Classic Arcade Ports for the Nintendo Game Boy

Game Boy: Classic Arcade Ports

Despite being outgunned by the Atari Lynx and Sega Game Gear in terms of color palette, lighting, screen size, and sheer processing power, the original Game Boy trounced the competition in the category that mattered most to Nintendo: unit sales. The success was driven by good marketing, a relatively long battery life, and the console’s killer app, Tetris, as well as such ubiquitous titles as Super Mario Land, Dr. Mario, Kirby’s Dream Land, and the various Pokémon games.

The Game Boy also benefitted from an assortment of classic arcade ports. Since I grew up in the arcades of the late ’70s and early ’80s, I thought it would be fun to check out some Game Boy versions of early coin-op classics. One game I left off the list is BurgerTime Deluxe, since it adds a word to the title (it’s a great game, by the way). Some of these games were also ported to the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance in varying forms, but I’m focusing strictly on the original Game Boy.

Arcade Classic No. 1: Asteroids/Missile Command

This combo cart includes two solid ports that fans of the respective games will find little fault with. Asteroids offers three levels of difficulty and the ability to play using classic or updated graphics, the latter of which feature spinning, textured rocks similar to those found in Blasteroids. Missile Command has two missile silos instead of three, but it offers something new: a variety of recognizable cities to protect, including New York and Cairo, Egypt. In terms of audio, the games do a relatively good job of evoking the original titles, especially the warning signal that begins each level in Missile Command and the deep explosions found in Asteroids. Music, which was absent in the original games, and coin-op-style borders, which appear when the games are played on the Super Game Boy, have been added to enhance the overall experience. Missile Command was also released separately, but without Super Game Boy enhancements.

Arcade Classic No. 2: Centipede/Millipede

You know the drill: maneuver your firing implement along the bottom ¼ or so of the screen, firing upward at insects, including a centipede or millipede that twists and turns its way down a mushroom field. Of course, the Game Boy lacks a trackball for precise, arcade-style action, but controls work pretty well using the d-pad. Unfortunately, the games are much slower than their coin-op counterparts. The cartridge is compatible with the Super Game Boy, which lets you add framed backgrounds designed to resemble the original arcade cabinets. There was also a version of Centipede sold by itself that was compatible with the Link Cable for two-player simultaneous action.

Arcade Classic No. 3: Galaga/Galaxian

More shooting action on your Game Boy, this time of the “slide-and-shoot” (an old term used by Electronic Games magazine) variety. With both of these fixed screen shooters, you guide your ship along the bottom of the playfield, firing away at formations of enemies up above. Unlike Space Invaders, the enemies tend to break apart from the pack and dive-bomb your ship. As with Centipede/Millipede, these two games are similar to one another. Galaga is one of the most popular arcade games of all time, and it’s ported very well here (yes, you can double up your ships for added firepower). Galaxian is more of a forgotten classic, but it’s also fun, if less versatile than Galaga. Play on the Super Game Boy for added color and a more arcade-like experience.

Arcade Classic No. 4: Defender/Joust

Once again, two classic arcade games are featured on a single cartridge. Both are decent ports that offer several Game Boy-specific features, including rapid fire in Defender and the thumb-saving (though less-than-graceful) rapid flap in Joust. Also, both games have music (which can be turned off, thankfully), but the noisy, grating firing sounds in Defender mask the tunes much of the time. Only Joust offers an updated mode, which is augmented by scrolling screens and detailed (relatively speaking) backgrounds. When played using the Super Game Boy, the games are semi-colorful and are framed by arcade-like borders.

Dig Dug

While I don’t like it quite as much as Mr. Do!, Dig Dug is one of my favorite games of all time. The version ported to the Game Boy has a slightly scrolling playfield due to the small screen, but it’s serviceable for the platform and certainly playable. What’s interesting about the cartridge is that it includes a second game called New Dig Dug. Once again, you tunnel underground, blowing up enemies with a pump while creating your own maze pathways, but this “adventure” mode, which features an unlimited number of enemies, has you collecting keys in order to exit the level. It also has bombs, which is always a good thing.

Donkey Kong

The first four screens in Donkey Kong are similar to those of the original arcade game, and the game even features animated musical intermissions. However, beginning with screen five, puzzle elements come into play as gamers must gather disappearing keys to unlock doors of hidden rooms and pick up and move sections of road and ladder for use in accessing vital sections of the playfield. At the end of each of the game's ten stages of play (each stage containing ten puzzles), players must throw barrels and trash cans at Donkey Kong and other enemies, while finding clever ways to beat the bosses. Adding to the greatness of the game is that Mario acquires new skills as he progresses, including high jumps, handstands, and rope spins. The first cartridge to be specially designed for the Super Game Boy, Donkey Kong is a graphically sound, brilliantly challenging game that requires careful planning and strategy as well as dexterity for the player to succeed. Kudos to Nintendo for not taking the easy route by simply cranking out a remake of the original.

Lock 'N Chase

As with Donkey Kong, Lock 'N Chase for the Game Boy is even better than its coin-op counterpart. It has more textured graphics, cuter characters, an assortment of level designs, and deeper gameplay elements, including doors that warp you to other areas of the maze. The game is similar to Pac-Man, but instead of ghosts following you through the corridors and alleyways, cops are on your tail, and instead of eating dots, you gather up coins. Your ultimate goal is to steal the African Star Diamond, which you won't reach until the end of the sixth and final level. Another difference between this game and Pac-Man is your ability to place temporary locks in the mazes to block enemies. Instead of power pills, there are diamonds and magic bags which turn you invincible and freeze the cops (respectively). The screen scrolls, but I don’t mind in this case. At the end of each stage, you can play a bonus round slot machine. If you’ve only played the arcade game and/or the popular Intellivision port, check this out—it’s excellent.

Mr. Do!

As many of my readers and YouTube subscribers know, Mr. Do! is my favorite game of all time. I love the simple, yet strategy-filled and surprisingly deep gameplay of the tunnel digging, monster avoiding action. The playfield in the Game Boy version scrolls to account for the small screen, making the game more frustrating and less enjoyable than the original. Pausing the action lets players view the entire play area, but this disrupts the flow of the game. Other variances in the handheld rendition include moving diamonds, uglier monsters, different playfield layouts, and an original, less memorable musical score. Thankfully, you can still spell out EXTRA for bonus lives. Gameplay retains the basic cherry harvesting, monster bashing (with a ball you throw) charm that made the coin-op classic so endearing, so it is playable.

Ms. Pac-Man

Ms. Pac-Man is one of the most popular video games of all time. In fact, you can still find it in bars, restaurants, and of course retro arcades. The Game Boy port features arcade mode and hard mode, the latter of which has faster moving ghosts. The screen scrolls to show the entire maze, but you can switch to full screen mode to show the entire playfield at once. This makes it really small, so using the Super Game Boy or Game Boy Player is recommended for this mode. The ghosts all look the same since the graphics lack color, but they of course do behave differently. Intermissions are included, and you can compete simultaneously with a friend or alternate turns through the magic of the link cable, a cool peripheral that was underappreciated by many Game Boy owners. The game is slower than its coin-op counterpart, but certainly playable.

Pac-Man

I discovered Pac-Man in the fall of 1980, shortly after it came out, at a convenience store near my junior high school. I would play before and after school and sometimes during (don’t tell my mom or my former teachers). The Game Boy port recreates the legendary coin-op game well enough to give me nostalgic feels, right down to the memorable music during the animated intermissions. As with Ms. Pac-Man, the ghosts look the same since the GB lacks color, but they move in different patterns. Also the same is the wide gray vertical bar on the side showing fruit level indicator and your score, taking up valuable screen space. Another similarity is that you can play with a scrolling screen or a tiny non-scrolling maze. When I play Pac-Man on a Nintendo console, I opt for the NES version using the NES Advantage joystick, but if you want to play Pac-Man on the go, this makes it doable.

Paperboy

As the title implies, this game puts you in the role of a paperboy, peddling your bike down the street, delivering newspapers. While on your route, you must dodge traffic, tornadoes, break dancers, overhanging trees, vicious dogs, and other obstacles. As you steer your bike along the road, your primary goal is to throw the newspapers in the paperboxes of the subscribers. Also, you can earn extra points by throwing the papers at enemies such as workmen and the Grim Reaper and by breaking out the windows of nonsubscribers. At the end of each delivery session, you enter a special bonus round called the Paperboy Training Course wherein you toss your papers at targets while avoiding obstacles. As with Atari’s original coin-op classic, the playfield is isometric (like Zaxxon). The game is similar to the NES port, but the playfield has simply been cropped (as opposed to redesigned) to fit the small Game Boy screen, making it difficult and unenjoyable to play.

Q*bert

I enjoyed Q*bert in the arcades, but I especially liked Q*bert on the PlayStation and Q*bert 3 for the Super Nintendo. I loved how they took the basic formula, where you guide the title character as he hops on blocks to change them to the target color, and added new cube formations instead of just a repeating pyramid. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the Game Boy port also deviates from the formula by providing Q*bert new playfields to conquer. Since the Game Boy screen lacks color, the developers compensated by giving the cubes such designs as checkboard, ice, cement, lidded box, and wood. There are even discs to jump on. Voice effects, music, and new enemies add to the fun.

Qix

With its small screen and limited audio/visual capabilities, the Game Boy is a good home for Qix, the ingeniously simplistic arcade game where you draw straight lines to form shapes in order to fill in screen space. In addition to a solid port of the original, this version of the game offers link-up capabilities in which players take turns within the same field, trying to claim the greatest percentage of area. One player is Mario while the other is Luigi, though your drawing implement remains a simple diamond shape. Turn-based Qix with Nintendo characters? Yeah, it’s a thing. Who knew? Now that you know, go play it!

Space Invaders

With the possible exceptions of Tetris and Qix, Space Invaders is the ideal title to adapt to the Game Boy. The simplicity of the gameplay and the short time it takes to play a full round are perfectly suited for on-the-go gaming and the limitations of the venerable handheld system. This port solidly reconstructs the 1978 coin-op classic on the tiny Game Boy screen and even lets players go at it head-to-head via cable linkup. However, the game doesn't truly shine until played via the Super Game Boy, which provides an incredibly faithful arcade experience in terms of graphics, coloring, gameplay, sound effects and borders.

DFW Toy Expo - Arlington, Texas - March 6, 2021

 

DFW Toy Expo

Do you like collecting toys? I sure do!

Hosted by popular YouTubers Billy and Jay, a.k.a. The Game Chasers, the DFW Toy Expo is returning to Arlington, Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers. The show, where I will be selling my books along with various other items, will feature a variety of vintage and modern toys for sale from a variety of vendors. Everything from action figures to video games to Hot Wheels to comic books to Funko Pop figures and Pokemon will be on sale, and many dealers will be happy to look at stuff you bring in for possible trade or purchase.

Are you a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan? Did you grow up watching such cartoons as He-Man, The Transformers, and Tiny Toon Adventures? Do you have fond memories of endless summers when you had plenty of time to play Nintendo, swap trading cards, obsess over Star Trek and Star Wars, and in general have fun? Then you’ll definitely want to check out the DFW Toy Expo, where an adult can be a kid. Speaking of kids, this is a family-friendly event where all ages are welcome. There will be something for every budget, so you can dig through bargain bins as well as check out old, rare, and highly sought after “Holy Grail” items. Plus, admission is just $5!

The show promoters had a nice turnout back in January for the Retropalooza Swap Meet, and everyone I spoke with after the event said they had a great time. Billy and Jay are working their hardest to make the DFW Toy Expo even more enjoyable, so come on out and fills some holes in your comic book collection, look for that elusive Happy Meal toy you had as a kid, buy that LEGO set or model kit you’ve always wanted, or simply hang out with other collectors and pop culture fans and gaze in awe at the awesome collectables on display. Just remember one thing: set phasers on fun!

The organizers of the DFW Toy Expo value their customers and collector friends, so your health and safety are extremely important to them. Masks covering the face and nose are required for vendors and attendees, and they will have hand sanitizer available and observe other Covid-19 safety protocols.

DFW Toy Expo

Bob Duncan Center

Arlington, TX 76014

10 AM to 5 PM; March 6, 2021

$5 admission; Kids 12 and under are free with adult ticket purchase

Retropalooza Swap Meet Report and Pickups - 2021, Arlington, Texas

Well, it’s 2021, and things are supposed to be back getting back to normal, correct? Not so much. But I did set up at a comic book/toy/video game convention recently, which was a nice step in that direction.

As everyone knows, trade shows and other large gatherings are few and far between these days, thanks to a certain pandemic that shall remain nameless. In fact, prior to the Retropalooza Swap Meet, which occurred Jan. 30 in Arlington, Texas (home of the Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers), I hadn’t been a vendor at a show since RetroFest, which was held in Fort Worth in March of 2020, just as the virus started gaining traction and taking over conversations and newscasts.

In the weeks following RetroFest, which now seems like a lifetime ago, cities and businesses began shutting down across the country, and conventions that hadn’t already announced that they were cancelling or postponing their shows began doing so en masse. I grieved over the loss of some of the bigger in-state events that I typically attend each year, such as Fan Expo Dallas, Classic Game Fest, and the Texas Pinball Festival.

Even worse, I was set to appear as a guest author at a number of major out-of-state events, including the Portland Retro Gaming Expo, the Long Island Retro Gaming Expo, and the Midwest Gaming Classic (in Milwaukee). I love to travel, and these types of shows let me do so for free. In fact, I usually come out way ahead financially, thanks to book sales. Not only did I miss the financial, promotional, and entertainment opportunities these shows offered, I missed the heck out of seeing my geeky and geek-adjacent friends, many of whom I only meet up with once per year.

As the Retropalooza Swap Meet drew near, I reserved one of the last booths, despite some reservations (so to speak). I had attended a couple of small shows last year—a record convention and a mini comic-con—but only as a fan, not as an exhibitor, where I would be trapped all day with a crowd of people. My reservations were two-fold; would anyone show up, and, if they did, would I be able to safely conduct business?

Like a lot of people, I confess that I’m getting Covid-fatigue (oops, I mentioned the virus by name), so I suppose I’m willing to take more risks than before, just to preserve my sanity. Also, as with most other people, the pandemic has been hard on my wallet, so I figured the money wouldn’t hurt. A 10x10 booth at the swap meet was just $65, and the show, both in its larger Retropalooza form and its smaller Swap Meet iteration, has a history of solid turnouts, so I took a gamble and got a double booth with a good friend who I first met at a convention in Tulsa, Oklahoma back in the mid-2000s. That way, if the show got slow we could talk instead of being bored, and we could cover each other’s restroom and walkaround breaks.

Every time I do a show, no matter how well-attended, I get a little nervous if I haven’t sold anything within the first hour or so, which is ridiculous since a lot of people are just in browsing mode at this point. The first hour did indeed see few sales at my booth, but by conventions’ end I had sold plenty of stuff to make it worthwhile, and I did have a lot of fun. Better yet, I felt safe. Tables were spaced out according to social distance guidelines, everyone was masked up (only a handful of customers wore them below their noses), and hand sanitizer and other protocols were in place.

I was at the show to make money not spend it, but of course I did find some things I couldn’t live without, thanks to a complicated math equation regarding cool factor/price ratio (something I just now made up) of said items.

I love digging through bargain boxes, especially under tables where a lot of people don’t bother to look, and in just such a box I found a copy of The Official Marvel Comics Try-Out Book (1983), a massive volume that, back in the day, fans could use as a tool for becoming a creative talent for Marvel Comics. The brainchild of editor Jim Shooter, the book has a gorgeous cover by definitive Spidey artist John Romita Jr. (with inks by Al Milgrom) and is broken into sections on coloring, inking, lettering, scripting, penciling, and plotting. It is printed on large, heavy paper like real artists use, with plenty of blue-line pages for inking, coloring, etc. I paid just $5 for this cool book, which regularly sells on eBay for $20 to $35.

I traded for an excellent Super Nintendo game I needed for my collection called Mystical Ninja, and I paid just $50 for a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures for the Nintendo GameCube. I say “just $50” because it’s factory sealed, and if you’ve been paying close attention to Heritage Auction prices of late, you know that older factory sealed Nintendo games featuring desired properties like Zelda, Mario, and the like are going for big bucks these days. It’s a beautiful piece that I may just put on my shelf for awhile before deciding whether I should open it (horror!), sell it, or simply keep it on display. It is the “Player’s Choice” (later printing) edition of the game, which goes for around $150 to $200 on eBay. (The earlier printing without the “Player’s Choice” text at the top of the cover typically sells for $230 to $300.)

Last and certainly least (but still kinda cool), I grabbed a copy of Mastering Nintendo Video Games (1989), a trade paperback strategy guide for old Nintendo NES games like Double Dragon, Mega Man, Super Mario Bros., and Zelda II, as well as a bunch of obscure and lesser-known titles. I doubt I’ll use many of the tips and tricks featured in the book, but I collect retro gaming books, and I’ll have fun flipping through it for a dose or three of nostalgic fun. And it was only five bucks!

All in all, the Retropalooza Swap Meet was a big success. I made some money, hung out with friends, found some cool stuff, gained some new readers (and subscribers to my YouTube channel), and, most importantly, lived to tell about it. Not a bad day, all things considered!

Book Review: Mr. Sulu Grabbed My Ass, and Other Highlights from a Life in Comics, Novels, Television, Films and Video Games by Peter David

Book Review: Mr. SuluGrabbed My Ass, and Other Highlights from a Life in Comics, Novels, Television,Films and Video Games by Peter David

How are you guys and gals doing? Well, I hope.

With all the crazy going on in the world—the ongoing pandemic, political unrest, economic woes—it’s important to carve yourself out some healing “me time” anywhere you can get it, including from the world of popular culture.

For me, the publication of Peter David’s new amusingly titled book, Mr. Sulu Grabbed My Ass, andOther Highlights from a Life in Comics, Novels, Television, Films and Video Games, was a great way to escape real-life drama for a while, have some laughs, and reconnect with an old colleague (of a sort). McFarland, a company that has published some of my books, sent me a review copy, and it was a welcome sight in my mail box.

Before I get to the book, let’s discuss the author.

A “writer of stuff,” Peter David isn’t exactly a household name—such is the lament of many a writer toiling in relative obscurity—but he is well-known among comic book fans for his critically acclaimed 12-year stint on The Incredible Hulk, plus his work on such titles as Aquaman, Supergirl, and Spider-Man 2099. Star Trek fans still ask him about Imzadi, his Star Trek: The Next Generation novel where Commander Riker and Counselor Troi get it on, and he’s had work appear on The New York Times Best-Seller List. If you’re the type who reads TV credits, you may have seen his name attached to such shows as Babylon 5 and various superhero cartoons, including Young Justice.

My first recollection of seeing Peter David’s writing was in 1990, when I worked at Lone Star Comics, a retail chain in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. During my lunch breaks, I would read the Comic’s Buyer’s Guide, a weekly, tabloid-sized newspaper that began as The Buyer's Guide to Comics Fandom in 1971. David’s always-entertaining, often-provocative “But I Digress” column ran in CBG from 1990 until it closed up shop in 2013. I wrote reviews for the Comic’s Buyer’s Guide for over a dozen years, and I was proud that my work appeared in the same publication as such an accomplished writer.

David’s titanic talent with the typewriter (or computer keyboard) is indeed on display in Mr. Sulu Grabbed My Ass, an autobiographical trade paperback weighing in at 219 pages, with a cover price of $29.95. Yeah, it’s a little pricey for the format, but it’s a fun, breezy read that covers the highlights of David’s writing career, his run-ins with various celebrities, and certain aspects of his personal life. David is a bit of a nerd (in a good way), so you’re not going to get the kind of salacious revelations you might read in a rock star bio (which is actually refreshing), but his encounters with Hollywood hotshots are fascinating. Was he really Will Smith’s bodyguard? Did he watch Star Wars with Mark Hammill? And exactly why did George Takei’s grab his ass? I won’t spoil the details behind those anecdotes here.

Oh, and Stephen King visited him in the hospital when he had a stroke (a particularly interesting part of the book), and he got to interview William Shatner when he was just a teenager—thanks to author Robert Ludlum!

There’s something in this book for just about every geeky persuasion. Comic book fans will love the “Make Mine Marvel” and “Comics Stuff” chapters, aspiring writers as well as comic book junkies will enjoy David recalling how he got back into comics and became a professional writer, and science fiction fans will absolutely gobble up David’s stories about writing Star Trek novels, scripting Babylon 5 episodes, and dealing with the late, great Harlan Ellison—there’s an entire chapter on the acerbic dark fantasy and science fiction author. It seems that everyone involved with science fiction has an Ellison story (including yours truly—I met him at a Diamond Comics retailer seminar and will likely relate that memorable encounter here at some point), and David is no exception.

By the time you finish David’s autobiography, you may know more than you ever wanted to about the author, such as the fact that his daughter Caroline never learned to crawl and that it was difficult getting another daughter, Shana, to take a nap when she was little. However, the book never gets bogged down too heavily by any one topic, and David injects enough humor into the proceedings that you’ll likely never get bored by any chapter. He speaks glowingly of his kids and his current wife while resisting the temptation to trash his ex. I can certainly respect that, though the trashing, which he implies in the book is something he could easily do, probably would have made for fascinating reading.

Overall, Mr. SuluGrabbed My Ass is a well-rounded autobiography that never overstays its welcome. You wouldn’t necessarily want to binge-read it in a single afternoon, but it is fun to read a chapter here and there in your spare time, such as during your subway work commute or while you’re waiting in line at the post office. Or, when you just want something agreeable to read while you’re unwinding after a long day at work.

Now, excuse me while I go research a short-lived TV show called Space Cases, which I had never heard of prior to reading this book. David created the show with Billy Mumy, who played Will Robinson on Lost in Space. Not unlike this book, it sounds well worth checking out!

Top Celebrity Deaths in 2020

 Celebrity Deaths in 2020

Many celebrities die each year, but with 2020 being so notable as a terrible time thanks to the novel Coronavirus, the celebrity deaths last year seem especially poignant. A number of the famous people who passed during that time impacted my life in a positive way, so I decided to highlight some of them here.

The celebrities in question are listed in order of importance to me personally, but that of course doesn’t mean their lives were more valuable than the others—just that they made a difference in my life.

1. Eddie Van Halen

I saw Van Halen blow the roof off of Reunion Arena in 1984 and headline the Texas Jam in 1986. I drew Van Halen's cool logo countless times on my school folders. Smiling when so many rock stars snarled, Eddie had the creativity and power of Hendrix. He could make his guitar sound like a rocket ship taking off or a volcano erupting. He was a virtuoso who continued honing his craft through the Van Hagar era, even though we metal head teenagers preferred “Ain't Talkin' About Love”—in fact, that's my first memory of Van Halen—listening to the brilliant, mind-bending opening riff of “Ain't Talkin' About Love” in my brother's car. He had a Pioneer stereo with four speakers and a 100-watt amp and would play Van Halen’s debut album so loud I thought my ears would split open. But I loved it.

2. John Prine

When my brother-in-law and I went into the comic book business together during the early 1990s, we spent a lot of time together, ordering new comics, pricing inventory, doing trade shows, running our two stores, etc. And there was usually music in the background. While my musical tastes tended toward the harder stuff like Black Sabbath, KISS, and Iron Maiden (though I enjoy a variety of other genres), he was more of a folk rocker, listening to Neil Young, Bob Dylan, and Tom Petty. During this time, he introduced me to country folk singer John Prine, one of the greatest songwriters in the history of popular music. To this day, I listen to Prine on a frequent basis, everything from the heartbreaking “Hello in There” to the whimsical and hilarious “Dear Abby.”

3. Mary Higgins Clark

When I was a kid, my mom did me the tremendous favor of taking me to Half-Price Books and a couple of mom-and-pop bookstores fairly near our house. We also went, as a family, to thrift stores on occasion. It was at these second-hand shops where I discovered that you could buy comic books, Peanuts paperbacks, and copies of MAD magazine for as little as 10 to 25 cents each. After one of these excursions, Mom introduced me to the works of thriller author Mary Higgins Clark, an author I read before Clive Barker, Stephen King, Robert Bloch, Richard Matheson, or Rod Serling. So yeah, Clark, famous for such novels as Where Are the Children? (1975), A Stranger is Watching (1977), and The Cradle Will Fall (1980), was a big influence on my literary genre of choice.

4. David Prowse

In 1977, I was 10 years old. Wow, what a time to be a kid. Not only did the Atari 2600 come out that year (it was too expensive for us, but I played the heck out of Atari at various friends’ houses), Star Wars debuted on the silver screen. Inspired in part by the old Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials (check out the opening text crawl on 1939’s Buck Rogers), Star Wars changed cinema forever and made quite the impression on me, who saw it at the local mall theater with my brother. While David Prowse didn’t voice Darth Vader (that was James Earl Jones), he struck an imposing figure in the black costume—virtually every gesture he made and every step he took was menacing. Years before, he played Frankenstein’s monster in a couple of Hammer films. Darth Vader + Frankenstein = awesome.

5. Olivia de Havilland

Decades before most people considered it problematic, Gone with the Wind (1939) made its broadcast television debut on NBC on November 7, 1976. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Margaret Mitchell, the classic film aired in two parts to huge ratings, with the second part airing the following day. My dad had no interest, so my mom and I went to the back bedroom and watched, transfixed before the colorful characters, Old South charm, and grand visuals and sweeping musical score. We watched it together several times over the years after that. I thought Rhett Butler (played by Clark Gable) was the epitome of cool, and I had a major crush on Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh). But it was sweet Melanie Hamilton, played endearingly by Olivia de Havilland, who gave the movie its heart. She was also great in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), another one of my favorite films of the era.

6. Fred “Curly” Neal

I grew up in a suburb of Fort Worth, but we rarely went into town. We drove to Dallas for the occasional Mavericks basketball game and were frequent visitors to Arlington to go to Six Flags and Rangers baseball games, but I guess my dad didn’t see much reason to go to Fort Worth, despite such tourist attractions as the historic Stockyards, the Water Gardens (prominent shooting location for Logan’s Run), several world classic museums, a world class zoo, Trinity Park, the botanic gardens, etc. But one cold winter night we ventured downtown to the Tarrant County Convention Center to see the Harlem Globetrotters, which featured the charismatic and comical “Curly” Neal at point guard. I had seen them on TV before, but there was nothing like witnessing their antics live: the half-court shots, the buckets of confetti, the crazy dunks and even crazier dribbling, the punking of their foes (The Washington Generals). In short, the Globetrotters were super entertaining, and it was great watching them in their heyday.

Honorable Mentions:

Dawn Wells: As the adorable next-door type girl on Gilligan’s Island, she was my first crush. I cringed when she got shot in the face in The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976), my first experience seeing an R-rated movie at the theater.

Kenny Rogers: Such hits as “Lady,” “The Gambler,” “Lucille,” and “Coward of the County” were a big part of the soundtrack of my young life.

Charlie Pride: I loved listening to Charlie Pride in my dad's truck when I was a kid. "Burgers and Fries and Cherry Pies" takes me back to the '70s as much as any song by any singer or band.

Max von Sydow: He was great as Ming the Merciless in Flash Gordon (1980), one of my favorite films, and even better in Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), where he played a snooty artist.

Fred Willard: My brother and I grew up watching Fernwood Tonight, and Willard was great in a small role in This is Spinal Tap (1984), where he told the band: “We are such fans of your music and all of your records. I'm not speaking of yours personally, but the whole genre of the rock and roll.”

Jerry Stiller: The comedy legend entertained for decades and decades, but he’s perhaps best known for playing George Costanza’s father on Seinfeld, one of my favorite sitcoms. “Serenity now!”

Little Richard: He did nothing less than play a major role in inventing my favorite genre of music: rock ’n’ roll. “Good Golly, Miss Molly!”

Chadwick Boseman: I was stunned at the passing of Boseman, who was only 43. He had quite the career, playing such iconic figures as Jackie Robinson and James Brown. His portrayal of Black Panther actually made that relatively obscure Marvel Comics character iconic.

Joel Schumacher: Some blame Schumacher for ruining the Batman movie franchise with the campy Batman & Robin (1997), where the Dynamic Duo’s costumes had nipples. However, I’ll always remember the director for creating The Lost Boys (1987), the endlessly entertaining hair metal vampire film.

Alex Trebek: What a class act. Smart. Articulate. Semi-funny. My son loves Jeopardy, and we have a good time watching it together as a family. We’ll miss watching him host the show when his episodes run out later this year.

Batman's Sidekick Robin, a.k.a. The Boy Wonder, Turns 80!

Robin Turns 80!

Batman’s sidekick Robin debuted in 1940 in Detective Comics #38. While he was 8 years old when he debuted, he’s been around as a character for 80 years now. My, how time flies when you’re galivanting about Gotham, combating crime!

In that legendary first appearance, The Flying Graysons, comprised of young Dick Grayson and his father and mother, are putting on a high-flying trapeze act in a small town outside of Gotham City. During a particularly dangerous act—the triple spin—Dick watches from below as his parents “fly through the air with the greatest of ease.” But then the ropes snap, and they plunge to their death, much to their son’s horror. Gangsters running a protection racket had put acid on the ropes as the circus owner refused to pay for said protection.

Watching from the audience is Bruce Wayne, who, as Batman, confronts young Grayson after the accident and warns him not to go to the police because the town is run by Boss Zucco, and he would be dead inside of an hour if he told the cops. Bruce takes Grayson into his home as his ward, has him swear an oath to fight crime and stay on the path of righteousness, and trains him in boxing, jujutsu, and other such disciplines. Grayson is already a trained circus acrobat, so he’s a quick study. And, poof, a superhero sidekick his born!

The story was written by Batman co-creator Bob Finger (who didn’t get sufficient credit for his Batman work for many years), the pencils were by Batman’s more famous co-creator Bob Kane (who would often claim sole credit as Batman and Robin’s sole creator), and the inks were provided by Jerry Robinson.

In an old interview with Finger, who passed away in 1974, the scribe revealed the inspiration behind the boy sidekick. “Robin was an outgrowth of a conversation I had with Bob,” he said. “Batman was a combination of Douglas Fairbanks and Sherlock Holmes. Holmes had his Watson. The thing that bothered me was that Batman didn't have anyone to talk to, and it got a little tiresome always having him thinking. I found that as I went along Batman needed a Watson to talk to. That's how Robin came to be. Bob called me over and said he was going to put a boy in the strip to identify with Batman. I thought it was a great idea.”

The debut Robin story is primitively and quickly told (obviously, you can’t simply take a child you don’t know home from the circus right on the spot, even if their parents get killed), and the art is crude compared to something like Hal Foster’s work on Prince Valiant, the adventure strip that debuted in newspapers the previous year. However, there’s a lot of energy on the pages, and the fast pacing makes for a fun read. Despite his youth and inexperience, Robin goes into action solo against some bad guys and gets the best of them. Like Batman, Robin has a utility belt and fights crime sans superpowers.

As the story closes, we see our heroes engaged in this cornball exchange:

Bruce: “Okay, you reckless young squirt, I ought to whale you for jumping those men alone. Why didn’t you wait for me?”

Dick: “Ah! I didn’t want to miss any of the fun! Say, I can hardly wait till we go on our next case. I bet It’ll be a corker!”

Robin’s unsophisticated debut tale took up just 12 pages of a comic book that was 68 pages in length, but that comic book is now worth the price of a small house. In 2009, a 9.4 CGC-graded example sold at auction for $107,550. Robin’s first time to go it alone was in Detective Comics #41 (July, 1940), and that issue is worth around $8,000 to $10,000 in near mint condition. A few years later, Robin appeared on the cover of Star Spangled Comics #65 (February, 1947), kickstarting a series of solo stories that lasted until that series concluded with issue #130. If you can find a pristine copy of Star Spangled Comics #65, expect to pay around $2,000 to $3,000.

A trailblazer, Robin started a trend in comics of superheroes having sidekicks, such as Captain America’s Bucky, Aquaman’s Aqualad, and Flash’s Kid Flash. Thanks to his decades-long pairing with Batman (they are often called the “Dynamic Duo” or the “Caped Crusaders”), and his presence in such shows as the Adam West Batman (where he was played by Burt Ward) and the Saturday morning cartoon The Super Friends (where he was voiced by Casey Kasem), he’s also become one of the most famous superheroes of all time. Tons of merchandise, including multiple action figures by an assortment of companies, adds to Robin’s pop culture legacy as well.

When Batman debuted, he was a grim, darkly clad avenger who brandished a firearm instead of a partner in crimefighting. (Batman later swore off guns.) The brightly colored Robin, who was inspired in part by Robin Hood, changed that dynamic (so to speak), giving kids a spunky young hero they could relate to.

“On his own, the Batman of 1939 was a pretty dark character, a loner in the night,” says comic book writer Paul Kupperberg, a former editor for DC Comics. “Early on, he sometimes carried a gun and would use it. But I think as comic books proved themselves to be largely kiddie literature, DC realized they needed to take some of the edge off the character. Robin was introduced to soften Batman and, even if they didn’t realize it at the time, he also gave the kid readers an ‘in’ to the stories, a character they could identify with other than this harsh guy dressed in black and gray. As soon as Robin came in, the tone of the stories changed, giving the strip a sense of familiar domesticity.”

Though Batman did appear in solo stories, such as when Dick Grayson when off to college (Batman #217), the original Dick Grayson version of Robin remained a steady presence in various Batman titles and other DC-published comic books for decades. Robin helped form the Teen Titans (The Brave and the Bold #60), battled the Joker, the Riddler, the Penguin, and countless other villains, teamed up with such heroes as Batgirl and Superman, and in general remained a noble, lighthearted hero.

During the early 1980s, Robin grew out of his sidekick role. In the pages of The New Teen Titans, where Robin served for years as a leader of the team, he became an adult, scrapped the Robin identity, and took on the mantle of Nightwing. Like Robin, Nightwing lacked superpowers and used an assortment of gadgets for fighting crime, but Nightwing’s darker costume and more serious demeanor were in stark contrast to Robin. Created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez, Grayson’s Nightwing persona debuted in Tales of the Teen Titans #44 (July, 1984), an issue worth more than $100 if graded 9.6 by CGC. Copies graded at 9.8 have sold for more than $500. Unslabbed examples in excellent condition can be found for as little as $50 or $60.

Kupperberg says he’s “not necessarily a fan” of Nightwing, but he certainly understood the reasoning behind the creation of the character.

“The way the market and audience had evolved, adult characters could stay unchanged at an indeterminate age forever,” he says. “Kid characters had to grow-up, otherwise they were just eternally whining trip-hazards for the heroes. Robin, being the first, had to catch up with the rest of the kids, especially with what was going on in Teen Titans.”

Various Robins followed in the wake of Dick Grayson maturing into Nightwing, including Jason Todd, who was memorably (if temporarily) killed off by the Joker in a marketing stunt, Tim Drake, who received a long ongoing series of his own, Stephanie Brown, the daughter of minor Batman rogue the Cluemaster, and Damian Wayne, the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul There was even a “Robin War” storyline that ran through several DC titles published a few years ago.

Despite all those replacement Robins, for many fans and creators Dick Grayson will always be Batman’s one and only true sidekick.

Kupperberg agrees with this sentiment. “I think Robin’s legacy is as the first kid sidekick and one of the leaders of the next generation of heroes,” he says. “When it comes to my DC comic book characters, I'm an originalist. They can put whoever they want in those costumes and call them the ‘Spectre,’ ‘Batman, or ‘Robin’ or whoever, but they're not. As far as I'm concerned, Jim Corrigan is the Specrtre. Bruce Wayne is the Batman. And Dick Grayson is the Robin. Theirs are the real stories; the ones featuring these Johnnys-came-later secret identities are the fiction.”