Calvin Heighton (R.I.P.)

If the lights dimmed in your smart home or on your laptop yesterday it is because a source of energy in our little corner of the Internet has left us.

Blogger Calvin Heighton, 61, passed away in a hospice in his home town of Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, after a heroic battle against cancer.

He was a bombastic, outspoken, Dune-loving, enthusiastic force of nature, a Proud Canadian and a beacon of devil-may-care passion.

His Canadian Cave of Cool blog, packed to the gills with eye candy and strong opinion pieces, was a must-read site for many people.

When I first started blogging a couple of decades ago, he was one of the earliest geek bloggers I encountered who took a similar "multifaceted approach" and we remained in regular contact.

We talked often online, however I - like many of his virtual fans - never actually met him.

We even, at a time when trans-Atlantic post was still affordable, traded the occasional gift: for instance, he sent me a collection of vintage Valiant comic book trade paperbacks at one point and I sent him a rare, old Dune action figure (from the David Lynch iteration of the movie).

Back in 2022, he was interviewed extensively for the Unfinished Man website, which you can find here. 

Despite his larger-than-life - and sometimes quite brash - online persona, Calvin was quite a shy and reclusive guy.

A former teacher, Cal lived with his mother in Red Deer, Alberta, until she passed the other year, but then about 18 months ago - between moving out of his former home and into a new apartment - he 'disappeared'.

Always prolific and persistent, he had long said, words to the effect of, he wanted to still be blogging when the plug was finally pulled on the Internet.

But his site fell silent on March 23, 2025. His last post on Facebook was March 22.

This seemed totally out of character for Cal not to maintain his online existence, but sadly we now know why.

Through the concerted efforts of a small group of his online friends, led by his former podcasting partner, MD Jackson of Balloon Juice, we eventually learned that Cal was being cared for in the Red Deer hospice.

Hopefully, in the end, he knew he wasn't forgotten and that he had friends all around the globe.

Cal, we already miss you.

To round things off and give you a flavour of the man, here follows a short interview I conducted with Cal on my old blog, in August 2015:

(1) How long have you been blogging, and how’d you get into it in the first place?

About eight years ago I was watching Mongol, the story of Genghis Khan and wanted to talk about it. I had been playing around with Blogger and posted my opinion as a test and it worked. It was thrilling to have my stuff online but that first follower took about a year and a half to arrive. Once I realized that commenting on other sites was the way to get my site noticed I was off and running. Haven't looked back since except to enjoy my archives. I had a website back when that was very much like the one Homer Simpson made when he first got online. No flying toasters though, but lots of GIFs. Thankfully no one can see that first attempt any longer. No comments...EVER on that first blog.

(2) What do you blog about and how frequently do you post?

I post multiple times a day. I am insanely prolific. I type very fast so I usually can do many posts in an hour. The image posts are easy to do in minutes. I blog about popular culture and all the things that I think are cool. I like to give my opinions because I think everything that comes out of my brain is genius. Like a hummingbird I move quickly from one place and thought to another so I can always find something to entertain myself and if I am entertained then it's easy to post about that topic. I love beautiful images no matter the subject.

(3) How does your blog stand out from all the rest?

I think there is a ton of content and things change all the time. There is always something new for followers to see when they log on - sometimes too much stuff. I am sure I could do less but it's not a burden. I think I have a definite POV and a great sense of humor about things I see. I like that I am current with my movie and TV reviews. I think I also attract a more discriminating class of followers.

(4) What’s the best (and worst) thing about blogging?

The best are the comments and the worst are the comments. I love the validation but it drives me insane when I work on a post over several days and it gets ZERO comments. I realize that sometimes people just get tired of telling someone their work is great but the validation is always nice. I admit I need the validation more than I should but that need strongly motivates me to create a good product I am proud of.

Cal is well-known for his 'funny animal' captions

(5) Do you have any self-imposed rules (or guidelines) for your blog?

1. I don't work BLUE because I don't have to. I could show naked women that are beautiful but that gets boring fast. Like working at a strip club. You don't even notice after awhile. I do love a pretty face though.

2. An image must accompany every post.

3. I write every blog myself. Never have had a guest blog but never really asked anyone to do one anyways. I am always afraid that I will have to tell them NO and I don't like to do that. Besides, if they are more popular than me I will go mental.

4. In my image captions, the animal always is speaking even when they are posing with a person.

Figuring Out My Mummy Issues

It's a definite truism - and a meme - that as you grow older people are less inclined to ask you your favourite dinosaur (it's a diplodocus, by the way) but I've realised the same is true for your favourite monster. Specifically the original Universal Monsters.

I've been thinking about this a lot recently. Not sure exactly why. 

I'm pretty certain my friend, the author Charles R Rutledge would say Dracula, but I really had to put my thinking head on before it struck me which monster I'm most fascinated by.

The Mummy.

Although my favourite old Universal monster movie is, of course, the marvellous Bride of Frankenstein, the actual Bride is only really on-screen for around five minutes.

However, The Mummy is ubiquitous in films, comics, games etc. 

I even did a whole series of Show Me The Mummy movie reviews... and am planning a second such collection of write-ups in due course.

The Mummy was also a key antagonist in both issues of my DIY comic, Monster Mag, that I created as a youngling. For instance, in the first issue it easily defeated the Hulk! You can find issue one here and issue two here. 

From the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
Monster Manual, pg 72

And I've always been a fan of mummies as monsters in the old school Dungeons & Dragons games of my youth (really must bring them back at some point!).

There were some grand pyramid-themed dungeons in old issues of the Judges Guild magazines around at the time.

But all this has culminated in Rachel buying me a most incredible present the other day: the Ultimate Mummy action figure of Boris Karloff's portrayal in the the original 1932 film.

After thanking her profusely, I excitedly told her I now had an excuse to pick up the Ardath Bey figure and the sarcophagus accessory pack!

There is a rule (well, more of a guideline) in this house that my action figures are "tolerated" as long as they are not kept in their boxes, but put out on display.

However, at the moment, I'm so in awe of my Mummy figure that I can't bring myself to open it quite yet.

I also think I might have a new idea for a theme for my protracted castle tower project as well (inspired by the Egyptian Collection at Lord Carnarvon's Highclere Castle [aka Downtown Abbey])! 

HAPPY 62nd BIRTHDAY TO DOCTOR WHO!!!

On the evening of November 23, 1963, the BBC aired An Unearthly Child, the very first episode of Doctor Who... and history was made.

Back in 2009, I convinced Rachel to watch this episode "to gauge her opinion of what I regard as one of the single, finest episodes of science-fiction ever screened". 

Here's what I wrote at the time (with some mathematical adjustments): 

I'm pleased to report that she enjoyed it; her only problems were the graininess of the image (well, it was filmed in 1963) and she couldn't accept Susan (Carole Ann Ford) as a 15-year-old. Rachel said: "She looked more like 30!"

Could anyone have imagined, when this episode was first screened [62] years ago, the infinite possibilities for storytelling that were being opened up?

Kicking off with a pitch-perfect first episode helped Doctor Who hit the ground running, dropping hints about the mysterious genius schoolgirl, Susan, and her enigmatic Grandfather (William Hartnell) and posing many questions that - to this day - remain unanswered!

Coal Hill School teachers Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill), teachers of science and history respectively (the two subjects the series was initially most interested in), want to find out more about their star pupil and head to the address the school has for her.

It turns out to be a junkyard where they meet a strange, white-haired old man (The Doctor) who tries to drive them off and stop them poking around an old police box (where Ian thinks the man might be holding Susan prisoner!).

Instead Susan opens the door of the police box and the teachers walk in... to find themselves in the control room of the TARDIS... and nothing will ever be the same again, either for them or for the viewers.

How mind-blowing must it have been in 1963 to watch these people step through the doors of a 'normal' police box and find themselves in the vast, hi-tech expanse of a space and time ship?

William Hartnell's Doctor, at this stage, is still rather irascible and certainly doesn't appreciate the interference of two busybody teachers into his time on Earth (fixing the TARDIS and, we discover many years later, dealing with the Hand Of Omega).

Hence, his rather impetuous way of keeping his and Susan's secret - transporting the TARDIS away randomly, taking Ian and Barbara with them!

The TARDIS clearly isn't fully repaired as its first televised journey manages to knock Ian and Barbara unconscious and The Doctor and Susan appear rather strained by it as well.

They have travelled back to Earth's Stone Age and that is a story (called variously The Tribe Of Gum, 100,000BC, The Stone Age, The Cavemen etc) which I've always, rather cheekily, considered its own entity. I feel An Unearthly Child suffers if lumped in with this subsequent, less-than-enthralling adventure.

Of course, the main thing is that Rachel didn't fall asleep or wander off while An Unearthly Child was playing and allowed me to explain to her why this one episode is so important - because without it we wouldn't have over [60] years of Doctor Who and all the books, CDs, magazines, action figures etc

The TV listing in November 23's issue of the Daily Mirror.
NB. The actual broadcast was slightly delayed because of
the assassination of President Kennedy the day before.

To mark the Doctor's anniversary - which really should be a national holiday - here are a small selection of special online episodes from the show:

And this fan documentary looks at the return of Doctor Who after its extended hiatus through the "dark times":

The Return of Tonbridge Comic-Con

"I could do this all day!"

Tonbridge Comic Con & Toy Fair has returned, with (I believe) different people running it, eschewing celebrity signings for more cosplayers, more photo ops, and more traders.

It must be a good five years since there was a Comic-Con at the Angel Centre in Tonbridge (that time I got flustered meeting Hannah Spearritt from Primeval and S Club 7 and got her to sign my copy of the Primeval roleplaying game), but this was quite a different affair.

In a strange - but comforting - kind of way, this fresh iteration reminded me a lot of Cavalier (our annual wargames show), but with people dressed as superheroes and anime characters and staged cinematic photo opportunities in lieu of wargaming displays.

The time we spent at the comic-con was really enjoyable, I got to chat to a load of people (stall holders and cosplayers) and - as you can see - Rachel took loads of pictures.

Today's event was 'nicely busy' (enough people to make me think it was a success for the organisers, but not so many that it felt claustrophobic or made getting to any particular place a struggle).

This definitely helped me adjust to the situation, and I surprised myself with how conversational I was with the many people I spoke to. Normally, I hold back, for fear of my aphasia tripping me up, but this felt really relaxed.

Major kudos to the Captain America cosplayer who we met before we got inside the event. He embodied the spirit of Cap nicely and, after he remarked on my t-shirt, we talked enthusiastically about James Gunn's impending Superman movie.

Meanwhile, inside the Angel Centre, the chap who'd 3D printed then built the array of animated Star Wars droids was clearly a Doc Brown-level genius.

Huyang moved (he didn't walk though!) and spoke with David Tennant's voice

These are the droids I was looking for

Deadpool dance class

"You now have fifteen seconds to comply." Robocop's ED-209 was quite threatening

"Beam me up!"

"This is The Way!"

Rachel snuck into Andy's room to play with Woody and Buzz

"The claw! The claw!"

Just chillin' with Thanos before we destroy the Universe

Radio-controlled baby droids to play with

Lightning McQueen

Our shockingly conservative haul from the day

Much to my (and Rachel's) amazement I didn't actually buy anything at the show (although there was some great art, action figures, and prop replicas that caught my eye), although I did get a free 28mm goblin from a man promoting promoting his self-published fantasy novel.

Rachel treated herself to a "Trust Me, I'm A Dogtor" pin badge to go on her NHS lanyard.

We may have stayed for only an hour, but we had a great time.

The only minor quibble I would point out is that for a COMIC convention, there was no one selling actual comics, which was a shame.

The Lone Ranger (2013)

Like John Carter before it, The Lone Ranger was another victim of Disney's marketing team not understanding how to promote a classic pulp character to the general public.

The Lone Ranger also suffered from being saddled with its connections to the successful Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise and Disney's obvious desire to kickstart a similar series of movies - with the attendant lucrative merchandising.

The central performance by Johnny Depp as Tonto isn't really that much of leap from Captain Jack Sparrow. It's as if he only has the one arrow in his quiver these days when it comes to blockbuster action flicks. And did I miss the nerdrage at the racebending casting of Depp as the world's most famous fictional Native American?

But before you start thinking I didn't enjoy this film, I have to say there is a lot to enjoy about it and when the William Tell Overture kicks in for the climactic chase sequence you need a heart of stone not to be transported back to a childhood filled with plastic cowboys and Indians, cap guns and Lone Ranger action figures.

The film's grand finale is truly breathtaking - without a doubt the most incredible extended stunt sequence I've ever seen in a Western.

The problem is the film takes so dang long to get there. In total it's almost two and a half hours in duration and that's simply way too long.

Arnie Hammer plays John Reid, a greenhorn lawyer, returning to the West to see his brother, Dan (James Badge Dale), Dan's wife, Rebecca (Ruth Wilson) and their son, Danny (Bryant Prince).

He joins up with Dan - and is deputised as a ranger - to track down dangerous cannibal killer Butch Cavendish (an almost unrecognisable and decidedly evil William Fichtner).

Cavendish's gang ambush the rangers, leaving them for dead, but John is found by Tonto and nursed back to health. He then takes on the guise of the "masked man" to track down Cavendish and his confederates .

This is all well-and-good as a classic origin story, but the waters are further muddied by a very cliché plot involving a nefarious railroad man, Latham Cole (Tom Wilkinson).

Like Pirates Of The Caribbean, the script - by Pirates alumni Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, and Justin Haythe - blends the action with humour, but this is a bit hit and miss.

There are also suggestions of a mystical angle to some of the goings-on, but - unlike Pirates - the script seems unwilling to commit to whether this is really happening or is a product of Tonto's deranged imagination.

The story also has a framing device of an elderly Tonto recounting the tale of John Reid to a boy in a 1930s' funfair, which primarily serves to give the scriptwriters licence to play with the idea of Tonto being an unreliable narrator, so they can muck around with the linear nature of the story.

This works, but isn't really necessary.

The Lone Ranger could have done with losing about 30 or 40 minutes from its running time, but ultimately the main stretch isn't arduous - just sometimes feels it's going round in circles - and the magnificent grand finale is worth the wait.

THROWBACK THURSDAY: I'm Approved By Casually Comics!

I don't often mention new T-shirt purchases - beyond the fact that my family believes I have too many -  but I'm particularly proud of this one that I got back in 2021 (see above), from the first line of merch produced to support my favourite YouTube channel, Casually Comics. 

"Approved By Casually Comics" is a parody of the old Comics Code Authority logo once seen on the covers of mainstream comic books in the wake of the whole Fredric Wertham Seduction of the Innocent nonsense of the 1950s.

The Casually Comics line of branded t-shirts, mugs, glasses, hoodies, stickers etc can be found here.

Hosted by Canadian Sasha Wood, Casually Comics brilliantly balances insight and a deep knowledge of the comic book medium with a wry, self-deprecating, sense of humour and a welcome acknowledgement that all elements of fandom are valid.

In a portfolio of videos ranging from around 10 minutes to half an hour, with a new one dropping every few days, Sasha dives headfirst into old comics as well as new, following her whims more often than worrying about the latest 'hot topic'.

Demonstrating a particular love - which I share - for the more quirky aspects of superhero comics, Sasha compiles wonderful 'playlists' of themed videos on such topics as the many weddings of Lois Lane, the different iterations of Clayface, crossovers etc

THROWBACK THURSDAY: My (Continuing) Adventures With Superman

My deep affinity for the character of Superman has a poignant origin story. I had this copy of Amazing Heroes magazine, which takes an in-depth look at John Byrne's impending (at the time) relaunch of Superman for DC Comics (post Crisis on Infinite Earths) when I travelled up to Stoke-on-Trent in 1986.

I was visiting my dear friend Matt, who was studying at university there, and I have a vivid memory of sitting on a small hillock in some parkland, waiting for him to turn up.

As I sat there I was reading Amazing Heroes and becoming increasingly convinced that I was going to really enjoy this era of Superman's comic book adventures.

Now, of course, this is also another strong memory I have associated with my gone-too-soon old pal.

I was already a massive fan of John Byrne's work from his stint on Fantastic Four (still a benchmark by which I judge most other superhero books) but I'd only really dabbled in Superman titles up until that point.

I had a few random Bronze Age issues, including both parts of Alan Moore's classic Whatever Happened to The Man of Tomorrow? story (I was a big Alan Moore fan, as most people were at the time, religiously reading Watchmen and Swamp Thing) and this particularly memorable issue of Action featuring Captain Strong (most definitely not a Popeye knockoff):

As Byrne's The Man of Steel (the six-issue miniseries introducing us to all the key players in the key Superman mythos) was published, I knew I had found "my" Superman.

I treasure my original collection of The Man of Steel, for the artwork, stories and memories

As I wrote on Facebook the other day:

"Although I'm a fan of all eras of Superman (with a particular penchant for the wackiness of the Silver Age these days), it was John Byrne's 1986, post-Crisis, relaunch, with The Man of Steel miniseries, that truly sold me on the character. For me, this remains the definitive take on Superman and his supporting cast."

Luthor was no longer a 'mad scientist' but a corrupt businessman

But, of course, me being me it's not just Superman comics I collect (... and films... and T-shirts), it's also the occasional action figure, miniature, and Funko Pop.

For the longest time, it wasn't even a conscious effort to accumulate these artifacts, but as time passed I realised my 'horde' had a definite Superman bias.

I'm not a hardcore hunter of such Superman memorabilia, but if I see something that catches my eye (and I can afford it at the time) I always like to add it to the shelves of my gamesroom:

Alongside Beppo The Super-Monkey, Bizzaro and Doomsday, one of these Supermen
is actually a "Superman Robot" - can you pick him out?

A selection of Supergirls (from TV and comics),
with Krypto and Streaky The Supercat and Wonder Woman

A comic-accurate Kelex, soon believed to be appearing in the new Superman film

Funko Pops of Superman and Lois from the original Christopher Reeve movie

I love my collection of miniature Smallville residents from the Silver Age comics

My shelf of Superman graphic novels and omnibuses - along with a Daily Planet pen holder.