Halloween Memories Pt. 2

There used to be three big Halloween events in my little hometown: the fireman's parade, Halloween party at school, and of course, Trick or Treat night.

I liked them all actually, because it gave me a chance to dress up as a monster. I was always a monster of some kind; none of that "hobo" crap for me. I was a werewolf or vampire several times, a mummy once, and Jekyll/Hyde once. I think there were times when I was really young that I may have just bought a mask at the local dime store, but I can't remember what they were exactly.

But they WEREN'T hobo masks!!!

At any rate, I guess I probably liked trick or treat the most because it lasted the longest (three hours back in the day) and I got candy (most of which I have to admit that my dad ate; I was never a big candy craver). It was also cool to go to different people's houses, see their reactions, try to guess what each house would give you and just hang out after dark. When I was just starting out trick or treating, my dad would take me to a pre arranged list of houses; aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors and friends of the family. I was little and those were the days of razor blades in apples and such; of course we knew practically everyone in town, but there were always a few crazies here or there that you were never quite sure about.

After I got older I went out with friends to trick or treat. I still didn't cover the whole town. There was only so much time and it was hard to get the whole town in during that period. I remember one Halloween, I think I was in fifth grade, probably ten years old, when it rained like crazy the whole time and a friend's mom took he and I (and my mom) around in her car. I was a vampire that year, I'm not sure what he was. We got soaked every time we left the car, but it was a hell of a lot of fun.

The last year I went was in seventh grade; I was 12. After that, it just seemed silly to keep going. I found that I liked handing out the candy. I never understood the kids who kept going year after year on into high school. They just seemed like they were trying to prove something, or like they were making fun of the holiday somehow by not understanding when it was time to quit.

I guess the only point I have in this post is that it was really a nice feeling to be a part of Halloween when I was young, in the seventies. There was just something magical about the whole season; the cool air, the leaves, the pumpkins and the horror movies on TV. It was a time when fantasy sort of nudged reality aside for a time and everyone got to be whatever they wanted to be. There wasn't anything truly scary about it; there was more of a sense of wonder than fear. And to a kid growing up in a small, close minded, insular back woods Midwest town, there weren't many opportunities to experience wonder. I had a great childhood, all in all, but I grew up in an area where using your imagination was rather frowned upon.

I remember one Halloween years later when I was seventeen, I watched John Carpenter's "Halloween" on TV for the first time and got thoroughly scared. Then I walked, in a Dracula costume, to my aunt's house because she had a Polaroid camera and she took pictures of me in it so I could send it to a local horror show in hopes that I would win a Best Costume prize. I didn't win.

That's about the last time I did anything very cool on Halloween. Oh, one time in college I went to the Ground Round and watched "Night of the Living Dead" with a couple friends (one of their birthdays fell on Halloween). But the great majority of my Halloweens ever since have involved just handing out candy at home. I like doing it, and it's fun to see all the kids' costumes, but as the years pass I know fewer and fewer of them. And, as you saw from my previous post, I grow more disenchanted with the direction the holiday is taking.

This year I marched in a Halloween parade for my humane society. It was cold and the wait for the parade to start was agonizingly long. The people were EVERYWHERE and though we did have candy to hand out, it ran out way too soon and the task of handing it out while trying to handle a dog was daunting to say the least.

But I was glad that I went. Afterwards I went out to dinner with some of the people there and I had a pretty good time. I didn't know some of them, but I listened and smiled at their stories and jokes. It was OK.

I guess most of the time you don't realize you're having a good time till the time is over. I loved trick or treat as a kid, but it's only in retrospect that the times seem so sweet and precious to me. What you do is rarely special immediately; what you are doing is literally making a memory, creating something for your mind to go back to in times of stress for a sense of release and joy.

Halloween, like all other holidays, has little to do with what it was originally intended for. That can be good and bad. It's bad that we forget what our traditions really mean, because over time they are saturated so much with our own impressions they become something totally other than what they originally were. It's good in that holidays all rise above their specific trappings and become vessels of memory and reinforce our sense of community and fellowship.

But I'll be honest; I would give everything I own to be able to be able to go back and trick or treat and spread that bag out on the table and sort through the contents with my dad, or help him carve a jack o' lantern or help my mom hand out candy. We remember the people in our lives the strongest and without them, no holiday will ever again feel genuine.

And right now, I'm missing them something awful...

Trick or Treat Memories

I'm not sure what kids make of Halloween anymore. I notice that each year it seems that younger and younger kids are being forced by their parents to get stuffed into costumes they don't understand to go out and beg for candy they probably don't want. I don't mean to be a killjoy, but honestly, if you can't even say the name of the holiday it almost stands to reason that you're not going to have much fun with it. A lot of the kids that stop by my house are unable to even utter the words "trick or treat" without serious coercing by their parents, and often just reach into the bag of candy and silently take one before toddling off into the night. I just feel as though, like everything else, this kids' activity is getting to be more and more about the parents' wishes and less about the kids.

Granted, it's nice to see the reduction of older kids prowling around. The days of pubescent boys skulking about looking for pumpkins to smash and windows to soap seem to be pretty much over. That kind of stuff has probably been passe for teens for about fifteen years. When you have a job and a girlfriend and maybe even a car, those kinds of juvenile acts don't have the same type of tough guy cool they used to. Ahh, the good old days...

I notice that the trend away from a "scary" Halloween continues though. I used to bemoan the "hobos" who would win costume contests in my town, year after year. Yeah, when the pagans first envisioned All Hallow's Eve, I bet "Freddie the Freeloader" was the perfect symbol of the spirit world's last chance to take over the world. While I don't see many hobos anymore, I see a depressing amount of superheroes and celebrities and politicians roaming around in search of sweets.

Again, it's not really the kids fault. Kids are mostly just sheep anyway, following whatever trends they see their friends following or are brainwashed into following by the massive TV commericial bombardments. Parents need to take the time to explain to kids what the holiday is all about, just as they should (and generally don't) explain that Christmas really has nothing to do with a $500 light bill and endless buckets of discarded wrapping paper and cooking tons of candy and sweets that no one will ever be able to eat. But it's just so much easier for us all to keep on the same old dreary track of diluting the original intention of these traditional holidays, contorting and perverting them so as to fit more easily into modern day capitalistic thinking. I suppose such dilution is inevitable, but it's depressing nonetheless.

It's depressing, really.

I'm not that old, only 41, but it sure seems as though in the relatively short period of time since I was young enough to trick or treat, our culture has changed in so many ways. Is it just the natural pull of nostalgia that makes me bemoan all the changes? Do I just resent getting older and yearn to go back to those days that weren't necessarily better but just simpler? Perhaps. I"m open to any interpretations. But I don't think it's a subjective observation to point out that electric pumpkins and light sabers and Coors Beer endorsements have come pretty far afield from popcorn balls, "tee peeing", and white sheets with eye holes. It's just the typical diminution of meaning that we see with just about every holiday, and it's so sad to witness.

Then again, we don't hear stories about tazor blades in apples anymore, either, do we? I guess as the huge thundering foot of history treads on, it takes with it some of the bad as well as the good. Maybe as things change we tend to remember the good things that are gone easier than we do the bad things; maybe it's the way the human mind works. Maybe like so many other parts of our life, it's the youth we miss more than the trappings of youth. When you are young, you are immortal and life stretches out before you so grandly and infinitely; perhaps everything associated with that feeling becomes positive in retrospect.

Or, maybe pumpkin lights strung from trees just look damned silly.

A Poem for October

Cool smoked filled air,
Kaliedescope leaves.
Ghoulish, grinning gourds
And tots crying in costumes
They don't understand.
Sweaters and frost,
Furnaces belch to life.
A long walk on a cold starry night,
World Series fans with white wispy breath.
The joy of October,
A month of color and goblins and memory.

Story Idea

Well, actually two of them.

I had an idea for a story about an angel who is concerned that his latest project may lose its funding from the Lord God because of lack of results. His project? The moral progress of the human race. I envisioned God holding court over thousands of prospective projects, and deciding which ones were worth pursuing. I guess it could be a bit controversial as it would infer that the Lord doesn't have infinite resources and must dole them out accordingly. I would have to inject some kind of plot device that would circumvent this notion. But I just like the idea of humanity as a project, with little visible results to offer, but this one determined angel keeps trying to find some kind of redeemable value in us. He'd have to focus in on one person or family, and I see God as (again, somewhat controversial) somewhat bitter and jaded on the whole question of humanity, seeing the arc of human history as full of war and hatred and anger and selfishness. We'll see, I guess...

Another story idea I had involves the continued destruction of the Earth's environment. What if, at some point, Earth itself considered humans a danger to its continued existence and somehow fought back? Now I could have that come in the form of natural disasters, but I think they denote more the result of human's actions rather than Nature's. I am thinking of somehow having Earth (or Gaea, whichever you prefer) creating some kind of organism/creature whose sole purpose for existence would be to eliminate man. I guess this would be portraying Nature in an evil light, but in actuality it would simply be responding to all the damage that Man has done. Like any living thing whose life is threatened, Nature would simply be defending itself. There would be mass killings of humans by these creatures, which would appear out of volcanoes or the ocean or someplace hidden. No one would know what they were or where they came from, and they would be very hard to kill. Of course, someone would have to discover their origins after capturing one and killing it and reading its DNA or maybe even having a psychic read it's mind. And at some point there would have to be some kind of confrontation and contact with the spirit of Earth itself...again, a theme of man's ability to change and redeem himself.

I guess that's it for today. Two days in a row...whoo hoo!!! :)

Top Ten Comics Final Edition

8) FANTASTIC FOUR - While new writer J. M. Straczynksi hasn't been around for more than a few issues, I can already tell that this book is destined for another great era. He has focused on the "accident" that created the FF, and given it a very nice new twist that adds wonderfully to the FF mythos but doesn't denigrate or dilute anything from its past. That's a rough trick, but J.M. (last name is hard to type!) manages it somehow.

He also has done a fine job with characterization. I guess it's a cliche that the FF always bicker but end up backing each other up, but J.M.'s following along in that fine tradition. I also enjoy the subplot of the Child Welfare Services woman who is alleging that Sue's children are being placed in jeopardy by their proximity to the team. You want to root for Sue and Reed to keep custody of them, of course, but the truth is that uhm, the woman is kind of right. All these kids that run around the Marvel Universe (at least the ones that weren't a figment of their mother's imagination; oh, uhhh, HI Wanda!...heh...) are truly being placed in dangerous situations on a daily basis and it's hard to see how they can have anything approximately a normal childhood. Again, they are definitely loved and cared for, but the constant stress of attempted murder upon their relatives, the blasting off to outer space or other dimensions, the perpetual "on call" basis of the teams, the whirlwind of babysitters, etc. could never be healthy for a child. It's a very interesting issue and one I am glad that J.M. raised.

This book has never been one of Marvel's "darker" books. That is, most of the villains are very human, and everyone involved in the conflicts seems to have a reasonable point of view. Again, this is holding true for the current run of FF. The creature who contacted the FF is just a "man" who was seeking knowledge, the people pursuing him feel they are justified in stopping forbidden knowledge from getting out, and the army is trying to protect civilians from harm. I'm always glad that the FF's conflicts are just as often solved by diplomacy and quick thinking as they are by brute force; it really sets the book apart from other books that rely too much on slugfests. This is a thinking man's comic book, and the characters are all intelligent thoughtful people who don't want to resort to physical conflict if they don't have to.

Mike McKone is doing a fine job with the artwork. I don't talk as much about art because my background is much more in the realm of writing and I find myself fumbling when I try to describe my reaction to art. My words aren't as precise or knowing in that field. But McKone's style is the type I tend to prefer for comic book teams, very traditional and "heroic".

So far, so very good. I'm looking forward to even more from both of these guys.

9) DOOM PATROL- I feel a little strange even including this entry, as it is earmarked for cancellation in a couple of months. I wish that DC could put together a winning combination for this book, because I have found things to like in each one of its many incarnations. For whatever reason, it just doesn't seem to light a fire under readers. I guess John Byrne's name doesn't carry nearly the weight it did twenty years ago, and that's a shame. This book is really a textbook example of classic superhero storytelling; interesting characters with complex, mysterious pasts, a rich history to draw from and expand upon, bizarre scary villains and a team of varied personalities that carries with it a dimension of intra squad conflict that helps to heighten the outer conflicts they face. Plus the Doom Patrol really are the DC Universe's X-MEN; odd loners who don't really mesh with with the rest of the DCU and who's wheelchair bound leader is often just a tad too dictatorial and secretive for the the tastes of the members.

Byrne is doing some nice things with the characters' origins and also the team's. He has done some time travel stories that illuminate details of the origins and also the emotions of the characters. He has played around with the various incarnations of the team through the years while remaining true to the consistently "outcast" spirit of all those teams. I have learned things about the team here for the first time; very basic, seminal moments are being put in much clearer focus, often for the first time. He's really done his research, that's for sure. And he's add three new characters, all of which fit in perfectly with the team, and all of which are unique to say the least. A pity they will more than likely to consigned to comic book Oblivion before long. It really is too bad this book couldn't have had more of a chance. I like the way Byrne established a pattern of unpredictability here; you never knew what was going to happen from one moment to the next.

His artwork is just as solid and expressive as ever, and his fight scenes are truly one of a kind. I am from the "old school" of comic book storytelling and art, where you can actually follow what happens from panel to panel, and this is the kind of stuff I just eat up. It's just disheartening that neat little books like this without huge fanfare or universe shattering crossovers or special events, can't somehow survive in the modern world.

But apparently, they can't.

10) ASTRO CITY - This is the only entry in my series that isn't either MARVEL or DC, and it's telling that it is probably the finest book I listed. ASTRO CITY, by Kurt Busiek (surely one of the finest comic writers working today, if not THE finest) tells the story of a city populated by superheroes and what that city would be like if it existed in the real world. It's a book without regular characters so to speak. Most stories run in arcs, over the space of a few issue, and concentrate on one particular hero or hero team. It has all the costumes and codenames and superpowers and villains of any other book, but the heart of these stories is always in the people inside them; how they cope with all the real world concerns that we all do, and their super status only serves to heighten and bring to the surface the very human condition they find themselves in. It's a book about love, loss, dreams, disappointment, family, changing times, loyalty, betrayal, and yes, heroism. It's just about as "real" as realistic superhero tales get. I'd place it right up there next to WATCHMEN in terms of its ability to convey human emotions and real human conflicts.

It's hard to say anything about Alex Ross that hasn't been said before, and no doubt said better. He is really emerging as the Picasso of modern superhero comics, and his fresh, light strokes are so original and pleasing to the eye. His faces are expressive, his battle scenes grandioise, his storytelling techniques fluid and easy to follow. I honestly can't imagine an artist more well suited to this book.

ASTRO CITY is the book I would recommend to people who say they wouldn't like comic books. It's a bridge to "normal" literature that would be able to draw people in that never would have done so otherwise (or at least it would stand a good chance). It's big and it's accessible, it's grand and personal, it's funny, sad, tragic, uplifting and universal. It loves and understands it characters, even the rotten ones. It stands head and shoulders above so many other comics that are doing so much better in sales, but that's fine. ASTRO CITY has and will always have a special place as that one book that took all the superhero cliches, embraced them, and still managed to be relevant, inspiring and entertaining at the same time.

It's a real winner.

Top Ten Comics Pt 3

Well yesterday I kind of rambled on about JSA, so today I'll try to be a bit less verbose and get more of the list done.

5) NEW AVENGERS - You know, I wanted SO hard to hate this book. It's written by Brian Michael Bendis, who has basically taken over the Marvel Universe and has had so much praise in doing so that I automatically resent him just because of the sheer totality of his success. It's a personal thing; I can't stand to see anyone enjoy that much praise without some kind of mitigating factor involved.

The thing is, though..he's really good.

I am still not ready to crown him the "next Stan Lee" or even the "next Alan Moore" or "next Kurt Busiek". But the guy has an inarguable flair for dialogue and seems to have a very strong grasp of not only Marvel characters but the vast, varied history they all carry with them. I always appreciate anyone who seems to have done his homework before starting on a project, and from what I've seen of NEW AVENGERS, this guy has read a TON of Marvel comics. He is at home writing both the Big Guns like Captain America and Wolverine and also the B characters like the Wrecking Crew and the Purple Man. He has a nice, downplayed knowing sense of humor that pokes fun at the characters without every belittling them.


I am still VERY uncomfortable with the notion of using Wolverine and SpiderMan in a team book. Spidey has NEVER been a team player; it's one of his defining character traits. And while Wolverine is of course a member of the X-Men, I just can't imagine him taking orders from anyone but Xavier or maybe Cyclops, and besides, how exactly does he have the TIME to be on two teams?

Bendis does, again, do a great job with both of these characters, homing in expertly on SpiderMan's "Everyman" status and giving him the fully, incredulous lines, and mining Wolverine's world weariness and carefully contained rage. And he does do a fairly good job of explaining why Wolverine should be on the team, via a dialogue between him and Iron Man. But still...

The overarching plot of someone in S.H.I.E.L.D. having shadow agendas that are counter to the Avenger's mission is a good one. The Avengers haven't had any good governmental intrique stories in years, if ever, and this paves the way for the terribly underused SpiderWoman to shine. I also am really enjoying the evolving origin of the Sentry, a character who has been around forever but apparently no one has ever heard of, if that makes any sense.

Despite my full intention to dislike this book, I like it. I am still smarting over the "deaths" of Hawkeye, the Vision and even poor old Ant-Man, but we all know in time they will all be back. And in the meantime, this is a genuinely original and timely look at the Assembling Ones, a real page turner that you cannot look away from.

6) NEW THUNDERBOLTS - I loved the original THUNDERBOLTS, and only signed on with this version after I saw that original writer Kurt Busiek was going to be co-writing. He has since left the book, but I have to say that Fabien Nicieza (whose tenure on the original series I wasn't that high on) has done a good job on his own.

The whole concept of the THUNDERBOLTS is one that is an instant winner with me. Ex-villains who want to redeem themselves for their past actions sign on and hopefully mesh with a motley crew of their peers, with the whole project being funded (often mysteriously) by ex-Beetle now MachIV Abner Jenkins. I always enjoyed the sort of sliding scale of morality that the team possesses, everywhere from "truly committed to redeeming themselves and doing good" to "just along for the ride in between other gigs" to "I'm using this as a front for my criminal activities". Something about even the notion of being a do-gooder seems to transform the members or at the very least make them re-evaluate the way they have been living their lives.

And I always enjoy anything that brings Marvel second stringers into the spotlight and fleshes them out more. Twenty years ago, who would have thought there would be a MARVEL comic that STARRED the Beetle, the Blizzard, Screaming Mimi, the Radioactive Man, and Power Man? Some of them have different names now, but all are given ample chance to shine in what often amounts to MARVEL's version of SUICIDE SQUAD. The mortality rate here isn't quite as high, but in a book like this that doesn't have iconic characters, the writers are much more free to enact major changes on the characters without fear of reprisal by fans or editors.

Like the old series, this one contains lots of intriguing ongoing mysteries. Who is the Swordsman and whose side is he really on? What is the motive behind the Purple Man's nefarious schemes? Will some of the members, particularly Speed Demon, Joystick and Radioactive Man, be able to acclimate themselves to this new life? All these plots are intermixed nicely, and what you get is so many plot elements occurring at once it's impossible to get bored. If anything, I always feel a bit exhausted after reading one of these books.

NEW THUNDERBOLTS isn't doing that well in sales, and I seriously wonder if it will still be around at this time next year. I sure hope so, because we will always need books like this that eschew the big names in favor of a more heightened sense of realism, particularly as it applies to moral complexity.

7) GREEN LANTERN - I have to admit I haven't followed GL for quite a while, since the whole destruction of Coast City. I never really gave Kyle Rayner a chance, I guess, because the only real Green Lantern I will ever acknowledge is Hal Jordan and anyone who tries to "take his place" is automatically going to be met by my skepticism. But that was an editorial decision, to make Hal nuts, just as it was an editorial decision to turn him into the Spectre. Neither one of them made any sense, and ultimately, neither one worked, so thankfully Geoff John returned Hal to square one.

Well, not quite square one, I guess. He's still Hal, he is still a daredevil pilot and a total optimist. He still loves being Green Lantern and loves a challenge. But the weight of the past is there somewhere, informing and defining his character. Johns really couldn't have written it any other way, not without cheating and casting the last few years into "Dallas" dream land. No, Johns has chosen to deal with history rather than deny it, and the book is better for it.

I guess the first thing that I noticed was the return of Hal to his old occupation of test pilot. He's basically the same guy as Hal as he is as GL; adventurer, confident and thrill seeker. He enjoys kicking alien tail and he is totally at home in either of his two identities. That's a nice change from most heroes who are constantly bemoaning their powers and fate.

I also keyed in on the terrific fight scenes. With GL, you have a power only limited by the will power and imagination of the user, and Hal is so comfortable with the ring that it just seems second nature, like a part of him. I like the way the ring talks to him, and informs him as to the current status of its power, danger in his surroudings etc. It's like your wrist watch suddenly turned into the Enterprise's computer; tons of information at your disposal, AND YOU'RE WEARING IT!

Again, as with other books, this one presents a real sense of menace to its hero, and makes you truly feel as if he is in jeopardy. John accomplishes this by including a truly powerful foe, one of the next generation of Manhunters. His battle with GL is really spectacular, a no holds barred slugfest that makes Hal use his head as much as his ring (though actually there isn't much difference).

The book isn't just all action though. There are some nice scenes with Hal's brother, which serves as a reminder of the dark days of his past. And there's some promising romantic developments with a hotshot female test pilot who flirts a bit with Hal. All of this helps make Hal a real person, someone we care about and want to see prevail.

GL is a book that has such a rich history to draw from; the Guardians, the Corps, the interplay among Guy, John, Hal and Kyle (not to mention the hordes of other GLs), wild, powerful villains and now Hal's former fall from grace. There is enough plot material here to keep this one going and going for years to come, and with Johns at the helm, I expect that is just what will happen.

Top Ten Comics Pt. 2

OK, following up with the next comic on my top ten list...

4) JSA - I have been a big fan of these guys for years but for some reason no one ever seemed to be able to craft a book about them that would sell. I still remember the old Len Strazewski (was that how you spelled it?) title from the late 80s and early 90s fondly, but for whatever reason it just didn't click with people. Maybe Geoff Johns just came about at the right time, but I prefer to think that his writing had a pretty strong influence on sales.

Johns has done a really superb job of combining the classic with the contemporary here. All the JSA members are either actual members of the original team, relatives of those members, or carrying on the name of an original member in a very respectful and continuity conscience way. It really works well. The team does have that all important family feel to it; they do bicker but at the bottom of it all each member loves the JSA and what it stands for and would go to the mat for each other. Most of the stories have a strongly personal dimension (the "Darkness Falls" storyline that had Sentinal dealing with the corruption of his son Obsidian and the cousin of the murdered Yolanda Montez assuming the mantle of Eclipso just so he could have revenge on her murderer) that makes each fight scene relevant and meaningful. And the whole book just crackles with history that serves to further reveal character; the new Dr. Fate and his byzantine history that really became a story about the emergence and maturity of the man currently wearing his mantle, and the story of the Hawks tortured complicated relationship down through the centuries became a story of fate and identity.

Yet somehow all this history never seems to bog the stories down or overcomplicate things. I am not totally familar with a lot of the histories of these characters, yet I can follow them quite easily with a few prompts from Johns. What is more important to me than the history is the way in which Johns uses it to advance the stories and develop and reveal his characters. Without that added dimension, all the precisioned crossing of "t"s and dotting of "i"s in regard to continuity wouldn't mean much. It's this human dimension that John does so well with.

Johns is not afraid to make changes with the characters either. I have forgotten how many times Black Adam has switched back and forth from being a good guy to a bad guy, and Atom Smasher is easily one of the most morally complex and conflicted heroes I've ever followed. Johns has also done some fairly major reworking of the origins of heroes like Hawkman, Dr. Fate and Sandman. None of it is done gratuitously; he's not interested in shock value but again, in more fully fleshing out characters that have in many cases been either neglected or cursed with sloppy, contradictory histories.

I would highly recommend to book to anyone who loves a good story and remind all that you don't need to be a DC historian to enjoy it.


More tomorrow...

Top Ten Comics

I thought I'd change the pace a bit and talk about my ten favorite comics this time. I have loved comics since I was about five years old, over thirty five years ago (groan) and I really enjoy writing about them, though I seldom have an outlet to do so. I have actually considered starting a "comics only" blog, but I probably don't read enough on a monthly basis to really justify such a blog.

Anyway, I'm in the mood, so here goes.

1) SUPREME POWERr - MARVEL MAX - This is a remake or more correctly "reimagining" of the old SQUADRON SUPREME series by Mark Gruenwald, which is in of itself a nice little gem of a series and which still stands as a real landmark in the "realistic comics" genre. This series is written by "Babylon 5" scribe J. Michael Straczynski, and is even more brutal and morally conflicted than Gruenwald's. It generally tells the story of Mark Milton, an alien baby who is found and raised by foster parents, his history and origin completely withheld from him in place of a carefully constructed series of lies in order to keep him under governmental control. Not unexpectedly, Milton (later given the hero code name, Hyperion) is not pleased with these lies once he uncovers them, and so begins a very tense and often frightening chess game between him and the government powers which seek to control him. Other superheroes pop up after Milton; Nighthawk, an African-American "Batman" type who brutalizes criminals after his own parents are slain in a racially motivated murder, Dr. Spectrum, a CIA agent who becomes superpowered after a part of Milton's spaceship bonds with his body, Power Princess, an ancient warrior/goddess come to life, the Whizzer, a youth who is able to run at superspeed, and what amounts to "Aquagirl", a mutated infant cum adult who breathes underwater and converses with sea creatures.

Like the original SQUADRON SUPREME, and perhaps more like Alan Moore's WATCHMEN, this series attempts to address some of the real issues that would arise if such individuals ever actually existed. All the "heroes" are deeply flawed human beings, often more frightening than the villains they attempt to pacify. Most of them have already murdered people, some more than once, and none of them are particularly happy with their newfound powers. Some of them meet, but so far very few of them are what one could term "friends", and after eighteen issues there still isn't a "Squadron Supreme" team as such.

Straczynski interjects a strong conspiratorial thread in this series, which various elements of the government attempting to use these individuals in order to pursue both domestic and foreign policy goals. Understandably, the military and executive branch are not particularly comfortable with an individual who can create an atomic bomb level explosion just by flying fast into the ground and it's also easy to see why they wouldn't exactly trust someone from another planet. On the other hand, Milton's rage at being used is quite understandable too, so you have these two opposing forces, both with human motivations and both sympathetic to certain extents, and you have them at each other's throats. Straczynski is careful not to make anyone too noble or too evil; he's going for all out realism here, and he usually succeeds.

This is not a "fun" book; much of the action is downbeat and grim, and the dialogue follows suit. I find myself growing a bit impatient for the "team" to assemble, but that's just because all of the characters are so diverse and interesting I can't wait to see them interact as a group. Who knows, maybe they never will. I'm not sure how far this series can go without any kind of humor or lightening element; none of these characters have particularly noticeable senses of humor. But I can't wait to see how things develop as time goes by; the door is really wide open here in terms of future plots and character development.

One of the things that is really nice about the "Squadron Supreme" group is that the writer can really do stuff to what amounts to the Justice League without being hamstrung by corporate dictates about not changing things too much. They can really have free reign and explore themes and situations previously forbidden before the League had an analogue.

I'm looking forward to more of this series, and the evolving drama of an Earth faced with the dawn of superpowered invdividuals. You don't exactly read this series with a sense of wonder, but more perhaps a sense of dread at what new undreamed of horrors may arise from the emergence of these people. I keep searching for some sense of nobility and grandness from the series and the characters, and I think it may be coming, but Straczynski is now more interested in being "real" than being uplifting.

And so far, I am eating it up.

2) HARD TIME - DC - This is a most welcome return to comics for "Howard the Duck" and "Man-Thing" creator Steve Gerber. It's also a vigorously original concept and very engaging narrative concerning a 15 year old genuis who is sentenced to forty years in prison after his (non lethal) involvement in a "Columbine" style incident. Once inside, the boy learns he has a kind of sentient energy within him, another "self" which is powerful and roams at night, acting on some kind of not quite understandable motivation.

This series is, like SUPREME POWER, grim and downbeat most of the time, but the main character does have a refreshingly sardonic sense of humor and so does his Vietnam vet cellmate. I always enjoy series that seem to challenge you to find hope in a very hopeless setting and this one certainly qualifies. The main character really does grow and learn about himself and his world (and his own strengths and weaknesses) while in prison; he isn't just some martryred innocent kid whom the world has dumped on. He's a smart assed little brat, albeit with a general sense of decency, who has a lot of growing up to do. There's some Campbelleseque elements here too; the boy has positive and negative guide figures, and he does go on a "journey" of sorts, though obviously given the setting its much more of an internal one.

Another narrative aspect I always enjoy is unpredictability, and this series is definitely that. From one issue to the next, you never know for certain which of the many featured characters are going to be attacked, go insane or die. Significant plot events happen in each issue, unlike many comics where nothing much really happens for several months at a time. And you always get the feeling that there is a genuine sense of menace, that the characters you care about are not safe and are in fact in true jeopardy. That type of thing is key for me to enjoy a story. If you are fairly certain that the writer isn't going to let anything bad happen, any kind of dramatic tension you hope to achieve is really lost.

So far there has just been one "series" of HARD TIME, but I hear there will be another. I certainly hope so, as it's one of the most original and page turning books around.

3) ASTONISHING X-MEN - Written by current geek golden boy Joss Whedon, this series has really revitalized what was so terrific about the Chris Claremont/John Byrne years; intensely detailed and consistent characterization, engaging plots that operate on several levels, helping always to reveal and advance character, and action scenes that do the same. Whedon is writing at the top of his game here, as he was in his "Buffy" TV series; he has a firm grasp of what makes all the characters interesting and he works the magic interplay between them like a orchestra conductor. Nothing is wasted; no plot development, no line of dialogue. All story elements are parts of a much greater whole and you get the feeling the whole time that someone is in very complete control and knows where he is going. I feel as if I know these characters again, as if I'm rediscovering old friends that have been away for ages.

Like all good writers, Whedon is able to create very dramatic, tension filled scenes and interweave elements of humor into them. He creates strong memorable villains who have specific agendas and self-justifying motivations, and he creates an atmosphere where you aren't entirely sure the heroes are going to prevail. If they do, it generally requires some type of internal power as well as external. They are fighting against the darker elements of themselves as well as their opponents. His stories are always ABOUT something, more than just fight scenes and costumes and superpowers and soap opera. His stories are about human emotions and conflict, even if they are being filtered through "homo superior" mutants.

I've heard that Whedon is not going to be doing this book forever, and that's a shame. I certainly will be around as long as he is, assuming he keeps the current level of quality. And so far I have no reason to think he won't.

That's the first three...more tomorrow. :)

The Purpose of Blogging

Whenever I mention to someone that I have a weblog, the first thing they usually say is that they have thought about doing it, but they don't know why anyone would want to hear about their life every day or what they would say. My response is that I don't post every day (obviously) and that I don't even talk about my life on a regular basis. I just like to use my blog as a kind of repository of writing and thoughts, a physical (sort of) notebook in which I can jot down ideas and ramblings.

I wish I felt that I had something profound or relevant to add each day. I find that I don't. If I was doing a blog that involved news or something that definitely had update material each day, I probably would be more punctual but I'm just plodding along here trying to make an occasional insight or observation. I have actually toyed with the idea of doing another blog; keeping this one's purpose as is, but doing something more centered and focused, like on one of my hobbies i.e. movies, comics, etc. It's possible but I can hardly do a movie review each day because I don't watch a new one every day, and certainly don't read a new comic each day. I couldn't afford that, unfortunately.

As far as my life goes, I suppose I could use the blog more as a diary, but as my friends have stated, there really isn't enough juiciness (or news) in my life to warrant or justify daily posting.

So for now I'll probably stick with things the way they are. I'm hoping that there isn't one general raison d etre for blogging, but that each blogger brings to the experience his own needs and expectations. I would like to post more often, but I have never believed much in writing just for the sake of writing, just as I've never believed in talking just for the sake of talking. If I have something to say, I'll try to say it. If not, I'll keep quiet and and try to come up with something later.

Hopefully it won't be too much later.