The Savage Sea Change!

It makes me ashamed to be a man for God's sake. The recent story about this one particular fool of a congressman has really got to say a lot about the total obtuseness of men when it comes to what constitutes professional behavior around the women who work for them. The olden days of "Camelot" when JFK had a "cookie" hidden in every back room, and the not-that-long-ago time when "Slick Willy" was getting his little president polished in the Oval Office (or nearby) point to behavior so rotten that it must be expunged from the natural discourse.

People will yammer about how it was consensual in the latter case of course, but the employer-employee relationship makes it awful regardless and makes the idea of "consensual" nonsensical. The loathsome dotard who now occupies the office paid off a porn star to keep his dalliance a secret and has gotten Billy Graham's scion to back his play.  (They had to fabricate nonsense about Obama, but Trump's real life is all the grist anyone should ever need.) The misbehavior of men around women is sadly the history of the world, but that history must change and hopefully dismissing the pussy-grabbin' creep who currently "leads" the free world will be merely a single milestone in the transformation which must come.

Wise up guys -- things are changing!

Rip Off

Delay Of Game Of Thrones!

Over the holidays I got my mitts on some of the early Game of Thrones dvds for dirt cheap. Then for Christmas my daughters got me the rest of the series and I've just finished them.  I'd never been all that attracted by the HBO series for a couple of reasons, the first is I'm too damn cheap. The idea of paying extra for TV when I have more TV than I can watch now always struck me as ludicrous. And when I sampled the show once upon a time, I must've found a dull episode because it didn't strike me as much of anything but a wee bit of spectacle. So why buy it? Curiosity as a sword and sorcery fan of Conan and LotR and frankly the spur of the moment.

I enjoyed the early seasons for what they were, soap operas in medieval clothing with a hint of magic. What I found to my pleasant surprise were some really good actors in some complex roles.  Sean Bean has been a fave for years and his morally tormented Warden of the North Ned Stark was a noble but ultimately foolish man. Ian Glenn as Sir Jorah Mormont has proven to be perhaps my favorite character, a tortured failure of a knight who is desperate to win back some measure of approval from his chosen queen and his peers, but mostly himself. Other standouts are Bronn (Jerome Flynn), the Hound (Rory McCann), and the Onion Knight (Liam Cunningham). Some of the darlings of the show like Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister and Kit Harrington as Jon Snow are fine but my interest varies as their stories wax and wane. The girls are dandies with Maisie Williams as Arya Stark the stand out. Sophie Turner has grown into her role, but still falls short relative to the other talents who populate the show.

The show hurts itself with the exceedingly soft porn it peddles from time to time. A woman's breasts and behind are lovely to behold and I'm happy to do it, if it makes sense in the story. Sometimes it does, but more often the nudity is clearly presented for its own sake. When the lovely Emilia Clarke as the would-be queen Daeneryis Targyrean steaps out naked from the fire which gave birth to her dragons, that's necessary for the story. A few of the visits to the brothels make sense but often they seem thrown into the story just to wiggle some bum at the audience. I noticed this sort of thing waned as the series progressed. The internal strife of King's Landing usually brings the show to a halt, the political intrigue is never ending and frankly can be quite dull at times. Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance) was fun, but he wasn't on screen all that much.

My favorite story line was about The Night's Watch, a cadre of dedicated men who have committed crimes or fallen out of favor in some way who work to protect the world of mankind from a threat it no longer understands nor really believes. Much of the best of the early series dealt with that aspect of the world and spoke to the core plot which slowly (too slowly sometimes) begins to develop.

And that brings me to the show's greatest weakness, a sense of scale and time. When it is required by the story a character's journey can take weeks if not months. But if the story requires it, a character's journey over that same territory can take only a few moments in terms of storytelling. The Army of the Dead have been marching relentlessly for years, while humans come and go across the same territory multiple times. It don't make sense to me. Communication across the sprawling world of Westeros is maintained by a network of ravens who carry messages, a great gimmick, but one relied upon a bit too much and conveniently.

The story adapts the unfinished fantasy series by George R.R. Martin, a writer I've been dabbling in all my reading career. He's a good one for certain but this sprawling yarn has the looks of a tale which might have consumed its creator. The inspirations of Tolkien are clear and I see more than a mote of Moorcock sprinkled about Westeros and beyond. The last few seasons of the show are derived from Martin's  notes and not from the books because those books have not been published nor are they written to my knowledge. The story has only gotten better as the show gets more resources for special effects to support the world-building they required to do. The greatest difference is in the way the Night Walkers and the Army of the Dead are displayed. When they first showed up they were mysteries (smart move) and later weak computer graphics. Now as they the story focuses on them more and more they have become a truly awesome enemy, one I'm eager now to see routed...I hope.

More to come as the end isn't near, but I hope it will come.

Rip Off

A Day In The Anti-Life - Secret Society!

And now we have our very own "Secret Society". This one, according the crackpots parading in the governing political party, is an undetermined number of  like-minded Never-Trumpers and worse Hillary-Lovers in the FBI who gathered in places away from their offices (sundry local bars and rec rooms it is assumed) and plotted schemes in which they could harness their dastardly "deep-state" deeds to derail the then Dolt-Who-Would-Be-President.

All this conspiracy-theory ooze is apparently the result of a casual reference in one text message which mentions a "secret society" but seems clearly from the little context supplied to be a snide reference, a bit of mockery, a mote of satire. In other words...it's a joke son! But never letting wit stand in the way of a usable cudgel to break a long-standing bit of American democracy, away we go on a trolley ride in the frothy land of the lunatic fringe. I'm waiting for the Reptilians to put in an appearance, they usually do -- maybe in connection to the "Secret Memo" I keep hearing about which is supposed to rock my world even though they won't let anyone see it.

"Secret societies" are the very stuff of knuckle-heads who believe the world is out to get them and conservatives have believed that very thing for a very long time now. They feel under assault because they imagine the roaming bands of brown people who enter the country illegally or legally or have the audacity to be born here in these United States want their money and their privilege. Sometimes I wish it were as organized as that, like an installment in the Machete movie series -- that would be interesting at least. But this is just demographic shifting, a slow and steady change in populations which is inevitable and much larger than the imaginations of the white-power militia dupes who still cling to their guns atop their personal "Ruby Ridges".

The very thing which has convinced the white man in America he is better than anyone else on the globe is becoming out-dated and all attempts to "Make America White...er...Great Again" are flailing attacks against the established sentinels of law and order which does what braying conservatives have moaned about for decades, pay attention to what the Founding Fathers wrote. Oh wait, before the success of the revolution, those old venerated white guys were kind of like a secret society themselves. Hmm.

Rip Off

Drama On The Jurassic Coast!

I'm not at all sure when I first ran across this compelling bit of television called Broadchurch. Maybe it was just a chance  pop on BBC America or maybe my Anglophile daughter mentioned it to me or maybe it was both at the same time. But I knew it was better than a lot of stuff I tickled my eyeballs with on the boob tube. I was at first put off that it starred David Tennant who is not my favorite Doctor, but I figured out pretty soon that this D.C.I. Hardy is far away from his frenetic turn as the master of the TARDIS. His nickname is "Shitface" and frankly it fits quite well. Also there is the completely alluring character of D.S. Ellie Miller who becomes the center of this story and is almost always the most interesting person in any scene she's in. She offers up a "Plain Jane" of increasing wit and force as the story rolls on. I've just finished watching the series all the way through thanks to my daughters who have introduced their old man to the fancies of Netflix. Don't worry, there are no spoilers in this review, the show's too good for that.

In the first season we meet the quaint town of Broadchurch and all seems sunny and calm but the murder of an eleven year old boy throws the town into a lurch of suspicion and paranoia as new cop Hardy attempts to solve the crime. His second is Miller, whose job he's taken, and together they sort out their own feelings and the clues to slog into a mystery which is a lurid as it is bizarre. People get hurt along the way and mistakes are made. But it seems that this series was filmed in sequence and that the identity of the killer was a mystery from the cast itself. It's a  honking good mystery too with lots of twists and turns and some of the best red herrings on the small screen.

The second season presents us with the results of the first season's investigation as the town folk must cope with a trial which calls into question much of what we saw in the first year. The challenges are mighty and the new additions to the cast, in the form of lawyers of great potency, is pretty dynamic. The pace is somewhat slower as we know most everyone, but we do have a somewhat older murder to solve, one which haunts Hardy and is part of why he came to Broadchurch to begin with. It's great to see Hardy and Miller working together again as they have developed a back and forth which the best teams get after time.

The third season deals with the consequences of the trial and offers up a new mystery altogether -- this one not a murder but a rape. A serial rapist is at long last uncovered and the pain which goes with that search is typical of the angst and grim critique of human nature which the show has from the very first put on display.

And looming over all three seasons is the spectacular Jurassic Coast.  This awesome sight dominates the landscape which itself is a vital part of the storytelling in Broadchurch. The fictional town sits on this site and the creators take every opportunity to feature it. That implacable face of rock says to anyone who is remotely aware that the doings of human beings are momentary and fleeting. It's ironic that a former Doctor Who would be in such a story. The drama which unfolds beneath its crags and along its beaches are just whims in the maw of impossible time. The details of Broadchurch are mysterious and evasive, but the theme never is. We are small and have only a short time to make what we can of a life which outraces us all into the grave.

Rip Off

Frankenstein Alive, Alive, Revive!

Bernie Wrightson was one of the great stylists in comics in his generation. His place in comics was firm because of Swamp Thing, his great co-creation with Len Wein. But Wrightson was also renowned for his meticulous illustrations for Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

He revivisted this work with writer Steve Niles with a series titled Frankenstein Alive, Alive! from IDW which saw the first two of four projected installments hit the stands way back in 2012. A third chapter finally landed in 2014 and then Wrightson's failing health prevented him from finishing this distinctive coda to the classic tale. But he apparently had done some work on the fourth book and chose Kelley Jones to finish this tale. It will be on the stands soon and in anticipation the first three books have been reprinted in a dandy volume  titled logically enough Frankenstein Alive, Alive! Trio. It hits the stands this week. I've been raving about this one since it landed and while I'm not absolutely a lover of the work of Jones, I will be getting the final installment to see how it all wraps up. I owe it to the memory of the great Berni Wrightson.

Rip Off

The Secret Origin Of The Galaxy Trio!

I was quite surprised to see that this one-off issue Future Quest Presents was not included in the upcoming trade paper for this series. It made me immediately go out and pick up the alternate cover to make sure I gathered up all aspects of a rare comic book outing for one of my favorite super teams. The Galaxy Trio appeared alongside Birdman in his Hanna-Barbera cartoon from 1966.

Vapor Man, Gravity Girl and Meteor Man immediately grabbed my attention. For one thing I love super teams, more heroes for the money or time spent and the interactions of the players can be quite fun. That was certainly the case with this trio of space heroes.

Meteor Man is likely the stand out of the trio, certainly ability to enlarge aspects of his anatomy was visually festive. The fact he was voiced by Lurch himself, the late Ted Cassidy didn't hurt. His pointy ears were a shout out to Spock I always assumed.

Vapor Man appeared to be the leader, though I suspect that is merely my gender bias showing forth. Certainly his ability to transform his body into a sentient gas is visually compelling.

Gravity Girl was like many heroines of the time, fitted with a power which did not require her to physically contact her opponents. Designed by Alex Toth allowed this ginger to fill out her costume with class and style.

In this one-shot story we learn that the Galaxy Trio were a group of Space Force cadets who wanted to make a big impression and went up against Zorak who captured them and subjected them to experiments which transformed their bodies in bizarre ways. They were pretty bitter and for a time turned to crime, using their unique abilities to earn an illegal living before being confronted by Space Ghost who convinced them that serving their fellow men and women was a better way use their skills. They did that, then fell in the battle against Omnikron. But their actual fate remains undetermined and I doubt we've seen the last of them.

More Galaxy Trio please.

Rip Off

Your Friendly Neighborhood Barbarian!

I just read the news that Robert E. Howard's creation, including the mighty Conan the Barbarian will be hooking up once again with the sprawling monster which is the Marvel Universe, which itself has been absorbed into the maw of the mammoth Walt Disney empire.

I don't find any specific mention of King Kull or Solomon Kane, other relatively high-profile creations of Robert E. Howard. I always assumed they traveled together, but in these wacky times with licenses whipsawing across the globe it's not at all a certain thing. IDW just published a Kull series in which they moved him to a modern, even futuristic setting which was seriously dumb. So I'm guessing the characters are all on their own now, with Kull at IDW, Red Sonja at Dynamite, and now Conan at Marvel yet again. Solomon Kane needs a home I guess, or is he still at Dark Horse?

Marvel certainly gets full props for making Conan a successful property in the long term. Roy Thomas and Stan Lee rather stumbled into it after failing to get hold of Lin Carter's Thongor, but what they did with it was amazing. Tapping a novice Barry (Not-Yet-Windsor) Smith to draw was a decision that might've killed the project (probably should have), but they lucked out in that Smith became utterly awesome growing in real time before our eyes issue to issue and month by month. By the time the big gun John Buscema stepped in with gusto, Conan was a powerhouse and would only become more so.

But the energy drained from the series over the long years (especially after Roy left) and it was frankly a good thing for Conan and Kull and the gang when they got over to Dark Horse. Mike Richardson's group really charged up the character again with writers like Kurt Busiek giving us new renditions of classic tales and up and coming artists like Cary Nord bringing a vitality to the character which had been missing for some time. But now that era seems to be over and I can't say I'm really sad. Marvel has the character back, now let's see what they do with it. Maybe he'll join the Avengers, or team up with Chewbacca or do an adventure with Scrooge McDuck! After Groo all things are possible.

Rip Off