Scifies the 2019 Anthology

Okay, I want to take a little bit of time to talk about one of my favorite collaborators, Ramon Gil. Ramon is one of those Jack-of-all-Trade Entrepreneurs, he has his fingers in a number of pies. he is a writer, artist, publisher, teacher, and more.

Back in 2015, a short time after I met him, I was invited to write an introduction to his collection of short illustrated stories, Scifies Greatest Hits. the book was a collection of a number of Ramon’s previously-published stories. Given that I was already a fan of Ramon’s work, I was honored to be asked, and so I happily agreed. At the time, I wrote:

“It is an honest pleasure to find not only a science fiction title out there, but one produced by a writer who seems to understand that drama doesn't have to be all dramatic, and humor doesn't have to be all belly-laughs.” 

In 2018 Ramon invited me to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology Diversity Con in NYC (I’ll be attending again this year) which is a comic con that he organized. So yeah, Ramon is a very busy guy, and I wish I had half his energy.

Still, what I want to talk about here is the 2019 Scifies anthology that he put
together. This time, instead of writing the whole book himself, he assembled a very impressive array of talent to contribute stories. This edition features work from several rising stars as well as a number of seasoned veterans of the comicbook industry, including Nicolò Arcuti, Chase Bluestone, Paul Bradford, Allen Byrns, Claire Connelly, Macareña Cortes, Daniel Franco, Rob Jones, Matt Kelly, Dick Malmgren, Micah Myers, Jan Marc Quisumbing, Peder Riis, Derwin Roberson, Tue Sorensen, Marta Tanrikulu and Lynne Yoshii, and yes, even your humble blogger.

The 10 stories include the following eight new stories:

Tomorrow: A nightmarish, militaristic future might be more than it seems. By Claire Connelly.

Ocean of Emptiness: a vampire, the last of his kind, tries to survive in a world that's hunting him. By Paul Bradford, Allen Byrnes and Micah Myers. 

Name Day: a fantastical shopping trip for a young girl with her father. By Marta Tanrikulu, Daniel Franco and Robin Jones.

Spacegirl Speeda in Lazerville: a cosmic superheroine in the future makes an unusual friend. By Tue Sorensen and Peder Riis.

Lt. Yorick: As if the presence of a silent astronaut wasn't strange enough for this suburban family, ten-year-old Jude's nightmares hint at a catastrophic end for them all, in this otherworldly coming of age tale. By Matt Kelly and Nicolo Arcuti.

The Last Survivor: the story a lone soldier trying to make her last stand against an alien creature leads to a shocking twist. By Lynne Yoshii.

The ninth story is something of a unique oddity. When one of the original contributors pulled out of the project due to a conflict, Ramon found an old Sci-fi story that existed in the public domain, then — in the tradition of Woody Allen’s What’s up, Tiger Lily? he re-wrote the dialogue adding, well, a heaping helping of trademark Ramon humor, making it one of my favorite tales in the collection.

Emergency Landing: visitors from a one-gendered planet encounters a human female who will not be denied. By Dick Malmgren and Ramon Gil.

The 10^th and final story is one written by, well, me, and then magnificently illustrated by Ramon.

The Long Event Horizon: a dangerous space expedition leads to an unforgettable conclusion! By Robert J. Sodaro and Ramon Gil.

All-in-all, this is a wonderful collection of sci-fi-themed stories rendered by an amazingly-talent crew to which I am grateful and honored to have been associated with for the project.

As I stated at the onset of this post, Ramon has the talent, ability and drive to assemble and produce some truly amazing projects, and I am always thrilled when he chooses to include me in whatever he is doing.

Captain Spider-Man

Given that today is Punch a Nazi Day…er, Independence Day we decided to pen a tale of two of our favorite iconic heroes; Spider-Man and Captain America.

In the beginning, there was the Hero, and the Hero was with man, and the Hero was man. This is the way it was in the beginning. There is a reason that we worship Heroes. We love and adore them, and we know that as much as we admire them, we will never be them, but still we not only aspire to be like them, we choose to emulate them. Then when they fail, we abandon them to the fates. As it turns out, every generation throws a Hero up the pop charts, only to wait to watch when they inevitably fall.

By this I mean that as a people, we aspire to work towards a greater good. We want to perceive the world as allegory, with a higher power or powers directing us, or even acting in concert with us. We want to believe that there are those among us who will rise up and lead or protect and rescue us in our hour of need (i.e.: The 7^th Calvary, The Marines, A White Knight, if you will).

It is my contention that there are, and always have been, those who take up the mantle of patrón, those who are willing to put themselves in harm’s way to protect those of us who are weaker. Joseph Campbell talked about the Hero’s Journey; that path that an ordinary individual must take to become the person that are destined to become. I believe in destiny not so much as a force of nature, but more as a character — one of many actors on the scene — than as an immutable path that can never be altered.

So, yes, there are heroes, and yes, sometimes those heroes fail, but that doesn’t not stop us from either believing in them, or continuing to craft stories about them, whether real or fictional.

As for me, I am a member of the cult of Heroes. I am, at my core, a Heroist. That is to say that I, perceive myself to be a founding member of the cult of Heroes, because of this, I find that I must misquote Voltaire and say that I truly believe that if Heroes did not exist, then we would have been required to create them. Obviously, both sides of that last statement are true.

Captain America is one of those heroes. Created by Jack Kirby in 1940, Captain America has grown to become the living embodiment of America. A symbol of how we perceive ourselves. There is this great story about Kirby, when he was working at the Timely/Marvel offices, Jack took a phone call. The voice on the other end said, “There are three of us down here in the lobby. We want to see the guy who does this disgusting comicbook [Captain America] and show him what real Nazis would do to his Captain America.” To the horror of others in the office, Kirby rolled up his sleeves and headed downstairs. However, by the time he arrived in the building’s lobby, the callers were gone.

Cap is a one-of-a-kind hero who understands that he is more than just some guy in a suit who fights crime. He is an icon in that he is the embodiment of the very ideals upon which this country was founded. You want to talk Truth, Justice, and The American Way? Let’s talk about Captain America; a trans-generational hero who will stand his ground and “Do this all day” if need be. He is the guy who rushes into a building with an active shooter when everyone else is running out. A Hero’s hero. A rallying cry to the downtrodden and to those who will sacrifice everything for those without a voice.

And yet, he isn’t the only one.

It has long been my contention that Spider-Man is the Captain America of my generation (I came of age during Stan, Jack, and Steve’s launching of the Marvel Age of comics), and I wish to take a moment or two of your time to expound my theory. Like Steve Rogers before him, Peter Parker was born a skinny lad with a pure heart. As a young man, Steve trended towards the arts, while Peter was intoxicated by science. What links both of them is that each had a strong sense of obligation and duty to others.

While not much is known of Steve’s parents, the little we do know is that Steve was born July 4, 1922, to Sarah and Joseph Rogers, Irish Catholic immigrants. Rogers grew up a frail youth in New York City during the Great Depression. His father passed away when Steve was a child and his mother died from pneumonia when Steve was in his late teens. Other than these few facts — and that he had a strong sense of duty, honor, and humility instilled in him by his parents — precious little else is known about Rogers’ early life. Truth to tell, Steve’s real story began when he was injected with the Super Soldier formula and exposed to Vita rays, becoming Captain America.

Much more is known about Peter Parker’s formative years, he’s the son of Richard and Mary Parker. The Parkers were a pair of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who died on an assignment while fighting the Red Skull. Peter in turn, was raised by his uncle and aunt, Ben and May Parker. When Peter was 15, he was attending a science exhibit and was bitten by a radioactive spider which gave him his powers. Shortly thereafter his uncle was killed by a burglar that Peter later realized he could have stopped prior to the assault on his uncle, if only he acted. This incident transformed Peter into Spider-Man for real.

Like Steve before him, Peter was also instilled with a strong sense of duty, honor, and humility courtesy of his aunt and uncle. Perhaps the most well-known hero mantra in all of fiction are the words uttered by Peter’s Uncle Ben to him as a youth, “With great power must also come great responsibility.” It was these words that propelled Peter, as Spider-Man to help others in need.

We have long contended that the only real difference between Peter and Steve is that Steve had the unique and dubious advantage of having been wrapped in the flag and trained by the military. Peter, for his part had to figure out his powers on his own. It was then Peter’s ill fortune to inadvertently run afoul of Daily Bugle publisher, J. Jonah Jameson (when Spidey rescued Jameson’s son, astronaut John Jameson on an ill-fated space mission). It was this selfless act that caused the self-aggrandizing Jameson Sr. to decide that Spidey was a show-boating glory hound taking fame away from “real” heroes like his son John.

Had it not been for Jameson’s massive ego, and over-blown sense of self-importance Spider-Man wouldn’t have had to wait so long for acceptance and credibility among the general populace (heroes like Cap, Daredevil, and others tended to believe in his heroic nature from the start). Still, one can only wonder (and we have) how different would Peter’s life have been if he too had had the advantage of a military experience. Well (without going into too many specifics) consider the following, if Peter had acquired military training, coming to the attention of Col. Fury, who had just been installed as the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. recruits Peter as both a scientist and super-agent. Then when Steve steps down as Cap

(In Captain America #153 (1972) Steve Englehart determined to close the gap on the 1950s reboot of Cap as a commie smasher (something that Stan eradicated with Cap coming out of the ice direct from WWII into the then present in Avengers #4. This led to Steve’s disillusionment of maintaining the role of America’s hero, causing him to step down as Cap and taking up the role of Nomad. Steve eventually took up the role of Cap in Captain America #184).

During this interim period, Fury taps Peter to become the new Captain America. Having already established his Spider-Man persona, Peter determines to maintain a bit of his own history even as he steps into his new role as America’s Captain, and adapts the stars and stripes of Cap’s Iconic costume to his own Spider-sensibilities. Needless to say, when Steve determines to take up the shield once more, Peter becomes, well, Captain Spider-Man.

To be sure, as a life-long Spidey fan, I have thought long and hard about this particular incarnation of my webbed hero, but clearly I’m not the only one who has considered this version of Spidey-Cap, as the accompanying photo and article of an actual cosplay costume indicates.

The Kinder Avengers

Some years back (2000) a book I wrote about fast food toys and collectibles hit the book shelves. That book was entitled Kiddie Meal Collectibles. It was a fun book to write and I rather enjoyed not only doing the research, compiling the data, but actually writing. Over the years since them I've continued to write about and collect toys attached to food products, mostly superhero-related toys, to be sure, but still.

Recently I have become aware of the presence of Kinder Eggs here in the U.S. Now, they are not the same as the Kinder Eggs that are found in Canada, but that actually matters less to me than the toys themselves. Last year I found out that the U.S. Kinder Eggs started licensing the toys that are included (still not sure if the Canadian eggs do as well).

So far I have found Barbie, Star Wars, and Avengers. I scored just a single Barbie Kinder, and a few Star Wars figures, but my best find were complete sets of Avengers:Infinity Wars and Avengers: Endgame figures.

First up the Avengers:

Avengers Infinity War

In this set we have Iron Man (L),
(Back row) Captain America, Groot, Ant Man, Star Lord,
(front row) Black Panther, Wasp, and Spider-Man

 

    

     

The second image is the front of the instructions to the left we have one of the Kinder Egg shells,and then to the right we have five of the assembly instructions.

Avengers Endgame

This set gave us (L) Spider-Man
(Way Back) Iron Man, Captain America, Groot, Ant Man,
(Middle) Black Panther, Thor (who seems to be laying down on the job),
(front & center) Hulk

Here we have the instructions for assembling the Black Panther as well as the front view of the full team (sadly, Wasp, Gamora, and Captain Marvel are pictured but don't appear in the toy set).

 

An Avengers: Endgame egg shell, and Iron Man

Spidey and Ant Man

Hulk & Groot

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

I don't recall how many characters were in this set, but here is R2D2, A Sith Lord, and an Imperial Trooper (If I remembered their names I'd certainly tell you).

One of the Star Wars egg shells

Barbie

Only picked up a single Barbie Kinder Egg

Candida Kinder Eggs

These are the Canadian Kinder Eggs I picked up (the difference is that in the Canadian eggs the toy is inside the chocolet egg, while in the American versions, the toy is in half the shell and the chocolate is in the other half with a scoop to get at the chocolate.

These are the two toys that I acquired from the Canadian eggs. 

I know that I have some other random Kinder eggs (Including some from Jurassic Park), but they will have to wait for another post (once I can find them). 

Flags Hung Backwards on Stranger Things

So, yeah, I'm a (one-time) Boy Scout, as well as a (former) Scout leader, and if there was one thing that I learned as a Scout, it was how to hang a flag. The fact that so many people simply don't know how to hang one, really bothers the living crap out of me. So whenever I see it these days, I call it out.

The most recent place that I've seen this, is on the Netflix streaming TV show Stranger Things.

In season two, episode three we have the first instance of a flag hung backwards:

Then in season two episode five we have the egregious error twice.

As you can see from the three photos above, there is an American Flag hung in a vertical (rather than a horizontal) position. The way these flags have been hung is wrong. According to the U.S. Flag Code when hung, the flag should always (ALWAYS) be displayed with the blue star field in the upper left corner.

When horizontal the flag should be hung like this:

When hung vertical, the flag should be hung like the image on the left, not the right.

It may seem like a rather small thing, but if you are going to to do something (show your patriotism), then it should be done correctly.

More Flags Hung Backwards

Anyone who has read any of my posts knows that there are some things that make me nuts, one of those things is people (especially people who should know better), hanging flags backwards.

According to Flag Code, the blue field of stars is always (ALWAYS) hung in the upper left of the flag as it faces forward (the viewer). That is especially true when the flag is hung vertically. Needless to say, you would be amazed how often it is hung wrong.

First up is from episode five of Black Summer (Netflix) the scene is from a military base:

Next up is from Jordan Klepper’s new Comedy Central show, where he is talking to vets with PTSD who are using wrestling as a way to overcome their condition.

The next two are from an upcoming film Blinded by the Light (based on the music from Bruce Springsteen):

Seriously, how difficult is it to hire someone to figure out the right way to hang an American flag, and then do it?

What's in a Name?

So, this past couple of month has (for us at least), been all about the Captain Marvels (yes, kids, there are more than well, three (Fawcett/DC, M. F. Enterprises, Marvel). Confused? Well there have been at least five people over at Marvel who have held the title (not including alternate universe versions) including Carol Danvers who current holds the title (and stared in her own film). M. F. Enterprise had one Captain Marvel (who starred in his own short-lived comic, but never got a movie), and of course Fawcett/DC’s Billy Batson/Shazam! (currently appearing in his own film) where there is just one “Captain” but three Lieutenants, a sister, a“Junior” as well as an anthropomorphic tiger (technically making seven).

But all of that is besides the point. What we are here to do today is to talk about the Fawcett/DC’s current, updated DCEU version of Capt...ah...er...Shazam! As noted above, we’ve seen the film and thoroughly enjoyed it (There are two (2) post-credit trailers — one after the main trailers, and a second all the way at the end of the credits — stick around for both). The film itself is clearly targeted for not only a younger audience, but is far more light and uplifting than most of the DCEU previous films.

Still, we did feel that there were some dark overtones throughout (language as well as an unexpectedly brutal murder or two). Having said that, we will continue to stress the overall lighter tone to the film, especially with the constant winking to Shazam himself, as he never quite fully buys into an official name for himself. While Dr. Sivana ( Mark Strong) refers to him as the “Champion” both Shazam (Zachary Levi) and Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer) — mostly Freddy — rattle off a slew of names as they splatter social media with vids of Shazam as the boys put him through his paces while testing out his powers and abilities. a short list of those names includes the following:

• Captain Sparklefingers
• Thundercrack
• Mr. Philadelphia
• Power Boy
• ZAP-tain America
• Red Cyclone
• Maximum Voltage
• Sir Zaps-A-Lot
• Human Powerstorm

Part of the reason that this naming sequence is so entertaining is due in part to the long and convoluted history of “The Bit Red Cheese” himself (even though no one ever refers to him in that way. As chronicled here there is a rather straightforward (if slightly convoluted) reason for his name change. But forget all that. go and see what may be the most entertainingly cute superhero film you are likely to see this year.

The Captains’ Name is Marvel!

This posting is not my review of the new Captain Marvel movie (that was posted over here), this is a conversation about the Captains named Marvel. 

Well, now that Marvel’s Captain Marvel has had — not only a $153,433,423 opening weekend, but has (as of 3/28/19 — just 19 days in) and passed $918,893,856 worldwide — I guess we can safely say that there are more people interested in seeing a strong female lead in an action (superhero) movie, than there are tragic, broken, misogynist fanboys, eh?

However, before we get to all of that, let’s first get these two — no three — things out of the way right now:

1. Captain Marvel is not Marvel’s first film with a female lead, that would have been Elektra (2005)
2. Marvel’s Captain Marvel character was first introduced in 1967 between then and now (52 years) the title of “Captain Marvel” has been held by four different males (for a total of 31 years), and three females (21 Years). Hence any conversation anyone wants to have about the gender of Captain Marvel, is simply beyond moot
3. There have been at least two non-Marvel Comics characters named Captain Marvel (both males), and the film for the more famous of those two will drop on April 5^th

Okay, that done; let’s get on with this essay.

The very first character named “Captain Marvel” was actually neither the female character that appears in the recently-released superhero film from Marvel Studios, nor the male superhero Mar-Vell (who initially appeared in comics in Marvel Super-Heroes #12 in 1967 and then died in Marvel Graphic Novel The Death of Captain Marvel (April 1982). No, the first Captain appeared in Whiz Comics #2 that was published by Fawcett Publications which began in own publishing history back in 1919 with the magazine Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang. (Unavoidable Aside: Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang was one of the most notorious popular humor magazines of the 1920s, and the only reason that we know about it is that it was referenced in the musical The Music Man by Meredith Willson — a favorite of ours since we were a child. That Captain Billy’s magazine and Whiz Comics were even remotely related was completely unknown to us prior to researching this piece.)

But we were distracted.

Fawcett’s Captain Marvel was actually a 12-year-old child named Billy Batson, who when he spoke the magic word “SHAZAM” (an acronym of six “immortal elders”: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury), was able to transform himself into an adult costumed hero with the powers of superhuman strength, speed, flight and other abilities. This Captain Marvel (often referred to as “The Big Red Cheese”) was co-created by artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker way back in 1939 and debuted in Whiz Comics #2 (cover-dated Feb. 1940. The Captain soon became so popular that his exploits soon were outselling his rival over at National Periodical Publications (the forerunner of DC Comics) selling as many as 14 million copies in 1944. In fact, the Big Red Cheese’s grew in popularity so much, that soon there was a whole family of Marvel, including three Lieutenant Marvels, Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr., and Hoppy the Marvel Bunny.

Well, Fawcett finally settled the lawsuit in DC’s favor in 1954 legally preventing Fawcett from printing another Captain Marvel comic. Part of the reason that Fawcett capitulated, was because by then the superhero comicbook market was collapsing, making it not worth Fawcett’s effort to appeal the case again. Instead, the publisher simply closed up shop, leaving Superman to soar the skies of Metropolis without having to concern himself with any competition on the newsstands.

The funnybook world proceeded on Captain Marvel-less, until 1966, when M. F. Enterprises produced yet a new Captain Marvel. This one was an android from another planet whose main characteristic was (strangely enough) the ability to split his body into several individual parts, each of which could move on its own. He triggered the separation by shouting “Split!” and then reassembled himself by shouting “Xam!” This Captain Marvel had a young human ward named (coincidentally enough) Billy Baxton. Unfortunately for him, this Captain Marvel series (which was based on a character created by Carl Burgos) was short-lived as the previous Captain’s Legal issues blossomed anew when Marvel Comics (Formerly Timely) sued M. F. Enterprises over the use of the word “Marvel” in the title which led to M.F. ceasing publication after only five issues.

Then, in 1967 Marvel first introduced its own Captain Marvel character. This time he was — once again — an alien. Mar-Vell was a Kree warrior, from a race of warriors hailing from a planet named Hala. He spent the next 15 years superheroing throughout the Marvel universe, until he was exposed to radioactive chemicals and contracted cancer. Mar-Vell died in 1982 in one of Marvel Comic’s earliest graphic novels (written and illustrated by Jim Starlin). Soon after (in order to maintain the copyright on the name) the mantle “Captain Marvel” was adopted by police captain, Monica Rambeau, who held the moniker from ‘82 to ‘96, when she became Photon, and the name was passed to Genis-Vell (Mar-Vell’s son) who held it from ‘95 to ‘05. From Genis-Vell the mantle was passed over by his sister; Phyla-Vell who held it from ‘04 to ‘07. Then in 2012 the title was assumed by Carol Danvers.

Carol — who has been connected to Mar-Vell since his earliest days — acquired powers from her connection to Mar-Vell and was known as Ms. Marvel who from ‘77 to ‘82. (In 2013, the title of Ms. Marvel was adopted by the teenage Kamala Khan, a Pakistani American (who happens to be Muslim) from Jersey City. Khan has shape-shifting abilities who discovered that she possessed Inhuman genes in the aftermath of the “Inhumanity” storyline. Danvers herself went from calling herself Ms. Marvel to Binary then Warbird before settling on Captain Marvel. Meanwhile Monica Rambeau went from Captain Marvel to Photon, to Pulsar, and beginning in 2013, Spectrum. Genis-Vell went from Captain Marvel to Photon (causing Rambeau to change to Pulsar) while Phyla-Vell becomes Quasar (which she took over from Wendell Elvis Vaughn — who was also known as Marvel Boy and Marvel Man), and then ultimately Martyr.

Oh, and as for the Big Red Cheese himself, after Fawcett ceased publishing Captain Marvel-related comics in 1953 (due to the copyright infringement suit from DC) he and his family languished in limbo until 1972 when Fawcett sold the rights to Captain Marvel to DC. DC then licensed the Marvel Family characters, and returned them to publication; by ‘91, DC had acquired all rights to the various Marvel Family characters and went on to integrate Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family into the DC Universe. However, due to the fact that Marvel Comics now owned the trademark to the name “Captain Marvel”; DC chose to re-brand the character using the trademark Shazam!. In 2011DC relaunched the property, officially renaming the character “Shazam” and his associates became known as the “Shazam Family” the following year

As noted at the start of this article, this year, we are being treated to the cinematic debut of Carol Danvers as Marvel’s Captain. What we didn’t say (but everyone should already know by now), is that we are also being treated to a return to the silver screen of DC’s/(Fawcett’) Captain Marvel/Billy Batson nee Shazam!. Our review of that film now appears right here. In the meantime, all hail (all of) the Captains Marvel!