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ashbelero · 3 years

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[OBEY ME] Decades of Fashion

This was a project I've been working on for a while, but it required a LOT of research to get done.

The idea was this: The boys have lived for thousands of years, and as such, they've had to adhere to certain fashion changes over time. But in the midst of me really wanting to show Beel drinking Pepsi Blue, I realized that each of them really fit into a style over the course of seven decades.

[PLEASE BE WARNED I MAY TOUCH ON CONTROVERSIAL TOPICS HERE]

Lucifer - 1940's [Post-War Americana]

Oh boy, those coats were popular in the 20's and 30's. I thought Lucifer worked well with the vibe of an old-style gangster. But really, this look worn in the 40's would have been one of showing off wealth. During the second world war, we had a shortage on EVERYTHING, including fabric - when nylon was needed for parachutes, women used to draw makeup lines on the backs of their legs to indicate a seam where their stockings would go. As a result, suits in the 40's were trimmed back as far as fabric usage. Coats no longer had capelets around the shoulders, jackets no longer had flaps on the pockets, pants were restricted to a certain width, and 3-piece suits were nonexistent - no one sold suits with vests anymore.

Incidentally, that's why Zoot Suits were so popular in American minority communities - it was a "fuck you" level of luxury to have suits with so much excess fabric!

Mammon - 1950's [Rebel Style]

From gangster to greaser! While we associate Greaser subculture with the likes of James Dean and Marlon Brando, the term actually originated with Hispanic teens - "greaser", in addition to referencing their slicked-back hairstyles, was the name for Mexican workers who greased the wheels of shopping carts, and there was actually a law in California called the "Greaser Act" specifically put in place to protect "law abiding" Californians from these rowdy (but un-armed and non-dangerous) teens.

Not only does the Rebel style really suit Mammon in general, associated with sleek cars and loud boys and an inarguable style, but I've always thought of Mammon as being kind of Latino. However, it also bears noting that Greasers were very anti-materialistic. Sure, you wanted money, but Greaser culture was more geared towards rebelling against the ones who had it.

Leviathan - 1960's [Japanese Ivy]

Post-war Japan had a certain loss of identity as they were occupied by the American military and exposed to cultures from around the world. But by the sixties, Japanese culture was absorbing everything it found and making it their own. The popularity of Disney and TV animation gave rise to anime that began early in the fifties, but was really in its prime by '65, and much of that then spread to the rest of the world. Mach Go Go Go became Speed Racer and Mighty Atom became Astro Boy in the US. In partIcular, based on Levi's current anime tastes, I think he'd be a huge fan of Cyborg 009 and Mahoutsukai Sally - The original Magical Girl who would eventually lead to the creation of the invented anime The Magical Ruri Hanai: Demon Girl.

But along with animation, Japan absorbed something else in 1964 - American Ivy League fashion. Magazines with spreads of American university students in sweaters, blazers, loafers, and cotton trousers became incredibly popular and inspired a fashion style simply called "Ivy" in Japan - and this style persisted until the mid-eighties!

Satan - 1970's [Collegiate]

'70's fashion in America was lawless. As the youth of the day broke free from society's constraints and pursued their own agendas, they brought with them a rebellion of peace and love that had been brewing with every fight and war since the 40's. As opposed to the Mod fashion of the 60's, modern fashion was more about comfort and natural colors.... and bellbottoms. So many bellbottoms. But there were no fucking rules. Wear your jacket on one shoulder or two or none, mix colors and patterns, wear that corduroy jacket with the suede elbow patches, fuck you dad, I went to college!

I feel like it also bears mentioning that god DAMN, white belts with gold buckles were weirdly popular.

Asmodeus - 1980's [Pop Trend]

Pop culture was skyrocketing in the eighties, as was the sheer accessibility of fashion. It was never as cheap to wear the hottest trends as it was here. Stars like Madonna popularized the inexpensive, bright-colored messes of style that the day's teens HAD to have. Plastic jewelry, acid-washed jeans, hair-wrecking crimping and curling, bright and heavy makeup... and leotards for EVERYONE. Jazzercise and videotape aerobics also threw their hats in... or rather, their leg warmers and tights.

And while it doesn't have much to do with fashion, I could see Asmo being at his absolute prime here... Queer community and sexuality was coming out of hiding around here, and with it, the stigma and horror associated with the gay agenda, promiscuity, and the AIDS epidemic. Fuck those assholes.

Beelzebub - 1990's [Urban Sport]

The 90's were... experimental. As we entered the Internet age and the approach of the new millennium, a lot of shit happened. Hip-Hop and R&B culture that began in the late eighties influenced a lot outside its own minority sphere, from fashion to music to celebrity. Things once worn as sport gear, windbreakers and basketball shoes and baseball hats, were adapted to the increasing physical presence of stars in music videos and movies. (I don't really know how much of a position I'm in to talk about how much cultural appropriation inspired a lot of that, but it did. And then they talked smack on the sources they got their shit from.)

As for those stupid parachute pants with the zip-off bottoms... I don't know whose fault that was. The Y2k bug, I guess. Swatches were cool though.

But Beelzebub probably would have been going nuts with all the experimental snack foods we loved back then. Soda with little chewable balls of questionable origin? 3D nacho chips? Yogurt in a TUBE? HOT POCKETS!? A glutton's paradise. I drank Crystal pepsi when they rereleased it and it tasted like old bubblegum. shit's nasty.

Belphegor - 2000's [Emo/Goth]

This is it. This is what years of punk, grunge, goth, and The Cure led to at the turn of the millennium. We took Tripp pants that were popular in blue denim in the nineties and put so much shit on them that it was hard to walk, but we DID IT. Because it looked cool. Do you hate life? Do you hate everyone? Smear liner in your eyeballs and belt your legs together in two denim dresses, and wear bracelets and belts that get banned at high school because someone started an urban legend where you have to have sex with someone if they snap your black jelly bracelet off. That shit never happened but damn if they didn't try to convince us it did.

Emo and goth subculture was actually seen as pretty toxic. And I can say that because I was in it. People who did this stuff were seen as idolizing self-harm and suicide. Some people actually did. Most of us probably approached it the same way zoomers gleefully post memes about ending themselves all the time. In Belphegor's case... yeah, he probably does hate the world.

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ihknkm · 3 years

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cardandpixel · 4 years

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9 Board Game YouTubers I Follow & Why (plus a few others)

In the literal dim and distant past when I started boardgaming (honestly, the biggest threat was tallow wax on your board), the internet was still accessed by whatever IP address you could remember off the top of your head (there’s no place like 127.0.0.1 as they sayI) - and the only TikTok was the clock ticking, waiting for half of Louise Nurding’s left leg to download only to realise it was Anne Widdecombe and you’d hit the wrong link on a BB. Boardgames had some quiet and shady corners of the internet, in those same Bulletin Boards, there was one for HeroQuest and Space Crusade when they came out. But sadly, if you wanted to see a boardgame being played or learn the rules, you either had to go round to your friend Tim’s house where he had a new chits-for-days wargame going, or sit down and actually read the rulebook yourself. As a result, I bought some interesting games in my time, including a game called Operation Overlord - a mighty chit-tastic WW2 N African campaign monster that I bought in desperation from the Games Workshop in Manchester on the first morning that it opened in 1979 (?) as we were so far back in the queue that there wasn’t a space marine to be had for miles. But now, we have a plethora of kindly folk available on our blistering shiny Windows NT 486sx machines to inform and delight us in full 8-bit glory. Everything from reviews, buying guides, rules tutorials and even painting & crafting guides, we can be bathing in just about whatever aspect of board or wargaming we so desire in an effort to stave off the clattering realisation that it’s been over 3 months since we spent any quality time with another breathing soul outside our houses. The question gets frequently asked on boardgame FaceAche forums “What YouTube channels are worth my time and why?” so in an effort to throw my own towel into that controversial ring, here’s my pick of probably 9ish, maybe more by the end, but let’s start with 9 in no particular order..... 1) 3 MINUTE BOARDGAMES

One of the first board games ‘er across the table (TM) and I bought together was a copy of Gloom from a little games and comic shop halfway round the world in Hamilton NZ, Mark 1 Comics. As we were achingly close to moving to NZ a few years ago, we’ve kept up with many aspects of what might have been our life over there, so it was a delight to discover Jarrod (and now Stephanie) on YouTube, a friendly and familiar accent reviewing board games. But it’s not just the NZ vibe that I love, Jarrod does a great job of cutting thru the hyperbole and bloat often associated with trying to keep YouTube vids ‘long for the algorithm’ (ugh) and just gives very pragmatic reasons for a game either joining or leaving his collection. He has a great approach, and it’s nice to see him finally on camera instead of the disembodied voice. Great reviewer, and Stephanie is utterly hilarious. 2) THE BROTHERS MURPH

Mike & Nick are two of the most engaging brothers on YouTube let alone just in the boardgaming community. Their series on thrift shop finds has dredged up some hilarious and often tragic specimens from the grand days of Palitoy, MB and Parker Games. They are also masters at ‘speed reviewing’ often piling reviews of 50 or 60 games into the same number of minutes. I think I favour the ‘don’t outstay your welcome’ approach to YouTube in general, and the Brothers Murph are at great ease with this philosophy and yet they take on simple party games thru to the heaviest euros with the same distillation equipment, and yet their reviews are never trivial or throw away. We had the chance to chat to Nick at Airecon this year and he was a lovely guy, slightly blown away by the fact that people liked his channel. He’s also an awesome artist too.

3) ACTUALOL

There are many reviewers on the web who have cost me a fair amount of money, the worst being Zee Garcia, however, a close second is Jon Purkiss aka Actualol. Jon has a terrifying gift for finding games, and especially ridiculously affordable games, that I buy on spec and then end up absolutely loving. Jon has a light and breezy style which is instantly engaging - I also really want his comfy chair (surely in exchange for a nice review on here Jon???). His videos are tidy and concise and yet still convey a deep enthusiasm and joy for games. His reviews very clearly portray what the setting of the game is and what you’ll be doing, without getting embroilled in the rules. He always has great footage of the game on the table (please reviewers - look at the ratio of your face to the game you’re talking about - less than 10% game and i’m walkin’) and often favours the less pricey end of the market which suits me fine. Brilliant games I love thanks to Jon include: Second Chance, Magic Maze and Ninja Academy

4) OUR FAMILY PLAYS GAMES

There’s not much to be said about Mik & Starla Fitch that cannot be gained from watching a mere 3-4 minutes of their channel. For sheer exuberance aimed squarely at a love for bringing families together via our glorious hobby, you cannot top these guys. If you are ever - EVER - feeling slightly lacklustre about gaming or losing your mojo for whatever reason - heck if you are just feeling slightly down, treat yourself to 10 minutes in the company of these two excellent human beings. Their reviews and playthru’s have all the humanity you need in a game and after five minutes you are thinking “Is the US too far to go just for a gaming evening?” We’d both utterly love to sit across the table from these lovely people and just play, and I can’t say that about every reviewer, I’ll be honest. Their reviews are often centred around unloved classics (watch their vid dedicated to why they love Catan as an example - you’ll be clicking Buy Now before your know it) and also some great quirky unknowns that I’m trying to hunt down even now. They’ve just had a brilliant couple of boosts from both a spot of Good Morning America recently, and becoming reviewers for the mighty Dice Tower. I’m immensely grateful for a tweet by Rodney Smith for pointing me in their direction, my social media is a much brighter place with the Fitch family in it.

5) RAHDO RUNS THROUGH

“Heeeeey Everybody”. One of the first board game reviewers I ever caught on YouTube was the inimitable Richard Ham aka Rahdo. And I’m so glad I did. I would genuinely never sit down and try and learn a game from one of Rahdo’s playthrus, they are what I imagine being in a wind tunnel full of 50 tonnes of feathers is like. BUT and this is crucial - if I want an idea of what a game is going to feel like to play, there is no finer deliverer of the remote game experience than Mr Richard Ham. His unique ability to explain how a game is going to work, turn by turn; the decisions you will make; the things you’ll have to consider; the short and long term goals; are all brilliantly covered in one of Rahdo’s videos. His ability to make different choices for his ‘ghost partner’ Jen (who does exist in real life, we have bought jewelry off her, she’s lovely) also adds a real dynamism to the games, showcasing the flexibility in a design for different play strategies. Rahdo tends towards 2 player games and usually at the heavier end of the scale, but if there’s a game you are thinking of buying, check Mr Ham out first!

6) WATCH IT PLAYED

It’s often been said that Canadians are some of the politest folk on the planet, but when it comes to ranking Canadians, well, I’m sure they’d be too humble to rank each other so I’ll have to. Rodney Smith is the loveliest man in the world. There, end of article. But it’s true. We’ve been watching Rodney since we first got confused about the rules for Mice & Mystics (which we still got wrong but that wasn’t Rodney’s fault) and his ever chirpy, ever positive approach to his rules rundowns is utterly remarkable and frankly, enviable. And it’s his attention to detail and clarity for explaining rules that have rightly made Rodney one of the most important resources in the gaming hobby. If you have ever struggled over a rulebook and haven’t raced to Watch It Played, I will guarantee you will have spent far longer on that rulebook and lost way more hair than you ever needed to. We had the great honour of playing Rajas of the Ganges with Rodney at Airecon in 2019, and I mugged up on the rules sooo much. Regular imbibers of this rag will know my sloth for reading rulebooks is legendary but fortunately ‘er across the table (TM) loves them. But, for the 3 days running up to our trip to Harrogate, I did nothing but read that rulebook - this was THE Rodney Smith, you can’t get a rule wrong with Rodney. But of course, nerves kicked in and I could barely remember the rules of Snap, but the nicest man in the world could not have been nicer. Really, quantum mechanics has proved it. He was just the same man off the computer telly. Funny, engaging, warm and happy to chat as well as play (which I was also really nervous about doing!), if you don’t watch Rodney, are you really internetting?

7) TABLETOP MINIONS

“Pachow” From boardgames to wargames. As well as my slight addiction to cardboard, my other opiate overlord is 28mm plastic miniatures. Specifically those involved in tabletop skirmish games like Malifaux, 7TV, Fallout Wasteland Warfare, GuildBall and a smattering of others. Though recently more focused on the frankly insane amount of content being released by Games Workshop, Tabletop Minions is presented by the splendid Uncle Atom. (In fact, I identify his content so much as Uncle Atom’s stuff that I honestly had to double check the name of the channel for this article!). My plastic habit uncle (sounds so wrong, but so true) has possibly the gentlest delivery of anyone on the internet. It’s not so much content, as therapy. I know the net is awash with AMSR channels at the mo, but if you don’t want to listen to some overmonetized southern californian with some bubble wrap and a large capsule condenser mic, just hop over to TTM and listen to the Uncle for 5 minutes. He’s like a soothing bubble bath of content about painting figures, philosophy of the hobby, general art & design principles, and great life advice. He also wears a fez.

8) GIRL PAINTING

“Hello Tchoobies!” I painted my first 28mm figure when i was about 12ish - it was, ironically, a space marine of some sort - the old clunky Ral Partha ones. It looked terrible, but each model got a bit better till I stopped for some reason a few years later. When I got into Malifaux a few years ago (ie decades, several of them, later), I knew I was going to have to get back into painting; heaps of grey plastic does not a skirmish game make. (Little did I know I would have to revisit my microscopy days either when assembling damn Bayou Gremlins!) Two channels were recommended to me, the Esoteric Order of Gamers (more later) and Girl Painting. EOG put me on the path to believing I could paint again, but Alexandra at Girl Painting actually made me believe I could learn to do it well. GP’s approach to painting figures, terrain and vehicles is based on solid art theory. Her explanation of colour relationships and the colour wheel is something I can quote to this day. All of the techniques that I lean on so heavily in day to day painting both for table and display I learnt from Girl Painting. Correct use of washes, wet blending, non-metallic metals, shading, drybrushing, highlighting, model reading, all of it from studying intently, often with a brush actually in my hand while watching the channel. I cannot recommend GP enough if you want to put paint to plastic. Whatever your ability, you will learn something from this hidden gem of a channel.

9) ESOTERIC ORDER OF GAMERS

Another dang fine antipodean and another slightly unusual channel. I have a terrible, terrible memory when it comes to rules. In our early days, we also had a a lot of games with seemingly very over-bloated rulebooks - FFG games basically. I suddenly realised what I wanted was to lift the lid of a box and find in the lid, a summary of the important stuff i needed to remember about the game. Apparently I was not the only one. In 2013 a chap known as Universal Head started publishing an amazing series of rules summaries which condensed down some of the bloatiest rulesbooks down to often one or 2 pages of A4. It was a (pardon the pun) gamechanger for me. I can’t count the number of games in our collection that have a friendly sheet of A4 now as the first thing you see when you open the box. They are brilliant. And he’s still doing it to this day. I would argue that the more useful leg to his activities is the website rather than YouTube channel, but his channel does have the aforementioned brilliant figure painting tutorials, unboxing videos and some crafting stuff. The website is definitely the place for the rules summaries and also a fantastic resource for build-it-yourself foamcore box inserts. Though Folded Space have now made box inserts pretty affordable, there’s still no feeling like the satisfaction of building your own, and I would argue that some of EoG’s designs actually make more sense than some of the Folded Space ones anyway. AND THE OTHER ONES (Who probably don’t really need the exposure, but hey, only 11 people probably read this so......) Why aren’t these on the list above? Just because I wanted to highlight some of the more marginal channels above or more specialist rather than the pure reviewers. SHUT UP & SIT DOWN Possibly my favourite channel on YouTube, whose name sounds more like a menacing Yorkshire greeting than a boardgame channel. SU&SD seem to be a real Marmite issue on the board game communities. And I genuinely don’t understand it. Yes, their reviews are often really funny but honestly, if that’s all you take away then you are missing some amazingly detailed and thought provoking work. Quinns and crew’s reviews are some of the most measured and balanced reviews in the gameyverse. Their reasoning for the conclusions they come to are incredibly well thought through and often very surprising based on the tone of the rest of the review. They have steered me to some games I would never have looked twice at and steered me away from some very shiny games that I might have blown a lot of money on otherwise. Flagposting great alternatives is also a signature of their reviews, and that again has often lead me to some fantastic games. We don’t always agree (their recent review of 10 Oink Games was savage imho) but we always disagree for the right reasons. Again, I would argue their website is actually a better overall resource, especially their podcasts which are superb, but all their content is fantastic.

in a highly similar vein I would add NO PUN INCLUDED. Efka & Elaine produce some of the most thoughtful and intelligent boardgame review content today, and often for some of the deepest and most complex games. The joy of boardgaming is that it is highly subjective and there are lots of times when NPI like/dislike a game that I do/don’t, but they are engaging and warm enough as presenters to hit you with a gentle subtext that says “It’s ok - I know we like this game, we get that you don’t, it doesn’t make any of us bad people, just people y’know, have a sandwich with us” Efka criticising a game reminds me of when Dennis Healey once described an argument with Geoffrey Howe as being ‘savaged by a dead sheep’, though not in the cynical manner of the original. The criticism is loaded with that crucial dose of ‘hear me out’ that is sadly lacking in 90% of all other reviewers out there. Efka & Elaine are no GoggleBox reviewers, they are the real deal - they genuinely understand how games work and why. The sheer moral turmoil that Efka expressed over the cultural issues in Rising Sun was some of the most thoughtful YouTube content I have ever seen. I just wanted to do a little shout out to Johannes & Sunniva at BOARD GAMING RAMBLINGS - I don’t have as much to say as they are relatively new on my radar, but I have really enjoyed their content so far and find them to be like one of those adorable gaming couples that you might see every once in a while at your gaming group and have a blast with, and then not see for months and go “Awh - I really miss Johannes & Sunniva - where’d they go?” that feeling, you know the one. Adorable, with a hint of the esoteric. Also, a quick but important mention to the other titan of boardgame rules explanation that is Paul Grogan of GAMING RULES!. Like Rodney Smith, Paul is meticulous about rules explanation and is really clear and simple to follow, even for very heavy games, which Paul tends to do more of than Rodney, which is probably why I end up watching Paul slightly less, but certainly not for any less quality. Paul has such a reputation in the industry that he now works closely with many designers and publishers to help craft the best rulebooks around as a consultant. So that’s it - congrats for making it through folks. Didn’t think it was going to run this long, but turns out.... I quite like a lot of the YouTubers I watch - who knew? Until next time... happy gaming y’all.

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randomvarious · 4 years

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Electric Frankenstein - “I’ll Be Standing (On My Own)” Flaming Burnout: An Estrus Benefit Compilation 1997 Garage Punk / Hard Rock

New Jersey’s Electric Frankenstein’s modus operandi has always been to supply a steady stream of loud, energetic, balls-to-the-wall, pure, uncut rock and roll. And they’ve been doing that with aplomb since the early 90s. In an introduction to an interview in Horror Garage Magazine with the band’s lead guitarist, Sal Canzonieri, Roger Moser, Jr. writes about EF glowingly:

The mighty EF machine is wildly driven by the gargantuan atomic-explosion drumbeats of John Steele, the propulsive concussion-inducing bass riffs of Dan Canzonieri, the inflammable power-chord crunch of rhythm guitarist Sal Canzonieri, and the monstrously growling voice and searing high-tension-wire leads of Steve Miller. Taken all together and cranking the amps up to eleven, Electric Frankenstein rocks like a full-fledged volcanic eruption in the infernal pits of Hades during the Rapture with Godzilla making a special guest appearance as musical director and uncontested expert of destruction. In other words, Electric Frankenstein is loud, intimidating, brutal, and unrefined, the way a real rock n’ roll band should be.

The list of Electric Frankenstein’s influences is lengthy. In that same interview in Horror Garage, Canzonieri mentions how he was fortunate enough to witness the growth of a multitude of scenes over the years, from garage punk’s genesis in the mid-60s to the heavy sludge of early 90s grunge, and all those scenes that happened in between. And the sounds of the bands from that countless list of influences comes through in Electric Frankenstein’s own output.

In 1997, Electric Frankenstein showed their gratitude to the raw brand of 70s rock that had such a major impact on their sound by releasing Sick Songs. Cub Koda, writing for AllMusic, expresses everything about the album that I would care to express:,

The spirit of the Ramones and Iggy and the Stooges is what hovers over the tunes aboard this eight-song album of mayhem from this quintet of power-punk rockers from New Jersey. Almost everything is played in the same key and everything sports the pre-punk approved two-beat rhythm played at warp factor speed ten. Since attitude is everything on these types of records, the band succeeds mightily; the music is well played, the sounds are predictable and whatever meaning the lyrics had are long gone in the molten-lava metal mix of guitar riffs vying for space with tons of thudding bass and drums. Catchy though derivative, tunes like "I'll Be Standing," Learn To Burn" and "Born Wild" nonetheless stick in your brain and although this album was recorded in 1996 and '97, it sounds like it could have emerged out of anybody's garage studio in the late '70s or early '80s.

Lead vocalist Steve Miller had left the band to pursue some side projects, so he was replaced by Scott Wilkins on this album. With “I’ll Be Standing (On My Own),” Wilkins does a nice job with his scratchy yelling in a somewhat high register as his bandmates manage to recreate and reflect the uninhibited fury of a beer-soaked 70s Detroit rock show. Everyone seems to come with an equal amount of energy, with simple, catchy riffs, pounding drums, and a spirited guitar solo.

A clear-cut example of these New Jersey boys doing what they do best.

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xeford2020 · 4 years

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Battle of the Superheroes: DC vs. Marvel

DC’s superhero stories, like this 1961 issue of The Flash, invariably ended happily—with problems resolved and loose ends neatly tied up. THF305327 Marvel superheroes often questioned both their superpowers and their general existence, as suggested on this dramatic cover of issue#50 of The Amazing Spider-Man.* The Flash, the Hulk, the Thing; Batman, Ironman, Spider-Man; the Legion of Super-Heroes, the Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy. On and on it goes. The list of comic book superheroes can seem almost endless. How do you tell them apart? To get you started, it helps to know their origin—their company of origin, that is. With a few exceptions, all comic book superheroes trace their origins back to the talented writers and artists who created them at only two companies—DC and Marvel. From their beginnings, these companies differed radically in their approach to superheroes, and these differences can still be discerned today. Superman comic book, 1951 THF141569

DC Comics

Comic book superheroes originated back in the 1930s with Superman. This superpowered alien was the brainchild of two shy but talented teenage boys from Cleveland, Ohio—Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Pooling their drawing and writing talents, they devised the story of a he-man they simply called “The Superman,” who crash-landed on earth from another planet. To keep his true identity safe, Superman needed to adopt a secret identity. Enter Clark Kent, a meek, mild-mannered reporter with a personality remarkably similar to the two boys who had created him.

Siegel and Shuster originally thought their character would lend itself to a great newspaper comic strip. But they had no luck selling the idea to newspaper publishers, so they reluctantly agreed to sell their story in 1937 to the just-formed Detective Comics, Inc. (later shortened to DC). Comic books—especially those featuring single characters rather than simply being collections of comic strips—were as yet an untested medium and both the young creators and the publisher took a risk. Superman first appeared in Action comics (published by National Allied Publications, another corporate predecessor to DC) in June 1938. Surprising everyone involved, he was immediately so popular that the publishers decided to feature him in his own comic book the very next year. This marked the first time a comic book was devoted to a single superhero character.

During the hard times of the Great Depression, Superman’s unprecedented popularity can be attributed to both his secret and his super identities. Clark Kent represented the regular, unassuming common man that people could relate to, while they could happily dream and fantasize about being as infallible and invincible as the larger-than-life Superman. Wonder Woman comic book, 1948 THF141561

The formula was potent and durable. Superman established the essential vocabulary for all DC comic book superheroes to come. He, like superheroes who came after him, represented courage, humility, steadfastness, and a natural sense of responsibility to serving others in need. He placed lofty principles above personal advantage, seeking nothing for himself. As the Great Depression shifted to the patriotic World War II era, new DC superheroes like The Flash and Wonder Woman similarly placed the greater good above their own personal needs. They never questioned their role in defending American democracy. And, following the DC formula, they always triumphed in the end. During the late 1940s and 1950s, young readers were more likely to purchase a comic book about the humorous adventures of teenager Archie Andrews than one about a superhero. THF141542

During the 1950s, sales of comic books declined, especially those about superheroes. Not only were adults concerned about the harmful effects of comic books on children, but superheroes seemed to lose their sense of purpose. During the war years, it had been easy to know which side they were on. What were they fighting for now? Who exactly was the enemy? Only Superman’s popularity continued apace, due to the popular TV series, The Adventures of Superman, which aired from 1951 to 1957. It was through this series that the American public came to know Superman as championing “truth, justice, and the American Way.” The Legion of Super-Heroes, a group of super-powered teenagers who join together to fight villains in the 30th century, have been popular DC superheroes since 1958. THF305330

By the late 1950s, DC superheroes were making a comeback, with both new and revived characters and a host of new supervillains for them to face. New stories were created to fit the times, usually focusing either on scientific advancements (always seen as a positive force) or science fiction. DC superheroes were competent, in control, and single-minded in their devotion to simply being heroic. They solved any problem they encountered in a well-ordered world—a world that, for each character, had to be internally consistent. Stories were comforting, positive, optimistic, reassuring, rational, and moral. Superheroes used their powers responsibly, inevitably siding with established authority. This DC series, which started way back in 1941, featured Superman and Batman teaming up to battle villains. THF305328

The popularity of DC superheroes continued through the 1960s, spiking again with the trend-setting Batman TV show (which aired 1966-68), as well as their being featured on Saturday morning cartoons, in Broadway productions, and through related merchandise. By this time, DC had settled on a standard and successful formula for its superhero stories: colorful and dramatic covers that grabbed kids’ attention, then a focus on plot development that would inevitably lead to a happy ending. Little room was left for developing individual characters. The editors at DC felt that this formula appealed to kids and young teenagers—their core market. Why mess with success? Tales to Astonish #60, from 1964, featured two stories of classic Marvel superheroes: Giant-Man (introduced in 1962 as Ant-Man) with his female partner the Wasp, and The Incredible Hulk, re-introduced after his own series had been cancelled the previous year. *

Marvel Comics

In the late 1930s, following quickly upon the success of Superman over at DC, Timely Comics (later to become Marvel) introduced The Human Torch and Sub-Mariner. The ultra-patriotic Captain America followed them during the World War II era. But Marvel superheroes truly came into their own in the early 1960s.

The Comics Code Authority stamp of approval THF141590 (detail)

The public attack on comic books in the 1950s had put a damper on the comic book industry, forcing several companies to go out of business. It was risky even being in the business at the time. But partly because he figured he had nothing to lose at that point, talented Marvel writer (and later visionary editor) Stan Lee tried a new approach to superheroes that would change the course of comic books forever. He decided he could work within the constraints of the industry’s new self-censorship board, the Comics Code Authority, while at the same time dealing with more serious topics and stories. This Marvel Collectors’ Item Classics from 1965 marked the first time that early classic Marvel stories were reprinted—in this issue, Fantastic Four #2 (January 1962); The Amazing Spider-Man #3 (July 1963); the Ant-Man story from Tales to Astonish #36 (October 1962); and Journey to Mystery featuring The Mighty Thor #97 (October 1963). * The new superheroes that Lee created had relatable personalities, human flaws, and real-life problems. Their stories were purposely aimed at a new audience of older teenagers, who were wrestling with their own insecurities and feelings of alienation. These stories also questioned the scientific advancements of the Atomic Age that DC had embraced as positive forces in people’s lives. What if science ran amok? What if things went horribly wrong? What if there were dire consequences? Many Marvel superheroes, in fact, gained their superpowers because of horrific scientific accidents. Even though the Human Torch and the Thing were both members of the Fantastic Four, in this issue of Strange Tales from 1964, a villain named the Puppet Master manipulated them into fighting each other. *

It started with the Fantastic Four in 1961—Lee’s answer to an assignment to come up with a team like DC’s recently created and very popular Justice League of America. Lee had long thought that typical superheroes were too perfect, that “the best stories of all…are the stories in which the characters seem to be real. You feel you know them, you understand them, you can relate to them.” This “Fantastic” superhero family had four distinctive personalities. Furthermore, they did not act like the polished, restrained, polite superheroes with which comic book readers had long been familiar. They argued, mistrusted each other, had tempers, expressed opinions, led complicated lives. Rather than the public cheering them on in the stories, people feared and were suspicious of them.

The Fantastic Four were a revelation—like no other superheroes that had come before. Older teenagers—for whom DC superheroes had come to seem shallow and one-dimensional—found them original, realistic, exciting. One fan remarked that turning from the Justice League and Superman to the Fantastic Four was like “stepping through a gateway into another dimension.” The Green Goblin, one of The Amazing Spider-Man’s most hated enemies, planned to reveal Spider-Man’s secret identity to the world in issue #39 from August 1966, but in the process, he dramatically revealed his own true identity. *

Marvel quickly followed the popularity of the Fantastic Four with The Incredible Hulk (1962), who not only turned into a brutish monster as the result of a nuclear accident but didn’t even look, act, or sound like a superhero. In 1963, Marvel introduced its most quintessential superhero—The Amazing Spider-Man, an ordinary teenager beset by ordinary teenage problems who, having acquired super-powers after being bitten by a radioactive spider, only reluctantly sets out to fight crime and villains. Dr. Strange, introduced in Strange Tales in 1963, gained his own title in 1968 and made regular appearances across the Marvel universe. *

A quick succession of superheroes followed, each character with his or her own manner of speech, personality, values, and quirks. By the late 1960s, Marvel had woven together an integrated mythology of all its superheroes, in which stories continued, superheroes made guest appearances in others’ stories, and characters could be heroes one day and become villains the next (and vice versa). Marvel’s The Silver Surfer was introduced as a tortured soul, permanently exiled to Earth on a surfboard-like craft as punishment for betraying the evil Galactus on his home planet. *

The Marvel formula, as laid out with Fantastic Four in 1961, became the standard. Stories and characters often focused on alienated and even neurotic individuals with character flaws, inner struggles, and personal grudges. Endings weren’t always happy or satisfying. Superheroes didn’t always get along or leverage their powers to help others. In Marvel superheroes, readers recognized their own failings, struggles, and anxieties. As opposed to DC’s black-and-white world, the Marvel world was gray—more like the real world. This DC comic book series, about a group of misfit and alienated superheroes, was conceived in the Marvel mode but was never as popular as Marvel’s stories of similar outcast groups of superheroes like The X-Men. THF141602

Since the 1960s, most superhero stories in comic books have become darker, more complex, and more serious—often tackling social issues with a gritty realism. This trend has brought DC and Marvel stories, characters, and mythologies closer together in content and tone, though the differences between them are still definable because these are so deeply embedded in their DNA. The King Kon Comic & Fantasy Convention, which ran from 1984 to 1986, was the first regular comic book convention in the Detroit area after the demise of the multi-genre Detroit Triple Fan Fair (that had run from 1965 to 1977). King Kon was a predecessor to the current annual extravaganza, Motor City Comic Con, which began in 1989. *

Superheroes can now be found pretty much everywhere, from Comic Cons to an expanding array of movies, TV shows, mobile games, action figures, and other merchandise. Their worlds are constantly growing, expanding, and changing. It’s easy to get confused. But don’t worry. If you’re trying to make sense of it all, start with the superheroes’ origins. Are they DC or Marvel? Knowing that will set you off on the right track.

Donna R. Braden is Curator of Public Life at The Henry Ford. See her other blog posts, Hooked on Comic Books and Comic Books Under Attack. Items marked with an asterisk (*) are from the author’s collection.

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gamesdownload-blog · 7 years

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Trails of Cold Steel Free Download PC Game

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel Free Download PC Game Cracked in Direct Link and Torrent. The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is no stranger to these rising conflicts: the class system has been deeply embedded into the hearts of every erebonian since the days of….

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel PC Game Overview:

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is developed by Nihon Falcom and published by XSEED Games”,”Marvelous USA, Inc.. It was released in 2 Aug, 2017.

Among the nations on the Zemurian continent, the mighty Erebonian Empire has been quick to outwardly stake its claim militarily; yet politically, ugly bouts of internal conflict between the upper class and commoners attempting to rise to power have been steadily intensifying day by day. The Noble and Reformist Factions have been none too kind to one another over the years, and tensions between the two only stand to worsen if compromises aren’t made in the very near future.

Rean Schwarzer, like any other citizen of the Imperial Nation, is no stranger to these rising conflicts: the class system has been deeply embedded into the hearts of every Erebonian since the days of old. As a seventeen-year-old student preparing for his new life at Thors Military Academy, however, he notices that his crimson uniform differs from the standard ones issued to his peersu2014typically green.

Key Fetures:

KEY FEATURESA World Rich in Depth for Veterans and Newcomers Alike

New Link System Adds Depth to Combat

A Sleek Update to a Classic Growth Mechanic

Experience the Game as Never Before

System Requirement for The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel Free Download:

Minimum:

OS: Windows 7 or later

Processor: Intel Atom x7-Z8700 2.4 GHz

Memory: 4 GB RAM

Graphics: Shader Model 5 (GeForce 400 / Radeon HD 5000 / Intel post-2012 series)

DirectX: Version 11

Storage: 17 GB available space

Additional Notes: 1280×720 / 30 FPS with portable settings

Recommended:

OS: Windows 7 or later

Processor: Intel i3 3 GHz

Memory: 4 GB RAM

Graphics: Geforce GTX 770 / Radeon R9 280X

DirectX: Version 11

Storage: 17 GB available space

Additional Notes: 1920×1080 / 60 FPS with high settings

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krjpalmer · 1 year

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In observing “fandoms” of long-running things it can get all too tempting to suppose that with the passage of time some might do better to detach not just from what annoys them now but also from what’s still to come to see if they can stick with what they have liked. I suppose I’ve pulled a ripcord or two myself, and in at least one case I do seem to have stuck with a subset of the past for all that it’s not the subset a lot of other people had long made a big deal of holding up as the reproach to everything else. In other cases I’ve been more tolerant, or adaptable, or just plain “undiscerning,” but for all that I began this year with hopes of flitting past a full sixty years of anime and coming out unscathed I was conscious one dividing line has been drawn right between the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s...

#dreamwidth crosspost #anime #60 years since mighty atom #nadia the secret of blue water

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le-reactionnaire-blog · 7 years

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@colonialism discourse

you know at one point somebody like lawrence durrell could move to alexandria as if it were prague, live a healthy and happy productive enough life there to publish four novels taking place there without any fear?

that many cities upon the nile were thriving cosmopolitan metropolises that even housed many jews that escaped from greece (there aren’t a lot of jews in egypt anymore)

here’s a little excerpt from lucette lagnado on returning to liberated egypt:

As my car pulled into Suleiman Pasha Square in the heart of downtown Cairo, I spotted it immediately -- Groppi's, the patisserie that was really so much more: A palace of pleasure, the hub of elegant European social life, the city at its most vibrant and cosmopolitan. It seemed exactly as I remembered it when I'd last seen it as a little girl more than 40 years earlier, its name in that charming old-fashioned scrawl, the entrance covered by colorful mosaics and, inside, the same cool, high-ceilinged, marble elegance and pale pink walls. Or maybe not the same. The shelves were almost bare. No one stood in line at the ancient cash register. The few trays of pastries, which seemed neither French nor Middle Eastern, looked thoroughly unappetizing. The dining area had dozens of tables and almost no diners. I was only six when my family left Egypt in 1963, among tens of thousands of Jews forced to leave in a modern-day exodus. After we fled, first to Paris then New York, I grew up on a diet of stories about our lost life. Many featured Groppi's: Part pastry-shop, part paradise, a favorite of kings, colonialists and privileged Cairenes. Now, Groppi's was like the rest of Cairo -- a museum to a bygone era.

but what about leopold an the belgian congo? tragedy, you probably know everything there is to know about it

what about the congo for the 52 years after the Free State was abolished? silence, but here’s a snapshot of it from a TIME magazine article in 1955:

The Congo is King Baudouin's richest, widest realm. It is eighty times the size of the mother country, and half again as populous. Booming Congo exports provide the dollars and pounds that make the Belgian franc one of the world's hardest currencies. Belgians drink Congo coffee, wear shirts made of Congo cotton, wash them with soap made from Congo palm kernels. Without the mighty Congo, little Belgium might go broke; with it, a nation of 9,000,000 still counts as a world empire. To novelist Joseph Conrad, the Congo River was "an immense snake uncoiled" curving through "joyless sunshine into the heart of darkness." There was plenty of darkness in the Congo during the 19th-century "scramble for Africa," when Baudoin's great-granduncle, Leopold II, staked out his monarchical claim to the uncharted Congo Free State. Leopold's rubber gatherers tortured, maimed and slaughtered until at the turn of the century, the conscience of the Western world forced Brussels to call a halt. Today, all has changed. Nowhere in Africa is the Bantu so well fed and housed, so productive and so content as he is in the Belgian Congo. In little more than a generation of intense economic effort, the Belgians have injected 20 centuries of Western mechanical progress into a Stone Age wilderness. The results are staggering: in forests, where 50 years ago there were no roads because the wheel was unknown, no schools because there was no alphabet, no peace because there was neither the will nor the means to enforce it, the sons of cannibals now mine the raw materials of the Atomic Age. Belgian brains and Bantu muscle have thrust back the forest and checked the dread diseases (yaws, sleeping sickness, malaria) which sapped the Bantu's strength. In some areas, the Congo's infant-mortality rate is down to 60 per 1,000—better than Italy's figure. More than 1,000,000 children attend primary and secondary schools—40% of the school-age population (compared with less than 10% in the French empire). The Belgians taught the Bantu to run bulldozers, looms and furnaces, to rivet ships, drive taxis and trucks. Girls with grotesque tribal markings etched into their ebony foreheads sell in shops, teach in schools, nurse in hospitals. Already thousands of natives in the Congo's bustling cities earn $100-$150 a month —more than most workers in Europe, and small fortunes by African standards. They buy sewing machines, phonographs and bicycles in such profusion that Sears, Roebuck has recently put out a special Congo catalogue. The Belgians compare the Congo with the state of Texas, though in fact the Congo is bigger and far richer in its natural resources. The Congo's gross national product has tripled since 1939. Money is plentiful. Belgian investors take more than $50 million a year in dividends alone. Once the Congo depended exclusively on mining and farming; today it manufactures ships, shoes, cigarettes, chemicals, explosives and photographic film. With its immense reserves of hydroelectric power (a fifth of the world's total), the Belgians expect the Congo to become "the processing plant for all Africa." The Congo boom makes its cities grow like well-nourished bamboo shoots. In six years the Negro population of Elisabethville has jumped from 40,000 to 120,000, Costermansville from 7,000 to 25,000, Stanleyville from 25,000 to 48,000. But the pride of the Congo is Leopoldville (pop. 370,000), a bustling, modern metropolis that is spreading along the south bank of Stanley Pool (see map).

obviously, things have improved in the congo today from those dark times, Not.

decolonization was pretty crazy, if you ever take the time to notice, mostly because you see all the genocide that happened between the different ethnic groups in these countries. this is usually blamed on the lines on a map being drawn unrealistically, which i’m sure didn’t help, but its as if the people that carried out these genocides had no moral agency.

haven’t even mentioned mugabe or anything that’s happened in south africa these days.

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