Martha no longer trusts Lionel, now that she knows he's been doing research about Clark. She even suspects that he only hired her to find out more about Clark, but I doubt that's the case. Lionel truly respects her intelligence and business sense, and it looks like he wants more from her. She wants to resign, but Jonathan tells her to continue working for Lionel so she can find out just how much he knows about Clark.

There's no guest star on the podcast this week, but Al Gough is on the phone with Michael for six minutes. He watches the podcast every week, just like me. There's a question whether Smallville is named after the family of Henry Small, Lana Lang's biological father. Al doesn't directly answer the question, but he says that he originally intended Henry's ancestor to be one of Smallville's founding fathers. He never followed it up.

Two weeks ago it was Tom. This week Michael says he watched the episode on his phone. Tom tells Michael that "Smallville" was made to be watched on a large screen. Isn't that the pot calling the kettle green?

There was some discussion as to whether Lionel Luthor is really blind. It seems so, even though he managed a perfect shot against Pine. Judging by his acting, I'd say he's still blind, though it's possible that his sight is gradually returning. Maybe he can see light and shadows.

This is a really good episode. After watching it I thought to myself, "If Michael Rosenbaum shits on this episode I'll write and complain". I needn't have worried. He gave "Insurgence" the highest rose'n'bomb rating since the pilot. I think that "Insurgence" is better than the pilot, but that's just my personal opinion.

And there are half price lattes in the Talon this week. I'll drink two!

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Marvel 1975.11 - Daredevil #127

Daredevil #127

Title: You killed that man, Torpedo!

Writer: Marv Wolfman

Artist: Bob Brown

Villain: Torpedo

Regulars: Foggy Nelson, Heather

The comic begins with Daredevil accusing the man in the Torpedo costume of murdering the man lying on the ground, although the dead man is actually the Torpedo and the man in the costume is the insurance agent Brock Jones. It's an easy mistake to make. But let's call Brock Jones the Torpedo, because that's who he is now.

Daredevil refuses to listen to the Torpedo's claims of innocence, so he knocks Daredevil to the ground and flies away. The police are already present, and they're joined by District Attorney Foggy Nelson. Foggy tells Daredevil that he should remain to answer a few questions, but Daredevil refuses and runs away, swinging on his billy club.

When Matt Murdock returns to his apartment the television is on. It's Heather, the girl Matt met yesterday. Is it his red hair or the dimple in his chin or does she have a thing for blind men? She can't keep her hands off him. She pulls him into her arms and kisses him. It's a welcome distraction when the phone rings. Foggy wants to offload his problems onto Matt. He also wants Matt to work as the DA's assistant, at least temporarily.

A good artist can add details with a few subtle lines in a small panel which might not be immediately apparent. Look at the creases in the front of Matt's brown trousers. There's something hard in his trousers, and I don't think it's his billy club.

Meanwhile, the (new) Torpedo is in his office at Delmar Insurance wondering what to do next. Speaking to himself, he says that it's his responsibility to save the world. So what did the (old) Torpedo whisper to him last issue? He flies out of the window until he arrives in Westchester and breaks into a large mansion. For those who don't know about American geography, it's about 20 miles away from lower Manhattan.

Matt Murdock is meeting with Foggy Nelson and the police. They tell him that the dead man is a Russian scientist living in the USA. The safe deposit box opened in the bank belonged to the scientist's brother. The plot thickens. Then the news comes in about the break-in in Westchester. This gives Matt an opportunity to slip away and change into his Daredevil costume. He swings through the skyscrapers to Westchester. Or lack of skyscrapers, because Westchester doesn't have as many large buildings as Manhattan. Daredevil still arrives in 15 minutes, which is amazingly fast. Maybe he hitched a ride on the back of an Amtrak.

Daredevil and the Torpedo battle in the large mansion, which is deserted. The Torpedo explains what's happening while they're fighting, but Daredevil doesn't believe him. The original Torpedo was a  Russian scientist. That should have been enough to make Daredevil stop and talk, because it agrees with what the police told him. But Daredevil is having too much fun fighting. It helps him get his mind off Natasha and the touchy-feely girl in his apartment.

The scientist wanted to emigrate to the USA, but it was only allowed if he first designed a super-suit to rival Iron Man's armour. When he arrived in America, he met his family, and he realised that they were insane. That's the word the Torpedo uses, but what he means is that they're loyal Communists. He knew that his brother had a second set of plans for the suit in his bank safe deposit box, so he broke in to steal them. He suspects that his family, who live in the large Westchester mansion, might have a third set of plans, so he asked Brock to search the mansion. That's what he was doing when Daredevil so rudely interrupted him.

Daredevil leaves the mansion, making some cryptic comments. I hope they'll be explained next issue.

"You had me going there for a while. I almost bought your story. But not now, because I just remembered who owns that place you wrecked. And there's no way on Earth he can be tied up with something as screwy as your world conquest scheme".

Interesting. So who exactly owns the mansion? Daredevil knows, but we don't.

The Torpedo speeds away to find the family who live in the mansion. Daredevil stops him. They fall through the door of a small suburban house. They continue their fight in the living room and the kitchen, smashing everything around them while continuing their carefree banter. They don't even notice the husband and wife and their small son Kenny cowering in the corner.

They don't stop until the woman screams at them. I sure hope their home insurance covers damage by super-heroes.

Torpedo flies away. Daredevil walks away. They're both in a daze, realising what they've done.

This is another brilliant story by Marv Wolfman. I remember when I first read it 48 years ago. It's another comic that makes me say Wow.

Seneca (5 Stars)

I visited the premiere of "Seneca" in Stuttgart last week. Unfortunately, it was shown dubbed into German. Today I went to see the film in its original English version. I'm glad I did so. Within the first ten minutes I'd already decided to give it a higher rating than last time. The dubbing was good, but it wasn't John Malkovich's voice. He has one of the most distinctive voices in Hollywood. Apart from this, it was good to hear Tom Xander's real voice as Nero. He's an actor I've never seen before, but Tom's voice has a manic quality missing in the voice actor, however skilled he is.

One of the things that I like about the Roman Empire, at least in the time when the film takes place, is that the Romans were so pedantic with their records. We know exactly who said what and when. Seneca died just as his death is portrayed in the film. Even the difficulties with his suicide attempts, which seem like they were included for comic relief, are based on the books of contemporary Roman historians. At the premiere the director Robert Schwentke cited Tacitus as his source for Seneca's veins not bleeding out when he cut them.

I'd never heard of Lucius Annaeus Seneca before seeing this film. He was never mentioned when I studied Roman history in school. Supposedly he was one of the most prolific writers of his day. His writings were popular in Europe 400 years ago, but now they've been widely forgotten. Forgotten but not lost. Anyone who's interested can find them in libraries.

The film has some violent scenes. When the two slave boys were being hacked into pieces, two people in my row left the room. It's not for everyone, but really, there are much worse films.

The film's anachronisms are amusing. When I first saw Nero wearing dark glasses I thought the director had made a mistake, but a few minutes later Nero is shown playing an electric guitar.

This is a brilliant film. It's almost certain to find a place in my top 10 list for 2023.

Marvel 1975.10 - Daredevil #126

Daredevil #126

Title: Flight of the Torpedo!

Writer: Marv Wolfman

Artist: Bob Brown

Villain: Torpedo

Regulars: Foggy Nelson, Heather

Sometimes you read a comic, and you think it's a normal action comic like any other. I'm not saying that as a criticism. I like comics with a lot of action. But then, at the end of the comic something happens that makes you say Wow. That's what Marv Wolfman has achieved in this issue. He's one of my favourite Marvel writers, definitely in my top 10, but maybe he should be in my top five. Let me think it over.

Daredevil is swinging through New York City, showing off as usual. He stops to listen to Foggy Nelson giving a campaign speech. He's shouted down by a heckler who says that his fiancée Deborah Harris was a convicted criminal. Evidently it's someone who doesn't understand that criminals can reform, but the heckling is enough to disrupt Foggy's speech.

Brock Jones is a former star quarterback who's now the vice-president of an insurance company. He's sad that everyone has forgotten him, and he wishes he could be a hero. On the way home he sees a child walking into the path of a car. He instinctively rushes to save the child, but Daredevil swings down and saves the child first, telling the man to leave heroics to the professionals. Those are words that Stan Lee would never have put into Daredevil's mouth.

A flying man in a blue costume breaks into the Washington Reserve Bank. He steals something from safe deposit box 136 and leaves. The news report says that the police are puzzled. There were valuable jewels in the box that the thief left behind.

Matt Murdock is trying to sleep, but he's woken by loud noises outside. While he's getting dressed, a pretty girl called Heather enters his apartment. She says that her ex-boyfriend Franky used to live in the apartment, and she came to visit him using the spare key he'd given her. She leaves, but she forgets to give back the spare key.

The noise in the street is the police trying to catch the flying man in blue. Daredevil catches up with him and the two fight. He says his name is the Torpedo, but Daredevil reminds him that there's already a villain with that name. Or maybe Daredevil forgot that he died in Daredevil #59, six years ago. Besides, the (new) Torpedo says that he isn't a criminal. Daredevil isn't convinced.

The fight is taking place outside Brock Jones' apartment. Brock still wants to be a good citizen and help, so he rushes downstairs. The Torpedo hits a wall, and the building collapses on both of them. Daredevil is knocked unconscious, while the Torpedo is still awake but close to death. Brock arrives and pulls the Torpedo out of the rubble. The Torpedo whispers something to Brock about an important mission. The Torpedo dies, and Brock vows to complete the mission. He puts on the Torpedo's costume.

Daredevil wakes up as the police arrive. He points at the man wearing the Torpedo's costume and says that he's a murderer, not realising that it's the Torpedo who's dead.

Wow!

An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn (2 Stars)

When I watched this film at the Fantasy Film Festival five years ago I was totally confused. It's such a weird film that I refused to rate it, which is something I rarely do. Out of the 4300 films I've written about in my blog, I've only declined to give four a rating. That's less than 0.1%. (I'm not including "The Amazing Maurice", which I didn't rate because I was too tired to pay attention). Today I finally decided to watch it again.

Lulu Danger is torn between two men that she loves, and she's married to a third. The first is a man she had an affair with two years ago, Beverly Luff Linn. He left her by pretending to be dead. That's nasty. He went swimming in the ocean, then hid behind a rock, and he let everyone think he'd drowned. Now he's back in town to perform a concert at a hotel, and she's determined to see him again.

The other man is Colin. She's drawn to him because he lives a life of danger, but she doesn't get too close when she finds that he's a socially awkward virgin. Her husband Shane has robbed her brother's store, wearing a blond wig as a disguise, but he was recognised. So her brother hired Colin to break into Shane's house and steal the money back. Lulu falls for Colin and runs away with him, saying they should keep the money for themselves. They hide in the hotel where Beverly is due to perform and wait for the evening of the concert.

But there are complications. Beverly is now in a homosexual relationship with a fellow performer. Colin wants to make himself more appealing to Lulu by losing his virginity, but when he boasts about having sex with a prostitute in the hotel basement it has the opposite effect.

What annoys me most about the film is Beverly's speech impediment. He can't speak, he only grunts, except for when he's singing on stage. Is that supposed to be funny? It's worse than someone who can only say "I am Groot".

I realise that I'm in the minority by not liking it. The film received loud applause at the Fantasy Film Festival. I don't understand why. Please, if any of my readers like the film, please leave a comment telling me what's good about it.

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Marvel 1975.09 - Daredevil #125

Daredevil #125

Title: Vengeance is the Copperhead!

Writer: Marv Wolfman

Artist: Bob Brown

Villain: Copperhead

Regulars: Foggy Nelson

Daredevil is dead, killed by Copperhead's dart gun? That's what Copperhead thinks when he places coins on Daredevil's eyes and walks away. But he's wrong, fortunately. Daredevil is only playing dead. Unseen by Copperhead, he blocked the darts with his billy club at the last moment.

Foggy Nelson's campaign for re-election as district attorney isn't going well. His rival Blake Tower has paid for television spots that ridicule Foggy. Blake doesn't just look good, he plays dirty.

Copperhead isn't just killing random hoodlums in the street. He's stalking everyone connected with the 1930's Copperhead pulp novels. That includes the publisher of the books and the man responsible for the modern reprints.

It turns out that Copperhead is the son of the man who wrote the Copperhead novels in the 1930's. He's taking revenge for his father remaining poor all his life. Daredevil finds him standing at his father's grave. Copperhead is about to shoot Daredevil, when his metal suit is struck by lightning. He collapses dead into an open grave.

I like this story, apart from the hissing when Copperhead speaks. It looks silly when every letter S is tripled. I found it amusing for the first two pages, but after that I found it stupid. Or should I say ssstupid?

Brain Leeches (4 Stars)

This is a short film made by Fred Olen Ray in 1977. In fact, it's his first film. It was made a year before "The Alien Dead", his first full length feature film. Unlike "Alien Dead", it was never intended to be shown to anyone. It was a hobby project while he was working as an engineer at a television studio in Florida. In the commentary track, recorded in 2017, he says that he'd never watched the film all the way through. That's so difficult for me to believe. If I ever made a film, however amateurish, I'd watch it over and over again, because it's MINE. The commentary track is just Fred talking into the microphone. He's not being interviewed by anyone. That's a shame. I'm sure that a journalist or hardcore Fred Olen Ray fan would have quizzed him on these statements.

I'm surprised that the film is so good, compared to "Alien Dead". The acting is better, and the story is better told. I loved the pompous musical score as soon as it started, but Fred explained it in his commentary. He couldn't afford film music, so he played a vinyl recording of "Pictures at an Exhibition". He just played the record from beginning to end, making no attempt to synchronise the film action with the music. Considering this, it's amazing that it sounds so good.

I call the film good, but I'm not referring to the picture quality. The film is badly preserved. Possibly the original cinematography was poor, but the state of the film material is so bad that it's impossible to tell.

For instance, this is the only scene in which we see the alien creatures in their natural form.

Which brings me to the plot. The Earth is visited by creatures from another planet. They've been observing the Earth for some time, and they have pity with humans. We're so unhappy, and we have poverty and war. The aliens want to cure our problems by possessing every human on Earth. Instant happiness!

This is what people look like when they're possessed by the aliens.

Those who're possessed wear dark sunglasses to help them blend in. But does that baby really blend in? Hardly. The baby is played by Christopher Olen Ray, Fred's son, who's now a film director in his own right.

Fred's biggest regret is that he didn't persuade the actress Marcia Scott to appear topless. She had large breasts, and in the scene where she was running away from possessed humans she wasn't wearing a bra. Or so he says. I watched the scene twice, and the fuzzy picture makes it difficult to see exactly what's bouncing. Fred made up for it in later years. He's made many films with topless actresses like Beverly Lynne and Christine Nguyen.

Fred evidently doesn't like the film. At the end of his commentary track he says, "If you sat through this, it serves you right". I don't think it's that bad at all. Despite the fuzzy picture.

The film was a financial success. Fred says that it cost him $298 to make, and he sold the original print for $1800. I'm glad he kept a copy for himself, or I could never have watched this curious little film on Blu-ray today.

Marvel 1975.08 - Daredevil #124

Daredevil #124

Title: In the Coils of the Copperhead!

Writer: Len Wein, Marv Wolfman

Artist: Gene Colan

Villain: Copperhead

Regulars: Black Widow, Ivan, Foggy Nelson

This comic is the end of an era. The Black Widow has been appearing in Daredevil's comics since Daredevil #81, and they've been in a romantic relationship since Daredevil #84. I've always been critical of Gerry Conway's run in Daredevil (Daredevil #72 to #99), but the romance between Daredevil and Black Widow was a great achievement. The comic was even renamed "Daredevil and the Black Widow" from issues #92 to #107. Starting in issue #92 the Black Widow's picture appeared on the cover, in the top right, and this continued even after the series reverted to its original name in Daredevil #108. An exception was Daredevil #111, in which Shanna the She-Devil was shown on the cover, but this was a glitch, probably a joke by Steve Gerber. Their relationship has been on-off ever since Daredevil #100 – the issue Gerry Conway left – but Daredevil #124 is the issue in which they finally break up. It's the last issue in which her picture appears on the cover.

It's a strange break-up. Natasha claims to love Matt, but she leaves him anyway. Her reasons are simple. She's an independent woman, and she doesn't want to be dependent on a man. When they first met, she was wealthy. Now she's poor, probably due to bad budgeting, and she doesn't want Matt to support her. She'd rather sleep in the back of her car than in his New York apartment. She also feels out-classed by him when she's in action. He's a better fighter than she is, and she doesn't want to be his sidekick. Her career as a crime fighter is more important than her romance.

But I can say one thing from my own experiences with women: If a woman ever says, "When I've found whatever I'm looking for, I'll be back, I promise I'll be back", one thing is certain: she won't be back. That was my prediction when I read this comic, and today, 48 years later, she still hasn't come back. I'm not saying she was just making excuses when she left him. She really meant it. What I'm saying is that a woman who says she loves her career more than she loves a man doesn't really love him at all.

I wonder what would have happened if Gerry Conway had remained as the writer. Would he have kept them together? And I also wonder at what level in Marvel the decision was made to separate the couple. Steve Gerber's issues with an on-off romance were bittersweet, and it could have continued like that for years. The break-up story was written by Len Wein, who was Marvel's editor-in-chief at the time. So it was an editorial decision? I don't know. It would be interesting to hear an interview with one of the writers about the relationship.

According to the credits, the first half of this issue was written by Len Wein, the second half by Marv Wolfman. It says pages 1 to 14 and 15 to 31 respectively, but we have to remember that Marvel always numbered their pages including the advertisements. It's an 18-page story, and Len Wein wrote the first nine pages, which is exactly half. In the last issue Len announced that he'd be taking over as the new writer for Daredevil, but he gave up after only half an issue. My guess is that he was over-worked. I'm no expert in the comics business, but I believe that being an editor is a lot of hard work. Roy Thomas was one of Marvel's most prolific writers, but when he became the editor in 1972 his output slowed down. In the 1970's the editors were frequently changed. Six different editors from 1972 to 1978. Despite reading about it, I've never been able to understand why. Len Wein was editor from 1974 to 1975. At the time he was the writer for "The Incredible Hulk". He was probably overworked and unable to find time for another monthly title like "Daredevil".

As is well known, Marvel separated the writer's job into two halves. The writer wrote the story's plot, then the artist drew the comic, after which the writer wrote the dialogue itself. My assumption is that Len Wein plotted the whole issue, and only the dialogue was split between the two. There's a noticeable difference between the two halves, maybe because of the different subject matter, but it could be because of the different writers. In the second half Daredevil is back to his joking self, which was strongest in the first 71 issues.

Now to the story itself. After the Black Widow leaves town, Matt Murdock visits his good friend, District Attorney Foggy Nelson. Maybe he shouldn't have turned down the job at SHIELD last issue, because now he's panicking about being re-elected. There's a rival candidate who has no political experience but much better looks. As I've often said, it's a weakness of democracy that votes are cast based on feelings, not on the skills of the candidates. I'm not going to name any examples, but think back to all the politicians who were unjustly elected in your lifetime.

There's a new vigilante in town called Copperhead. If he sees someone committing a crime he sentences him to death, however trivial the crime might be. For instance, stealing a woman's purse is wrong, but does the thief deserve to die?

Matt hears about Copperhead and remembers that he was the hero in pulp fiction novels from the 1930's. He visits the author's home address as Daredevil, and he's told that he was murdered a week previously. A short time later Daredevil sees two gangs fighting. Not knowing what's going on, Daredevil sides with the underdogs. Copperhead arrives and starts killing. Daredevil fights Copperhead to protect them, but he's knocked out. Copperhead prepares to shoot Daredevil.

Richard the Stork and the Mystery of the Great Jewel (2 Stars)

That's Richard in the top right. What's that you're saying? He doesn't look like a stork? That depends on your definition. He's a sparrow who was adopted by a family of storks. Similarly, if a German were adopted by an English family, would that make him English? Probably. If a cat were adopted by a dog, would that make him a dog? Probably not. We need to make up our minds from case to case. In this film, Richard is a stork because the title says so.

The film is a sequel to "Richard the Stork", which was released in 2017. I didn't see the first film, but I didn't feel I was unable to understand anything. From what I've read, the first film showed how he came to be adopted.

The stork family lives in Africa, and they're preparing to migrate north in the summer. I have no knowledge of storks and their migration habits, so I'll just accept it. The storks have a contest to decide which of them is most suitable to lead the flock northwards. Richard wins the contest as the fastest bird, but the elders make Richard's brother Max the leader because he looks like a stork. That's discrimination based on appearance and race. I wonder how many children in the cinema picked up this message. Max is sympathetic and agrees that Richard should have been chosen, but it's not his decision to make.

Richard is in a bad mood, so he flies off by himself. He intends to return soon, but he meets another group of birds, friends of mixed species. They're captured by an evil peacock called Zamano, who holds one of the group hostage until the others find a giant jewel. Richard is a natural leader and takes the other birds on the treasure hunt.

I could say a lot more about the plot, but I'll stop there. The cinema was almost sold out, full of young children with their parents. The film has an age certificate of 0, i.e. children of any age can watch it, but the cinema has a (sensible) policy that they only admit children who're at least three years old. Looking round the room, most of the children were aged five to ten, but there were quite a lot of very young children.

"Richard the Stork 2" (shortening the title) highlights a problem with age ratings. Germany's categories are 0, 6, 12, 16 and 18. "Richard the Stork 2" was given the lowest rating because there's nothing harmful for small children. But is it really suitable for very young children? Based on the audience reaction, I'd say No. In the opening scenes there was a lot of laughter as the storks raced. When the treasure hunt started the laughter stopped. At times I noticed a lot of talking in the audience. The children were getting bored. My grandson Oliver is seven, but carefully phrased questions after the film convinced me that he didn't understand what had happened. The dialogue was too fast and too hectic. The plot was too complex. There was a plot twist at the end, and I groaned inwardly. How could the children possibly understand what was happening? If it had been up to me, I would have recommended the film for ages 12 and above.

This is an example of a badly made children's film.

Marvel 1975.07 - Daredevil #123

Daredevil #123

Title: Holocaust in the Halls of Hydra!

Writer: Tony Isabella

Artist: Bob Brown

Villain: Hydra, Silvermane, Blackwing, El Jaguar, Man-Killer, Dreadnought, Mentallo, Jackhammer

Regulars: Black Widow, Ivan, Foggy Nelson

Guests: Nick Fury, Dum Dum Dugan, Countess Valentina

Flashbacks: Circus of Crime (Ringmaster, Princess Python, Great Gambonnos)

This is a very different Hydra to the group that was invented by Stan Lee in the 1960's. The original group was made up of normal villains, made terrifying merely by their large numbers. Tony Isabella's Hydra is led by powerful super-villains.

The story begins with Black Widow sneaking up on Blackwing while he's talking to his father Silvermane on a computer screen. Man-Killer hits her from behind and knocks her out.

Nick Fury is tired of waiting for a large SHIELD task force to arrive. He heads to Shea Stadium accompanied only by Dum Dum Dugan and Countess Valentina.

Daredevil and Black Widow wake up in a room with Silvermane, Blackwing, El Jaguar, Man-Killer, Dreadnought and Mentallo. It looks like a super-villains convention. Silvermane explains how he returned from his seeming death in Amazing Spider-Man #75. His serum of eternal youth made him regress into nothingness, but he snapped back to the prime of his life like a rubber band.

Blackwing also explains why he was a member of the Circus of Crime in Daredevil #118. The Circus was too close to Hydra's headquarters below Shea Stadium, so Blackwing joined them to distract them from accidentally discovering the Hydra headquarters. That makes sense.

Silvermane says that Hydra has no interest in Foggy Nelson himself. He's just bait to lure Nick Fury into a trap. He sees Nick and his top agents on his security cameras, and he destroys them with explosives. Or so he thinks. They were actually LMD's (Life Model Decoys).

Foggy Nelson bursts into action, freeing Daredevil and Black Widow. At that moment the real Nick Fury, Dum Dum and Countess Valentina arrive. Hydra is backed up by the arrival of yet another super-villain, Jackhammer. Come on, Tony, enough's enough! A fight breaks out, which Hydra loses. It lasts four pages, but I'm not going to describe it panel for panel! Silvermane and Blackwing flee. SHIELD takes the others prisoners.

Nick Fury repeats his offer of membership in SHIELD to Foggy Nelson. Foggy declines.