Artifacts: Classics Illustrated #135 and Dell #860 Wyatt Earp

Classics Illustrated seems like a pretty good idea: put classic novels into a comic book format for kids.  The artwork here is pretty good.

By and large, the story is from the regular soldiers' point of view and deals with events leading up to the conflict.  Here's the pivotal moment in the battle.

The war ends up leaving a bunch of cynical, jaded survivors to carry on.  Oh, belated spoilers.  The French lose.  Sorry.

Meanwhile, here we have an adaption of a 50's TV show.  My parents remembered it.

Old Black Bart (or whatever his name is) may be a dirty, no-good cattle rustler, and card cheat, but he does have a point here.

Lastly, I have to wonder.  How did Wyatt Earp get to be a quick-draw artist with that ridiculously long-barreled gun?  The guy must have insane reflexes.

Hopefully I will someday become famous enough on the Internet to merit my own comic page listing my enemies.  Dare to dream.

Artifacts: Dell Giant #44 Around the World with Huckleberry and Friends

It's nice the way the Hanna-Barbera characters get along with each other.  If you knew these characters and forgot about them, this should be nice jog to your memory.

And with that simple framing device splash page, the characters head off to their separate adventures.

And there are puzzle pages in the back.

This seems like nice, cheap entertainment for a kid on a Summer vacation road trip back in the day.

Baseball Journal 10-28-13 El Paso is Going to the Dogs

After knocking down city hall and going 40% over budget on building the new ballpark there, the El Paso Triple A franchise has a name: the Chihuahuas.  You might have heard about this on ESPN or on Deadspin.  What a tremendous publicity stunt!  Giving your new team the worst name possible to get national attention.  Brilliant.  I wonder how well the players will play wearing sacks on their heads.  I can see the player interviews now, with their faces blurred out so they can’t be identified.    

There was a theoretically a competition to determine the five finalists for the new name.  The other entries were the Buckaroo’s, the Aardvarks, the Sun Dogs, and the Desert Gators.  Yeah, nothing but winners in that contest, but was it really necessary to pick the worst one?  Supposedly, the Chihuahuas name won.  The rumor is that the owner’s wife picked the name and the whole contest was a sham.  Frankly, I don’t know which is worse.  Chihuahuas winning the contest or the whole contest being phony. 

Reaction has been unanimous, the name sucks.  It’s even been called “racist.”  If you identify yourself with a small Mexican dog, I’d say you have self-esteem issues more than legitimate ones.  I think we can hate the name without making it a Hate Crime.  We have been informed that the adorable, little snarling dog merchandise is flying off the shelves.  No doubt to dog lovers of the breed, not necessarily baseball fans.   Sunday night, on a local news issues show, the team name was the topic. The team general manager, Brad Taylor, and Jim Paul, former owner of El Paso’s old Double A team, were spinning the controversy so hard, I was getting dizzy trying to watch.  

What’s left to screw up?  Naming the mascot.  (I’m betting “Pepe” or “Ren.”)  Naming the stadium.  (Chicos’ Tacos Field, I’m sure.  The beloved local establishment has given gross indigestion and violent bowel movements to El Pasoans for years.  And so will the stadium.  It’s natural fit.)  And, not having the stadium ready for play next season.  (They’re already preparing their excuses.)  The anticipation is unbearable.      

When the Chihuahua name stops being funny and becomes more identified with horrific civic fraud, the merchandise sales will likely taper off, thus necessitating a name change to boost them.  The informal consensus is that they should have gone with the El Paso Desert Storm.  It fits with the desert and ties into El Paso’s Fort Bliss Army post.  The Padres parent club is the official team of the Navy and Marines.  (I’m not sure if that’s really a formal relationship or not).  The Padres already have an alternate desert camouflage top and hat that would look great as a regular uniform.  Put a snazzy logo on one sleeve and an American flag on the other.  Shoot, I’d buy one of those jerseys. 

Baseball Journal 10-28-13 World Serious Errors

The St. Louis Cardinals and the Boston Red Sox were the two best teams in baseball.  It’s little wonder they’re pretty evenly matched, but who guessed that this series would be coming down to errors and umpiring?  The Series started off badly with a blown call at second.  It was correctly reversed immediately afterward by a meeting of the umps.  The issue then became, was it proper for them to have done that?  This then brings into question, why haven’t the umps been doing this all along to reverse bad calls?  Here’s a no-brainer prediction: instant replay will not clean all this up. 

No replay will be coming on balls and strikes.  We’ve been told that repeatedly.  What frustrates the hell out of me is that this is something they could fix with technology.  They could have a real-time electronic strike zone right now that would be much more consistent and accurate.  This came to me watching the blurry, incoherent strike zone being called in Game Three.  I can’t imagine the frustration of the pitchers and batters in a World Series putting up with that.

Errors have been pivotal in run scoring so far.  None have been bigger than Saltalamacchia’s ill-advised wild throw to Middlebrooks at third, trying to get Allen Craig in the 9^th on Saturday.  Craig was thrown out at the plate, trying to score.  The umpires once again stepped in, and called Obstruction on Middlebrooks for getting tied up with Craig, as he tried to scramble to the plate.  The winning run scores as an awarded base.

The call was correct.  (Obstruction pursuant to Rule 7.06.  Don’t ask me to explain the difference between Obstruction and Interference.)  Whether the Obstruction was on purpose or not (frankly, it looked kinda on purpose), was irrelevant.  That it ended a World Series game is not optimal, except if you wanted to generate the all-important media buzz for CONTROVERSY, but there’s no other way to call the game.

Unfortunately, the confluence of the blown call in Game 1, the impending implementation of instant replay, a general disdain for baseball umpires, and a game ending on an ump’s call of a seldom needed rule, has tarnished the sport on it’s biggest stage.  I’ve seen winning teams disgusted after doing so because of a Balk call bringing in the winning run.  The Cardinals are only pleased with the outcome because it’s the World Series.  Baseball fans and curious onlookers are less thrilled.  All I can say is, at least this World Series will not go unnoticed by the general public.     

I know this is Tim McCarver’s last Series, but I can’t take him anymore.  Between him overstating the obvious, calling attention to insignificant details, and heaping snarky criticism on the players, and Joe Buck trying to be the booming VOICE OF RECORD ON EVERY IMPORTANT PLAY, even if it turns out to just be an ordinary flyout, but you never know, so YOU HAVE TO USE THAT DRAMATIC INFLECTION ON EVERY PLAY, the game call sucks.  It’s nothing but mindless regurgitation of what the cameras have already shown, the constant reruns of important previous plays, and pointless speculation on an endless loop. 

I’m told they used to use local broadcasters to call national games.  Oh God, how wonderful it would have been to heard Eric Nadel and Jon Miller calling the World Series between the Rangers and the Giants a couple of years ago.  (Those are radio guys.  I don’t think they’d be doing the TV side in this instance, but it’s a nice thought.)  At least for the playoffs, can we consider having guys who actually really know the teams involved, can tell some stories about them, and can make the broadcast pleasant, instead trying to be historic and impartial.  I don’t care how much research Tim and Joe have done or how many stats they have access to, they’re the equivalent of verbal diarrhea, crapping all over the broadcast.      

On Saturday, I noticed a Juarez station was also broadcasting the World Series.  I actually left it there.  At least I could still hear the noise of the game.  If their broadcasters were just as obnoxious, they were in Spanish and I didn’t understand them anyway.  (I did have to flip back to Fox to get an explanation of that last play at the plate.)  As a bonus, no “Goat” shots (constantly showing a guy who’s made a bad play), more interesting commercials (I don’t care what shampoo Josh Hamilton and CJ Wilson use, they’re still losers), and no previews for Almost Human (I really like Karl Urban, but not to the point obsession). 

What else?  Game Four ended on a pick-off at first, with Boston winning after committing two errors themselves.  Neither team is exactly playing “loose.”  Shockingly on Saturday, Fox preempted the end of a college football game to go to baseball coverage.  If TBS was getting complaints about playoff baseball preempting reruns of Big Bang Theory, I can only imagine the outrage Fox must have gotten.  I missed the entire reason for “Catching Fire Sunday,” when I didn’t stay tuned for the movie trailer during the commercials.  Does this make me a bad baseball fan?  

Finally, I can’t help but notice in St. Louis the fans in those seats behind home plate, mostly because they’re continually being obstructed by camera there.  I see these heads poking around the camera, straining to see the action.  Essentially, the most expensive seats in the house at Busch Stadium the Third are no better than the seats behind the girders at Fenway.     

One NFL note.  Nice job Dallas defense.  Where were you guys the last minute of the game?  In the locker room, watching it on TV?  “Hey, lookee there at that guy running down the field!  Who is that?  What game is that?”  

Artifacts: Archie #70 and Uncle Scrooge #14

[Cyber-Pulp update: Made up some test characters today.  I've shown some rough draft material to playtester Evan, and he's enthusiastic about it, or enthusiastic about breaking the game.  "If my character goes into "Bullet Time, is he also healing at an accelerated rate?"]

The used bookstore I go to carries used comics as well.  A few months ago, they had a bunch of old comics from the 50's there.

I was very pleased to find an old Archie.  The humor is timeless.

I posted excerpts from it at the Archie Fan forum.

http://www.archiefans.com//index.php?action=gallery&g2_view=tags.VirtualAlbum&g2_tagName=Archie+70

[I just noticed this link no longer works.  Their servers crashed a while back and all the images I posted there disappeared.  Here are the scans.]

I like this ad and Archie in-house ads in general.

You gotta love this ad for 78 rpm records, featuring the music of Dean Martin and some Mambo selections.

Archie was popular enough to spawn a horde of imitators.  Wilbur was Archie's attempt at copying itself.

Ah, one of my favorite Archie characters, Katy Keene.

I am a huge Carl Bark's fan.  This old Uncle Scrooge was a treasure.

The main story was Uncle Scrooge finding the Lost Crown of Genghis Khan and meeting the Abominable Snowman, but I liked this story best.

This is the back cover.  Notice the Pledge to Parents in the corner.  Marvel and DC (and probably Archie) have nearly totally walked away from kid-friendly comics, even though their material hasn't matured in the slightest.

My Personal Anime History

[I forget the topic, but on the Archie Comics Fan Forum, they were discussing how people got interested in Anime.  I tapped this out, and thought I'd repost it here.]

Since some others here have mentioned how they got into anime, I thought I’d do the same. I remember watching Speed Racer (wow, was I shocked when that became popular again thanks to Will Smith and MTV in the 80’s), Battle of the Planets, and Starblazers (I even saw the third series on TV, though few believe that it was ever really on in English) as a child in the 70’s, but I doubt it ever occurred to me that they came from Japan.

It was a Saturday morning in the mid-80’s that I became interested in anime thanks to a 90 minute special called Codename: Robotech. In a word, compared to cartoons I had seen before, mind-blowing. Thereafter, I faithfully watched and recorded the show every weekday. I discovered the word “anime” thanks to a big, glossy book named Robotech Art 1. In addition to character sketches, an episode guide, and a production history, there was a whole chapter on anime and manga. You mean there’s more of this stuff out there! To quote Igor from Dork Tower, “It must be mine!”

Lucky for me, there on the border in El Paso, Texas, I had access to comic book shop owned by an Asian fellow from California. Not that he stocked much Japanese stuff, but I had a supplier. After Robotech came out, a few independent publishers tentatively put out a few titles. Hard to imagine now, but one could actually collect every Japanese comic published in the US at the time without going broke. I limited myself (or rather my meager funds limited) to getting Area 88, Mai the Psychic Girl, Battle Angel Alita, Appleseed, the Robotech comics (which was not actually produced in Japan), and a few, precious movie books from Japan, in lieu of actually being able to see them.

I have to make a special mention of a couple of manga. Akira was originally published by Marvel (Epic imprint) and was in color. I mean glorious, eye-poping animation cell-like color. Few manga would look good colorized, but the finely detailed lines here worked perfectly. It is a crying shame that this version hasn’t been reprinted. You seriously have no idea what you missed. (I no longer have mine, don’t ask.) The other is Adam Warren’s Dirty Pair. Incredibly, there was no manga version of the Lovely Angels at that time (only novels and anime). How a couple of Americans got the license is inexplicable. “Plague of Angels,” “Sim Hell,” and especially “Fatal, But Not Serious” are masterpieces of Sci-Fi and social satire in graphic novel form.

Strangely, the best source of anime I had was a Juarez station. They showed quite a bit of interesting stuff, such as Millennium Princess, Sailor Moon (unedited, Japanese version, where the girls actually died), Saint Seiya, and a slate of older movies. Anime on videotape was only a rumor to me at the time. I got more up to date information from magazines like Protoculture Addicts and Animag.

I guess Pokemon is credited with actually getting anime to stick in the US. I’ve never actually seen it. When I moved a little further north to Las Cruces, New Mexico in the 90’s, anime was now available everywhere. I rented or bought Evangelion, Ranma, Crusher Joe, Kimagure Orange Road, Macross Plus, Ninja Scroll, Ghost in the Shell, and many others. Information (though not streaming videos) could be found on the Internet (thank you especially to Ex.org, Rest In Peace). I even managed to get several volumes of the Kimagure Orange Road manga and actually understood them thanks to a saintly person posting a full translation guide on the Internet.

Later in the DVD era, I’d buy Robotech (to replace my over-watched tapes), Evangelion (again), Cowboy Bebop, and Martian Successor Nadesco. I got plenty of information thanks to Newtype USA (I had few copies of the Japanese version, it was nice to able to read the articles) and the Internet. I hung out at the college’s anime night and watched several movies (like Evangelion and Utena) and series (like DNA^2 and Berserk).

Anime had become fairly mainstream and manga finally found the right format and venue and exploded. In short, I couldn’t keep up with it anymore, or perhaps didn’t want to. I don’t blame Evangelion (the series or movie). That show actually spiked my interest. In spite of my complaints about the end, it was very entertaining up to that point.

I typically credit Witchhunter Robin with ending my active interest in anime. The promotion in Newtype looked very cool and had a great premise. When finally got to see the first four episodes, I was shocked by how flat it fell in actual viewing. Call it the “Evangelion Effect.” I’d noticed a recurring theme in several shows, where the producers had apparently decided to try and capitalize on Rei’s popularity by making their characters emotionally numb. I, apparently, had seen that motif repeated one too many times. Anime was no longer fun and I gave up.

This isn’t fair to Robin. I’m told it gets better about halfway through. Certainly Macross Zero and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (sorry, again, apparently the two episodes I watched were not indicative of the rest of the show) disappointed me just as badly. Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, which I found on Youtube, may have also played a part. This was a live-action version of the cartoon and was produced with so much warmth, comedy, and drama, it actually overshadowed the other versions I’d seen.

The last new anime I saw was last year on SyFy. It was one of the Gundams, and I’m too lazy to look up which one, but I’d really enjoyed it, even with its questionable premise, deus ex machina, all-too-abrupt ending, and death to all the main characters (though they get better in the sequel). So, I’m still a fan. Rei, Madoka (a Japanese Veronica from Kimagure Orange Road), and Dirty Pair posters are still on the wall. And I still think Robotech is awesome.

Baseball Journal 10-20-13 The Rules

Let me address a couple of things I heard during LCS pre-games. 

Baseball may want to eliminate the “Neighborhood” play (a fielder taking a ball at second base not actually touching the bag for the runner to be out).  This unwritten rule (if it’s there I can’t find it on a cursory look) was instituted as a safety measure so that fielders would be in less danger from take-out slides.   The fielder will now have to touch the bag, but the runner will automatically be out if they stray out of a direct line with second base (which is already basically in the rulebook (7.08 (a) (1)).  Perhaps they might also call Interference on the runner going outside that line and call out a runner going to first as well.

MLB may also get rid of home plate collisions.  Rule 7.06 (b) clearly states that the catcher may not block the plate without the ball, though it may be inferred that the catcher may do so with the ball.  Presumably, the new ruling will be that the catcher may not block the baseline at all. 

Okay, I don’t know all of the details or how it will be implemented (or how the players will game it).  First let me state simply: baseball is not a contact sport.  The only player to player contact should be via being touched with the ball or a mitt with the ball in it.  A couple of years ago, I might have had a different attitude, but after Posey got his leg broken, it did cause me to question physical play on the field.  This post-season and last have also featured injuries on the bases from hard slides.  Pete Rose running over Ray Fosse* in the All-Star Game may have been cool, but just about every other time, it’s either an injury or doesn’t effect the play. 

Here’s my justifications on these potential changes.  The Neighborhood play is lazy, bad fielding.  The take-out slide is poor sportsmanship.  The runner is not allowed to hit the fielder to knock loose the ball at any other base, why home?  The catcher shouldn’t even have to block the plate, if the runner leaves the baseline to avoid a tag, they’re out anyway.  If my opinion makes me a baseball wimp, so be it.  I don’t think the game will suffer for it.  I also want to get rid of the pick-off move (more specifically the waste of time, throw to first to keep the runner close, witch it never does) but that’s a different post.