I originally wrote this article to support the History of Marvel Comics show that the NerdVana Podcast recorded on Saturday, June 8, 2013. What a task: outlining the entire history of the Marvel Universe, from the very beginnings of Timely Comics, to the horror stories of the Atlas Era, to the rise of heroes during […]
In recent years, the field of Comics Studies has exploded. Back in the 1970s, when my older brother occasionally drove me to Bob Sidebottom’s Comic Collector Shop on San Fernando Street in San Jose, the only widely available explorations were Jules Feiffer’s The Great Comic Book Heroes, Steranko’s two volume History of Comics, and Michael […]
In the 2788 of Janet Edward’s Earth Girl, humanity has colonized the galaxy thanks to planet-taming technologies and transportation portals resembling those from Stargate. Medical science provides for the regeneration of lost limbs, and many ailments exist only as descriptions in history books. However, a segment of humanity remains trapped on Earth due to an […]
Lugosi lives on for posterity not so much as an actor but as the personification of his greatest character. When he performed as Dracula, Lugosi spoke for his own personal legacy as much as for his character when he pronounced the immortal line, “I am Dracula.” – Biography.com The very essence of vampiric dread Had […]
A juggernaut, he parts the startled crowd With promised force alone. The mothers hide Their children, chiding those who speak out loud; The men retreat, unmindful of their pride. All travelers give him space, and no one wakes The colors on his skin, bizarre designs Entwining his arms, ouroboros snakes Beginning where they end and […]
. . . so then I said, “That brings to mind the debts Incurred by Edward, King of England, how The Bardi and Peruzzi almost met Their ruins for loaning him such large amounts.” I tried to help him, but he never gets It. “Old-world financiers could make it out,” I’d offered while he rolled […]
Torn up by buckshot hormones, teenage minds Can’t take in any information, save That spring consumes itself outside. Ten days Until school’s through! The learning curve defies My chalkboard stats. A talk on suicide Prevention must seem strange when kids have made Out graduation gift lists, and far away Reside the thousand natural shocks of […]
No spring in sight. The wounded morning sheds Dark, clotted clouds across a winter sky. Another shift wraps up. I helped a man Who’d sealed himself inside a plastic sofa Bag then sprayed himself with golden paint — The fumes would kill him, but he’d leave behind A scintillating corpse. Ambivalence Won out for him, […]
I wept openly while watching Captain America: The Winter Soldier. There I sat with my popcorn and my water bottle, suddenly shedding gigantic, happy tears after nearly two hours of fist pumping and cheering internally. What finally broke me occurred after Hydra had obliterated SHIELD. Those SHIELD agents and employees who weren’t Hydra suffered the […]
Last December, many Facebook friends shared this photo with me: Meg from the blog Happy Looks Good on You handcrafted these ornaments for her husband, Curtis, to celebrate Christmas 2011. Her blog entry details her process, and the comments resound with praise and awe. Not one person asked, “Why Captain America and not Wonder Woman?” […]
