Category: seriagraphy

15 May 2019

Denys Cowan is a fine illustrator and storyteller and I do not hold him responsible for the execrable abomination that was Dennis O’Neil’s “Question.” Even as parody Alan Moore’s Rorschach is closer and kinder to Ditko’s vision than Denny’s pusilanimation.

update 210627: correspondent LW confesses that “[a]lthough [he] understood nothing of his morality the Vic Sage character the Question was [his] second favorite of the Charlton characters.”

The Question takes my top spot, both among Ditko creations and “Charlton properties” overall.
I also find it curious that I prefer both Steve Ditko‘s and Ayn Rand‘s “prototypes” to their grand opi (The Question vs Mr A and Fountainhead vs Atlas Shrugged). They both got it just about perfect, then felt the need to overdo it.
But I get that, too; to a committed zealot, any point worth making
is worth hammering into the ground.
(Hey! I come not to condemn zeal, but to embrace it!)

update 210628: correspondent BR “loved O’Neil’s Question,” but found “Ditko’s [and] Rand’s stuff… a bit childish and idealistic and way too trusting of capitalism.” He points out that “O’Neil was evolving the character and it worked.”

I love Denny O’Neil despite our differences in re his treatment of The Question. To his credit, of course, his treatment DID work, internally. That wasn’t my beef. His masterwork has to be his Batman, and I’m sorry he didn’t enjoy doing Superman, because that stuff was also brilliant. He thought that Superman was too powerful, and therefore too challenging for a writer to creditably challenge the character. It didn’t seem to me that Den actually disliked Superman, just he was lazy, and I respect that. Nevertheless, he did do a better job in the gritty alleyways of Gotham than the sparkling boulevards of Metropolis. O’Neil was best on Bats, but even his “Question” was good. It just wasn’t The Question.

update 230615: correspondent GH “explained it once as Mr. A is The Question before his morning coffee while sitting in traffic, and Rorschach is The Question on LSD coming down after a three day bender.”
That’s too apt to contest. In other views…

update 210629: correspondent BA points out that “the plural of opus is opera” and while I am grateful for the datum, and will take it under advisement, I’m not keen on it. Language evolves in many ways, mostly through (mis)use by the masses, but also occasionally by stubborn pricks like me and Will Shakespeare who seek new ways to bedazzle our readers. Like “hysteria” and “cool”, some words move away from their nascence and embrace new meanings. Be that as it may, I’m still not ready to say that “the media is” or “the united States is” and I’ll probably never give up the simple two syllable word for “data points” nor surrender to the debasement of “privilege.” More to BA‘s point, I think that “opera” should yield to the weight of connotation and confine itself to musical theatre. I’m pushing forward on “opi.”

illustrations by Steve Ditko and Denys Cowan.
The Question™ is the creation of Steve Ditko and is held de jure by
Detective Comics® and Warner Communications®.
Used without permission.

13 September 2019

Djolaantru!
I bring you tidings of joy and entertainment, or tedium and redundancy, depending on whether I’m cluing you in or just now catching up.

I spent most of Thursday (9/12) binging on Auld Trek. I’ve been an ardent Trekkie since 1966 and have rarely been able to get my fill of all things Trek. I also have never objected to being called a “Trekkie.” Though some of the cognoscenti act like it’s a slur, I wear it proudly

Find “Star Trek Continues” on line. It isn’t “real” Auld Trek. It’s an elaborate non-profit fan-production that looks and sounds and feels just like the real thing. Once I got past the actors (the originals are all too old or too dead now) it felt like I’d stumbled across eleven lost episodes from the fourth or fifth season.

While it takes a little to get past the new faces, this company makes it easy. Crafting a sound-alike crew from a pool of accomplished vocal actors, Writer-Director-Producer-Star Vic Mignogna has assembled a spectacular sound-alike ensemble of bridge officers. Look-alike bonus Chris Doohan nails the old man’s franchise with his own stellar turn as Scotty. Additional kudos to polymath sensation Mignogna for his careful study of Bill Shatner’s body language and delivery. From the right angle, he IS Shatner. From other angles he’s Kirk Douglas or Rod Taylor, but from all angles he’s a handsome fella in his own right and a damn fine James T. Kirk!

Assiduously following the set designs and costumes and wild bouffant dos of the original, and piling on intelligent and thought provoking original scripts, makes it easy to believe that, “Popping Planetoids! It’s 1970 all over again but THIS time Star Trek is still on and it’s still great!”

This aptly named continuation seamlessly follows from the foundations laid down during the first three seasons, even tying up a few loose ends that Roddenberry et al had left dangling all these decades. And while it’s all new actors playing old friends, there are a few familiar pros (either on screen or voice-over) as well. Watch and/or listen for John de Lancie, Michael Dorn, Michael Forest, Erin Gray, and Marina Sirtis.

And fanboys gotta know, “Is it canon?”
And serious fanboys understand that “canon” is in each fan’s head, where the worlds actually come to life. Federation Space is a BIG universe and only the tiniest fraction has ever been recorded. (Oh the adventures that Qinic, Romulan Renegade, has had, just running guns for the Maquis!) But yeah, it’s canon. The Great and Powerful Lethargy Lad says so, and Rod (son of Majel and Gene) Roddenberry says so too, and avers that his Dad would agree. It’s that good and that smart!

With just eleven episodes from Vic Mignogna and company, there is still plenty of room to fill out without crowding the last two seasons of that “five year mission” we were promised. Set phasers to “fun.”

update 211001, correspondent “STC” indirectly endorses this message and offers explicit thanks for these “kind words and support for [Star Trek Continues]” and also admonishes us to share this joy and to
Live Long and Prosper!

5 March 2019

I don’t hide my excitement when it comes to super-heroic fantasy, particularly my beloved Legion of Super-Heroes. As rumors abound about the portents of an anticipated Bendis Book, questions arise about the likely venue, tone, or composition. Since 1958 the LSH has undergone many transitions, but it has generally been an optimistic story about righteousness vanquishing evil (until the next issue), leavened with enough teen angst to make it relateable to its target audience.

The talk lately on the message boards has been what to do about Matter-Eater Lad (nee Tenzil Kem). Should we redefine his powers or alter his backstory or give him an edgy new name like The Masticator or Devourex?

Edgy names and edgy characters have been way overdone. Unlike many fanboys, most Legionnaires are too self-assured of their own identities and tribal allegiance to trip the light iconoclastic. I adore Mark Waid (second only to The Levitz Himself, and possibly me, Lethargy Lad, in canonical scholarship), but his Edgie Legion of the Naughties (except for the presence of Supergirl) may have been the nadir of their run.

ABSOLUTELY bring back Tenz, do not modify his powers, and call him Matter-Eater Lad. Even if he’s drawn to look like a fifty or eighty year old ex-President of Bismoll, call him LAD!
Or Garbage Gut. We could live with Garbage Gut.

29 January 2019

Interlac, the putative lingua franca of 30th & 31st century United Planets’ (and larger) known space, is loads of fun! We know that it isn’t a “real” language. It isn’t even code. It’s English, couched in your basic symbol substitution cipher. But its presence in panel backgrounds gives the stories an additional other-worldly flavor. For those of us who are so motivated, reading the “hidden” messages provides even more entertainment. The presence of Interlac, like any other “Oestre Egg,” should never detract from the story, nor materially contribute to the plot or action. For those with the wit to pick them up, however, these “eggs” can provide a lot of extra fun!

Interlac numerals, as originally presented, are a problem. The first three make sense, but after that they break down. Since Legion stories are literary events, and not mathematical treatises, the silly numerals were a tiny problem, if any problem at all. Still, they are inelegant and inconsistent and an affront to obsessive math geeks. The apparent similarities between the Interlac 6,7,42,and 43, for example, betray fundamental flaws.

My personal “retcon” solution is to assert that (in continuo) Interlac is derived from Coluan, and that their number system happens to be base four, or “quartal” rather than decimal or octal or hexagecimal. Serious (ly bent) arithmetricians often argue that bases twelve or sixteen offer greater computational efficiency than our own decimal system, and the field of datics bears this out, at least in re hex. I stipulate that Coluans, for whatever reasons of their own, developed a base four system, as presented above.

While “quartal” is as sound a construction as octal or decimal, I like “Quartalac,’ as it gives the name more of an Interlackian rhythm. Also, the extra weight helps it stand up to Hindu-Arabic’s superior syllabic firepower.

The English transliterations of the symbols shown are as follows:
One, two, tri, for, fyv, sik, sen, ayt, nyn, ten, leven, dozen, trizen, tetrin, pentin, sissin, sissin one, sissin for, sissin ayt, twosis, trissis,
sekki, tekki, trikki, qwarkay, haykay, sesqway, kay, twokay.

Symbols not shown are trikay and beyond. The alert reader can probably easily imagine the look of the trikay. For numbers larger than trikay sesqway trikki trissis pentin, the multiplier would appear above or to the left of the kay, there would be no multiplier inside, and the remaining sum less than kay would be below or to the right. For orders greater than kay we can look to the Interlac alphabet, and apply the same protocol of small enough multipliers inside the symbol, or blossoming out the left or top as needs be. Rather than spell out all 26 (sissin ten) letters, I’ll just say that the next three after kay — Mega (kay kay), Giga (mega mega), and Tera (giga giga) — should be both obvious and sufficient. Perhaps only the Coluans themselves (or Sardath of Rann) ever trouble with computing a Zillion.

Alex (Swamp Thing) Olsen, Linda Olsen, Shvaugn Erin, & Jan (Element Lad) Arrah, are all held de jure by Detective Comics and Warner Communications.  Their images are reproduced by Piracy Press for purposes of analysis and scholarship.  If anything, their use here constitutes free advertisement for DC‘s properties at the considerable expense of Piracy Press and Greigh Area Associates.

Stories are selected with the greatest of discrimination, but even numbered issues of Daring Love are specifically edited with the prurient interests of atavistic fanboys in mind.  Reader discretion is advised.

 Hawkman, Triplicate Girl, Lightning Lad, Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, Supergirl, Phantom Girl, Stone Boy, Flame Lad, Polar Boy, Chlorophyll Kid, Night Girl,Superboy, the Legion of Super-Heroes, the Legion of Substitute Heroes, & the Army of Living Kryptonite Men are all held de jure by Detective Comics and Warner Communications.  Their images are reproduced by Piracy Press for purposes of analysis and scholarship.  If anything, their use here constitutes free advertisement for DC‘s properties at the considerable expense of Piracy Press and Greigh Area Associates.