Godspeed Comic Book Writer Steve Skeates

Comic book writer Steve Skeates, best known for co-creating Hawk and Dove, as well as a long run on Aquaman, died on March 30 2023 at the age of 80.

Steve Skeates was born on January 29 1943 in Rochester, New York. Growing up he was a fan of both humour magazines and comic books (although he preferred funny animals to superheroes). He attended Alfred University in Alfred, New York. It was as he was nearing graduation that Steve Skeates applied to the four major comic book companies. It was then in 1965 that he was hired as Stan Lee's assistant editor at Marvel Comics. He only lasted two weeks, as he was not particularly good at proofreading. Fortunately, while he was no longer an assistant editor, Stan Lee did give him some freelance writing assignments, including work on the Marvel Western titles Kid Colt Outlaw and Two-Gun Kid.

Steve Skeates then picked up work at Tower Comics, writing issues of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, Noman, and Undersea Agent. The late Sixties saw Mr. Skeates do considerable work at DC Comics, including his run on Aquaman as well as work on Date with Debbi, Debbi's Dates, and Spectre. He co-created Hawk and Dove with Steve Ditko and wrote four issues of their title. He also wrote for Charlton, writing on the titles Abbott & Costello, a back-up story featuring The Question in Blue Beetle, Charlton Premiere, The Gunfighters, the Thane of Bagarth back-up stories in Hercules, a Sarge Steel back-up in Judomaster, The Many Ghosts of Dr. Graves, Outlaws of the West, Fightin' 5 backup stories in Peacemaker, Secret Agent, and Timmy the Ghost.

The Seventies saw Steve Skeates also writing for multiple comic book companies. At DC Comics he wrote Adventure Comics, Blackhawk, DC Super Stars, The Flash, Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion, House of Mystery, House of Secrets, The Mighty Isis, Phantom Stranger, Plastic Man, Plop!, Secrets of Haunted House, Star Spangled War Stories, Super-Team Family, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, Teen Titans, Unknown Soldier, Weird Mystery Tales, Weird War Tales, Weird Western Tales, The Witching Hour, and World's Finest. He also worked on Marvel on the titles Chamber of Chills, Crazy Magazine, Journey into Mystery, Monsters Unleashed, Sub-Mariner, and What If...?. At Gold Key he wrote issues of The Twilight Zone, Underdog, and Yosemite Sam and Bugs Bunny. At Archie Comics he wrote on Red Circle Sorcery. He also did work at Warren Publishing (Creepy, Eerie, Vampirella) and Star Reach (Star Reach and Quack!).

Steve Skeates's work on comic books slowed in the Eighties, and late in the decade he took up bartending. He still did some work during the decade, including writing for DC (DC Graphic Novel, House of Mystery, Secrets of Haunted House) and Marvel (Bizarre Adventures, Crazy Magazine, Howard the Duck, Peter Porker the Spectacular Spider-Ham, Savage Sword of Conan, and Savage Tales). In the mid-Eighties he wrote episodes of the animated TV shows Transformers, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, and Jem.  In the late Eighties he also did a locally oriented newspaper strip in Upstate New York titled The Adventures of Stew Ben and Alec Gainey.

Since the Nineties Steven Skeates wrote for various companies. He wrote very nearly until his death.

One of the first comic books I ever read was one of the issues of Aquaman authored by Steve Skeates. To this day I don't think anyone wrote Aquaman as well as he did. Quite simply, he was one of the best writers to emerge from the Silver Age of comics. He was certainly versatile. While his first love was humour, during his career he wrote superhero comics, horror comics, Western comics, war comics, and more. There didn't seem to be a genre he could not write. What is more, he was able to take a character and do things with that character that no one else had ever considered. Indeed, Aquaman had spent most of his history as a back-up character in various titles before getting his own title in the Sixties. Steve Skeates took the character places he had never been before. Few comic book writers were ever as gifted as Steve Skeates.

"April Fool" by Soul Asylum

It has been chilly for April today and I am feeling the full brunt of my seasonal allergies. For that reason I will simply leave you with a song fitting the day, "April Fool" by Soul Asylum.

Rory Calhoun in Motel Hell (1980)

(This post is part of the Favorite Stars in B Movies Blogathon, hosted by Films From Beyond the Time Barrier)

"It takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Vincent's Fritters." Vincent Smith (Rory Calhoun)

In the Fifties Rory Calhoun was a star. He played secondary male leads in such films as I'd Climb the Highest Mountain (1951),  Meet Me After the Show (1951), and  River of No Return (1954). He was the male lead in  Rogue River (1951),  With a Song in My Heart (1952), and Way of the Gaucho (1952).  He even played Betty Grable's love interest in How to Marry A Millionaire (1953). He starred in and produced the Western television series The Texan. The Sixties saw Rory Calhoun appearing more frequently on television, as well as in B-movies. Among the B-movies in which Rory Calhoun appeared later in his career is Motel Hell (1980). The black comedy received mixed reviews from critics, but has since become a cult film.

In Motel Hell (1980), Rory Calhoun stars as Vincent Smith, the successful owner of a line of smoked meats, Farmer Vincent's Fritters, alongside his sister Ida (Nancy Smith). Vincent and Ida also operate a motel on their farm, Motel Hello. The "o" on the sign burned out long ago, so that it now reads "Motel Hell."Given this is a horror movie, people travelling roads nearby Motel Hello have a tendency to disappear. It is one of those disappearances that leads Sheriff Bruce Smith (Paul Linke), Vincent's younger brother, to learn the awful truth about the source of his brother's fritters.

Motel Hell was produced and written by Robert Jaffe and Steven-Charles Jaffe. The two brothers were the sons of literary agent Herb Jaffe, who handled such well known writers as  Paddy Chayefsky and Joseph Heller, among others. Robert Jaffe is an actor who had appeared in films as Fuzz (1972) and The Mechanic (1972). He was also one of the co-writers of the screenplay for Demon Seed (1977). Motel Hell would be the first screenplay ever written by Steven-Charles Jaffe, who had served as an associate producer on Demon Seed and Time After Time (1979). It would also be the first screenplay the two would co-write together. According to Steven-Charles Jaffe in an article on the film in Fangoria no. 9 (November 1980), the two brothers decided to write something together and thought of doing a horror movie. They had a working draft of the screenplay finished in four weeks.

While the screenplay for Motel Hell was completed in 1977, it would take some time for the Jaffe brothers to sell it. In the aforementioned Fangoria article, Stephen-Charles Jafee said that the script received two sorts of reactions from studios, "They either hated it or they thought it was the most bizarre script they'd ever read, but were afraid of it and delivered a polite rejection." United Artists was initially among the studios that "delivered a polite rejection." Fortunately, for the Jaffe brothers, there would be changes at United Artists. The studio contacted them and struck a production deal with them.

Motel Hell would be directed by English director Kevin Connor, who had already directed one horror film, the classic Amicus portmanteau film From Beyond the Grave (1974), as well as such movies as The Land That Time Forgot (1974) and At the Earth Core (1976). Kevin Connor had just migrated to Los Angeles when agent Bob Litman directed him to another agent who had received an enquiry for a director for the movie Motel Hell. Kevin Connor then visited United Artists where he showed From Beyond the Grave to the Jaffe brothers. The two loved From Beyond the Grave and so gave him a copy of the Motel Hell script to read. After having read the script, Kevin Connor agreed to direct Motel Hell so long as Robert and Steven-Charles Jaffe made it a black comedy and removed all unnecessary crudeness. The brothers agreed and Kevin Connor then directed Motel Hell.

Kevin Connor's first choice to play Farmer Vincent Smith was Harry Dean Stanton. Mr. Stanton turned the part down, and so the role went to Rory Calhoun. It would be Mr. Calhoun's first lead role in years. Nancy Parsons, who played Ida, had appeared in small parts in films as well as guest appearances on television. Today Paul Linke, who played Bruce, may be best known as Grossman on the TV show CHiPs. Before Motel Hell he had appeared in such films as Big Bad Mama (1974), The Strongest Man in the World (1975), and Grand Theft Auto (1977). The role of Bruce was written specifically for Paul Linke, who had attended college with Robert Jaffe.

Motel Hell (1980) premiered on October 18 1980 and received mixed reviews. Indeed, two of my favourite critics held totally opposite views of the film. Roger Ebert gave it three out of four stars and wrote, "Motel Hell is a welcome change of pace; it's to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre as Airplane! is to Airport." Leonard Maltin gave it only one and a half stars. Other critics were similarly divided. Rick Chatenever of The Santa Cruz Sentinel did not care for the movie either, writing that it, "...offers precious few tricks, and even fewer treats..." People magazine gave it a fairly positive review, noting, "Calhoun does justice to an often ridiculous script."

Motel Hell made $6.3 million at the box office, more than recouping its production costs. And while it may not have been one of the biggest films of 1980, it would go onto become a cult film through airings on the various premium channels and through home video. Motel Hell has even aired on Turner Classic Movies, cementing its place among cult classics.

Of course, much of the reason Motel Hell maintains a following to this day is quite simply Rory Calhoun. He endows Farmer Vincent with a relaxed, country charm, endearing himself to the viewer even as they know full well what nefarious deeds he has been up to. As Vincent Smith, Rory Calhoun also offers the perfect balance between sanity and derangement that the role requires. Both Nancy Parsons, as Vincent's none-too-bright sister Ida, and Paul Linke, as Vincent's at times naive brother Bruce, also deliver good performances. It's largely their performances that make the film, whose script can at times border on the unbelievable, work.

While the script for Motel Hell does at times border on the unbelievable, it still somehow works. It is a sharp satire of consumerism with a wickedly dark sense of humour. Indeed, more so than other horror movies or comedies of the time, it has several quotable lines ("Meat's meat and a man's gotta eat.").

Motel Hell would hardly revive Rory Calhoun's career. In the last years of his career he continued to appear in such B-movies as Angel (1984) and Hell Comes to Frogtown (1988) in supporting roles. What Motel Hell did for Rory Calhoun was give him one last memorable lead role. He may have played Eben in How to Marry a Millionaire and Jesse Hill in Ain't Misbehavin', not to mention many roles in Westerns, but many of us will always remember him best as Farmer Vincent Smith in Motel Hell.

The Late Great Comic Book Artist Joe Giella

Comic book artist Joe Giella, best known for inking Carmine Infantino and Gil Kane during the Silver Age, died on March 21 2023 at the age of 94.

Joe Giella was born on June 27 1928 in Queens, New York City. He studied at the School of Industrial Art and the Art Students League, both in Manhattan, and took courses in art at Hunter College in New York City. He began his career at age 17, working for Hillman Periodicals. He freelanced for Fawcett Comics, inking stories featuring Captain Marvel. He joined the staff at what would later become Marvel Comics, working on stories featuring Captain Marvel, The Human Torch, and The Sub-Mariner.

It was in 1949 that he joined National Comics Publications, the company now known as DC Comics. He worked on stories featuring the Golden Age Flash, the Golden Age Green Lantern, Black Canary, and various other characters edited by Julius Schwartz. In the Fifties, as superheroes fell by the wayside at DC Comics, Joe Giella inked Western stories pencilled by Alex Toth and Gene Colan, and the King Faraday stories in the title Danger Trail. During the Atomic Age of Comics, he inked Gil Kane on science fiction stories, Western stories, and crime stories.

It was with Showcase no. 4 (October 1956) that editor Julius Schwartz introduced a new version of The Flash, launching the Silver Age of Comic books and a revival of superheroes. Joe Giella inked Carmine Infantino on the new Flash series and later Gil Kane on the new Green Lantern series. He also inked the earliest Adam Strange stories in the title Mystery in Space. Perhaps the most important story every inked by Joe Giella (or any comic book artist) was "The Flash of Two Worlds" in The Flash (September 1961), which re-introduced the Golden Age Flash and introduced the DC Multiverse.

In 1964, when Julius Schwartz took over as editor of the Batman titles, Joe Giella became the inker for Carmine Infantino on Detective Comics and Sheldon Moldoff on Batman. He stayed with the Batman titles through the Batmania created by the TV series that ran from 1966 to 1968.

Joe Giella continued to work at DC Comics through the Seventies, but also began work on various newspaper comic strips. He began inking on Don Barry on Flash Gordon in 1970. He worked on The Phantom for 17 years, even helping Sy Barry with pencilling. He took over as the artist on Mary Worth in 1991 and continued to work on the comic strip until his retirement in 2016. In addition to his work on comic books and newspaper strips, he also did work for advertising agencies such as  McCann Erickson and Saatchi & Saatchi, as well as such publishers as Doubleday and Simon & Schuster.

In 2001 Joe Geilla worked on issue no. 2 on the mini-series Batman: Turning Points.

Joe Giella will always be most identified with the Silver Age at DC Comics, inking numerous stories featuring The Flash, Adam Strange, Green Lantern, and Batman. Indeed, it was Joe Giella's style that was chosen as the house style at DC Comics during the Sixties. His style was clean, crisp, fluid, and, most importantly, modern. It was Joe Giella who made Sheldon Moldoff's work on Batman look more modern, this after Sheldon Moldoff had been emulating the work of Golden Age artist and Batman co-creator Bob Kane for years. While other comic book fans might not agree with me, I think Joe Giella often made the art of various pencillers look much better. I don't think Carmine Infantino's work every looked as good as when it was inked by Joe Giella. If he was prolific and had a long career, it was because Joe Giella was so very talented.

Thank You for a Successful Blogathon

I want to thank everyone who took part in the 9th Annual Favourite TV Show Episode Blogathon for making it a success. We had several entries, and those entries spanned a time frame from the Sixties to the Naughts. Several genres were covered as well, from science fiction shows to sitcoms to dramas to horror shows to superhero shows. Please check out the blogathon page for the many amazing posts! Barring any extenuating circumstances, I can guarantee there will be a 10th Annual Favourite TV show Episode Blogathon next year.

The X-Files: "Home"

It seems quite likely that The X-Files was the most popular science fiction series of the Nineties. What is more, it still maintains a huge following world-wide.  For those unfamiliar with the show, The X-Files stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, who are assigned to investigate the "X-files," unsolved cases that cannot be easily explained and often involve the paranormal. Fans of The X-Files generally come in two types. There are those fans who prefer the show's "mythology episodes," episodes which deal with a continuing storyline on The X-Files involving a government conspiracy to conceal the existence of extraterrestrial life. And then there are those fans who prefer The X-Files' "monster of the week" episodes, self-contained episodes that focus on non-reoccurring monsters, paranormal phenomena, or villains. I always fell into the latter category of "monster of the week" fan, not particularly caring for the mythology episodes. Picking a favourite monster of the week episode is difficult for me as there are so many great ones. That said, the most frightening episode of The X-Files for me may well be "Home."

"Home" is the second episode of the fourth season of The X-Files, and debuted on October 11 1996 on Fox. "Home" takes place in the fictional, small Pennsylvania town of the same name. Mulder and Scully are sent to the small town after a group of kids playing baseball discover the corpse of a severely deformed infant. A conversation with the local sheriff, Andy Taylor (Tucker Smallwood) leads them to the Peacock brothers, who can best be described as mutant hillbillies living well off the grid. There's much more to the episode than that, but the less one knows going into "Home" the better.

"Home" marked the triumphant return of writers Glen Morgan and James Wong to The X-Files. Messrs. Morgan and Wong had worked on The X-Files during its first three seasons before departing to produce their own television show Space: Above and Beyond. After Space: Above and Beyond had been cancelled, they returned to The X-Files. For their first script following their return to the show, they decided to write something that would not only be ambitious, but that would push the envelope for what was allowed on television at the time.

Inspiration for "Home" came from diverse sources. One was the 1992 documentary Brother's Keeper, which dealt with an alleged murder that occurred in a small farming community near Utica, New York and the Ward brothers, four brothers who lived on a dilapidated farm that had been passed down through their family for generations. Another bit of inspiration came from My Autobiography by Charlie Chaplin, in which he told how he stayed in a miner's tenement home in Wales and was introduced to a legless man who slept in the kitchen cupboard. Two well known movies also served as inspiration for "Home": The Texas Chaninsaw Massacre (1974) and The Hills Have Eyes (1977). Yet another source of inspiration came from, of all things, The Andy Griffith Show. Not only is Home, Pennsylvania's sheriff named "Andy Taylor," but the show contains references to Mayberry, the setting of The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry R.F.D.

"Home" proved controversial before it even began filming. The producers of The X-Files worried that with "Home" the show may have gone too far. Tucker Smallwood, who played Sheriff Andy Taylor, was genuinely shocked by the episode's violence. The episode's director, Kim Manners, wanted to use Johnny Mathis's song "Wonderful Wonderful" in the episode, but Mr. Mathis was so appalled after reading the script that he refused to let them use the song. Fortunately, they found a Johnny Mathis soundalike who recorded a cover version for the episode. Kim Manners was the one fan of the script. The director called it "as classic a horror script I'm ever going to see."

"Home" was shot in Surrey, British Columbia, which is hardly a small town, having a population of over 500,000. Fortunately, Surrey has several buildings of the type often seen in small American (and Canadian, for that matter) towns and they were able to shoot the episode at different angles to give the illusion of a town no bigger than, well, Mayberry, North Carolina.

The Fox Network was obviously concerned about "Home." It was the only X-Files episode to carry a TV-MA rating upon its first broadcast. It was also the first X-Files episode to ever bear a viewer discretion warning because of its violent content. While "Home" received positive reviews from critics and did very well in the Nielsen ratings, it would be the only episode of The X-Files that Fox never reran. "Home" would not be seen again until FX began showing repeats of The X-Files in 1997.

In many ways it is understandable why "Home" is considered the scariest episode of The X-Files. Its opening scene, in which the Peacock brothers bury the aforementioned deformed baby, is particularly horrifying, Later in the episode there is a good deal of violence that was unusual for most episodes of the series. Even so, The X-Files had featured episodes that were violent both before and after "Home." What makes "Home" more disturbing than other X-Files episodes is that it might well hit a little too close to, well, home for many. "Home" does not deal with the paranormal or supernatural. The Peacocks are not the products of radiation nor government experiments, nor are they aliens or demons. Instead they are the products of both a highly dysfunctional family and, quite apparently, inbreeding.Unlike the flukeman of "The Host" or Tooms in "Squeeze," the Peacocks could actually exist.

Beyond the fact that the Peacocks could actually exist, "Home" is made all the more disturbing in that it takes aim at traditional American family values. The Peacocks are a nuclear family devoted to their familial traditions and what they view as their family honour. At the same time they are violent, backward, and hostile to outsiders, so much so that their behaviour would be considered dysfunctional by any decent human being. The Peacocks stand in contrast to the small town of Home, with its congenial Sheriff Taylor and the local kids who play baseball there. Although both are products of rural America, Home is the opposite of the Peacock brothers. Home welcomes outsiders and embraces traditional American family values in ways the Peacocks could not conceive. To make a television comparison, the Peacocks are a much more violent, even more dysfunctional Twin Peaks, while Home is Mayberry.

Speaking of Mayberry, one of the things that might make "Home" all the more terrifying is that it references the archetypal small town, Mayberry from The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry R.F.D. Its sheriff is named Andy Taylor and his deputy is even named Barney (although his last name is Paster rather than Fife). "Home" is also one of the few times a popular song was used in an episode. What is more, "Wonderful Wonderful" is used in a scene whose ultraviolence contrasts with the upbeat nature of the song. Yet another pop culture reference may be the name of the Peacock family themselves. Although I cannot verify it, there are those who claim that the name "Peacock" was chosen as a slight against rival network NBC, with whom Fox has been engaged in a feud for some time.

I won't say that "Home" is the best episode of The X-Files. I won't even say it is my absolute favourite, as I never can make up my mind with regards to which episode of The X-Files I like best. That having been said, I can say it is the episode that frightened me the most. It scared me when it first aired and, even today, after repeated viewings it still disturbs me. I have to agree with director Kim Manners, it's as classic a horror episode as anyone is going to see.

The 9th Annual Favourite TV Show Episode Blogathon is Here

The 9th Annual Favourite TV Show Episode Blogathon is here. This blogathon is a bit bittersweet for me, as it is the first one in which my pal Patricia Nolan-Hall, known to her friends as Paddy Lee, will not be taking part. Paddy was known for her blog Caftan Woman and took part in every single Favourite TV Show Episode Blogathon. Sadly, she died on March 7 of last year. Regardless, I have been looking forward to this year's blogathon and I am eager to read everyone's entries.

For those of you who are participating in the blogathon, I ask that you link to this page. I will be updating this page with links to the various blog posts that are part of this blogathon throughout the weekend. If you want a graphic for your post, I have several on the announcement page here.

Without further ado, here are this year's posts.

By Rich Watson: "Casey Kasem’s Vocal Talents Helped Make Scooby-Doo a Star of Saturday Morning"

Realweedgiemidget Reviews: "TV… Falcon Crest (1981-90), In His Father’s House, Se 1 Ep 1"

Hamlette's Soliloquy: "'Inmate 78' (The Magnificent Seven, Season 1, Ep8)(1998)"

Make Mine Film Noir: "Moonlighting: 'The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice' Episode (October 15, 1985)"

Taking Up Room: "A Tale of Sentinels and Fire"

Films From Beyond the Time Barrier: "William Shatner's Early Exploration of the Unknown: 'The Grim Reaper'"

The Flapper Dame: "Full House: Dr. Dare Rides Again"

Smoke in the Library: "Favorite TV Show Episode Blogathon: I Spy: 'Home to Judgement'"

Mike's Movie Room: "Naked City: "A Case Study of Two Savages (First Broadcast on February 7, 1962)"

Dubsism: "Sports Analogies Hidden In Classic Movies – Volume 142: The Rockford Files – 'Heartaches of a Fool'"

Whimsically Classic:  "TV Show Episode Blogathon- The Golden Girls, “\'Grab That Dough'”

Liberal England: "Softly, Softly: Task Force and the history of police on television"

Watching Forever: "Why the scary ‘Little Girl Lost’ from The Twilight Zone remains a favorite TV episode"

The Stop Button: The Flash (1990)

Box Office Poisons: A Classic Movies Blog: "Don't Just Stand There, Do Something!' - That Girl (Favourite TV Show Episode Blogathon)"

A Shroud of Thoughts: "The X-Files: 'Home'"

Silver Scenes: "The Saint: 'The Miracle Tea Party'"

Cinematic Scribblings: "The Avengers: 'The Hour That Never Was' (1965)"

18 Cinema Lane: "Sally Watches…Touched by an Angel (The Trilogy)!"

Cinematic Catharsis: "TV Tangent - Kolchak: The Night Stalker"