Some Black History Month Comic-Book Notes -- Part 2

Superman: The Man of Steel # 47, August, 1995

            This story features a lengthy flashback sequence involving Daily Planet editor Perry White and  Planet owner Franklin Stern, in their younger days.  You already know what color White is (duh) — Stern is black.

            The events in the flashback take place in (probably) the 1950s, in a town called Melonville (as in watermelons?), in an unspecified Southern U.S. state.  Crosses are being burned, people are being killed and kidnapped.

            When he meets Stern for the first time, White says, “I may be a reporter from up north, but the truth is my job … and I’m telling you, the entire white race isn’t responsible for these murders!”

            To which civil-rights activist Stern replies, “The whites enslaved my people!  They denied us voting rights … schooling … equal opportunities —!”

            Soon they find that a red-hooded, red-robed group called the Aryan Brotherhood is behind it all.  White’s Planet contacts uncover an “abandoned” iron mine, where the pair find an Aryan Brotherhood training camp, along with a genetics lab with files going back to Nazi Germany — and a meat locker where the bodies of more than a dozen black and white human corpses dangle.

            After a wild escape with the files -- proof of the nefarious goings-on --, Stern and White call in the Feds, who clean up the mess and cart the evil ones (including the town sheriff)  off to face justice.

            This incident steels Stern’s resolve to take Harvard Business School up on their grant to get his doctorate.  White, we all know, went on to become Planet editor, where he again encountered Stern.  And they both continued their quests for justice, with Stern using wealth as his road to power — the power to make a difference for the better.

 

 

 

            A final angle on this issue is that the flashback is introduced by Keith White, whom Perry and Alice White adopted when his mom was killed.  It doesn’t matter to them that Keith is black and they are — well, White.  Or to Keith, either.  Or to me.

 

Supergirl # 23, July, 1998

            The title of this tale is “Double-Edged Sword”; it’s written by Peter David (yes, the same guy who cranks out a TREK novel every other weekend) and penciled by Leonard Kirk.  It’s up to you to decide on the sword of the title.  I would say that the phrase describes truth, and freedom of expression.

            The story opens with a sign-carrying demonstration against an upcoming speech by the controversial Taylor Landers at Stanhope University.  In an interview with Cutter Sharp one of Supergirl/Linda’s friends/supporting cast, Landers says, “My research indicates that, quite simply, the black population of this country stands to be the ultimate ruination of it,” because of  “the lowering of quality in the workplace due to Affirmative Action, the rewards granted via welfare for the uncontrolled birthing of children who will be poorly educated and a drain on resources, …” and so on.

            Not surprisingly, there’s also a protest at the speech site.  Superhero Steel (a black scientist in an armored technosuit) shows up.  “I believe in the First Amendment,” he tells the crowd.  “But even the First Amendment is not absolute.  There are limits where it presents a danger to the health and well-being of the populace.

            “I know this man, this Dr. Taylor Landers, Sociologist and Anthropologist.  I know the poison he speaks.  In his words, in his actions, he slanders an entire race of people.”

 

 

 

            Talking with Linda Lee Danvers (Supergirl’s Secret Identity), Cutter tells her of a march in Skokie, Illinois, where the ACLU stood up for a Nazi group’s right to march in a Jewish neighborhood.  Cutter says (wisely, I would say), “The cost of my freedom to talk up — I dunno, Israel — is Nazis having the right to spew their attitudes.  Don’t you get it?  The moment anybody is shut up, everybody’s at risk.”  A smart guy, eh?

            When Landers shows up for his speech and Steel tries to stop it, Supergirl says that even hate speech is protected speech.  “I fight for ideas, Steel,” she says.  “Who’s going to decide which ideas get spoken?  You?  Me?  And what will happen when people  don’t say what’s on their minds?”

            They are distracted when the Student Union is bombed.  In the mêlée, Landers, “the bigot,” saves a black cop from a fiery death.

            The final page, a postscript of sorts, contains a conversation wherein we discover that a future Stanhope speaker will be Dr. Muhammad Santos — variously called “one of the foremost thinkers of the nation of Islam, a major proponent of Black Pride,” — and “a noted anti-Semite.”

            The point being, free speech must be allowed, whether you agree with it or not! 

 

            However, true pride in yourself must come from your own unique qualities and achievements — not from your membership in any group and its supposed superiority to any other group and its members! 

 

 

            Editorial time here:  It doesn’t matter if Cleopatra or Jesus or Moses were black or white.  What matters is the human achievement behind the pyramids.  What matters is that Moses led his (whatever color) people out of slavery.  What matters is that Jesus was born and died for everybody, bigots and saints alike.  As He said in the book of Mark, it’s not the healthy people who need a doctor.  It’s sickies like you and me.  (End of sermon)

 

 

            Well, this was a brief survey of a few comic-book tales concerning black-white relations and problems thereof. I only remembered these few issues off the top of my head.  Remember, the fact that we are alive, and human, is more demanding of friendship and assistance  than any imagined differences!

 

 

(All quotations and art copyright © DC Comics)

Some Black History Month Comic-Book Notes -- Part 1

            In my collection of a thousand or so comic books, I was able to pull out a few for comment.  They are all DC, sorry.  I can’t comment on how with-it Marvel might have been.

            I can only guess, but perhaps a black comics fan might feel about DC’s attempts to treat black issues, in his most charitable moments, kind of the way a teenager thinks of his parents’ attempts to be hip:   Lame, but we can only assume their intentions were good.

            Amazing Heroes #159 (February, 1989) featured a guest editorial, “Growing Up Black Reading Comics,” by writer and artist Keith Brown.  In his reminiscences he talks about buying issues featuring the Black Panther, later called the Panther, after the radical civil-rights group added unwelcome connotations to the original name.

            And then came Luke Cage, Hero for Hire.  To Brown, Cage seemed not very heroic (since when do heroes get paid to do the right thing?) — plus, he had the same origin as every other black character Brown remembers:  He was a street punk from the Hood.

            Brown’s favorite black character seemed to be the X-Men’s Storm.  A big part of this is that she is an interesting character, “with dignity and intelligence, femininity and strength.”  In other words, her race is not made a big deal of either way — it is simply a facet of her total being.

            (And I have no idea if this is true of Storm today.)

 

Green Arrow #76, April, 1970

            In 1992, DC reprinted a series of “Silver Age Classics.”  One of them, the April 1970 issue of Green Lantern (co-starring Green Arrow), contained the tale “No Evil Shall Escape My Sight,” written by Denny O’Neil, with art by Neal Adams.  In it, Green Lantern Hal Jordan is prodded by his JLA partner Green Arrow (Oliver Queen) to bring his quest for justice out of space and down to Earth.  A famous sequence features a black man asking Jordan, “I been readin’ about you ... how you work for the BLUE SKINS ... and how on a planet someplace you helped out the ORANGE SKINS ... And you done considerable for the PURPLE SKINS!  Only there’s skins you never bothered with — !  ... The BLACK SKINS!  I want to know ... How come?”

 

 

            This confrontation takes place on the roof of a rundown tenement-type of building.  The superheroes had become involved when GL (Green Lantern) stopped a bunch of neighborhood  residents from beating up on a rich fat white guy.  After being prodded by the more with-it Green Arrow to investigate, GL finds out the fat white guy is a slumlord looking to sell the rat-infested, falling-apart building out from under its tenants to build a parking lot or something.  Together, GA & GL get the goods on the guy, and the mostly black residents get to keep their homes, which are better than being turned out onto the street (though maybe not by much!).

            To investigate the dirty tycoon Slade, GL had neglected an assignment in outer space given him by the Guardians, the galactic wise men, the “blue skins” mentioned above.  When they call him onto the carpet, his friend GA takes the stage and accuses them of lofty-minded complacency.  “How dare you presume to meddle in the affairs of humanity,” he demands, “when human beings are no more that statistics to you and your crew! … Come off your perch!  Touch … taste … laugh and cry!  Learn where we’re at … and why!”

            So, our story ends with a member of the Guardians, disguised as an Earthman, hitting the road in a beat-up pick-up truck with Hal Jordan (GA) and Ollie Queen (GA).  Just as Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda went in search of the real America in Easy Rider, Ollie tells his two compadres, “There’s a fine country out there someplace! Let’s go find it!”

            Of course, I tend to agree with the great philosopher Dorothy Gale, who said that if you can’t find your heart’s desire in your own backyard, then you never really lost it anyway.  Were GL, GA, and the Guardian looking for America, or running from themselves?

 

Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #106, November, 1970

            “I Am Curious (Black)!” was written by Bob Kanigher and penciled by Werner Roth.  It’s a strange mix of the embarrassing and the genuinely thought-provoking.  (Please note that all comments about the characters and their behavior are made by me and not the storytellers.)

 

 

            Vapid, flighty Lois Lane gets it into  her empty, trendy head “to get the inside story of Metropolis’ Little Africa!”  In other words, she’s like the travelogue movie producers who shot newsreels of those weird people from that Other Part of the World.  It’s only interesting to learn about Little Africa, because it’s so different from her own (obviously much better) way of life.  Of course, this is only my opinion, mind.

            Anyway, when she gets to Little Africa (could you figure out this is the “black part of town”?), no one will talk to her.  After a page or two of this, she figures out that it’s because she is white.  Even a blind lady on a park bench gets up and leaves — “When she heard me speak — she knew I was white!” Lois muses.

            Sounds like prejudice runs both ways so far, eh, kiddies?  Next, she runs upon a street corner, where a nice-looking young fellow is haranguing a crowd.  He points at Lois and shouts, “She’s young and sweet and pretty!  But never forget … she’s whitey!  She’ll let us shine her shoes and sweep her floors! and baby-sit for her kids!    But she doesn’t want to let our kids into her lily-white schools!”

            Soon Lois asks for Superman’s help to get the real skinny (hardy-har-har) on Little Africa.  Using a Kryptonian machine called the Plastimold, it performs a makeover, turning Lois black for 24 hours.

 

 

            Then Lois finds out her favorite taxi driver won’t pick her up, presumably because of her new look, and she learns about the rats and the leaky roofs of Little Africa.  Dave Stevens, the same guy who called her the enemy because she was Whitey, now comes on to her.  Then he’s shot when he tries to stop some (white) thugs from pushing drugs to some (black) kids.  At the hospital, Lois is the only available blood donor, and Stevens pulls through thanks to a transfusion from her to him.

            After the 24-hour transformation has ended, Lois visits Stevens in the hospital, where he learns that she was the one who provided his transfusion.  Then the guy who called her his enemy smiles, and they hold hands.  Fade out.

            Another interesting section of the story is where Lois confronts Superman with the question, would he still love her if she were black.  He responds with a logical observation, and … well, see for yourself.

 

 

            Sure, in ways this might be a cop-out -- she changes back at a convenient time -- but it’s no more a cop-out than any other story of the Silver Age -- you couldn’t make permanent changes to the set-up.  I mean they couldn’t marry.

 

            Think a little more about the first panel.  As somebody (probably Larry Niven) said, Superman is another species, from another planet.  What are the odds that he would want to mate with ANYTHING ON EARTH?  Surely skin color wouldn’t matter at all.


(See you next Monday with the rest of this ripped-from-the-comic-books- article.)

So Much for the End!

On the silly-season-sounding Day of Doom, December 21, 2012, God found a new way to say YES to life amidst the sounding clamor of Chicken Littles.

Andrew Lee came to us (through our younger daughter) on 12-21-12.

Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given!

Merry Christmas!

Musical Monday: MA-42 - Happy Christmas Time

I set out to find all of my favorite Christmas songs or versions of them and boil it all down.

This comes pretty close I hope you can enjoy it. Lots of these tracks are available on various albums, such as Ultra-Lounge and God with Us and Joan Baez's Noel. You can't go wrong with them!

In the case of "A Charlie Brown Christmas," I edited together the song from the soundtrack CD with a clip from the TV show.

Here are the songs:

1 - Hark! the Herald Angels Sing The Philadelphia Orchestra

2 - Joy to the World The O.C. Supertones
3 - Exotic Night Martin Denny
4 - Little Drummer Boy Georgia Kelly
5 - Sweet Little Jesus Boy Chris Willis
6 - Happy Birthday Jesus Sparklepop
7 - Cha-Cha All the Way Capitol Studio Orchestra
8 - Carol of the Bells Teja Bell
9 - O Come, O Come, Emmanuel Joan Baez
10 - Heaven's Got a Baby Sarah Masen
11 - Away in a Manger The Philadelphia Orchestra
12 - I Need Christmas Erin O'Donnell
13 - We Three Kings Bop Claymation Christmas Celebration
14 - Here Comes Santa Claus Elvis Presley
15 - Jingle Bells Johnny Mercer
16 - Silent Night Twila Paris
17 - Christmas Time Is Here Again The Beatles (VM)
18 - White Christmas The Drifters
19 - Winter Wonderland Fleming and John
20 - Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer Mambo Billy May
21 - Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree Xmas! The Beatmas
22 - You Gotta Get Up Five Iron Frenzy
23 - Hark, the Herald Angels Sing A Charlie Brown Christmas
24 - Christmastime Is Here Seranova
25 - I Wonder as I Wander Joan Baez
26 - Silent Night, Holy Night The Philadelphia Orchestra

It's a deliberately eclectic mix, but the basic idea is --well, celebration! The idea that God loves us enough to become one of us to try and romance us back onto the path to Him! Why, that's worth changing your calendar for!

Now get out there and be joyful!

Whoops! Forgot the link!

Here it is: http://www.mediafire.com/?mjhg8kcg6xrcmgi

Breathless Tales of Empty Mysteries

Here is another installment in some of the books on mysteries/conspiracies that I have shelled out bucks for, sometimes to my regret.

There's a certain category of books that is kind of like a carnival barker for a freak show.  Sometimes once you are inside the tent, it's never as impressive as those garish paintings on the outside tent wall or trailer.

 

 

In this fine 1989 book by J R Church, a sincere guy, we learn that evil guys like the Illuminati are going to link hands with the Antichrist who is going to rule the world through computers and microchips implanted in people.  There's a lot of goings-on about Daniel's prophecies and how they relate to today's world.  In my opinion it is sincere hogwash, a sincere attempt to scare people into meeting God, a paper fire-and-brimstone sermon. 

 



 

Here's another book that is probably heartfelt in every way, at least until it gets around to suggesting that low-level (and low-pay) NASA grunts colluded to deceive the world.  Evidence is trotted out, such as -- where are the missing stars in the Man-in-the-Moon photos?  ANSWER -- they are too faint to register on the film.  -- And things like that.

 

 

There is whole cottage industry of books that talk about old buildings as if each worn rock or crumbling statue is a secret to an earthshattering mystery that can only be elucidated if you pay $19.95 for their book.  What do the ruins of Rennes le Chateau mean?  How are they related to secret explorations of the New World before Columbus?

Well, I don't know, but the authors should get a commission from the local tourist board.  To me it's thin gruel, but to New-Age-crystal-consciousness types it is doubtless bread-and-butter.

Getting jaded in my old age, aren't I?

I don't remember who said it, but it is true and perhaps applicable here (paraphrased):  "Any moron can ask a question that a wise man cannot answer."

Think about it -- Why aren't dogs curled?  Why is popcorn happy?  When do smiles green?

See you later.

Salute to Music of Cool

Dave Brubeck died on Wednesday, December 5, 2012, one day before his 92nd birthday.

In so many ways the music produced by his group, The Dave Brubeck Quartet, defines "the essence of cool."

Their 1959 album, Time Out, was the first jazz album to sell a million copies.  It contained perhaps their most famous song, "Take Five," written by saxophonist Paul Desmond.  Its suavity is given a joyous distinction by its 5/4 meter, referenced in the song title.

This 5/4 time, when used well, adds a kind of unstoppable-seeming, driving force to compositions.  Familiar uses of the meter include

• Jerry Goldsmith's 1st-Season theme for The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
• Lalo Schifrin's TV theme for Mission: Impossible
• "Within You Without You" by George Harrison on Sgt Pepper
• Jethro Tull's 1969 song "Living in the Past"
• "Everything's Alright" in Jesus Christ Superstar

The song "Take Five" has become so iconic for "the good life" that nearly forty years on, it was used for a 1997 Infiniti car commercial, unfortunately narrated by the insufferably smug-sounding Jonathon Pryce.  Here is the only link I could find to this commercial.

A quotation I wrote down in high school says something like, "Some people strengthen the society simply by being the person that they are."  That certainly applies to the musical life of Dave Brubeck and his Quartet.

S-a-l-u-t-e !!

Star Trek Models Instructions

Even when the models are broken or lost, the instructions are still kicking around the Fortress of Markitude.

 

 

Model kits like this Command Bridge set raised up a whole generations of nerds.

 

See how on the above page we have IDENTIFICATIONS for the different pie-shaped pieces -- "Defense Deck," "Environmental Deck" and so on? 

Something makes me wonder if these labels were actually dictated by Matt Jefferies or Gene Coon or somebody involved with the show; or if they were just nifty-sounding labels that somebody at Paramount Licensing or AMT came up with.

 

 

Nevertheless, you could build this kit and then, while watching an episode, try and identify where Chekov or some unnamed crewman was standing, to see if they were doing defense-deck things, or whatever.

 

You'll note that Spock and Sulu got to roam the Bridge at will, while the poor Captain was stuck sitting around.  While he was "made for" the Command Chair, you might be able to perch him precariously on one of the other little chairs.

That's assuming your pesky little brother or sister or didn't lose some of the pieces or start teething on them!

"Mom!  Bobby's chewing on Mr Spock's feet again!"