The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023), dir. Andre Ovredal, Dreamworks Pictures/Reliance Entertainment/Storyworks Productions/Studio Babelsberg/Phoenix Pictures/Wise Owl Media
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Moving into the Universal adjacent section, we have the OTHER Dracula film from 2023.
The Advisor
Real name: Robert Hersh
Years active: 1958 to 1960
Also called the Adviser, now we're moving into Wisconsin and its various hosts. The Advisor was rather notable as he actually hosted multiple shows at the same time. Since this was before the rise of videotaping, I understand that his shows were all live.
The first showing was Shock, airing on WITI Channel 6 out of Milwaukee. The next night one could tune in and watch Double Shock. A year later the shows sort of mutated into the Advisor's Mystery Theater on WXIX Channel 18.
He also had a monkey for a sidekick.
He passed away in 2006.
The Phantom Lover (1995), dir. Ronny Yu, Mandarian Films Distribution/Mandarian Films/Sil-Metropole Organization
Moving into the tribute section, we open with a Phantom of the Opera take that borrows from another work.
Igor
Real name: Bob Mills
Years active: 1957-1959
And thus we end our look at Oklahoma with the first host of the state, Igor. A scared man with a sort of caveman sidekick, Igor hosted the local chapter of Shock Theater on KOTV Channel 6 out of Tulsa.
The show seemed to be your standard Shock package bundled with the Universal flicks.
Bob Mills passed away in 1998.
The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966), dir. Alan Rafkin, Universal Pictures
Ending our Universal lookback with something more comedy than horror but eh, it counts.
Peter Hardt
Real name: Peter Hardt
Years active: 1963 to 1969
We've had vampires, doctors of all stripes, vamps, and more, but here's a unique one-A German.
Yeah, seems Mr. Hardt brought nothing more than his own accent but it was apparently enough to host Fantastic Theatre on KVOO-TV Channel 2 out of Tulsa. He was apparently a fixture in Tulsa.
He passed away in 2009.
Kitten with a Whip (1964), dir. Dougles Heyes, Universal Pictures
Now this is an odd one. Honestly, I expected something like this from American International or one of the lower tier grindhouse companies, but Universal?
Dr. Mazeppa Pompazoidi
Real name: Gailard Sartain
Years active: 1970 to 1973
A sad note that quite a few horror hosts never really escape the character or rise above local TV star. Which is perfectly fine but for the few who do go beyond local TV? Legends
The Uncanny Film Festival and Camp Meeting started out on KOTV-Channel 6 out of Tulsa before finishing it's run on KTUL-TV Channel 8 in 1973. Sartain had started out as a station cameraman before going for the late night movie host. Instead of just gadding about in a cape and a few puns, the wizard Dr. Maxeppa Pompazoidi (along with a shockingly young Gary Busey) had skits and focused more on overall humor.
From there Sartain's star rose, first joining Hee-Haw then moving into motion pictures. If you've seen the Earnest films, you might recall him.
Sartain passed away in 2025.
The Birds (1963), dir. Alfred Hitchcock, Alfred J, Productions/Universal Pictures
Moving into the 1960's, the days of the Universal Monsters were offically over but that doesn't mean they were finished with horror.
Dr. Fear
Real name: Brian Young
Years active: 2003-2013
Here we have one of the newer hosts from Oklahoma. The Mysterious Lab of Dr. Fear aired on Pegasys Community Television Channel 11 out of Enid.
Dr. Ignatious Faust Fear II is your typical mad scientist who oversees a slew of wacky characters and hosting various movies.
Sadly I can't seem to find too much about the show, but it last 100 episodes and they hosted the return of Count Gregore, so that has to count for something.
Karutha Rathrikal (1967), dir. P. Subramaniam, Neela Productions
A different take to be sure, but 1967 saw the release of the Indian take on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Count Gregore
Real name: John Ferguson
Years active: 1958-2005
Welcoming back all you fright fans and this year we're taking a look back at the hosts of Oklahoma and Wisconsin.
This time out we look at Count Gregore. The gentleman had quite the tenure. From 1958 to 1960 he hosted the local Shock Theater on WKY-TV Channel 4 out of Oklahoma City. In 1962, the show became Thriller Theater. In 1966 he switched over to KOCO-TV Channel 5 to host Nightmare. I also saw a listing for Sleepwalker's Matinee although the exact dates are unknown to me at the time. In the 1970s he moved yet again to KOKH-TV Channel 25 for Count Gregore Presents.
He hosted quite a few shows even if I can't find any exact dates. He did have a brief return in 2005 when he made his debut on the Mysterious Lab of Dr. Fear, where it was revealed that he's the uncle of character Trinka.
He's made the claim that's the longest running horror host in the world and I find myself agreeing with that statement. He's a dapper vamp and just plays it straight. I can respect that certainly. The only issue and this pops up with far too many hosts, is that the vast majority of his work is lost due it being shot live.
Real name: Joe Perry, inapplicable
First appearance: Justice League of America I#31 (Nov. 1964)
Abilities: Lucky with machines, combined powers of Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, and Hawkman
Worst act: Kidnapping, attempted murder
Quote: "If I was smart, I'd be able to figure out this thing! Maybe I ought to hock it!"
Created by: Gardner F. Fox (script), Mike Sekowsky (pencils), Bernard Sachs (inks)
I'll skip the obvious Aerosmith jokes.
League roster: Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, and Hawkman (who just joined this issue)
The team is baffled by random crooks using time hoops to commit robberies. Hoops that knock things and people into the far future. The heads back to their HQ to try and figure this out, but they soon find the entire things flung into outer space!
Seems the mastermind is Joe Perry! Who? Exactly!
Yeah, seems Joe was just one of your average goon, bumming around on a beach. One day he stumbled across an alien machine that let him toss things through time. Naturally he opts to try and attack the League directly.
Oh, and he also unleashes SUPER DUPER! With the Legs of the Flash, arms of Green Lantern, torso of Batman, head of Wonder Woman (and lasso too) and the wings of Hawkman, the Super Duper is unstoppable!
Except for the weakness to yellow, plus while the legs are super fast nothing else is and while Batman's torso is no doubt peak in torso having abilities the center mass is a bit lacking in terms of powers. Also, since the machine makes copies but yellow, well, you can see the weakness coming up pretty fast.
Hawkman manages to weaken the creature and have its power drained to nothing.
Not awful but Super Duper is a bit too similar to Amazo but freakier looking.
Real name: Unrevealed
First appearance: Justice League of America I#28 (June 1964)
Abilities: Mechanical genius
Worst act: Disbanding the Justice League
Quote: "You criminals are always being caught by one or more of the Justice League members. Your only hope for success is to be in a position where those super-heroes cannot stop you! And I have done just that!"
Created by: Gardner F. Fox (script), Mike Sekowsky (pencils), Bernard Sachs (inks)
Similar to last issue, here we have a guy who manages to get the team to disband. Headmaster Mind creates a machine that causes disasters across the planet. How? The Justice League! Yeah, somehow the machine is powered by the 'heart action' of particular individuals.
Basically anytime the JLA members use their powers this somehow powers the machine. The UN gets wind of this and orders the team to stand down.
This leaves only Batman and Green Arrow as the only heroes who can work. Headmaster Mind sends his best students to wreck havoc.
Matter Master (Hawkman), Tattooed Man (Green Lantern), and the Top (the Flash) easily handle the non powered heroes, but after a pep talk the other heroes team up and take down the students. While the rest of the JLA tackles the students, Batman and Green Arrow track down the headmaster and destroy his machine.
Mind would pop up again in Teen Titans#19 but that's about it.
Real name: I
First appearance: Justice League of America I#27 (May 1964)
Abilities: Teleportation
Worst act: Disbanding the Justice League
Quote: "I have brought you to me because-though you have been unaware of my existence until this moment--you are my mortal enemies!"
Created by: Gardner F. Fox (script), Mike Sekowsky (pencils), Bernard Sachs (inks)
Full roster this time out.
The League gets letters of distress from Bruce Wayne, Ray Palmer, and someone named C. King. Naturally Batman, the Atom, and Aquaman (guess who) are a bit baffled as none of them are in danger. To try and figure it out, Batman joins Flash, Snapper Carr, and Green Arrow as they investigate some robberies.
The Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman are joined by the Atom as they investigate a mysterious cannon.
Aquaman, Green Lantern, and Superman check out a mysterious island.
From their different locations, the entire team is then captured by I. The reason? It seems the JLA is too successful and their success factor is drawing power away from I, thus killing it.
I is able to drain of their success thus making them unable to team up. Snapper remembers they have Amazo in storage and power him up. He easily beats the heroes down and this somehow sends feedback to I and kills it.
Strange yarn. Not as crazy as it could be, but weird overall.
Real name: Kraad
First appearance: Justice League of America I#25 (Feb .1964)
Abilities: Commanding armies
Worst act: Kidnapping, indirectly blowing up planets
Quote: "Welcome to Kraanal, Men of Earth! You have shown yourselves so potent, so well able to defeat all my plans--I have brought you here to my home planet where I can deal with you personally!"
Created by: Gardner F. Fox (script), Mike Sekowsky (pencils), Bernard Sachs (inks)
Roll call: The Flash, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and the Atom
This yarn kicks off with the Flash being kidnapped! Who did such a thing? The culprits turn out to be some scientists from the planet Sfarl. They have been teleporting themselves involuntary across the galaxy and they would very much like to stop, please.
The catch is as soon as they leave a planet, it blows up for some reason, so if the JLA could do them a solid they would appreciate it. The JLA manages to get sent to the next planet on the list, where they encounter Kraad. Why is he doing this?
Seems the scientist's teleporting is needed to power his doomsday weapon. A weapon he promptly uses on the JLA, blowing them up. All save for the Atom, who's suit saved him.
Finding Green Lantern's Power Ring, he manages to restore his teammates, sort of. Wonder Woman gets brought back fully, but the guys get merged. Despite this, they manage to stop the Conquror's plans and take out his doomsday weapon and get themselves restored.
Real name: Zazzala
First appearance: Justice League of America I#23 (Nov .1963)
Abilities: Pretty much anything she wants
Worst act: Kidnapping
Quote: "Now that you super-beings have become my worker-drones, I command you to gain for me the treasure that will make queen of the universe!"
Created by: Gardner F. Fox (script), Mike Sekowsky (pencils), Bernard Sachs (inks)
The League rollcall here is Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, and Green Arrow. The team is attacked by bee men.
Insert "Bees, my God" meme here.
This isn't some random attack though. No, the Queen Bee of Planet Korll needs their help. If they refuse she'll blow up the Earth! Seems some time ago a scientist made a formula for immortality. He didn't take it, as he didn't wish to spend eternity as an old man.
No, he split the formula in three parts and the Queen has an idea where they are. The Martian Manhunter tackles a lava monster, Wonder Woman and the Flash fight a plant monster, and Green Lantern and Arrow take down a living glacier.
The team manages to find the vials, but they fuse the containers in such a way they can never be opened. After all, they promised they'd help the Queen find the things. They never said she'd get to use them.
Not a bad yarn but the queen's motivation is a bit thin and her powers are unstoppable unless they aren't.
Membership: the Wizard, the Icicle, the Fiddler, Chronos, Felix Faust, and Dr. Alchemy
First appearance: Justice League of America I#21 (August 1963)
Abilities: Various
Worst act: World conquering
Quote: "The portable vibrator you gave us worked perfectly, Fiddler. With them we were able to fade away from Earth-One--vibrate ourselves at suer-swift speed--and to reappear here!" (Felix Faust)
Created by: Gardner F. Fox (script), Mike Sekowsky (pencils), Bernard Sachs (inks)
I was pretty tempted to make these guys the 22nd entry but 23rd isn't a bad place to be. Very notable team, in that this was the first crossover between the Justice League and the Golden Age Justice Society.
A small breakdown of the line up
From Earth-2
The Wizard (W.I. Zard): Mostly a JSA foe, magic master and former leader of the Injustice Society of the World
The Icicle (Joar Makent): Mostly a Green Lantern foe, has an ice gun
The Fiddler: Flash foe, was last seen in the first Earth-1/Earth-2 crossover.
From Earth-1
Chronos (David Clinton): Atom foe, tends to go with a time theme
Felix Faust: We've covered him already
Dr. Alchemy: Flash foe, we covered him during the Flash write up.
We open with both teams fighting groups dubbed the Crime Champions, on each world the teams consisting of three men. When the teams stumble across each other, they have the idea of doing the old switcharoo. Surely the JSA would be befuddled at the Earth-1 Crime Champions and vice versa!
The team actually does a pretty good job of taking down their respective foes, at least in the first part. Thus setting the nearly yearly team up between the two teams, so I can't hate them too much.
Membership: Ultraman, Owlman, Superwoman, Johnny Quick, and Power Ring
First appearance: Justice League of America I#29 (August 1964)
Abilities: Pretty much the same as the JLA, although Owlman has limited psychic powers
Worst act: World conquering
Quote: "I'll tell you something so new--it'll curl your hair! I have discovered a way to get us out of the doldrums!"(Ultraman)
Created by: Gardner F. Fox (script), Mike Sekowsky (pencils), Bernard Sachs (inks)
In the tradition of Two-Face and the rest, today we look at a special series of foes, my favorite of the JLA, the Crime Syndicate of America. Basically the 'mirror-verse' version of the JLA. Funny aside, the concept of an evil mirror first popped up here. The Star Trek episode "Mirror, Mirror" didn't air until 1967.
I've always had a fondness for multiple Earths and in #29 (after establishing that the JLA live on Earth 1 and the JSA on Earth 2) we see Earth 3. A world in which Christopher Columbus Europe, England fought for its freedom from America, and President John Wilkes Booth was gunned down by noted actor Abraham Lincoln.
Here we have the Crime Syndicate, with members Ultraman (Superman), who gains powers from kryptonite
Owlman (Batman), who has super intelligence and can have limited control over minds
Superwoman (Wonder Woman), with her shapeshifting lasso
Johnny Quick (the Flash), the fastest man on Earth 3
Power Ring (Green Lantern), has a magic ring
Here the Crime Syndicate discover the whole multiple Earth thing, and, being bored as they have utterly conquered their world, set their sights on the new target. Seeking a neutral battleground, they find Earth 2 and thus the JSA gets dragged into this.
Looking back, rather surprised the Crime Syndicate wouldn't show up again until 1978 and again in 1982 before the whole Crisis blew Earth 3 up.
I love the idea of the team certainly, but the concept didn't get much further than that. The characters really weren't fleshed out until (in some cases) a few decades later.
Overall, good concept but a lackluster execution.
Real name: Inapplicable
First appearance: Justice League of America I#20 (June 1963)
Abilities: Absorbing radiation, super strength
Worst act: Assault, destruction of property
Quote: Not applicable
Created by: Gardner F. Fox (script), Mike Sekowsky (pencils), Bernard Sachs (inks)
In the interest of a recap, #19 featured the return of Doctor Destiny. Here, the league handles three separate issues on three different planets. Despite the fact that the problems were caused by machines, the issues they created persist. Unknown to the team, all three planets are linked, in that each machine was controlled by the other planet.
While on Earth, a giant spaceman shows up and starts wrecking the joint when he isn't helping people out. The twist? Turns out the spaceman is a robot being controlled by the ship, who turns out to be the mastermind and the one behind the machines.
A twist, certainly,
