A Sense of Doubt blog post #2224 - The ABCs of Comic Books

A Sense of Doubt blog post #2224 - The ABCs of Comic Books

Hello, still catching up from Grading Hell, and stupidly making a post here that will be a little time consuming though not too difficult.

I have done cover galleries before, but I hit on the idea of doing one by the alphabet, restricting myself to one per letter, though I am cheating four times (counting the one above), so there are 30 images here, which is a good number.

The presentation will be in early elementary form, A is for the Amazing Spider-Man as we see in the topper image.

Here we go.

A is for ADVENTURE

Maybe I had this idea because this comic book cover from an early issue of Adventure Comics popped up on Facebook, and I ADORE the Legion of Substitute Heroes.

B is for THE BLACK KNIGHT (and BITE CLUB)

Or the idea came from this issue, as I have been reading Marvel's re-establishing of the Black Knight, which makes me happy as he is one of my favorite non-Franchise characters. I saw this issue on my screen saver, and this may be how I came to this idea, which may have been re-affirmed by the Adventure Comics issue. The alphabet is everywhere. I could not find this issue as it was filed in my folder under Marvel Super-Heroes, and I never think to search, so I chose Bite Club, as I love that cover by Quitley. So here's a two-fer. I am going to try to do just one cover per letter and not the obvious choices.

C is for CAPTAIN ACTION

Captain Action was a toy in my childhood, around the time of Kindergarten, and DC did the short run of comics (six issues). This was my favorite cover. GIL KANE was so awesome!

D is for Daughters of the Dragon

As I claimed, I wanted to choose the unexpected (and as you will see Unexpected), and so instead of D is for Daredevil, Defenders, Doctor Strange, or Detective Comics, Dis for Daughters of the Dragon and this GREAT Khari Evans/Palmiotti cover. Beautiful. Misty Knight and Colleen Wing were always my favorite characters of the Iron Fist comics.

E is for Epic Illustrated

E is for Epic Illustrated, Marvel Comics' magazine of creator-owned work. Also, I did my college internship with the good people of this magazine: Archie Goodwin (RIP) and Jo Duffy among a few others.

F is for the FANTASTIC FOUR

I know I said I would make the less expected choices, but come on. If you know me or are a reader, you know of my love for the first family of comic book superheroes, the Fantastic Four. My love for them goes back as far as Captain Action comics as the FF had a TV show about the same time.

So many great covers to choose from. I wanted one that showed them all. This John Byrne cover fills that need, and it's one of my favorites.

G is for Green Lantern/ Green Arrow

Maybe this one is expected, though I could have gone with Guardians of the Galaxy, Grayson, Grendel, or newer comics like Godland or Gideon Falls, but this Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams run of the Lantern and the Arrow of Green in the late 1960s is too epic to ignore.

H is for Hawkman

I love Hawkman because I love all characters with WINGS but especially this winged hero (and Hawkwoman). The headdress/mask is something that I find iconic and one of the best in all of comics.

I is for Iron Fist

Of course, as I mentioned with Daughters of the Dragon, I loved this comic and this hero and his cast. Another John Byrne cover. I think it's the only other one.

J is for Justice League

I had to look up the cover artist here (Jim Starlin) because I did not recognize the work, but it's a Starlin that does not look like Starlin. This is a good cover with many of heroes depicted and one of those challenges that appear to be a conflict among the heroes. This June 1980 issue of JLA checks the boxes. Is that Zatanna in the background in the upper left near Green Lantern in some new costume?

L is for the Legion of Superheroes

I know I shared about the Legion with A for Adventure, but that issue showcased was the Legion of  Substitute heroes. I ADORE the Legion of Superheroes as anyone who knows me will attest. Don't ask me how many passwords I create feature the first names of these characters in some way! Don't go crazy. You cannot hack any of my accounts by typing just Salu or Imra. But you only know those names if you know these wonderful stories and their characters.

M is for Mai the Psychic Girl

M could have been for Mad Magazine, but I am keeping to strictly comic books. I could have chosen Man of Steel, Manhunter, or anything MARVEL. I could have chosen MYSTERY IN SPACE that I have been wanting to as a post for some time. But I have always loved Mai the Psychic Girl. This was one of the very best reading experiences in my comic reading history.

N is for New Gods

Saying that this cover gallery needs more Jack Kirby is like saying that this rendition of "Don't Fear the Reaper" needs more cowbell. Of course, it does.

I was a huge fan of Kirby as a young boy because of THE FANTASTIC FOUR, but then when he went to DC, I had mixed feelings. I did not like his return to Captain America when he returned to Marvel but The Eternals  one of my favorite comic books of all time (new post soon!).

Now, in hindsight, I love it all.

KIRBY IS KING!

O is for Once and Future

This cover gallery also needs newer comics, like this one, by one of my current favorite writers, Kieron Gillen. "Once & Future" is a reference to Once and Future King in case that's not obvious. This is a GREAT comic and always hits near the top of my stack each month and not just because it's always a fast read.

P is for The Phantom Stranger

I did two posts on the Phanton Stranger not long ago: here and HERE.

Some of the best stuff in all of DC Comics, especially with DEADMAN co-starring, a character that could have been my D feature easily.

Q is for QUESTION (and Q-LOC)

I have been using my own personal folder of comic book images for this post, and I am sad to say that I had nothing under Q except the second image from a comic book two of my friends did for a company back in Kalamazoo: Q-Loc. But The Question is far more popular, so I added him even though I am not a huge fan.

R is for Robin

I just did a big post on ROBIN after finishing the 80-page anniversary special. One of my favorite characters, especially the original, Richard Grayson.

S is for Silver Surfer

Created by Jack Kirby!! Amazing cover here by John Buscema from the formative years of my childhood.

T is for Teen Titans

Because this is tied for my favorite DC comic ever with Legion. And this cover... How awesome. This iconic image gave me the conception for the splash page of a submissions I created with a friend to pitch a comic that brought back the original Teen Titans. We met with the Titans editor. But it was a no.

U is for Unexpected

Because, awesome, right? Especially these 100 page giant issues. Loved those! Love that DC is bringing them back for anniversary specials.

V is for The Vault of Horror

While we're on the subject of awesome comics like Unexpected, there has to be an EC comic in this cover gallery (though there should also be a romance comic with art by Matt Baker but I chose against it).

W is for Walt Disney's Comics

What more do I need to say?

X is for X-Men

What else would I do here? Duh. The Uncanny X-Men was almost U, though.

Y is for Young Avengers

I was not sure what I would do for the Y comic. And another Kieron Gillen pick! Yay! Also, Jim Cheung is among my favorite current artists, and I had not seen this variant. Love it!!

Z is for Zatanna

I did not have a Zatanna comic, just this image directly below. So that's why there's another extra image.

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2101.21 - 10:10

- Days ago = 2088 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.

A Sense of Doubt blog post #1329- Hawkman's New Origin Twist

A Sense of Doubt blog post #1329 - Hawkman's New Origin Twist

Me leaving Bronson Hospital 1308.18

So, it's happening again. I fall behind on the blog, and so then the THROWBACK THURSDAY gets pushed back to Sunday because that's how the week works, and maybe I do two HEY MOMs for the week, and maybe just one.

This week I think it's going to be one.

This HAWKMAN article caught my eye this morning because I LOVE Hawkman. In fact, I might wear my Hawkman shirt today to celebrate.

I wore that shirt when I left the hospital after my surgery in 2013 (see here).

If you landed here because you like Hawkman, too, enjoy this share without the ad heavy clogorama RAM cluster fuck on Newsarama.

NOTE: Due to a numbering error, my original post of #1327 is wrong. This is #1329.





FROM:
https://www.newsarama.com/42330-hawkman-s-new-origin-twist-answers-questions-and-raises-more.html

HAWKMAN's New Origin Twist Answers Questions - and Raises More

By Vaneta Rogers, Newsarama ContributorOctober 12, 2018 03:00pm ET

Out of all the characters with convoluted histories in the DCU, perhaps the most often cited for its confusing continuity is Hawkman.

But in the “Rebirth” era, the character has a brand new approach that tries to incorporate most (if not all) of the character’s past incarnations. Spinning out of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Dark Nights: Metal event, the series has established that not only does Hawkman reincarnate, but all those previous versions of Hawkman that DC published were merely some of the character’s past lives.

There’s another new twist — his past lives were experienced on different planets, meaning Hawkman moves across time and space. And the reincarnations extend back through history even further than previously known. 

Now, with this week’s Hawkman #5, the story behind Hawkman’s reincarnations was given yet another interesting wrinkle. After a visit to Ray Palmer, the hero known as the Atom, Hawkman learned that it’s possible his past, present and future exist together, on an “ocean” of time.

And — here’s the kicker — Ray told Hawkman that his reincarnations might not have even occurred in chronological order.

Hawkman’s Inquiry

Confused? Well, it might help to back up and review how Hawkman got here.

Hawkman was visiting Atom in issue #5 after he was suddenly shrunken down to subatomic size last issue (thanks to an artifact he found on Thanagar). He emerged in the Microverse, where Ray Palmer polices space-time from a subatomic level.

Hawkman asked Ray to help him understand what’s been happening to him since he began investigating a vision he experienced of something called “The Deathbringers” (who apparently intend to destroy the Earth).

In the Hawkman series by Robert Venditti and Bryan Hitch, the character has been experiencing strange periods of time travel that allow him to visit past lives that give him clues about the Deathbringers.

In issue #2, for example, Hawkman suddenly traveled back in time to briefly interact with Prince Khufu, who is a long-established past life of Hawkman. By the end of the next issue, Hawkman encountered Katar Hol, establishing that he was just another of Hawkman’s past lives.

In Hawkman #5, Carter explained to Ray that he even lived on Krypton during one of his past lives, and in another, he lived on Rann. And now, he’s somehow revisiting them, one by one.

“I’ve been slipping through time and meeting my past selves,” Carter Hall explained to Ray in Hawkman #5. “Help me understand what’s been happening to me.”

Ray’s Explanation

In answer, Ray first explained the “River Theory” of time to Hawkman. According to Ray, the River Theory “asserts that time flows in one constant direction — from the past, through the present and into the future.”

But then Ray said another theory says time is an ocean, “stretching in all directions, and each moment is floating on the surface.”

According to Ray, this would mean that past, present and future always exist together. “You in ancient Egypt. You on Thanagar. You in the Microverse. You on Krypton.”

The character explained that Hawkman has been “skipping across the surface of the time’s ocean, reuniting with [his] other selves.”

Ray also theorized that each time Carter reincarnated, he left a piece of his consciousness behind, which explains why he remembers less and less.

Now that Hawkman is investigating his past, each clue “triggers something” that connects him to a fragment of his missing consciousness.

That Kicker We Talked About

As if that wasn’t enough scientific theory for Hawkman to digest, Ray goes one step further and begins to question whether Hawkman’s reincarnations were linear.

“Over thousands of years,” Ray said, “who knows how many times you visited each planet? You might not even have done it in chronological order. As a matter of physics, time is time, and space is space.”

So not only has Hawkman experienced interplanetary reincarnation, but Ray has introduced the possibility that his reincarnation is somehow simultaneous — or at least non-linear.

Still confused? You’re not alone.

“I can’t handle this,” Hawkman said in response to Ray’s theories.

Whether the scientific wonderings of Ray Palmer are canon or not, they do offer an answer to questions about Hawkman’s previously convoluted continuity. Want to know if something from past Hawkman series is in continuity? Ray’s theories seem to answer, “Sure! It all exists!”

It also ties into the core of Hawkman’s character. As Ray pointed out, Hawkman has almost always had some connection to historical mysteries, whether through the plotlines about his reincarnation or his life as an accomplished archaeologist when he’s out of costume.

“You’ve lived all kinds of lives,” Ray said. “As it turns out, on all kinds of planets. You have fortitude inside you that I could only dream of. But more than anything else, you’re the best there’s ever been at untangling the mysteries of the past.”

What’s Next?

By the end of Hawkman #5, Carter had found a clue related to the Nth Metal he wears, but it required him to fight alongside Ray in the Microverse. That part of his quest will end in Hawkman #6, which has a solicitation that promises the character will finally learn “the secret of his origin.”

Then in Hawkman #7, the character (and readers) will learn “the truth behind Carter Hall’s reincarnation ability” as well as his connection to the Deathbringers that have been teased since the first issue of this new Hawkman series.

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1810.11 - 10:10

- Days ago = 1195 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.