SKJAM! News and Reviews

Updates from my blog and other tidbits

[convergencecon]

CONvergence Guest of Honor NUR-D on CON-Link

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CONvergence Guest of Honor NUR-D on CON-Link

[thecreaturecodex]

Kasa-obake

“Yokai Monsters: Karakasa-obake” © Richard Svensson, accessed at his dA gallery here

[The kasa-obake is perhaps one of the most recognizable yokai, and one with a surfeit of names. They’re also known as kasabake, karakasa-obake and karakasa kozo. Regardless of the name, they’re delightful little guys, and the inspiration for the Pokemon move Lick. ]

Kasa-obake CR 2 CN Construct (tsukumogami) Hopping forth from the darkness is a comical, yet unnerving, creature—an umbrella given somewhat humanoid form. It lopes along on only a single leg and gazes with only a single eye. Its long tongue hangs from its mouth and probes ahead of it like an obscene feeler.

Kasa-obake are one of the more common and beloved forms of tsukumogami, the creatures spontaneously created from antique objects. Despite their grotesque appearance, kasa-obake are friendly and playful creatures. They love to play pranks, moving small belongings, rearranging furniture and, their favorite, sneaking up behind an unsuspecting victim and planting an oily lick on the back of their neck. The paralytic ooze that drips from their tongue wears off quickly.

Many urban monsters, both good and evil, delight in the appearance of a kasa-obake and will adopt them as a mascot. Kasa-obake are naïve creatures and can take after their monstrous cohorts as a child raised badly may turn to wicked deeds themselves.

Keep reading

[nitpickrider]

Peter, lots of people do it! Just punch him in the faaacceee!

Amazing Spiderman 388

[skjam]

He's never had that kind of daddy issues before.

[nitpickrider]

So...I mean SOMEONE was responsible for Kraven's death

And Peter was definately...there...

But that's not...what happened...as such...

Amazing Spiderman 388

[skjam]

And not mentioning that Kraven is his brother.

[nitpickrider]

Well the real take away here is that they're not your PARENTS, Peter but...I feel like you might be having a moment right now.

Amazing Spiderman 388

[skjam]

And the Chameleon's plan worked, the impostors know Spider-Man's secret identity, so at this point he needs to do something stupid to not be able to leverage that.

[slightlyweemary]

Which is a good time to get back to the rambling buildings of Unseen University and in particular the apartments of Greyhald Spold, currently the oldest wizard on the Disc and determined to keep it that way.

He has just been extremely surprised and upset.

For the last few hours he has been very busy. He may be deaf and a little hard of thinking, but elderly wizards have very well-trained survival instincts, and they know that when a tall figure in a black robe and the latest in agricultural handtools starts looking thoughtfully at you it is time to act fast. The servants have been dismissed. The doorways have been sealed with a paste made from powdered mayflies, and protective octograms have been drawn on the windows. Rare and rather smelly oils have been poured in complex patterns on the floor, in designs which hurt the eyes and suggest the designer was drunk or from some other dimension or, possibly, both; in the very centre of the room is the eightfold octogram of Witholding, surrounded by red and green candles. And in the centre of that is a box made from wood of the curly-fern pine, which grows to a great age, and it is lined with red silk and yet more protective amulets. Because Greyhald Spold knows that Death is looking for him, and has spent many years designing an impregnable hiding place.

He has just set the complicated clockwork of the lock and shut the lid, lying back in the knowledge that here at last is the perfect defence against the most ultimate of all his enemies, although as yet he has not considered the important part that airholes must play in an enterprise of this kind.

And right beside him, very close to his ear, a voice has just said: DARK IN HERE, ISN'T IT?

[dcdreamblog]

I recently found out that, contrary to popular belief, President Luthor wasn't impeached because he lost his mind and tried to fistfight Superman in power armor in public; that got Section 4 of the 25th Amendment invoked, but his subsequent impeachment and removal from office was actually over his actions in the lead-up to and during the Imperiex War, where he was asserted to be more concerned with trying to humiliate Superman and the Justice League than effectively defending the nation (and the planet. And the galaxy. And possibly the universe) Given that we won, that sounds weird, can you elaborate on what, exactly, he did?

He knew.

The bastard KNEW.

At least three inhabited planets reduced to rubble, a dozen galaxies placed under threat of annihilation, the Earth caught in the center of a battle that would be waged for the fate of all existence against a mad tyrant seeking to remake all of creation in his own vile image.

And President Lex Luthor knew about it. MONTHS in advance. And he kept it to himself to make himself look good. And then he lied about it. And he used a convicted fugitive TO lie about it. And then he tried to kill us all so he could reign over the ashes.

(A "war poster" created during Luthor's administration and the Imperiex War)

The Imperiex War as it has come to be known was an assault on the Earth that caused devastating damage to Topkea, Kansas, the island of Themyscira and half a dozen other locations and was instigated by the mad alien Imperiex. Seeking to undo the "imperfection" he sensed in the universe by destroying all of creation as we know it and resetting things with a new big bang. Which would, of course, kill all beings in THIS universe not counting all the sentient beings he killed in his regular military actions against planets that happened to be in his way. The death toll on Earth was upwards of 7 million, the death toll in the wider universe is beyond our ability to count.

And Lex Luthor knew about it nearly a year in advance.

Superman had gone off to fight one of Imperiex's probes during their FIRST planetary assault. Bringing back information about Imperiex's plans, his army, his tactics, everything we could possibly have needed to begin assembling defensive plans and marshalling resources for the arrival of the enemy's first wave.

Save that most of that defensive posture would probably have including a combined plan, using the Earth's superhuman defenders as the vanguard and spear point in any counterattack. And they'd get most of the credit, because they'd do most of the fighting and bleeding for Earth's future. As they most often do.

Instead he waiting until the attack arrived, catching world governments AND the superhero community flat footed so that he could make the "hard choices" of basing most of his defensive strategy around allying himself with Pokolistani dictator General Zod and literal space god of tyranny Darkseid. Also giving him the leeway in the midst of a global panic to "draft" superheroes outside the confines of the law (even Article X, which he never invoked despite this being the kind of situation it was made for), toss them out on hastily planned suicide missions so that eventually he would be the one making grand speeches and standing for the flag in the aftermath.

And we won. Barely. Because our heroes are the kind of people who can find the light in a situation like that and pull our fat out of the fire. After 7. Million. Deaths. And the devastation of a major American city that in many ways still hasn't recovered.

Lois Lane and Clark Kent of the Daily Planet, because they are VERY good at their jobs, uncovered a trail stating that President Luthor did intentionally sabotage Earth's defense for the sake of his own popularity. Using this information they got him to commit to testify about it under oath, using the psychic powers of the Martian Manhunter as an actually effective lie detector test. Backed into this legal corner Luthor then pardoned and began working with internationally convicted terrorist Manchester Black, using Black's mental abilities to shield and misdirect the Manhunter's scans. A bit of legal chicanery that temporary cost both Lane and Kent their jobs and their reputations.

It was only after Black turned on Luthor, shortly before Black's suicide that the truth began to come to light. A desperate Luthor once AGAIN keeping the existence of a massive Kryptonite meteor a secret for weeks in an attempt to either solve it himself OR shift blame to Superman and then finally settling on a Vault Tec style plan to ride out the crashing of the asteroid and reign over the Earth's ashes. He failed, again. And this time when he was caught on national television ranting like a madman in a public brawl with Superman wearing Apokoliptan war armor there was no pretense left to be had.

They only used his withholding of knowledge of Imperiex as the basis for impeachment because it's the only article they really NEEDED. Even any partisan support Luthor may have rated was flushed down the tubes by his insistence on running as the most arrogant independent in American history and to this day his supporters are scattered conspiracy theorists and marks who will fall for Luthor's lies no matter how many times he plans on telling them. More's the pity for them, he feeds rubes to the wolves first.

[newearth2]

Captain Marvel, Shazam, and the Identity Crisis of the Shazam Family

I’ve been catching up on a lot of books on DC Universe Infinite, and I noticed that Mark Waid’s Justice League Unlimited has Billy Batson going back to being called Captain Marvel. It’s the first time in nearly two decades Billy has officially used the name again.

Back in Judd Winick and Howard Porter’s The Trials of Shazam!, Billy took the place of the Wizard Shazam and passed the role of Captain Marvel on to Freddy Freeman.

Then Flashpoint and the New 52 completely reshaped the Shazam Family. Billy’s superhero name became Shazam, and he shared his powers with his foster siblings Mary Bromfield, Freddy Freeman, Pedro Peña, Eugene Choi, and Darla Dudley.

Honestly, I may have been in the minority, but the name change worked for me. DC couldn’t legally publish a book called Captain Marvel anymore, so all modern Billy Batson books were titled Shazam. Plus, growing up, most kids I knew called him Shazam anyway.

The real issue wasn’t the name change. It was the logistics of it. If Billy says “Shazam,” he transforms. So how does he introduce himself without revealing his identity? Thankfully, there was a clever in-story explanation that the magic words only work when spoken with conviction. It reminded me of Harry Potter, where the spells weren’t just about saying the words correctly. The intent and focus mattered too. So many scenes were focus on the characters saying the words correctly in classes.

Still, Billy had another problem: nobody else in the family really had proper superhero identities. Mary was briefly called Lady Shazam, Freddy became King Shazam for a while as a nod to his Elvis-inspired Captain Marvel Jr. roots, but none of it stuck. Pedro, Eugene, and Darla had unique personalities but just went by their regular names.

That’s where the Shazam naming convention started to fall apart. The problem wasn’t removing “Marvel” from Billy’s name. The problem was that there never seemed to be much effort to give the rest of the family distinct identities, power sets, or superhero roles.

Interestingly, recent stories seemed to be fixing that.

After the family lost their powers during Teen Titans Academy and Shazam! (2021), Mary regained hers in The New Champion of Shazam!, initially taking the name Shazam herself.

During Lazarus Planet: Revenge of the Gods, Billy returned as Shazam while Mary reclaimed the name Mary Marvel. More importantly, their powers became differentiated. Billy’s abilities still came from Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury, while Mary’s powers came from a completely different pantheon tied to goddesses like Selene, Hippolyta, Artemis, Zephyrus, Aurora, and Minerva.

Then Mark Waid and Dan Mora’s Shazam! (2023) pushed the concept even further. Billy started going simply by “The Captain,” and while Pedro, Eugene, and Darla remained powerless, the series heavily foreshadowed their return. The Rock of Eternity scenes involving magical artifacts connected them to identities like Mr. Atom, Eugene the Invincible, and Bulletgirl.

Freddy also gained an entirely new set of powers through Hephaestus’s Amber Lightning and became The Commander gaining powers from Samson, Hephaestus, All-Father, Zagreus, Airgetlam, and Midas.

That was an exciting direction the Shazam Family was taking. Distinct names, unique magical sources, and individualized powers made each character feel like their own hero instead of alternate versions of Billy.

So for me, the issue post-Flashpoint was never whether Billy should be called Captain Marvel or Shazam. It was that the superhero family lacked identity beyond Billy himself.

And while I’m happy Billy, Mary, and Freddy have their powers back, I’d still like to see Pedro, Eugene, and Darla fully restored as heroes too. Whether intentional or coincidental, it doesn’t look great that the only members of the family left powerless are the characters of color.

Captain Marvel or Shazam? Honestly, either works for me. I just want the entire family to feel unique, powerful, and fully realized.

[krinsbez]

Honestly, I don't know why they just don't make Pedro, Eugene, and Darla the Lieutenents? I mean, the name and concept is right there already.

[skjam]

Hoping for more of Dinosaur! Spy Smasher.

[stuffaboutminneapolis]

Ad for the grand opening of the Dinkytown McDonald's (1963)

[skjam]

I miss when food was actually fast.

[nitpickrider]

There is...no ethical outcome from that description of this machine.

Amazing Spiderman 386

[thefingerfuckingfemalefury]

"NOOOOOOO!

I AM A WOMAN OF SCIENCE, NOT OF WAR!

I BUILT THE DEATH RAY TO HELP MANKIND!

NOT TO DESTROY IT!"

[skjam]

"Artificial alternative"?

Aaron Stack would like to object.

[iconuk01]

Warlock is also looking very unhappy about her research.

[evilhorse]

Nerd…

(Green Lantern Volume 7 #20)

[skjam]

Kyle Rayner has seen at least one Indiana Jones movie.

@doesthebatfamknowpopculture

[nitpickrider]

There is...no ethical outcome from that description of this machine.

Amazing Spiderman 386

[thefingerfuckingfemalefury]

"NOOOOOOO!

I AM A WOMAN OF SCIENCE, NOT OF WAR!

I BUILT THE DEATH RAY TO HELP MANKIND!

NOT TO DESTROY IT!"

[skjam]

"Artificial alternative"?

Aaron Stack would like to object.

[skjam]

Robin Hood thoughts

So, having recently rewatched the Disney Robin Hood movie (the one where everyone is anthropomorphic animals) I am thinking about Robin Hood as a crossover character. He's had a lot of changes over the centuries; tying him specifically to the reign of Prince John didn't happen until about four hundred years after that event, for example. So, what are some of the core aspects of the character that make him Robin Hood?

He's English. While Robin's exact nationality is perhaps flexible, he exists within the conversation of what rights and duties Englishmen have. The further we get from England, the more you will need to adjust the political settings of the background and story.

He's a criminal. Robin Hood works outside the law, and often against it. He might reluctantly work with a law enforcement officer against a worse criminal, but he's suspicious at best of the system, and often considers it outright corrupt.

Despite being a criminal, Robin has a very strong set of ethical principles. He does not steal from people who can't afford it, does not accumulate wealth for himself but distributes it to those who need it, avoids needless killing (but won't hesitate to kill if he has to) and is courteous to women even beyond what is normal for his society.

Robin Hood is a trickster with a sense of humor. He enjoys playing pranks, but also laughs when the joke's on him. Some of his best friends are people who bested him once.

Robin's on the side of the little people. Even when the story for some reason makes him not a yeoman but a fallen noble, Robin Hood always stands for the poor and oppressed.

He's a good leader. Robin is charismatic, and quickly gathers a group of loyal and competent followers. While he's capable of doing missions on his own, he is also excellent at group tactics, logistics and strategy.

Robin Hood is a champion archer at a time when use of the bow was especially tied to the yeoman class. He can use sword and knife, but archery is where he truly shines, which is often a weakness as well, since he cannot resist an archery competition.

Robin is a skilled woodsman, living in the forest, poaching the King's deer, knowing all the paths and how to move without them. Once he's back in Sherwood Forest, you can't catch him.

Any other core traits you can think of? Other thoughts?

@krinsbez @nitpickrider

[iconuk01]

That's a good comprehensive list. The only other things that come to mind, and some are merely expansions of things you've already mentioned:

Robin is a good sport. When he clashes with Little John and loses in a fair fight, he is annoyed with himself, but not resentful towards Little John, and immediately acknowledges him as victor and the better with the quarterstaff, before inviting him to join him. (Apparently earlier versions of the story had Little John being much cannier, and a good leader in his own right, rather than the "not a deep thinker, but incredibly brave and super-loyal" archetype he'd later fill)

Robin Hood is not a womaniser. He is courteous to all women, but romantically, he remains loyal to his one true love, Marian.

In some versions Robin has the private endorsement of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard and John's mother. She shares his opinion of John's stewardship, but cannot act directly, so she aids Robin discreetly.

He respects religion, if not many aspects of the Church. He is devout in his own Christian beliefs, and some legends have him being a devotee of the Virgin Mary. However he despises the hypocrisy from religious powers as much as for the gentry, and will rob a corrupt bishop as easily as a Lord. Friar Tuck is a mendicant monk, who lives simply and humbly, which Robin respects, even if he teases Tuck about his constant appetite. (Being a mendicant monk does not tie into the usual Crusades era setting, as they weren't a thing at that point, but hermitic monks were, and the "jovial monk" archetype was already part of folklore so...)

In some versions Robin is a former soldier, returning from the Crusades, so learned many of the skills he'd use in his mission against Prince John there.

[grazztthedark]

Don't have anything specific to add, but here's a cool video where we see a timeline of where different traits are added to him.

[skjam]

Since the exact time the stories take place is less of a core thing, and Prince John is merely a placeholder for "bad king", we can move Robin Hood to pretty much any era in Middle Ages England without violence to the concept.

For a fairly obvious crossover, Brother Cadfael. The Anarchy works as a time of turmoil when local lords can be awful people and corruption is everywhere in the land. It's fairly easy to come up with a reason for Robin to come to Shrewsbury or Cadfael to come to Nottingham. And we can contrast the corrupt Sheriff of Nottingham with the upright Hugh Beringar.

Arthurian legend is a bit more of a stretch, but we could set the story early in King Arthur's reign, when he is still trying to bring the other petty kingdoms under the sway of Camelot. Nottinghamshire has a bad king, and Robin Hood defends the poor and peasants under his corrupt reign, though by banditry. This allows Arthur to be the Good King who convinces Robin to at least temporarily retire and be pardoned.

Vinland Saga may be doable, as a tale of Askeladd in his younger days visiting England and meeting Robin Hood--perhaps learning something from him in the process.

We can probably also put Robin Hood in fantasy worlds that are basically Middle Ages England, like Westeros or Redwall (though we might not want to make him a fox in the latter.)

Other suggestions, questions, anyone?

[skjam]

Any series with time travel is an obvious choice, and I'm not sure if Doctor Who has ever had a Robin Hood episode. (For extra fun, the Doctor keeps running into Robin every time he's in the Nottingham area, even centuries apart.) Green Arrow might be a bit uncomfortable as he's basically "Robin Hood but more status quo friendly" but Hawkeye would probably enjoy the encounter.

Robin Hood or a near-duplicate will also work in any other area where the central government is disorganized, the local government is oppressive to the poor and downtrodden, and law enforcement is corrupt. He might, for example, be willing to help them Duke boys against Boss Hogg.

Any other obvious or thematically appropriate crossovers you can think of?

[nitpickrider]

That's the second time I've watched a crusty old supervillain jump off the walls of a prison with makeshift wings.

...and the first time was a Scooby Doo movie!

Amazing Spiderman 386

[skjam]

Toomes is too spite filled to die now.

[nitpickrider]

You guys come here, in your knockoff, stolen Iron Man bootlegs.

And missed the part where the actual Iron Man would lose a month and a half of sleep trying to design armor to account for Peter.

And Tony is actually GOOD AT THIS.

Amazing Spiderman 385

[skjam]

Hmm, have we ever actually seen the Spider-Buster armor?

[nitpickrider]

Because if you ask anyone who has been in this business for longer than five minutes, they'll tell you Spiderman's one of the best to ever do it.

Amazing Spiderman 385

[dcdreamblog]

Hi Sid. I recently read a non fiction book about the first Sandman and learned from there that Wesley Dodds had a habit of leaving poems behind after solving a crime, usually connected to the crime in question. The poems themselves... well I'm no literary critic but I think Mr. Dodds' talents laid elsewhere. Still I find it endearing that a man so committed to justice was dedicating some of his surely little free time to writing poetry. Do we know if any other JSA members dabbled in the arts? Apart from modern examples like Black Canary or the previous Starman who is now a painter.

It would be...kind to say that while Wesley Dodds spent most of his adult life ATTACHED to a writer with a generational talent. HE wasn't born with one. I've gotten to look through a good amount of the writing the man did during his lifetime (which was a lot, considering a series of escalating nightmares were what inspired him to become the Sandman in the first place AND he continued to use his dream journals to track crimes before they happened for the rest of his career) and while they're FASCINATING stuff they're not exactly pot boilers. His writing tends toward the dry, observational and technical.

His mixed Jewish-Christian heritage and his own flirting with Buddhist philosophy during his life means he KNEW a lot of pretty words and excerpts but his chemist's mind and somewhat shy persuasion meant he didn't have the right eye for putting them in a better order.

And with a single exception most of his compatriots were the same. And the exception is obvious, because the exception had a talent for everything.

(a poster I found showing the VERY multi-faceted Mr Terrific)

The majority of prominent Golden Age mystery men came from one of two persuasions.

A lot of them were scientists or engineers. Jay Garrick, Alan Scott, Ted Knight, etc. Men of science and technology who were either empowered by their work with the sciences or who used it in their anti-criminal work as a major boon to their abilities. Jay Garrick is a chemist, Alan Scott is a radio engineer with background in railroad engineering, Ted Knight was a genius comparable to J Robert Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein in his understanding of high level physics and mathematics. They're not truly artistic souls. Despite Alan Scott working at a radio station for most of his adult career his taste in music was rather contemporary and his ability to PLAY music was nil.

The other biggest chunk were...roughnecks, broadly. Ted Grant, Al Pratt, Jim Corrigan. People without overtly technical educations if they HAD any higher education at all. People who did most of their talking with their fists and their wits and while they might have appreciated art in the mass appeal it was beginning to have with the dawning of nationwide radio and movies and the like they didn't PERFORM. Look, seeing Ted Grant in his prime practicing the sweet science is just about as close to art as boxing can ever get. Al Pratt could take down ten men with 10x his weight between them and make it look like poetry in motion. But they weren't artists in the direct sense.

Doctors, archeologists, whatever the FUCK Johnny Thunder did for a living. These were the ultimate days of the scientist-engineer and the blue collar.

Except...for him.

Terrance "Terry" Sloane. Olympic wunderkind, business titan, scientific savant. The True Blue Champion, the Man of 10,000 talents. Hell the REASON he became a superhero is because everything he ever tried came so effortlessly to him that getting shot at on a nightly basis was the only way he could find any worthwhile challenge in life. And music was no exception. And art was no exception. And performance was no exception.

In his life, Terry Sloane played upwards of two dozen instruments. Just naming a few of the ones I can both identify and spell: Grand piano, pipe organ, trombone, tuba, saxophone, guitar, sitar, oboe, clarinet, cello, violin, fiddle, harmonica and the accordion. During the JSA's many travels on both eastern and western fronts he would often take the time to learn whatever exotic foreign instruments they came across.

He was an accomplished painter, sculptor and illustrator in dozens of styles, forms and mediums. His pieces have been sold at auction for six figures and his publically available pieces are in museums on 4 continents.

His voice was noted by contemporary reporters AND colleagues as being particularly rich and melodious. He could sing most forms of both classical and popular music. He performed on stage in every act from vaudevillian comedy to Shakespeare. He was a known writer of both fiction and non-fiction, as well as a syndicated columnist in national newspapers for upwards of 3 years.

He was a gymnast.

He tap danced.

He had photographs published in National Geographic.

Whenever you think to ask the question "could a member of the JSA *BLANK*". The answer is yes, and then the follow up to that answer is Terry Sloane.

Look into this man's life and you will find the most heartwarming, uplifting and deeply ABSURDIST autobiography on the planet.

And yes I did say *auto*biography BECAUSE HE DID THAT ONE TOO.