A Comic Book Entry – Geeking Out

I rant and rail at comic books and I’m sure there are people who think, “S.J., calm down.  You’re talking about comic books.  It’s no big deal.”  And yes, that’s technically true.  In the big picture, nothing really matters.  But comic books do matter on the small scale, and I rant and rail because I see so much potential in the medium, and to see it squandered through cheap thrills and lazy writing saddens me.  But why?  Well, here’s why:

1) On Tuesday morning, my roommate and I had a spirited discussion on what would happen if Ghost Rider tried to use the Penance Stare on Apocalypse.  My roommate posited that this was predicated on Apocalypse having eyeballs to even look into.  This led me to question if the Penance Stare had to be directed into eyeballs and if those eyeballs had to be capable of sight; i.e., would this work on Daredevil?  Eventually we decided if a being had optic nerves that were anatomically capable of sight even if damaged, the Penance Stare should work, but if a being didn’t have optic nerves as such or Ghost Rider could not see the eyes, then it wouldn’t work, because magic is very, very specific.  So the Penance Stare wouldn’t work on Daredevil because Daredevil’s mask does not actually have eye-holes, but it would work on Matt Murdoch sans sunglasses.  So having established the premise of Ghost Rider meeting Apocalypse’s eyes, would the Penance Stare work?  We figure Apocalypse can’t have much of a soul.  Being gamers, we decided to fall back on the Marvel RPG stats and decided Apocalypse would have to make a Psyche roll to resist the Stare.  However, Apocalypse has a pretty good Psyche because he’s a) very old and b) very deranged (so he’s really hard to shock or surprise in any way).

2) I have a co-worker I frequently talk to about comic books.  He’s old enough to retire, if that were possible in this current economic situation.  As we work in a STEM field, I correctly ascertained his favorite superhero was of course Spider-man.  His first Halloween costume was, in fact, Spider-man.  My youngest nephew, who is young enough to be my co-worker’s grandson (so we’re talking a significant age gap here), is dressing up for the first time this Halloween and his first costume is going to be, yes, Spider-man (although I think the kid’s big enough to be the Hulk).  He is also the person who lent me the books on Marvel superhero and supervillain origins I waxed poetically about.  He and my youngest nephew are two whole generations apart, and have never met, and yet they are already joined by Spider-man fandom.

3) I was attempting to explain to my supervisor why I have Rocket Raccoon wallpaper on my office computer.  The answer is that Rocket Raccoon is surprisingly bad-ass for an anthropomorphic raccoon (and not actually a raccoon as such).  My supervisor simply did not understand the awesomeness of this, and so I tried to explain more about the Guardians of the Galaxy.  He remained unconvinced, I’m afraid, but a co-worker I had not really spoken to before suddenly offers from his cubicle, “I am GROOT!”  Lo and behold he has been a Marvel fan from way back when although he now is getting into DC (possibly because the stories are actually new to him).  He remembers purchasing Giant-size X-men #1!  Which of course he either gave away, sold, or lost.  But anyway, the following conversation (paraphrased) then transpired:

Co-worker – So who’s your favorite?
Me – Well, there are so many, and it depends on the time period, you know?
Co-worker – *Knowing nod*
Me – My favorite X-man is Storm.  She kicks ass!
Co-worker – Yeah, Storm is pretty cool.  I thought you’d say Wolverine.
Me – Well, I like Wolverine, but Wolverine’s everywhere, you know?
Co-worker – I know!  Isn’t it time we get over Wolverine?

4) A different co-worker was talking about sports with another cube-dweller catty-corner for me and saw my Rocket Raccoon desktop wallpaper.  He pauses in his conversation and says, “Cool.”

This is why I rant and rail.  Any medium with fans has the ability to give people from widely differing backgrounds common ground.  We can all geek out together.  Comic books have a long history and potentially a large and varied fanbase.  What I rant and rail against is the heads of the big companies putting comics into this little box and assuming only certain people buy their comics and therefore they only cater to those people.  They don’t try to expand their market; they only try to grasp tighter onto what they think their market is while ignoring the reality.  I rant and rail against lazy writing and bad art and harmful stereotypes because the more that kind of stuff is published the less likely it will be when I am old enough to retire that the newbie just hired will perhaps be a fan as well.

One day perhaps my youngest nephew’s child (so my great-nephew/niece) will also dress as Spider-man for his/her first Halloween.  We could geek out together.  That would be so awesome.

A Comic Book Entry – She Will Rise Again

or, “Further Thoughts on Continuity” (Boom!)

But before I get to the actual musing, it occurs to me that I might have buried the lead in my last entry.  So here’s the lead – I have published a new collection of funny short stories called Paranormal is Relative.  It is currently only available through Smashwords because they are being slow to approve and distribute.  The price is absolutely free, so check it out.  The whole purpose of this blog is to shamelessly promote my writing, so this is what I am doing.  Please please please download my book!

Okay, moving on.

The title of this entry comes from Jean Grey’s headstone.  This is actually what is carved on it, and is appropriate for someone named after the Phoenix, which is a bird that rises from the dead.  This also shows astounding self-awareness on the part of the X-men to realize death is not as permanent as most of the world seems to think.  But this also was perhaps put into placate fans who were upset that a favorite character and half of a power couple was stuffed in the fridge due to the usual reasons women are stuffed in the fridge or executive meddling or both.  The line promises Jean Grey may come back again (and has since she died) and potentially even stay.

I have mixed feelings about this and it speaks to a larger issue I feel plagues the big two comic book companies right now.  I’ve already written about how the inmates are running the asylum, and I think part of the trouble stems from the idea that the universe is somehow broken.  And once fans get to the level they can directly affect they universe, they feel they need to fix what has been broken.  A resentful individual vowing to put right what once went wrong?  That’s either a superhero origin story, or a supervillain origin story.  Unfortunately, these fixes often leave the universe more muddled than before and risk alienating the fanbase.  The issue is that one person’s broken universe is another person’s paradigm.  I think the inmates think they’re superheroes, but I think the repeatedly broken fanbases indicate they’re supervillains (don’t tell me that’s not supervillainy; I’d say breaking a universe is the sort of supervillainy only Thanos and Darkseid regularly aspire to).

Often the fixes are soft retcons or full reboots.  Sometimes, though, the fixes are as simple as bringing a character back from the dead.  It seems to me the reappearance of both a Flash and a Green Lantern long after their demises was the decision of a writer or editor or perhaps a whole creative team that decided the demise of the original characters was something that needed to be fixed.  After all, when they were reading comics, their Flash was Barry Allen and their Green Lantern was Hal Jordan.  Bringing those characters back to life ignored about twenty years of comic history, and a whole legion of fans who had no idea who the hell Barry Allen or Hal Jordan were, but they did know who Wally West and Kyle Raynor were, and were upset and confused that suddenly their heroes were forced to take a backseat to these new (to them) characters.

I don’t think that’s a fair thing to do to the fans or the universe.  Believe me, the Marvel universe is plenty broken.  However, the way the inmates run the asylum tramples on the years of story built up between their being just a fan and their being part of the creative team.  Clearly the handling of character death and other world events had a great impact on the readership, or else the inmates wouldn’t feel so passionately about fixing a perceived wrong.  But they don’t seem to stop to think about how their “fixes” will affect the new fans who have learned to love new characters and are used to the new paradigm of the universe.

And yet I completely understand this impulse.  I really want to fix Spider-man’s marriage, and frankly reading newspaper Spider-man doesn’t cut it.  I want to bring Jean Grey back to life.  I want Cyclops to be a hero again.  I’m sure there are lots of people who agree with me, and some may even have the power to change the Marvel universe in the future.  But at that point there will be a lot of fans who have never seen Peter Parker in a decent relationship, who have no idea who Jean Grey is, and have never known Cyclops as a hero.  Who would I be serving by changing all these things as arbitrarily as they were changed to begin with?  The universe is shared and as such changes should be made with the larger universe in mind, not just a selfish desire to fix what is perceived as broken.  This isn’t Quantum Leap.

Uncle Ben was right – with great power comes great responsibility.  The people who run the comic book universes have great power to change it, but do they do so responsibly?  Ultimately the responsibility of the creative team is to the current fandom and not to their own selfish desire to fix the universe.  Of course, current fandom does cover a lot of people who are familiar with a lot of paradigms (the amalgam principle), so responsibility doesn’t mean “keep it exactly the same” or “put it back the way I want.”  It means accepting the paradigm and exploring new stories in a way that respects the current paradigm but also moves the universe in an organic fashion to a new paradigm instead of forcing the universe to a new paradigm through editorial mandates.

So will Jean Grey rise again?  I hope so, but I hope the resurrection is done in a way that doesn’t alienate the fans who don’t know who this character is.  Otherwise, that just sets the stage for fans to become resentful that their paradigm has been abruptly shifted for no good reason.  That’s just a way to continue this vicious cycle.  The only way to stop that cycle is to respect continuity and respect the fans.

Shameless Self-Promotion – Ego Dream and Fear

It occurs to me that the title is going to make this entry sound much more interesting than it may actually turn out to be, especially as Halloween approaches (which is my favorite time of year).  I apologize for any deception, however unintentional.  This is about my egotistical dream and fear which stems from my writing aspirations.  I write under a pseudonym for various reasons that are honestly much too boring to get into although sometimes to alleviate that boredom I think of myself as having a secret identity and S.J. Drew is my superhero identity (I didn’t say I was a good superhero; as I’ve said, I’m not even Captain Otaku).

The dream:
The dream is very simple – that one day my works will be well-known enough that someone recommends my own work to me.  Since I do publish under a pseudonym, this is within the realm of possibility although perhaps not the realm of probability.  I do write what I would like to read, so someone who knew my tastes could indeed recommend I check out these “Nevermore and the Ravens” books.  And that day, lovely readers, would be more awesome than I can either imagine or express in mere words.  I’ll borrow from Lewis Carroll though – “Oh frabjulous day!  Caloo, callay!”

At least, I assume it would be that awesome.  I certainly imagine so.  The world is such a big place and for my efforts to become an acknowledged writer to actually come to fruitition would be remarkable, fantastic, remarkatastic even.  Artists love love love praise.  Actually, everyone does, but to pour so much energy and time and effort into something and have someone you know think highly enough of it that without having any bias (because again, I’m writing under a pseudonym) they recommend you check it out would be such a high compliment.

Perhaps it sounds silly, but don’t judge me too harshly; artists have odd fantasies (and mundane ones as well).  Acknowledgement that my work exists is step 1 to my dream coming to fruition, and I am pleased to see I averaged a little more than a download a day for Necromancy for the Greater Good.  I hope to improve upon that average as I publish more in the series, which I fully intend to do (and indeed spend quite a lot of my time on).  In fact, if you have a Smashwords account, you can already download the newest collection of stories, Paranormal is Relative.  It is totally free!  I’m still waiting for Premium status and shipping to other distributors, so those with Nook or other accounts will need to be patient.

The Fear:
This, of course, is the flip side of my dream.  I fear that one day someone will say to me, “I picked up this book and it was awful!  I know you like stuff like this, and it know it’s free, but don’t bother.  Just don’t bother.”  And then I would cry, inwardly, and maybe later cry outwardly.  I know, perhaps this seems ridiculous but I really am afraid my writing is not very good.  I have mentioned Writer G before, and am a few degrees removed but through friends of friends, it seems Writer G still thinks he’s a good writer, despite his lack of success in getting his fiction published.  In fact, he’s now a life coach and has self-published a self-help book.  Regardless of what I think of the advice contained therein, the book is still not very well written.  I know that one negative review does not mean my writing is bad, and if my worst fear happens, depending on the source, I may just shrug off the criticism.  After all, I can’t please everyone.  And at least with writing under a pseudonym I’ll know that the criticism is probably honest unless the critic managed to deduce my secret identity and didn’t like me for some reason.  But still, I fear I’ll receive overwhelming negative criticism and be forced to face the fact perhaps I am not a good writer after all.  Granted, this doesn’t mean I couldn’t be successful if I managed to write something marketable, but I would rather walk away from writing with some dignity than have to live with a legacy of poor work (although if I made as much money as Meyer, I could probably live without dignity).

The Harsh Light of Reality:
I know what my chances of success are, but that’s not going to stop me from trying.  I set a deadline for myself to have the second “Nevermore and the Ravens” published by Halloween.  That’s about a year to write thirteen short stories, song lyrics, and connecting segments, not to mention proofreading, editing, and getting a cover together.  It wasn’t easy to get Paranormal is Relative out, but even if it never gets another download, I’m still proud I published it on my own deadline (even if I publish under a pseudonym; also, I really want more downloads).  Realistically I know the odds anyone will ever say anything to me in real life about my book series, whether to say something positive or negative, are pretty slim.

But still I dream…

A Media Entry – A Salute to Snark

I was lamenting my lack of doing research and pondering that such a mistake could be the origin of a superhero called Captain Otaku, who searched the world literally righting wrongs.  And then I realized there are plenty of Captain Otaku expies out there, and I for one am grateful to them.  I am so grateful I’ll even share links to their work.  “But wait, S.J.,” I hear the voices in my head saying to me, “if all you’re going to do is post links and pithy descriptions, isn’t this like the blog equivalent of a lame ’80s sitcom clip show?”  To which I reply, “What the hell is that?”
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So, yes, I am glad there are people out there who have so much time available to them and more importantly enthusiasm for their chosen obsession, that they post their snark out on the internet for me to enjoy.  In addition to Captain Otaku, there is a whole Legion of Snark Knights.  There’s Fanboy, whose power to go into a nerd rage keeps all those who witness amused (albeit at a safe distance).  There’s Wiki-Wonderkind, who doesn’t know everything yet, but has made it her mission to fix those wiki articles she knows are wrong.  And of course, the Deadpan Snarker, who must make fun of all things whether there’s a chance the person in the wrong will learn otherwise.

Movies:
RiffTrax – I love these guys.  I saw a broadcast of them riffing Birdemic live.  It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen, although to be fair they had some seriously ridiculous (and no that is not an oxymoron) source material to work with.

HowItShouldHaveEnded – how movies should have ended, and sometimes video games, and there’s a long-running gag between Batman and Superman which is pretty funny.  Usually predicated on finding a giant, gaping plothole in the movie, which, if exploited, could have wrapped everything up in about 20 minutes.

Honest Trailers – movies cut to trailer-length with commentary.  If you want to know what a movie is actually about, this pretty much sums it up.  Also, I admire a group so dedicated to their craft they actually got people to sing the trailer to Les Miserables.

CinemaSins – an accounting of those nagging plotholes in movies; some gaping, some just the result of poor editing, and mostly just funny.

Comic Books:
ItsJustSomeRandomGuy – this is a guy that clearly loves comic books and both universes.  His characterizations of the beloved superheroes is absolutely spot on.  The “I’m a Marvel/I’m a DC” and movie parodies are short, and the “Happy/After/Zero Hour” form a coherent plot of his world.

Linkara – he is a man!  Who rips into bad comic books, and has his own storyline in his videos because why the heck not.  He’s a DC guy, but a bad comic is a bad comic so he’ll take on Marvel as well.  His review of “Ultimates 3” made me laugh and want to punch the “creative team” in the face.

Randomness:
TvTropes – it will ruin your life and waste your time.  I can’t recommend it highly enough.

The Comics Curmudgeon – it turns out print isn’t completely dead and neither are comic strips.  Amazing Spider-man is seriously lame, but hey, at least he’s married.  Soap opera strips are ridiculous, undead strips lurch along years past their creators passing, and nothing, nothing, is more depressing than a pizza at Montoni’s.

Seriously, I am grateful there are people out here who can do this.  I’m so grateful I even sit through the ads so these people can garner a few cents from the advertisers for what is certainly many hours of work.  These are the sorts of people that made sure Duck Dodgers has an entry on the DC Wiki for Green Lantern.  I admire that kind of labor of love.  I certainly have no time, or patience, or boundless creativity to devote to becoming Captain Otaku.  And should I wish to dedicate myself so, I would probably find someone has taken my schtick already.  No, I am no Captain Otaku.  At best, I’m a Rick Jones or Jimmy Olsen, the eager kid sidekick who longs to be like those mighty Snark Knights but will never achieve such heights (unlike Rick Jones and Jimmy Olsen who did get superpowers every now and again [hell, I think Rick’s still got some]).  So, to all those who are much more awesome than I am, thank you!

A TV Entry – In the Name of the Moon

The reason I write about random stuff like television and movies that I like is so that you lovely readers will know more about what has influenced me as a writer.  If you share my influences, it is likely you will like my writing.  If you do not share my influences, well, I encourage you to try out my writing anyway.  Variety is the spice of life, and there are lots of things I didn’t used to like that now I like very much (avocados!).  Why is the stuff I watched as a kid important?  Because writers steal shamelessly.  Okay, that’s not quite fair, but people are the sum of their influences, consciously or not.

Also, it is interesting to find those old shows and movies I loved as a kid and re-watch them with an adult eye.  For me as a writer, it’s an exercise in how I have grown up, matured, and learned to be more critical of media.  Occasionally such an exercise makes me wonder about myself as a child.  I blame the sugary snacks the commercials kept trying to sell me.  Sometimes it turns out those old shows have more offer now that I’m an adult (chronologically anyway; mentally sometimes I am definitely still a child).  Sometimes they really do not have any more to offer.  And sometimes, wow, are there things that I really can’t believe got past the radar and are frankly a little uncomfortable as an adult.  But to criticize a media does not mean it cannot be enjoyed, hence guilty pleasures (like soap operas, for example).

Which brings me to the title of this entry.  One of my readers knows exactly what this is in reference to, but for everyone else who is clueless or is afraid this is what they think, I will confirm this – this is about “Sailor Moon.”  The television show, not the manga, which I have not actually read.  First, in my defense, I was a kid when I first watched this.  Second, it was only my second or third anime.  The first anime of course being “Voltron” (and wow is “GoLion” quite a different show…), and it was either this or “Ranma 1/2” that was my second/third anime.  I don’t actually remember.  I also like “Ranma 1/2” but I hate Happosai with the fires of a thousand burning suns and nearly as much as I hate Scrappy Doo, but that is a rant for another time.  Okay, disclaimers done.

The subtitled versions are 100x better than the sanitized American version (much like “GoLion” is 100x bloodier than the sanitized American version).  The subtitled versions are also a lot more honest and accurate.  For example, the very first episode in which the main character becomes the titular magical girl is dubbed as “A Moon Star is Born.”  The more properly translated title is “Crybaby Usagi’s Magnificant Transformation.”  There, in a nutshell, is the difference.

So for a quick plot recap – Usagi (a 14 year-old girl when the series starts) meets a talking cat named Luna who gives her a magic compact/brooch that turns her into Sailor Moon.  Later Usagi meets four other girls (Ami/Mercury [the smart one with water powers], Rei/Mars [the temperamental one with fire powers], Makato/Jupiter [the superstrong nice, feminine one with lightning powers], and Minako/Venus [the pretty one with energy beam/heart powers]) who also get transformed, and through various upgrades and adventures, they fight monsters and save the universe.  Repeatedly.  Also, Usagi meets and initially hates Mamoru, who is about 18 or 19 and in college and they end up dating.  Also, it turns out they are all reincarnated/reborn from a fantastic past in which Usagi was a princess of the moon and Mamoru a prince of the Earth.

Skeeviness alert – it’s pretty skeevy for a 14 year old middle school student (that’s right; she’s not even in high school) to end up dating a college student, even once the full story is told.  When I was a kid, I did not get this at all.  I was a kid.  I’m not expert on Japanese culture, but I’m guessing this doesn’t have the same kind of skeeve factor there.  So, there we go.  It’s there, and part of the story, and oddly something the American sanitized version didn’t manage to hide.  And yes, the skirts on the 14 year old heroines are too short.

Yes, it’s formulaic.  There’s a big bad with some long-running plot but each episode breaks down to fighting a monster of the day.  So what on Earth did I like about this show?  Well, when I was a kid, it was very different from the other cartoons on at the time.  The structure was different, the animation style obviously different, and also I was a kid.  I liked “He-man” and “She-ra” as well.  And “G.I. Joe.”  And “Transformers.”  Perhaps I simply have no taste.  The big mystery in the first part of the series (there are actually five series) is “who is Tuxedo Kamen” when it’s pretty obvious it’s Mamoru.  No, no one can figure out who anyone is even though they look exactly the same transformed (note to bad guys – do not find out anyone’s secret identity or you will be killed/otherwise disposed of in the very next episode [seriously; I tallied this once; death or worse is assured]).  To be fair, no one figured out He-man was just Prince Adam with a tan and a fur loincloth.  So why did I seek out this series as an adult and go through the effort to find subtitled versions and the un-aired on American television “Stars” series?  I thought it would be interesting.  And I still liked it well enough.  Here are some assorted reasons.

The Good:
1) My favorite character is Rei/Sailor Mars.  She is a shrine maiden who has psychic dreams, can perform divination/fortune-telling, and create charms to banish evil spirits and all of this is before she finds out she’s Sailor Mars!  She’s also bossy and abrasive and fights with Usagi all the time.  Despite that, she’s Usagi’s closest friend and when bad things are coming, Rei knows it first and Rei holds out the longest.
– I also like Sailor Saturn, but for different reasons.  She is terrifying.

2) My favorite set is “Sailor Moon S” in which the main core of five meet Sailors Uranus (don’t laugh; she will cut you [with her sword if she doesn’t crush you first]) and Neptune.  They are super-powerful compared to the other five girls (except Usagi, who is as powerful as she needs to be).  In the formulaic battles, the other girls generally soften up the monster of the day so Sailor Moon can finish it off.  Uranus (power of the sky) and Neptune (power of the ocean) just defeat it.  This series starts with Rei having a vision of the end of the world.  The plot is the main baddie is looking to create the Holy Grail (that’s what the subtitles say anyway) so that Mistress 9 can release an evil force to end the world.  Like all other baddies, they go about this by attacking human for their energy, or some variant of it, in this case “heart crystals.”  Uranus and Neptune (who are just in high school) are trying to stop this but end up opposing Sailor Moon and Co. because they think Sailor Moon and Co. are too weak to do whatever is necessary to save the world (and clearly they were just not paying attention to the two previous times Sailor Moon and Co. have already saved the world).  In the midst of this, Usagi and Mamoru’s daughter from the future Chibiusa (this makes more sense in context) comes back to learn to be a senshi and befriends the ill and mysterious Hotaru.  They also meet up with Sailor Pluto (yes, this was before Pluto lost its status as a planet), who is the oldest of the senshi in her human disguise as a college student and has the power of time (and unlike all the others carries a long staff roughly shaped like a key).  In the end, it’s revealed that Uranus and Neptune are not so concerned with the baddies ending the world, but that their efforts will cause Sailor Saturn (power of destruction) to awaken, remember her past, and destroy them all.

3) Usagi is a terrible superhero and at the time I found that quite the novelty.  She is absolutely terrible.  She’s clumsy, she’s whiny, she’s flaky, and her four friends are clearly more competent than she is in every single way.  Even Venus, who is far more flaky than the other three, because she had been Sailor V for so long, makes a better Sailor Moon than Usagi (there’s an episode where to protect Usagi’s identity the others dress Venus up as Sailor Moon [since she’s blonde] and she’s so good at it Usagi gets mad at her).  I know that Prince Adam is supposed to be bumbling and a flake, but once he’s He-Man, all that disappears.  Sailor Moon is still clumsy, whiny, and flaky.  The animation makes it clear that while the others gracefully dodge laser-blasts or whatnot, she’s barely getting out of the way or falling on her own head.  And it is hilarious in a very slapstick way.  She has her good points.  She is loyal and kind and can usually get her act together in the end.  And honestly, when it all comes down to it, she has the power.  Period, all stop.

4) The puns.  The names are pretty much all puns and if you know that Chibiusa’s real name, Usagi (yes, she’s named after her mother), means “rabbit,” then the fact the baddies in “Sailor Moon R” always called her “the rabbit” is funny.

The Bad:
1) Lousy American dubbing.  It is so obvious through the animation that Haruka/Uranus and Michiru/Neptune are a couple that the American dubbing of them as “cousins” doesn’t begin to be convincing and in fact makes it worse.  The dubbing also significantly changes some of the story and makes Rei seem much more petty than she is.  Also, Zoisite, a baddie in the first set, was dubbed as a female voice and it turns out Zoisite is actually a man.  But because Zoisite was pining after Malachite (a man), that had to be changed.  And one of the baddies in “Super S” was also a boy, but again had a female dubbed voice.  I will say that in “S” the baddies are referred to in the dubbed version as “Heart Snatchers” which makes more sense to me than “Death Busters.”  Also, Makato has “the most talent.”  Yes, indeed, she’s definitely more “talented” than the other four girls.

2) Lousy American dubbing trying to hide same-sex relationships and creating gender bending confusion (see above).  I should be grateful “Stars” was never dubbed (see below).  I have no idea how that would have worked out at all.

3) Sailor Moon Super S.  Ugh, that’s the series where Chibiusa takes the lead.  It has the longest transformation sequences (and I like the henshins), longest finishing moves, and ends up with a 10 year old girl promising to marry an 11 year old boy when she grows up.  Skeeviness aside, it’s roughly like giving Scrappy Doo control of the Scooby Doo series.  However, the episode “Usagi the Ninja” is pretty hilarious.

4) Naru and Nephrite.  Dubbed as Molly, Naru (Usagi’s 14 year old best friend) ends up infatuated with baddie Nephrite in the first set even though he’s pretending to be a thirty-something bored rich guy (he’s actually much older than that, so, ewwww all around).  Even after Nephrite reveals himself to be a baddie by stealing all of Naru’s energy, she still tells Usagi she loves him.  She is so hung up on this much older man who has told her flat out he’s a bad guy that she doesn’t let Sailor Moon kill him.  In the end, he saves her life by sacrificing his, which I suppose was supposed to make it okay, but does not.

5) The American dubbers thought American kids were stupid.  Usagi and Mamoru actually had different names in their past lives.  When they remembered they used to be Serenity and Endymion, they sometimes called themselves that.  The American version never uses these names.  There is a point in the first set where Mamoru is captured by the baddies and has his memories erased and they call him Endymion.  Usagi meets up with him and calls him Mamoru, but he says he doesn’t know that name.  In the American version, Darien is called Prince Darien by the baddies, so it’s really weird when Serena calls him “Darien” and he says he doesn’t know that name.  I also had a hard time figuring out why the time-displaced Chibiusa never realized that Usagi and Mamoru had her parents’ names (she may not make the leap to them being her parents) until I realized that in the subtitled version, their future selves always go by Serenity and Endymion.  But apparently three names is just too much for American kids.  Also, the four inner planets clearly die at the end of the first set, but the American dub tries to hide this.  It does not work.

6) Padding.  Yeah, there was a lot of padding through the henshins and the attack sequences.  Much better on the computer where I can just skip ahead through that.

The Weird(est):
1) Sailor Moon Stars.  It’s actually a good set, but I know why it wasn’t imported.  The senshi run into a group call the Sailor Starlights, who are senshi from another galaxy looking for their equivalent of Sailor Moon, the Fireball Princess.  The Starlights (Star Healer, Star Fighter, and Star Maker) are girls in black bikini tops, short shorts, and sailor collars.  Their secret identities is the pop group the Three Lights (Yaten, Seiya, and Taiki).  Oh, and the Three Lights are boys.  The henshin makes it clear that while their faces/hair don’t change, their bodies clearly do.  Seiya ends up with a crush on Usagi even though s/he knows one day s/he’ll have to go back to being a girl full-time.

2) Hotaru’s fate.  At the end of “S,” Hotaru is given to her father to care for her.  This is quite touching.  Hotaru does not appear at all in “Super S” (actually, none of the outer planets do) but at the beginning “Stars” Setsuna/Pluto just walks up to Hotaru’s father and takes Hotaru away from him.  It’s really awkward.  I think in the manga he actually died, which would make more sense, although it doesn’t explain why the anime would change course so drastically.

3) Makato/Jupiter lives by herself.  She’s 14 when the series starts.  There’s a one-off character is who is a 15 year old girl who also lives by herself.  No one seems to think this is weird.  Cultural difference, I guess?

Conclusions:
Such as they are, anyway.  I still go back and watch these occasionally.  I like the kind of visual spectacle of the henshins and finishing moves even though I know practically no one would stand still for the hero to do all that.  Yes, there are a lot of rainbows and hearts and butterflies and traditionally girly things, although sometimes there is a reason for that (if you watch the attack video, you’ll see how painful rainbows and hearts can be).  How has this influenced by writing?  I can’t say for sure it has, but I wouldn’t say it hasn’t.  Perhaps I simply have no taste, but I’m okay with that.  Also, the opening theme is really catchy.

Fifteen-minute Movie – Flash Gordon

or, “Ah-AH!  Queen Can’t Save this Bad Movie!”
or, “Wow, the Porn Parody Just Writes Itself”
or, “I Heart Princess Aura”

[[Intro with Queen song and flipping through the old serials; does this mean Marvel stole that from this movie?]]

Mysterious Narrator (later revealed as Ming the Merciless) – Earth.  What a pathetic planet.  I shall destroy it will all my natural disaster buttons that are conveniently labeled in English, which I am also conveniently speaking.

Dark Harbor Airport:
[[Blonde dude gets on a small airplane with a brunette and two pilots]]

Pilot – Hey, you’re on the cover of this People magazine I’m reading which should indicate to the audience you are very famous!  Can you autograph this for me?

Flash Gordon – No problem.  [[does so]]  Hi, Dale.  What’s a nice girl like you doing in a plane like this?

Dale Arden – How did you know my name?

Flash – I asked the clerk at the hotel.  You don’t think that’s creepy and stalkerish, do you?

Dale – I would answer except that the extreme turbulence is making me really sick…

Flash – Oh, don’t worry.  I’m taking flying lessons.  There’s a scientific explanation for this… [[sky grows ominous and red]]  Er…, no, wait this is really bad…

[[A red light and a mysterious face flash across the plane and the pilots disappear, leaving Flash and Dale to take the wheels, as it were…]]

Mysterious Lab:
Lab Lackey – Professor Zarkoff, the world is ending!

Zarkoff – I knew it!  I knew my theories about aliens controlling the weather were correct!  Meteorologists are just part of a vast government conspiracy to hide the truth!  Now we have to get into this rocket I built and fly into space and stop the aliens!

Lab Lackey – That is insane!  You’re an astronomer, not a rocket scientist!

Zarkoff – Me and my gun say you’re going!

Lab Lackey – Me and my feet say we’re not!

Dale – Did you get to the part in flight school about landing?

Flash – No, but it doesn’t matter.  We’re going to crash!

[[they do so, in the mysterious lab, and run right over the lab lackey]]

Zarkoff – Oh, well, he’s dead, I’ll take these two.  In retrospect, maybe I shouldn’t have made a ship that required more than one person to fly.  Anyway, kids, the phone’s in the room shaped like a rocket ship.

Dale – Clearly we bumped our heads pretty hard because that is so stupid there is no other explanation for why we would believe you.  [[they enter the ship]]

Zarkoff – Now we’re going into space!

Flash – You’re crazy!  [[tries to get the gun away from Zarkoff but ends up initiating launch because that totally happens in a rocket]]

Zarkoff – You’re stuck now.  Strap yourselves in and we’re lifting off!

[[the G-forces (or something) cause everyone to pass out and apparently cause Flash and Dale to get all hot and bothered while they unconsciously drift towards a psychedelic vortex and are brought in for a landing by the very aliens attacking the Earth]]

Mongo:
Zarkoff – Wake up!  We’re not dead!

Flash – Those guys in shiny gold samurai armor and skull masks don’t look very friendly.

Zarkoff – No problem.  We’ll just reason with the alien leader.

[[they are taken to the palace of Ming the Merciless and see an alien get incinerated before they even get to the throne room.]]

Dale – I’ve got a bad feeling about this.

Throne Room:
Vultan – Did anyone tell you that this was the costume when you auditioned?

Random Not-Hawkman – Um, no, but at least we’re not covered in glitter and sequins.  This looks like the costumers ransacked a drag queen’s closet!

Vultan – So you’re saying I should be grateful.  Okay, well, here’s the tribute!

Barin, Prince Barin – That’s our tribute!  You stole it!

Vultan – So what?  You stole your costumes from some made for TV “Robin Hood” movie.

Klytus – Shut up and give the Emperor the tribute.

Unfortunate Prince – I don’t have a tribute.  Also, I am black.  Oh dear.  This will not end well for me.

Ming – Nope.  [[kills him]]

Flash – This guy is psycho!

Annoying Drone – Your Majesty, that Earthling said you were psycho!  Which you take as an insult, so it means you understand English idioms.  We’ll go with it.

Ming – Bring them here!

Flash – What?  I’m just stating the truth.

Ming – I like the woman.  I will make her dance seductively with my seduco-ray.

Dale – What?!  [[does so]]

Zarkoff – Their technology is so advanced…  Hey, anyway, when you’re done doing, um, whatever, could you stop attacking our planet?

Ming – Nope.

Flash – Well, I’m going to escape or something!  [[thus starts what could generously be called a fight sequence in which Flash demonstrates his football skills and knocks down a whole bunch of guards but doesn’t get them any closer to escaping when Zarkoff fluffs it and knocks Flash out]]

Ming – Kill him.

Princess Aura – Daddy, don’t kill him. I want him…please…

Ming – Kill him.  Make the woman a consort and brainwash the old dude.

Aura – Daaaddyyy!

Ming – What?

Dungeon:
[[And Flash has been stripped down to his leatherette boxer-briefs; and if that’s not actually what he was wearing, then it means someone put him in that…]]

Flash – I want to see Dale before I die.

Klytus – Sure.  It doesn’t matter to me.

Dale – Flash, I think I love you!

Flash – Wow, you are just covered in red glitter and sequins.  I think I love you too, even though we’ve known each other for about four hours and I was too shy/creepy to directly ask your name at the hotel.

[[Flash is executed via gas chamber while Dale and Zarkoff watch; Zarkoff is hauled off to have his mind erased and reprogrammed and Flash is buried in a remarkably nice crypt]]

Crypt:
Aura – Okay, doctor whom I’ve seduced, revive him for me.  [[doctor does so and leaves quickly; Aura wakes Flash up with a sexy sexy kiss; incidentally, why does his coffin have a mirror on the lid?]]

Flash – You saved me?  Why?

Aura – I think you’re cute.  So get dressed and I’ll get you to safety.

Shuttlecraft:
Aura – And as a bonus I’ll teach you how to fly one of our shuttles.

Flash – Um, are you teaching me to fly or trying to seduce me?

Aura – Why does there have to be an ‘or?’

Flash – Um, hey, so can I use that telepathy to talk to Dale?

Aura – Well, if you really give me a reason to do so, if you know what I mean.  [[Flash attempts to crash the ship]]  That’s not what I meant, you idiot!

The Palace:
[[Dale is now in some kind of white-sequined glittery thing and has tried to get herself drunk enough to sleep with Ming]]

Flash (thinking [more or less…]) – Dale, it’s Flash.  I’m using telepathy!

Dale – Oh, I hope that’s true or else that stuff was way stronger than I thought.  So you’re alive!  Are you going to rescue me?

Flash – Aura, where am I going?

Aura – I’m taking you to Arborea to hang out with Barin.  Also, I am continuing to try to seduce you.

Flash (thinking) – Okay, I’m going to Arborea and Aura is majorly hot and I totally want to…

Dale – Hey!

Flash (thinking) – Um, love you babe gotta go!

Dale – Well, that’s great!  [[gets a slave girl drunk, switches clothes with her (so now she’s covered in orange sequins and glitter) and escapes before Ming shows up; actually, Dale does pretty well in her escape attempt; granted the guards are stupid but she’s not completely incompetent]]

Zarkoff – Dale, I am in no way a brainwashed secret agent of Ming.  Let me help you escape.

Dale – Sure!  Flash is alive and in Arborea!  Let’s get there!

Klytus – I am glad when main characters supply important plot information.  Zarkoff, stay with her and report back.

Zarkoff – [[escaping with Dale]]  Nope, I’m actually not brainwashed at all.  They didn’t actually take away all my memories because I thought of human classic works like Shakespeare that was powerful enough to prevent the mind control!  Because human stuff is awesome!

Arborea:
Barin – What the hell, Aura?  Harboring him could get me killed.

Aura – Oh, come on, he’s supposed to be dead so what harm can it do to leave him here?  Be nice to him and I’ll be back later…  [[she leaves]]

Flash – Why does anyone trust her?  I mean, seriously?

Barin – I don’t trust her so I’m locking you in a cage and dunking it into the swamp where if you drown that is totally not my fault.

Flash – Hey!  Why don’t you team up with the bird people and just beat Ming?

Barin – Because I hate the bird people too!  Now get in that cage and drown!

[[in the meantime, Dale and Zarkoff have been captured by bird people and taken to their homeworld, which is not a moon (as Aura said) and not really a world, but more a floating city thing]]

Bird City:
Vultan – Hey, great, we’ll ransom you back to Ming for a lot of money!

Zarkoff – Good grief!  Flash is on Arborea.  Just team up with Barin’s merry men and beat Ming!

Vultan – Barin’s a jerk!

Arborea:
Barin – Say hello, Riff!

Fico – You are kind of being an unreasonable jerk.  Anyway, if you’re going to kill that Earthling, do it with some style.

Barin – Good idea!  [[gets Flash out of the cage and makes him stick his hand in a tree stump]]

Flash – Um, what’s the point of this?

Barin – There’s a terrible scorpion thing in here that will kill you if it stings you.  You prove you’re brave by sticking your hand in there.

Flash – That is stupid!

Barin – This is sacred!  Shut up and do it!  And I’ll totally cheat!

Flash – Then I’ll fake you out and escape!  [[does so, more or less; Barin actually has to save him from a plant and then they’re all captured by bird people for some reason]]

Bird City:
Dale – Flash!  You’re alive!

Flash – Let’s get married!

Dale – Yes!

Vultan – Boring!  I want to Barin fight someone to the death!

Barin – Okay, I’ll fight Flash!

Flash/Dale/Zarkoff – What?!

Vultan – Awesome!  Let mortal combat begin!

[[Flash and Barin are made to fight on a tilting, spiky, round platform over an endless vortex while Vultan controls it; eventually Flash saves Barin and they decide to team up and defeat Ming although the bird people aren’t buying it]]

Torture Chamber:
Klytus – Whip it!  Whip it good!

Dominatrix Minion – Yes, sir!

Aura – Klytus, you can’t do this to me!

Klytus – Um, yes I can, and all I need now is for my dominatrix minion to start stripping down, and my life will be complete.

Aura – Damn it, my father will have your head.

Ming – Nope, I’m cool with this.

Aura – Daaaaaddyyy!

Ming – Honey, what part of ‘merciless’ don’t you understand?

Bird City:
Klytus – Okay, people, turn over the prisoners and no one gets hurt.  Okay, that’s not true.  A lot of you will get hurt.  Anyway, do what I say.

Flash – How about we kill you instead?

Klytus – Ha ha ha, Earthling.  That totally won’t happen.

[[between Flash and Barin, it totally does]]

Vultan – Now we’re all doomed!  Run away, run away!  I mean, fly you fools! [[they retreat to Arborea]]

Flash – Wow, okay, I thought this whole team-up thing was going to work better than that.

[[Dale, Zarkoff, and Barin go with Ming in order to not die, leaving Flash on the floating bird city]]

Ming – This is the part where I tell you I’m impressed by you, but I’m not, and try to tempt you to the dark side.

Flash – And of course I’m going to refuse.

Ming – Yeah, I know, but I was contractually obligated to offer.  Anyway, enjoy getting blown up!  [[leaves and starts to blow up the city]]

Flash – Maybe I can find some sort of flying vehicle the bird people left behind, because it makes total sense for people who can fly to build flying vehicles!  [[finds a rocket cycle which looks a lot like a treadmill]]  And I can even pilot this thing thanks to my Earth flying lessons and my lessons with Aura!  Vultan, I’m not dead, so let’s team up and fight Ming!

Vultan – This time I’ll take you up on that offer.

Palace:
[[And Dale is in a two-toned silky glittery thing when Aura is abruptly tossed in]]

Dale – You!!  You tried to seduce Flash and are responsible for everything!  Cat fight!  [[they roll around in pillows while the slave women and audience watch eagerly]]

Aura – Wait, wait, I’m a prisoner too!  And I saved Flash!  I just figured out what kind of man my father is!

Dale – What, really?  You saw him stab a dude through the stomach and you just now figured out he’s a terrible person?

Aura – You know, family.

Mongo, Outside:
Flash – So the plan is for me to lure a heavily armed ship into the clouds so you guys armed with light artillery can somehow take over the ship and we can fly it past the force field into the palace.  In no way is this going to result in a bunch of pointless casualities!

Vultan – Rock on!

[[this results in numerous pointless casualities but they commandeer the ship as Flash reminds us that Earth will be destroyed if they don’t get Ming to call off his attack; however, the force field is still up and Dominatrix Minion, displaying easily the most intelligence of any minion ever, deduces the ship has been commandeered because it is not flying in the standard flight pattern and orders the guards to shoot it]]

Dungeon:
Zarkoff – So, this is going well…

[[Aura bursts in and saves them both]]

Barin – You’re a traitor!

Aura – Yeah, to my father, who’s a terrible person, and I just saved your life so you could show a little gratitude.

Barin – How about we get married?

Aura – Okay.

Zarkoff – Great, wonderful, now we should turn off that shield so the reinforcements can save us and the Earth.

Barin – Whatever.  I’m doing my own thing.

Aura – And I have to be at the wedding.

[[incidentally, Barin manages kill Dominatrix Minion, shut down the reactors and drop the force field while Flash drives the ship in a suicide run]]

Special Events Room:
[[And now Dale’s wedding dress is black and sparkly and Ming is wearing satiny pink; customs are definitely different here on Mongo]]

Officiant – We are gathered here because Ming will kill us if we don’t gather here.  Ming, do you take this woman to be your Empress until such time as she bores you, irritates you, or otherwise outlives her usefulness to you and you atomize her?

Ming – I do.

Dale – What!?!?

Officiant – And Dale Arden, you will take this man to be your husband and once we can jam this ring on your finger, you’re married.  Yay!

[[The giant space ship crashes right into the giant window, causing all sorts of chaos as everyone scatters to avoid getting run over; Ming, however, doesn’t zig or zag and is impaled by the spiky bit on the front]]

Ming – Hm, in retrospect I should have all giant windows in the palace made with transparent armor instead of glass.

Flash – Stop attacking Earth or I’ll kill you!

Ming – No!  [[disappears into his ring and the countdown for Earth hits zero]]

Flash – Did we win?  Did I save the Earth?  The song says I save everyone of us, but it’s really ambiguous right now.

Zarkoff – Let’s assume yes since we’re talking about going back to Earth.

Barin – Well, since there’s an officiant here and Mongo needs a new Emperor, Aura, what’s say you and I get this over with?  [[they do]]  Alright, everyone, Mongo is awesome now thanks to these clever, er, lucky, very lucky Earthlings!

Dale – Why am I in yet another glittery costume?

Flash – Who cares?  Let’s kiss and end this thing! [[they do]]

[[but a mysterious hand takes Ming’s ring; dum dum dum!!!!]]

-Ah-AH!  fade-out-

A Comic Book Entry – Excelsior!

Or, “Of such gossamer things are legends created.”

So, I’m an idiot and I’m not ashamed to admit my ignorance on the internet (that seems to be the national past-time of many a celebrity).  I’m also doubly ashamed because I wrote a whole screed on  not doing research and yet here I am, hanging my head.  For some reason, I thought Iron Man’s origin was that Tony Stark was in an iron lung and turned it into an awesome suit.  About three seconds of Google-fu would have set me straight, but I couldn’t be bothered.  Then a co-worker lent me two books, Sons of Origins of Marvel Comics and Bring on the Bad Guys.  And there, in reprinted color glory, was Iron Man’s true origin, which was pretty much re-created for the movie (different bad guys).  And so I was brought low by my own hubris, and lower when I realized this was on display for the whole virtual world to see.

In a comic book, this would be the beginning of my own origin story, the tale of how I became “Captain Otaku” and took to the internets to rectify all errors concerning comic books so that none would ever feel the shame I do in boldly displaying such easily avoided ignorance.  But this isn’t a comic book, and I am not insane (not superhero insane anyway).

So, then, what is this about?  These two wonderful books (the first was Origins of Marvel Comics, which my co-worker did not have).  The first one came out probably in 1973 or 74 (there I go, not checking the Google), and the second (“Sons”) in 1975 and the third (“Bad Guys”) in 1976.  I have no idea if there are more (again, ignoring my own advice).  But these are just fantastic.  I obviously spend a great deal of time pondering how writers think and where they get their ideas and how stories come together (or completely fail).  These provide exactly that insight.  In case you haven’t heard of them, I think this was a quick way for Marvel to make a buck on re-selling the origins of popular characters before tradebacks were a thing.  Stan Lee wrote all the introductions to all the chapters, which were reprints of the origin comics and occasionally a bonus comic.

These are absolutely eye-opening.  First of all, I really get a kick out of Stan’s writing.  He is over the top and grandiose, and it is totally entertaining.  He even gives some of the credit to the various artists who helped define Marvel’s iconic characters; actually, he praises them pretty highly, but I know by that time Jack Kirby had already left Marvel and there was some bad blood.  Still, he’s got a sense of humor – “…so I could add the little dialogue balloons and captions with which I’ve spent a lifetime cluttering up the illustrations of countless long-suffering artists.”  It’s obvious to me even in the mid-70s as Marvel was continuing to rise that Stan was something of a legend in his own mind (or at least wanted to appear that way).  He also takes a pretty cheap shot at DC when describing the thought process behind Iron Man – “As far as I knew, there had never been a costumed comicbook character who was a wealthy and successful businessman.”  Really, Stan?  Somehow you’ve never heard of Batman?  Or maybe Green Arrow?

Granted, some parts of this writing are painful – concerning the naming of the X-men, “…women’s lib wasn’t an issue in those days, and nobody would fault us for the fact that we were callously ignoring the female member of the team – unintentionally to be sure.”  Um, I am fairly certain in 1963 women’s liberation was in fact an issue, and a growing one, even if it didn’t reach the hallowed halls of Marvel’s boys’ club Bullpen.  I should mention though that Marvel Girl was strong enough to show the boys of the manor what was what in her first appearance.  Still, ouch…  Some parts are tongue-in-cheek honest – “Touched by your entreaties, warmed by your enthusiasm, and spurred on by our own gnawing greed…”  And some parts are really enlightening.  For example, the Silver Surfer was apparently an afterthought by Jack Kirby as he and Stan worked on developing Galactus as a Fantastic Four villain.  Kirby just thought Galactus would have a herald, and Stan ran with it.  Concerning Dr. Doom – “Sometimes you’re lucky.  Sometimes you hit a homer first time at bat.”  Can’t argue with that.

These books also highlight Stan’s alliteration fetish and why so many of his heroes/villains have such obvious names.  He says it’s because he likes a name that instantly conjures up a mental image.  Green Goblin, Silver Surfer, Red Skull… he’s got a point.  People who know nothing about those characters can make a guess.  “Seeking a name that suggested lethal menace, I latched onto the word ‘doom…’  Doom Man didn’t seem to do the trick, and Mister Doom didn’t quite have it.  Professor Doom just left me cold, while even the alliterative Donald Doom fell a little short.  But then, scant seconds before I’d be forced to resort to Doom the Dentist, I had it!  Doctor Doom!”  By the by, this means that in my “Conversations that May Have Happened,” I wasn’t actually too far off of the creative process.  I am both elated and somewhat disturbed by this.

The books also give insight on Marvel’s continuity snarls.  Most of the heroes were introduced in origin story comics, but not so much the villains.  Marvel was churning out comics, so villains were introduced to give the hero something to do, but each appearance of the villain made an origin story more difficult to produce because of further constraints.  On the Green Goblin – “Hence, a new character will suddenly pop up in any given story, all set to challenge a hero, fullblown and itching for a fight, with none of us realizing that we’ll be wishing, in years to come, that we had provided an origin tale at the start, which would make life a zillion times easier for me at a time like this.”  Here Stan means trying to recount origin stories, which in the book results in a first appearance comic followed by the actual origin comic which was written sometime later.  Of course, in the case of Dormamuu, they painted themselves into that corner knowingly.

I also have a new appreciation for the artwork.  It is amazing to me in some of the comics presented the difference just a few years (like four or five) can make.  I like Kirby and Ditko’s work, I do, but Gene Colan’s thinner pencil lines look so much more modern, and the difference between Iron Man’s first appearance and his appearance merely four years later is just astounding.  I also appreciate the difficulty of drawing an abstract idea.  Poor Ditko drew the short straw on how the heck to draw the Dark Dimension, but he produced something quite otherworldly.  No one can draw tech like Kirby could.  His SHIELD helicarrier puts a Protoss carrier to shame.

But mostly I like how Stan thinks about his creation.  He says more than a few times that sometimes his creations got away from him (and his co-creators).  He says they set out to write one story and ended up with something else because it felt right.  Now, I’m not sure I agree that my characters ever get out of hand like that and take a life of their own, but I do agree that sometimes the character does dictate the story.  And I totally agree with his view on villainy – “You’ve probably noticed that we always try to motivate our miscreant as much as we do our hero.  We hate to have a varlet doing evil just for the sake of being naughty.  We try to indicate why he does the things he does, what made him the way he is.  And, wherever possible, we may even let him exhibit some decent, likable traits.  In the magic world of Marvel, not even supervillains need be all bad, just as our superheroes are rarely all good; they usually display some natural human failings.”

Of course, I’m not such a raging fan as to think Stan/Marvel got these lofty goals right all the time.  And these were written a mere fifteen years after Marvel really started, which is enough time for perspective, but hardly to be taken as the definitive history.  The times they are still a’ changing and what was revolutionary back in the ’60s is trite and naïve now.  This, however, explains the foundation of fallible superheroes.  I’m not sure how the Man feels about anti-heroes; I’m not sure where his creative control ended although it’s obvious to me he really loves his cameos in the Marvel movies (my vote for best Stan Lee cameo is in FF2).  I still believe heroes should have human failings (but still be heroes) and villains shouldn’t be evil for the sake of being evil.

Indeed, I am a True Believer, and if you can locate these tomes of timeless wisdom, I can’t recommend enough that you do so.  Excelsior!