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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 10, 2018 13:09:58 GMT -5
I came across a mention of internment camps somewhere, when I was young; then, the movie Midway had a subplot about Charlton Heston's son and a Japanese girl, who was in a detention center in hawaii. Heston goes to talk to her at the center and she speaks of the injustice. That hammered it home. That was 1976. There is an excellent memoir, Farewell to Manzanar, which recounts author Jeanne Wakatsuki's experiences in the camp. Call them internment camps, relocation camps or detention centers, they're still just concentration camps. There is an equally excellent picture book, Baseball Saved Us, by Ken Mochizuki, about how a boy and his father create a baseball diamond to lift their spirits and how it becomes a platform for regaining their dignity. It is based on actual camp internee experiences of playing baseball, with barbed wire and sentry tours surrounding them.
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Post by rberman on Apr 10, 2018 13:56:12 GMT -5
Here's a great song about the internment from a retrospective white point of view:
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Post by rberman on Apr 11, 2018 5:40:25 GMT -5
Volume 3 #10 “Victory” (May 2014)
Theme: It’s a Mad Mad Woman’s World Focus: Samaritan has synced his zyxometer with Confessor II’s computer. Winged Victory looks at tissue samples from the dead women. She recognizes their molecular structure! It’s tech from the now-deceased Garden Gnome. WV flies to the actual Aegean island of Samothrace, where the Council of Nike debates giving her powers to someone less scandal-tainted. The proceedings are interrupted by the a distress call from one of WV’s signal discs. A woman in trouble! (Supposedly.) The trial is halted so WV can fly to Central Asia and save whoever there triggered the disc. After that adventure (see below) wraps up, WV returns to Samothrace and insists to the Council of Nike that working with men doesn’t make her weak; it makes her a team player. She even turns back to civilian form as Lauren Freed to visit her mom, who hasn’t seen her in years. Civilians: Joey is in the Iron Legion base in the Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan. He finds holding tanks where doppelgangers of WV’s students are being grown; this explains why the women falsely accused her and then turned to stone when interrogated. Joey is captured but triggers the WV distress signal he got from his Aunt Peggy. WV and Samaritan bust up Karnazon and his armored troops. Joey is accepted as the first male student at Samothrace. Other Civilians: The three deceased vegetable-women were Sarah Blessing, Tara Jeffs, and Georgie McCann. The real Sarah ends up working back at the Samothrace camp in media relations after she’s freed from the Iron Legion base. Miscellanea: Winged Victory calls Samaritan “Asa.” Has he completely abandoned his birth name? Surely it’s not Asa Martin? My Two Cents: Finally WV contributes to the investigation into her frame job, but I was unprepared for her insight to come in the form of “I recognize that molecule!” We’ve not seen her as any kind of techie up to this point, and her unexplained knowledge of botanical biochemistry doesn’t end up advancing the investigation; it’s just exposition to explain how the doppelgangers were made. The actual breakthrough comes courtesy of Joey, not any of the three heroes. As I mentioned in the last issue, it would have made more sense for her contribution to come in the form of executive knowledge about the workings of Samothrace and her staff there. I assume that’s what she does all day when she’s not superheroing? We don’t have any idea how these training camps are funded; she’s certainly not independently wealthy. How many former Samothrace students have a WV distress disc? Seems like an easy way to draw her into an ambush if lots of helpless civilians are walking around with those. The Joey plot is very similar to Morella’s experience with the Skullcrushers just seven issues back. A civilian sneaks into the enemy base, needs rescuing, but ends up being the unwitting agent of allowing the heroes to bring down the villain army. The Confessor turned out not to have much to contribute to this storyline. He found evidence of tampering with the frame-up evidence; the government ignored it. His Choirboys tried to interrogate the accusers; the witnesses turned to stone. He used computers to analyze the rocky residue; it was a chemical which could not be traced. But he does get some nice interactions with Samaritan, including a decent fight. I’m also not really satisfied with the rapidity with which WV became Public Enemy Number One based on the testimony of three captured super-villains and three women who turned to stone when questioned about their testimony. But it is at least consistent with the unreasonable actions of the Federal Government back during the Enelsian crisis. Maybe mundane political leaders in this super-world are just more twitchy. Despite the plot holes, though, it was still way more interesting than the typical Wonder Woman story.
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 11, 2018 9:57:58 GMT -5
Well, even during the first date with Samaritan, we see that WV is a figure of some debate; so, it is more a pattern of paranoia, with some bigger eruptions.
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Post by rberman on Apr 12, 2018 7:09:52 GMT -5
Volume 3 #11 “The Sorcerer’s Assistant” (June 2014)
Theme: The value of a good secretary Focus Civilian: Munduna Kim, The Silver Adept, lives in her sanctum sanctorum near Government Hill. Her personal assistant Raitha McCann keeps Kim's life in order. While Kim is off on a mission, three Stone Sea Mages barge in from another dimension: The Nightflying Lord, The Queen of Dust and Decay, and Tumorr. Oh no! The Ar-Mang newborn is missing! Raitha checks yesterday’s mail. Yup, the Key of Mang is there! This makes the three visitors very happy, and they depart, sending a giant Tranquility Frog later as a reward. Toppings on the mystic pizza: Grev, Stockton, Moreton, and Orn work for Kim. College Vivae collaborates with Kim sometimes. Kim visits the Enfolded Dimension and fights an Ifrit. Kim attends the Himalayan Convocation and has an appointment for the Annunciations of W. Kim’s backyard is mystically in the Fields of Allatar. Dimensional issues involving The Monks of North Under and the factions of Reazz and the Amberveil. Appease Balthar if you want to travel the Black Paths. Appointments with Modi and Magni. In the dimension of Strathclyde, Lord Colquhoun needs help with a closing Rift. The Orb of Ebon Stillness can help manage Kim’s busy schedule. Villains: Mr. Malefic was due for a parole hearing. He broke out instead, lost a fight with Jack-in-the-Box III, and is now imprisoned in a green crystal that Kim delivers to the Penitence Caverns.
Other Civilians: Bellaire and Dorreen do pottery with Raitha. My Two Cents: This story blends themes from two previous ones. It has the “never a dull moment” frenetic pace of the very first issue, “In Dreams.” And it has the “civilian assistants who grease the wheels of the work” theme from Marella’s story just a few issues ago. This time the trappings come courtesy of Doctor Strange, with dozens of unfamiliar (and potentially throwaway) references to weird people, weird dimensions, weird relics. The overall point is that every famous figurehead like the Silver Adept actually stands on the shoulders of a whole team of support personnel who faithfully and anonymously do their work. Like Marella, Raitha takes great satisfaction in a stressful, high-stakes job. She also has friends and hobbies outside of work to keep her grounded in reality.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 12, 2018 23:36:27 GMT -5
I really liked the WV story... the combination of Superheroics and regular people was really fun.
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Post by rberman on Apr 13, 2018 6:13:03 GMT -5
Volume 3 #12 “The Deep Dark Woods” (July 2014)
Theme: The clothes make the man Focus Criminal: Edward “Ned” James Carroway (born Fred Glosman) grew up in The Sweatshop and always saw dressing better as a means to social advancement. As a teen tough, he murders a businessman, wears his nice suit, and becomes a “gentleman bandit.” He gets married to Alice and has a daughter Jill. After a stint in prison he tries going straight as a dapper waiter at the high-end restaurant Goscinny’s, but he’s drawn back into a life of crime in a series of well-dressed gangs. Ace High and the Gambling Men. The Gatsbys. The Mount Rushmore Four. The Mengerie Gang (humans under animal masks). The barbershop-singing Sweet Adelines. He also tangles with street-fighting heroes like Jack-in-the-Box and Crackerjack and is finally captured by Confessor III’s new partner, the were-cat Stray. His wife divorces him while he’s in prison, and he resorts to menial jobs when he gets out. He feels helpless and low until a buddy pesters him to join a new gang, finally convincing him by sending him a pair of classy shoes, which give him his criminal mojo back. Other Dapper Criminals: Colin Pepper. Oscar Hijueros. Eddie Barnett. Charlie Zimmer. The Warhols. The ScarfacesMy Two Cents: Another issue that’s hard to summarize since it summarizes a single character’s life. There’s apparently a whole Astro City subculture of thugs who fancy themselves genteel because they wear expensive clothing. As usual in issues of Astro City (and movies and other media for that matter) focusing on criminals, it’s possible to feel a certain sympathy for them when we only see their lives and not the lives that are harmed by their misdeeds. Ned is a far cry from Steeljack. He revels in being a predator, only disliking the law of the jungle when he feels like the bottom of the food pyramid instead of the top. His first prison stint would have been for breaking and entering and larceny, but the second one involved armed robbery, so I’m surprised he got out still a youngish man. Apart from his wolfish view of life, the other main theme of this issue is how his wardrobe functions as a talisman. It’s the source of his self-esteem as well as his ambition, to the point that getting a pair of Italian shoes in the mail causes him to fall off the wagon back into crime.
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Post by sabongero on Apr 13, 2018 10:44:28 GMT -5
Keep up the good work rberman. I always read a lot of review threads in this forum, but this one is one of the more interesting one. I've always heard about Kurt Busiek's multi-volume series, but never knew much about it. I like that you include a theme for each issue most of the time, and highlight the various characters appearing in the issue.
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Post by ascension29 on Apr 13, 2018 13:11:30 GMT -5
Keep up the good work rberman. I always read a lot of review threads in this forum, but this one is one of the more interesting one. I've always heard about Kurt Busiek's multi-volume series, but never knew much about it. I like that you include a theme for each issue most of the time, and highlight the various characters appearing in the issue. Yeah, Thanks I have read all of Astro City but, these summaries are great!!!
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Post by rberman on Apr 13, 2018 13:16:41 GMT -5
Keep up the good work rberman. I always read a lot of review threads in this forum, but this one is one of the more interesting one. I've always heard about Kurt Busiek's multi-volume series, but never knew much about it. I like that you include a theme for each issue most of the time, and highlight the various characters appearing in the issue. Yeah, Thanks I have read all of Astro City but, these summaries are great!!! Welcome to our party!
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Post by rberman on Apr 14, 2018 6:50:08 GMT -5
Volume 3 #13 “Waltz of the Hours” (August 2014)
Theme: Spring Fever Focus: The Dancing Master comes from another dimension and has everyone acting twitterpated. Each page in the story covers a different hour in the day, and they’re arranged out of chronological order thusly: 8am: People helping people. 11am: Gundog escapes Jack-in-the-Box III (Roscoe) by entrapping him in a Ryman Sphere for six hours. 3am: The Dancing Master is in another dimension. 10am: Gundog robs Astro Bank’s Kremer Street branch in Derbyville.5am: Scientists at Red Unit 5 in N.R. Gistics’ Outcault Campus are driving a dog-shaped rover collecting samples on Io. Interference is making it hard for them to control the robot. 9am: Laura begins her day’s work as a teller at Astrobank while planning to break up with her boyfriend. 1am: A lonely scientist at at the Plunkett-Winsor lab at Fox-Broome University tries to stay awake while tending a dimensional scanner. 7am: The Dancing Master floats above the city. 7pm: The N.R.Gistics team is still making no headway with the Io rover. 12 noon: Lots of people are kissing, all over town, as The Dancing Master looks on from above. 2pm: Laura is using Gundog’s pistols to hold the crowd at Astrobank hostage. What the… He returns the money that he stole and asks her to come with him. 4am: The Dancing Master emerges from the dimensional scanner at FBU and sees the sleeping scientist. 1pm: Gundog pauses his Astrobank heist to flirt with Laura the teller. 6am: N.R.Girstics scientist Zvi finally gets the Io rover to pick up the sample properly. 3pm: KBAC News reports on odd amorous behavior all over town. 2am: The lonely dreams of the FBU scientist enter his keyboard, summoning the Dancing Master. 5pm: The Hanged Man tells Dancing Master that it’s time to go home. 10pm: Zvi arrives home with flowers for his boyfriend, the guy from the FBU lab. 6pm: The N.R.Gistics team is at work, while the Dancing Master floats unnoticed behind them. 4pm: Jack-in-the-Box is set from the Ryman Sphere and learns about the day’s weirdness. 11pm: Zvi and his boyfriend drink wine on the balcony. 9pm: Laura and Gundog fly to Maine in a hovercar. 8pm: Under the watchful eye of the Hanged Man, the Dancing Master regretfully leaves our world. 12 midnight: On Io, Rover the rover is sentient and lonely. Other Heroes: The Hanged Man is also known elsewhere as The Dark One and Tereth-Il and Kerem the Wise. Presumably he doesn't wear a bag over his head in those avatars. Otherworldly entities: Terem, Talami, Marandara of Teth, Beredil, Deptu, and Talla-Le are mentioned. Civilians: Ed Nicholls, Davidson Royse, Chuck, Allison, Jenelle, Jim, Pete, Abernathy, and Heraclio work at N.R. Gistics. Valerie, Lloyd, and Petey work at KBAC, when they’re not rolling around on the ground smooching. Angie McTierney is one reporter’s old girlfriend. My Two Cents: The issue's title comes from the late 19th century ballet of the same name. It's nice to see a truly alien alien. The Dancing Master is just curious and means no harm, but his presence warps human behaviors and requires intervention from the biggest gun in Astro City’s mystic arsenal, who himself is an extradimensional being. The jumbled chronology allows Busiek to start all the stories in the middle and then get around to the beginnings and ends eventually. I’m not entirely sure what happened with Rover, but somehow the love-fest on earth allowed the N.R.Gistics scientists to break through the interference pattern to control Rover enough to do his job. The Dancing Master was depicted in various art styles throughout the issue, from highly realistic to stained glass window, but my favorite was the groovy “Yellow Submarine” late 60s version seen below and also on the cover. Does this style have a specific name?
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Post by rberman on Apr 15, 2018 8:08:25 GMT -5
Volume 3 #14 “Ellie’s Friends” (October 2014)
Theme: Labor of Love Focus Civilian: The spinster Ellie Jimson scavenges broken droids from battles and displays them as a roadside curiosity. She seems a little addled. Her nephew Fred arrives, fresh from his latest divorce (to Carla), and settles in. While she’s out of town, Fred professionalizes her museum, charging admission instead of just taking donations. This helps cash flow, but then droids from her collection start turning up at crime scenes left and right, and eventually the cops come to haul her away. Why is this happening? Hmmm, I wonder… Villains: Vivi Viktor and her Cyberwings fought Mirage and Point Man in Los Alamos, NM. Other Heroes: Omega Rangers, Jimmy Shade, Medulla, J-Hawks, Dr. Saturday, and Crackerjack are mentioned. Droids and Mecha: Mechizmo, The Ball-Bearians, Gargantuax, the Robo-Killers, Scandroid, Battletoon, Kontrollers, Metalheads, Cog-Noscenti. Ellie names them Jeremy, Arthur, Rinaldo, Knockwurst, Davey, etc. My Two Cents: We'll later find out how this unassuming old woman is so good with electronics. Her nephew is introduced as a ne’er-do-well from the first panel, so it’s no surprise on the last page when he’s obviously been farming out her robot collection to some as-yet unrevealed supervillain. It’s another story about the sometimes dicey interactions between parents and children, this time focusing on how people can take advantage of lonely relatives who want to think the best of them.
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Post by rberman on Apr 16, 2018 5:19:33 GMT -5
Volume 3 #15 “Friends and Relations” (November 2014)
Theme: Mother of Droids Focus Civilian: At her mental competency hearing, Ellie seems to have a few screws loose. One of her droids busts her out of jail, leaving behind a holographic replica. She returns home and chides her nephew Fred for renting her robots to criminals. She thinks back on her past. As Eleanor Jennersen, she attended Okener College along with fellow robotics genius Vivi Viktor, who betrayed her and stole all her knowledge with a brain scanner, ruining her mind. Back in the present day, Vivi attacks the courthouse, thinking to capture Ellie. A motley team of heroes challenges her: The First Family, Samaritan, Winged Victory, American Chibi, N-Forcer. And a flying Jack-in-the-Box? He’s just seen in one panel. Vivi orders her robots to kill Ellie, but since all the robots are based on Ellie’s stolen brain patterns, they refuse to hurt her. Vivi is captured. Ellie turns down a job offer from N.R.Gistics, retiring to the country to build a robot that tends her beehives. Other Civilians: Bill works for her lawyer. My Two Cents: This issue provides a satisfying explanation of how this woman living at a roadside attraction had the technical expertise to repair and reprogram all these attack robots. Not only does she have a background in robotics, but they’re all ultimately based on designs of her youth. Hers is a redemptive story, making worthless things good again, though she’s forgotten her own origins, and apparently Fred either doesn’t know or isn’t inclined to clue her in. As with the Sully story, we see another super who goes her own way, unwilling to accept corporate sponsorship.
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Post by rberman on Apr 17, 2018 7:08:50 GMT -5
Volume 3 #16 “Wish I May” (December 2014)
Theme: Stereotypes reconsidered Focus Villain: Simon Siezmanski, a.k.a. Simon Says, was abused by his junior high classmates for being effeminate. He became a teen super-villain. He makes a deal with his nemesis Starbright: Simon will do super-good deeds for 24 hours, and Starbright will bring a bunch of outsider kids to celebrate Simon’s sixteenth birthday party. Afterward, a brief battle between Simon and Starbright, and then the hero flies home. Some time later, Starbright is killed in one of Simon’s traps and turns out to be star quarterback Chet Markham, one of the only kids who was ever nice to Simon. Simon breaks down in tears and confesses his misdeeds to Rick, a wheelchair-bound classmate. Simon also realizes that he identifies as female, and he uses his super-science to change his body to a feminine form and duplicate Starbright’s powers. Rick convinces Simon to take over the Starbright moniker as well. Other Villains: Mr Toad’s wild ride of a crime spree is also very brief, thanks to Starbright II.Civilians: When the Markham Lions play the Seahaven Sharks in football, the player holding the ball for the kick is Van Pelt. Good “Peanuts” in-joke! Andy Doogman was going to catch it. Philips is a crooked insurance executive who hires an assassin to murder his boss. Maura, Ham, Ducky, and Peter are invited to Simon’s party. Places: Mount Pocotopaug. Wilbur Cross Parkway near Quinnipiac. My Two Cents: Simon had invited only the outcasts to his party, imagining that only they could empathize with his loner plight. His absolutist worldview is thrown for a loop when the most popular kid in school turns out to be the most selfless as well. Transsexualism has been a hot topic in American culture for the last few years, and storytellers in all types of media have taken the opportunity to tell a transsexual story, so it’s not surprising to find Busiek working the topic into Astro City. The closing page of the story shows The Broken Man watching Simon and Rick (who can now somehow walk), keeping that plot thread alive from several issues ago.
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Post by rberman on Apr 18, 2018 7:27:00 GMT -5
Volume 3 #17 “Sorrowsday” (January 2015)
Theme: The Needs of the Many Focus Hero: We open on Christopher “Topher” and Marcy Martin, two black people with the whitest names imaginable. He is the Honor Guard member Stormhawk, a very Hawkman looking flyer whose genetics genius got him out of the slums of East St. Louis. Focus Micronaut: The rest of the issue is a flashback. Honor Guard ( Samaritan, Cleopatra II, M.P.H., Wolfspider, Assemblyman, and Hummingbird II) are in their floating HQ, enjoying a mysterious feast that appears for them once a year. Suddenly, Eth of the Quiqui-A appears to confess a great crime. He’s a Jhef farmer from the Microverse (well, the Moleculelands). Krigari the Ironhanded manifested there, growing as he killed, defeating local heroes The RGBs of Dexitor and The CMYK. (Color wheel humor!) The leafy Druin the Seer guides Krigari through multiple engagements against Honor Guard. Krigari loses each time, and without his leadership, his army stalls in its approach to conquer the Quiqui-A. Finally Krigari ventures into the inter-dimensional Non to receive the Black Opal of immortality. Stormhawk sacrifices himself to destroy the Opal. Druin reveals himself to be Eth of the Quiqui-A, who is guilt-stricken at his complicity in Krigari’s plans. The Quiqui-A commemorate that day as Sorrowsday and bring the annual feast to Honor Guard in payment of their perceived debt. They also raise a monument to Stormhawk on their world, as suggested by Cleopatra II. Other Heroes: We see the original Honor Guard in flashback. Starwoman of the K’ntarr aids Honor Guard in their final engagement against Krigari. Other Villains: Stormhawk battled the zombie Cryptoids.Places: Subatomia and Quarkadia are tinier realms than the Moleculelands. Samachson Cliff on Mount Kirby contained the original headquarters of Honor Guard. The Catacombs of Uta-Long were another battle site. My Two Cents: Suddenly, Brent Anderson is no longer on art all the time. Not surprising, given the pressures on this now-monthly book with his quality of rendering. Seven artists (led by Tom Grummett) are credited on this issue! Must have been an emergency situation. Also, this story was pushed to the trade edition following the next set of stories, which are a connected arc. The trade volumes are not strictly chronological. They are collected as to whether they contain issues with Anderson art, or not. The overall story concept homages the Micronauts, imagining the inhabitants of Homeworld giving Baron Karza something to attack besides themselves. How about that bigger world full of powerful heroes? Eth of the QuiQui-A of the Jhef feels guilty over having protected his own people from Krigari by deflecting him into repeated battles against Honor Guard. Real generals have to make these kinds of hard decisions all the time, but Eth is not a general; he’s a farmer, and the consequences of his actions weigh heavily upon him. I just finished re-watching the Doctor Who episode “The Fires of Pompeii,” in which the Doctor and Donna Noble feel the enormity of the decision to either trigger the famous volcanic eruption that killed 20,000 people, or else let lava-monsters take over the earth. Such moral conundra can make for great stories.
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