D.T. Neal's Blog, page 10
April 3, 2024
Legion
I've belatedly been bingeing LEGION (Prime). As a comic collector who'd had his share of NEW MUTANTS comics back in the day, I remember when Legion was introduced as a character.
Legion annoyed me as a character, likely in part because the art style of co-creator Bill Sienkiewicz annoyed me, too. Some folks love his work, but I was a major John Byrne fanboy back in the day (with the Romitas, Paul Smith, and even Dave Cockrum, Frank Miller, and Walt Simonson as pencilers I could roll with).
But Sienkiewicz's splashy, fever-dream style of penciling always bothered my young self (we're talking like 14-16-year-old hotheaded kid). I hated when he took over NEW MUTANTS and the Legion storyline bothered me even more.
Legion was the unacknowledged bastard son of Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller, and the kid had tremendous mutant power -- so much so that he could barely control his incredible powers and would inflict them on others in capricious ways. Legion contains his namesake worth of other characters/entities within him, so you never quite know what (or who) you'll get when Legion staggers into the room.
Between Legion's madness and the way Sienkiewicz drew him, it was like a bad trip.
So, I blew off LEGION when it was out, but decided I'd take the plunge, since Dan Stevens was playing the titular character, and I like Dan Stevens.
The show's radiating a neo-Mod 60s style, even though not set in the 60s. The showrunners were definitely toying with absurdism in the show, with nods to the X-FILES, WATCHMEN, We Anderson, and more. I haven't checked, but I think the showrunners might be Gen Xers (just checked: yep, Noah Hawley's an Xer). It shows in terms of the aesthetics, the music choices, the humor, etc.
Aubrey Plaza is perfectly cast within it, as is Jemaine Clement, Hamish Linklater, and Jean Smart made a Smart decision by being in it, too.
The oddball lunacy of Legion and the storyline is well-suited to the actors playing the roles. I'm sort of amazed they managed to get three seasons out of it, which speaks to an adroit bit of maneuvering on the part of Hawley et al., but as a spectacle, the show clearly delivers mutant mayhem in a wry, evocative way.
I'm partway through Season 2, and, again, my legacy baggage with Legion remains, but I'm still watching, just to see where they go with it.
A key villain in it is the Shadow King, a character who's plagued the Marvel Universe since X-MEN #117, when Xavier dueled him on the astral plane. As the canonical first evil mutant Xavier ever faced, the Shadow King has a long legacy of being an asshole, and he certainly manifested in the NEW MUTANTS.
Seeing him portrayed by Aubrey Plaza is an amusingly appropriate casting twist. She's just right in that role, even though I still find the Shadow King nearly as annoying as I find Legion as a character.
That said, Dan Stevens has enough charisma (or would that be "rizz" as the kids say these days) to carry Legion (and LEGION) credibly, so I'm still watching.
All of the Gen X hat tricks and stylish wackiness has kept me going with it. One can definitely say there's no show like it, even as it plucks bon-bons from others and turns them into neo-psychedelic fireworks.
It's one of those shows where you just know the actors and the showrunners and writers probably had a blast working on it, throwing zany set pieces into production, such as the dance battle between Legion and the Shadow King:
LEGION Dance Battle
'Nuff Said. I'll keep watching, see where it takes me. Damn you, Legion, still haunting the corners of my mind almost 40 years after we first crossed paths!
Legion annoyed me as a character, likely in part because the art style of co-creator Bill Sienkiewicz annoyed me, too. Some folks love his work, but I was a major John Byrne fanboy back in the day (with the Romitas, Paul Smith, and even Dave Cockrum, Frank Miller, and Walt Simonson as pencilers I could roll with).
But Sienkiewicz's splashy, fever-dream style of penciling always bothered my young self (we're talking like 14-16-year-old hotheaded kid). I hated when he took over NEW MUTANTS and the Legion storyline bothered me even more.
Legion was the unacknowledged bastard son of Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller, and the kid had tremendous mutant power -- so much so that he could barely control his incredible powers and would inflict them on others in capricious ways. Legion contains his namesake worth of other characters/entities within him, so you never quite know what (or who) you'll get when Legion staggers into the room.
Between Legion's madness and the way Sienkiewicz drew him, it was like a bad trip.
So, I blew off LEGION when it was out, but decided I'd take the plunge, since Dan Stevens was playing the titular character, and I like Dan Stevens.
The show's radiating a neo-Mod 60s style, even though not set in the 60s. The showrunners were definitely toying with absurdism in the show, with nods to the X-FILES, WATCHMEN, We Anderson, and more. I haven't checked, but I think the showrunners might be Gen Xers (just checked: yep, Noah Hawley's an Xer). It shows in terms of the aesthetics, the music choices, the humor, etc.
Aubrey Plaza is perfectly cast within it, as is Jemaine Clement, Hamish Linklater, and Jean Smart made a Smart decision by being in it, too.
The oddball lunacy of Legion and the storyline is well-suited to the actors playing the roles. I'm sort of amazed they managed to get three seasons out of it, which speaks to an adroit bit of maneuvering on the part of Hawley et al., but as a spectacle, the show clearly delivers mutant mayhem in a wry, evocative way.
I'm partway through Season 2, and, again, my legacy baggage with Legion remains, but I'm still watching, just to see where they go with it.
A key villain in it is the Shadow King, a character who's plagued the Marvel Universe since X-MEN #117, when Xavier dueled him on the astral plane. As the canonical first evil mutant Xavier ever faced, the Shadow King has a long legacy of being an asshole, and he certainly manifested in the NEW MUTANTS.
Seeing him portrayed by Aubrey Plaza is an amusingly appropriate casting twist. She's just right in that role, even though I still find the Shadow King nearly as annoying as I find Legion as a character.
That said, Dan Stevens has enough charisma (or would that be "rizz" as the kids say these days) to carry Legion (and LEGION) credibly, so I'm still watching.
All of the Gen X hat tricks and stylish wackiness has kept me going with it. One can definitely say there's no show like it, even as it plucks bon-bons from others and turns them into neo-psychedelic fireworks.
It's one of those shows where you just know the actors and the showrunners and writers probably had a blast working on it, throwing zany set pieces into production, such as the dance battle between Legion and the Shadow King:
LEGION Dance Battle
'Nuff Said. I'll keep watching, see where it takes me. Damn you, Legion, still haunting the corners of my mind almost 40 years after we first crossed paths!
April 2, 2024
Galactus
Now, admittedly, I stopped paying attention to the Marvel comic universe long ago -- I can't even remember. After the 80s? 1992 at the very latest? Very much the Marvel Bronze Age as I think it's sometimes called.
All of the subsequent continuity contortions, rampant retconning, narrative gymnastics, all of the stuff they did after ~1992 is lost to me. Don't know, don't care.
And my comments here will be reflective of that (don't "Ok, Boomer" me because I'm a Gen Xer, dammit.
Galactus got a good run in the John Byrne FANTASTIC FOUR era, where he really explored that character, and I kind of realized something about Galactus.
The Silver Surfer, for example, is one of my very favorite Marvel Comics characters -- there's something so perfect about that character, both his hippy-trippy musings, his characterization, his mournful, melancholic way. Appeals to the Romantic I am and always will be. I love the Surfer!
But the fact is, the Surfer was one of a line of Heralds of Galactus who always either failed Galactus or betrayed him (or died in the line of duty), which means being a Herald of Galactus is a fraught thing -- to say nothing of the shitty job of finding worlds with either life or the potential for life that are ideal for Galactus to consume. That's a rough gig by any measure.
I'll list the Heralds I remember, and will continue with my point:
Silver Surfer (Water)
Air Walker (Air)*
Firelord (Fire)
Destroyer (N/A -- Earth?)
Terrax (Earth)*
Nova (Fire)*
*Deceased
I willfully don't consider any Heralds past Nova, because they're past my time. And I don't consider any before the Surfer that may have been retconned into existence. I include the Destroyer only for the sake of continuity, since it's got its whole Asgardian origins.
Anyway, when Galactus decides to make someone his Herald, he imbues them with a fraction of his Power Cosmic, which makes them these superbeings who are almost unfathomably powerful.
Further, they follow an elemental emphasis at least in concept (marked in parens). I liked the elemental nature of the Heralds. They looked cool, they were epic, and their tie-in with Galactus always meant a big storyline.
However, I found it curious how Galactus allowed the Surfer, Firelord, and Nova to retain their Power Cosmic even after they either failed Galactus and/or betrayed him.
Obviously, in the case of the Surfer, it was a desire to continue to sell Surfer comics and use him as a supporting character.
But narratively, I always thought it interesting that Galactus did that. When Terrax rebelled against Galactus, causing him a lot of trouble, Galactus actually did take back the Power Cosmic from Terrax, reducing him to Tyros (which was taken up evocatively in a later FANTASTIC FOUR story -- FF#259-60).
I just find it interesting that he didn't do it with the Surfer, Firelord, or Nova. In fact, the Surfer was exiled by Galactus to remain confined to Earth for a long time. The others, not so much.
What I'm saying is that Galactus is sort of a softie on some level, despite his whole world-destroying portfolio. He's basically willing to let bygones be bygones -- even though his Power Cosmic, that sliver of his near-omnipotence that makes them superbeings, is something he could readily take back and let them be ordinary again. But he doesn't do that.
Beyond the obvious confines of comic-selling (and not wanting to nullify characters that way), it's just funny to me.
Galactus is clearly NOT an Aries -- because if I were him and got betrayed by my Heralds, I'd be like "Oh, yeah? Well since you don't want to help me, then why the hell would I let you retain the Power Cosmic I gifted you with? *ZOINK* "Now you can go be normal again. Enjoy the ride."
Maybe I'm too Celtic and vindictive (and too Aries), but there it is. And I say that as someone who loves the Surfer -- but I always think "Damn, Surfer, you are LUCKY Galactus isn't me, because I'd have taken back the power I gave to you just out of spite for screwing me over."
Galactus always has a world-weariness to him, and a kind of out-there vibe that suits him as a cosmic entity.
One of the only times I ever saw him get actually peevish was when he took on the Sphinx (FF#190 & 212, I think). And in that situation, he was merely piqued that the Sphinx dared to presume to take him on.
Most of the time, he's just sort of blown-away chilling, contemplating his next planetary meal (the pathos of Galactus is he's basically doomed to keep devouring worlds until he finally finds a civilization that can destroy him and end his hunger -- a very Marvel-type scenario).
The persistence of his Heralds always bemuses me. Given that they lead their own lives apart from Galactus, ergo, they don't particularly interact, why does he suffer for them to persist? Especially given his ever-present cosmic hunger? Why not reclaim his Power Cosmic with those wayward Heralds, allowing them to serve as a little snack?
That he doesn't do this implies that there's something going on in his head, beyond his willingness to refer to himself in the person, which is typically the hallmark of a raging a-hole.
I don't pretend to know what goes on in the head of Galactus, but his allowing those former Heralds to still retain the Power Cosmic is one of the ineffable mysteries of the Marvel Universe -- except to say that the power of maintaining marketable intellectual property is of a far greater power than the Power Cosmic.
That said, here are my favorite Heralds of Galactus in order of my preference:
Silver Surfer
Terrax
Nova
Firelord
Air Walker
Destroyer
Surfer's genuinely noble and heroic, and I love that about him. Plus, his look is iconic, including his surfboard. The Surfer's a great character, and I'm glad Galactus didn't zap away his powers.
Terrax was a villain through and through, and he had a great look and his earthmover powers were awesome. Terrax was definitely one of the biggest pains in the ass Galactus faced -- a reaction to him being burned by moral men (such as the Surfer and Firelord) being reluctant to be Heralds. Galactus opted for elevating an actual villain to the role, only to find that Terrax was a big problem for him, too.
Nova had a marvelous look, and just the fact that she broke the Human Torch's heart made her kind of great. That she led Galactus to destroy the Skrull homeworld is a mark against her -- I feel like she just went for the easy meal for Galactus with that one. She's also the only female Herald from that era (or maybe ever; again, I've not checked). So, that's kind of interesting -- especially given how indifferent she was to the macabre task of the Heralds. She just didn't care about leading him to worlds, making her fairly amoral.
Firelord, even though he preceded Nova, just wasn't quite as fabulous as she was. He was always just sort of there. He'd pop up in guest appearances, but it was mostly just "Oh, hey. Firelord. Yeah." He managed to make being a Herald boring.
Air Walker is a weird case, because he was the only Herald who was really a friend to Galactus, and ends up getting killed (and, weirdly, replaced with an automaton clone of himself). Most of his story seemed stuck in flashback, which is why he's so low on the board.
Destroyer, being an Asgardian super-weapon, barely qualifies in my book, although it's kind of an evocative weapon. I don't have much to say on that or even its tenure as a Herald.
All the edgelords out there who've continued to follow the Marvel comics world, that's all well and good. This is just my reflection of a particular Bronze Age era manifestation of Galactus. I don't know and don't want to know what they're doing with the characters nowadays.
All of the subsequent continuity contortions, rampant retconning, narrative gymnastics, all of the stuff they did after ~1992 is lost to me. Don't know, don't care.
And my comments here will be reflective of that (don't "Ok, Boomer" me because I'm a Gen Xer, dammit.
Galactus got a good run in the John Byrne FANTASTIC FOUR era, where he really explored that character, and I kind of realized something about Galactus.
The Silver Surfer, for example, is one of my very favorite Marvel Comics characters -- there's something so perfect about that character, both his hippy-trippy musings, his characterization, his mournful, melancholic way. Appeals to the Romantic I am and always will be. I love the Surfer!
But the fact is, the Surfer was one of a line of Heralds of Galactus who always either failed Galactus or betrayed him (or died in the line of duty), which means being a Herald of Galactus is a fraught thing -- to say nothing of the shitty job of finding worlds with either life or the potential for life that are ideal for Galactus to consume. That's a rough gig by any measure.
I'll list the Heralds I remember, and will continue with my point:
Silver Surfer (Water)
Air Walker (Air)*
Firelord (Fire)
Destroyer (N/A -- Earth?)
Terrax (Earth)*
Nova (Fire)*
*Deceased
I willfully don't consider any Heralds past Nova, because they're past my time. And I don't consider any before the Surfer that may have been retconned into existence. I include the Destroyer only for the sake of continuity, since it's got its whole Asgardian origins.
Anyway, when Galactus decides to make someone his Herald, he imbues them with a fraction of his Power Cosmic, which makes them these superbeings who are almost unfathomably powerful.
Further, they follow an elemental emphasis at least in concept (marked in parens). I liked the elemental nature of the Heralds. They looked cool, they were epic, and their tie-in with Galactus always meant a big storyline.
However, I found it curious how Galactus allowed the Surfer, Firelord, and Nova to retain their Power Cosmic even after they either failed Galactus and/or betrayed him.
Obviously, in the case of the Surfer, it was a desire to continue to sell Surfer comics and use him as a supporting character.
But narratively, I always thought it interesting that Galactus did that. When Terrax rebelled against Galactus, causing him a lot of trouble, Galactus actually did take back the Power Cosmic from Terrax, reducing him to Tyros (which was taken up evocatively in a later FANTASTIC FOUR story -- FF#259-60).
I just find it interesting that he didn't do it with the Surfer, Firelord, or Nova. In fact, the Surfer was exiled by Galactus to remain confined to Earth for a long time. The others, not so much.
What I'm saying is that Galactus is sort of a softie on some level, despite his whole world-destroying portfolio. He's basically willing to let bygones be bygones -- even though his Power Cosmic, that sliver of his near-omnipotence that makes them superbeings, is something he could readily take back and let them be ordinary again. But he doesn't do that.
Beyond the obvious confines of comic-selling (and not wanting to nullify characters that way), it's just funny to me.
Galactus is clearly NOT an Aries -- because if I were him and got betrayed by my Heralds, I'd be like "Oh, yeah? Well since you don't want to help me, then why the hell would I let you retain the Power Cosmic I gifted you with? *ZOINK* "Now you can go be normal again. Enjoy the ride."
Maybe I'm too Celtic and vindictive (and too Aries), but there it is. And I say that as someone who loves the Surfer -- but I always think "Damn, Surfer, you are LUCKY Galactus isn't me, because I'd have taken back the power I gave to you just out of spite for screwing me over."
Galactus always has a world-weariness to him, and a kind of out-there vibe that suits him as a cosmic entity.
One of the only times I ever saw him get actually peevish was when he took on the Sphinx (FF#190 & 212, I think). And in that situation, he was merely piqued that the Sphinx dared to presume to take him on.
Most of the time, he's just sort of blown-away chilling, contemplating his next planetary meal (the pathos of Galactus is he's basically doomed to keep devouring worlds until he finally finds a civilization that can destroy him and end his hunger -- a very Marvel-type scenario).
The persistence of his Heralds always bemuses me. Given that they lead their own lives apart from Galactus, ergo, they don't particularly interact, why does he suffer for them to persist? Especially given his ever-present cosmic hunger? Why not reclaim his Power Cosmic with those wayward Heralds, allowing them to serve as a little snack?
That he doesn't do this implies that there's something going on in his head, beyond his willingness to refer to himself in the person, which is typically the hallmark of a raging a-hole.
I don't pretend to know what goes on in the head of Galactus, but his allowing those former Heralds to still retain the Power Cosmic is one of the ineffable mysteries of the Marvel Universe -- except to say that the power of maintaining marketable intellectual property is of a far greater power than the Power Cosmic.
That said, here are my favorite Heralds of Galactus in order of my preference:
Silver Surfer
Terrax
Nova
Firelord
Air Walker
Destroyer
Surfer's genuinely noble and heroic, and I love that about him. Plus, his look is iconic, including his surfboard. The Surfer's a great character, and I'm glad Galactus didn't zap away his powers.
Terrax was a villain through and through, and he had a great look and his earthmover powers were awesome. Terrax was definitely one of the biggest pains in the ass Galactus faced -- a reaction to him being burned by moral men (such as the Surfer and Firelord) being reluctant to be Heralds. Galactus opted for elevating an actual villain to the role, only to find that Terrax was a big problem for him, too.
Nova had a marvelous look, and just the fact that she broke the Human Torch's heart made her kind of great. That she led Galactus to destroy the Skrull homeworld is a mark against her -- I feel like she just went for the easy meal for Galactus with that one. She's also the only female Herald from that era (or maybe ever; again, I've not checked). So, that's kind of interesting -- especially given how indifferent she was to the macabre task of the Heralds. She just didn't care about leading him to worlds, making her fairly amoral.
Firelord, even though he preceded Nova, just wasn't quite as fabulous as she was. He was always just sort of there. He'd pop up in guest appearances, but it was mostly just "Oh, hey. Firelord. Yeah." He managed to make being a Herald boring.
Air Walker is a weird case, because he was the only Herald who was really a friend to Galactus, and ends up getting killed (and, weirdly, replaced with an automaton clone of himself). Most of his story seemed stuck in flashback, which is why he's so low on the board.
Destroyer, being an Asgardian super-weapon, barely qualifies in my book, although it's kind of an evocative weapon. I don't have much to say on that or even its tenure as a Herald.
All the edgelords out there who've continued to follow the Marvel comics world, that's all well and good. This is just my reflection of a particular Bronze Age era manifestation of Galactus. I don't know and don't want to know what they're doing with the characters nowadays.
March 27, 2024
Culture Popping
Some normies (and/or right-wingers) might sniff about my books, that I dare to be political in them, but I don't care.
What we're facing in this declining civilization isn't an overabundance of left-wing ideas, but a paucity of them in the face of the cacophonous contortions in favor of right-wing ideas, particularly in established institutions.
To me, a right-winger is a person with a closed mind and a hard heart -- ignorance and cruelty form the building blocks of the conservative frame of mind, which is why kiss up/kick down stances appeal to them so much. Help the rich, screw the poor.
One doesn't have to look far...
50 Years of Trickle Down Shows it Doesn't Work
I led with this to make the point that our pop culture (and even high culture) is collapsing in on itself by tiptoeing around the reality we're facing in this world.
We're seeing an endless progression of retreads and remakes by the Wall Street- and multinational-owned studios.
We're seeing newspapers and magazines (and, *gasp* books) and movies and television shows failing more often than they succeed. Let's be honest:
Newspapers: Doomed.
Magazines: Doomed.
Books: Dying/Doomed.
Movies: Dying/Doomed.
Television shows: Endangered/Dying.
Old media's not going to outlast the Baby Boomer die-off. In fact, I think the rightward skew of many "mainstream" media is because they're catering to the oldsters who still like that old media. They're out of touch, and falling fast, and media concentration has only accelerated -- fewer, wealthier hands owning more and more media that's not resonating with people.
Fine art is floundering, reduced to being simply the playground of the privileged. Even without AI carpetbagging on creatives everywhere, fine art's become a specter of what it once was.
Churches are in peril, too, which is having them double-down on right-wing extremism (which placates the oldsters in their ranks but alienates the younger, more tolerant and cosmopolitan future generations).
The old distractions -- religion & entertainment -- are cratering.
What I'm seeing (full writer's eye, here) is human civilization butting up against capitalism -- in that the proverbial "rising tide lifts all boats" canard is finding that most people aren't in boats, are treading water, and that a world of limitless growth is a death sentence for humanity.
Earth's not big enough for limitless growth. I think there are around 3100 billionaires at the moment. How many more? How many billionaires can the world afford to have?
Ergo, we're seeing a clash between human needs (people) and economic wants (property). The AI revolution is going to incinerate our species -- not in some TERMINATOR-style fantasy, but, rather, in the brute force of Economic Man obliterating all other aspects of the human condition. The Hobbesian "war of all against all" is coming out in an age of needless scarcity, when people are forced to compete with each other to survive, while the rich soak it all up.
That story about corporations buying up single-family homes in droves? Huge problem for the 99%.
Civilized countries may turn to the Universal Basic Income and all but the US have already turned to national healthcare as solutions to the perils inflicted by capitalism. The US is hostile to those ideas, at least among the political elites.
What I'm saying, I guess, is the status quo has never felt less tenable than it does right now. Either we recognize the necessities of the human condition are more important than concentrated wealth, privilege, and power, or the latter wins out and we're fast-tracked toward our own extinction.
The pop culture meltdown is reflective of that. It's why we see so many damned fairy tale retellings or regurgitations of previous (superior and original) works. Pop culture's eating its own tail, for lack of anything meaningful or new to say about our species.
Progress was the hopeful narrative that drove left-wing thinking, and still drives it. A desire for a better future does motivate people -- but that better future requires shoving back hard against capitalism, whether people accept that or not. If that doesn't happen, we're finished.
Small wonder that the billionaires are busy building their luxury bunkers. They think that'll save them from what's coming.
People are getting tired of the same old stories, which are increasingly preposterous as the majority lead lives utterly unlike those of the wishful fictions in the deflating pop culture.
The old joke was that nobody on FRIENDS could have possibly afforded that massive apartment they occupied. These days, those disparities are even more pronounced.
I guess what I'm saying is that in the past, pop culture offered a fantasy for people to escape their mundane lives. But today, pop culture simply highlights just how much everyday people's lives needlessly suck, and the need for actual reform to improve the lives of the 99%.
The pop culture that fails to speak to that majority will simply evaporate in significance, even if (or especially if) it's bankrolled by Big Money.
Most people just want to be safe, secure, and healthy. When the system fails to deliver that, there's no amount of pop culture out there that can make up for that deficit.
So, that's why I'm political in my writing. They say the personal is political, and I think it's spot-on. It's hard to be a creative/thinking person without seeing affronts to sense and civilization everywhere. And, yeah, it'll pop up in the work one creates. Anything less than that ignores the fracturing reality we're facing.
Alice In Chains | Angry Chair
What we're facing in this declining civilization isn't an overabundance of left-wing ideas, but a paucity of them in the face of the cacophonous contortions in favor of right-wing ideas, particularly in established institutions.
To me, a right-winger is a person with a closed mind and a hard heart -- ignorance and cruelty form the building blocks of the conservative frame of mind, which is why kiss up/kick down stances appeal to them so much. Help the rich, screw the poor.
One doesn't have to look far...
50 Years of Trickle Down Shows it Doesn't Work
I led with this to make the point that our pop culture (and even high culture) is collapsing in on itself by tiptoeing around the reality we're facing in this world.
We're seeing an endless progression of retreads and remakes by the Wall Street- and multinational-owned studios.
We're seeing newspapers and magazines (and, *gasp* books) and movies and television shows failing more often than they succeed. Let's be honest:
Newspapers: Doomed.
Magazines: Doomed.
Books: Dying/Doomed.
Movies: Dying/Doomed.
Television shows: Endangered/Dying.
Old media's not going to outlast the Baby Boomer die-off. In fact, I think the rightward skew of many "mainstream" media is because they're catering to the oldsters who still like that old media. They're out of touch, and falling fast, and media concentration has only accelerated -- fewer, wealthier hands owning more and more media that's not resonating with people.
Fine art is floundering, reduced to being simply the playground of the privileged. Even without AI carpetbagging on creatives everywhere, fine art's become a specter of what it once was.
Churches are in peril, too, which is having them double-down on right-wing extremism (which placates the oldsters in their ranks but alienates the younger, more tolerant and cosmopolitan future generations).
The old distractions -- religion & entertainment -- are cratering.
What I'm seeing (full writer's eye, here) is human civilization butting up against capitalism -- in that the proverbial "rising tide lifts all boats" canard is finding that most people aren't in boats, are treading water, and that a world of limitless growth is a death sentence for humanity.
Earth's not big enough for limitless growth. I think there are around 3100 billionaires at the moment. How many more? How many billionaires can the world afford to have?
Ergo, we're seeing a clash between human needs (people) and economic wants (property). The AI revolution is going to incinerate our species -- not in some TERMINATOR-style fantasy, but, rather, in the brute force of Economic Man obliterating all other aspects of the human condition. The Hobbesian "war of all against all" is coming out in an age of needless scarcity, when people are forced to compete with each other to survive, while the rich soak it all up.
That story about corporations buying up single-family homes in droves? Huge problem for the 99%.
Civilized countries may turn to the Universal Basic Income and all but the US have already turned to national healthcare as solutions to the perils inflicted by capitalism. The US is hostile to those ideas, at least among the political elites.
What I'm saying, I guess, is the status quo has never felt less tenable than it does right now. Either we recognize the necessities of the human condition are more important than concentrated wealth, privilege, and power, or the latter wins out and we're fast-tracked toward our own extinction.
The pop culture meltdown is reflective of that. It's why we see so many damned fairy tale retellings or regurgitations of previous (superior and original) works. Pop culture's eating its own tail, for lack of anything meaningful or new to say about our species.
Progress was the hopeful narrative that drove left-wing thinking, and still drives it. A desire for a better future does motivate people -- but that better future requires shoving back hard against capitalism, whether people accept that or not. If that doesn't happen, we're finished.
Small wonder that the billionaires are busy building their luxury bunkers. They think that'll save them from what's coming.
People are getting tired of the same old stories, which are increasingly preposterous as the majority lead lives utterly unlike those of the wishful fictions in the deflating pop culture.
The old joke was that nobody on FRIENDS could have possibly afforded that massive apartment they occupied. These days, those disparities are even more pronounced.
I guess what I'm saying is that in the past, pop culture offered a fantasy for people to escape their mundane lives. But today, pop culture simply highlights just how much everyday people's lives needlessly suck, and the need for actual reform to improve the lives of the 99%.
The pop culture that fails to speak to that majority will simply evaporate in significance, even if (or especially if) it's bankrolled by Big Money.
Most people just want to be safe, secure, and healthy. When the system fails to deliver that, there's no amount of pop culture out there that can make up for that deficit.
So, that's why I'm political in my writing. They say the personal is political, and I think it's spot-on. It's hard to be a creative/thinking person without seeing affronts to sense and civilization everywhere. And, yeah, it'll pop up in the work one creates. Anything less than that ignores the fracturing reality we're facing.
Alice In Chains | Angry Chair
March 25, 2024
Misfit to be Tied
No wonder Punk appealed to me in my adolescence. I remember when I first heard the Sex Pistols, the Clash, the Dead Kennedys, the Damned, the Misfits, and so many others. They formed a feisty foundation for my misfit self. I was an art club kid, a brain, a young Romantic, and an utter misfit who flew under the radar and turned my back on the normies while avoiding the temptations of drowning my brain in drugs.
I NEVER fit in this world, so I created worlds I liked. No wonder I'm good at worldbuilding (and I am -- I live and breathe worldbuilding in my fiction).
It's because I need *someplace* to go when confronting the mismatch between what matters to me and what this world offers/glorifies.
The problem of not fitting in remains the tsunamis of rejection I must face when what and who I am doesn't fit with people's conceptions of what I *should* be.
It haunts me in my professional life (aka, the norm business world).
It haunts me in my literary life (aka, the norm publishing world).
It haunts me with what I create (aka, the norm reader expectations).
It haunts me on my social media (aka, the norm social media experience).
And the thing is, I'm not changing who I am. I can't change who I am without destroying who I am. I'll never be a conventional or mainstream writer, because that's just not who I am. I'm fiercely independent, while at the same time not being an asshole about it -- I'm too chill for that.
Even when I went after conventional horror archetypes (werewolves, vampires, zombies) I tried to approach them from unconventional angles that appealed to me -- knowing that anything I like or enjoy, the majority of readers (aka, the perilously ever-present norms) won't appreciate or enjoy.
The WIP series I'm doing, and have been teasing out on posts here, is easily the most commercial work I've ever written -- in that it *could* appeal to a lot of readers (maybe) -- but I'm still writing it as me, which is in my own voice and narrative style, and it'll still require readers to READ. So, maybe that'll be the kiss of death? Not sure. I'm not letting that hold me back. I'm just plowing through the work.
I do good work. But the good work I do is inherently unconventional relative to what the majority of readers might expect and/or appreciate.
Still, in this overcrowded planet, if I could somehow reach the readers out there who actually loved the journeys I take them on, I'd consider myself incredibly fortunate.
The Kinks | I'm Not Like Everybody Else
I NEVER fit in this world, so I created worlds I liked. No wonder I'm good at worldbuilding (and I am -- I live and breathe worldbuilding in my fiction).
It's because I need *someplace* to go when confronting the mismatch between what matters to me and what this world offers/glorifies.
The problem of not fitting in remains the tsunamis of rejection I must face when what and who I am doesn't fit with people's conceptions of what I *should* be.
It haunts me in my professional life (aka, the norm business world).
It haunts me in my literary life (aka, the norm publishing world).
It haunts me with what I create (aka, the norm reader expectations).
It haunts me on my social media (aka, the norm social media experience).
And the thing is, I'm not changing who I am. I can't change who I am without destroying who I am. I'll never be a conventional or mainstream writer, because that's just not who I am. I'm fiercely independent, while at the same time not being an asshole about it -- I'm too chill for that.
Even when I went after conventional horror archetypes (werewolves, vampires, zombies) I tried to approach them from unconventional angles that appealed to me -- knowing that anything I like or enjoy, the majority of readers (aka, the perilously ever-present norms) won't appreciate or enjoy.
The WIP series I'm doing, and have been teasing out on posts here, is easily the most commercial work I've ever written -- in that it *could* appeal to a lot of readers (maybe) -- but I'm still writing it as me, which is in my own voice and narrative style, and it'll still require readers to READ. So, maybe that'll be the kiss of death? Not sure. I'm not letting that hold me back. I'm just plowing through the work.
I do good work. But the good work I do is inherently unconventional relative to what the majority of readers might expect and/or appreciate.
Still, in this overcrowded planet, if I could somehow reach the readers out there who actually loved the journeys I take them on, I'd consider myself incredibly fortunate.
The Kinks | I'm Not Like Everybody Else
March 24, 2024
Green Scene
An amusing thing for me -- as a kid, I loved Spider-Man. I thought his character was fascinating, and the Green Goblin was a character in particular that I loved! Not so much the cinematic renderings (although taking nothing away from Willem Dafoe's efforts -- it's just that the comic book Green Goblin was a fabulous enemy for Spider-Man).
Aside: The Hobgoblin Saga was even more brilliant, one of the all-time best comic book stories, honestly, that took the ashes of the Green Goblin and spinning it off into another tangent that kept to the spirit of the Green Goblin while also going in a new direction.
But the point of this post is that the color green resonates with me when I think back on the comic characters I dug back in the day! Examples:
Rogue -- loved Rogue as a villain and even more as a hero. Green was always a particular part of her color palette from her initial appearance and as her character continued. Rogue's green costumes always rocked for me.
Polaris -- although always a generally supporting character, I loved Polaris (aka, Lorna Dane), with her green hair and overall green costume. Polaris will always be a favorite of mine above and beyond her actual contribution to the Marvel canon.
She-Hulk -- primarily the SENSATIONAL SHE-HULK comics, which were effectively parodies of the comic book world. The John Byrne-drawn ones were just fun, as was her awareness that she was in a comic book. That was comic (in every sense of the word) gold.
Doc Samson -- again, another supporting and/or ultimately minor character, but the green-haired Doc Samson always amused me. One of the comparatively weakest of the gamma-irradiated Marvel characters (last I remember, he could lift a Marvel-meager 25 tons). Something about his trippy green hair appealed to me (and, yes, I like DC's Joker -- so, I guess I have a thing for green. And, yessss, I dig the Green Lantern Corps, too, upon reflection).
Not a particular fan of the Hulk, so he's kind of an exception for me among green-themed heroes, etc. Mostly because Hulk just tires me out with his endless rages. Similarly, while Doctor Doom rocks the green and is even an effective villain, I've never particularly liked his character. So, I guess he's another exception to my green-love.
The Beetle -- An outer tier Iron Man adversary, I appreciated the Beetle's whole thing. He had a coolly weird costume/powersuit that served him well, and was, yes, largely green.
Super Skrull -- I liked most of the Skrulls before Galactus ate their homeworld, and my favorite of them was Super Skrull, who was just one of those go-to good supervillains. The Skrulls were almost archetypal "little green men" in their presentation.
Scorpion -- Back when I was a kid and dug my SPIDER-MAN stories, the Scorpion was a favorite baddie of mine, so he's another of the green-themed characters I liked.
Molecule Man -- Although his costume changed from time to time, green very often manifested with the Molecule Man, making him yet another favorite of mine.
Kang -- Kang is another greenie who I dug back in the day. Too bad the MCU actor issues sabotaged Kang, because he was a favorite of mine in the villain category.
There are probably more I'm not thinking of, but this batch stands out for me. I've never really thought about it until now, but I really do like green heroes and villains!
Aside: The Hobgoblin Saga was even more brilliant, one of the all-time best comic book stories, honestly, that took the ashes of the Green Goblin and spinning it off into another tangent that kept to the spirit of the Green Goblin while also going in a new direction.
But the point of this post is that the color green resonates with me when I think back on the comic characters I dug back in the day! Examples:
Rogue -- loved Rogue as a villain and even more as a hero. Green was always a particular part of her color palette from her initial appearance and as her character continued. Rogue's green costumes always rocked for me.
Polaris -- although always a generally supporting character, I loved Polaris (aka, Lorna Dane), with her green hair and overall green costume. Polaris will always be a favorite of mine above and beyond her actual contribution to the Marvel canon.
She-Hulk -- primarily the SENSATIONAL SHE-HULK comics, which were effectively parodies of the comic book world. The John Byrne-drawn ones were just fun, as was her awareness that she was in a comic book. That was comic (in every sense of the word) gold.
Doc Samson -- again, another supporting and/or ultimately minor character, but the green-haired Doc Samson always amused me. One of the comparatively weakest of the gamma-irradiated Marvel characters (last I remember, he could lift a Marvel-meager 25 tons). Something about his trippy green hair appealed to me (and, yes, I like DC's Joker -- so, I guess I have a thing for green. And, yessss, I dig the Green Lantern Corps, too, upon reflection).
Not a particular fan of the Hulk, so he's kind of an exception for me among green-themed heroes, etc. Mostly because Hulk just tires me out with his endless rages. Similarly, while Doctor Doom rocks the green and is even an effective villain, I've never particularly liked his character. So, I guess he's another exception to my green-love.
The Beetle -- An outer tier Iron Man adversary, I appreciated the Beetle's whole thing. He had a coolly weird costume/powersuit that served him well, and was, yes, largely green.
Super Skrull -- I liked most of the Skrulls before Galactus ate their homeworld, and my favorite of them was Super Skrull, who was just one of those go-to good supervillains. The Skrulls were almost archetypal "little green men" in their presentation.
Scorpion -- Back when I was a kid and dug my SPIDER-MAN stories, the Scorpion was a favorite baddie of mine, so he's another of the green-themed characters I liked.
Molecule Man -- Although his costume changed from time to time, green very often manifested with the Molecule Man, making him yet another favorite of mine.
Kang -- Kang is another greenie who I dug back in the day. Too bad the MCU actor issues sabotaged Kang, because he was a favorite of mine in the villain category.
There are probably more I'm not thinking of, but this batch stands out for me. I've never really thought about it until now, but I really do like green heroes and villains!
March 21, 2024
Declaration of Indiependence
Fueled by my punk roots that hold fast even in my 50s (*gasp* -- I turn 54 next month), I really do still value DIY and indie spirit.
That said, I sometimes feel I'm "too indie for indie" -- much as I was "too punk for punk" back in the day (my guiding star was the idea that there was no actual look for punk -- punk was an attitude, not a fashion -- and that where style leads, fashion invariably follows).
At any rate, while I slung a few short stories to publishers and got published (including my second-place Aeon Award-winning short story, "Aegis", circa 2008), the publishing landscape was changing and venues were disappearing, and I went my own way.
I remembered trying to get trad publishers to pick up my books at the time, trying to get agents, all of that. Distant memories for me. I turned my back on all of that to self-publish and go indie.
Looking at the state of trad publishing these days, it feels like a hapless goldfish flopping on wet land, trying to find its way back in the water.
I personally think the days of the trad-published author are waning in some respects. Prized ponies in publishers' stables, yearning to ride, but still possessions of the publisher.
Maybe that's a jaundiced way of looking at it, but it's how I see it. All an agent looks for is someone whose work they can easily sell and get their commission out of them.
I've groused about the throng of junk writers out there, eating up attention, sucking the air out of the room. Or to keep the aquatic idiom going, they're like duckweed blooming, sucking the oxygen from the water.
I'm too indie for trad publishing, and I might also be too indie for indie -- I don't wade into the duckweed and pretend that everybody out there is creating AMAZING fiction. Duckweed is duckweed. Something's not good because it's indie, anymore than it's good (or bad) because it's trad.
Those few who've read my books (still painfully few) know I deliver satisfying stories. That's all that matters to me. I'm not part of the mutually self-supporting "community" that splashes in the duckweed pond, blowing kisses to each other at their unfailingly always-brilliant work (the boosterism is staggering from my objective viewpoint).
I feel like some kind of fiction frontiersman, a veritable Jeremiah Johnson of Genre, out on my own, writing what I want, what interests me, what I enjoy, and hoping that readers will find the paths I've made on my own. It's all there for adventurous readers to find.
Partly why I got away from short stories to writing novels was tied to my independence. Novels are more work, and fewer writers are willing (or able) to venture out into the wilderness of long fiction. It's simply more challenging, more arduous.
And while splashing in the duckweed pond makes one feel that they're accomplishing something, the true wilderness remains with long fiction, away from the noise, where it's just you and your characters and your writing. That's my happy place.
Dinosaur Jr | Mountain Man
That said, I sometimes feel I'm "too indie for indie" -- much as I was "too punk for punk" back in the day (my guiding star was the idea that there was no actual look for punk -- punk was an attitude, not a fashion -- and that where style leads, fashion invariably follows).
At any rate, while I slung a few short stories to publishers and got published (including my second-place Aeon Award-winning short story, "Aegis", circa 2008), the publishing landscape was changing and venues were disappearing, and I went my own way.
I remembered trying to get trad publishers to pick up my books at the time, trying to get agents, all of that. Distant memories for me. I turned my back on all of that to self-publish and go indie.
Looking at the state of trad publishing these days, it feels like a hapless goldfish flopping on wet land, trying to find its way back in the water.
I personally think the days of the trad-published author are waning in some respects. Prized ponies in publishers' stables, yearning to ride, but still possessions of the publisher.
Maybe that's a jaundiced way of looking at it, but it's how I see it. All an agent looks for is someone whose work they can easily sell and get their commission out of them.
I've groused about the throng of junk writers out there, eating up attention, sucking the air out of the room. Or to keep the aquatic idiom going, they're like duckweed blooming, sucking the oxygen from the water.
I'm too indie for trad publishing, and I might also be too indie for indie -- I don't wade into the duckweed and pretend that everybody out there is creating AMAZING fiction. Duckweed is duckweed. Something's not good because it's indie, anymore than it's good (or bad) because it's trad.
Those few who've read my books (still painfully few) know I deliver satisfying stories. That's all that matters to me. I'm not part of the mutually self-supporting "community" that splashes in the duckweed pond, blowing kisses to each other at their unfailingly always-brilliant work (the boosterism is staggering from my objective viewpoint).
I feel like some kind of fiction frontiersman, a veritable Jeremiah Johnson of Genre, out on my own, writing what I want, what interests me, what I enjoy, and hoping that readers will find the paths I've made on my own. It's all there for adventurous readers to find.
Partly why I got away from short stories to writing novels was tied to my independence. Novels are more work, and fewer writers are willing (or able) to venture out into the wilderness of long fiction. It's simply more challenging, more arduous.
And while splashing in the duckweed pond makes one feel that they're accomplishing something, the true wilderness remains with long fiction, away from the noise, where it's just you and your characters and your writing. That's my happy place.
Dinosaur Jr | Mountain Man
March 19, 2024
Flyover
One other thing I should mention (maybe have mentioned before): I willfully choose Chicago as a setting for so many of my books.
That's not just because I've lived her for 30 years; it's also because the "Coastal Bias" of NYC and LA always overrepresents those areas as settings in the pop culture.
Chicago's all too often in that "flyover" category in the pop culture -- one of those areas that is blithely disregarded by the coastal entertainment elites. Yes, there are Chicago shows, there've been Chicago movies, etc.
But I too often feel that Chicago gets blown off, so I almost always put it at the center of my books, as well as other Rust Belt areas. Having lived my entire life in the Rust Belt, I've got my own bias in favor of the region, and that flows into so many of my books:
Wolfshadow Trilogy: Almost entirely Chicagoland.
CHOSEN: Fictional PA Rust Belt town.
SUCKAGE: Chicago all the way.
THE CURSED EARTH: Fictional PA town.
And so on. The novellas (RELICT, SUMMERVILLE, and NIGHTFISH) aren't set in Chicago, but the novels (as indicated above), totally.
The WIP series has a strong Chicago component, too. Not exclusively, but verrrry Chicagolandish. There are nods to NYC and even some scenes in LA, but the primary focus is in Chicago.
Not parochially-minded; I just like to have some things that aren't tethered to the coasts.
That's not just because I've lived her for 30 years; it's also because the "Coastal Bias" of NYC and LA always overrepresents those areas as settings in the pop culture.
Chicago's all too often in that "flyover" category in the pop culture -- one of those areas that is blithely disregarded by the coastal entertainment elites. Yes, there are Chicago shows, there've been Chicago movies, etc.
But I too often feel that Chicago gets blown off, so I almost always put it at the center of my books, as well as other Rust Belt areas. Having lived my entire life in the Rust Belt, I've got my own bias in favor of the region, and that flows into so many of my books:
Wolfshadow Trilogy: Almost entirely Chicagoland.
CHOSEN: Fictional PA Rust Belt town.
SUCKAGE: Chicago all the way.
THE CURSED EARTH: Fictional PA town.
And so on. The novellas (RELICT, SUMMERVILLE, and NIGHTFISH) aren't set in Chicago, but the novels (as indicated above), totally.
The WIP series has a strong Chicago component, too. Not exclusively, but verrrry Chicagolandish. There are nods to NYC and even some scenes in LA, but the primary focus is in Chicago.
Not parochially-minded; I just like to have some things that aren't tethered to the coasts.
Serious Series
One thing readers get squirrelly about are book series that are incomplete -- there's a legitimate concern that they don't want to invest time and emotional energy in an unfinished series.
I'm trying to solve for that with my WIP series, where I've cranked out the first three novels in it, with Book 4 waiting in the wings to be written, and Books 5-7 queued up.
My intention is to write the entire series to completion, so readers interested in it can know that I'm taking them on an action-adventure journey toward a destination.
I know that, as a reader, an unfinished series is annoying; ergo, I'm avoiding that. A new novel in this series will come out every year for the next seven years, and there it is.
My hope is that by writing through the entire series in one swoop, readers will have things to look forward to and knowing that I've done my part as a writer to deliver them.
Ideally, enough readers will be excited by Book 1 and they'll want more in the series. But even if not, it'll have been written and will be there for those who are interested in my work.
Swervedriver | Kill the Superheroes
I'm trying to solve for that with my WIP series, where I've cranked out the first three novels in it, with Book 4 waiting in the wings to be written, and Books 5-7 queued up.
My intention is to write the entire series to completion, so readers interested in it can know that I'm taking them on an action-adventure journey toward a destination.
I know that, as a reader, an unfinished series is annoying; ergo, I'm avoiding that. A new novel in this series will come out every year for the next seven years, and there it is.
My hope is that by writing through the entire series in one swoop, readers will have things to look forward to and knowing that I've done my part as a writer to deliver them.
Ideally, enough readers will be excited by Book 1 and they'll want more in the series. But even if not, it'll have been written and will be there for those who are interested in my work.
Swervedriver | Kill the Superheroes
March 17, 2024
WIP Update
So, I finished writing Book 3 of the now-not-a-trilogy but a start of a 7-book series. And have gotten it to beta readers for feedback. I'm pleased with the first three, most especially how quickly I cranked these books out after a 15-month dry spell where I wrote fuck-all:
Book 1 (BRIGHTEYES): 14 days
Book 2 (INFERNA): 7 days
Book 3 (TANTRUM): 20 days
They're all around 81K words, which is shorter than what I usually write for novels, but they feel jam-packed with story and characterization to me. I'm going to keep the whole series that length.
They're all written in first-person, which probably accounts for why I can crank through them, as they're narrating through one primary protagonist in Book 1 and two primary protagonists in Book 2 and Book 3.
Anyway, I'm going to likely take this week to read through all three yet again and make sure everything's buttoned-up continuity-wise. Once that's done, I'll start writing Book 4, although Book 4 is fiending to be written right now. I'm just trying to be disciplined and making sure 1-3 are all ironclad before going deeper into the series.
Oh, and the "house band" for Book 3 was definitely Veruca Salt. They steamrolled their way to the front of the line:
Veruca Salt | I'm Telling You Now
Book 1 (BRIGHTEYES): 14 days
Book 2 (INFERNA): 7 days
Book 3 (TANTRUM): 20 days
They're all around 81K words, which is shorter than what I usually write for novels, but they feel jam-packed with story and characterization to me. I'm going to keep the whole series that length.
They're all written in first-person, which probably accounts for why I can crank through them, as they're narrating through one primary protagonist in Book 1 and two primary protagonists in Book 2 and Book 3.
Anyway, I'm going to likely take this week to read through all three yet again and make sure everything's buttoned-up continuity-wise. Once that's done, I'll start writing Book 4, although Book 4 is fiending to be written right now. I'm just trying to be disciplined and making sure 1-3 are all ironclad before going deeper into the series.
Oh, and the "house band" for Book 3 was definitely Veruca Salt. They steamrolled their way to the front of the line:
Veruca Salt | I'm Telling You Now
March 14, 2024
Comic Book'em, Danno!
Not thinking about the MCU, but back to my comic book collecting days (roughly 1978 - 1986), some of my all-time favorite Marvel characters are below.
I should mention that I was definitely a Marvel collector. While I did have some DC titles (mostly a handful of TEEN TITANS), overwhelmingly, my collection was Marvel stuff, centered around:
UNCANNY X-MEN
THE AVENGERS
THE FANTASTIC FOUR
ALPHA FLIGHT
DAREDEVIL
Those were the titles I primarily collected. My parents ruined most of my comic collection when they moved my comics into a musty basement while I was away at collect. That pretty much trashed like 90% of my collection, which was a downer. I was able to salvage some of them over the years.
I loved my comics, and some of my favorite heroes were:
Rogue
The Silver Surfer
Dr. Strange
The Mighty Thor
The Thing
Favorite villains:
Proteus
Magneto
Juggernaut
The Molecule Man
Super Skrull
Those were always favorites of mine. I kind of hated Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards). I liked Spider-Man (had a decent collection of SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN, all unfortunately destroyed).
Comics were a lot of fun for me as a kid. I remembered loving the storylines, even learning new words (I remember learning what "anathema" meant from a CAPTAIN AMERICA comic, using that word and my mom asked where I'd learned that word, and I told her, which impressed her).
While Rogue always was a badass, I had a major comic book crush on her (me and most Gen X comic book heads in that day), even before Marvel really ramped up the whole Rogue sexpot thing.
The Silver Surfer will always be a favorite of mine -- the combination of his endless angst and cosmic wistfulness always appealed to me. Plus, the whole surfer thing was just such a brilliant concept for the character, soaring through the spaceways on his surfboard. Loved that.
Of course, while I'm nominally aware of additional Marvel stuff, I haven't collected anything with the ardor of my adolescence. The only series I halfway collected in more recent days (hahah, still long ago) was THE SENSATIONAL SHE-HULK (1989 - 94), which were just silly and fun.
Marvel really mined that stuff for the MCU, to varying degrees of success, and, increasingly, failure. I could write a lot about this, but this'll do for now.
I should mention that I was definitely a Marvel collector. While I did have some DC titles (mostly a handful of TEEN TITANS), overwhelmingly, my collection was Marvel stuff, centered around:
UNCANNY X-MEN
THE AVENGERS
THE FANTASTIC FOUR
ALPHA FLIGHT
DAREDEVIL
Those were the titles I primarily collected. My parents ruined most of my comic collection when they moved my comics into a musty basement while I was away at collect. That pretty much trashed like 90% of my collection, which was a downer. I was able to salvage some of them over the years.
I loved my comics, and some of my favorite heroes were:
Rogue
The Silver Surfer
Dr. Strange
The Mighty Thor
The Thing
Favorite villains:
Proteus
Magneto
Juggernaut
The Molecule Man
Super Skrull
Those were always favorites of mine. I kind of hated Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards). I liked Spider-Man (had a decent collection of SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN, all unfortunately destroyed).
Comics were a lot of fun for me as a kid. I remembered loving the storylines, even learning new words (I remember learning what "anathema" meant from a CAPTAIN AMERICA comic, using that word and my mom asked where I'd learned that word, and I told her, which impressed her).
While Rogue always was a badass, I had a major comic book crush on her (me and most Gen X comic book heads in that day), even before Marvel really ramped up the whole Rogue sexpot thing.
The Silver Surfer will always be a favorite of mine -- the combination of his endless angst and cosmic wistfulness always appealed to me. Plus, the whole surfer thing was just such a brilliant concept for the character, soaring through the spaceways on his surfboard. Loved that.
Of course, while I'm nominally aware of additional Marvel stuff, I haven't collected anything with the ardor of my adolescence. The only series I halfway collected in more recent days (hahah, still long ago) was THE SENSATIONAL SHE-HULK (1989 - 94), which were just silly and fun.
Marvel really mined that stuff for the MCU, to varying degrees of success, and, increasingly, failure. I could write a lot about this, but this'll do for now.
