#Red Norvell

[pat1dee]

Journey Into Mystery #503

November 1996

Cover by Mike Deodato Jnr

[marvelman901]

The Mighty Thor vol 1 502 (1996)

Putting On The Bear Shirt

Written by William Messner-Loebs

Penciled by Mike Deodato Jr.

Inked by Deodato Studios

Colors by Marie Javins

Lettered by Jon Babcock

Edited by Bobbie Chase

Cover by Mike Deodato Jr

Thor and Red Norvell had been driven out of New York by Onslaught. Thor reminisced about his past before the end...

#thor #rednorvell #hela #avengers #onslaught #asgardian #asgard #odin #godofthunder #mikedeodato #loki #frog

[xtruss]

One Man’s Quest to Revive the Great American Vacuum Tube

The prized retro audio components are mostly manufactured in Russia and China. Now, a small Georgia company is rebooting US production.

— Wired | March 28th, 2023 | Roy Furchgott

Courtesy Of Western Electric

ROSSVILLE, GEORGIA, ON the border with Tennessee, doesn’t look like a tech town. It’s the kind of place where homey restaurants promising succulent fried chicken and sweet tea are tucked among shuttered businesses and prosperous liquor stores. The cost of living is moderate, crime is high, politics are red, and the population has withered to 3,980.

But in the view of entrepreneur Charles Whitener, Rossville is the perfect place to stage a revival in US technology and manufacturing—albeit with a device that was cutting edge when the Ford Model A ruled the roads.

Whitener owns Western Electric, the last US manufacturer of vacuum tubes, those glass and metal bulbs that controlled current in electric circuits before the advent of the transistor made them largely obsolete. Tubes are still prized for high-end hi-fi equipment and by music gear companies such as Fender for their distinctive sound. But most of the world’s supply comes from manufacturers in Russia and China, which after the transistor era began in earnest in the 1960s helped sunset the US vacuum tube industry by driving down prices.

Whitener, a 69-year-old self-described inventor, vintage hi-fi collector, and Led Zeppelin fanatic, bought and revived AT&T’s shuttered vacuum tube business in 1995. The business has ticked along in the era of cheap overseas tubes primarily by serving the small market for vacuum tubes in premium hi-fi equipment with a model called the 300B, originally designed in 1938 to enable transoceanic phone calls.

Inspecting newly sealed vacuum tubes. Courtesy Of Western Electric

But recently US trade restrictions on Russia and China, over the former’s renewed invasion of Ukraine and the latter’s ideological disputes with Washington, have sent vacuum tube prices soaring. At one point in 2022, tubes that typically retailed for $10 were offered at prices over $100, says Daniel Liston Keller, who does public relations for recording industry clients. Although shipments of Russian tubes have resumed, prices remain high and the quality of overseas tubes has always been unreliable. “You have to buy 100 tubes to get 30 you like,” says Justin Norvell, an executive vice president at Fender. An affordable tube for a guitar preamp is now roughly $30, meaning the company can spend about $90 to get one tube that meets its standards.

Whitener has seized on the current moment of high prices as a chance to reinvigorate his company, the US tube industry, and even the idea of what a vacuum tube can be. Western Electric is currently working on a modernized tube design, an iteration of the all-but-obsolete technology fit for the 21st century. It’s an improved version of a tube called the 12AX7, which is common in guitar preamps and other music gear—a market Whitener estimates is more than 10 times the size of the premium hi-fi business and is today served almost wholly by overseas suppliers. The recently high prices create economic cover, he calculates, to make a better version in Rossville that can be more reliable, durable, and economical than existing designs, turning the US into a powerhouse of vacuum tube technology again.

Assembling vacuum tubes by hand in Western Electric’s factory in Rossville, Georgia. Courtesy Of Western Electric

That makes Western Electric an oddball member of the swelling movement to bring technology manufacturing back to the US, assuring the supply of crucial products, such as computer chips and electric vehicle batteries, that are generally sourced overseas. The company is in the process of restructuring its factory floor with a combination of vintage and new machinery to turn out the modernized tubes, at the volumes Fender and other music companies need.

Whitener is a perfectionist. He aims to launch the 12AX7 this summer, but previous debuts have slipped. His factory is poised to make America the dominate source for audio vacuum tubes, improving the fortunes of Rossville, audiophiles, guitar heroes, domestic manufacturing, and Whitener himself—if he can just get the damn things out the door. “This landscape for the Russian tubes could change tomorrow,” he concedes. “It’s a Walmart world, and that’s a risk.”

How Hard Can It Be?

From the 1920s through the 1950s, the American vacuum tube industry thrived. RCA, General Electric, Raytheon, and other manufacturers competed to invent and manufacture more reliable tubes, which were needed to regulate current and boost the faint signals from analog microphones and instruments enough to drive speakers. But the arrival of transistors, then circuit boards, made tubes obsolete for most uses. American manufacturers couldn’t match prices from overseas. Factories closed. Engineers moved on.

Many musicians and audio obsessives stayed loyal to the tube but increasingly got them from outside the US. Russia and China became the leading suppliers, with companies such as Shuguang Electron Group cranking out tube designs established between the 1930s and 1950s, such as the 6L6 and EL34.

By the time Charles Whitener took a career break in 1990, the US did not make any consumer audio tubes. He thought about changing that after noticing a steady stream of ads in hi-fi magazines offering Western Electric 300Bs, a design from 1938 that was popular with audio enthusiasts. Whitener was looking for a new venture after using his experience in his father’s yarn factory to invent a quality control system for the fiber optics industry that he then sold. “I thought, how hard can it be to make these tubes?,” he says. “People are willing to pay $1200 to $1500 a pop for them.”

Predictably, it was harder than Whitener thought. It took him two years to persuade AT&T, which hadn’t made a tube since 1988 but still owned Western Electric, to license the brand and sell him its tube-manufacturing equipment. He set up shop in Western Electric’s former tube factory in Kansas City, Missouri, where the mothballed machines were stored.

After a fortuitous meeting with retired AT&T employees on a visit to Bell Labs, Whitener combed the northeast tracking down veterans of the storied facility, Sylvania, and RCA who knew the arcana of tube-making. When his factory started production of 300Bs in 1996, almost all of his 20 or so employees were tube-manufacturing veterans.

Western Electric was up and running again, but in 2003 AT&T sold the building. Whitener moved the company to Huntsville, Alabama, a NASA stronghold with skilled workers that was convenient for his tube contracts with the Department of Defense. In 2008, he moved the company to Rossville, Georgia. It was there that he began modernizing vacuum tube designs that are more than 70 years old.

Whitener’s team devised a way to apply an atom-thick layer of graphene to a vacuum tube’s anode to extend its lifespan by improving heat dissipation and reducing contaminating gases. Those enhanced tubes hit the market in 2020. Quality control—Whitener’s former field—became more automated, and he claims more than 90 percent of tubes now pass inspection off the line.

Western Electric sells pairs of 300Bs in a cherry wood presentation box with a certificate charting their performance characteristics and a generous five-year warranty—yours for $1,500. Copycat sets of 300Bs, offered at the same price, are sold with a 30-day warranty. Most tubes have a warranty of just 90 days.

Whitener has spent more than a decade preparing for Western Electric’s next act. In 2006, he won an auction for machinery and tooling needed to make 12AX7 tubes; the pieces had started life in Blackburn, England, but were then in Serbia. It took five years of legal battles with a competing bidder before the intervention of then-Tennessee senator Bob Corker and the US Embassy, Whitener says, gave him possession. (Corker, reached via a staffer, did not dispute Whitener’s characterization.)

Today that equipment is being installed on Whitener’s factory floor, along with additional machines shipped over from Slovakia in 2007. New machines that will automate processes like the hand-bending of wires needed to make 12AX7 tubes are being peppered in. All the while, Western Electric continues to produce 300Bs. Depending on the day of the week, the space may clickety-clack to the sound of a lathe winding molybdenum wire around side rods, or the ragged hiss of gas flames heating and sealing glass bulbs.

Very Pleasant Distortion

The promise of better sound is, like most things among high-fidelity fanatics, subject to vicious debate. Some hear vast differences between brands of tube, or even individual tubes of the same make and model. Others will tell you each tube is indistinguishable from the next. Most agree that tubes in general have a sound that transistors, circuit boards, and algorithms can only approximate, one often described as warm, rich, or even romantic.

“Tubes just distort things in a very pleasant way,” said Daniel Schlett, a sound engineer whose Brooklyn studio, Strange Weather, is known for the analog punch it gets from tube-powered mics, amps, consoles, and equalizers. Artists who have sought Schlett’s hallmark sound are as diverse as Ghostface Killah, Booker T. (of MGs fame), and The War on Drugs. “Tubes are part of the equation,” Schlett says. “It’s big and amplified, and it has the voodoo on it.”

A delicate 15-inch ribbon of nickel makes up the filament at the heart of Western Electric's current model, the 300B. Courtesy Of Western Electric

But voodoo is exactly the problem, say tube skeptics like Glenn Fricker, an engineer of 25 years who specializes in metal bands at Spectre Sound Studio in Ontario, Canada. He sometimes uses a 1966 amp with its original tubes, but he doubts expensive replacement tubes would improve the sound.

“As a kid we are led to believe there is some dark art in tubes which will inherently change the sound of your amp,” Fricker says. But when he devised an experiment using sound canceling to reveal the audible differences between tubes, all he uncovered was “a little clicking sound”—they were otherwise identical. He advises guitar slingers to skip the $1,300 vintage Telefunken “Diamond Bottom” 12AX7 online at Tube Depot for the $20 JJ brand from Slovakia. While Fricker is rooting for Western Electric, he says, “Are they going to sound any better than your dear, cheap JJs? No.”

Price spikes during the recent great tube panic suggest plenty of people still believe in the voodoo. That presents Whitener with an immense opportunity. He says he aims to launch Western Electric’s 12AX7, America’s first new tube in decades, this summer. After that he plans to add a string of additional models, versions of the 6L6, EL34, EL84 12 AT7, and 6V6 tubes—a lineup he calculates makes up almost 80 percent of the relevant music equipment, such as guitar and studio amps. If all goes to plan, the US could once again dominate vacuum tube manufacturing.

Whitener concedes that he’s taking a big risk. Russia looks determined to keep attacking Ukraine, keeping trade embargoes in place, and China-US relations remain tense. But the geopolitics of vacuum tubes could shift again. It’s unclear how loyal people might be to his US-made tubes.

Whitener hopes that even if international supply prices drop, customers will stick with Western Electric after having gotten a taste of the reliably durable tubes. “They are looking for a stable product they can count on,” he says. Schlett, the sound engineer, is hoping Whitener can deliver. “My advice is please, quality control, please, please, please,” he said. “I don’t want to throw out 70 percent of the $180 tubes I buy. That’s not OK.”

[rjhamster]

Judge Mocks the Supreme Court

February 8, 2023 “Solid, old fashioned, real journalism for a change.” —Philip M. Join 1,000,000+ Sun readers… Earthquake Aid Deliveries to War-Torn Syria Proving Tricky By Benny Avni Read more » Fewer Americans Moved in 2022, but Those Who Did Favored Low-Tax Red States By Scott Norvell Read more » A Judge Mocks the Supreme Court on Abortion By The New York Sun Read more…

[bringbackwendellvaughn]

[blackphoenixinvictus]

I was able to track down this issue and all the rest of the Red Norvell as Thor saga a few years ago. I didn't like this character when he returned to the Thor title in the 1990s, but he's grown on me since then

BHOC: THOR #276

Now this was a cover that captured my attention immediately. Ever since, years before, I had first read FLASH #225 featuring Professor Zoom, the Reverse Flash BHOC: FLASH #225 I had been fascinated by evil twins, dark doppelganger versions of the main hero. And I wasn’t the only one apparently, as this particular ersatz Thor would turn up again and again over the years–never truly becoming a…

[why-i-love-comics]

Thor #6 - "Prey III" (2021)

written by Donny Cates art by Nic Klein & Matt Wilson

[comicwaren]

From Thor Vol. 6 #011, “Prey - Part Three”

Art by Nic Klein and Matt Wilson

Written by Donny Cates

[dklem]

Some more requests for @judedeluca!!

[brokenhardies]

this has expanded;

captain marvel jr + thunderstrike - freddy masterton/captain thunder jr mary marvel + thor (jane foster) - mary foster/mary thunder pedro pena + jake olson - pedro olson eugene choi + sigurd jarlson - eugene jarlson darla dudley + red norvell - darla norvell green arrow + hawkeye - oliver barton/green hawk black canary + black widow - dinah romanov/blackbird the hulk + green lantern - bruce jordan/gamma i tyrone cash + green lantern (john stewart) - leonard stewart/gamma ii amadeus cho/green lantern (kyle rayner) - kyle cho/gamma iii she-hulk/green lantern (jessica cruz) - jessica walters/she-gamma spiderman + the flash - peter allen/spiderflash martian manhunter + the vision - victor jones/martian vision ant man + the atom - ray pym/atom ant i ant man + the atom - ryan lang/atom ant ii the wasp + giganta - doris van dyne/hornet scarlet witch + zatanna - wanda zatanna/white witch mento + mister fantastic- steven richards/mister mento? elasti-woman + invisible woman - rita storm/elasti-visible negative man + human torch - larry storm/negative torch robotman + the thing - benjamin steele/robothing

i came up with some ideas for an amalgam universe!

batman + iron man - bruce stark/iron bat superman + captain marvel - ver-el/carol kent/supermarvel wonder woman + captain america - diana rogers/ms america shazam + thor - william blake/captain thunder

harley quinn + deadpool - harley wilson/dead quinn

[kingoftieland]

Thor’s forgotten brother had an even BETTER hammer! 🔨

[travisellisor]

pages 19 and 20 from Thor (1966) #502 by Mike Deodato Jr., Marie Javins, William Messner-Loebs and Jonathan Babcock

[panels-of-interest]

Thor vs. Destroyer.

[from Thor (1966) #477]

[pulpsandcomics2]

Thrilling Detective    September 1934

The Red Mask Murders by Preston Grady

Mouthpiece by L. Ron Hubbard

The Green Ghost Stalks by Johnston McCulley

Millions at Stake by Oscar Schisgall

Just Pals by Norvel Page

Murder in the Death Cell by C. K. Scanlon

[omniversecomicsguide]

Balder’s dead. And that means it’s RAGNAROK o’clock...

MORE: Ragnarok (1978) - - - Artists: John Buscema,  Tom Palmer & Thomas Mason

From: Thor #274 (recoloured for the Thor: Ragnarok tpb)

Featuring: Thor, Balder, Loki, Red Norvell, Harris Hobbs, Joey Burnett, Frigga, Sigyn, Hogun, Fandral, Volstagg & Sif

[itsyourchoicedevotionals]

Fight Of Patience

“I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs.” Luke 11:8ESV

Lou and I bought a microwave. Not the first we’ve had, but it works differently from the others. We like different potatoes. Lou prefers large Idaho baked, I prefer small red potatoes cooked however. When I put Lou’s potato in the microwave and hit ‘potato,’ it comes out half-baked. Likewise, when I put in my small potato, hit ‘potato’ it comes out overcooked. The challenge has been finding the right temperature and length of times to achieve our desired results.

We want instantly answered  prayer. ‘Lord I need this now please.’ Don’t make me wait, sir. Many preachers lead us to believe prayers are answered immediately. Some teach God never answers or may answer prayers, just don’t count on it.

For me, ‘patience’ has represented trouble. Why? Because— James 1:3KJV “Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.” I’m not fond of 1. troubles; 2. waiting; 3. working in prayer.

Go back and read the parable Jesus was telling in Luke 11. A friend came, when the cupboards were bare. The man of the house banged on the neighbors door asking to borrow bread. Not inclined to get up and give bread during the night, the neighbor got up to get rid of the banging.

My spirit now desires to learn patience, after hearing the following story. Norvel Hayes told of a man, possessed by a demon, totally insane.—   Newly baptized in Holy Spirit, Norvel was on fire for God; went wherever Holy Spirit directed; worked the works of Acts. Holy Spirit guided him to a mansion in a college area. Two men rushed out of the house, saying ‘we prayed for God, to send someone.

Inside was a man, who had been a student and preacher. While speaking in assembly, he suddenly lost his mind, only making unintelligible sounds. They asked Hayes to ‘free’ the man from the evil spirit. God gave Hayes discernment to know the man had used his body— God’s temple— repeatedly for a sin, opening the door for demonic possession. Hayes refused to allow the men to assist with deliverance in order to ‘learn’ how to cast out demons. He knew he was in for a ‘fight of patience’— (a totally new term to me, and I’m an old Christian.) Yet Jesus taught, “…this kind does not come out except by prayer and fasting.” Matthew 17:21HCSB.

Norvel’s was patient. Late afternoon, he began commanding the demon— ‘come out and return the afflicted man’s right mind to him, in Jesus’ name.’ Commanding, singing, praising God, resting patiently in Jesus repeated throughout the night. Finally, after daylight came, the demon began asking for water, through the afflicted man’s lips. Hayes allowed no water. Finally, the demon exited in a visible mucus membrane from the man’s mouth.

Sadly to say, most preachers, myself and other Christians have had the microwave approach to deliverance from demons. Not in deliverance for the ‘fight of patience,’ rather accepting anything as the sign of exit. Nor refilling the empty soul with Holy Spirit, per Luke 11:24-26, leaving the person worse off than before being prayed for.

“But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” James 1:4KJV Are we in prayer for the long haul? Will we pray and praise consistently until our God, (Who’s the best neighbor) sends an angel to move satan’s demons out of our way, opening  the way for the answer to come? Or will we impatiently give up, when our microwave prayers don’t produce expected results? It’s your choice. You choose.

PRAYER: Almighty God forgive for not working for the long haul in prayers and deliverance. Help us to allow patience to have her perfect work in us, in Jesus’ name I pray.

by Debbie Veilleux Copyright 2020 You have my permission to reblog this devotional for others. Please keep my name with this devotional as author. Thank you.