Articles by martha-thomases
Sat Aug 30, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
Shipping Late, by Martha Thomases
Brilliant Disguise
This column is unusual in that I’m starting to write it in the doctor’s office. There’s no emergency – it’s just time for my annual mammogram and breast sonogram, and the doctors are running late.
My appointment was for 11 this morning. I arrived at 10:30 because I walked faster than I expected, and because I wanted to get the paperwork out of the way. Also, I’m compulsively early. My mother raised me to believe that if I’m not at least five minutes early, I’m inconveniencing everybody else. My grandmother took this a step further, waiting at the airport in New York before our plane had even taken off from Ohio.
I’ve been here for two hours.
The world is made up of people who are on time and people who are late. I imagine that we each drive the other bonkers. I know that, when I’m waiting for someone to arrive who is more than 15 minutes late (which is the window I allow because, hey, the subway could be screwed up), I’m furious that I might be missing something just because the person I’m waiting for doesn’t have the consideration to think my time is valuable.
I don’t know what people who are late are thinking, but I imagine they are thinking that life is so complicated, and there are so many things that demand their attention, and nothing ever comes out as they plan. Perhaps they also think that meeting times are just an estimate, and it’s no big deal if they are late. Perhaps they think I have nothing better to do than wait for them, and that it’s privilege enough to bask in their glory.
Oddly, I am not bothered when my comics are late. I know that retailers are annoyed – and worse, since it’s their money on the line – but I’m not. When I walk into the comic book store for my weekly fix, I don’t particularly care which books are available. I like enough different kinds of stories that I’ll be able to find something I’ll enjoy reading. Even if it’s a skip week, there will be something I haven’t read, or a new magazine.
Thu Aug 28, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
No Heroics: Not Warrriors, either
A bunch of super-heroes hang out at a bar ...
Our pal, Charlie Jane Anders, has a story up at i09 about a couple of sitcoms with a super-hero premise. One (the one we know for sure will be funny, at least based on this clip) is from the BBC, titled No Heroics. The claim is that it's based on Friends, but with a bar instead of a coffee house. The other, Boldly Going Nowhere, sounds a bit more sci-fi, and is the brain-child of the folks who bring you Sunny in Philadelphia.
Alas, there is no discussion as to the person tending bar. We have our own suggestion.
Tue Aug 26, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
White Viper: Shredding
Ta Moa's Other Job
In today's brand new episode of White Viper, by Erin Holroyd, Dick Giordano and Frank McLaughlin, Ta Moa goes undercover as a corporate spy. Can he find what he needs to find without getting caught? If he can, will he be able to survive his employers? We have just one word of caution: plastics.
Credits: Erin Holroyd (Writer), Dick Giordano (Penciller), Frank McLaughlin (Inker), Lovern Kindzierski (Colorist), John Workman (Letterer), Mike Gold (Editor)
Tue Aug 26, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
Hammer of the Gods 2: The Look of Love
Hey, that is a hammer of a god!
In today's brand-new episode of Hammer of the Gods 2: Back from the Dead, by Michael Oeming and Mark Wheatley, Modi tells the story of his life and love to the Chinese goddess. Apparently, he likes a woman with some fight in her. Can this relationship be saved?
Credits: Mike Oeming (Artist), Mike Oeming (Writer), Mark Wheatley (Colorist), Mark Wheatley (Letterer), Mark Wheatley (Writer), John Staton (Colorist)
Sat Aug 23, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
Obama-Palooza, by Martha Thomases
Brilliant Disguise
The major political parties’ conventions this week and next follow the Olympics like night follows day. Just as the quadrennial sports event serves as a ceremonial battleground with ornate rules and rituals, so do the Democratic and Republican conventions to choose the party leaders and figureheads.
Just as the Olympics represent combat in a peaceful way, the political conventions represent democracy. Our elected representatives assemble to choose candidates for the highest office in the land.
It’s a charming system, but hopelessly out of date. Sure, in the past, before mass media, before telephones, it made a certain amount of sense for people to congregate and make these decisions. There was a time when there most states didn’t have primaries, and so the question of whom to nominate was left to the party bosses.
Before then, political conventions were an excuse to party, a time for the regional bosses to convene – in the stereotypical smoke-filled room – and personally select the candidates.
This system, while not democracy, was not always bad. Through it, we had candidates like Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, and Theodore Roosevelt. With it, we get candidates like George W. Bush and … well, I think my point is made right there.
When I was first voting, all that changed. The debacle that was the Democratic convention in 1968 demonstrated that the system was a farce. Since then, the trend has been more towards the appearance of including the wishes of the voters in the selection process.
Nothing in this world is that simple. The influence of money, bias, and corporate media make it all but impossible for the average citizen to determine what the real issues are, and where the candidates stand. It serves the interests of the power structure to distract us with foolish questions such as which candidate we’d prefer to hang out with in a bar, which candidate can bowl, which can Google, and what kinds of cookies the wives bake.
Politics is so much simpler in comics, where tradition favors painting everything in black or white, good or evil. When Lex Luthor runs for office, we know he’s corrupt. It’s rare to find a creative team that depicts a more complicated system, such as Warren Ellis’ and Darick Robertson’s brilliant Transmetropolitan.
Tue Aug 19, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
White Viper: Deep Background
What did Ta Moa's Daddy do?
In today's brand-new episode of White Viper, by Erin Holroyd, Dick Giordano and Frank McLaughlin, we learn the secret origin of Ta Moa, his training in Japan and his first job on his own. Was he able to fulfill the hopes and dreams of his father? Was his training successful? And why doesn't he live in Japan?
Credits: Erin Holroyd (Writer), Dick Giordano (Penciller), Frank McLaughlin (Inker), Lovern Kindzierski (Colorist), John Workman (Letterer), Mike Gold (Editor)
Mon Aug 18, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
Hammer of the Gods 2: Runes
Thus do real gods make their kingdoms!
In today's brand-new episode of Hammer of the Gods 2: Back from the Dead by Mike Oeming and Mark Wheatley, Modi explains the ways of his people, including in his tale the sacrifices Odin made for wisdom. But what of the sacrifices one makes for love?
Credits: Mike Oeming (Artist), Mike Oeming (Writer), Mark Wheatley (Colorist), Mark Wheatley (Letterer), Mark Wheatley (Writer), John Staton (Colorist)
Mon Aug 18, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
Girls Talk: Wall-E, by Lillian Baker and Martha Thomases
Super Girl Team-Up At The Movies
Even though the newest Pixar feature has been in wide release since the spring, we just got around to seeing it together. Here’s what we thought. The film is about a deserted Earth, abandoned by humans when it got too polluted. Robots were left to clean it up, and only one is still working, the title character, Wall-E.
MT: My husband says that one way to tell an animated movie is good is to see how much it relies upon dialogue for exposition. A really good cartoon doesn’t need words to tell a story. Wall-E, for the first chunk, used hardly any dialogue, just some television news to explain the set-up.
LB: Wall-E has a cockroach friend in this movie. Lots of movies seem to have cockroaches these days, like the movie we reviewed last, Enchanted.
LB: Yeah, I think it could happen. Not the robots trying to take over the spaceship or anything. I don’t think robots can malfunction that badly.
MT: Wall-E is the only robot still working on Earth, and he gets swept away to a spaceship that has people on it when he falls for a robot, Eva, sent to see if there is any plant life on Earth.
Continue reading Girls Talk: Wall-E, by Lillian Baker and Martha Thomases ›
Sat Aug 16, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
Michael Phelps, Dara Torres, Aquaman and me, by Martha Thomases
Brilliant Disguise
Watching the Olympics, like so many other things, reminds me of super-heroes.
Not that I watch a lot of the Olympics. The jingoistic nationalism of the coverage disturbs me. While I admire the perseverance and determination and hard work of the athletes, I don’t find it particularly heroic. Heroism, I think, involves putting yourself out for the benefit of others. Competing in the Olympics may be a way to test oneself, to try to attain an ideal of physical perfection and international harmony, but it doesn’t benefit others. Unless, that is, your idea of benefiting others is enriching the corporate coffers of the sponsors, the networks, and the governments that use their victories for propaganda purposes.
But I digress …
To look at me, you would not think that there was a time when I could have been an Olympic-level athlete.
And you’d be right.
However, I was on a swim team for most of a decade. From the time I was five until I aged out of the league at 15, I swam every summer for a local league, and every winter for the YMCA. This meant hours and hours every week, swimming laps until my eyes were red from chlorine (this was before racing goggles) and my lips were blue.
I loved being able to hold my breath for a long time, and I loved the way my body felt when I was slicing through the water. My body made sense, hips powerful enough to keep my torso level while I kicked. I loved wearing a racing tank, sleek and fast, like a superhero costume. Of course, I thought I was Atlantean, like Aquaman. It would be so much cooler if I could breathe underwater, like he could.
Writers complain that it’s hard to write stories for Aquaman, that his only powers are that he can breathe underwater and communicate with fish. Some examine the possibilities of the strength he must have to live under water, and how tough he must be to withstand the cold of the ocean. I think there’s an entire world to explore on the ocean floor, and that a character who can breathe water and air is inherently more versatile than one who can breathe only air.
Continue reading Michael Phelps, Dara Torres, Aquaman and me, by Martha Thomases ›
Fri Aug 15, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
Black Ice: See Spot!
Will Spot run?
In today's brand-new episode of Black Ice, by Mike Baron and Lee Oaks, Neil learns a lot from his new friend, Spot. Spot can't talk, but there's a lot it can do. Will Neil be able to use this knowledge? Will he be able to use it in time?
Credits: Mike Baron (Writer), Lee Oaks (Artist), Bob Pinaha (Letterer), Matt Webb (Colorist), Mike Gold (Editor)
Wed Aug 13, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
White Viper: The Mighty Fu
Does he have what it takes?
In today's brand new episode of White Viper, by Erin Holroyd, Dick Giordano and Frank McLaughlin, the bandits return to town, and Ta Moa must decide how to deal with them. Will he be able to defend the girl he rescued? Does she need defending? What can one man do against a violent gang?
Credits: Erin Holroyd (Writer), Dick Giordano (Penciller), Frank McLaughlin (Inker), Lovern Kindzierski (Colorist), John Workman (Letterer), Mike Gold (Editor)
Mon Aug 11, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
Hammer of the Gods 2: Modi Alone
Can he save Odin by himself?
In today's brand-new episode of Hammer of the Gods 2: Back from the Dead, by Michael Oeming and Mark Wheatley, Modi's men are dead, slain in battle with the Chinese witch. Can Modi save Odin by himself? Will he be able to return the king of the gods to Asgaard? Will he be able to concentrate while the witch taunts him? What's up with all the taunting, anyway? Why can't people fight silently? Isn't losing a limb or a lot of blood a lot to think about by itself?
Credits: Mike Oeming (Artist), Mike Oeming (Writer), Mark Wheatley (Colorist), Mark Wheatley (Letterer), Mark Wheatley (Writer), John Staton (Colorist)
Sat Aug 9, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
Superman and My Homies, by Martha Thomases
Gee, but it's great to be back home.
The month of July was a veritable traveling sideshow for me. Between professional obligations and family emergencies, I barely saw my husband … and my kitty even less. I’ve had to seek out new, ever more tantalizing kinds of cat food for her to tolerate my continued presence in our home.
All of this makes me think of Superman.
When John Byrne relaunched the series, there was a lot of talk about Superman being not just the Last Son of Krypton, but the last Kryptonian. That didn’t last very long, and today we have remnants of the old continuity, with Supergirl and the Phantom Zone and the Bottled City of Kandor.
I like that Superman, but he’s not the character with whom I grew up. My Superman is the pre-Crisis version, the one published from the late 1950s up to the Byrne reboot. Sent to Earth shortly after his birth, his memories of Krypton are vivid but brief. He was already a toddler when the Kents found him in that field in Kansas.
Maybe it was because the character had been around for such a long time, and the creative teams were having trouble coming up with new ideas for stories, but there is a certain melancholy about the Man of Steel in that era. Kal-El had huge responsibilities, and no one close to him. His parents died with his planet; his foster-parents died before he left for Metropolis. He was afraid to commit to the women he loved, not because of anything as terrestrial as a fear of close relationships, but because he was afraid he’d put them in danger. Even his own cousin, who could have been a close confidante, was kept at arm’s length so he could train her to protect their adopted home.
This is the Superman who needed a Fortress of Solitude, where he could escape, at least for a while, the cries for help that flooded his every waking moment. Amid the cold from the top of world, he could conduct experiments, write to his intergalactic pen-pals, and build enormous monuments to his dead parents.
Continue reading Superman and My Homies, by Martha Thomases ›
Fri Aug 8, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
Kyle Baker Goes Through The Looking Glass
Papercutz to Re-Issue Classic Classics Illustrated
Howard Stern may be the self-proclaimed Master of All Media, but Kyle Baker is giving him a run for the title in the graphic story-telling media. He's got his autobiographical family comedy, The Bakers, in development for television at Fox. He's got his reality-base war comic, Special Forces, at Image. Abrams just published gorgeous hardcover and paperback editions of Nat Turner. He's worked on Captain America and Plastic Man for the Big Two. He's won every award comics can give.
And now, Papercutz is reprinting his early work, Through the Looking Glass, adapted for First Comics' Classics Illustrated in 1990. Full-color, 56 pages, and gorgeous. Just $9.95, in time for the holidays.
This is the newest volume in Papercutz' re-issue, following Michael Plessix' version of The Wind in the Willows and Rick Geary's adaptations of Great Expectations and The Invisible Man.
Thu Aug 7, 2008 — by Martha Thomases
Star Wars, James Bond and Daredevil bring top prices at Hollywood Auction
Also, Marty McFly's hoverboard
If you wanted that original T.I.E. fighter miniature from Star Wars, you missed your chance. You could have outbid the person who spent $402,500, and it would have been yours. At an auction in Calabasas, CA, on July 31 and August 1 from Profiles in History sold a variety of items for more than $4.1 million.
What else was there?
Continue reading Star Wars, James Bond and Daredevil bring top prices at Hollywood Auction ›
