"B": Things I learned from "The Superhero Book"

Growing up poor and nomadic in the 1980's, I didn't have many options to entertain myself beyond newsstand comics, magazines, and action figures. We almost never had cable, didn't get a VCR until 1986, and couldn't keep it or the television out of hock more often than not. The library was obviously a great comfort to me, but I regularly heard about things in other media I never got to experience for myself. This developed into a love for books about the movies, music, comics, and so forth I couldn't enjoy for myself. Reviews, synopsis... not unlike what I do at the Idol-Head and here at ...nurgh... Anyhow, I developed an encyclopedic knowledge of several aspects of pop culture, specifically comic books. However, while I often feel like an expert, between all the reading and those years in retailing, I'm delighted when I find something like "The Superhero Book."

It's easy to find titles that give a brief overview of most every example of comic book character under the sun. This book is different, as its many authors don't so much write entries as articles of varying lengths concerning a creation or aspect of the medium. If anything, it reminds me most of the "Steranko History of Comics," really taking a subject by the horns with a candor alien to the authorized/whitewashed biography submitted by the actual publishers. Like "Steranko," there are disputable and plain erroneous "facts" in evidence, but this is the kind of effort that expects the reader to bring a critical mind to play. I'm so enamoured of the book, in fact, I plan to submit bits of information gleaned from it I did not previously know, or at least recall. As I've mentioned, I'm a bit of a know-it-all, so don't expect anything especially obvious here. I'm not saying I don't have my gaps, but if you find yourself going "rrrreally" like I did on the entries to follow, I imagine you'd find even more interesting bits by checking out the book for yourself.

Anyway, as I needed to write that introduction, I'll be starting the alphabetical overview with "B." The letter "A" ran much longer, as "C" promises to, and will each follow in due time...

• I have a better understanding of Badger's whole deal. I never could get into the Nexusverse, so its details and longevity always mystified me.


• The Blackhawks were the only hero team to survive into the Silver Age?


• Black Canary began her career as a "Robin Hood" thief, except she stole from the crooks and gave to herself. An encounter with Johnny Thunder set her straight, and as thanks she only stole two more things-- his slots in Flash Comics and the Justice Society of America. All the hooey about being "inspired" by Batman came later. I also thought Larry Lance was a plainclothes detective, but it seems he was a private investigator whom Dinah Drake frequently rescued.


• Marvel's Blonde Phantom was a big hit in late 1946, where she replaced the heroes that would form the Invaders in "All-Select Comics" in a series of violent and provocative tales. Louise Grant worked for and routinely saved her own P.I. boy friend Mark Mason, a year before Black Canery's debut. Hmm. The Blonde Phantom's success, not to mention the Archie Comics boom, led to the creation of Timely's short-lived line of female super-heroes.


• I knew Blue Beetle was one of the worst long-lived super-hero features of the Golden Age. I did not know he had a radio show, started off as a Green Hornet rip-off, traded in Lev Gleason style sex & violence, and saw his first publisher switch (and switchback) before 1944. I also thought the Steve Ditko revamp lasted longer than a year.


• Note to self: write a blog disputing the time span of the "Bronze Age."


• Bulletman was way more popular than he should have been, with a Bulletboy and Bulletdog in tow, his adventures spanned 150 comics. Bulletgirl was also one of the first super-heroines, and partner in a unisex duo.

A Frank Review of "Scanners" and "A History of Violence"

SCANNERS


Somehow, I saw David Cronenberg's "Rabid" and "Videodrome" before puberty, but missed on this classic until just the other day. I'm not going to say it's a great movie, but it deserves a reverent seat in the hall of bugfuck. This is full-on comic book pseudo-science, and it's great fun for what it is. I was introduced to Michael Ironside through "V" and much more thereafter, and it's easy to see here why he was one of the go-to bad guys of 80's film. It's also pretty clear why Stephen Lack received second-billing in a movie that features him in nearly every scene. The first porn movie I ever saw with Chloe featured her as a super-heroine brought to life by a lusty fanboy. Her acting was as wooden as her partner's johnson, and I couldn't tell if it was on purpose. Then she had one of her infamous "Chloeville" orgasms, and I figured, "oh, she's clearly acting her--um-- heart out." Well, it turned out I was half right. Anyway, Lack is supposed to be just barely human, and he's marvelous at it, but also annoying as hell. I'd like to check out one of the sequals, against my better judgment.

A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE


This was Cronenberg's comeback after years spent in the wilderness, but to be honest, I'd rather watch Existenz again. It isn't that "History" is bad, but it seemed to me like it just sort of happens. I think the film needed more of Ed Harris and William Hurt's Dustin Hoffman impression. Viggo Mortenson's hick schtick wears thin quick, while Maria Bello is mostly just compelling in her MILFyness. The screenwriters make not the slightest mention of the graphic novel basis for the work, not that I've read it, but it still bothered me.

The World's Greatest Super-Heroes (2005)

My first major exposure to Alex Ross was a DC retail poster I bought around the time of "Zero Hour" showing the then-state of the DCU (Supermullet/Aquaman with obscured right hand/gestalt Hawkman in silhouette/Kyle Rayner/Steel/etc.) I dug it, and went on to collect lots of "Kingdom Come" merchandise, Wizard Magazine appearances, reissues of "Marvels," and so on like a good little fanboy. However, the issue arose that, like Neal Adams before him, omnipresence of even the most formidable artists can lead to the contempt of familiarity. As early as 1998, I was feeling the burnout of all those haughty icons peering at me with their judgemental eyes... the whole quasi-Christian propaganda thing got me down. I also honestly hated aspects of "Kingdom Come" that began to creep into the DCU proper, fulfilling a prophesy the book seemed intent on averting through example. You might imagine, when I heard Ross would be starting a series of tabloid "message books" featuring DC's big guns moralizing, I was less than ecstatic. That they would begin with Superman and Batman embittered me further. Add in the things would be $9.95 in the grossly oversized tabloid format, and I plain said "no, thank you, I'll wait for Captain Marvel." Shazam came and went, and by the time now fourth place Wonder Woman showed at the party, I was all about waiting for the trade.

It took about ten years, two after the suckers were finally bound in hardcover, but I finally read the lot.

SUPERMAN: PEACE ON EARTH- I believe a friend of mine loaned me his copy to read on release, even though I owned a comic shop and could have just taken a copy home if I'd wanted to. I'd forgotten all about reading it. This means something. It takes a lot to make me care about Superman these days, and Ross dealing stock poses and high-minded principles don't cut it. I must admit there were a number of highlights: pouring from a giant feed bag into bowls to serve hungry villagers; the spread where he wrestles various animals during a stampede; Pa Kent seeding the field. That said, if you ever imagined a story about Superman trying to cure world hunger for one day, you would have come up with this. It is rote.

BATMAN: WAR ON CRIME- This entry worked better for me, as it's further afield from standard Batman action, looking at the social causes behind crime. Paul Dini has repeatedly shown he has as much interest in Bruce Wayne as Batman, and enough experience I suspect he helped steer Ross outside both creator & character's comfort zone. I loved Wayne's thoughts concerning the junkie waitress, and I am surprised how surprised I am after reading all those Denny O'Neil lectures how liberal the character is in thinking. He comes off as such a secretive, maverick jerk that it's easy to miss how "Great Society/Big Government" he truly is. The most brisk read of the bunch, which at a tenner would have cost points, but when collected in hundreds of pages is a blessing.

SHAZAM!: POWER OF HOPE- The fan fiction. Dude, I don't care what you took from terrible live action Saturday morning fare from the 1970's, neither Captain Marvel nor Plastic Man are DC icons of standing alongside the Justice League. This does not diminish them as super-heroes that have entered the public conscience. Having the Fonz join C.H.iP.S is off, no matter how much validation of your childhood you feel you must foist onto the buying public. This book is a perfect case for my argument, as "sick kids" seems more than a stretch for inclusion amongst fare that reads more like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. WAR! FAMINE! Jerry's Kids! PESTILENCE! Wha-wuh? The Make-A-Wish-Foundation is the most meandering & episodic of the lot, relying on the charm of the lead character to coast.

WONDER WOMAN: SPIRIT OF TRUTH- Okay, each of these solo stories features a two page origin spread, and the first three cases fairly scream "obligatory." I'd be willing to give Captain Marvel a pass, since you know a book like this will garner new readers, but there was nothing new to see. For the Amazing Amazon though, you have two pages worth the cover price. Diana's story has been revised and overcomplicated so often, even I as a serious fan of the character cannot think of a clearer, more concise and appealing telling of her basic story than this. It looks fantastic, mythical, and has the indispensable lines, "Weary of constant warfare, we beseeched our patron Goddess for sanctuary. The will of gentle Aphrodite guided us away from the battlefields to the shores of Paradise Island." Something said so simply, but I felt my understanding of the Amazons magnified with that statement. It erased every bias and misconception of Themyscira from my mind. "Amazons Attack," in my world, never happened. A blessing for certain!

Diana's story also worked better than the rest, as her goals and means have always been more ambiguous than the rest, and solutions therefore more elusive. Gone is the harsh and frankly repulsive Wonder Woman of previous Ross efforts, hewing more closer to a Lynda Carter grace without sacrificing formidably. Despite misgivings about Paul Dini's work at times, I mourn his lack of input into Wonder Woman's characterization in the Justice League cartoon. I loved the invisible jet effects, and the fear/distrust Wonder Woman's appearance inspires. Folks, I sold comics for eight years, and rare is the female reader who likes, much less relates to Wonder Woman. Metatext aplenty here. Aside from the problems faced by the nature of the project and sameness of it all, I must also noted my hatred for the inclusion of Clark Kent. For some reason, Wonder Woman is the only book compromised by the inclusion of another super-hero, and this man serves as a mentor to our heroine. Fuck that, as is it was entirely unnecessary, and robbed our lead of vision and self-determination.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA: SECRET ORIGINS- The monochromatic 2-page spread shtick got old when lumped together, as did the Silver Age fetishism. Then again, the all-Ray Palmer Atom entry was all right with me. Someone needs to retcon John Stewart a better origin, and I only forgive Prince Nam--er, Aquaman's "lighthouse" backstory because the "Aquababy Sr." panel was so swell. Martian Manhunter's was great about capturing the Post-Crisis vibe of the character without bringing on excess baggage, though I felt cognitive dissonance at seeing Professor Mark Erdel but reading "Dr. Saul." Hawkgirl was lumped in with her headlined man, I'm sorry to relate, with no hint of the Egyptian lineage. Black Canary sadly rated a single panel in Green Arrow's origin, while Zatanna received same in a Satellite Era group entry. So too Red Tornado, but I hate that guy, so fuck him. I'd be more inclined to give Plastic Man's two pages a free pass, were this not a JLA book that shafts Elongated Man out of the same treatment.

LIBERTY AND JUSTICE: After all that first person narrative text, it was a nice change of pace to read J'Onn J'Onzz first person narrative text. What-- he's never getting a tabloid of his own, a'ight? Okay, also nice, if a bit jarring, to also find dialogue balloons at play in this tale of a super-plague. Aquaman is treated very well for a change, and the story has actual tension and a sense of stake the introspective nature and pre-determined mission failure of the previous volumes would not allow. The hardcover ends on a high note by avoiding those pitfalls, and the lengthy review of other JLA-related Ross works in the auxiliary section doesn't hurt any (though there was much redundancy if you have a copy of "Mythology.")

Book vs. Movie: Slaughterhouse-Five (1969/1972)

"I love George Roy Hill and Universal Pictures, who made a flawless translation of my novel Slaughterhouse-Five to the silver screen ... I drool and cackle every time I watch that film, because it is so harmonious with what I felt when I wrote the book." -author Kurt Vonnegut.

"Whoever *did* write this doesn't know the first thing about Kurt Vonnegut!"- Dr. Diane Turner (played by Sally Kellerman) regarding a term paper about Vonnegut ghost written by Vonnegut in the movie "Back To School" (1986)

"You were just babies then! You were just babies in the war-- like the ones upstairs! But you're not going to write it that way, are you... You'll pretend you were men instead of babies, and you'll be played in the movies by Frank Sinatra and John Wayne or some other glamorous, war-loving, dirty old men. And war will look just wonderful, so we'll have a lot of them. And they'll be fought by babies like the babies upstairs." -Mary O'Hare

I read a book. It was about a fellow who happened to be a POW during the bombing of Dresden. He decided he would author a great book on the subject. Two decades later, he still hadn't managed the feat. He visited an old war buddy to drink in his kitchen and remember bad old times. Bernard O'Hare's wife didn't appreciate this, as she had strong feelings about sending babies to war. The author agreed, and swore to write an anti-war book (and perhaps an anti-glacier novel after,) called "The Children's Crusade." He did so, though his story was more like a pleasant, rambling, possibly drunken series of anecdotes told out of sequence about an archtypical character representing all those babies. Billy Pilgrim was a fragile little boy who was sent to places he did not belong, not that anyone did, and never recovers. His mind is functional, for the most part, but he remains a passive spectator in all things until the end of his life.

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I saw a movie. It was about a good-natured young man who has a series of serio-comic adventures in a wacky POW camp. It was like "Hogan's Heroes," by way of "Catch-22." No one told the story, at least no one with a voice. It just sort of happened. The fellow becomes unstuck in time, and bounces from era to era, and eventually to other worlds and a future. He was heroic, in that he tried to save people from tragedies he is aware of from his many travels. Also, he is assertive when necessary, like when he demands privacy while sleeping with a porn star within the first few minutes of meeting her. This may be because he has a huge wang. You never know who'll get one.

A great many events from the book appear in the movie. It is a depiction of events from the book, you see. I do mean, "you see." As in, you see actual breasts that were only drawn on one page of the book. You see a plane crash, and far more of a car wreck than you'd expect from the author's telling. But as I said, the author doesn't tell this story in the movie, and a story really is all in the telling. Also, the wang does not appear in the movie. It isn't even mentioned. There is a coo. It does not go "Poo-tee-weet?"

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If I were to direct my own version Slaughterhouse-Five, I would not mention the aliens. They are described at length in prose, but I would let that go. I think I would focus entirely on the war. That may seem like a deep cut, but movies are short, so time is a factor here. Obviously. It takes time to show with pictures lethargy, starvation, and the depths of squalor. The book is about an ordeal that never ends. Without seeing the trauma, hearing the reflections, nor really the effects, you're left with a series of events told in a clinical fashion in the style of only the most pretentious 70's cinema. The movie is a thing. It is a series of photographs that could be projected while reading the book, except there are discrepancies. These were ill-considered.

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I read a book. It was impactful. The phrase "so it goes" was recited 106 times.

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I watched a movie. It was a thing. It did not move. It was a lovely shade of azure. I don't recall the phrase "so it goes" being used in the film. The film did not repeat itself much at all. They loved it in France. So it goes.

Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade"

When I was growing up, I had a voracious appetite for young adult novels and comic books. As I got older, I began to develop a strong feeling of "been there, done that," with regard to most any fiction I tried to read. Also, I'd begun intuitively deconstructing the various techniques employed. I tried to transition to more adult fare, only to realize that every great work in history had been processed and regurgitated by every fair-to-middling work in history, so that it was all terribly familiar. I've always been especially fond of first person narrative, and I came to realize perspective was more important to me than plot. I also prefer the versimilitude of true accounts over the artifice of fiction. Therefore, I still read constantly, but prefer reviews/editorial/so on. Rarely does a book instill true feeling in my own heart anymore, but listening to someone else's reflection on what was stirred within themselves, I'm allowed a voyeuristic second-hand emotion.

Feeling a bit insecure about my no longer being well-read, however, I've decided I ought to make a greater effort to seek out fiction of the highest quality. My interests seems to incline me toward someone like Kurt Vonnegut, who I had never previously followed. Since "Slaughter-House Five" seemed to be his most revered work, and I had to start it somewhere, it started there. I did enjoy it quite a bit, certainly enough to seek out more of the author's work. In a voice singularly the writer's, of a highly anecdotal tone, we are told the tale of one Billy Pilgrim. This already unsteady soul is sent off to participate in the waning days of World War II, only to be promptly captured and sent off to several makeshift POW camps. He survives the experience through a combination of dumb luck and the numbness allowed by mental disorder. Upon returning home, Billy sleepwalks through the rest of his life, until he comes to believe he's become unstuck in time. The story is told in a decidedly non-linear fashion, as Billy bounces through his personal timeline like a cripplingly passive Sam Beckett, even when presented with the prospect of alien visitors from distant Tralfamadore.

It would be a mistake to dub "Slaughter-House Five" science-fiction. The author is instead concerned with the terrific candor of the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder sufferer who is willing the discuss the circumstances behind the condition. One horror after another passes through Billy's life, but you couldn't really call his experiences horrible, as he essentially is so far gone as to at best serve as a rubber-necking onlooker to his own tragic condition. The thing about horror is that it either curls its victims into a ball, or gifts them with a madness that allows them to make light of the grim proceedings. Billy is inclined toward the former, while Vonnegut embraces the latter, making much gallows humor at Billy's expense. I was typically amused by this schism, with Vonnegut only losing my favor with sometimes deeply problematic sentence structure. He makes up for this with great lines like, "She was a dull person, but a sensational invitation to make babies. Men looked at her and wanted to fill her up with babies right away. She hadn't had even one baby yet. She used birth control."

I adored Vonnegut's similarly casual, hysterically blunt notation of the great indignities suffered by the cruel fate inflicted upon his subjects. They never seem overly embellished, said plainly for maximum impact in their simple and indisputable injustice. Vonnegut is incomparably apt at making naked the frail, arbitrary nature of life and our choices. There are no villains in the book, just fools who need to inflict their delusions upon others, mostly to mutual detriment. It is the best kind of anti-war statement: one that takes the piss out of all participants, rather than redirecting the same sort of rhetoric that gets us into these bloody messes in the first place.

One portion of the book has a German war widow making soup for the POWs. One was the middle-aged gym teacher Edgar Derby, who enlisted with his son to combat the evil Axis. One was our hero, Billy Pilgrim, draped in a curtain and silver boots from a makeshift production of Cinderella. The third was their teenage guard Werner Gluck, who had just immediately prior seen a naked girl for the first time.

"She asked Gluck if he wasn't awfully young to be in the army. He admitted that he was.

She asked Edgar Derby if he wasn't awfully old to be in the army. He said he was.

She asked Billy Pilgrim what he was supposed to be. Billy said he didn't know. He was just trying to keep warm.

"All the real soldiers are dead, she said. It was true. So it goes."

NURGH! Greatest Songs Of Our Time!!!! #3: "Skip A Rope" by Henson Cargill (1968)

I first heard this song a good decade or more back, and it gave me chills. I can't think of anyone I ever played it for who didn't love it. Per Wikipedia: "The song became a huge hit, spending five weeks at Number 1 on the country charts in 1968 and also making the Top 25 on the Pop charts." I don't know who made the video, but one comment caught my eye...

"I tried to post a comment a couple of hours ago about "Skip A Rope" but it hasn't shown up. As one of the writers of the song, I only wanted to thank the people who had made such wonderful comments about the song. Do you have some rule that a writer can't make a comment.
I am confused.
D.G. Tubb"



Oh, listen to the children while they play,
Now ain't it kinda funny what the children say,
Skip a rope.

Daddy hates mommy, mommy hates dad,
Last night you shoulda heard the fight they had,
Gave little sister another bad dream,
She woke us all up with a terrible scream.

(CHORUS)

Cheat on your taxes, don't be a fool,
Now what was that they said about a Golden Rule?
Never mind the rules, just play to win,
And hate your neighbour for the shade of his skin.

(CHORUS)

Stab 'em in the back, that's the name of the game,
And mommy and daddy are who's to blame.

Skip a rope, skip a rope,
Just listen to your children while they play,
It's really not very funny, what the children say,
Skip a rope, skip a rope.

The Demon #40-45 & Annual #2 (1993-94)

After growing disenchanted with Marvel Comics in the early 90's, I began casting about for a replacement universe. Marv Wolfman's controversial revitalization of the Titans led me to DC, which I became increasingly enamored with. Hoping to sample a wide variety of titles, I decided I would collect the 1993 Annual event, "Bloodlines." I expect I will attempt to defend that decision someday, but for now I'll just point out that this led to my buying the second Demon annual.

When I was in junior high and truly over the kind of education you receive whilst being yanked from school to school a couple of times a year, I started doodling an extended comic strip called "Gunner." It was about a scraggly looking degenerate assassin who was always seen in a ball cap, chunky shades, and usually a jacket. These strips were ridiculously violent, featured low humor, and were what you would generally expect from a misanthropic loner. Color me surprised when I bought the Etrigan comic book, which introduced a hard-drinking Irish Hitman who looked and acted very much like "John Gunner" in adventures comparable to Gunner's. Artist John McCrea was even prone to the same awkward angles and panel layouts. Literally, there's a scene where a grenade is tossed into a villain's gaping mouth that was near identical to one I had drawn, including the general lack of craft.

The book wasn't entirely amateurish. Certainly John McCreas drawing abilities far outstripped mine, especially when it came to the book's title character. McCrea imbues Etrigan with a queer combination of gangly droop and sinewy menace. For once, Etrigan seemed scary, as he shifted gears between cackling mayhem and seething fury at the drop of a hat. His remains my favorite interpretation of the character. On the writing side, this was one of the earliest U.S. works of Garth Ennis, decidedly less polished, but very much in keeping with the anarchist piss-takes he would become famous for. I was immediately a fan of these kindred spirits, and went back to the comic shop the following week for the team's debut issue on the ongoing series.

Now, Ennis and McCrea's Demon run has been treasured by myself and friends for years. One owns the last few pages McCrea produced for the book, featuring a closing soliloquy-- or at least as close as a doggerel-spouting abomination can get. When Hitman was spun off into his own series, I drew a life-size half-standee of Tommy Monaghan as part of a dump display to promote the series in my shop far more effectively than DC ever did. The problem is, on rereading these early issues, I'm afraid they're just not very good. The art on the annual is at times rushed to the point one assumed an inker took over the pages in a deadline crunch, but none are credited. Hitman's origin is an afterthought, his character still a stock bad ass. The plot moves from one action piece to another, most punctuated by the dismembering of Gotham City grotesqueries and fat jokes at the expense of the alien menace Glonth. The team's debut stories are similarly plagued by episodic violence, painful poetry, and obvious debts to Grant, Wagner, Bisley, and Fabry. A period fill-in by Batman: The Animated Series writer/artist Kevin Altieri a relief fifteen years down the line.

The story arc that followed presented a more familiar Monaghan, joining Etrigan against an arch-demon, ridiculous evangelistic crusaders, and more. Fun, but frivolous, aside from setting up future stories. All in all, I'm disappointed I didn't enjoy this stroll down memory lane more. Perhaps my growing disenchanted with Ennis' writing had less to do with his changes than my own. I'll get back to you ion that, as I continue my reading.

Note: This is a review of a run of issues for which no trade collection is available.