Suburban Commando

Suburban Commando (1991, New Line Cinema)

In 1991, the winds of cultural change were upon us. The age of ’80s excess was over and the country was headed for a recession. Despite all of this, the Hulk Hogan vehicle Suburban Commando made its way into theaters that June and then received a wide release in October. It is a family comedy/sci fi action movie with a decidedly goofy “eighties” feel featuring a good guy intergalactic warrior stranded on Earth who ends up renting a room from a family and the typical fish-out-of-water comedy and chaos ensues. Of course, there is a heartfelt message underneath all the humor as the muscle-bound Shep Ramsay character and the Wilcox family all come out better people who having known each other.

Yes, I guess you could say this is a “kids” movie. I certainly remember dragging my mom to the theater to see it when it came out. Maybe it’s just nostalgia but I still find some parts of this movie funny. Maybe not laugh out loud funny, it’s all very hokey and Hulk was never a great actor but the movie still has some charm to it and sometimes clever writing.

According to Wikipedia, the movie was originally title Urban Commando and the roles of Shep Ramsay was offered to Arnold Schwarzenegger while family man Charlie Wilcox was offered to Danny DeVito. Both passed and ended up making Twins together instead. The script was later bought by New Line and Hogan was plugged into the role. I’m not sure how much of the script was changed since Hogan came on board but watching the movie now, it is obvious this fun romp could have been improved greatly if a better actor was in place as Shep. Christopher Lloyd’s performance on the other hand is just fine.

As a kid though, I didn’t think about casting choices. I was just excited to see Hogan on the big screen. Then (and now) I think he looks pretty cool in his body armor. Man, I wish this movie would’ve been a hit so I could’ve had a Shep Ramsay action figure or even a Suburban Commando 2. I remember desperately hoping a sequel would come about only that time I would have wanted it to take place in space and be more of an sci fi action/adventure film. I really enjoyed the opening minutes of the film when it actually did take place space (where now it’s pretty hilarious to see Shep leave the planet’s president for dead). I wanted to see what Shep could really do out there across the galaxies! My thoughts on Christopher Lloyd at the time were that I thought it was extremely weird seeing him in a role other than Doc Brown.

I rented this movie a lot when I was younger but never owned it until about 2002 when I special ordered a VHS copy from the video I worked at… It’s still sealed! It was released on DVD later that year much to my dismay (I wasted five bucks!) but I haven’t upgraded yet. I’m sure I could head over to Walmart right now and a find a copy in their $5 DVD bin. It’s also available on one of those 2 movies in 1 DVDs along with Mr. Nanny (which is another fish-out-of-water family comedy starring Hogan) but Mr. Nanny was awful.

Now if only New Line could release No Holds Barred… I still can’t figure out why they haven’t.

1985 Booster Gold comic book ad

I’ve been a huge fan of Booster Gold for as long as I can remember. I’ve always enjoyed scheming, arrogant, self-centered, cocky, smart-mouth, loudmouth but good-hearted characters like Booster, Zack Morris, Wheeler from Captain Planet and Ted from Hey Dude. I could relate to those characters best even if I wasn’t as outspoken and didn’t seek the spotlight like they did.

This was an ad that ran in DC Comic books for the Booster Gold series that started in1986. He was created/written/drawn by one of my favorite comic book creators — Dan Jurgens. The first issue of that series marked the character’s debut but in short time he was added to the Justice League line-up and became a staple of that team for years. This ad really highlights Booster’s ambitions for fame and money and the character was created to be a representation of  the 1980s’ “greed is good” excess.

I enjoyed this book. Although it wasn’t based around humor like the Justice League books were under writers Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis, it was still a fun superhero romp showing a self-centered guy trying (and sometimes failing) to be a hero all while trying to make a buck off his exploits. Sadly, the book was canceled in 1988 with issue number 25 but Booster remained in the popular Justice League books for many more years. Luckily, his entire solo series was collected in 2008 as volume one of Showcase Presents Booster Gold.

By the mid ’90s, the character kind of faded away and was treated as a D-list joke but came roaring back in 2006′s weekly 52 series where he was a central character and that led to the great comic book writer Geoff Johns’ relaunch of the Booster Gold comic in 2007 where with the help of his robot pal Skeets and Rip Hunter he travels to different times in history trying to preserve the time stream. In a nice twist, much of this is done undercover so no one really knows just how great of a hero Booster has become. All of this has lead to the character being taken seriously again (and with Booster himself getting a bit more serious about being a hero) by the comic book community, even though the populace inside the DC Universe still views Booster as somewhat of the same screw up he was in his Justice League days.

In a nice touch, after Geoff Johns left the new series, Dan Jurgens returned to the character to write and draw the book and did a solid job. Recently, he too left the title and the book is now in the hands of two men who are certainly no stranger to Booster and have probably written more stories involving the character than anyone: Keith Giffen & J.M. DeMatteis. I expect a bigger emphasis on humor and I’m okay with that because their run on the Justice League franchise is a favorite of mine.

By the way, I’d LOVE to own or even see what that Booster Gold pin looks like.

Go fly a kite.

As a kid, kites were a pretty big deal to me. I was often told to “go fly a kite” but the truth is you can’t do it as much you’re told to (same goes for taking long walks off short piers). It all depends on the weather. Certainly you could fly a kit on any good breezy day but the best times were always spring and summer because no one likes running in the wind when it’s 29 degrees outside. Actually… I think I would like that but then I’ve always preferred cold over heat.

One of the “special” days I looked forward to most during my elementary school years was Kite Day! Come one, come all — bring your favorite kite! Snoopy! Rainbow Brite! G.I. Joe! Superman! Dragons! Bats! Hello Kitty! All were welcome but your kite was an extension of who you were. Much like your lunch box, this was a chance to proudly display your tastes and preferences.

While cruising around online, I came across a number of images of kites that I remembered and some that I just thought were cool. I definitely remember Gayla being the big “name” brand of kites, much like Duncan is the top yo-yo brand! Before we take a look at some of these photos, let’s take a look the the directions so that we may fly our kites safely:

Avoid power lines! Just like Louie the Lightning Bug says to...