"To penetrate into the essence of all being and significance and to release the fragrance of that inner attainment for the guidance and benefit of others, by expressing, in the world of forms, truth, love, purity and beauty — this is the sole game which has intrinsic and absolute worth. All other happenings, incidents and attainments in themselves can have no lasting importance."—Avatar Meher Baba
Happy bday to him 🥳
ReplyDeleteIndeed!
DeleteFor how long have the what if issues that are coming out in 2026 been planned ?
DeleteI don't know how long editorial has been planning it (probably for quite a while). I found out about it last month.
DeleteNice 👍
ReplyDeleteAny chance you’ll be coming to the Houston, TX area soon?
ReplyDeleteNo plans for Houston. A number of other cons on the agenda this year, but not Texas. Maybe next year!
Deletecheck out this website of Meher Baba photos: https://mnpublications.zenfolio.com
ReplyDeleteWonderful! Thanks!
DeleteYou don't gotta answer if you dont wanna, dont mean to bother you sir but Im currently gonna have someone make a video on something and one of this characters achievements is a comic written by you, so I mean to ask you when a battle becomes beyond physical do the characters themselves still stay in their physical form?
ReplyDeleteGuess it depends on the character! When Doc Strange is in his astral form, he's not conscious of his body. But that could be different for other characters. Some, I'm sure, have the ability to be conscious of both the physical and non-physical forms.
DeleteThanks very much, that helped a lot. I've been wondering about it for a while thats why I asked so thanks for the reply, But one last question sir before I stop, since I dont want to bother you at all, and I hope even now im not, but even when in a dream like state or form, does it still act and function like a physical body, and still the same power level?
DeleteYou have to keep in mind that these are just stories...we make this stuff up, there's no rule book...and the answers change depending on the needs of the story. So there's no definitive answer to your question. One writer sees it one way, another sees it differently. And the same writer may totally contradict themself because it's the best thing for the story.
DeleteAh that is true, I know that, all authors have different ideas and I know its made up, but i think you already know us fans still eat it up, Basically I guess you could say there is truly no definitive answer since its not like Manga where there is a new writer for a certain story, this is comics so I understand your perspective, I was asking in your own writing since the story I was hinting about was written by you, but overall I guess you sentence of the writers contradicting themselves does mean sometimes you could change up just to fit a story, i won't ask anymore questions since i guess I got the answer the i asked for, I wont ask more unless I go to a convention you are at cuz i don't wanna kinda overdo these questions 😅 so it'll be like a good while or smth if I do ask a question like this again.
DeleteHowever have a good day sir 👍❤️
And you have a good day, too!
DeleteAlso thank you for making my childhood! I remember reading one of your comics in 2011 when I was a kid, Thanking you for the good memories
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome!
DeleteWhat conventions will you be at this year?
ReplyDeleteI'll be doing a con-related post soon, with my schedule for the year.
DeleteI think you misunderstand. I am saying that the evolution of America;s action heroes is directly tied to its urbanization, and that the Brits writing of them is miscategorized as "more realistic" when it is actually more drawing from a different interpretation of what urbanization meant.
ReplyDeleteFor instance Zorro is often misatributed as the forebearer of masked adventurer archetype. It was actually the Scarlet Pimpernel, created by a literal baroness, and it is kind of upper-crust propaganda. This makes Superman being considered the granddaddy of superheroes an interesting twist, given his Golden Age stories.
It was a showing that the uppercrust fops are not always what they appear, and the people rising up were the villains. I don't necessarily think it was intended to be more than an adventure story, but like I said she was a European barrenness at a time when Europe was was really starting to question that form of government. Not necessarily consciously, that was assuredly playing in her mind. You still se it now when rich people claim to be the true oppressed minority.
THEN, about a decade later comes Zorro, which is sort of an American Scarlet Pimpernel, right down to being historical fiction set in a different government, in this case Spanish controlled California. However, it included some Americanizing, with the villains now being an oppressive colonizing government.
Of course the creator of Zorro was not from a city, he lived in a few small towns in western Illinois. Oh, right. You are from New York, I will have to explain this, Illinois is a state between New Jersey and California. Its major population center is a city called 'Chicago.' While the third largest city in the country, the majority of land mass is NOT the greater metropolitan are, okay we can now move forward.
Urbanization in America was still in its early stage at this point, and right on the cusp of becoming the dominant form of living. Cities were being thought of as the future, and this kind of thing has to happen sometime before our modern sensibilities. But that past "civilizing of the west" isn't that long ago. Remember the Indian Wars did not technically end until 1922... the year my father's father(and Stan Lee) was born, five years after my mother's mother (and JFk) was born. Both, oddly enough, in Illinois.
I think this transfers to other early action heroes as well like Conan the Barbarian and the Lone Ranger. Robert E, Howard was born in 1906, in a pretty small town in Texas. There were still echoes of the old west, he assuredly knew people who lived through it. And in the face of a rapidly urbanizing America, with immigrants and farm boys moving to the cities doing more to civilize the country than those old west folk did by killing Native people... yes... makes that history seem kind of barbarous.
AS far as the Lone Ranger, similar to Zorro. A guy in 1883, in Norwalk, OH which at the time had only about 7,000 people, and then became a lawyer in a rapidly urbanizing tech hub, that was a world he could remember, but it could not happen today. A tune that took a better part of a decade to change, but I get ahead of myself.
but, superhero stories take place in the present. and cities are teh future, why are we talking about the past, well, for that we will have to be continued....
(Jack)
This feels like chapter one in an interesting book.
DeleteNow we look to the TRULY modern heroes, that's right... Buck Rogers.
DeleteBuck Rogers premiered in 1929. The height of the 1920s as we think f them. A wealthy America with fancy gadgets, believing the future was theirs. And he was created by a college professor from Philadelphia. This was a guy witnessing a changing world.
Then of course there was Flash Gordon. Who traveled to Mongo. And yes, let;s get the big issue out of the way... Ming is basically Fu Manchu, and while not human carries many of the same unfortunate stereotypes. However, what is worth noting is that Ming's people are not fond of him, even early on. While this does not make borrowing these negative Asian stereotypes okay, does reject the idea of "racial evil." They are victims of a a member of their people who happens to be evil. In fact, Mongo is full of people of different species coming together with Flash to fight off tyranny. Even the first Flash Gordon strip, while unfortunately leaning into unflattering stereotypes, show people form across the globe at risk of Mogo's impact, not just white Americans.
It is worth noting that Alex Raymond grew up in New Rochelle, at time of massive growth, and along with that growth came immigration. Most places growing in America were experiencing these increases in foreign born citizens.
The stories of Buck and Flash, coming out mostly during the Great Depression helped maintain that optimism that cities represented in America, whether it was the technological or cohesive social vision they represented as the world faced Depression and then war. This was the same idealism people associated moving to cities with, moving to America... that we associate with Superman.
But you are probably thinking, "but do we really view action heroes with optimism? I mean the 1930s were known for crime and despair, what of that? How could secret identities fit in, that is a hallmark of superheroes.
Well Dematteis, to be continued...
(Jack)
Well Dematteis,when last we met to discuss urbanization and the evolution of American action heroes you brought up that the modern version tends to take place in the modern era, and we have mostly been talking about period pieces. Well, here we go.
DeleteWhile everyone we mentioned so far should be mentioned in the same breaths of the superhero, or at least their evolution, but are not. However there are some who are mentioned as the forebearers, who do resemble many of the modern ones, and took place in the then modern age, and one still in the modern age.
I speak of course of the Shadow, The Green Hornet, the Phantom, and Doc Savage. ONe of these is not like the other, but we will get to why that is.
Contrary to what you are probably thinking the mot similar are The Shadow and the Phantom. I can already hear you angrily pointing out that the Phantom lives in a cave in the jungle (a cave, I wonder where pointy-ears at DC got the idea), that i9s as far from an urban area ad possible. Especially when compared the the SHadow's New York City.
You may think I am going to make some point about urban jungles, the common term used for rough city streets. I am not. I am going to talk about secret identities. These two have the most insane depths to their secret identities.
Let's start with this... who is the Shadow? You are a big old-time radio fan. You are probably thinking "Lamont Cranston...duh." First I would say, you are not a teenage girl the the 90s, you should not be saying 'duh.' However, that is also a wrong answer. The answer is of course, "Kent Allard." In the pulps, Lamont Cranston was just a rich guy who the Shadow took over to better suit his goals. This secret is kept from his allies and the reader for several years... because Max Gibson probably had not thought of it yet. There are even a few hint THAT might have been an alias, but he was reveal to be both a pilot and a spy during WWI, so already swapping identities.
The phantom is a little different. We all know who he is, Kit Walker. However, in universe he is trying to convince the world that he is a literal ghost.
He is also so deep in the secret identity, only his wife is allowed to see his face once he becomes the Phantom, and when he gallivants around as Kit Walker. he wears a pair of sun glasses, a trench coat, and a hat. Seems familiar.
These two are taking the secret identity thing to a level that would make Moon Knight blush. And there is something about their creators worth noticing.... well two.
First, both worked in show biz, Walter Gibson was a magician, and Lee Falk's "real job" was was managing theaters as well as producing and directing plays. There is probably some form of theatricality lent from those professions to their characters. However, there is something else about them.
They both moved from New York to other other cities, Philadelphia and St. Louis respectively.
Part of the heart of this theory is that the idea of the secret identity is directly connected to the more anonymous life in the city compared to the country, allowing for a type of freedom.
continued...
Doc Savage acts as the perfect control for this. He was big and powerful, and traveled the world, offering all the promise of science. Kind of like how people who had not lived in or near cities at the time viewed them. For god sake, he worked out of the Empire State Building, the modern marvel of its age.
DeleteDoc Savage also had no secret identity, he was just Dr. Clark Savage.
Well, Doc Savage's creator grew up in rural Missouri. He lived in Wyoming for a while. he then lived in small towns in Missouri again.
It is why it is written like an outsider to the city, and more importantly, no secret identity. Who thinks up the idea of a secret identity when everyone knows you by your first name?
Right smack dab in the middle is the Green Hornet. A secret identity, but nowhere near as hardcore as The Shadow and Phantom. The two creators were from Buffalo, NY, but had also lived in Cleveland and New York, and he other from Norwalk, OH... so a little bit of both. also, about 20 years difference between the men. However, both were now living in the city.
These guys also created the Lone Ranger a few years prior, now remember how I said things would change for them?
Here is the thing, did you ever wonder why the Green Hornet posed as a villain. Sure it is a cute gimmick, but wouldn't going to the police be more practical. and why all the social crusading in the newspaper?
Well, that is actually probably tied to the labor movement.
You see, the Green Hornet was created in Detroit, which had incredibly corrupt police, who would continue for another 65-70 years. Police gangs terrorizing people, shake-downs, moonlighting as members of Henry Ford's secret police force, strike breaking. So, the police were not exactly a beloved institution.
Conversely, the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News both actively shined a light on the abuses of both the police AND the auto industry. Most notably, the Battle of the Overpass, when the Henry' Ford's psychopathic goon Harry Bennett beat up organizers (including the man who later thought up the Peace Corps AND talked JFK into signing the Civil Rights amendment) happened to be there... and really, it was just circumstance... and exposed it by hiding film canisters when Bennett shook them down.
Also it is worth noting, that manufacturing an item people no longer were able to buy in large numbers put a lot of people out of work, highlighting the connections between crime and poverty
But of course this is all primordial. what of the superhero as we think of it. stay tuned Dematteis...
(Jack)
I will indeed stay tuned.
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