Boys on submerged, open roads hate cephalopods

Suggested by Shad Daly.

Short, virile men hate cephalopods

[Submitted by mermaid-fan extraordinaire Shad Daly]

Treasure Divers hate cephalopods

[Pulp Covers]

Captain Nemo hates cephalopods (No. 243)

By Carson Ellis. [Hark! A Vagrant]

Deep sea divers still hate cephalopods

While Michael's in San Diego for the Big Show, it's Cephalopod Week at the Adventureblog!



[By Richard Sala]

Captain Wallace Casewell Jr hates cephalopods

[Wrong Side of the Art]

Terra Nova cancelled, Tarzan arrested, and other news

Seems like a lot of cool/interesting stuff happened this week. Let's recap.

Terra Nova cancelled

• FOX announced that there would be no second season for Terra Nova, at least not on their network. The show was a modest ratings success, but not the blockbuster hit it needed to be to justify its expense. It never came together well creatively either. FOX was trying to figure out how to tweak a potential second season, but gave up.
  
  I'm not a fan of the mediocre relationship drama of the show - especially the way it sidelines the dinosaurs - but my son likes it pretty well and I've heard from other fans who are disappointed by this news. There may be a glimmer of hope for those folks. Though nothing's been signed yet, Netflix is thinking about picking it up.

My new favorite Tarzan movie

• Over at  Flick Attack, I reviewed Tarzan and the Valley of Gold.

MIT Certificates of Piracy

• The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has had a secret pirate program this whole time.

Ron Ely Tarzan series on DVD

• Finally! When I was growing up, this was my Tarzan. [Atomic Pulp]

Kickstart an ERB documentary

• Filmmaker Mark Linthicum is hoping to crowdsource a film exploring the life, imagination, and legacy of Edgar Rice Burroughs.

James Cameron's 3D underwater documentary

• The Titanic filmmaker already has co-funding for his trip to the deepest part of the Mariana Trench and Deepsea Challenge, the film documenting it.

Tarzan arrested for keeping tigers

• Steve Sipek (aka Steve Hawkes) starred in a couple of Spanish/Italian Tarzan films in 1969 and 1972. It was during the filming of the second of these, Tarzan and the Brown Prince that something amazing happened. According to The Wild Eye:

During the shooting of a scene in which Tarzan had been tied down to be tortured, some spilled fuel ignited. The crew scattered, leaving Sipek tethered to two iron stakes at the centre of the flames. Tied to his arm on the end of a long rope was Sampson, a lion trained to rush to his rescue and rip off the restraints when given the cue.

“As the fire came towards me, I pulled hard on the rope and Sampson came charging in,” recalls Sipek. “He pulled off the rope and dragged me out and my life changed for ever. I said that if I lived, I would care for any animal that needed me.”

Sipek kept that promise and opened an animal sanctuary called Jungleworld in Florida. He and his animals were in the news several years ago when one of his tigers escaped and was killed by a wildlife officer. The Daily Mail reports that Florida wildlife officials began looking into Sipek's sanctuary again this past October and after a lengthy investigation determined that Sipek didn't have the proper licenses or training to keep his animals and that the compound was a threat to public safety. He was arrested on misdemeanor charges.

RIP Disney songwriter Robert B Sherman

• He wrote the songs for The Jungle Book along with many other Disney movies from that era. He passed away on Monday at the age of 86.

Lots of cool projects coming

• David Gallaher and Steve Ellis (High Moon) are trying to Kickstart The Only Living Boy, a four-volume series of 50-page comics "inspired by pulp adventure novels[...]like John Carter, Tarzan, Flash Gordon, Killraven, and the Jungle Book." [Robot 6]
• Jeff Lemire (Animal Man, Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE) will have a new graphic novel in August about an expectant father who encounters something strange deep in the sea. Top Shelf describes The Underwater Welder as "equal parts blue-collar character study and mind-bending science fiction epic."
• How did I not know about a 380-page graphic novel about a cowgirl who wears a yellow string-bikini? Bikini Cowboy has been out since last fall and I'm just now getting it.

The Arctic Marauder

I'll have to forgive you if you hear the description of Jacques Tardi's The Arctic Marauder and think that it's a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea rip-off. After all, it does have ships that mysteriously blow up as eerie lights shine below the ocean surface.



And the destruction does end up being caused by the anti-social crew of a submersible, who do occasionally like to go for walkabouts on the ocean floor.



But The Arctic Marauder doesn't steal from 20,000 Leauges so much as improve on it. After all, Nemo's crew never traveled like this:



The Arctic Marauder takes out all of Verne's boring travelogue stuff and replaces it with awesome. The Marauder is also the name of the villains' seacraft and it's even more cool than the Nautilus. And rather than just being withdrawn from society like Nemo, the Marauder's captain is a full-blown whackadoo who wants to destroy the world.



There's also this creepy, old bat to complicate things in the best possible way.



And of course there's some good, old-fashioned cephalopod hating.



While not exactly a cliff-hanger, the ending does necessitate a sequel, so the lack of closure is the only negative comment I can make about this thing. Even then, though, there's a way of reading it where the book says everything it needs to. Still, I hope Tardi's working on the follow-up right this very minute, because I want a lot more of this.

Captain Cutler Hates Cephalopods

[Admiral Cal] [Captain Cutler]

Island Intelligence: Aquawar

I'm abandoning the "Awesome List" title for news round-ups. Sometimes stuff isn't awesome, but I want to talk about it anyway (see: the way DC's handling its Aquawar storyline).



Comics

*A collection of Aquaman "splash" pages (get it?) by Jim Aparo. [Diversions of the Groovy Kind]

*DC teases some of its Aquawar storyline coming up in Brightest Day. I've been easing back into periodical comics after abandoning them for a year and I'd love for Aquaman's story to be one of the ones I can read as it comes out. Unfortunately, since it's part of Brightest Day, the only way I can read it is to endure the stories of a bunch of other characters I don't care anything about. That's not something I'm willing to do. I'll have to continue to keep up via The Aquaman Shrine's excellent summaries. [The Source]

*Greg McElhatton reviews Marineman #s 1 and 2. [Read About Comics]

Movies

*Marvel's working on a Black Panther movie. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Miscellaneous

*An undersea hunter in Indonesia is able to hold his breath for five minutes and stalk his prey on the ocean floor. It would be unbelievable, except that there's footage. [Awesome Robot!]

*If the T-shirt he wears on stage is any indication, the lead singer of The Kickback is an Alpha Flight fan. The band also has a song called "Alpha Filght." I need to listen to some Kickback, I'm thinking. [You Ain't No Picasso]

*Project: Rooftop, Warren Ellis, Superhero Cocoa, and Superhero of the Month are banding together to ask artists to redesign Aquaman. [Project: Rooftop]

The Awesome List: Stop that Ocean-Monster!

The One Piece Restaurant



There's a theme restaurant inspired by the popular pirate manga/anime One Piece. Unfortunately, it's only in Japan. Topless Robot has the lament.

David Fincher confirmed for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea



It's old news that Disney and David Fincher have been developing a 20,000 Leagues movie together, but the update is that it's now official.

Liquid Air Diving Suit



Remember the Fluid Breathing System that Ed Harris used in The Abyss? It's real.

Super-Merman



Siskoid can tell you all about it.

Aquaman's not doing his rep any favors



Is there any wonder that Super Friends single-handedly started the Aquaman Sucks meme? [Blog into Mystery]

Other People's Art Shows



Shad's got a nice gallery of mermaid comic book covers.



Never Sea Land has one dedicated to outrigger canoes...



...and another chock full of oceany goodness from pirates to tall ships to sea life to...well, shark cars.

Pass the Comics: Those two freakish fish

Namora helps solve The Case of the Deep Sea Swindle



Namora and her famous cousin are sort of wasted in this adventure, because it all takes place on a boat. But it's still a fun espionage story with the most flamboyant, modern-day pirate you ever saw. [Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine]

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea to witness Monsters of the Moho



Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is always cool. [Gold Key Comics!]

Art Show: HULK SWEEP LEG!!!

Nola's Worlds



By MiniKim. [Robot 6]

Deep Water



By Jeremy Vanhoozer.

Sea Sketches



By Kyle Latino.

After the break: Karate Kid vs. the Hulk, Godzilla, a giant robot, spaceships, Star Wars, and Oz.

How to Make a BioShock Statue Out of a Tree

At least, this is how Jason Voorhees does it.

Pass the Comics: Sinbad, Conan, Deep Sea Spies, and More

I think I've finally stumbled onto a title for this feature. When my siblings and I were growing up, there was only ever one section of the newspaper we were interested in. "Pass the comics" was a common request in our house and I'm happy to pass these along to you.

The Captain's Quest



I don't know much about the characters of Zip and Li'l Bit, but their latest adventure takes place on a whaling ship. The webcomic just started and updates every Sunday. [By Trade Loeffler.]

K-51: Spies at War



I've shared this one before, but it popped back up on Golden Age Comic Book Stories again [you have to scroll down aways to get to this story] and it's one of my favorites. As the title suggests, it's not just tentacles that our hero has to deal with. It's also filthy Nazi deep sea divers.

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad



By John Buscema. [Hairy Green Eyeball 2]

The Castle of Otranto



I love a good Gothic Romance story. Unfortunately, a lot of them tend to be tortuously long and rambling novels, but Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto isn't one of those. It's short, sweet, and chock full of vengeful ghosts, floating skulls, secret passages, swooning damsels, heroic young men, and of course a dark, evil, mustache-twirling villain. The adaptation for Adventures into the Unknown isn't nearly as fun and atmospheric as the book, but it's wonderfully illustrated by Al Ulmer. [Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine]

Hour of the Dragon



The first part of Robert E Howard's Conan novel as adapted by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane. [Diversions of the Groovy Kind]

Escape from Planet Nowhere



Otis Frampton's giant robot webcomic has kicked off with a bang (and a couple of thooms).

The Awesome List: These plants are protecting the city

A potpourri of fantastic stuff I've found around the web...

I'll need some extra butter, please



"The Japanese Spider Crab has a body the size of a basketball and its legs can straddle a car."

Let me repeat that. Its legs... can straddle a car.

Bioshock 2 Trailer



Is awesome.

If you need another reason to be environmentally conscious...



[Giant Monsters Attack!]

Munsters and Addams



Golden Age Comic Book Stories has a cool collection of images from both.

Not enough city officials take vampire prevention seriously

Art Show: Me Tarzan

This is How They Getcha



Artist Unknown [Admiral Calvin]

Treehouse



Artist Unknown [Animation Backgrounds has a ton of cool background art from Disney's Tarzan.]

Tarzan and Jane



[Golden Age Comic Book Stories ran a fantastic post full of classic Hollywood romance for Valentine's Day. There's some Captain Blood in there too.]

T-Rex Love



By Mathieu Reynès.

Doctor No



By Michael Gilette (beware of music in that link). I know I've shared his fantastic Bond covers before, but they're always worth revisiting.

Batgirl



By Ted Naifeh.

Batman



By Victor Santos.

Alpha Flight



By John Byrne. [Giant-Size Marvel]

The Headless Horseman



By Francesco Francavilla.

Native Drums



By Genevieve Tsai.