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Well, it certainly has taken me a while to get around to writing the final chapter in my rundown of my list of favorite comics. It’s high time to finish off this list, as I have recently obtained another one of my three most sought-after comics. But more on that later. On with the list... Number 1: Last Days of the Justice Society of America Special #1
(DC Comics, 1986)
Okay, I will admit that having this book at the top of my favorites
list will likely prove to be a head-scratcher for comic fans and
non-fans alike. This issue was an instant favorite for me when I
got it on my 13th birthday back in 1986 and it has remained at the top
of my favorites for close to two decades. The tale is set in the
immediate aftermath of the Crisis on Infinite Earths and the overall purpose behind the book was to firm up the legacy of Earth-2
heroes (including the JSA and Infinity Inc.) so that it was in step
with DC’s post-Crisis continuity. This 68-page issue has it all, including
prominent appearances by most of the heavy hitters in the JSA. How many
comic books would begin a story with a quote from Nietzsche?
Well, this one does! In the story, the JSAers must travel back to
the final days of World War II to wrest the Spear of Destiny from the Nazis. When the Spear is used to trigger the cataclysmic battle of Ragnarök,
the JSA must travel to another plane in search of a way to stave off
the end of the world. Upon their arrival, they find the gods and
goddesses of Norse mythology preparing for an epic battle which will
surely mean the end of Earth.
Dr. Fate melds each JSA member with a Norse god or goddess and the JSA
then engage the advancing hordes of Surtur, Loki and the Serpent of
Midgard in a fierce and brutal battle. The JSA remain joined with
the gods and goddesses in a seemingly infinite battle to hold the evil
forces at bay and the Nazi attempt to destroy the world by releasing
the forces of Götterdämmerung is thus thwarted, allowing the Red Army
to smash the remaining German resistance back on Earth. The
capture of Berlin is even noted in the tale with a comic-art rendering
of Yevgeny Khaldei’s famous photo of a Red Army soldier raising the Soviet flag over the Reichstag.
Although the war ends on earth, most of the JSA remain trapped in
limbo, engaged in an infinite “Ragnarok cycle” in which the JSAers
continue to die and rise again in an endless battle with their foes.
There
is a bit of bonus material in this issue, including
an introductory/supplemental text by writer Roy Thomas ("An Epilegomena
to 'The Last Days of the Justice Society'") and some vintage
Golden Age artwork featuring the JSA. Whew! What a comic
book!
“Last Days” was written by Roy Thomas who is, in my opinion, one of the
best writers to have ever written for DC. The issue’s artwork by
Ross and Gustovich is very good as well. I had hoped to include a
few more scans of panels from the issue, but the printing quality was
not so good and my scans don’t really do the artwork the justice it
deserves.
“Last Days” didn’t exactly stitch up all the holes in
post-Crisis/Earth-2 continuity. In fact, the JSA returned to
action just a few years later by popular demand. But the story
chronicled in “Last Days” has been revisited several times in the pages
of multiple DC series since 1986.
I have read a lot – and I do mean a lot
– of comics over the course of nearly three decades and I have enjoyed
many classics from the Golden and Silver ages in this time. I
won’t deny that I have some sentimental attachment to this particular
comic book, but in my opinion, it holds its own with many of the
“classics” of the medium. I can’t imagine that I will ever find a
story that will take the place of “Last Days of the Justice Society on
my “Wall of Fame.”
Several
years ago, I was facing a decent commute to and from work and I went
through quite a few books on tape during that period. One of the larger
(and more interesting) audiobooks that I "read" during this time was The Private Life of Chairman Mao
by Dr. Li Zhisui. Over the course of the few weeks that it took for me
to get through all of the tapes (there must have been 30 or more
cassettes), I became quite immersed in Dr. Li's scandalous
memoir. Sometimes I would continue listening to the text after
arriving home, listening to segments while I was mowing the lawn and
working outside (I still think about the "mango worship" part of the
book when I am mowing my front yard.) But most of the time that I spent
listening to the book was during my evening commute, which was usually
pretty close to dinner time. The fact that I listened to so much of
this book on an empty stomach left a lasting impression on me because
in a few parts of the book, Li chronicles his dinnertime meetings with
Mao, describing Mao’s meals in some detail. The one part that always
stood out in my mind was this exchange between Mao and Li:
Dinner
was served. Again, the food was swimming in oil. Mao was sixty-two
years old and weighed over 190 pounds-a bit heavy even for his
five-foot-ten-inch frame. Later, I would often criticize his diet and
caution him against eating so much fat, but he never listened. He had
been in the habit of eating fatty pork since boyhood, and he would do
so until the end of his life.
He offered me a dish of bitter melon cooked with hot peppers. "How does it taste?" he wondered.
I had never eaten such a dish. "It's hot and bitter," I replied.
Mao
roared with laughter. "Everyone should taste some bitterness in his
life," he said, "especially a person like you. You studied medicine and
became a doctor. You have probably never eaten bitterness."
Chi ku,
"to eat bitterness," can mean, literally, to eat something bitter or to
suffer hardship, and I was not certain whether Mao was referring to the
food we were eating or playing on words to let me know he regarded me
as soft, a product of an easy upper-class life. "I have never eaten
this kind of bitter melon before," I replied, sticking to the question
of food, "but it's tasty."
"Well, good," he replied. "You must be prepared to taste some bitterness ."
— from The Private Life of Chairman Mao, pages 81-82.
Now, most folks probably wouldn’t
find this description of spicy, bitter food "swimming in oil" to
be terribly appetizing but during those long drives home, my empty
stomach and love of spicy Chinese food helped to convince me that this
was a winning combination. I’m not really a fan of pork dishes when it
comes to Chinese food (although I did have a good rendition of spicy
pork in black bean sauce earlier this week) and melon doesn’t really
sound that good to me in a hot dish. So I tried some substitutions and
made my own stir-fry mix that I ended up eating at least twice a week
for a decent stretch back in 2000 or 2001. Basically, I would cook
about a pound of stir-fry beef in a generous amount of oil (I used oil
liberally so that it wouldn’t reduce completely and I would still
have some left in the dish when it was ready to be served) with mixed
vegetables. I would usually use things that would stay crunchy like
onions, celery, carrots and bell peppers. I would then add lots of hot
chili peppers and sliced lemons—peel and all. Once this is all cooked
up, the lemon pulp is pretty soft, so it separates pretty easily from
the peel. But the bitterness of the pulp, peel and juices mixes well
with the spicy peppers. When you’re eating the dish, it’s best to get a
fork full that includes some lemon peel, pepper and beef. If you can
kind of crush the lemon over the pepper and beef, it’s especially
tasty, even if you choose not to eat the peel. The other day, I got a
taste for this dish and I made it for the first time in well over a
year. It was just as tasty as I remembered. Now, I had been under the
impression that I was the only person at our house that was really
crazy about this dish, but then Thomai made a fresh batch for dinner
just last night. I am not sure how fattening or unhealthy this stuff
is, but at least I’m eating my share of bitterness!
Last
week (or maybe it was the week before – they are all running together
nowadays), I finally got the chance to see the Bollywood film "Mother India."
Mother India was released in 1957 and was directed by Mehboob
Khan. I had previously watched Mehboob's film "Amar," which I had
understood to be one of Mehboob's personal favorites, but I
really did not care for it as much as some of the other Indian films I
have seen. Mother India was, however, a phenomenal film and after
seeing it I understand why it is among the most celebrated of
Bollywood's legendary films.
Since we have two small kids, it is no simple task to watch movies
these days, much less a film which features subtitles. Generally,
our best chance to watch a film is late at night after the kids are
asleep. When we're dealing with long, epic tales like Mother
India, we usually have to watch the movie in installments over the
course of several nights. So that's exactly what we did with this
film. Thomai watched with me sometimes, but other times I would
watch installments on my own after she was fast asleep.
Mother India is a tale of tragedy and hardship. The film's heroine, Radha, is portrayed by the Bollywood legend Nargis.
Incidentally, my mother-in-law once told me that when she was a child
in Greece, the local theaters showed Indian films from time to time and
that people would line up around the theaters to watch films featuring
Nargis. After watching this film, it is apparent why filmgoers would be
so taken with Nargis, as she portrayed the character of Radha with
incredible passion and depth.
The story is incredibly – and consistently – sad. After
watching the first 45 minutes of the movie, I asked a friend who had
seen the film if things were to get any better for the characters and
he basically indicated that the entire story a very sad one, indeed.
While the story is not without triumphant and inspiring moments it is
the hardship endured by the landless villagers at the hands of a greedy
moneylender that dominate the tale. Three generations of Radha's
struggle under the burden of debt which is complicated by harsh
conditions such as flood and famine.
One of my favorite moments in the film is when Radha's son Birju (played by Sunil Dutt)
finally returns to the village to take his revenge on the
moneylender. We were both on the edge of our seats when he
uttered the lines:
I
remember everything! I will avenge everything! You are a
dacoit. So am I. The law won't spare me. I won't
spare you.
I won't give away the ending for anyone who may consider watching the
film. But I will say that Thomai and I had some discussion on the
final tragic interaction between Radha and Birju and we have some
differing opinions on the actions of the respective characters.
Suffice it to say that Mother India is not a lighthearted film by any
means. It is, nevertheless, an artistic masterpiece that vividly
depicts the harsh and painful realities of feudal South Asia. Recommended viewing Duniya Main Hum Aaye Hain song and video from Mother India at YouTube
The
2006 Greek Festival is now one for the history books. The big
Ohio State game and the Bengals' home opener seemed to leave the
attendance a little thin this year, but hopefully the $40 price tag on
the Elena Paparizou CDs helped to make up for any lost revenue.
We've posted a few of our pictures from the event here. The final picture in the gallery was taken looking down from the church parking lot on to the grounds of the Dayton Art Institute.
Note the large metal "sculpture" in the picture. DAI now has
about 6 of these on their grounds, all of which were sculpted by the
same guy. I guess it is true that art is in the eye of the
beholder after all...
About
5 or 6 years ago, I bought a few full longboxes (and maybe a short box)
from a local comic shop owner who was going through a hard time and
looking to liquidate some of his inventory. One of the boxes that
I picked up
contained a decent chunk of the guy's "S" titles, so I ended up with
huge batches of comics like Superman, Steel, and Star Trek.
Included in the "S" box were quite a few issues of DC's Starman — the Jack Knight incarnation — from the mid to
late 1990's. I ended up with over 30 issues from this series and
although I had never read any Starman stories in the past, I had heard a
lot of good things about the title. Back when I bought these, I
was working nights and I was feeling a little burned out back
then. It was a nice escape to read 2 or 3 issues of Starman
during my dinner break. I really liked the Starman stories, but
my interest in comics was waning back then, so once I read all of what
I had on hand (or what I thought was all of them), I more or less
forgot about them for a while. Wile I was going my collection this past weekend, I found a few later
issues from the series along with an annual and a special Secret Files and Origins issue
that I had never read. Reading these "lost issues" was an absolute blast.
My favorite Starman picture, taken from
Secret Files and Origins #1
On Monday, I stopped in a local comic shop and picked up issues 0 and 1
of Starman, as these two were among the missing issues in my
collection. With all the Starman books I had read, I was still a
bit foggy on his origin and it was good to go back to the beginning and
fill in some of the blanks. Incidentally, these two issues were
among some of the best I have read of this title. As a side note,
the copy of #1 that I recently snagged looks like it's been autographed by
Starman co-creator James Robinson...and given the price I paid for it,
I am guessing it was a bit underpriced. But who am I to complain?
Having read thousands of comics, I can honestly say that I think that
the Jack Knight version Starman is really one of the better comics
series ever produced. Jack is the ultimate reluctant hero,
sporting a bunch of tattoos and a Hawaiian shirt as his own unique
superheo "uniform." The series ultimately unified the
multifaceted, multigenerational history of the "Starman" name and
legacy. Along the way, old heroes and villains were resurrected
and reinvented in stories that stretched through time and space in
grand and thrilling stories. The supporting cast featured complex and
intriguing characters such as the Golden-Age Starman (along with quite
a few other Starmen), Solomon Grundy and The Shade in a wonderfully
complex series of fantastic tales.
I have read some rumors that DC is flirting with the idea of bringing
the Jack Knight version of Starman out of retirement as part of their
ongoing weekly series, 52. I'm not reading 52 these days, but DC has
piqued my curiosity once again.
Number 1: Last Days of the Justice Society of America Special #1 
