Martin Luther King Day

 Today is Martin Luther King Day!

Martin Luther King Day, or MLK Day for short, is a federal holiday that is celebrated on the third Monday of every January. 2024's MLK Day is special because it falls right on the man's birthday himself: January 15. Yup, he was born on this day in 1929. 

Now, how did this day come about, you may ask? Well, it first came about thanks to labor unions, believe it or not. King is most known for promoting non-violent activism when it comes to civil rights, but he also campaigned for labor rights as in his lifetime. These campaigns began after King was assassinated in 1968. A bill to make his birthday a holiday first came to the Congress floor for a vote in 1979. This bill was proposed by Senator Edward Brooke (R-Massachusetts) and Representative John Conyers (D-Michigan). However, this bill didn't get enough votes to pass into the Senate. 

The campaign to make MLK's birthday a national holiday would continue on for decades. Stevie Wonder released the song "Happy Birthday" to help popularize the movement. A petition sent to Congress to pass a law making MLK's birthday a holiday got six million signatures. 

President Ronald Reagan originally opposed the idea, citing cost concerns. In 1983, he signed a bill into law making MLK's birthday into a federal holiday. The bill that made this happen was proposed by Representative Katie Hall (D-Indiana). Appropriately enough, she was the first Black woman from Indiana to be elected to the House of Representatives. The new law would take effect in 1986.

Despite this, several states didn't celebrate the day at the state level. It wouldn't be until 2000 that every state celebrated an MLK Day. 

If you want to learn more about the history of MLK Day, you can read more here. Thanks for reading this blog entry! See you next time!

World Snow Day

Punisher War Journal #9 (October 1989)

Frank Castle is a man who is often seen as an outlier within the Marvel Universe. It's not hard to see why. After all, the man isn't called "The Punisher" for being a cuddly, friendly guy. Even though ol' Frankie tends to stick to his own little corners of the Marvel Universe that tend to stay in the mundane, he will occasionally find himself being involved in the some of the more fantastical parts of the MU. Which makes sense. After all, his first appearance had him cross paths with Marvel's resident mascot: Peter Parker, the original Spider-Man. 

The comic we're looking at here is one of those occasions. Ol' Frankie was riding a wave of popularity in the late 1980s, being one of the few solo characters that supported multiple books. The other, ironically enough, was his first superhuman sparring partner: Spider-Man. This story also tied into a miniseries called Shadowmasters, which focused on a group of ninjas. Again, the 1980s. Daredevil had to put with ninjas, why not Frank Castle as well? This is Punisher War Journal #9!  

The cover is a Jim Lee piece. I think it's really cool. It depicts Frank trapped in a spider's web, struggling against a giant Black Widow spider wearing a red wig. It's like a poster you see in a theater promoting a horror movie. A box on the cover says it's "Dreamtime with the Black Widow". I can imagine that for a lot of fans, this is not their idea how a "Dreamtime" with the Black Widow would go. 😈 But in all seriousness, this is a cool cover.

"Guilt Trip"
Writer: Carl Potts
Penciler: Jim Lee
Colorist: Gregory Wright
Inker: Jim Lee
Letterer: Jim Novak
Editors: Kelly Corvese, Don Daley
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The story begins with Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, swinging over New York City. She agreed to help her old friend/ex-paramour Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil with something. As she swings, she wonders why she did this. After all, she's an espionage agent. She's supposed to be cold, caring only about the mission. Attachments, even long-running ones are dangerous for her business. But her turn at playing Byronic hero will have to be tabled for the moment, as a group of criminals try and break into an apartment.

The Black Widow may see herself as a cold woman, but even she can't ignore something like this. She swings towards the apartment's skylight. Being a skilled hand-to-hand combatant as well as packing her Widow's Bite gauntlets, she is easily able to take care of the robbers and leave them tied up for the cops. With that, the Widow swings on her way. Over at her destination, a woman named Yuriko is fighting a man in an armored suit. The suited man tumbles to the ground like a rock dropped from a high place. The helmet shatters, revealing the wearer's face. And Miss Yuriko is horrified by the reveal. 

An old man tells them their cover is blown, and they need to get the heck out of there. 

He's accompanied by three other people: Yuriko, a blond man named Phillip (whose hair is colored as black in the book, it's supposed to be blond, trust me), and a fat sumo-like man named Manzo. As they flee, another man in a similar power armor attacks them. However, they get saved by a certain skull-wearing vigilante. After all, it is his book. The Punisher's Battle Van seemingly manages to bring down this power-armored man. Seemingly, as in he just gets right back up.

The power armor punches its way into the Battle Van, but Frank is able to bring the big metal monster down. In the process, the helmet is blasted away. And much to Yuriko's horror, the operator also has the face of her deceased father. She then faints, presumably due to her injuries from the battle earlier. The old man tells Phillip and Manzo to distract the armored man while he tends to Frank and Yuriko. While the two do so, the old man enters Frank's and Yuriko's minds. 

It's here we get a recap of Frank's origins, but we also get a recap of Yuriko's history as told in the Shadowmasters miniseries. It shows that the two are pretty similar. They both lost family due to violence and sought vengeance. Both driven by guilt over their inability to save their loved ones, but whereas Frank was turned into the Punisher, Yuriko was tormented into helplessness by hers. This is observed by the Black Widow.

The old man briefly notices Nat, but then goes back to his journey through Frank and Yuri's minds. In the mindscape, a large spider appears, the narration noting that appearances can be deceiving, and saviors can come in strange forms.

Yuriko is able to dispatch the armored man with an impact grenade. The group spot Natasha, but Frank assures her she's one of the good guys in his own way. Another power armor comes from the park, but Nat is able to dispatch it. The Shadowasters thank Frank for the help and tell him they'll meet again. Frank and Nat have a terse exchange. The story ends with Nat swinging away, advising him to get out of there. The cops are coming.

I did enjoy this comic, although that was because I had also read the Shadowmasters miniseries beforehand. Thanks to that, I didn't feel lost or confused about what was going on. I did appreciate the flashback from the old man, though. I do wish that we got to see Natasha interact with Frank and the Shadowasters more. The beginning gave her heavy focus, setting up the idea that she would play a major role. She was helpful in the battle, but it seemed like after the beginning, she was in general an afterthought. Considering her monologue in the beginning, I can imagine that she'd be more open and understanding of Frank's way of cleaning up the streets than Matt's. Would have liked that explored a bit.

This is early Jim Lee, so I admit, I was surprised to see this was his work. It wasn't quite as recognizable as it is nowadays. But upon closer inspection, you do start to see some of the hallmarks, mainly in his faces. 

If you want to read this story for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2018 trade paperback The Punisher: Shadowmasters. Thanks for reading this blog entry!

Daredevil: Born Again Trailer, My Thoughts

You just can't keep the Devil down. Especially if that Devil is named Matthew Murdock. And it was true for his Marvel Cinematic Universe counterpart. From 2015-2018, Daredevil got his own show on Netflix, produced by Marvel Television. The series would start a whole sub-universe within the MCU that focused on several street-level characters: The Punisher, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Iron Fist, which led to the Defenders miniseries. 

The show would develop a passionate fanbase, who hoped the series would be revived in some form after it was cancelled by Netflix. Charlie Cox, who played Daredevil in the original series, would reprise the role in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and cameo in Echo and Spider-Man: No Way Home. Vincent D'Onofrio would also reprise his role as Wilson Fisk in Hawkeye and Echo.

In March 2022, it was announced a continuation was in development. It went through changes and revamps, as series do, and filming got suspended by the 2023 Writer's Guild Strike. Cox and D'Onofrio are returning in their roles, but so are Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page, Elden Hensen as Franklin "Foggy" Nelson, and Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle/The Punisher. Let's look at the trailer!

Fisk: "You know, this...this is actually nice. The two of us, sitting here...shooting the breeze, enjoying some coffee (good coffee by the way)...we should do this more often."
Matt: "Yeah. We should."

Looks like we are getting a nod to the era in which Fisk became Mayor of New York City after the events of Secret Empire.

I imagine this is set after Daredevil's appearances in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and Kingpin's appearance during the events of Echo, considering how that miniseries ended. 

I can imagine that ol' Rich just threw a bit of money around...and a bit of muscle. And that's why Matt is understandably skeptical of Fisk seemingly having changed.

"A line was crossed." My guess is that Daredevil killed someone. And nice little detail with the missing horn in his helmet forming a "D".

Fisk raises something interesting here. He claims that he and Matt are naturally violent men. However, I can also see that he is looking at Matt through the lens of his own ego. Fisk is himself a violent man at his core, but I can imagine that one of Born Again's themes is that even though Richard and Matt may seem similar in that aspect, they are actually very different. 

Introducing the newest supervillain tam sensation: The Rainbow Mask Gang!

The Daredevil theme in church organ is awesome. Very foreboding.

Matt in the club. 

Oh God...that dude on the white mask with the black beanie...that's Muse. He was an Inhuman serial killer who was, as the Jack Nicholson Joker would describe himself, a "homicidal artist", although I think they'll erase his Inhumanity like they did to Kamala Khan.

Frank Castle: YOU'RE ONE OF THEM! YOU'RE ONE OF THOSE COCAINE BEARS!

White Tiger!

Ooh, that guy is never going to walk normally ever again.

I just love that he has his own little Devilcave with all the different masks.

National Bagel Day

Happy National Bagel Day, everyone!

What is National Bagel Day, you may ask? Well, it's a day to celebrate...the bagel! Mmm...bagels...

Bagels have been around for far longer than you think. The modern bagel as we know it can be traced back to 1600s Poland, where they were given as presents to women in childbirth. Yeah.

The bagel may likely have derived from the pretzel, which was brought to Poland from German immigrants. It would go on to be a staple of the Polish diet. The word "bagel" derives from Yiddish world "beygal", which itself came from a German dialect word "beugel", which means "ring" or "bracelet". Which is rather appropriate for a food shaped like, well...a ring.

From there, the bagel would spread to Europe. Polish Jews immigrating to America would bring the bagel to the country, especially in New York City. The City that Never Sleeps had thriving bagel businesses controlled by the trade union Bagel Bakers Local 338. The innovation of automated bagel-baking machines would break the trade union's hold over the bagel-making business and help spread bagels all over North America. 

From there, bagels became a popular food to enjoy. It's not hard to see why. They're a quick little thing you can scarf down, and you can add all sorts of things to them. So enjoy yourself a bagel today! Thanks for reading this blog entry! See you next time!

JLA #1 (January 1997)

If you're a superhero in the DC Universe, you naturally would have a goal to join the Justice League. After all, the League is the premiere team in this particular superhero universe. They're composed of some of the best and brightest heroes in the DCU. At least, it was supposed to be.

Back in the mid-1990s, the Justice League was in a bit of a slump. Starting in the mid-1980s with the notorious "Detroit Era", the League membership had become a regular mix of stalwarts and new character, as well as having many spinoff books (Justice League Europe, Justice League Quarterly, Extreme Justice, Justice League Task Force, etc). In fact, I took a look at the first issue of one of those spin-off books, Justice League Task Force, right here. The books didn't sell well, and the issues cluttered the comic stores. The JLA as a brand needed a freshening up, and fast.

DC decided to bring the JLA back to its roots, as it were. The group would be a gathering of their greatest and most iconic superheroes. As such, they cancelled all the spin-off books, as again, they were not selling well). In 1996, a Justice League team was formed in the miniseries Justice League: A Midsummer's Nightmare written by Mark Waid and Fabian Nicieza. But it would not be until this series that the JLA would be truly reborn. So, let's take a look at the true rebirth and return to glory of the Justice League in JLA #1!

The cover is a Howard Porter and John Dell piece. It's pretty neat, even though it's a bit basic. It's just showing the membership of the new League. I do think it fits, though. The whole point of this book is the birth of a new League. I do like the masthead logo. It's big, bright, and glorious. A fitting logo for a team returning to glory.

"THEM!"
Writer: Grant Morrison
Penciler: Howard Porter
Inker: John Dell
Colorists: Pat Garrahy, Heroic Age
Letterer: Ken Lopez
Editor: Ruben Diaz
Executive Editor: Mike Carlin

The story begins in Washington, DC. In particular, the White House. The skies over the building suddenly went dark.

It's not someone playing a prank, it turns out that there's a big ol' flying saucer hovering over the building. And considering that this is the DC Universe, this is likely a regular Tuesday.

The members of the Justice League at the time (Nuklon, Metamorpho, Obsidian, and Icemaiden) discover the ship and wonder how it got past their own Refuge's detection systems. Yes, the League's headquarters at the time (The Justice League Refuge) was an escape pod from ship that was previously used by a supervillain called the Overmaster. As for how this saucer was able to evade them, I think they borrowed a cloaking device from the Romulans. Metamorpho isn't worried, because Superman is on the case. 

The spaceship drops what looks like a bunch of large eggs on the front lawn in front of the Man of Steel, the President, and a group of Checkmate agents. Mmm...eggs...

Superman examines the "eggs" with his X-Ray vision, but they're opaque to it. Basically, he can't see into them. Something emerges from these "eggs", but Superman suggests the Checkmate agents stand down until they know what is going on here. For all they know, it could be just a bunch of alien tourists doing some sight-seeing. The Metropolis Marvel turns out to be half-right. The "eggs" do indeed reveal a bunch of aliens.

Meet the Hyperclan. They're a group of superpowered nomads from another world. Said homeworld was destroyed, leaving this bunch the only survivors. They have been floating around the universe for millions of years, looking or a new home. They introduce themselves and give their origins. Their world was destroyed by environmental neglect and greed, and they want to prevent that happening to Earth. This announcement is watched by a group of superheroes: The Wally West Flash in Keystone City.

Page 6. Panels 4-5

Wonder Woman in Gateway City. The Kyle Rayner Green Lantern in New York City. J'onn J'onnz, the Martian Manhunter, in Denver. To show what they can do, they take the Sahara Desert and turn it into a forest.

Superman is interviewed about this, and in this interview, he raises a good point. The Sahara Desert is not some lifeless wasteland. It has an ecosystem of its own and just making it into a rainforest can do some potentially serious damage. Not to mention that this whole thing is a spectacle. There's no real point to it. The way the Man of Steel sees it, superpowered heroes are supposed to inspire people to become better, not make humanity into pampered lapdogs. However, some are basically all like "Aw, Superman is just jealous!" 

With the Hyperclan in action, new things are going down. One moment is especially important. The Hyperclan captured themselves a group of supervillains. One of them is an obscure villain called Judgment, who first appeared in Justice League America #96 (February 1995). He screams for mercy, saying what they are doing is illegal and inhuman. Protex, the leader of the Hyperclan, disdains the villain's hypocrisy. Here he is, screaming about the law while he used his power to harm and kill people indiscriminately. Criminals are indeed a superstitious and cowardly lot. As such, for his crimes, the Hyperclan eye beam him to death.

Page 10, Panel 3

This has driven several prominent supervillains into hiding. The executions seem to deter supercrime, and the Hyperclan's actions are gaining popularity. Up in the Refuge, Metamorpho grumbles about the group's names, saying that they sound like they came from a bad action figure line. I mean, he's not completely wrong. A-Mortal? Zenturion? Armek? Primaid? Zum? Fluxus? Tronix? To me, they sound like bad superhero comic names. Kyle teases Rex about his own codename, which makes Metamorpho ask if the then-new and only Green Lantern if he should be making sandcastles with the Teen Titans. Basically, he's telling Kyle to shut up.

The tower's sensors pick up some intruders heading towards it.

Page 11, Panel 5

The intruders hit the headquarters with an EMP. Said pulse shorts out the main system. And then they take out the backups.

Nuklon thinks it's the Hyperclan. Whoever the intruders are, they manage to breach the Refuge's hull.

Red alert indeed. The infiltrators are wrecking the satellite, and the gang need to get out of there. 

Metamorpho tells Kyle to use his ring to distract them while he helps evacuate. Diana gives him some backup. The League discover that the escape shuttles are wrecked. There's no time to repair them, so Metamorpho has to improvise. 

Page 15, Panels 2-5

Kyle and Diana give quite a fight, but they could not save the satellite. It goes up in a ball of fire.

Metamorpho heads towards Earth but gets fried by the heat generated by the friction from hitting the atmosphere. On Earth, the Hyperclan unearth an artifact.

Page 18, Panel 4

The Justice League make it safely to Earth, with Metamorpho the worst for wear. The next day, Superman and Flash are running (well, flying in Clark's case) down a street. Superman reports that he found the Leaguers and brought them to the hospital. Nuklon, Obsidian, and Icemaiden are badly hurt, but they could have been worse. Metamorpho is...well, the best term the doctors could use to describe his condition is...inert. Not exactly hale and hearty, but not exactly dead either. Afterwards, Superman activated the priority alarm.

Diana, Kyle, Wally, J'onn, and Clark gather up, the news pointing out that the Justice League's approval rating is still dropping, despite the destruction of the satellite, and people are angrier that the Hyperclan have been implied to be the cause of it. Protex did an interview accusing the League of trying to manufacture a confrontation with his group. 

Superman arrives, saying he asked Protex about it. The golden-skinned wannabe Oscar statue denied the Hyperclan were responsible, but Superman knows he's lying. Presumably because of his super-senses, but also, Clark is an investigative reporter in his civilian life. 

We get a nice little bit here with Kyle Rayner wondering if the Hyperclan have had a point about their actions. Maybe the League should do more. It makes sense that he'd be the one to raise this point. Remember, at this time, Kyle Rayner is the newest of any of the superheroes that appear in this comic. He would be more open to new ideas on superheroing than even Wally West. 

Aquaman hasn't responded to the alarm yet. Batman seemingly hasn't, either. But he did...an hour ago.

 Page 21, Panel 5

Superman noticed that he didn't pick up Batman's heartbeat. Which he should have done, considering his powers. Batman just mutters "the gadget" worked. The Dark Knight inquires if Superman can detect microwaves.

No, not the cooking kind of microwaves, the form of electromagnetic energy. It's not a problem for the Man of Steel. He notices that there is a spike of activity on the 7 hertz frequency. The sources are objects in orbit. It's the frequency the human brain operates on, which leads Batman to deduce there's mental manipulation at work. There's an invasion going down, and the League needs to hit back...and hit hard. 

I enjoyed this issue. It's clear that Morrison and Porter's goal with this book is to bring the JLA back to its former glory, and a group of superpowered aliens would seemingly be a perfect way to get the DCU's best and brightest heroes on the case. I do think the mystery of the Hyperclan's true identity is a bit rushed, though. I mean it's not hard to guess what Z'onn Z'orr alludes to. And I did feel a bit sad about the previous League being dispatched. I get why, but it still seems a bit sad. They were still Leaguers, after all. Yeah, they may not be regarded as part of a legendary era, but still.

If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2008 trade paperback JLA: Volume 1. 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 Save the Eagles Day