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!

Marvel: The Lost Generation #10 (May 2000)

It's that time again! It's time to look back into the past of the Marvel Universe and its lost generation of superheroes: The First Line! Last time, we saw the Line engage in what was their seemingly last battle against the vampiric Nocturne, and a seemingly ordinary man made a shocking discovery...with a twist. So, where do things go from here? We're going backwards from the death to the birth of the Line, so what key moment in their history do we see here? Let's find out in Marvel: The Lost Generation #11!

The cover is a John Byrne and Al Milgrom piece. It certainly is an attention-grabber, I'll grant it that. It centers around what looks like some kind of mutated fetus, with members of the First Line in bubbles, showing it's suspended in some liquid. You get the impression the Line has no idea who this guy even is.

"Secrets: Great and Small"
Writers: Roger Stern and John Byrne
Penciler: John Byrne
Inker: Al Milgrom
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Letterer: Jim Novak
Editors: Ralph Macchio, Matt Hicks
Editor-in-Chief: Bob Harras

The story begins in Maine, at the Carmody Institute. Well, the Institute in the process of being built. Yes, we are going backwards. Remember, this miniseries is going backwards from the fall of the First Line to the origins of the team. 

Anyway, there has been a lot of tight security around the complex. But no security is perfect. There's always a hole, and one man is taking advantage of this fact to slip into the complex. However, he manages to get caught by what looks like an incomplete version of the Walkabout robot.

"My God! David Hasselhoff!"

Yes, it's a pre-SHIELD Nick Fury Senior. In case you're wondering why he's not wearing an eyepatch, it's because he has a bionic eye. Effigy greets him. This place is meant to be a new headquarters for the Line, which is now more of a loose alliance of heroes than a formal team. The shapeshifting Skrull reveals that he is also Undersecretary Jake Scott. And Fury is, well...furious.

Fury mentions a scheme concocted by Scott that led to a lot of good men dying. Scott mentions that it was an unfortunate necessity, as there was more to an 'Operation: Clean Sweep' than meets the eye. My guess is that's something that will be discussed in future issues. The discussion is tabled by a call from a William Carmody, the owner of the Institute. Unknown to the Line and Fury, another unwanted guest is making their way in.

"Man, I cannot wait to shoe the First Line my stylin' new shades!"

It's Warlord Kro and the Deviants! You may know them from my reviews of the 1985 Eternals miniseries. This was long before that little event. He's learned that one of the Eternals (Pixie) is encouraging the humans to engage in superheroics, and he is intent on...discouraging that. And they're going to use a device called the Gouger in order to do it. They use the device to blow a hole in the headquarters. 

And with that, it's the First Line vs. the Deviants!

It's during the fight that Cassandra Locke appears, journeying backwards in time. She sees the Yeti run by, seeking Deviant blood. She notes that this confirms a legend about the line, that the Yeti was a member of the Line before something called "The Rapunzel Tragedy". She watches the Line battle the Deviants.

One of the Deviants under Kro's command suggests they retreat, but Kro refuses. He's faced superhumans before. This is a reference to . We then go back some hours earlier to Chicago. There, a teenaged girl named Truth MacRae (although she prefers to go by Ruth) is heading home from school. She finds her parents Fred and Autumn MacRae, aka the retired heroes Cap'n Hip and Sunshine, in her room.

"Honey, you have some weird magazines!" 

They've found her collection of photos of the Black Fox. Hip ain't too fond of the Fox, as he thinks he's a fascist. I think the idea is that Hip is well, an old hippie who thinks the Fox represents "The Man". Fred, you may need to examine that weed you've been using. 

Truth argues with her parents about keeping secrets. After all, they preach being open with others, yet they've kept quiet about being superheroes in the past. She leaps out the window, only to be okay.

Evidently she's inherited some kind of superpower from her parents. Fred tries to pursue her, but she manages to escape him. In an alley, Ruth's body is erupting in pain, while she laments that her parents now know she has powers like them. She feels numb as her skin turns a pale purplish white. Ladies, gentlemen, whatever you choose to identify as...you just witnessed the birth of Gadfly from issue #12. 

Back to the Carmody Institute in Maine. Cassandra Locke is there, and she witnesses the robotic Walkabout pick up something and integrate it into its body.

"Finally, I can go out to get pizza again!"

She realizes that it's William Carmody, who was one of the great scientific minds of the late 20th century. He was supposedly fatally shot, but it turns out reports of his death was greatly exaggerated. Carmody lives, but he is now a sort of fetal-looking clone. As she watches the Line fight the Deviant invaders, she notes that the belt keeps taking her back to moments of conflict: the final battle of the First Line in issue #12 for example. It leads her to wonder if there's something else at work here...

Effigy notices that the Deviants seem to be after Pixie specifically. He wonders why that is. She claims to have never seen them before, and Oxbow angrily shoves the Skrull agent-turned-superhero away. Cassandra reveals herself to them, telling them she's from the future. Pixie compares her to Kang the Conqueror, hinting the Line faced him at some point. I'd love to read that story. Of course, the group has another problem. The Yeti has gone...a bit bananas. A bit out of control. A bit around the bend. A bit insane.

Right, right, sorry. The reason why they're concerned is because the Line wants to question the Deviants. And they can't do that if the Yeti tears them into little pieces. Thankfully, the trichokinetic power of the Line's resident soul sister Rapunzel are able to calm the savage beast that is the Yeti.

"Yeti...must...know...shampoo brand..."

Trichokinesis is basically the power to control hair. Arguably, the most famous owner of a superpower like this is Medusa from the Inhumans.

The battle forces the Deviants to flee.

However, Oxbow manages to seal the Deviants' exit with a special arrow. Seeing these troopers as failures, Kro evidently remotely triggers hidden explosives on them, blowing them up.

Pixie investigates the hole and discovers a tunnel, joking that Effigy has wanted to add a submarine pen to the place, and now they can use this for it. Hey, look on the bright side of life, that's what I always say.

Oxbow suggests that she tell the others the truth about the Eternals and the Deviants. He's kept it mum for a long time himself. Pixie is reluctant to say anything as she fears how the rest of the Line will react. To be fair to them, I can imagine at this point, the Line has seen a lot of crazy stuff. I think this revelation would rank rather low on the weird scale for them. 

The Line then interrogate Cassandra. She tells them that she's here to warn them about the Skrulls. This sets Effigy off (remember he's a Skrull himself). Cassie realizes that none of the Line are aware that he's a Skrull himself. Yes, one that has become loyal to Earth, but a Skrull none the less. She wonders what Effigy is up to, and decides to travel further back and find out. Nick Fury has also vanished in the fracas. 

The story ends in Langley, Virginia. Fury is reporting about the battle to his own superiors. He recommends that the Line be allowed to do their thing for now, as they seem to be genuine. The superiors all consider a more important assignment for Colonel Fury...

"I'm just grateful that we overrode Johnson's suggestion..."

Yes, we're also witnessing the birth of SHIELD...

I did find this issue rather enjoyable. It was neat seeing Ruth become Gadfly (it's pretty clear by issue #12 that she figured out how to control her appearance despite her short life), as well as the union of Professor Carmody and Walkabout. I also liked that we got to see some of the dynamics of the First Line at this point, with Effigy being the leader with his secrets to keep, and I also liked Rapunzel. 

Cassandra brings up the "Rapunzel Tragedy" in this issue, and it's a pretty intriguing mystery. Not much is revealed here about it, and since Rapunzel is not seen in the previous two issues, it can be presumed that something bad happened to her. Not necessarily a fatal thing. After all, Rapunzel could have been just comatose or unable to help fight for whatever reason. The Marvel Appendix's entry on Rapunzel theorizes that she was attacked by the Yeti thanks to Korya manipulating him. Would make sense considering their appearances together in #11 and #12. That same entry also stated that Roger Stern himself declined to give any further details, wanting to leave it to future writers to expand on. Sadly, due to the obscurity of this maxiseries, that may never happen. 

As I have said before, this maxiseries has never been collected as a stand-alone trade. It was included in a 2018 Omnibus: The Marvel Universe by John Byrne Vol. 2. However, if don't want that Omnibus, you'll have to look in the back issue section of your local comic shop or find it online. I found all twelve issues on eBay for 50 dollars myself.

National Cereal Day

 Happy National Cereal Day, everyone!

Holi

Happy Holi, everyone!

Holi is known as the Festival of Colors. It's a celebration of the love of the deities Radha and Krishna. It also celebrates the oncoming of spring, the triumph of good over evil, and the victory of the god Vishnu over the king Hiranyakashipu. It's known by many names throughout the Indian subcontinent and celebrated in various forms by the many peoples there.

The holiday generally falls on March, but it can fall in late February. That because the date depends on when the full moon is seen in the sky in the month of Phalguna on the Hindu calendar.

An ancient tradition, the most famous part of the celebration is people throwing colored powders called gulal in the air. I think this is meant to celebrate the colors of spring returning after the drab gray winters. Holi is also a time for fresh starts, freeing oneself of the emotional baggage of the past. Holi rituals also include gathering around bonfires to sing and dance, the bonfires representing the warming of spring and good defeating evil. Friends and family gather together during the day and chat while enjoying delicacies like gujiya, malpuas, and mathris.

Yes, Holi is essentially the celebration of a new year in India, a time to end conflicts and start fresh. Hope you learned something neat 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!

Deathlok #2 (August 1991)

Back in October of last year, I took a look at the first issue of the Michael Collins Deathlok's ongoing series. And since February is Black History Month, not to mention that I love lesser-known characters, I thought it would be an opportunity to give Mr. Collins a bit more spotlight. 

For those who are not familiar, allow me to give a primer. Michael Collins was the third Deathlok, and the second to hail from the mainstream Marvel Universe. Yes, the first one, Luther Manning, was from an alternate post-apocalyptic universe. The second Deathlok was John Kelly. First appearing in Marvel Comics Presents #62 (September 1990), and created by Dwayne McDuffie, Gregory Wright, and Jackson Guice, he was made into the second Deathlok thanks to the body of the original being reverse engineered by scientists at Cybertek Systems, a subsidiary of the Roxxon Corporation. He would cross paths with the Michael Collins in the future and eventually become known as Siege. But those are stories for another day.

Michael Collins was once an ordinary man, a scientist working for Cybertek Systems. He discovered the company's work on the Deathlok program, and he was turned into one as an attempt to silence him. However, as it goes in these stories, Collins was able to reassert himself and take control of his new cyborg body. He even managed to force his internal computers to put in a "no-killing" parameter in line with his pacifism. It has led him on a quest to find his human body and hopefully become normal again.

So, where do we go from here? What new adventure did this new Deathlok stumble into? Let's find out in Deathlok #2!

The cover is a Denys Cowan piece.

The story begins not with our man Mikey, but with a rather interesting pairing of characters: NYPD cop-turned cyborg Misty Knight, and the X-Men's resident gadgeteer genius Forge. They're fighting a robot. Of course, being one of the X-Men, fighting robots is nothing new to Forge.

The robot manages to capture Forge (must have a bit of Sentinel tech in it). Misty is able to get a shot in that blows the robot up, but results in the two getting knocked out.

Yeah, I know what you're thinking. "Isn't this Deathlok's book? Where is he right now?" Well, don't you worry, he's just surfing the 'Net. He's looking for any clues to the location of his human body. So far, no luck. It's during his search that he hears a call from Misty asking for help. The two agree to meet up. Mike brought his roommate Jesus, but she's not willing to discuss anything in front of him. That's because unlike them, Jesus is not a cyborg.

"I've been planning to get the Swiss Army upgrade."

She's looking for him because someone has been capturing cyborgs (or "cybernets" as Misty calls them). Mike doesn't see the issue, but Misty points out that if she could find him, so could whoever is doing the capturing. And her point is proven when another capturebot shows up and wrecks her car.

"Target's vehicle destroyed. Name of major Polish city obtained."

She ain't getting that rental deposit back. I'm not making a joke; she actually said the car was a rental. Deathlok fights the capturebot and manages to destroy it. The two head back to Knightwing Restorations to rest and recuperate. The two discuss being cyborgs but also being Black cyborgs. Before he was turned into Deathlok, Michael's best friend in college was a white guy. They were close, but there were places their friendship could not go. Presumably thanks to the sliding timescale in that case. Misty said she's been accused to of being more comfortable around mutants and cyborgs than her own people. Deathlok uses a quote to sum it up.

It is a peculiar sensation, this double consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his twoness...two souls, two unreconciled strivings, two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.

It's from W.E.B. Du Bois's essay collection The Souls of Black Folk. Michael's father made him read it quite a bit as a boy. Misty assures Deathlok that one this is all over, she'll help him find his body. The two find the remains of the capturebot. They have to repair and reactivate it to learn more about it. They do so, and round two has begun!

It's a rough fight, but they're able to triumph thanks to Deathlok taking control of the robot's systems. They ride the robot to its home base.

Whoever designed this taxi needs a boot to the brain.

The two sneak around and find that the mind behind the capturebots not only have gotten Forge, but also Bushwhacker, Ruby Thursday, Ultron, Machine Man, and Jocasta. 

Huh. The latter three are not cyborgs. They're actual robots. They have no organic parts. Why are they here?

Misty is understandably panicked. As we've seen in the Avengers' stories, Ultron is one of the most dangerous villains in the MU. If this mastermind could catch him, the two are in way over their heads. They're going to need heavy-duty help. Deathlok is like, who could do this?! The answer reveals themselves. 

...it does make sense Doctor Doom would be the mastermind. I mean, Doom and Ultron have crossed paths before, in Daredevil #275 (December 1989). Either way, Misty and Mike are in really big trouble.

I enjoyed this comic. My favorite scene in this comic is the conversation between Misty and Michael over their experiences being cyborgs. McDuffie uses Misty and Mike to make a very fascinating connection between their being cyborgs to being Black in the United States. The two feel trapped between multiple worlds, not just for their skin, but also their being part-robotic. It's also different for them in other ways. Misty can seem just like a normal person at first glance because she only has a cybernetic arm. The rest of her is all human (in the biological sense). Michael is not. His brain is in a body that's not his own. Also, Misty's comfort with passing as a regular human contrasting to Michael's vow to never be comfortable in his Deathlok body is also a good way to show individuals will also have their own ideas about these things.

I admit, I got a good chuckle out of Michael telling Misty that he can only eat what the comic implies to be Ensure. Poor poor Mike. 

Denys Cowan's art brings a nice bit of grit to the table. His rendition of Deathlok is especially nice. He does a great job making the cyborg look rather inhuman. 

I think I have said this before, but I think this series is rather underrated. Yeah, when people think of 1990s Marvel, they think of the X-Books, and bad stuff like The Crossing, but there were still hidden gems in that decade, especially in the early part of it. This was one of them. If you want to read this for yourself, i recommend tracking down the 2015 trade paperback Deathlok: The Souls of Cyber-Folk. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! See you next time!