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SwanShadow Gives Thanks, Volume 21: Winning Blackjack Hand Edition

November 28, 2024

Twenty-one — an ace plus a face card or 10 — means a win in blackjack (or at worst, a tie or “push”). In Texas hold-’em poker, the same hand might have great potential (especially if the face card is a king or queen) that could go undeveloped if the board fills up with middle-value cards.

Is our 21st annual edition of the Thanksgiving Day blog post an immediate winner, or merely awash with unfulfilled potential? That, friend reader, will be for you to decide.

As always, I have so much more to be grateful for than a simple list can encompass. Thus, our customary exercise: I’ve chosen 26 seemingly random items — one for each letter of the alphabet — to stand in for everything and everyone in my life that I love, admire, treasure, and appreciate. I began my Thanksgiving Day chatting via FaceTime with The Daughter and the two Little Dudes (The Son-In-Law peeked in briefly for a hello and a “Happy Thanksgiving” as well), an interaction that reminded me again how fortunate I am to have loved ones and to be loved. There’s much more love in the enumeration below, if you know where to look.

And with that, let’s do the do.

On this Thanksgiving Day 2024, I’m thankful for…

Agatha All Along. Marvel Studios has taken a fair bit of heat for some of their latter-period offerings, but for my money (and as a Disney stockholder, it kind of is my money, to some infinitesimal degree), the MCU smashed it out of the park with the most recent made-for-streaming-TV event. Agatha All Along, the followup series to the acclaimed WandaVision from a few years back, gave us everything we expect from Marvel — engaging characters, exciting action, a compelling and twisty storyline, and a sense of both drama and fun that hearkened back to the Marvel Comics of old. Kathryn Hahn made the most of her star turn as the ageless witch on a quest to regain her lost mojo. Her supporting coven, led by Sasheer Zamata, Joe Locke, Patti LuPone, and the ubiquitous Aubrey Plaza (who seems to be in everything these days), each brought their own flavor of awesomeness. Personally, I’ve been happy with most of the MCU Disney+ product — I even enjoyed the widely derided She-Hulk: Attorney at Law — but Agatha All Along served notice that Kevin Feige and Company still can pull magic out of their pointy hat.

Bluesky. Like many of you, I pretty much gave up on Twitter as it entered its Age of Elon a couple of years ago. While the jury is still out, Bluesky seems at least for the moment a viable alternative to what the Twittersphere once provided. I’m SwanShadow there as here, so feel welcome to follow if you’re inclined. Also, here’s a tip: You can obtain a download from the former Twitter of all your content posted there. I pulled one in advance of abandoning my account altogether, so that I can repurpose some of my classic tweets for future use on Bluesky.

Concierges. There are both pluses and minuses to living in a vast concrete jungle. One of the true upsides in my highrise life is the concierge staff who man/woman/person the front desk in my building. I never have to worry about a package being porch-pirated or a DoorDash delivery going misdirected. And more often than not, I get a smile and friendly greeting when I walk past on my way to the mailroom or the Amazon Hub.

Dominant eye. One might suppose that when one has inhabited a body for as many decades as I’ve inhabited mine, one would know all there is to know about this mortal frame. But in fact, I only recently learned something fascinating about my physical self: I am one of the roughly 18-20% of humans who are cross-eye dominant. That means that while I am naturally right-handed, my brain favors my left eye. It’s especially a challenge for things like target sports — think shooting or archery, even darts — but also partially explains my lifelong lack of hand-eye coordination. Now that I know that my cross-eye dominance exists, I can learn to compensate for it. (You can test your own eye dominance thusly: Extend your arms in front of you. Make a triangular space by partially crossing your hands; your thumbs will form the base of the triangle. Center the triangle on some fixed object across the room. Now, keeping both eyes open and focused on the object, draw your hands slowly toward you until your hands touch your face, and the triangle lands over one of your eyes. That eye is your dominant eye.)

Eggnog. People who know me in the real world know that I’m not a huge fan of the holiday season in general. One feature of this time of year that I do enjoy is eggnog, which can be difficult to find outside of the fall-to-winter window. The Kroger store brand is surprisingly decent.

Fans. When one lives in a high-desert location that can reach peak temperatures of 120 (as Las Vegas did one day this past summer), anything that provides cooling air circulation is a godsend. The three powerful tower fans around the Nest — one in my office, one in the living room, one in the master suite — help keep the HVAC system from working too hard during the long hot Mojave summer.

Graduation. The Daughter collected her hard-earned master’s degree in library and information sciences at a ceremony this past June. She deserves abundant plaudits for completing her coursework while holding down a full-time job and — not insignificantly — giving birth to and caring for two children. Fortunately, she inherited her late mother’s determination. I could not be more proud.

The House, a.k.a. Michelob Ultra Arena, home to my beloved Las Vegas Aces. A championship three-peat escaped our grasp during a challenging season, but I thoroughly enjoyed every home game… even the ones the Aces didn’t win. The House draws great crowds (every game this season was a sellout, and season tickets are already sold out for next season as well), and the Aces’ enthusiastic fan base always shows up and shows out. (Some show out a little more than others.)

“I Can’t Drive 55.” I have been a major Sammy Hagar fan since he was the lead vocalist in Montrose in the early 1970s. In the ’80s, seeing Sammy perform live became an annual ritual; I caught the Standing Hampton, Three Lock Box, and VOA tours in consecutive years. This summer, I got to see Sammy alongside his former Van Halen bandmate Michael Anthony, guitar wizard Joe Satriani, and drummer Jason Bonham, playing a mix of tunes from across his career. The guy still can sing up a storm (unlike certain other former VH frontmen who shall remain unnamed here), and he brings plenty of fire to the stage even now in his mid-70s. Sammy might not be able to drive 55, but he is outliving it in style.

Josh Johnson. In case you’re unfamiliar with Josh, he’s a standup comedian who’s also a correspondent on The Daily Show. His standup is nothing short of brilliant, especially considering that — unlike most working comics — he performs a set of brand-new material almost every night, often drawing inspiration from current events. He’s topical and socially aware without being overtly political (usually); adult in orientation without working blue (usually); and his onstage persona is engaging and charismatic without any of the grotesque bravado that characterizes a lot of today’s standup. Check out his YouTube channel — he posts clips from recent performances frequently — and catch him live if he comes to your town. I will challenge you not to laugh.

Kamala Harris. She made the best of a tough campaigning circumstance, and carried herself with dignity and grace to the very end. Thank you, Madame Vice President.

Las Vegas Boulevard. Not just that roughly four-mile portion known to the world as The Strip, but all of its nearly 50-mile length. Drive along the Boulevard for a while, and you’re bound to see something you’ve never seen before, and most likely would not see anywhere else.

Mucha. My love for comic art is well known to those who have frequented this space in earlier years, but I also have a deep appreciation for many other kinds of graphic art. One of my all-time favorite artists is the Czech-born illustrator and painter Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939), famed for his creations in the Art Nouveau style. Mucha is one of the most renowned artists whose most familiar work was done in the field of advertising. He created hundreds of theatrical posters, product advertisements, and print illustrations in an ornate style that was compelling, immediately recognizable, and often imitated. Mucha’s art never fails to bring a smile to my face and peace to my heart.

Neewer. I’ve been working for some time on a video project (more about this, soon). Neewer makes a wide assortment of photographic accessories, from lighting to tripods, several pieces of which I now own. I find their products to be of good quality, easy to use, and competitively priced. This is not a sponsored ad — I just like their stuff.

Olympics. This year’s Paris Games provided some of the finest spectacle in sport. From the triumphant return to competition of All-Everything gymnast Simone Biles to the home-crowd-pleasing successes of French swimmer Leon Marchand; from the continued US domination of men’s and women’s 5×5 basketball to the even more dominant performances in the diving pool by Team China; from the constant thrills of insanely close races on the athletics track to… whatever that breakdancing thing was; the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad had it all.

Pizza Rock, serving the best pizza in Las Vegas in this pizza connoisseur’s estimation. To be fair, I haven’t tried every single pizza available in the Valley. But I’d be hard-pressed to find any that outclasses the offerings from Tony Gemignani’s downtown hotspot.

Quokkas. Because the world needs all the furry cuteness we can get right now.

Richard Osman’s House of Games. I adore British quiz shows in general, but I hold a special fondness for this quirky series presented by the former Pointless creator and co-host (and now, bestselling mystery novelist) Richard Osman. Each week, four “famous faces” (translated: “celebrities” familiar to much of the British TV-viewing public, but completely unknown to most Americans) play five days’ worth of quizzes, ranging from simple word games (“Rhyme Time”) to find-it-on-a-map geography (“Where Is Kazakhstan?”) to merging clues with pictures (“Answer Smash,” which concludes each day’s proceedings). The “celebrity” who wins each day’s contest gets to select from a motley assortment of tacky prizes, all of which bear Osman’s silhouette; the player amassing the most points over the course of the week takes home a cheesy trophy cup that most bowling alleys would be embarrassed to give away. It’s all in good fun, and plays much better than I’ve just made it sound.

Sunflowers. They are magnificent and magical, regal and radiant. They stand out in any arrangement. Artists and artisans throughout history have drawn inspiration from them. Their beauty is undeniable, and beyond compare. Who doesn’t love sunflowers?

Trots and Bonnie. I’ve been revisiting at times throughout this year the wonderfully creative cartooning of Shari Flenniken, whose strip appeared originally in the legendary humor magazine National Lampoon from 1972 until 1990. Trots and Bonnie features the everyday exploits of two junior-high school teens — bright-but-naive Bonnie and her more precocious friend Pepsi — and Bonnie’s sharp-witted talking dog Trots. As was typical of the Lampoon‘s fare, Trots and Bonnie skews quite adult at times, but Flenniken’s charming artwork and thoughtful, realistic sensibility set the strip at a higher level.

Unsung Titles, the theme of my ninth One-Day Special quiz for the Internet’s premier daily trivia competition, LearnedLeague. I’ve enjoyed presenting each of the 1DS quizzes I’ve written over the years, but I was particularly fond of this one, which focused on popular songs whose titles never appear in their lyrics. It was a fun set to create, and people seemed to enjoy playing it. Here’s a sample question (I’ll put the answer at the end of this post):

You might think this song is called:
“We Come From the Land of the Ice and Snow” (1970, #16 US Hot 100)
It’s easy to see why this song became Thor’s walk-on music in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, what with all that Norse mythology “hammer of the gods” and “Valhalla” stuff in the lyrics.
But you know what’s not in the lyrics? Passports. Or visas. Or the actual title of this song.

Video editing, a new skill I’m struggling to acquire. As mentioned above, I’m working on a video project. The thing is, despite many years of experience editing audio files — and I consider myself a pretty solid audio editor — I haven’t worked with video since college, back in the Dark Ages. Some necessary skills translate from the audio world; others are brand new to me. You know that old saying about old dogs and new tricks? Well, I’m an old dog.

Wakizashi and katana. Most mornings, the first thing I see when I open my eyes is my daisho, a matching pair of Japanese swords of the style originally carried by samurai. I am not a samurai, or trained in the art of swordplay. For me, these beautiful swords are strictly display pieces. But I like to think that a master martial artist could make great use of them, should the occasion arise. And speaking of swords…

… there’s the xiphoid (“sword-shaped”) process. It’s that tiny piece of your skeleton at the end of your sternum, to which your diaphragm and your rectus abdominis muscles — colloquially known as your abs — are connected. What’s interesting to me about the xiphoid process is that it isn’t fully developed until around age 40. Think of the fontanelles (or soft spots) in a baby’s skull, which harden into bone during the first 18 months or so after birth. The xiphoid process is like that, only it takes until middle age to harden. Weird.

Y&T, one of the great underappreciated bands in the history of rock. Frank Meniketti, Y&T’s co-founder, lead vocalist, and lead guitarist, should be a household name given his prodigious talents. But for whatever reason, his band never quite vaulted over the hump into superstardom. Despite years of touring and recording excellent, tunefully catchy hard rock music, Y&T just never found that one killer song or released that one killer album that might have made their career. The band’s name — a truncation of their original moniker, Yesterday and Today — probably didn’t help. And yet, they’re one of the acts whose CDs I frequently pop into my car player on long road trips. I always find myself wondering… why weren’t these guys a much bigger deal?

Zarfs. You know that little cardboard sleeve around your cup when you order a hot beverage at your local Starbucks? It’s a zarf. And when you don’t get one, you wish you did.

As I am every year — and increasingly as the years roll past — I am sincerely thankful for you, friend reader, especially those of you who’ve kept coming back for this annual experience for the past 21 Thanksgivings. If you’re here for the first time, I’m grateful for your presence too. I hope you realize how much you have to be thankful for, and that you’ll exercise some of that gratitude in the way you live your life and interact with the people around you. I hope we’re all here next year to be thankful again, and still.

*Answer: “Immigrant Song” (Led Zeppelin)

Categories: Aimless Riffing, Celebritiana, Cinemania, Comic Art Friday, Disney, Food Glorious Food, Good Reads, Hero of the Day, LearnedLeague, Listology, My Home Town, Reminiscing, Ripped From the Headlines, Soundtrack of My Life, Sports Bar, SwanStuff, Teleholics Anonymous, Thanksgiving, That's Cool!, The Swan Tunes In, Trivial Pursuits, Vegas, Baby
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SwanShadow Gives Thanks, Volume 18: Emerging From the Silo Edition

November 26, 2021

So, yeah… this pandemic has been, and continues to be, a thing.

But here we are. A year ago, we were all pretty much locked down, shut in, and wondering if or when we would ever be able to resume some semblance of normal life. Today, we’re several months into having effective anti-COVID vaccines available — many of us have already received both initial doses, plus a booster — which have facilitated at least some measure of mobility.

At our house, having everyone vaccinated meant enjoying the in-person Thanksgiving dinner with close family that would have been unthinkable last year. The Pirate Queen and I were able to take the Hawaiian vacation we’d had to postpone for a year and a half. And I got to see the two most recent Marvel Cinematic Universe films — Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Eternals — in an actual movie theater. I would not have believed how much I would treasure such experiences, until they were snatched away.

None of that erases the fact that more Americans died from COVID-19 this calendar year than last, or that millions of people both here and abroad continue to suffer from the consequences of this plague.

But I’m thankful for the progress that we’ve made.

As always, my Thanksgiving list of gratitude is topped by loved ones — the Pirate Queen, The Daughter, and The Daughter’s family, which expanded by one in April. The Little Dude is a genuine delight, and is as adorable as it’s possible for an infant human to be. I wish I had a better world to welcome him into. But it is what it is.

Without further folderol, then, here’s this year’s A-Z sampling of people and things for which I’m grateful this Thanksgiving season. As is our tradition in this space, this list is not intended to be comprehensive, but rather a kind of synecdoche (look it up) standing in for the countless reasons I have to give thanks.

Thus, in November 2021, I’m thankful for:

Adobe Audition. I’ve toyed for years with the notion of upgrading my digital audio workstation (a technical term for “recording software”) from freeware to something more professional. Even though I’ve had extensive experience engineering with Audition in a studio setting, I hesitated to replace the familiar and comfortable Audacity (which I was using long before I got into pro voiceover work) in my home environment. This year, I pushed myself to make the switch. My only regret is that I didn’t do it ages ago.

Brandon, Buster, and Belt. My beloved San Francisco Giants returned to playoff form with a 107-victory season in 2021, with the Three-B Triumvirate of veterans leading the way. Shortstop Brandon Crawford not only earned his fourth Gold Glove, but also finished fourth in the National League MVP voting with a career-best offensive campaign. First baseman Brandon Belt blasted 29 home runs despite a couple of significant injury absences. Catcher Buster Posey capped a stellar career — he announced his retirement at season’s end — by winning the NL Comeback Player of the Year Award.

The Chase. What I was NDA-bound not to reveal in last Thanksgiving’s list became clear in January, when I added a few seconds to my 15 minutes of TV quiz show fame (I say, “fame,” as though I were actually famous) with a successful appearance on ABC’s revival of The Chase. My teammate Daniel and I managed to outrace Jeopardy! superstar James Holzhauer to split a bankroll of $325K. Although it aired this year, our episode actually taped in November 2020 under strict COVID protocols.

Dr. Strange. He’s guest-starring in the third MCU Spider-Man film next month. He entered my statue gallery earlier this year. I’m wearing his T-shirt as I type this post.

Everything bagels. Not literally “everything,” but still, a savory flavor combination that’s hard to resist. So popular that you can now get “everything” seasoning on dozens of other foods, or even just by itself you that you can apply it to your own creations. There’s a bottle in my spice rack.

Fandango. It was pleasant to return to the cinema after nearly two years, with the ubiquitous movie-ticket app making the admission process contact-free. Also pleasant: being able to see how many other tickets had been sold in advance for each performance, to have a sense of how crowded (or not) the theater might be.

The Gospel According to Luke. I’ve read a fair number of rock star bios and memoirs in recent years, but none I’ve enjoyed more than this one by longtime Toto guitarist Steve Lukather. In addition to his decades-spanning Toto run, Luke has played hundreds of sessions behind other music legends — everyone from Michael Jackson (that’s Luke playing the non-Eddie Van Halen guitar parts on “Beat It”) to Elton John, from Aretha Franklin to Boz Scaggs, from Stevie Nicks to Chaka Khan. But I was surprised to learn just how deep his backing credits run. That’s Luke on Lionel Richie’s “Say You, Say Me”? On “Talk to Ya Later” by the Tubes? On Spinal Tap’s “Break Like the Wind”? Who knew?

Haiku. A mere three brief lines. Just seventeen syllables. Poetic word art.

Insecure. Issa Rae’s groundbreaking HBO series about a young African-American woman navigating life with her circle of friends and lovers is currently in its final season. It’s impossible to overstate the power of seeing Black people on television leading authentic lives and dealing with everyday relationship complexities that always feel real. I’ll miss Issa, Molly (played by the sublime Yvonne Orji), and their crew, and I’ll look forward to seeing what Ms. Rae brings to the table next.

Jodie Whittaker. Speaking of TV departures, I’m also going to miss the Thirteenth Doctor when she departs Doctor Who at the end of this series. It took Jodie’s quirky, impetuous Time Lord (and her glorious Yorkshire dialect) to get me back on board with a show I hadn’t cared about since halfway through David Tennant’s run as the Tenth Doctor. I can only hope that whoever the Fourteenth Doctor might be (the role has yet to be cast), they’ll bring as much joy to the character as did Whittaker.

Kailua. One of the highlights of our Oahu trip this year was touring this delightful town on the Windward Coast. Between its world-class beaches, walkable central district, and relaxed, congenial vibe, Kailua’s an easy place to love. (The other Kailua, on the Kona Coast of the Big Island, is pretty awesome too.)

Little Dude. Did I mention that he’s adorable? Yes, I believe I did.

Magenta. It’s been a long while since I added a new entry to my catalog of all-time favorite bands. These Welsh progressive rockers cracked the code this year. A three-person core — multi-instrumentalist Robert Reed, guitarist Chris Fry, and vocalist Christina Booth, plus Reed’s brother Steven who contributes lyrics — supported by a changing cast of supporting players, Magenta takes cues from such earlier prog acts as Yes, Genesis, and Renaissance, but ends up sounding very much like its own thing. What separates Magenta from its prog predecessors for me is Rob Reed’s insistence upon “giving priority to melody rather than technical showmanship.” Magenta’s music focuses on evocative songs rather than endless instrumental noodling; songs sumptuously conveyed by Booth’s alternately delicate yet powerful voice. Magenta also takes the well-worn trope of “concept album” in interesting new directions. Their most recent effort, 2020’s Masters of Illusion, dedicates its tracks to once-prominent horror film actors, including Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee, and Ingrid Pitt. Previous albums have employed such themes as the seven deadly sins (Seven) and rock stars who died young (The Twenty-Seven Club).

Nachos Bell Grande. You know that craving you have every now and again for something that’s barely food, but that satisfies that craving like nothing else can? Of course you do.

One hundred eighty. My Common Elements comic art commission theme reached this milestone number in 2021. (A couple of entries are still in the hands of their creators.) Seventeen years ago, when I first got the idea to commission an original artwork featuring otherwise unrelated comic book heroes who shared some feature in common, I would never have predicted that I’d eventually own 180 of them. And yet, here we are. Which of the 180 Common Elements drawings is my favorite? The next one.

Packing cubes. They seem like a gimmick at first, but these magic pouches have become an indispensable part of traveling. I have always struggled to fit everything for a trip into a single suitcase. Packing cubes transform my checked bag into a TARDIS — bigger on the inside.

Queen of Swords. I was reminded recently of this short-lived period series from the early 2000s, in which Tessie Santiago starred as a kind of female Zorro. You can find a handful of episodes on YouTube, which only make me wish some streaming service would collect the entire run. Also: the title of one of my favorite songs by Idina Menzel.

The Real Housewives of Henry VIII, my Online Quiz League team. The name derived from the fact that the team originally had six members. When two of our players moved on after the first season, we kept the name. Since I usually occupy the fourth position in our playing rotation, I hold the Anne of Cleves seat. (From a historical perspective, Anne did alright for herself — she got a rich settlement, was beloved by everyone including her servants, and never had to be intimate with Henry, whom she outlived. None of which can be said for Anne Boleyn or Catherine Howard.)

Smart Resume. Why doesn’t every channel offer this feature on every DVR recording? Because they want us to watch the commercials, obviously. But I employ Smart Resume every chance I get.

TD Ameritrade, the nice folks who provide the tools to manage my investment portfolio. For the record, today (Friday, November 26, 2021) was not a good day for the market. But I can’t blame TD Ameritrade for that.

“Unpretty.” Still my favorite TLC jam, with an ever-relevant message — especially for young women — about not allowing other people to define you.

Vaccines. As I noted in the introduction to this post, vaccines have helped ease us back onto the path toward a semblance of normal life. We’d be even further along that path were it not for an active misinformation campaign sponsored by villains about whom, quite frankly, I don’t have much positive to say. Vaccines helped rid the world of smallpox and, for the most part, of polio. Vaccines reduced the threat of measles, a disease that used to kill millions of children, and of other scourges such as typhoid, cholera, tetanus, and diphtheria. Just get your shots, people.

Warriors. The Dubs are back in full force, after a few seasons on struggle street. Steph Curry has redefined basketball — bold words, I know, but I can’t think of a more accurate way to put it. And Steph once again has a supporting cast around him that’s capable of a deep playoff run. Just wait until the other Splash Brother, Klay Thompson, returns to the floor next month.

Xiao long bao. I don’t know who invented soup dumplings, but whoever you are, bless you.

Yu Oughta Know. Lynn Q. Yu’s daily current events email/quiz helps keep me up to date on what’s fresh and exciting in the world, as well as information that just might turn up in competitive trivia sometime in the near future. I’d need more fingers than I have to count the number of times recently that something I only knew because of Lynn’s newsletter fell into my lap during a quiz. Every point matters.

Zot! Cartoonist Scott McCloud might be better known these days for his Eisner Award-winning Understanding Comics and its sequels, but long before those seminal masterworks, he was known for Zot!, a superhero pastiche about a relentlessly positive do-gooder from a utopian parallel Earth. We could all use a bit of Zot’s cheerful optimism these days.

As I express every year, I am thankful for you, friend reader. I hope you’ll use this opportunity to reflect on the people and things for which you’re grateful. May we all survive another circuit around the sun, so that we’ll have even more to celebrate in a year’s time.

Categories: Aimless Riffing, Cinemania, Comic Art Friday, Hawaii, I'm a Warriors Worrier, Jeopardy!, Listology, Soundtrack of My Life, SwanStuff, Teleholics Anonymous, Thanksgiving, That's Cool!, Trivial Pursuits

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Comic Art Friday: It’s all gonna be a stone gas, honey

August 17, 2018

Moonstone_Darna_Santamaria

If you’re a regular here, you know that I grew up as a military brat. My adoptive father served 20 years in the U.S. Air Force, and I was around for the last 15 of those years. As a result, I spent a fair chunk of my childhood living on islands — specifically Oahu, Crete (that’s Greece, but you knew that), and Luzon, the largest island in the Philippines.

During our two-year stay in the latter island nation, I became acquainted with Darna, who is to Filipino komiks what Wonder Woman is to the American genre. I didn’t understand much Tagalog, but even without knowing the language, I could appreciate the character. Darna is a young girl named Narda who swallows a magical white stone and transforms into a superpowered woman warrior. (And to answer the question I know you’re thinking: She regurgitates the stone when she wants to change back into her normal self. It’s like Mary Marvel or Isis, only kind of gross.)

Since her debut in 1950, Darna has enjoyed a significant presence in Filipino pop culture even beyond komiks, starring in numerous films and TV programs. When we lived in the Philippines in the mid-1970s, Darna was being portrayed on screen by a popular actress named Vilma Santos. Posters and pictures of Vilma in her Darna costume were everywhere. Vilma became so well-known that she parlayed her show business success into a prominent career in politics.

Darna_Vilma

I’ve long wanted to feature Darna in a Common Elements scenario, and was fortunate to commission a talented Filipino artist, Michael Sta. Maria, to do the job. Michael pairs Darna here with Dr. Karla Sofen, a.k.a. Moonstone, another character who obtains her superpowers from a rock… albeit with less swallowing and upchucking. Which, you know, is probably a good thing.

And that’s your Comic Art Friday.

Categories: Celebritiana, Cinemania, Comic Art Friday, Hero of the Day, Reminiscing, SwanStuff, That's Cool!

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Comic Art Friday: Death Race Infinity

July 27, 2018

Black Racer and Silver Surfer, pencils by Keith Pollard, inks by Bob Almond

It’s fair to say that no single individual had a greater impact on the medium of comics — specifically, that species of fantasy comics into which superheroes and their related subgenres fall — than Jack Kirby.

As an artist and storyteller, Kirby created the foundation for what we would today call the Marvel Universe. Most of the classic Marvel heroes from the Silver Age — including the Fantastic Four, Hulk, Thor, the original X-Men, Iron Man, Black Panther, Silver Surfer, Ant-Man, and the Wasp, as well as the Avengers and Inhumans — were all created or co-created by Kirby. (Not to mention Captain America, whom Kirby co-created with Joe Simon in 1940 and revived at Marvel in 1964.)

After a falling-out with Stan Lee and Marvel in the early 1970s, Kirby moved on to DC Comics and created a whole raft of new characters in what came to be known as the Fourth World saga. Prominent among these were Mister Miracle, the Forever People, and the New Gods.

I could go on naming characters Kirby dreamed up, but we’d be here all day. The man was that prolific.

Today’s featured artwork spotlights two Kirby creations who are, in a way, different spins on the same general concept. On the right, we have the Silver Surfer, whom Kirby introduced as a minor character in a 1966 Fantastic Four story, but became — due to Stan Lee’s enthusiasm (for years, he refused to allow other writers to use the Surfer in their stories) — one of the icons of classic Marvel. On the left is the Black Racer, who zoomed onto the scene in New Gods #3 (July 1971).

The Surfer began his career as the herald of the planet-eating space giant Galactus; the Racer is the avatar of Death in the Fourth World tales. And, yes, both guys fly through space on what looks like sporting equipment. (I never understood why the Black Racer needed ski poles to steer. In space, what would he dig them into? But I’m not going to argue with The King.)

Black Racer and Silver Surfer, pencils by Keith Pollard

The base image here was penciled by Keith Pollard, one of the finest (and in my opinion, most tragically underappreciated) artists of Marvel’s Bronze Age (the 1970s and early 1980s). Inking superstar Bob Almond took Pollard’s pencil sketch and embellished it to a whole other level, adding a gorgeous deep-space background in addition to enhancing the characters themselves.

About Keith Pollard: During his career with Marvel, he proved himself a workhorse of titanic proportions. Pollard drew lengthy runs on Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four (twice), and Thor — for a time, he was working on all three titles simultaneously — as well as penciling issues of numerous other titles. Frankly, I don’t know how the man slept or ate during those years. Perhaps he didn’t.

In the early 1990s, Pollard penciled (with Joe Rubinstein inking) dozens of character model sheets for the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Master Edition. I own a couple of these, having purchased them from Keith via his art representative more than a decade ago.

Misty Knight model sheet, pencils by Keith Pollard, inks by Joe Rubinstein

Here’s the Misty Knight page. If you’ve watched Luke Cage on Netflix — and if you haven’t, what are you sitting here for? you have two whole seasons to catch up on! — you know all about this hard-hitting police detective who acquires a bionic arm.

Battlestar model sheet, pencils by Keith Pollard, inks by Joe Rubinstein

And this is the profile of Battlestar, who was Captain America’s partner for a short while in the late ’80s. Lemar Hoskins began his career as the newest iteration of Bucky (a sidekick role originally assumed by James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes, now better known as the Winter Soldier). When legendary writer Dwayne McDuffie pointed out to Cap scribe Mark Gruenwald that the name “Bucky” took on problematic connotations when applied to an African American man, Gruenwald took a suggestion from artist Kieron Dwyer and renamed the character Battlestar.

Back to the Silver Surfer for just a moment. If you love great comic art — of course you do, otherwise you wouldn’t have read this far — you owe it to yourself to check out the two-part Silver Surfer: Parable, a 1988 collaboration between Stan Lee and the iconic French artist Jean Girard, a.k.a. Moebius. The story is classic Lee, and Moebius’s visuals combine beauty, grandeur, and emotion like no other.

And that’s your Comic Art Friday.

Categories: Comic Art Friday, Hero of the Day, SwanStuff, That's Cool!

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Comic Art Friday: Can’t touch this

July 13, 2018

I’m just going to put this out there:

I don’t think the Human Bomb gets enough love.

Rogue_HumanBomb_Derenick

Sure, there are many factors that contribute to the Human Bomb’s unfortunate situation.

  • He’s got a dorky name.
  • He wears what might be the least sexy costume in the history of superheroes.
  • He hearkens back to comics’ Golden Age, when heroes often had gimmicky, poorly thought-out superpowers — like those of the Human Bomb.
  • He was created by a second-rank publisher that went out of business 60 years ago (Quality Comics, also the original home of such characters as Plastic Man, Blackhawk, and Phantom Lady), and has been used only sporadically by the company that now owns his rights (DC Comics).
  • In the modern world, the term “human bomb” conjures up unpleasant associations with terrorist violence.
  • For a while during his original run, the Bomb had a comedic sidekick named Hustace Throckmorton, who made things explode with his bare feet. I kid you not.

Despite all of the above, I always thought the Human Bomb was kind of awesome. After all, who hasn’t fantasized about blowing up everything you touch?

Okay, maybe that was just me.

Anyway, here’s the Bomb’s deal. Roy Lincoln was a scientist who created, alongside his father, the world’s most powerful explosive. To keep the family brainchild out of the hands of Nazis, Roy swallowed the chemical — like you would — and as a result, developed the ability (or incurred the curse, depending on your point of view) of causing everything he touched to explode.

To keep from bursting his environment into smithereens, Roy had to live inside a cumbersome suit made from a special material that prevented his skin from accidental contact with things he didn’t wish to destroy (presumably, most everything). He would remove his gloves when he wanted to lay the smack down with his potent barehanded touch.

It’s easy to see the limitations of a character like the Human Bomb. For one thing, you can’t depict him outside of his costume very often, so he’s not terribly relatable — aside from his eyes, visible through the window in his helmet, what does his face even look like? Plus, it’s difficult to have normal human interactions and relationships when everything (and everyone) you come into contact with detonates like fireworks on the Fourth of July.

These very limitations, however, make the Human Bomb one of comics’ most tragically heroic figures — a man doomed to permanent isolation who finds a way to adapt his horrific personal circumstances to the benefit of others.

I can dig a guy like that.

I don’t know whether longtime X-Men guru Chris Claremont had the Human Bomb in mind when he conceived Rogue back in 1981, but the parallel is undeniable. Like Roy Lincoln, Rogue (who still doesn’t have a full name after all these years; we’ve been told since 2004 that her given name is Anna Marie, but her surname remains a mystery) is forced to cover her body to shield the world from her mutant power — she drains the life force from anyone with whom she makes skin-to-skin contact.

Of course, Rogue being an attractive woman and this being the comics universe, she manages to cover herself usually in clothes far more form-fitting and face-revealing than the Human Bomb’s containment suit.

In recent times, Rogue has either developed some degree of control over her powers or found an effective workaround, given that she’s enjoyed a handful of romantic relationships (most notably with Johnny Storm, better known as the Human Torch of Fantastic Four fame, and her X-Men teammate Gambit, whom she recently married).

If only she could have hooked up with Roy Lincoln.

That would have been — wait for it — the bomb.

Sincere thanks to Tom Derenick, who created today’s featured Common Elements artwork. Tom’s classic style represents everything I love about comic art — it’s clear, easily readable, packed with power and crisp in detail. If I were asked to identify an example of a contemporary comics artist whose approach would have been equally at home in the Silver or Bronze Ages, yet is totally fresh and relevant today, Tom’s art would be one of my first stops.

And that’s your Comic Art Friday.

Categories: Comic Art Friday, Hero of the Day, SwanStuff, That's Cool!

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Comic Art Friday: Between rock and a hard place

July 6, 2018

In my previous Comic Art Friday post about this year’s Silicon Valley Comic Con, I noted that artist Ryan Sook had taken ill during the show and was unable to start the Common Elements commission that he and I had discussed. I also mentioned that I hoped to approach Ryan with the same request at a future convention.

As luck would have it, Ryan was in attendance at San Francisco Comic Con (which is now being staged in Oakland, while retaining the previous name — even though “Golden State Comic Con” is not only available, but comes with reflected cachet) in June. He immediately recalled the project we had talked about previously, and quickly set to work creating it.

You can see for yourself that the end result was well worth the wait.

Tesla Strong and Valda the Iron Maiden, pencils and inks by Ryan Sook

While I always enjoy seeing favorite heroes appear in Common Elements scenarios, some of my favorite pieces in the series involve less prominent characters. Here, Ryan Sook brings together Tesla Strong, the daughter of Alan Moore’s science hero Tom Strong, and Valda the Iron Maiden, the companion of Arak, Son of Thunder.

Okay, so, a little background may help.

A pastiche of pre-superhero pulp characters such as Doc Savage and Craig Kennedy, Tom Strong grew up on the island of Attabar Teru, where he was raised to be the embodiment of human physical and mental perfection. Tom and his wife Dhalua, princess of Attabar Teru, have a daughter, Tesla, named for the famed inventor. Thanks to their partaking of the root of the mysterious Goloka plant, Tom and his family age extremely slowly. Tesla, although in her 60s during the time period in which most of the Tom Strong stories are set, still possesses the appearance and attitudes of a teenager. (Similarly, Tom and Dhalua are both well over a century old, but look as though they’re forty-something.) In addition to participating in a number of her father’s adventures, Tesla also starred in her own one-shot book, The Many Worlds of Tesla Strong.

Tesla Strong, pencils, inks, and markers by comics artist Phil Noto

Valda the Iron Maiden was a knight in the service of Charlemagne (and may also have been his daughter) before meeting the Native American hero Arak. Together, they set off on a series of fantastical adventures. Valda and Arak constantly ran afoul of sorcerers and their minions as they battled their way across medieval Europe. Written by Roy Thomas (who was instrumental in bringing Conan to comics) and drawn by Ernie Colon and later by Tony DeZuniga, Arak, Son of Thunder managed to avoid most of the embarrassing tropes assigned to fictional Native American characters, while offering a unique spin on the sword-and-sorcery genre. If you like that sort of thing, Arak is likely to be the sort of thing you like. Check out some back issues in your local comic shop’s discount bin.

Arak and Valda, pencils and inks by Tony DeZuniga

If you’re puzzling over the common element between these two stalwart heroines, both share their names — parts of their names, anyway — with hard rock bands: Tesla and Iron Maiden. I’ve never seen Iron Maiden perform live (they’re not my cup of tea, really), but I’ve experienced Tesla a couple of times, most recently six years ago when they opened for Scorpions. You can read my review of that concert, if you’re inclined.

TeslaBanner

One of the many qualities I appreciate in Ryan Sook’s art is the deftness with which he conveys so much with a few perfectly placed lines. In today’s featured piece, I’m especially pleased with the treatment that Ryan gave Tesla’s hair, and the way her features delicately but clearly denote her biracial heritage. Too often, comic artists draw women of color in exactly the same manner that they draw Caucasian female characters. How many depictions of, say, Storm (to cite one frequently egregious example) have you seen where, if you were looking only at the pencil and ink linework, you’d never know that she’s of African descent?

(Then again, how many comic artists are guilty of drawing nearly all their female characters, regardless of ethnicity, with the exact same facial features? You know who you are.)

And that’s your Comic Art Friday.

Categories: Comic Art Friday, Getting Racial Up In This Piece, Hero of the Day, SwanStuff, That's Cool!

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Comic Art Friday: Redheaded queens

May 4, 2018

I have often contemplated the fact that women artists are severely underrepresented in my commission collection. My efforts to remedy this problem — and it is a problem — are complicated by the fact that women artists are underrepresented in mainstream comics in general, and in the superhero genre specifically.

Although this situation is improving ever so slightly — with the advent of such talented creators as Amanda Conner, Nicola Scott, Babs Tarr, Becky Cloonan, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Sara Pichelli, Joelle Jones, and Afua Richardson, among many others — there are still far too few women comics artists, and even fewer who are regularly available to do commission projects.

But I keep trying.

Medusa and Mera, pencils by Cross (Lori Hanson)

I’m especially intrigued by the concept of women artists drawing female characters. Not because I wish to fence women artists into a virtual ghetto where women only draw “girls’ comics” (whatever that implies), but because the objectification and hypersexualization of female characters in mainstream comics is real, and I find it refreshing to see these characters depicted by artists who view them through a more personal filter. (In the same way, I don’t want to see African-American comics creators limited to writing and drawing black characters, but I often find something unique in the mix when they do.)

Which brings us to today’s spotlight artwork. The pencil-wielder behind this beautiful piece is the artist known as Cross (a.k.a. Lori Hanson). When I first saw the graceful, swirling lines that typify Cross’s work, I immediately thought of hair. (The body accessory, not the Broadway musical.) I also observed a certain regal quality in the way Cross portrays people. Putting those two characteristics together brought me to this Common Elements concept matching a pair of royal ladies with distinctive red hair: Medusa, queen of the Inhumans in the Marvel universe, and Mera, queen of Atlantis in the DC universe.

Speaking of Medusa… man, that Inhumans series Marvel ran on ABC last year was terrible, wasn’t it? It was shocking to see a creative enterprise that has succeeded beyond expectations at almost everything they’ve attempted fail so spectacularly. Almost nothing about the show worked, from casting (I felt sorry at times for Iwan Rheon, who was so compellingly evil in Game of Thrones, but here seemed to be constantly looking for the exit) to scripting (did any of the writers actually read any Inhumans comics?) to general concepts (what’s the point of having a character whose superpower is prehensile hair if you’re going to shave her head in the first episode?).

Fortunately for us, we always have comic art to come back to. Cross reminds us of the glory and greatness that Medusa’s hair was meant to embody.

And just in case we needed an additional post-TV-bomb palate cleanser, here’s a nifty portrait of Attilan’s royal family — Queen Medusa, King Black Bolt, and their faithful canine companion Lockjaw — by animator Steven E. Gordon that restores our faith in Inhumanity.

Medusa, Black Bolt, and Lockjaw, pencils by Steven E. Gordon

Hopefully, Mera will fare sufficiently well in the upcoming Aquaman feature film that we’ll have no similar need for catharsis. Then again, it’s a DCU movie, so I’ll trust it when I see it.

And that’s your Comic Art Friday.

Categories: Comic Art Friday, Hero of the Day, SwanStuff, Teleholics Anonymous, That's Cool!

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Comic Art Friday: The Mystery of the Suspicious Surnames

April 13, 2018

I didn’t decide to attend this year’s Silicon Valley Comic Con until the week before the event. Having kept an eye on the show’s website for guest announcements, I didn’t see much opportunity to acquire new art commissions. But when artists Ryan Sook and Matt Haley were added to the guest list shortly before the show, I decided to bite the bullet and go, just to get pieces from those two talents.

As it turned out, Ryan took ill on the second day of the show, and didn’t get around to the piece he and I discussed on Friday. (It’s a fun Common Elements concept that I hope to revisit with Ryan at a future con.) But Matt — an entertaining guy I thoroughly enjoyed meeting and chatting with — completed his assignment in the waning hours of the show: this pairing of Jessica Drew, the original Spider-Woman (there have been three others introduced since Jessica made her debut in 1977), and the modern-era Black Cat, Felicia Hardy.

Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) and Black Cat (Felicia Hardy), pencils and inks by Matt Haley

I’ve long wanted to match these two characters in a Common Elements scenario because of their surnames, which reminded me of those classic detectives of juvenile literature, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. I had always supposed that the names were purely coincidental, but a random conversation at SVCC revealed that they are not.

As Matt Haley was finishing up this artwork, I stopped by the table of longtime comics writer and editor Barbara Kesel, another guest at SVCC. I wanted to show Barbara my recent Stephen Foster-themed Common Elements by Carlos Rafael, which features Ultragirl, a character Barbara co-created. Barbara was intrigued by the Common Elements theme and asked what other pieces I had in the works. I explained the pairing that Matt Haley was working on just a few tables down the row, with its related-surname connection.

At that point, Marv Wolfman, the veteran comics scribe who’s written everything from Tomb of Dracula to Crisis on Infinite Earths — and who happened to be sitting at the table next to Barbara’s — chimed in: “I named both of those characters, and that’s the reason why I gave them those names.”

Which makes this, I suppose, a particularly historic Common Elements.

Speaking of history, when it comes to comics characters named Black Cat, I’ve always had a fondness for the original. Artist Steven E. Gordon had this appealing pencil drawing of the Golden Age Black Cat, Linda Turner, in his for-sale portfolio at SVCC. She somehow managed to follow me home. Cats will do that if you’re not careful.

Black Cat (Linda Turner), pencils by Steven E. Gordon

And that’s your Comic Art Friday.

Categories: Comic Art Friday, Hero of the Day, SwanStuff, That's Cool!

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Comic Art Friday: Foster children

March 30, 2018

I’ve made the observation numerous times that ideas for my Common Elements commissions are sometimes triggered by the least expected stimuli. Today’s featured artwork makes a prime example of this principle.

Beautiful Dreamer, Jean Grey, and Ultragirl, pencils and inks by Carlos Rafael

Several years ago, I was channel-surfing late one night when I happened upon a documentary about composer Stephen Foster on the local PBS station. Foster, for the benefit of the non-history-buff segment of our audience, was perhaps the first American popular songwriter to achieve major commercial success. Many of his compositions quickly became staples of American music and remain familiar today, more than 150 years after Foster’s untimely death at age 37.

To the extent that I ever thought much about Stephen Foster, it was in the context of the not-terribly-subtle thread of racism laced through many of his lyrics. Foster wrote a considerable number of songs intended for minstrel shows, in which performers wearing blackface presented mocking caricatures of African Americans. These caricatures, and the epithets associated with them, find a home in such Foster songs as “Camptown Races,” “Old Black Joe,” “Old Folks at Home” (more commonly known as “Swanee River”), and “My Old Kentucky Home,” although these elements are frequently altered when the songs are performed today. (One of the most surprising facts I learned from the Foster documentary was that, although Foster’s oeuvre is filled with ditties about life in the antebellum South, Foster was born and raised in Pennsylvania and lived much of his adult life there, as well as in Ohio and New York. He may have actually visited the South only on a couple of brief occasions.)

As I viewed the documentary, though, it occurred to me that Foster also wrote quite a few songs that fall into a less controversial category: romantic ballads. This class includes some of Foster’s most enduring works — i.e., “Beautiful Dreamer,” “Jeanie (With the Light Brown Hair),” and “Oh! Susanna.”

That observation set off a lightbulb in my comics-attuned mind. Legendary creator Jack Kirby appropriated the name Beautiful Dreamer for the female member of his Forever People. One of the most enduring superheroines since the Silver Age is original X-Man Jean Grey. (I know, I know… Jean’s hair is usually depicted as red, not light brown. But that’s nothing a bottle of Miss Clairol couldn’t fix.) I had to ponder a while before I recalled that the adopted human name of Ultragirl, Marvel’s short-lived Supergirl riff, is Susanna Sherman, but with that realization, the picture was complete.

Or would be, maybe a decade later, when I finally got around to commissioning this project from Brazilian artist Carlos Rafael, best known for his work on such Dynamite Entertainment titles as Red Sonja, Dejah Thoris, and Battlestar Galactica.

Thus, another Common Elements concept wings in from left field.

And that’s your Comic Art Friday.

Categories: Comic Art Friday, Hero of the Day, Soundtrack of My Life, SwanStuff, That's Cool!

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Comic Art Friday: Panthers and Tigers and bucks, oh my

March 16, 2018

I’m going to presume that if you have even the remotest interest in comics and comics-related media, you’ve seen the Black Panther film by now. Because, you know, it’s grossed over one billion (with a B) dollars in worldwide box office to date, and I’m guessing that you’ve contributed to that staggering total just as I have.

As a fan of the Panther for nearly a half-century — I don’t remember the first T’Challa-featured comic I read, but it would have been one of his appearances in The Avengers sometime in the late 1960s — I never would have dreamed in my most fevered moments that we’d someday be talking about a big-budget, major-studio, live-action Black Panther movie raking in a billion bucks. Maybe, back in 1992 when Wesley Snipes was pumping the idea of playing the King of Wakanda himself, I might have hoped that we might someday get a modest, in-and-quickly-out-of-theaters Panther flick, something on the level of that terrible Elektra movie with Jennifer Garner that followed Ben Affleck’s pitiful cinematic turn as Daredevil.

But this? I honestly never saw it coming.

And if you’d told me it was, I’d have told you to lie down with a cool compress on your forehead until the demons went away.

Yet, here we are. Black Panther is headlining marquees in metroplexes around the world, the hottest property in motion pictures. People who mere weeks ago couldn’t have distinguished Wakanda from Walt Disney World are tossing words like “Dora Milaje” around in casual conversation, and T’Challa’s super-smart little sister Shuri is America’s sweetheart. And I’ve lived to see it.

Pardon me while I grab a tissue.

So, there couldn’t be a better time than now to showcase a Common Elements artwork starring everyone’s favorite heart-shaped-herb eater.

WhiteTiger_BlackPanther_DiVito

That’s the Black Panther himself stalking another big-cat themed superdoer, the White Tiger, in this jaw-dropping creation by Italian superstar artist Andrea Di Vito, who not exactly coincidentally can be seen at this very moment drawing T’Challa’s adventures in Marvel’s Black Panther: The Sound and the Fury. Check it out at a comics retailer near you (or on your favorite digital device, if that’s how you roll with your comics in this tech-savvy age).

The White Tiger identity has an interesting legacy all its own. The Tiger shown here, Angela Del Toro, is the fourth of five discrete characters to have worn the code name White Tiger in the Marvel Universe. Angela is the niece of the original White Tiger, Hector Ayala, who in the 1970s was one of Marvel’s first attempts at a Latino hero. After Hector was killed, Angela, an FBI agent, inherited Hector’s amulets that imbued the wearer with the White Tiger’s powers. Angela’s adventures formed the basis of a six-issue miniseries in the mid-2000s. (The fifth and current White Tiger is Ava Ayala, Hector’s younger sister.)

Aside from the obvious feline-plus-color thematic element, there’s an additional link that ties the Black Panther and the White Tiger together. Both superhero identities were assumed at different times by the same character — Kevin Cole, better known by his nickname Kasper. Late in his run on the Black Panther comic book in the early 2000s, writer Christopher Priest transferred the Panther’s mantle from T’Challa to NYPD officer Kasper Cole, whom Priest envisioned as a satiric spin on Peter Parker’s Spider-Man. When the Black Panther series ended, Priest moved Cole to his new project, a superhero team called The Crew, and gave him the White Tiger identity.

You know, all this Black Panther talk has me hankering to see the movie again.

And that’s your Comic Art Friday.

Categories: Cinemania, Comic Art Friday, Hero of the Day, Ripped From the Headlines, SwanStuff, That's Cool!

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