St. Patrick's Day

 Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!

What is St. Patrick's Day? Well, St. Patrick's Day is a holiday held on March 17 of every year. The day is the day of the death of St. Patrick, the patron saint of engineers, paralegals, and most notably, the main patron saint of Ireland.

It commemorates the arrival of Christianity in Ireland and is considered a celebration of Ireland and Irish culture in general, hence the drinking of Guinness and wearing green and the shamrock decorations.

The shamrock is often used as the symbol of St. Patrick's Day, because of the story that St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to the Irish as part of bringing them to Christianity.

Here in the United States, St. Patrick's Day isn't a national holiday, but it is considered a day to celebrate the Irish and their cultures. Many major cities, most notably New York City and Boston (who's had a parade since 1737), have big parades, beer is drank, and the goal is generally to have a wonderful day and enjoy some great Irish music. Which I hope you had today. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! See you next time!

National Panda Day

 Today is National Panda Day!

National Panda Day is a day to celebrate the panda! Pandas are a species of bear that are native to China. In fact, they are considered a national symbol of the country, much like the bald eagle here in the United States. 

Pandas in the wild predominantly eat bamboo, but they have also been known to eat other grasses and even birds and rodents. Raw bamboo is toxic to humans thanks to containing cyanide compounds (hence why bamboo is boiled for human consumption), but pandas can eat it thanks to their stomachs having cyanide-digesting gut microbes.

Pandas are mostly known for having black and white fur, but the Qinling panda has brown and white fur. 

As adults, outside of humans, pandas don't really have any natural predators. But their young can be vulnerable to snow leopards, Asian black bears, eagles, and yellow-throated martens. 

Pandas are terrestrial, meaning they live entirely on land. Adult pandas are solitary critters, with female pandas not liking others in their ranges. Wild pandas have been known to attack humans, but they generally are considered docile. 

Pandas have been threatened by habitat loss and deforestation, but conservation efforts over the years have shown a rise in the number of wild pandas. They are still vulnerable, but things are improving. 

Yeah, pandas are a wonderous example of nature. Give them a thought today! Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! See you next time!

The Sensational She-Hulk #2 (June 1989)

Since March is Women's History Month, I wanted to look at a comic focused on a superheroine. Now there's no shortage of lady superheroes out there, so it was quite a decision. I've shouted out quite a few lady heroes on this blog before, but my love of the 1980s drove me to take another look at the Marvel Universe's resident glamorous green Amazon lawyer: Jennifer Walters, the original She-Hulk.

Ol' Jenny has been featured on this blog before. Both in solo adventures and as a member of the Avengers. In fact, back in June of 2022, I took a look at the first issue of her second solo series. I enjoyed the issue, so where did our heroine go from here? And what have the Headmen planned next for her? Let's find out in Sensational She-Hulk #2!

The cover is a John Byrne and Jack Kirby piece. Now there's a collaboration right there. Well, the Kirby co-credit is because Shulkie is shown enjoying a copy of Incredible Hulk #2 (July 1962), which Kirby drew the interior art and cover of. The cover really fits the tone Byrne is going for, She-Hulk enjoying a comic, while lightly poking a bit of fun at some of the earlier wackiness of the Marvel Universe...as a group of seemingly actual Toad Men get ready to fill her with hot lasers. It's a good cover. 

"Attack of the Terrible Toad Men (or Froggy Came Cavortin')"
Writer: John Byrne
Penciler: John Byrne
Inker: Bob Wiacek
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Letterer: John Workman
Editor: Bobbie Chase
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The story begins with Jennifer being shown a nice new NYC apartment by her fellow femme fatale Avenger Janet Van Dyne, aka the Wasp. She's been spending more time in California with Hank Pym with the West Coast Avengers, and she's all too happy to let Jennifer have the place. However, as the tradition in a superhero comic book, there are some vile villains plotting against our lovely green heroine in the background.

"It's good to appear in a story."

Yes, the Headmen from the last issue. You may also remember Ruby Thursday from her cameo in my review of Deathlok #2 (August 1991) from a couple weeks earlier in honor of Black History Month. They've found someone new to test out Shulkie for an unknown purpose. But enough of that, back to the apartment! 

Jan shows Jen around. And when Jenny asks if the neighbors will complain to the landlord about a former Avenger being around (after all, there are plenty of villains who'd want a piece of Shulkie), Jan says not to worry. After all, she is the landlord. 

That night, Jenny decides to enjoy some popcorn and catch up on some TV. In the morning, she'll look for some work. Suddenly, the Plot Convenience News Network cuts in, announcing that flying saucers have appeared over Manhattan. Oh no, they're here to kidnap the yuppies! Not the yuppies!

Jennifer notes there is something familiar about these ships. One of the ships blasts at her, and some of a ship's occupants come down.

"I don't even get to fight good-looking evil aliens!"

Meet the Tribbitites, aka the Toad Men. They first debuted in Incredible Hulk #2 (July 1962), the comic She-Hulk was reading on the cover. Their names tend to be frog/toad-themed. Elsewhere, we're introduced to a lady who be one of She-Hulk's best friends during this run: a Louise "Weezy" Mason. She shows Jennifer's qualifications to Manhattan DA Blake Tower. And she is exactly what he's looking for... 

Meanwhile, Jennifer and the Toad Men are...

"Too bad it's 1989. A smartphone or Nintendo Switch would have been really handy right now."

Oh. They were waiting to be the focus again. Since we're back, they go back to fighting. She-Hulk notices that something is very odd about this invasion, and it's not just that the other heroes of New York are not springing into action. The ships seem to be just...floating around. No movement, no firing on people and/or buildings. The Toad Men Jennifer is fighting seem to be the only ground troopers. There should be tons of them in the city. During the battle, Jennifer's sweater gets shot to pieces, giving us a bit of fanservice. She angrily grabs one of the Toad Men's guns and crushes it, realizing that it's a regular assault rifle dolled up to look like a ray gun. Yeah, this invasion's a fake!

The Toad Men also are speaking English, making Jennifer realize they're just dwarves (very short people, not the fantasy creatures) in costumes. One of the men seemingly jumps to his death, but that's a trick, too. The backdrop is nothing more than a gigantic matte painting...hanging from a dirigible.

Selling their stuff in the multiverse has been a big boon for Acme.

All of this points to one villain: the malevolent Mysterio. Which makes sense. This stuff is right up Quentin Beck's alley. The fake invasion, the use of matte paintings, people in costumes, special effects, this is all the kind of Hollywood movie magic that is his modus operandi. He uses his tech to try and disorient our heroine, but our dear Jenny got brains to match that green bod of hers. She knows his style, so she ignores the illusions, digs into the solid ground under her feet (Well, the floor of the dirigible under her feet at the very least), and uses it to flip Mysterio off his feet. 

She goes to send him to dreamland with a Mighty Punch, but he has one last trick up his sleeve, a bit of sleeping gas, and our heroine is down for the count.

Now that Shulkie is taking an unintentional nap, Mysterio takes her to the Headmen's hideout. Gorilla-Man offers Mysterio membership in the Headmen, but he's not interested. He just enjoyed the challenge of faking an alien invasion...and he wants the money. He gets his money and leaves.

Shrunken Bones remarks that ol' Quentin is not going to be a very happy supervillain when he realizes that the money is fake. But that's another matter. So, why are the Headmen after Shulkie? Well, it's because of one of their comrades.

Meet Chondu the Mystic. After the events of Defenders Annual #1 (1976), ol' Chondu's mind hasn't been, well, in the best of shape. The other Headmen figure that maybe putting him on top of a more humanoid body would help him get back to sanity. Now you may be thinking, "wait, why not put him on Hulk's body"? Well, I figured it like this. Yes, Jennifer is not as physically powerful as her cousin (especially since he has that whole 'angrier he gets, the stronger he gets' thing and our Green Gal Jenny generally doesn't), but she is hardly a 90-pound weakling by human standards. She is a powerhouse in her own right. Not to mention that her gamma mutation (remember, this is decades before The Immortal Hulk introduced the Green Door concept) tends to be more stable than Bruce's. She's essentially a compromise. 

The story ends with Gorilla-Man intending to make the cruelest cut. He starts bringing down a circular saw on our heroine's neck...

I admit, I enjoyed this issue. One thing I liked was showing that Shulkie was able to peg the "invasion" as being a fake pretty quickly. I also liked the usage of lesser-known characters like the Headmen. I know that Mysterio's plan does raise a lot of questions about its execution. How did Mysterio learn of the Toad Men? Where did he get the equipment and resources to pull this fake invasion off? Thing is, you're not supposed to think about that kind of stuff in a story like this, as this comic is playing it all for laughs. It's John Byrne using some of the wackier parts of Marvel's mythos to poke a bit of light-hearted fun at it. I got a good chuckle out of the panels of the complaints of the editors of the book at the time. 

If you want to read this story for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2011 trade paperback The Sensational She-Hulk by John Byrne Vol. 1. It also can be found in the 2022 trade paperback She-Hulk Epic Collection Vol. 3: Breaking the Fourth Wall. Thanks for reading this blog entry! 

Pi Day

 Happy Pi Day, everyone! 

This day is called Pi Day because March 14 can be written out as 3/14, and the first three digits in the mathematical constant known as pi (𝝅) is 3.14. What is pi, you may ask? Well, pi is the ratio of a circle's circumference (the distance around a circle) to its diameter (the distance between two edges of a circle going through the center). It's been found by measuring circles that the circumference is always a little more than 3 times its diameter. No matter how big the circle is, this ratio applies.

For example, if a circle is 3 inches in diameter, then the circumference will be a bit more than 9 inches. This ratio applies to any circle of any size. Also, the symbol for pi is a lowercase Greek letter that is the first letter in the Greek word "perimetros", which loosely translates to "circumference".

The first Pi Day was celebrated in 1988. It was created by the late physicist Larry Shaw, who was working at the Exploratorium in San Francisco at the time. He was inspired by conversations he had with his co-workers about mathematical constants. In 2009, the US House of Representatives passed a non-binding resolution recognizing March 14 as Pi Day. And in November 2019, UNESCO designated Pi Day as the International Day of Mathematics. 

Eating pie is considered part of the tradition of celebrating Pi Day. Get it? 

Anyway, I hope you had a wonderful Pi Day! Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! See you next time!

Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th is a day that is associated with bad luck. The idea of it being bad luck can be traced back to the Middle Ages, tying back to the tale of the Last Supper. There were thirteen people at it (Jesus and his Twelve Apostles) and he was crucified on Good Friday. You can read more about it here.

Generally, Friday the 13ths tend to come once a year, but it is possible for one year to have as many as three of them. For a month to have this day, the first day of the month must land on a Sunday. While Fridays and the number 13 have been considered unlucky separately in the past, it's only been around since the 19th century that this day is considered unlucky. It's not known exactly how this came to be. One possible way this myth got popularized was thanks to the publishing of the 1907 novel Friday, the Thirteenth by Boston novelist/businessman T.W. Lawson. In the book, an unscrupulous broker used the superstition to create a panic on Wall Street.

Other countries have similar superstitions. In Hispanic countries (Countries in which Spanish is the main language), Tuesday 13th is considered unlucky. This is also true in Greece. In fact, in Greece, Tuesday in general is considered an unlucky day due to the Greek word for Tuesday meaning "third day of the week", and Greek superstition states that bad luck comes in threes. In Italy, Friday the 17th is considered an unlucky day. This is believed to be the Roman numeral rendition of 17 (XVII) being able to spell the word "Vixi" (I lived), which is seen as an omen of death. In fact, Italians consider 13 a lucky number, but some have adopted the "13 is unlucky" myth thanks to the influence of American culture.

In more modern popular culture, it's associated with this guy.

Hope you all managed to avoid him, as he tends to...not be a friendly dude. Got some weird thing about machetes and his mother and going all Mortal Kombat on people, yada yada yada. The last one was back in February. There will be another one coming this November. So, if you're a bit superstitious, I'd not make plans on that day.

Friday the 13th has a fascinating history. I suggest you look more into it. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! See you next time!

Mario Day

 Happy Mario Day, everyone!

Why is March 10 Mario Day? Well, it's a bit of a pun. You see, when March 10th is written as "Mar10", it looks like "Mario", hence March 10 being Mario Day. 

The day was an unofficial day of celebration for fans of the Super Mario franchise for years. In 2016, Nintendo officially recognized Mario Day, by creating special events around the day every year. Usually, these events revolved around sales of Mario games.

2021's Mario Day was a very special one as it was also the 35th Anniversary of the Super Mario series, with the original Super Mario Bros. game being released in 1985. That event triggered a massive celebration. And last year saw the 40th anniversary of that game's release.  

So fire up the Nintendo handheld of your choice, and enjoy a Mario game today! I hope your Mario Day was a good one! Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves, and each other! See you next time!

International Women's Day

Today is International Women's Day!

This is a day to celebrate women's fight for equality and liberation. This day's roots can be traced back to February 28, 1909. This was the day of a "Woman's Day", which was organized by the Socialist Party of America under the suggestion of activist Theresa Malkiel. On March 1911, the first International Women's Day was marked in certain countries in Europe (Austria-Hungary, Denmark, Switzerland) by over a million people. Initially, this day had no set date, generally celebrated in late February or early March. It would spread over the world since then, with Russia starting to celebrate this day in 1913, and Germany following in 1914, Australia in 1928. 

International Women's Day was mainly associated with socialist and communist movements in those early years. In the USA of the 1960s, the day would also be embraced by the second wave of the feminist movement. At that point, it had become an obscure holiday, until the activist Laura X organized an International Women's Day march in 1969. She also called for an entire month to celebrate women. 

The United Nations started celebrating this day in 1975, proclaiming it the International Women's Year. And since then, this day has seen many protests and marches in favor of women's rights. After all, we still got a ways to go. If you want to learn more about this day, you can do so here and here. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! See you next time!