“Hulk will SMASH puny bug man … as soon as bobsled race is over.” I had the pleasure this year to enjoy the NBC-TV broadcasts of the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, as I’m hoping many of you also did. It was thrilling to see Ted Ligety win gold in the Men’s Giant Slalom, breathtaking to see Kaitlyn Farrington win gold in the Ladies’ Snowboard Halfpipe, and moving to watch Meryl Davis and Charlie White reach the top of the podium in Couples’ Ice Dancing. My heart sank to witness Shaun White fail to win gold a third consecutive time, as well as Shani Davis competing below expectations. At no point, however, did the athletes fail to impress me with their incredible acrobatics, strength and passion. While we may take for granted the super-human feats of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and Children of the Atom, I have to literally marvel at the extraordinary endeavors of the Olympic competitors, for which I would not hesitate to apply every adjective which has ever escaped Smilin’ Stan’s erudite lips! Still, in the same year our puck-wrangling patriots defeated the indomitable team from the USSR in the “Miracle on Ice”, we learned courtesy of […]
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VIOLENCE NEVER SOLVES ANYTHING (except for crossword puzzles where the answer is “violence”) What do you do when your comics, which are mainly sold by newsstands, become too much trouble for too little profit by those same vendors? Simple, you reprint old material, blow it up to enormous proportions and slap a price tag on it more than five times the cost of a single issue! Now, you know my style pretty well by now, my fellow front-facer, so there’s no question that I like to write about comics with profound pontifications, filled with meaningful metaphors or beaming with evocative eloquence.
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While I Breathe, I Hope! Ho, warriors of Midgard! At one time, I verily believed myself to be alone in my appetite for tales of heroes most wondrous. But nay! In recent years, there hast been an army building – one not of sinew and steel, but of hearts overflowing with affection for the wonder we call COMICS! In one breath, it did seem that where there was once a world of amazement and gods walked the Earth to the great awe of mortals, today this world hast grown callous and jaded. In days past – when wall-crawlers were still named Parker, when Hulks were still named Banner and when events did not span a dozen titles over a hundred fortnights – your humble scribe enjoyed tales of such action, merriment and heroism that the Valkyries themselves sung praises aplenty, forsooth! ‘Tis not my intent to dwell on the joys of yesteryear, but to share with you all those tales. Should you wish to join in my revelry, I ask that you don your mystic cape, fill high your flagon of mead (or coffee, in my particular case) and delight in the tales which used to beget many a reader […]
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