Category Archives: new projects

Ray Bradbury: 52 Stories in 52 Weeks – My Project for 2014

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For 2014 I’m going to attempt to do the Ray Bradbury 52 short stories in 52 weeks writing hygiene exercise. It’s an idea that he brought up in a lecture, I’ve included a link below:

I started the video at the 2 minute 40 second mark, but if you have about an hour to watch the whole video it is worth it.

I’ve had a few ideas buzzing around in my head and they just haven’t found a way to get out. I think that the structure and discipline that this exercise will require will be a good way to at least get these things down on paper.

I don’t know if I’ll post them. I may decide that on a case by case basis, but I’m excited enough that I wanted to talk about it here.

Sometimes being creative takes a back seat to the things that we do to survive. If we’re very lucky, sometimes what we like to do creatively will end up earning us a living but more often than that we end up using our creative skills to help bring someone else’s creative vision to life. There’s nothing wrong with that, in fact  in many cases that’s how we get good at what we do, but eventually there comes a time when you have something that you want to make from your mind and then it’s up to you to find a way to get that idea out into the world. Given that I do not have hundreds of millions of dollars on hand and that I could use a lot of writing practice I have selected this exercise.

Apparently I’m not alone either, doing a simple Google search shows that there are Facebook pages and websites dedicated to the Ray Bradbury 52 Stories in 52 Weeks Challenge! I will probably not join up with any of these groups, but it was neat to see this idea has taken off.

I’ll be starting in January, although I have started keeping track of writing prompts so I have some ideas to pull from.

What do you think? Is this kind of challenge for you? Let me know in the comments.

See you next time!

P.S. If you want to get any of Ray Bradbury’s excellent books why not try Amazon? And if you want those books quicker, and access to the movies and TV shows available with Amazon Prime check out the free trial link below.

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Your Author is Syndicated… And Not Just On TV!

Starting in late September articles from this blog will be syndicated on the new Create Your Life with Jenna blog by producer Jenna Edwards. For a long time now she has been helping people who have suffered trauma with her radio show and website, but now she’s moving in a new direction and helping people get connected with their creativity!

Not everything from the Super Blog! will be going over, but posts like Actor 101 and things that cover creativity and getting out there to “do it” will. They’ll be assembled according to theme so I’m looking forward to seeing how they will read in a new context along some of the other writers who will be featured. 
Of course you’ll always have access to my posts here, and a few things will stay exclusive like Project: Iron Man, but through the Create Your Life with Jenna site you may catch some of the early posts you missed!
I’m very excited to be a part of this. 
For more details go here: Create With Jenna.com
See you next time!

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The State of Stuff?!? Wiggy Webs is coming back!

Wiggy Webs is on the come back, and we have a brief State of Stuff to talk about it.

So check it out and then subscribe!

See you next time!

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Curtis Is Consulting? Yes, I am.

Having over 27 years in a business teaches you a little something. Seeing that industry grow and change gives you clues to how it might continue to evolve. Once you’ve done something long enough you gain knowledge enough and confidence enough to start sharing that information with people. As many of you probably know I’ve been coaching actors privately and at different studios for over a decade and, more recently, I have started consulting about New Media and marketing. For the last few months I have been building the skeleton of a new website to be able to support these efforts, but I was recently turned on to a site that, at least for now, offers a lot of the functionality that I was looking for in a community where people can find the kind of consultants that they need. It’s called Maven.

I’ve only just started using this and, so far, it looks pretty good. They do a certain amount of confirmation of the people on the site and, from what I’ve seen, have a wide variety of industries represented. So, while I have been consulting for a few years, you now have a direct link to where I can be reached.

Here is my Maven site.

I look forward to your business.

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New Year, New Workout, New… other stuff

In the spirit of the new year I am taking advantage of the cliche of starting new things on the new year and making not resolutions, so to speak, but a list of things that I intend to do starting in January.

  • Getting back to being fit – I’ve complained about my growing belly and loss of energy and it’s no longer time to complain so I’m taking action. Rene and I have taken advantage of a great New Years deal for the new Crunch gym opening by our place and it looks like we’ll be working out starting tomorrow! For the first time ever I’m actually excited about working out.
  • Project: Iron Man – I’m VERY behind on this and do intend to start posting again. The next bit is written, but I haven’t done the scans of the issue yet. Here’s to getting this done!
  • Blogging in general – I’d just like to get back to writing more often. Here’s a good place to do it.
  • Travel – Rene and I are ready to travel.
I’m distracted by television and laundry so I’m going to bail. 
Not a great start to the year as far as blogs go… sorry.
Maybe I’ll edit it later.
EDIT – 
Nope, nothing to edit.
See you tomorrow!

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Project: Iron Man – Iron Man 12 & 13 Brain Power vs. Brain Power

Tony Stark is one of the smartest characters in the Marvel Universe. He was a child genius who went to MIT when he was a teenager and inherited a major corporation at the age of 21 complete with major government contracts that did not go away once he was in charge. He has built super weapons, discovered and put into use new sources of energy and, of course, designed the Iron Man armor that he is famous for.

Tony Stark is a smart guy.

I imagine when Archie Goodwin wrote the two-part story “The Coming of the Controller” he may have thought, “Someone with that much brain power clearly needs to battle a villain of equal brain power!” That would make sense, Reed Richards is always best when he battles Doctor Doom, The Doctor when he battles The Master, but there’s a twist…

OK, let’s back track just a little. Remember Janice Cord’s lawyer and how I thought he might be related to the Controller back in THIS POST? Well he totally is and this story-line wraps that all up. Also, we get to see Jasper Sitwell looking for Whitney Frost’s after the hovercraft she escaped in crashed – which happened off-screen I guess cuz I just looked back and she seemed to get away scott free. I even have the page in THAT SAME POST.

Also we spend some more pages making sure that the secret identity that we spent two issues trying to protect stays protected. Seriously, why? Go HERE for more on secret identities and here’s the three pages that finally wrap the identity drama. Pay special attention to how he lays the ground work for never being able to do this again. Don’t worry, in about a decade LMDs become so common it’s a wonder anyone in the Marvel Universe isn’t just a robot.

So let’s get back to the Controller! Here’s the Controller’s Wikipedia page for the full breakdown of his super-villain career, but the origin is right here in this book. Basil Sandhurst not only is a mad scientist of the highest caliber but he also has some rage issues. And his lawyer brother is a bit of a prick too. So when a lack of ethics gets Basil fired from every job he’s ever had (he has been working on how to harness the power of the human brain) his brother gets him a job at Drexel Cord’s factory. Problem is Basil is not happy about having to do the work of simpletons – so he loses his shit.Vincent tries to get him under control, but that goes poorly too and things explode and Vincent, being a caring brother, leaves Basil for dead.

But he’s not dead, see, so out of guilt Vincent builds Basil a super modern home and lab with robotic arms and stuff so Basil can continue his experiments, but those experiments are how to use the human brain to power an exoskeleton that gives Basil not only his mobility back but the combined strength of any people under his control!

See that’s the twist – Tony Stark has brain power, but Controller has “brain power,” or more to the point a brain powered exoskeleton.

So Controller enslaves the town, kidnaps Janice since her dad humiliated him and naturally Iron Man isn’t happy about this so they fight until Shellhead gets taken down and they are taken to the Mental-Wave Absorbatron!

Silly name aside, this device is the is a weird metaphor for the strength of the mind. I know sometimes I sound snarky when I do the plot re-caps, but there really is quite a bit of thought that went into these stories that were intended for children. The Controller ends up being a frightening villain mostly because he can enslave, and in doing so steal the strength from, anyone. And the more people he enslaves with his control disks the more powerful he gets. Iron Man is all about using power to do good for people and the Controller is all about using people as power. Kind of a screwed up super-villain version of democracy, but instead of power to the people it’s power from the people. When we get into the modern era of Iron Man there’s an issue where Maria Hill has to face the Controller and it was actually a bit frightening, but we have a bit before that.

So the Controller gets them back to his place and starts adding them to the mental-wave absorbatron…

…but Iron Man was faking! Fight is on!

Iron Man has roller skates (these come back is surprising regularity)!

Iron Man loses!

Controller steals a train and loads the mental-wave absorbatron on it (I should have probably mentioned that   he needs to be in range of it to maintain his powers)!

S.H.I.E.L.D. has an ESP unit!

I bring up the ESP unit for two reasons:

  1. It’s on theme. ESP, extrasensory perception, was very popular in the 60’s and dealt with the human brain having powers beyond what was understood. In a time when minds were being expanded with the use of mind altering drugs and human potential was being tested it made sense to think that maybe there was power there to be unlocked. In the Marvel Universe they did and it became a thing that S.H.I.E.L.D. used. Now S.H.I.E.L.D. uses telepaths, but that’s not really important right now. Also, when dealing with the genius brain power of Tony Stark and the brain powered exoskeleton of the Controller it’s kind of a brain trifecta to have the ESP unit show up. Go human brain!
  2. Janice Cord is going to come down with ESP pretty soon.
In the end Iron Man wins by separating the mental-wave absorbatron car from the rest of the train. The Controller, weak without the power of his slaves, gets knocked out and there ya’ go. And Stark gets all emo on Janice.
I really enjoyed the (probably) unintentional metaphor about the power of the human mind in this set of issues. I remember when I was a kid thinking that the Controller was kinda’ lame because I saw him first in a re-print of a Captain Marvel comic where he was working with Thanos and I thought they were brothers because they looked similar to me. I appreciate him now a lot more. We’ll be seeing more of Mr. Sandhurst soon, but first…
Next Time:

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Project: Iron Man – Iron Man #10 & Iron Man #11

Secret Identities.

The superhero trope of superhero tropes.

Clark Kent and Superman

Bruce Wayne and Batman

Peter Parker and Spider-Man

We are all very familiar with the idea that superheroes disguise their real identities to either have or protect their personal lives.

There are very few exceptions to this, the most prominent that I can think of being Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four. Sure he has the superhero name, Mr. Fantastic, but he and the whole Fantastic four are publicly known, celebrities even.

In current Marvel continuity and the Marvel movies Tony Stark is known to be Iron Man, but back in the 60’s (hell, well into the new millennium) Tony Stark maintained his secret identity where Iron Man was employed as Stark’s body guard, the reasons for which will be deliberated complained about later. The stories of Iron Man 10 and 11 focus on how Stark deals with the fact that The Mandarin has discovered his secret identity.

The short answer: he tricks Mandy into thinking that Stark and Iron Man really are two different people with the clever use of masks and a Life Model Decoy. In other words, it’s not really dealt with at all, it’s just needless manipulation all the while Stark factories are sitting idle and the whole country is busy thinking Stark is a pinko commie.

Fantastic plan, Stark.

Of course, because this is a comic book, Stark’s plan to save his identity works out perfectly:

  • Mandarin is convinced that he’s not Iron Man.
  • The LMD distracts the press and, during Shellhead’s battle with Mandy, they hear how Mandarin planned the whole thing and faked the pictures that started the whole mess in the first place.
  • Oh and the Mandarin’s betrothed totally turns on him because he doesn’t believe in love… but that’s not really related to secret identities.
  • Oh and we found out why he made a Hulk robot in issue 9 – turns out Hulk destroyed his castle in China and Mandy wanted to tarnish Hulk’s name… which is a bit redundant for Hulk but there you go.
  • Mandarin seemingly blows up at the end, but even Iron Man says he’ll be back, eliminating the drama of that moment.

 

But all issue specific plot points aside, the risk of people discovering secret identities for comic book heroes is a go-to story to write. There’s always going to be a story like this one where someone who shouldn’t know the secret learns it and  tries to use it to their advantage. There’s the opposite story where the hero reveals their identity to show how much they trust someone. In all the stories where there’s a secret identity time always has to be taken to show how they keep that secret when they change into the requisite super-suit, i.e. the proverbial “phone booth” or janitorial closet. If this were real life how many lives would be at risk while Spider-Man finds a suitable alley way to change his clothes?
That’s why I don’t understand the reason for Tony Stark to even have a secret identity. When I was a kid I never questioned it – superheroes had secret identities and that’s how it worked – but reading these stories now, older and having Stark be secret identity-less for over a decade, it feels contrived.
I get it for Spider-Man, he’s got an old aunt and the public is not always on his side. I get it for Batman, he is a violent vigilante, it’s important that Gotham’s finest don’t show up on Bruce Wayne’s door. I get it for Superman – he’s a freaking alien who’s so powerful if his identity was revealed he’d never have a moment to himself! But Tony stark is a public figure, like Reed Richards, he’s a playboy anyway who enjoys attention and his business, especially in the 60’s, is weapon design. A lot of the things that exist for Stark just because of his civilian life eliminate the need for a secret identity.
Taking a look at typical reasons to have a secret identity, let’s see how Stark’s life already handles the problems:
  • Protecting people he loves – Tony Stark is a public figure, a target for foreign enemy nations, so his loved ones are already targets. Publicly being Iron Man might actually help in this case.
  • Protecting his privacy/private life – Again, public figure so there is no privacy. If anything he’s under a microscope so really shouldn’t the question be how bad are the journalists in the Marvel Universe that they couldn’t figure out his identity? Also, he owns a major business so there are existing security measures in place to protect him and his factories.
  • The legality of actually being a superhero – This one’s tricky, but the fact that Stark helped to create SHIELD and equips them and is, like, totes BFF with Nick Fury gives his a pass on this in my opinion.
  • Being able to hold down a job – Again, he owns it. It’s hard to get fired from your own company (even though that totally happens but not for a while…).
Clearly modern writers and I are on the same page since he hasn’t had a secret identity for a very long time, but it makes me wonder why it was so important for about forty years? There were times when it was defended for story purposes, but for the writers in the 60’s through the 90’s why was that identity so important? There had to be a reason because it was no problem writing it away when they did. Maybe it was cultural, a sign of the times? I don’t have the answer, at least not today, but I want to revisit this concept later, hopefully be able to cite more examples from issues.
Next Time:

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Project: Iron Man – Iron Man #9

The idea of a man in a skin tight suit of highly flexible metal armor is fantastic enough. Add to the mix mad scientists, wild temporary mutations, big business deals and secret identities and you are asking for an awful lot of suspension of disbelief…

…then you enter comic book crazy town and suddenly you’re walking down the pier of acceptability right toward the waters of who gives a fuck.

This issue is the event horizon and a robot Hulk is our delivery device, but we’ll get to that in a second.

First let’s talk about a very fundamental superhero comic idea: continuity.

Continuity is the threat of story that is carried from each issue of a comic book series to the next providing a history that readers can latch onto to be the common ground that different writers share when they add to the mythology. It is the thing that says Tony Stark was injured in a war zone and had to build the armor. It is what says that Krypton blew up and Superman was sent to Earth by his parents. It is what says that Abin Sur crashed on Earth and gave Hal Jordan the Green Lantern power ring. Continuity can change. When it is done in a specific book it is called a retcon, or retroactive continuity, and if it is done across the entire line of comic books it is call a reboot (see DC’s New 52). Continuity has fueled nerd rage for as long as there have been fictionalized stories. Seriously, when there were cave paintings there was a caveman who was pissed that the gazelle escaped the hunter. Pre-internet flame wars were actually conducted with flaming sticks!

Actually, don’t quote me on that. I just made it up about the caveman. I’m pretty sure it’s true but… yeah…

Anyway.

We’re actually a long way off from both a retcon and a reboot in regard to Iron Man (but, oh man, are they coming) so we can talk about the other form of continuity, one that everyone should be familiar with, where things that are established to be should remain the same until they are shown to change. HERE’S a dictionary definition.

Marvel cared enough about continuity discrepancies that they used to offer something called a No Prize If you pointed them out! As time went on (and people got greedy) they also required that you include a possible justification with your answer, adding fan-fiction pseudo-science to the mix. The rules have evolved as times have changed, but if you could get a No Prize for pointing out errors in back issues, I’d have a shot today for sure!

Rain, late night deliveries and a dude in a hood – it’s like a noir story and it sets you up to be pulpy and exciting, but what we get instead is a karate chop, a fake statue and…

The Hulk.

By now in Marvel Universe continuity Iron Man and The Hulk have encountered each other quite a few times, including starting the Avengers and then later fighting each other because of one misunderstanding or another. Now our mysterious hooded figure has managed to bend The Hulk to his will and bad things are about to happen.

Now for my chance at a retroactive No Prize, check out this page specifically the panels with Vincent Sandhurst on the phone:

See that huge diamond ring on his finger? It’s like they’re calling attention to it, right? Like it might even be a story point? Then in the bottom left panel it’s totally gone!

Oh, and it’s pretty clear now that Sandhurst has ulterior motives in selling Cord Industries to Stark – but we won’t know this issue.

The Hulk bursts in on the sales meeting and kidnaps Janice Cord, our resident damsel in distress, and then there’re pages of fight. Here’s a couple of them:

See all that swirling cloud there? That’s definitely a fight!

So, naturally, it turns out that it’s not really The Hulk it’s a Hulk robot! Oh and the hooded figure is the Mandarin.

So let’s take a look at a few things here:

  1. So The Mandarin says at the end that this whole ruse was to see what would happen when people Tony Stark cares about are put in harms way and to confirm his suspicion that Tony Stark and Iron Man are the same person. However:
    1. Why make a robot Hulk? The two heroes have a public history in this universe, one where they worked together and formed a premier super team. Why not use a different super villain or, better yet, make the robot just a random monster? (Real world answer: Hulk sells comic books, but he’s not allowed to actually be a bad guy so put him in the book and make him a robot in the end – Sales Win!)
    2. Why Janice Cord? Yes she is a woman, and by 60’s standards that’s all you need, but she and Tony haven’t even dated yet, like, ever. So why target her?
  2. Why is The Mandarin in a hood? He’s hiding from his own people? And then when he pulls off the hood he’s got a mask on too?!?!?!? Fashion faux pas! (Real world answer: so the reader doesn’t know that it’s him. But, seriously, all the Chinese iconography and the purple and green outfit, who else is it going to be?)
  3. Remember this cover!!!! There are a few times when old covers, like this one, will be re-used in the series for totally different stories!
We’ll explore continuity more in later issues, but for now get ready for more Mandarin action!
Next Time:

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Project: Iron Man – Iron Man #7 & Iron Man #8

To start off, I think I may need to get more of these stiff Mylar bags for the old comics. The colors in issue 7 alone look like they are printer fresh and that’s pretty cool!

This is the first real multi-part story for the regular series. Even though each issue has represented essentially a day in the life of Iron Man (which makes this one hell of a week) and all of the events have strung together, this two-parter has an actual cliffhanger.

In this issue the Maggia hires the villainous Gladiator to help defeat Iron Man and rob Stark Industries. Here’s what he looks like:

There’s another character called Whirlwind. He looks like this:

When I was but a boy I fancied myself quite the Marvel Maniac. I knew trivia that impressed comic shop owners and, had the internet been a thing in the late 80’s, I had the over-confidant swagger of an internet troll. The fact that both of these characters had saw blades on their wrists, though, completely threw me. I was convinced they were the same character with different names – completely ignoring that Whirlwind has a whole separate set of powers (he controls wind, you see). But the saw blades! Why would you do that? The risk of injury seems really high and not one but TWO super-villains used the same weapon! Gah!

It took years to finally realize that they were different, which is a little embarrassing to admit in public, but it’s true.

There’s also a character named Vincent Sandhurst, he’s Janice Cord’s lawyer. I’m wondering if he’s related to Basil Sandhurst, The Controller (a villain we’ll meet in a couple issues). So many things I don’t remember!

Can we look at the covers again really quickly here?

These kind of covers are really rare in modern comics. They’re like mini-art pieces and there’s something in the way that they’re printed that gives them a deep, rich almost “painting” feel.

Anyhow, story synopsis:

  • Maggia is planning heist of Stark Industries.
  • Gladiator says, “I can take out Iron Man!”
  • Whitney Frost, the Maggia’s Big M, says, “Uh, o-ok.” She now has feelings for Jasper Sitwell and doesn’t want him to get hurt. Actually Whitney Frost as a character is pretty progressive considering she is a product was the late 60’s. She is a really strong woman who isn’t all fainting and in need of saving, that job goes to…
  • …Janice Cord, who visits Tony in hopes that he will buy what’s left of her father’s company. Her attraction to him begins here – until Tony has to escape to become Iron Man:
Where were we? Oh yeah…
  • Probably should have mentioned earlier that Gladiator kidnapped Stark, Sandhurst and Janice.
  • Then Gladiator tries to drop a piece of heavy machinery on the Janice and Sandhurst, but Iron Man saves them in the proverbial nick of time, smashing his repulsor rays in the process:
  • So we are left with this cliffhanger:
Issue #8 opens like this:
We also get Whitney’s back story and find out that she’s the daughter of Count Nefaria!
For those of you don’t know, he’s a pretty major super villain. We’ll see him again. X-Men fans will note that it’s because of Count Nefaria that Jean Grey became the Phoenix – so we have him to than for the current kerfuffle that is AvX.
And we see ol’ Shellhead save Janice and Sandhurst from the Gladiator.
Most importantly we find that Jasper wasn’t some drooling love lorn idiot, he was totally onto the Maggia’s plan and had the whole plant prepped for their assault!
Whitney escapes because Jasper can’t bring himself to shoot her, and Iron Man is sad that Jancie Cord thinks he’s a coward. The soap opera never ends.
All melodrama aside, the metaphor of Tony Stark’s “broken heart’ really takes center stage in these early issues both in how it effects his being a hero and his interpersonal relationships. Janice will be a focus for that for a while – at least until we find out she has ESP…
Next Time:

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Project: Iron Man – Iron Man #6

Right off the bat I’m impressed with how good the color is in this issue. It is remarkably well preserved.

I’m not sure if the scan does it justice, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

As I read through these early books of the series two things hit home more and more:

  1. I was not paying anything close to attention when I read these the first time because I barely remember any of them.
  2. Removing the fact that no one except the bad guy gets permanently hurt in any given issue, these stories are surprisingly mature – in a sophisticated way, not an inappropriate way.
I originally started this project expecting that it would just be a trip down memory lane where I could examine the context of where I was at age-wise and emotionally when I read them the first time, but it’s pretty clear that for the most part I was grabbing and collecting these early issues strictly out of the desire to complete the run.
I know I read these all before, but I didn’t appreciate them.
When I really geek out, have comic discussions with my friends, or listen to podcasts like iFanboy it is almost cliche to talk about the Golden and Silver Age books, how great Kirby is, and how writers back then really knew how to get a story out in 8 to 20 pages. It is easy to see that there has definitely been an evolution in how stories have been written in comic books (don’t even get me started on how decompressed some books are now) but it has taken decades to get back to the kind of grown-up-yet-still-appropriate-for-all-ages themes that writers like Stan Lee and Archie Goodwin were popping out month after month in the late 60’s.
These aren’t crazy political stories or scripts designed to raise eyebrows, they were stories about people and things that just happened to go on in a world inhabited by super people. They were mature without being scandalous. Combine lots of relationship drama, a certain amount of timely political intrigue and then people in costumes punching each other, that’s a recipe for success.
It’s not Pulitzer material, but it is on par with so much of the sci-fi and young adult fiction that people of all ages enjoy so much now-a-days. Plus it’s illustrated.
That being said there is a little bit of something in this issue that is worth bringing up – Comic Book Accents.
Take this issue for example: The Crusher returns from his defeat in ToS #91. I have not read the issue, but I found a picture of the cover:
EDIT: Turns out I HAVE read this story, but in the Iron Man King-Sized Special #2 where it is reprinted. That will be covered in the “King Size & Annuals” section that I plan to do in the appropriate year by issue time-line.
The Crusher is a Cuban professor who created a formula that granted him amazing strength and body density. At least I’m pretty sure he’s Cuban, he’s named El Professor and works for El Presidente who has a great beard and all the soldiers are clearly in Cuban uniforms – but they never mention Cuba by name.
Oh, and they have dialogue that looks like this:
Just in case that wasn’t easy enough to read, all the language is pretty plain English with the exception of phrases like, “Perhaps you are WEELING to hear my demands!” or “Si, si, Crusher! ANYTHEENG you ask… …ANYTHEENG!” And that leads me to what I mentioned before: Comic Book Accents.
Comic Book Accents aren’t new in the late 60’s and are still in use today. It’s a great way to get across how a particular character talks or to show a local dialect. Chris Claremont made wide use of this during his epic run of the X-Men with English characters, Scottish characters, Russian characters and specifically Nightcrawler and Rogue who were German and Southern respectively.
But something about it in this issue seems a bit… disrespectful.
Maybe it’s because it was the height of the Cold War or maybe it was unintentional, but the use of the long “EE” in the word balloons seems a bit redundant to me when you’re already using Spanish to show country of origin and accent.
Or maybe I’m just reading too much into this?
As we get further into the series there will be quite a few more accents, especially Russian ones, but that’s for another blog.
Safe to say, Iron Man wins with The Crusher falling into the sea unable to swim to the surface quick enough due to his enormous bulk, but more importantly the seeds are planted in this issue for the relationship between Tony Stark and Whitney Frost and the eventual betrayal by Jasper Sitwell.
Both spring from this punch:
Next Time:

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