It's almost time for GalaxyCon Raleigh! As the hipsters (well, the ones from the 1950s) say: "Be there or be square!"
Tuesday, July 21, 2026
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It's almost time for GalaxyCon Raleigh! As the hipsters (well, the ones from the 1950s) say: "Be there or be square!"
To answer your question, Dematteis...
ReplyDeleteMy point is not to diminish the role of WWII on that generation, but rather to point out that is is not the whole picture.
AS you might have heard this guy G.N. Demarcus wrote a book recently a bout a T0guy, that was some what Twilight0ZOney, even said he used Rod Serling as partial inspiration. Called Serling and Vonnegut, dreamer scared by WWII, or something.
Well, there is no denying that WWII had a massive, massive effect on that generation... I would even argue most people do not probe as deeply as they should, we miss so much... it is not the whole picture.
Serling for instance, like his fellow WWI vet Will Eisner, loved writing about this this broken gritty men and women who have this spark of nobility in them. However, I don't think it is from the war.
Characters like Jack Klugman in IN Praise of Pip, is probably more from The Great Depression. Seeing these men broken by the world, but still pulling themselves enough to care for their family., or a neighbor.
i just think it says something about our society that we all know they went through these two massive .world shattering events, but the war is the only one we focus on effecting them, not the decade of struggle before hand.
Just like it is interesting that we call them the Greatest Generation, honoring them for all they endured, but we never think about the scars they carried with them as a result... I don't (just) mean PTSD.
Weird, you know. We acknowledge that Beating Hitler was important, and that the war that did it surely had an effect. We talk about how Baby Boomers went from optimism, to fearing the draft to rebelling against the good times, turning to drugs in come cases, and how that went too far and gave us support for a war on drugs, and how the etc. etc.
However, we never talk abut what going from the breadline to the front line, to a world calling them heroes for watching friends to die, to a domesticated life and guilt for making more money that their parents who very well struggled harder to put food on the table, to raising kids in a world almost as alien to them as Venus.
It is almost like we don't want to know too much, that we are so persevered with the myth. Just think, your old buddy Captain America, stories talk about home in the Depression and WWII as hard times that forged a hero. He man out of time thing happens, but it is always more just a fish out of water.
And this is NOT accusatory, I would argue Gen X and Millennials are worse about it, because they're out grandparents, and that is a unique relationship.
It is just weird that block exists, considering how prolific the generation were as writers.
Jack
Calrification...
ReplyDeleteI made rerence to G.N Demarcus's book. I do not know if you have had a chance to read it, but due to time constraints, I have not. n I bought it, but... like I said, time.
So, that was less about teh content of the book, which I cannot speak to, but using it as a cutltural touchstone in refreence to a broader culural trend I noticed.
Specifically, the dominance WWII has taken in the discussion of that generation, and how because there is well-desered gratitude for stopping Hitler, Hirohito, and Mussolini, it always reigns dominant, and said gratitude uniquely shapes how sibsequient generatios tlak about them. Not just in art, but in history nd sociology.
Jack
Food for thought, as always, Jack.
ReplyDeleteHello, dear J.M. DeMatteis! I’m Sergey; I’ve written to you before... I wanted to write again and share some thoughts. Comic book fans in Russia were reminded of you when you wrote the short story dedicated to the finale of the 1994 *Spider-Man: The Animated Series*—a show that is loved, even adored, by the third generation of Russian viewers. When the comic finally reached us, Russian readers would say things like: "Who wrote it? John Semper?" "No, DeMatteis." "Who's that?" "He's the guy who wrote *Kraven’s Last Hunt*!" "No way!?!? *The* guy? He's still alive and writing scripts? Quick, to the store!" Thank you—the story turned out well; I certainly enjoyed it because it featured Kraven the Hunter, and I love him just as much as you love Fyodor Dostoevsky. You’ve always known how to write Spider-Man stories... 1) *Spectacular Spider-Man* (You killed the old woman, just like Raskolnikov! In this case, Harry Osborn played the role of the old woman). 2) The Clone Saga (Like Tolstoy’s *War and Peace*: massive and convoluted). Wishing you health and happiness! I can’t wait to read your story in *The Amazing Spider-Man* #1000 (if I can get my hands on it). I hope you feel positively about Russia and your fans here, despite everything happening in the world right now... With love, your Russian fans.
DeleteHi, Sergey! Deep thanks for all your kind words. And my very best to the fans in Russia.
DeleteDeamttein...
ReplyDeletedon;t freak out, and don;t shoot teh messenger, but apparently you have a comic coming out this week.
Jack