Stan Lee is having a tough time. Here’s his message for all of us Merry Marvel Marchers. I’m unsettled by Stan’s weak voice and his somewhat downbeat tone.
https://youtu.be/qL91XrZSwq4
Category: Comic Books
The Failure of Ayn Rand’s Objectivism
https://youtu.be/ACkiKVtF3nU
I have watched this installment of “Frontline” three, or maybe even four, times since it first aired in 2009. If anything I think it goes easy on Bill Clinton, by not pointing out that at the end of his administration he agreed to ending the Glass-Steagall Act.
Steve Ditko’s take on Ayn Rand’s philosophy deals with good vs. evil in terms of violent criminal activity, as you would expect from a comic book creator. As covered in the Frontline documentary, former SEC chairman Alan Greenspan adopted the extreme free market aspect of Rand’s Objectivism, as you would expect from an economist.
I like to think the fictional Mr. A would agree with me that what the Wall Street banks did by taking advantage of deregulation to commit legal fraud, in both its intent and the outcome of ten years ago, was corrupt and evil. Therein is what I see as the inherent irony of Ayn Rand’s philosophy.
13 Hours of Punishment
https://youtu.be/OMW_dPtm7Bo
For myself, the Silver Age of comic books ended when I graduated from high school. At this moment I can’t think of a comic book title that was introduced during what is, for me, the Bronze Age of comic books, that interests me all that much. Which means that I’m not much of a fan of Wolverine or the Punisher, hugely popular Marvel Comics characters that were introduced in 1974, while I was in college. Alan Moore’s “Watchmen” series for DC in the 80’s is an exception, but those characters were all based on Charlton comics from decades earlier. Speaking of Charlton, I really enjoy E-Man, and he makes the cut because he was introduced before I started college.
Vigilante justice has always been present in comic books, although Superman dropped that approach very quickly, and even The Batman let go of his angst after becoming just Batman and picking up a sidekick. What came about in the 70’s, when vigilantism was reintroduced, were extra helpings of violence to go along with the justice.
In “The Punisher”, now streaming on Netflix, I see more than a little borrowing of elements from the TV series “Person of Interest”, which wrapped up a year-and-a-half ago. There was plenty of obligatory shooting of bad guys, but being a network TV series it never reached the level of ultra-extreme violence that is seen in “The Punisher”. I can’t say that I actually enjoyed all the blood and gore, but one thing for sure is that Jon Bernthal is perfect in the role. He says he wanted the challenge of putting across a sympathetic character that isn’t likeable, and Bernthal pulls it off, as long as you can stand watching him when the Punisher is in “killing machine mode.”
There is one truly great line in the Punisher script — “Pissed off beats scared, every time.” I agree.
Superman… you too??
Not to make light of the serious allegations against Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, I am reminded of a certain comic book story.
Heroes, Small and Large
I was amused seeing these two posts together on my Facebook feed, with the similarity between the poses of the kids and the superheroes.
KIRBY KRACKLE!
Jacob Kurtzberg — aka Jack Kirby — was born the same year as JFK, 100 years ago, in 1917. At the first link below you will find a collection of items about he who is the King of Comics. That’s “comics” as in books, and not comedians, as Johnny Carson once incorrectly interpreted the meaning. You’ll find something about that at the second link.