Infamy!

This of course is the "date which will live in infamy". The day when Japanese forces carried out a devastating attack on Pearl Harbor in an attempt to nullify the U.S. threat in the Pacific Ocean. It was a successful attack in the short term, crippling the U.S. naval fleet and killing over 2400 American military men and civilians. But in the long term it mobilized the United States, steeled the nation to begin a long-standing war effort which eventually brought down not only the Japanese threat in the Pacific, but the other Axis Powers Germany and Italy in Europe. In concert with allies the U.S. proved to be a juggernaut which with grit and blood defeated the enemy and transformed the nature of the world itself, creating a new hopeful sphere of influence which has for the most part maintained relative peace for all of my long life and more.

When the United States was attacked again on September 9, 2011 the entire nation was poised to accomplish something magnificent. This time we failed. That failure came because in the moment when much could have been asked of the nation to bend back a barbaric culture intent on returning the world to the Middle Ages, little was asked aside from hectic cheer leading. A handful of soldiers, all volunteers were tasked and re-tasked re-tasked yet again with the mission while at home the rich got richer and poor got poorer. Instead of rising to the occasion we were supine in the day-to-day when the sacrifice was needed. I don't mean we should've once again unleashed a torrent of racist nonsense to help whip the masses into a war-footing, but we could've used the moment to reconfigure the nation from one which for too long merely considered itself and in which citizens worried only about themselves and instead put it at the head of a new order which could've led to the stars. Instead of caving into barbaric lunacy, we could have embarked on a new mission beyond this planet using the benefits of the shared effort to steel ourselves for a new age.

I look back on the nation in World War II and see people sharing the load. Following the crisis of 9-11 the load was merely shifted and as the restructuring took place callow and avaricious folks seized the chance to merely make more and more money. Diverting the national energy to follow base desires for oil reserves allowed the noble fight to become yet another dirty war, one which were all too eager to pry ourselves away from. All too soon the communal flame flickered and dwindled and the soldiers were left to fend for themselves on battlefields which have swallowed up armies across the ages.

Maybe it would've been just as bad, but now the moment is long long passed. The students I have before me in class each day were born after the last great event, to them it's history like Pearl Harbor was to me. But where as I can look at that ignition point and see that something great (if far far from perfect) was built, they can only see that seething is still used again and again for small-minded gains by those who creep into power. We deserved better from our twenty-first day of infamy, or sadly maybe we didn't. But our kids do.

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Gods Almighty!

I love the work of the great Joe Staton and as much as I've been able to, I gobble up his early stuff. There's a ton over at DC I don't have, but his Charlton work is too pure and tasty to pass up. He did quite a bit of illustrating in his early career too for the science fiction mags and I'm on the prowl for those morsels as well when I can find them. But I don't have Gods, a trio of comics about the Greco-Roman gods put out by some small-time outfit called Quintessence Publications. The covers I've seen many times on the internet, in fact I didn't know they existed until the advent of the internet. They are pure Staton all right, lush with his early penchant for delightful squiggly lines. Above are the three published tomes along with the artwork for a proposed fourth. I don't know where I found these images, but they've been dancing around inside my computer for some time. Enjoy!

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Peanuts Gallery!

Recently stumbled across the Peanuts Dell Archive, and found this tome too delightful to leave on the stands. It's gathers together Peanuts strips from scores of issues of vintage Dell Comics like Nancy and Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top Comics. Some very few of these are by Peanuts creator Charles Schulz, but most are by other artists in his style. These are light four-page and six-page and sometimes eight-page strips featuring the Peanuts gang before they became the darlings of American pop culture. I have to say I'm not a Peanuts devotee necessarily, but I have enjoyed the strip all my life and this handsome little book adds to that enjoyment.

The book also features a cover gallery of Dell Peanuts comics, though none of the stories in the book are from these. Here they are for your viewing pleasure.

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Rocket Blast From The Past!

Rocket Black Special #1! I remember it well, not from actually having a copy of this fanzine featuring a dynamic cover with Marvel's Human Torch, Captain America, and Sub-Mariner by super-fan publisher Buddy Saunders.

I remember it from the ads which appeared in early Marvel Comics. I always wanted one, but never  got the gumption to order one.

The cover of the fanzine is a reworking of this cover for All Winners #6 minus the three heads of Mussolini, Hitler and Tojo. Bucky and Toro get dropped out too of this image which was not of the Invaders of course, too early. These are just Timely's powerhouse heroes.

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Guardians Of The Galaxy Awesome Mix Tapes!

On a whim I was traveling a few hours on the highway and needed some distraction. So I picked up some music, specifically Volumes 1 and 2 of the Guardians of the Galaxy Awesome Mix Tapes. There's no secret that the delightful tunes contributed mightily to the success of the  two movies about the Guardians we've had so far, and frankly some of my boyhood favorites are included in these tapes. I won't say that every song is one I delight in hearing, some I heard far too many times on the AM radio of my youth, but songs like "Go All the Way" by the Raspberries in Volume 1 and "Brandy" by Looking Glass on Volume 2 are inside my DNA from my earliest days listening to pops songs. I still remember buying the 45 RPM for the Raspberries song. Volume 1 is definitely stronger than the Volume 2, but both are spirited entertainments, little packages of nostalgia, that not only make me think of the two entertaining Marvel movies, but hearken back to the days of my youth. It sure made the trip pass by more quickly.

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Stan Lee R.I.P.

The passing of Stan Lee a comic book legend (I use that term sparingly, but it certainly applies in this case) could not have been a surprise, but it was a moment for all Marvelites to stop and reflect. Stan's connection to the "House of Ideas"  has been pretty tangential in the last several decades, marked mostly by the constant use of his name to promote the mythology of the company and his face which could be counted on to show up somewhere and sometime in nearly every Marvel movie.

The average citizen can be forgiven I think for thinking as do most that Stan Lee created much if not all of the Marvel Universe as we know it. He had a hand in marketing it for certain and his role in the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, X-Men and other Silver Age additions is usually a debate about degree and not kind. Stan "The Man" was there in abundance and his guiding hand made it all happen, even if at times that hand merely waved assent for a talent like Jack Kirby to come up with something new or for the notable Steve Ditko to keep at it when he'd rather not. Stan was a darn good writer, something I never really appreciated fully until I did a chronological reading of the core Marvel titles a few decades ago. Stan's writing was downright elegant when compared to some of the stuff the fledgling Roy Thomas and others pushed out when they first started in the game. Stan was able to find that perfect balance between true drama and self-referential mockery that defined many of the Marvel titles in their  heyday.

Stan Lee's myth is mighty, and to the common folk who only dabble in comics or the offshoots, he is like Walt Disney, a true talent for sure, but one who is given too much credit for incredible creative work with which his name is associated. People like to take the hard work of teams of folks, many largely unknown, and laud particularly charismatic individuals, this is not news. I liken Stan to the pied piper, a talent who was able to cast a spell over his fans, make them believe they were special, at least in that moment, and part of something larger than themselves, even it was only mere funny books. I know he did for me. We crave heroes in all spheres of life and for many people when it comes to comics, Stan "The Man" Lee was a true hero.

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Bah Humbug!

I've warned all my family members and dependents that I am not feeling the season much if at all. If Kris Kringle tries to break into my house this year, he might get his cold red ass shot. So in this final  month of the year which is saturated with all things dedicated to the holiday season, expect nothing here, at least nothing in support of the event. We live in dangerous times and waxing on about the faux-brotherhood we should be feeling during this season of hyper-mercantilism is hardly the way to fix the fundamentals. I'm not hating on the season, so much as I wish to remain indifferent to it. Perhaps this announcement is a basic failure in that effort and reveals a deeper animus, but there we are.

Instead this will be a month in which I catch up on a number of things which happened while I was dutifully counting down my favorite heroes such as the passing of the comic book's greatest raconteur Stan Lee and the continuing misery our Dotard-in-Chief continues to dish out to the harmless who seek at minimum an hospitable greeting at our southern border.

The Democrats have captured one element of the legislative branch and so most of the worst which might happen can now be stopped, but it will in no way cause the troll who lives in our esteemed Oval Office to behave in a more civilized manner. Instead we can count on more tantrums as reality comes to call on the steps of the White House. I'm sure we've not seen the last assault on the Constitution and in fact we might only be in the opening stages of a true crisis.

All that and more this month at the Dojo -- something different everyday. I noticed there were no ladies in my hero countdown, so maybe I'll have to address that oversight this month as well.  But no Season's Greetings save that most famous Dickensian eruption -- Bah Humbug!

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