The Last Challenge On Earth!

Kamandi Challenge was a series which I've dutifully collected since it first dropped early last year. I read the debut and the second issue but after that merely picked them up and tucked them away until I could read them all. I just did. The series is at once a success and a failure. It fails to supply a story which makes much sense beginning to end, but it does offer up some really curious and times even compelling installments.

The story is set in the world that Jack "King" Kirby created long ago. It puts the "Last Boy on Earth" into a wild world filled with sentient animals of all kinds. In the original run Kamandi (named after the bunker in which he grew up called "Command D") runs afoul of Tigers, Apes, Rats, Bats, Leopards, Dogs, Sharks, Robots, and Mutants while trying to find out what the world has become other than what Charlton Heston might have called a "Madhouse". It's this future that a mob of creative talents attack with gusto as they do two things at once -- tell a story about Kamandi in this weird dangerous world and leave their successors a cliffhanger to solve. It's a parlor game transformed into a publishing event and it's an uneven experience.

Too much of the story is just a jumble of random events as Kamandi dodges left and right and up then down encountering animals who have taken bits of human lore and fashioned ersatz civilizations across the globe. He's constantly under attack and constantly assisted by well-meaning animals who find in the talking human a figure of friendship and inspiration. He seeks to find his Mother and Father and by the end of this quixotic saga he does just that, though not in the way anyone anticipated.

It's a raucous roller coaster ride with moments of anticipation, quick thrills and decent entertainments, but when the ride rolls to an inevitable stop it feels a bit unfinished. The whole is far from equal to the sum of the often very well-crafted parts. We have great artwork from Neal Adams, Steve Rude, Keith Giffen, Walt Simonson, and many others. Sadly we have quite a bit of mediocre artwork by artists I will not identify. As a curiosity intended to celebrate the centennial of Jack Kirby this is less a monument than a parade of testimonials. Each taps into some aspect of the total, but none really evokes the real adventure for any length of time and for me the ending was overwrought and a little too on the nose. This story needed more real plot development and less showmanship and it deserved an ending and not a stunt.

Is it worth your time. It was worth mine, but I'm a Kirby nut. I cannot really recommend it to anyone who isn't already in that camp.

Here are the covers.

They do make me want to read the original again and that's not all bad. Not all bad by half.

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The Secret Saucy Origin Of Barbie!

I recently saw a fascinating television show which showcased the origins and development of classic toys. Among those was the iconic Barbie doll. It turns out that Barbie was first inspired by a German doll derived from a mildly scandalous comic strip by an artist named Reinhold Beuthin and came about rather as an afterthought when a publisher ended up with a spot to fill in his tabloid paper. Here is a link with the details.

The character named "Bild Lilli" was quite the hottie in the classic Good Girl tradition and much is made of the fact she was hardly innocent in a world in which innocence was less a virtue than in times past. Needless to say the Mattel folks skip over this part of the saga as can be seen here.

That they saw in this exotic figure a way to tap into the daydreams and wishes of girls is at once obvious and more than a bit bizarre. The notion that the Barbie doll is derived from a creation which is likely a call girl makes me laugh out loud.

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A Day In The Anti-Life - Tricky Dick!

I agree with our "so-called" President, one Donald J. Trump! He is absolutely the biggest dick who ever occupied the oval office. Kudos Donald, you win again. Sorry "Tricky Dicky", your time has passed. For more see this flabbergasting story from the "failing" New York Times. And when I got up this morning, this has happened.  The wheels are well and truly coming off -- be ready to duck and cover amigos.

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E-Man's Last Adventure!

E-Man was what remained of a larger proposal by Nicola Cuti to his bosses at Charlton Comics to revive the superhero genre. But the bosses were still stung by the collapse of Dick Giordano's "Action Hero" line and didn't give Cuti's proposal the green light...exactly. They did okay a single superhero title and Cuti enlisted Joe Staton, a talented artistic newcomer to comics who was learning with every job. Together they gave the world E-Man, who is actually an alien bundle of energy come to Earth and bewildered by what he found seeks guidance, which he finds in the lovely form of Nova Kane, a college student and sometime exotic dancer. The two find comfort in one another's company and romance to boot. The world has never been the same as they confronted all manner of baddies often aided by pint-size gumshoe Mike Mauser.

Now the E-Man saga, which has kindled here and there at different comic book publishers for four decades is apparently coming to an end. Joe Staton, who bought the rights to the character from First Comics has, along with his partner Nick Cuti, presented new E-Man stories when such things could be arranged. Now Staton says the story currently running in Charlton Arrow, put together by the folks at Charlton Neo and distributed by AC Comics  could well be the final bow. (The third part of the story is scheduled to hit the stands this month.) But like that famous detective whose author tried to kill off so long ago, I hold out hope that maybe, just maybe there will be more. For now, I'll take what I have and treasure the rest. It's an ideal time to dig out the vintage appearances from the 70's, the 80's, the 90's, and beyond and give them all a loving re-reading.

So you don't want to be left out. Catch the last E-train for what might well be the final E-run. You know Nova would want you to do it.

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Star Wars - The Last Jedi!

Like most of America and much of the world I went to see the eighth chapter of the Star Wars saga, a story which has occupied much of my life. And like many I found the story both surprising and interesting, but sadly I never found it compelling. Star Wars -The Last Jedi fell a little flat for me, but I'm beginning to think that says more about me than it does about the movie. I'm part of that lucky first generation who were wowed by the original Star Wars (went to see it in the theater four times in those pre-video days of yore) but I couldn't be bothered to even see Star Wars -Rogue One yet despite it being out more than a year already. My Star Wars ardor has cooled over the years. More after some spoilers.

SPOILERS BEGIN

The biggest surprise for me in this one was that Princess Leia does not die. Since the passing of Carrie Fisher I assumed this movie was the vehicle (ironically) which would see her follow Han Solo into the great cinema beyond. It didn't happen though how she saved herself in the depths of cold space was more than a bit surprising.

My favorite part of this sprawling action movie was the utterly fantastic opening battle sequence with the attacks and counter-attacks between the Resistance and the villainous First Order. It's visually exciting and the twists and turns are really fascinating to watch. There is real heroism and if this movie does anything at all well, it's to showcase the personal sacrifices of the many members of the resistance to sacrifice their lives to help bring a better way of life to the countless folks who suffer under the heel of the First Order.

And now to the meat of the event, the seeming demise of the one and only Luke Skywalker. Luke has been the nerve center of these movies from the get-go, his role in the first one of course key to understanding them all. The first three movies are his secret origin in which he finally makes an appearance as a baby at the end, the second three are his coming of age stories, and now we find the saga which marks his demise. Of course I use demise and not death since as we saw just this time out with Yoda, death is not the way it goes for powerful Jedi knights, no they get to live on as ghosts imparting wisdom to the next generation. I suspect we'll see Luke again, no great surprise.

The Rey storyline was supposed to be the key one in this epic tale, and somehow it got demoted behind the battle story. That was weird and then they add the somewhat irrelevant mission by Finn and Rose which comes to naught, but does chew up screen time and does allow the creators to push a few more of those nostalgic pleasure buttons for longtime fans. The Vegas/Monte Carlo rendition of the cantina scene was funny, but we worked awfully hard to wedge that into a story which was already creaking from the weight.

It was sadly evident that Finn has no more story, or at least none that got moved along. The addition of Rose as some sort of divergent love interest was cute but reminds me of the swerve the Lord of the Rings movie played in the second installment with the seeming romance between Aragorn and Eowyn. It never went anywhere, but it was there to fill up that tantalizing expectation that something happen. They've have been better served here if they'd just left Finn on the shelf and added more to Poe's story (he was on the shelf in the first movie for the most part) and given us more focus on Rey.

Speaking of Rey, I did like the bombastic battle sequence when she and her quixotic ally Rylo Ken cut through the red guard of Snoke after his assassination. That was a good battle with a real grimness but still a gleam of derring-do which movies have long had for swordplay. It wasn't as intense as the finale three-way battle from The Phantom Menace but it was pretty good.

And a big complaint for me was the lack of Chewbacca. He got a few funny scenes, but since his promotion to captain of the Millennium Falcon (I assume he's the captain, I don't really know) he deserved a bit more screen time.

END Of SPOILERS

As a general rule I've like the updates that J.J. Abrams has overseen on such venerable franchises as Star Trek and Star Wars. The visuals have been given a boost of realism and immediacy which have been very good for storytelling which can become stodgy with way too much reverence for the past. I see signs of that same remaking in The Last Jedi also, especially the emphasis on character and close shots. The movies made by Lucas were about the worlds, the landscapes and that was awesome. These movies are more about the people and that's important, but is a striking change and might not be supported by narratives which last a very long time. But try as they might in this one, the emotional impact was blunted more than I'd have expected for a story with this much potential punch.

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The Year Of Living Impetuously!

If I learned anything last year it was the plans of mice and men often go awry (to misquote the venerable Burns). Still and all, despite the personal hardships I found solace here online with this little venue which allowed me to recommend, vent, and harangue to my heart's content about the exceedingly tiny matters of comics, science fiction, and whatnot and the larger issues of politics, and whatever else found its way onto my path. I won't be abandoning it anytime soon in this coming year (unless the mysterious results of the change of internet policy nationally affects my time or tide).

That said, I just spent a year looking lovingly at the "King of Comics" during his centennial. I won't be doing that again  or anything like it. In fact I don't have any plans whatsoever for the coming year save to read comics, novels, and whatever else lands on my nightstand. I want to watch good old television shows and even some better-than-average new ones and even see a movie or two if time allows.

For one thing, I am suspending the "Favorite Covers" feature which has been part of the site for several years now. It's been fun, but like many things it needs a rest and so do I. That doesn't mean I won't be whipping up galleries of comic book covers that catch my fancy, but it does mean they won't dribble out over the course of the month. And that's another thing, I don't have any schemes for monthly themes. I want to wing it more, play it fast and loose and allow the day to determine what appears here. Planning is a grand thing and I love to do it, but trusting in the moment is a good way to go also and I need more of that in my life in general.

I have been loading up on comic strip and comic book collections for several years now meaning to get to them in due course. I mean to make that happen as much as I can this year. (I also hope to cut down on my new acquisitions but I know now that I will probably fail at that.) I have been gathering Hal Foster's fantastic Prince Valiant strip since Fantagraphics started nearly a decade ago now and after a few volumes I fell into the habit of getting them and filing them away on the shelf for another day. That day is now and hopefully by the end of this year I will be up-to-date on my Prince Valiant reading. Also on tap are the various King Features comic books starring the likes of Flash Gordon, The Phantom, and Mandrake the Magician. I've long wanted to have a full set of those and I do now in both original and reprint. And there's Popeye which apparently wraps up a vintage reprint run of great Bill Sagendorf comics from IDW this month. So it's time to enjoy the fruits of that harvest.

Beyond that I have scant notions. I want to read the E-Man saga again by Cuti and Staton as the last E-Man story hits the stands later this month. I want to dig out those vintage Jonny Quest comics from Comico and have another go at them. I have a lot of tomes in my collection, and I want to read them all.

I'd love to put together a collection of Will Eisner's The Spirit in the archives. As I divest myself of original comics and concentrate on collections, I hope to make the latter pay for itself as much as I can.

And then there's Tarzan. I have many a Tarzan tome sitting about waiting my attention. Stuff by Hal Foster, Burne Hogarth, and Russ Manning all demanding attention. I mean to hopefully get to that stuff before the year is out. Throw into that mix a mountain of Shadow novels waiting to read and enjoyed and it's all quite a lot really, now that I talk about it.

So I don't have any particular plans for the Dojo but I do have lots of ideas how I want to spend the year and that will certainly be reflected here. I don't rule out coming up with plans later, but we'll have to see because the words of Burns still echo in my ears.

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My Queen Of The Misty Isles!

I have dreaded writing this post. Last year I lost my wife of forty years, my beautiful Lizzie. She was the love of my life and I still cry for her each and every day. I miss her with all my heart and will love her till my dying day. I took that vow of parting only in death, and in my case our bond will only end with my death, whenever that day comes. She was my better half and now half of me is gone for good.

I am lucky though to have my beloved daughters, who dote on their old man and take time to call him each and every day. Work has been a balm, a thing to do which demands planning for the future and that's been quite good. This blog has been a wonderful place to find repose and spend my thoughts on tiny unimportant matters which demand vigorous attention.

This coming year I will continue to come to terms with what life means without my mate, and I will take steps to close down portions of our lives together in anticipation of moving to a new place and new stage in life eventually. There is no hurry and I'm very lucky to have options about retirement. I can go when I want, and right now I need to work, so it's good to have a focus beyond this house and the little dog which shares my bed now. He was her dog and now he's mine, but it's as if we share our loss in each other's company and that's not nothing.

I am far from a Prince Valiant but nonetheless I  lost my Princess Aleta last year. But for as long as I live, she will live in my memory and I will keep her close. It's the least I can do for a woman who deserved the best of life and got stuck with me. I wanted to take care of her for the next twenty years, now I get to take care of her memory - the sweet memory of my very own Queen of the Misty Isles.

Dean