Scenes from the Life of an Amateur Comic Book Collector (17)--Fantastic Four

I've gone back to the Fantastic Four lately. When I was a kid in the late 1960s, they were very big and I watched the cartoon series on ABC. I even read some of the comics though at that time I was more into DC than Marvel. Marvel stories were complicated and continued from issue to issue and sometimes from title to title. DC was very simple and straightforward--which explains why kids liked DC and teenagers and adults liked Marvel.

When I first returned to the comic craze in recent years, I was only interested in the first 100 or so issues of FF because they were drawn and co-created by Jack Kirby with his bold striking images. The Silver Surfer-Galactus-Watcher saga is unparalleled in comic history for its scope and sweep, taking on almost Shakespearian proportions as these gigantic figures bestride the globe and dwarf the FF. I still love to think of the dialogue between Galactus and the Watcher as they debate the fate of Earth. When the Watcher calles Galactus "Pillager of planets," I get a chill.

Then I went beyond that into the later issues with John Romita, George Perez, etc. I've just finished Essential Fantastic Four Volume 8 which goes up until issue 183.

The fascinating thing about the FF--and I think it's what inspires loyalty to them--is they seem to exist in real time and space, and exhibit human emotions. Yes, they are in a comic-book world besides the obvious of having superpowers and not aging as quickly as the rest of us. Reed Richards and Ben Grimm are veterans of World War II which would make them in their mid-80s to early 90s if they were real people. But in a lot of other respects, their experiences parallel the rest of us. They change, get married, have children, have sex even.

For decades, Superman and Batman existed in an adolescent arrested development phase. Girls like Lois Lane and Vicki Vale were icky and the heroes hung out with younger male pals like Jimmy Olsen and Robin--surrogates for the readers. (I know it's different now, I don't keep up with the current storylines, but Superman finally did marry Lois, yet Batman remains a bachelor, having gone through several Robins.)

Reed Richards and Sue Storm actually got married and had a child. There are scenes indicating they really slept together--in the same bed--unlike Rob and Laura Petrie. In one story arc Reed's double from a parallel Earth takes his place and presumably does the nasty with Sue. The Invisible Girl is shown getting out of a king-sized bed, wearing a sheer nightie, leaving a sleeping false Reed. Her doubts about her husband apparently centered on their lovemaking. To add a touch of reality, she walks in on houseguests Thundra and The Impossible Man--a Marvel version of Mr. Mxyzplyzt (however you spell it)--watching a rerun of The Maltese Falcon on late-night TV. Their home--the Baxter Building--has an actual location in the real world, 42nd and Madison in NYC.

The current FF, they are almost at issue 600, has housed a bunch of mutant kids in the Baxter Building. Sounds kinda boring, like a kiddie X-Men. But I am now anxious to go back and read through up till the present.

Work of Art--Episode 3--Cover Story

I'll just dispense with the cliche about judging a book by its cover when discussing the last episode of Work of Art. Most of those who failed at the assignment of designing a book jacket for a classic work of fiction concentrated on fulfilling their own vision rather than being subservient to the book itself. Jaclyn went off on her self-indulgent exhibitionist streak with her nude photo shoot. She keeps going on about what a shy person she is and then strips to the waist on a reality show. Is that overcompensating for a repressive childhood? Judith basically said "Fuck this Jane Austen shit, I'm doing what I want" and created a boring pretentious cover with the title spelled backwards and fingerpainted flowers. It would have made sense if it were by Kafka or some bizarre-reality author, but it wasn't. Then she repeatedly told us she was a "fine" artist and didn't feel comfortable doing assigned work. What the hell are on on the show for then?

Peregrine seemed to have confused H.G. Wells' stark future with C.S. Lewis' Narnia by creating a cutesy-poo cut-out valentine with sweet little teddy bears. Huh? There ain't no teddy bears in Wells' horrifying vision of the world thousands of years ahead. He was racist, you know. In another sci-fi novel called When the Sleeper Wakes, he fears African blacks being raised as an army to subjugate white Europe in the 22nd century. What an imperialist pig! But I digress. (Note: The Time Machine book cover is the one on the copy of the novel I read when I was a teenager.)

I had to agree with Judith's eviction. She didn't seem to get the concept of the show or her role within it. The idea is to maintai your own identity but serve the assignment as well. She kinda did it with her "proud pussy" portrait of Jaclyn and half-heartedly with the found-object sculpture, but totally missed the mark this time.

Miles was impressive again and proved he's a sort of mad genius. Since he hadn't read the book, he figured how long it would take him to read it (1 page a minute equals four hours) and then coming up with an original interpretation combining the lightning and electricity theme. If they had until midnight and they started in the morning or early afternoon, that didn't give him much time.

I liked John's winning design for the Time Machine which reminded of s-f book covers of the 1960s with its abstract simplicity made specific by the ladder leaning against the red, multi-faceted thing-ama-bob, and its sharp, jagged lettering. This really calls on the contestants to be graphic designers as well as artists. Mike--I think that's his name--did really well with Dracula. (I think the other Dracula cover by the young woman who constantly refers to herself as a Christian would have been better suited to Jane Austen.) But Ryan should have been in the top three with his Dr. Jekyll, I really liked the split-personality photos, even though the basic concept has been done before. He put a new twist on it. I guess the judges are not constrained to choose three top picks since they only did two this time.

Leaderboard
Miles--two wins--death portrait of Nao; sleep sculpture with two concrete anuses
John--one win--Time Machine book cover

Work of Art--Episodes 1 and 2

I've been bereft since the conclusions of the latest seasons of The Amazing Race and Project Runway as you can tell by the lack of blogs in recent weeks. So my curiosity was piqued when I read about Work of Art, the latest Runway variation from Bravo. The idea totally stunned me. I can see having a competition among fashion designers or cooks or interior decorators since you can pretty tell good from bad in those fields. But art is SOOOO subjective, how can one judge a painting, scultpure or print as so blah! someone should be eliminated. Also it seems ridiculous to crown a struggling artist as the next big thing since that is the judgment of the ages, not a panel of critics. Remember Van Gogh only sold one painting and that was to his brother. But this will give me a chance to play art critic. As one of the judges said in his blog (the art critic from New York magazine--interesting that they have an art critic, but no steady theatre critic, shows where their priorities are), he didn't have any art training, he was just making it up as he went along.

Given all these trepidations, the first episode was actually intriguing. The contestants were so different than the fashion people I was accustomed to. I don't want to sound dismissive of the Project Runway types, but these guys just seemed more complex and serious. Yet they fulfilled the by-now standard roles of these kinds of shows. Nao is the pretentious snob whom everyone finds obnoxious. Miles is the cute outsider. Erik is the rebel who argues with the judges. Jaclyn is the pretty girl out to prove herself. Trong is the above-it-all dead-pan insider who has already established his reputation and you wonder why he's even there. Judith is the irracisble older woman who is uncomfortable with being designated as the mother figure. And I have a feeling she is the type who would snap back "I've got problems of my own" at any of the younger artists who need a shoulder to cry on. The rest kind of blend together. As the weeks go on, we'll get to know them better.

The first challenge was to do a portrait of a fellow competitor. Miles' print of Nao was indeed fascinating. Her expression was ecstatic and I liked the dark splotches. On the other hand, Nao's abstract connect-the-dots chart was lazy. It could have been a portrait of a speck of dust or a fly in the studio flitting from place to place. You can be non-representational and still capture the subject's essence. Along the same lines, I would have maybe taken dozens of digital photos and cut them up and pasted them on the dots to represent Miles' hyperkinectic behavior. Or tried to do something with the exposure to make him look like he was in several places at once.

On the second episode, they had to take junk and make a sculpture of out it. I liked Nicole's TV set-tomb, especially the dirt in the picture tube. It reminded me of a real grave site with its gritty reality. I think she could have gone even further with more artifacts stuffed into the set's gaping maw. Miles' sleep-chamber altar was interesting and well-made but a tad forced. I thought Abdi's TV-head kid figure was the most captivating. Trong's piece was not the worst. I think they got rid of him because he was showing no emotion and boring the pants off of everyone with his finishing up quickly and not reacting to any criticism. Speaking of which, what was up with Miles and his nasty comment about Trong's three TVs? Miles definitely has behavior issues and needs a therapist. He was holding up his hand like a child in class needing to go to the bathroom. "Teacher, I think Trong's work is boring and I can make number one now?" (BTW, did you notice the gallery owner judge's intense sunburn? Was in Aspen over the weekend?)

Miles is a fascinating case and so are a lot of them. I found it really interesting that Erik said he was living with his parents and Miles had to sell his clothes to get by and now they are on national TV. What will happen to them once the show is over? Even if they win, that's no guarantee of any sort of income or opportunities to make a living from their art.

I actually am considering downloading episodes so I can take more time to look at the art. I can hardly wait to see the first team challenge.

John and Abigail Adams in Heaven

A brief sketch based on the fact that Rush Limbaugh's new fourth wife is a direct descendent of John and Abigail Adams.

Scene: Heaven.

Characters: John and Abigail Adams

John: Abby, take a look below, our great-great-great granddaughter Kathryn is marrying some fat lub of lard named Rush Limbaugh.

Abigail: Oh my God! Isn't it bad enough I'm going to have to spend eternity with Barbara Bush because we're the only two women who have been both the mother and the wife of an American president. Now we'll have to share space with that slimeball.

John: Evidently he's addicted to cotton.

Abigail: What? How can you be addicted to cotton?

John: They've made it into some kind of drug now and combined it with some product of oxen. It's called oxycotton and this Rush character is hooked on it but good.

Abigail: Well, John, what can we do? One of our own sons was a drunkard and died penniless.

John: yes, but at least he wasn't a nutjob like this loser.

Abigail: What does Kathryn do anyway?

John: She's a party planner. How can you make a living planning parties? I despise political parties. They are the root of all of America's problems. And this is Rush's fourth marriage. Can you believe that?

Abigail: His fourth? Disgraceful. And doesn't he go on and on about the importance of traditional marriage.

John: They even had Elton John, a known homosexual singing at the wedding.

Abigail: Now, John, homosexuals are alright these days. They call them gay. They can even get married now in Massachusetts.

John: Our own home state? Really? Well, we were always more tolerant than most of the other original colonies. Remember our son John Quincy defended those rebelling slaves on the Amistad and they made that movie of it.

Abigail: The one with that sexy Matthew Maconaughnay? Or however he spells his name? His career has just gone downhill lately. I hear they make the newcomers in hell watch Sahara that he was in.

John: It's a different world I guess. But I can't bare the thought of this hypocritical Rush person sharing the Adams section of heaven. Is there a way to keep him out?

Abigail: We always have Barbara Bush sit on him.

Rand Paul and the Tea Party Show Their True Tea Leaves

The Tea Party appears to be gaining strength, but I still think it's doomed to be a fringe, splinter element in American politics. The reason was recently revealed by the figure who has emerged as its most visible spokesperson--Rand Paul. This candidate for the US Senate from Kentucky showed his true stripes when he stated he didn't believe the government--federal or state--had the authority to force lunch counters at public restaurants or stores like Woolworth's to serve blacks and other minorities. This is the crux of the libratarian agrument and the long-simmering rage of the Tea Party--government is too big and the individual should be not be subject to it. Why not just have 50 separate states like Reagan said he wanted, but then he seemed to have forgotten why we fought the Civil War. Paul says he himself is against discrimination, but doesn't believe the government has the right to tell a privately owned business it can't discriminate--even if that business is serving the public.

The Tea Party has gained strength because there are a lot of people who don't like taxes at all and haven't put two and two together and realized those taxes pay for things like schools, libraries, police, and cleaning up disasters like oil spills and hurricanes. The anti-taxers have joined up with the libratarian ideologues like Paul and the hysterical bigots who just can't stand the idea of a black president or anyone speaking Spanish and want things back to where they were when white people were the unquestioned top dogs.

I recall an older male relative of mine a few years ago telling me he was in a convenience store behind two Hispanic guys and they were speaking Spanish to each other. My relative actually said to them, "Hey, this is America. We speak English here." Now I can see gettting a little miffed if you were asking directions of a complete stranger or conversing with a shop-owner in a major city of the USA and this stranger or shop owner didn't speak English. Maybe you wouldn't be justified, but I could empathize with your feelings. But dictating what language people should be speaking to each other is going a bit far and this is the sentiment of the Tea Party and of the Arizona immigration law. Yes, undocumented workers should not be here, but there is nothing wrong with teaching multicultural studies in state-funded schools or giving anyone the history of the country they or their ancestors are from originally.

I believe there are legitimate concerns about the size of the defeceit, but that is only part of this movement's concern. I think many have this unrealistic dream of living out on the prairie where the only law is the sherriff in town and a man and his kinfolk live on their own land and the damned goverment leaves everyone alone expect when there's a big disaster. They want to go back to 19th century, no regulation. let business do what it wants and if they go bankrupt so be it, or if they cheat everybody blind, so what? They think the world is too big and they want it simpler and their government simpler and smaller too. Honey, I got news for you, the world is bigger and more complicated and we ain't never goin' back to the way we were. So you can sing that song all you want, but those scattered pictures and hazy watercolor memories are gone for good.

The Lost Two Months

Here it is June and I haven't written any blogs--except for the one on Obama and the oil spill--since the end of Project Runway and The Amazing Race. This lacuna was basically due to the massive number of shows I had to cover as the 2009-10 theatre season ended and the subsequent awards season ensued. On top of that, a record number of important shows opened after the award deadlines--technically they're still part of 2009-10 since the season doesn't really end until after the Tonys, but I think of them as part of 2010-11 since they will be considered for those awards.

Every year I say I'm going to attend all the awards but I always miss one or two. I did pretty good this year and had a lot of fun. At the Tony nominees press event, I met Valerie Harper, nominated for Looped, and she was great. I told her I considered one of her lines on the Mary Tyler Moore Show one of the funniest in TV history. It was when Rhoda was about to bite into a chocolate and said "I don't know why I'm eating this, I should just apply it directly to me hips." Valerie told me it was not in the original script and she was having lunch with her friend Mary Frann, who later played Bob Newhart's wife on Newhart. Mary said the scene needed a bit of girl talk between Mary and Rhoda and she suggested the line.

A little later Linda Lavin, nominated for Collected Stories, came in and I wished she and Harper would be together so I could take a picture and say, "Is this the first time you've appeared together since that episode of Rhoda where Linda played Rhoda' cheerleaing rival from high school at her shower that Brenda threw?" That was during the period when Linda Lavin appeared on almost every TV show--Rhoda, Phyllis, Barney Miller--before she got Alice.