#alan fagan

[nerds-yearbook]

The Alan Fagan version of Mister Fear was introduced in Marvel Team-Up 92#, cover date April, 1980. He was created by Steven Grant and Carmine Infantino. ("Fear!", Marvel Team-Up 92#, Marvel Comic Event)

[justdealingwithsomeissues]

So it turns out that the prisoners that assaulted Fagan did it because Shock paid them to... and now Fagan knows... but none of this matters because we won't see him again until 2004 and her again until almost 20 years after that in 2023.

[with-a-martyr-complex]

With A Martyr Complex: Reading List 2022

Adapted from the annual list from @balioc​, a list of books (primarily audiobooks) consumed this year. This list excludes several podcasts, but includes dramatizations and college lecture series from The Great Courses, which I consume like a disgusting fiend.

Introduction to the Qur'an by Martyn Oliver with Tahera Ahmad (for Quranic recitation)

Conquistadors by Michael Wood

ROAR: How to Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong, Lean Body for Life by Stacy Sims and Selene Yeager

The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman

War, Peace, and Power: Diplomatic History of Europe 1500-2000 by Vegas Gabriel Liulevicius

This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Coup de Grâce: A Novel by Marguerite Yourcenar (Translated by Grace Fick)

Sun and Steel by Yukio Mishima (Stanford Press Translation)

Classical Mythology by Elizabeth Vandiver

Metamorphoses by Ovid (Translated by Frank Justus Miller)

Existential Kink: Unmask Your Shadow and Embrace Your Power (A method for getting what you want by getting off on what you don't) by Carolyn Elliott

Fascism: A Warning by Madeline Albright

The Enlightenment Invention of the Modern Self by Leo Damrosch

Greek Tragedy by Elizabeth Vandiver

Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiaticall and Civil by Thomas Hobbes

War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges

Natural Law and Human Nature by Father Joseph Koterski

Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming by Jonathan Shay (Foreward by John McCain and Max Cleland)

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin (Translated by Clarence Brown)

Treason by Orson Scott Card (Originally published as A Planet Called Treason)

The Modern Political Tradition: Hobbes to Habermas by Lawrence Cahoon

Gideon The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Discipline and Punish by Michel Foucault (Translated by Alan Sheridan)

Harrow The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

History of Sexuality: Volume I by Michel Foucault (Unidentified Translator)

Madness and Civilization by Michel Foucault (Translated by Richard Howard)

Lent: A Novel of Many Returns by Jo Walton

Living the French Revolution and the Age of Napoleon by Suzanne M. Desan

The Stranger by Albert Camus (Translated by Matthew Ward)

10 Women Who Ruled The Renaissance by Joyce Salisbury

A Brief History of the Samurai by Jonathan Clements

Because Internet: Understanding The New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch

The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea by Yukio Mishima

The Republic by Plato (Translated by Benjamin Jowett)

Nona The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Davos Man: How The Billionaires Devoured The World by Peter S. Goodman

The Birth of The Modern Mind: The Intellectual History of the 17th and 18th Centuries by Alan Charles Kors

(Spooky) Litigation: The Practice of Supernatural Law (Volume 1) by Jeffrey A. Rapkin

Emperors of Rome by Garrett G. Fagan

The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

Francis of Assisi by Ronald B. Herzman and William R. Cook

Impact Winter by Travis Beacham

Popes and The Papacy: A History by Thomas X. Noble

Misery by Stephen King

The Benedict Option by Rod Dreher

The Aeneid by Virgil (Translated by John Dryden)

The Aeneid of Virgil by Elizabeth Vandiver

The Industrial Revolution by Patrick N. Allitt

[Redacted] by [Redacted]

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (Translated by Duke Classics)

America and the World: A Diplomatic History by Mark A. Stoler

The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester

Hagakure by Yamamoto Tsunetomo (Translated by William Scott Wilson)

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

Voltaire and The Triumph of The Enlightenment by Alan Charles Kors

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Translated by Constance Garnett)

Incomplete books: Jacques the Fatalist, The Just City, On Killing

---

Great Courses consumed: 17

Non-Great Courses Nonfiction consumed: 16

---

Works consumed by women: 17

Works consumed by men: 37

Works consumed by men and women: 2

Works that can plausibly be considered of real relevance to foreign policy (including appropriate histories): 10

---

With A Martyr Complex’s Choice Award, fiction division: It’s a tie between Lent and Coup de Grace, I just couldn’t decide between the two. Feel free to mock me for my indecision.

>>>> Honorable mention: The Stars My Destination, Misery

With A Martyr Complex’s Choice Award, nonfiction division: The Guns of August

>>>> Honorable mention: Living the French Revolution and The Age of Napoleon, Greek Tragedy, Conquistadors, The Aeneid of Virgil

>>>> Great Courses Division: The Birth of the Modern Mind: The Intellectual History of the 17th and 18th Centuries

The Annual “An Essential Work of Surpassing Beauty that Isn’t Fair to Compare To Everything Else” Award: We

>>>> Honorable mention: Crime and Punishment (This may have suffered from me reading while quarantining, I could easily have swapped it with We under other circumstances)

>>>> Nonfiction Division: Leviathan

>>>>>>>>Honorable Mention: Discipline and Punish

The “Reading This Book Will Give You Great Insight Into The Way I See The World” Award: War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning

>>>> Honorable mention: The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea, Leviathan

The “This is Kooky Made Up Nonsense But Still Worth Checking Out” Award: Existential Kink

The “Reading This has Allowed Me To Stop Caring About Its Author Too Much” Award: The Benedict Option

---

This marks the first year where I’ve reached my goal of at least 1 book per week for the year, and I’m reasonably proud of that. I’m especially proud that I didn’t overload the list with short works to reach that goal and was able to tackle some difficult or long works while maintaining a solid pace. I did find myself reading fewer literary works than I tend to prefer, and my nonfiction that wasn’t lectures was lower than I’d generally like (however much I do love lectures). 

Goals for next year: more foreign policy reading, more literary fiction, write something of my own.

[kudosmyhero]

Batman (vol. 1) #237: Night of the Reaper!

Read Date: November 10, 2023 Cover Date: December 1971 ● Writer: Dennis O'Neil ◦ Bernie Wrightson ◦ Harlan Ellison ● Penciler: Neal Adams ● Inker: Dick Giordano ● Colorist: {uncredited} ● Letterer: John Costanza ● Editor: Julius Schwartz ●

**HERE BE SPOILERS: Skip ahead to the fan art/podcast to avoid spoilers (👏=didn't like it, 👏👏=it was ok, 👏👏👏=I liked it, 👏👏👏👏=I really liked it!, 👏👏👏👏👏=I loved it!)

Reactions As I Read: ● since I discuss this issue with some podcasting friends, I'll just let the episode speak for itself! give it a listen if you're interested ^_^

● 👏👏👏👏

Synopsis: On Halloween, the annual Rutland, Vermont Halloween parade is taking place and Dick Grayson has decided to attend with some of his college friends. While in the parade, Dick and his friends notice some crooks attacking a man dressed as Robin and they try to help the young man without success. When the crooks have dispersed, Dick decides to follow them as Robin and he follows their trail to a barren space where he finds a the corpse of a man in a Batman costume. At that moment, Robin is attacked by the dark figure of the Reaper and he is forced to flee until he falls down to a nearby river and and is knocked unconscious.

Batman, who has tracked fugitive Nazi war criminal Kurt Schloss to the Rutland Halloween parade, finds Robin and takes him to the house of parade organizer Tom Fagan. In Fagan's place, Robin is checked by Batman's friend, Doctor Benjamin Gruener, a Jewish German survivor of the Nazi holocaust.

Meanwhile, Dick's friends are looking for him when they come across the Reaper again and when Batman learns of this second attack, he starts investigating the case more closely. His clues lead him to find that other ex-Nazis have been searching for Kurt Schloss because he had claimed some hidden Nazi treasure that they believed belonged to all of them. Those Nazis had killed the man in the Batman costume and tried to kill the Robin, thinking they may be the real things. Batman stops them for good, but not before they are able to kill Schloss.

Afterwards, Robin believes that the case is solved, but Batman reminds him that the Reaper is still on the loose and Batman starts looking for the killer by himself. When they finally meet, Batman has deduced the Reaper's identity as Dr. Gruener, who sought revenge on Schloss. Unfortunately, Gruener has lost himself in his Reaper's personality and he attacks Batman before fleeing the scene. The Reaper tries to make his escape through a nearby dam, but he is stopped by the presence of Dick Grayson's friend Alan. When Reaper gets ready to strike and kill the youngster, he sees Alan's Star of David amulet and Gruener becomes horrified with his actions. Unaware that he was walking on the edge of the dam, Gruener stumbles with his robe and falls downwards to his ultimate death and Batman is unable to save the man.

(https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Batman_Vol_1_237)

Fan Art: The Boy Wonder by Blooming-Pinguicula

Accompanying Podcast: ● Ninjas 'n' Bots - episode

[silentlycrazy]

Fagan Floop!

He was indeed played by Alan Cumming. Good eye!

Alan Cumming as Boris Grishenko Goldeneye (1995)

for @babinicz

[latveriansnailmail]

Sinister Six team draft

This week’s team draft is the Sinister Six, being supercriminals who want to kill Spider-man and do crimes. The goal this week is to make everyone’s favorite wallcrawler deceased so while there are a couple of mainstays, most of the Six have been subbed out for people who won’t fail so easily.

Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin of Crime, will assemble and supply the team, providing money, fronts, tech, and information, all the while keeping his hands clean.

Kraven the Hunter, having literally put Spider-man in the ground, retains his spot and is promoted to leader. This is his hunting party.

The Sandman is very powerful and wary of his own weaknesses. He gets to stay.

The belligerent Doctor Octopus has been failing to do in Spider-man since 1963. Let’s farm out the tech aspect to Alistair Smythe.

I don’t think the Vulture brings much to the table and he’s grandpa lame so Hobgoblin shall menace Spidey from the skies.

Electro is powerful but a consistent fuck-up so he’s gone and in his place we have the Basilisk. Spidey had to team up with Mar-Vel to take him down and even then it wasn’t an easy fight.

Finally, Spider-man’s spider sense can see right through Mysterio’s illusions so he’s pretty useless. Let’s send Mister Fear into the fray in his place.

[reading-hawkeye]

Marvel Team-Up #92, 1980

[daresplaining]

Hello! I've seen you guys mention Mr Fear a few times and his power and dynamic with Matt sounds fascinating. Could you elaborate on it when you get a mo? From what I know I'd love to see a version of him in S4

    Ooh, yes, of course! There have been several versions of Mr. Fear, and they’ve all been nasty. (And yes, it would have been nice to get one of them in the show. I was really rooting for that.) I mostly know Mr. Fear in the context of Daredevil, which is where he/they originated, so that’s what I’ll be focusing on here, though I know at least one of them has appeared elsewhere as well. I appreciate the various Mr. Fears not just because they are terrifying antagonists, but also because of the sheer variety with which the basic premise– artificially inducing fear– has been depicted over the years. This has kept the identity fresh, and has helped them become more than just cheap knock-offs of DC’s Scarecrow.

    If you just want reading recommendations, below are all of the issues I will be covering in this post. They encompass the full range of Mr. Fear’s history in Daredevil, from 60s wackiness to 2000s noir, and I think they’re all worth reading if you’re looking for the full Mr. Fear experience.

Daredevil volume 1 #6

Daredevil volume 1 #54-55

Daredevil volume 1 #90-91

Marvel Team-Up volume 1 #92 (not digitized)

Daredevil volume 1 #222

Daredevil volume 1 #314-315 (not digitized)

Fear Itself: The Home Front #5, “A Moment with… Mr. Fear”

Daredevil volume 1 #363-367 and 371-375 

Daredevil volume 2 #95-106

    If you want plot summaries and character commentary, read on: 

      The first Mr. Fear was introduced way back in Daredevil #6, as the leader of the Fellowship of Fear (a trio that also consisted of the Ox and the Eel). This first version had the fantastically supervillain-y name of Zolton Drago, and an appropriately wacky origin story: He is a humble sculptor, dismayed by the failure of his wax museum, who makes an astonishing discovery while mixing up chemical concoctions intended to bring his wax statues to life. 

Drago: “I did discover something after all! Something I never expected! I’ve found a way to fill any foe with indescribable fear!!”

Caption: “For long weeks, the strange, haunted man worked, refining his discovery, learning all he could about the chemicals involved…”

Drago: “Perfect! Now I know that I can make all the “Fear Gas” I need! With such a discovery, I could become the most successful criminal who ever lived! […] I’ve modified an ordinary pistol to fire my new “Fear Pellets”! And now, for psychological purposes, I’ll create a costume… the perfect disguise for one who shall henceforth be known as… Mr. Fear!!”

Daredevil vol. 1 #6 by Stan Lee, Wally Wood, and Sam Rosen

    There’s a certain goofiness in most Silver Age villains– Daredevil’s, in particular– but I find Wally Wood’s depiction of Mr. Fear’s skull-and-cape look to be genuinely creepy, and his Fear Gas is no joke. When hit with it during his first encounter with the Fellowship of Fear, Matt is rendered helpless with terror, and barely escapes with his life. 

Matt: “Fumes! He fired a gas pellet at me! But, it isn’t tear gas! Nor is it poisonous! What can it be?”

Caption: “Suddenly, the sightless adventurer turns making a frantic effort to flee!”

Matt: “Both of them… about to attack me! No! Stay back! An air current! …Directly above me! That means an opening! It’s my one chance! If I can swing over in time! […] I just made it!”

    Matt manages to defeat Mr. Fear at the end of the issue by, uh… positioning himself in front of a fan (seriously). But this is only the beginning.

    Mr. Fear returns in Roy Thomas’s run, in Daredevil #54-55. This story starts with Matt faking his death to escape the consequences of a supervillain named Starr Saxon discovering his secret identity. His plan is to continue on as Daredevil and invent a new civilian persona for himself. But no sooner has he put this plan into action than Mr. Fear– who has recently been freed from prison– baits him on live television. Mr. Fear claims he can prove, without using his Fear Pellets, that Daredevil is a coward. And… he does!

Mr. Fear: “I neglected to mention my new power– to fill you with frenzied fear– with a mere gesture!”

Matt: “Tell me another one, friend! Now to– No– NO! That tingling I feel– that sudden sinking sensation! Drago was right! Suddenly, I feel– deathly afraid! Getting dizzy– just realizing how high we are–! And now– I’m falling! Nnooo!”

Daredevil vol. 1 #54 by Roy Thomas and Gene Colan

    There are several stories during this period that focus on Daredevil’s reputation being tarnished, and this is one of them. The adoring public, who was watching the fight, now think Daredevil is a wuss, and Matt fears they might be right. It’s all a bit humorously melodramatic, but what matters is that Mr. Fear seems to have become an even more serious threat, since Matt is struck by that same fear the next time he goes out as DD, when Mr. Fear isn’t even around. In the end, after a quick call (courtesy of Foggy) to the prison where Drago was being held, Matt discovers the truth: Zolton Drago is dead and the new Mr. Fear is actually Starr Saxon himself, who stole Drago’s costume and equipment after murdering him. Matt confronts him with this revelation, after which Saxon accidentally falls to his death. 

Matt: “Funny how Saxon died lunging for my billy club– the very weapon he’d been using to make me turn coward when we fought! Once Foggy called the warden, it was as simple as ABC! When Saxon briefly possessed Matt’s cane he rigged the club with these specially-timed Fear-Gas pellets… which his flying disk triggered during our first battle! It was his warped revenge on me… for ‘killing’ Matt Murdock to escape his blackmail threats! And, with that erudite explanation, I rest my case! DD, it’s been a looonng day!”

Daredevil vol. 1 #55 by Roy Thomas and Gene Colan

    (Just for the record, Matt should have known it was Saxon from the beginning, because he would have recognized his voice/scent.)

    Logic suggests this would be the end of Mr. Fear… but no! Matt and Natasha  encounter him in San Francisco, in Daredevil #90-91…

Caption: “His arm jerks out– fingers brush– and then, the Widow tumbles away, her ebon-suited body twisting– her hands flailing, legs spinning–”

Matt: “TASHA! She froze up– couldn’t make the extra effort needed to complete the swing! Something about her heartbeat– rushing, panicky! She’s terrified! I’ve got to chance it– push away from the flagpole, try to grab her before it’s– too late!”

Daredevil vol. 1 #90 by Gerry Conway and Gene Colan

    If the previous story was mostly melodrama, this one is viscerally frightening. Our heroes are struck, without warning, with bouts of overwhelming terror– a dangerous affliction for people who lead such risk-filled lives. With Mr. Fear seemingly long dead and no obvious source for these attacks, Matt and Natasha are helpless to prevent them. 

Caption: “This is how it begins: as suddenly as a rifle shot, a surge of inexplicable fear courses through Matt’s arced body– and with that fear, all thoughts of contacting a friend on the staff of the Daily Chronicle seem to dissolve into darkness– abruptly buried under a grim sensation of choking– A sensation that builds as he spins helplessly at the end of his billy club wire! Trying desperately to regain control, Matt finds himself unable to think– and becomes increasingly aware of the terror clutching at his heart– a fright unlike any he’s ever felt before– a fear without cause– a horror without reason!”

Daredevil vol. 1 #90 by Gerry Conway and Gene Colan

    Natasha is convinced the attacks are tied to a mission from her past, engineered by one of her former espionage allies. But in a surprise twist, the real culprit is a man named Larry Cranston– one of Matt’s fellow law school alumni, and one of his new law partners since moving to San Francisco. It turns out that Star Saxon was not the only person to benefit from the original Mr. Fear’s death, and with his jet pack, Cranston has been attacking Matt and Natasha from a distance.  

Cranston: “I heard a sound from the room across the hall– voices arguing. A door was open– I looked in, and saw a man called Starr Saxon shoot another man– Zolton Drago, the original Mr. Fear. Drago lived long enough to tell me where he’d hidden his costume and equipment– he thought it would buy his life– Unfortunately, it wasn’t mine to give. He died as I held him.”

Matt: “But why did you do all this, Larry? And how did you know–”

Cranston: “When Matt Murdock moved to San Francisco with Madame Natasha– and Daredevil with the Black Widow– it wasn’t hard. And– I’ve always despised you, Murdock. In school, it was always– Murdock this, Murdock that– and I tell you, I’d had ENOUGH!”

Daredevil vol. 1 #91 by Gerry Conway and Gene Colan

    Cranston isn’t the only person to notice the coincidence of Matt and DD both moving to California with Natasha– it’s actually amazing more people don’t figure out his secret identity because of this– but it is significant that he knows, since his motivations are so personal. His irrationally intense hatred of Matt, and their shared history, makes him a particularly eerie figure among the ranks of DD’s villains, and it will come back in his most horrifying appearance, in Ed Brubaker’s run (which I’ll be covering later). While he appears to fall to his death at the end of this issue (that sort of thing happened a lot in early Daredevil…), he isn’t gone yet. 

    Marvel Team-Up #92 introduces the next guy to inherit the Mr. Fear identity– Alan Fagan, Larry Cranston’s nephew. Like his predecessors, he attempts to find new, more insidious uses for the Fear Gas…

Alan: “Ha! I can’t wait to see the faces of those buffoons who said Alan Fagan would never amount to anything… They dared to laugh at me… because I kept getting thrown out of schools… wasted my father’s fortune… Well, I don’t need his money now– or their fancy schools! I’ve got something better than that now! They won’t laugh at me anymore– because I’ll make them deadly afraid of me… and I owe it all to you, Uncle Larry! You despised me– but your money and your Mr. Fear costume still fell into my hands after you died! I have the imagination to use the identity in ways neither you nor the original Mr. Fear ever dreamed of! My genius requires a large-scale reign of terror– and this radioactive isotope I stole tonight will bring it about!”

Marvel Team-Up vol. 1 #92 by Steven Grant, Carmine Infantino, and Carl Gafford

    (Larry is around Matt’s age. Don’t ask me why his nephew looks so old.)

    Alan is a little too cartoony in this issue to seem like a serious threat, but he is still dangerous. 

Peter: “H-how… did you d-do this to m-me?”

Alan: “My Fear Potion, insect– injected through this ring when I hit you! I usually administer it as a gas, in dilute form– but a man of your power required a full-strength dose! You are mine, Spider-Man, body and soul– and we are going to conduct a little experiment! I am curious as to just how many injections of pure Fear Potion you can receive… before you die– of fear!”

    Fortunately, Spider-Man and Hawkeye are able to take him out and send him to prison, but even that is not the end… 

    Daredevil volume 1#222, one of my favorite issues in Denny O’Neil’s run, opens with this chilling scene, during Glorianna O’Breen’s return flight from Ireland to the U.S.: 

Caption: “This is Aer Lingus flight number 2241, originating at Dublin and bound for Kennedy. It will never arrive.”

Hijacker: “Stewardess– tell the pilot to put this crate down at the Tinkerville airport.”

Glori: “A man… with a wee plastic gun– the kind that the detectors don’t detect. A man of violence… bloodshed… the things I’ve seen so much of at home. Is there no escapin’ them, then? No!”

Caption: “Sudden, shattering the near-silence of the cabin– the shot sends a bullet into an unexpected target…”

Hijacker: “Aiiieeeee!”

Glori: “Funny odor… gas… Noooooo”

Pilot: “[…] You guys smell something?”

Daredevil vol. 1 #222 by Denny O’Neil, David Mazzucchelli, and Ken Feduniewicz

    Matt, Foggy, and Becky receive news that Glori’s plane has crashed in a New Jersey swamp, and Matt and Foggy rush to the scene, fearing the worst. 

Cop: “…Sorry I can’t tell you more, Mr. Murdock. But your friend Ms. O’Breen isn’t here.”

Matt: “Are you absolutely sure, Officer?”

Cop: “’Fraid so, sir. There were only fifty passengers on the plane– and we’ve accounted for everyone except Ms. O’Breen and two others– a Dr. Sadd and a local man named Julius Mudd. What I figure happened is, they were… well, their bodies were thrown clear. We’ll find ‘em when the rain stops.”

Matt (Caption): “Bodies… death– Another woman dead? Like Elektra? Like Heather? Another of my women dead?”

    Refusing to believe that Glori was killed in the crash, Matt changes into his DD suit and sets out into the swamp to find her. Partway into his hunt, he runs into Natasha, who is searching for one of the other missing passengers– Dr. Ephesus Sadd, who acquired and subsequently improved a sample of the Fear Gas for use in chemical warfare. One of the great strengths of this story is the fact that the antagonist remains off-panel for significant chunks of the issue. Matt himself is not under attack, and so we, just like him, are left fearing for Glori’s safety as he and Natasha race to her rescue.

    Meanwhile, Glori and Dr. Sadd are living through a nightmare. They have been kidnapped by the hijacker and his associates. It turns out that he was hired to assassinate Sadd and now– having seen his worth, but unaware of why he’s so valuable– he’s decided to hold him ransom instead. As the hijacker attempts to give Glori to his brother as a wife, Sadd decides to use his secret cargo to escape. 

Dr. Sadd: “Before the ceremony begins, I would like to deliver a… a sermon! Yes, a sermon. Always at weddings there is sermonizing. My topic will be fear. It is a subject dear to me– a subject I have studied… a subject I cherish like a child. I have seen fear drive men to splendid achievements and crush them like insects… It is the force which lifted mankind from the primeval ooze and which keeps us from being as angels–”

Hijacker: “Git on with the wedding.”

Dr. Sadd: “Yes, the wedding. I have brought a gift–!”

Glori: “No! Don’t do it!”

    When Matt and Natasha arrive, they encounter a horrific scene: Glori and her kidnappers, driven into a violent frenzy by fear. 

Matt: “–Glorianna! Glori… are you all right?”

Glori: “No… no… no no NONONONO”

Matt: “[…] I was expecting to find people whimpering in terror… which is what the original Mr. Fear’s gas caused.”

Natasha: “Obviously, Dr. Sadd changed the formula. Glorianna and the others are reacting like cornered rats.”

    The creepy conclusion of the issue is two-fold: It reveals a second version of the Fear Gas– one that drives people to lash out in fear, rather than being subdued by it. And it ends with Dr. Sadd dying of fear, despite the revelation that his canister of Fear Gas was empty– thus showing just how powerful terror, as a mere concept, can be. This is an issue in which Mr. Fear isn’t even present but is nevertheless still profoundly dangerous, and that sums up why he is such a good antagonist. Way back in Daredevil #6, Stan Lee commented that Mr. Fear shared certain similarities with the Purple Man, who had just been introduced two issues before, but these later stories are where those similarities really start to appear. Mr. Fear and the Purple Man are effective villains for similar reasons: they are both immensely powerful, manipulate basic facets of human nature, and can strike from a distance (or without even being directly involved at all!) with unpredictable and deadly consequences. 

    If this wasn’t creepy enough, Chichester goes full-on macabre with his Mr. Fear-centered story in Daredevil volume 1 #314-315 (not digitized yet– come on, Marvel!), in which he introduces another variation on Mr. Fear. This version is Alan Fagan’s daughter, Ariel, who uses the code name Shock, and who is both tragic and terrifying. While I’m generally not a fan of Scott McDaniel’s art style, it works to great effect here to depict the twisted gruesomeness of Shock’s physical appearance. 

Matt: “All I have to go by is the sudden shift in the crude patterns my radar blocks out for me– only a hint as to the radical transformation that has seemingly occurred. Perceptions become clouded in the sudden wave of warm gases that wrap around me, raising the hairs on the backs of my arms. I’m still trying to make sense out of the sensations, trying to form a mental picture of what I’m dealing with, when the gases turn suddenly cold– and unease becomes an uncontrollable rage. Intellect knows better, but emotion overrides. Guttural sounds crawl up out of both our throats as we throw ourselves together– a railing grapple empty of technique and filled with a purpose no higher than to tear each other apart. In my head, I know we’re stories above the hard city streets. In my heart, I just want her dead before we hit.”

Daredevil vol. 1 #314 by D.G. Chichester, Scott McDaniel, and Christie Scheele

    I think I’ve said it before, but I can’t say it enough– I love Chichester’s writing. What a way to end an issue!

    Shock is yet another reinvention of the concept of Mr. Fear; her powers come from her body itself. She arranges for her father to be attacked in prison. His attackers cut the skin off his face(!), which Shock then uses to brew a concoction that when ingested, causes her to undergo a grotesque physical transformation and gives her the ability to literally exhale Fear Gas. (The idea is that her father’s skin absorbed traces of the gas, which could then be distilled). She uses these powers to cause mass hysteria by making people hallucinate things that anger and disgust them. Those in her sway turn primal and bloodthirsty. Matt’s battles with her turn into attempts to keep crowds of random civilians from killing each other. 

    Shock is also more sympathetic than any of the other Fear-styled characters. We learn that her father was neglectful, and she has been left alone to care for her ill mother. Her decision to take over her father’s identity comes from a desire to both overshadow his legacy, and to make money to pay for her mother’s treatments. 

Shock: “That’s better. That’s steady… Oh, I worry so, Mommy! I’ve always worried! […] Keep going, that’s it, you’re doing fine…”

Daredevil vol. 1 #315 by D.G. Chichester, Scott McDaniel, and Christie Scheele

    Matt subdues Shock by taking her by surprise, and tries to ensure that both she and her mother receive the help they need. He hopes this is the end of his Mr. Fear problem at last, but he is wrong. Sadly, Shock doesn’t appear again (I really like her), but her father recovers from his face-stripping and much later resumes the Mr. Fear identity– notably, just in time to provide this funny interlude during Marvel’s “Fear Itself” event: 

Alan: “This is just terribly, terribly wrong. I mean, really– I’m Mr. Fear… but it’s not me making everybody queasy. Used to be I’d be the one dragging everybody’s deepest fears out of their closets, for all the world to see. Now the bar’s been raised– or is it lowered? Whatever. With everybody running around in a state of anxiety, nobody gives a damn about a guy named Mr. Fear. Yesterday, some loser stops me in front of Penn Station, gets in my face… yells, ‘Hey– Doctor Doom!’ Doctor Doom, for god’s sake. I mean, really– can you believe this?”

Fear Itself: The Home Front #5, “A Moment with… Mr. Fear” by Howard Chaykin and Edgar Delgado

    In an overarching plot that starts toward the end of  Karl Kesel’s run and extends all the way through Joe Kelly’s, Larry Cranston returns, miraculously alive and working as a law professor at Columbia University. (If anyone has started to get their Mr. Fears mixed up, Cranston is the one who attended law school with Matt and knows his secret identity.) He is more dangerous than ever, and works from the shadows to avoid detection. Armed with an extra potent version of the Fear Gas, Cranston enslaves people to do his bidding, sending his agents into Matt’s life to create chaos by infecting others with the gas. These victims are helpless to fight back, and Cranston seems to be able to engineer how they react. When convenient, they lash out with violence, becoming dangerous to everyone around them– while others are rendered obedient and docile by fear. 

Matt: “Vinnie’s heartbeat is erratic, and his sweat carries a trace of ammonia… His body is rejecting something through the skin… the remnants of Fear Gas… Have to get through to him somehow…”

Matt: “…Vinnie, I’m here to help you. Vinnie… your wife and daughter miss you.”

Vinnie: “M-my wife? I– I don’t have a family. I can’t have a family… I don’t deserve one… *Gasp* Oh god. A-all I have… m-means nothing… nothing but the truth… yes… yes… I’ll be good…”

Matt: “(His voice… so distant… almost as if he’s not speaking to me… His pulse just sped up… shallow breathing… Could he be hallucinating?) They miss you, Vinnie. They want you to come home.”

Vinnie: “[…] Fear controls everything. Knows everything. Hears everything. Fear is God. I serve him… forever…”

Daredevil vol. 1 #366 by Joe Kelly, Gene Colan, and Christie Scheele

    As Matt continues, barely, to fight back, Cranston increases his efforts to tear him down, concluding with sending a serial killer cop into his life and then framing Karen Page for his (the cop’s) murder. Karen is put on trial, and Cranston gleefully sabotages the proceedings from behind the scenes. Besieged on both sides of his life by someone who seems like an all-powerful force, Matt nearly gives in to despair.   

Cranston: “How hang the scales of justice, Counselor? The blind lady treats her consort well, I pray.”

Matt: “(Kill him. No. Make him talk.) Why? Why Karen? Why us?”

Cranston: “Come now, Murdock… what good is a nom de guerre if I don’t back it up from time to time… I want you to lose your faith in everything. Your woman. Yourself. The system of justice you so carelessly flaunt when it suits you… because once you strip a man of his faith… all that’s left is fear. That… and an ex-junkie whore girlfriend in jail. Oh, I’m sorry… did that last part slip out?”

Daredevil vol. 1 #375 by Joe Kelly, Chris Claremont, Ariel Olivetti, Christie Scheele, et al.

    Even when Matt finally manages to track down evidence against Cranston that he can use to prove his guilt and Karen’s innocence, he still nearly loses, because Cranston has a member of the jury under his sway. This juror nearly succeeds in releasing Fear Gas to impact the verdict, when he is stopped by– of all people– the Kingpin. 

Matt: “What do you want, Fisk?”

Fisk: “Tut tut… such venom… towards a friend helping a friend. A present. The ghoul used hypnosis so you couldn’t smell the gas. Clever… but he should have chosen a juror with a stronger heart. He’ll live, don’t worry. Just with a pacemaker.”

Matt: “You– why? Why?”

Fisk: “Simple. Someone was playing in my sandbox… and no one gets to break you but me. Congratulations, Counselor. You won your woman’s freedom. With a little help from a friend. I trust you will remember the favor… when I return.”

Daredevil vol. 1 #375 by Joe Kelly, Chris Claremont, Ariel Olivetti, Christie Scheele, et al.

    (D’aww…)

    It’s a shaky victory, but it lasts all the way until the end of volume 2– when Ed Brubaker gives us the most upsetting Mr. Fear story to date in #95-106. 

    The setup for this story is similar to that of its predecessor: Matt’s life starts falling into chaos for reasons that aren’t initially clear. His law partner, Becky Blake, is urged by an old friend to help Melvin Potter (the Gladiator), who is accused of killing people while in prison. Matt and Foggy agree to help, since they have a long-standing relationship with Melvin and suspect foul play. But then, Melvin is sprung from prison and goes on a rampage, before nearly killing Milla Donovan (Matt’s wife) and then trying to commit suicide. This coincides with an increase in violent crimes throughout Hell’s Kitchen. Becky’s friend kills himself under mysterious circumstances. Matt knows someone has engineered all of this, but has no idea who.

Cranston: “Hello, Matt… I thought it was time I said hi. You can hear me… right?”

Matt: “What? Who is this?”

Cranston: “Heh, little joke. I know you can hear me, Matt. But I can’t hear you. And don’t bother trying to recognize my voice… even your ears couldn’t get past this voice-scrambler.”

Daredevil vol. 2 #97 by Ed Brubaker, Michael Lark, Stefano Gaudiano, and Matt Hollingsworth

    Before too long, he learns the truth– Larry Cranston is back, and is more powerful than ever. With an array of underlings from all walks of life at his command and a new arsenal of fear-inducing chemicals (including a new drug he is distributing on the streets), he appears capable of just about anything. He singlehandedly throws Matt’s life, and Hell’s Kitchen’s criminal underworld, into chaos. 

Cranston: “It was so simple, I can’t believe I didn’t discover it myself… the myriad ways in which fear affects the human brain. But it took Professor Dante Govich only minutes to realize the full potential of the drugs from my arsenal. His experiments– once he came under my persuasion– once he looked at me with fear and awe– made all this possible. Dante understood the links between fear and love… the synaptic paths from desire to paranoia to insanity. Under my thumb, he created new drugs beyond anything I could have dreamed of.”

Daredevil vol. 2 #102 by Ed Brubaker, Michael Lark, Stefano Gaudiano, and Matt Hollingsworth

    The whole time Matt remains one step behind, and has barely figured out who his enemy is before he gets doused with one of the new versions of the Fear Gas. As a celebration of the hundredth issue of the volume, #100 features a visually stunning and thematically disturbing sequence of Matt tearing his way through the city streets, hallucinating enemies all around while still helpless to attacks from Mr. Fear’s minions. 

Matt: “Your lies… mean nothing! You hear me, Fisk?! You hear me?!”

Cop: “… Heh heh… heh… Why do you keep… henh… calling me… Fisk? …Please… just stop hitting me…”

Matt: “Oh, God… No.”

Daredevil vol. 2 #100 by Ed Brubaker, Marko Djurdjevic, Michael Lark, Matt Hollingsworth, et al.

    But Cranston’s most disturbing attack is inflicted upon Milla, Matt’s wife. Without Matt’s knowledge, she is dosed with a concoction that amps up her emotions and makes her violent when angry. Her new condition is the final blow to Matt’s mental state, as she risks jail time for accidentally killing someone. Cranston baits Matt by engineering her release, then– the moment Matt starts to experience some hope– has one of his minions sabotage her into committing another violent act, which gets her locked away for good. 

Matt: “Milla, what have you done? What have they done to you? Milla, I can hear your heartbeat… your breathing… It’s me, baby… calm down… It’s Matt… I’m here.”

Milla: “But… I don’t understand… I don’t… I don’t know… I don’t know what happened…”

Matt: “I know. I know you don’t. It’s not your fault.”

Matt (caption): “I hold her tight, but she’s already gone. I can hear the sirens approaching from three blocks away. An ambulance and three police cruisers. They’ll be here soon… to take her away again.”

Daredevil vol. 2 #104 by Ed Brubaker, Michael Lark, Stefano Gaudiano, Matt Hollingsworth, et al.

    Brubaker’s run is the darkest, most brutal Daredevil run to date, and this story plays a major part in that. As his failures pile up, Matt grows more and more desperate, more and more willing to cross lines he might not have crossed before. After beating and torturing Cranston’s whereabouts from one of his pawns, Matt hunts him down, ready to wrest the Fear Gas antidote from him any way he can… at which point Cranston deals the final blow to Matt’s psyche. 

Cranston: “There is no cure, Matt. That’s why I had to kill Dante Govich… He was my chemist… Can’t believe that didn’t occur to you, Mr. Valedictorian. So go ahead, hit me some more. It means nothing… Everything you do means nothing.”

Matt: “No…”

Cranston: “’Cause I beat you weeks ago… you just didn’t know it.”

Daredevil vol. 2  #105 by Ed Brubaker, Michael Lark, Stefano Gaudiano, Matt Hollingsworth, et al.

    This story is heartbreaking on every level. Matt goes through all of that, and achieves nothing. He loses. Cranston gets the last laugh. It’s also not a major supervillain victory. It’s not like Cranston was trying to take over the world, or anything. His motivations are personal and frivolous, and that somehow makes it worse. He just tears Matt’s life to pieces because he wants to, because he can, and because Matt is powerless to stop him, and then gets a little chuckle about it afterward. Of course, the real victim of this story is Milla, who is still, to this day, locked up in a psychiatric hospital– a heartbreaking (and, frankly, criminal) fate for such a fantastic character. This is also the last Matt has seen of Larry Cranston. He hasn’t had chance to retaliate, and in my opinion, this victory alone would cement Mr. Fear as one of the most dangerous Daredevil antagonists. The fact that the various Mr. Fears have been at the center of 55 years-worth of genuinely disturbing stories just further backs this up. 

[why-i-love-comics]

Mister Fear info page

[connemara-music]

Not Really Now (Not Anymore)

Nora Fagan

——————————

It doesn’t work out, it never does

It’s a universal, time-worn truth

Reality hits like a boar-bristle brush

That pulls out her dreams at the roots

It’s almost over

The plot’s unresolved but the curtain still falls

No payoff, no reward

It doesn’t really matter

Not really, now

Not anymore

Bored with the game, she’s tired of playing

She’s lost count of the score

It doesn’t really matter

Not really, now

Not anymore

She folds her hand and stands to leave

She’s seen these cards before

It doesn’t really matter

Not really, now

Not anymore

What’s the use in starting over?

And over and over and over and over and over

Over and over and over and over and over

It’s never over

This time there will be no second act

No return, no sequel, no encore

Because nothing really matters

Not really, now

Not anymore

[whileiamdying]

The astonishment about Billie Holiday in her 100th birthday summer is how differently we hear her. Back in the day — in her music, in her autobiography — Lady Day was the full catalog of suffering in a 20th-century underground: abandonment and child prostitution on the way to drink, drug addiction, and death at 44. “The most hurt and hurting singer in jazz,” said the authoritative Nat Hentoff.

But resurrection in art jumps out of the soundtrack here — starting with her breakthrough film with Duke Ellington in 1934, when she sings, at age 19, “Saddest tale on land or sea, was when my man walked out on me.” Then, when we hear Billie Holiday’s recording of “I’ll Be Seeing You,” from 1944, she has stopped at our table in a small club and started speaking directly to us. There’s no other singer who ever made us cheer and cry at the same time. So Billie Holiday stands less for all that pain than for Hemingway’s dictum that a blues hero “can be destroyed but not defeated.”

In Billie Holiday: The Musician and the Myth, the meta-biographer John Szwed (also of Sun Ra, Miles Davis and Alan Lomax) traces the self-invention of an icon and finds the life and art of Billie Holiday running side-by-side with a truth-telling drive that did not quit. In our conversation, Szwed finds that to the end she was “smarter, tougher, funnier” than all but a few knew.

The Lovers, by Jacob Lawrence (1946).

Five fine singers — Dee Dee Bridgewater, Dominique Eade, Marissa Nadler, Janice Pendarvis, and Rebecca Sullivan — are guiding us through their favorite Holiday songs: her vocal tricks and the social, emotional resonances of her music. Re-listening with them, we begin to understand and experience not just the Billie Holiday story, but the atmosphere of Harlem streets, nightclubs, and living rooms. We hear an “unflinching” voice and a “sophisticated” new sound in music.

The greatest jazz singer? The perfect jazz singer? Perhaps the only jazz singer that ever lived.

A Very Brief History of the Microphone

Lady Day not only embraced the use of the microphone, she revolutionized it. By bringing the “Harlem cabaret style” into the studio, she helped introduce a more subtle and restrained style of singing to recorded music. Our guest John Szwed gives us the rundown on how Holiday—along with Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Orson Welles, and Johnnie Ray—helped to permanently change the way artists approached the mic. Read the complete story on Medium.

—Zach Goldhammer

Music From The Show:

“They Can’t Take That Away From Me” (1937)

“Symphony in Black” (1935)

“Solitude” (1941)

“Fine and Mellow” (1939)

“Love For Sale” (1945)

“Them There Eyes” (1949)

“Strange Fruit” (1939)

“What a Little Moonlight Can Do” (1935)

“Me, Myself, and I” (1937)

“No Regrets” (1936)

“I’ll Get By” (1937)

“I’ll Be Seeing You” (1944)

“God Bless The Child” (1955)

“Gloomy Sunday” (1941)

“Lover Man” (1945)

“I’m a Fool To Want You” (1958)

“The End of a Love Affair” (1958)

“Fine and Mellow” (1957)

[marvelman901]

Web of Spider-Man #63

Mister Fear wanted revenge against Spider-Man and used Betty Brant to get it. In the fight between Spider-Man and Mister Fear, the villain went through the floor and into the river underneath.

[justdealingwithsomeissues]

I wonder how often this would happen... they take the villain out of their suit and take away their gizmos and go "eh this is just a dude" so they toss them into Gen Pop.

[brian-in-finance]

REVEALED: ALL THE WINNERS AT THE GOSSIES 2022

SOME OF IRELAND’S BIGGEST STARS STEPPED OUT FOR GOSS.IE’S SEVENTH ANNUAL AWARDS SHOW, THE GOSSIES 2022, ON APRIL 8TH.

The glitzy awards bash, which was held at The Convention Centre Dublin, saw major Irish stars from TV, radio, music, and social media grace the red carpet.

Hosted by the fabulous Lucy Kennedy, the ceremony will be broadcast on Goss.ie’s YouTube channel on April 10th – so you can catch the winner’s speeches, see all the glitz and glam from the red carpet, and all the laughs in between.

Lucy Kennedy at The Gossies Awards 2022 at The Convention Centre, Dublin. Picture: Brian McEvoy

Celebrity guests on the night included: Maura Higgins, Love Island’s Faye Winter and Teddy Soares, Dáithí Ó Sé, Claudine Keane, Grainne Seoige, Alan Hughes, Martin King, Clare Dunne, Erica Cody, Holly Carpenter, Rosanna Davison, Erin McGregor, Doireann Garrihy, Stephen Byrne, Thalia Heffernan, Dr. Ciara Kelly, Aoife Walsh, Pamela Uba, and Ellen Keane.

A host of influencers and social media stars also made an appearance, including: James Patrice, Carl Mullan, Tadhg Fleming, Rachel Gorry, Sophie Murray, Kiki Nugent, Keilidh Cashell, Lauren Whelan, Miriam Mullins, Shauna Lindsay, Katja Mia, Enya Martin, Victoria Adeyinka, Bonnie Ryan, Aideen Kate Murphy, and Paddy Smyth.

On the night, 19 awards were presented to the winners of each category. Check out the full list of winners below:

https://goss.ie/featured/revealed-all-the-winners-at-the-gossies-2022-290945

Other well-known guests at The Gossies included: Lea Heart, Soulé, Triona McCarthy, Fiona Fagan, Chloe Markham, Corina Gaffey, Laura Jordan, Grainne Gallanagh, Emily O’Donnell, Lynn Kelly, Rebecca Rose, Fionnghuala O’Reilly, Kerri-Nicole Blanc, Rosalind Lipsett, Kelly Horrigan, Lynsey Bennett, Ceira Lambert, Denise Kenny Byrne, Linda Stinson, Aoife McNamara, Aisling Kavanagh, Sue Brophy, Paula Callan, Jade Mullet, Yvonne Maher, Ciara Ryan, and Gogglebox Ireland’s John and Dave.

Guests were treated to a fabulous three-course meal during the ceremony, and were entertained by The Event Band – who had everyone up on their feet throughout the night.

Before the show, our nominees and celebrity guests were invited to our official Gifting and Pamper Suite.

They were given glam makeovers by our Official Makeup Partner KASH Beauty, and had their hair transformed by our Hair Partner Silke Hair & Beauty.

Ahead of the ceremony, nominees also had their skin prepped by our Official Skincare Partner REFORM Skincare.

On top of that, nominees were treated to gifts from some of our incredible brand partners this year, including treats from: 17 now available at Boots, Aperol Spritz Ireland, humm, NOW, Ór Jewellery, Carry Out, Expert Electrical, and Oakpark Foods.

As always, guests also took home a luxury goodie bag from The Gossies, which included products/vouchers from our brand partners, and more treats from category sponsors SHEIN, Flowers.ie, and O’Donnell’s Crisps.

https://www.odonnellscrisps.com/about#OurStory

Remember… in 2007 Ed O’Donnell, a young seventh generation farmer wanted to diversify as farming was looking bleak at the time. He saw a niche in the market for an Irish hand cooked cooked crisp and decided to make crisps from the potatoes grown on his farm. Ed believed it was important that the product and flavours were Irish and artisan so he sourced local food producers to give the crisps fantastic individual flavours. In June 2010 O’DONNELLS Crisps were born!

[fel-i-fod]

Welsh, Scottish, and Irish Writers

This isn’t a definitive list by the way, so please add names if you think I missed someone important (which I probably have).

WELSH WRITERS

Dannie Abse: poet, playwright and physician. A Doctor’s Register; Ghosts; Funland; Song For Pythagoras.

Gillian Clarke: poet, playwright and lecturer.  A Difficult Birth; The Sundial; Catrin.

Roald Dahl: author. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, 1964; The Twits, 1980; Fantastic Mr Fox, 1970; Danny, Champion of the World, 1975; The Witches, 1983. (I’m not going to list every book he’s ever written so these are just my childhood favourites.)

Ken Follett: author - thriller and historical fiction. The Century Trilogy, 2010-14; Kingsbridge Series, 1989-2020.

George Herbert: poet and priest. The Altar; Easter Wings.

Cynan Jones: author. The Dig, 2014.

Diana Wynne Jones: Welsh-English author. Howl’s Moving Castle, 1986-2008; Dalemark, 1979-93; Chrestomanci novels and short stories, 1977-2006; Derkholm, 1998-2000.

Philip Pullman: Welsh-English author. His Dark Materials, 1995-2000; The Book of Dust, 2017-; Sally Lockhart, 1985-94.

Kate Roberts: author. Traed mewn Cyffion (Feet in Chains/Feet in Stocks), 1936; Te yn y Grug (Tea in the Heather), 1959.

Bernice Rubens: author. The Elected Member, 1969; Madame Sousatzka, 1962; A Solitary Grief, 1991.

Owen Sheers: poet, author, playwright and presenter. Farther; Y Gaer/The Hill Fort; The Dust Diaries, 2004; Resistance, 2007; The Green Hollow (”film-poem”), 2016.

Dylan Thomas: poet, author and scriptwriter. Do not go gentle into that good night; And death shall have no dominion; Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog, 1940; A Child’s Christmas In Wales, 1955; Under Milk Wood, 1954.

Gwyn Thomas: author, playwright, columnist, and broadcaster. All Things Betray Thee, 1949.

Sarah Waters: Welsh-English author. Tipping the Velvet, 1998. Fingersmith, 2002.

Hedd Wyn: poet. Yr Arwr; Rhyfel; Plant Trawsfynydd.

SCOTTISH WRITERS

Iain Banks (sometimes Iain M. Banks): author - mainstream and sci-fi. The Wasp Factory, 1984; Walking On Glass, 1985; Culture novels, 1985-2012 (can be read as standalones - I recommend Excession).

Robert Burns: poet. Auld Land Syne; To a Mouse; Scots Wha Hae; Tom o’ Shanter; O, Wert Thou in the Cauld Blast.

Arthur Conan Doyle: author, poet, playwright and physician. Sherlock Holmes stories.

Jenni Fagan: author and poet. The Panopticon, 2012; The Sunlight Pilgrims, 2016.

Janice Galloway: author and poet. The Trick is to Keep Breathing, 1989.

Alasdair Gray: author, artist, poet and playwright. Lanark, 1981; Poor Things, 1992.

James Kelman: author and playwright. How Late It Was, How Late, 1994; Greyhound For Breakfast, 1987.

Val McDermid: author - crime and thriller. Tony Hill and Carol Jordan, 1995-2019; A Place of Execution, 1999.

Denise Mina: crime and comic author and playwright. Conviction, 2019; Garnethill, 1998-2001; Paddy Meehan, 2005-07; John Constantine, Hellblazer, #216-228

Maggie O’Farrell: Irish-Scottish author. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, 2007; After You’d Gone, 2000; I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes With Death, 2017.

James Robertson: author and poet. The Testament of Gideon Mack, 2006; And the Land Lay Still, 2010.

Walter Scott: author, poet and playwright. The Lady of the Lake, 1810; Ivanhoe, 1820; The Bride of Lammermoor, 1819.

Ali Smith: author. How to Be Both, 2014; Seasonal 2017-20; There but for the, 2011.

Muriel Spark: author, poet and essayist. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, 1961; The Ballad of Peckham Rye, 1960; A Far Cry from Kensington, 1988.

Robert Louis Stevenson: author. Treasure Island, 1883; Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, 1886; Kidnapped, 1886.

Alan Warner: author. Morvern Callar, 1995.

Irvine Welsh: author and screenwriter. Trainspotting, 1993; Skagboys, 2012.

Louise Welsh: author - psychological thriller. The Cutting Room, 2002.

IRISH WRITERS

John Banville: author, critic and scriptwriter. The Sea, 2005; The Frames Trilogy, 1989-95.

Samuel Beckett: author, director, playwright, poet and translator. Waiting For Godot, 1954; Molloy, 1951; Malone Meurt, 1951;  L’innommable, 1953.

Maeve Binchy: author, playwright and columnist. Tara Road, 1998; Circle of Friends, 1990; A Week in Winter, 2012.

Elizabeth Bowen: author. The Last September, 1929; Eva Trout, 1968; The Death of the Heart, 1938.

John Boyne: author. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, 2006; The Heart’s Invisible Furies, 2017.

Emma Donoghue: Irish-Canadian author, playwright, screenwriter and literary historian. Room, 2010; Slammerkin, 2000.

Anne Enright: author. The Gathering, 2007; The Green Road, 2015.

Josephine Hart: author, producer and presenter. Damage, 1991.

Seamus Heaney: poet, playwright and translator. Digging; Strange Fruit; In Memoriam Francis Ledwidge; Beowulf: A New Verse Translation, 1999.

James Joyce: author, critic, poet and teacher. Ulysses, 1922; A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, 1916.

Molly Keane: author and playwright. Good Behaviour, 1981; Devoted Ladies, 1934; Time After Time, 1983.

C. S. Lewis: author. The Chronicles of Narnia, 1950-56.

Iris Murdoch: author and philosopher. Under the Net, 1954; The Sea, the Sea, 1978.

Edna O’Brien: author, poet and playwright. The Country Girls Trilogy, 1960-64; August is a Wicked Month, 1965; A Pagan Place, 1970.

Frank O’Connor: author. Guests of the Nation, 1931; My Oedipus Complex, 1952; The Majesty of Law, 1936.

Nuala O’Faolain: author, journalist, producer, critic and teacher. Almost There: The Onward Journey of a Dublin Woman, 2003; Are You Somebody? The Accidental Memoir of a Dublin Woman, 1996.

Bram Stoker: author. Dracula, 1897.

Jonathan Swift: author, satirist, essayist, poet and cleric. Gulliver’s Travels, 1726; A Modest Proposal, 1729.

Oscar Wilde: author, poet and playwright. The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1890; The Importance of Being Earnest, 1895.

W. B. Yeats: poet and playwright. The Lake Isle of Innisfree, 1890; Adam’s Curse, 1903; Easter 1916, 1916; The Second Coming, 1920; Cathleen Ní Houlihan, 1902.

[rrareearthh]

Okay, uh Danny, Ben, Alan, Brad, Sally, Daveth, Sally 2, Brian, Ryan, Grussel, Paul, Mavis, Esther, Justin, Pilaf, Frank, Usul, Ellen, Bellen, Alice, Trince, Hellen, Third Sally, Drendel, Biggo, Torichan, Phyllis, Brandon, Cranston, Lisa, Chanter, Frikk, Santa, Warp, Alexander, Shelly, Monty, Arnold V, Seven, Evan, Porridge, Helga, Princifer, Sherik, Dondo, Deedee, Ashley, Erica, Lawrence, Klezmer, Paper, Spike, Station, Piano, YHWH, Amerigo, Abendigo, Justine, Cristal, Krystal, Jonathan Brandis, Grandis, Socrates, Denise-Fromage, Donald Fagan, Second Cranston, Phoebe, Rachel, Ross, Chadler, Joey, Courtney, and Literally Satan

Did I name them all??

A gaggle of Ammonoids. Can you name them all?