Mark Evanier's Blog, page 42

Today's Video Link

My pal Gary Sassaman is back with another installment on his "Tales From the Spinner Rack," discussing the comic books he (and I) grew up on. This time, he covers the history of Wonder Woman with special emphasis on the long, long run of writer-editor Robert Kanigher and artists Ross Andru and Mike Esposito. I collected and read those issues but I don't recall liking any of them and even in my pre-teen years, it felt to me like the writer was just making things up as he went along with no particular master plan. It turned out I was right. As I later learned, even from Kanigher himself, he considered it a badge of honor for a writer to never know where he was headed; to write Page 2 without a clue as to what he was going to put on Page 3.

One time, he was explaining to me that only inferior writers had to plan ahead. I pointed out to him that Truman Capote said he always wrote the end of a story before he wrote the middle and sometimes, the beginning. As I guess I expected, Kanigher then explained to me that was why Truman Capote was such a lousy writer…and so was just about everyone besides himself writing comic books.

Anyway, I kinda liked the character of Wonder Woman but I never liked her comics; not until the late-sixties when, as Gary describes, they turned her into a non-superpowered clone of Diana Rigg on the Avengers TV show. The issues drawn by Mike Sekowsky were, literally, the only ones I liked until some time in the eighties. But Gary will explain all that to you…

FACT CHECK: Some Disagreements

The Trump organization has been arguing that the Venezuelan government is coordinating the migration of members of the Trenreport de Aragua gang to the U.S.; ergo it's a foreign invasion and certain laws and due process can be suspended. The Washington Post got hold of a secret government intelligence assessment that says this is not true. Tulsi Gabbard, who's in charge of national intelligence — what little we have these days — claims that the Post distorted what the intelligence assessment says. The folks at FactCheck.org have looked at the matter and concluded that the Post reported accurately. You can believe whoever you want in this but someone is not telling the truth.

Charlie Kirk and other right-wing social media superstars are claiming that the new Roman Catholic pope — Pope Leo XIV, formerly known as Robert Prevost — registered as a Republican back in Chicago. Politifact points out that while Mr. Prevost voted in Republican primaries from 2012 through 2016, voters in Illinois do not register by political party.

Today's Video Link

Someone asked me the other day to name my favorite of all the zillions of video files I've linked to on this blog. I might change my mind tomorrow but when the question was put to me, this was the first one that came to mind…

Remembering Jack

New York Times obituary for Jack Katz.

FACT CHECK: Due Process and Gas Prices

Trump and his sycophants are claiming there's a different definition of "due process" for immigrants who they claim are here illegally even though the Constitution doesn't make any such distinction. Politifact and an awful lot of legal experts and constitutional scholars disagree.

The A.A.A. says the lowest price they've found for a gallon of gas in this country is $2.65 a gallon and Gas Buddy says about the same thing. But Trump keeps insisting there are places where it's $1.98 even though he won't say where. FactCheck.org thinks they've figured out where he found that bogus statistic.

Mushroom Soup Time

I'm going to be kinda busy the next few days. There will be posts here but not as many as usual. I am not back in the hospital. I just have a lot of things to do.

News Watching

I'm watching the coverage of the announcement of the new pope…the first American one, no less. I won't pretend I understand all the significance of this. I'm not sure I even understand why so many people are so happy about there being a new pope at all, regardless of his nationality. I mean, it's not like they were going to leave the position unfilled. Still, it's nice to see so many people so excited about someone who stands for peace and love.

I haven't yet seen the inevitable offensive statement from Donald Trump yet but you just know it's coming. Can't wait to see how he makes this all about himself and spins it as something that reflects well on him.

FACT CHECK: Just One Today

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick keeps making public statements that contradict each other or simply don't seem to be accurate. Glenn Kessler of The Washington Post lists a batch of them.

Today's Video Link

One of my favorite movies is Monty Python's Life of Brian. It's very funny…ah, but is it in any way accurate? This question is answered for us by classicist Honor Cargill-Martin, who is described as an "ancient historian" but she doesn't look that ancient to me. I actually found this video a lot more interesting than I expected…

Today's Video Link

Here's another episode of The Jimmy Dean Show. This one's from November 7, 1963 and I call your attention to two segments. About eight minutes and twenty seconds in, there's a pretty funny spot with guest star Don Adams, who was then a rather new face on the comedy scene. His straight man is Pat McCormick, who was one of the writers on this series. Then at 22:40, there's the show's weekly visit with Rowlf, the first Muppet to attain any real TV stardom. A lot of folks still think Rowlf was the best character to come out of Jim Henson and his operation…