Back for just a brief one, though once things are stabilized I'll be trying to get back on track again with regular updates. This, though, was too important to ignore. I'm disappointed that I'm a little late to report this- I didn't see it until recently, but we've lost another icon of our culture... one of my personal heroes.
Death of an American Icon
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Monday, May 7, 2007
No, no, I haven't forgotten...
Being as there's as many as two people who read this thing, I've not forgotten about it or abandoned it. I'm wrapping up one full-time job this week to start a new job on Monday, and it's a very hectic time (anyone who's done the job-switch thing knows what I mean). I'll try to be back in action by the weekend if all goes well...
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
DAMMIT!
Today is a sad day in the history of American media. Jon Stewart, a man I regard as a bastion of sense and integrity, a man I look to for insight and truth in the morass of poop that is our modern world, used the word irregardless on The Daily Show today.
I am in mourning.
I am in mourning.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Good Lord!
Wow.
I had no idea what I was getting into here.
There was a little comic convention this past Sunday, and one of the local shops had a table with quite a few good deals, one of which was DC's first pass at Captain Marvel, 1972's SHAZAM! #1. For only a couple bucks, I couldn't turn it down.
Hoo-boy.
I was expecting it to be pretty cool- they'd actually gotten C.C. Beck back on the character, supplying the art for the feature story in the issue. Should be a nice little re-imagining of the character, maybe even giving us a little peek into how the mythos fits into early 1970s DC continuity, right.
WRONG.
It turns out, in pre-Crisis DC lore (at least according to this first issue), that Captain Marvel mysteriously disappeared 20 years prior (so 1952), and had just as abruptly reappeared. The explanation? Doctor Thaddeus Bodog Sivana and his ugly children simply beamed the Marvel Family and their relevant supporting cast into space and put them in suspended animation. That was it.
"My sister, Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr., and I were being honored by the mayor. All out friends were there... Suddenly, we were caught in a strange ray and pulled into the sky, along with some others in the crowd..."
That's it. Instant deus ex machina. Through a wacky series of mishaps, the Sivanas got trapped in suspended animation as well, in some sphere of mystery substance they created, until it got so close to the sun it started to break down, freeing Captain Marvel and his ENTIRE SUPPORTING CAST. I can't stress enough how insane that struck me. The absurdity of the beam explaining away 20 years was one thing, but to say "ah, screw it, let's put everyone else in the book up there too" and just leave it at that?
At first, I thought it was horrifyingly derivative and a total ripoff of Captain America. It just hit me a little while ago that this was actually the direct and obvious precursor to Judge Death being encased in Boing, which totally kicked all kinds of ass. So I guess I have to appreciate the absurdity for blazing a trail.
You totally sssscrewed me, Ssssivana!
I had no idea what I was getting into here.
There was a little comic convention this past Sunday, and one of the local shops had a table with quite a few good deals, one of which was DC's first pass at Captain Marvel, 1972's SHAZAM! #1. For only a couple bucks, I couldn't turn it down.
Hoo-boy.
I was expecting it to be pretty cool- they'd actually gotten C.C. Beck back on the character, supplying the art for the feature story in the issue. Should be a nice little re-imagining of the character, maybe even giving us a little peek into how the mythos fits into early 1970s DC continuity, right.
WRONG.
It turns out, in pre-Crisis DC lore (at least according to this first issue), that Captain Marvel mysteriously disappeared 20 years prior (so 1952), and had just as abruptly reappeared. The explanation? Doctor Thaddeus Bodog Sivana and his ugly children simply beamed the Marvel Family and their relevant supporting cast into space and put them in suspended animation. That was it.
"My sister, Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr., and I were being honored by the mayor. All out friends were there... Suddenly, we were caught in a strange ray and pulled into the sky, along with some others in the crowd..."
That's it. Instant deus ex machina. Through a wacky series of mishaps, the Sivanas got trapped in suspended animation as well, in some sphere of mystery substance they created, until it got so close to the sun it started to break down, freeing Captain Marvel and his ENTIRE SUPPORTING CAST. I can't stress enough how insane that struck me. The absurdity of the beam explaining away 20 years was one thing, but to say "ah, screw it, let's put everyone else in the book up there too" and just leave it at that?
At first, I thought it was horrifyingly derivative and a total ripoff of Captain America. It just hit me a little while ago that this was actually the direct and obvious precursor to Judge Death being encased in Boing, which totally kicked all kinds of ass. So I guess I have to appreciate the absurdity for blazing a trail.
You totally sssscrewed me, Ssssivana!
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