Have a Marvelous Mother's Day!

Ultron loved his Mother so much that he tried to marry her! That is not good. Don't be like Ultron and try to transfer your Mom's brain into an empty metal shell so you can have your own creepy personal love doll. Do like I did and take her to lunch and buy her some non-creepy stuff from the mall.

These days, having failed after numerous attempts to steal Janet Van Dyne away from his father, Ultron now inhabits an uber-hot clone of her body. Go figure.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

This Oedipal moment is from Avengers #162 (August 1977).

Tags: Mother's Day Avengers

World War Hulk 1961!

In the comic book event World War Hulk, Marvel has the exiled Hulk return to earth after the good intentions of some super heroes goes awry, their actions eventually killing all the people the Hulk cared about on his new, adopted world. Understandably the Hulk is pretty angry and seeks revenge on all those he felt wronged him. I'm looking forwards to it because I like the character and get a kick out of the whole Hulk Smash! aspect. Comic books need to have plenty of hitting things and blowing stuff up. Without it you may just as well read a regular novel, what some people call a "real book".

But did you know there was a World War Hulk story back in 1961? Not only did it feature a character also called the Hulk (later re-named Xemnu the Titan for those of you not up on your Marvel history) but it only took 2 issues to tell the entire exciting story! In Journey Into Mystery #62 (November 1960), a giant furry alien called the Hulk escaped from a space prison and crashed onto the planet Earth.

Unable to conquer his home planet the Hulk set out to take control of the Earth with the unwitting assistance of a scientist who should have known better. Erroneously believing that any highly-advanced race of aliens couldn't possibly be evil the scientist revives the comatose Hulk. Of course, things go horribly wrong for Earth as the revived alien embarks upon a plan to attack his home world, using the populace of the Earth as his slaves. Using his scary mind powers the furry Hulk easily took control of the planet and was defeated only when a scientist tricked the Hulk into getting into a spaceship, exiling the creature into space. Does that seem familiar? That is because it has happened a few times since Journey Into Mystery #62. It not only occurred in the Planet Hulk story arc but also in the original 6 issue run of the Incredible Hulk series from way back in May of 1962.
A few months later in Journey Into Mystery #66 (March 1961) the Hulk returned, and this time it was personal!
Using his alien powers of super hypnotism the Hulk forced a passing meteor to smash into his prison ship, causing it to crash land onto Earth once more and freeing him from the makeshift prison.
The furry Hulk, having returned from a forced exile in space returns to Earth and declares war on mankind.
While the Hulk could easily conquer the Earth once more by using hypnotism as he did previously, he is pretty annoyed and prefers to use his superior hitting powers to force humanity into subjugation.
Eventually, the scientist the Hulk hates above all other humans shows up in town. Humanity can be saved from the rampaging Hulk if the scientist can exact his plan. Enraged, the Hulk delays his plans of planetary Armageddon for the chance to smash the human that had once outwitted him. The theme of the Hulk hating a puny scientist is one that would be used later in the Bruce Banner/Hulk dynamic and would essentially remain the status quo for decades until Bill Mantlo and Peter David explored in greater depth and evolved the concept.

The Hulk thinks the human will be easy to destroy but unbeknownst to him, the scientist has a crazy plan that just might work. The brave scientist would ultimately defeat the Hulk with the one thing he had no defense against...His own power! In the early 1960s all that excitement cost a reader a grand total of 20 cents! Even adjusted for inflation, what will the current World War Hulk story, cross-overs and tie-ins cost? The again, can you really put a price on quality entertainment, even if it is kind of recycled from 40 years ago? I think Marvel and Civil War answered that question already!

I suspect that the current World War Hulk comic book event will end in a similar fashion as the one from 1961. The 2007 Hulk will be forced to look into another kind of mirror and examine the motivations behind his rampage and surrender to the authorities or at least, return to the old status quo of being hunted by the military and hounded by various super heroes wherever he goes.

Tags: Hulk Marvel

Fantastic Four #7: Fixed it for you, Jack

Man, I do love Jack Kirby but...wow...he could draw people as incredibly ugly! Especially the women. Yeesh!

Fantastic Four #7 (October 1962).

Tags: Bad Art Kirby

Monsters from the Id!

Sometimes a train is just a train, but when I saw this scene of one smashing into a furry monster at the entrance to a subway tunnel, for some reason "treachery" and "ironic" were not the first words that came to mind.

Panel from Where Monsters Dwell #13 (January 1972).

Tags: Seduction of the Innocent Freudian

Mary Jane, the other white meat

There is a lot being said about the inappropriateness of the Housewife Gone Wild Mary Jane Watson-Parker Comiquette that is being advertised and I can't really defend it, much as I would like to. Looking at the statue from the perspective of someone who appreciates the classic Good Girl Art of the 40s and 50s I can understand the statue's place in the genre, but I also get why so many find it offensive, though some the reactions from both the pro and anti-statue factions is equally bizarre.
The statue and others like it are being produced right at a time when, like the in the 60s, comic books are supposedly going through a period of growth and maturity as an art form. The statue represents a big step backwards for those concerned about the state and future of comic books. It could be worse, though. Fans should be grateful that MJ isn't portrayed in the style of an Art Frahm pin-up, tangled in the leash of the Spectacular Spider-Dog with her panties fallen down around her ankles while carry a bag of groceries.

Why do I think the term "Comiquette" is soon going to be co-opted and mean something else entirely?

Janet Van Dyne: "Oh, my gawd. Did you see She-Hulk today?"
Carol Danvers: "Yeah, she's turned into such a Comiquette."

On the other hand, if the statue was of Mary Jane Watsow-Porker washing out the costume of the Spectacular Spider-Ham, I'd buy it in a second.

Tags: Spider-Man Seduction of the Innocent

How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way!

Step 1) Put your pencil on the paper.

Step 2) Continually apply 10,000 volts to testicles, making sure to not lift pencil from drawing surface.

Step 3) Submit results to Marvel for publication.

Step 4) Profit!

I thought the art in New X-Men #38 was bad, but that is some heinous stuff.

Page from Wonder Man #5 (June 2007).

Tags: Bad art Marvel

The Invisible Woman of 1957

There is a sort of a general interest from hard core comic book fans and even a small collector's market for the prototype "first appearances" of characters that at least for Marvel could be found published in the science fiction and horror anthology titles of the 1950s as one-shot stories. These early character concepts of what would later be established figures of the Marvel lines shouldn't be considered "dry runs" so much as space filler for the varied books Atlas/Marvel was producing at the time. In most cases the character being tweaked and retooled and used again is likely a coincidence. Creators working to provide a large amount of steady content would inevitably produce an idea or two that would have similarities to something that would be used later in other books. This isn't to say that some ideas were not purposefully recycled as a favorite theme of the creators or as proof-of-concept stories like DC's first Supergirl story that predated the Silver Age version of Kara Zor-El.

There were a few stories during the Atlas and pre-Fantastic Four era of Marvel where ideas that appeared previously were later seen again in launching the company's foray into super hero comics. The original "Hulk" was later revived as Xemnu the Titan and there was even a prototype Thing before the first appearance of Ben Grimm in the Fantastic Four. The story of Ant-Man began as non-heroic scientist Hank Pym accidentally shrunk himself and faced peril. Doctor Druid/Doctor Strange had a prototype mystic in a recurring series though that may be a bit of a stretch to compare Strange to anything other than the basic idea of a magician adventurer considering where Ditko took the series once he hit his stride. The mutant Tad Carter appeared in Amazing Fantasy #14 in what I long considered an early depiction of Professor Xavier and the tale itself was probably recycled from an earlier story long before the debut of the X-Men. John Byrne later revisited Tad Carter in one of his series in a story arc I have chosen to ignore ever happened.

One of those early character concepts that was used to great success much later was originally published in Journey Into Mystery #43 (February 1957). In that issue of the Atlas title there is a story featuring a character somewhat similar to the Invisible Girl, who appeared several years before the debut of the flagship character in Fantastic Four #1 (November 1961). The story features an unseen assassin known only as the Invisible Woman. The invisible assassin is terrorizing the populace of a communist country by murdering in a public venue those people hostile to the Marxist power structure. It is revealed during the story that the killings are performed through trickery by commies the better to scare helpless civilians into obeying their rule out of the fear that they can be severely punished, publicly, anytime and anywhere with no means to defend themselves. In a twist that is typical of the stories of the time a real Invisible Woman makes herself known to the leadership after taunting them and stealing their secret documents, undoing their nefarious plans of brutal oppression of the working peoples who only yearn to breathe free.

Click to make visible!

It is interesting that in 1957 the freedom-loving Olga was referred to as a Woman, whereas a few years later by 1961 Susan Storm, one fourth of the Fantastic Four was labeled as the presumably less-threatening sobriquet of Girl. I think the reasons for this are obvious from the viewpoint of selling comic books on the news stands. To a young boy, who were the primary market for comic books in the early 1960s, "women" are scary adults and are authority figures like a Mom who could send you to your room, while "girls" are seen as harmless like a little sister you can push around or as the occasion demands, protect from bullies. Olga was an accomplished, gun-wielding, confident cold war secret agent who infiltrated the corridors of power and bravely let an underground faction of scientists experiment on her. In contrast Sue Storm spent several decades as a professional hostage who whined a lot and worried if she would be loved. It wasn't until the 1980s that Sue changed her name from Girl to Woman (even though her personality had matured a bit in recent years thanks to various creative teams) under the scripting of John Byrne and then only after she was traumatized by a super-villain.
Tags: Invisible Woman


Note: Even earlier there was a 1940s comedy science fiction film called The Invisible Woman but all one could possibly learn from that flick is that when women and booze get together appearance is no longer important. You need to have seen the film to understand what I mean.

Countdown to DANCING!

This preview art from DC Comics is a nice, though generic, teaser presumably showing which heroes will be prominently featured in the upcoming series, Countdown. Everyone looks pretty serious as they rush into the front lines of the fight. Superman has blazing eyes, Batman is grim and determined and even Power Girl looks tough enough to draw attention from her assets. Everyone in the group has the strong, no-nonsense dynamic poses of heroes about to take care of business. Everyone that is...except for Kyle (Ion) Raynor.

What the heck is he doing? Is he skipping into battle? This just goes with my theory that everyone at DC secretly hates Kyle and makes sure he is always shown as a goofy bimbo, so future generations of comic book fans* will not hold him the same mythic and yet deserved high regard as Hal, John or G'nort.

Tags: DC Comics Countdown Green Lantern


* Assuming they ever get the chance to reproduce.

Grocery Store Artifact: She's a good study

Early this morning while I was covering the register at the grocery store a young woman hurriedly comes to my lane. She is continually gagging and dry-heaving as she drops her purchase onto the belt. Alarmed, I ask the customer if she is ill and between uncontrolled woofing noises she states that she is okay. I'm doubtful, but being a compassionate sort (at least while on the clock) I give her a plastic bag and several paper towels just in case she is unable to hold back and becomes ill while at the register or later when in her car. Her sole purchase?

An early pregnancy test kit.
Yeah, I think she aced that particular exam.

Tags: Grocery Store Artifact

LOL Naturz

Tags: Catblogging Tornado lolcat Hell Express

Comic Book Censorship: Changed Ending

This story from Strange Mysteries #10 (1963, reprinted from Strange #2, 1957) is about Wilbur, a bland man who dies and is sent to limbo. He is unqualified for either Heaven or Hell because in life he was so bland he never did anything particularly good or bad, so he is barred from entering an after-life realm unless one of the deities agrees to let him enter. After hearing his appeals God and Satan both reject Wilbur and he gets a chance to return to Earth and live again, this time to spend the remainder of his life being more than a passive spectator.
What is worthy about the story to note is that the panel art seems to tell a different climax to the tale than the narrative. If the text is ignored, Wilbur appears angered and murderous, hands clutched preparatory to strangling the woman silhouetted in the upstairs window of the house. The images as drawn would fit the usual style of the "twist" ending common with the crime and horror comic books of a slightly earlier era. In 1957 when the story was originally published and in 1963 when reprinted, the Comics Code was in full swing and the story was likely to have been changed to have a happier ending more in line with comic book decency standards.

Tags: Seduction of the Innocent

Grocery Store Artifact: We hate you more

There is a fauxism* in retail that "The customer is always right." Let me tell you a little secret...We all hate you customers for it. The reason being is that most customers act like privileged a-holeoids eternally offended that they have to dirty their gloves by shopping and actually having to meet the people who really support their lifestyle.

Listen up, Sport. The cashiers are there to help you get what you want and they want as much as you do to get the business finished as quickly as possible. It is in the script to welcome you, ask if you need any carry out service and wish you a fond farewell so don't give us any crap about it.

Here's some guidelines for when you when buy your sugar-frosted and grease-packed groceries.

1) Hang Up The Phone. There are other customers behind you and it is irritating that you can't stop yammering for 4 minutes to pay attention to what you are doing. Funny that someone who seems to take such pride in communicating your opinion to you friend who is going through her 5th meltdown over the cute guy who won't call back can't clearly communicate to the cashier what they want. Yes, yes, we are so very impressed by your need to do business in line at the grocery store. You are so fast-paced and important at what you do! Guess what? Unless you are Donald Trump negotiating a billion dollar deal for prime New York real estate I think that the half-senile old woman you are pressuring into buying a Sleep Number Bed can wait a few minutes. Her social security check will still be there when you call back. Also, don't be insulting by signing off your cell phone call by sneering "I'll call you back. I have to deal with the cashier now." I don't see you out on the veldt hunting down your own food, so show a little courtesy to the people on this end of the supply chain.
2) Don't Wait To Tell Us What You Want. See item #1. I can't stress enough that you need to pay attention. It annoys us that after we spend time ringing up and bagging the order you realize you were too busy or inattentive to ask for "double paper bags in plastic bags". While we are slightly annoyed (only because it isn't fair to the people waiting in line behind you) we don't really care. Because if we wait on only one customer all day we still get paid for it and we will gladly unpack and then repack everything to your satisfaction. Except maybe a few eggs get broken by "accident" during the process.

3) We Are Not Trying To Rip You Off. Honest. Don't shriek in a venomous rant that you are being misled by advertising or the fine print. Yes, when a brand has 15 styles of a product and the 5 you want is not on sale it is not usually an error. The reason those 10 items are reduced is because we have too many of them and just the right amount of the others. The sale is structured to move the over-stocked stuff. Read the darn tag, please. Also, if you find a non-sale item on a shelf with sale items and the product is wildly different don't insist that it was on purpose to fool you into buying it. Customers often put items where they don't belong. Finding a box of Dixie Cups six aisles down from where it is supposed to be stocked crammed among the potato chips that are on sale may be a clue that the cups are not discounted and have been misplaced by someone. But guess what? We want your business so badly we'll probably discount them for you anyway. Your ranting just makes you look crazy, so calm down.
4) Stop Trying To Rip Us Off. We mean it. Don't tear open two bags of dough balls at the back seam and shove one inside the other. When bagging your purchase we will probably notice. We are diplomatic enough to ask if you want a replacement for the "damaged" product and not accuse you of shoplifting but it is stupid to risk embarrassment and jail for 89 cents worth of dough balls. Stop using the Self Scan Register to put one over on us by scanning a coupon and then shoving a piece of blank paper in the slot so you can repeatedly use the same coupon. Quit printing out your own bar codes and sticking them on the expensive items. We will notice that the bottle of $90 wine is ringing up for $3.99. Trust me. That is why when you come up to the register with 40 bottles of alcohol and tell us "they are all the same" we still insist on scanning them individually. Hey, and sales have a definite expiration date, by the way. We are embarrassed for you when you come in seeking to get the pork chops at last week's price.

5) Take Your Meds Before Shopping. Please. None of us are paid to deal with the craziness some customers exhibit. The raging rants against pigeons, the OCD, trembling shakes and paranoia is something you should leave at home. It will make everyone happier and I won't have to hide the pointy things.
6) Control Your Spawn. Hey, I honestly don't care if your hyper-active kids keep pressing the wrong buttons on the Point of Sale pad. It's cute to see the kids trying to emulate Mommy. It would be nice if you saved that for a time when 6 people were not in line behind you. That said, don't get upset with us if after the third time the pin number was entered incorrectly the bank automatically shuts your card off because three attempts to run your ATM card meets the criteria for someone trying to fraudulently access your account. Don't think I did not see them chewing on the bagels you conveniently forgot to tell me you gave them while shopping, that's why they are on the bill. If you want free food go to a homeless shelter. Don't get upset with us if we ring up an item your kid put onto the belt without you noticing. We can't read your mind and from your alarming choice of diet, we certainly can't tell if you don't allow the kid to eat Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bars. We will be glad to void the item.
7) Don't Be So Touchy. It is in our official script to ask if you want any of our World-Class Carry Out Service. It's great that you are 95 years old and can still take care of yourself so please don't get angry about it. Then again, I've seen how difficult it is for you to pull 5 dollars out of your wallet so maybe you could understand why I'm offering to have one of our guys help load your car. Don't get me started on the fact that you are still driving. Don't be embarrassed about your purchases and deflect attention from what you are buying by being a jerk. When you buy petroleum jelly, duct tape, hot sauce, vodka, rope, cucumbers and contraceptives we are professional enough not to call you a freak. We are thinking it, though.

8) Don't Be A Cheap Bastard. Go ahead and make sure you get your discounts and correct prices. It is your money and you shouldn't waste it. However don't ask for two cents from the cashier's pocket to cover the remainder of the bill because you don't want to break a quarter and then have to deal with the horror of having loose change cluttering your purse. I also shouldn't have to say this and yet I have to at least once a day: The donation jar is for people with illnesses so digging into it for money to pay your bill is WRONG. Knock it off.
9) Sort Your Stuff. Don't be an idiot and put your veggies, light bulbs, bread and other crunchables at the front of the belt. Put those up last so we can put those on top of the heavy smashing things and not under them. We don't expect everything sorted by size and ingredients but help us help you by having some order to your items. Keep the chemicals, meat, cold and hot items grouped together and not all mixed up. From what I see each day regarding customers it makes me wonder how many of those reports of tainted food is actually caused by oblivious consumers doing things like laying the bottle of drain clog remover on top of the fresh vegetables on the belt. Put the heavy and extra large items on the belt first or leave them in the cart. We usually have the codes for all the big stuff we can enter by hand, saving us and you on all the lifting. It makes it easier for us to pack and reload into your cart. Unless you tweaked back and forth all over the store you probably put the items into the cart in groups, take them out the same way.

10) Get On With It. See all previous items. You may not be aware of the fact that cashiers are evaluated by how quickly and efficiently they do their job. This is measured by computer. The cashier register database records how many scans we do, how many key errors are made and if they are corrected and how fast we do our job. Below a certain percentage of efficiency the cashier can lose their position. So it hurts our stats when we do our job with awesome skill and you are staring off into space or chattering with a friend. The clock is ticking and by delaying the end of the job order you are taking food out of the mouths of my children. I want you gone, you want to be gone, the people in line waiting for you to shut up and hand me cash want you to be gone and no one really cares about your broken windshield or child's soccer team. We just pretend to.

*I made up another new word!

Cool Golden Age Page of the Day: Stupid soldier, atomic force waves are for kids!

Sweet, sweet Golden Age of Comic Books! This Flash Gordon ripoff is almost Fletcher Hanksian in its absurdity. Still awesome, though.

The Space Rovers from Exciting Stories #8 (February 1941).

It is hilarious that both the captions and dialog repeatedly explain what is going on in the panels. It is like Chris Claremont had access to a time machine and went to work for Better Comics.

Bonus Panel with COMEDY GOLD dialog!

"From now on we'll probably have to use our wits and fists!"

Joy!

Tags: Golden Age

Sleestak's Review: Spider-Man 3

Too much, too much shoved into one film.

As a fan, I wished the creators would have just remained with the homage of the 1950s monster movie. With just that premise the film would have been less cluttered and been much more enjoyable. The movie started with creepy promise with a scene right out of the atom-age Cold War B-movies that I enjoy so much, even though the coincidence of the parasite's landing site to Peter Parker's night out was a bit much. I would rather have seen the parasite witness Spider-Man breaking up a bank heist and then deciding that Spidey was a superior host than the unhealthy, homeless park-dweller it may have initially latched onto, but that is just me.

With nearly every scene of the film I ran an alternate and preferred one in my head (and no, they didn't feature Spider-Man and Bryce Dallas Howard doing kinky things).

The movie then gets rushed into going nowhere fast, like a careless driver speeding to get to a red light. One of the story elements that bothered me is that many scenes seemed, like that pod-race Star Wars film, designed solely for the purpose of generating content for the Spider-Man 3 video game.

The inclusion of the Sandman and the back story was just not needed as the Venom and Eddie Brock story could have been enough. A highlight was that the greatest villain of the piece of course was not the Sandman or Venom but was instead Peter Parker himself. The parasite goaded Peter into being more confident and showed what could happen if he stopped hiding his talents, but soon he changed into an abusive bully. While it was good that Peter was characterized to be his own worst enemy as it is often in the comics, was it really required that not just one, but two villains are showcased to show Peter what he could become if he abused responsibility and power?

My Rating: 5 Ditko Faces out of possible 10

Tags: Spider-Man 3

Comic Book PSA: Haunted House?

From Black Cat Western Comics #16 (March 1949).

Tags: Comic Book PSA

Friday Catblogging

Socks are the new slippers. All this within an hour after I vacuumed.

Stupid cats. This house will never be clean again.

Tags: Catblogging

My new word

During a conversation today at work I made up a new word that will surely be immortalized in all the big dictionaries by next year:

LUSHBIAN

A Lushbian is defined as a woman who usually acts heterosexual but becomes all kissy-face with other women when they are all really drunk.

Tags: Language Sexist

Comic Book Ad: It's all fun and games until someone puts out an artery

I really hope that back in 1963, Mom and Dad were paying attention to what Junior was sending away for from his comic book advertisements. If the launcher performed as claimed then I pity all the neighborhood bullies, unwary pets, stray notebooks and kid siblings that must have been shot by big brother wielding the thing.

From Strange Mysteries #10 (1963).

Tags: Comic Book Ad

Boom Chicka Wow Wow!

Ding-Dong!

"Hello, who's there?

"Super Telephone Repairman! You reported trouble with your...hotline?"

"Oh, wow! That was fast service!"

"We...aim to please."

"My...I bet you do!"

Thanks, Miss...Zatanna, is it? So, where's the phone?"

"It's in the bedroom, of course. Walk this way."

"Lady, if I could walk that way I'd throw out my back."

"Ha ha, you sure are funny, Super Telephone Repairman. I like that."

"That's a totally sexy outfit you are almost wearing."
"These old things? It is so...hot...and steamy...in here that I always walk around wearing a bustier, thigh-high fishnet stockings and under-sized thong. Say, you fill out that unitard pretty well yourself. Why don't you sit here beside me on the bed while you...work."

Boom Chicka Wow Wow!

Panel from Superman #662 (May 2007).

Tags: Seduction of the Innocent Superman Zatanna

Brothers under the skin

Comic book aficionados of the Silver Age have often explored how two such different characters as the staid, boring Barry (Flash) Allen could be such good friends with Hal Jordan, the cosmic Green Lantern, ladies' man and hot shot bad boy. All the explanations I have read so far veer into extremely detailed fan-wank and doesn't really make much sense as the characterizations are usually tweaked to fit the premise of the fan. I however, have the final explanation as to the strong friendship shared by the Flash and Green Lantern, overlooked by all since 1959 yet readily available to comic book historians nonetheless.

From The Flash #109 (Oct-Nov 1959), here is the secret behind their friendship.
In light of this scene, their relationship makes perfect sense now.

Tags: Silver Age Flash Green Lantern

Creepy Older Men

Never mind why Dick Grayson had to pretend to Lois Lane that he was long retired from crime fighting and now working at the Daily Planet and that several decades had passed Lois by. The real question is why no one, including Lois, thought it anything other than normal that a 45 year old Dick Grayson was wearing his old Robin costume to work every day .

From Lois Lane #6 (January 1959).

Tags: Silver Age Lois Lane Robin

I wish he could have just told the unpleasant truth

The real reason behind war with Iraq is simple. Seeing the writing on the wall that the United States was no longer welcome in Saudi Arabia, the rest of the industrialized world needed a semi-stable oasis in the mid-east to set up shop and provide influence and hopefully, political and economic pressures to keep the oil flowing without interruption.

Like it or not, the sheer ugly truth is that every nation on Earth is dependent on oil, can't function without it and requires that oil is made available at a manageable and predictable rate. Any large and powerful country simply will not allow their infrastructure and society to be threatened by exterior market forces.

It is also true that the average citizen is unable to comprehend or accept the need behind such maneuvering, so unfortunately the Bush Administration had to make up a bunch of stuff about WMD's so the public could accept the need for a righteous and just war. There is no way America would have been able to announce their plan to invade a foreign country simply because every nation in the middle east region is hostile to the world at large, politically and socially unstable and that for their purposes, Iraq was the easiest place to set up a beachhead for Western interests. Deposing a Dictator who is a clear danger to innocent people is an excuse that might have actually worked, found WMD's or not, or at least been somewhat tolerable in the end and to history if not for the entire crew of corrupt Government, Military and civilian scumbags squandering the goodwill of the citizens by lining their pockets and mishandling every crisis to come their way over the course of the past several years.

America has proven time and again that when they don't mess around and get distracted they are quite capable of accomplishing a mission, even an unpopular one, capably and humanely. But as story after story broke about media malfeasance, negligence, hubris, Constitutional shenanigans, incompetence and fraud on the part of those running the war any support swiftly eroded and many people changed their opinion against those in charge. Sadly, the current administration can never, ever take steps to actually repair their mistakes. To do so would be to admit that thousands of people were pushed to participate in a war built on distractions and spin.

Tags: Iraq

The word itself makes some men uncomfortable. Vagina.

Call me crazy, but this Stop Violence Against Women sign sure has some suggestive imagery about it.
Did the designer purposely use vaginal imagery in the word NOW in order to make a point about how cultures portray women as little more than an orifice? Could it also be the design of the lettering has the intention of empowering females by re-claiming as their own an image that is often used in sexist art, or am I reading to much into it and it is just a coincidence?

I understand that NOW has been around a while but I'm a guy and don't usually pay attention to that stuff.

Tags: Violence Women Feminism

Cool Golden Age Page of the Day: A Rare Delicacy

That is one hairy Roman! His name is Romey, believe it or not. Romey the Roman.

From Jungle Comics #7 (July 1940). Art by George Tuska.

And what Golden Age story would be complete without a hearty "Ho! Guards!" from the villain?
Insane concepts like Cannibalistic Monkey Men unapologetically told straight-faced without any attempt at camp is what made the Golden Age of comics so great.

Tags: Golden Age