Squiddies 2020

The Armchair Squid turns eleven years old today!  It's time to hand out some hardware.  And the Squiddy goes to...

Biggest Surprise: The Beatles' Appearance in Strange Tales #130

To say the Beatles were a big deal in 1965 would be a ridiculous understatement.  The band was frequently mentioned in the Marvel comic books of the era.  However, a special treat was prepared for Strange Tales #130: the Fab Four actually appeared on the page!

via Pinterest

In 1978, Marvel published a Super Special called "The Beatles Story," an unauthorized history of the band.  Skrull Beatles impersonators would eventually feature in the fictional Marvel universe, first appearing in Wisdom #6 in July, 2007.


Biggest Disappointment: COVID-19

This one's obvious, right?   I can't say I've been entirely miserable personally with social distancing.  To be perfectly honest, it suits me just fine most of the time.  But that's the selfish view.  People are dying and my own government is doing an absolutely pathetic job of managing the pandemic.  I hate when people talk about this as the "new normal," as if we've already embraced it as an acceptable state of affairs.  It is anything but.


Best Read, First Time Category: March: Book Two by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin

Lewis and Aydin's March series did an outstanding job reminding me how little I know about the American Civil Rights Movement.  It's not easy picking a favorite out of the trilogy but, as is often the case, the middle volume represents the heart of the story.  In particular, Book Two introduced me to the Big Six: Lewis, Martin Luther King, Jr., James Farmer, A. Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins and Whitney Young.  Lewis and King are the only ones I already knew.  Biographies for the other four went immediately on the wish list.

via Wikipedia

Sadly, John Lewis passed away on July 17th from pancreatic cancer.  Generous to the end, he left us with a final message of hope and inspiration.


Best Read, Re-Read Category: The Calvin and Hobbes Lazy Sunday Book by Bill Watterson

via Amazon

Calvin and Hobbes is the best of the best.  Lazy Sunday Book collects the Sunday strips from May 24, 1987 to July 30, 1989.  It's glorious.  Yup, better than Harry Potter.


Best Comics Find: Marvel Unlimited

Marvel maintains its back catalog - 27,000 issues and counting - online and available at a highly reasonable subscription rate, especially if your intention is to read one comic book a day for at least a year.  My Marvel Immersion Project would have been a lot more expensive and a much bigger hassle - i.e. impossible - without it.   An additional benefit I haven't even tapped into yet: Marvel owns all Star Wars comic book series now!


Athlete of the Year: Joe Frazier (1944-2011)

via Wikipedia

I finished Ali: A Life, Jonathan Eig's excellent biography about Muhammad Ali in January.  Here's what I wrote about Frazier, Ali's greatest rival:

For me, the most sympathetic character in the Ali saga has always been Joe Frazier.  Their three encounters are probably the most celebrated matches in boxing history.  Smokin' Joe never had Ali's flash but he more than made up for it with a nasty left hook.  Beyond the ring, the Ali-Frazier story is one of betrayal.  Frazier was supportive of Ali during his exile, even lending him money.  Frazier came to see Ali as a friend.  In the lead up to each of their matches, Ali resorted to low-ball attacks, calling Frazier out as a gorilla and an Uncle Tom.  Ali always defended his actions as gamesmanship.  Frazier carried the grudge for the rest of his life.

Best Family Adventure: Zoom Gatherings

Social distancing came with an unexpected silver lining.  If anything, I have been more sociable than I was before.  Zoom and its many competitors have inspired me to "get together" with several friends I hadn't seen in years.  I even have a (more or less) weekly board game night (via Board Game Arena) with a group of childhood friends, all of whom live in other states.  Yes, Zoom meetings for work are annoying but as a social avenue, they have been essential to my happiness in these troubled times.

Star Trek: Peak Performance

Episode: "Peak Performance"

Series: Star Trek: The Next Generation

Season 2, Episode 21

Original Air Date: July 10, 1989

via Memory Alpha

Starfleet stages a war game exercise.  Riker and his select crew take over the ancient USS Hathaway to oppose Picard on the Enterprise.  Strategist Sirna Kolrami is aboard to advise - and snark.  Riker proves a more worth adversary than Kolrami anticipated and, of course, there's an unexpected external wrinkle as well...

I love this episode.  For starters it's one of the few Star Trek stories of any series that affords meaningful material to all of the principal characters.  Picard defends Riker to Kolrami - what could have been a simple "don't undermine my First Officer on the bridge" was a more interesting direct challenge to Kolrami's doubts.  The Riker-Worf bond is strengthened.  Wesley gets a shining moment when, as a member of Team Hathaway,  he sneaks dilithium off of the Enterprise - all is fair in love and war games.  We even see the growth in Pulaski's regard for Data, one of the more interesting sub-plots of Season 2.  As I near the end of the second year, "Peak Performance" has put itself in late contention for best episode.  I feel the series settling into itself.  The characters (and actors?) are more comfortable with each other now, making the audience more comfortable, too.

Board Game Notes

The game Stratagema makes its only canon appearance.  Kolrami is a "third level grandmaster" and he plays both Riker and Data over the course of the story.  For Data, his initial loss causes a self-confidence crisis, one that threatens to derail the war games.  This final scene is the rematch:

Acting Notes

via Wikipedia

Roy Brocksmith (Sirna Kolrami) was born September 15, 1945 in Quincy, Illinois.  After graduating from Quincy University, he embarked on a stage career.  Broadway credits include Louis XIII in The Three Musketeers and the balladeer in The Threepenny Opera.  Films include Total Recall, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey and Arachnophobia.

Brocksmith died December 16, 2001 due to complications from diabetes.

Marvel Immersion Project: Howard the Duck #32-33 and Uncanny X-Men #94-98

Howard the Duck: what started as an admittedly dark breath of fresh air in the late '70s was unbearable a decade later.  And yet, I have to admit that going from those final, bitter dredges back to the unsubtle X-Men (pun intended) feels like a huge let down.  Back to too many characters in too many fight scenes.  Back to villain of the week.  In short, back to formula.  Howard, for all of his ups and downs, was never formulaic, not for a single panel.  Even when Gerber was barely holding things together, he generated an issue (#16) unlike any other in the history of the company.  Howard was the jolt the entire industry desperately needed.  Now, I go back to the pre-Howard world...

Professor X, via Wikipedia

I will say this for the X-Men: it's a lot easier to keep track of everyone than it was with the Avengers.  There are still too many characters but I know for certain who is in and who is out at a given moment.  The stories are way too busy for my tastes.  Why bother with a gradual narrative build when you can get right to the brawl while everyone's sitting around the living room? 

I so wish I were exaggerating.

I know there are good stories on the way and the X-Men have strong individual characters among them, including my personal favorite: Wolverine.  The X-Men were the heart of the Marvel universe in the mid-'70s.  I could not reasonably immerse myself without spending some quality time with them.

via Wikipedia, the original X-Men, clockwise from top right: Angel, Iceman, Cyclops, Beast and Marvel Girl

via The Catacombs, the 1975 X-Men, left to rightish: Storm, Wolverine, Colossus, Cyclops, Banshee, Thunderbird, Sunfire and Nightcrawler

 

My Recent Reads

Howard the Duck #32
Originally Published January 1, 1986
Writer: Steven Grant
Artist: Paul Smith

• After a near seven-year hiatus, Marvel revived Howard just in time to promote the Howard the Duck film which premiered in August 1986.
• Opens with an origin story for Howard.
• Howard is stranded in Utah but gets picked up by a trucker, the lovely Ceci Rider.
• Ceci and Howard discover an underground housing development run by the natural resource guzzling Morgan Erg, aka The Gopher.
• The movie was, by all accounts, truly terrible.  It won four Razzies, including Worst Picture, and was one of the candidates for Worst Picture of the Decade along with Star Trek V.  Thank goodness for Mommie Dearest.

Howard the Duck #33
September 1, 1986
Christopher Stager/Val Mayerik

• The final issue for the original series.
• Howard wins $10,000,000 in a publishing sweepstakes, awarded by an Ed McMahon-type character at his front door.
• Naturally, everyone wants a piece of the riches and Howard is a changed duck.  He's finally reunited with Bev but she doesn't like what wealth has done to Howard so she leaves him.
• Howard throws out the first ball at a Cleveland Indians game.  There's a running gag through the story that the newly wealthy duck is rumored to buy the team.
• The magic is gone.  I can see how anyone discovering Howard the Duck in 1986, either through the movie or these last two comic book issues, would have been severely disappointed.  How did anyone think this was such a big deal?
• In truth, the series was never quite the same after co-creator Steve Gerber was let go.  He was fired because he couldn't meet deadlines - completely understandable but the material suffered.  Other Marvel characters - Spidey, for instance - survived changes in creative staff just fine.  Not so here.  Howard needed Steve.  Without him, the satire was merely a joke.   
• There are some wonderful musical references in this last issue:
• The issue's sub-title is "Material Duck," a play on Madonna's "Material Girl," released in 1984

• Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi"

• Diana Ross

• Doc Severinsen, the Tonight Show's longtime bandleader 

• Judy Garland 

Uncanny X-Men #94
August 1, 1975
Chris Claremont/Dave Cockrum

• We join the series at a moment of transition.  Most of the original X-Men say goodbye to the team, making way for the new kids.
• Departing:
• Havok
• Marvel Girl
• Angel
• Sunfire
• Iceman 
• Lorna Dane
• Remaining:
• Colossus
• Cyclops
• Nightcrawler
• Wolverine
• Storm
• Professor X
• Thunderbird
• Banshee
• The greatest significance of this issue, however, is that it marks the beginning of Chris Claremont's run as head writer for the series. 

via Villains Wiki

• There is also an external adversary in this story.  Count Nefaria and his Ani-Men take over Mount Valhalla, headquarters of NORAD.
• Cameo: Beast, former X-Man, now an Avenger

Uncanny X-Men #95
October 1, 1975
Claremont/Cockrum

• The X-Men defeat Count Nefaria but at a high cost...
• Thunderbird dies.  After Gwen Stacy, all bets are off.

Uncanny X-Men #96
December 1, 1975
Claremont/Cockrum

via Wikipedia

• Introduced: Moira MacTaggart, the X-Men's new housekeeper.
• Brooding over Thunderbird's death, Cyclops lets loose with his laser eyes in a fit of fury, accidentally unleashing two demons.  Said demons attack the X-Men in their living room.  Really, I wasn't kidding.

via Wikipedia

• Also introduced: Steven Lang, leader of Project Armageddon.  He hasn't struck yet but he makes clear he has it in for the X-Men.

Uncanny X-Men #97
February 1, 1976
Claremont/Cockrum

• Professor X has nightmares about an inter-galactic race war.  Or are they premonitions?

via Marvel Database

Polaris via X-Men Wiki

• Havok and Polaris (Lorna Dane's new superhero name) are possessed by Eric the Red and turned against the X-Men.

Uncanny X-Men #98
April 1, 1976
Claremont/Cockrum

• It's Christmas Eve and our gang are celebrating at Rockefeller Plaza.  There are many cameos by both fictional and real world characters: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Clark Kent, Lois Lane, etc.
• With no regard for peace and goodwill, Steven Lang sends the Sentinels to attack.  They kidnap Marvel Girl, Banshee, Wolverine and Professor X, who had been on a fishing vacation in the Caribbean.

via Marvel Database

• The professor's companion on his fishing trip is Dr. Peter Corbeau. 

via Wikipedia

• Introduced: Amanda Sefton who would eventually become Daytripper, then later Majik

Star Trek: The Emissary

Episode: "The Emissary"
Series: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Season 2, Episode 20
Original Air Date: June 26, 1989

via Memory Alpha

Starfleet sends the Enterprise to intercept a Klingon warship.  The crew is emerging from a 75-year cryogenic hibernation and it is feared that they will assume the Klingons are still at war with the Federation.  But that's all just window dressing for the real story.  Joining them for the mission is K'Ehleyr, a half-human, half-Klingon diplomat who also has a romantic past with our own Worf.

As stated before, I love the Worf stories and this is one of the most important.  We get to observe the Klingon mating rituals first hand which is, of course, awesome - not to mention deliciously uncomfortable.  K'Ehleyr herself, however, is the real treat, the perfect romantic foil for Worf.  Her biracial identity is, if anything, a more concrete manifestation of Worf's own self-concept struggles.  She teases him and challenges him.  She loves him but she is her own woman.  When Tracy Tormé wrote the character Doctor Selar (also played by Suzie Plakson) for "The Schizoid Man," he saw her as a potential mate for Worf.  He was disappointed when it didn't happen, feeling a Klingon-Vulcan relationship would have been more interesting.  I disagree.  K'Ehleyr is ideal.

"The Emissary" is also a good Picard leadership style episode.  When Worf raises objections to working with K'Ehleyr, Picard insists he do so anyway.  Lean into the discomfort, Lieutenant...

Board Game Notes

The episode begins with a poker game and appropriate to the rest of the story, the focus is on Worf's style of play.  "Klingons never bluff."

via Memory Alpha

Acting Notes

via Wikipedia

Suzie Plakson (K'Ehleyr) was born June 3, 1958 in Buffalo, New York, though she was raised in Kingston, Pennsylvania.  She went to Northwestern for college.  This was her second of five Trek appearances as four different characters.

via Memory Alpha

In television, Plakson had a principal role in Love & War and recurring roles in Mad About You and How I Met Your Mother, plus a recurring voice role on Dinosaurs.  In film, she appeared in such movies as My Stepmother Is an Alien, Disclosure and Wag the Dog.  She has dabbled in country music as well, releasing an album called DidnWannaDoIt!

Marvel Immersion Project: Howard the Duck #25-31

I'll be moving on from Howard soon.  The end for the series was messy - unfortunate yet oddly appropriate.  It's on to the X-men next for me.


My Recent Reads

Howard the Duck #25
Originally Published June 1, 1978
Writer: Steve Gerber
Artist: Gene Colan

• Paul and Winda are finally back in town.  Paul has a wad of cash from rich ship passengers who paid him for portraits.  
• Paul's not shy about spreading cash around, buying Howard a new jacket and new cigars.  The big spending makes Howard nervous.
• The trio attends a party thrown by Paul's new patron, Iris Raritan.  The entertainment is supplied by some old friends of ours, The Circus of Crime!

Howard the Duck #26
July 1, 1978
Gerber/Colan

• The Circus of Crime kidnaps Howard to be a part of their act.  They drag him to Pennsylvania for their next act where, of course, they rob the audience.  
• In true Marvel hero fashion, Iris, Winda and Paul follow the troupe via tracking device.  
• The story converge at a gas station.  One of the circus victims has a gun.  The gun goes off.  No one's dead but damage is done.
• Meanwhile, Winda is attacked by a drunk when she spurns his advances.
• Two notable music references:
• "76 Trombones"

• "The Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down."  The Band concert documentary The Last Waltz was released in April 1978.

Howard the Duck #27
September 1, 1978
Gerber/Colan

• Lee comes to Pennsylvania to help Howard and company.
• Howard and Iris head to Cleveland where they finally have their showdown with the Circus of Crime.
• Bev is surprised to find herself happy in her forced marriage to Dr. Bong.  However, she is horrified to learn that Bong still intends to kill Howard.

Howard the Duck #28
November 1, 1978
Marv Wolfman/Carmine Infantino

• Here it is, the first Howard story without Steve Gerber as head writer.
• In a break from the ongoing narrative, Howard gets caught up in a domestic espionage scandal while out at dinner with Bev.  The government is putting laughing gas in the city water supply.
• Meanwhile, a psychiatrist is distraught as several patients report sightings of a talking duck. 

Howard the Duck #29
January 1, 1979
Gerber/Will Meugniot

• Howard is recruited by struggling comedian Joey Goniff to be the face of a telethon in Las Vegas.  
• The plan works out only too well, at least in terms of raising the money, and Howard is disgusted by the crass commercialism.

Howard the Duck #30
March 1, 1979
Bill Mantlo/Colan

• A friend of Lee's builds an "Iron Duck" costume for Howard in order to prepare the latter for a final battle with Dr. Bong

Howard the Duck #31
May 1, 1979
Mantlo/Colan & Al Milgrom

• The final battle itself.
• Bev comes to Howard's rescue, revealing her true loyalties in the end.
• On the final page, the gang's all back together.
• This was the last issue before a seven-year hiatus for the series.

Squid Flicks: Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Title: Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Director: William Shatner

Original Release: June 9, 1989

My Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

via Wikipedia

Back to the movies this week!

Krik, Spock and Bones are on a camping trip in Yosemite when they're called back to the Enterprise.  Diplomatic hostages have been taken on Nimbus III and our heroes are sent to rescue them.  The lead baddie is the Vulcan Sybok who turns out to be Spock's long-lost half-brother!  Sybok takes over the Enterprise and leads the crew and his own disciples to Sha Ka Ree where he hopes to meet God.

Unfortunately, the camping scenes in the beginning are probably the best part of the story.  Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is easily the most widely panned of the Star Trek films.  In fact, it is generally regarded as one of the worst movies ever made, period.  It won three Golden Raspberry Awards: Worst Picture, Worst Director and Worst Actor (also Shatner) and was one of the nominees for Worst Picture of the Decade.  The writing is uneven at best, awful at worst.  Attempts to match the humor of The Voyage Home fall flat.  So, how can I possibly give it 4 stars?  I am 100% certain I'll watch it again someday.  By choice.  When it comes to Star Love, what can I do?

Herve Bennett, the executive producer, blamed the box office failure on the fans' lukewarm response to The Next Generation.  However, as we have seen in recent weeks, the new series was starting to hit its stride at this point.  It certainly wasn't the new kids' fault that the originals were losing steam.

A few un-Trek moments:

• The shoot first, ask questions later attack on Paradise City, where the hostages were being held.
• Spock Vulcan-pinching a horse.
• Kirk ordering Spock to kill Sybok (spoiler: he doesn't do it).

There are redeeming treats.  My blogger friend Spacer Guy recently wrote a delightful post about the campfire scene.  Here's the full video:



Kraft produced a marshmallow dispenser like Spock's for sale via mail order:

via Memory Alpha

Star Wars influence is noticeable.  The bar in Paradise City is definitely Mos Eisley-inspired:

Music Notes

Jerry Goldsmith came back to do the film score.  He resurrected a couple of his themes from The Motion Picture but also created new work.  Unlike the rest of the movie, the music drew praise from critics.  However, the project was such an overall disaster that Goldsmith turned down the job for Star Trek VI.  He was the second composer to do so.  He wouldn't score another Trek film until #8, First Contact.

Uhura does a seductive dance to Hiroshima's "The Moon Is a Window to Heaven."  Worth noting, it's Nichelle Nichols's own singing voice in the scene.   Not surprisingly, it's Nichols's favorite scene:

The movie ends back at the campfire.  Spock plays the Vulcan harp in accompaniment to "Row, Row, Row Your Boat":

My ranking of the movies so far:

1. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
2. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
3. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
4. Star Trek: The Motion Picture
5. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Marvel Immersion Project: Howard the Duck #11-17

via Wikipedia

Eugene Jules Colan, the primary artist of the Howard the Duck series, was born September 1, 1926 in the Bronx.  In addition to Howard, he was best known for his work on Daredevil and The Tomb of Dracula.  He was the co-creator of several characters who eventually found their way into movies: Falcon, the first African-American superhero in mainstream comics, Carol Danvers and Blade.  Colan was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2005.  He died in 2011 from complications of cancer and liver disease.


My Recent Reads

Howard the Duck #11
Originally Published April 1, 1977
Writer: Steve Gerber
Artist: Gene Colan

• Delirious with exhaustion, Howard takes off on Bev and catches a bus, destination anywhere.  He is discouraged when he discovers the bus's actual terminus: Cleveland.

via Marvel Database

• His seatmate is Winda Wester, a young woman with a speech impediment whose parents believe she is possessed by the Devil.  They have sent her to Cleveland to be exorcised.
• Several passengers, including Jesus (at least by appearances) and a Hare Krishna, try to sell Howard on various spiritual paths out of his misery.
• The Hare Krishna says "Goo-Goo-Goo-Joob" at one point, simultaneously referencing "Humpty-Dumpty," Finnegans Wake and, of course, the Beatles:

Howard the Duck #12
May 1, 1977
Gerber/Colan

• Howard, Winda and the Kidney Lady are on trial for their roles in running the bus off the road.  The Kidney Lady is let off but Howard and Winda are sentenced to 90 days in a mental institution.

via Chasing Amazing

• In the final frame, glam metal band Kiss makes their cameo entrance.

Howard the Duck #13
June 1, 1977
Gerber/Colan

• The hospital brings in an exorcist, Daimon Hellstrom, to help Winda.  He determines she's not possessed and cleared to leave.  Howard remains a mystery.

via Wikipedia

• Daimon Hellstrom first appeared in Ghost Rider #1 in September 1973.
• Joon Moon Yuc is back, having survived the house explosion in #7.  He would seem to have his own plans for the "demonically possessed" Winda.
• On the final page, Howard gains the powers of Hellstrom's alias, Son of Satan.

Howard the Duck #14
July 1, 1977
Gerber/Colan

• As Son of Satan, Howard breaks Winda and himself out of the institution.
• He abandons Winda in the woods, setting off to Cleveland on his own to find Bev.
• Bev has been worried about him, too, not understanding why he wandered off before.  Paul Same is with her.  Howard bursts in on them and hauls her away to talk.
• Howard, while possessed, is violent towards both Winda and Bev.
• Fortunately, Daimon finds Winda and brings her the rest of the way to Cleveland.  Once there, we have a consequential confrontation with all four characters.  Most importantly, Howard is freed from Son of Satan's possession.
• Howard is happily reunited with both Bev and Winda.

Howard the Duck #15
August 1, 1977
Gerber/Colan

• Howard, Bev, Winda and Paul are on a cruise ship, headed homeward.
• This is the trippiest story so far.  The ship is attacked by a giant sea monster with a pleasure center button, bombarded with giant rocks falling from the sky, then crashes into a rock that turns out to be the egg of a concrete swan.
• Whereas straight-laced Steve Ditko would not have been pleased by Doctor Strange's adoption by the counter-culture, the lifestyle choices of the Howard creative staff are made pretty clear in this issue...
• Bob Dylan reference, this song:

• On the final page a new character is introduced: Dr. Bong.  Gerber was not one for subtlety.

via Wikipedia

Howard the Duck #16
September 1, 1977
Gerber/"Cast of Thousands"

• Howard the Duck #16 is, I believe, unique, at least within Marvel Comics.  I know the word unique is overused but it fits here.  Steve Gerber, for all his considerable brilliance, was notorious for missing deadlines (perhaps related to the lifestyle choices noted above?).  Eventually, this professional liability would cost him his job.  Before things reached that point, he wrote Howard the Duck #16, subtitled "Zen and the Art of Comic Book Writing."  Unable to get the expected story ready in time, Gerber wrote a long essay about the comic book industry and his frustrations with his own creative struggles. 
• The text is presented in basic typewriter lettering over beautiful two-page panels from a variety of Marvel artists.  

Howard the Duck #17 
October 1, 1977
Gerber/Colan

• We return to the Dr. Bong story.  Bong brings Howard and Bev to his castle.  
• Bong reveals his past to Bev, a past in which he knew her during their college days.  What's more, he was obsessed with her.
• Meanwhile, it would seem he has nefarious Moreau-esque plans for Howard.

Star Trek: Up the Long Ladder

Episode: "Up the Long Ladder"

Series: Star Trek: The Next Generation

Season 2, Episode 18

Original Air Date: May 22, 1989

via Memory Alpha

The Enterprise receives an archaic distress call and goes to investigate.  The society they encounter, descended from Neo-Transcendentalist Earth colonists, is based on a subsistence, back-to-basics, low tech ethos.  At head writer Maury Hurley's encouragement, they are based on an Irish tinkerer village.  When Danilo Odell, the leader of the group, suggests the possibility of a second, separate colony, our heroes find another M class planet in the vicinity.  Lo and behold, the other party is there.

This second group, while decidedly more sophisticated - at least by outward appearances - is in trouble.  Their reliance on cloning for reproduction is taking its toll and they ask the Enterprise for help.  After a few missteps, Picard finds a solution to everyone's problems.

"Up the Long Ladder" is based on strong narrative ideas and contains some wonderful moments.  But taken as a whole, it doesn't quite work.  It feels like two incomplete story ideas stapled together rather than a cohesive whole.  However, as noted, there are a few gems.  Brenna Odell, Danilo's daughter performed by the amazing Rosalyn Landor, is one of the more appealing characters to come through in a while.  The tale's resolution, while certainly unconventional, is oddly satisfying.

via Memory Alpha

The installment is also, rather surprisingly, a fantastic Worf episode.  In an additional, tacked-on, tertiary story line, the security chief collapses on the bridge.  Dr. Pulaski diagnoses him with rop'ngor, Klingon measles.  Worf is embarrassed by the childhood disease and Pulaski covers for him with the rest of the crew.  In gratitude, Worf performs the Klingon tea ceremony for her.



Later, he introduces Danilo to chech'tluth, a potent Klingon alcoholic beverage.

Acting Notes

via TARDIS Data Core

Barrie Ingham (Danilo Odell) was born February 10, 1932 in Halifax, England.  He served in the Royal Artillery.  Ingham made more than 200 appearances on both British and American television.  However, his more impressive credits were for Broadway musicals: Copperfield, Camelot, Aspects of Love and Jeckyll & Hyde.

Ingham died January 23, 2015.

On the Coffee Table: J.K. Rowling

Title: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Author: J.K. Rowling

via Amazon

Let's begin with the elephant in the room: Rowling's recent unfortunate statements regarding transgenderism.  If you don't know about the controversy, I refer you to this thorough breakdown.  I want to get my own feelings out of the way off the bat:

First and most importantly, transgender women are women, transgender men are men and nonbinary identities are valid.

Second, the responses from other luminaries of the Potterverse were swift and eloquent.  Daniel Radcliffe wasted no time at all and I especially appreciate this statement: “To all the people who now feel that their experience of the books has been tarnished or diminished. I am deeply sorry for the pain these comments have caused you. I really hope that you don’t entirely lose what was valuable in these stories to you…. And in my opinion, nobody can touch that. It means to you what it means to you and I hope that these comments will not taint that too much.”

It can be difficult divorcing art from artist in a situation like this and the Rowling matter is far from the most challenging along those lines.  Want to talk about Miles Davis sometime?   Transcendent musical genius of the 20th century and also a well-known wife-beating monster.  My beloved Beatles?  John Lennon was not the blameless, peace-loving hippie you were lead to believe.  To his credit, at least, he owned up to his faults.  See also the bottomless well of sexism, racism, anti-Semitism and homophobia in classic world literature.  Artists have never been perfect.  That doesn't mean we're obligated to hate their work.

Finally, if we're going to grow as a society through our numerous cultural crises, people need to be allowed to make mistakes.  We gain nothing by shutting people out the instant they say something disagreeable.  It is brutally painful work but we have to be able to talk through these challenges.  I am choosing to believe that Ms. Rowling made a mistake.  Like the rest of us, she has a lot to learn and I hope she will.

And now back to the easier discussion...

The Harry Potter books are amazing.  My wife and I first read Sorcerer's Stone aloud to one another in our tiny SoHo apartment in the late '90s.  Along with the rest of the book-loving world, we eagerly anticipated each new release and devoured each treasured volume almost immediately.  Our daughter was a surprising hold out for years but then binged the entire series one summer.  We love the movies.  When we were in Edinburgh two summers ago, we dutifully hit all the Potter spots.  Yes, we're definitely fans.

In case you're wondering, I'm a Hufflepuff.  If you're not sure of you're house assignment, go here.  I have to admit, I prefer the color schemes for Ravenclaw and, especially, Slytherin.  But what can I do?  The Sorting Hat knows best.

I have long had in mind to re-read the series and here I go.  I am happy to say that the first book - and I believe this was at least my third time through - has lost absolutely none of the original magic for me.  I still get excited by a Quidditch match and I still giggle about the Weasley sweaters.  Yes, I read differently knowing what's going to happen but I am no less astonished by Rowling's gift for drawing us in to this rich, textured and welcoming world.  She has been criticized, even by me, for taking ideas from others.  Some have gone so far as to accuse her of plagiarism.  The criticism is absurd.  Every author you've admired - Tolkein, Lewis, Carroll, Dickens, Twain, Tolstoy, Shakespeare - built on the ideas of others.  Same for Beethoven, Michelangelo, Scorcese, Frank Lloyd Wright.  That's what an artistic tradition is.  Nothing comes from nowhere.  The genius lies in re-framing the old in a form digestible for the current and, if you're really good, future audience.  22 years in, Rowling is on the brink of enchanting a second generation with no sign of slowing down.

What am I hoping for in this re-reading adventure?  In some ways, it's not so different from my reasons for re-watching Star Trek or immersing myself in Marvel comic books.  I am in awe of the world building and seek to learn from it.  In particular, I would love to glean more about the "other two" houses, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.  So much of the Potter story centers around the Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry that it's easy to forget about the others.  And just as I have grown to appreciate the elegance of the Kansas scenes in The Wizard of Oz, I now pay closer attention to Harry's life with the Dursleys.  For both stories, the contrast with the mundane is vital to the magic.

So, expect periodic Potter reviews.  I am already excited for Year 2.

Marvel Immersion Project: Howard the Duck #4-10

Howard the Duck co-creator Steven Ross Gerber was born September 20, 1947 in St. Louis.  As a teenager, he helped launch one of the first comic fanzines, Headline.  After graduating from St. Louis University, he found work as a copywriter in advertising. 

via Wikipedia

Frustrated, he wrote to Roy Thomas, one of his Headline collaborators and by the time of the letter in 1972, Marvel's editor-in-chief.  Thomas brought him on board.  First came Man-Thing, a monster character introduced in Adventure into Fear #11.  Howard was introduced in issue #19 of the same series. 

Gerber died in 2008 of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.  He was posthumously inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2010.


My Recent Reads

Howard the Duck #4
Originally Published July 1, 1976
Writer: Steve Gerber
Artist: Gene Colan

• Howard and Bev are disturbed by their upstairs neighbor, struggling artist Paul Same.  

Note: even Winky-Man wears his mask properly.  Via Marvel Database

• As it turns out, he's a sleepwalker who goes out in the night as a vigilante hero, Winky-Man.

Howard the Duck #5
September 1, 1976
Gerber/Colan

• Howard and Bev are struggling to pay the bills, Bev's artist modeling work not enough to support them both.  

via Marvel Database

• Howard looks for work, including an ill-fated stint on a children's television show with Gonzo the Clown.

via Marvel Database

• Also featured: Kidney Lady, her second appearance.  She harasses Howard on the city bus.
• Fed up with Cleveland, Howard and Bev set out to hitchhike their way to New York.

Howard the Duck #6
November 1, 1976
Gerber/Colan

• Howard and Bev are stranded in the Poconos.
• Frustrated with her traveling companion, Bev sets off on her own.  She finds a creepy mansion where she is presumed to be the new governess by

via Marvel Database

Patsy Dragonworth (last name attached in later stories).

via Marvel Database

• Howard is discovered by the followers of a religious zealot, Joon Moon Yuc, who sees our hero as an agent of Satan who must be destroyed.  He is undoubtedly based on real-life lunatic Sun Myung Moon.  Unfortunately, the character image promotes Asian stereotypes.

via Marvel Database

• Howard is rescued by a gallant realtor on horseback, Heathcliff Rochester.
• References to Wuthering Heights, Frankenstein, Jane Eyre and House of Seven Gables abound. 

Howard the Duck #7
December 1, 1976 (note: upgraded to monthly)
Gerber/Colan

via Marvel Database

• Little Patsy brings a Ginger Bread Man to life, Frankenstein-style.
• Howard and Bev finally make it to New York where they find jobs at the national convention for the All-Night Party.

via Marvel Database

• Introduced: Dreyfuss Gultch, a country singer who picks them up in the Poconos.
• Howard saves the presumptive presidential nominee from a bomb by pole vaulting into a multi-tiered, celebratory cake (1976 was an Olympic year, too).
• Overwhelmed by his heroism, the delegates instead select Howard as their nominee!

Howard the Duck #8
January 1, 1977
Gerber/Colan

via Amazon

• I love the cover for this issue!  I want a t-shirt.  And a campaign button. 
• Howard is running for President.  He dodges constant assassination attempts.  He tangles with message wranglers.  Most amazingly, he tells the truth.

Howard the Duck #9
February 1, 1977
Gerber/Colan

via Marvel Database

• In the previous issue, the Presidential campaign was derailed on Election Day by a scandalous, and doctored, photo of Howard and Bev taking a bath together.  The dirty work was done by a bellhop working for Pierre Dentifris, aka Le Beaver. 

via Marvel Database

• On their Canadian adventure to clear their names, Howard and Bev are helped by a Canadian Mountie, Preston Dudley.

Howard the Duck #10
March 1, 1977
Gerber/Colan

• Howard has an identity-crisis dream with lots of character cameos, including

via Marvel Database

• Pro-Rata

via Marvel Database

• Turnip-Man 

Marvel Immersion Project: The Amazing Spider-Man #91-92, #121-122 and Howard the Duck #1-3

We have a lot to talk about - best we jump right in.


My Recent Reads

The Amazing Spider-Man #91
Originally Published December 1, 1970
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Gil Kane

• Spidey/Peter Parker struggles to come to terms with George Stacy's death while also dealing with the fact that everyone, most importantly his own girlfriend, blames him for the accident.
• Nemesis: Sam Bullit, a crooked lawyer running for district attorney, looking to capitalize on Spidey's current unpopularity in his own "tough on crime" campaign

Robbie Robertson via Wikipedia

• Featured: Robbie Robertson, the editor of The Daily Bugle and one of the first recurring Black characters in a major comic book series

The Amazing Spider-Man #92
January 1, 1971
Lee/Kane

• Featured: Iceman, who picks a fight when he misinterprets (sort of) Spidey's kidnapping of Gwen.  The kidnapping is part of an effort to preserve his secret identity.  It's a little icky.  As much as we want our man to always be right, Iceman was probably correct to interfere.
• Sam Bullit's evils are exposed.

via Wikipedia

• Artist Gil Kane was born Eli Katz in Riga, Latvia on April 6, 1926.  His family emigrated to Brooklyn, New York in 1929.  He started working in the comics industry at age 16.  Over his career, he worked with every major publisher, including Archie, DC and, of course, Marvel.  He was co-creator of the Silver Age Green Lantern, Atom and Iron Fist.  He was also an early pioneer in the graphic novel format.  Kane passed away in 2000 from complications of lymphoma.
• Catch your breath.  Here we go...

The Amazing Spider-Man #121
June 1, 1973
Writer: Gerry Conway
Artist: Kane

• Probably the single most important issue in the history of the American comic book industry.
• Gwen Stacy dies.
• It's difficult to overstate the significance of Gwen Stacy's death.  Since 1954, the entire medium had been living under the Comics Code Authority (CCA) which imposed even more stifling restrictions than the comparable code employed for motion pictures.  The lack of dimension in comic books of the 1950s and '60s can largely blamed on the CCA.
• As a result, the readership had come to have certain expectations about superheroes and their stories.  Marvel had already begun to push the limits with The Amazing Spider-Man.  In issues #96-98, Harry Osborn took LSD and his friends struggled to help him with his drug problem.  They had back up on that one, the US Department of Health, Education and Welfare having asked them to run an anti-drug story.  
• George Stacy's death in issue #90 was ground-breaking in itself but Gwen's death went a step further as Spidey's own role in the accident is less clear.  Yes, the Green Goblin threw her off the top of the George Washington Bridge but her neck snapped when Spidey tried to save her with his webbing.  In effect, Spider-Man accidentally caused her death.  Interestingly, the Green Goblin himself lets Spidey off the hook, asserting that the fall itself had likely already killed her.  Nonetheless, the question remains.

via Marvel Database

• Gwen Stacy's death is broadly considered to be the moment when the American comic book medium lost its innocence.  Spider-Man's good guy identity ultimately survived but the door was kicked open for morally ambiguous heroes and edgier storylines.
• This issue is also considered by many to mark the ending of the Silver Age of comic books.
• As if that weren't enough, Harry has his second bad acid trip in this issue.  Norman Osborn (alias: Green Goblin - boy has that story gotten complicated!) blames Harry's friends, including Peter, and kicks them out of the house when they come around to check on him.

via Wikipedia

• Featured: Mary Jane Watson. When I left the series after #38, we hadn't even seen her face yet.

The Amazing Spider-Man #122
July 1, 1973
Conway/Kane

• Peter/Spidey is enraged over Gwen Stacy's death. 
• Peter walks out on Harry while the latter is in need, still freaking out over his bad trip.
• Mary Jane, however, turns out to be a better friend.  Peter is horrible to her when she meets him at his apartment and he sends her away.  In the issue's final frame, we see she's sticking around to tough it out with him.

via Spiderman animated Wikia

• Writer Gerry Conway was born September 10, 1952 in New York City.  A comic book wunderkind, he published his first professional work at age 16 and succeeded Stan Lee as lead writer for The Amazing Spider-Man, Marvel's flagship, at 19.   He also co-created The Punisher for Marvel and Firestorm for DC, where he was the writer for Justice League of America for eight years.
• Before moving on, I'd like to quickly reaffirm that The Amazing Spider-Man is definitely the best series Marvel had going in the Silver Age and the Peter Parker side of the story is largely the reason why.

Howard the Duck #1
January 1, 1976
Steve Gerber/Frank Brunner

• And now for something completely different...

via Wikipedia

• Howard the Duck was the co-creation of Gerber and artist Val Mayerik.  The character first appeared in Adventure into Fear #19 in December 1973.  In 1976, he got his own series.  He is a talking and cigar-smoking duck from outer space.  He's angry.  He's depressed, opening with suicidal thoughts in this initial offering.  Howard's stories are dark satire, spoofing their own genre in the process.  Unsubtle social commentary drips from the (digital) pages.
• Unlike most of the New York-based Marvel Universe, Howard dwells in the decidedly less glamorous Cleveland, Ohio, an easily maligned city in the mid-'70s.  At one point, Howard accidentally sets fire to the deeply polluted Cuyahoga River.  That happened in the real world, too.  Several times.  Today, there's a beer from the region called Burning River Pale Ale.
• Well worth noting, though, Cleveland is a very important city to comic book history.  For starters, it was the early stomping ground of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, co-creators of Superman.  It has been home to a thriving indy industry for decades.
• The city also boasts a top-notch art museum and one of the finest symphony orchestras in the world.  All of that steel money was good for something.
• It's also where my mom's from so back off!

via Marvel Database

• In #1, Howard meets his scantily clad sidekick, though not yet girlfriend, Beverly Switzler.
• Beverly has been kidnapped by Pro-Rata, a deranged super-villain accountant in a Dr. Strange-esque dreamscape.  Nope, not kidding.  Welcome to Howard the Duck.

Howard the Duck #2
March 1, 1976
Gerber/Brunner

• Villain: Turnip-Man, created when Arthur Winslow, Beverly's friend-but-not-boyfriend, is possessed by an extra-terrestrial root vegetable.
• James Bond reference!  The Man with the Golden Gun was, at the time, the most recent film release:

Howard the Duck #3
May 1, 1976
Gerber/John Buscema

• Villain: Count Macho
• Horrified by a street brawl turned deadly, and the glorification of violence in general, Howard learns the martial art of Quack-Fu.