#A while ago i was saying that a local comic writer was too popular

[themenyearnforchickensoup]

The problem with me is that I stay with the most underground media consumption friends, so I am sort-of a "guy that is brainrotten so now he thinks umineko is a normie game".

[meepmorpperaltiago]

Stranger Things future headcanons

My Stranger Things hyperfixation is Strong rn so I’ve slowly been piling up all my future headcanons into this way-too-long monstrosity ✌️

– Hopper and Joyce get married in 1987 and basically live happily ever after

– They get together pretty much as soon as they’re reunited – as the cabin has been destroyed beyond repair and Joyce wants to move back to Hawkins, Hopper and El end up staying at their new house in what’s supposed to be a temporary arrangement but becomes permanent pretty fast

– Hopper struggles a lot post Russia but with the support of Joyce and the kids he gets through it

– Murray is his best man

– El waits a year to go to college and then moves in with Mike when she’s in her second year and he’s in his third. They don’t go to the same college but they get a place close enough that they can both commute to their respective campuses

– They also get a cat named Leia and both get jobs to earn a bit of extra money considering they’re still students – El works at a local library and Mike works in a coffee shop

– Max and El are roommates in their first year of college (Max took a gap year) and Max moves into the apartment opposite Mike and El’s

– Lucas and Max are basically the Ross and Rachel to Mike and El’s Chandler and Monica, they have constant on again off again drama for years until they finally get together and stay together when they’re a little older

– Will goes to art college in New York, while Dustin also goes further afield to study communications, but they keep in touch with the others as much as they can

– Having already had their first concert experiences back in ‘87 with Madonna’s Who’s That Girl Tour, El and Max go to the Blonde Ambition tour together and have the best time

– The gang also all go and see Nirvana together because the image of them all huddled together jumping up and down to Smells Like Teen Spirit is too precious

– Mike proposes to El on a quiet Sunday morning in their apartment – he makes her Eggos on a special plate that says “marry me?” on it

– They find out there’s a clearing in Mirkwood that’s become popular for weddings and they have their ceremony there, on the 7th November 1994, 11 years after they first met. Literally everyone sobs.

– Once she graduates El continues working at the library while she works to get a master’s degree to become a therapist. In the year following whatever’s going to happen in season 4, with the help of Doctor Owens she started going to therapy and it helped her so much that she eventually realised she wanted to help people that way – and with a heck of a lot of hard work, she succeeds!

– Mike studies literature and eventually becomes a high school English teacher, with an ambition to become a writer someday. He stays that way for 6 years, until him and El start having kids and he decides to become a stay at home dad, especially because El earns more than he does so financially it makes more sense for him to take time out of work, plus he really wants to be a more active dad than his own father. While he’s at home with the kids, he writes his first full fantasy novel, which eventually becomes a massive success and allows him to fully launch his writing career in the way that he always wanted.

– Mike and El have 3 kids – Lily (b. 1998), Ryan (b. 2000) and Emma (b. 2004). All 3 kids inherit El’s powers and they work incredibly hard to make sure that a. The kids are raised to keep it concealed and that b. They never experience the pain and fear that El suffered.

– Nancy and Jonathan become a highly success journalist – photojournalist team, eventually getting married and having 2 kids after a few years of travelling the world, Jason (b. 1997) and Clare (b. 2001)

– Steve and Robin remain lifelong friends – they end up working together when they’re older, because he eventually becomes a gym teacher and she becomes a language teacher

– Because I’m basically projecting Ross and Rachel onto them, while they’re on again and off again Max and Lucas end up with an unintended pregnancy, which Max discovers at Mike and El’s wedding – their son Ethan is born in 1995 and they’re great co parents even before they properly get back together

– While Lucas becomes an aerospace engineer, Max becomes a skateboarding instructor and eventually starts her own skate school

– They finally get together permanently in 1999 and never look back, eventually getting married in 2002 and having a second child, Marcus, a year later

– Will comes out to everyone at the end of his first year – he becomes a comic book illustrator and ends up with a comic book writer named Chris Cole. They get a civil union in 2000 and then get married as soon as they can and they adopt twin babies named Matt and Emily in 2005

– Dustin does something techy with computers for a while but him and his wife Demi get a farm out of nowhere (I just love the idea of Dustin’s life taking a completely random direction and everyone being shocked ok) – they say that their animals are like their children

– In 2007 at a party reunion Lily, Marcus, Ryan and Emma put on a truly epic performance of the first two high school musical soundtracks, with Ethan, Matt, Emily and all the adults as their audience

– The party eventually get a group chat that they post in constantly

– Once a year they also all get back together in person specifically to play a big game of D & D (they do it over zoom in 2020 and are planning to do the same this year)

– Leia passes away in 2006 and a year later the Wheelers get a labradoodle named Chewie

– Max and El get a podcast together. I don’t know what the heck they talk about, but they have a podcast. Their children are highly embarrassed by this but they don’t care at all.

– When El first moved out to go to college just over 30 years ago, she promised to phone Hopper every Sunday – they call each other every Sunday afternoon to this day and when lockdown started it became a FaceTime with the whole family.

[popculturebuffet]

The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck: The Last of the Clan McDuck!  Review “It Was Worth THE Dime”

This is one of my faviorite comic book stories of all time. Given i’m a massive comics nerd, for both books and strips, that is the highest praise I can give this wonderful, epic, beautifully drawn and deeply emotoinal story. I first discovered it in the local library that had the second volume, and found the rest online at a now long dead fan site. And while it took me longer than I care to admit to really dig into Duck Comics, and even now i’ve only scratched the surface, I can say without a doubt this story is the reason I’m so deeply attached to Scrooge as a character, and that I was excited as  I was for Ducktales 2017. This comic showed me just what Scrooge McDuck should be at his core as a character, and showed me what a wonderful character that is. So with all that glowing praise as you can guess i’ve been wanting to cover this for years, and even considered though back when I was more primarily a comic book reviewer last year. Any time i’ve reviewed stuff before now, i’ve considered it, and with Scrooge’s Sisters Hortense and Matilda presumably and definitely debuting on Ducktales soon, and it’s about damn time, the timing could not be better or clearer to dig into this utter triumph.  But before we can take a look at the story itself we naturally have to take a look at the man behind it: Writer and Artist Don Rosa. Don Rosa is easily one of the best Duck Comics writer out there, seen by many as only second to his own faviorite duck comics writer and God of Ducks, Carl Barks. For those 1 of you who do not know, Barks was the man who created pretty much everything in the duck universe comics wise and a bit in animation too: He created Daisy, Scrooge, Gladstone, Magica, The Beagle Boys, The Junior Woodchucks, Gyro, Little Bulb, Glomgold, Rockerduck, and the list goes on. While he didn’t make EVERY duck, he made so many that it’d be impossible to imagine either version of Ducktales being possible without him.  So of course Rosa was a fan and while he took up the family buisness, he was also an artist and duck comics fanboy on the side. So when, even if it meant a paycut, the opportunity to actually write and draw them came up, he lept at it and thus became one of their publishers go to guys, even if said publisher published the stories overseas where the Duck Comics are far more popular and still going to this day, and ironically where most duck comics printed nowadays get their stories from. Rosa was known for his meticous historical research and gorgeous art that he took his time drawing to get just perfect and showed on the page. The man has easily some of hte best and most detailed duck art around and I still haven’t found a duck artist that can match him.. and if you have or found one close i’d genuinely love to see that. He is a genuinely talented, spirited guy who was sadly mistreated by disney and that, coupled with tragically failing eyesight, eventually ended his career. He’s still around and I genuinely hope to meet him some day as he still does conventions.  The man is not without fault: I don’t get his hatred of superhero comics, as while I get them overshadowing funnybooks and that around the time of his career they were in decline, but it’s just as unfair to write off Superhero comics as mindless.  garbage as it is for people to write off the Duck Comics as “only for kids” and I genuinely wish he’d see that and see how the medium has evolved so much since then. I also grumble a bit as his refusal to allow anything besides barks into his bubble, and having to be forced to include fethry on the family tree, but that’s more personal preference. I like using as much material as you got. IT’s why i’ve wanted to, and hopefully will eventually get around to, write a sonic fanfic using bits of all the various universes that for legal, ken penders being an absolute waste of a human being, and sega being stupid reasons can’t be used anymore. I like taking everything in a franchise and putting it in a blender and it’s why I love the reboot. But there’s nothing wrong with taking things as is, not stepping on toes canon wise, but still being awesome. We’re just diffrent people and that’s okay.  And a lot of his fanboy showing actually lead to REALLY good things: Goldie O’Gilt was a one off character, and while used ocasoinally overseas, didn’t really pick up as a character again until a combination of Ducktales 87 and Rosa’s work with her, as he always loved the character, and fleshing her out lead to her being used more, and gaining a sizeable fandom. He also gained the Cablleros an even bigger fandom by giving them two stories of their own, and fleshing them out a bit more.  And this very comic is the peak of that, taking EVERY mention of scrooge’s past from various backstories to set up adventures, every tiny scrap, and to his credit going to both Barks Himself and various other Barks Experts Rosa was friends with to check his work, especially difficult given he likey had to find these stories in issue or pullt hem from disney archives, and complied it into one long epic that not only uses all this info effortlessly, but spins a compelling story that gives us a clear vision of what Scrooge should be, how he became the man he is, and how he lost himself only to find himself again with the help of three precocious boys and a cynical 30 something duck. So taint all bad is what i’m saying.  As for how this got started, thankfully rosa himself provided the origin story for this project in the back of the volume of his works that contained the first 7 chapters of life and times, as well as detailed notes for every chapter. At the time Rosa was working for Egmont, the big european publisher who handles Disney’s much larger european comics market, hence why most of his stories appeared years earlier in Europe before debuting here. The american publisher at the time , and an old friend of his, called Rosa with an idea: A 12 issue Maxi-Series focusing on Scrooge’s history, since at the time they were all the rage.. and really even today mini series are still a viable market and many indie titles just have several minis instead of an ongoing. So it wasn’t a bad idea, Rosa just simply offered a tweak: He’d tell his publisher at Egmont about the idea, and let her get a crack team of writers and artists to do this proper, and thus Disney could publish it for free once it was done and for no extra cost. Rosa gave his publisher a fax detaling both the idea and the fact that it needed to be done right, given to the best person possible, and done with the greatest care. She agreed.. and naturally handed it to him, as he admits he hoped. She made the right call, a legend was born and here we are.  One last bit before the read more and before I get to the first story itself at last: Since barks wrote a lot of side stories that fit into the canon, I COULD slot them in between chapters, but have instead chosen to review the original 12 part story as was, and do the various side stories and two epilogues, the utterly fantastic “Dream of a Life Time”, easiliy one of my faviorite comics ever, and the also really great “Letter From Home”, which will likely on some level be the basis for the upcoming at the time of this review “Battle for Castle McDuck!”, after completing the story. In other words i’m probably going to be at this for years. so join me under the read more won’t you as I begin the journey of a thousand miles with a single step as we look at the humble start of a legend. 

We begin, after a fun short teaser with present Day scrooge saying his past is no one’s buisness only to get hit with an oh yeah?,  with a scrap book title for the issue, something I want to bring up since while I got that’s what it was what I never got, and  must’ve glanced over when I first read rosa’s notes when I got this copy, was that it isn’t SCROOGE’S scrap book, but his sister Matilda’s who dutifully and happily catologued her brother’s adventures. It’s a really sweet moment.. and something that will hit VERY hard when we reach Chapter 11. If you haven’t read this story or heard of it.. .that’s this story’s equilvent of “Last Crash of the Sunchaser” and clearly Frank and Matt drew from that story a bit for it, but we can get more into the parallels when we get there. A smaller but fun note is that Rosa had specific coin drawing templates, for different indentions and what not he used, and used them for the coins in these intro bits. Yes he admitted he has a problem and yes that’s damn impressive anyway. 

It’s Scrooge’s 10th birthday, and his father Fergus has taken him up to see the family land, Dismal Downs to tell him of the mighty Clan McDuck and show him the ancestral lands, graveyards and Castle. He admits to having taken this long because the Clan McDuck currently lives in Glasgow so it’s kind of a long trip just to show your son “Hey look at the decay and rot that’s our ancestral homeland”. The Clan is on hard times, as a bad shipping deal, the backbone of a rather good barks story and I wont’ be interjecting for every barks reference as it’d get rather tiring though for what it’s worth Rosa provided tons of detailed footnotes in the back of each Fantagraphics collection, so good on him. Speaking of which though they do include 10 pages of Mc Duck family history that was supposed to open this story.. until Rosa’s editor wisely pointed out the story isn’t about them but scrooge and having read his roug draft, yeah.. there’s a good gag here and there, as well as “Dirty” Dingus McDuck, scrooge’s Grandpa and the reason Dewey is cursed with that middle name. Why anyone thought Dingus was a good name is beyond me, nor why Donald thought that was a good middle name back in 2009 is again, beyond me. Good on Don though for getting that past the censors.  But yeah with no money they can’t buy the land back and they were scared off it years ago by a mystical ghost dog, the hound of the whiskervilles. There is treasure in the castle, Sir Quackly’s gold, but he accidently sealed himself into a wall while sealing his treasure in there. Their interrupted by the town assholes, the Whiskervilles who have been grazing sheep on the land and are naturally behind the hound, using the sound of it to scare off Fergus once they realize he’s a McDuck. Because apparently you can keep a Scooby Doo style hoax up for Centuries if you don’t have meddling kids around. Who knew.  Back in Glasgow, we meet the rest of Scrooge’s family: His Uncle Jake, his sisters Matilda and Hortense, and his mother Downy. Jake hasn’t really been mentioned at all in Ducktales and I know next to nothing about him, which given I share a name with the guy you’d THINK I would. I mean I know a decent amount about this Jake. 

But nothing about who the hell Jake McDuck is or why he lives with his brother and his family. Here, you guys watch the dancing Jake, i’m going to probably do that for hours after this review is done, i’m going to go sort this out.  Okay one google and finding the Scrooge Mcduck wiki page on him, Jake shows up here likely because he was referenced in the story “A Christmas For Shacktown” and apparently borrowed from Scrooge and never paid it back. Otherwise.. there’s not a lot about him and unlike the rest of Scrooge’s family he really dosen’t do much that I can remember. Except like 2017 Scrooge, he apparently has become extremely long lived, as Scrooge and Donald STILL think he’s alive in the 1950′s.. and likely is STILL alive in some form in the Don Rosa stories, given his take place after Barks and thus in the 40′s and 50′s where Barks stories were set. Hence why unlike the Reboot, Scrooge isn’t inexpecilbly over 210. But Jake McDuck sure as heck is. Maybe this highlander is a highlander.. you know the movie and tv show type. Maybe someone cut off his head. That’s what i’m going with.

This does bring me to another point about this story: While Barks gave all of scrooge’s family their names, it’s where Rosa got them after all, it’s Rosa who really made them into characters. Fergus as a loving father ashamed his family legacy has fallen and wanting his son to do better than him, Downy as an equally loving wife and mother, Matilda as his sweet and caring sister and later her brother’s moral center, and Hortense.. well here she’s just a babbling baby but her character will become clear and glorious as we go. She is adorable here though and we do get some great bits with her.  Getting back to the plot now i’ve made my points, Jake is riled up wanting to understandably kick the Whiskerville’s asses with Scrooge, who even as a sweet innocent ten year old still has the family temper already, agreeing.. but Downy gently shoots them out pointing that two middle aged-ish men and a 10-year old just aren’t enough to fight an army of them and while she doesn’t mention it the fight would just tire them out for work and accomplish nothing as while it is the McDuck’s land the combination of the hound and the lack of money to move back means it’s pointless. She also mentions their younger brother Pothole, who went to America. This will be important later. 

Scrooge storms off and Fergus laments, in a scene that’s more painful the more I think about it, how his clan has fallen, with he and his brother lamenting their chances at glory are long gone.. but Fergus has hope his son can do better, and for his son’s birthday makes him a shoeshine kit in the hopes of inspiring him to greatness. This scene still resonates since many of us are poor, struggling and not doing so good money wise. I’m sure many parents have doubts and regrets about not being able to do more for their kid.

 Not only that but the story carefully avoids the trap of Fergus accidently being abusive by you know, pinning his family’s future on one 10 year old. While yes he is asking a lot of Scrooge, to restore their family name.. it’s very clear he mostly just wants his son to do better than him. Even if Scrooge was just slightly more successful, Fergus would likely be happy with that. He’s not using the legacy as a “This what you must be” like say the Gems in steven universe did for Steven with Rose’s Legacy, the kind where it sort of suffocates you till youc an make it your own. He’s just saying “this is what you can be” He believes his child can be great and simply once him to reach his full potetial and is simply giving him a means to hopefully do so, a simple home made shoe shine kit. While Jake scoffs, the narration notes the idea isn’t worth a dime.. it’s worth THE dime. The dime that would set Scrooge’s destiny in motion. 

The next morning, Fergus goes to check up on his son and his new buisness but Scroogey’s having no luck and about ready to just quit, the poor child. Also Matilda is dragging her baby sister around like a doll and it’s entirely precious as it is funny. 

But as for those Dorty Boots, Matilda wonders why her dad dosen’t just tell Scrooge that Burt the Ditch Digger is coming. Fergus tells her to quite and then explains his plan: he’s sending Burt to scrooge, with an American dime Fergus and Matilda found, to teach his son a lesson: By giving him a hard days work, he’ll teach him what hard work truly means.. and by having Burt “cheat” him with the American dime, it’ll give him the motivation to keep going and to nto be as wide eyed and trusting. It’s a well meaning if harsh lesson, and the kind you’d expect from 1900′s parenting and fits the origin well: Scrooge still earned his first money square, as he still did work.. but his getting cheated being a lesson dosen’t diminish what it taught scrooge, and helps flesh out what I talked about above, Fergus knowing his son has great potential he just needs inspiration to reach it. And instead of just telling him that he does a con job but it’s the 1900′s. This orign, and Fergus’ part in it would be entirely untouched in Ducktales 2017, the first scrooge based adaptation since this comic came out, and I bless them for it. Frank even said this comic was used as a bible by the writers and while theirs clear deviations, and we’ll get to that, they were mainly done for good reason, and it’s very clear that while scrooge’s history is very VERY diffrent in the reboot, the core of his past is still there. 

So the plan is on and young scrooge spends half an hour killing himself to get Burt’s shoes clean before getting his dime.. and realizing he’s been had, makes this proud decleration that will be the bedrock of his entire life and character. 

Scrooge being naturally stubborn as you can see takes his cheats a leson: There will always be hard honest work, and he will be there to do it and he’ll be tougher and sharper than anyone trying to cheat him out of his pay. Fergus’ plan has the intended effect, and Scrooge having learned a hard lesson now has the drive and determination we know him for. As for why it gives it to him.. I had to think on it a bit but it makes sense: For some a setback like this would make them quit.. for Scrooge it’s just proof he CAN find customers, he CAN do this job, or any at his hardest and instead takes this as a lesson to be prepared ot out think and outfight anyone who dares cheat him again, and to not earn his money by being the kind of guy who cheats a kid out of an honest days pay, but as a good honest duck like his father and his father before him. =He will make his money square so he can be the kind of person this seeming stranger SHOULD have been. Granted we’ll see Scrooge doesn’t end up as the best person at times but .. we’ll get there.  So with the fire inside turned from a spark into the flame Scrooge soon got to work, and by the next panel we see he’s eventually worked his stand up from a small box given to him by his dad, to a three seater shoeshining bench, who he wipes all at once by stretching one of his mother’s girldes over a light pole, a detail I didn’t get the first time around but now love. Naturally being a good kind boy much like his Nephews, Scrooge always gave his proud father a portion of his earnings, if with a full receipt for tax purposes. Because he’s still scrooge after all. His dad wonders he did too good a job while Hortense glxbit’s in agreement. 

As the years go on, a now tween Scrooge is eventually able to save up for a horse cart, and starts selling Fire Wood up in the city. He eventually realizes Peat, an earthy subtance found in bogs I only know about because I had to look it up for this review, is more profitable and with some snappy marketing moves into selling Peat for the rich instead, also showing the young lad already has a grasp of how to sell to obnoxious rich people. 

But while his business is booming, our young hero can’t resist visiting his family’s ancestral home and longing for it, hoping one day to have it for himself and in a nice show of how despite his temper and tenacity forged over the last few years he’s still at hear the kind, sweet optimistic lad he was just a few pages ago, he decides to tidy up the Clan’s Cemetary while he’s here. 

Unfortunately as proof that Donald and Della’s terrible luck comes from both sides of the family the Whiskervilles are sub-glomgold levels of human beings.. or Dogfaces in this case, and are digging up the McDuck Clan’s graves to hunt for treasure. Scrooge tries to simply do the smart thing and flee, but the asshole brigade catch sight of him and mistkaing him for a peat burgalar chase after him.. and spend WAY too much time and energy chasing a teenage boy over some fucking bog grass you clearly aren’t selling yourselves. I mean spare a thought for how dumb this is: They could easily sell of of that peat to put up a fence or chop down some trees to get the material if their really that concerned about someone getting in the bog. Then again this isn the 1800 and 1900′s where the child death toll was simply “Yes”, so they likely thought whose gonna notice one more dead child on our property?

Scrooge heads toward the castle and is gestured in by a friendly mystery duck who gladly shows him around and can tell he’s a McDuck just by look, showing the castle is still in glorious condition as the whiskervilles are too spooked to go in, hence why they didn’t chase Scrooge inside. I’d say being afraid of ghosts but not murdering a child is weird but these are the same guys who thought murdering a child was plan A. We’re not dealing with a brain trust is what i’m saying.  So the mystery duck shows Scroogey around, showing off some colorful stories about his ancestors recycled from that scrapped prologue I mentioned. THe mystery man, who brushes off Scrooge thinking he’s a McDuck asks Scrooge what he’s doing to restore the family glory and while Scrooge points out he’s already working on it, Mystery Duck points out he’s still missing something: He has the drive and the dream, but peat and shoeshining, while getting him good money for his family, aren’t the thing you can build a fortune or a future off of. He then points out where Scrooge’s dime comes from: America.. and that gives the boy the idea to head to the states. As for what he could possibly DO there to start, the mystery guy mentions his uncle pothole. So Scrooge has the dream, the drive.. and now a plan: Go to america, work for his uncle on the riverboats, and work his way up from there till he finds his fortune and restores his family name.  But while his future is settled, the present is still an issue and Scrooge wants to teach the child murder club a lesson and thus borrows, though MM wisely points out it’s all his property a horse and some armor, and stuffs the armor with peat. As for what his plan is.. welllll

That.. is fucking awesome. And far from the last fucking awesome moment in this thing. It also shows off even as not quite a teen yet, Scrooge is still a badass already, and while he doesn’t have his trademark strength or fighting skills quite yet, his ingenuity is already there.. and that will always trump both. The Whiskervilles run away and into some quicksand and Scrooge vows to return one day as laird and reclaim his family land. But that’s a story for a few chapters down the line. As for who the mystery duck is, he’s naturally Sir Quackely himself, or rather his ghost, who was simply guiding Scrooge and didn’t give him the treasure as simply handing him the money wouldnn’t restore their family’s good name or continue their bloodline now would it? 

For now Scrooge returns to work for a bit before finding his way to America: A cattleboat to New Orleans looking for a Cabin Boy. And so Scrooge bids farewell to his family. His Dad, feeling bad he can’t even give his boy shilling, gives him the family pocketwatch with jake pitching in with the family gold dentures. While Scrooge naturally refuses to sell the watch, he does plan to sell the teeth as soon as possible for good reason. We then get some sweet goodbyes with him, his sisters (With hortense uttering her first words to everyone’s astonishment) and loving mother as he wonders just what awaits him in America. 

And there he stands on the bow of a ship, heading for a new land, in New Orleans he can be a new man. And we’ll see just what kind of man he becomes as this series continues. For now this is the end of a chapter but the beginning of a lifetime. 

Final Thoughts on Last of the Clan McDuck:

This story is excellent. While there are even better chapters to come, this one is still one of the most memorable and most joyous, showing just how Scrooge became what he is, where some of his values come from, others will be instilled along the way , and beginning to flesh out his family. We see Scrooge’s love of wealth comes from starting from the bottom, growing up with a family that barely had anything and badly needed everything, but was loving and instilled fine morals in him. We also see a Scrooge far removed from the bitter old man he is in present day, an optimistic naïve young lad who only wants best for his family. It’s a nice stark contrast to who he’ll become, good and bad, and a nice way to both compare him to Huey Dewey and Louie and break your heart as his own hardens before briefly turning black later on.  The art, as is standard for this series and Rosa, is breathtaking, and the story isn’t lacking in good jokes, their just downplayed so the story itself can take center stage. There’s nothing really more to say: it’s an excellent start to an even more excellent tale and stands proud among an already stellar story as one of it’s finest outings. 

NEXT RAINBOW: Scrooge goes down to the mighty Missipi to work on the riverboats and meets one of his signature Rogue’s for the first time in their first form, as well as Gyro’s dad.. or grandpa.. or possibly both I don’t know his family tree. Point is, tune in next time for some riverboat hyjinks.  Until then if you’d like to comission an episode of any animated show, especially ducktales and the various other duck related disney shows, or another Duck Comics story you really like from Rosa, Barks or whoever you want really, I take commissions for 5 dollars a review, with 5 dollars off your full order when you put in for more than one episode or issue. You can also follow me on patreon.com/popculturebuffet and for just two bucks a month get access to polls (which i’ll start once we have at least three patreons), and my exclusive discord server. And if you liked this review be sure to reblog it to show off. My self promotion done until next time: There’s always another rainbow. 

[ri-translates]

Translation: Itaru Chigasaki SSR [Fully Enjoying Nostalgia Park] - GAMER in NY Part 2

Itaru brings the Spring Troupe to a hobby shop and encounters the figures he’s always wanted!

NOTE: Italicized text indicates spoken English.

Part 1 || Part 3

Citron: Ohh! There’s lots of figures and merch!

Sakuya: Wooow, it’s amazing….!

Tsuzuru: He didn’t betray our expectations…

Masumi: Is this a hobby shop mainly for American comics?

Itaru: Yep. It’s a famous shop that overseas fans gather at, and I heard that even movie directors, writers, and artists come here often too.

I knew about this place a long time ago, so I thought I’d try coming here at least once if given the opportunity.

Izumi: I see…..

Chikage: It’s as if the store was made just for Chigasaki.

Sakuya: Ahh! I’ve seen this figure in a movie before!

Tsuzuru: Wow, this brings back memories. It’s an anime character who was on TV a long time ago.

Citron: I love this character! I read this comic even when I was in Zahra!

Izumi: (Everyone keeps talking about this or that. They look really excited.)

Itaru: Senpai, it’s your turn.

Chikage: Don’t just take out my wallet instantly.

Itaru: I was the resident ATM earlier, so it’s your turn next, Senpai.

Izumi: Ah, I know this character.

Itaru: Oh, that’s nostalgic. It’s from way back when the magical girl boom happened.

Izumi: When I was an elementary school kid, I bought themed pencils and notebooks. Looking at it now, it’s still really cute, huh.

Itaru: When you look at these things after becoming an adult, they get a different kind of charm to them too.

Izumi: Ah! There’s a mini figure of it over here. How cute….

What should I do? Since we came all the way here to America, maybe I’ll buy it for the memories….

Itaru: If you like it, then you should buy it.

Izumi: I’m different from you, I’m not the type to recklessly spend money, Itaru-san.

Itaru: Oh reaaally.

Izumi: Hmm….I’ll think about it for a while longer for now….Aren’t you going to buy something, Itaru-san?

Itaru: I also thought I’d buy something to commemorate coming to this store, but I’m still lost on what to get.

Shop Owner: “Welcome. Are you guys Japanese?”

Itaru: “Yes, that’s right.”

Shop Owner: “We also carry rare Japanese figures in the corner over there. Why don’t you go take a look?”

Itaru: Oh, so they’ve got rare Japanese figures, huh. Let’s go check it out.

~~~

Citron: Ohh! It’s over-freezing with treasure! [1]

Tsuzuru: You mean, “overflowing with treasure.”

Masumi: ….I feel like I’ve seen the things around this character somewhere in Japan.

Itaru: Wow, they’ve even got this here.

Ah. This is The Soaring Blue Bullet Amagami Roger.

Izumi: Soaring Blue Bullet Amagami Roger?

Itaru: A character who appears in my favorite fighting game. 

 ーー! Woah, woah, for real?

Chikage: What’s the matter?

Itaru: It’s a figure of The Jet Black Flame Swordsman the Kuudo…..!

Sakuya: Does this character come from the same game as Roger?

Itaru: Yep. He’s a character I main eternally. Even though he appeared once in the series, he’s a legendary being boasting considerable popularity.

If you actually play the game, he’s got a few quirks that aren’t very user friendly unless you’ve done some playthroughs to master using him. If you get good at using him, you can’t go back to playing any other character.

And then there’s this figure here, said to be a myth. It was marketed due to his popularity, and is quite rare since they produced a limited number of them….!

It’s a masterpiece I couldn’t get ahold of either because I lost in the cutthroat pre-order war….

Citron: Ohh, the rapid-fire rant known to nerds.

Shop Owner: “Ha ha ha, I don’t know Japanese, but somehow I get the feeling I knew what you were saying!”

Itaru: I didn’t think I’d encounter this here….I want it, no matter what…..

Chikage: Then you should buy it. Isn’t that the reason why you work?

Itaru: That’s true….It’s a rare object, and at a pretty good price too.

Tsuzuru: Umm, if you convert it to Japanese YenーーNo, wait, that figure isn’t cheap at all!

Masumi: What a rip-off.

Itaru: Mmm, but I want Roger more.

Izumi: If you had to pick one, which one do you want more?

Itaru: Definitely my main, the Kuudo.

Masumi: Then get that one.

Itaru: But I want Roger, too.

Citron: He’s so greasy… [2]

Tsuzuru: I think you meant, “greedy.”

Shop Owner: “Hahaha….Hey! Lucky boy! I’ve got pretty good news for you!”

“Actually, this shop holds a huge game tournament once every six months, and it’s opening today.”

“If you win there, you can receive any one product you’d like.”

“That figure’s included, of course.”

Chikage: ーーOr so it seems, so what’ll you do? Well, I suppose I didn’t need to ask.

Itaru: Of course I’m gonna join.

TL Notes and Comments:

[1] Citron says  ゾックゾク which can mean thrilling, shuddering, terrifying, or shivering from cold. Tsuzuru corrects him with  ざっくざく , which means “having lots of coins and jewels.” Hence. “over-freezing” -> “overflowing with treasure.”

[2] Citron says  ごーろくだよ which, translated literally is “5, 6.″ Tsuzuru’s correction is  強欲 (ごうよく), meaning “greedy.” Because they sound similar, I went with botching “greedy.” And yes, Itaru IS greasy LOL

Once again, a HUGE shout and thank you to Nui for sharing Itaru’s stories with me! And thank you to Mae for putting up with my Real Tsun Hours™ over this dork. ITARU KNOWING ENGLISH...I’M STILL NOT OVER THIS.

Sorry for the delays in posting! I-Chu Etoile Stage dropped and I’ve been rubbing my dirty hands all over to translate for my boys then school started again ;; Expect to see them on here too LOL

As always, I’m not a professional translator or localization pro so please take my translations with a grain of salt! If you spot any mistakes or translation errors, don’t hesitate to let me know! Thanks for reading!! Part 3 will be up shortly! 

Part 1 || Part 3

[mobius-prime]

285. Sonic Universe #12

Knuckles: The Return (Part 4 of 4): Echoes of the Past (Part Four)

Writer: Ian Flynn Pencils: Tracy Yardley! Colors: Jason Jensen

Things are certainly dire, as both teams of heroes (minus Julie-Su and Ray, still up on Angel Island) have been captured by Finitevus and the local Dark Egg Legion chapter. Finitevus gloats about how well his plan has gone, that he found the Legion when he was investigating the very same ruins that had Knuckles so confused, and from there orchestrated an alliance between himself and them, so they could capture Angel Island for Eggman/the Iron Queen's regime and Finitevus could study the Master Emerald at his leisure. After monologuing a bit at the furious Knuckles, he takes his leave to go oversee Angel Island being reeled back into the Great Crater, something which… really should be more stunning to everyone involved, if you ask me. I mean, literally the past several centuries of echidna history have been irrevocably shaped by exactly this concept, returning the island to the planet's surface. Dimitri did his whole godhood insanity thing entirely because people didn't agree with his plan to set this in motion, and perhaps even more importantly, his plan was shown to have failed in an alternate timeline, causing the island to crash into the earth and kill everyone on it. Apparently, this entire time they shoulda just been using regular ol' chains to do the job! Imagine after so many hundreds of years of this being an issue, Finitevus really did just accomplish the task with some random chains. But anyway, Finitevus leaves the prisoners to the overwatch of Bill, who so far hasn't said a word during Finitevus' speech despite his former friends being among the imprisoned.

Oh no! Whatever horrible tortures are about to befall our heroes? The torture of having their shackles fall off harmlessly, as it turns out. Yeah, of course Bill didn't just turn evil for no reason! Though he does appear to have some beef with Vector, remarking angrily that he'd have preferred if Vector stayed chained up. Man, what in the world did Vector do in the past that pissed off so many people? Barby demands an explanation, with her dialogue vaguely hinting that she and Bill were possibly involved romantically, so Bill explains that several months ago when Eggman began pushing in this region, the other platypuses decided they wanted a little taste of that power and began demanding to join up. Bill couldn't talk them down, so instead, he went to Eggman and voluntarily joined his cause, becoming outfitted with cybernetics along with the other platypuses, hoping to manage the situation from within. Apparently he never found a chance to tell his former teammates that he wasn't actually evil after all, but he's been doing his best to mismanage the campaign in Downunda without seeming too suspicious. Everyone is pleased and relieved, and he urges them to quickly make their escape so he can play it off as having been overpowered while separated from his backup. Thrash happily obliges, and reveals his own special power - yelling so loudly that it can break down doors. The fight against the Legion in the crater quickly commences, but Walt encourages Knuckles to head back to his island while they carry on the fight here on the ground. Vector can't see a way to get back up without their warp ring, but Mighty apparently has an idea of his own.

I just need everyone here to remember that according to canon measurements, this island floats forty-three miles (69 km) in the sky. Yes, I realize that's only the case because Penders didn't create his units of measurements with sanity in mind. No, that does not mean I'm ever letting this fact go. It's also worth noting that this entire arc portrays the crater as not looking much bigger than like, a mile across at the most, but the island is forty-seven miles (75 km) across at its narrowest. I mean, we already knew that no one pays attention to matters of scale in these comics, but still, I notice, and it bugs me to no end. Consistency, people!

Anyway, Mighty tosses Knuckles alllll the way up to the island, as the fight continues to rage on the ground, and he hops up over the edge just as Finitevus is about to put his grubby hands on the Master Emerald. No sign of Julie-Su or Ray anywhere, huh? Knuckles is immediately ready for a fight, but Finitevus tries to talk him down, actually apologizing for forcing him into the role of Enerjak before. Knuckles still isn't buying it, but then Finitevus hits him with the bug guns - Dimitri actually wasn't the first Enerjak. Finitevus claims to know everything about the echidnas' history, the fact that Enerjak goes back much further in their history, the true history of Albion, the origins of the mysterious ruins in the desert, even some secret about Aurora and how she may not even be a real goddess. Knuckles is clearly torn for a split second, because damn are those some juicy-sounding secrets, but he's shaken back to reality when Finitevus tries to pull the "We're two of a kind, you and I" trick and promises, if he joins him, to give him "anything he wants." And what does Knuckles want?

Finitevus is not amused by Knuckles' defiance, and turns the fight around on him while mocking his childish desires. Hilariously, he actually does the cool-guy thing of catching Knuckles' punch in his own hand, which seems badass until you realize we're talking about the guy with spikes on his fists. I can only assume Ian forgot this little detail, or else the rest of this issue would just be Finitevus yelling in agony at the two brand-new holes that had been punched into the palm of his hand. Knuckles powers up with the energy of the nearby Master Emerald, while Finitevus summons his… I dunno, dark black evil-guy energy or whatever, and they go head to head, Knuckles reciting Tikal's prayer for strength, while Finitevus puts a new twist on the same chant.

I actually don't get Ian's fascination with Tikal's prayer at all. It's always recited verbatim from the version of it in Sonic Adventure, but personally, I always felt like it was strangely translated in that game, not really making a ton of grammatical sense, or any real sense at all, really. I mean, the chant was originally just supposed to describe the relationship between the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds, but that's not relevant at all in this universe given the vastly different origins of both - the Master Emerald in the comics isn't a direct counter to the Chaos Emeralds like in the games, but one giant Chaos Emerald itself. I dunno, maybe this is just a nitpick, but it still confuses me.

Finitevus is impressed by Knuckles' display of raw power, but decides to end the fight quickly, and pulls out one of his warp rings, encircling it around Knuckles midsection and happily threatening to close it while Knuckles is still only halfway through. However, at that moment Julie-Su finally makes her entrance and shoots Finitevus in the shoulder, distracting him long enough for Knuckles to grab him and make good on his promise to throw him off his island. That doesn't seem like a proper solution to this threat at all, but eh, whatever, Knux is happy with it I guess. He, Julie-Su, and Ray all head back down to the crater, where the Downunda Freedom Fighters have finished running the Legion off for now, and say their goodbyes. Barby makes a remark that her father would have been proud of Vector, hinting at yet more unexplored history between him and the others, but he still refuses to explain further when Ray tries to pry. Thrash leaves through a warp ring of his own, making some odd comments about how it would be such a shame if the rest of the echidnas were to be wiped out - this guy really doesn't like echidnas for whatever reason - and with the threat settled, Knuckles and his friends finally head back onto Angel Island for some peaceful rest.

Yeah, gee Vector, I wonder why no one found a body? I mean, it's not like Finitevus has demonstrated that he can warp himself to safety mid-fall during literally the previous big battle against him or anything. Of course, he's safe and sound, and heads back to the crater once it's clear to watch the island's departure and muse to himself how his plans aren't through yet and he's ready to kill Knuckles when he next gets the chance - anything to put him closer to the Master Emerald. Let us know how your quest to off one of the comic's most popular characters goes, buddy!

[lovelytonys]

The Official Lovelytonys Guide to Iron Man Comics

Not to toot my own horn, but I’m about to save some lives. Buckle up.

Six months ago, I was asked for comic recs. I’m posting those recs today. Why so long? Because I couldn’t just make a rec list, no, I’m too extra for that. I had to go and make, to the best of my ability and knowledge, my own entire personal guide to Iron Man comics. I also have a tendency to start projects and not do them. But I did this one! And now I share it with you.

For your assistance, I’m going to link this Comic Book Herald article which is a full Iron Man reading order (LIFESAVER) and has links to amazon to buy the collections & arcs being talked about if you are so inclined.

You can find comics on amazon, ebay, the marvel website or Marvel Digital Comics Store (you can buy digital versions of comics), or just find a local comic shop and see what they have. You can easily find any comic you want free to read online, but the websites are a little shady. I’ll leave it to your discretion.

Disclaimer: Remember that these are all my personal opinions. Often, they will not line up with popular opinions. You might really like stuff that I didn’t care for. You might dislike my favorites. You might agree with my opinions. If any comic fans read this and are offended by any of my opinions, please don’t be!! Opinions on comics are SO subjective, just find out what you like and stick to it. I just figured I’d lend my own personal helping hand for you get started, because doing so can be intimidating.

WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, let’s begin under the cut! (If you are on mobile...I am so, so sorry about this)

Short version (the recommendation-y part)

Recs because I like them:

Iron Man Volume 3 (1998)- #1-25 (my actual absolute FAVORITE RUN of all time and my number one recommendation. It’s by Kurt Busiek, Roger Stern, and Sean Chen), #26-30, #62-63, #73-78. Iron Man Volume 4 (2005) #1-35.  Invincible Iron Man (2008) spanned many years so you should read at least some, and it has many fans, but I am not one of them, so I’m not gonna rec too much. Issues #1-6 and its epilogue, #7, are worth a read and the arc spanning #8-19 is probably the best from the era, I would say that I enjoyed that arc. Next is Brian Michael Bendis’ stuff, which has a pretty bad rep and while I don’t hate it as much as others do, I wouldn’t say I love it. It is, however, the most recent completed run & important stuff happens, and there’s some good stuff here and there, so yeah. I don’t really have any specific recs from here...just read the whole thing and see what you get out of it or scroll down to the guide section and see the highlights I picked out. Invincible Iron Man (2015) #1-25, and Invincible Iron Man (2016) #1-600 (they changed the numbering halfway through, it’s not 600 issues it’s only I think 19).

Recs because important stuff happens even if I don’t necessarily like them:

Civil War I (occurs during the Iron Man run starting in 2005), Civil War II (occurs during Brian Michael Bendis era), Iron Man (2012) #9-17 “The Secret Origin of Tony Stark.”

Long version (the guide-y part)

First off, I’m going to tell you that my suggested starting points are Invincible Iron Man (1998) which was my starting point, and Invincible Iron Man (2005). Much more on those below.

I haven’t read Mr. Stark’s classic adventures yet because there’s a daunting number of them and I still need to find a starting point, so we’re gonna start with...

Volume 3 (1998):

Okay I have SO MUCH to say here because I’d die for this volume!! It’s considered by many to be nothing special but there’s a lot to appreciate if you’re a fan of Tony in the way that many are here on tumblr- caring about character development & character moments first and foremost. I’ll break down my favorites for ya

#1- does a good job of setting the tone for Tony and this era of Invincible Iron Man. Some nice Tony character details are in there. Volume 3 is started with Kurt Busiek writing (later joined by Roger Stern) and Sean Chen on pencils. I LOVED this team, this is my FAVORITE run of Iron Man that I’ve read, PLEASE read all 25 issues. I thought Busiek understood Tony really well and I just loved the way Chen drew Tony (and everything else), and their first issue is surprisingly enjoyable for mostly existing to set the groundwork for a fresh start.

#4-5- I think this is where the run starts to kick into gear. Tony’s on-and-off girlfriend for the era, Rumiko, is introduced and she’s fun (but as the years went on, deserved much better writing). Tony kicks some butt & is a hero.

#6- an awesome Iron Man/Black Widow team up. It shows a really nice friendship between Tony & Nat. Also, Nat kicks butt & it’s great

I’m recommending every issue that builds Tony’s relationship with Carol Danvers (at this time, she was Warbird, not Captain Marvel). #7, #11-12, #18, #19, #21, and #23-25. Their storyline details Tony’s endeavors to help Carol overcome alcoholism. At least read the Carol parts of the issues she’s only in a few panels of. Major highlight of the Iron Man comics I’ve read. Also- knowing this background will definitely make Civil War II have more weight

#8-12- Tony gets the actual daylights beaten out of him and then some, leading into a compelling 2-issue Mandarin arc, this then leads into an interesting 2-issue team up with Warbird that gives us an answer as to why his injuries were so bad. It hurts but it’s good

#13- an actually really compelling single-issue story that involves some trippy, creepy mind control stuff and takes a look into Tony’s head- specifically questioning whether or not being Iron Man has become an addiction. You can’t tell yet but I’m trying my hardest to not recommend every single issue

#26-30- The Mask in the Iron Man arc. This is the first issue without Busiek writing- Joe Quesada steps in and it’s good stuff. It’s also Sean Chen’s last arc. It starts with Tony punching a guy in the face to protect Rumiko but getting punched back and having to wear a nose splint- it’s really cute. Then Tony and Ru run into relationship problems. Then the Iron Man armor becomes sentient, basically falls in love with Tony, and kidnaps him on a remote island. Wait-what? Yeah, it’s really weird in hindsight, but while you’re reading it, it sure does pull you in. One of the biggest standouts of the whole era and something of an instant classic. Also, the first few pages of #31 give you a little aftermath.

#37-40- this wasn’t my favorite arc but I’m recommending it just because of how wild it ends up being. These were the days when IIM wasn’t afraid to have a big imagination. And I mean big, like, who thought of this? Well, Frank Tieri is writing at this point (he’s okay, not my favorite of the volume), and Alitha Martinez & Paul Ryan are on pencils (it’s fine, but you’ll miss Sean Chen) (you’ll always miss Sean Chen). Also, a major player in this arc is Tiberius Stone so maybe read it to know who he is.

#50- “Tinman”. Issue 50 was meant to be a place for new readers to jump in. Mike Grell & Michael Ryan are at the reigns as writer and artist. Grell’s characterization was fairly solid, my favorite next to Busiek in this era. His version of Tony is more in touch with his emotions, I guess, than some like to characterize him. Sometimes he gets aggressive when he’s angry but there’s also a lot of really sweet moments and they portray him as doing a lot of good, like funding a rehab/safehouse for kids on the street. Grell’s stories are generally grittier and more violent but Tony himself doesn’t really take a dark turn. Issue #50 has both action and a VERY SOFT Tony, definitely recommend it

#53-55- “Book of the Ten Rings”. Again, it’s grittier than the stuff that came before it, but it’s good. Once the main story wraps up, something really important happens at the end. Also, it’s important to note here for people that weren’t previously into comics that at this point, Pepper and Happy are a thing, not Pepper and Tony as seen in the MCU

#59-61- “In Shining Armor”. Tony travels back to Medieval times and it’s not exactly a good time for him but it’s a wild time for us. Gotta love a good old fashioned time travel arc

#62-63- “You Can’t Always Get”. Oh god PLEASE read this one, if you only listen to one of my post-Busiek & Chen recs this is the one, the Tony content is so precious

#73-78- “The Best Defense”. The arc detailing Tony’s journey to becoming Secretary of Defense because yes, that happened. A very interesting concept to watch Tony go through and one of the most notable stories in this era.

Volume 4 (2005):

This is the last of what I consider the Really Good Stuff (except for Civil War, but we’ll get there). These comics defined Tony Stark as we know him today, and you’ll notice that MCU Tony was definitely influenced by them. If you’re starting here, it’ll be Iron Man as you basically already know it. If you’re coming here off of Volume 3, then you’ll notice the tone of not just the stories but of Tony himself get darker. For whatever reason, writers looked at Tony and said “let’s find ways to bring his morals into question bc that’s Interesting!” It’s not bad (the Iron Man title, that is- Civil War is bad) but it doesn’t really reflect what came before it, I guess. I’m recommending all 35 issues bc why not but I’ll break it down for ya & make sure to point out my favorites

#1-6- “Extremis”. A must read. One of the most iconic Iron Man stories in 21st century comic history. It’s on everyone’s list. You are, as an Iron Man fan looking to get into IM comics, legally obligated to read this. This would also be the arc where I believe the MCU looked for inspiration for Tony characterization. Also Extremis obviously ended up in the MCU but it’s like way different in the MCU than in the source material

#7-12- “Execute Program”- Basically, Tony is screwed up post-Extremis. Poor guy. Please read this. Directly leads to Civil War…

Civil War (2006) #1-7- Ugh. So. Civil War. In my personal opinion- not a fan. I actually like the movie MUCH better and imo the movie is the way this should have been written. Unfortunately, you’ve gotta read it because it’s an important event. You’ll see people calling it “Tony Stark characterization murder” and THAT’S VALID. Like. Tony suddenly became...a villain?? literally the worst?? under the poorly written guise of “just doing what I have to do” but the stuff that happens….it just can’t be explained with “doing what I have to do”. Honestly it reads like the writers just wanted to pit Tony against Steve and didn’t care about keeping him in character. Tony basically had to be turned into a villain to make the story work because In-Character Tony would not have fit their needs. It sucks and I don’t want to recommend it but you have to read it because it affects so much that comes after it.

THE ONLY CIVIL WAR ANYTHING YOU SHOULD SERIOUSLY CONSIDER are tie ins and oneshots and I will tell you a couple

Invincible Iron Man #13-14- IIM’s CW tie ins. Issue 13 comes after CW #2, issue 14 after CW #5. Read these 

Captain America/Iron Man: Casualties of War- oneshot to be read after Civil War #4. Tony offers Steve the chance to try and talk it out. Both explain their positions and a lot of comic history between them is brought up.

Civil War: The Confession: SO after CW, SPOILER SPOILER poor Steve is assassinated in Captain America #25 (it’s actually more wild than that bc superheroes don’t just die but whatever) and this is a oneshot with two halves, the first takes place after Steve is dead and is Tony-centric and I LITERALLY CRIED and the second takes place when Steve is imprisoned before he is killed. PLEASE read this

There’s more tie ins involving Tony that you should read but I’m sick of talking abt CW

BACK TO THE IRON MAN SOLO TITLE

Sooooo the title now changes from Invincible Iron Man to Iron Man: Director of SHIELD but it’s the same book

#15-18- It’s Tony’s first story arc as Director and it ends up being kind of wild actually

#21-28- ‘Haunted’. Starts out as a sort of murder mystery thing, spirals into something much bigger. Also, poor Tony is so screwed up in the head but what’s new. Definitely read this one

#29-32- ‘With Iron Hands’. Basically, an entire arc of Tony feeling guilty about his past?? Pretty much. There’s also a terrorist and a giant weapon and more fun stuff. The last you’ll see of Tony for the volume bc stuff goes down in the Secret Invasion event and War Machine takes over for the last 3 issues of the title. Wish I could be of help in regards to Secret Invasion, but I haven’t actually read it because I haven’t been able to find it. Just, idk, google search the plot of Secret Invasion like I did and you should be able to get by

Invincible Iron Man (2008) AKA Other Volume 4:

Okay lots of comics fans think this is one of the best Iron Man runs in history and I respect their opinions and perhaps you will share them but I’m gonna cut to the chase here: I am not one of those people. Look, I read all 62 issues so I have a fair opinion, and I’m just not a huge fan. Matt Fraction is writing and Salvador Larroca is drawing. In my experience, the stories drag on and it gets to the point where you’re just bored. I think I read the 89 issues of volume 3 faster than I read the 62 issues of this because I was just so bored with it. Also, I’m really not a fan of Larroca’s work on the book. I really disliked the way he drew Tony and the more I looked at it, it almost made me...uncomfortable? Some of his art is kind of gross imo. Plus, I didn’t love Fraction’s Tony characterization. I can’t quite articulate why, it just didn’t sit nicely w me. There were some moments where I thought “oh yeah that’s Correct” but many other moments where I thought “No Why Did You Write That”. He was good at writing some wild and intricate stories but sometimes I felt that character got lost in the midst of the action. That’s just me though, you might really like Fraction’s run, and there is some stuff worth pointing out.

#1-6- ‘The Five Nightmares’. A fairly iconic modern Iron Man story. Tony’s worst nightmare comes true when the son of Obadiah Stane uses Stark tech to cause absolutely horrific acts of terrorism. It gets pretty serious, but it sets the groundwork for this entire era of Iron Man. As far as Fraction stories go for me, it’s one of the better ones.

#7- Five Nightmares Epilogue. A team-up of sorts with Spider-Man that I actually genuinely think you should read, especially for the ending (and because Peter & Tony clearly wish they could be buddies again in this post-Civil War world).

#8-19- Okay it’s really long but I remember it stood out to me, all I remember is that it’s basically Tony Stark Brain Annihilation over the course of 12 issues and it hurts like heecckkk. Actually I’m gonna say definitely read this one. Also Rescue happens and that’s A Thing you should know about. Stuff gets fixed in the next arc, #20-24, but it’s not worth recommending imo so don’t read this if you’re gonna read it but if you’re not just know that SPOILER SPOILER Tony is fine except he accidentally erased Civil War from his memory (god I wish I could do that). SPOILER OVER

I think I’m gonna end it there for Fraction issues of interest. There’s probably more in there I should be recommending but I just. Can’t be bothered to comb through Fraction’s volume sorryyyyy I’m just not a fan

Iron Man (2012):

So this run is by Kieron Gillen and I don’t really want to recommend anything from it. I didn’t love it as a whole. Gillen laid way too heavily into the idea of “Tony Stark is a walking ego”. The stories were kind of interesting in theory but I thought the execution was mediocre for some reason. Although, not necessarily the art but specifically the coloring was nice- very vibrant. The actual art was by Greg Land who comic fans really seem to hate. I didn’t think his work on this was too bad idk. Again I don’t really want to recommend anything so there’s only one thing I’m putting on here and it’s:

#9-17- “The Secret Origin of Tony Stark”. So here’s the thing. Kieron Gillen said to himself “I need to do something that turns Tony Stark’s identity on its head. I need to redefine him”. And he actually kind of succeeded in that. And it’s actually annoying and it actually feels like something that should be retconned…. but hasn’t been?? And since it hasn’t been, it’s going to be important going forward so you should probably know about it. You could also just google it.

Invincible Iron (2015) by Man-Brian Michael Bendis

Yes, the infamous BMB. So, what’s the truth about his run on Iron Man? Is the amount of hate warranted? Well…that’ll be for you to decide. Personally, I think it was generally...meh. Not necessarily terrible just. Meh. Many fanboys act like this run is the bane of their existence and I don’t think I dislike it to that extent at all. I mean, it gets boring after a while, but the good moments are really enjoyable and I think it’s worth reading. Bendis’ characterization was sometimes weird because it felt notably inconsistent. However, the moments when he nailed it, he really did nail it. His Tony is a bit of a dork, a bit of a hot mess, a little vulnerable, and the moments when that’s at the forefront are great. There’s also some notable stuff going on here- Civil War 2 falls under this era (I hate it less than the first one but Marvel could do 50 Civil War events and I will probably not like any of them), and so does Riri Williams (who I love, just to get that opinion over with). Finding recs for this era is kind of weird for me because the things that stood out were almost never actual issues or stories, but rather specific character moments, so like, the volume is only 14 issues so tbh you can just trudge through them all and savor the good moments, but I’ll try to pull some recs out for ya

#2, #3- just for some character moments. These two are a part of a larger arc so it might be a little confusing to read them on their own but who cares

#4, #5- Tony fights ninjas and visits kids at a hospital and MJ Watson & Doctor Strange make appearances so it’s kinda cool idk

#9-11- only because you meet Miss Riri Williams, the other parts won’t make sense since it’s in the middle of an arc but eh. Honestly the actual story didn’t strike me as being very special so like unless you’re into it you can just skim for the parts that Riri is in since she’ll be important later

Aaaand CIVIL WAR 2

Civil War II #0-8- okay I don’t dislike it as strongly as I dislike the first CW but I still?? Don’t like it?? Like at all? But something really important to Tony’s stories happens at the end and Tony is one of the main characters in the event so like. You should read it. The main problem I remember is that the pace felt so slow. This event is Iron Man vs Captain Marvel which kinda hurt me bc of how much I loved them from 1998’s volume but it’s fine!! They never address their past in the actual event but there’s a tie-in that does so that’s good I guess. Just get through it idk what to tell you

Back to Invincible Iron Man

#12, #13, #14- tie-ins to Civil War II. #12 and #13 I think come after CW2 #2?? Maybe?? And I think #14 comes after CW2 #6?? Anyway #14 actually acknowledges Tony & Carol’s past so you should give that a read while going through the event.

Invincible Iron Man (2016)

Sooo some Serious Stuff happened in Civil War II that’s going to have an effect that lasts a while. I don’t wanna spoil it, though. When you do get to the end of CW2, you can rest assured that Tony will still have a major presence as a character in this title, but Riri Williams takes the spotlight. Opinions on her are mixed, I personally love her. This, like its 2015 sister, can honestly just be read all the way through, it’s only 19 issues, but I’ll try to find stuff. Also, Tony & Riri’s banter is ALWAYS golden so just read to enjoy it tbh. On we go!

#1, #2- gives you the background on Riri now that she’s taking center stage. She’s just so darn endearing.

#11- It’s basically an issue about everyone reflecting on how Tony is a good person and different from how the public perceives him. He holds orphaned babies from around the world. It’s good stuff.

#593-600- the numbering changed, there’s obviously not actually 600 issues lol. So yes this is kind of long for an arc, but it’s important because it resolves what happened to Tony in Civil War 2. I remember getting bored with it after a few issues, like it wasn’t bad I just remember it feeling slow. Idk. It’s important. Just read it.

Stuff that I don’t think is worth your time:

Invincible Iron Man volume 2 (1996)- I think Marvel was doing some kind of reboot or something because Iron Man’s origin was redone as well as The Hulk’s. It’s amazing how a run that was only 13 issues felt like such a large waste of my time. I didn’t think there was anything of note. I basically don’t even remember what happened in it. Also the sexualization of women was so casual and constant on top of the run not being particularly remarkable so yeah don’t waste your time  

Superior Iron Man (2015)- I dislike the idea of this so much that I don’t even want to explain it ugh it’s a spin off of an event called Axis that involved some psychic type stuff that altered the personalities of those involved, boosting Tony’s worst qualities and making him evil. Marvel then decided to make a series about it and it’s only 9 issues but wow it’s amazing how hard it can be for me to get through 9 issues. I could barely read it I just so strongly dislike this idea ok so basically Evil Tony creates Extremis 3.0 which is an app that lets a person make themselves physically into the person they wish they were (In the pages of Axis, Tony personally made himself not an alcoholic because that’s not disrespecting an incredibly important character detail and there was one particularly awful panel of him drinking alcohol in front of a crowd of cheering people and saying “I missed you, sweetheart”). He is testing this app on San Francisco and effectively creates two classes of people- the “perfect” people who could access the app and the “imperfect” people who can’t and that goes about as well as you’d think. Then he makes it obscenely expensive to use which also goes about as well as you’d think. And more stuff happens. Here’s the thing. I’m sure many people thought the concept of a villainous Tony Stark was cool, but I just don’t like the implications of it. The way it’s written kind of gives the idea that, with his personality, Tony could easily become a villain. Given that some people already think of Tony Stark as a villain, reading it just made me cringe. And the WORST thing about it is that, while this is a result of Axis, it’s still Tony himself. According to the writers, he has “surrendered to his id and his legendary ego” (god I’m about to gag) after the mind-altering events of Axis brought those things out in him. Despite my qualms, was the book well-written? I will never be able to read it that objectively, so I can’t say. But clearly, as you can see by the size of this here rant (sorry), I dislike the very idea of it enough to put it on my “do not touch” list.

Okay. Wow. I finally did it. Wow. Six months and it’s done.

I am simply the mentor figure in your hero’s journey. As you get used to navigating comics and reading orders, you’ll find it easier to venture out, and there’s so many ways to go. A character crossed over into something you read and you liked them a lot? Look up their reading order. A writer or artist really impressed you? Do a google search and find what else they’ve worked on. There’s a whole world of comics out there. Go have some fun.

I leave you with 3 rules of being a comic fan:

1. No one hates comics more than comic book readers. We’re bitter because we care. You’ll be like a jaded war veteran who writes a thousand word rant about why a certain author’s mischaracterization of your fave offended you personally way faster than you’d think.

2. Follow the trail of what interests you and, while acknowledging what may be widely believed, proudly own your personal opinions.

3. It’s addictive. Embrace it. You start with one issue, and before you know it, you’ve read 200 issues and know 20 years of history on one character in less than a year. That might be how it goes for you. Just go with it.

Happy reading!

[brevoorthistoryofcomics]

Today, there are thousands of books on vintage comics, both collections of material from decades ago or literary tomes discussing those works, how they were created, what impact they had and what they meant. But in the 1970s, the landscape for such volumes was exceedingly scarce. So it was positively an event when a new book about comics showed up at a local bookstore, And that’s exactly what happened this particular Saturday at the Smithhaven Mall when I first laid eyes on the just-released SHAZAM FROM THE 40s TO THE 70s. The book cost a whopping $12.95, but somehow my father agreed to buy it for me.

It had been years since the SUPERMAN and BATMAN volumes in this series of hardcovers had come out. (I owned the BATMAN volume, and read the SUPERMAN volume by taking it out of the local library) I presume that the success of the Saturday morning live action SHAZAM television series coupled with the overall nostalgia boom (plus DC making aggressive efforts to include the character in its licensing programs) led to the creation of this edition. At the time, the readers of Captain Marvel’s adventures in the 1940s and 1950s would have been the right age to have been prime targets for purchasing.

Regardless of how it happened, this book was a treasure trove of prime Marvel Family material. It opened with the very first Captain Marvel story, which I had already read in the FAMOUS 1ST EDITION Treasury that reprinted it,, then moved into the origin of Sivana, which I’d also read. From there, the origin stories of both Captain Marvel Jr. and Mary Marvel were reprinted--they had both previously shown up in a SHAZAM 100-Page Spectacular, but I hadn’t seen them there. And from there, the doors blew open to showcase a bunch of material that hadn’t seen the light of day since its original printings.

It must be said that, once they’d worked all of the kinks out, the Captain Marvel stories of the Golden Age were much more imaginative and much better written than a lot of what was done for other publishers, including a lot of the contemporary DC material. Much of this was the doing of writer Otto Binder, who once he came on board as a writer of Marvel Family adventures wound up writing something close to 53% of all of the material ever produced for the characters, a staggering achievement of high-quality output. Once Fawcett shut down production on the mighty Marvels, Binder wound up moving over to DC, where he plied his imagination in expanding the mythos of the Captain’s arch-rival Superman.

This was a grand collection of stories, assembled by DC’s reprint maestro and full-on Captain Marvel fanboy E. Nelson Bridwell. Nelson was, at the time, writing the ongoing SHAZAM comic book series, but he had been an avid reader of the character in his youth, and his introduction gives a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the history of the Big Red Cheese, and a glimpse at how the character was being produced in the contemporary 1970s.

The 1940s section of the book was the largest, given that there were no Captain Marvel stories produced during the 1960s as a result of DC’s lawsuit against Fawcett Publications and the good Captain as an infringement on Superman. This section included both the first and final chapters of the 25-part Monster Society of Evil serial that ran in CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES for close to two years (CMA was so popular during this period that it was published every three weeks.) It would be years before I’d get to read the balance of this seminal story once it was finally collected in a slipcased hardcover in the very late 1980s. (Recent plans to reprint it have fallen through, likely due to its wartime depiction of Japanese characters, to say nothing of the way it handles African-Americans.)

The book included the one and only Golden Age appearance of Black Adam, the proto-Marvel who had become corrupted by his powers, and whom Goeff Johns turned into a major character in the modern day. (Geoff himself didn’t realize that Black Adam had made only one appearance in the original Captain Marvel run until having written him for some time.) Rounding out the cast, teh first two stories of Mister tawny, the talking, intelligent tiger-man, were also included, as was a Justice Society-style tale in which the Marvel Family battles their rivals in the Sivana Family in a story that spans five chapters, with the Marvels splitting up throughout the middle and only uniting in the final chapter to defeat their opponents

Moving into the section on the 1950s, the crisp and polished artwork of C. C. Beck is in evidence, backed up by Pete Costanza and Kurt Schaffenberger among others. The Captain Marvel stories during this period had deceptively simple-seeming artwork, but it was always beautifully composed, animated, and told the story with fluidity and style. The fact that most of this volume was run in black and white was actually a plus for these stories, which were ideally suited for black and white reproduction.

The very end of the tome jumps to the relative present of the 1970s and DC’s attempts to revive the character in the modern day. Bridwell is canny about which stories he chooses to represent here--it’s a good assortment of the best efforts of the modern DC team, including artwork by Dave Cockrum and Bob Oskner. But even as a kid, I could see the difference here. The revival stories lacked the authenticity of the originals--they were too staged, too put-on, as though most of the creators involved, while they might be able to suspend their disbelief at Superman or Batman, weren’t able to treat Captain Marvel and his ilk with the same sense of verisimilitude. It was no wonder that the revival of SHAZAM ultimately failed--somehow, the spirit of Captain Marvel wasn’t as easy to capture as it may have appeared. But in any event, I adored this volume, probably my favorite of the set, and read it to bits.

[thedeaditeslayer]

Q&A with Bruce Campbell: He’ll host his ‘Last Fan Standing’ at ECON on Saturday.

Here’s an interview from last week that we here at TDS recommend to Bruce Campbell and Evil Dead fans.

The fourth-ever EUCON: Eugene Comic Con is just around the corner, and this year it’s going to be bigger than ever, full of fresh programming and infused with new direction and energy, says artistic director Zachary Davis.

The pop-culture convention is under new management from Davis and his team at Imagination International, Inc., and they’ve wrangled a host of local, indie and big-name artists and celebrities, including actor, writer and director Bruce Campbell and his traveling game show, “Last Fan Standing.” Campbell is best known for his character Ash Williams in Sam Raimi’s “The Evil Dead” movie series, which thrust him onto the Hollywood scene in 1981.

“I want to see what Eugene’s all about as far as comic cons go. It’ll be a whole new experience,” Campbell told The Register-Guard. “I’ve only done Portland. Comic cons are the new rage now.”

Ash and “The Evil Dead” have garnered a cult following, and Campbell’s lengthy career has taken him from B-horror movies and Syfy channel movies, to recurring roles in popular ’90s TV series such as “Hercules: The Legendary Journey” and “Xena: Warrior Princess,” to roles in all three of Raimi’s blockbuster “Spiderman” movies, and a co-starring role in USA’s seven-season TV show, “Burn Notice.” He’s authored three books and is now hosting a pop-culture trivia game show, which will be played on Saturday at EUCON.

The Register-Guard interviewed Campbell by phone Tuesday from his home in Jacksonville about life in the Oregon countryside, finally laying to rest his Ash character with the cancellation of TV series “Ash v. Evil Dead,” and his pursuits as a writer, a game show host and actor. The interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Register-Guard: Can you tell me about your connection to Oregon? You’ve lived here for quite some time.

Bruce Campbell: Twenty years this year. My primary residence has been Oregon for 20 years — not that I was here that much, but when I’m home this is it.

RG: Why did you choose Oregon?

B.C.: A lot of reasons. My mother dabbled in real estate in this area — she sort of retired with her husband in this area, and so I came up to visit and she faxed me some places to look around — back in the day of faxes — and this is about the third, fourth place we saw out in the country, and just the hair on the back of my neck stood on end.

It’s mountain scenery and isolation and quiet. You don’t get that when you live in Los Angeles, you know. You go to work, everything’s crazy and noisy, and then you come back to L.A. everything’s crazy and noisy — there was no break. When I look out my window here, there’s nothing. There’s no lights on the mountain. There’s no noise, there’s no traffic.

We’ve been invaded by the pot growers now. We’ve gone from beer and meth as the local standbys, to weed and wine. So we’re stepping up. People with weed and wine have cash, and they tend to stimulate the local economy more than people who drink beer and do meth, with all due respect to our meth heads. Stoners don’t tend to go out and beat people up.

RG: Do you have any weird or strange stories to share about living in the country?

BC: Of course. The best reference I can tell you is my third book, “Hail to the Chin, the Further Confessions.” There’s chapters all about moving from L.A. to here — there’s all kinds of car crashes and drama and serving on jury duty. It’s a lot of simple pleasures.

’Cause my daughter is a California kid — born in Michigan, but raised in California — she came up here to visit. We did some errands, and we park at the bank, right in the lot. Go inside, there’s two guys in line — hey Joe, hey Ken — saying hi to the tellers, no ghetto glass — go outside, you gotta go to ... a place that’s usually busy, park right out front, go in, get our stuff and leave. She’s like, “So is that how it works in this town — you just sort of do stuff, and it happens?” It’s like “Yeah,” because when you’re not completely and utterly overcrowded, this is what life can be like. It’s kinda nice.

So I’ll actually never go back to civilization. Because my idea of civilization is the 24-hour available little toilets in my little town of Jacksonville. That’s how you know your town is livable. When they trust their citizens enough to have (those public bathrooms). Jacksonville is my last stop before I head out into the country, and sometimes those bathrooms are really handy. You know, lousy weather and strange times of night, you stop in there, heated, that tells me that the town trusts me enough to not totally destroy it every time I use.

But now Portland, I don’t think they have those.

RG: Now that “Ash v. Evil Dead” is officially cancelled, how do you feel about finally letting Ash go?

BC: Good. I’ve retired him. I’ve officially retired from playing that role — never done that with a character before. It feels great because it’s time to move on. I physically kind of got to the point where I can’t do that guy anymore. Hamstrings tear and they stretch, your eyes go your hearing goes, everything goes eventually. So I think it’s time to do game shows, you know? Time to put the chainsaw down — I’m a 60 year old man.

RG: Can you tell me a little bit about your game show?

BC: It is “Last Fan Standing” It is a game show for geeks. We’re going to ask how much does Thor’s hammer weigh? It’s not about history or geography, you don’t have to add a “what is” to the beginning of your answer. You just answer. And everybody plays. Everybody who walks in that door can take it on because they’re each given a voting device. (There’s) about 15 early questions ... and they vote. At the end we tally who’s got the best scores, we pick that clicker number and they’re up and running. We do two rounds of that, cook it down to two winners of each round, and then we do a seven question sort of battle to the death and somebody walks out of there with an amazing gift, which I can’t reveal. It’s too amazing.

RG: Why do you like being the host? Is it fun for you? Is it work? Is it both?

BC: No, I like tormenting people! You find out where they’re from, what these people do. We’ve had school teachers, students, college professors, tattoo artists. It’s really anybody from any walk of life, men, women, we’ve had some younger folks, so it’s been really fun taking it around to conventions and testing it out. So what we started doing this year was booking it in an actual theater like a performance arts venue, 400 or 500 seats and just doing it that way, like it’s an evening show. It’s a two-hour evening show, people realize they can have a lot of fun they can interact they can shout and holler because if our panelist can’t get the question — you’d be surprised how often they can’t even though they got up there — we throw ’em out to the audience, and I give out autographed “Bruce Bucks,” that’s fake dollar bills. Fake hundreds. So they still play, everybody plays. We’ve had some people come up, they got in the second round too. So it’s kinda crazy.

There’s come-from-behind wins the way it’s structured. My partner Steve Sellery, he’s the guy that first introduced me to this format, but ... he was doing it for military bases, it was all military trivia. I went to host a show for him so I said, “Hey, this format could work in my world.” It was really fun, these soldiers were all shouting at each other, and it was very competitive. I thought, “Man, you could do the same thing.” Three years ago, Steve called me up to see if I would host this charity show for the troops at the Fort Sam Houston base in San Antonio, Texas. And it was great. We had 600 soldiers, forced attendance, all in uniform. And this game just blew the doors off — these guys were acting like regular civilians by the end.

So we experimented there and I thought it could be taken elsewhere, and so we’ve been shopping it around, and eventually I’m going to try to get it made as an actual real TV show.

RG: So we might actually see it on air someday?

BC: That’s my goal. We’ve been honing it and refining it and tweaking it so we’re going to finish this run of performances. I’ve got three or four other cities to go, and then we’re done.

RG: So Eugeneans will have the chance to come out and see this before it really gets started?

BC: That’s right. Play it now while you still can!

RG: I heard that you consider yourself selectively retired, is that true?

BC: Selective — that’s a good way to put it. I’m not retired, it just takes more to get me off the mountaintop now.

RG: What kind of projects besides this game show project are you working on?

BC: “Lodge 49,” a new show for AMC, I just did that for their first season. I just did three episodes of that, and they’re back for another season. I’m not sure about my character, he’s mostly dead by the end of it. But you know, I’m looking for quality stuff. Paul Giamatti, he’s one of the producers, the writing was great, they just had really good people working on this show, and that’s kind of what I’m looking for. I’m not really looking for more movies for the Syfy channel.

RG: No more of those, huh?

BC: I think I’m good. I think I’ve done with my last “Alien Apocalypse.”

RG: What are some of the things you actually pay attention to and are interested in as far as pop culture, since we’re going to be at comic con. What are some things that grab your attention?

BC: Not much. I’m an entertainer. My job is to entertain. I don’t have to know what the answers to these questions are, and I don’t. I don’t know the answers to them. I watched very mainstream stuff as a kid. My buddy Sam Raimi actually read “Spiderman” comics. I read a comic called “Sad Sack.” The guy was a loser grunt in WWII. He was always peeling potatoes. That’s what I was more interested in, the stories of the average schmoe, which is why Ash appealed to me, because he had no special skills. He was just his guy who worked at S-Mart.

That’s what appealed to me, playing real characters and, you know, acting in modern day movies is a very special skill, it’s very technical, and I got tired of looking at tennis balls on sticks. There’s the monster! Now it’s over here — OK 3-2-1 — shake the camera and blow the thing and hit the blood! You know, none of it is just letting a scene play out. Whenever you have any kind of monster fighting or special effects, you go shot by shot, not scene by scene, and it can be very disconcerting. You don’t know where you are in the piece of this big puzzle. It gets a little boring.

RG: One of my favorite films I think I’ve seen you in is “Bubba Ho-Tep.”

BC: Yeah it’s a cool little movie.

RG: What is one of your favorite roles acting?

BC: Well that’s more for the pundits but Bubba was top five, “Evil Dead” movies top 5, like the Hercules and Xena character, Autolycus, King of Thieves... a lot of kids spent their Saturdays watching those shows. “The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.” was a very brief one-off but really cool, ahead of its time, kind of steampunk western, so there’s been some fun stuff.

The longer you hang around, good stuff shows up. And you learn what not to look for anymore. And you learn the warning signs of trouble. Like when you make a couple of bad movies, you log in the back of your mind, why they were so bad, even yourself included, and you say to yourself, “OK, how do we avoid that?” But as a young actor you just say yes to everything. So it’s just a matter of being pickier now. Way pickier.

RG: What is the worst movie experience you’ve had?

BC: Well, it’s no fun pointing those out, but I would just say that it’s usually a combination... I’ll give you one example where I said no and I’m glad I did. Sci-fi script comes in. Tons of effects. Tons of action. You know, this, that and the other thing. So I say to myself, “OK yeah, you’re going to really need a journeyman director, that’s a lot of moving parts, to pull this off.” OK, who’s directing? It’s a first-time guy who wrote the script. Right there the bells go off. And you go, “First-time guy, who’s going to handle this...?” As my own director, I go, this would be challenging to someone with experience. And writers generally, in my opinion, make terrible directors because they have no sense of how a set works and they’re not great communicators because they sit in front of a frickin’ monitor all day long. ... Then I go, “OK, First-Time Guy, I get it. How long is this shoot?” And I know from knowing production what is a long shoot, what is a medium shoot and what is a short shoot, and they go, “Three weeks.” I’m like, “I’m out.” ... Because the producers now, now I blame the producers, they need to give this guy the most amount of time he possibly has. So that combo platter right there, I went “Pass. Just pass. Not interested.” So that’s what you learn. Years ago I’d say yes and then you go, “Geez what a ... fight that was,” you know what I mean?

RG: Do you think Ash’s ‘everyman’ qualities have maintained the popularity of the “Evil Dead” series?

BC: Yeah. Because people are shouting at the screen “You idiot, what are you doing?” You know he makes horrible mistakes because it’s not his job, he’s not a superhero, wasn’t born to it even though, in some ancient books, his picture is in it. So, it was fun to play the normal guy but then know that there were spiritual undertones, which is kind of cool. Because he is there to save the world. He’s been foretold as ‘The Guy.’ We were glad to be able to go back and revisit it with more experience, because the irony of my life is that I’m best known for the role of Ash in the first “Evil Dead” movie where I had no experience. So it’s nice to go back and go, “OK ... it’s 25 years later, I got some skills now. Now let’s take on this character and try and blow him into a three-dimensional character out of a two-dimensional situation.” So that’s what it was fun about it. But it was difficult because we’re older. Things tear.

RG: Well, it’s a very high-action TV show.

BC: Very much so, I had the hardest-working stuntman in show business, Raicho Vasilev.

RG: And you got to work with Lucy Lawless, how was that?

BC: Well it’s always great, always has been, for 20 years I’ve worked with her. She’s one of the good ones, as they say. Lee Majors as my dad? Who can top that? Frickin’ Bionic Man is my dad.

RG: What is it like having this celebrity status attributed to you as one of the most popular B-movie actors, what do you think about that?

BC: It’s impossible for me to quantify it. It’s not for me to say. It’s always nice to not wallow in obscurity — I didn’t get into the business to do that. But you don’t know where it’s going to go. That’s why you’ve got to be mellow about the whole thing. I have no idea what’s going to happen tomorrow in this industry, and it’s changing all the time: the way they make movies, the way they deliver them, the types of movies they’re making. I think I’m just going to enter into the game show phase of my career and see where it goes.

RG: What do you think it is about you that has built such a loyal fanbase, especially with the “Evil Dead?”

BC: Just relatable characters. You’ve got to have a character people will relate to. There’s some actors who will remain nameless who — they don’t let you in. Their performance won’t let you into their world. They’re putting up a sheen. And I think it’s all fine and pretty to look at, but you know, you got to have more. There’s got to be more to it, even an idiot like Ash. You’ve got to have more to it. That’s why we introduced Ash’s daughter. We meet his family, we start to play on a little bit bigger reason why he’s here, what his purpose is. When you look at someone on screen I think you want to go, “Wow, God, I’d love to have a beer with that guy,” or if it’s a woman, “Man, what a great girlfriend she would be.” Stuff like that. It’s just a personal thing too, and every actor evolves into whoever they are by a certain set of circumstances. Some good, some bad.

RG: In the latest phase of your career you’ve turned to writing books. Why become a writer? What is it about writing that you like?

BC: I love books because there’s no shifts. You make a movie, and especially a high-price movie, there’s a lot of people with opinions who are very bossy all the time. And they will hound you about the smallest little things, little changes, and they have to justify their positions as assistant this or executive this or sub-pseudo-quasi this. And when you write a book, you know, I get on the phone with my editor, and they go, “Hey this one chapter, you sound a little pissed off, was that what you want?” I go, “Yeah, I can tone that down.” And I’d tone it down, it’d take about 20 minutes and then I’m done and we never have another word.

I spent more time with my lawyer than my editor because of the (crap) that they care about. But the process is really great, it’s really rewarding creatively, and financially they don’t (mess) around. They know how to add and subtract in publishing. For some reason in movies they’ve forgotten the ability to add and subtract. It’s a much more straightforward — you call someone in publishing, they call you back. You call someone in movies, you know it’s like their assistant will get back to you a week later, and they’ll run by three dates of where they could have a conversation. You know, just call me back. So I like the old-school nature of publishing. It’s getting pretty modern, but the people involved are very straightforward. They’re in it for the literature, not for the limousines....

RG: So do you write at your Oregon home?

BC: Yes. I have an office that’s just about completed. I’m so excited it’s just about impossible to be patient. It’s a brand-new setup where I can get busy in 2019. There’s going to be a lot of writing in 2019.

RG: What can we look forward to?

BC: New book. I’m going to tour in 2020, it’s a book of essays, it’ll be something a little different. If you want to be a real writer you can’t just talk about the wacky times you got dumped with blood on a film set.

RG: Well that was probably a pretty good starting point, they say write what you know about.

BC: Now I’m going to write what I don’t know about.

[papermoonloveslucy]

ALMOST EVERYONE LOVES LUCY

June 21, 1981

Lucille Ball appeared on the cover of the Cincinnati Enquirer’s TV Magazine and listings for the week of June 21 - 27, 1981. The inside article is by Matt Rousch. 

BY Matt Roush, Enquirer Contributor 

Loving Lucy. 

Millions will attest it was their favorite pastime on Monday evenings through the '50s (diehards still talk of PTA meetings canceled in the wake of the dizzy redhead, her Cuban-bandleader hubby and her frumpish landlord-neighbors, the Mertzes), and intermittently up to the '70s. 

Even more fans remain devoted today to the world's most popular funny ladies through endless reruns of her various shows, with "I love Lucy" (broadcast locally at 5 p.m. weekdays on Channel 64) the clear favorite. 

But few if any can claim as devout an allegiance to the "Ball Hall of Fame" as can Bart Andrews, a prolific TV historian from Los Angeles. Loving Lucy is his obsession, and he delights in sharing it with an eager public first several years ago with a history of the "I Love Lucy" show titled Lucy and Ricky and Fred and Ethel, and now with a coffee table-sized, lush picture biography of Lucille Ball titled Loving Lucy (St. Martin's Press, $15). 

According to Andrews, in a recent phone interview from his TV-trivia-cluttered home, he had a ball writing and putting the book together. 

But then he should. Any man who drives a car with an "I LV LCY" license plate and who has been called an " 'I Love Lucy' junkie" by Tom Brokaw of "Today" can only thank his lucky stars (one in particular) that he is able to satiate his obsession. 

And satiate it he does. When asked if the "junkie" moniker is deserved, he affirmed, "Absolutely. Without a doubt." He is more than happy to recall the year 1950, when he was about 6 years old and his family got its first TV. "I was  hooked. And a year after that (when 'Lucy' premiered), my mother tells me she decided she would let us stay up on Mondays to watch Lucy. And I've watched it all those years." 

Through adolescence, through college, it was Lucy. Through his writing career, which has encompassed many TV comedy scripts and 16 books including The TV Addict's Handbook, TV or not TV and The Worst TV Shows Ever, it was Lucy. Nary a day passes that Andrews doesn't watch at least one episode of Lucy's adventures on a relic of a black-and-white TV, be she a Ricardo (nee MacGillicuddy), a Carmichael or a Carter. And with her 70th birthday coming Aug. 6 and the 30th anniversary of "I Love Lucy" on Oct. 15, there seems to be no end in sight. Next? 

"Would you believe an 'I Love Lucy' quiz book coming out on Oct. 15?" 

Believe it or not, Andrews said that's the next "Lucy" project emanating from his pen. It will consist of 1,001 questions, including such timeless queries as "What was Ethel Mertz's middle name?" (For those who don't know, it changed as often as the Flintstones' address and was variously Louise, Roberta and May.) 

In the meantime, Andrews is content to relax with his famous collection of Lucy memorabilia in what he calls his "Lucy room." A quick inventory came up with these peerless items: Lucy and Desi cufflinks, a "little Ricky" doll (one of 1 million sold in 1953) that squeaks when you squeeze it, a record of Desi Arnaz singing "Babalu" ("How can you do without such things in life?" Andrews mocked), comic books, cut-out dolls, recipe books and so on. 

Oh, yes, and a red couch, of course. 

Andrews said he is pleased with the considerable success of Loving Lucy, although he admitted it was a hard book to get off the ground: "I had a terrible time getting the book sold. No one had faith that another book on Lucy would sell well." 

But he swore there was a market, because his first Lucy book covered only a 10-year period, and letters had poured in, asking for more pictures. 

And pictures he found, in Brooklyn's Melvin Frank Archives, which had recently acquired an immense collection of Lucy photographs. (The book sports about 400 rare stills.)

"The pictures are what started the ball rolling," Andrews punned. 

"Lucy doesn't even have some of these shots, and does she ever want them."

Finally, St. Martin's Press showed interest in the project, and the result is a visually pleasing light biography of a woman with more than 50 years in show business most obviously with TV, but also as an actress in more than 70 films and a hit for a time on Broadway. 

In fact, part of the success of Loving Lucy may be due to its unfolding of a largely unknown career: Lucy, the discouraged drop-out drama student in New York; Lucy, the successful fashion model and Broadway chorine; Lucy, the platinum blonde heading to Hollywood as a Goldwyn girl in 1933 to be in an Eddie Cantor picture; Lucy, the starlet moving from Goldwyn to RKO where she used to pal around with Ginger Rogers; Lucy, the hard-working comedy and romantic lead of scores of films, and finally Lucy, the wife of Desi and undying star of TV.

Although Andrews is about to release his third book on the lady, he's only met Lucille Ball once. "It was while I was doing research on my first book on her in 1975," he said. "Let me tell you, it was a shock to meet her, because I was expecting Lucy Ricardo with several of her teeth blacked out. Instead, I met a serious person with little sense of humor, really." 

Not much of a memory, either: "The meeting wasn't fruitful; but it was fun, don't get me wrong. It's just that her information was totally wrong. I ended up having to do all the research on my own." 

But the research has enabled him to enjoy a unique perspective on Lucille Ball, her career and her appeal. Andrews has also been researching a book on situation comedies he tentatively titles Funny Business; his work with that project has convinced him that " 'I Love Lucy' is the grandmother of the situation comedy. So many came after, with types and styles that obviously didn't succeed, and you can see a return to many of the basic stock slapstick situations time and time again," he said. 

"Even as a fan of Lucy, though, I doubt the show would go over so big today. The storylines would be too old-fashioned to carry today's more sophisticated audience, I imagine. But I can watch and thousands of others like me and know it was made in 1954 and keep that in mind. You get the gist of it and it's still funny." 

Andrews said she is probably most often watched now by the very young. "Lucy claims she has babysat for four generations, and you can't deny that kids get so intent watching her that you can't pull them away. And they remember everything," he added, mentioning that his nieces match him question for question when it comes to Lucy trivia. 

"Kids can identify with her silly and childlike behavior," he said, "but at the same time adults can find her funny because she can still maintain her dignity and beauty beneath it all. 

"Lucy has a universal appeal because of the way she did things others might do like, say, getting an extra job in a candy factory. Now, that's a very fine situation, but only at the end do they get caught up in the manic slapstick on the speeding conveyor. It's a classic episode, because the writers (a fine crew who never won an Emmy, although the show and star won many) were very careful about writing logically." 

Whatever the appeal, it's undeniable, as is evidenced by the ever-growing membership in a worldwide "We Love Lucy" fan club, whose president, Thomas J. Watson, co-authored Loving Lucy. (Watson's license plate reads "LUCY FAN.") 

Andrews estimates the club's membership includes 500-600 Lucyphiles, who receive a bimonthly newsletter and get a button, membership card and magazine upon joining. 

The organization's enthusiasm is understandable. It's not every run-of-the-mill entertainer who has been around since the TV-pioneer days of Hollywood and also has a pilot on the burner at NBC (it hasn't been picked up yet, Andrews said). 

But then, that's Lucy. Hard-working, funny and silly, yet still more than a shade glamorous. 

Loving Lucy is contagious. It's hard to imagine anyone who hasn't caught the bug.

[travelerbypage]

Book Review: The Rules of Love and Grammar

Book: The Rules of Love and Grammar

Author: Mary Simses

Genre: Fiction/Small Town/Romantic Comedy

Summary: Newly jobless, newly single, and suddenly apartmentless, writer Grace Hammond has come unmoored. A grammar whiz who's brilliant at correcting other people's errors, she hasn't yet found quite the right set of rules for fixing her own mistakes. Desperate to escape the city and her trifecta of problems, Grace hits pause and retreats to her Connecticut hometown. What begins as a short visit with her parents quickly becomes a far more meaningful stay, though, as she discovers that the answers to what her future holds might be found by making peace with - and even embracing - the past. As Grace sets out to change her ways and come to terms, finally, with the tragedy that took her older sister's life so many years ago, she rekindles a romance with her high school sweetheart, Peter, now a famous Hollywood director who's filming a movie in town. Sparks also fly at the local bike shop, where Grace's penchant for pointing out what's wrong rattles the owner's ruggedly handsome schoolteacher son, Mitch. Torn between the promise of a glamorous life and the allure of the familiar, Grace must decide what truly matters - and whether it's time for her to throw away the rule book and bravely follow her heart. -Little, Brown and Company, 2016.

With a lazy Saturday, it doesn't take much to finish a book - particularly a book like this one. The reason I classified this book as a romantic comedy is because it reads like one. In fact, I would be shocked if the movie for this book isn't already in the works. Now, just because I say "movie", doesn't mean it was necessarily a perfect read.

This book is like the antithesis of my previous read (The Book of Lost and Found). Where I loved the careful pacing of the former, Rules was so fast in pace, I think I got whiplash. The characters here are your small town romance archetypes - the clumsy, unaware-of-her-own-beauty heroine, the calm, always-there-for-you best friend, the archenemy who has the fake looks and is always popular - you know the ones. After realizing that, I knew exactly how this was going to go.

There is a love (?) triangle (of sorts). In fact, there was almost a love square, but I feel like Simses was told to cut down on the potential love interests. Because of that, the potential third beau's plot line is cut off and withered. A pity since it had the potential to be genuinely interesting.

I put the question mark earlier because, to put it plainly, readers are told of a romance. It's all up to Grace to tell the reader how Mitch and Peter are acting, but she tells you very little. The reader can see that she is obsessed with Peter; so much so you wonder how Peter put up with her. As someone attuned to second hand embarrassment, there were many, many moments in this book where I had to close the book and walk off my embarrassment for Grace because she was putting herself in situations that would horrify most people (see common romantic comedy tropes).

As for Mitch, you know it's supposed to be the love/hate relationship setup, but it's never shown where hate becomes love. You have to believe that it happens simply because you're told, and that's what's expected of the trope.

In fact, a lot of the plot itself is telling, not showing. Simses can certainly describe locations and people, but rarely does she allow relationships and situations to flow naturally without telling the reader anything.

There's also a tone problem with this book. While Grace runs around with her beaus, she's confronting the guilt she feels after the death of her older sister. While love troubles and unconfronted grief are not necessarily exclusive to each other, there is a way of going about it. The book's tone screams romantic comedy so much that when it comes time for the more somber moments, the tonal shift hasn't properly occurred. There are scenes where not even a whole paragraph before, Grace is waxing poetic about her love life, and then suddenly she's talking about her dead sister. The scenes aren't given time to breathe and settle - they seem rushed in order to get back to the romance shenanigans. In fact, to give minor spoilers, it's hard to reconcile that a woman who can have a fight with her father over being her sister's replacement for his expectations can also be the same woman who gets perfume sprayed on her by comically screeching fangirls. It's very, very odd.

So, for me, while the book is charming in its own way, it's a little too comedic and the pacing, for me, is way, way too fast. It feels rushed, so I couldn't really enjoy it. I felt like I was spun on a swing until I was cross-eyed, especially at the end. Conflicts are resolved so quickly, I almost did a double-take.

I give The Rules of Love & Grammar a C+.

~*~

Please support the author by buying the book or by borrowing it from a friend or your local library.

Thanks for reading!

[rikka-zine]

An Interview with Justin Isis

We are pleased to introduce you to Justin Isis who has lived in Tokyo for ten years. He is a localization specialist by day,  writer and editor by night. He had occasionally worked as a model, consultant, rapper, visual artist and occultist as well. He has helped Chômu Press and Snuggly Books. Both are UK-based publishers. We (hopefully) reveal what these mysterious independent publishers do every night…

RZ Zine (RZ): Can I ask where you are from originally?

Justin Isis (JI): It’s complicated. Actually my father is Italian and mother is Australian. But I was born in New York. I mostly grew up in the US and I moved to Australia when I was about nineteen. I lived there for a few years before coming out here.

RZ: So you grew up mostly in English-speaking countries.

JI: Yeah, I also lived in Italy for three years though.

RZ: So, what brought you Japan?

JI: I originally was interested in Japanese fashion. It was like ten years ago. You probably remember the magazine called FRUiTS (*1 A Japanese fashion magazine running from 1997 to 2016.).  It should be a passionate with street fashion stuff. I was interested in that time period, when I was in high school basically. So I was interested but I didn’t really plan to come to Japan.

But when I was in university, I was living next door some Japanese people. They encouraged me to start studying. I thought I could do like translations or get some kind of job if I could speak Japanese. I started doing it and I was studying here for a year, and then I moved here. I was interested just in the fashion side, then I got really into Japanese writers mostly of Showa period, like Yukio Mishima, Kawabata, Tanizaki, and Akutagawa. Some other writers I feel like close to those writers are Kurahashi Yumiko and Kouno Taeko. I was really interested in them, too.

RZ:  Kurahashi is an amazing author.

JI:  Yes, she is, but it’s not really…I don’t think anyone’s really translating over them. Probably there is just one or two Kurahashi’s books. They’re not really known in English. I could not feel so many translations from that period. I mean, I think maybe some younger or newer writers are getting translated into English. But the older ones, not as much.

RZ:  I see. And I am also interested in fashion.

JI:  Oh really? Do you have any favorite styles, like Gothic & Lolita?

RZ:  I’ve never tried myself but I had sometimes read Gothic & Lolitta Bible. (*2 A Japanese fashion magazine of the genre. It featured some of Visual-Kei artists but they sometimes featured the author Shibusawa Tatsuhiko (1928-1987) either.) 

JI:  Hey, I forgot a band which member manages a Gothic Lolita brand.

RZ: You mean Mana-sama of MALICE MIZER?

JI: That’s it. It was such a dramatic band I used to listen to. But I can hardly listen now. 

I feel like fashion is boring though. Because everything is really fast fashion. I feel like it’s getting really…even Japan is getting…I don’t say globalized. But it’s not as outstanding as before.It is changed. Uniqlo is currently blowing out too, even in the US cities. It is gonna be boring. I was actually gonna write a book that was making fun of Uniqlo. So I just called it Uniqlo. But when I posted about it on Facebook, someone actually like the marketing director of Uniqlo was messaging about it. (Showed “Liked” by her and the message like “Oh I’m looking forward to read it!”) So I was like…I’m not gonna write. (laughs)

Well, I think there’s still interesting fashion things happening. But it’s hard to find something really interested in. I worked in Hiroshima as a host for a while but I got sick of it. Because it’s pretty unhealthy like staying up all night and drinking. I was interesting those kind of fashion and I was in some of those magazines like Men’s Egg and Men’s Spider. I think they’re coming back now. Egg magazine has just restarted because of nostalgia or something.

It is interesting that side of the culture I guess. And I noticed that a lot of books get translated into English but seems that they don’t really talk about it, much address it. Especially if I read Murakami Haruki, I feel like everything is very like generic. If I read his books, I always think when he is looking at Japan, what I feel like is I don’t really know what country it is. And I feel like he never says anything to be specific. It never seems like he goes to Daily Yamazaki. I mean what he is doing like is he is just sitting in Azabu-Juban or something. I don’t know where he is really but I never feel like he talks about clear specific things that much. I guess he is obviously the most popular Japanese writer. But his writing is even in Japanese, I don’t feel like he really writes anything interesting. His Japanese is boring. His Japanese probably is pretty easy to translate because he doesn’t really use difficult words. It is pretty clear and direct. I don’t feel like he really does anything really interesting with his writing. I don’t feel like he really goes in the Japanese everyday life very much. I guess he’s just living in his head, he’s not going to Daily Yamazaki (*a Japanese convenience store chain.)

Well, I would say I know in more detail but I just I figure things that it just smears maybe things that with Japanese food. We’ll just think it is like boring one more something it seems interesting I don’t know.

RZ: Do you read in Japanese?

JI: Yes, I try to. But it’s I usually have to read with original and translation and trying to figure it out especially like Mishima and these kind of older writers. Because they’re usually using strange Kanji. So I try to. But my reading is pretty weak recently. When I was still studying, I read a lot. But now I’m just pretty lazy.

You might have heard of my friend, Quentin S. Crisp (*1), he’s actually translating one of Nagai Kafuu’s novel, Okame Zasa. I think he’s done a half of it and I tried to read the original but I can’t.

(*1  According to his profile in Drowning in Beauty, Quentin S. Crisp was born in 1972, in North Devon, U.K. He studied Japanese at Durham University and he did research in Japanese literature on a Monbusho Scholarship at Kyoto University from 2001 to 2003. His fiction and poetry has been published by Tartarus Press, PS Publishing, Haikasoru and Eibonvale Press. He is studying for an MA in philosophy at Birkbeck College. )

RZ:  How did you two know each other?

JI: We actually met on the internet.  I think I wrote to him. I was reading some comments may be posted on… Do you know Momus? He’s a kind of like musician, sort of a producer. He  produced some J-pop kind of stuff. Quentin who was posting something about him on his blog and he actually mentioned Mishima’s quadrilogy Houjou no Umi (The Sea of Fertility) that I was reading it at that time. So I thought, wow, someone else knows about it. I wrote to him and just kind of became friends through that. That’s what led to Chômu Press. Because he’d gotten some books published, but he had a lot of these other stories that wasn’t really doing anything with. So we thought, we could start our own kind of magazine or blog or whatever to release these stories. And I had some stories too. So he started doing that and then his brother said “I have some capital.” or “I have some funding.” so we can start a company and releasing these books.

RZ: I have been interested in something experimental literature. So I know Eibonvale press, Ex-occidente press, Zagava books and you, Chômu Press…

JI: Yeah, they’re all pretty good like friends. The ex-Occidente guy is called Dan Getsu. He is Romanian. And Eibonvale guy is David Rix and he’s actually got a novel coming out with Snuggly Books. Next one.  So everyone is like working together. It’s quite closely related.

At the moment, I’m actually working with this artist called Gea Philes, she’s from Chile. We’re doing like a kind of a graphic novel. She’s drawing comics and I’m writing. It probably gonna be released on Zagava. But it’s just a kind of grue, weird kind of stuff. We’re doing this like a collaboration and some of it is set in Japan.

RZ: Speaking of Snuggly books, what is it actually? I saw a lot of translation by Brian Stableford were put out from the press.

JI: His health is pretty bad right now so I don’t know if he’s gonna continue much longer. He’s having trouble but still translating. The main idea (of Snuggly) is that, we, I mean Brendan Connell and I, wanted to release a lot of our books but we wanted more money to do it. So we thought if we publish more translations, translations are usually sell well, we make money with the translations and can release other books and we don’t have to worry about trying to make it easier to read. Because our books are pretty weird.

So we’re not so expected but it’s doing pretty well. I think last year we put out 30 or 35 books and then the year before was only maybe 15 or something. So It’s mostly, probably 70 percent are translations. And we want to do some Japanese translations as well. I was thinking about doing like Shinichi Hoshi. Because this is also not really much in English. There’s a few stories but I don’t think there’s any like really big books from him. I’d like to do it because his style is also pretty easy. His Japanese is not super difficult. I could maybe do it but too busy right now. So I don’t know. I’d like to eventually do or we’ll see some other people.

He is really interesting writer but I feel like, in English, not many people know about him. He’s not as famous as like some other writers from the same period. He is an underrated writer because maybe his writing is simple.

So Snuggly, I mean we, want to eventually get Japanese translations published probably and I am too lazy right now doing my own stuff. I think most of them in from in fresh and then recently putting up more Spanish translations both Spanish writers and South American writers coming

out down. This is like weird interesting ones, a kind of decadent Spanish language writers. Some Mexican ones, I think it’s great.

RZ: You told you don’t like SF on an interview through…

JI: Oh, I like science fiction. But I think it’s easy to get a kind of lazy with it. I think a lot of writers maybe coming to it more from watching science fiction movies or the science fiction TV shows which are good. but I think there’s more I think a lot of them are at least starting off from that with that base rather than starting with the books or something I don’t know.

I think that the books are more interesting or like more ahead of the shows like so the the TV shows and movies usually seem like maybe 40 years behind the books or not as interesting.

So I think I probably do read mostly in special interest is Alfred Bester.

RZ: And you like Samuel R. Delany as well?

JI: Yeah, I read a lot of Delaney. Actually he’s one of my influences. There’s another writer called Barrington Bailey. He’s really good, too.

RZ: He is popular in Japan pretty much. His new collection was published just a few years ago.

JI: Oh really?  I’m surprised to hear that he’s not just a few years ago something that’s really strange. Why is he popular in Japan?

RZ: Hmmm, probably some famous translators do on his books? I don’t know.

JI: It’s really unusual. I think he’s still fairly like unknown in Western countries. Anglosphere is still considered him a minor kind of writer. But yeah, he’s got some really amazing stories.

I usually I feel like I just keep coming back to that time period like the 60s and 70s. Cordwainer Smith is my another favorite.

RZ: He is als popular in Japan. His complete collections were published two years ago.

JI: He’s mostly written short stories, I mean they’re all kind of been in the same universe, the same future history forever. His stories influenced me a lot. Who else is good… Joanna Russ is good, too.

RZ: (agreed.) Oh, didn’t you mention Greg Egan? He’s also very popular in Japan.

JI:  Yeah, I can imagine he’d be popular. One of my good friends is doing some kind of math PhD.  He’s American but he’s reading Greg Egan in a Japanese translation and try to improve his Japanese. Greg Egan is really good too. I prefer his short fiction.

I actually lived in in Perth in Australia which is where he gonna swim. I was thinking on the train, it’s like … “you might be Greg Egan.” Because no one knows what he looks like, so maybe he’s just riding the train I might have seen him but we don’t know.

RZ: I brought his latest collection in Japan with me. It was published last week.

JI:  I gotta take a picture for my friend and let him know what I find! (Took photos by phone.) He was reading Diaspora. My friend was also reading Yasutaka Tsutsui, but I haven’t read anything by him. My friend’s Japanese is much better than mine and he does also math and programming like genius. Recently he was trying to find more Japanese I might get some recommendations from you for other Japanese science fiction writers. He’s asking me is what other good Japanese science fiction is. I say I don’t know. Do you have any ideas?

RZ:  Project Itoh is highly acclaimed. (I also mentioned Dempow Torishima and Gengen Kusano before the interview.)

JI: I just saw a news on Facebook like someone was starting a Asian Science Fiction Association or Group Meeting or something. I think someone in Korea posted about it. They had some meetings. I think Cixin Liu was there too.

RZ: Oh, didn’t you mention Can Xue in an interview, too? One of her out of print books was reprinted in Japan last year. It was sold out so quickly, so reprinted again.

JI: That’s nice. I still feel like at the Anglosphere I think there’s some more receptivity recently but I feel translated fiction is still very unfairly unknown and not that many not that many people are picking up translated fiction. It’s getting a little bit better but it’s still pretty bad I think.

I think someone posted, I think it was in New York Review of Books, they said they were looking at the publishers that had released the most translations in 2018 and Snuggly was actually on the list. I thought it’s really bad that we’re actually putting out just as many translations as a University Press or like a major press. I think this article was trying to be positive when they’re saying actually a lot of translations are coming out. I thought it’s still pretty bad. It’s only that level. I feel like it’s still really monoculture or it’s still limited. Can Xue or Kurahashi Yumiko or someone, it’s still fairly unknown which is a shame. I think it’s slowly changing but still pretty slow.

About the publications from Snuggly Books

JI: This one (Neo-Decadent Manifesto of Women’s Fashion) just came out I think a year ago is it so this is the same guy that wrote this Daniel Corrick is doing the men’s fashion one. I think I told him to do it. I don’t know these I don’t think it’s written it yet and the other guy, Damian Murphy is writing an occultism manifesto, a kind of magical manifesto. We’re trying to release some more of these like little documents, talking about stuff. I’m actually interviewing Damian right now. It would be a long interview. He talks about a lot of interesting books, luxurious looking, complicated looking books. Actually he’s like a cultist and kind of magician I guess.

RZ: I’m very interested in Colby Smith’s story in this. (Drowning in Beauty)

JI: He’s actually quite young. He’s learning Japanese now. I was trying to teach him Japanese.

RZ: I couldn’t find any other works by him. Is it the first and only fiction by him?

JI: He’s a student in Ohio and I guess this is his first publishing.

RZ: How could you find him?

JI: We met on a forum. So we’re just talking about there and he mentioned that he was like trying to write stories. So  I said that send it over to me and and he sent over a bunch of stories.

We felt like this was the best one. So we decided to use this one. Actually he’s got a book coming out, I think, by the end of this year.

RZ: Oh, I’m looking forward to it.

JI: He’ll be really happy to hear that. He’s always excited to hear the feedback.

RZ: By the way, the forum that Colby and you met was Thomas Ligotti’s one?

JI: Yeah, I think I started posting on that forum because Quentin Crisp used to post. I enjoyed Ligotti’s books but I’m not super interested in. I try to I guess some were just like more pleasant kind of things that are not kind of the opposite of horror. But yeah, Ligotti’s is a pretty amazing writer. We posted for a while and there’s some other writers Colby. I think Colby got banned from his post and I don’t think he’s on there anymore. But there’s some of us used to posting and advertise things out there.

RZ: Ligotti fans made me remember some guys from Warwick University, you know, like Nick Land.

JI: Okay, Nick Land is interesting writer with CCRU. There’s some maybe influence once

there. I think he’s in China.

RZ:  I found an article in Dennis Cooper’s blog. About some of the stories of Drowning in Beauty are influenced by J. G. Ballard.

JI: Yeah, I think I especially like Atrocity Exhibition. He took kind of I don’t wanna say sampling but almost like it. I think he was influenced by William S. Burroughs where he had these really compressed, condensed approach to writing which I think influence on at least me. That’s a kind of what I’m still interested in some sort of sampling things or plagiarizing things or stealing things. I did a lot of that with my mother books on my collection Pleasant Tales II which is just came out. I would start with a story from the public domain which you can use without getting a lawsuit.  Other than Atrocity Exhibition, Crash and a lot of the short stories influences me as well.

RZ:  Is your day job still related to localization?

JI:  Yes, I also do kind of translations.

At the moment, I’m actually writing children’s books for EFL, English as a foreign language for a company. So I’m working with the comic artists to write really simple books for kids and introduce some really basic English grammar. That’s been kind of strange because it’s also sort of like reading a manga or a comic but they’re very simple way. I usually am I feel like I’m not trying to be super professional with writing because I feel like if I’m worried too much about making money with writing I probably wouldn’t write anything I would not do it. Okay, I just make money translating things and doing other stuff then use that money to even sometimes help with Snuggly trying to publish some of these things that probably wouldn’t be released otherwise because that’s too strange.

I’ve always been interested in languages. I grew up with my parents speaking Italian. So I was in that situation those different languages. I released a poetry book and still doing that too but I don’t have enough for another book. I like to eventually do another poetry book.

RZ: You told that you wrote your stories at Manga cafes in Tokyo.

JI: I used to  love I still do a lot of work in Manga cafes because I used to have an internet connection in my apartment but my one computer crashed. I couldn’t figure out. So I just started going to you know what is it bad news was that internet cafe usually like do some writing in there doing some trying to get writing done in there if I’m usually in my apartment and who’s too many distractions I can’t like focus on writing. I feel like it’s easier to focus.

RZ:  Have you ever met any Japanese authors?

JI:  No, I haven’t really. I’ve never been so like a convention in any country and I don’t think I’ve met other than my friends I haven’t really met any writers. I haven’t met any Japanese authors here so I’d be interested to meet to see what they’re doing. 

Some of my friends told me about a writer called David Peace. I think he’s teaching at a university. I was gonna meet him at one point but then it didn’t happen. I have a friend who was teaching at a university and I think he was in the same faculty with Peace, so he had a chance to meet him.

And just earlier today, I was with one of my friends here. He’s a writer for Warhammer. Do you know Warhammer novels?

RZ:  Well, yes, the novels based on TRPG and once Ian Watson and Barrington J. Bayley wrote it in my understanding.

JI:  Yeah. His name is Steve Parker.  He writes those Warhammer novels but he also lives in Tokyo. I hang out with him today. He is a good guy. He’s a really huge guy, like a bodybuilder. We’re usually hanging out and talking about books and Daily Yamazaki. He’s just putting out a new Warhammer book called the shadow or something. He was just put out this trilogy for the Warhammer. I think he’s had some original stuff out, too.

There’s another writer in Tokyo. His name is Ralph Doege. He is a German writer, German science fiction writer.  He’s on holiday until for now and I asked him if you wanted to come out tonight but he was too shy or just too scared. He is a historian. He is really into Japanese idol music. Last week, I was like “Just come out drinking or something.” but he was like “No, I’m going to see indies Idols”, underground idols or whatever. I might meet him this week. I think these guys were doing some international science fiction magazine in Germany. This is his book. The cover is a Japanese artist called Shinohara Ai.

About next publication

JI: Chomu Press was inactive at the moment but it’s probably gonna restart later this year. I think David Rix’s putting out a book and I want to put another one, too. I made a list of things that I wanted to include that I felt was missing from other books that taking place in Japan, the things that I hadn’t seen. So I put down Daily Yamazaki and a bunch of other like cultural elements. One of the stories in this one (Drowning in Beauty) I was trying to research nail salons and get it kind of accurate. I don’t know if you gonna be interested in this kind of stuff… but I feel interested in for some reason. I guess I feel like not many people are probably going to notice it but I started a really long time ago, I started writing it 10 years ago. I thought then I had to like take notes because I thought what was happening you know in 2010 when this what I had the idea for this so I wanted to make sure everything would be consistent. I guess the original idea with naturalism was to be quite close to life, because you know, normally when you I guess when you’re reading a book or you’re reading a novel there’s lots of like dramatic things happening and there’s a plot of the story but I almost feel like it’s more interesting with it and that doesn’t happen someone who’s just going to get like a choco-croissant (*2 ) or something that we read little things are happening in in real life the strange things are happening so basically the book is just based on that those kind of things and it’s almost it’s almost like a novel but it’s like a novel made of the different short stories but it’s a lot of the same characters.

(*2 Choco-cro is the specialty of a Japanese chain, Saint marc cafe. It is mentioned in “The Quest for Nail Art” by Justin.)

The other thing I wanted to write about was, you know like Goto Yuki? (*3)  Gomaki’s younger brother. I actually met Goto Yuki like a couple years ago and he was arrested for stealing building materials from the construction site. I felt like I have to write a book about Goto Yuki’s stealing construction materials. I thought that’s kind of like I have to include that somehow so I it also comes out in the same book when you Goto Yuki. I hope he’s not gonna be nervous but still it’s something I wanted to put in a book.

(* He was once a member of idol group, AAA.)

On Writing

JI: I think a lot of people are writing books like basically trying to write a movie in their mind. They’re just sitting there, they’re visualizing the things happening and then just describing a movie. You know, like the restaurant was dark and he looks around and there’s a table… they’re having this very kind of a simple approach of narrating things and visualizing things. You might have an opening scene and you know the characters come out and just driving. It’s like you’re trying to create a little movie in your mind but I think that’s boring. I feel like if you want to have that, you can just watch a movie or turn on I don’t know Captain Marvel, Lord of the Rings or whatever.

I think words and language can do more interesting stuff especially with how it is structured and laid out, and what are some things we could do with with books or writing that you couldn’t do in a movie or would be impossible to view.. I was trying to think well how could I write something that I can’t really visualize and trying to use language in ways that aren’t really visual because we have enough TVs or movies. I don’t think it’s really the most interesting use of language just try to have a visual sense with it.

I’m influenced a lot more by just Facebook, Wikipedia or something. I think that’s another way to look at writing rather than having this kind of 19th century, you know, a way to play setting the scene or you know having characters and having this kind of stuff. I still do that as well but it’s not really what interests me about writing. I’m more interested in how can I like arrange things, or set things up, or like format things more. I don’t know what everyone else is doing. I mean these other people like Brendan and Quentin. They’re quite more interested in the past or like the actual original decadent writers but I don’t know I guess I’m more interested in what’s happening with at the moment unless I’m probably less interested in the past or I feel like writing generally gets better and more interesting as that goes on.

Some people are like pessimistic about writing. They think no one is reading any more like you know the standards are going down. Everything’s getting worse. But I don’t really think that’s true and I think books now are probably more interesting than they used to be in a lot of ways.

RZ: Thank you very much.

[harryandmeghan0-blog]

The Real 'Favourite' Of Queen Anne's Era? Tea, And The Gossip That Swirled Around It - NPR

New Post has been published on https://harryandmeghan.xyz/the-real-favourite-of-queen-annes-era-tea-and-the-gossip-that-swirled-around-it-npr/

The Real 'Favourite' Of Queen Anne's Era? Tea, And The Gossip That Swirled Around It - NPR

A satire of women’s social discourse in the Queen Anne period depicts six women taking tea in a parlor, with figures on the left signifying hidden emotions and power struggles behind a genteel facade. Circa 1710. Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption

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Hulton Archive/Getty Images

A satire of women’s social discourse in the Queen Anne period depicts six women taking tea in a parlor, with figures on the left signifying hidden emotions and power struggles behind a genteel facade. Circa 1710.

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

A film about Queen Anne of Great Britain, The Favourite, by the unorthodox Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos, will probably cadge a few Oscars. Even if it doesn’t, this comic and oddly moving film has already achieved something extraordinary. It has ignited widespread interest in the life of a corpulent, gouty, myopic, staunchly Anglican queen who allegedly had passionate relationships with two ladies of her bedchamber and who was pregnant 17 times but died childless before her 50th birthday about 300 years ago.

That’s an operatic biography, but strangely enough, until this movie, the only popular image the words “Queen Anne” triggered was of curved brown legs.

Not the queen’s gout-afflicted limbs that are a focal point of this raunchy film, but the classic, S-curved, cabriole legs that are a hallmark of Queen Anne furniture. Immensely popular across England and the American colonies, this elegant furniture was a fixture in wealthy 18th-century parlors from London to Boston.

But why did this style of furniture, which constitutes Anne’s most prominent cultural legacy, become such a rage? One of the chief reasons can be distilled into a dark and delicious word: tea.

Queen Anne and tea have a curious relationship, embellished with more than one ironic twist. Personally, Anne did little to promote tea. She liked it and drank it, of course, but her sweet tooth made her crave the other modish drink of the time, chocolate, which she savored privately in her bedchamber before taking a nap. She didn’t share the same relationship with tea. But the connection between tea-drinking and Anne’s reign has been widely commemorated in furniture, poetry, painting, journalism, satire and even slang. Why?

Good timing, is the answer. As tea historian Jane Pettigrew points out, Anne’s reign (1702-1714) happened to coincide with an important time for tea. By the time she came to the throne, tea-drinking, which had been going on in England for about 40 years, had evolved into an exceedingly fashionable social ritual among the upper-classes, spurring an unquenchable demand for all kinds of accoutrements for this expensive and exotic drink — from fancy new tea equipage in silver and porcelain (that was imported from China as well as made locally) to especially designed tea furniture.

In another happy coincidence, Anne’s reign witnessed the rise of that perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea: the morning newspaper. The first British daily, The Daily Courant, was launched the year she came to power, while the celebrated upper-class gossip sheet, The Tatler, followed seven years later. What a delectable pairing it must have been, fantasized the historical writer Mrs. Oliphant, for the Tatler to be “served up with the foaming chocolate or fragrant tea at every breakfast in Mayfair.”

But first, those Queen Anne legs.

Among the most popular pieces of Queen Anne furniture were those linked to tea-drinking, notably the tea table. Since coffeehouses were not considered respectable for ladies to frequent, and the establishment of woman-friendly tea gardens was still decades away, the tea table offered a genteel alternative: a convivial place to congregate, sip on Bohea and Hyson, and pass the time. It wasn’t long before it was being lampooned in verse as the “chief seat of slander” where “at each Sip a Lady’s Honour dies.”

Queen Anne’s reign coincided with an important time for tea and the emergence of the tea table. Popperfoto/Popperfoto/Getty Images hide caption

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Popperfoto/Popperfoto/Getty Images

Queen Anne’s reign coincided with an important time for tea and the emergence of the tea table.

Popperfoto/Popperfoto/Getty Images

“The first tea tables (explicitly so called) were sold in the late 1690s before Queen Anne’s reign,” says Markman Ellis, professor of 18th-century studies at the Queen Mary University of London. “But the idea of ‘the tea table’ as more than just a piece of furniture, but also a social event at which women and men met together for gossip and conversation, begins in Anne’s reign especially.”

Of the tea tables, the tilt-top table, was the most sought after. So called for the nifty mechanism that allowed the top to be flipped up and flattened for easy storage, it had a central column with three cabriole legs that ended in pad feet or ball-and-claw feet. Not too big, but large enough to accommodate a tea service, it sometimes had a scalloped or pie-crust edge or a tray-like lip to prevent the spoons and bowls and other costly paraphernalia from clattering to the floor. Delicately ornamented and lacquered in a style called Japanning, its quiet elegance marked a departure from the baroque excesses of the time. Several paintings of the era capture scenes of families and friends gathered around these small, light tables drinking tea.

Across the Atlantic, American landowners and merchants who took their cultural cues from England eagerly aspired to acquire these tables. Martha Washington owned one. Benjamin Franklin contemplated getting one for his sister as a wedding gift, before priggishly changing his mind and buying her a spinning wheel instead because, as he explained in his letter to her, “the character of a good housewife was far preferable to that of being only a pretty gentlewoman.” Easy to reproduce, they were soon widely available. Indeed, it is impossible to browse through an antique store today without stubbing one’s toe on a reproduction.

“We see tilt-top tables very often,” says Sebastian Clarke, a furniture expert and appraiser for the Antiques Roadshow on PBS. “They could be set out for tea, and once the social event was over, placed against the wall, as was the custom until the mid-part of the 18th century. Also known as occasional tables, they were used for gaming and meals as well as tea.”

Occasional table was only one of several names for this table that was also advertised as claw table, snap table, pillar and claw table, stand table, turn-up table, and most common of all, tea table. Very many names, except for one glaring omission: Queen Anne Table.

And here’s where this story takes an unforeseen twist. It turns out that the term “Queen Anne furniture” simply did not exist until almost 200 years after Anne’s reign.

“Queen Anne is a term used by 20th-century collectors of English and American antiques to refer to most fashionable furniture produced within the years 1720–1760,” says Sarah Fayen Scarlett, American material culture scholar. “When people began collecting and studying antique furniture in England and America in the late 19th century, they regarded these artifacts as markers of taste and culture, so using monarchical names (others include William and Mary Style and Georgian) connected these artifacts to known figures in the past. Much of what we call Queen Anne furniture doesn’t even coincide with Queen Anne’s reign!”

Essentially, then, the imperial brand name “Queen Anne” was grandmothered in by collectors to identify a style of furniture that spanned a much wider period than the queen’s brief reign. And that’s how this overweight queen, who had to be carried to her coronation in a chair because of her lameness from gout, came to posthumously lend her name to a style of furniture whose most distinguished design element is its elegant legs. It’s an irony that is both brutal and glorious, and more than anything else, in keeping with the scathingly funny tenor of Lanthimos’ film.

A paneled room, dated about 1740, containing furniture with the cabriole legs that are a hallmark of Queen Anne style. 1927. From Old Furniture, Volume I., edited by Lieut.-Col. E. F. Strange, C.B.E. Print Collector/Getty Images hide caption

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Print Collector/Getty Images

A paneled room, dated about 1740, containing furniture with the cabriole legs that are a hallmark of Queen Anne style. 1927. From Old Furniture, Volume I., edited by Lieut.-Col. E. F. Strange, C.B.E.

Print Collector/Getty Images

In The Favourite, nursing the queen’s inflamed legs gives chambermaid Abigail the opportunity to inveigle her way into the royal bedchamber, much to the chagrin of her powerful rival, the duchess of Marlborough. The two women scheme ruthlessly for the queen’s bed and favor, their lives as enjoined as the three legs of a tea table, and hostilities come to a boil when Abigail slips a drug into the duchess’s teacup — or tea bowl.

While the poisoning is fictional and the sexual strife highly speculative, the cup itself (a small blue-and-white porcelain bowl with a deep saucer) is an authentic period prop, points out Ophelia Field, author of an authoritative history on the duchess of Marlborough, The Favourite. “Tea was drunk from handleless china bowls imported from the Far East, with the very first matching tea set introduced during Anne’s reign,” she tells NPR. “They also used silver ‘mote spoons,’ which had tiny holes for picking out tea leaves from the bowl before strainers were introduced. Serving tea was a significant performative part of conspicuous consumption, both at court and in those homes which imitated court fashions.”

Waiting to poke fun at all these affectations was the 18th-century writer Daniel Defoe, who sneered at “foolishly vain” tradesmen whose wives “sit above in the parlour, and receive visits, and drink tea,” and “have their parlours set off with the tea-table and the chocolate-pot, and the silver coffee-pot,” despite the steep taxes on all three drinks.

Defoe’s social commentary provides a looking glass into the thriving tea economy and tea habits of the age, but the most enduring literary memorial to Queen Anne came from another source: Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock, a satirical poem that sent up the fops at court for being a bunch of tea-drinking, card-playing idlers. The queen herself was not spared:

Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey.

Dost sometimes counsel take — and sometimes Tea.

“These lines are usually thought to diminish the importance of the queen’s counselors or her interest in politics,” says professor Ellis, “but equally, it suggests that her morning tea table was an important part of her governing practice. Incidentally, Pope’s rhyme suggests that tea was pronounced ‘tay’ in polite circles at this time.”

Polite circles had also coined a very impolite nickname for their queen. She was called Brandy Nan, for her alleged weakness for “cold tea.” A euphemism for brandy in a teacup or brandy-spiked tea, the term is revealing of how this relatively new drink had already become part of court slang.

But who can blame Brandy Nan for hitting the cold tea, if indeed she did? Short-changed by life and history, she was derided for being a weak, gluttonous, bibulous woman who, as one malicious ditty went, committed “dark deeds at night” with a “dirty chambermaid.” Some of the charges are perhaps true. But Anne got no credit for the military and political triumphs of her reign or even the basic acknowledgment that despite her poor education, awful health, and the unimaginable sorrow of being permanently pregnant and eventually childless, she was a well-liked ruler driven by a strong sense of duty.

The Favourite redresses some of this by portraying Anne with sympathy and humor, and by presenting the whole story in an ahistorical and thoroughly madcap manner. In effect, it gleefully tips up the preset, tilt-top tea table of history — handleless cups, mote spoons, teapot, urn, sugar tongs, slop bowls and all — and allows us to revel in the smashup. Great Anna might have relished it.

Nina Martyris is a journalist based in Knoxville, Tenn.

Tea Tuesdays is an occasional series exploring the science, history, culture and economics of this ancient brewed beverage.

Source: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/02/19/695175058/the-real-favourite-of-queen-anne-s-era-tea-and-the-gossip-that-swirled-around-it

[yasbxxgie]

Superman should be black.

By that I mean he should have dark skin, and not that he's African-American or any other person of color. After all, the Man of Steel is from the planet Krypton, not Earth. That said, Superman could indeed be played by a black actor in future superhero movies.

My argument for why Superman should be black is based on science. Before I explain the reasoning, however, we need to address a sensitive subject: race. Many people use skin color as shorthand for ethnicity, but 'race' has little meaning in biology – it's a social concept that describes recent ancestry.

Race matters for superheroes because it contributes to their identity. And over the past few decades, comic book publishers and movie studios have increasingly changed characters to reflect a society's ethnic diversity.

While that should be applauded in principle, identity changes are often short-term publicity stunts. It might sound cynical, but if publishers and studios had pure intentions, changes would be permanent. As long-time comic fans know, major heroes almost inevitably revert back to their original identities.

Rather than promoting diversity just for diversity's sake, I believe the case for changing a character's identity is made stronger if the rationale makes sense based on origins and powers. The change is more likely to be welcomed – and become permanent – if it's based on logic, not gimmick. And that brings us to Superman.

Because most superpowers break the laws of physics, explaining why they're impossible is a pointless exercise. For the science of superheroes, it's more fun to focus on what's plausible. So while Superman's powers probably require unrealistic amounts of energy to work, we can at least imagine how to maximize the energy he'd need.

Solar-powered cells

In the movie Man of Steel, Superman asks his biological father why he's different from humans. As Jor-El explains: "Earth's Sun is younger and brighter than Krypton's was – your cells have drunk in its radiation, strengthening your muscles, your skin, your senses."

The fact Superman is powered by solar radiation – light – is also shown in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. In one scene, he regenerates after bathing in the Sun's rays, paying homage to the comic that inspired the film, 'The Dark Knight Returns', when he tells Mother Earth: "The Sun's power... fuels us both."

Almost all life on Earth is ultimately powered by the Sun via photosynthesis: plants and other organisms use light to make food (carbohydrates) from CO2 and water. Their photosynthetic cells also release oxygen, which can be used to burn the energy-rich carbs that fuel metabolism.

Superman's cells would carry out a process similar to photosynthesis. Instead of making carbs, maybe he synthesizes fictional molecules that store even larger amounts of chemical energy.

Light rays consist of photons, subatomic particles that behave as both waves and pure energy. The length of a wave determines a photon's energy: short wavelengths – gamma rays, x-rays and UV light – are at one end of this spectrum, long wavelengths like infrared at the other.

High-energy radiation such as UV damages living tissue and can trigger genetic mutations (potentially causing cancer), whereas low-energy radiation is harmless but has low energy. As a consequence, Superman would absorb photons from the visible spectrum.

In complex organisms, photons are harvested by specialized compartments, such as the chloroplasts in plant cells. Chloroplasts contain proteins that funnel photons toward pigments, which convert energy from light.

When photons hit a pigment molecule, its electrons gain enough energy to leave their associated atoms. Electrons are then passed along chain reactions to produce molecules that can later release the energy stored in their chemical bonds, which is used to synthesize carbs.

Colored pigments

On Superman's home planet of Krypton, the best pigment color for absorbing solar radiation would be black.

Light-capturing pigments act as antennas tuned for picking-up photons with a particular energy, and their colors – how they look to our eyes – is determined by which photons they absorb. Blue photons have more energy than red photons, but few manage to reach our planet's surface.

Air and water filter-out certain wavelengths. On Earth, land plants have evolved to use the red-absorbing pigment chlorophyll, which looks green. Not all photosynthetic organisms are green, however: some plants have red leaves, while purple bacteria can even absorb infrared.

Photosynthetic organisms on distant worlds would use whichever pigments are most appropriate to the available wavelengths of light. Green may be common on Earth, but other colors could be more popular on other worlds. This could be exploited to detect signs of extraterrestrial life, as described in a brilliant article in Scientific American by biometerologist Nancy Kiang of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

As Kiang explains in her article, 'The colour of plants on other worlds': "The limiting factor is not the feasibility of novel pigments but the light spectrum available at a planet's surface, which depends mainly on the star type."

While the light that reach the surface is affected by which wavelengths penetrate the atmosphere, it's ultimately dictated by which rays are emitted by nearby stars.

And as comic fans know, Krypton orbits a red star and Superman gains his powers thanks to Earth's yellow Sun.

In Man of Steel, Jor-El sends his son to a planet "orbiting a main sequence yellow star." What does that mean? Many stars have a lifespan lasting billions of years, which often includes a 'main sequence' – the period when it carries out nuclear fusion, forcing hydrogen atoms together to create helium. This generates massive amounts of light energy.

Sun of Krypton

Astronomers classify stars according to 'spectral type' – basically, temperature and luminosity. There are 6 types (O, B, A, F, G, K and M). Rare O-type stars are hot, bright and look blue, whereas M-type stars – such as red dwarfs and red giants – are relatively cool and dim. Our Sun is somewhere in-between, a warm and yellow G-type star.

After accounting for atmosphere, the peak wavelength of light reaching Earth's surface is around 685 nanometers. For an M-type star like Krypton's Sun, it's about 1045 nm. In Man of Steel, a Kryptonian soldier says atmospheric conditions on their spaceship isn't compatible with humans, so the peak wavelengths would be slightly different due to filtering by air and water vapor.

Photosynthetic species – including a Kryptonian like Superman – living on a world orbiting a relatively inactive star would therefore need dark pigments to harvest light.

As Dr Nancy Kiang explains in her Scientific American article: "A planet around a quiescent M star would receive about half the energy that Earth receives from our Sun... Evolution might favour a greater variety of photosynthetic pigments to pick out the full range of visible and infrared light. With little light reflected, plants might even look black to our eyes."

Dark skin

The dark pigment that Superman's cells would need to absorb sunlight has a different function to melanin, the brown pigment that humans and other mammals use to protect against damaging UV radiation.

After humans migrated out of Africa 200,000 years ago, those populations exposed to less light would have been under weaker evolutionary pressure to spend metabolic resources on making UV-blocking pigments, which is why their descendants now have white skin.

Characteristic features of species are usually the result of natural selection, adaptations to their local environment. Because Superman has powers, light-capturing pigments must be useful to the survival of Kryptonians.

How did superpowers evolve? One possibility is that abilities were favored by evolution on Superman's home planet, and his ancestors lost their powers when the star turned red. Alternatively, they never evolved super-strength or super-senses – light was simply an energy source for ordinary metabolism – and Earth's yellow Sun artificially boosts their abilities.

Will we ever see a black Superman? In fact, Kryptonians of color already feature in comics. On an alternate version of Earth, for example, Calvin Ellis is not only Superman, but President of the United States (the character was modelled on Barack Obama).

But ethnic diversity hasn't always been politically correct. One issue of Superman describes Vathlo Island as 'home of a highly developed black race'. Such cringeworthy statements were typical back in the 1970s, but as comics writer Mark Waid points out, "A lack of ethnicity was an error of omission, and I'm not sure given the time that it's fair to call that 'racist'." It's less forgivable that the Kryptonians in Man of Steel (released in 2013) were all white.

DC Comics regularly relaunches its continuity, but it's unlikely the company would make Superman black, partly because he has so much history. A hero's race influences whether people identify with that character too.

But there is a precedent for changing ethnicity. Most famously, Nick Fury – traditionally depicted as white – was reimagined as Samuel L Jackson in comics. Life then imitated art as the actor was cast in the Marvel cinematic universe. Fury is a relatively minor character, however, and changing a major superhero might be met with more resistance from long-term fans.

The companies that own superheroes – publishers and movie studios – could follow the example of their heroic characters and make brave decisions. Henry Cavill will play Superman in Warner Bros' Justice League films, but what about the inevitable reboot in a few years' time?

Science says Superman should be black. Hopefully the next time we see him on screen, the Man of Steel will be a more realistic, solar-powered superhero. [h/t]

[whrites-blog]

Adam Conover (Full Interview)

Adam Conover brings a fresh wave of comedy to the ones we currently are smothered with, with Adam, it isn’t just a bundle of genital jokes or laugh tracks being played in the background. His show, Adam Ruins Everything, for the sakes of comedy, it also provides the power of knowing, educating the viewers on important issues whilst providing entertainment. 

This interview is published on Lithium Magazine, you can read the interview here.

Wen Hsiao: “Adam Ruins Everything” videos have surfaced onto major medias, front pages of Reddits and everyone’s FaceBook pages, how has the popularity and success of “Adam Ruins Everything” affected you? Personally and career wise?

Adam Conover: Oh that’s a real… Uh, huh… Um… How has it affected me personally and career wise? Career wise, as a comedian, as a comedian, I have been doing comedy for, um, with my sketch group, Olde English, was an early sketch group I had, and then I did a bit by myself as a stand up comic, and as a comedian, when you’re starting out, it’s trying to get people to care what you say, you know. *Laughs* It’s always the struggle of “I’m here telling jokes, please listen, please pay attention. Please come to my next show.” You know, you’re trying to get people to care, a lot of people do like the show and they do care about what I have to say, they come to see me perform, they tell me they like what I’m doing, it’s really gratifying. And now that I have a bit of a platform, I make sure we make the most with it, we say the things that are most worth while to say, even as we try to grow it. You know, personally, it’s a new experience to get this much attention but it’s all been really positive and a great experience, so I’m very very gratified and happy about it, so just trying to stay humble and to do good work, you know.

Wen Hsiao: In “Adam Ruins Everything”,  the Adam persona comes off as some that is seemingly a bit of it know-it-all, is this purely for comedic effects or do you think it reflects off your own personality?

Adam Conover: Definitely reflects off my personality , absolutely, I mean, the character is a slight exaggeration of how I am in real life or how I often felt throughout my life. So, the main dynamic between the main characters and me, when I am telling those stuff that they don’t want to hear me saying it, uh, that is how I felt, my whole life as a kid and as a teenager, and I know all these things and people would say “Adam, why are you bringing this up right now? It’s such a pain in the ass, we’re just trying to enjoy the hockey game.” Or whatever it is that I’m talking over, you know, these guys really get hurt, etc. Um, now, I’m not quite socially awkward, I have a better, well, I have a girlfriend, I’m not single, unlike the show (Referring to his Adam character on Collegehumor), I’m really happy that people feel the same or relatable, I have people come up to me sand say “Oh I’m the Adam of my group of friends”. It’s really wonderful, in addition to that, I really love that we make people feel less alone and it’s made me feel less alone about who I am.

Wen Hsiao: Collegehumor has existed for over 17 years, how does feel to be a part of the Collegehumor, a long running comedy website and channel and what is the biggest takeaway you’ve gotten from your job at Collegehumor?

Adam Conover: Oh man, seventeen years? That’s such a long time. I’ve only worked there since 2012 I believe, Collegehumor is a comedy writer’s paradise. When I got a job there, while living in New York, it’s like a dream job to me, I’ve wanted to work there for years and so thrilled that I did, so it feel great and it feels great, the people we make the show with now, are the people at Collegehumor, it’s the same production, so I get to work with all my friends and buddy that we made the web series with, and the sketches with for many years. The thing about college humor is that, my former boss there, Sam Reich, runs the video department, runs the video department, the original content department, um, really made it a priority that the individual voice of comedy writers came first, whatever the writers thought was funny as went, that was the main concern, instead of trying to get a certain numbers of clicks or try to please ad sales, the main focus was making what we s comedy writers thought was funny, so that resulted in a really creative fulfilling environment that produced shows like “Adam Ruins Everything”.

Wen Hsiao: What do you think is the best and worst part of being a comedian? What is a side of comedians that you think people don’t usually see or understand?

Adam Conover: *Laughs* That’s a really good question, the best and worst part of being a comedian. You know the, let’s see, I think, I think the best and worst part of being a comedian is the same thing, being a comedian, art form, but everyone knows what success and failure means. If you go to see a painting at an art gallery, you may be like “I don’t know if I like that painting but other people seem to like it and it’s up here in the gallery, it must be pretty good” you can’t really tell, you see a painting and you’re like, “maybe I’m wrong thinking it’s bad”, the mark of success and failure, it’s pretty vague. But if you go to a comedy show, and no one laughs at the jokes, you know you didn’t do a good job, so that’s very tough, other artists gets to, well, the audience isn’t there to make sounds, there’s no way to tell if it’s good or fail, they don’t have to face the fact if they did a bad job, they can just say it at least I told my truth and I’m proud of myself, but in comedy, you’re not doing good job, and that’s really the best and worst thing about it. The best part is what you get from the crowd, is the best feeling possible, I think that is what drives, that feeling it’s almost like, you know, like it’s really one of those things you could say is better than sex. *Laughs* To have a whole crowd to give you that social approval by giving you a big laugh, so that’s the best part. The worst part is when they don’t, you don’t get to turn away from that, if you bomb, you know it, you don’t get to say “Well, I’m still an artist, I know it.” When you leave that crowd, you’re like “They didn’t laugh, I failed.” But that sort of failure is also a great tool to help comedians get better, because you know when I started doing stand-up, for instance, we do open-mic every single night. For people who wants to do comedy, a great thing is also to go to open-mic’s and get yourself on stage and just start trying stuff, the audience is a tool for you, when they laugh, you know what you wrote is good, when they don’t laugh, even when you do the joke five times, and it never gets a laugh, you know that joke wasn’t funny, so you just learned something about the difference of what’s funny and what isn’t. It’s some valuable practice, right? Where as if you’re doing a joke, and the audience doesn’t really make sound, you don’t really know, it’s a lot harder to tell if the audience liked it or not. There’s not a specific sound they are trying to make.

Wen Hsiao: What is your favorite video that you’ve ever produced or been a part of?

Adam Conover: Oh man, is it okay if I list something that’s an Adam Ruins Everything video?

Wen Hsiao: Yeah, of course.

Adam Conover: I’ll list two! With my old sketch group, Old English, I did a video “Ken Swizzle’s Time Machine” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z3gA6JMzSE), I did this in 2006, so 10 years ago now, it’s a local commercial for a sad man who’s trying to convince people that he’s invented the time machine when he really hasn’t , it’s just a really dumb, silly idea, and it’s one of my favorite, it still makes laugh, and I got to wear a funny, bald cap wig costume, *laughs*, I just love it for that reason, it really holds a place in my heart, this is such a dumb one but I still love a video I did, wait no, I want to list this one instead, I did these videos at Collegehumor called “Furry Force’ with Ryan Murphy who is another writer there, we wrote them together and they’re a kids TV show starring teenagerss who transferred into furries, you know, the animals that people are into on the internet, because they’re so gross and sexual, and the animals are so grossed out and can’t handle it and runs away. It’s such a, it still makes me laugh really hard and it’s the kind of comedy you can only do on the internet, it’s too tense, it would never make it on TV, not even adults swim would take this show on, that’s why I’m still such a big  fan of it, people won’t remember it, it’s not going to be on my tombstone when I die, but I really love it.

Wen Hsiao: Do you think Adam Ruins Everything Election Special tour has served as somewhat of a PSA (Public service announcement) for people, bringing awareness to political issues and stigmas that weren’t really publicized?

Adam Conover: I hope so! I hope it brings awareness to issues that aren’t publicized, Wen, at our show, we can’t change the outcome of the election, the most we can do is inform people and open their eyes about the world around them, the more importantly, the issues we raised at the Election Special (tour) is, I hope the people who watched started thinking a little bit more critically about the political system, starting to open their eyes about how the (political) system worked, asking questions about it, starting to be more engaged, you know, starting to question the assumption of the legal system a little bit more, that’s what’s really important to me. That’s why I wanted to talk to you, because you know, young people, are you in high school?

Wen Hsiao: Yeah, I’m a junior in high school.

Adam Conover: Yeah, I mean high school students are honestly the biggest audience for the show,  and I love that! And that’s the age which, first of all, everyone says that high school students don’t like to learn and they are all lazy and they hate school, right? It’s not true, people love to learn, especially high school students, they love to question the world around them, so I’m hoping the election special inspired them, folks like yourself to think more critically about politics and be more engaged.

Wen Hsiao: Who has inspired you the most in your life? How have them impacted you?

Adam Conover: I have two answers for that questions. One is a figure in my comedic life, John Stewart, he has really inspired me, I have watched him through high school and college, he had a huge impact on me, he really changed the way Americans saw comedy, before him, people just thought “It’s just a funny guy on TV” But he, comedy really have something vital to say about our country and about the way it is organized and he made it clear that comedy could move the needle of culture, and be influential and not just funny. And then, it’s possible to do about real things in life that matters, those things, that was just endlessly inspiring to me. And I think what he did was the highest calling for any comedian, I’m not saying that people who do other work are bad, I’m just saying, for me, that’s my role model.

Secondly, my other biggest inspiration is my partner, Lisa Hanawalt, who I’ve been with for close to a decade now and she is, if people don’t know, she is a cartoonist, an illustrator and a visual artist that does incredible art and she also a production design and producer of Bojack Horseman, the Netflix show, she does all of the character design and background design, and she really inspires me because she always trying to do, always pushing herself to create better and better art, and create more and more beautiful things. She’s really true of it, and she always pushes herself into new areas of creative exploration, she doesn’t just draw illustration, she started doing ceramics, pottery, she plays the piano, she does sculptures, she never rests, she is always pushing the boundaries of what she is interested in, so  we’re always pushing each other to do more creative things and yeah, that’s why she inspires me.

Wen Hsiao: If you had to be remembered by for one thing, what would it be?

Adam Conover: *Laughs* Um, to remembers as being funny, and as thoughtful. Mostly, I want to be remembered as the guy who was always, the avatar of asking why, looking into things deeply. A lot of people think of me in the show, telling the audience this is the way things are, this is the great knowledge i have, I’m a know-it-all. But that’s not what the character of Adam is. Instead of that, I am an avatar of curiosity, right? Asking why do we do the things the way we do things? Why is society this way? This is why we think we know that? Why do we think we know that? The constant self undermining. I don’t want to the guy who was right in every instance, I want to be the guy who figured out if he was wrong about something. *Laughs again* And hopefully who brought other people in.

Wen Hsiao: What goals or expectations do you have for yourself for 2017?

Adam Conover: *Laughs* I mean, we’re doing another season, so we’re doing another 16 episodes, so I’m just trying to do the best 16 episodes of TV I possibly can, yeah, that’s it. We’re making more episodes of the show, and I want to make it funnier and more, you know, take on bigger ideas, and be better at every way. The show is still very new, we’ve only been doing it for 2 years, we’re still getting better at it, there’s room to grow, keep making the best TV show we can, for all the folks that watch.

[hermanwatts]

(Today’s column is a reprint of Kevyn Winkless’s excellent and heart-felt introduction to German science-fiction hero Perry Rhodan, originally posted on the Castalia House blog on 17 August, 2017. Kevyn ended his heart-felt appreciation for the run of Perry Rhodan published in English during the 1970s with “by all reports, the modern Rhodan is rich and fairly sophisticated space opera.” Next week, we shall see for ourselves in a review of ARK OF THE STARS, by Frank Borsch, the first book in the Perry Rhodan: Lemuria miniseries.)

You know The Shadow. You may know The Spider. You definitely know Conan. And after this year’s cinematic offering you also know Valerian, even if you’re not familiar with the original comics.

But are these really the most beloved SFF heroes in print? Really?

Yes, they are definitely at the top – and a convincing case can be made for Conan in particular as a global phenomenon with incredible staying power. But let me introduce you to another hero who is sadly little known in the English-speaking world: Perry Rhodan.

I stumbled on Perry Rhodan the summer we moved to a tiny town of under 500 people when I was in high school.

The nearest book store with anything like a SFF section was 100km away and the local shops’ spinners were loaded down with romance novels and basically nothing else. The library’s collection of SFF fare spanned a set of five spinners off in the back. I was frustrated at the time, but in retrospect in that age long before Amazon and before I had the financial wherewithal to participate in things like the Science Fiction Book Club[1] the fact that such a small town had a library at all was good fortune at its finest.

Needless to say I consumed that pitiful collection of SFF paperbacks in record time, and as a result was introduced to a variety of classic authors I might never have noticed otherwise[2]. I’m sure that experience deeply influences my reading and writing habits today.

To be honest, though, I have only the vaguest memories of what exactly was on those spinners. Oh, I know I first encountered James Blish and Andre Norton and Lin Carter and  van Voght here but other than Blish’s print adaptations of Star Trek episodes[3] I couldn’t tell you what titles were actually there. Except one:

Perry Rhodan.

Perry Rhodan was first published in German in 1961 in a Romanhefte format – this is a slim, pocket sized format analogous to the digest pulps popular in the US at the time[4], popular for “disposable fiction” of all kinds. And disposable is what the Rhodan series was initially intended to be:

At the start, it was to be a limited run of a few dozen weekly issues of novella length, but it was quickly obvious that the initial authors K. H. Scheer and Walter Ernsting  were on to something big, and the series was continued. The publishers are no doubt very happy they decided to see just where Perry Rhodan would go because as of today there are more than 2,900 issues in the continuous main series, more than 850 issues of the Atlan spin-off series featuring many of the same characters, and a multitude of subsidiary products including comic strips, and merchandise. The series has been so popular that it has reportedly sold more than a billion copies just in its native German, with another billion in various foreign language translations.

It was of course the English translation I found[5] – organized by Forrest Ackerman of fandom fame in the mid-60s, and resulting in Ace publication starting in 1968. This English translation and adaptation[6] unfortunately was ill-fated:

Despite being well-received by readers and eventually being popular enough to justify producing three issues per month, Ace decided to end the run in 1977 – with just a few missing pieces sputtering out until the end of 1978. Demand was high enough, though, for Wendayne Ackerman to publish another 19 issues under her own imprint, Master Publications. These were distributed only to subscribers, however, so the majority of the Rhodan reading public in the English speaking world were left with nothing but the 124 issues Ace had given them.

This, frankly, is a crying shame. Quite apart from the amazing popularity Rhodan continues to enjoy in Germany and around the world in several languages[7] the story itself is fascinating.

I can hardly call myself an expert – I came on these books years after the English translations had ceased publication[8] and have had to make do with the occasional issues I’ve stumbled on since those first three in that tiny small-town library so many years ago. But I have managed to track down more than half of the original translations over the years, and can piece together what is obviously a remarkable set of storylines.

The premise itself is nothing remarkable to us in the modern SFF scene – just the standards:

space mission stumbles on a crashed alien spacecraft on the moon and discovers mind-blowingly advanced technology

ancient space empire is decadent and crumbling

multiple “rabid” species, less advanced, are worrying at the edges and threaten to destroy everything the peaceful space empire has built up

decadent space empire gives their technology to humanity as the last great hope when they demonstrate their ability to unify under threat

You know: the usual.

But what makes this series so remarkable – at least in the portion I have read – is the seamless way the arcs link together. This is no mean feat for this style of serial, keeping things coherent and flowing despite the hands of multiple writers pushing the cart. The continuing success of the series is a testament to the skill with which the publishers have managed their stable of contributors and curated their “bible” for the series.

Also interesting is the way the story, despite being explicitly high tech space opera, effortlessly weaves in metaphysics and curious references to occult esoterica. I suppose to some extent this sort of thing is to be expected in a space opera setting that invokes the psionics trope, but the number of alchemical and other hermetic symbols that get deployed is truly fascinating – and links perfectly with the setting’s conceit that there really are “layers of being” that species transition through on their way to perfect unity with the universe.

So why is a series that is so influential and has such a devoted following completely invisible in English?

Part of the problem is that the US market was only ever exposed to the opening chapters of the story, which are generally considered fairly simple, straightforward space opera. Many critics of the time panned it as being too simplistic, with empty characters and relying heavily on tropes of human expansion that many felt were best left back in the 50s.

The basic criticisms are probably fair – the opening chapters are full speed ahead space opera, with thrilling space battles and fairly stereotypical characters  who are motivated in direct ways – and while some of the issues in the early books are surely caused by rapid translation you can definitely tell these were throw-away space adventures aimed at a younger audience.

But it’s hard to see why Ace would choose to discontinue a series that was, by all reports, profitable just because it wasn’t as sophisticated as the books the reviews columns were gushing over, especially when the translations had just started moving into the far more sophisticated storylines being developed by William Voltz in the Atlan spin-off – and which he brought back to the main line when he took over as master storyline planner in 1975, slowly developing the series to aim for a more discerning older audience. Not to mention the fact that they killed the series right when space opera was enjoying a comeback via Star Wars.[9]

The only explanation I can think of is the self-consciousness of English genre fiction that grew through the 60s and into the 70s – a looming hunger to be taken seriously, to be viewed as literary equals in an increasingly consolidated market.  In this environment it’s easy to see the pressure Jim Baen (who was SF editor at the time) and Tom Doherty (publisher) might have been under to reframe Ace’s SF offerings to a more “high-brow” focus.

But this concern for respectability is a great loss – by all reports, the modern Rhodan is rich and fairly sophisticated space opera, and it seems to me that the English SFF landscape is poorer for having sneered this series off stage back in 1978.

[1] SFBC has changed since I was a member – it doesn’t look anywhere near as appealing now as it once did, but in those days I discovered real greats through their catalog, and several of my favourite authors I learned to love because of one of their editions.

[2] Mainly because at that point they were increasingly out of print.

[3] Co-written with his wife, Judith, under the pen-name J. A. Lawrence as short story collections between 1967 and 1978, these little pocket books by Bantam were sometimes better than the TOS episodes they were based on and I consumed them hungrily.

[4] Though actually literally the German market equivalent of the dime novel.

[5] I have assayed original German issues on a couple of occasions, but sadly my German is just not up to it – though it might have been if I’d been lucky enough to discover Rhodan when I was 13 or 14.

[6] Ackerman and his wife, Wendayne – who did most of the translation – repackaged the originals by combining issues and reformatting the English issue layouts something like the pulps they remembered from their youth.

[7] Currently: a Portuguese translation available in Brazil, and translations into Russian, Chinese, Japanese, French, Czech, and Dutch – Italian and Finnish translations seem to have sputtered out. There was also a short-lived pirate version in Hebrew!

[8] And long before the two reboot efforts in the 1990s and 2006.

[9] And in fact, Lucas has mentioned Rhodan as an influence – less than Flash Gordon, but big enough to shape the design of some of the space ships.

published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/

[thisdaynews]

Trump Pokes Fun at Himself. Why Do Only Some People See It?

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/trump-pokes-fun-at-himself-why-do-only-some-people-see-it/

Trump Pokes Fun at Himself. Why Do Only Some People See It?

There’s a common conception, among foes of Donald Trump, that the 45th president tweets every day in a kind of fevered state: alone by his bedroom TV set, wrapped in a smoking jacket or maybe a satin Snuggie, typing in fits of narcissism, defensiveness and self-aggrandizement. And maybe thatishis mood, much of the time. It certainly has been for most of this past week, as the president took to Twitter to attack the “degenerate Washington Post” and the “Impeachment Hoax”—and to drum up votes for “very loyal” Sean Spicer onDancing With The Stars.

But if you’re paying as much attention to all of his tweets,not just his angry, appalling and self-serving ones, you’ll find some striking moments when Trump isn’t just raging outward, but making fun of himself—even showing a wry acceptance of the caricatures favored by the left. He has challenged his followers to find the secret meaning behind his famed “covfefe” accidental tweet. He’s made light of the notion that he would seek a third term, joking about leaving office “in six years, or maybe 10 or 14 (just kidding).” In August, as he was floating the purchase of a certain Danish territory, he tweeted a picture of a gold-plated Trump hotel photoshopped onto a craggy shore, along with the words, “I promise not to do this to Greenland!”He makes cracks about himself in person, too; at a rally in Louisiana this week, he poked fun at the rambling rhetoric that sometimes gets him into trouble: “I do my best work off script … I also do my worst work off script.”

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These were genuine, self-aware, sometimes even self-deprecating jokes—if you were in the mindset to receive them. Of course, many Trump opponents aren’t. And given his impeachment-triggering behavior and his penchant for crossing the lines of decency, it’s no surprise that many find Trump to be no laughing matter, or have trouble finding lighthearted spots in an ongoing stream of hyperbole and bile. OneNew York Timescolumn called his “A Presidency Without Humor.” Comedy writer Nell Scovell, who has written jokes for David Letterman and Barack Obama, once declared that if Trump does have a sense of humor, it’s confined to the instances when he “clearly chuckles at the misfortune of others.”

But Trump’s winking stance, jarring and inconsonant though it may be with the rest of liberals’ conception of him, is one of the essential, even primal ways the president keeps his base on board, laughing along. For Trump and his defenders, a little gentle self-mocking does more than just warm up a room. It can neutralize his opponents’ attacks. And it can let Trump off the hook even when he probably isn’t joking, as when Marco Rubio argued last month that Trump was only kidding when he declared that China should investigate Hunter Biden.

But it’s most powerful when it makes his supporters feel that they’re in on Trump’s jokes in a way the establishment isn’t. In a sense, this effect is an extension of the 2016 campaign formulation, likely coined by GOP strategist Brad Todd and popularized by Peter Thiel, that Trump’s supporters “take him seriously, but not literally.” Because Trump’s fans take him seriously, they recognize when heisn’tbeing serious, and laugh when his opponents miss the joke. In the same way “Fox and Friends” can make viewers feel as if they’re part of a knowing club, Trump’s jokes give his supporters a way to feel superior to the elites, to mock what they see as a humorless and predictable political establishment. After Trump’s Greenland tweet, one fan on Twitter captured that feeling: “I can picture President Trump sitting in the OVAL, after a productive day, chuckling as he tweets to trigger the left. BEST POTUS EVER!”

This split-screen reaction to Trump’s jokes—fans seeing a twinkle in his eye, opponents seeing creeping authoritarianism—happens offline, too. At a veterans’ event in Louisville last August, Trump joked about wanting to give himself the Medal of Honor: “I wanted one, but they told me I don’t qualify,” he said of his aides. “I said, ‘Can I give it to myself anyway?’ They said, ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea.” His foes freaked out, and some news outlets covered the crack as if it were a serious statement. But as the Louisville Courier-Journal, the local newspaper, reported from the scene, “Trump was smiling as he said it, and the crowd laughed.”

***

Throughout history,most presidents have displayed moments of wit—it’s part of the charisma required to hold the job—but few have tried as much as Trump to maintain a comic presence. In part, that’s because he holds so many performative, campaign-style rallies, where he revels in the crowd’s reaction. In part, it’s because he communicates so much on Twitter, a platform overloaded with amateur comedians, lobbing their best one-liners into the void.

On Twitter and beyond, Trump is best known for insult comedy, and for his tendency to pick demeaning names for his opponents. (The latest, for obvious reasons, is “Shifty Schiff”—which isn’t as clever as some of his opponents’ nicknames for him, like “Prima Donald” and “Cheetolini.”) Some would say it’s not comedy at all; most would at least agree that’s it’s on the less sophisticated end of the president’s humor attempts.

But even on days when he’s under attack, he often finds ways to slip in notes of self-awareness, sometimes accompanied by a built-in commentary on the political environment. In a recent press conference with the president of FIFA, he joked about wanting to “extend my second term” until the United States hosts the World Cup in 2026, then turned to the press and quipped, “I don’t think any of you would have a problem with that.” On the day of a contentious meeting with congressional Democrats, as the impeachment inquiry accelerated, Trump posted a photo of a frowning Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and Steny Hoyer, accompanied by one line: “Do you think they like me?”

To be sure, Trump is not the first president to enjoy a little self-parody. But as with all aspects of his messaging, he prefers to do it on his own terms. Obama had an arsenal of dad jokes and good timing at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner; George W. Bush poked fun at his own malapropisms, even calling a White House meeting the “Strategery Meeting” after a “Saturday Night Live” joke. Trump, on the other hand, has griped about SNL impressions and skips the correspondents’ dinner entirely. If anyone pokes fun at Trump, it’s going to be Trump.

Self-mocking humor is riskier and harder to pull off than insult comedy—it requires better timing, more wit and a base of shared information between the teller and the audience. But it has also been a staple of American politics, says Gil Greengross, an evolutionary psychologist at Aberystwyth University in Wales who has studied self-deprecating humor. Greengross’s favorite example comes from Abraham Lincoln, who once, accused of being two-faced, shot back, “I leave it to you: If I had two faces, would I use this one?”

For a politician, self-deprecating humor serves some distinct purposes, says Frank McAndrew, a professor at Knox College in Illinois, who studies the psychology of social situations. Self-mocking is an icebreaker, a way to shrink the distance between a powerful politician and the general public, to give the impression that you’re approachable, despite your exalted address. It’s also a way to offset your foes’ most cutting attacks. McAndrew points to Ronald Reagan’s famous quip, in a 1984 presidential debate against Walter Mondale, in response to a question about his age. Reagan promised to not make a campaign issue out of “my opponent’s youth and inexperience”—a line that at once acknowledged Reagan’s major campaign weakness and neutralized the subject for the night.

With a self-deprecating joke, McAndrew says, “You lead with the thing they were going to trap you with. It takes away their ammunition.” Seen that way, Trump’s joke about the Medal of Honor, told to a room of veterans, was a kind of preemptive strike. A man who had never served in the military was making light of his weakness before an audience of people more deserving—neutralizing a line of critique that someone in the room could have raised.

But the power of self-deprecating humor goes even deeper, Greengross contends: You could actually credit it with helping to perpetuate the species. He points, as explanation, to a peacock. Females are drawn to males with vivid, symmetrical tail feathers, he says, because, on a biological level, a beautiful tail takes a lot of energy to produce. If a peacock with top-notch feathers can be healthy anyway, in spite of trading away some precious physical resources, he’s got to be especially strong; a catch.In the same way, a famous quarterback can afford to mock himself on TV; he has such an abundance of cool that he can afford to give some of it away.

In evolutionary psychology, Greengross says, this idea is known as the “costly signaling theory” or “handicap principle.” If someone with high status is able to thrive in spite of highlighting a weakness, he’s actually displaying strength. According to this principle, a joke from Trump about his political rivals’ hatred of him conveys more than a sense of humor. It also underlines the fact that Trump has become president of the United States while facing down deep hostility—and is now in a strong enough position that he can joke about it.

A decade ago, Greengross conducted a study at the University of New Mexico, where he worked at the time, to test whether self-deprecating humor fit the “costly signaling” framework. Participants listened to audio recordings of people repeating stand-up comedy routines. Some of the joke-tellers were identified as having high status in society; some were described as low-status. Some of the routines were self-deprecating; some were full of put-downs of others. Then, participants were asked to rate the comics on various measures of attractiveness, from intelligence and presumed physical allure to potential as a sexual partner. The study’s subjects consistently ranked the people who used self-deprecating humor as more attractive—but only if they were also described as having high status. If a teller was seen as weak, the act of putting himself down just reminded the audience of his weaknesses.

This is what happens to Trump, it’s clear, when he drops his self-aware jokes on an unwilling audience. In September, for instance, Trump tweeted what seemed like a winking reference to his much-maligned description of himself as a “very stable genius”—followed by a cryptic “Thank you!” It was clear, from the volume of “Mr. Ed” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” memes in the responses, that while some people were laughing with him, a lot were laughingathim.

Evolution might also give a reason, beyond some kind of innate humorlessness or “Trump derangement syndrome,” that Trump’s opponents aren’t inclined to laugh him off. Yes, liberals see Trump as dangerous, which makes them more likely to take his jokes about thwarting democracy at face value. But they also see him as low-status—undeserving of the presidency— so his jokes about himself only confirm their low opinion. He thinks of himself as a peacock; they think of him as a turkey.

In front of a friendly crowd, though, Trump is free to unleash his self-mocking self, knowing he’ll get the reaction he wants—provided the subject is right. It’s notable, after all, that Trump’s moments of self-aware humor tend to stem from subjects where he feels on top: his ability to plop a Trump hotel in any location; his ability to win an improbable election; his ability to grab attention with a single, well-placed tweet. These are areas where he can afford to take himself down a notch, and revel in the roars of his supporters.

So far, he hasn’t made many cracks about impeachment.

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