Weird Warriors Podcast

16/08/2024

Today's pick: Charlton's take on the War that Time Forgot! Max might demand a Special Mission for this one!

14/08/2024

"I Wonder Whatever Happened To..." Moment #814: I've posted on this page before about a similar musing, about the ultimate fate of the Pacific Princess, a.k.a. "The Love Boat". (Long story short, as the ship aged, she was sold to crappier and crappier cruise lines, and she was broken up for scrap in 2014). More recently, I got to wondering about the ultimate fate of the RMS Carpathia. Known to history as the first rescue ship that arrived at the site of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, she pulled aboard 705 survivors from the sea.

In that the Titanic sinking took place in 1912, I could almost predict what would happen to Carpathia...

During the First World War, the Carpathia was used to transfer Canadian and American Expeditionary Forces to Europe. At least some of her voyages were in convoy, sailing from New York through Halifax to Liverpool and Glasgow. Among her passengers during the war years was Frank Buckles, who went on to become the last surviving American veteran of the Great War. On 15 July 1918, Carpathia departed from Liverpool in a convoy bound for Boston, carrying 57 passengers (36 saloon class and 21 steerage) and 166 crew. The convoy travelled on a zig-zag course along with an es**rt in accordance with procedures against submarine attacks. The es**rt left the convoy early in the morning of 17 July, and the convoy was cut in half. The Carpathia continued west along with six other ships, and as the largest ship in the convoy, she assumed the role of the commodore ship. Three and a half hours later, at 9:15 a.m., while sailing in the Southwest Approaches, a torpedo was sighted approaching on her port side. The engines were thrown in full-astern and the helm was turned hard-a-starboard, but it was too late to avoid the torpedo. The Carpathia was torpedoed near the No. 3 hatch on the port side by the Imperial German Navy submarine SM U-55, followed by a second which penetrated the engine room, killing three firemen and two trimmers, and effectively disabling her ability to escape, as the engines were rendered inoperable by the second torpedo impact. The explosion severely damaged the Carpathia's electrical gear, including the wireless radio apparatus, as well as two of the ship's lifeboats. As a result, Captain William Prothero, in command of the Carpathia since 1916, signaled the other ships in the convoy to send out wireless messages by use of flags. He then had rockets fired to attract the attention of nearby patrol boats. The remaining convoy steamed away at full speed to elude the submarine.

As the Carpathia began to settle by the head and list to port, Prothero gave the order to abandon ship. All passengers and the surviving crew members boarded the 11 lifeboats as the Carpathia sank. There were 218 survivors of the 223 aboard. As the passengers and crew disembarked, Prothero, the chief officer, first and second officers and the gunners remained on the sinking ship, seeing to it that all the confidential books and documents were thrown overboard. The captain then signaled one of the lifeboats to come alongside, and he and the remaining crew members abandoned their ship. U-55 surfaced and fired a third torpedo into the ship near the gunner's rooms, resulting in a massive explosion that doomed the Carpathia. U-55 started approaching the lifeboats when the Azalea-class sloop HMS Snowdrop arrived on the scene and drove away the submarine with gunfire before picking up the survivors from the Carpathia around 1:00 p.m. The Snowdrop arrived back in Liverpool with the survivors on the evening of 18 July.

The Carpathia sank at 11:00 a.m., about 1 hour and 45 minutes after the torpedo strike, and approximately 120 mi (190 km) west of Fastnet. In 2000, the American author and diver Clive Cussler announced that his organization, NUMA, had found the wreck of the Carpathia in the spring of that year, at a depth of 500 ft. It was found that the Carpathia landed upright on the seabed.

13/08/2024

A hometown Killjoy! My wife and I met at the museum in question and we are excited about the new airplane. But the one in the photo ain't an F-15 Eagle. It's an F-35 Lightning II. Seriously, in this day and age, someone at WTEN screws up a Google search for an image of an F-15? We've only been flying them since 1976....

SCHENECTADY (NEWS10) – The Empire State Aero Sciences Museum has added a new star to its collection with the arrival of its 34th aircraft, the legendary McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle. Known as one o…

12/08/2024

Remembering the icon...

10/08/2024

I desperately want this to be good...

The Crow – coming soon to theaters! Starring Bill Skarsgård, FKA twigs, and Danny Huston.Subscribe to the LIONSGATE: YouTube Channel for the latest movie tra...

09/08/2024

Anarky 7

Weird War Tales Special (2000), Episode 74

The Spectre has been possessed by Asmodel and froze Hell, releasing an army of the dead upon the earth. The effects are felt in Washington DC, where the honored dead at Arlington also come back to life. The vigilante Anarky quickly finds himself way over his head fighting the undead masses, but help comes from the unlikeliest of sources: the ghost of J.E.B. Stuart and the geriatric crew of the Haunted Tank.

08/08/2024

08/08/2024

07/08/2024

It's Weird War Tales #57, troops! Featuring: Plunging Necklines! (Don't worry, not from your hosts) A real life "brush with the afterlife" tale! (FROM one of your hosts!) Plus: Hippie Madness! The Manhattan Project! And..Food poisoning? Could this episode have TOO much going on? Well, you know how t...

06/08/2024

Honoring Steve Mitchell, born yesterday in 1953 (Uncle Sam commitment, sorry!)

Mitchell is an American comic book artist known for his time at both Marvel & DC comics, where he worked mostly as an inker. He began his comic book career in 1972 with a story for Marvel Team-Up #4. His first published work for DC Comics came in 1973 for G.I. Combat #167. Steve enjoyed lengthy runs as the inker on titles like Batman, Detective Comics, and Iron Man. Later on, he worked on titles as Our Fighting Forces, Amazing World of DC Comics; Kamandi; The Superman Family, Weird War Tales and many more. Switching gears in the '80s, Mitchell started writing scripts for cartoons. He wrote episodes for Transformers, G.I. Joe, Jem, Viper, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars. He also wrote the b-movie horror classic Chopping Mall, and wrote and directed King Cohen - a documentary about legendary filmmaker Larry Cohen. But before all of that, Steve was the assistant to Dick Giordano at Continuity Studios and a founding member of the Crusty Bunkers. Some of his last contributions were for the title Detective Comics in the storyline Batman: Evolution and a few lesser-known comics; after which he retired from the comic book industry in the early 2000's.

His work appeared in only one issue of Weird War Tales: #56’s “Blue and the Grave”.

05/08/2024

Annual training almost complete! Coming home tomorrow! No Cadets died (but one tried, see comments). Creator remembrances! New episodes! Upcoming release announcements! Buckle up, it'll be... a blast!

04/08/2024

Have you ever played "Cards Against Humanity"? Well, Disgruntled Decks has produced a military version of it, with specific sets for Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and veterans. Expansion packs are also available. Every time I go on a four-day battalion drill or go to annual training, I bring my set, and am always rewarded with the hardest of hard cases in my unit laughing their asses off. Civilians won't get a lot of the references. If you're a vet or am looking for that special something for someone that is, look no further!!!

02/08/2024

This is "Sporky". He's a good luck charm for 101st Airborne medics attached to our hand gr***de mission. Bow, peasants!

01/08/2024

Being away doing things for Uncle Sam made me forget about posting the teaser for our next episode yesterday (hey, every day is a Monday in the Army...). So to make it up to you, here's a recent recreation of WWT 57 by Romeo Tanghal! See ya in a week, troops!

29/07/2024

If I'm going to annual training, I need reading material, dang it, and what better book to catch the attention of Cadets than this one? "Badass Ultimate Deathmatch" by Ben Thompson. From biblical times to the 21st Century, read 40 tales of asskicking awesomeness. The author's note says it all: "The first draft of this text was written by firing a minigun into a large brick wall for several hours and then transcribing the words it produced." Great read with lots of chuckles.

28/07/2024

It's that time of year again! The FB page is quiet for a reason! But no worries, I'll be back in time for the next episode drop! Make War No More!

25/07/2024

Things I did not expect #721: I bought my son a foreign "Lego knockoff" kit of a WWII German rail gun last year. Thousands of pieces and it took him forever to compete. The shock was the tiny "Lego" Hi**er that came with it. Wow... This actually horrifyingly amazing.

25/07/2024

Holy Crossovers! The Earth 2 Podcast goes to Bat for the team (up) and takes a swing at the Rock!

Batman is recruited by Easy Company to help an imprisoned Sgt Rock!
Has Rock gone mad?
Join David and Peter as they cover this tale from Brave and Bold 117.

Episode link in comments.

24/07/2024

Honoring Romeo Tanghal, born on this day in 1947!

Romeo Tanghal was born and raised in the Philippines. A self–taught artist, he started doing comics illustrations after graduating high school. He briefly worked with various local publications before emigrating to the United States in 1976. His first published work in the U.S. was "If There Were No Batman... I Would Have to Invent Him" in Batman #284 (Feb. 1977) for DC Comics. He then drew short stories for House of Mystery, House of Secrets, and Weird War Tales. He later became the inker on such features as Super Friends, "Scalphunter" in Weird Western Tales, and "Gravedigger" in Men of War. In 1980, Tanghal became the inker of George Pérez's penciled artwork on The New Teen Titans. Tanghal drew two origin stories for DC's digest line during this time, a ten-page short story in DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #5 (Nov.–Dec. 1980) featuring Zatara and Zatanna and the origin of the Penguin in The Best of DC #10 (March 1981). Tanghal began working for Marvel Comics as well in 1986. He inked the comics adaptations of such films as Labyrinth, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, and Willow. Tanghal did character design and storyboards for Sunbow Entertainment from 1985 to 1987. Tanghal received an Inkpot Award in 2013.

Tanghal’s work appears in 33 issues of Weird War Tales.

23/07/2024

We've talked about retro-futurism on the show a few times. Check out those sharp post-apocalypse threads from the year 2016 A.D.! That sax player looks like he escaped from Jabba's cantina...

Official music video for ”Human Touch” by Rick SpringfieldListen to Rick Springfield: https://rickspringfield.lnk.to/listenYDWatch more videos by Rick Spring...

23/07/2024

Honoring Mike Vosburg, born on this day in 1947!

Michael Vosburg's comics career began in the 1960s, when as a 15-year-old teenager he started Masquerader in 1962, one of the first comic book fanzines, which lasted eight issues (0-7) until 1964. He began working in underground comics in the 1970s, with creations such as Split Screen, written by Tom Veitch. Later in the 1970s and 1980s, Vosburg contributed to horror titles by Western Publishing and Charlton Comics. His story "Mail Order Brides," published in Kitchen Sink Press's Bizarre S*x #3, was in a similar horror/mystery vein.

Around this time, Vosburg also did various work for DC Comics and Marvel Comics. He is probably best known for his work from that period on Savage She-Hulk, Sisterhood of Steel, and G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. He also worked on the Valiant Comics' titles Bloodshot and Archer & Armstrong.

From 1989 to 1996, for the TV series Tales from the Crypt, Vosburg illustrated comic book covers designed to look like the original 1950s comics. Originally hired to do concept drawings for the wraparound sequence, Vosburg ended up storyboarding the title segment as well as illustrating almost every cover used in the show's 93 episodes (although at least one was by Shawn McManus, "The Man Who Was Death").

While Vosburg still does occasional comics work like covers and pinups, or his self-published Lori Lovecraft books, most of his time is currently devoted to television and film. He has done storyboarding work for such directors as John Frankenheimer, Robert Zemeckis, Allan Arkush, and Gilbert Adler; on projects as diverse as David Mamet's The Water Engine, the Elian Gonzalez Story, Prince Charming, and Demon Knight. He has also done storyboarding for music videos, such as "Stan" and "Let Me Blow Ya Mind".

Vosburg’s work appears in only one issue of WWT, #45’s “Conquest”.

22/07/2024

Divided by 80 or so, it's only about 125 downloads per episode, and I know you can listen to the show without downloading it because I've done it, but still a nice little nod to get from Podbean today, eh?

21/07/2024

Star Spangled War Stories #95, pencils by Ross Andru, inks by Mike Esposito.

Bob Kanigher wrote the cover story that Andru and Esposito also did the art for, and this scene does take place. I fully recognize that I am playing with fire Killjoying the Land that Time Forgot, but what the hell, ya know?

The largest pterosaur ever discovered was the Quetzalcoatlus. This giraffe-sized reptile had thin limbs, a terrifyingly long beak and a whopping 40-foot wingspan. It was also only discovered in 1971, eleven years after this book came out. That being said, the C-54 Skymaster was 93 feet long and had a wingspan of 117 feet. As cool a cover as this is, the “pterodactyl” here is at least three times the size of the biggest one that ever flew.

You may now boo and throw tomatoes at your computer screen.

19/07/2024

Remembering Jim Aparo, who died on this day in 2005 at the age of 72.

James N. Aparo was born on August 24, 1932, and raised in New Britain, Connecticut. Aparo took art classes at New Britain High School and took courses at Hartford Art School. Aparo was primarily self-taught by studying and copying comic books. Growing up and taking inspiration from characters such as Superman, Batman, and Captain Marvel, Aparo was influenced by artists such as Alex Raymond and Milton Caniff. Aparo started his comic career later than most artists around the time working in advertising first while sending his art to various comic book publishers. On a summer vacation, Aparo ran into Dick Giordano (the future executive editor of DC Comics) who saw potential in his work.

He attempted to enter the comic book profession in his early 20s, approaching EC Comics, which declined to hire him. He then worked in the advertising industry in Connecticut, often drawing fashion illustrations for newspaper advertisements. He continued to pursue a career in comic books and comic strips while working in advertising. His first break in the comics field was with the comic strip Stern Wheeler, written by Ralph Kanna, which was published in 1963 in a Hartford, Connecticut, newspaper for less than a year. In 1966, editor Dick Giordano at Charlton Comics hired him as a comic book artist, where his first assignment was a humorous character called "Miss Bikini Luv" in "Go-Go Comics." Over the next few years at Charlton, Aparo drew stories in many genres—Westerns, science fiction, romance, horror, mystery, and suspense. Most of his work was for standalone stories in anthology titles, but he also drew the historical-adventure feature "Thane of Bagarth" in the comic book Hercules; the superheroine feature "Nightshade" in Captain Atom; the science fiction/Western/comedy backup "Wander" in Cheyenne Kid; and the comic book adaptation of the comic strip The Phantom. Aparo was paid $15 to $20 per page at his time at Charlton Comics. Aparo was one of the few artists in mainstream comics at that time to serve as penciller, inker, and letterer for all of his work.

In the late 1960s, Dick Giordano left Charlton for an editorial position at DC Comics and offered Aparo a job drawing the Aquaman comic book. After an initial issue ( #40) for which Aparo provided only pencil art, Aparo resumed producing pencils, inks, and letters for most issues of the series until its cancellation. Aparo continued for a time to provide art to Charlton for The Phantom, alternating between the two series month by month as both series were being released on a bimonthly basis at the time.

Eventually Aparo resigned his assignment on The Phantom and worked almost exclusively for the remainder of his career for DC Comics. Aparo's next series assignment at DC was Phantom Stranger. After Aquaman was cancelled, the bimonthly frequency of Phantom Stranger was insufficient to fill his typical production rate of one page per day, so DC assigned him several short jobs such as mystery stories for House of Mystery and House of Secrets.

In 1971, Aparo was assigned a fill-in job as the artist for The Brave and the Bold #98 (Oct.–Nov. 1971). This series routinely featured team-ups of DC's Batman with other characters, in this case, the Phantom Stranger. As the regular artist on the Phantom Stranger's own series, Aparo was considered an appropriate choice. Murray Boltinoff, the editor of The Brave and the Bold, soon assigned Aparo the regular artistic responsibilities for the series (beginning with #100), which he continued until its cancellation with issue #200, missing only a few issues. Aparo even "co-starred" as himself in The Brave and the Bold #124 (January 1976).

During the more than 10 years as the artist for The Brave and the Bold, its bimonthly frequency permitted Aparo to do many other significant works for DC (it became monthly in Nov. 1978). In addition to numerous covers, he served as the regular artist for a notorious series starring a ruthless avenging ghost called the Spectre, which ran in Adventure Comics, and which in 2005 was collected in a trade paperback edition. He also provided art for a revival of Aquaman in both Adventure Comics and a continuation of the previously cancelled Aquaman. He was assigned the solo Batman series in Detective Comics as of issue #437 (Oct.–Nov. 1973) for a rather short time and drew occasional stories for anthology series. Aparo and writer Len Wein introduced Sterling Silversmith in Detective Comics #446 (April 1975). He drew The Untold Legend of the Batman, the first Batman miniseries, in 1980, inking John Byrne's pencils in the first issue and providing full art for the second and third issues. Aparo was one of the artists on the double-sized Justice League of America #200 (March 1982).

When The Brave and the Bold was cancelled in 1983, it was replaced with a series called Batman and the Outsiders, a superhero team led by Batman. This series, which Aparo co-created with writer Mike W. Barr, would be described by DC Comics writer and executive Paul Levitz as being "a team series more fashionable to 1980s audiences." The Masters of Disaster were among the supervillains created by Barr and Aparo for the series. It would run for several years, continuing with a Baxter paper spinoff titled The Outsiders that did not include Batman and introduced Looker. For the final few issues, DC began to request that Aparo provide only pencils, and a long and nearly unbroken string of Aparo inking and lettering his own work came mostly to an end.

Aparo's next major work consisted of pencils for Batman and Detective Comics, where his art was almost always inked by Mike DeCarlo. Aparo returned to the Batman title with issue #414 (Dec. 1987) in collaboration with writer Jim Starlin. One of their first storylines for the title was "Ten Nights of The Beast" in issues #417–420 (March–June 1988) which introduced the KGBeast. Perhaps the most notable product of this period remains "A Death in the Family" (Batman #426–429, 1988–1989), depicting the death of Jason Todd (Robin). The "A Lonely Place of Dying" storyline crossed over with The New Titans title and introduced Tim Drake as the new Robin. Aparo continued to draw Batman stories in Detective and Batman until the early 1990s. During this time, he was the regular artist on Batman when Bane broke Bruce Wayne's back during the "KnightFall" storyline. In 1992, Aparo returned to do pencils, inks, and lettering for his Batman stories, but was soon returned to contributing only pencil art.

Also that year, Aparo was given his last regular series assignment for DC as pencil artist for Green Arrow issues #81–100. He and writer Kelley Puckett co-created Connor Hawke, the son of Green Arrow. Following that assignment, Aparo's work appeared infrequently, when Aparo was mostly assigned occasional Batman-related stories and covers in miniseries and specials. His published work in the late 1990s and early 2000s include a Batman Annual inked by former Marvel Comics mainstay Sal Buscema, a G.C.P.D. miniseries, a Speed Force Special featuring the Flash, an issue of a Deadman miniseries that revisited his "Death in the Family" story, and a single page of Green Lantern/Superman: Legend of the Green Flame written by Neil Gaiman in which he had a final opportunity to draw the Phantom Stranger for publication.

His final work for DC during his life was the cover of the trade paperback Batman in the Eighties, published in 2004. In 2006, previously unpublished Aparo art depicting the unused, alternate ending of the storyline "A Death in the Family," in which the Jason Todd Robin lives instead of dies, appeared in Batman Annual #25. Aparo was inducted into the prestigious Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 2019, and received the Inkpot Award in 1993.
Aparo died on July 19, 2005, at his home in Southington, Connecticut. At least one report attributed the cause of death to "a long battle with cancer", but his family's formal announcement said his death came from "complications relating to a recent illness". DC Comics ran an Aparo "In Memoriam" page in Batman #644 (Oct. 2005) and Detective Comics #811 (Nov. 2005). He rests for eternity at Saint Thomas Cemetery, Southington, CT. His work appears on the cover of two issues of Weird War Tales.

(Steve Ditko is a murderous act to follow in the creator remembrances, but here Aparo is crushing it!)

18/07/2024

Hound

Weird War Tales 57, Episode 73

During World War I, a young soldier is assigned to one of the most deadly areas along the Western Front. However, he finds the greatest threat to his life lies not with the enemy, but with a cult formed by his own men. Found nestled and protected within a den of wolves, the journal of Private Barrow, a fresh young soldier drafted into Britain’s royal army during the height of World War I, meticulously and explicitly recounts the events that led to his death. However, where most men are sent to the trenches, Barrow was sent to a place known only to him as the “gas quarter” — a patch along the western front known for incessant mustard gas attacks. Our story and the journal both begin with Barrow’s introduction to the unit occupying the quarter — a group referred to by the top brass as “The Hounds,” a nickname earned by the appearance of their long-snouted gas masks. Immediately, Barrow is shaken by the sight of them and is soon pulled into a hell that can only come from the savage horror of war.

17/07/2024

Hey there, troops! You'll never guess where I'm heading next week!!!!!!!!!

17/07/2024

It's Weird War Tales #56, troops! Featuring: Headless Motorcyclists! Kombucha that can wake the dead! Zuvembies! The Maggia! And enough Tru-Vision 3D power to drive you positively Zagnuts! Still not sure what we're talking about? Well, you know what to do...Get Clickin'! Our page is https:/...