This Week's Comics: January 28, 2022

Been a little while since I delved into the comic books. The good news there is that I had what for me was a pretty big haul: ten books. They were Action Comics #1039; Detective Comics #1048, #1049, & #1050; Fantastic Four #39; Ice Cream Man #28; Icon and Rocket: Season One #5; Saga #55;  Static: Season One #5; Usagi Yojimbo #25.

Action Comics #1039 Really felt and looked like John Carter of Mars. More on that HERE. 

Detective Comics #1048 well, I'm glad that I didn't yield to temptation and put down $23 for the variant cover edition of this book that I spotted last week. My faith in the re-ordering system has been rewarded with the regular cover version at $4.99--which is still a bit much for a comic book, but pretty much par for the course these days. 

I thought that writer Mariko Tamaki did a superb job on this story. It's part of a large arc--the 12-part "The Tower"--but it also had its own nice little arc, in which flashbacks about a main character are used to frame the issue to great effect...and in such away that some dire implications for the future are left as a metallic taste in the mouth. And I am very happy to report that I also have issue #1049, which I purchased last week but held off on reading in the hope that I would get my hands on #1048, and that #1050 was on the stands this week, so presuming that Mariko's writing holds up, I have some significant minutes of reading pleasure still ahead of me.

Oh, the art? Yes, it's good. Executed by Ivans Reis and Danny Miki, with colors by Brad Anderson. I'm familiar with all three of those names, but can't come up with any specifics about the first two, and am guessing that the third is not the Brad Anderson that I know--the one who did such great art on Ka-Zar back in the day. 

Okay, having said that, I have to Google.

Ivan Reis is a 45 year old artist who has done a lot of work for DC, Marvel, and others. Nothing that I read much of, but I undoubtedly crossed paths with him a few times. Danny Miki, who is handling the inks here,  is a 59 year old fellow who has done a shit ton of work for pretty much everybody. And Brad Anderson, I couldn't find anything direct, but I did find a reference to his first work being for DC in 1998, and since Ka-Zar The Savage #1 came out in 1981, obviously this is not the Brad Anderson I was looking for. I wonder what the hell happened to that Brad Anderson? He was a really good artist back in the day.

Oh, and the back-up story was pretty good, too. I still get the feeling that this is going to intersect with the main story at some point, which is cool, and it's also good to see a little Batman here, since he is absent from the lead story in the book.

Detective Comics #1049 and #1050 were also quite satisfying. I also really like the concept of a weekly comic book. In fact, back in the day Action Comics Weekly was quite the tits so far as I was concerned. Wish they'd bring that back.

Fantastic Four #39 Oh...already wrote about this one. Never mind.

Ice Cream Man #28 I've read quite a few issues of this comic book courtesy of the Louisville Free Public Library, but I've only bought a couple. In both cases, it was because of the cover. First, Ice #14, with this:

And though (I'm sorry to admit) I don't remember the specifics, I do remember that the crossword puzzle motif ran throughout the story. Quite clever. 

And now issue #28, with this:

Very cool. I don't know who this W. Maxwell Prince writer feller is, but he's a clever one. Wish he didn't seek out cruelty and perversity on such a regular basis...which is why I haven't read all of the collected issues the library has to offer...and why I don't buy the book regularly...but I do like a nicely designed cover.

And the story this time out? Kind of interesting, but in the end it added up to nothing, and of course there was a gross out bit there. It might be time to stop judging books by their covers.

Icon and Rocket: Season One #5 Only one issue to go after this, and I'm already feeling it. Hopefully it won't be long before Season Two kicks in...or, better yet, we just ditch the whole Season concept and get on with it. 

Saga #55 It's been a VERY long time since Saga #54 came out. Three years or so. But Brian K. Vaughn came back with a big bang on three counts: (1) the story picks up 3 years later and hits the ground running. Very exciting story, excellent art, and the occasional comment that sears its way into your memory. Yes. (2) The cover price is $2.99. Umm...what? (3) And get this: it's 44 pages long, no ads. WHAT? Also, BKV let us know that he has plotted out "the rest" of the story, and that we can look forward to another 53 issues after this one. I'll be there, for sure. 

Static: Season One #5 Wrote about this one elsewhere: HERE. Short version: Static kicks ass.

Usagi Yojimbo #25 Well, you know. It's Usagi. Always good. Rarely great. Sorry, call 'em like I see 'em. I plan on sticking around, though, because sometimes good is good enough.

Next Week's Comics:

Detective Comics #1051

Dark Knights of Steel #4

Suicide Squad #12

Static: Season One #5

I've enjoyed all of the Milestone Comics which have come out in the past year: 

Static #1 June 15 2021

Icon and Rocket #1 July 27 2021

Hardware #1 August 10 2021

Although I have to confess that I'd be happier if they came out a bit more frequently. I'm still waiting on Hardware #4, and Static & Rocket and Icon #5 just came out. That's not exactly a monthly schedule, y'know? And there's STILL no sign of Blood Syndicate.

But I'm a patient guy, so I'm sticking with all of these books. And then some. In fact, my copy of Milestone Compendium One is scheduled to arrive tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to every one of those 1,320 pages of comics from the original  Milestone books.

Static: Season One, written by Vita Ayala--of whom I'd not previously heard, but Vita has done a fair amount of work for both Marvel and DC, as well as some other companies--has been outstanding from the get-go. Vita knows how to move a story forward, delve deep into characters, and, most significantly to me, how to connect the conflict to matters of significance in The Real World. 

Case in point, near the end of Static: Season One #5, this happens:

And it just brought me to a complete halt as I thought about that. And even though I'm not Black or Gay, I connected with it on a profound level.

I have a son who is autistic. I love him dearly, but there are times when he is so hard to be with that I feel myself getting angry. I've often been unable to keep that anger inside, and have expressed it (words only), sometimes thinking that that was the way to get him to stop behaving in the way that he was doing. In the past that often worked. As he's gotten older (28 now) and bigger (200 pounds), however, I've found that it almost never works. In fact, my anger is fuel to his fire, and his fire burns very hot. To the point where he becomes dangerous. So I've learned to keep my anger and frustration in most of the time. And there are times when that is exceedingly difficult to do. And it feels awful to defer in this way. It's emasculating. It's humiliating. But I do it, because not to do it only makes the situation worse. And it can make the situation dangerous. I have no desire to be beaten up by my son. 

So when I saw that panel from Static, I first thought about my son. Then I multiplied my feelings by 12 and thought, That is how it feels to be Black and be harassed by a cop. Or a store owner. Or a teacher. Or a random racist on the street. Etcetera.

America has got to pull its head out of its ass.

America has GOT to pull its head out of its ass.

Action Comics #1039

 

It's a little bit funny. After 56 years of reading comic books, the two that I most look forward to these days are two of the oldest: Detective Comics and Action Comics. Both of which are straight outta the heart of DC, one of the two biggest comics publishers going these days. Does this shoot my indie cred to bits? Does it matter that I still follow Drawn & Quarterly and other smaller independent publishers? Well, don't answer that, because actually I don't care. I buy what catches my eye, not what's cool or whatever.

And Detective and Action have definitely caught my attention of late. Detective is in the midst of a twelve issue weekly story arc in which Batman is largely absent. It's well written and drawn, and the standard covers are amazingly good. Definitely worth a look.

But as for this Superman...this so-called Superman.... This story (which is on Part 4*) has made all of the right choices so far. Writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson has taken Superman down at least or two pegs, possibly more. He is trapped on Mongul's Warworld, he has lost a great deal of his power (if not all) due to red sun radiation, and he looks like he's aged quite a bit, what with the more than a touch of grey on the sides. Check out this page from issue #1039:

Speaking of...the art on this issue...pencils and inks by Riccardo Federici, with colors by Lee Loughridge...is just lovely. And if you had shown me that bit of art from above without giving me any context, I'd have thought it was a John Carter of Mars thing. (Which is a great compliment in my book.) 

Anyway...this is a story of what makes Superman Superman, and as you have no doubt guessed, it's not the powers he received when he became a resident alien on planet Earth. There's one scene in this issue where another captive tells Superman that he has to stop fighting the way he did when he had powers, and though it takes him most of the rest of the issue to wrap his head around that, near the end of the story Superman asks the other guy to teach him how to fight. That's pretty fuckin' cool, ennit? Also, Superman refuses to mortally wound any of his opponents in the arena, and holds fast to his promise that he will work to free all of the prisoners of Warlword. Even the ones who are trying to kill him.

Now THAT's a Super Man.

This story arc will no doubt be collected at some point in the near future, and often the collections are cheaper than the accumulated single issues, but I can't wait that long. It's hard enough waiting four weeks, FF'sS. 

* ComiXology's blurb copy says it's Part III, which I find irritating enough to make a comment on...but I've long since given up on telling ComiXology when they fuck up. 

Again, The Continental

Remember that great song from Sting's first solo album, "If You Love Something, Buy Two or Three"? I decided to follow the Stingster's advice on that, and I just bought my second copy of The Continental Literary Magazine.

For one thing, I wanted to see if the other Barnes & Noble store in Louisville had also gotten copies of the magazine. At first I thought that they hadn't. I scanned the titles of every magazine in the Arts section repeatedly, and was just about to see if somebody had mistakenly put it into the Current Events section (these things happen) when I noticed that on the bottom of the shelf where there were stacks of magazines almost at floor level, that one of the stacks had two clearly Non-Arts things on top of them. I picked up the offending trespassers and low and behold...

Hmmm? Oh, sure. Mr. DeMille?

Ain't it purdy? That plastic wrapping is a nice touch for two reasons: (1) to prevent damage, obviously, but what you can't see until you disrobe it is (2) this magazine has a separate opaque cover...a cover like a hardback book gets. Without the plastic wrapping, there's no way that that cover would stay on the magazine.

And that's not the only classy touch here. Check out this binding:

Who does magazine binding like this? None I've ever seen previously...and I've seen a lot of magazines. They've all come in two varieties: stapled through the middle or glued to the cover's spine  (squarebound). And as you probably have already realized, this means that the separate gatherings are sewn:

Sewn binding! That used to be de rigueur in the book publishing industry--in fact, I even have a few old paperbacks with sewn binding--but nowadays it's rare to find even a hardback book ($30 bucks or so) with this level of quality. 

One last thing vis-à-vis the physical qualities of this magazine: the design / layout. For instance, here are the title pages for one of the entries:

I haven't looked at The New Yorker lately, but I'll bet that they wouldn't spend two of their pages on the title and author of a piece included in their pages. And on the one hand, why should they? You could argue that it's a waste of space, that you could have fit that information into a few lines or one-fourth of a page at most, and then you'd be able to include more text pieces in your magazine. That's perfectly rational. On the other hand, what a way to bring attention to an author and to honor her writing. This kind of layout says, We respect this piece of writing. (I lean that way, in case you hadn't guessed.)

All this explains the heavy price of the magazine: $19.90. I don't normally buy magazines these days because the prices have shot up so much. In fact, last time I looked at a copy of a magazine I was interested in it was $15...and it was nowhere near The Continental in terms of quality. Or quantity. 

So there's that.

And the contents? Well, I'm still working my way through it, because there are a lot of pieces in these 208 pages--24 of them, to be exact-- but I've been very pleased by what I've read so far. I started with the interview with Noam Chomsky, which was one of the reasons that I was hunting this magazine down, and I found it to be most excellent. For one thing, the interviewer starts with questions about LANGUAGE. Given his status as an expert on geopolitical realities, it's easy to forget that Noam was first a world-renowned linguist, and I liked the fact that interviewer Sándor Jászberényi started with that, then followed the trail of language into the geopolitical implications.

(Mr. Jászberényi, by the way, is the Editor-in-Chief of The Continental, and also the author of Black Dog: Stories from the Middle East and Beyond [New Europe, 2014] & The Most Beautiful Night of the Soul: More Stories from the Middle East and Beyond [New Europe Books, 2019]--both of which reside in the bowels of the Louisville Free Public Library, and both of which are on my Must Read Soon list.)

And speaking of Mr. Jászberényi, I've also read his Introduction to the magazine, which was heartfelt and honest and engaging. 

And I've read "Big Brother" by Tope Folarin,  Nigerian-American writer and Executive Director of the Institute for Policy Studies, which was an interesting take on something that I do not care about at all: reality tv shows in America. I consider it quite an accomplishment on Mr. Folarin's part that he wrote a piece about something in which I had less than zero interest in such a way that I stuck with it until the end. Which didn't make me have any more love for reality tv, but it did make me respect Mr. Folarin's writing. 

And I'm currently reading "Indians" by Lance Henson, a Cheyenne ("Indian") poet. I'm really interested in this piece, and will be finishing it up as soon as I stop singing the praises of The Continental here. And if you're wondering, "What are pieces by a Nigerian-American and a Cheyene doing in a magazine that is Central European (especially Hungarian) centered, I can only say that this is a No Borders magazine.

Okay. So I've only put away 34 of the 208 pages in this first issue of TC...which is a meager 16%...but I'm already feeling good about my purchase. So good that, yes, I did buy a second copy of the magazine.

For one thing, I wanted to support them. Not just by buying a second copy, but also by buying one from each of the two Barnes & Noble stores in Louisville, so that both of them would record a sale. Hopefully that will encourage them to order the second issue.

For another thing, I have a son for whom it is impossible to buy good birthday presents. He reads voraciously, and I love to give him books, but he is up to his neck in books that he has already purchased and wants to read. And I no longer have a clear idea of what he already owns and what he does not. I could easily buy him something useless and cute, but I'd much rather buy him something that would surprise him a bit and perhaps even delight him. So I will be giving my second copy of The Continental  to him for his birthday. And something else as well, of course, but whatever that turns out to be will pale in comparison to this loverly magazine. I'm even willing to bet that he'll be so interested in the Noam Chomsky interview that he'll peel off the plastic and read that piece tout de suite. And maybe that will lead to more.

News as it happens. 

Northern Exposure Season Two

Episode 1 (9) "Goodbye to All That" 

Several fantasy sequences were used in this one to great effect. Also used clips from several tv shows, many of them in foreign languages (like a Japanese dubbed Magnum P.I.). Plus, there was a nice parallel story going on: Joel was fantasy-sequencing about Elaine after she dumped him via letter, and Shelly was struggling with becoming addicted to tv fantasies after Holling gives her a dish antenna which pulls in 200 channels from all over the world. 

Episode 2 (10) "The Big Kiss" 

Fantasy sequences have definitely become a mainstay of the series at this point...and it really, really works. Although

Episode 3 (11) "The Big Kiss"

actually didn't have one...or did it? Ed is visited by a spirit who guides him on a quest, and it's unclear as to whether this is "real" or not.

Episode 4 (12) "What I Did for Love" 

substitutes dreams for fantasy sequences...but that's really the same thing, isn't it?

After watching Season One I wasn't too sure how I felt about this series. The first four episodes didn't do much for me, but the final four starting getting me interested. After finishing Disc One of the second season, though, I was really enjoying this immensely. And maybe it's my imagination, but it seems to me that the two leads (Rob Morrow as Joel Fleischman & Janine Turner as Mary Margaret "Maggie" O'Connell) were acclimating to their roles, not over-acting nearly so often, just getting better at it. The rest of the cast is just delightful, especially Darren Burrows as Ed Chigliak and John Corbett as Christopher Danforth Stevens. I laughed out loud several times during these four episodes. Oh, the writers are also doing a good job of bringing the romance between Joel and Maggie temperature up very slowly...and believably. That frog is going to get boiled.

Episode 5 (13) "Spring Break"

Two things on this episode: (1) the visiting police officer, played by Diane Delano, looked and sounded exACTly like Katie Sackhoff. So much so that I really thought that it WAS her.

(2) At one point in the show, Dr. Joel's secretary says, "White people. They get crazy." Which goes along with the "White people can't see him" thing in "The Big Kiss." I like the way that the "native" perspective creeps into the goings-on. Oh, and one more thing: (3) the parody of the "Simply Irresistible" video was pretty fuckin' funny.

Episode 6 (14) "War and Peace" The ending of this episode was my favorite Northern Exposure moment to date, and one of my favorite television moments ever. Don't want to say too much, but will note that the fourth wall was not just broken, it was shattered, and then the shards were kicked about like a soccer ball in the final moments of a World Cup game. Definitely must see tv here.

Episode 7 (15) "Slow Dance"

Well, anything after (14) would be anticlimactic, but this one had some moments. TBH, I didn't find the whole Absurd Death and Funeral to be at all funny, but maybe I'm just persnickety about that kind of stuff. Death becomes significantly less funny when you're a 65 year old guy living with heart failure.

Onward to Season Three...as soon as the library gets it to me, which might be awhile, alas. Why oh why did they stop fining us for being late? That's just not the thing to do, man.

Speaking of, I happened to see that Walmart has The Complete Northern Exposure for sale for a mere $40. It's worth doing, and I probably would have done it, but I'm thinking that (1) I'll probably never watch this series again, so all I'd be buying was the convenience of being able to binge out, (2) I don't know anybody I could loan these things to, so they'd just sit on my shelf until I die, and (3) the library isn't prompt with loaning the seasons out--since they only have one copy of most of them--but they do hold all of the seasons. Besides, having to wait sometimes heightens the pleasure. So I'm going to wait. 

I think.

BTW, from the Something to Look Forward To Department:  Episode 74 guest stars a 23 year old Regina King. She is so superb in Southland and HBO's Watchmen. (A shame she does those asinine commercials, though. Ain't it funny how money can make you deaf as well as blind?#)

* That's Dave Stewart giving David Bowie some lyrical shit in "Diamond Avenue"--a superb song on a truly great album: Dave Stewart and the Spiritual Cowboys.

This Week's Comics: January 20, 2022

I didn't make it to The Great Escape last week, but I was jonesing for Detective Comics #1048 so bad that I slid into The Destination for a fix...and they didn't have it. So now I'm two issues behind. Which will hopefully be corrected this Friday / tomorrow. 

But I did check out the holdings on hoopla just to tide me over. And I was surprised to see that Boom!Studios had just started a new Buffy the Vampire series. 

Now, normally this wouldn't be any cause for celebration on my part. I've never been a big Buffy fan. I saw the movie (meh),  saw a few of the shows (meh), read a few of the comic books (meh).  I bought one of the novels, but only because it was written by Arthur Byron Cover. And I never did get around to reading it. I did spend a little more effort on Angel. In fact, Joe and I watched a lot of those shows together, and I even bought the boxed set...but never got around to watching any of the discs. And I read at least thirty of the comic books.

But this Buffy comic book caught my eye because there was a big twist: it's entitled Buffy the Last Vampire Slayer, and it features a much older Buffy...wrinkly and white-haired, so I'm guessing she's at least in her sixties...who is (1) living in a post-apocalyptic kind of world where humans and vampires have worked out a non-aggression treaty, (2) the last vampire hunter standing, and (3) inexplicably now immortal. 

Well. They had me at "older." 

So I checked out issue 1.

The art wasn't my cup of tea. It's that angular, kind of ugly style that seems to be popular amongst...well, I don't know who, but I see a lot of it. But the story...by Casey Gilly...was a pleasing scent in my nostrils. Even though I had no idea who Casey Gilly was.  But in the 21st Century, that doesn't usually last long unless you want it to. So I poked around. Among other things, I found this interview...

...in which she reveals, among other things, that she is 41 years old.  More significantly, she reveals that a Boom! Studios editor came to her with the idea that they wanted to hear a Buffy pitch which included the ideas of (1) an Apocalypse and (2) Willow's daughter is a Slayer.  So there's that.

Here's a panel which I liked:

And which I thought kind of summed up a lot of things about the series. For instance, Buffy is no longer the Pretty Girl. She's also no longer bouncy and full of hope and optimism. And she's definitely become more "selfish" (for lack of a better word). All of which makes me think that maybe an older woman really was the best pick to write this book. Because a younger woman might be able to imagine how age tempers the mind and mood as well as the body, but imagination can't take you into the flesh.

So I checked Issue #2 out from hoopla. It was more of the same, and by that I mean GOOD. Also, this issue was released January 12, 2022.  I don't understand how hoopla is getting books as they hit the stands.

As a matter of fact, a couple of days later  (yesterday, the 22nd) I made it to The Great Escape, and Issue #2 was still on the stands. For $4.99. So once again, thank you, hoopla. That's another $10 you saved me.

Whilst at The Great Escape, I also picked up 

Detective Comics #1049 (the only copy of #1048 to be had was an alternate cover which went for $13, and I didn't have it in me to go that far), Fantastic Four #39, Icon and Rocket #5 (finally! the previous issue came out in NoVEMber!), and Usagi Yojimbo #25. 

I was glad to see that I hadn't missed any issues of Fantastic Four, as I had feared. This was an interesting story, too. The FF have to go to court (with She-Hulk as their lawyer, of course) to defend themselves against The Wizard, who is suing them for custody of his "son" (a clone, actually). Interesting, too, is that there is not a single punch thrown in this issue. In fact, the only "fight" is when Sue slaps Johnny for being a bitch, and the only other violence is when The Wizard breaks a window. There are also a few guest cameos, the most notable one being Prince Namor. This is definitely a different kind of Fantastic Four story, and I enjoyed it. And the art was not bad, which nowadays is as good as it gets in many cases. Except for the cover, that is. I got a variant which pictured Sue glowing red and with devil horns, attacking Reed. Nothing like that happened in this story. But you know...COMic books. Looks like next issue starts some big War thing, so probably back to the usual bullshit, but I think I'll give it a try just to see what Mr. Dan Slott is up to.

Next Week's Comics:

Well, Detective Comics #1050...and yes, I did finally put it on my Holds List. Not being able to find #1048 cured me of thinking, "It's Detective, of course there will be plenty of copies." 

Saga #55! Yep, Saga has returned. After a VERY long hiatus. I had the sense to put this on my Holds List, too. 

Action Comics #1039 Also Sir Now Appearing On My Holds List.

A Kiss on the Hand May Be Quite...

It's been a shitty week. I was going to say "a super shitty week," but I'm going to reserve that appellation for situations wherein I think I might get the shit beat out of me, like two weeks ago, for instance. But a shitty week, for sure. So after I dropped my son off at work I decided to spend one of my three hours Off Duty by going to Barnes & Noble.

My sister gave me a gift certificate to B&N for Christmas. I'd visited both Louisville stores a couple of times, but I hadn't happened upon anything I really felt that I needed to have. Also, I kept hoping that I would spot a copy of The Continental Literary Magazine. I'd run across an ad for this new magazine somewhere, and I had a FEver for it. (Because (1) it's Hungarian (-ish), (2) it's a new literary magazine trying to survive in a world which doesn't give many grams of shit about literary magazines, and (3) the first issue boasted an interview with Noam Chomsky, who has long been one of my biggest heroes. But I met with no luck on any of those visits. 

I also called one of the stores...and was told that they'd never heard of The Continental. And I emailed Barnes and Noble central and was told

And I emailed The Continental directly and got no reply at all. 

I could have purchased it (1) in print, (2) in digital form, or (3) as a subscription online, but there was some funky pay thing that I didn't feel good about using, and no other options, so I kept thinking that I'd find another way to get my hands on it.

I checked Amazon. (And you know I hate Amazon.) I checked eBay. Nope and nope. I tried to think if there was anybody I knew who lived in New York City who might be willing to pick up a copy and mail it to me--because you KNOW that there would be copies available in NYC. And yes, I had one good possibility and another fair to middling possibility. 

But hope springs eternal, and I really wanted to pluck this off of a shelf with my own two. 

So today I stopped at The Paddock B&N again, and did a quick scan of the News(-y) magazines. (It's always best not to rely on the perspicacity of strangers.) Nope. I rounded the corner and looked at the "Art" magazines. I immediately spotted a copy of Analog and picked that up, then started scanning all of the titles, starting with The Strand top left and proceeding row by row by row to the final title at bottom right. Started to walk away when it hit me:

Holy shit! It's The Continental! 

My heart leaped up when I beheld
This Hungarian gadfly....

I plucked it from its perch and cradled it to my breast. When we both had quieted a bit, I checked to see how many copies were still on the shelf: 1, 2, 3, 4. Hmmm. Well, maybe there were more in the back, y'know? And maybe the other B&N has it on their shelf now, too. But the price is a bit steep: $19.90. 

But it seemed like a great deal to me. So I paid up, using most of my Gift Card, and carefully drove my baby home.

Picture taken in parking lot, no need to lecture me about using the phone camera whilst driving.

And now...I'm going to peel that plastic cover off and settle in for a good long read.

So...if you (1) like to support literary magazines, (2) want to help out an underdog in tough times, (3) like things Hungarian, (4) like Noam Chomsky, or (5) All of the Above, then act now and scoop up your copy!

More news as it happens.

My Fucked-Up EKG, An Alternate Stress Test, Naval Aircraft in WWII, & Trump During Wartime

 

According to my cardiologist, my EKG is fucked up *, will permanently be fucked up, and is completely unfuckedupable. And because it is fucked up...see that mean right hook above?...she told me that they couldn't give me a regular stress test--where you get on a treadmill and they try to get you to run fast enough that you'll die. On the other hand, she said that she needed to see my heart under stress test conditions to figure out why I was having so much pain on a regular basis, so she told me that I was going to have an alternate kind of stress test: they would inject me with drugs which would stress my heart the same way that intense exercise would.

Well. I've taken my fair share of drugs during my youth, but I didn't like the sound of that at all. But since I didn't have a choice in the matter (other than E. None of the Above, which could result in my nascent demise), I showed up for the test. 

I confessed my trepidations to the nurse, and she assured me that there was nothing to it, that my heart would not begin to beat at an insane pace, that it would not last very long, and that at most I might feel a little bit flushed. I felt relieved and began to relax.

Unfortunately, five seconds after the drugs were injected into me, I discovered that she had lied.

Almost immediately I felt like I couldn't breathe, my head began to pound, and I thought that I was going to throw up. I sat in the chair staring at my "live" fucked up EKG on screen for fifteen minutes or so, absolutely miserable, and when that was over I was taken to another room where I sat in a chair and a huge camera was pressed up against my chest, so tightly that I could not take a deep breath. I was told that I would have to be completely still during this process, which would take 8 minutes. It seemed like 80. And when that was over, I was sent back to the Men's Waiting Room (hmmm) for a brief respite, then sent back to the huge camera for another squishing. This time the nurse came back about a minute before the session was supposed to end and told me that the camera had fucked up and that she would have to start over. So another 8 (80) minutes.

Back to the waiting room.

My head was still pounding, but I could breathe and didn't feel like vomiting, so when another guy in the room wanted to chat, I was up to the task. I quickly found out that he was a private airplane pilot, and that he had formerly been a helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War. As we chatted, I mentioned that I was currently reading a book about The Pacific War Theater of World War II (the three volume The Pacific Trilogy by Ian W. Toll), and we then had a nice little discussion about the merits and demerits of the Japanese fighter plane, the Zero. I told him the story I'd read about how because of lack of infrastrucutre the newly built Zeroes were taken to the airfield by oxen, and he seemed delighted by that and said he'd never heard of that before. Pilot Guy then said something like, "I can't remember what U.S. plane finally surpassed the Zero." I knew I had read about this in Toll's book, but wasn't confident that I remembered the answer. "Was it the Hellcat?" He said he didn't think that was it. (Checking back now, it looks like it was: HERE.) Then something about Ukraine came on the news on the tv that hovered over our heads. Pilot Guy immediately pivoted to that, saying that he hoped that it wouldn't come to us sending troops to die, and then said that he wouldn't trust Biden to lead us in a war. "I'd trust Trump," he said. I usually try not to react to situations like that, figuring that there's nothing to be gained (other than ire) by showing my cards and that I might learn something if I just listen, but it was not to be so today, because he immediately quashed himself, saying something along the lines of, "I didn't mean to get political," and then shortly after that he was called away for another part of his test and he didn't come back.

I wish we could have talked more. I mean, here was a guy who struck me as intelligent and good natured, and a guy who had some serious military experience...during wartime...and yet he was clearly pro-Trump. And why on earth would he think that a guy whose only military experience was running from the draft was qualified to lead troops into battle? I suppose the answer would be that he saw Trump as decisive and bold, but I would like to hear Pilot Guy's reasons for coming to that conclusion.

Well...maybe next stress test we'll bump into each other again. Assuming we're both alive a year from now.

* Not a direct quote.

DDR: Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944 - 1945 by Ian W. Toll

Day 1 (DDRD 1,548) January 26, 2022

Read to page 20.

The Prologue gives a nice overview before we get back to the nitty gritty details of war in the Pacific Theater. I was surprised to see that as I read these pages, I couldn't help but note that there were a couple of distinct parallels between FDR and Trump: (1) a sincere hatred for the press--FDR said that they printed lies and were aligned against him, and there seemed to be some truth to what he was saying, & (2) finding a way to circumvent the press to speak directly to the American people, Trump via Tweets and FDR via radio chats. I hasten to point out that there are approximately 1,000,047 differences between these two presidents, but it still made me twitch a little to think about these two similarities. 

Day 2 (DDRD 1,549) January 27, 2022

Read to page 40. Still Prologuing, but only for 3 more pages. More interesting overview stuff, much of it focusing on Douglas MacArthur and what a gigantic asshole he was. (But gooooood.) 

Day 3 (DDRD 1,550) January 28, 2022

Read to page 60.

Another new word: caudillo.

"A caudillo is a type of personalist leader wielding military and political power. There is no precise definition of caudillo, which is often used interchangeably with 'warlord' and 'strongman.'" (Wikipedia)

Day 4 (DDRD 1,551) January 29, 2022

Read to page 80. We're still out of the action here...mostly focused on McArthur, who stills seems like a gigantic asshole, and his interactions with FDR. There was a touching story at the end of Today's 20 about FDR visiting wounded soldiers / sailors in a hospital, going to them in his wheelchair, and about how the wounded boys took so much inspiration from seeing a man who had fought hard to overcome his own disabilities as they lay in beds absorbed in their own losses (many had lost limbs or were otherwise permanently scarred).

Day 5 (DDRD 1,552) January 30, 2022

Read to page 100. So 1/8th of the way through, meaning about 35 days to go. And then maybe goodbye to WWII for a while, I think. Although Today's Twenty was pretty interesting, ranging from a discussion of the term "unconditional surrender" from Lee & Grant to what it would mean to Imperial Japan in 1945, McArthur's desire to return to the Philippines, to the merits of the F6F Hellcat. 

Speaking of which...pretty fuckin' impressive plane. 

Check this out:

p. 97

So there's that.

Day 6 (DDRD 1,553) January 31, 2022

Read to page 120.

Day 7 (DDRD 1,554) February 1, 2022

Read to page 140. We're back into the battle stuff now, replete with disgusting details. Ian W. Toll does seem to go out of his way to get to the nittiest of gritties sometimes...but I don't think  it's prurience so much as a desire to have us see (and smell) what battle is really like.

On another topic, I am having a great hankering for a book about World War II aircraft...especially the Hellcat. And today, whilst grazing at Ollie's, I saw just such a book. Big, illustrated, and beautiful. And for a mere $15. I managed to pass it by.

This time.

Day 8 (DDRD 1,555) February 2, 2022

Read to page 160. There was a reference to a painting called "The 2000 Yard Stare" by Thomas Lea, 1944, which sounded interesting, so I found it online.

Public Domain: "The 2000 Yard Stare" by Thomas Lea, 1944

Some pictures really are worth 1,000 words. 

Day 9 (DDRD 1,556) February 3, 2022

Read to page 180.

Okay. It's pretty obvious that this--

                                                             --is a reference to Prince's "1999," right? If so...it's another example of how Ian W. Toll is just a bit too cute sometimes, at least so far as I'm concerned. I think it's an editor's job to curb this kind of thing in a writer. (Toll is still referring to torpedoes as "fish," and it really annoys the hell out of me. It may well be what Navy guys call torpedoes...not being a Navy guy, I wouldn't know...but it's certainly not what historians call torpedoes. Enough of this cute shit, man.)

Day 10 (DDRD 1,557) February 4, 2022

Read to page 200. Odd--Mr. Toll is beginning to repeat himself. On at least two occasions he has repeated details of a story...and I'm pretty sure that the repetitions actually come within this volume (as opposed to from a previous volume). I wonder what's up with that? Also--once again--isn't this the kind of thing that they pay proofreaders and editors to catch? I missed my calling.

On a side note, both of my Reading Group projects, Moby Dick and The Fiery Trial--neither one of which was my idea--have ground to a halt. You'd think I'd have learned my lesson about joining a reading group...or at least learned not to get excited about doing it...but I obviously haven't learned. Sigh. I Need a Reading Lover Who Won't Drive Me Crazy.

Day 11 (DDRD 1,558) February 5, 2022

Read to page 220. One of the battle anecdotes this time around involved the destruction of the U.S.S. Darter, and there was the notation that the remains of the submarine were still in the Bombay Shoals of Palawan. Found an interesting picture of this

@ http://www.submarinesailor.com/Boats/SS227Darter/DarterWreckage1965.htm

along with the information that the water around the remains are only 3 to 4 feet deep. Have to confess I was worried about the bare feet in this picture.

Day 12 (DDRD 1,559) February 6, 2022

Read to page 240.

Day 13 (DDRD 1,560) February 7, 2022

Read to page 260. You know...reading about badly trained, badly fed, badly equipped and very young Japanese sailors getting slaughtered really isn't much fun. And I get the feeling that it's all downhill from here, too. Sigh.  540 pages to go. 27 days. You know, if I could push my daily goal to 30 pages it'd only be 18 days. Hmmm.

Day 14 (DDRD 1,561) February 8, 2022

Read to page 290. So the 30. Don't know if I have it in me to do another 17 days of that, though. On the other hand, both of my Reading Groups have stalled out, so I guess I could just stop nibbling at them for a bit and put this tome down. I'm definitely ready for that.

Day 15 (DDRD 1,562) February 9, 2022

Read to page 321. So yep, did another 30. Which means I've already shaved one day off the finish date. Can I do it again tomorrow? I don't know.

Meanwhile...more repeats: Morton's red bathrobe and his predilection for killing Japanese sailors in the water after their ship had been sunk, and also a repeat of the failure of many torpedoes to explode in the first 2 years of the war. I guess it's possible that Ian W. Toll is doing this on purpose, because some people wouldn't read the three books back to back, maybe...but I find it irritating. It's like talking to a friend who insists on telling you the same stories repeatedly, even if you chime in with an, "Oh, yeah, I remember you telling me about that." (I've got several of those friends. Another one of the hazards of living past the age of 60, I suppose.)

Also, I was really upset by the story about the sailors who stood on deck shouting, "So solly, please!" to Japanese sailors who were in the ocean, clinging to the wreckage of their ship, after an attack. What brutality.

Day 16 (DDRD 1,563) February 10, 2022

Read to page 350. 15 days to go? It's beginning to seem possible after three days of 30.

I meant to comment on a couple of paragraphs about the nickname "Bull" for Admiral Halsey the other day, but forgot about it. I thought that is showed some rather good writing on the part of Ian W. Toll:

I'm a bit conflicted about Mr. Toll's writing style overall, though. He continues to make "cute" comments which I find distracting and a little embarrassing (for him, not me). As I head into the final half of this book, I'm beginning to wonder if I actually do want to read Six Frigates at some point--the only other book to date that he has published. Time (and I) will tell.

Day 17 (DDRD 1,564) February 11, 2022

Read to page 380.  14 days to go. And pretty close to the halfway point now, too. Don't want to jinx it, but at this point putting down 30 pages doesn't seem so difficult...doesn't even seem to be much more than reading 20. So here's hoping that I can keep up that pace, because I'm definitely ready to move beyond World War II in my daily reading program. Thinking that it is indeed time to read The Mysterious William Shakespeare by Charlton Ogburn...a book I bought many years ago. In fact, I think that I bought it at The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. 

Day 18 (DDRD 1,565) February 12, 2022

Read to page 410. 13 days to go. (And it's starting to look like I might make that date, too.)

During the course of Today's Thirty, five pages were devoted to "The December Typhoon" story (pages 396 - 400). It was a vivid story about the fleet being manhandled by a fierce storm, and ended by saying that Admiral Halsey had fucked up big time by taking his ships into the storm. At the end of it all...

"The Pacific Fleet chief took the extraordinary step of addressing himself to the entire fleet on the subject, and a long and detailed memorandum entitled "Lessons of Damage in Typhoon."

p. 403

I was thinking that it would make a great little movie...maybe starting with Paul McCartney's song and some war scenes, a boiling pot of water (presage to the storm), etcetera. Yep. I'd watch that movie.

Day 19 (DDRD 1,566) February 13, 2022

Read to page 440. 12 days to go. 

Here's an interesting bit: Ian Toll was talking about the expansion of various Navy facilities during the late stage of World War II. "The largest...was constructed on flat scrub land south of Corpus Christi, Texas, on the Gulf of Mexico. Texas congressman Lyndon B. Johnson worked behind the scenes to have an initial $24 million cost-plus-fixed-fee building contract awarded to his major campaign contributor, the Brown & Root construction company of Houston. The cost of building NAS Corpus Christi would eventually balloon to $100 million The massive project had the indirect effect of supercharging Johnson's political career and sending him on a trajectory for higher office." (418)

That's American politics in a nutshell, isn't it? And Brown & Root is still pulling the strings...both under its revised identity of Kellogg, Brown & Root and of its now parent company, Halliburton. I guess it's no wonder that we end up with a Republican Party dedicated to the eradication of democracy and a Democratic Party floundering in its wake. 

Day 20 (DDRD 1,567) 💗February 14, 2022💗

Read to page 470. 11 days to go. 

You know...I've got books that are over a hundred years old that are in really good shape--browning pages, for sure, but intact so far as binding and all of that. Twilight of the Gods, on the other hand, was published less than a year and a half ago (September 1, 2020), and check this out:

And that's what happens when the bindings aren't sewn. You'd think that for $40 (list price) you'd get something a little more durable than that, wouldn't you? 

Day 21 (DDRD 1,568) February 15, 2022

Read to page 500. 10 days to go. 

80,000 troops in 8 square miles. That's Iwo Jima. And once again Ian W. Toll really goes into detail about the horrific costs of storming this island. If this were a movie, I wouldn't be able to watch it. Then again, it's not like you can sanitize the details, right? I don't know. 

I keep thinking about this 8 square miles thing. That means that you could walk across the island (assuming that the elevation wasn't too extreme) in less than an hour. 80,000 troops in that space. 

Wow.

Day 22 (DDRD 1,569) February 16, 2022

Read to page 530. 9 days to go. It was a hard pull today. Spent most of the day either driving kids to and fro or babysitting, so to get to 530 I had to take the book to bed with me when I finally was able to hit the hay around 10:00. But despite the tiredness and the gore, I was able to complete the mission.

Day 23 (DDRD 1,570) February 17, 2022

Read to page 560. 8 days to go. Quite a few of today's thirty pages focused on American fire-bombing missions over Japan...especially the first attack on Tokyo. It was truly appalling, with a total death count higher than Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined (initial death toll only). And the worst part? I'd never heard of this before. I knew about Dresden...via Kurt Vonnegut...but I didn't know that this had been done repeatedly against civilian centers in Japan. 

Sometimes it's hard to remember that we were the good guys.

Reading this also makes me even more anxious to be through with this book. The cumulative toll of misery recounted has become too much for me to carry much farther.

And lest I forget to mention...there were also details about how Japanese children as young as 8 were being put to work for the war effort, and that they were receiving as little as one hour of school instruction per day. 

Day 24 (DDRD 1,571) February 18, 2022

Read to page 590. 7 days to go. There was a picture section at the end of today's reading. It included a picture of fire-bombed Tokyo:

Amazing...the majority of the buildings in this area have been completely flattened. There are also pictures of stacks of burned bodies. And WE did that. At least five times in Japan. 

Day 25 (DDRD 1,572) February 19, 2022

Read to page 620. 6 days to go. Looks like this 30 pages a day push is working out. I'm really anxious to keep that going and move on to a new DDR book. Still thinking that it will be The Mysterious William Shakespeare. 

Day 26 (DDRD 1,573) February 20, 2022

Read to page 650. 5 days to go. 

As I read the name "John McCain" yet again, I finally went Googling to see if (1) this man was related to the late Senator and (2) if the naval ship which Trump wanted obscured from his sight was named after this World War II admiral or the Senator. The answers were yes and yes, but reference the second yes, the naming was extended to John McCain II and III. 

      

John S. McCain Sr., John S. McCain Jr., & John S. McCain III

From the birth of I until the death of III covers a huge chunk of American history: August 9, 1884 to August 25, 2018. And not only did all three serve distinguished careers in the U.S. Navy, but John S. McCain IV did, too. What an amazing heritage. It curdles my blood to think of the draft dodger and coward Donald Trump mocking John McCain III's courage and sacrifice for this country, and I am stunned that every man and woman who served doesn't revile that callow son of a bitch.

Day 27 (DDRD 1,574) February 21, 2022

Read to page 680. 4 days to go. 

Today, class, we will learn about the atomic bomb. Also about the pounding that the U.S. gave to Japan when it was near the end of the war...which, of course, is how war goes, but it was hard to read, knowing that the Japanese were virtually incapable of defending themselves at this point. I suppose it's their fault for not surrendering, but still...bombing the shit out of cities...including more fire bombings ...there was even a quote from a commanding officer along the lines of "we're beating a dead horse." Not exactly glorious triumph over an enemy in my book.

As for the bomb...well, nothing I haven't read a number of times before, but still startling. To think that those motherfuckers set off a bomb not knowing if it would ignite the atmosphere and destroy the whole world. 

What's wrong today is what's wrong with you. ("Frankenstein" by the New York Dolls)

Day 28 (DDRD 1,575) February 22, 2022

Read to page 710. 3 days to go. Wow...is that possible? Am I really about to leave WWII behind...at least for the nonce? Hard to imagine, having spent so much of the past 575 reading days there, but yes, it is about to happen. I'm still interested in reading the Edward de Vero book in the near future, but I may take a quick dive into 

I bought it a long time ago and never cracked it open, but lately I've fallen into a Lee Morgan rabbit hole and found myself searching for this little (280 page) tome. And wonder of wonders, it was right where I thought it would be. I don't know how I manage to do that on a regular basis given the fact that there are thousands of books in this house, in no particular order, and that I haven't even seen some of them in years. The sub-basement of my memory is a lot more water-tight than the living areas, I suppose.

In today's reading, there was more detail on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. And it was just horrifying. Not just the obvious horrors of what happened, either. The before stuff was amazingly painful to read. For instance, four cities were selected as possible targets...because they had not yet been bombed, and thus would "give the fullest and most dramatic expression of the bomb's power." So not because they were significant military sites (they weren't)...but because their destruction would allow for the greatest publicity photos. It's just stunning that Truman could live with this decision. Also, as the Enola Gay made her way to Hiroshima, it encountered no antiaircraft fire and no opposition fighters. Why? Because Japan was already on its knees, its military capacity had been destroyed. Hiroshima was the most extreme example in the history of the world of kicking an opponent when he was already down. And worse, staging it as a photo op. 

Yes, I am most certainly full up with World War II. If I had any time on my hands at all I'd read another 30 pages today, just to get this over with sooner.

Day 29 (DDRD 1,576) February 23, 2022

Read to page 740. 2 days to go.

Day 30 (DDRD 1,577) February 24, 2022

Read to page 770. 1 day to go. Well...maybe. Only 20 pages left, and of course I'm thinking, "I could probably finish that off today." Going to let that thought sit for a bit, but it might could happen.

I'm also thinking that with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it might be time to read A History of Ukraine by Paul Robert Magocsi...which, by the way, I picked up at Goodwill for $1.05 almost exactly 2 years ago (Saturday, February 29th, 2020). I'm still anxious to get on to Jazz and Edward de Vere, but I'm also wanting to get some background on what's going on in Eastern Europe right now. 

Day 31 (DDRD 1,578) February 25, 2022

Finished. 

That's 347 days...and 8,481 pages of World War II in the past 515 days...which is over 67% of my reading time. 

Definitely time to move on now.

DDR Day 1001 to Day 2000:
(1) Leviathan 63 days, 729 pages
(2) Stalingrad 27 days, 982 pages
(3) Life and Fate 26 days, 880 pages
(4) The Second World War 34 + 32 + 40 + 43 + 31 + 32 days = 212 days, 4,379 pages 

Sub-Total: 6,970 pages...more than 1/2 of my first 1,000 DDR days' total (13,449 pages), btw.

(5) Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming 10 days, 572 pages
(6) The Great Bridge 25 days, 636 pages

(7) The Path Between the Seas 29 days, 698 pages
(8) Blake: Prophet Against Empire, 23 days, 523 pages
(9) Jerusalem 61 days, 1,266 pages
(10) Voice of the Fire 9 days, 320 pages

Sub-Total: 10,985 pages...over 81% of the first 1,000 DDR days' total.  

(11) The Fountainhead 15 days, 720 pages
(12) The Pacific Trilogy: Pacific Crucible 23 days, 640 pages

(13) The Pacific Trilogy: The Conquering Tide 28 days, 656 pages

Sub-Total: 13,001 pages...only 448 pages to match the total of the first 1,000 DDR days.

Also, I was just thinking about how much of The Second 1,000 Days' Reading has been absorbed by World War II (now appearing in green letters): 7,537 when I finish the second volume of The Pacific Trilogy, and another volume of that to go. After that...who knows? Could be more WWII...I've certainly become interested in several side-issues along the way. Details as they happen. (1/14/22)

(14) The Pacific Trilogy: Twilight of the Gods 31 days, 944 pages 

Sub-Total: 13,945 pages. So as of Day 578 of The Second 1,000 Days, I've already passed the number of pages I read in all of the first 1,000. Woo-hoo.