In the difficult business of comic books greatness can often be classified into two groups: Those who create legendary comic book characters, like Superman, Batman or Spiderman, and those who take established characters and elevates them to new heights. “Denny” O’Neil stood out in this latter group. While he helped shape “the bronze age” of…
When news of the death of Max von Sydow (born April 10, 1929) broke on March 8, 2020, much of the discussion of the actor’s incredible 70-year film career focused on the 11 films he made with legendary Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman between 1957 and 1996. However, those films made up only a small percentage…
Fifty years ago five Englishmen and one American unleashed a new television show that shocked and startled audiences and forever changed the face of comedy. Individually they were: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, but collectively they were Monty Python. The origin of the Pythons goes back to…
“All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.” Recently the world lost an actor who created two of the most famous characters in modern science fiction and fantasy, Rutger Hauer. Hauer was born on January 23, 1944 in Breukelen, Holland, while it was under German occupation. Both of his parents were…
2019 marks the fiftieth anniversary of one of the most successful cartoon franchises in television history: Scooby-Doo. The anthropomorphic Great Dane debuted on CBS on September 13, 1969 and has been solving mysteries ever since in numerous televisions series, made-for-video movies and live action feature films. Over the years, Scooby and his compatriots, Fred, Daphne,…
2019 will mark the 80th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz. The 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s (MGM) fantasy/musical is considered the most watched motion picture in history thanks to its numerous re-releases and over six decades of airing on television. The cast of Judy Garland as Dorothy, Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow, Jack Haley as the Tin…
In November of 2018, the world of fandom was struck a devastating blow as legendary comic book writer, publisher, creator, and Marvel founder Stan Lee passed away at the age of 95. In this most very special edition of Nerd History, we honor the man, the myth, the legend – the incomparable Stan Lee. …
Recently the world mourned the loss of legendary actor Burt Reynolds who died at age 82. While most people think of him as “The Bandit” in Smokey and the Bandit his most famous film role, in reality Reynolds had a long and varied career with many ups and downs. He was born Burton Leon Reynolds,…
April 18, 2018 marked the 80th Anniversary of arguably the biggest moment in comic book history, the first issue of Action Comics (cover date June, 1938) starring Superman in his world debut. This ten cent (est. $2.00 in today’s money) comic book was the birth of the superhero genre with the Man of Tomorrow starting the demand for super-powered…
HAPPY HALLOWEEN SEASON, FELLOW NERDS! Welcome to another edition of Nerd History with Tom Elmore! Many of us celebrate the arrival of Halloween by watching horror films. And whether or not you prefer the classics monsters like Dracula, the Wolfman and Frankenstein’s Monster, or the newer ones such as Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers and Freddy…
