United States Supreme Court decision No. 93-98

In the Ex Machina Special #3 (October 2007), Brian K. Vaughn and the rest of the creative team sum up the advantages and drawbacks of anonymity when fighting for a cause, even when the goal is inimical or positive. In the special, Mayor Hundred declines to forbid a racist rally, opting instead to promote a tolerance rally elsewhere in the city. He reasons that the hate group has a right to stage their rally and the tolerance group has the same right to do likewise, even though they will both probably choose to hide their faces for various reasons.

Click the images to make a talking point

While Vaughn has Mayor Hundred make a valuable argument about Martin Luther King and has the character of Hundred take a personal stand, I don't agree with his sentiment fully and find it a bit dismissive in reality. Anonymity can be an important tool beyond the artificial courage it confers upon internet trolls attacking a feminist blog or skeptic forum. The anonymity his many pseudonyms afforded Benjamin Franklin allowed him to communicate in ways that otherwise would have created nearly insurmountable obstacles for him and the cause of liberty during a period of political and societal unrest in young America.

Often in history (and even today, see the ridiculous O'Reilly vs. DailyKos debacle for example) the small group that claims to be a majority and pretends to represent the beliefs and values of very nearly everyone but in reality does not, nevertheless holds an inordinate amount of power and influence due to connections and access to people through media. As we are all aware from events over the past seven years, telling a lie enough times with enough authority behind it has the result in the majority believing it to be fact. Any publicly known figure who dared to raise their voice in opposition, right or wrong, has been effectively destroyed.

Expanding the concept beyond Vaughn's discourse in the comic book, many bloggers and pundits of today prefer to remain officially unknown and have their identities remain off the record to the world at large. When the primary tactic against a differing opinion is personal attacks and misinformation, anonymity is not only their right but a necessary protection given the mighty forces the faux-majority can wield against a person or organization of limited resources. Even positive blogging about an event, situation, lifestyle, public person or company has resulted in someone losing employment, being attacked or missing opportunities.

It doesn't matter what mask the truth wears, it is still the truth underneath. The mask merely allows the facts to be told without worrying about getting tires slashed or livelihood threatened.

Tags: Free Speech

Jack Kirby's Electric Head

Jack Kirby would have been 90 years old today.

Celebrate him, for no one else will ever be able to successfully pull off this type of stuff ever again.

Page from 1st Issue Special #5 featuring Manhunter (August 1975).

Tags: Jack Kirby

Noblesse Oblige

Got to hell, Richie. Go straight to hell.

From Harvey Hits #3 (November 1957).

Tags: Ritchie Rich

Comic Book PSA: People are People

According to this ethnocentric Comic Book PSA that appeared in The Brave and the Bold #39 (Jan 1962), in the dawn of humanity all people were Caucasian and of European appearance.

Like romance comic books that tried to be contemporary, sometimes the Comic Book PSA was a creative victim of social and cultural expectations of what the market would bear or what the old men in the Editorial offices thought would be acceptable.

I suspect that presenting early homo sapiens in a form that would more accurately reflect our actual genetic ancestry (currently scientifically accepted as having origins in the African continent) may never have even occurred to the creators of the PSA. The artist was probably tasked to draw cavemen and did so in the usual comic book manner. At least I hope so and that institutionalized racism was not in place in the DC offices.

This PSA is important culturally due to the feature presenting as fact all the various ethnic groups of humankind diverging from an already perfectly evolved modern Caucasian man. I thought it brave that even in 1962, in spite of the imagery, for DC to point out that all people are equal and none were superior to any other.

Tags: Comic Book PSA

It's time to take the funny back

Newspapers and other outlets across the country (a country which still has the tattered remnants of a Constitution by the way) are declining to run two installments of Berkley Breathed's Opus strip due to content that may offend Muslims.

When did "may offend Muslims" become the euphemism for "will probably give psychos an excuse to riot, kill and blow stuff up"? Wait...Oh, yeah, I forgot. Call it what you want: Prudence, respect or whatever...it is just censorship in coward's clothing.

Everyone with an internet connection should visit Salon on August 26th and September 2nd for the full Opus strips just to show all those newspapers how much ad revenue they lost over their decision. Even the worst of cowards gains a back bone once they get hit in the wallet.

Tags: Censorship Muslim Fear Opus

Sleestak's Picks of the Week

I really expected Mouse Guard Winter: 1152 to be my favorite comic out this week (I really enjoyed it) but like everyone else on the planet I picked as the Best Comic This Week: Batman #668 for the amazing art and fun story.

Holy freaking crap! This story could have been Sonic Disruptors #8 but with art like that who would care? Awesome all around. Fortunately the story holds up and the layouts and script complement each other.

Worst Comic This Week: That goes to X-Men #202. Is this a joke or something?

You tell 'em, Projectile Vomiting Cap! Each offering from Humberto Ramos is worse than the previous one. The story could be as fantastic as the first Dark Phoenix saga but sadly I can't even read this. His style has devolved from exaggeration to ridiculous parody.

Honorable Mention: Thunderbolts #116. Is this foreshadowing?

If it were Steve Ditko himself and not just his social skills that were dead he would be spinning in his grave at what has happened to Speedball.

But I'm on the fence as to whether I hate or love what is going on with the character. Robbie is well on his way to becoming a major Super-Villain. He is getting more dangerous and violent and his powers are ramping up to scary levels. His back story is evolving logically in such a way as to give him believable motivation for his gradual change into a bad guy. His guilt is turning into anger and I imagine that pretty soon he won't allow himself to be incarcerated and will be robbing banks to fund his army of goons bent on the violent overthrow of the Government.

Tags: Comic Book Reviews

Rat in the Skull

Illustration for a story by Rog Phillips, IF Science Fiction (December 1952).

Tags: Pulp Science Fiction

The final word on the Batgirl cover controversy

Yes, it is sexist. But it is not sexist in and of itself and is definitely not meant as an insult to women, feminists or the cause of equality in media portrayals of women.

DC made the choice for the cover art one that accurately reflected the male-dominated attitudes and content of the 60s and 70s comic book stories. Imagine the blog storm if they instead went with something more empowering that was closer in style to the intelligent, capable Barbara (Oracle) Gordon of today? Readers expecting tales featuring a strong woman character that could hold her own with the Batman that were ahead of their time socially culturally would be disappointed, disgusted or shocked to discover THE COVER AND DC LIED and the actual content of the book was all about Bronze Age pandering to male expectations while pretending to feature a liberated woman, Babs getting rescued more often than not by Batman and Robin, cheesecake, utility-purses and stiletto heels.

DC chose well and went the correct route in telling consumers the truth in their cover choice instead of risking a backlash from angry fans upset that they were mislead about the thematic contents of the Batgirl collection. DC would undoubtedly be accused of misogynistic practices, treating fans with contempt and misrepresentation in this at least this one instance. The cover is plain old TRUTH IN ADVERTISING.

Now shut up.

Tags: Batgirl

10 Things Hippies Are Good For

Being the lone, small voice reminding us when things are going wrong

Art


Music


Farming innovations


The terrible legacy for our country of drug addiction and sexually transmitted diseases.


Ridicule


Getting hassled by the Man


The main ingredient in Soylent Green


Exercise


1970s Marvel

Tags: Hippies Lists

Two things that don't exist

INVISIBLE PINK UNICORN

INVISIBLE PINK BATWOMAN

Tags: Batwoman

Sleestak links

About four or so years ago there were about six sites you could find anything about The Land of the Lost and Sleestaks on the web. An exaggeration, but not much of one. Over the last few years more and more sources are showing up as The Land of the Lost gains more of a cult following and awareness. Rumors of the long-awaited big screen treatment may have fueled this renaissance in all things LotL, but man, I hope Will Ferrell doesn't come within a mile of the project.

So in order to perpetuate a greater net profile of LotL and Sleestaks, I compiled some links.

If you don't know what a Sleestak is, and there are people who have remained nightmare free by not knowing, you can get plenty of info here and here.

If the screen shot off my DVD is too poor for use, I gack a lot of my Sleestak images from the internet. I'll browse through an image search until I find one I like and use it in my posts. I don't apologize for it, it's all part of the humorous Photoshop internet culture I participate in. This is the Sleestak image I utilize the most when goofing around:

I don't know where it is from as I found it long, long ago but I'm glad someone made it and I appreciate it being out there. I hope the original artist approves or does not mind how I have used it. I'm not seeking to make a Goldman profit © from the image like these guys. For all I know they are the ones who created it.

Sleestak Masters. (League of Melbotis beat me to it).

Sleestaks in the Library. Does anyone under 40 get this?

"That lizard had better of been dead when you found it."

Looks like a Sleestak to me.

Brilliant!

Slee Trap!
Oh, fer...

Tags: Land of the Lost Sleestak

Grocery Store Artifact: Eternal Love of God and Me

Where I work there are several customers that are known to us as serial shoplifters. Usually once they are identified we keep an eye on them whenever they come into the store. A thief will pretend to shop, knowing you are watching them, but they have all day to walk around so they play the odds that the clerk monitoring them will get distracted or called away. When that doesn't happen they leave. They will inevitably return but that's okay, because we stopped them that time. Those people we identified as serial shoplifters are also one's we refuse to do returns for under any circumstances. This is because they either "forgot the receipt", found a receipt in the trash and shoplifted a like item to return or have a valid receipt for something they actually bought but stole another item to return. Once their scam is recognized and shut down they mysteriously stop patronizing our store.

Other than the act of theft one of the things about petty thieves that annoy me is how they treat everyone around them like suckers. Shoplifters are the worst of the lot. We know that they are stealing us blind, they know we know it but they don't stop. They get caught often but get away with it often enough that they will keep trying.

One of the serial shoplifters that frequents the store I have descriptively nicknamed "Crazy Brown Haired Red Tank Top". About two months ago we caught her trying to hide $60 worth of crab legs and other expensive items under a jacket she kept piled in the bottom of a cart. The idea was she would go through the line and walk out the door if the cashier didn't notice the other items. When CBHRTT went through a line purchasing a small item the cashier had her remove her coat from the obvious pile of other items under it. The excuses were immediate: "Oh, I didn't know they were there. I found this cart in an aisle and just used it...".

Whatever. I took the items back as she stammered her way through excuses designed to distract us. Caught, she didn't return for nearly two months. When she did make her way back in the store in the two weeks ago the first thing she said to me was the unprompted, "The medication I take makes me shoplift." Sure it does.

So now every time CBHRTT is in the store she sucks up to everyone like we are her BFF's. The attempt to manipulate us is pathetic. Now that a clerk is watching CBHRTT every time she steps into the store she is always spinning one scenario or another. Playing clueless didn't work, claiming a medical reason for stealing didn't work. So now CBHRTT is trying our patience with the Lamb of God tactic.

Recently she was observed wandering the aisles for nearly a half hour under the dubious pretense of looking for her cell phone. As a way of getting her out of the store one of the clerks offered to call the phone so they might hear it ring. It didn't of course, so she left to look elsewhere. The next day this card is dropped off with us for the clerk who assisted her in the phone search. It was full of the usual suckerfish themes I recognized* from anyone who gets busted stealing and is a transparent attempt to co-opt the clerk that is the one who usually watches her when she is in the store.

Note the two differently colored inks on the card. The card was filled out in front of me at our service counter and I'm cynical enough to lay odds that CBHRTT shoplifted the card from our stationary section moments before she dropped it off .

The most ridiculous part of the whole affair is that it is obvious CBHRTT is fully aware that we know she is attempting to scam us. We have told her as much is as plain a language as we can manage, yet she keeps the facade going. A good grifter never gives up on a mark, knowing that sheer persistence will often let them achieve their goal. But I don't think even CBHRTT believes anyone will fall for her con, but rather anticipates that we would get annoyed enough to dismiss her as too bothersome to deal with, thereby freeing her up to rob us blind.

* The first being: "Why would I steal? I have all this money in my pocket!" with the second most popular being liberally sprinkling references to God over their verbal salad and imploring Jesus to help others see the truth of their innocence.

Tags: Grocery Store Artifact Shoplift

Don't blog when bored

Or things like this happen.

Tags: WTF? Bacon

Pulps did it first: Intertubes

Not only did the Pulps predict the internet (powered by vacuum tubes, no less), it also foresaw the use of popular "real-time" mapping applications and web-enabled cameras as well!

From Amazing Stories #17 (August 1928).

Tags: Pulps Internet Pulps did it first

A close call

From the Official Campaign Diary of Sleestak:

Today while on a short campaign stop to Tranquility Forest I was ambushed by an insane little person in a cheap foam rubber costume who had kidnapped and brainwashed Joy the Butterfly Ballerina. Too cowardly to face an opponent himself, Dr. Monkerstein uses disposable minions to do his dirty work. In this case it was an attempt on the life of yours truly.

Being powered by patriotism, I was not worried about harm to myself. My sole concern was for Joy, who was an obvious victim of the insidious mind control of the reprehensible Dr. Monkerstein. If the foam rubber Firefly succeeded in his evil plan I could only imagine the agony Joy would endure when she realized that she had against her patriotic will assassinated America's last, best hope for peace and prosperity. It would be a hellish existence full of regret, certainly, and one I would not wish on anyone.

Fortunately for America and all the patriotic Americans who know what it is to be truly American, the Monkerstein brainwashing techniques are as clumsy and ineffectual as his Presidential campaign strategies. Joy easily broke free of the sinister Monkerstein influence by applying some good old American will power, patriotism and know-how to the problem of being under the sway of another. Once Joy remembered she was an American (not that anyone could ever truly forget) she broke the chains of bondage. An ounce of America is worth a pound of cure, I always say.

Like any good, honest, hard-working patriotic American, Joy immediately made a citizen's arrest of the evil minion Firefly-costumed dwarf of Monkerstein. But like a Communist caught in the sunshiny spotlight of Democracy he fled like a dirty coward. He was last seen hurling himself into a vat of boiling acid in his desperate flight to escape justice. I could do nothing to stop his death even though I warned him to watch where he was going and begged him to take my hand because if I let him fall then I would be just as bad as he was. In this instance Fate itself ensured that justice was served and who am I to interfere with the wishes of the Universe?

Tags: Sleestak for President Bugaloos

Won't You Take Me To...FLICKER TOWN!

No vocals from Caroline (Joy) Ellis in this seizure-inducing Broadway musical-inspired clip from the hated Gang of Four, but she gets plenty of solo camera time and is portrayed at her most innocent and sexy-cutest.

Click the picture and prepare to swallow your tongue in a fit of JOY!

Take notice of where the production staff wisely places Caroline in F/X silhouette when she does some high kicks during her dance number, thereby ensuring that the young boys of the early 1970s did not have their brains explode from the onslaught of confusing, oogy emotions they were not yet mature enough to deal with.

Tags: Bugaloos Caroline Ellis Seduction of the innocent

Hobo in La Jolla

Some say he was a wealthy man who snapped when his family was murdered in a home invasion. Others say he was a pharmacist who self-medicated to ruin. Still others say they don't care and that he smells funny.

Out of all of the homeless I have observed staggering around the wealthy beach-front community of La Jolla this one is on the surface the least belligerent and pushy. He rants to himself for hours on end, but I've never seen him beg for money or food, act drunk or dangerous like many of his peers.

Whoever he is, he wears that maternity dress with a certain careless style.

Tags: Fashion Photography Homeless

Clarification

From Anonymous:

Sleestak said "Hello, anonymous troll with stunted social skills."

I see, so if someone says something you don't like or is contrary to your opinion, then freedom of speech doesn't apply and allows you to engage in personal attacks.

Claiming that I am curtailing anyone's right to free speech because I am a snarky jerk in response to an asinine comment is ridiculous.

It is ironic that I am being taken to task for attacking free speech while at the same time my own right to the same benefits and protections is questioned. But then, most trolls only understand the definition of irony as it is erroneously defined by that Alanis Morrissette song.

This is not a free speech forum nor do I pretend it to be anything other than what it is, a goofy time waster. While I don't normally censor comments because I do in the real world practice and promote a free exchange of ideas I will on a whim delete spam, filth, hate-speech or anything else I darn well feel like.

Tell you what, Anonymous Free Speech Advocate, if you feel that strongly about it I challenge you to post your primary email address somewhere publicly on the net and disable your spam filters and virus protection in whatever email service and online journal you manage. Like it or not, deposed Nigerian princes seeking your help in the release of their billion dollar bank accounts, bondage websites and V@i*g&ra vendors deserve to have the very same rights to free speech that you demand. It would not be fair, perhaps would even be unconstitutional, for you to block their attempts to contact you with thousands of offers for Hot Local Chicks Ready to Party with YOU RIGHT NOW just because you disagree with the content of their posts or emails.

Let me know how that experiment in "free speech" works for you.

Tags: Free Speech

Ode to Joy

This video of a go-go dancing environmentally-friendly pixie being serenaded by her three poorly lip-syncing fabulous friends makes my brain itch in new, odd ways that make my left eye feel like it is swelling to become larger than the socket.

I'm glad Sid and Marty never did this type of stuff with The Land of the Lost.

Tags: Bugaloos Caroline Ellis

Caroline Ellis

Photo from Fly Away With Us

Blood in the Desert

While I am not a fan of the manner the current administration presents, spins and obfuscates the talking point that "We are fighting them there so we don't have to fight them here", this statement is not as ridiculous or as inaccurate as some in the media are making it seem. Actually the statement just might be one of those uncomfortable truths that most people are only able to accept when they do not question or examine events too deeply.

The fear-meme is at least true in part but not in the way it is usually presented. America did not go to war to stop the march of Terrorism, but rather to divert and provide a new focus for what was already there. Invading Iraq, even though that country's leadership had nothing to do with the 2001 terror attacks in the United States is a tactic that has worked in the past and can be called a diversion of resources. Most recently this was applied in the last few decades in Europe in the form of the Cold War and even the Star Wars program, which nearly bankrupted the Soviet Union in their attempt to keep up. Vast resources were diverted on all sides to play a game of "one step forwards, one step back" in the European theaters, resources that could have been applied more effectively against America in the form of economic and political terror. Britain and other countries worried about their safety and security and America assisted in their efforts against the Red Menace. With the front of the non-battle raging in Europe, Russia was unable to focus entirely on America.

Something similar is currently taking place in Iraq. The invasion and liberation of Iraq has caused the focus of terrorist, criminal and special interest groups to shift their attentions from the stronghold of what they consider to be the enemy to their own backyards. True, by adjusting the troops and re-focusing Intelligence away from Pakistan to Iraq and other countries there has been a resurgence of the terror organizations that were once all but broken and made extinct. This is intended as they are most active and operating in nearby regions far from American shores.

By the Coalition maintaining a threatening presence in Iraq many countries have reaped the benefits of a destabilized region. Resources are diverted to the region and terror activity is on the rise, activity that may have once been directed elsewhere. Unfortunately for our place in history, in this instance maintaining the security of one country comes at the horrible cost of another. While the world itself may have become arguably more dangerous since the start of the Iraq war it is the Coalition members that are, for now, reaping the benefits of sacrificing the people of another nation for their own security under the guise of liberating an oppressed people.

That another country is mired in a war may be a price that many Americans, the UK and others are willing to pay. That some countries are using Iraq in this way does not diminish the sacrifice of the soldiers. They have pledged to fight for the security of their country and that is in fact what they are doing, though many are unable to see it that way. Their sacrifice is not in the least diminished by the questionable judgment and actions of the leadership, who appear too busy lining their pockets and pandering to the gullible to do their job, but their behavior does cast a long, cold shadow over the efforts of the soldiers fighting and dying for the cause.

I, for one, am not willing to "fight them here" at the cost of the lives of my family or those of my neighbors' family. That is my uncomfortable truth and I recognize it for what it is. But rather than admit that is it preferable to let another nation unwillingly make the sacrifice for our peace governments find it is far easier to demonize, marginalize or ridicule the people of the middle east than accept that they are equals as human beings who are perhaps being used most cruelly. Many pundits have and still graphically show or report stoning, beheading and other human rights violations or cultural differences that Americans find horrific, distasteful or savage.

This is done to make it easier for outside cultures to take the moral high ground while simultaneously letting the besieged country remain as a battle ground in war because they are "not us" and are perceived as "primitives". The consensus is that they are no worse off for having the "blip" of civilian casualties because after the crisis they will be better for the struggle. A parallel would be Democracy taking the place of Christianity during the expansionist efforts of the last several centuries, where missionaries smashed and rebuilt from scratch ancient cultures in the centric belief that their society benefited from the forced change. The sad fact is that it was really about control and exploitation, not salvation, and most of the cultures vanished forever, unable or unwilling to adapt.

I'd like to think that the America I grew up in would not lead another country that had not acted as an outright aggressor into ruin to protect our own borders, but it may be that doing so is one of the ugly facts our generation must eventually face. There were similar choices and actions taken in World War 2 that many are just now exploring, questioning and coming to terms with. Hopefully, we will continue to outgrow believing such tactics as being necessary to ensure our own survival and create other solutions to maintain our way of life that do not include bombs and bullets.

Tags: Iraq War

Ann

Apparently Ann is still rockin' the fashion world along with daughter Mindy and granddaughter Cory. I wonder what ever happened to Herb, Kris and the other models?

From S-t-r-e-t-c-h and Sew by Ann Pearson, (1967).

Tags: Fashion Photography Retro

You might want to get that looked at

Here I thought the glowing vagina was gone from Marvel once Wanda (Scarlet Witch) Maximoff was out of the picture. But I kid. Hey, I get it. The power of being female and the sisterhood and all that. Creators of life, blah blah blah.

But does anyone else see what I do? I think that the couple of Quasar and Moondragon are in a text book example of an abusive relationship.

Whenever Quasar experiences emotion she can't control she goes berserk and attacks her soul-mate, Moondragon. After a beating, Quasar apologizes and promises it won't happen again. Of course it does anyways. I suspect that later on Moondragon will look back on the relationship (assuming she survives the break up) as manipulative and poisonous.

The vagina makes another appearance in comics this week in the pages of Sub-Mariner #3 and no it does not belong to Sue Storm (Bad fanboy! Down! Sit!). The Marvel Universe suddenly remembers that Subby is a mutant, so he visits the Xavier Institute, giving Wolverine a perfect excuse to make an appearance and tie Namor into the X-Books. Maybe sales could get a boost by re-branding the book as Namor, the X-MARINER!

Anyways, once Wolvie is knocked into next week by a casual backhand by one of the strongest guys on the planet and all within one panel (not really, the fight took up a big chunk of the book), Namor then goes up against a few of the Sentinel fighting bots.

Subby makes short work of the super-strong, weaponized walking tanks and all in a panel or two. Huh, no wonder it takes him only a few seconds to reduce them to scrap. They are girl-robots! Normally, the vagina doesn't scare me. Heck, I'm all for them. But the sight of the Heavy Metal Blast Door Vagina © is the fuel of my nightmares.

Images from Quasar #2 (October 2007) and Sub-Mariner #3 (October 2007), respectively.

Tags: Seduction of the Innocent

Mindy

Wicker chair? More like wicked chair if you ask me!

From S-t-r-e-t-c-h and Sew by Ann Pearson, (1967).

Tags: Fashion Photography Retro

Waking up annoyed

Ever have one of those dreams where in it you have a day that parallels your waking existence, but the dream you has a life that is about 30% better than the real one?

Tags: Reality Dreams

Herb

From S-t-r-e-t-c-h and Sew by Ann Pearson, (1967).

Tags: Fashion Photography Retro

The Final Panels from Canceled Comic Books: #5 - Void Indigo

In the early 1980s comic book companies tentatively expanded into the mature reader market with varying success. While other companies such as Skywald and Warren had successfully published titles for years aimed at the adult market the Big 2 of Marvel and DC were hesitant to tread the same ground. The defunct Skywald and on-going though faltering Warren publishers, while ably catering to the older fans who craved nudity and sexual situations in their comics, mostly offered fare of varying quality.

With Epic Magazine and their Graphic Novel line Marvel was the first real mainstream comic company to venture into what for them was a new market by offering a product that was similar to, though a degree more high-brow, than their contemporaries at Warren. One of their first big forays into adult themed subject matter was with the Void Indigo graphic novel by Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik.

Void Indigo (1984) was adult science fiction that featured graphic violence and extreme situations involving sex and torture. The series featured an alien warrior seeking redress of ancient wrongs against his enemies who were reincarnated in human beings. The series spotlighted depravity and depicted human beings in their most reprehensible and corrupt manner. All the cultural stereotypes of the early 80s were featured in their worst possible way. Transvestites, homosexuals and prostitutes were in the main cast, brutal murder and rape were the primary themes. In the shocking graphic novel a street thug had the flesh burned off his foot by an eye-zap from the mystic warrior. That was a nasty enough image in itself except Gerber and Mayerik went further. The thug then took a step on the remaining charred bones and snapped off the skeletal remains of his limb. Pretty gruesome for the era. The series itself continued the trend with a transsexual being graphically hacked to death by a razor-wielding villain.

It was a bold experiment that the comic book readers of 1984 just were not ready for. It was perhaps too much, too soon. After a torrent of complaints by consumers and (surprisingly enough) retailers combined with declining sales, the Void Indigo series that spun off from the graphic novel was canceled with the second issue. I suspect that the retailers refusing to order the book and not any lack of interest by the readers was primarily responsible for the demise of the title.

For the uncensored version of this page, get to a comic book store and buy it.

Ironically, the extreme situations in Void Indigo would seem tame by comparison just a few years later as not only DC's Vertigo imprint took off running, but Marvel also in their Max line of titles. The scenes that so disgusted readers and retailers in Gerber's 1984 series would not be out of place in the current Punisher series published by Marvel.

Tags: Final Panels from Canceled Comic Books

Kris

From S-t-r-e-t-c-h and Sew by Ann Pearson, (1967).

Tags: Fashion Photography Retro

Please do not punch the bears

Happy Birthday to Chris Sims of the Invincible Super-Blog!

Tags: Chris Sims Invincible Super-Blog

Must See TV

That movie looks freaking hilarious!

Nothing is funner than a serial killer preying upon your family and neighbors!

Image from what else? The San Diego Union Tribune (August 11, 2007).

Tags: Television Advertising

I knew it would come to this

Click screen shot for shocking video!

Tags: Sleestak for President

Comic Book PSA: How they would end today

Most serious comic book fans have a nostalgic fondness for the Public Service Announcements that appeared in just about every comic book of the 1950s through the 1980s. While most of the publishing companies included PSA's in their books DC was the clear leader in quantity and diversity of the educational features. Early on DC addressed safety, superstition, public health, responsibility, racism, mental illness, equality and even homosexuality.

While Marvel addressed such issues more or less directly in their stories, DC preferred to remain wholesome, cautious and on the surface resistant to change. Many of the DC stories reflected outdated mores and perceptions even as a PSA included in the book declared that people should learn how to act in the opposite. The comic book PSA was the equivalent of the morality message that was added onto every television cartoon in the 1980s as a way of deflecting criticism for what many perceived as a useless if not outright harmful type of entertainment.

The one page features were well-meaning, educational and even in the context of era just a bit naive. Yet a person could do worse than live their life by the lessons put forth in a Silver Age comic book PSA.

There are modern PSA's occasionally included in today's comic books. However they are usually in the form of advertising by companies who are forced to spend a certain amount of their income warning against the product they sell. Cigarettes, for instance. The modern PSA is usually just a one page poster warning against smoking or drinking and is more likely a source of income than anything else.

Sadly, the ending of a classic PSA if told today would have a very different conclusion other than understanding, peace and renewed friendships. The old scenarios told by DC would not be successful or relevant today unless updated to be representative of grim reality.
Tags: Comic Book PSA

Comic Book PSA: Free Speech For Sleestak!

You tell 'em, Buzzy! The followers of Monkerstein don't respect free speech, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, Hayley Mills or anything else that real Americans in America know to be sacred and truly American! Electing Dr. Monkerstein as President would be just like throwing the doors of freedom open and laying out the red carpet for the Communists to walk all over our Democracy like they were walking onto a yacht!

Don't let 8/06 happen again!
VOTE SLEESTAK!

Tags: Sleestak for President Comic Book PSA

Torn from today's headlines!

The local newspaper, the San Diego Union Tribune published an article yesterday about the need for more research staffers. Lab technicians are in short supply and the training and placement of 'hundreds, if not thousands' of staffers would be funded in part from an ever important 3 billion dollar stem cell research grant. This is the photo the SDUT chose to run with the article.

Do laboratory research technicians normally perform delicate, possibly bio-hazardous lab work requiring strict protocols while wearing a fashionable low cut top that accentuates their cleavage? Are they usually that hot looking?

Instead of showing technician Lucy Kim in the professional lab wear that is expected she shows bare arms, a hint of breasts and gorgeous full-bodied hair. I'm not outraged at what might be an exploitive image that detracts from the earned skills of the technician accompanying an article about an important subject, I just think the media is just so gosh darn predictable. An editor undoubtedly had a choice between many photos that would represent the story best. Among the photos would probably be a microscope image of stem cells dividing in a petri dish, a child that could benefit from the research, the professional lab worker in a paper gown and hat wearing safety goggles or an attractive woman wearing rubber gloves.

Naturally, they go with the hot babe.

Tags: Mainstream Media Exploitation Feminism

Sleestak Reviews: Nova #5

Phalanx...Parallax...whatever.

Tags: Nova Marvel Comics

Another company I'll never patronize again

The electronics outlet Circuit City has joined that ever-growing list of companies who can kiss my backside. They will never directly get another dollar out of me. My list of personally boycotted companies can run pretty long at times, changes frequently depending on how the business behaves and they are on the list for various reasons. Company business practices and questionable ethics are some of the criteria for adding or removing a company from boycott.

Circuit City is now on the list because of poor customer service. Now, I don't add a company because some clerk is having a bad day, is clueless or falters a bit. That happens, things happen that can vary quality from day to day. Having been on the other side of the counter on occasion I understand how customers can often be jerks, unreasonable and treat store employees like their personal servants. I understand both parts of the equation and can do the math. For me to add a company to my boycott list means there is something going on that I feel is reflective of the business model either at the store or company level.

The retail business lives or dies based on customer service. This is especially true as brick and mortar stores crumble from the onslaught of the ability of customers to purchase their goods online. The often unknown truth about all retail stores, be they grocery, retail or whatever is that ALL STORES ARE THE SAME. It is the customer experience that gets repeat business. A clever salesperson could rip a buyer off so hard in a deal that their great, great grandfather would retroactively go bankrupt, but if the buyer felt special and enjoyed the experience they would come back for more (Consider how much cash people repeatedly drop on extended warranties, Ponzi schemes and psychics even though common sense tells even the dimmest consumer to run the opposite direction). Receiving poor customer service motivates me to go elsewhere for my goods.

Yesterday I went in to the local Circuit City to purchase a Universal Remote Control to replace the current unit that was failing (probably due to slobber from a dog chewing it). When I located one I liked I had to ask the price, since it was not labeled. All the high-end ones where dutifully labeled but not what I presumed was the cheapest though perfectly functional model. So I hunted down and asked the Home Entertainment rep for a price check, who said he was too busy to find out and I'd have to go to a register. Since there where 6 people in line for the two open registers up front and neither line had moved since I entered the store I thought that was not the best solution. I went to several other departments and none of the reps working there would or could check on the POS system what the price of the remote was.

Resigned, I waited in line for 5 more minutes before someone from out back came forth to open another register (In all this time, the lines did not move as the cashiers talked about extended service plans to their customers). When I mentioned I didn't think it was the best service to force a customer to wander the store looking for someone who wasn't too busy working or chatting to check a price, the cashier said I should have come to her department for help and she would have done it right away.

No offense, but that's stupid. The Home Entertainment rep assigned and working that area should have helped, but he was far too occupied with the highly skilled and demanding task of putting up price signs on televisions and referred me elsewhere. Besides, the relatively helpful cashier I was talking to wasn't in her department at the time but was viewable sitting in the back along with about 5 other people. To be fair those people were probably off the clock, on break or at lunch, but it still looks bad when there are long lines and customers wandering around looking for help. The general rule at my company is that if you don't remove your name tag or cover your uniform with a jacket or shirt, then you are prepared to help a customer with resolving any questions or problems even off the clock.

I don't expect anyone to slavishly genuflect and polish my shoes with their tongue when I walk into a store but if a business wants my money then they shouldn't treat me like crap.

When a customer complains what that really means is the customer is giving the business an opportunity to keep them as a customer. Circuit City failed.

Tags: Bad customer service

The Final Panels from Canceled Comic Books: #4 - Sonic Disruptors

While there are quite a number of comic books who were canceled after a long decline in quality or sales there are almost an equal number that should never have been printed in the first place.

Sonic Disruptors is one of those books. The series was one of those titles that comes out every now and then attempting to tap into the supposed simmering undercurrent of resentment and dissatisfaction that may or may not exist out there in consumer-land. Some books successfully manage to portray and latch into the zeitgeist for a time, as Transmetropolitan did for the same company several years later. Others like Sonic Disruptors or the novelty band ACDC can only manage to use guitars as metaphorical machine guns to fight oppression. Pffft.

The final Lichtenstein-ish panel from Sonic Disruptors #7 (July 1988).

This title is nearly universally disliked as one of the worst comic book series of all times. I wouldn't go so far as to classify it as that awful, but I did think it was banal, dull, aimless, and IQ destroying. For a book the theme that hard core rock and roll could successfully fight the oppressive fascist government of the future, it wasn't very f'in metal. Sales of the title were poor out of the gate and decreased steadily until DC unceremoniously pulled the plug, with #7 being the last of the planned 12 issue series.

FYI: Rock & Roll doesn't change the world. It didn't change anything, ever. It is corporate and shallow. If you ever though it did or still does, check the fine print in the liner notes.

Tags: Tags: Final Panels from Canceled Comic Books

Fubar Accomplished

Trillions of dollars for for war, zero cash for critical repairs of our aging infrastructure.

Tags: Minneapolis bridge collapse Commentary

Don't blog angry

By removing the system of checks and balances and allowing one branch of government to have total oversight over the revised FISA Act, who will be the likely subjects targeted by officials in order to ensure the safety and security of America?

A) Organized crime.
B) Corrupt politicians and businesses.
C) Terrorists.
D) Reporters and Bloggers.
F) Activists and protesters.
G) Perverts.H) Average citizens.

If you answered D, F and H then you win, and lose, all at the same time.

Tags: FISA

The Final Panels from Canceled Comic Books: #3 - Coyote

Years ago comic book companies were loathe to kill off a character. Killing off an asset meant you couldn't use it anymore and that was poor business. Once a book was written into a corner it was very difficult in terms of artistry to recreate or return to the character. Way back when, a company was primarily supported by the comic book sales side of the business and a major change to a character such as death could result in financial disaster if the fans do not accept the resurrection or new version. So the death of a hero wasn't taken as lightly as it is today.

It used to be that when a hero actually died, it meant something. It was done for the logical drama and was usually an organic part of the story and not shock value. Who didn't get chills when Manhunter blew himself up? Cheeks dying alone in that alley still haunts me. I'm still in shock that Supergirl was killed and I'm angry at Jim Shooter for deciding that Jean Grey had to die to pay for her crimes.

Soon, it became trendy for heroes to die. It was profitable. It became increasingly common for heroes to sacrifice themselves in the final issue of a canceled comic book. It became a cliche and was pretty much expected that the hero would expire in some grand gesture saving the world. A climactic death scene meant a final surge in sales before the title was pulled, renewed fan interest and therefore a possible later return.

When the Steve Englehart creation of the Coyote was canceled the question of whether or not Coyote would survive the demise of the title became sort of a running gag
not only in that book, but that of the title of its' spiritual companion in indie comics, the Badger. Coyote had been under the threat of cancellation for a while and after struggling to find an audience for several months it was ultimately cut from the schedule due to low sales.

The creative team new cancellation was coming and had ample time to prepare the storyline to end without seeming too obviously rushed in Coyote #16 (January 1986). The dialog in the remaining chapters was all very meta and self aware as Coyote and his team kept asking if they would make it through the final battle with the Shadow Cabinet. The title character even broke the fourth wall in the final issue to shout out joyously to readers "We all Survived!"

Coyote had defied convention in all of it's various incarnations so it is very appropriate that Coyote did not also follow the same fates of other contemporary comic book heroes by dying in a shallow dramatic moment. Due to the cleverness of writer Steve Englehart the Coyote title did not conclude with a funeral. The series actually ended with the extreme opposite of a funeral, an orgy!

Tags: Final Panels from Canceled Comic Books

The Girl in the Brown Bamboo Swing

I think I can say with certainty that that no one ever watched Land of the Lost and got excited over any of the characters or thought they were sexy*. The show has always impressed me as being pretty innocent and straightforward in presentation. The science fictional elements of the show were always the main characters anyways with the story usually overshadowing the actors.

It isn't that any of the cast were not appealing enough. I'm sure someone, somewhere had a poster of Dad on their wall and breathlessly waited for the next issue of Tiger Beat for the chance to enter the "Win A Date With Wesley" contest.

When the show premiered I was of similar age to actress Kathleen Coleman, who played daughter Holly Marshall. Yet though she was of "girlfriend age" to young viewers like myself and presumably cast partly for her appeal, I never saw Holly as a person of interest or the type I would want as a girlfriend. Possibly Holly's constant whining irritated me and I instinctively avoided it knowing I'd get plenty of same in later years from various adult women.

But then I see this old promo file picture that served as the cover for one of the DVD releases of the LotL collection and I think I was wrong in my belief that the stars and the show were not promoted in the usual exploitative Hollywood way. Take a gander at that hand made kink-chair Holly is riding in. The picture seems kind of fetish-y to me. The pose and setting may be unintentional and perfectly innocent but I'm a big believer that very little is done in the way of packaging stars and other entertainment without fine attention to detail. Having known people in the industry who live and die by focus groups and demographics I don't believe the layout of photo was entirely by accident. I doubt you'll see similar poses anywhere featuring Spencer Milligan or Wesley Eure.

This is really the first time I ever looked at anything related to to Land of the Lost and thought: That's just wrong. And funny. And wrong.

"Okay, Spencer! These are for the money shots!
Now lean back against the hide. Spread your feet apart just a bit. Little...more. More! Now pick up that prop. What's that? Is it a rock? Is it a clue to the way home? Look hopeful! Look sad for me!Okay, look sleepy! Sleepy! Like you just woke up from a marvelous, wondrous dream! Now, lick your lips! That's it! That's sexy!"

* No one normal, I mean. The members of the nascent Furries crowd of the 1970s may have been all into the Cha Ka.

Tags: Land of the Lost Seduction of the Innocent

First Class, Forever!

Want. Want much.

These would be perfect for the new postal annex in the Hayley Mills Celebratory Complex.

Time to start that letter and email campaign to the Postmaster General.

Tags: Hayley Mills

Pulps did it first

Amazing Stories #26 (May 1928).

Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #54 (July 1961).

Tags: Pulp Silver Age Comic Books Pulps did it first

Little wonder he's going to be single again

It isn't bad enough that Mary Jane has to deal with the ghost of Gwen Stacey hanging around...

But Peter also has to keep throwing his past relationship with Felicia (Black Cat) Hardy in her face?
"Hey, Honey! Do me a favor and dress up as my hotter ex- girlfriend, will ya?"

From Spider-Man and Red Sonja #1 (October 2007).

Tags: Spider-Man

Sleestak Reviews: I Shall Destroy All Civilized Planets

I fully recommend the collection of the Golden Age comic book stories of Fletcher Hanks, I Shall Destroy All Civilized Planets by Paul Karasik. The title of the book is derived from a panel in a Buzz Crandall of the Space Patrol story in which the megalomaniacal and hyphenated Lepus-The-Fiend plans to ruin the universal peace through anarchy and chaos.

Simply put, the stories and art are insane enjoyment. It's a fun gathering of Golden Age tales from the early comic book industry and is perfect for anyone who is a fan of comic book history or just those interested in the pop-culture of another era.

Until the advent of the internet the output of Fletcher Hanks was mostly unknown or lost. It is only recently that Hanks has emerged as more than just a footnote among the mostly forgettable creators of what was considered cultural dross and disposable entertainment.

The two most popular and well known creations, that of Fantomah and Stardust are represented well in the collection by Paul Karasik. Brutal, unmerciful retaliation for real and one must assume, imagined slights, is the main theme of most Hanks stories. Stardust and Fantomah specialize in convoluted, impossible, horrifying acts of revenge that even taking into account unrealistic comic book reality defy any sense whatsoever. Several of Hanks characters are plainly modern gods of the type found in old textbooks describing the antics and meddling of the Greek and Roman pantheons. The heroic characters are forces of unstoppable nature. The villains in a Fletcher Hanks story are not just simply punished or brought to justice by a super hero. They are tortured unmercifully and often meet fates infinitely worse than death. The ridiculously outmatched antagonists of the stories are melted, transformed into vermin, grown to gigantic proportions and exiled to space, reduced to separated body parts to be crushed in the core of a planet or sentenced to eternal torment at the hands of other worldly beings.

Several of the tales reflect plots popular (and even required in the political climate, one could assert) in comics books of the era in which the hero battles fascism and aggressive foreign countries. Some elements of the Golden Age stories are timeless and still exist in comics even today. It makes as much sense trying to clear cut a jungle protected by Fantomah as it does robbing a bank in Gotham City when even the dumbest criminal knows Batman will intervene and beat them senseless.

Hanks variously created interesting and awful art. Unlike contemporary artist Basil Wolverton, who took great pains to ensure relatively proper perspective and anatomy was included in even the simplest drawing, the style of Fletcher Hanks is stiff and economical. The Tabu stories (not included in this collection) were drawn in a particularly hasty manner using laughable shortcuts in the layout. One tale featuring Tabu reveals the character not only in the exact same profile in each panel but mainly as a face peeping out from behind a tree or through foliage. Tree trunks and thick grass are apparently easier and quicker to draw than an entire human figure. Why do all that extra work? Conversely to the human figures, the jungle itself and the animals are drawn with fine and almost technical detail.

But it is the violent themes of the Hanks stories in conjunction with the simplistic art style that is the allure of the book. Paul Karasik explains in the back up strip about the search for the "real" Fletcher Hanks that Hanks was a much improved artist when not drawing in the style of comic books. The few samples shown in the collection lends some small credence to this when one notices in a very simplistically rendered office scene in the Big Red McLane story a much more detailed forest in a picture in the background and the Tabu jungle scenery. Fletcher Hanks apparently had a greater appreciation of the raw, untamed, uncompromising outdoors than polite society. If anything, then Hanks could be classified as a lazy or frugal artist.

The back up strip by the author is interesting and one could understand, if it is accurate, where Fletcher Hanks mined the rage from that seems to permeate much of his tales. Without the biographical story a reader could just assume that Hanks was a campy, creative author who was a middling comic book artist. Looking at the Stardust and Fantomah stories once you know what Hanks may have been like in real life and how he treated the people around him a reader could get the impression that his characters acted out Hanks' revenge fantasies. But I'd rather believe the little known character of Big Red McLane was a more accurate reflection of Hank's personality, not that the character is any more flattering to Hanks in comparison.

Big Red McLane is another brutal Hanks character who solves problems with his fists. A lumberjack by trade, Big Red prefers to beat up people until they come around to his way of thinking. This is a trait common with all the Hanks characters (though on a less cosmic level with Big Red) and might be a revealing window into the Hanks personality. In the story Big Red McLane, King of the North Woods, Big Red offers to "clean up" a rival lumber camp he suspects is sabotaging his employer. When the company demurs the offer, replying that violence and aggression is not how things are done, Red marches off into the forest and assaults the employees of the other lumber camp anyways.

Big Red beats the hell out of the saboteurs and the result is that he earns the respect of not only his rivals, but the admiration of his pacifist employer. Big Red is uncompromising and not given to introspection, probably sees nothing wrong in his behavior and knows he is just misunderstood if anyone questions his actions. He quite literally forces the world to share his viewpoint and expects that everyone else will also see things his way eventually, especially once a little force is applied to the situation. If any of the characters I have read thus far are representative of the reportedly abusive Fletcher Hanks it may be that the obliviously selfish, egocentric Big Red McLane is the closest match.

My only real critiques would be the layout of the book. The Fantomah stories in particular show a sort of continuity and evolution that is not apparent in the collection. Following publication chronologically, Fantomah progresses from defender of nature to cruel demi-god. The other thing about the book that makes me cringe is the choice of a mostly blank all-white cover. The white cover is understandable in keeping with the minimalist art style of Hanks, but as a collector I find the book is remarkably susceptible to being defaced by stains and marks from handling.

My only real disappointment is that the book lacks any in-depth background on Fletcher Hanks. Not taking the risk that any foreword on Hanks might turn the book into a dry treatise makes this effort more of a niche book that people not already interested in comic books may not feel motivated to purchase. A layman picking up the collection in their local bookstore won't really find anything immediate in the way of explanation to grab their interest. Supplying some anecdotal trivia to impress guests with as a coffee table book may have help with impulse sales with the non-comic buying public.

The book is selling briskly anyways, I understand, and deservedly so. For myself I would have liked to read some more background, as my interests in old comics also include wanting to read the history of it. It may very well be that what Karasik introduced in the back up strip is really all that is known about the comic book artist. Heading right into the action by skipping a lengthy exploration of Fletcher and the medium of comics in general was probably the best way to approach the Golden Age stories.

Regardless, the collection is a fine example of the comics of a by-gone industry that was in its infancy and hopefully there will be other volumes. There are a few more Fletcher Hanks stories out there that were not included in this collection that are just as revealing and entertaining.

You can, and should, get your own copy at Fantagraphics.

Disclosur: A copy of I Shall Destroy All Civilized Planets was a gift from Bully of Comics Oughta Be Fun. I enjoyed it so much I bought a copy and gave it to a friend.

Tags: Reviews Fletcher Hanks

2007 Land of the Lost Forever stamps

I'm overjoyed to read the news that next November the United States Post Office will be issuing a special set in their popular Forever Stamps series commemorating the classic Sid & Marty Krofft Saturday morning science fiction television show The Land of the Lost.

While I am disappointed that Chaka was included in the set I am pleased to see the addition of Walter Edmiston (the voice of Enik the Sleestak) and a stamp featuring the Adult/Young Holly Marshall scene from that Very Special Episode.

Tags: Sleestak Land of the Lost