It’s my birthday. Not a big deal to me but if you wanna do the whole happy birthday thing, go ahead.
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Freak Out Friday – September 21, 2018
He almost managed to do it. Trump almost managed to act like a decent human being.
And then today his true nature rose and he blew it.
The Dick Knight Rises
On April 12, “Young Sheldon” aired an episode called “A Mother, a Child, and a Blue Man’s Backside.” In it, Sheldon’s mother goes ballistic when she discovers her son is reading a smutty comic featuring full frontal male nudity. It was called “Watchmen.”
The episode seemed charmingly antiquated. I don’t really recall much offended fan reaction back when the book was initially published, although granted that was somewhat before the modern age of social media. By the way standards have changed in comics, I figured if it was done today, it would result in little reaction at all.
Well, not so much, as it turns out. In the first issue of “Batman: Ðámņëd,” well…there’s been lots of talk about Bruce Wayne’s dìçk in the past years, but it’s always capitalized and has the last name of “Grayson.” This time we see a heavily shadowed version of the real thing.
And I’m told by my wife that there are actually some fans who are offended.
Really? If it was Selina Kyle’s pubic hair, fanboys would be all over it. But depict a shadowed outline of the dìçk knight and those same fans are appalled.
I mean, you guys DO get it’s a drawing, right? That Bruce Wayne is fictional. That it’s one artist’s interpretation. That other than an attempt to justify the adult label on the book, it’s utterly pointless. That “Watchmen” was far more explicit thirty years ago.
Jesus. Chill, people. It’s a dìçk. Almost every other person in the world has one. No big deal, in any interpretation.
PAD
“Fear: Trump in the White House” Review
“With integrity, you have nothing to fear, since you have nothing to hide.” –Zig Ziglar
“Power is fear.”–Donald Trump
It makes perfect sense that Trump would make that statement. Power, of course, does not immediately require fear to be operational. Bosses have power, but a good boss is hardly considered someone who operates through promoting fear in his subordinates. And good presidents don’t inspire fear. Obama certainly did not. W. may have inspired fear since he was an idiot, but he didn’t consider fear a mandatory part of his job. Nor did Clinton, certainly or any reasonable man you can name.
But Trump believes that fear goes hand in hand with being the POTUS. That explains why he has contempt for our allies and tons of admiration for Putin or Kim Jong un, dictators who are known to have everyone from political enemies to family members poisoned, shot, or otherwise dispatched of. They inspire fear in their population, and Trump wants to do that as well. He despises the media because, rather than fear him, they dare to criticize him. He wants the media to fear him, his staff and secretaries to fear him, the voters to fear him. Or just love him unreservedly, something I’m reasonably sure even his wife doesn’t do.
“Is Rey a Mary Sue?”
That was a question daughter Caroline asked me over lunch today.
“Of course not,” I said.
“Because some people say she is,” continued Caroline, “because she learned about being a Jedi so much faster than Luke.”
Operating on the unlikely possibility that someone doesn’t know what a Mary Sue is: She is a character who first launched in a satire of Star Trek fan fiction. Mary Sue is generally young, superb at every undertaking, serves as a sort of wish fulfillment of the author, is beloved by the existing cast of characters, typically shows up the lead, and–not required but not atypical–oftentimes dies and is grieved by everyone.
There are contentions that Rey falls into that category because she was so formidable a Jedi by the end of “The Force Awakens.” She was able to manipulate minds with the Force, could levitate a lightsaber to her hand, and defeated a trained Jedi master in their first lightsaber battle.
“Inconceivable!” shouted fandom.
“Perfectly understandable!” replied yours truly.
Here’s why:
Freak Out Friday – September 7, 2018
At a rally in Billings, Montana, Trump–as always–attempted to shift blame for his problems away from himself and to someone else. In an unusual move, his target was his own supporters. He claimed that if they did not get out and vote for Republicans in November, he would be impeached.
“I’ll be the only President in history they’ll say: ‘What a job he’s done! By the way, we’re impeaching him,'”
Well, not exactly. What will be said is, “What a job he’s done. That’s why we’re impeaching him.”
Talos the Untamed in “Captain Marvel”
So I was planning the story for HULK #417 and 418, and I wanted to have the Hulk battle one of the Skrulls who showed up for Rick and Marlo’s wedding. But I wanted it to be a fight atypical of such dust-ups.
Then I hit upon the idea of having it be a Skrull who could not shapeshift because of a genetic disorder. I figured a guy like that would be seen as a weakling, endlessly tormented. And what I reasoned was that it would give him incentive to be the most badass Skrull in the empire, a gladiator of unequaled skill. His name would be Talos and he would pick up the nickname “Talos the Untamed.” But when he was captured by the Kree during the Kree/Skrull war, he would refuse to commit suicide as honor demanded. Consequently he was disgraced and referred to as Talos the Tamed.
In #418 he wound up battling the Hulk, figuring the big guy would kill him so that he could die nobly in combat. But when the Hulk realized what he wanted, he dropped to his knees and begged him to stop the fight. Talos was so disgusted by the Hulk’s pleading that he decided the Hulk wasn’t worth the combat. But when he transported back to his ship, all the other Skrulls were extremely impressed over his handling of the formidable Hulk and so he took a huge step back in regaining his honor.
It was easily the most unpopular issue of Hulk I ever wrote. Fans were revolted by the idea of the Hulk surrendering under any circumstance, even though the Hulk had no stake in the fight and didn’t care who won or lost. As far as the fans were concerned, only the Hulk beating Talos into a pile of mulch was an acceptable ending. I shrugged. Can’t win ’em all.
But apparently Talos remained popular, and now it turns out he’s going to be one of the main villains in the upcoming “Captain Marvel” movie. Which means action figures, and maybe t-shirts. And you know I’ll be watching the end credits to see if my name is in there, ’cause if it’s not I will be VERY disappointed.
Oh God, don’t let the movie tank. Otherwise I’ll feel it’s my fault; the first Marvel movie not to do well. Because it featured a Peter David creation as the villain.
PAD
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