Friday, July 9, 2010

Friday Night Fights--Ben Franklin Style!!

This current bout of Friday Night Fights is Minimum Clonage--we can't re-use any fighters during these twelve rounds. So let's check my list so far:

Spider-Man
Judomaster
Marl Kincaid
T.H.E. Cat
Namor
Mr. Kotter
John Carter Of Mars
Steed and Mrs. Peel
Ant-Man (Henry Pym)
Shang-Chi


Well, you guys asked for it.

You see, you punk kids don't realize how good you have it today. Back in my day, this was popular culture:




Ye gods!! Let me attempt to explain the premise: Young and well-to-do Elsie Ethrington was arrested in a vaguely described "protest" in Chicago. So to put her life back together, she took the vows and joined a convent/orphanage in Puerto Rico, taking the name Sister Bertrille.

Well, it turned out, because of her light weight, heavily starched cornette, and who knows, maybe divine will, she could fly whenever a stiff breeze came along. So she and her fellow nuns and the orphans and a Puerto Rican playboy named Carlos had all sorts of wacky 1960s sitcom style adventures. No, really.

The best part? This show was on the air for three seasons!!!

And of course, as did virtually every show of the era, it had its own comic book:

Join us, then, as the nuns take the orphans beachcombing, where they discover:

Well, by the Inevitable Coincidence Theorem, the thieves choose that exact moment to retrieve their loot. The nuns hide the children, but they themselves are captured, and the outlook isn't good:

Fortunately, besides her flying ability, Sister Bertrille is smarter than the average crook:

But wait...she's not done kicking ass yet!!


BOO-YAH!!!

As an added bonus, from another story in the same issue, let me provide graphic evidence of a very important lesson:


YOU DO NOT F#$% WITH SISTER BERTRILLE!!!!

So endeth the lesson. And I think even Spacebooger has to approve of flying nuns chucking dynamite around!!

The reason your parents took drugs is aptly illustrated in Dell's The Flying Nun #3 (1968), by author unknown and artist Henry Scarpelli.

Now, it is more important than ever that you vote for this fight, because if I win, I can't deny the fact that you like me, right now you like me!!! (And damn you, Academy, from removing all footage of that speech from the interwebs!!)

4 comments:

Gary said...

My God... I always thought The Flying Nun flew in, you know, a plane or something...

I'm stunned.

snell said...

Welcome to America, my friend..BWAHAHAHAAHAHAHA!!

Menshevik said...

Thanks for reviving childhood memories (back in the day I liked the series enough to read the book it was based on, "The Fifteenth Pelican").

Hmmmh, that light weight, could it be because Sister Bertrille is actually a mutant?! (One has to think of hollow-boned Angel). Actually, come to think of it, the Flying Nun could be considered one of those characters who bear the hallmarks of a superhero, but for various reasons (they did not start out in comic-books, they predate Superman, they're associated with other genres or media) are not generally thought of as such, much like the Phantom, the Shadow, the Sailor Senshin and the Powerpuff Girls...

At any rate, you got me to vote in this thing for the first time!

snell said...

Mutant? Try anorexia...the show stated she was 90 pounds, and "and in one episode tried to gain more weight so she could stay grounded, but those attempts proved to be a failure." Sounds like binge & purge, Sister Bertrille...