May 30, 2026 · 12:01 am

MARVEL’S KA-ZAR STORIES (1971-1973)

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog continues on from when Astonishing Tales became Ka-Zar’s title alone after Dr. Doom’s departure.

ASTONISHING TALES Vol 1 #9 (Dec 1971)

Title: The Legend of the Lizard Men

Villains: Queen Iranda and her Lizard Men

NOTE: The next part of the Neu Deutschland/ New Brittany storyline was not completed in time for publication, so this pre-prepared fill-in story was used instead.

Synopsis: Men and women are disappearing from various tribes across the Savage Land. Ka-Zar and his saber-tooth tiger Zabu investigate. He traces the disappearances to Queen Iranda and her army of Lizard Men.

Ka-Zar fights his way through Iranda’s guards and manages to steal the queen’s crown. This causes her to turn into her true lizard form and reverts all of her Lizard Men to their human forms as the missing villagers.  Continue reading →

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May 29, 2026 · 3:02 pm

RICHARD TODD’S SWASHBUCKLER MOVIES

Richard Todd enjoyed a long career during which he played nearly every type of role imaginable. Among those were a few swashbucklers.

ROB ROY: THE HIGHLAND ROGUE (1953) – Accurate history has no place in this Disney film in which Richard Todd stars as Scottish Clan leader and legendary outlaw Rob Roy MacGregor. The film begins in 1715 as Clan MacGregor is among the Scottish forces fighting against King George the First of England in the Jacobite Uprising.

The Duke of Argyll (James Robertson Justice) leads troops loyal to the king and defeats the rebellious clans despite his grudging admiration for them, especially Rob Roy MacGregor. By 1717, Argyll’s rival the Duke of Montrose is placed in charge of the Scottish Highlands and is much harsher than the Duke of Argyll was.

Montrose pardons all the Jacobite Clans except the MacGregors, who are forbidden to even use their surname, hence their leader being renowned as simply Rob Roy. Our hero is imprisoned by Montrose but escapes and leads his kinsmen and loyalists in rustling Montrose’s cattle and looting his estates.   

And so the film goes, with the Duke of Montrose used as a Prince John in Robin Hood figure and his underling Killearn serving as a Sheriff of Nottingham type. Rob Roy and his men thwart the bad guys at every turn, and ultimately the Duke of Argyll arranges a truce between Rob Roy’s clan and the king.

Glynis Johns co-stars as Rob’s wife Helen Mary MacGregor with Michael Gough portraying the villainous Montrose. 81 minutes. Continue reading →

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May 29, 2026 · 4:50 am

SATEENA: BAD MOVIE HOSTESS (1958)

SATEENA, THE DEVIL’S DAUGHTER hosted horror and sci-fi movies on Shock Show, which aired on Atlanta’s WSB-TV from January 2nd to December 18th, 1958. This devilishly mischievous hostess was played by Joanne Good aka Joanne Goode aka Joanne Gould. Unlike the usual Movie Hostesses whose characters were vampires or witches, Sateena was the impish daughter of Satan himself.

Joanne Good had started out at WSB in the promotions department in 1957, then created her Sateena character for Shock Show. Joanne co-wrote the character’s Host Segments with the program’s producer Gy Waldron, who later moved on to movies before creating the mammoth hit television show The Dukes of Hazzard in 1979.

In addition to her acerbic wit, Sateena wielded a regular arsenal of props like large spiders, bubbling substances in chemical beakers, oversized “Brimstone Cocktails” spewing smoke from dry ice, and her omnipresent syringe filled with God or the Devil knows what. Another gag centered around shrinking heads with a Voodoo-it-Yourself Kit. Continue reading →

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May 28, 2026 · 5:49 pm

AETHIOPIS (770s B.C. – 740s B.C.) ANOTHER EPIC OF THE TROJAN WAR

Death of Penthesilea

Death of Penthesilea

Previously Balladeer’s Blog examined Cypria, the neglected Greek epic myth that dealt with the events leading up to the Trojan War all the way up to Achilles leading the Greek forces in establishing a beachhead at Troy. The Trojan forces were then forced to retreat inside the walls of Troy itself, leaving the outside settlements to be sacked by the Greek forces. This led right into the whole Briseis/Chryseis conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon that opened up The Iliad.

The events of The Iliad are well-known enough that I will skip over a recap of that epic and move on to the very next neglected epic in the cycle: Aethiopis.

AETHIOPIS – This work is often attributed to Arctinus, by some accounts in 776 BCE to coincide with the very first ancient Olympic games. Other sources place it as late as the 740s BCE. Very little of Aethiopis itself survives, so most of what is known about it comes from Proclus and other – often contradictory – references in ancient writings. The tale begins soon after the death of Hector which marked the end of The Iliad.

Just as the fighting is set to resume following the break in honor of Hector’s funeral the Amazons arrive on the scene to support their allies the Trojans. Needless to say they are very effective in combat and cause the Greek forces besieging Troy a lot of trouble. The Amazons are led by their new Queen Penthesilea, who succeeded to the throne after accidentally killing her more famous sister Hippolyta in a hunting accident. Penthesilea is so grief-stricken from causing her sister’s death that she wants to die, but as Amazon royalty she cannot simply commit suicide but must die gloriously in battle. Continue reading →

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May 28, 2026 · 6:13 am

MAY TWENTY-EIGHTH NEWS ROUNDUP

Independent Voter Site Balladeer’s Blog is here with yet another current events roundup.

ICE AGENTS ARREST ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT KILLERS, CHILD SEX CRIMINALS, DRUG TRAFFICKERS AND MORE IN NEW JERSEY. Meanwhile, Democrats attempt to impede their efforts and want an ICE facility shut down. 

DEMOCRAT GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE TOM STEYER VOWS TO ARREST ICE AGENTS IF HE WINS. He forgot to add “No matter how many illegal immigrant killers, rapists, child sexual assailants and other violent criminals are left at large to endanger the public”, but Democrat voters heard that dog whistle anyway. It’s pretty much their Party platform these days.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SENTENCED TO TWENTY-FIVE YEARS IN PRISON FOR RAPING AND IMPREGNATING A TWELVE-YEAR-OLD. Never forget that if Democrats had their way this rapist would still be at large.

PRESIDENT TRUMP PRAISED FOR BRINGING HOME RECORD NUMBER OF AMERICAN HOSTAGES – ONE HUNDRED SIX – IN JUST THE PAST FIFTEEN MONTHS. 

CORRUPT JOE BIDEN, KNOWN FOR BEING UNFIT AND ILLEGIT, SUES TO TRY PREVENTING THE RELEASE OF EVEN FURTHER TAPES PROVING HOW MENTALLY UNFIT HE WAS YEARS AGO. More HERE. And all the while the Democrats and their media outlets were insisting Biden was “sharp as a tack”, etc.

MAINE’S DEMOCRAT NOMINEE FOR SENATE JAKE AUCHINCLOSS COURAGEOUSLY CALLS MAINE’S DEMOCRAT CANDIDATE GRAHAM PLATNER’S NAZI TATTOO “DISQUALIFYING.” Too bad The Party’s bigwigs still back Platner.

MINNEAPOLIS’S DEMOCRAT POLICE CHIEF RESIGNS IN DISGRACE AMID SCANDAL. He was pretty useless a few months ago during the city’s attempts to obstruct ICE, too.

TRUMP-ENDORSED KEN PAXTON CRUSHED OBSTRUCTIONIST JOHN CORNYN BY MORE THAN TWENTY-SEVEN PERCENT. More HERE. The clueless and out of date Republican Party anti-Trumpers lost again HERE!

DONOHEW ON PRESIDENT TRUMP’S SELFLESS SERVICE.  Continue reading →

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May 27, 2026 · 9:56 pm

AMERICA 250: 1926 MONTH BY MONTH

America’s 250th birthday is coming up in July, so over the next few months Balladeer’s Blog will take a look at various anniversary years. Previously I did 1826, and 1876, so this time it’s 1926. Next will be 1976. 

1926

U.S. President: Calvin Coolidge    Vice President: Charles G. Dawes    Speaker of the House: Nicholas Longworth    Chief Justice: Former President William Howard Taft

Number of Senators: 96    Number of House Representatives: 435    Number of Supreme Court Justices: 9 

JANUARY

1st – The ROSE BOWL GAME was broadcast on radio for the first time. This game pitted the undefeated UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE, then from the Southern Conference, against the undefeated UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON HUSKIES, then from the Pacific Coast Conference. The Huskies led 12-0 at Halftime, but the Crimson Tide came from behind to win the game 20-19 in what has been called “the football game that changed the South.”

6th – Mickey Hargitay, bodybuilder, movie star, husband of Jayne Mansfield and father of their daughter Mariska Hargitay, was born.

11th – The Whittemore Gang, led by Richard Reese Whittemore and his wife Margaret, robbed a Manhattan jewelry store of $175,000 worth of gems, equal to $3,205,000 here in 2026.

12th – The radio comedy program Sam ‘n’ Henry debuted on WGN in Chicago. Two years later the title would be changed to Amos ‘n’ Andy but it’s inane under any name.

13th – 91 coal miners were killed in a mine explosion in Wilburton, OK.

15th – The silent film The Sea Beast starring John Barrymore opened. Continue reading →

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May 27, 2026 · 7:29 am

FORGOTTEN TELEVISION: THE FANTASTIC JOURNEY (1977)

THE FANTASTIC JOURNEY – This was a very promising hour-long science fiction tv series that somehow just never gelled well enough to last even for a full 13-episode tryout. The premise involved a 1976 nautical expedition into the Bermuda Triangle by a group of scientists and a few of their family members.

Their ship encounters green mists connected to the many sea and air disappearances in the Triangle and they wind up stranded on a continent-sized island called Evoland. Beings from many time periods and planets are trapped there as well and at times try to help or hinder our main cast in their efforts to escape the Bermuda Triangle.

VARIAN, played by Jared Martin. Varian was an Earthling from the 23rd Century. He is cultured, refined and highly intelligent. Like many scholars from his time period, Varian is capable of focusing his mental energies through his crystal rod/ tuning fork called a Sonic Energizer. The device responds only to his mind and lets him diagnose and heal others, as well as manipulate matter in various destructive and constructive ways depending on the needs of each episode’s story.

Yes, the Sonic Energizer was every bit as much of a Deus ex Machina as the Sonic Screwdriver on Doctor Who. In fact, I’ve always felt that if American television had decided to do an Americanized version of that BBC series rather than import the episodes starring the terrific Tom Baker, that Jared Martin would have made a perfect U.S. incarnation of the Doctor. (Or maybe even a rebooted Gary Seven.)  

FRED WALTERS, MD, played by Carl Franklin. Fred is fresh out of medical school and is co-leader of the group along with Varian.

Dr. Walters is a brilliant physician in his own right and his 20th Century cynicism lets him read many potentially dangerous situations more accurately than Varian, whose largely innocent and pacifistic 23rd Century nature leaves him a bit naive. Fred was like an 80s badass in a 70s tv show. Continue reading →

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May 26, 2026 · 3:48 pm

THE AENEID: FOURTH AND FINAL PART

FOR THE FIRST PART CLICK HERE. FOR THE SECOND PART CLICK HERE. FOR THE THIRD PART CLICK HERE.

FOUR – A council of the gods is held on Mount Olympus as the goddesses Venus and Juno make their cases for and against Aeneas and his fellow survivors of fallen Troy. Venus argues for them since Aeneas is her son, while Juno retains her position against Aeneas because she wants to prevent the founding of Rome.

Events move back to the battlefield as Aeneas finally arrives back at the Trojan camp with an army of his Tuscan and Arcadian allies. In the following battle casualties are again high. King Turnus – Aeneas’s rival for the hand of King Latinus’s daughter Lavinia – kills the Arcadian Prince Pallas, whose father King Evander had sent him forth to fight on the Trojan side.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, Aeneas wounds Mezentius, but the man’s son Lausus leaps between his father and Aeneas. While the two younger warriors fight each other, Mezentius flees back to his camp and Aeneas kills Lausus. Continue reading →

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May 26, 2026 · 5:21 am

NEWS ROUNDUP: MAY TWENTY-SIXTH

Time for another currrent events roundup from Independent Voter Site Balladeer’s Blog.

OIL PRICES TUMBLE UPON WORD THAT END TO IRAN CONFLICT IS CLOSE.

DEMOCRATS CALLING FOR DNC CHAIRMAN TO RESIGN FOLLOWING RELEASE DETAILING WHAT A DEBACLE KAMALA HARRIS’ CAMPAIGN WAS.

BOLT CEO SLASHES ENTIRE H.R. TEAM, POINTING OUT THAT “THEY WERE CREATING PROBLEMS THAT DIDN’T EXIST“. Like so many other H.R. staffs in other companies working as Commissars for Democrat political opinions rather than doing their jobs resulted in “a culture of not getting things done and complaining a lot.”

      Among his other remarks: “there is “a sense of entitlement that had festered across the company, and people who felt empowered, felt entitled — but weren’t actually working hard.” … And this is the number one thing that I had to battle. Ultimately, most of those people just had to be let go,” Breslow stated.

      Also, in place of a full HR department, Bolt has since set up a smaller “people operations team” to handle new employee onboarding and training. “We have a team a quarter of the size, who are much more junior, who work a lot harder, who have better energy,” Breslow said at the event. “And our customers are telling us, ‘We haven’t had this type of attention in four years.‘

SENATOR MARSHA BLACKBURN REMINDS THE PUBLIC THAT PRESIDENT TRUMP IS ENDING A WAR THAT IRAN HAS BEEN WAGING AGAINST THE U.S. FOR FORTY-SEVEN YEARS.

EVEN DEMOCRAT SENATOR TAMMY DUCKWORTH COURAGEOUSLY ADDED HER VOICE TO SHAMING THE DEMOCRAT NATIONAL COMMITTEE INTO DELETING THEIR GROTESQUE POST USING MEMORIAL DAY AS A PARTISAN ANTI-TRUMP ANKLE BITE. Trump Derangement Syndrome continues. Continue reading →

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May 25, 2026 · 3:23 pm

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY – 2026

Balladeer’s Blog hopes all of you are having a respectful Memorial Day. I always feel it’s an appropriate time to look at neglected conflicts or battles. The military members who died in those actions are sometimes overlooked in the big picture.

THE TOP FOUR FORGOTTEN MILITARY UNITS FROM AMERICAN WARS – Looking at the Oneida Indians First Allies Unit from the Revolutionary War, Doniphan’s Thousand from the Mexican War, the “Yankee Samurai” (Nissei Battalion of 2,000 Japanese-Americans) from World War 2, and the racially integrated 1st Rhode Island Regiment from the Revolutionary War. 

THE TOP FOUR FORGOTTEN CONFLICTS IN U.S. HISTORY – A look at the forgotten Revolutionary War battles after Yorktown (1781-1782), the Mexican War (1846-1848), the Nicaraguan Conflict (1926-1928), and the Philippine War (1899-1902).

FORGOTTEN U.S. NAVAL BATTLES OF WORLD WAR ONE – There were clashes between German U-Boats and the U.S. Navy ships transporting the American Expeditionary Force to Europe, the years-long underwater mining campaign, the German attack on Orleans, MA, the attack on Austria-Hungary’s naval base at Durazzo, Albania and much more.

Continue reading →

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