Discuss: Star Wars: The Force Awakens -SPOILER FREE discussion

Karen: OK kids, time to share your SPOILER FREE thoughts on the movie -did you enjoy it, is it Star Wars, etc. Later this week we will post a 'Spoiled' post where we can go into more detail on the film.

Is This the Tarzan Flick That Finally Gets It All Right?

Doug: The first trailer for The Legend of Tarzan (due in summer, 2016) hit the interwebs late last week. What sayest thou? Visually -- yes. Story? I'm not sure we see enough to tell, but I am guardedly optimistic. One of these days someone is going to actually read Edgar Rice Burroughs's pulp fiction about the Jungle Lord and commit those stories to film. Those stories... not an adaptation. C'mon, man... I will say, though, that Burroughs must not have known that an "ape" is not an animal in and of itself. If you check the cast at the link that follows, you will see notable names of Tarzan's apes -- but it looks from the still below that they are all Bolgani.

 From IMDB, here is a quite basic plot synopsis:

Tarzan, having acclimated to life in London, is called back to his former home in the jungle to investigate the activities at a mining encampment.

Time May Change Me

Doug: My wife and I were recently offered a deal we couldn't refuse on a used vehicle. We weren't in the market, as the SUV I was driving had relatively low miles for its age and had been paid off for several months. Yet we were able to upgrade after negotiating a best-case scenario trade-in and adding several thousand dollars from my original art sales as a down payment on the new loan. I say all that to tell you that the new SUV has satellite radio capabilities, so I've been enjoying an introductory offer from Sirius-XM radio. For those who don't know, satellite radio not only offers several "genre stations" across the musical spectrum, but also stations dedicated to specific artists. I've also enjoyed their "decade stations", featuring popular music from the timeframe we cover on this blog -- the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. And it was a day not too long ago while listening and driving that the inspiration for today's topic struck me.

Doug: Simple question -- of the three decades just mentioned, during which do you feel popular music changed the most? Of course music exists in so many layers that many of us will approach our answers with different songs or artists in mind. I hope that will be a fun part of the conversation. For example, I might think of the early 1970s as characterized by the advent of AM radio "soft rock" and the end of the decade as the "disco era". You might have thought of some of the hard rock acts emerging from the 1960s, with the '70s ending with punk. Regardless of who or what you choose to cite, in your opinion which decade's music had changed the most by the time the next decade rolled round?

http://www.bionicdisco.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/bionic_disco_music.jpg

Super-Blog Team-Up -- Star Wars: Season of the Force

Karen: It's time for another internet-shattering Super-Blog Team Up! This time, the theme is (surprise) Star Wars! All things Star Wars are up for discussion and dissection by the various members of this coalition. For our part, we'll be sharing my trip a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...or maybe it was just last month in Anaheim,

Karen: The week before Thanksgiving, my husband and I traveled to Disneyland and met up with an old friend there to take in the pleasures of the park all decorated for the holidays. Ah, who am I kidding: we all wanted to see what Disney was doing in the park to tie in to the new Star Wars film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens! 

Karen: As is turns out, they had basically given Tomorrowland a Star Wars facelift, proclaiming "Star Wars: Season of the Force" in big banners throughout that area. Music from the different films played constantly throughout Tomorrowland and Star Wars themed treats and toys were everywhere. Of course, there will actually be a Star Wars Land in Disneyland eventually - construction on the area, north of Tom Sawyer Island, will begin in January - but this temporary change really affects only a few attractions.

Karen: Star Tours, which has been a mainstay of Tomorrowland since 1987, got revamped in 2011 to allow a random sequence of different planets that guests could experience with each ride. The ride has been updated again to include a segment that is directly connected to the new film and it's a lot of fun. I won't spoil it (if you really want to know, you can find it out there in other articles online).  The new segment is always included with each ride.

Karen: Venerable Space Mountain became Hyperspace Mountain for the foreseeable future, and I heard it was great -but sadly, I can't tell you first hand, as that's one ride that's always left my head spinning!

Karen: The old Carousel of Progress has been transformed into the Star Wars Launch Bay. This served as a large theater/showroom/meet and greet/giftshop area. There were tons of models and props from all of the Star Wars films. Honestly I don't know if these were props used in the films or replicas, but they were all quite detailed and impressive. One part of the building was showing a documentary about the making of the new film. I only watched a little -I still want to be surprised! - but it sounded very interesting, and I am hoping this might be an extra on the eventual blu-ray. 

Karen: Two character meet and greets were available:if you were looking for a good guy, then you were able to go into what looked like the Rebel base on Yavin (the planet at the end of the original Star Wars) and get a big hug from Chewbacca! Chewie was very friendly, although I couldn't understand anything he said -and he did make all those wookiee sounds just like in the movies. My husband and I got a picture with him. 

Karen: If you're feeling more on the dark side, you could go see the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader. Boy, that guy didn't let up. He kept telling us we didn't know the power of the dark side, and we would wind up joining him. He was not a hugger...at all. 

Karen: The old Captain EO theater was converted to show Path of the Jedi, a ten minute film that included highlights from all of the previous films, and a short clip from the new film, with some extra effects included, like lights and wind. Some folks scoffed at this, but I have to say, I enjoyed seeing moments from the original trilogy up on a big screen again, in a beautiful, sharp picture. If anything, it got me excited for the new film, which obviously was the point of all of this! In that respect, Disney did a great job -probably every fifth person I saw in the park was wearing a Star Wars t-shirt or hat, and you could feel the enthusiasm for the new film. If there was anything that didn't go over well, it was the wretched food offerings at the revamped Tomorrowland Terrace. The chicken sandwich reminded me of the nasty frog-creatures Jabba gulped down in Return of the Jedi, and I was told the burgers were equally awful. Do yourself a favor and go have lunch over at Cafe Orleans instead.

Karen: All in all, we really enjoyed this taste of Star Wars at Disneyland and can't wait to see what the Star Wars Land will be like in a couple of years. I'm sure it will be fantastic. More than that, I can't wait to see The Force Awakens in a couple of days! May the Force be with all of you!

Bronze Age Babies Extra:

I couldn't end the post without giving you a look at the Super-Hero HQ that sits right above the Star Wars Launch Bay. It seems a little empty at this point, but there's a whole section of Iron Man armors, and we also saw an Ant-Man costume among other things. Didn't do the meet and greet with Spider-Man or Thor though. Maybe next time!

Longbox Graveyard: Star Wars Card Trader

The Retroist: Star Wars Book and Record

Between The Pages: A long time ago in a bookstore far, far away…

Son of Crapbox Of Cthullu: Growing up Star Wars

 

Mystery V-Log: My Personal Star Wars History

Superhero Satellite: Star Wars Episode 7: The Toys Awaken

In My Not So Humble Opinion: Star Wars Sketch Book
 

Guest Post - If I Had a Buck... Marvel and DC? Never Heard of 'em!

Doug: Welcome to another comic book covers challenge. Today it's not Mike S. (aka Martinex1) steering the ship, but Edo Bosnar. Edo has a nice riff on multiple ideas, so take it away!

Edo Bosnar: The inspiration for this one is the recent “Suggestions Unboxed” post about non-Big 2 comics. So today we’re going to be spending that hypothetical buck on a selection of Bronze Age comics not published by Marvel or DC. But additionally, no “kiddie” stuff, either: so no Archies, no funny animals, no friendly ghosts or sad sacks and especially NO Richie Rich. Nope, just serious and sophisticated fare for us today, the super-hero, action, horror, etc. comics vying for our attention on the spinner racks of the Bronze Age in that veritable sea of titles put out by the Big 2.

So here are your choices – since I’m sure many are not very familiar with these titles, I included some details on the contents obtained at the very useful Grand Comics Database. As usual, the price you pay is the one featured on the cover:

E-man (Charlton) no.2, $0.20, December 1973. Cover by Joe Staton, “The Entropy Twins” by Nicola Cuti and Joe Staton; back-up feature: “Enter Killjoy” by Steve Ditko.

Red Circle Sorcery (Red Circle) no. 9, $0.25, October 1974. Cover by Gray Morrow. “If I Were King” (by Marv Channing and Alex Toth), “The Devil’s in Borley!” (story and art by Pat Boyette), “The Goal is Death!” (by Marv Channing and Vicente Alcazar), “Come In and Meet the Piano Player” (by Marv Channing and Carlos Pino), and a text story, “The Journey” by Marv Channing, illustrated by Gray Morrow).

Destructor (Atlas/Seaboard) no. 1, $0.25, February 1975. Cover by Larry Lieber and Wally Wood.“The … Birth of a Hero” by Archie Goodwin, Steve Ditko and Wally Wood.

Phoenix (Atlas/Seaboard) no. 3, $0.25, June 1975. Cover by Frank Thorne. “The Day of the Devil” by Gabriel Levy and Sal Amendola; Back-up feature, starring the Dark Avenger: “The Rat Pack!” by John Albano, Pat Broderick and Terry Austin.

Tales of Evil (Atlas/Seaboard) no. 3, $0.25, July 1975. Cover by Rich Buckler. “Man-Monster!” by Tony Isabella, Rich Buckler (co-plotters), Gary Friedrich (script), Rich Buckler (pencils) and Mike Vosburg (inks). Back-up feature: “Vampire Killer Still at Large” by Gabriel Levy and Romero.

Tragg and the Sky Gods (Gold Key/Western) no. 2, $0.25, September 1975. Cover by Jesse Santos.“The Day the Earth Thundered” by Don Glut and Jesse Santos.

Demon Hunter (Atlas/Seaboard) no. 1, $0.25, September 1975. Cover by Rich Buckler.“The Harvester of Eyes” by David Anthony Kraft and Rich Buckler.

Magnus, Robot-Fighter (Whitman/Western) no. 42, $0.25, January 1976 [complete reprint of Magnus, Robot Figther no. 19 from August 1967].Cover by Vic Prezio (at least that’s who’s credited with the 1967 cover, which looks exactly like this one). “Fear Unlimited” by Russ Manning; back-up feature: “An Alien Phobia” by Russ Manning.

The Occult Files of Dr. Spektor (Gold Key/Western) no. 24, $0.30, February 1977. Cover by Jesse Santos.“Dragon Fire” by Don Glut and Jesse Santos.

Doomsday +1 (Charlton) no. 10, $0.35, January 1979. Cover by John Byrne. “Hidden Empire!” by Joe Gill and John Byrne (reprints the story from Doomsday +1 no. 4 from 1976).

Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom (Whitman/Western) no. 29, $0.50, October 1981. Cover by Dan Spiegle. “Li’Rae” by Roger McKenzie and Dan Spiegle; back-up feature: “The Steel-smashing Return of Magnus, Robot Fighter” by Roger McKenzie and Frank Bolle.

Charlton Bullseye (Charlton) no. 4, $0.50, November 1981. Cover by Larry Houston. “The Vanguards” by Larry Houston (art and story).

The Curious Case of Swamp Thing's Second Hello

House of Secrets #92 (July 1971)(cover by Bernie Wrightson)

"Swamp Thing"

Len Wein-Bernie Wrightson

Swamp Thing #1 (October/November 1972)(cover by Bernie Wrightson)

"Dark Genesis"

Len Wein-Bernie Wrightson

Doug: If you're like me, it varies from book to book (I'm talking high brow books here, kids -- no pictures) whether or not you actually start with the preface, introduction, acknowledgements, etc. or just dive right into the text. Today I'll be reading/scanning from the DC Comics Classics Library volume Roots of the Swamp Thing. I am always using the BAB as an excuse to read things I've not read before -- I did it earlier this year with a couple of Adam Strange stories, and it's been well-documented over the past couple of months that I've been reading Marvel's Monster of Frankenstein series. I was standing at my book shelves in the middle of last week trying to choose something different when my eyes settled on today's fare. In my entire life, I think I have read two Swamp Thing stories, so for the most part today's post is written from a fresh perspective. In this case I dove right in, reading the first appearance of ol' Swamp Thing from House of Secrets #92 and then moving right into the next "chapter", Swamp Thing #1. I was about 1/3 of the way through the second book when the deja vu (read: these dudes are ripping themselves off!) set in. Searching for a clue, I then went back to the front of the book and read the preface from author Len Wein. A-ha, said I. 

Doug: Wein related how he'd come up with the original idea, gotten editor Joe Orlando to OK it, and then convinced friend Bernie Wrightson to draw it while commiserating with him at Marv Wolfman's Christmas party back in 1970. Both Wein and Wrightson were on the rocks of love, so crafted a tale of love lost, revenge, etc. Boom -- neatly packaged in an 8-page throwaway tale, cathartic for both creators. And then the mail started to arrive. More and more. Publisher Carmine Infantino wanted more Swamp Thing, but Wein was skeptical. Their story had been a personal one and had served its point. Wein and Wrightson balked. Temporarily. They thought about it, and then decided to sort of re-tell the first story, with new characters and a new direction. End of my confusion. So let's do something a little different in terms of formatting today. Usually Karen and/or I do a plot synopsis with some analysis, and then wrap things up with final thoughts. But since today's stories fit together, I'm going to break it into categories for a sort of side-by-side look at Swamp Thing's two "hellos". Art samples will appear side-by-side, the left from House of Secrets and the right from Swamp Thing.

Story length:

House of Secrets = 8 pages

Swamp Thing = 22 pages

Main characters:

House of Secrets = 

Alex Olsen (Swamp Thing), scientist

Linda Olsen-Ridge, wife to Alex, and then wife to...

Damien Ridge, scientist; Alex Olsen's partner

Swamp Thing =

Alec Holland (Swamp Thing), scientist

Linda Ridge-Holland, scientist and wife of Alec

Lt. Matt Cable, government agent

Ferret, do-badder

The Plot:

House of Secrets = Wein declared in the piece I read that he had wanted to do a period piece about a swamp creature. By the way Wrightson chose wardrobes for his characters, I'd estimate that Swamp Thing's 1st appearance is set in the Victorian era. There are only three characters in the story, and the plot is quite simple: Alex Olsen is young, good-looking, smart as a whip, and married for one year to the beautiful Linda. Alex's partner in science is Damien Ridge, who is jealous beyond seeing straight. In his mind, Damien thinks that Alex knew Damien loved Linda, but Alex proposed anyway. Filled with anger, Damien rigged an explosive via chemical reaction in the laboratory where they worked on an unrevealed project. Making an excuse to leave the room, Damien was just outside when the detonation occurred. Linda was nearby, but Damien told her not to go inside -- that there was literally nothing left of Alex. The truth was, Alex was not dead but horribly disfigured. Damien dragged his limp body away from the place they worked and buried Alex in a bog. Several months later Damien had gotten his wish -- he'd married Linda. But Linda could only think of Alex and faked her way through her "love" of Damien. Now paranoid, Damien feared that Linda would discover that he'd been the one to kill Alex. But what neither of them knew was that Alex had not died, but had instead been "reborn" by the swamp's waters into a lumbering mass of animated vegetation. And each night, that Swamp Thing had shambled up to the old mansion's windows, hoping to get a glimpse of "his" Linda. But on a fateful night he saw Damien draw a syringe and move it close to Linda's neck. Exposing himself to his "friends" for the first time, the Swamp Thing burst into the room and killed Damien. Unable to speak, though, he could make no explanation to Linda, who screamed and cowered in his presence. A tale of love, murder, and revenge, but overall of loss.

Swamp Thing = Wein's and Wrightson's second go-round with their swamp man is similar, if more intricately plotted. An extra 14 pages will do that for ya! In this update, told only a year after the House of Secrets story, we find that the husband/wife super-scientist team of Alec and Linda Holland are being sequestered by the government so that they can complete some top-secret, and very valuable work. They are moved into a barn that's been outfitted as a state-of-the-art laboratory. A Lt. Cable is their liaison, and tells the pair that under no circumstances are they to open the door unless on his order. There will be cars patrolling the area to keep them safe, and secret. We find out that the Hollands are working on a compound that will allow vegetation to grow anywhere, and abundantly. They know that their work has a price tag beyond valuation, and it's just when they "go live" for the first time that they are interrupted. A thug named Ferret enters the lab with a couple goons and tells Alec Holland that he would like to make an offer that can't be refused. You get it... Of course Holland tells them to take a hike. Cable returns and chews out the Hollands for even talking to anyone else. We get an uneasy feeling about Cable, like he's perhaps up to his own agenda. Later that evening the Hollands hear a rustling outside the barn, and open the door to discover a large dog -- apparently a stray. They take it in, not knowing that the dog wears a radio transmitter so that the bad guys can eavesdrop. Ferret pays the Hollands another visit, and this one doesn't go so well. Alec is knocked unconscious and while down and out, a booby trap is set. A short time later, as he begins to regain consciousness he hears a bomb ticking. It goes off in Holland's face. His body ablaze, Holland flees the lab and runs into the nearby swamp, where we must assume he drowns. After Holland's funeral, Cable encourages Linda to finish the work. But Ferret's guys turn up, rough up Cable, and Linda ends up dead. Much like in the first story, the Swamp Thing now makes his appearance and kicks some tail. He's fired at by multiple assailants, and we infer that he (the former Alec Holland) is now invulnerable. The story ends with Cable alive and the Swamp Thing back to his new digs. But he's spied on by some supernatural dude with goonies in his employ. It looks as if the plot will thicken in the next issue.

Writing: 

House of Secrets = Ugh. Wein writes the narrative boxes in the Claremontian style "You are..."

Swamp Thing = Good stuff.

Pictures:

House of Secrets = Bernie Wrightson is a guy whose stuff I look at and really try to soak it all in. It seems funny to say, but even his grotesque images are just beautiful; so intricate. But in the first Swamp Thing story his art has a real 1950s feel to it, much like what we'd have seen from the EC books of that era past.

Swamp Thing = In both stories Wrightson inks himself. His work seems to have a very natural feel to it, a la Joe Kubert's work (in the regard that it's all him, all the time). Wrightson's Swamp Thing the first time out was a mass, a lump. But here he's fully-formed as we think of the character. I also must state a preference for the second version of Swamp Thing's face as compared to the first version, which seemed to sort of have a mossy mustache (a real soup strainer!) look. Wrightson's story telling and pacing are great!

Doug: So there you have it. If we have any Swamp Thing aficionados amongst our readers, I'd love to hear more about the character, the original Wein/Wrightson run compared to Alan Moore's take on the character, the character as one of DC's supernatural denizens, etc. I'm pretty much a tabula rasa here today.

BAB2K

 2000

Doug: A long time ago and in a mobile classroom during summer school, in collaboration with my partner Karen I set up the first post for bronzeagebabies.blogspot.com. And here we are, almost 6 1/2 years to the day later, publishing post #2000. What a long, strange trip it's been! Honestly, I am in Karen's debt for bringing me along for the ride. She's pretty tolerant of me in many regards.

Doug: I wonder if we have much to say beyond what's been said in our last six anniversary posts, other than to reiterate that this has truly become a community. Sure, we've had many regular commenters come and go through the years (and you're missed if you're one of the "wents"). But this place never fails to provide at least a little respite from the daily grind. I think the fact that we've had 32,000 comments on 2000 posts says it all.

Doug: I can't recall which of us was the first to come up with one of our conversation categories, but you'll see sprinkled throughout the bottom of today's post some memorable logos. Sure, some others were tried and they didn't stick. But many of those below have become mainstays around here, like The Open Forum, Discuss, and our Who's the... twins. Hopefully we always manage to throw out an interesting nugget for your rumination. It's not always easy to be original (as evidenced by the number of times we've repeated ourselves), but we try!

Doug: Lastly, I'd again come back to the notion of community. Back at the beginning of February Karen and I recognized that our lives were in places where we couldn't meet our own expectations. So we reached out to our readers for a little assistance and you rose to the occasion (as you always do when we need a pick-me-up). I'd offer you a stat in support of our pleasure at the success of the Guest Writer request: as you read this we have run 51 guest posts/reviews/strips. That number may be more amazing to me than 2000!

Karen: I can't add much to that. A lot of water has gone under the bridge since we started this blog, but BAB has been a consistent part of our lives. While it's true that we've both had more on our plates lately, and we haven't been able to do quite as much, it's been terrific to see the community step up and truly transform the blog into more of a group effort. All in all, I'm very proud of this place and very happy to have met my partner Doug all those years ago -even if we still have never met face to face, or even spoken on the phone!