Comic-Con in Spirit

I totally wish I'm in California right now attending the San Diego Comic-Con. TV shows such as Sherlock (2011) and Game of Thrones make attending those chaotic events worth the plane ticket now more than ever. In the 80s, fans of comic books, manga/anime and popular media were a small and humble minority, who shyly admitted they had a trunk of He-Man (1983) action figures or ROM Spaceknight (1979) comic books only when asked. Now everyone is coming out of the woodwork proudly showing off their loyalty to their favorite fictional characters and stories. It's a sad example, but the same thing occurred after Michael Jackson died - people who wouldn't be caught dead singing or dancing to his songs ended up blasting "Smooth Criminal" from their iPods and Bose car sound system.



Consoling myself by revisiting Taipei Computex photos. She'd fit right in hall 2 of the convention center.
Photo credit: Alex and Bobby.

It's both a sad and happy time for those who have grown up with comic books from the 70s, animation from the 80s and classic literature characters. Although Marvel comic books today (and in the last twenty years) are a heap of garbage and I'm pretty sure the The Amazing Spider-Man sequel will be terrible especially after they added that mini-me kid, it's nice to know that after more than 30 years members of Keepers of the Flame (a no-prize for anyone who can define what that is) can console themselves with a fair celluloid version of Thor and an impressive live-action version of Captain America after more than 40 years. Sadly, people these days have no idea that there's a reason why Bucky should have stayed dead and that Gwen Stacy never had brothers (and Captain George Stacy wasn't anything like Dennis Leary). Poor 70s-80s fans like myself have to sit down and take the abuse from Marvel and ignorant kids who think Deadpool is a great character. And no, I'm sorry, but Hawkeye is still a circus dumb*ss loser no matter what Bendis, Whedon or any ignorant comic book writer says (Green Arrow had an excuse).


Comics were fun and used to make sense. And the monster books were awesome!
Scan from Tomb of Dracula#3 (1972)

Still, it's now a very different time. My Medieval Literature Professor (Hi Ms. Pyle!) used to remind her students that people from this era had no right to judge the stupidity, ignorance, depravity and violence of any time period, including the Dark Ages (no relation to 2013 intended). Each milieu lends itself to a different perspective. PCs now include smartphones and tablets. Linux and Android rules. Bill Gates is a philanthropist and Steve Jobs passed away and inadvertently established a Church of Zombies. The Japanese are now more known for Death Note, Bleach and Maria Ozawa than Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic and Hitachi. China is taking names and the U.S. of A is led by a guy named Obama not Reagan, Clinton or Bush. And so it is today, when publishers, artists, TV show networks, filmmakers and comic book writers are more interested in making money than staying straight and true. And Spidey? Sigh. Spidey is now this guy:


Screenshot from Spider-Man (1967) episode "The Terrible Triumph of Doctor Octopus"