I was just getting around to Being at the time, but looking back at the early and mid-70s, I have a question that applies to movies, books- even my starting point, comic books, which took on a moody, melancholy aspect, particularly with Marvel Comics, which had just begun its publishing period of the roster of characters that we see in abundance across media and toys, today. What are the causes of the increase in violence and death and overall downbeat tone that defines 1970s storytelling? Do you think the new permissiveness post-60s was at the root of the violence and death portrayed? My first thought was, word was getting back about Viet Nam, and young people were disillusioned with institutions they'd been inculcated culturally to trust. I often think the idealism emerging within the counter-culture was just not manifesting quickly enough, for the impatience of the youth. I'm clear, too, that the rise of counter-culturalism 1) certainly does not match the rural values...

Listen, I may well find myself sneaking in more enthusiastic blogs about Steve Gerber's work. here, however, I believe my sheer zeal for writing has encountered a saturation point, leading me to create a beautiful new artifice that I sincerely hope will bring peace and light and fun into the lives of people still many generations to come. here's where we turn from the Gerber discussion in the past to the writing discussion that's been here all along. There's no better place to change direction than with the very best similarity. I will describe for you the Red Guardian and her introduction in Defenders #35. Then, I will begin talking to you about this idea, Sheer-Zan. ( This turns out to be one of seven pieces found in posts ahead .) To compare Sheer-Zan: One, written over the rest of this month, with Batman: Year One is to strike a very true chord. The years since I last read that story reverberated with me on the days I watched students risking their lives in T...

“That’s right,” says the nebbish man, fist clenched, other hand outstretched; despite his sawed-off frame, he is every inch the villain. Some self-help seminar! He’s just tactlessly suggested his audience cover their desire to improve with self-loathing. Oh sure, you might think you can debase yourself and who you have been up till now, as part of the road to change---but however much you might need to clean the slate, so to speak, are you willing to embrace that you are completely ridiculous? In this case, the villain’s real thoughts about humanity show through, dictating his self-righteous approach to helping humanity “save” itself. So, is he doing it for money? Oh, no---he’s actually just doing this because, after his last defeat (despite superhuman “dimension spanning” powers), he was discovered by, and indoctrinated partially by, the Lubderdite race. Upon telling about him, Marc remarked: “he sounds like one of those missionaries that would come to tribal people, kill their ...