As you know, Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 opened last weekend. It’s the Hobbited trilogy of the books by Suzanne Collins and stars our spirit celebrity Jennifer Lawrence, along with Liam Hemsworth (who used to be our favorite Hemsworth, but we can’t pick just one anymore), Josh Hutcherson (he’s Anya’s favorite of all), Elizabeth Banks, Phillip Seymour Hoffman (RIP) and lots of others, we’d be here all day.
There’s so much to say about the final installment of the Hunger Games movie franchise…except we can barely speak…THE FEELS! That Heffie scene! Finnick! Finnick & Annie! Prim! Pollux! The Epilogue. Watch the video as we try to get make sense of this very Tweeks Approved movie and get a few words in about the trailer for The Divergent Series: Allegiant.
Well, I’ll be swoggled! I do believe that’s Patsy Walker moving across my television screen. Haven’t seen her since we stopped working together at Marvel Comics a half-century or so ago. Wonder if she still hangs with her friend Hedy Wolfe. I heard that she became a superhero named Hellcat and the hero thing could put a strain on friendship, particularly if Hedy remained just a girl on the go-go. And who is this, coming to join Patsy? Darned if it isn’t Luke Cage, otherwise known as Power Man. (Brace yourself for a spoiler.) Didn’t he marry Jessica Jones somewhere along the line? Are they still an item? According to the story that’s materializing on my screen, they are, though I don’t see any wedding rings. Oops! Getting late. I’d better change the channel and…
Here we are, back in the “real world.”
What the first paragraph of this blather refers to is a TV series titled JessicaJones, currently being streamed by Netflix. I haven’t seen it all yet – dang it, I’m old! – but that will be remedied in a day or two. Meanwhile, so far, so good. Acting, writing, action scenes, cinematography: check, check, check and check.
It’s not exactly a bundle of cheer. The story is grim and violent and the characters match the plot. What the film makers have done is to conflate superhero action with film noir, the bleak crime stories that flourished in movie houses in the 30s and 40s, and still poke their heads up now and then, here and there. It’s an existential world, noir is, where it isn’t a good idea to trust anyone, the rule book is generally useless, and cities are places of menace and shadows and ugly surprises.
Add some superheroism and you have Jessica Jones.
She’s not doing a solo. A few months ago, Marvel and Netflix gave us Daredevil, which was also heavy on the noir and looked a lot like Jessica Jones. The creative folk at those companies have found a neglected niche and are filling it admirably.
So Marvel has some characters that adapt well to a noirish treatment. What about Marvel’s arch rival, DC Comics? Any noir possibilities there? You’d certainly think so. One of their flagship characters is a night crawling avenger who is on a lifelong crusade against crime and who does not report for work at a police station.
Batman, of course. And in the course of his 76-year existence, Batman has occasionally qualified for noirdom. But only occasionally, in bursts. Want someone to blame (or credit?) How about Robin? Eleven months after Batman’s debut, he acquired a kid sidekick, a sunny lad clad in bright colors. Not the stuff of dark, perilous alleyways. Then there was a decade of inconsequential stories as the comics world recovered from witch hunts, and another few years of a comedic take on the series, and then…
Well, finally! In the comics, and in the movies directed by Christopher Nolan, a dark Batman. And a television series that is based on Batman continuity, though Batman himself appears only as his preadolescent self. Robin’s still around, but maybe not as prominent as he once was.
So both Marvel and DC are in the noir business, to one degree or another. If this were a contest, who would we judge the winner? Does anyone care?
A few days ago we had the anniversary of the first interracial kiss on US network television. No, this post isn’t about Star Trek, even though that is where it took place. But it is nice to look back and forward to see the path we, as a people, are on.
Less than 50 years ago, we broke through what now seems like a stupid boundary. Still, at the time this was a very important step. Especially when you look at the response that the actors and studio got, which was a largely positive one. The public at large didn’t react negatively or angrily; they just wondered what it was like in letters to each of the actors.
This scene went on to be just one of Nichelle Nichols’ accomplishments; she was and still is a public face for NASA, which at the time was almost unbelievable for an African-American actress.
Now in current times, we are still fighting the battle of diversity and equality. If you turn on the news, it is more than evident. Comics has been continuing on this path as well. We have seen the comics news cycle focus on this issue time and again.
In the past year, we have seen growth as well as the troubling yet continuing trend of ignorance. As we look towards the future of comics, the past we have come from will impact how the industry moves forward.
We can look at the past, where a simple kiss is a groundbreaking moment, and see how crazy it seems to us now. Still, we can’t deny that it made a difference in our lives today. With the changes still happening, in the comics industry and in the wider world, perhaps we are ready for another “simple yet groundbreaking” moment.
Several decades ago the American comics medium in general – and Marvel Comics in specific – were criticized by some in fandom for being overly formulaic. I realize it is possible for a few fannish souls to overreact, but I have to admit there was an element of truthiness in their concern.
Today we can clearly see a contemporary incarnation of this issue. Not that plotlines are being rubber-stamped; slavish adherence to ever-shifting continuity undermines such creative shortcuts. No, today we are suffering from a different sort of redundancy: overexposure to such a degree that most truly successful superhero characters have become akin to amoebas.
I was just thumbing through the sundry Diamond catalogs announcing comics and related effluvia ostensibly set to ship this coming February. Out of convenience and a desire to meet my deadline, I am going to focus on Marvel’s output – but DC, and to a lesser extent other superhero publishers, are also guilty of sequential overexposure.
This coming February, Marvel is supposed to be shipping (in the unlikely event that my math is correct) no less than three Captain Marvel books, seven Avengers titles, four Deadpools, seven X-Men, three Inhumans titles, six featuring the Guardians of the Galaxy…
… and no less than fifteen titles featuring Spider-Man and his Spiderverse. Fifteen. Back when people were criticizing Marvel for recycling plots, they didn’t publish fifteen different titles a month! I guess that’s pretty damn good for a character that can’t even hold onto a major movie franchise.
Of course, the sundry Spideys also appear in various Avengers titles, as do most if not all of the aforementioned properties. And many of the other Avengers like Iron Man, The Hulk, Thor, and Captain America have their own titles as well.
It is true that this sort of thing has been going on for a long, long time. Maybe not quite as long as it may seem to geriatric fans who recall Superman appearing in seven different titles in the late 1950s (Superman, Action Comics, Superboy, Adventure Comics, World’s Finest, Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olsen), but only two of those were published monthly. The rest were published bi-monthly or every six weeks. Still, five titles a month is a lot. Fortunately, continuity was weak at best and if you had an aversion to pill-box hats you could safely avoid Lois Lane (and her omnipresent scissors) and still understand what was going on in the other titles.
However, we have not previously seen such character redundancy to this degree. Not even when the original Captain Marvel and his family were featured in eight different titles back in the 1940s. Not all were monthlies, although the Big Red Cheese did see his own book go out every three weeks for a spell. Then again, in February at least two Spider-Man titles double-ship, and, for the record, February 2016 only has four ship weeks. It’s pretty rare that Leap Year Day falls on a Wednesday.
So, why is this a problem? Well, if you’re a massive Spider-Man fan, it might not be. However, ComicMix columnist Emily S. Whitten is a proud Deadpool fan, but having a job, a life, and a commitment to writing one of the best comics and pop culture columns on the Interwebs, so even Emily has a hard time keeping up with the nutty merc.
This is a problem because it undermines the uniqueness of the character. It’s called overexposure. We used to have three or four Punisher titles; in February 2016 Marvel won’t be releasing a single one.
Sure, as I said, all this goes for DC as well. They’ve been pushing Batman titles out as though they were Cheerios, and they out-X-Men the X-Men by having several thousand different characters all named Green Lantern.
At least Image only produces one Bitch Planet a month… and that’s on a good month. A very good month, in my opinion, but your mileage may vary.
Well, Jessica Jones, you have my interest. So: I haven’t seen all thirteen episodes of Marvel and Netflix’s Jessica Jones yet (hey, la Casa de Emily gets busy around the holidays), but I did get in a good four episodes with my Marvel watch party buddies, and all of us were left wanting to see more.
I was excited about Jessica Jonesbefore it came out and so far, I haven’t been disappointed. The show is in line with Daredevil in feel, but possibly even grittier in atmosphere; and by that I don’t mean harsher – I mean more real. Jones is a relatable “superhero,” primarily because she’s not a superhero. She’s a regular person in many ways – in the sense that she’s not perfect, she doesn’t have her life together, and she’s not stellar at picking the wisest way to handle a crisis.
She’s also rude, abrasive, and somewhat paranoid – but given the world she lives in, instead of putting me off that actually makes me like her, because it’s probably how a lot of us would react if we were dealing with the guilt, trauma, and danger she’s experienced. And I mean, yes – she also happens to have superpowers. But they are not the biggest focus of the current storyline, nor are they a solution for her problems. I like that, because I like seeing the less-than-perfect side of a “gift” like superpowers. And, because the sheer normalcy of her issues highlights the challenges raised by her special abilities.
I also really enjoyed seeing those abilities slowly being displayed. With Jones, you don’t get a lot of flashy, showy superhero stuff – what you get is someone who’s trying to do her job like a regular person, but resorts to lifting a car’s back wheels off the ground just as much as is needed to stop the criminal she’s trying to serve a subpoena on from getting away. You get someone who, rather than leaping tall buildings in a single bound, jumps high enough to awkwardly shimmy onto her best friend’s balcony when she needs to borrow some money. That’s not to say that her powers aren’t impressive (and I am sure I will see more as I continue the season); but that the way they are introduced is the more interesting for being revealed in very utilitarian situations.
And then, of course, sometimes for being abused – as when a couple who are enraged by the destruction that took place in New York during the Avengers movie tries to take out their anger on her as one of the superpowered bunch. Instead, they end up being treated to a rage-tantrum in which Jones tears up their house while, quite rightly, pointing out that she’s also dealt with unfair loss and pain, but isn’t blaming random people for her suffering. (And I also liked the allusion to The Avengers and the consequences of the destruction in the city – too frequently superhero stories don’t really address the collateral damage and trauma to civilians caused by Spidey or Superman or the Avengers or whoever pursuing a bad guy across a city. I don’t like the awkward way Jones refers to other superheroes without naming them, and I’m not sure if that’s because of a rights issue or weird scripting – but that’s a small complaint).
It was also a treat seeing Luke Cage’s abilities being brought to light. The introduction of his fighting style was pretty hilarious – the way he rolled his eyes at the barroom brawlers trying to pick a fight, and then knocked one out with the most casual backhand I’ve ever seen. And it was perfect for the style of this show and the aforementioned utilitarian aspects of superpowers being highlighted. The introduction of Cage generally is something I’m enjoying; including the slow build of his backstory and character as he gets to know Jones and more about her past impact on his life is revealed.
That’s another thing the show is doing well – the slow build. I realize that a lot of people may want to see a pilot that is chock-full of information and really grabs them in one sitting; but since this show has the opportunity (as did Daredevil) to grab an audience over a series of episodes that are all immediately available to watch, I don’t mind that it’s taking advantage of that still rather new media “format” to adopt a somewhat decompressed style of storytelling. It makes some aspects of the story, like the introduction of new characters, such as Patsy/Trish Walker, feel much more natural and real. While the initial focus of the show is Jones, and we don’t, at first, even know exactly what her past relationship with Walker is, the development of that and of Trish’s personality, from a perfectly put-together radio host to a more nuanced person who deals with a troubled childhood and a current intense fear of danger after what happened to Jones before the events of the show, is enjoyable because it’s not particularly hurried. There’s no info dump, and that’s a relief.
The decompressed style also allows for incorporation of characters like Will Simpson and Malcolm Ducasse without the feeling that they’re being thrust in our faces, and with a greater chance that we won’t see plot points involving them way ahead of time. It allows us to feel with Jessica as she, e.g., discovers that one of the few people she regularly interacts with and has generally tried to help and sort of look after is actually spying on her and betraying her movements to her enemy. In other words, it makes them less predictable bits in a Jessica Jones-centric story, and more like parts of a fully imagined world she happens to move through and interact with without knowing how any of her choices are going to pan out.
That world has a great noir-ish feel; it’s definitely not today’s New York, but is older in style and more homey while at the same time feeling more dangerous. (Although I did notice the reference to the 5th Avenue – Bryant Park entrance to the 7 line and wonder if that little homage to the newest way to handily access the Javits Center for New York Comic Con was intentional.) Yes, there are big fancy glass-and-metal skyscrapers housing, e.g., high-powered attorneys who pay Jessica to deal with difficult issues; but there are also neighborhood bars that have clearly been around forever and are definitely not part of some big chain or conglomerate, and buildings that may not be up to code but definitely have a lot of “character.”
Jones’ New York is both a setting I feel like I’m experiencing through her eyes, and a place that fits well with the world as seen through the lens of Daredevil; which bodes well for an eventual melding of the two. I like the way it does feel just slightly different from Murdock’s world; and hope that when Cage gets his own show, and Iron Fist his, we also get slightly shifted perspectives of Hell’s Kitchen through their personal experiences and views.
Speaking of high-powered attorneys, I’m enjoying Carrie-Anne Moss’s role as Jeri Hogarth, a hard-nosed, cynical lawyer who is also in the midst of an acrimonious divorce from her wife while engaged in that most clichéd of affairs, a romance with her younger, prettier secretary Pam. I’m also enjoying the way they’re exploring that side-plot – through sad little scenes like Jeri taking secretary Pam to lunch and running into wife Wendy Ross-Hogarth, who reveals to Pam that they are about to enter the restaurant where Jeri proposed to Wendy. The whole scene is awkward and painful for everybody in a way that is very realistic, and I appreciate as well that it shows this interaction with a same-sex couple, highlighting that the ugly issues involved in divorce span across all pairings in relationships.
In the same vein I appreciate that all of the women of this show are allowed to be unlikable. They’re allowed to be harsh, and imperfect, and paranoid, and weird, and humorous, and passionate, and ruthless, and loving, and conflicted, and scared, and tough, and smart, and successful, and fatalistic, and stupid, and angry, and cruel, and destroyed, and determined – and all in the mixed-together, messy way that real people are. There are no female characters in this show who fall into a stereotypical category; and the same goes for their relationships with the other characters.
And as we’re talking about relationships, one of the most important ones is Jones’ relationship with the villain of the story, Kilgrave, and it’s as fascinatingly disturbing as he is. We get to see glimpses of her past with Kilgrave as the plot moves along – and it’s creepy and sad to see the Kilgrave of flashbacks playing with her like a living doll subject only to his whims, dressed up for a night on the town, or told to casually dispatch an innocent woman using her superpowers. It’s sad as well to see her current suffering from the PTSD left over from what Kilgrave made her do. It heads up the point that no matter how strong she or any hero is, they can still be vulnerable, and their powers are not a magic cure-all.
It also addresses how slow to heal psychological wounds can be. As we see more of Kilgrave in the present we see how truly sadistic his use of his powers really is, Krysten Ritter realize that the magnitude of his past abuse of Jessica could be anything. When he, for example, doesn’t even allow people to retain the basic dignity of using a restroom to go to the bathroom when he’s bending them to his will, it shows his inherent cruelty and his all-encompassing disregard for anyone but himself. And when we realize how much of his will is focused on exacting revenge on Jones, who managed to defy him and also left him for dead, her paranoia and barely controlled reactions start to make a whole lot of sense.
I also appreciate that the show doesn’t try to present any of this as acceptable – it’s wrong, and twisted, and not even the littlest bit okay. And it results in a view of the villain that’s intriguing because it shows us just how petty and pathetic he is, despite how powerful he also is. The contrast between what he can do and what he uses his ability to do shows how truly despicably small he is; and reflects perfectly the truth of an abuser’s personality. It’s a nuance that a lot of shows don’t manage to get across; but this show really sticks the landing.
Yes, indeed there are many things this show is doing well; and I can’t wait to see what else is in store for me as I finish the season. So off I go to see what other crazy things are about to go down in Jessica Jones’s New York; and until next time, Servo Lectio.
In addition to being really into comics, I’m also really into history. I like to know where things came from and how they were made. This fact about myself has resulted in my reading of quite a few comics from the Golden and Silver Ages. Nearly all were reprints, but comics of those ages none the less. Although some of the comics then may not offer us the kinds of lessons in diversity and inclusion I’m normally advocating for, they actually do give us a valuable lesson in diversity that is lacking in mainstream comics today.
The norm for decades in comics was an anthology format. Marvel Mystery, Adventure, Action, Detective, Showcase, Journey Into Mystery, Police, Crime Does Not Pay, Eerie, Creepy, My Greatest Adventure, all of these and more would offer us up multiple stories featuring different characters in each. The first issue of Marvel Comics featured the Human Torch, the Angel (not that Angel), Sub-Mariner (yes, that Sub-Mariner), Masked Raider, a short story titled “Burning Rubber” and Ka-Zar. Yes, it wasn’t the standard 20-22 pages we see in most comics, it was 64 pages. The point being that you could have a single issue with many characters and stories. One title being the feature, with the highest page count, and the other stories being back ups.
As the years went by, anthology style comics at the big two were either getting canned, or morphing into books about one hero or team. My Greatest Adventure turned into Doom Patrol, Action into another Superman comic, Detective another Batman comic, Journey Into Mystery a Thor comic, and so forth. DC in particular tried to carry on with that tradition longer, having books like Legion of Superheroes have a feature story with a large portion of the team followed by a shorter back up with only one or two members to help us all get to know them better. Eventually, these efforts more or less faded away. Occasionally, like in Action Comics, Detective Comics or Justice League they’d have some sort of back up, but it was just furthering the feature story and not really it’s own thing.
DC did try bringing back more anthologies with Adventures of Superman, Legends of the Dark Knight, Sensation Comics featuring Wonder Woman, but all of those only featured the character in the title. Though those weren’t a bad idea, I do think it misses a key point of the older anthologies; to help introduce new characters to a market that might otherwise not pick up a book featuring one of those characters.
Both Marvel and DC have hundreds of characters at their disposal. The market only allows a certain amount of comics hitting the shelves at once while still being able to sell X amount of them all. Maybe instead of testing out different solo titles, they could try more anthology style comics.
Wouldn’t it be great is characters like Batman got more people reading Batwing and Batwoman because they were in the same book? What if you alternated who had the feature story, so maybe Batwoman would be the feature for a few months, but that Batman story in there helped keep enough readers on the title who otherwise wouldn’t be and kept the title afloat? What if we used a format like that to expose readers who otherwise wouldn’t go out of their way to read a comic with racial or religious minority characters, or LGBTQ characters in it?
DC editors recently decided they needed to stop “batgirling” and get back to “meat and potatoes.” That kind of talk usually ends up meaning going back to a less diverse time in comics. I get worried when I see Marvel or DC seemingly spread themselves too thin in certain areas. For example, as I mentioned last week, DC now has Harley Quinn, Catwoman, and Poison Ivy, three white bisexual women as leads in their own solo titles. That won’t last forever. Maybe when that starts to change, a Gotham City Sirens book featuring all of them would be easier to maintain.
I think if comics are going to be serious about diversity, they have to do more than just cater to the readers of the different communities. Preaching to the choir is one thing, and it is important, but it’s not everything. We need to get more people outside of those communities to be exposed to them, and understand them better. It’s an important and necessary component in making comics a more diverse place and assuring that it won’t just end up being a fad.
Besides, this feeds into nostalgia, and what comic book reader in their right mind doesn’t love that?
Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman): Let me be brave. Let me be brave. • “Face the Raven” • Episode 10, Series 9 • Doctor Who
Well, that was… uh… umm…
Kinda flat.
It’s because it was all over the Internet, including an interview with Doctor Who show runner Stephen Moffat, that Jenna Coleman, a.k.a. Clara Oswald, a.k.a. The Impossible Girl, was leaving the series and that her exit would be horrible, dramatic, terrifying, and final – or words to that effect, anyway.
And it really wasn’t.
I don’t blame Peter Capaldi or Jenna Coleman for this; both of them turned in their usual brilliant performances. I don’t even blame Stephen Moffat all that much; he has to answer to the higher-up-the food-chain suits.
Those are the ones I blame – the suits who are obviously so frightened that Doctor Who will lose its “worldwide phenomenon” (as the New York Times called it around the time of the 50th anniversary) status and return to where it belongs – the little show that could, the ½ century-old cult that, like a Time Lord, regenerates itself every so often to become an obsession with a new generation of fans.
Seriously, guys, your obsession with keeping the media spotlight on Doctor Who since the 50th anniversary and The Day of The Doctor has become so relentless that I’m expecting any moment to see an announcement from you that Peter Capaldi wiped his ass after taking a shit.
Even though police procedurals are all the rage on TV right now, I’ve always preferred detective shows and Film Noir movies. This week, let’s take a walk down some mean streets as I tell you about an outstanding Film Noir thriller. You’ll have to listen closely, as there’s no film at all.
Broadway Is My Beat is a crime drama from the Golden Age of Radio. Originally broadcast in the late 40’s and early 50’s, this show follows the homicide caseload of Lt. Danny Clover, a cop assigned to the “Broadway Precinct” of New York City.
Each week Lt. Clover must solve a murder. And it’s all done Ellery Queen/“fair play” style, so the listener can figure out whodunit as well. These stories are pretty clever. It’s always a race for the listener to keep up with the police lieutenant and discover what really happened before it’s revealed.
The writers played fast and loose with the geographical boundaries of the precinct, so Broadway Is My Beat also becomes a travel log of a New York City that’s long gone. Any given episode might take you to Times Square’s Dance Halls, or to a seedy apartment building or to an ethnic neighborhood that simply no longer exists.
And as an audio drama, you’ll have to use your imagination for everything. I always tend to conjure up long dark shadows for most scenes and pretend it’s filmed in black and white. Of course, if I’ve recently read an Ed Brubaker comic, I tend to imagine Sean Phillips’ art (below). But if you envision Steranko, in full Chandler-mode, you can’t go wrong either.
These adventures offer a fascinating mix of purple prose and hard-boiled dialogue. Lt. Clover typically offers over-the-top narration for the reader, often speaking directly to you’ But when the characters talk, it’s a time capsule of New York, with loads of sass and moxie.
Here’s a great example of pulpy-but-poetic opening narration. This from a 1952 episode called The Eve Hunter Murder Case, written by Morton S. Fine:
The pallor of the long day ebbs finally from Broadway,
What had been sallow and gray is a sudden scarlet.
Where drabness was, where surfaces were drained of color,
There’s a glitter that’s now silvery – darted through with splinters of neon light.
And at this edge of twilight the shock gathers … waits for the revelers.
The sighing wind draws them into it one by one,
From the long corridors, from hall bedrooms, from the embrace of solitude.
They drift, they run, they whirl to the dancing of the wind
And shock waits..and shock comes!
The talent on this production is top notch. The best episodes of Broadway Is My Beat were directed by one of the most talented guys in the radio industry: Elliot Lewis. He was an important producer and a visionary with some of the later shows he created. He was also a very gifted comedian, appearing as guitar player Frankie Remley in the long-running Phil Harris – Alice Faye Show.
Larry Thor played the lead with an urgent, world-weary staccato for most of the show’s run. In fact, in so many episodes you can hear his impatience and frustration from constantly wading through death’s aftermath. Quite often, the police characters in the series will have to pause and apologize because they’ve just been too short or too rude to one another.
When the show hit its stride, Alexander Courage was in charge of the music. You probably remember him for his best-known work: the Star Trek Theme.
You can find episodes of Broadway Is My Beat at Radio Spirits, one of the premiere companies selling old time radio shows. You can also discover many episodes on the web, and Radio Archives has a great online collection.
We’ll end this week’s column the way Lt. Danny Clover ended each episode:
Broadway is my beat, from Times Square to Columbus Circle, the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world.
I know I know I haven’t written to you in years and this is reaching you a dozen days after your birthday Nov. 10th. That’s not really that bad if you consider you’re been gone 35 years and change. Before you get all bent out of shape you’re not doing so well in the- keep in contract with your brother department either.
Even when you were alive you weren’t much of a letter writer, but you have not visited me in my dreams in well over a year. In fact the last time I talked to you in a dream was the day Jean died. I’d like to think you have been busy catching up with our 26-year-old mother. You remember the day she came home on her 26th birthday and declared loudly so the entire neighborhood heard, “Sharon, Michael, this is my last birthday! From now on I’m always 26 years old.”
She meant that too.
For the rest of her life each and every birthday card I gave her had to say “happy 26th birthday!” She picked the right age because her 26th birthday was magical. Robert actually showed up and showed up sober! He was taking us to Palisades Amusement Park and everyone including mommy was excited. Oh, tell mommy she’s been lax in the visiting her only grandson department also. It’s something how we call our grandmother Lenard, ‘mommy’ our mother ‘Jean’ our great-grandmother Sophie ‘grandma,’ our step father Robert, Robert and each other, ‘High Yella’ and ‘Dark Side.’
Dark Side, my name for you was so cool even you said it was. You asked me a zillion times where I got the name from and I never told you. still the longest secret kept beating yours by about 34 years 11 months, three weeks and 23 hours. I loved that-who can keep a secret longer- game Jean invented. Ya know, I should just tell you where that name came from…but I won’t and you know why.
I have not forgotten that long ass car ride on Jean’s birthday where everybody was so excited but nobody found the time to tell me why. You did find the time and the ideal way to torture me. I really thought you were serious when you whispered “They’ve taking you to New Jersey to leave you there.”
“That’s not true!”
“Oh yes it is. What other reason would we be going to a park in New Jersey at night?”
You knew I had no concept of any other kind of ‘park’ besides the park I played in and never ever would I be allowed there at night. You got me good that night because I absolutely stopped reading (more like stopped looking at the pictures) the Long Ranger Big Little Book I loved so much. I pleaded with you to convince everyone to keep me.
“What are you telling that boy?” Mommy snapped at you. Then I thought… wait a second…mommy loved me! Every morning she would make my cereal (sometimes with water when there was no money so no milk) and she’d tell me how much she loved me at dinnertime. Some times no one would eat dinner but us, which we both found curious. That is until you figured out why it was OK if we didn’t ‘clean our plates.’ It was because Jean would finish what we left.
“Sharon said you all were going to leave me, that’s why we’re going to New Jersey and a park at night!!”
“Sharon Davis!!” Jean yelled at you “Why you go and tell that boy that?” I was feeling pretty darn good and about to get all up in your face then Jean said, “We’re not leaving him in the park, we’re dumping him out on the highway. That way we don’t have to stop. Michael, remember, tuck and roll, tuck and roll.”
For a very very, very long moment I was scared shitless. Then I started to cry like I’d never cried before…then everyone started laughing. Which made me cry even harder. Funny Dark Side, real freakin funny.
Ha. Really funny, ha.
I remember how you kept telling me, “We’re here! Highyella, look!” I didn’t budge I was determined not to get out of the car despite everyone saying they were sorry. Nope, I didn’t need to see some park after dark I had a real good mad on and I was going to keep it and yeah, I know the story so well because you and Jean took turns telling it for years.
Then Robert opened the back door and the lights of the Ferris wheel hit me…
Wasn’t that a magical night?
It was the most perfect night ever. We were all together, Robert and Jean were getting along and Palisades Amusement Park was beyond anything we’d ever imagined because we had no concept (I didn’t) such a place existed
It was a dream comes true but the better dream was Jean, Robert, mommy, you, and me a family just like the Brady Bunch…and just like the Brady Bunch our ‘family’ was cancelled.
I don’t think as a child I ever saw Robert sober again did you? That was the year we moved from mommy’s house to the projects in Rockaway and that was the Christmas Eve when Robert, drunk out of his mind opened Jean’s skull with the die cast metal Tonka truck he brought me for Christmas. How on earth could you witness that at 10 years old and function Sharon? You did and you saved her. You called 911 and she survived. It all came back to me sis, 30 years later.
You were already gone but every single detail came back to me. I called Jean–she confirmed I had repressed the memory. Once she confirmed it I never saw Robert again. The man I idolized I cut out of my life because of what he did 30 years prior.
He died 10 years later never knowing why.
Cold right? I Know. Terribly cold and a terrible thing to do to someone. He had changed and I didn’t care. I was full of such anger I just couldn’t trust myself to even speak to him. I’m haunted by that…or is that you?
Yeah, I still got jokes. But funny as I am, Jean was by far funnier. I actually called her once to help me write a scene for a show I was on. Oh yeah, your brother is a HUGE writer, producer, artist, governor of New York and I’m married to Susan Day. Yep, I married Laurie Partridge my boy hood crush.
What?
Guess what?
Chicken Butt!
Milestone is back and Static Shock is going to be a live action television show! Your little brother is in charge of everything! You live on as Sharon Hawkins! As does our mother as Jean Hawkins and yep Robert’s there also!
Except, well…about the writer, producer, artist thing…I am all of those things and I make a good living but I’m not huge by any means. I’m also not governor of New York and I’m not married to Susan Day.
Milestone is back and Static Shock is going to be a live action television show but I’m not running the show. I’m not even on the show.
They didn’t want me and get this, I asked.
They didn’t want me on the show I created the universe for they didn’t want me at Milestone although no has worked harder than me to keep Milestone current and always in the thoughts of fans:
Yeah, I know that’s a lot of stuff but its not all I’ve written or done to keep Milestone in the public eye. Yeah sis, it floored me when I was omitted. Not a word, not a call, nothing.
But your little brother is doing OK.
The Gordon Parks Academy houses The Michael Davis Auditorium, my mentor program has been recognized on such a level I’m asked to speak all over the world. I’ve given keynote addresses at the places you would not believe! I’ll just name one, the FBI.
Yep, that FBI.
Imagine me in front of a crowd of mostly white cops without my hands being up. OH and you know I talked about that which was not to be named. You KNOW I named it. I won’t do it here as your little brother has learned not to rock the boat
Some think it takes courage to stand in front of an institution and bring to light the hypocrisy of its leader who reportedly sort out Gay Americans to discredit while he and his boyfriend vacationed on Dick Island.
What?
The FBI gig was cool but this was cooler, Rosamond Bernier called me her inspiration and did so with a full page in the Playbill of her Lincoln Center school age lectures. Before she started lecturing to kids and teens she sort me out to see how your badass brother did it. She’s only the most important art historian ever, no big deal.
That’s just some little old stuff I do to give back. I’m also the only person in comics with distribution into the schools with The Action files from Simon & Schuster & Person Learning and the Black Church with the Guardian Line from Urban Ministries and Sharon guess what?
There’s more and nope no joke is coming. Well, the following clip has some jokes but its no joking matter. I curated a show at the Geppi Entertainment Museum called, Milestones: African Americans In Comics Pop Culture & Beyond. In the 20 plus year history of the esteemed museum, Milestones has been recognized as the most successful exhibit ever mounted. The funny thing is although it appears to be an exhibit of Milestone Media its not. Nope.
Missy Geppi the museum’s President originally contacted me to put together a retrospective of graduates from my Bad Boy Studio mentor program. Bad Boys: African Americans In Comics Pop Culture & Beyond was the original name of the show. I changed the name and focus when I was to be a part Milestone 2.0 and had the idea to announce there.
We didn’t and there were a few other places we were going to announce all I arranged and paid for. We didn’t announce at any of those places. Somewhere and somehow ‘we’ became a ‘them’ then a ‘they.’
They announced in Jan. I became a trivia question.
Our cousin’s Regina and Desiree are trying to be slick. They don’t think I notice how they conveniently hit me up on Facebook right after I say some sad shit. That’s their way of looking out for me.
Doris their mom our Aunt was Jean’s maid of honor when she married Robert. Doris reached out to me a few times to try and get me to talk to Robert. I’d tell her I would, I didn’t. Robert tried to see me often all I could think of was Jean lying on the floor blood pouring from her head and just could not.
Jean had the presence of mind to tell Robert to leave before the cops came. I made up my mind telling him to leave was not to save him from jail. In my mind she wanted him gone before he realized what trouble he could be in and killed us all. I kept that thought more than any other.
He wouldn’t have. I know that now. He was just a sad beaten man who made bad choice after bad choice. Jean forgave him and told me I needed to also, I couldn’t. Someone, I think Doris, gave him my number and he left me this last message; “Son. I’m dying. Please come see me.”
Nope. True to his word (for once I thought) in less than a week he was dead. Jean called to tell me and once again suggested I forgive him.
No.
Never.
Fuck Robert Lawrence.
Those were the choice words I used when writing about that day in my journal. Rereading them before writing this letter dropped me to my knees and finally after 20 years I cried for Robert Lawrence and yeah sis I’m crying for him now.
When I think of Robert the image of the monster that almost killed our mother has been replaced with a moment from when he was the most important man in my world. That’s the day he remembered to buy me Spiderman number 100 and ask me why Spiderman had 6 arms.
That began the best comic book conversation I’ve ever had.
With the authority of a foreign policy expert asked to comment on developments in middle east in front of the U.N. I brought my father up to speed on Peter Parker, Spider-Man and those six arms.
Then together we read that double issue. Kinda like when you and I played together that one Christmas Eve when I let you convince me to let my GI Joe marry your Barbie.
Yuck!
Fun fact-I now collect Barbie. How did I go from hating them to a collection worthy of more than as few interviews? You. I wanted one to remind me of you and I found every time I buy one, for the briefest of seconds you’re with me.
Except you’re not. Yes, you’re in my dreams and memory but I wanted more. That more came when I wrote the Static creative bible used our life as the inspiration. I was not alone when Static was created. Far from it, Dwayne McDuffie, Jim Owlsey (a.k.a. Christopher Priest) Denys Cowan and Derek Dingle were right there.
I was certainly alone when Dwayne told me to write the Static bible aka the Static Universe. For over 20 years nobody from Milestone disputed that-in fact they co-signed.
Now I was just ‘one of five guys in the room.’
Funny, how it just so happens Static’s life events and family is a carbon copy of ours right down to the names. Clearly that’s an amazing coincidence.
Sharon, I wanted Jean to see you live on she had such a hard life she needed some joy so no matter the current spin your little brother created the Static Universe and co-created the most successful black superhero ever created by black people, and I can prove it.
Our mother, Jean, and you saved me. Man, I should have been dead so many times but you saved me.
I couldn’t save you.
I couldn’t save Jean.
I didn’t even try to save Robert.
I’m sorry.
I will save your legacy-the world will know where the inspiration and swagger of Static comes from. It comes from, Sharon Davis, Jean Harlow Davis, Robert Lawrence, Sharon’s little bratty brother and Regina’s cousin.
Happy Belated Birthday Sharon
Your brother,
High Yella
P.S. OK I was late getting this to you so I’ll tell you where ‘Dark Side’ comes from. Jack Kirby created a villain called Darkseid I got it from there. I could have said nothing giving you the impression it was all me but that simply would not be right to do to anybody but family??
Unforgiveable.
Writer’s note: This was to run November 10th my sister Sharon’s birthday.
I had every intention that it would, even going so far as to ask Mike Gold if I could get it to him on the day it was to post, something my editor and friend for almost 28 years would prefer not. I had written and rewritten several versions of this and was sitting on the one that I was sure I was to send Mike in one hour, give or take 167.
I re-read the piece and realized I was making a rather large mistake so once again I had to re-write it. My mother didn’t raise any fools as such I neither watch FOX nor will I announce the coming rapture to non-believers.
My mother once told me that an odd pleasure she had in growing older was that she could go back to favorite books, particularly mysteries, and enjoy them all over again because she didn’t remember the ending. She knew she liked it but she could discover it anew.
That’s happening a bit to me these days. I’ve recently started re-reading Rex Stout’s mysteries featuring Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin (not to be confused with the late, great comics writer and editor with the same name, although that would have been an interesting pairing as well). I read quite a few of them a few decades back but not all of them; that would be a monumental task since Stout wrote 33 novels and about 40 novellas about Wolfe and Goodwin.
Rex Stout (December 1, 1886 – October 27, 1975) was born of Quaker parents in Indiana and was raised in Kansas. He served as a yeoman on Theodore Roosevelt’s presidential yacht. In 1916, he created a school banking system that paid him royalties and made quite a bit of money. He described himself in 1942 as a “pro-Labor, pro-New Deal, pro-Roosevelt left liberal”. A man after my own heart. He was denounced as a Communist during the McCarthy Era but denied it. He told House Committee on Un-American Activities chairman Martin Dies, “I hate Communists as much as you do, Martin, but there’s one difference between us. I know what a Communist is, and you don’t.” J. Edgar Hoover was not a fan and Stout wasn’t a fan of his or of the FBI and that figures prominently in Stout’s very famous Nero Wolfe mystery. The Doorbell Rang.
The Nero Wolfe stories are an ingenious pairing of a cerebral detective (Wolfe) and hard-boiled detective (Archie). I love narrative alloys like this; my GrimJack stories are a combination of hard-boiled detective and sword-and-sorcery. Suicide Squad melds The Dirty Dozen, Mission: Impossible, and The Secret Society of Super-Villains.
Wolfe is fat. He is more than stout, he is obese. He’s been described as weighing a seventh of a ton, fluctuating between 310 and 390 lbs. He lives in a beautiful brownstone on West 35th Street in New York City that he owns; Archie lives there as well, having his own room. Wolfe takes on detective work only as a source of income to indulge his passions, which includes orchids, fine food, and beer. He keeps to a very strict daily schedule and does not even allow the investigations to meddle with it. He is brilliant, fastidious, idiosyncratic, arrogant, demanding, and filled with wonderful character tics.
Archie is Wolfe’s “legman”. He does the physical stuff, tracking down things and witnesses, bringing suspects to the office for Wolfe to question, acting as secretary as needed. He’s also a wise-guy, quick with a quip and good with his fists. One of his jobs is to needle Wolfe, keep him on the job, make him relatively human, and just be a pain in Wolfe’s sizable ass. He’s also the narrator of the stories; we know what we know through Archie and Wolfe sometimes deliberately doesn’t tell him everything, often just to annoy him.
The stories also have a stable of supporting characters, each with their own well defined personality tics and traits. One of the real pleasures of the series is the interaction between Wolfe and Archie; Stout tells a good story and can plot with the best of them but it’s the interplay between the two leads that drives the series. Like any serial fiction, including comics, it’s how you play the expected tropes that keeps the series fresh. Stout does endless and inventive variations of the expected notes; it feels a little like jazz to me. That’s a lesson I need to keep learning; how to take what is expected and make it surprising, fresh, and entertaining.
I don’t know if I’ll go through all of the Nero Wolfe cannon this time; I doubt it. There’s just too many other things to read. However, what’s nice is that I know I will enjoy what I’m reading. I did the last time even if I don’t exactly remember why. Such are the blessings of aging.
