Space Girl Adventures, Part Twenty-seven

 

SPACEGIRL

By Travis Charest

What Has Gone Before: Spacegirl is in the clutches of the ruthless alien crime lord, Mongo Badd. She must do... or die!

To Be Continued...

Space Girl Adventures, Part Twenty-six

What Has Gone Before: The Spacegirl has been captured by a ruthless alien crimelord who has made her an offer she can't refuse.

SPACEGIRL

By Travis Charest

To Be Continued...

Space Girl Adventures, Part Twenty-five

What Has Gone Before: While trying to escape her enemies, our heroine was seized by mysterious tentacles!

SPACEGIRL

By Travis Charest

To Be Continued...

Space Girl Adventures, Part Twenty-three

THE SPACE GIRLS ARE BACK!

Since 2011, we've been bringing you installments of Travis Charis' gorgeous "Space Girl" comic strip on an irregular basis. We've just received a transmission from Space Station Delta, so for the next few weeks, Space Girls Adventures will continue for the next several Saturdays! Look for two Charest strips and at least one portrait of other females who roam among the stars.

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What Has Gone Before: Spacegirl is trying to get off Delta Moon Station before the sinister Cadet Alpha and the security forces capture her!

SPACEGIRL

By Travis Charest

To Be Continued...

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We mark the return of space girls to Shades of Gray with a portrait of long-time favorite space-faring female. It's Ron Randall's Mercy St. Clair, the lead character in his signature series "Trekker".

It's the Mint Invaders from Chocolate Space!

 

They have come to Earth from a faraway world...
Whether they're friend or foe depends on if they've had their morning coffee!

BONES COFFEE COMPANY: MINT INVADERS FROM CHOCOLATE SPACE

This was a flavor I'd put off trying, despite it being one of the offerings that first attracted me to Bones Coffee's flavored offerings, along with Army of Dark Chocolate and White Russian; the movie theme of the packaging appealed to me, but the promise of a mint flavor did not. Like I said in my review of the White Chocolate Peppermint Bark blend, I'm a bit dubious about whether mint-flavored coffee is something I want to put in my mouth.

But, it came time to order another set of 4-oz. sample packs from Bones (to keep this Sunday post series going, as well as to feed my addiction. There have been Bones selections have surprised me in the past with how good they were, so maybe this one would too. Plus, I am starting to run out of flavors to test! (I estimate that Bones Coffee blends will no longer be the common subject of these posts by the time we get to the end April.)

Mint Invaders from Chocolate Space got my hopes up as soon as I opened the bag. The grounds smelled strongly of chocolate, which is always a good thing as far as I'm concerned. There was just the faintest hint of mint, too. The chocolate smell was stronger than I would expect from the flavor the package stated the blend existed to capture--that of mint chocolate chip ice cream--but I have learned with Bones blends that the aroma emanating, or even as the coffee brews, from the package doesn't always match the flavor of the beverage.

In this case, although the unbrewed grounds smelled very strongly of chocolate with just a ghost of mint, the resulting coffee tastes strongly of mint with chocolate showing up as a pleasant aftertaste as you drink it.

When you drink Mint Invaders from Chocolate Space black, the flavor of high-quality medium-roasted coffee flavor mingles nicely with the bite of mint, with the taste of chocolate becoming increasingly evident as you consume it. The "ice cream" aspect of this drink--which would be a certain creaminess--is not really there until... well, until you add something creamy, or milk-like. 

When I added Unsweetened Almond Milk, for example, this blend began to exhibit a little of the creaminess that one associates with ice cream when I drank it. It also seemed to draw out the mint flavor even more. When I tried it with sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer, the drink seemed to become even creamier than these coffees usually become with the creamer added. The mint flavor also seemed more intense.

As the drink cooled, whether black or with almond milk or creamer added, the chocolate flavor moved from aftertaste to being present as an undertone that grew stronger the more of the coffee that is consumed. This is also true when this blend is consumed iced; the colder the drink is, the stronger the chocolate taste. Mint, however, remains dominant. That said... those flavors were all somewhat washed out.

If you like minty coffee, I think you'll like this blend. Personally, when consumed according to the baselines I've set up for these reviews, I preferred Mint Invaders from Chocolate Space with the sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer added, whether it's hot or at room temperature. It didn't seem to work well iced.

Musical Monday with ZZ Top

A pretty waitress is abducted by a monster that is part man, part hamburger, so it's interstellar heroes ZZ Top to the rescue!

In November of 1991, a music video was released to promote ZZ Top's single "Burger Man". Today, we celebrate the 30th anniversary of a fantastic homage to indie 1950s monster movies and sci-fi flicks.

If you're like us, you once believed that "Sharp-Dressed Man" was the greatest ZZ Top music video ever released. However, if you're like us, you will have your mind changed once you watch "Burger Man". (And even if you're not like us, but a regular visitor to this blog, we think this will at least put a smile on your face.)

Burger Man (1991)
Starring: ZZ Top, Jimmy Pelish, and uncredited actors

Director: Adam Bernstein

Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

Spacegirl Adventures, Part Twenty-three

What Has Gone Before: The menacing Cadet Alpha is hot on the trail of Spacegirl, but our heroine is executing what she hopes will be another escape.

SPACEGIRL

By Travis Charest

To Be Continued...

By Gary Martin

Space Girl Adventures, Part Twenty-two

What Has Gone Before: Spacegirl is trying to get off Delta Moon Station before those on her trail catch up to her.

SPACEGIRL

By Travis Charest

To Be Continued...

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In a change of pace from closing this installment with the just the usual Retro-Space Girl drawing, here are the adventures of another Space Girl-- a bonus series from Ramen Empire.

By Bob Layton

Spacegirl Adventures, Part Twenty-one

What Has Gone Before: Cadet Beta, aka Spacegirl, is trapped on Moon Station Delta and is being hunted by the authorities.

SPACEGIRL
By Travis Charest

By Mitch Foust

Spacegirl Adventures, Part Twenty

What Has Gone Before: Spacegirl is on the run... and a very dangerous adversary is joining the hunt for her.

SPACEGIRL

By Travis Charest

By Stéphane De Caneva

Spacegirl Adventures, Part Nineteen

What Has Gone Before: Space Girl is trapped on a space station and attempting to avoid capture by the authorities.

SPACEGIRL

By Travis Charest

By Alan Quadh

Spacegirl Adventures, Part Eighteen

What Has Gone Before: After narrowly surviving the destruction of the spaceship she was in, our heroine was desperately trying to reach and enter a nearby space station before her oxygen ran out.

SPACEGIRL

By Travis Charest

By Gene Gonzales

Spacegirl Adventures, Part Seventeen

During 2011, I reposted the "Spacegirl" strips by Travis Charest here at Shades of Gray. Then I caught up to where he was, and I stopped. Charest continued, but I ended the postings here on a cliffhanger.

Today, those posts resume. I plan to post two "Spacegirl" strips every other Wednesday until I catch up with Charest again. Then we'll see how long it goes before she returns to this part of the galaxy. (In addition to the comic strips, I'll be posting an illo or two of a Space Girl by Charest or some other artist.)

The Space Girl of "Spacegirl" by Travis Charest

SPACEGIRL

by Travis Charest

PART SEVENTEEN

What Has Gone Before; On the run from her superiors, Spacegirl, has just escaped from a ship carrying a deadly life form. She is trying to reach the airlock of a nearby space station... without getting killed by its defensive cannons first.

By Bryan Baugh

Space Girl Valentine's Day

It's Valentine's Day, and love is in the void between planets.

By Arthur Adams

Space Girls Meet the Monsters!

It's almost Halloween, and monsters are prowling even in space. Who will win? Space Girls or Space Monsters?

By Alan Quadh

By Bryan Baugh

By Arthur Adams

In honor of the 60th anniversary of NASA's founding... Space Girls!

Last week, it was 60 years since NASA was created via funding from the United States congress. The Space Girls are thrilled, because it couldn't have been done without them.

By Gary Martin

By Frank Cho

By Joe Jusko