Daily Archives: October 13, 2012

Coulson Lives? Coulson Lives in new ‘S.H.I.E.L.D’ series?

Is Clark Gregg destined to return as Agent Phil (“His first name is Agent”) Coulson in the upcoming “SHIELD” TV series?

Those newsy guys and gals at Comic Book Resources are reporting that Jeph Loeb, head of Marvel’s TV unit, and Joss Whedon, “Avengers” director and Marvel movie and TV universe consultant, took the stage (the latter via video) at New York Comic Con and announced that Clark Gregg would be part of the upcoming “SHIELD” TV series:

“He’s headlining the S.H.I.E.L.D. show and always was.” said Whedon.

Loeb confirmed Clark Gregg is the first member cast in Whedon’s “S.H.I.E.L.D.”

Gregg was on hand too.

Assuming this wasn’t some kind of joke that was misinterpreted, it’s pretty cool news. As everyone who saw “The Avengers” knows, Coulson – who had small roles in most of the Marvel movies leading up to “The Avengers” – died by Loki’s hand in the movie.

His death gave the Avengers something to avenge.

Despite an on-stage reference – which might have been a joking one – to Life Model Decoys (lifelike robots developed by SHIELD in the comics and mentioned by Tony Stark in “The Avengers”), we’re left wondering how Coulson will return in the “SHIELD” TV series.

Did he not really die at Loki’s hand in “The Avengers?” If so, that kind of cheapens his death.

Will the TV series be set before the events of “The Avengers?” If so … not another prequel.

Will Coulson be a hologram, something like the hologram doctor in “Star Trek: Voyager?”

Or will Phil be reborn as the Vision, the android Avenger?

We’ve already seen this cool fan-made sculpture of Gregg as the Vision, and we’ve noted here before that “The Avengers” seems to hint at Coulson being the Vision. Remember the whole “cellist girlfriend” thing? Remember how Ain’t It Cool noted that Vision’s wife in the comics, Scarlet Witch, is a cellist?

Here’s to some more news, and soon.

Today in Halloween: A truly frightening bust

Here’s another dip into the vintage Halloween snapshots resource that is the vast series of tubes we know as the Internet.

I’ve seen a lot of these photos on the web but there’s little explanation of their origin. I’ve been making some (not-so) educated guesses on a few of them.

This one seems to be another with a rural setting, based in part on what looks like a field or rolling hills in the background and … holy hell, what’s the deal with the trick-or-treater on the right?

The other three have that mix of old clothes and bizarrely terrifying masks that we’ve become accustomed to in these vintage photos. Ditto for the one on the right, with two very noticeable exceptions.

Maybe I’m missing the point here, but wonder why this kid put on a creepy mask and then stuffed her bust with a couple of couch cushions?

We’ll never know.

Trick-or-treater on the right, I dub thee Zombie Mamie Van Doren.

Today in Halloween: Razor blades in apples

It’s possible it never happened, but it’s too good a story to resist. Some madman in some city – maybe one not all that far away from your own – slipped a razor blade into an apple given out one Halloween to a trick-or-treater. The kid bit into it and the razor blade lodged firmly in the roof of his mouth. Ouch!

Since I was a child, the rumors of razor blades in apples has been one that haunted kids – but even more so their parents – every Halloween. Parents insisted on inspecting the contents of the trick-or-treat bag for tampered-with apples and candy before kids were let loose to indulge their Halloween gluttony.

Some hospitals even offered free x-raying of Halloween candy to make sure no foreign objects were included. I’m not sure if the irradiated candy was any more dangerous than the unscreened treats.

You know it’s a “real” urban legend when there’s a Snopes.com page dedicated to the subject, encompassing razor blades and the equally insidious pins and needles in apples and candy.

Perhaps surprisingly, Snopes quotes an expert, Professor Joel Best, who says he’s confirmed about 80 cases of sharp objects in Halloween treats since 1959.

I guess if your chances are 80 in … how many billion? … treats given out over the years, you’re probably pretty safe.

By the way, Best wrote a 1985 paper, “The Razor Blade in the Apple: The Social Construction of Urban Legends,” that is available for download.

Interestingly, Snopes notes that poisoned candy was the fear from the post-war years until the mid-1960s, when sharp objects became the thing that parents could obsess about.