August 30, 2021 · 5:10 am

The mills of God grind slowly …

But eventually, once in a while, horrible people get thoroughly ground under. So let’s have some schadenfraude, shall we?

Anti-Muslim bigot Laura Loomer sued the Muslim-rights group CAIR for supposedly conspiring to get her off Twitter. A judge threw out her case and charged her $125,000 for CAIR’s legal fees.

The first defendant in the kidnap plot against Mich. Governor Gretchen Whitmer gets six years — a low sentence because he sang like a canary.

An E/R doctor charged parents $50 to write medical-exemption letters to schools with mask mandates. He’s been fired.

Leash the kraken! A Michigan judge has slapped Sidney Powell, Lin Wood and other Stop The Nonexistent Steal attorneys with legal fees, requirements to attend law classes and requests the relevant bar associations discipline them. It’s not the only court giving The Former Guy’s attorneys their comeuppance.

A thirtysomething woman in Pennsylvania spat on a produce display, coughed and yelled that she had the Trump Virus. She’s getting a year in jail.

Republican scam artists Jacob Wuhl and Jack Burkman have been fined $5 million for making illegal robocalls to discourage voting (mail-in ballots will be tracked for mandatory vaccinations!).

Texas now has a website where you can report someone for trying to get an abortion or helping someone get an abortion (both illegal under Texas’ new forced-birther law). People are spamming the site big-time with porn and memes. It doesn’t eliminate the problems of this ugly law, but I’ll celebrate what small blows we can strike.

Lawsuits against vaccine mandates keep failing.

Build The Wall, an effort to crowdsource The Former Guy’s “big beautiful wall,” has been fighting a lawsuit for a year. And guess what, in all that time they haven’t paid their lawyers (I presume their in-house counsel, Trumpite slime Kris Kobach, gets his cut). So now the lawyers want the court to let them walk away, leaving Save The Wall only 30 days to find new attorneys (“Finding a lawyer I don’t think is a big problem. I think finding a lawyer who is willing to risk not getting paid is probably the issue here,” Crane said.)

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August 29, 2021 · 5:10 am

From a future shadow to ancient Rome: books read

THE SHADOW by James Patterson and Brian Sitts is a bad, pointless effort to reboot the franchise for 21st century readers (though given Patterson is a name brand, that’s not to say it won’t work). In 1937, an attack by archfoe Shiwan Khan leaves Lamont Cranston and Margo Lane poisoned and dying, but Cranston’s prepared for this worst case scenario. They’re both placed in suspended animation (this was a trick used with Sherlock Holmes in three different stories back in the 1990s); Cranston thaws out healed in 2087 but where’s Margo?

Part of the problem is that this handwaves the Shadow’s magazine and radio stories as fiction based on the real exploits of Lamont Cranston, socialite PI and adventurer (Marvel has used a similar premise to retcon some of its Golden Age comics). It’s pretty much a Name Only take on the Shadow — he and Shiwan Khan can now levitate and throw force bolts — which doesn’t work for me as a long-time fan. If I approach the book as a totally separate creation, it still doesn’t work. There are a few nice touches — witnessing the dystopia of 2087, Cranston assumes the Depression never ended — but it’s 90 percent uninspired and bland. The main new character has a connection I guessed just from reading the synospis, yet it’s written as if we’ll all be shell-shocked by the Big Reveal.

THE FROZEN CROWN by Greta Kelly has as protagonist a queen in exile who’s also a secret necromancer (witches are not well thought of). Having her kingdom under the Empire of Doom, she arrives in the capital of the Empire Of Sort-Of Justice to enlist support for reclaiming her land. Obstacles include the complexities of the empire’s Byzantine politics and the cult of mage-haters hoping the empire will back their belief in not suffering a witch to live. Fantasies involving politics don’t always work for me, but this was enjoyable, though the cliffhanger didn’t really work for me.

BROADCAST HYSTERIA: Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds and the Art of Fake News (given the emphasis on the term the past few years, I’m surprised to learn this came out in 2015) by A. Brad Schwartz looks at how Wells, when he was radio’s enfant terrible, decided to perform a fictionalized news broadcast (something already done a couple of times) and settled on War of the Worlds as the subject matter. The results, as Schwartz details, did not panic many people — the usual response was simply to warn others or call the radio station for more information — and many listeners assumed what had happened involved a natural disaster or a German attack. The newspapers, however, were happy to play up the more extreme reactions to show how irresponsible this new medium of radio was. Then a researcher branded the panic as proof Americans were sheeple easily vulnerable to fascist manipulation (like I said, this was pre-Trump) and Welles himself would push stories of panic over the years as his star faded and this became one of the things he was best known for. Very good.

A FATAL THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM: Murder in Ancient Rome by Emma Southon suffers from her efforts to be humorous (too many quips about “This emperor was boring, aren’t you lucky I’m not discussing him?”) but still does a good job looking at how violent ancient Rome was. This included killings that shocked Rome (regicide, killing senators, human sacrifice) and more interestingly those that didn’t — butchering slaves (if one slave killed their owner, every slave in the household died), gladiatorial games and creative methods of executing prisoners. Southon does show Rome wasn’t alaways as black as it’s painted — parents killing their kids wasn’t approved of the way many sources claim — but she argues it saw people fundamentally differently from us. Only a small fraction of the populace had dignitas — enough importance that their lives mattered — while everyone else was disposable. In most cases, death was a private family matter, not anything that involved the government or (largely non-existent) law enforcement. Grim but absorbing reading.

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August 28, 2021 · 5:02 am

Why yes, I do occasionally watch non-alien movies.

So I’ll lead off with WEREWOLVES ON WHEELS (1971), a biker film in what my friend Ross calls the “just enough” category — it’s 95 percent biker crap (they drive around bullying people, drinking and getting laid), but after a Satanic cult puts the whammy on them, one or the other of them periodically changes into a werewolf. It’s not good even as a biker film, but I knew that going in. “That was no accident. This is heavy — someone’s controlling the vibes.”

Speaking of vibes, VIBES (1988) stars Cyndi Lauper as a medium and Jeff Goldblum as a psychometric, recruited by Peter Falk to find his long-lost son. Except it turns out Falk’s lying — his real agenda is to find a psi-McGuffin ahead of sinister psi-researcher Julian Sands. Given the cast, this should have been really funny; instead it’s just blandly amiable. “Another man has been touching these panties!”

Speaking of blandly amiable McGuffin hunts, MEET DAVE (2008) stars Eddie Murphy as a human-shaped spaceship hunting on Earth for a lost piece of technology that will enable them to siphon off our oceans and save their dying world. Murphy also plays the ship’s captain who in the opinion of subordinate Gabrielle Union is having way too much fun letting the ship flirt with human Elizabeth Banks. While the cast is competent, “Dave’s” efforts to make sense of human behavior are stock — and why do these Vulcan-like aliens suddenly get feelings on Earth other than because that’s what aliens are supposed to do?” See how she squeezes the smaller one’s skull despite his protests? Such brutality!”

LOONEY TUNES: Back in Action (2003) is another non-ET film but I watched it because I clearly remembered Steve Martin — the evil head of Acme Industries — was an evil alien in a human mask. My memory was wrong. That said, I enjoyed his battle with Bugs, Daffy, actor/spy Timothy Dalton, stunt man Brendan Fraser and executive Jenna Elfman better than most people and a lot better than Space Jam. It does have several scenes in Area 52 (Area 51 is just a cover story — clever huh?) so it might work its way into the book anyway. The biggest weakness is the heavy-handed product placement (lampshading it doesn’t help). “If you don’t find a rabbit in lipstick amusing, we have nothing to talk about.”

Brian Yuzna’s PROGENY (1998) feels like a more graphic version of The Stranger Within, with Arnold Voosloo and Jillian McWhirter coming to realize her miracle pregnancy (his sperm ain’t what they should be) is because aliens put a bun in her oven during an alien abduction. Like Barbara Eden in Stranger, ending the pregnancy isn’t an option — when she tries, the aliens turn off medical equipment and overload ob/gyn Wilford Brimley’s pacemaker. Not as cleverly weird as the earlier film and repellently graphic — the impregnation scene is pure hentai. With Lindsay Crouse as a skeptical hypnotherapist.“Ethics? You’ve already violated every ethical and legal code in the books.”

COWBOYS VS. ALIENS (2011) has Daniel Craig wake up amnesiac in the Old West with a strange, high-tech bracelet on his wrist. Could it have something to do with the aliens carrying off folks from the nearby mining town? Could be … This is watchable, but it’s the kind of thing that provokes absolutely no deep thoughts or insight on my part; Harrison Ford plays a bad man who turns out to be better than he seems and Olivia Wilde is an alien looking for revenge. “God don’t care who you were, son — only who you are.”

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August 27, 2021 · 4:30 pm

Among this week’s accomplishments: removing multi-legged things from the house

One reason TYG is glad to have me around is that when things with too many legs show up, she can have me remove them. Like these two:So that’s two accomplishments unlocked this week.

Writing wise it was a very good week. I wrapped up my Leaf articles for the month Sunday and Monday, then spent the rest of the week working on Alien Visitors. Well, mostly: I finished my proofing of Chapter Nine of Undead Sexist Cliches which means I’m just about done. It hasn’t sunk in yet, though.

I got a lot of writing done for Alien Visitors which has me feeling much better about the book’s progress. Still much to do — almost too much — but for the first time in a while it looks manageable. With the end of October in sight, it’s only a couple more months to work on it — rushed months, but then it’ll be done.

Wisp slept in at night the entire week, which meant she was with me every morning. Nevertheless I managed to regain part of my schedule and get all my exercising done this week, plus long walks with Trixie. Exercise is probably what I need most, so this is good.  And other than one night, she was happy to sleep until I got up, instead of waking me up for petting.

May September go this well!

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August 27, 2021 · 5:10 am

Little things make a difference, especially if they’re slightly larger

So I got a new phone last weekend.

My old iPhone’s battery was no longer strong enough to withstand a day’s heavy use without recharging. It’s memory was so full, it couldn’t even hold all my apps, and I don’t have that many. As I’m on TYG’s phone plan, we hoped we could upgrade to a slightly better model (mine’s around a 5 or 6) as I don’t need top of the line like she does. As it turned out, they didn’t have the next step up any more, so TYG upgraded me to an 11 (she’s awesome).

I know have all my apps — Goodreads, WordPress for this blog, Slack for Atomic Junkshop communications and a couple more. Still nowhere near full.

Another benefit is that it’s significantly larger, but not so large as to be impractical for carrying around. Much better for watching videos (I downloaded the YouTube app), reading comics (using my library’s Hoopla digital link) and it’s pleasantly surprising to see almost all my Safari bookmarks on the screen without having to scroll down. When we took the dogs to doggie rehab this week, I was free to read stuff without worrying I’d wind up with my phone shutting down.

Mastering the new controls is, as usual, an adjustment, but not a huge one. My biggest objection is that I can’t apparently run the stopwatch app without unlocking the phone — as I use that for exercise and such, it’s much simpler if I don’t have to type in my passcode. And a couple of times I turned it off while trying to take a photograph because the off button is in the “wrong” place.

At TYG’s suggestion I dispensed with the protective case. She says phones are pretty tough (she’s very protective of hers so I’m sure she knows what she’s talking about) and I don’t drop it very often, so I’ll see how it goes without it. Does make  me a little nervous when I pull it out of my pocket, but so far it’s been smooth sailing. Of course, it’s only been a week.

The biggest problem was, ironically, that the AT&T store had poor WiFi so after an hour waiting for my old phone to transfer its data, we headed home and had it done ASAP.

I don’t have a photo of my phone so for eye candy here’s a full-page ad from a 1962 issue of Batman. It makes me want to rush out to 1962 and buy both issues.#SFWApro. All rights to images remain with current holder.

 

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August 26, 2021 · 5:10 am

What conservatives can’t imagine

Throwing his weight into the critical race theory freakout, Pat Robertson said CRT is bad because it claims that “the people of color have to rise up and overtake their oppressors and then – having gotten the ‘whip handle,’ if I can use that term – then to instruct their white neighbors how to behave. Now that’s critical race theory.” It isn’t, but it does show why equality freaks Republicans out.

The standard take is that when you’ve tasted superiority, equality feels like oppression.  Suppose Harry’s stay-at-home wife Lorraine gets a job, one she really likes. She’s always had dinner on the table when Harry gets home; now Harry has to cook something himself or eat leftovers. Lorraine’s always done all the cleaning; now Harry either helps or he sits in a mess. It’s fair that both partners divide the work, but to Harry something’s been taken away. And it’s not like he deserved it, is it? Where does Lorraine get off changing the terms of their marriage?

There’s a lot of truth to that, but not the whole truth. Robertson expresses a large chunk of the rest — that if white people don’t stay in charge, they’ll face worse than equality. Black Americans will seize the “whip handle” and start giving orders to white people. OMG, they’ll treat white America the way we’ve treated black America for so long!

Admittedly believing that Robertson believes anything he’s saying is possibly foolish. Still, I’ve seen similar things online. Like a 67 year old white woman who’s convinced if not for The Former Guy becoming president, blacks would have launched a race war. Obama’s presidency scared her with the possibility of race war more than anything since “the Rosa Parks years.” An article I read about 15 years ago (no links, alas), says that many white Americans are convinced we can’t exist without hierarchy: either white people are at the top or black people are. They’re out to seize the whip handle.

For some conservatives, it’s inconceivable that black Americans want equality rather than dominance. That they don’t think anyone should wield the whip handle. It’s the same logic by which so many sexists are convinced feminists want to rule, not simply receive equality. That would imply They are better than Us — that can’t be true! As someone put it online earlier this year, the right-wing Golden Rule is “Assume others will treat you the way you want to treat them.” They value dominance; they’d love to bring back Jim Crow and 1950s style sexism. So obviously the other side must want a version of the same thing.

This logic explains why conservatives are forever freaking out that The Left is going to take over, crush all dissent, rig election and oppress them (we’re refusing to date Trumpers, that proves we want to destroy them!). Sure, some of it’s bullshit to whip up the Republican base, but it’s exactly what they’re doing: laying the groundwork to throw out elections they don’t win. Legalizing physical attacks on protesters.  Many of them want America to be a white nation so it’s no surprise they fear immigrants are going to replace them. I’m sure Newt Gingrich, quoted at the link, doesn’t believe that — he’s always been a lying shit — but lots of people who listen to him do.

At times I can almost laugh at their capacity for projection. But the consequences of the Anti-American Party’s fears are ugly, and they’re only getting uglier.

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August 25, 2021 · 5:10 am

Watching the predators

PREDATOR (1987) is a surprisingly good film and an interesting one in that it’s a perfect mash-up of a 1980s action film with an alien monster SF film. Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger) heads a rescue team (including future governor Jesse Ventura and future director Shane Black) that Dillon (Carl Weathers) has assigned to bring back a Central American diplomat and US ally captured by guerillas. Unfortunately an alien hunter (as the later The Predator points out, it’s not really a predator) has arrived in the jungle looking for sport and look who he stumbles across!

For the first 40 minutes or so, this is a 1980s action movie. Like the 1951 The Thing, the manliness of the leads is a given, but it’s more emphasized. For example, when Dillon and Dutch meet, they joshingly arm-wrestle and the camera lingers on their bulging biceps (a few years later, Independence Day would be much more self-conscious about having Bill Paxton and Jeff Goldblum prove their manliness). And in contrast to The Thing, where the military leaders are simply clueless, here they’re duplicitous — it turns Dillon has brought Dutch into a dirty job he’d have refused if he’d know the details. It reminds me a lot of Rambo — fake mission, and the climax has Dutch, like Rambo, forced to rely on primitive man-traps and bows and arrows rather than modern tech.

It’s also a good SF film: the alien hunter feels like an individual rather than just a monster, particularly in the climax where it goes up against Dutch one-on-one. “If it bleeds, we can kill it.”

PREDATOR 2 (1990) proves the alien hunter inserts just as well into a “copaganda” film about urban warfare as it does into the first film’s action movie tropes. It’s 1997, there’s open warfare on the LA streets (originally NYC, which is why Los Angeles has a subway in one scene), with gang-bangers and drug-dealers blowing up cop cars and laughing maniacally. Danny Glover and his team (including Maria Conchita and Reuben Blades) struggle to keep up but they’re outgunned, tied up with red tape and get no help from careerist superior Robert Davi or sensationalist reporter Morton Downey Jr. In the tradition of Dirty Harry, only the tough guy on the street can save us (in Seeing as Believing‘s analysis, this would definitely be a right-wing film). Then an invisible monster starts hacking up the crooks, and Gary Busey and Stephen Baldwin take over Glover’s investigation to catch the Predator for its advanced tech. The cliches of cop action films don’t work as well for me as the first film did, and I dislike that the Predator is using its voice-replication tech (introduced but hardly used in Predator) to snap out a one-liner here and there. “That’s right lieutenants — otherworld life-forms!”

Given the history of rebooting franchises with crossovers, it’s surprising ALIENS VS. PREDATOR (2004) took so long to come to the screen, especially given the set-up in 2 (an Alien skull in the predator’s trophy case) and the Alien vs. Predator comic books. A millionaire’s pet science team discovers a lost city under the Antarctic ice (a Lovecraft tribute? — though I’ve also read this was to explain why nobody in Alien was aware the creatures existed). It turns out it’s a Predator base from which they did the Gods From Outer Space bit, then bringing their human worshippers to the city to infest with Alien larvae, from which grow creatures it’s a real challenge to hunt. Now the humans are down there, the face-huggers are trying to implant them and the Predators have shown up (it strikes me using humans this way makes the Predators more evil than when they just hunted us). The movie is no match for the original, and I’m not one of the fans who cares about this clash of titans — still, it’s watchable. “We’re in a big-game hunt — the animals that are hunted don’t arm the hunters.”

ALIENS VS.PREDATOR: Requiem (2007) works slightly better as the clash between the races lands in a small Colorado town where a female military veteran must try to keep her family alive in the chaos. Competent monster stuff, no more; it’s another movie where the military’s willing to nuke our own cities to take out the enemy. “The military’s first choice is containment.”

THE PREDATOR (2018) feels like a soft reboot of the franchise: the Predators are now stealing DNA from us (something they do to worthy prey species) and may be plotting to colonize once global warming heats things up to the level they like. Target of their latest DNA harvesting is an autistic boy because autism is The Next Step In Evolution. Despite being directed by Shane Black of the original film’s cast, this did absolutely nothing for me — but I didn’t expect it to. That means I’ve seen everything except a 2011 take, Predators, but I can probably do without it. “That’s not a predator … what you’re describing is more like a bass fisherman.”

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August 24, 2021 · 5:08 am

R’Lyeh vs. New York City: NK Jemisin’s “The City We Became.”

THE CITY WE BECAME by NK Jemisin opens with a hot-tempered street artist, homeless, black and gay. The avatar of the city of Så0 Paolo contacts him to explain he’s the avatar of New York City, which is now becoming sentient, and that the Enemy will object, so the avatar has to prepare for battle.

After the opening scene, we cut to an amnesiac, newly arrived in Manhattan, who winds up fighting off an incursion by a Lovecraftian horror; the amnesiac, it turns out is the avatar of Manhattan. A short while later, he and his new roommate are attacked by the Women in White, an avatar of the same horror. Only not physically — she pulls the trick of reporting them as men of color (and gay men no less) threatening her! The Enemy has more than one method of waging war.

In subsequent chapters we meet the avatars of Brooklyn (woman rapper turned politician), the Bronx (sixtysomething lesbian and street artist), Queens (Indian-American math whiz) and Staten Island (racist white woman who hates living with her abusive dad but can’t bring herself to face the imagined horrors of the rest of New York). The amnesiac is Manhattan. It turns out that because NYC is NYC, one avatar wasn’t enough; the different boroughs have their own manifestations, but if they can’t learn to work together and revive the initial avatar, they’re doomed. The Woman in White is the avatar of R’lyeh, and because human cities achieving sentience wreaks havoc in other dimensions, she’s determined New York’s new avatars must die Which would be extremely bad. As in Atlantis bad.

I read this as part of my ongoing research in response to that Southern Discomfort feedback, but it’s an excellent book in its own right. My only complaints are a)the Woman in White’s dialogue is sometimes creepy as hell (the early scene I mentioned) but other times it’s generic power-mad supervillain (we humans are nothing but amoebas compared to her!). And while I don’t dispute that New York is more multiple cities than a single one, I wonder if it’s that unique — would people from Sao Paolo roll their eyes at being told they can be represented by one avatar? Heck, even the part of the Florida Panhandle where I used to live sees plenty of differences between communities (Destin’s for rich snobs and retirees, DeFuniak Springs is for the rednecks, etc.). But those are minor quibbles.

Like Southern Discomfort this is very much a setting story. As you’ve probably gathered, it’s all about the Big Apple and what makes the Bronx the Bronx and Staten Island Staten Island, and the tensions within the communities. Braca, the Bronx avatar, has to deal with a bunch of smirking white male artists who deliberately troll her gallery with racist-themed art, then go online to rant about how they’re oppressed because Braca wouldn’t accept their work (leading the woman’s sidekick to describe them as “Cthulhu’s tentacled fuckbois.”).

It’s also interesting to see how Jemisin makes the opening compelling even when not a lot is happening. She still makes the scene tense because the avatar is tense. He’s sitting in a fancyrestaurant, conscious that he’s the only black man there, that everyone’s checking him out, that his clothes are threadbare. There’s a lot of internal monologue but Jemisin can even make that interesting.

Like Southern Discomfort this also has multiple narrators, though nowhere near as many as I go through.

Overall I don’t know that I learned anything useful, but it was a terrific book I’d have read anyway.

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August 23, 2021 · 5:10 am

Genesis was right, we’re living in a land of confusion (and pandemic)

(Here’s the relevant video from the eighties)

“The pandemic struck at the heart of evangelicals’ ministry model. Though only 10 percent of American Christians attend a megachurch, their worship style and business orientation have become inescapable standards in evangelical Christianity. Pastors of even small churches are expected to grow membership, cultivate a social media following, and provide high-tech entertainment on Sunday mornings … All such activities became difficult or impossible at a time when indoor gatherings were prohibited, and many Americans were staying home, losing jobs, or juggling work and childcare. More to the point, ministries organized around marketing principles simply were not equipped to respond to church members’ sudden fears, economic dislocation, and need for one-on-one, compassionate support.”— a look at why some pastors would sooner hold church services than protect their flock from pandemic.

Right-winger Christopher Key tells Springfield pharmacists if they distribute the vaccine, they’ll be hung for war crimes. The Nuremberg rules he refers to apply to using humans as guinea pigs without their consent, and do not apply to the vaccine.

Ohio Republican Josh Mandel is definitely confused — he claims the Post Office, listed in the Constitution, is unconstitutional.

Lin Wood’s down with the QAnon fantasy of Save The Non-Existent Children. But he’s oblivious to sexual predators on his own side.

Last year, Republicans predicted support for social distancing and lockdown measures would disappear if Biden won (“‘Everything’s magically better. Go back to work. Go back to school. Suddenly the problems are solved.’ ”). They were wrong but the conviction public-health measures are a liberal plot remains.

Some Trump Virus skeptics are asking for the impossible — blood transfusions only from the unvaccinated.

Right-wing Cardinal Raymond Burke opposed vaccines, social distancing and vaccine mandates because God, not the state is “the ultimate provider of health.” Woops, seems he’s got the Trump Virus now … and is trusting to a ventilator, not God.

The ever-confused Maureen Dowd is not only shocked Obama had a fun birthday party, but she wrote a column critiquing the guest list.

Fred Clark discusses the inevitable confusion in defining mainstream Protestants.

“You will not experiment on my children. … you vote yes, you will all be tried for crimes against humanity!”

Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks’ response to the recent bombing attempt in Washington: ” I understand citizenry anger directed at dictatorial Socialism and its threat to liberty, freedom and the very fabric of American society. ” Bet he wouldn’t be saying that if they’d been Black Lives Matter.

Textbooks that present slavery as “black immigration” will certainly confuse a lot of students (intentionally, I’m sure).

Right-wingers stayed strong in support of Trump, sexual harasser Roy Moore and similar slime. They must be confused that their predictions Democrats would support Andrew Cuomo didn’t pan out.

Consevatives are whipping up confusion over critical race theory to take over school boards.

Anti-vaxxers insist it’s a personal choice that doesn’t affect anyone else. They’re wrong, as witness Orlando is calling for reduced water usage because there’s not enough liquid oxygen for water treatment. It’s going to Covid patients. And Alabama has no more ICU beds. Yet we have Republican officials giving parents advice on how to avoid mask mandates because, freedom! Okay, that’s not confused, it’s just evil.

“I have a very low risk of A) Getting COVID and B) dying of it if I do. Why would I risk getting a heart attack or paralysis by getting the vaccine?” Three guesses what happened next.

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August 22, 2021 · 5:29 am

Graphic novels: Lots of women, plus some men

I was never a fan of the Jem cartoon so I was pleasantly surprised to find JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS: Showtime by Kelly Thompson and Sophie Campbell (which I thought I’d already blogged about but apparently not) and V2, Viral (by Thompson and multiple artists) so much fun, though Showtime was definitely better.

As you may know, the cartoon’s protagonist was Jerrica, a young woman whose supercomputer Synergy gives her a secret identity as the rock star Jem. I never understood why she needed one but Thompson gives it her own spin here: Jerrica’s talented, but has too much stage fright to perform. When her father’s supercomputer comes up with a cover identity, she’s suddenly free (the text pages of V1 point out Jem never made it to comics so the authors are free themselves — they have no previous versions to compete with). Their sudden rise draws attention from rock reporter Rio, who worries Jem’s too arrogant for a wonderful woman like Jerrica, and from the rival group the Misfits, who like the Holograms much less than Rio does (but that doesn’t stop a romance from springing up between a Misfit and a Hologram).

By the end of the second collection, the Misfits have actually developed into something more than just nasty jerks. However the constantly shifting artists in Viral took some of the punch out of the series. I’ll still pick up V3, Dark Jem.

BLACK WIDOW: Deadly Origin by Paul Cornell and Tom Raney does a remarkable job piecing together the various inconsistencies in Natasha’s history — why, when she first appears in Iron Man, is she just a sexy manipulator rather than the deadly fighter she became later? Was she ever a ballerina? Whatever happened to her trusted right hand from the Bronze Age, Ivan?

The book opens with Ivan warning Natasha she’s the target of something called the Icepick Protocol, then he’s killed. Figuring out what’s going on gets Natasha thinking about her past and the memory implants she’s undergone in the service of the Red Room (an idea introduced by a previous writer) — when she told Daredevil she’d been a ballerine, she really though it was true. I really enjoyed this one.

SUPERGIRL: The Hunt for Reactron by Sterling Gates, Greg Rucka and Jamal Igle suffers from the same problem as the previous volume — it’s part of a big crossover with Superman’s series and huge gaps of plot are missing — the cops are hunting Supergirl for a murder that happened elsewhere in the event, then the victim turns up alive, also off-panel. I like the way Gates writes Supergirl and her relationship with Lana (though that blows up by the end of this volume) but the discontinuity is infuriating.

CAPTAIN MARVEL: Accused by Kelly Thompson and Cory Smith has Carol Danvers now working as the new Accuser for the joint Kree/Skrull Empire (ruled by Hulkling of Young Avengers). When a settlement with both races living in harmony is massacred, Hulkling sends Carol out to play judge, jury and executioner — something that gets more complicated when it looks like the killer is the Kree half-sister she never knew she had. I still dislike the retcon that Carol’s really half-Kree but this made good use of it. The follow up volume, New World by Thompson and Lee Garbett, has Carol hurled into a dystopian future where Ove (son of Enchantress and Sub-Mariner) now rules and not wisely — can Captain Marvel turn things around? I liked this, but the rationale for breaking up Carol and Rhodey as a couple was dumb-ass.

IMMORTAL HULK: The Green Door by Al Ewing, Joe Bennett and Lee Garbett follows up on Or Is He Both? as Hulk, Doc Samson and Sasquatch continue puzzling out what the hell is happening with gamma radiation while the newest incarnation of Hulkbusters captures Hulk and chops him into pieces for storage (now I see why people refer to this run as a horror comic) — don’t worry, he got better. This and the third volume Hulk in Hell (which I reread and like better now that it’s in context) explain some of what’s going on — to wit, that the Hulk we’re seeing now is a protective father figure Bruce dreamed up (though given his childhood of abuse, he also fears him). And we learn why Jackie McGee is so keen on being a Hulk herself (“My anger gets dismissed — you smash up cities and they make you a founding Avenger.”). Looking forward to continuing with this run.

INVISIBLE MEN: The Trailblazing Black Artists of Comic Books by Ken Quattro looks at a variety of comics artists from the Golden Age, whether they were one-timers in the industry or building careers. While some worked directly for publishers, more worked through the studios that provided ready made strips to publishers and one passed for white. Their work includes the short-lived All Negro Comics, Voodah (a black Tarzan type), horror, romance and Phantom Lady in her raciest-looking period. Interesting.

#SFWApro. Covers by Campbell and Jack Kirby, all rights remain with current holders.

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