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The Law Is A Ass

The Law Is A Ass #402: CAPTAIN MARVEL’S EXCESSES ARE PREDICTABLE

“Bob, we need to talk.”

Those are normally not words I dread. I like a good conversation as well as the next guy and a good deal better, if the next guy happens to be Calvin Coolidge. But, as I studied the room full of people in front of me — family, friends, even editors — all trying desperately not to catch my eye, I knew this wasn’t going to be a good conversation.

“Is this an intervention?” I asked. I didn’t need an answer. Their expressions screamed: this is an intervention.

“We think you’re spending too much time on Civil War II.”

“I’m spending too much time on it. The series ran for nine extra-sized issues, plus eighty-eight or so tie-ins in other comics. I’ve seen beached whale carcases that were less bloated.

“That’s seventy-nine or so issues to tell one story! Did you know Stan and Jack produced the first Inhumans and the first Galactus stories in only seven issues of Fantastic Four? Combined!

“And you’re complaining about a measly two columns!”

“But aren’t you about to write a third one?”

“Well, yes. We have Captain Marvel vol 9 #8 to deal with.”

I actually heard a collective sigh of “What now?” rise from the room full of interventionists.

“Ulysses Cain, the Inhuman who can predict possible futures, made another one. A pulse of destructive energy was going to take out several blocks in Van Nuys, California. An explosion with an epicenter in the house of Stewart Cadwall, the former super villain named Thundersword.”

I looked up at a room full of stares as blank as the computer screen I had been staring at for hours. Many of the people here hadn’t even read the three — count ’em, three — comics from 1985 where Thundersword showed up. And as for the people in the room who had read those issues… Well, Thundersword was so obscure, I’m not even sure the people who wrote those comics remembered him.

“Stewart Cadwall was a failing Hollywood writer who became a super villain when the Beyonder imbued an award he won with powers. Cadwall used those powers to become Thundersword. He was captured sometime off-panel, made parole at some point, and hadn’t appeared since 1985. Until Ulysses sent Captain Marvel, Black Panther, and a cadre of SWAT police to Cadwall’s door. This was, as Captain Marvel described it, to bring Cadwall in, ‘by the book.’

“If, that is, the book is Mein Kampf.

“Captain Marvel’s team smashed in Cadwall’s door, searched his house, and found his old award. Cadwall had kept it, because it was the only thing he had to show he had ever been successful at something. Unbeknownst to him, the award was building up energy and was going to explode at some point.

“Yes, by keeping his former super-villain weapon, Cadwall was technically committing a parole violation. So, yes, Cadwall was guilty of something. But that still doesn’t justify Captain Marvel and her SWAT team breaking into Cadwall’s house and searching it without any warrant.

“At least, they never showed a warrant. But the prediction also said the explosion wouldn’t happen for several hours; plenty of time for Captain Marvel to obtain a warrant before going into Cadwall’s house. And as there was enough time for Captain Marvel to obtain a warrant, the Constitution required her to get one before she could enter or search a citizen’s house. If Captain Marvel acted without obtaining a warrant, she violated Cadwall’s constitutional rights and her team’s search and seizure was illegal.

“If they acted with a warrant, how did they get it? Would a prediction of a possible explosion give a judge enough probable cause that the judge could issue a search or an arrest warrant? I’m not sure it would.

“Anyway, Cadwall was arrested. But not to worry. In Captain Marvel vol 9 #10, another person stole Cadwall’s trophy from the evidence locker and used it to empower himself. When Cadwall helped Captain Marvel capture this new villain, she arranged for Cadwall’s parole violation to be dropped. She even let him keep his trophy. So it all went well for Stewart Cadwall.

“Which is more than we can say for Alison Green http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Alison_Green.”

I wasn’t surprised by the blank stares from everyone in the room this time. Alison Green wasn’t even an obscure villain everyone had a right to forget, she had never appeared before.

“In Civil War II #4”

“See, that’s why we’re worried about you, Bob, you’re losing track of things. In your last column you talked about Civil War II # 2. Now you’re talking about # 4. What happened to Civil War II # 3?”

“Nothing happened to it. It came out before # 4, like it was supposed to. Oh, you mean what happened in # 3? Don’t worry, I’ll get to that.

“But in issue 4, Captain Marvel arrested Alison Green, a finance banker, because Ulysses predicted she was secretly a Hydra agent and was going to detonate a black hole bomb in the New York Stock Exchange. Captain Marvel reasoned this gave her the authority to hold Alison Green indefinitely so she could force a confession out of Alison.

“While Alison was in custody, S.H.I.E.L.D. investigated her. It found no ties between Alison and any terrorist organizations. Even the psychological screening S.H.I.E.L.D. put her through didn’t turn up and any connection to any suspicious organization. Nevertheless, Captain Marvel held Alison even though there was nothing suspicious about Alison.

“Well, Alison liked karaoke. That makes her suspicious in my book. But not in any law book. The law books might actually question whether Captain Marvel had the authority to hold Alison without charge forever.

“I’m not fully conversant with all of the provisions of the PATRIOT Act. I know it does say the government can hold an alien indefinitely, if it believes he or she may cause an act of terrorism, but I’ve never heard of a similar provision that applies to American citizens like Ms. Green.

“And, guess what? Turns out the prediction was wrong. Alison Green wasn’t a Hydra agent. Turns out the closest Ms. Green got to Hydra was a preference for Hydrox cookies. But she wasn’t any sort of a villain.

“Then.

“Now, Alison wanted revenge against Captain Marvel, so she’s taken to hiring super villains to cause problems for Captain Marvel and her friends. So, congrats, Captain Marvel, if the prediction about Alison does come true, it’s because you and your preemptive-strike predictive justice task force pushed her into becoming a Hydra agent.

“And that’s all I really had to say about Civil War II this week.”

“All? But you said you’d get to Civil War II # 3.”

“And I will get to it. Next week.”

Next week. Hey, maybe an intervention wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

Martha Thomases: Adventures On Other Words

When I saw Moonlight, the first thing I said as the lights came up was “school sucks.” And it does.

I think this will be spoiler-free, but if you haven’t seen this magnificent movie, I hope you go as soon as you can. Like the best art, it showed me a new way of seeing the world and made me feel emotions that bound me to the characters. Although this is in no way real, for the two hours of that film, I was a self-loathing gay black man, unable to express my personal truth.

My life is privileged, however, and part of that privilege is comics.

Chiron, the boy/teenager/man who is the main character in the film, is not very articulate. This isn’t an unusual trait in a child. We all struggle to learn how to use our words. Unfortunately for him, none of the other adults in his life know how to express themselves either. His mother is a drug addict. The adults at school are overwhelmed with responsibilities that don’t allow them to take the time to notice one kid’s problems. The only exception is Juan, the neighborhood drug dealer, who offers the closest thing to fathering that Chiron gets. Later, his girlfriend, Teresa, offers him a refuge.

I’ve written frequently about how fiction helps me get through tough times. Reading a story about someone else’s reality has been a comfort since I was younger than Chiron at the beginning of the film. My mother turned me on to her favorite children’s author, E. Nesbit, and I felt understood in a way that really makes no logical sense. A Jewish kid in Ohio has very little in common with a bunch of English kids with magical friends, created by a Fabian Socialist. Still, I related to their confusion, to their sense that adults didn’t get it.

In a slightly different way, I found similar comfort in Greek and Norse mythology. I wanted to be one of the magnificent and beautiful gods. I thought they might understand me when reality didn’t. I bet gods never fell down and scraped their knees.

From these tales, I discovered superhero comics. These had the advantage of being new every week, instead of being old stories completed thousands of years ago. I wanted to be all the characters. I wanted to be Robin and Supergirl, Plastic Man and Wonder Woman. Wanted to be a telepath and I wanted to be invisible. I wanted to be Betty and Veronica.

Through these stories, simple though many were, I learned that all humans have hopes and fears, insecurities and passions. And even now, decades (and decades) later, I continue to learn this over and over again. I need to, because it’s all too easy to see people as cardboard stereotypes. It’s even easy to see myself as a stereotype.

For example, if I were the blatant red-neck Trump victim, hating on Muslims and immigrants and elites (a person who probably doesn’t entirely exist, at least not as this stock figure), I might read Southern Bastards and feel like somebody finally got me. And maybe, as I read each issue, I’d see that even the characters that didn’t look like me and how it feels to be them in the same kind of small town in which I lived. And, even if I didn’t get that part, I might enjoy some of the recipes sent in to the letters page.

And if I had strange feelings in my body that I couldn’t quite describe, if I didn’t know what changes were going on or whom I should tell about them, I might feel better after reading The Old Guard. In this case, the odd changes have to do with immortality, not sexuality or gender identity, but I think the quivering uncertainty applies to all of us.

A book that continues to knock me out, perhaps because it touches on so many of my personal obsessions, is The Beauty, about a sexually transmitted disease that makes its victims beautiful before it kills them. Sometimes people try to get the disease so they can be good-looking. A recent storyline had a trans protagonist, and I was engaged trying to figure out how the virus chose which traits were pretty, and if these traits were different depending on one’s gender, and whether that gender was determined by the same criteria demanded of North Carolina restrooms. If you get the disease in a culture with different standards than ours, do you acquire different traits? How is it that the fashion/cosmetics industry hasn’t thrown all their resources into finding a cure, given that the illness makes their products irrelevant?

Is it a blind spot of my white privilege that I don’t see that the solace I get from books wouldn’t necessarily help Chiron? Maybe. Music and dance, poetry, theater and movies, all can provide the same balm to the soul. I’m in favor of all of those. Still, I think books are the easiest to put in one’s pocket.

There are no books in Chiron’s house. If there is a local library, it isn’t part of his world. We don’t even see him watching television. Instead, he is isolated.

In an ideal world, we would all have brilliant, loving parents and other adults in our lives. In their absence, we have books.

Tweeks: Table 19 Review

In Table 19 (out tomorrow, March 3rd 2017) ex-maid of honor & ex-girlfriend to the best man Eloise ( played by Anya’s fave, Anna Kendrick) attends her oldest friend’s wedding to find herself seated at the ‘random’ table in the back of the ballroom with a group of strangers. As everyone’s secrets are revealed, Table 19 become a little bit Breakfast Club in connecting these unwanted guests into a band of supportive friends.

Yeah, this is pretty much the rom-com option for those not off to see Logan this weekend, but we really enjoyed it. We’ll explain why you should see it — and we also talk about our new favorite Broadway cast recording that we manage to bring full circle back to Anna Kendrick.

Michael Davis: Stan Lee – The Man Now And Forever

No Sex On The Good Ship Lollipop, part 3

From our last installment…

The Los Angeles neighborhood of Westwood is home to The University of Southern California, better known as U.C.L.A. It’s a trendy area filled with upscale shops and expensive restaurants.

I’ve never been a fan of Westwood U.C.L.A or trendy, expensive restaurants. I doubt if I ever will be. But because God gets a kick out of such things my new Viacom offices were in Westwood, the reference library I was compelled to use was at U.C.LA, and a trendy, expensive restaurant was where I was on my way to have lunch with Stan Lee.

Stan was kind enough to bring with him Jack Kirby… and the Black Panther.

Together the three may have saved my ass.

Showtime Networks and Marvel Productions were both housed in the same Westwood high-rise. I was just moving into my new offices at Showtime; helping me do so was Adah Glenn.

Adah is a fantastic artist I met some years before. She used her considerable wits to land herself a gig at Motown Animation when I was not hiring. That I assure you is no easy feat.

Adah was placing a box on my desk with one small problem. She missed the casually.

Crash!!! The unmistakable sound of breaking glass when the box hit the floor filled the room.

“I hope that wasn’t my Tiffany lamp,” I said.

“I think I just saw Stan Lee in the lobby” she said, not hearing or not caring about my statement. I gazed over to the box then to her. I did that repeatedly knowing she would get the hint and pick up the box.

She didn’t get the hint.

Instead, she looked at me with no indication whatsoever she’d dropped the box.

“I wish I’d thought of something to say to him. Do you know Stan Lee?” she asked.

Flipping my eyes back and forth as fast as I could I told her; “Yep.”

Nothing. It was like the girl was in a trance, and I’d had enough.

“Adah!!”

“What?”

“Ya wanna pick up that box you dropped?”

She looked down and was surprised to see the box at her feet.

“I do that? My bad.” She bent down to pick up the box and said; “Mike, do you know Stan Lee?”

“I know Stan pretty well…”

Crash!!!

When later that month I was sitting down with Stan over lunch I recounted that story. He has a hard time believing anyone would react that way. I had a hard time believing Stan didn’t know how he rolled.

I’d met Stan as a fan in the 80s. Although it was a while before we became friends, it was memorable when it happened. I saw Stan walking across the San Diego Comic Con Convention floor in 1993, the first year Milestone had a booth.

“Hey Stan Lee! come on over; you’re the first contestant on The Price Is Right!” I yelled. Why? I meant just to say “hey Stan Lee come on over” but the rest just came out.

Stan, much to my surprise, came over. “What do I win?” He said with a huge smile. The Milestone partners all scampered over and said hello to Stan who gave Denys Cowan a “There he is.” When shaking Denys’ hand acknowledging to all there he and Denys knew each other. That made Denys BMOC (big man on campus) and HNIC (ask a black person) for a bit.

That is until Derek Dingle asked Stan “How do you know Michael?” Before he answered I chimed in with “Stan and I were in the Crips together.” Stan co-signed with; “Those were the days.”

Those were the days indeed.

Stan and I had just done a drive by when we decided to ditch the car and ran into the woods. It was dark as such we were taking care not to make any noise less so we were not discovered. At one point Stan whispered “Something just landed on me.”

It took my eyes a second to adjust to the darkness, but once it did I saw what it was and informed Stan; “It’s a spider…man.”

That’s when I created Spider-Man, but Stan will never acknowledge that or his illegitimate son Spike.

That’s how I opened the Stan Lee Roast at a 1994 convention event. By that time Stan and I were on a friendly basis. In 1995 Stan was kind enough to come by the Motown Animation booth at SDCC to wish me well and take some photos.

“You drive that thing on the street?” Stan asked as we stood in front of the Motown / Image Comics Van. The way he asked the question was so funny I couldn’t answer from laughing so much.

Stan and I talked about our history among a great many things over lunch, but mostly we talked about my new venture at Viacom. Since the deal closed the feeling I had made a major blunder was growing. “I gave up my golden parachute to follow a dream, and I’m beginning to think it was a mistake.” I said to Stan.

I told Stan about the comic book reading program.

“That’s a good idea but a hard sell.” He said.

“It’s sold, but now I’m not so sure it’s a good idea,” I responded.

“It’s a great idea. I should know because I did it when I was in the army,” Stan said. Then he told me how he produced the line of instructional comic books for the armed forces. Years later when at Marvel he tried to get comics in the school system but couldn’t crack that market.

Stan Lee couldn’t crack a market? I’m thinking gethefuckoutofhere!

I was convinced he told me that to make me feel better. He assured me he was serious and explained how it was a big deal to get into the schools.

He told me following a dream is rare for most people and said my dream was a noble one because it involved making something to benefit others namely kids with problems reading.

“You unquestionably helped a million kids with a problem reading I’m sure. You certainly helped me.” I told Stan that and how in the fourth grade he and Jack Kirby almost made me kill Ronnie Williams when I slammed a metal backed chair over his head.

“Why on earth did you do that?” Stan inquired through his huge grin. I explained how Ronnie took my copy of Fantastic Four # 73 and I wanted it back. Jack Kirby and he (and some advice from my mother) gave me the strength to get it back.

“Don’t forget the chair.” Stan deadpanned.

I realized this was a good a time as any to tell Stan something else he helped me with, my self-esteem. “Thank you for creating the Black Panther. How much flak did you get back in the day?”

He looked at me for a sec and then said; “Some, but it was the right thing do we thought.”

That may have been the understatement of my comics career. The Black Panther was all my comic book buddies, and I could talk about when we discovered him. Then it was the Falcon, Luke Cage, the Prowler and on and on.

It goes without saying Stan and Jack paved the way for Brotherman and Static, inspiring black creators of today with black heroes from our yesterday. I don’t know any creators of color from my generation who would not give those Lee and Kirby creations at least a nod.

Stan and I made lunch a pretty regular thing while we were both at that Westwood high-rise. Stan moved on launching Stan Lee Media where I almost ended up heading “Stan Lee Kids,” but that’s another story. I moved on not long after Stan left the building.

Stan was right. Comics in the schools were a good idea. My Action Files over twenty years later is still in schools. Some time back they started selling on Amazon (without the Teacher’s Guide), and to my knowledge, the program is still the only curriculum based comic book reading program sold in American schools.

In my mind, Stan has a real place in the history of current black comic characters. Those who don’t think so are welcome to that opinion.

The sheer guts it took to create the Black Panther during the time Jack Kirby, and he did so is enough for me.

They didn’t have to, but they did because ‘it was the right thing to do.’

The last time I saw Stan, it was bittersweet. He was the same old Stan holding court in the lobby of the Marriott. But when I shook his hand and looked into his eyes it was evident my Stan was gone. He didn’t remember me.

“Stan is pushing 100. He can’t remember everything and everybody” I was told this by one of Stan’s entourage who meant well but dropped me even to a deeper sadness. As I started to turn and walk away, this young lady must have seen the grief on my face and touched my arm stopping me.

She said; ” With age, God wipes away many things to lessen our burden. His long life may soon be over that’s not a bad thing he must be exhausted. He may leave us, but he will be at peace.”

Not true, I thought.

Stan will be with us forever.

Mike Gold: Why Is It?

Why is it… that 20th Century Fox’s Legion teevee series is so good but their X-Men movies suck so bad?

Why is it… now that Geek Culture has become so damn legitimate, I can no longer afford to be a Geek?

Why is it… that Wild Dog has lasted longer on television than it did in the comics?

Why is it… now that Marvel understands that their Civil War II Big Event was not well-received by readers or retailers and that their other recent Big Events hardly were any better received, they decided to restore the Marvel Universe to its more traditional roots – by launching still another Big Event?

Why is it… that Krypto was named Krypto? Do you know any Earthlings who named their dog Eartho? Not even the Marx Brothers named their dog that. And if Krypto were to chase a car, he’d catch it and rip it apart with his teeth. How do you train him to not do that? Bop him on the head with a rolled up newspaper and he’ll rip your lungs out.

Why is it… that Warren Beatty spent millions and millions in legal bills to protect his rights to a Dick Tracy movie sequel – and then did nothing with it? For some reason, Warren Beatty has been on my mind the past few days. Maybe he’s going to reprise his role as Milton Armitage in a Many Lives of Dobie Gillis remake.

Why is it… that comics fans seem to loathe Ben Affleck? He’s one of our better actors and outside of Gal Gadot his performance was just about the best part of Batman v. Superman. You wanna dump on a superhero actor, dump on Henry Cavill. He can’t act worth a damn, he can’t even deliver lines, and he’s so stiff you’d think cameras were his Kryptonite. They might be at that.

Why is it… that the GrimJack movie hasn’t happened?

Why is it… that the return of Reed Richards happened on the last page of the current issue of The Despicable Iron Man, or whatever that title is called? Actually, I really dug it. Which begs the question…

Why is it… that Brian Bendis seems to be on so many fanboy shitlists? I like his work. Yeah, he’s pretty much got one voice for most of his characters, but it’s a good voice. And he remains one of the very few writers who can make a three-page conversation compelling.

Why is it… that two different publishers are publishing their own versions of the Harvey Comics characters at the same time? Are their license contracts written as Mad-Libs books? Is NBCUniversal (this week’s owner of Harvey Comics, as of this writing) this sloppy about all their catalogs? Can I get the rights to Late Night With David Letterman, just to get that video tape library out of the vault? And, speaking about Harvey Comics…

Why is it… that Universal hasn’t made a Hot Stuff live action movie? Maybe they could get Ben Affleck to star. Or write. Or direct.

Why is it… that I can’t write one of these columns without mentioning Donald Trump?

Joe Corallo and The Golden Guard

This week will see the launch of a Kickstarter campaign for a new comics project, The Golden Guard, by Vito Delsante, Charlie McElvy and Carlos Caballero. I got a chance to talk with Vito Delsante the other day.

JC: I think it is fair to say you’re a big comics fan, and particularly of legacy superheroes. What is it about them that makes you want tell their stories?

VD: I think it’s less about the legacy and more about how the most current person in the line handles the responsibility of the mantle. Like, if you’re the most current Phantom (Lee Falk’s character) and you’re 24, let’s say, your reality, your Africa/Bengalla, is totally different than your grandfather’s. So, there’s a real chance, as a storyteller, to push the idea of legacy further. That’s what Sean and I try to do with Stray; there’s a reason why he’s not Doberman III or the Rottweiler. He chose a different path.

JC: How do you apply that passion uniquely to your new creator-owned title, The Golden Guard?

VD: Well, instead of taking the idea of the legacy hero, the one who has been almost genetically predisposed to being the latest in the line of heroes, we bring a few of the characters to the present to see exactly what the impact of their individual legacies are. There are four characters in particular who are in the present and they find out they’re actually dead, or in the case of Kid Viper, MIA during the Vietnam era. So, if you’re able to come 30 or 40 years beyond your death, and you are able to, for lack of a better word, “shape” your own personal history, how do you do it? What will you truly be remembered for? That’s the aspect of legacy we’re playing with.

JC: Tells us a bit about your collaborators, Charlie McElvy and Carlos Caballero. How did you all decide to work on this together and what’s everyone’s responsibilities on the project? Is anyone else involved?

VD: Originally, this was going to be a story that Ray-Anthony Height and I wrote with Sean Izaakse doing layouts. My Prisoner Of None co-creator, David Bednarski, provided a lot of the initial designs that Carlos would eventually play with. I’m not sure if we ever got to a point where we knew who would do the finished art, but that was who I was working with when initially conceived. After a while, Ray couldn’t do it; he decided that his efforts were best put towards finishing Midnight Tiger, and I agreed. So, I turned to Charlie. Charlie and I “met” over a shared interest in Sean; Sean designed a lot of characters for his Watchguard comic/RPG. And truth be told, it was seeing Sean’s work with Charlie (on DeviantArt) that drew me to his art (and the rest is history).

So, there was a bit of professional envy, I think, on my part. I met Charlie at Baltimore Comic Con, bought a few of his books and somehow, somehow, I “fell in love” with the dude. Loved where his head was at, and loved what he was building. Charlie doesn’t realize what a big influence he has on me, and that’s probably going to make him laugh when he reads this. Fast forward, and Charlie and I are working on a Watchguard/Aegis (my superhero team from Stray) crossover that could still see the light of day someday, and I just convinced him to tackle Golden Guard with me.

Oh, I need to say this here…hat tip to Lan Pitts who gave me the name “the Golden Guard.” Because what happened next doesn’t happen without the team being named.
So, we’re being pretty blatant and we’re talking about the team and comic that doesn’t even exist on Facebook. Carlos had already been in my head as a potential artist to work with because I once carelessly said, again on Facebook, “I know who would write a TeenAegis spin-off (Caleb Monroe), but who would draw it?” Carlos was one of a few artists that chimed in with, “me!” and I looked at his work and said, “I have to keep him in mind.”

So, Charlie and I are “flaunting” Golden Guard, and at roughly the same time Carlos posts fan art of the Justice Society. I sent a private message to Charlie and said, “I didn’t realize we were holding auditions, but I think this dude won the part!” Turns out, Carlos and I have history. I met him at San Diego Comic Con in 2006 and shortly after, I emailed him saying, “Let’s start brainstorming an idea!” He never replied! Hahaha! But, everything happens for a reason. He says he wasn’t ready for that kind of work, and I surely wasn’t the writer I am today. And it all just…the three of us talk daily on Facebook Messenger. We’re extremely tight. Carlos and I shared a table at NYCC last year and it’s really the most perfect three-person combo since Nirvana. We complement each other really, really well.

JC: Legacy superheroes are at the heart of another creator-owned title of yours, Stray. What makes these two properties stand out from each other?

VD: Stray is about one man’s quest to find himself and find the hero inside of himself. I’ve said for a long time that it’s about identity and choosing the person you want to be. Stray is me at my most Joseph Campbell-ian. The Golden Guard is really pushing the idea of history and legacy forward, but we realized this week that it’s really bigger than that. We knew Americana would be the leader, and Cadmus, once Carlos designed him, just became our favorite character. And as we kept going further into it, and developing more characters, we started to see that our favorite characters, our story linchpins, were all the…best way to say this is, non-white male (but not quite; stay with me) characters. And this week, I realized that what we made was a team comprised of marginalized minorities. A woman, a black man, a gay man, a handicapped (mute) man, two teenagers…even the elderly. It wasn’t until this week that we realized just how special the book is and can be.

JC: You’ve gone the Kickstarter route for other projects of yours before The Golden Guard. Why do you feel Kickstarter is the best avenue for this project?

VD: Let me be perfectly honest with you… Kickstarter is not the perfect avenue. Having a publisher pay our page rates and publish the book and pay us a ridiculous amount of money in royalties would be the perfect situation. But, that’s not happening and it’s kind of by choice. I don’t think that every retailer would support this book. We’re talking about a team book that more or less points an accusing finger at the recently elected administration, and I distinctly remember in the past few weeks seeing the headline “Keep Your Politics Out of My Comic Store.” If retailers won’t support the book, then a publisher won’t publish it. And the three of us agreed that the thing we wanted to do the most was connect directly to our audience. And that’s why Kickstarter is… if it’s not the perfect avenue, it’s the next best one.

JC: As a father, I imagine comics accessible to a younger audience is important to you. What age range would you recommend The Golden Guard to?  Can you share your thoughts about the importance of younger comics readers, both to you and the industry as a whole?

VD: I think that pre-teens and tweens are a safe age range for TGG, but we’re not putting sex or drugs or anything like that in the book, so you could go as young as 7. There’s a big historical component to the book, and I think that will appeal to a lot of readers, of all ages.

I think superhero comics are easily maligned. People still make the case that it’s unhealthy (male?) power fantasy made accessible to children, but my daughter, who just turned four, is currently watching DC Superhero Girls. Do you know what lesson she gets out of it? Be a good friend. Be brave. Being smart is as important as being strong. Superhero comics, and movies, should be saying that.

This is what is so frustrating about things like Batman V Superman; you’re assuming that because the comic audience is predominantly male and roughly 24-50, that the best representation of these characters is a Frank Miller book from the 80s. And that’s not a slight against Frank or The Dark Knight Returns. I’m 43 and I remember a time when the mantra in comics was, “They’re not just for kids anymore,” and the result of that was chasing kids away. And the industry has spent 30 years trying to get them back. Thankfully, things like Squirrel Girl, Lumberjanes and the like exist. There’s still plenty of “grim and gritty,” but the industry has proven it can support both.

For me, my goal is to enforce the idea that “all-ages” doesn’t mean “kids.” Ideally, parents will sit and read my books with their kids, and I know a few who have. Stray, which is literally rated T for Teen, has drug usage and a hero who is flawed. I think that’s something a 9-year old should see… they should see that you can make mistakes but if you’re inherently a good person, if you are sorry for the mistakes you’ve made or the bad you’ve done, you can be a hero. My goodness, that is such an important lesson for… for everyone!

JC: The Golden Guard will be featuring a wide range of characters including Black Viper, an anti-hero. How big of a role will these side characters have and can you tell us about the importance of anti-heroes to you in comics?

VD: I have to be careful because I can say too much. The core team is made up of Americana, the aforementioned leader; Cadmus, her second in command; King Jaguar, the devil-may-care swashbuckler; Silent Shield, the former G-man turned crimefighter; Honorata, Charlemagne’s thirteenth knight; and Kid Viper, the first sidekick of the Golden Age. They meet up with their teammate in the modern world, Theo Concord, a.k.a. Captain Scarab, who is now in his 70s or 80s. Readers will meet the entire team at the beginning of Chapter One, but by Chapter Two, this will be the team.
JC: Sidekicks will also have a role in the TGG story, which is similar to the focal point in your prior work, Stray. What’s the importance of Sidekicks and their legacy to you, and what makes them important to The Golden Guard?

VD: They’re not incredibly important to the larger story in The Golden Guard, but I wanted to make sure that we had one represented (or three, when you see the finished book). And that’s probably because the concept of the sidekicks is important to me. As a kid, I wanted to be Robin, and I’ve always felt that Dick Grayson, as Robin, Nightwing or even Batman, is the character that I relate to the most. I’m currently wearing a “Grayson” t-shirt! Kid Viper is thought to be, in this universe at least, the proto-sidekick. And if that’s the case, you have to tell his story. Like I said, we’re taking marginalized minorities, and in this case, the idea of millennials (which he technically isn’t, but he will end up representing).

JC: As someone whose been published by many publishers over the years and has worked on both established properties and creator-owned work, what kind of advice would you give to writers trying to get their work out there and what do you want to see coming from the comics industry as new creators come in?

VD: I usually tell writers to just keep writing. Get all the bad pages out and just keep your head up. I think the days of trying to break into the Big Three or Four or whatever it is… well, that’s indicative of the fact that all things are kind of equal now… but I think those days are over. There are so many avenues available now that you don’t have to break in the same way as someone else. Save your money, find an artist to pair up with. Go.

JC: Before we wrap up, what else should we know about The Golden Guard?

VD: I think backers and casual observers might be surprised to find out that we’re one, putting out a magazine, two, putting it out annually, and three, also including a tabletop roleplaying game with the characters (including a pull-out map!). In the spirit of creating a relationship with our readers, we wanted to make something they could rely on. So, if we’re successful in March (and I have a lot of faith that we will be), every subsequent March (2018, 2019, etc), we will put out a new Golden Guard story which will also expand the RPG. Eventually, we’ll crowdfund a collection for both the comic and the RPG. And we’ll take the same amount of time to make it, and put it out by October. Every. Year. We’re just trying to stand apart from what we’ve seen, and make something we want to own.

JC: That sounds great! Thank you so much for chatting with me, Vito! Follow The Golden Guard on Facebook to get all the latest updates and don’t forget to check out the Kickstarter when it launches this Thursday, March 2nd.

Box Office Democracy: “Get Out”

I am going to spend a lot of time telling you how scary Get Out is, but I want to take a moment at the top of this review to tell you how fresh it is.  Jordan Peele is a first time director and he’s made a movie that isn’t like anything I’ve seen before.  He seems to understand his actors so well he gets performances that are frankly unbelievable.  I could spend an entire afternoon trying to describe the range of emotions in a 30 second sequence of this film and still feel inadequate, so I don’t know how you get someone to do it on camera.  Horror movies are about metaphor and tempo control, and both are handled here in ways I’ve never seen before— and while I’m not enough of a horror maven to guarantee it’s never been done before I sure see a lot of movies.  I generally do not care for horror movies, and I loved Get Out.

Get Out is a simple enough story: Chris, a black man, (Daniel Kaluuya) is nervous about his white girlfriend Rose (Allison Williams) taking him home to meet her parents when they don’t know he’s black.  He meets them and a slew of microaggressions from her father (Bradley Whitford), and some prodding about his smoking habit from her mother (Catherine Keener) make him uncomfortable.  All of the black people his sees in this town behave strangely, and it spirals out from there into a story I don’t want to spoil (but one of the trailers sure seems to have the whole thing) because if you can see it clean it’s really worth it.  It functions as a great parable about the dangers of more insidious forms of racism, or you could ignore all of that and simply appreciate it as one of the freshest horror movies we’ve seen in some time.  Hell, just by having the protagonist be an able-bodied young man it’s well outside the norm for a modern horror movie.

It’s hard to say exactly why Get Out is so scary, because it isn’t scary in typical movie fashion.  There are jump scares, but they’re used sparingly compared to what modern horror has prepared for us.  Neither is the horror some kind of monster or disgusting creature.  Get Out traffics in the horror of realizing you are in a very bad situation and that you perhaps should have left some time ago.  It’s a movie about growing unease and slowly inching yourself towards the edge of your chair.  We’re all probably familiar with Jordan Peele from his comedy work, and there are some good laughs here but I can’t help but suspect they’re helped along by the general unease and need for release it builds in the audience.  That said ,the backyard gathering scene is one of the funniest things we’ll see all year.  The character of Rod functions as kind of a Greek Chorus and also gets a lot of good material just sort of commenting on the absurdity of the whole situation.  Those are easier laughs but no less genuine.

I want to call Get Out the best horror movie I’ve seen in years, but I keep coming back to Crimson Peak and what a fantastic movie that was.  In a lot of ways they aren’t remotely the same thing.  Crimson Peak was made by a director who has been working for decades, cost $55 million dollars to make, and is anchored but these massive shots of haunting vistas and expensive looking sets.  Get Out is a first-time director spending $4.5 million for a movie that gets most of the terror out of small moments of unease.  The shot that will stay with me from Crimson Peak is Mia Wasikowska walking in to the door of that house for the first time to discover there are holes in the ceiling and a sinking floor; my most incredible moment in Get Out is when Chris tells Georgina that he gets scared when too many white people are around and we watch her go from terror to crying to laughing it off.  Both are haunting, both are incredible and both are sublime triumphs of slightly different kinds of craft.  This is a long way to say: who cares what the best horror movie is, as long as we get so many excellent ones.

I am, of course, not the best person to talk about the racial politics of this movie— my analysis is going to be facile compared to the myriad critics you could find who actually have to live with the prejudices this movie plays on.  I will say that this movie plays on some of the fears instilled in me as a child when my father warned me that as a Jewish man I should never go on a road trip through the American south.  That isn’t what this movie is about, but it certainly made me afraid of big expanses of nothing filled with a certain kind of polite white people in it.  That is nothing like being black in America and should not be read as trying to make this film about me, rather just trying to explain why it worked on me the way it did.  If you’ve read all the way this far please go find and read two reviews of this movie written by black critics.

REVIEW: Doctor Strange

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been very careful and deliberate as it introduces mass audiences to over 75 years of comic book continuity and conventions. Wisely, we had a handful of super-heroes before we had a team and after some hints about outer space, we had a specific look with Guardians of the Galaxy. Sooner or later, once “Stephen Strange” was name-checked in Captain America: Winter Solider, we knew a peek at the supernatural side was coming.

When Doctor Strange finally arrived last November, it was an amazing visual triumph that nicely walked us through some of how magic worked while offering up an origin story that showed a man’s hubris turned into something better. While the broad strokes make Strange and Tony Stark nearly identical, their journeys are vastly different with the former far slower to accept the consequences of his actions.

But the film, out now on disc from Disney Home Entertainment, is also the study of conflicting ideals as Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) comes to accept his new role and responsibilities while an ally, Karl Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor), sees things vastly differently and sets up a future conflict.

The film, from writers Jon Spaihts and Scott Derrickson & C. Robert Cargill and director Scott Derrickson, leavens the heavy supernatural with doses of humor, usually offered up by Wong (Benedict Wong). We also get to see how much Strange has changed and how accepting denizens of Marvel Earth have come to accept the fantastic through Strange’s colleague and former lover Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams).

While drawing much from the early Stan Lee-Steve Ditko issues of Strange Tales, there are pieces unique to the film, from Palmer to the silly sling rings needed to remain in another location. Disappointingly, the relationship between Strange and his teacher, the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton), is all-too-brief.

Strange’s search for healing is also one of redemption, counterpointed by Kaecilius’s (Mads Mikkelsen) fall from grace. He and his cypher disciples seek enlightenment and power from the Dark Dimension, exposing the connections the Ancient One has with its ruler, the Dread Dormammu (Cumberbatch). There are rich complexities in the story even if Kaecilius’ personality is two-dimension in comparison with so many of the other characters.

The visually sumptuous production fits in nicely with the rest of the MCU although it is let down by a rote Michael Giacchino score that doesn’t enhance the story nearly enough.

The post credits sequence with Thor (Chris Hemsworth) firmly connects this film to the greater MCU and apparently sets up his appearance in November’s Thor Ragnarok and next summer’s Avengers Infinity War. How supernatural, mythology, and super-science blend should be interesting.

The film has been released in a variety of formats but the Blu-ray has a fine high def 1080p transfer. Given how much goes on through visual effects, it’s good to be able to discern all the detail. The DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless soundtrack is a fine companion and makes for a good viewing experience.

The amount of bonus features is pleasantly surprising starting with the commentary. There’s a multipart look at the making of the film that is a little more surface than depth but has good information and BTS footage including A Strange Transformation (9:42), Strange Company (12:37), The Fabric of Reality (12:32), Across Time and Space (13:21), and The Score-Cerer Supreme (9:51).

There is also a brief Marvel Studios Phase 3 Exclusive Look (7:28) that tries to put things into perspective with a distinct lack of specificity.

For those who liked the Team Thor short, we now get Team Thor: Part 2 (4:38), the best being Thor explaining Civil War to an elementary school class.

There are some interesting Deleted & Extended Scenes (7:52) and a nicely edited Gag Reel (4:12).

Mindy Newell: Maybe You Haven’t Been Keeping Up, But…”

Bill Maher may be claiming that he’s responsible for kicking Milo Yiannopoulos off of Breitbart and out of the CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) convention – or whatever the hell their annual party is called – but the truth is I did it. Yep, those words I “uttered” last week did it. Di pen shist erger fun a fayl, which is the Yiddish way of saying that the pen is mightier than the sword. Okay, for you purists out there, the actual translation is The pen stings worse than an arrow.

Well, Milo might be gone – and don’t let the door hit you on the ass your way out, luzer (Yiddish for “loser) – but the hate just keeps on coming. In a bar in Kansas, a piece of drek (Yiddish for “shit,” and I promise to stop with the Yiddish already) who had been asked to leave for using racial slurs came back with a gun, shouted, “Get the hell out of my country,” and then shot two men, both from India. One was killed, the other wounded.

Anti-Semitism is clearly on the uptick, with – you’re not going to believe this – 19,253 tweets against Jewish journalists since you-know-who started his campaign, over 70 bomb threats made over the phone to Jewish community centers in the two months since the election, and the desecration of Jewish cemeteries in Philadelphia and the St. Louis areas. Attacks against Muslims are spiking, too; in my own city a jerk named Jonathan Hussey was arrested by the police for writing “Fuck Muslims,” “Fuck Allah,” “Fuck Arabs” and “Donald Trump” on the recently opened Muslim Community Center. In Queens, New York a Moroccan Uber driver caught the driver of an SUV on film yelling “Trump is president, asshole, so you can kiss your fuckin’ visa goodbye, scumbag, we’ll deport you soon, don’t worry, you fuckin’ terrorist” at him. Mosques have been vandalized and set on fire.

Overall the Southern Poverty Law Center has been kept busy since President Trump – I still shiver whenever I put those two words together – was inaugurated, tracking 700 incidents like the above, not only against Jews and Muslims, but also against Latino, immigrants, African-Americans, and the LGBTQ community. He took office on January 22. Today is February 27. That’s one month and six days.

“Oh, dear Lord Jesus, this ain’t happening, man…This can’t be happening, man! This isn’t happening!”

Private Hudson uttered those words in Aliens; the man who played him, Bill Paxton, 61, died on Saturday (February 25) from, according to his family, “surgical complications.”

I loved Bill Paxton. I loved him in Aliens, I loved him in Titanic, in Twister, and Apollo 13, on Big Love on HBO and on the 2014 season of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., in which he played S.H.I.E.L.D. agent John Garret, a Hydra mole.

His other credits – over 80 of them – include Weird Science, Tombstone, Predator 2 and the History Channel’s “Hatfields & McCoys” mini-series, for which he won an Emmy for his Randolph McCoy. There was something so personable and real about Paxton’s acting – like every great character actor, he was able to project the “average Joe” as a doppelganger for us, the audience. C’mon, wouldn’t you have reacted like Private Hudson if you were trapped on a planet where the mission turned sour?

I’ll leave you with one more quote from Bill Paxton as Private Hudson in Aliens:

“Is he fuckin’ crazy?”

Yes, he is. At least you won’t have to suffer the indignities of the coming years.

Our headline atop this week’s column is a quote from Bill Paxton as Private Hudson in Aliens (1986).

Rest in peace, Mr. Paxton.

The staff of ComicMix offers our most heartfelt condolences to Mindy on the loss of her father, WWII fighter pilot Meyer Newell. Mindy often spoke of him here in this space, and our respect, admiration and gratitude knows no bounds.

 

Ed Catto’s Comic-Con Conversation with Graham Nolan

I can’t agree with fans that hate big crowds at big comic conventions. I tend to like big crowds. And I am always astonished by the way the San Diego Comic-Con takes over that town. I’m also in awe that the New York Comic Con is the biggest convention held in New York City’s Javits Center. The massive attendees at every big comic-con are both testaments to Geek Culture, and virtual victory laps for all fans everywhere.

To be honest, I also enjoy smaller comic conventions. There’s something special about being able to just wander up to a favorite creator and engage in a conversation with him or her. And at smaller shows, it’s empowering to be able to casually flip through a long box of comics to search for treasures, without elbowing your way through a crushing wall of other fans searching for their own treasures.

I’ll never forget a great experience I had at a smaller show years ago. A local comic con decided to expand with a second show. They decided to hold this spinoff convention in in the open area of a mall. Attendance was abysmal, but that worked out in my favor. Jim Shooter, the headlining professional, very patiently answered all my young fanboy questions for hours and hours. There was no one else waiting to speak to him, after all. I don’t think I talked for 24 hours straight, but I’m sure it seemed that way to Jim. And you know what? That was a kindness I’ve never forgotten.

So it’s no surprise that I’m very excited for Syracuse’s Salt City Comic-Con in June. I’ve recently moved from metro New York to the Finger Lakes, and we’re finding so many cool things going on up here. This convention looks to be a very substantial comic-con with a small show feel.
One of my favorite artists, Graham Nolan, will be a guest at this year’s show. Part of why I like his art so much is that he’s been involved with so many of my favorite stories. I fondly recall the introduction of Bane, the first villain to soundly defeat Batman. And the adventure of two immigrants from Thanagar assimilating to American culture in the Hawkworld series was fascinating and fresh.

But the other part of why I enjoy his work is that Nolan’s always been able to deliver solid artwork with a flair for the dramatic. It’s grounded, but it’s fantastic. Every Graham Nolan page is an example of fine draftsmanship, but also always infused with a thrilling level of action and adventure.

So, unable to wait until the convention in June, I wanted to have a one of those
substantial convention conversations with this fine artist. I reached out to Graham Nolan for this pre-con conversation:

Ed Catto: You were an early graduate of the Joe Kubert School. What are your fondest memories of that experience?

Graham Nolan: Actually, I never graduated from Kubert’s. I ran out of money for the third year. The two years I did attend were a great experience though. I learned a lot and was surrounded by people that shared the same passions as I did.

EC: We tend to revere Joe Kubert around here – what was it like learning from him?

GN: Joe was a force of nature. He had a presence that few have. When he spoke, you listened. He made everything he did seem so damn easy.

EC: You worked on Power Of The Atom, an Atom reboot, with CNY-er Roger Stern. Those were exciting times and it seemed to shine through in that series. What stands out in your memory about that series?

GN: It was a fun series that I wish I had been on from issue #1

EC: Our regular readers know how enamored I am with your Hawkworld series. Can you tell us a little about that series, what you were looking to achieve with it, and what your thoughts on it today are?

GN: That was a tough act to follow. I was passed the reigns from the popular mini-series by Tim Truman and Alcatena. I wanted to capture the feel of that series but add my own sense of storytelling dynamism to it.

EC: Follow-up question – Any thoughts on following in the footsteps of Joe Kubert on Hawkman?

GN: Not really. Hawkworld was so far afield from Joe’s work I felt like I was following Truman and not Kubert.

EC: You spent so much time working The Phantom – with fantastic results. Was that a labor of love for you?

GN: I always loved The Phantom. When Don Newton did the art for the Charlton books, I really flipped over the character. The Phantom was my Mom’s favorite character growing up. I regret that she passed before getting to see me take over the character.

EC: Comic strips like Rex Morgan, M.D. don’t seem to get the same fan appreciation at comic conventions. Do you find that frustrating?

GN: Comic strips don’t seem to get fan appreciation anywhere! The newspaper is a dying delivery device for comic-strips. They are so small these days that there are some strips I can’t even read!

EC: Monster Island was your own property. How different is it work on something like that as opposed to big company characters?

GN: Everything has to be created from scratch vs. it being established by others. But the creative freedom is wonderful.

EC: Let’s look ahead – can you tell us what you’re working on now?

GN: I’m currently doing my weekly humor strip, Sunshine State for GoComics.com and Chuck Dixon and I are back at DC working on a 12 issue Bane project called Bane: Conquest.

EC: Sounds like fun stuff, Graham, really looking forward to it all.

For more information on Graham Nolan, check out his site here, and for more information on Syracuse’s Salt City Comic-Con, check out their site here.

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