Dogs: Man's Greatest Enemy?

During the years of Stan Lee's editorial reign over Atlas Comics, there were frequently stories repeated amongst his various genre books; there are certain western plots which not only turn up again and again, but even with the same characters and dialogue; similarly, the various science fiction/fantasy titles of the 1950s revisited certain ideas. Because many of the books do not credit their authors one cannot assume certain ideas were repeated intentionally, but occasionally one does wonder.

Earlier, I posted a panel from an inane Atlas book wherein dogs are believed to be setting themselves up as mankind's replacements. Unbelievably, this was actually a recurring plot in Atlas Comics!

The above hails from Marvel Tales#133 (1955): "The Talking Dog" (art by Bob Powell). In this tale, a man discovers his dog can talk; the dog claims his species learned speech before humans and have secretly guided mankind down the centuries. The owner is outraged at the idea and tries to exploit his dog's power of speech, but the dog ends up running away, regretting have shared the information.

Two years later we have Astonishing#59 (1957): "Who is the Master?" (art by Robert Q. Sale). This time a scientist believes his dog possess psychic powers and have malevolent plans to surpass humans, conquering the Earth. He goes after his dogs with a gun but neither he nor the dogs are seen again. *dramatic stinger*

Finally, in Journey into Mystery#62 (1960): "There is a Brain Behind the Fangs!" (art by Don Heck). This is easily the silliest of the lot. Allow me to repeat the above dialogue:

"But Frank, there is no evidence that dogs have been getting smarter!"

"That's right -- and that's why I say they're a menace! They have been developing but they haven't revealed it!"

I'm sure I've seen the latter person in various internet forums. In this outing, the dogs turn out to be the servants of the real brains behind mankind's downfall: the cats! Seriously.

Perhaps these stories were ripping off a popular science fiction pulp magazine tale (Atlas frequently plagiarized the pulps). I do think it interesting, though, to wonder why creators of the 1950s would set up dogs as a potential threat. Was it an outgrowth of HUAC and McCarthyism, encouraging US citizens to distrust everyone, even the gentlest most inoffensive creatures? Was it a reaction against the rigid conformity of 1950s culture, suggesting an underlying menace within the nuclear family's own backyard? Or was it the byproduct of extremely disenchanted hacks trying desperately to fill up comic book pages so they could afford sending their kids to school? The truth is out there.

By request: Pacific Rim

I was asked by a friend to see the new film Pacific Rim as soon as possible, then comment on it; having watched the film last night, I'm happy to oblige:

Set in the not-too-distant future, director Guillermo Del Toro's Pacific Rim features giant monsters (kaiju) who emerge from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean via a portal between Earth's dimension and their own. The monsters' goal is to destroy human life and as years pass their attacks become more frequent and the monsters, more powerful. Earth's best defense is, naturally, to construct immense robotic men (Jaegers) to combat the Kaiju. Because just one man cannot handle the mental strain of operating a Jaeger, the pilots operate in pairs, linking their minds together. The central action of the film arrives at a time where the Jaegers have almost all been destroyed or decommissioned; the last four Jaegers are sent to defend Hong Kong and attempt a desperate effort to destroy the Kaijus' portal; the central figure is Raleigh Becket, a Jaeger pilot who formerly worked alongside his brother; with his brother dead, Raleigh needs a new partner.

Just arriving at the point outlined above - where the defense of Hong Kong and destruction of the portal - are identified as the primary goals of the protagonists requires a lot of backstory on the film's part. First, here's how the Kaiju attacks started; then, here are the Jaegers; subsequently, here's the Jaegers being defeated and Raleigh's brother dying. Finally, here we are, ready for the actual plot of the film.

Surprisingly, this is not a "USA saves the world" picture. Raleigh is certainly from the US, but the other pilots include teams from Russia, China and, significantly, Australia. The battle against the Kaiju is an international effort which is kind of neat to see (and may account for why the film is performing much better internationally than it is domestically). There's also Raleigh's eventual co-pilot, Mako Mori, a Japanese woman. Although the film is ultimately about them proving their compatibility it is not concerned with setting up the pair as a romantic couple. On the one hand, I felt like the film kept me waiting for a shoe drop which never came; on the other hand, it's very refreshing to see a male-female relationship which doesn't require the couple to lock lips at the climax.

There are a few familiar faces in the picture such as Del Toro's personal good-luck charm Ron Perlman (playing a dealer in black market Kaiju body parts) and Jaegermeister Idris Elba, who appears to be speaking with his natural accent (for a change).

Unlike most of the dull shakey-cam films in most summer attractions, Pacific Rim puts a lot of effort into its visuals - terrific colours, interesting fight choreography and a fighting chance for the audience to understand what the opponents are doing to each other as they grapple. I should have to acknowledge a film for being coherant, but such is the world we live in. Similarly, although the story spends a fair bit of time explaining what's up with the Kaiju, you're never at a loss as to what the characters are trying to achieve. Because Pacific Rim is (again, unlike most action film offerings) not a sequel or adaptation, there's tension in not being able to anticipate how the plot will unfold or how the characters will wind up.

Is Pacific Rim a gift for giant monster movie fans? In a way, yes. Those who enjoy their Godzillas - especially films where humans go toe-to-toe with the Big G such as Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002) - or who wished Neon Genesis Evangelion spent less time navel-gazing (to say nothing of light fixture-gazing) will have a blast. However, Pacific Rim could be enjoyed by anyone in the mood for a fun action movie. It hits the right beats and is ultimately very satisfying.

"Confie mas confira, como dizia meu pai." Private Eye em Português

Continued from yesterday...

When I began studying Portuguese last year I made an effort to seek out comic books printed in Portuguese which might help me... but the internet failed to turn up many leads. To my immense pleasure, Brian K. Vaughan & Marcos Martin's Private Eye is sold in a variety of languages - even the ever-elusive Portuguese!

Of all the languages I would choose to learn, it had to be one seldom used in North America, sim? Print resources on Portuguese are lacking, especially in the European dialect I'm trying to favour. Although the internet has been very useful to me, very few online comic books offer Portuguese translations - and those Portuguese comics I have located were series I'd never heard of before (they probably originated in Brazil).

Having seen how Private Eye manages their translations, one wonders why every major publisher doesn't offer multiple language versions of their work? Surely the big companies are better able to afford these services than a little creator-owned digital book with a "pay what you like" donation box? As seen above, the finished project doesn't go to the trouble of translating advertisements, book covers and other English-language background details - it's just a matter of finding a decent translator for the dialogue balloons.

Best of all, thanks to the DRM-free nature of Private Eye I can read the English and Portuguese versions at the same time on my computer, running samples side-by-side. I'm certain to be back for more of Vaughan & Martin's series... if only to aid my pitifully poor vocabulário.

"Trust, but verify, my Dad used to say." Thoughts on the Private Eye#1

I may not be the first to climb aboard Brian K. Vaughan & Marcos Martin's Private Eye#1, but at least I'm not the last. Although I was a huge fan of Vaughn at the beginning of his career and for a time collected everything with his name on it, I broke away when he wrapped up his Runaways series. I might not have come back for the Private Eye except for two factors:

1. The compelling artwork of Marcos Martin, perhaps the best adventure hero artist in the business today and
2. A very compelling creator-run distribution method, enticing readers to choose the format, language and price point which they prefer.

Projected to run just ten issues, the Private Eye is sold online here; the series is set in a world where people have rebelled against our present-day lack of privacy by installing intense levels of secrecy and privacy as virtually everyone wears wears masks and aliases; naturally, this is the perfect landscape for a mystery thriller and thus our protagonist, known only as "Patrick Immelmann," is hired to learn people's secrets the old-fashioned way - legwork, surveillance and evading the law. Following the usual pattern of a "typical" escapade, Patrick is hired to investigate the background of his client to ensure he can't find anything incriminating (and thus, hopefully no one else will). Naturally, complications ensue and amongst people this paranoid, would you be surprised to learn a few lies are spoken?

The premise is fine for an excuse to see Marcos Martin unleash his creativity on futuristic cityscapes and fasionable disguises. The concept is not believable, but we'll see how the story itself plays out; if the ride is fun, I won't complain about the suspension.

More about the Private Eye coming tomorrow...

"Almost at birth he contracted that most dreaded of literary diseases, monotony." Steranko's History of Comics

"We cannot die from obstacles and paradoxes, if we face them with laughter. Only of boredom might we perish. And from boredom, fortunately, the comics keep distance."

-Federico Fellini, who did not live to see DC Comics' Genesis

Thank goodness for the University's extremely limited library of material about comics, enabling me access the first volume to this well-known yet (like so many histories of the comics) out-of-print 1970 trend-setter. Knowing Steranko primarily as a comic book creator, I was curious to see how well he made out as a historian of comics of the 30s and 40s.

Steranko's personal interests certainly shaped this book; there's quite a bit of space given to Jack Kirby (including exclusive art), but why wouldn't there be? The troubles of Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster are by-passed; the worst thing said about Bob Kane is that he wasn't a very good artist. This book was written at a time when virtually every major creator responsible for the "Golden Age" of comic books was still alive and willing to talk to Steranko. Steranko offered up brief biographies of the creators and provided their quotes, but his primary interest was in the creations, not the creators.

I was certainly amused to find seven pages about the pulp novel antics of the Shadow in this, supposedly a comic book history! It's not that the pulps didn't influence the comics - Steranko certainly connects the dots between the two mediums - and the Shadow was influential in his own right. But seven pages? At least it's never boring; knowing as much as I do about comics but as little as I do about pulps, the pulp hero histories were a pretty lively read.

Often Steranko just fell into list-making which, compulsive list-maker that I am, I certainly related to. Each list was worth looking over as Steranko's wry humour often slipped out between sections: "The art looked like it was done by Bob Kane working left-handed." Zing!

"There's room enough for a million different stories in the land of Oz." Thoughts on the Royal Historian of Oz

For all that I've enjoyed reading comics from Slave Labor Graphics over the years, their recent publications are maddening to the collector. Despite being on their newsletters, I'm frequently at a loss as to what's become of books I was trying to follow... and so, my interest wanes and I forget about the series. It's a shame, because SLG titles surely need every fan they can get.

It was clear the wheels were falling off back in 2009 when James Turner's new series Warlord of Io was refused by Diamond so only the first issue was printed; SLG continued it as a digital-only comic; then they abandoned the digital version and printed the story as a trade. Hooray, I finally had the whole story and boo, I had to buy it across three platforms and was constantly unaware as to when/if/where it was being continued.

In retrospect, the 2010 debut of Tommy Kovac & Andy Hirsch's Royal Historian of Oz may have been the last gasp of SLG as a publisher of single issues. Despite issue #1 bearing a $1 price tag and trading on the ever-interesting world of Oz as source material (plus some favourable internet reviews), the series faced the same ultimate fate of Warlord of Io; four issues were published with immense irregularity, a fifth issue was printed in digital format and the whole series was collected in a trade.

Despite having bought issues #1-4 in print, I didn't realize #5 existed in digital format until last week... somehow SLG never fails to spam me about Johnny the Homicidal Maniac but remains clueless about my actual interests. Why is it so hard for me to give you my money?

Royal Historian of Oz featured Jasper Fizzle, a hack Oz novelist who discovered the wonderful land of Oz truly existed and began pilfering doodads from Oz to Earth to help him write his stories. The point-of-view character was Jasper's son Frank, frequently embarrassed by his father, but forced to help sort out his father's problems when people from Oz came looking for an explanation.

The concept of the series was loose enough to fuel a long-running open-ended series, but the comic reading populace's lack of interest in the material seems to have doomed it to an early grave; issue #5 wraps up matters at a frantic pace; protagonist Frank is suddenly rendered irrelevant as the problem at hand (the Wicked Witch of the West has possessed Scraps, the Patchwork Girl) is resolved by Jasper who even invokes the deus ex machina in the climax (an admittedly novel deus ex machina). Fallout from the problem's resolution leads to Frank being given the chance to keep adventuring in Oz, but it may be a prologue to a story we'll never see. And if a sequel should come to pass... I can't imagine how I'll find out it exists.

Tomorrow: something more pleasant.

Unearthed: DP7#5

I've long wished to bring my love of the New Universe series DP7 to this blog; delving back to the early days of the series, I'm revisiting DP7#5 (1987) and the story "Exorcism" by Mark Gruenwald and Paul Ryan.

Of the eight titles comprising Jim Shooter's New Universe, DP7 came the nearest to fulfilling the objectives Shooter first outlined - even Shooter's own Starbrand tended to forget the concept of the "world outside your window" described in promotional material. I didn't discover DP7 until years after the series' cancellation, but reading it together in a single evening was an outstanding experience for me; "Exorcism" was especially memorable.

We open in "Central Wisconsin, twenty-seven miles from Stevens Point." Our cast, travelling across Wisconsin in a trailer being pulled by a truck, catch sight of a church bus which crashed into a tree. Our seven lead characters met at the Clinic, a facility which helped paranormals such as they to cope with their powers, but they fled after discovering the Clinic had ulterior motives (namely to supply the CIA with paranormal operatives); although the seven have been trying to keep a low profile, the bus accident attracts their attention.

Randy O'Brien, a physician with the power to release a flying, ebon-black creature ("Anti-Body") from his chest insists on stopping to help; besides being a dedicated care-giver, Randy was frequently the default leader of the seven characters. When Randy suggests helping them the other three men - Jeff Walters, Dave Landers and Dennis "Scuzz" Cuzinski - go with him while the three women - Stephanie Harrington, Lenore Fenzl & Charlotte Beck - remain with the trailer. Stephanie was formerly a housewife with three young children and she desperately wants to rejoin her family; Stephanie's own power is to increase people's energy levels by touching them, enabling people to heal more quickly or receive bursts of adrenaline. Stephanie's power manifests as a series of bright sparks around her body and recently the sparks have been ever-present around her, even when not consciously using her power. Stephanie asks Lenore to help, as Lenore skin's gives off a white light which causes people to fall unconscious. Lenore exposes Stephanie to her white light but it has no effect - Stephanie's body is producing more energy than Lenore's power can handle.

At the bus, Randy begins treating the wounded; despite being a fugitive he gives his real name to a hurt teenager: "I can't lie to a kid." Dave's superhuman strength and Scuzz's acid-like touch help dislodge the bus from the tree. Dave suggests they push the bus back to the road, but the priest is skeptical. "Have a little faith, father," Dave suggests. Sure enough, they are able to move the bus back on the road - but only because Dave is so strong he can drag the bus almost single-handedly. During all of this, Jeff uses his superhuman speed to scout and ensure the situation isn't a trap (Jeff's speed is such that he's always moving, appearing as a blur on the page). The problem dealt with, the men return to the trailer and discuss how nice it felt to help people in need; Dave notes he doesn't believe in God, yet wound up promoting faith to a priest. Scuzz isn't willing to admit he enjoys being altruistic but enjoys any opportunity to use his powers.

Soon the seven are back on the road; Scuzz rides in the flat of the truck, musing how irritating it is for him to be the youngest member of the group; suddenly, he notices his spit is so acidic it leaves a scorch on the truck's body; experimenting with his power, he makes a spitball and throws it at a road sign; the spitball blasts a hole through the sign, much to Scuzz's entertainment; he decides to keep this discovery to himself. Jeff comes running by the truck and has a friendly chat with Scuzz, offering to pick up cigarettes for Scuzz while making his regular phone call to his mother. As Jeff runs ahead of the trailer to make his phone call in the next town, Scuzz wonders what Jeff's ulterior motive is - still suspicious of people'a altruism.

Jeff phones his mother, which is as good a time as any to note Jeff and Stephanie are the only two of the seven with real personal ties outside the group; Scuzz barely tolerates being part of the seven while Lenore, Randy, Dave & Charlotte seem to have no closer friends than those in the group. Jeff's mother has a suggestion about his superhuman powers: if there is no medical cure for his powers, perhaps Jeff should visit an exorcist. We have an "A" plot!

Jeff brings the subject up for discussion back at the trailer, prefacing his story by first asking if any of them have seen the movie the Exorcist. While the group are fairly dismissive of this idea, Stephanie latches on it instantly, noting they've never been tested for demonic possession - why rule it out? Scuzz notes Stephanie's sudden assertiveness, musing "Stephie puttin' on a little weight?" Dave is easily the least-persuaded by this idea and tries to talk Stephanie out of believing something from "the Dark Ages," but Stephanie challenges him to supply a better origin for their paranormal abilities. Randy suggests the White Event (which actually is the source of their powers), but Charlotte doubts it because she didn't see the White Event happen. Lenore notes all of their powers manifested after the White Event; Jeff counters "They all came out after Ronald Reagan was re-elected, too. Is he responsible, maybe?"

When Stephanie repeats her determination to explore the idea, Dave offers another objection: going to an exorcist would involve an outsider with their group and they haven't had good experiences with outsiders (Dave invokes a recent guest appearance in Kickers Inc.#5 where the Kickers Inc. cast tried to capture them for the Clinic). Jeff notes the matter isn't really open for discussion - his mother set up the meeting with the exorcist for him, not the group; if the group isn't interested, Jeff will go alone. At this, Randy insists everyone accompany Jeff, but Scuzz refuses. Now vocally objecting to being the "punk kid of this chicken-licked outfit," Scuzz angrily notes the group haven't been using his ideas, such as the super hero codenames they all agreed to use (back in issue #2, which was basically the first and last time the characters used codenames - outside of various promotional material fot the series). Unlike the others, Scuzz likes his powers and doesn't want a cure; he storms out of the trailer, quitting the group.

Randy thinks Scuzz needs the group and goes after him, insisting they make amends, but Scuzz angrily elbows Randy in the chest; this causes Randy to release his Anti-Body and Scuzz assumes the group wants a fight; Scuzz demonstrates his new spitballs, blasting a hole through the Anti-Body and burning Dave's arm before Stephanie finally intercedes and insists they let Scuzz leave if it's what he wants. The other six return to the trailer as Scuzz walks away. For a moment, a tear runs down Scuzz's face as he considers being alone, but Jeff suddenly returns, causing Scuzz to revert to his tough persona; Jeff leaves his mother's phone number with Scuzz should Scuzz ever need to contact the group again but once Jeff turns his head, Scuzz burns the scrap of paper into dust.

Randy feels guilty about leaving Scuzz behind, but Jeff is convinced they'll be cured by the exorcist and Scuzz will rejoin them for the cure. Jeff declares his attitude is "God only helps those who wanna be helped." That evening as the six prepare for bed, Stephanie insists on gathering for group prayer, praying aloud that if their powers are a form of punishment that it will be driven out. After they go to bed, Randy and Dave sit up for awhile, discussing religion. Dave admits "I'd love to be able to believe in something again... but since Ma and Pa died, and my brother Mark before that -- well, I guess all the faith I had died with them..." For his part, Randy has begun to wonder if perhaps their powers are an "act of God;" from this, Dave correctly guesses Randy is a Catholic.

Outside of a Burger King, the six (all in coats, hoods and dark glasses) meet Jeff's mother, who thanks them for looking after her son (again reminding Stephanie of her children). They quickly move to a Catholic church where they're introduced to Rev. Armand Koehn. The six use aliases with the priest to (somewhat) protect their identities and demonstrate how their powers work to him. Koehn admits he's never seen abilities like theirs and he doesn't sense they're being possessed; he gives them a very basic explanation of how he'll pray over them; even Dave is impressed by Koehn's conviction. As they finally move to the sanctuary for the ceremony, Dave asks "does it matter if we believe in what you do?" Koehn replies, "No, my son, it only matters that I do."

In the sanctuary, Koehn creates holy water by blessing salt and water ("That's all it takes?" muses Dave) and begins to pray over them; Dave wonders whether he could actually be cured of his massive bulk and muscles - and if losing his powers would restore his lost faith. As Koehn reaches Randy, the force of his prayer causes the Anti-Body to exit Randy; the Anti-Body phases through Koehn, transmitting its memories to them (the Anti-Body cannot speak and can only communicate through memory). Koehn quickly restores order in the room and regretfully tells the six he can't cure them - he's confident the Anti-Body is not a creature of evil and thus their powers are not the result of demonic possession. The most Koehn can offer them is spiritual guidance. Stephanie breaks into tears at the news. The six dejected paranormals exit the sanctuary as Koehn prays Reinhold Niebuhr's famous prayer: "God grant you the serenity to accept the things you cannot change... the courage to change the things you can change... and the wisdom to know the difference between the two." This prayer reflects well over the struggles of the DP7 cast throughout the series.

Thoughts: I couldn't tell you how many atheists have worked at Marvel or DC over the years, but I certainly tell you who the most "loud and proud" was: Mark Gruenwald. Atheism came up frequently in his columns, his series Quasar and in DP7 via the character of Dave Landers. Dave probably represents the viewpoint closest to Gruenwald's, yet Gruenwald was open-minded enough to play Rev. Koehn straight, not as a caricature. Considering Koehn is an exoricist in a post-1973 work of fiction, it's admirable to see the care Gruenwald took in to avoid exploitation (exorploitation?). Further, Randy, Jeff & Stephanie are revealed to be Christians but not for simple mockery; Jeff and Stephanie's belief in the exorcist could have reduced them to naive simpletons - so, kudos to Gruenwald for being sensitive to beliefs outside of his own.

Randy & Dave's discussion about faith was easily a highlight; the series began in issue #1 by following the duo's first meeting and how they came to the Clinic; while the cast of DP7 underwent a lot of changes throughout its run, Randy & Dave would remain constants. They're a terrific example of a comic book male friendship; although divided by occupation (Randy a physician, Dave a factory worker), faith (Randy a Catholic, Dave an atheist) and ethos (Randy an altruist, Dave a pragmatist), their devotion to supporting each other throughout and frequent quiet moments where they voiced their difficulties kept them the real stars of DP7.

DP7's style of people with powers who don't become super heroes has been frequently compared to later (more popular) tales such as Rising Stars or Heroes; I think it's the best comic in the $0.25 bin. Experience it for yourself.