What’s the point of this? Who is spending $169 on an 8″ plastic figure of Harley Quinn, even if it is a limited edition hand-numbered resin cast sculptures based on the art of Ivan Tao? Why is she on a skateboard? Is this tryhard? Ask McFarlane Toys on Amazon.

Any time I go in to a resale or vintage store I make a beeline for the magazines and grab anything from 1965-1966 as well as the random publications from late 70’s. The very first thing I picked up at Vintage on Third in McMinnville was copy of Hot Rod Show World 1978. Despite no obvious association, something about it was calling to me. Sure enough, there was a two page spread on skateboarding, as well as a ton of hot rods and predictably, hot rod women.

The rabbit holes I fall into… A reader sent in a picture inquiring about a 70’s skateboard he found that had a “Jordy” logo screen printed on the bottom. I felt pretty cocksure that I’d be able to track down an old advert or something. It seemed to me to be an English brand, or otherwise European, but boy did I strike out. Well maybe instead I hit a foul ball over the back fence? I did discover a lot of pictures related to an Italian TV show called Striscia la Notizia that is a satirical TV news program. A quick google image search revealed that it’s like the Daily Show with cleavage, and lots of it. I spent hours on this post. Hours… Dive into obscure Jordy-related Italian skateboard history with me, it’s slightly more interesting than you think!

Cleaning out the hard drive… I spotted The book Skateboard Party on a 2017 poster for Battle of the Books at my kid’s school. It’s book two of The Carver Chronicles, by Karen English, Illustrated by Laura Freeman. The book was published in 2015. Here’s the synopsis:

Richard can’t wait to show off his flat-ground Ollies at a friend’s birthday party at the skate park, but a note home from his teacher threatens to ruin his plans. He really meant to finish his assignment on howler monkeys, but he just got . . . distracted. If only he could focus on his schoolwork, he wouldn’t get into this kind of trouble! Can Richard manage to put off getting the note signed (and facing the consequences) until after the party, or will the deception.

Just a heads up: The Dead Kennedys do not make an appearance in this book.

This is the Lego Creator 3 in 1 Retro Roller Skate set (#31148). The deal with these sets is that they come with one set of pieces that you allegedly use to build 3 separate items, but not at the same time. A lot of times these sets are more architectural in nature and the builds work better together. Two of these build options look pretty good, unfortunately, the skateboard is not one of them. I guess it technically, if only vaguely looks like a skateboard. I wonder if those pink wheels don’t fit in this configuration, it seems like it would look better with them on.

Les Bidasses en Vadrouille is French movie made in 1979, and was the first of several starring the French band band Martin Circus. The title translates to “The Soldiers on the Move,”and it looks like they were “soldiers” in at least three titles. Here’s a translation of the plot synopsis:

After the big maneuvers, four young soldiers, René, Sylvain, Gérard and Alain, arrive at the end of their military service and take a two hundred kilometer ride with a latest model AM17 assault tank nicknamed “the Invincible” in order to reach their base. Forced to clean the machine, the soldiers will cause panic in a market and involuntarily commit a hold-up.

Part of this zany journey involves an extended skateboard (planche de skate) sequence.

– Thanks to Doc Skaterock for the tip

Funny, as I was putting some finishing touches on this post I found an almost identically laid out image in a post from The Skateboarding Hall of Fame. On the left you see a Munsters coloring book published in 1965 0r 1966 depending on the source. While trying to research a post from Skaterock, an image search led me to Skate and Annoy of all places, go figure… and a post made back in 2013 with a link to a now dead web site where I originally found a low res image with no context. Turns out that was a photoshopped image of a Munsters coloring book. A coloring book you can find for purchase occasionally in the usual places that sell vintage items for about $25, as well as a modern day reprint you can buy for $35. You can also buy a poster reprint of a modified version the cover. There’s a collector out there who owns the original 15″x20″ painting. Some of the text is an overlay. What about the picture of Eddie Munster riding a skateboard? Well as early as 2010 you could buy that on a t-shirt, and you still can. But what about a photo reprint? The original seems to be a closely guarded item, because everyone seems to be recycling the same low-res version, sometimes with their own watermarks. When you’re done reading this post, don’t forget to check out the plastic model kit of Eddie on a skateboard.

Vol. 2, No. 21, of Laugh was published in June, 1990 by Archie Comics. Goddamned Archie…. This issue has story featuring Sabrina the Teenage Witch, called “Zoomin’ Broom!” In the story, Sabrina gets a broom from her aunts for her birthday , even though she wants a car. Looking for a way to camouflage the broom, she saws off the bristles and nails it to the bottom of her old skateboard to create a hoverboard! Hold on is that canon in the witching world? I assumed if anything, it would have been the broom head that made the broom fly. Back to the story, while skating with her friend Charlie, they run into some male chauvinist pigs (come on man, it’s the 90’s!) at the skatepark and she shows them up. Then they catch the Vultures concert by hovering overhead the outdoor venue. Unfortunately, Debbie Harry was nowhere to be seen.

This cartoon is from Finnish cartoonist Marko Raasina, the creator of Nerd and Jock. You can see some of his work here, and get his exclusive content at Patreon.

In honor of Halloween here’s a terrifying ghost named Casper. This is issue #96 of Casper’s Ghostland (and all his friends) from 1977. Harvey Comics is sort of the Hanna-Barbera of comic books, as in cheap and not very good. Casper rides a “sky board” on the cover, floating above an unnamed child on a skateboard in case you don’t get the joke. It’s good thing the motion lines and puffs are coming from his leg and not his rear end. Can ghosts fart?