Still The One, by Martha Thomases

Martha Thomases

Martha Thomases brought more comics to the attention of more people than anyone else in the industry. Her work promoting The Death of Superman made an entire nation share in the tragedy of one of our most iconic American heroes. As a freelance journalist, she has been published in the Village Voice, High Times, Spy, the National Lampoon, Metropolitan Home, and more. For Marvel comics she created the series Dakota North. Martha worked as a researcher and assistant for the author Norman Mailer on several of his books, including the Pulitzer-Prize-winning Executioner's Song, On Women and Their Elegance, Ancient Evenings, and Harlot's Ghost.

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14 Responses

  1. Elayne Riggs says:

    "Dwayne McDuffie once told me that the Internet is like the biggest junior high school in the universe." I thought that modern politics (and political media) was the biggest junior high school in the universe…Somewhere in my head, I stopped getting older at age 23. That's always how old I'll be inside. Outside, I hope I get to at least three times that age, and I'm well on my way…

  2. John Tebbel says:

    I think it's time to face the 21st Century and bring casino gambling to Kandor. Then Supergirl can see the Smothers Brothers in the main room at Ce-Zar's Palace after a really campy El-Vis ceremony. What happens in Kandor, were it to somehow escape, would be so small as to escape notice.

  3. mike weber says:

    About fifteen years ago (when i was merely forty-mumble years young), i was showing my nephews (the eldest about eleven or so at the time) how to Do Things on their parents' computer, and Eli, the younger, ran to tell his mom about something Really Cool i'd shown them.Kathy responded "You guys are really lucky to have an uncle your own age."I *think* it was a compliment.Incidentally, there are grey-market copies of the UNCLE theatrical releases floating around, if you know where to look…

  4. Melanie Fletcher says:

    I'm an Internet-triple-threat — it allows me to indulge my Inner Geek (work as webmistress for http://www.helixsf.com, read fanfic, look up information on cute actors), my Inner Child (ooh, TOYS!) and my Inner Married Person (met the Bodacious Brit in rec.arts.tv.uk 17 years ago this October).As for age, hey, I was TOLD I only look 28 or so, and Lord knows I feel around 17-18 on a good day.

  5. Marilee J. Layman says:

    I was supposed to die a number of times before now, so I'm quite happy to be almost 53.

  6. Uncle Robbie says:

    I'm told I'll be 45 this year and, evidence in the mirror aside, it often comes as a complete surprise. In fact, when I'm asked my age I often pause a moment. While this is probably considered a symptom of my advanced decrepitude by the inquirer, it's actually so I can reconsider my instinctive answer: "I'm just a kid."

  7. Joe in Philly says:

    "Dwayne McDuffie once told me that the Internet is like the biggest junior high school in the universe. Instead of bringing us all together in one big virtual Woodstock festival, the web lets us break off into an infinite number of cliques…"Some of us weren't part of any of those cliques in our school days, though.

    • Martha Thomases says:

      Girls' boarding school. Even the anti-clique kids were a clique.

      • Mike Gold says:

        That's true, and that's not just at girls' boarding school. Freshman year my high school crowd started off as me and three other buddies sitting at a table in the student lounge during the one hour between the time when the bus dropped us off and the time classes started. By the end of senior year that crowd expanded to an average of about 20 people per day — not counting those who were off doing their homework.

  8. Swayze says:

    Martha – I reiterate – You were cooler than you think! Some of us were a bit in awe of you…we just couldn't keep up.Swayze

  9. Martin Pasko says:

    Martha, I know the column is basically about not being a grown-up when you're a grown-up, but just for a moment, let's play Let's Pretend: the part of the piece that riveted me was the one right after you quoted Dwayne, about how the internet lets us all talk exclusively, if we so choose, to our little cliques of people who mirror our own interests. That's great fun, but it may also be the net's biggest drawback — its capacity for allowing us to live our lives without letting in any intellectual fresh air. Like, the digital version of the Closing Of The American Mind, only once again it's an American disease gone global, like the pathetic sight of the golden arches on the Champs d'Elysee. That the net can help make us lazy-minded is Cass Sunstein's thesis, at least, in his recent book republic.com 2.0, which I heartily recommend to anyone interested in post-digital communication theory.[Personal aside, if you'll all forgive me: I imagine this book will be right up Mike Gold's alley (Hi, Mike! Finally, I've found you in Cyberspace. Martha has my contact info, or you can find me on Facebook till my blog goes up in a few, if you're interested.) I say this because I remember Mike as someone fascinated by communication theory, and Sunstein's a prof at the law school of the U of Chicago, which, as he usedta tell anyone who'd listen, is Mike's hometown.]

    • Mike Gold says:

      Still do. Ostrander, too. Chicagoans are funny that way.And as I recall, my friend, you went to Northwestern.