Lunch With the Telly

 Yeah. I watch TV. DEAL.

Many (not all)* of my generation were the first TV generation. With multiple channels (sometimes as many as FIVE!), the rise of prime time, local shows from Afternoon movies to children's shows like Bozo or jumping Kenny Rogers, Saturday Morning Cartoons, and the advent of LIVING COLOR, TV was spectacular! Especially for an imaginative introvert like me.

Now that I am retired (for the most part) and with dozens of channels and streaming services, I could turn to an Ursula with a remote.

But I haven't. I still have my prime time habit. The big difference is I no longer have to be at the TV at a set time, or I miss the show. I don't even have to record a show on a VHS tape (like I often had to do with Buffy). I can call up any of tens of thousands of programs when I'm ready to watch.

During the rest of the day, there is not much. I used to watch morning news, but they've all been swallowed by right-wing media moguls, blathering far-right talking points. Even MSNOW has the interminably awful Joe Scarborough.

About the only thing in the daytime now is an occasional soccer game.

And, of course, my lunch program.

I'm a den eater. I like to eat while watching something. Particularly when it's just me. So, I have my lunchtime program.

I rotate between watching three programs. They change over time, as I complete different series. These are the three I'm rotating between now -

Smallville, which I am currently in Season 9, is part of a broader Superman re-watch that I have been doing for several years. I started with the Max Fleischer cartoons of the forties and have been moving forward chronologically. This includes movies (Christopher Reeve Superman), cartoons (Superman: The Animated Series), and TV shows (The Adventures of Superman)**

Currently, Season 9 puts me in 2009 of my re-watch. I like Smallville. Tom Welling does a good job of portraying a young Clark Kent. Erica Durance is outstanding as Lois Lane, capturing her wise-cracking intensity and bold spirit.

Sometimes the storylines are repetitive, focusing too much on characters being possessed so that the actors can present a different personality. And the WB network made teenage angst a specialty. But over the years, they presented a good number of characters from the DC comics. Green Arrow is portrayed by Justin Hartley, who went on to some minor series like This Is Us and Tracker.

I usually watch half a season at a time, one episode each lunch hour.

After that, the next one in rotation is -

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, filling my mystery/anthology slot.

Before this, I watched Alfred Hitchcock Presents, a half-hour anthology that ran seven seasons. Any anthology series will have a mix of really great episodes with some meh episodes. It's amazing how many spouses wanted to kill each other.

For someone of my age, seeing some of the actors I recognize from that time is fascinating. Some are in their pre-movie star phase, such as Robert Redford.

I usually watch six episodes before rotating to -

The Avengers, filling my spy/SCiFi slot.

I'm in season 3, and Emman Peel isn't even in it yet. John Steed's partner is Honor Blackman, who played the Bond girl, Pussy Galore, in Goldfinger.

The episodes are ok, in black and white, with cheap sets. Sometimes the episodes are suggestive of what's to come as it veers more into camp and sci-fi. I'm patient, though. We'll get there.

Earlier this slot was filled with The Man From U.N.C.L.E, a favorite from my youth. I still have Season 4 to see, but I have to buy that. It's not accessible any other way.

This is all courtesy of the power of streaming.  

Happy viewing - whatever your cup of tea and crumpet!

**I mean, all of that generation were in that TV era - just not all became as absorbed in it as I did. In fourth grade, some of my classmates proclaimed loudly that they NEVER watched TV.  Then those same classmates did a skit in class based on The Jack Parr show (the forerunner to Johnny Carson). At the time, I didn't even know who the hell that was.

* Those mentioned are just examples of each category.  There are a number of others, such as The Adventures of Lois & Clark, where Dean Cain, the far-right extremist and short-lived ICE agent, plays Superman.  To be fair, I did not know that when the show was originally on.

Va Without the Voom: The Awesomeness of Supergirl

 

Movies featuring female superheroes have had a lot of trouble at the box office.

With the exception of the first Wonder Woman movie (starring Gal Gadot), many of the others have ranged from barely adequate to disastrous.  This is only regarding the box office.  Many have been critical successes, earning considerable accolades from film critics.

Part of the problem comes from what I would call "male comic fans in theory." They're often men who are more familiar with superheroes via television, movies, toy figures, video games, and cosplay, 

Even some comic fans are fixated on one era of the superhero, rather than the totality of its presentation.   

Some are fixated on female characters whose physicality and sexual allure are emphasized.  Supergirl had only one such period, when she was drawn by Michael Turner in the 2000s.

For the most part, Supergirl has been portrayed as the girl next door. Starting in the 50s, she took on many aspects of the time she was written in, updating as the culture updated. I would say that Supergirl has had more revisions and changes than almost every other superhero.  And that's saying a lot.

Many of the "fans" who shout, "That is not Supergirl!" are rejecting other versions. 

Through all the changes, other than the Turner era, she's meant to be pretty but not Va-Va-Voom.  Her appeal is designed to be as much to young girls as to boys. Her problems in the 50s were typical of that time.  She was very caring and empathetic, liking boys but not overly obsessed with them.  

The movie version is based on the graphic novel Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. This is a grittier version of Supergirl.  Unlike Superman, she witnessed the destruction of her home planet, Krypton, as a young girl.  The only part of Krypton to survive was Argo City, a domed city that was also eventually destroyed.  She survived aboard a rocket ship, heading to Earth, where she would be a protector of the infant Kal-El (Superman). She lost everyone she knew and loved, including her parents, and, through time anomalies, arrived on Earth after Kal-El had become a full-grown adult. Think carefully,  Someone who had been through this would be suffering from a lot of trauma and PTSD, wouldn't you think?  Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow is the story that most fully acknowledges this.

This Supergirl is traveling the cosmos, often seeking out worlds under a red sun, where she does not have her powers, where she is not invulnerable, where she can feel things. She can drink and get drunk.  She can feel pain.  Heck, she can even get hers pierced or a tattoo.*

She looks disheveled and not perfectly put together. 

This is the version that Milly Alcock has been hired to portray.  And by early critical accounts, she is outstanding in that role, a true highlight of the film.

Yet, the incel army continues to carp.

By any human standard of beauty, Milly Alcock is gorgeous.  It is to her amazing abilities that she can portray Kara (Supergirl) as she is meant to be in this story.  Someone in a lot of pain, trying to find the balance between the trauma she has gone through, and still trying to live up to the impossible standards of goodness and valor she sees in her cousin, Kal-El,

I am currently reading a collection of the earliest Supergirl stories, starting in the fifties.  I am also re-reading Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.  And over the years, I have read everything in between.  Next to Superman, she is mt favorite DC superhero.

I am very much looking forward to seeing Supergirl in the theatres as soon as I can get out to it.

I wish a lot of people would see it.  I want to see more of director Jame Gunn's DCU.

But I am scared that the incels and comic snobs are going to win,  

So, if you are a moviegoer, if you like superheroes, if you saw Barbie, please come see this movie.

A failure here could cost us not just the DCU but female-empowerment movies in general. 

I hope to see you there!

 *Yes, some have harped at a picture of Milly Alcock as Supergirl wearing earrings.  It's true that normally Supergirl's skin would be impervious to piercing, but that's only under a yellow sun.  With a red sun, it is possible, and something I think Kara would want to do.  So there, you part-time fans/wankers!

Hey Kids! Comics!

 A revolution may be occurring!

Comics may be returning to a convenience store near you!

After an interminably long absence, comics may be coming back to where they once were - convenience stores, and maybe soon, drugstores, and other outlets!

A decision was made in the 80s and 90s to concentrate comic sales in specialty comic shops.  They were able to charge the comic store owner the full wholesale rate for the comic book, and it wasn't returnable.  If the comic store owner couldn't sell it, he had to keep it and hope to sell it eventually as a back issue. Sometimes, as comics were dominated by speculators for a while, they could occasionally sell for substantially more than what they paid.  Most of the time, though, they were lucky to sell it for a dollar or less.*

Before this, the retail stores that displayed the comics only had them for a limited sale period, then returned them to the distributor.  In giving them back, they had to tear off half the front cover so it could not be sold again.

What this meant was that comics were available everywhere.  As a kid, I could even walk down to the small lakefront Mom-and-Pop's store near my grandparents' cottage and find a slew of recent comics to choose from, along with science fiction magazines and lots of candy and soda.  My Grandmother gave me some loose change, and I could go there and get several comics, candy, a copy of Worlds of If SF magazine, and still have change left over.

Those were the days!

But, are they back?

Lo, and behold!

Look what I found at the Circle K!

A whole rack of DC comic books!

I've found them at two Circle Ks, and I believe there are many more!

They take a little more now than a few coins.  They're $3.29 a piece now.  That sounds like a lot, but the full retail price is often more.  I bought a Krypto (Spureman's dog**) comic whose original price was $4.99.  What can I say?  Everything costs more money now.

This is probably a promotion in connection with the Superman movie.

Will it work?

I'm in love with it, but I'm sadly sceptical it will work.

I don't know of any special promotions to draw attention to it.  I'm not sure whether customers who are no longer used to seeing magazines or books at convenience stores will even be visually drawn to it.  People have an infinite capacity to not see what's right in front of them, blocking out what they don't expect.

The display of comics are not new.  They are comics that came out in the last few years, but almost exclusively focused on #1 issues.  I have no idea if a kid finds #1 Krrypto, if they're ever going to be able to find #2.  And since they're just DC comics, I can't imagine the reaction of some poor kid pawing through all of them, desperately trying to find a Spider-Man.

I don't know what level of commitment DC's owner. Warner Bros. has to this.  Warner Bros. is up for sale, and I don't know what they'll think of this. When Warner Bros was bought over by the Discovery people, the first thing they did was shelve a $90 billion Batgirl movie that was fully complete and ready for distribution. 

As fragile as this may be, I am thrilled to see the attempt.  If comics are to survive, they must become more widely available.

So. I'm going to enjoy this brief moment in the sunshine while it lasts.

So, please, check it out yourself!

Hey, Kids of all ages!  IT'S COMICS!

* sidenote - the major distributor of comics to comic shops, Diamond Distributors, went out of business.  They had a monopoly-level of control over this market.  How their collapse affects things, I'm not sure.

**Based on the new Superman movie, Krypto is Supergirl's dog.  There are so many retro changes that occur in the comics world, even I can't keep up with them all.  

Superman: Woke Since 1938!

 

Sometimes, I really hate what we've become. I'm a fan of the website IMDb. We love to know about what we're watching. We see a familiar actor, and Alison and I will research to find out who they are and what we've seen them in.

There is an unpleasant aspect to IMDb, and that is with the unwoke army that comes in and corrupts their ratings. They will diss any show or movie that their right-wing nut job influencers have told them to mark down to 1s and 2s, bringing down the average score. For example, the lowest-rated episode of the new Quantum Leap series dared to feature a transgender athlete. I thought the story was beautiful, and the only episode of the series that brought me to tears.  

So, who is the unwoke army's newest vendetta? The latest Superman movie. Why? It glorifies an illegal immigrant (spoiler alert - Superman is not from around here). He's too soft. He's too kind. He takes the side of a weak nation about to be pillaged by a much stronger one. His opponent is a villainous stereotype of a billionaire. He takes the time to save a squirrel, for God's sake!

Did none of these mooks actually read Superman? He was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, two Jewish high school students from Cleveland. Almost like a Golem, ready to defend the weak and powerless. Superman was an alien, rocketed by his parents from the dying planet Krypton, landing in a Kansas cornfield, raised by two loving, caring farmers, and endowed with a tremendous sense of humanity. He chose as his alter ego, Clark Kent, to be a reporter, putting himself in a position where he could discover social ills and the problems of everyday citizens and address them. Some of his first cases involved confronting a husband who was abusing his wife, defending and revitalizing an area that was exploited by slumlords, and yes, intervening in a war involving Boravia and arms dealers profiting off of it.

That is from Superman #2, published in 1939. So much for Borovia just being an invention of Dorector James Gumn,

Any character that is almost nine decades old and has been written/drawn by dozens of comic book talents is bound to have reboots and reinterpretations. It's not always a straight line.

But I know what the core of Superman is. I've been reading Superman comics since the early 60s, and yes, I still read them today, both the classics and the newest issues. And what James Gunn has done is a perfect capture of the essence of Superman and his world, as I have ever seen.

This is not a review per se. But I do feel every character in it is a home run. There are no false notes. Much of it left me weeping with joy, as I feel blessed to have seen this movie.

I had a slight difference with my son, Benjamin, who also saw the movie. He said it was the best Superman movie he's ever seen. I slightly disagreed, in the sense that I thought it was the best movie I've ever seen.

As I come down from my high, that evaluation may change. But right now? It is the best. It's one of the few movies I've seen in my life that I immediately wanted to go back and see again.

Sorry, unwoke army. Like it or not, Superman is the epitome of woke and all the good things that it represents. I love him! Superman! Woke since 1938!

Why I Am a Superman Fan #1

I gave them up. Thousands and thousands of comic books spanning over six decades of collecting, and I'm happy because we were able to pay off our house.

But I kept my Superman collection. I continue to get back issues where I can, filling in gaps in my Superman Collection.  

Above is one I read yesterday, Action Comics #517 from March 1981. Reading the story, taking place on Christmas Eve, I was reminded of why I was a Superman fan.

Like any character written by diverse hands over the last 85 years, there will be variances over how Superman is characterized. The Man of Steel movie had a grotesque violation of what Superman is all about when they had him kill the villainous Kryptonian, General Zod.

But for the most part, Superman is written as what some complain, but I adore, as a big blue Boy Scout. He stands for truth, justice, and the American Way (the good democratic melting pot version, not the Reich-wing nativist horror version). Even though he is from another planet, his values are about as good as values get. His humanity is tempered through his secret identity, Clark Kent, a reporter dedicated to uncovering and exposing social injustice.

In this particular story, he runs across two teenagers, one Jewish and one who calls himself Christian,  fighting with each other about Christmas Eve, whose holiday it is, and who should be excluded from it.

Whatever you think of Christmas Eve and what it means, no one can argue with the sentiment Superman expresses next...

 Ok.  Given the religious violence and intolerance we see today, maybe some would argue with it.

But it means a lot to me.