....Always two there are

    I just got back from watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens .  I had a weird sense of closure/things coming full circle.  As I mentioned in this post My dad, the first time I saw a Star Wars movie was when I was 5 to Empire, and today it was me and my six year-old son, Clark.  I really enjoyed it.  It doesn't match my sense of nostalgia for the first trilogy, but there was something groundbreaking about the first Star Wars that will be hard to duplicate.  Andy and Michael Leyland give a good synopsis/review on their latest podcast: http://twotruefreaks.com/download.php?id=2331.  They talk about how their has been a trilogy for each generation and how somewhere out there is the generation this new trilogy is for.  I think there right, and I was sitting next to him.  He cackled at the antics of BB-8, gasped at the evil of Kylo Ren, and was smitten with Rey.  You know what?  That's okay.  Part of being a parent is passing things on and sometimes that means letting go.  Who knows?  In another 20 years, maybe my grandson or granddaughter will be going to see Star Wars Episode 24 with their dad.

Convergence Blues

Convergence is so...meh.  Is anyone else as underwhelmed as I am?  I've only read Convergence #1, and a handful of crossovers (Atom, Batgirl, Batman and Robin, and Harley Quinn), bur its really disappointing:
1. Not only is the battle arena motif played out in popular culture right now, it went over like a lead balloon with Countdown Arena.  What may now the time to revisit it?
2. Not that misleading promotional buzz is anything new, but does anyone else feel a bait and switch?  This isn't revisiting old friends like they were.  The conditions under the domes have changed these characters.  They aren't as they were, and most of the titles haven't captured the flavor of the old runs. 
3.  I am an old school Captain Carrot fan.  It was my transition book.  I had a few super hero comics, but most of my earliest books were from Whitman grab bags.  Captain Carrot was the bridge from Bugs Bunny and Pink Panther to Brave and the Bold and Justice League for me.  Why do I think everyone is going to fall to pre-Flashpoint, New 52, or Nu Earth-2?  I want to see Captain Carrot and and Fastback as much as folks want to see the pre-Zero Hour Superman or the JLI.  I don't want them sacrificed in a heavy-handed metaphor on how their time is passed aka their heads handed to them by Harley Quinn or Prof. Zoom.

From start to finish the execution feels wrong.  How much cooler would it be if they were frozen in time, like flies in amber and they teamed-up against a mutual threat instead of squaring off in a ring.  And really pulling iconic representations, not every Elseworld also-ran.  You want to do a story of the Atom?  Either follow-up on where the back-ups were taking him pre-Flashpoint (which seemed like a cool back-to-basics approach) or Sword of the Atom era Atom.  I give DC a lot of slack.  Yes, the Superman books have been so-so since the new 52, but there has been a lot of good to come out of it (All-Star Western by Gray and Palmotti, Batman by Snyder and Capullo, Wonder Woman by Azzarello and Chiang, Batgirl by Cameron Stewart as examples). I'm just not used to an "event" from DC leaving me feeling this way.

More Weirdness from the Golden Age (circa 1940)

How do you challenge Hawkman, the Winged Wonder?  Have him faced with an invasion from an underwater race, the Kogats.  How do you have him overcome the challenge?  With a literal deus ex machina courtesy of Flash Comics #9 -- Poseidon grants Hawkman the ability to speak and breathe underwater!!!  Wonder if we'll ever see that ability used again?

Marvel Silver-Age Selections from Jan. 1964

Last night I read Amazing Spider-Man #8,  Avengers #3, Fantastic Four #22, and Journey Into Mystery #100.  My thoughts:
- Amazing Spider-Man #8: Peter Parker and Flash Thompson face of the in gym ring while a robot runs amok in the halls.  In a back-up, Spider-Man crashes Johnny Storm's party and tussles again with the Fantastic Four.  Probably the weakest issue of Spider-Man's first year.  The introduction of the Tinker is a worse story than the Living Brain story, but that issues was buoyed up by the first appearance of the Vulture.  Still, weak Lee and Ditko still makes for a pretty good comic, and I get a cathartic charge every time I read Peter pasting Flash, even if it was accidental.  I miss Flash.  I know he's currently in space in Guardians of the Galaxy, but I've just realized...in the current series Peter doesn't really have friends any more.

-Avengers #3: The team is challenged by Sub-Mariner and Hulk to a fight to the finish.  Until Avengers #4, and the introduction of Captain America, and almost as importantly in #6, Baron Zemo, Avengers was a little aimless after its first issue.  This issue has some decent moments, Hulk being unable to pry Thor's hammer from him for one, but you can tell that Stan was at a bit of a loss.  Any foe strong enough to be a threat to the whole team would outclass Giant-Man and Wasp, but anyone less than that is a push-over for Iron Man and Thor.  It's why I think they had the Hulk quit and become an antagonist for a while: alone he was a threat for the entire team.  Really what hurts this issue is its a team that's not quite gelled.  Everyone tries to act on their own, and while no one get owned, that means Giant-Man backstops Iron Man and Thor while the Wasp....flies around?   It makes to a certain extent, these four not being a cohesive team, but I think its more Stan and Jack really didn't have a sense for how they could measure up and work together yet.

- Fantastic Four #22: An experiment by Reed, increases Sue's powers just in time, as the Mole Man launches a scheme to heat-up the Cold War.  The best of the lot.  This is the spot in there run where Stan and Jack are not so much flying from the seat of their pants, but honing their craft.  Jack has some rather eventful traps that the Mole Man devises, particularly the  cotton trap for Ben, and Stan has Sue make leaps forward in terms of being an asset to the team and silencing the naysayers who pointed out she only existed as the team's damsel in distress.  Their are still plot holes to be sure (how did the Mole Man arrange all of those complaints?) and Stan still doesn't know how to pace a story so it doesn't just abruptly end (Well...let's go home).

- Journey Into Mystery #100:  The second part of the first two-parter I think we've had in the Thor strip.  Mr. Hyde kidnaps Dr. Blake and Nurse Foster while trying to steal a Polaris sub-marine.  If the synopsis sounds a bit ridiculous, it is.  The first part in #99 was much stronger with Thor finding a loop-hole to court Jane Foster, and Calvin Zabo using his new-found power to avenge himself against Don Blake for a career slight earlier in their lives and Thor for interfering.  Nothing that you've seen of Mr. Hyde last issue makes you think that stealing a nuclear sub would be in his wheelhouse.  It's like Lee and Heck are so used to industrial sabotage stories in Iron Man that they forgot they were writing Thor.  Actually Thor was pretty adrift in this period.  It wouldn't be until Kirby returned to the book that it would dig deep into the cosmic and Asgardian roots that its more known for.  There is a Leiber drawn sci-fi morality tale in the "who is the real monster" vein titled 'Unreal', and in the Tales of Asgard by Lee and Kirby, a young Thor and Loki mix it up with a couple of Storm Giants.

Daredevil Pilot Review

     After much anticipation, April 10th has arrived bringing with it the first of Marvel's television co-production's with Netflix.  I had some trepidation about the show based primarily around the unevenness of Agents of SHIELD, but I needn't have worried.  Daredevil Episode 1, Into the Ring is some of the best TV I've seen this season, and is probably the best pilot for a comic book property in the 2015-2016 season.
     I liked a lot of the story-telling choices:  The origin from Jack Murdock's POV, introducing Karen as a client first/secretary second, and making the Kingpin felt, but never seen or mentioned all led to a very compelling hour of action and drama.  The fight scenes, as several folks have pointed out are very well done with a quick brutality to them.  When Daredevil attacks a thug, you can tell he is trying to put him down as quickly as possible.
     The cast is very good with the stand-outs being Charlie Cox (Matt Murdock) and Elden Henson (Foggy Nelson).  Charlie Cox very comfortably goes from charming scoundrel to sensitive and brooding, often in the same scene.  Elden Henson crafts a comfortable in his shoes Foggy Nelson who has his own snappy patter.  A man who has willingly gone into partnership with his best friend with his eyes to open to his friend's weaknesses ("If there's a beautiful woman whose trouble...Matt Murdock finds her and Foggy Nelson suffers!").  My only niggling complaint is the black body stocking costume that I hope is replaced by season's end.

Overlooked Gems of the Golden Age (circa 1940) - Part One

Red, White, and Blue

Debuting in All-American Comics #1, the feature told the adventures of Red Dugan, Whitey Smith, and Blooey Blue childhood friends who had enrolled in the Aire Force, Army, and Navy respectively.  The three are hand-picked by Army Intelligence to undertake special missions at home or abroad.  The fourth member of their group was FBI agent Doris West who was their handler and typically already undercover and thoroughly mixed up in whatever the team was asked to investigate.  The strips have good clean art from William Smith (better than a lot of the 1939/1940 art) and a setup that served a wide variety of stories from Jerry Seigel in one of his earliest non-Shuster collaborations.  The majority of the adventure/war/detective strips seem limited in their plot repertoire, but Red, White, and Blue plots range from confronting saboteurs and fifth columnists to racing foreign powers to lay claim to a natural resource.  There is a formula: Doris normally gets in over her head, Blooey normally bungles his way into and out of trouble, with Whitey and Red bringing in the cavalry.  The antics of Whitey and Blooey provide comic relief without veering into full-on slapstick and the attraction between Doris and Red gives Seigel the opportunity to write a lot of romantic comedy banter in the nature of Myrna Loy and William Powell.

Weird Facts from the Golden Age (circa 1940)

- Hawkman's Nth Metal wings and belt were originally Ninth metal in Flash Comics #1
- Villain watch:  Super Villains that have popped up in reading: Dr. Death, Hugo Strange, Clayface I, Joker, Catwoman, Ultra-Humanite, Lex Luthor, Wotan (Dr. Fate villain), Nyla (Hawkman villain), Zor (Spectre villain) and Kulak (Spectre villain).  Most of these won't be seen outside of the the Golden Age until appearing in All-Star Squadron.
- All-American gave out free copies of All-Star comics #2 for feedback on All-Star #1 and repeated the give-away for All-Star #3.  Can you imagine getting for free All-Star Comics #3 ?!?!
- I've just started listening to Tales of the Justice Society podcast by Scott Gardner and Michael Bailey.  Mike has no love for Johnny Thunder.  According to the front cover of All-Star Comics #2, he was added to the title's content because of reader requests.
- Love interests don't play the part you necessarily expect them to.  Superman has Lois Lane, thought the relationship is one-sided and at the "What a man!" level of sophistication.  But while Joan Williams and Shiera Saunders have been in 4 out of the 7 issues of Flash comics, they aren't yet Girl Friday's.  Normally they meet in passing or the start of the story is the end of a date.  Only Dian Belmont actively participates in Sandman's adventures.
- And speaking of Sandman, maybe Dr. Mid-Nite isn't the only doctor in the JSA:
    From Adventure Comics #54 (reprinted in Golden Age Sandman Archives), "It's a good thing I crammed in those two years of medical school"!

...And We're Back (2015 Edition)

Welcome to the 2nd post of Stories from the Spinner Rack for 2015! <cue fanfare>  This may seem an odd choice for second post, but I really felt like I had to pay tribute to my dad first and foremost.

So why am I back?  A couple of reasons.  One simple one is being reminded of it recently (Hey, Paul!), by about the only person other than a bot collecting web statistics that I know had checked it out.  The other is I have a real need sometimes, and its been building lately, to discuss the geek landscape (or at lease the parts that I roam) and especially comics.  In 2014, I got into listening to podcasts, and I was amazed to find a rather large blogging and podcasting community on comics in my relative geographic neck of the woods, the Southeast).  It was a community that I wanted to be a part of, so I got some of my fix by tentatively responding to Andy and Michael Leyland from Hey Kids, Comics!.  There show led me to many others, and while I don't know when I would find the time, I would love to maybe produce or participate in a podcast one day.  So part of this is exercising some muscles and trying to develop and build some of the contacts I would want to have to make that leap.  Another part is to have people get to know me, and I know them in return.  A problem I found with correspondence about podcasts is that I now follow so many that I feel awkward e-mailing someone about a show they released months ago, and I also feel like I have to wait to listen to the whole episode and sense hours or days may pass between parts for me, I often forget what I wanted to say by the time I've listened to the whole thing.  My hope is that I can post comments about what I'm listening to and folks like Michael Bailey, Shag Matthews, Shawn Engel, and others eventually check out the blog and strike up a dialog either in the comments here, Facebook, or wherever.

So what is different this time around?  Well, the format of the blog obviously wasn't working for me.  I'm still on my crazy crusade to read through comics chronologically, but I obviously don't feel compelled to write about everything I read, and its boring for you to read something that is boring for me to write, so expect more random thoughts about comics I've read recently along with updates as to where I am on my march through time.  The occasional well-reasoned rant.  Some posting about what I'm listening to and my reactions to it.  What it made me thought.  And anything else that strikes me.  For a while in 2014, emboldened by the The Fantasticast, an excellent podcast co-hosted by Stephen Lacey and Andrew Leyland, I began a second reading exercise just going through Marvel from the 60's starting with 1960.  I made it to about '62/'63 before stopping because I felt like I was ignoring my golden age reading, but I may do that again, or pull out specific runs, or read along with a podcast.  I don't want to abandon my chronological read-through of the Golden Age, but nothing made me attack it with more fervor than checking in with something else for awhile.  So that's it.  I hope some folks check this out.

Coming Soon on Tales of the Spinner Rack:
- Weird thoughts and Facts from Comics circa 1940 (an update on my reading through the Golden Age)
- Overlooked Gems of the Golden Age circa 1940
- The Down Low on the Downloads (A brief rundown of what Podcasts I listen to and what I like about them)

My dad

1st comic I remember owning

 On April 22nd 2015 at 5:30 pm Central, Wilbur Earl Hooks II passed away, and I lost the single biggest influence on my life.  Everything I am, everything I consider important I can trace back to him in some way.  Of course the obvious things, the big things: the importance of values, of family, and of an honest day's work, but also the little things:

Comics?  Here is the secret origin of Trey Hooks and comics.  My dad was always a religious man, a firm believer in God, but he had a greater appreciation for the philosophical and historical side of religion than let's say...the practical applications or others views of the practical applications.  He was all for a sermon on the importance of love or the tribulations of Elijah, but he had no patience or need of a sermon on "12 Tips from the Bible on How to Invest Your Money".  So on those Sundays, and there were many in the late 70's, while my mom dutifully sang in choir, he would dutifully put his tithe in the offering plate, take me to the restroom, and then down the backstairs, out the church doors, into the car, and down to a 7-11 about 5 minutes away.  The purchase was always the same: 2 doughnuts, an Icee, a coffee, one Sunday paper, and one comic.  Those Sundays spent in relative silence (as I remember it) sharing a booth at the convenience store was my first introduction to the worlds of Batman, Spider-Man, etc.  I can't swear that its the first comic I owned, but Amazing Spider-Man #194 is the earliest one I remember him buying for me.

Movies?  One of the family legends is the time I ensured my Dad got a speeding ticket by telling a police office that he was "making us late for a movie".  I was 5, the year was 1980, and I could be forgiven for being excited...the movie was The Empire Strikes Back.  Its the first memory I have of going to a movie theater.

Doctor Who?  I don't how my dad discovered it or why.  I don't know when we began watching it.  I do know that for a little kid with an 8:00 bedtime, the one exception, no questions asked was Saturday nights when Doctor Who started at 9:00 on PBS.  We saw them either cut into a movie or aired back-to-back.  Tom Baker was my dad's favorite doctor over the old one (Jon Pertwee), the young one (Peter Davison), and the look-alike (Colin Baker) [Somehow we had seen Colin Baker episodes in the midst of Tom Baker episodes before we knew about regeneration.  We thought it was supposed to be the same guy played by a similar actor.  I guess we were kind of right in hindsight].  He never really got into the relaunch.  One of my favorite pictures is this:

3 Generations of Dr. Who Fans

It's my father, my 4 year old son, and myself watching the 50th episode together.  My highlight?  The look on my Dad's face of unabashed glee when you heard Tom Baker's voice at the start of his scene.

If you ask people who was Wilbur Earl Hooks II, most people will give you a blank stare, because he went by the nickname Buddy his entire life, and in a way that's fitting.  More people considered him friend than probably anyone I know.  He was certainly the best father I will ever know.  He was certainly one of the best friends and mentors.