Tom Bombadil Day!

J.R.R. Tolkien was born on this date in 1892.  I spent quite a bit of time last year reading and responding to the works of Tolkien. But to celebrate the great author's birthday I present an interview with him about his Lord of the Rings saga as well as some information on the enigma which is Tom Bombadil. 

The Adventures of Tom Bombadil was first published in 1962, eight years after The Lord of the Rings made a splash. I first encountered these poems as part of The Tolkien Reader in the 70's. The book continued the conceit that it was Bilbo, Frodo, and Sam who wrote most if not all of The Red Book from which The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and these poems are derived. In the case of these poems some are suggested to be just lyrics from in and around the Hobbit culture that are included in addition to those written by specific characters. 

"The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" introduces us to Tom and the lovely river maiden Goldberry. They are not yet married as this poem begins and we follow Tom as he gambols in his signature blue coat though the forest. He first meets Goldberry who pulls him into the water of the Withy-windle playfully, then he deals with Old Man Willow and later still the more dangerous Barrow Wight. By the end of the poem, he has married Goldberry. This is one of Tolkien's earliest works, first published in 1934. These story elements find their way into the larger Lord of the Rings saga when our wayward Hobbits need rescuing by this enigmatic figure who seems possibly to be the most powerful individual of all. 

This link will take you to a remarkable interview with J.R.R. Tolkien conducted in 1964. It features the Oxford professor and author of the stupendous Lord of the Rings as he wanders the grounds of Oxford and waxes on many a topic including his adoration of trees, the real meaning of LoTR, and his take on the "cults" that were springing up about the U.S. as his works were finding a fandom across the pond.


I've never heard him speak with such candor and his generally quite friendly personality shines through. This is much different than the sense of him I had when I first encountered his works in the 70's. He comes across here as a genial and full-blooded fellow, at times witty and other times nonplussed.

The interview runs about forty minutes.

To listen to Tom Bombadil's song with lyrics check out this link.   

Special Note: Look for many more of these one-day celebrations as 2025 tumbles along. 

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Hawkeye The Marksman Day!

"Dashing" Don Heck was born on this day in 1929. Heck was a key artist in Marvel's early days, and he co-created many of their stars including the focus of today's Dojo celebration -- Hawkeye the Marksman. 

When I first tumbled onto the Avengers there were only three members, Goliath, the Wasp and the outstanding Hawkeye the Marksman. Hawkeye is the ultimate no-powers hero, hanging and banging with the big boys against mighty menaces armed with only his arrows, his savage wit, and his unblinking courage. Hawkeye was created by Larry Lieber and artist Don Heck in the pages of Tales of Suspense. 

He was at first meant to be an antagonist for Shellhead, led astray by the comely Black Widow. But he comes to his senses and his inducted into the Avengers where he serves off and on for decades, even going on to spearhead the West Coast branch of that operation. 

Hawkeye, revealed to be a man named Clint Barton after I started reading about him, could be an asshole for certain. He was difficult to manage as a part of the team when the fighting was not on, but fiercely loyal when that loyalty had been earned. I even liked the period of time when he wasn't Hawkeye but became Goliath. He eventually returned to his best self, but always he was Clint Barton.

It's too bad they gave much of his tempestuous but witty personality to Tony Stark when they made the movies, because think how popular he'd be if he could be himself on the big screen.

It's actually the second time Hawkeye's fiery nature was ripped off, the first was when DC updated their own bowman Green Arrow long ago.

Clint had identity problems for a while. Becoming Goliath for a while helped him feel he mattered but then he returned to his archer roots. Don Heck is the only artist who made this outfit look good. But soon he'd be back in his vintage togs. 

It took Hawkeye years and years to get his own series and to become what I always knew was his first best mission, the leader of the Avengers. When he married Mockingbird, he became even more of a favorite.  I've always liked Hawkeye, or should I say I've always liked the rambunctious Clint Barton. 

Special Note: Look for many more of these one-day celebrations as 2025 tumbles along. 

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Your Friendly Fighting Neighborhood Spider-Man!

(The dates for 1975 and 2025 are identical.)

The month kicks things off with the Amazing Spider-Man and the rather expansive cast of characters which shared his book in the 70's. Spider-Man was and is a powerhouse character who has developed a popularity out of all reason really. In a decade in which superheroes were only starting to regain their footing in the comic format, he came charging to the fore, becoming Marvel's flagship character and more. Today I want to take a look the character and how he interacted with other Marvel heroes over the decades and maybe discover the secret sauce that made Marvel so attractive to readers in those years. 

Unexpectedly this volume of Marvel's Decades series has proven to be my favorite. Documenting as it does one of the most elegant aspects of the Marvel Universe, that it is indeed a universe, a mostly coherent environment in which heroes and villains live and fight on a landscape very similar to our actual reality. The linchpin in this tome is Spidey, the teenage hero who was incredibly successful and soon became the "Mickey Mouse" of the Marvel Universe.

Spidey meets the Fantastic Four in the very first issue of his very own comic. But after a brief tussle in which he showcases his powers to the team, he loses interest when he learns there is no paycheck for the gig. Steve Ditko drew that first meeting, but Jack Kirby did the cover with Ditko inks. 

Spidey then meets the Fab 4 for the first time again in the pages of the first Fantastic Four Annual. Apparently, Stan didn't think the meeting in the pages of Spider-Man sufficient to tell the story, so we get a fuller tale with art by Jack Kirby this time. 

We get to see that happen as Spidey drops in here and there and seemingly everywhere to add his obnoxious observations to the struggles against evil. It's a trope that Marvel heroes always fight when they encounter one another and in these hallowed pages, we see that's actually mostly true. Since both  Spidey and the Human Torch were youthful, Marvel wasted little time getting the two together, both as antagonists and allies. The first time was on the Human Torch's territory in the second Strange Tales Annual. 

They hook up again in the eighth issue of The Amazing Spider-Man. Kirby and Ditko had drawn the Strange Tales encounter, and they likewise do the honors on this one. Spidey is developing a jealousy of the Torch, because as a public hero with ready access to money he's living the life Peter Parker can only dream about. 

We are also treated to a few pages from the important fourteenth issue of Spider-Man when he tumbles across the Hulk of all people. This is in a period when the Hulk is without a regular feature and Stan is trying to keep him in the public eye by guest-starring him all over the place. 

It seemed a natural to have Marvel's two insect-inspired characters duke it out. Spider-Man was a hero on the rise, and sadly Giant-Man was on the wane. As was unfortunately true of most of Giant-Man's stories from this period this one lacks a bit of luster. 

Spidey for his part had a natural rivalry with the Human Torch from his earliest days and later he finds Daredevil more a man of his liking. This is one of Ditko's best and it gave DD some much needed exposure. It would be years before Daredevil began to approach Spidey's popularity. The duo battle against the always entertaining Circus of Crime in that outfit's second outing, after they got their big top butts beat by the Hulk. 

The Avengers and Spidey never blended well I always thought and that is showcased as well. These days he's a key part of their success, but when I was reading comics, he was not a public hero in such a way as to make assembling a real possibility.

Steve Ditko's two creations mixed it up in the second Spider-Man King-Size Annual in a bizarre little story. The cover is a classic, but it doesn't do justice to the way-out story inside where Doc Strange and Spidey take on Xandu over the ultra-magical Wand of Watoomb.  

Doffing his yellow tights and putting on his iconic red suit, Daredevil proved a worthy ally and opponent for the Wall-Crawler time and again. This time out they take on the Masked Marauder, one of Marvel's lesser creations. 

Spidey gets disappointed in his bid to join the Avengers, first by the Hulk who gets into the mix and then later when he learns there's no salary for being an Avenger. (Years later they did start getting stipends or something, so it worked out in the end.) This one is fun and I'm always up to seeing Goliath in his yellow and blue costume, perhaps my favorite all-time. 

Spidey joins DD once again when the Masked Marauder creates more trouble over in Daredevil's book. The art this time is by Gene Colan and might be his first try at the Web-Slinger. 

Spider-Man has a hard time with the X-Men, at the time quite a mysterious group, operating in the shadows thanks to the machinations of Professor X. As usual a misunderstanding creates friction. 

And this is a wonderful image, as the Fab 3 face off against the combined might of Thor, Daredevil and Spidey. They make for a great cover, but not so great a team. This gem by Kirby and Sinnott really showcases that pugnaciousness which defined early Marvel and which I feel was the strain that attracted so many readers. 

On Saturday there will be more about what to expect this year as the Dojo takes a very spiritual turn. 

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A Mighty Marvel New Year!

Let kick off the year with this beauty. It's the Mighty Marvel Calendar for 1975. What's significant about this gem is that this year of 2025 we get to enjoy it all over again as the days will repeat in total. Marvel and Abrams have reissued this lovely item for us all to share again. 1975 was an important year in my life, the year I graduated high school and stumbled off to college. There I met my beloved wife of forty years who blessed me with two terrific daughters. So, reliving this year will be a dream come true. As an old man now, looking back is what I do best. 

My scheme is to use these nifty calendar pages to kick off each month. We'll see how that goes later today with the Amazing Spider-Man. Now in the past, the first day of the month always gave you guys a tip about what was coming in any given month. It won't work that way this year. More on that this weekend. 

Here's a look at the original from those halcyon days. 

This marvelous calendar will make that easy. Look for a post at the beginning of each month devoted to the calendar focus for that particular month. I'll start a little later today with the Amazing Spider-Man. 

And as the year trundles along, I will celebrate the birthdays of some of my favorite artists and writers by putting the focus on some one of their key contributions to the field comic books. I might venture further afield from time to time as well to include some of my favorite writers from other formats. All that and the usual kind of stuff you've expected here at the Dojo. 

As the calendar says -- Make Mine Marvel...One More Time. 

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