TERRIFIC TEAM-UP IMAGE: ENTER THE PUNISHER

 

R.I.P. HAL WILLIAMS

For a generation of affectionate fans, you were a constant, comforting presence: a familiar face that one and all called "friend." 

On the theatrical end, you costarred in The Cherokee Kid; On the Nickle; Flight; The Rookie; Private Benjamin; Guess Who; Snow 2: Brain Freeze; Hardcore; The Generation Gap; Thou Shall Not Commit Adultery; The West Side Waltz; Off the Wall; The Young Landlords; Night Club; Swing Out, Sweet Land; The Escape Artist; Sidekicks (1974); Cool Breeze; The Sky is Gray; Don't Look Back: The Story of Leroy 'Satchel' Page; Palmerston U.S.A.; and Herbie Rides Again. 

However,  episodic television was your prime turf, with significant stints on Sanford and Son and its later offshoot, Sanford (as Officer Smitty), as well as The Waltons (as Harley Foster); Private Benjamin (reprising your role as Sgt. L.C. Ross); Tales from the Crypt; The Jeffersons; Good Times; What's Happening!!; Webster; Gimme a Break!; Roots: The Next Generations; L.A. Law; S.W.A.T.; Most Wanted; Police Story; Hill Street Blues; Caribe; Quincy M.E.; T. J. Hooker; Magnum P.I.; Harry O; Matlock; Cannon; Dan August; The Magician; The White Shadow; Gunsmoke; Kung Fu; That Girl; The Jimmy Stewart Show; The New Dick Van Dyke Show; Mad Love; Percy & Thunder; Parks and Recreation; Mr. Mayor; The Mayor; The First Family; The Dukes of Hazzard; Knots Landing; Temperatures Rising; Night Court; Moonlight; Moesha; 227; On the Rocks; ... and The Sinbad Show. 

Through your many endeavors, you lifted our spirits and warmed our hearts, Mr. Williams. There's no doubt that our lives would have been a little less special without your special glow, and for that, we owe you abundant thanks. 💗

FOR THE FUN OF IT:

 

LARRY JOHNSON'S DREAM DIARY #4: RE-ENGAGE THE SURREAL

Larry Johnson's Dream Diary #4 returns readers to sectors that are at once bizarre, absurd and beautiful, each and every one plucked from the artist's intimate reveries. 

For this volume, the chapters include Johnson facing a tiny, attack dog, which he averts via amazing ascension; another tale of ascension in which he becomes an underdressed Pied Piper; a "restaurant" where chess rules and dancing is the main course; the startling discovery of a naked arsonist; the frustration spurred by an incoherent, art teacher; a search for a comic shop, distinguished by a friendly couple and the inexplicable water that surrounds them; a downpour that prompts the purchase of a Batman comic; the preparation of a rocket launch and its madcap consequences; a cordial encounter with a youthful clone; an art exhibit where the guests head into a perplexing tunnel; a rattling, home invasion; and last but not least, a bike ride emboldened by equanimity.

Johnson's abstract documentations are great fun, for he allows one to see through his eyes and experience his jaunts as if they're one's own: indeed, a most welcoming gesture.  

To enjoy the gamut of Dream Diary #4, send $10 per Paypal to LewBrown@verizon.net, or to Venmo @Lawrence-Johnson-232, and in little time at all, Johnson's captivating compilation will arrive at your door.

FOR THE FUN OF IT:

 

LARRY JOHNSON'S THE COMPLETE LEW BROWN, VOL 2

As stated in my The Complete Lew Brown, Vol 1 review (see May post), I believe the titular character is artist/writer Larry Johnson's "everyman" alter ego, and Johnson has used this surrogate in several exploits, including his noted anthology, Tales of Fantasy, and his superhero novel, The Hand. 

Within Johnson's engaging tapestry, Brown is an affable reporter who, for all intent, enters Twilight Zone-ish sectors, on occasion rendered with Kolchak/X-Files spins. For the 220-pg (black-and-white) The Complete Lew Brown, Vol 2, these elements emerge as a series of ornate, comic-book adventures and a set of captivating short stories.

The comics feature an allegiance between alien races (one with a doll-like semblance and the other adorned by antennae) to conquer Earth; Brown's acquaintance, Madame Boogala, and her pact with a thieving genie; a woman who's eager to paint Brown's portrait, though with a Dorian Gray twist; Brown's astral-projection trip with the charismatic Concordus, Chief of Spirit Magic; Boogala's influence on Brown's rare, dance-partner statues and the subsequent sector where a monster plant thrives; Boogala hurling Brown back into the arms of his old girlfriend, Marie (but is she the gal he knew and loved?); Brown's visit to a haunted tower, teeming of anxious artists; Brown's admission into eerie, "Seeing Eye" therapy; the return of Marie, though now exposed as something beyond human; a crystal ball harboring a spidery specimen that pulls people into its dimension; and Brown's quest for an artist named Thaddeus Cromwell, in what becomes a crafty homage to H.P. Lovecraft's "Pickman's Model."  

The short stories embellish the comics, with "Escape Too" centering on Brown's trip to a welcoming yet mind-bending inn, capped by a Boogala surprise, and "The Aurorans" (first featured in Fantastic Tales), where Brown goes the extra mile to extract his brother, Freddy, from an ethereal cult. 

In addition to Freddy and Boogala, the volume includes Boogala's obedient son, Goomar, Brown's eccentric neighbors, Joe and Francine Carbone, and therapist Dr. Charles Young, who acts as a soothing springboard and host for several of the enclosed conundrums. In addition, Crow's Curios (a hub similar to Friday the 13th: The Series' Curious Goods) weaves its way throughout, as does its proprietor, Alistair Crowe, who clinches Brown's revisits and as such, his encounters with the unknown. 

On the surface, Johnson/Brown's exploits are breezy, but beneath, they nurture foreboding nuggets. Our hero's reactions to those nuggets are what makes the concept click. Brown is far from being Doctor Strange or Doctor Fate, but his humble designation makes him more identifiable (and all the braver for it) as he overcomes the absurdities he's dealt. Like so many of us, he faces obstacles that wish to thwart him, and like so many of us, he does his utmost to derail them, even as Johnson brackets the situations with phantasmagoric trimmings. 

I like The Complete Lew Brown, Vol 2 as much as Vol 1, so in my estimation, Johnson has achieved what few have done: dispatched a sequel that matches the original. On this basis, it doesn't matter whether one starts with Vol 2 or Vol 1. Both Lew Brown volumes deliver oodles of relatable wonderment.  

One can order The Complete Lew Brown, Vol 2 at

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H4NW6435?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

and Vol 1 at 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GXTLP6HM?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title   

PINUP TIME: INGER STEVENS IS JANA