Decades 1950's - Patriot Games!

There really was only one hero who was fit to confront the "Red Menace" and that hero was Captain America. When World War II came to an end, so too did the heyday of the superhero which had dominated the comic book landscape for several years. As the 50's loomed, all but a few such as Superman and Batman and Wonder Woman over at DC survived. At Timely all of them faded away as the company which was quite adept at riding new trends abandoned them for monsters and war and romance and arid western locales. But then a not-new menace was raised up in the popular consciousness and the heroes who had clashed with Hitler and Tojo were brought back to battle the "Red Menace" of the U.S.S.R. And at the forefront of that was Cap and Bucky too. It was a delightful revival but a brief one as artist John Romita among others tried to draw the heroes with a touch more realism than had been the norm in the Golden Age. The Atomic Age Cap was still Steve Rogers but he was now a teacher and the never-aging Bucky was his student or ward or something rather vague. They fought the Red Skull, now a stunningly well-named baddie and others from behind the Iron Curtain. All that is captured in Decades - Marvel In The '50s. 

When I first learned of this volume, I was immediately disappointed because to my fanboy heart Marvel had missed a bet by not including the story of this 50's Cap and Bucky which was revealed by Steve Englehart and Sal Buscema in the pages of  Captain America in the 70's. We learned this wasn't the "real" Cap, and that changed the history of the character for all time. We get a newish story by Howie Chaykin but I'm not that interested in that. Sigh...what might've been. Here are the covers of the comics which hosted the Captain America revial.

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Decades 1940's - Golden Fury!

Marvel's Decades series has proven to be quite entertaining for me so far. I've gathered up all the volumes to date, though I admit that beyond the 80's my interest diminishes significantly. The first tome in this series Decades - Marvel In The '40s highlighted the Golden Age clashes of Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner and his elemental opposite The Human Torch. Both these heroes debuted in Marvel Comics #1 (actually Namor technically was supposed to appear earlier) and during the Golden Age at least were the banner boys for Timely Comics. Alongside Captain America they formed Marvel's "Big Three". (Cap gets his limelight next time.) Given the natures of  Namor and the Torch it was almost inevitable that they discover conflict and they did again and again. Eventually they'd become allies, not only on the covers of scores of delicious covers by Alex Schomburg, but offically as members of the ill-fated All-Winners Squad. The two have quite a tempestuous relationship as the Sub-Mariner switches back and forth from defending mankind to invading the surface world from time to time. The battles between the Torch and Namor are not all of what Timely was about during the Golden Age of Comics, but those punch-outs do give a window into the era in a splendid manner.

Here are the covers of the comics from which the stories in this volume were taken.

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The Most Beautiful Girl In The World!

It almost impossible for me to believe that it has been two years since I lost my beloved Lizzie. She was the most beautiful girl in my world, my loving mate for forty years, and I miss her each and every day. I don't live in a bubble of gloom, nor do I deny myself the company of friends, but life is profoundly different as a widower (the word sounds strange still). As far as I'm concerned I'm still a married stiff, just waiting to rejoin his wife when that time eventually comes. Until that day, I'll work diligently to keep her bright broad smile and shining happy eyes and sweet tender touch in my memory. The Dojo will be on hiatus for a few days  -- look for more of the typical nonsense here next week.

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The Last Avengers - A Reflection!

And that's a wrap folks. The long winding and often convoluted saga of the Marvel cinematic universe reached a breaking point with the distribution of Avengers Endgame. The movie is a long one, that's for sure. I at first was going to wait a week or so to see it, but it was clear that details of the story were going to shake loose sooner than later, so I found a front row center seat at a early morning screening and enjoyed it mightily. There are great laughs and there are tears, lots and lots of tears. sagas we've been following for some years now have found some degree of resolution and yes there is  death, both for the benefit of the world and otherwise. Below is a spoiler rich discussion of some thoughts about this ultimate movie and what it says about the nature of heroism and about humanity.

UNAPOLOGETIC SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT SO TREAD WITH EXCEEDING CARE...

Someone told a friend of mine that they'd not need to have seen earlier movies to enjoy this one. That's not even remotely true. The earlier Avengers films are needed, along with Iron Man, Captain Ameica: The First Avenger, and Thor. Others certainly help, but without knowing the themes of both the Shellhead, Cap, and Thor story lines, apprehending the meaning of this one will be elusive I suspect. And there was also the Black Widow who found her way into many if not most of these tales. What are those themes?

For Iron Man or better yet Tony Stark it's about learning the limits of life and finding humility which comes with love. The Stark we meet in Iron Man is a cock-sure genius who is dead certain he knows everything about everything and if he doesn't he can in mere moments. His universe is one he controls utterly and there are no problems he cannot solve. He is given a second chance at life by Yinsen, a man who sacrifices his life for the greater good and for his family as well. Stark and Cap debated in the first Avengers movie about the nature of heroes and need to fall on the barbed wire for others, to sacrifice your life for others. Despite his origin, Stark is certain he can find a way to solve all equations and to come extent he does, though it creates startling shifts in his understanding of the world. In Endgame he goes there, he gives his life intentionally for the benefit of others, others he cares about more than himself and it's suggested that's because he's now a father. Parenthood can change you they say and it seems to have changed Tony Stark. He wanted to build a shield around the world, to keep it safe in anticipation of any danger, but it always seemed his efforts were thwarted by the whims of life and death. In Endgame he finally understands what Yinsen showed him so long before, there is no protection which is absolute, no shield strong enough, there is only what individuals do when they are required and for the first time, Tony Stark lays his body on the wire.

For Captain America it's been a different journey. He's always been the hero's hero, the template for bravery and goodness. But in order to become the hero he had to give up his life and his love. He did it, he made the choice but in this movie he gets the chance to choose again. I won't pretend to understand all the vagaries of the plot here, with its time-traveling details, but somehow Steve Rogers is able to make the universe safe and still find time to live life slowly. While some aspect of him slept in the ice, some other aspect found marriage and happiness and sadness and grief and all the rest of that bittersweet package we call the daily life. He was not just the hero anymore, he was the man named Steve Rogers. He's not the perfect warrior, he became the imperfect human and had the humility to become just a guy from Brooklyn, which in the final analysis was all he ever was. The heart of these movies has always been their success in tapping the emotions of the audience and the saga of Captain America or more properly Steve Rogers does that in spades. Who knows what the future has in store for those who remain, but that's life ain't it.

For Thor, it was always about meeting the obligations which were his as the son of the mighty lord of Asgard, Odin. We meet him as a callow youth who bellows and brags and fights with vigor and bristling stupidity. His strength is his weakness, his pride is his downfall and we see him in the first story learn that leaders are not born, they are made. He becomes in that first story worthy to accept the mantle and in later stories he does just that. In this one, the burden has become too much and he's lost his way again as many of us do. He's a god but he's not perfect and he hides from his pain behind the balm of drink and distraction and ignores what must come next. By being pulled back into the larger story he slowly and reluctantly again learns that gods are just people too. In the end he gives up his leadership, he chooses to do it and that's the difference. He is pointed in the way of the future and into the depths of time and space.

And finally for the Black Widow the saga ends. She has been in many the most fascinating character in all of these movies, first appearing in the second Iron Man flick and becoming a linchpin of the Avengers team. Her guilt over the grim past  always weighs heavily it seemed, even as she quipped with a particular gallows humor. Her special history and unique connection to Hawkeye, in many the most normal and "human" of the characters proved her worth, though she doubted it always. Her romance with Bruce Banner seemed to be a special match, two "monsters" trying to hide themselves behind human faces. She said once that her "ledger was full of red", and the movies are a relentless march toward her salvation which comes with her self-sacrifice, meant to save the world itself. She is dead in that distant dimension and somewhat forgotten at the film's conclusion. But that's the way she was considered within the narrative flow of the movies, always crucial but often underestimated and sadly all too often overlooked. The depth of character in the Natasha "Nat" Romanova has been one of the true revelations in the movie universe.

Other heroes came and fought and will fight again. Thor will certainly find a place of some kind with or without Chris Hemsworth with the Guardians of the Galaxy. But for Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, and Natasha  Romonova the road seems well and truly to have ended, or at least it has for the nonce. Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr. and Scarlett Johanson are gone, but with any delightful fictional character there is a more than a tiny bit of immortality.

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A Day In The Anti-Life - Anti-Socialist Tendencies!

The buzzword within the ranks of the "conservative" talkers (they hardly deserved the description "conservative" much anymore as they kneel before the antics of the foolhardy Trump) is "Socialist". They insert it into as many sentences as possible, to make certain the word sticks onto the gray matter of  their devoted listeners, folks who only like what they are told to like and hate what they are told to hate.  Much to my surprise frankly, they Republicans, led by Trump are again attacking "Obamacare" or more accurately "The Affordable Care Act" which marginally improved access to healthcare in these United States.

The absurdity of all these screams of "Socialism" is that of course the United States has been "Socialist" for a very long time, in an effort to blunt the savage effects of raw Capitalism which is the idol of most unthinking greedy Americans. The safety net which was put into place eighty years ago (over the cries of "Socialism from Republicans yet again) have given the U.S. one of the longest and steadiest periods of economic power in world history.

Ten years ago the utter ruin which is the United State healthcare system for too many of its citizens was deemed dire enough that newly elected President Barack Obama was able to put through Congress a scheme first developed by Conservative Republican think tanks as a possible middle-ground solution. This success was met with crazed rejection which was steamed up to such a degree that any attempts to refine or fine tune the program were met with utter contempt. Now they want to (yet again) throw it out.

There is no replacement for the current programs -- none! When asked to identify what they will replace Obamacare with, Republicans go silent and mumble about free-market solutions without identifying a single one which has proven successful. They have no solution, but instead resort to name calling. The name has been "Liberal", "Progressive", and even "Radical". The word that seems to have caught on recently is "Socialist", so they say it as loudly and as often as possible with no regard to the reality of circumstances on the ground.

I wish I could say such scare tactics would not be rewarded, but alas I cannot with certainty suggest that. We suffer under a leader now who got there by scaring folks about the imagined loss of their ethnic identity and by pointing to a scapegoat to heap all their woes upon. Now once again the boogeyman comes out when those in power want to keep us back from the fences, the fences they make a little stronger and a little higher each and every day. One day the rich and powerful might well need those fences.

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A Day In The Anti-Life - Full House!

There's a commonplace complaint running rampant in many quarters in the media that there are just too damn many candidates running for the Democratic option to oppose the odious Trump for President of these United States. Hogwash I say!

How can there be too many candidates? For most of my lifetime various sages and pundits and whatnot have decried the failure of the citizenry of this republic for showcasing a relative disdain for politics and consequently ignoring for the most part or casting only a sneer in the direction of public service. Those were relatively good times (might seem like a utopia when the water runs out) and so folks didn't feel the necessity of taking matters into their own hands. Decades of semi-decent practices and a general respect for the typically observed norms of governance suggested that things would only ever get so bad or so good, so why bother.

The arrival of the odious Trump has changed all that lazy thinking. Now folks realize that sitting on their haunches and leaving it up to others has created a potentially dangerous world in which race-baiting, gold-grubbing demagogues take the lead. And the next generation of leaders have just said "No!" to that terrifying proposition. And since the odious Trump has proven that no real qualifications of any significant kind are required for the job, a herd of people think that they are ready. Hell, I'm more qualified to be President than the odious Trump. (Don't fear-- I'm not running.)

Who will win the day? Someone will rise eventually and prevail, and this inviting Chinese restaurant menu of candidates will be whittled down. Guess what -- just like in Highlander, there can be only one! So what's the problem with a lot of folks vying for the job? Most know they won't make the cut, but this is a good way to find out what it takes to run for President and build a profile for future leadership, and if you cannot cut that mustard then the job itself will be much too much. The odious Trump for his avalanche of miserable defects, at least knew how to campaign -- he just doesn't have one fucking clue how to govern.

So it's not that there are too many folks running for President, it's merely that those who have stood by and watched the republic fall victim to the vile pack of hyenas who have masqueraded as legislators in recent years need to fall back and make room for new blood. I welcome one and all, I welcome the spectacle. Contrary to what many folks truly believe in their heart of hearts, I for one have faith in democracy and despite some terrifying glitches now and again, overall it beats the alternatives. Just ask the folks desperate still to find a safe haven here.

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Aquaman - Desperately Seeking A Sea King!

I missed out on this installment in the ever-expanding DC movie universe when it hit theaters. I was going with a friend to see it and it was sold out save for seats right at the screen. I like those, but she opted out and decided to delay -- we never went back. So I was eager to get hold of the dvd to see what this was all about. I wasn't disappointed, but I can see issues with the movie. Spoilers be below me hearties!

First off let me express my gobsmackiness that such a movie even exists. As the 21st century has tumbled along, the superhero movie only continues to pick up steam and projects which as  longtime comics fanboy I'd like to see have actually shown up much to my amazement. Aquaman was absolutely of the kind of the league of leftover heroes when I stumbled across the DCU. But he never stopped trying and creators kept at it until they stumbled onto ways to express the character.

Jason Mamoa is an exceedingly charming actor and does a spitfire job here as the lead, but he's surrounded by lots of characters doing lots of things and believe it or not I think Aquaman gets lost a little bit in the debut movie bearing his name. (But I do love that he wears the gold shirt.) Making of with some of his time is Mera who is another kickass woman hero to inspire the girls out there. But perhaps stealing the show with relatively little screen time are the romance of Arthur Curry and Atlanna, the parents of our hero. Played by Temura Morrison and Nicole Kidman, the heart of the movie is with them and their indestructible romance. Also the origin of Black Manta was a sight to see and I am hungry for more from this take-no-prisoners villain. Ocean Master was great too, but as you can see the list grows long and there are even more characters to contend with. It's a crowded movie, with lots going on under the sea.

And that's the real star of this show, the ocean itself which thanks to the magic of CG is as real as anything else I've ever encountered on cinema. The creators here do a crackerjack job of keeping us mindful of the alien nature of the environment Aquaman lives and works in and his powers are on display plenty. In fact if anything there almost too many environments explored, getting a tiny bit confusing toward the end with some not getting a proper showcase. But that said and done, this movie not disappoint, but elevated the character, no mean feat in a universe brimming with heroes.

An afterthought is that the movie reminds me more than bit of one of Namor the Sub-Mariner's famous quests across the seas to find a trident. I've not read any recent Aquaman and assumed the plot was from relatively recent issues.

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