Issue 43:
Superhero Information Initiative
By
Amdnarg Toh
Marvel is doing a – pardon the pun – marvelous thing… They are going to start publishing their older comics online. See the CNN article.
This can’t be anything but good for everyone-the proverbial win-win. But really – it’s about time. The world wide intra webs have been around now for at least forty years or so since Big Al invented them in college. And a lot of folks had access to their favorite comics online anyway, just not in the most “legal” way, if you know what I mean.
It’s the age old problem – how to get readers to buy new stuff so the companies can pay the writers and artists to produce quality stories and product. If you don’t have readers to pay for product, your quality suffers, and then you lose readers, which causes quality to suffer even more as the dollars dwindle furiously.
Part of the problem with getting new kiddos (and I mean kiddos in the most liberal way) interested in comics is that most, if not all, of the more mainline comic book heroes have SIGNIFICANT back stories, many of which reach back to issues decades old. How accessible are twenty, thirty, or forty-year old comics to the newbie who simply wants to read such stories? Impossibly inaccessible I tell you. Even if you could find the one person who has all of the issues you want to read, it’s likely that they are one of those picky types who don’t really read their comics, but place them in hermetically-sealed containers for safekeeping. Perhaps that jazzes some folks, but it’s only depressing for the kid who can’t afford the $50-$100 eBay price for that back issue. Nevermind that the multi-dollar price for single NEW issues is probably out of the range of a lot of youngsters.
So… Now we have Marvel and DC finally coming around to the digital age. With their archives available digitally on the internet, my prediction is that they’ll see a huge influx of new readers. Not only those who are interested in the back stories of more popular characters/groups, but they will find interest in the less mainline groups and characters. One of the effects of the decline in comic book readership in the late 80’s and 90’s was that many of the less popular titles were dropped entirely because it was too costly to produce titles that didn’t sell in volume. Remember PowerMan and Iron Fist? Captain Carrot? If DC and Marvel follow the best of what the music industry has done, they will make considerably more titles available at a much reduced cost. Eventually, I can envision that paper copies will be only for dyed-in-the-wool collectors, and that all new publishing will be done digitally over the internet. Cheap comics for the masses = more sales = more money to introduce new titles and pay artists and writers better for their product.
Hopefully they won’t go the way of the music industry and try to hold onto a profit model that is based on control of the distribution medium. Once you go digital baby, you have to embrace all if stands for – liberation from tightly controlled distribution channels, more power given to the artists, etc…truth, justice, and the American way…
Issue 42:
Various and Sundry
By
Amdnarg Toh
We here at Nerd City want to extend our most sincere congratulations to Amdnarg-Toh, one of our technical writers, on his recent graduation from the University of Illinois at Effingham. It was no small feat for him to attend college full time in addition to the tiresome work he performed here at Nerd City.
His faculty advisor stated “Along with being the only mountain dwarf in his family to ever attend college, he has excelled in many academic pursuits, not the least of which being his studies in Argumentative Rhetoric, rising to star placement as a Master Debater on the debate team. We’re extremely proud of him here at Eff U.”
Mr. Toh has been a member in good standing of several academic fellowships his entire college career, the two most prestigious being I Ata Pi, the fraternity of culinary arts aficionados as well as the popular leisure studies Honor Society, I Felta Thi.
He was also chosen to be among a handful of students across the nation to receive special financial consideration by the honorable Electrical Engineering National Interscholastic Endowment, (EENIE) as well as the more specified Microscopic Electrical Engineering National Interscholastic Endowment, (MEENIE.)
But home always had a special place in his heart and thus his equally impressive volunteer work in his hometown of Owatonna, MN– a rare advisory board placement with the Minnesota Institute for Nurturing Enterprising Youth, (MINEY) and the Minnesota Organization of Entrepreneurs, (MOE.) “We here at MINEY are very proud of the momentous, altruistic work that Mr. Toh has been able to fit in to his six years as a college student,” gushes president Adolph Oliver Knipple
But a sense of balance between studies and fun is a rare commodity in the lives of academically gifted people. However, Amdnarg has managed it quite well. “What’s that saying? ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy?’” opines girlfriend Anita Mann. “Well, Ammy, (as he’s known to close friends) is certainly not a dull boy,” referring to his activity as apostle of school spirit on the yell team.
“He made a great impact on many of us here. His sense of camaraderie and love for his fellow man was evident,” quipped Jimbo Berkinghamshirewood, the president of the yell team.
“At basketball games, he was always able to gather the students into a rhythmic chant of Eff-U Forever!” says fellow student Harry Palms.
“He even sometimes tried to make the referees feel like a part of the team by shouting Eff-U! at them continually from the sideline – What a guy!” quipped sophomore student Amanda Hugginkiss.
In addition to his Degree in Argumentative Studies and additional engineering research, he was granted the Argumentative Studies Specialty designation on his diploma. He was recorded as saying “Whenever I look at my diploma on the wall, and see that they realized that I was such an ASS, I’ll think to myself – thank God. Eff-U Forever!”
Issue 41:
Superhero Information Initiative
By
Amdnarg Toh
During my decade-long hiatus of being involved in the reading, collecting, and generally being owned by comic books and comic book characters, some really weird stuff happened…
Comics got really dark.
X-Men changed costumes at least 12 times.
The only Avenger I knew was Captain America.
The original Robin became Nightwing, and replacement Robin #1 was killed by the Joker.
And… Superman died. It was the Death of Superman that awakened me from my lethargic non-comic book involved state.
And why? Not really because Superman died. I knew it was a ratings ploy from the start.
Because Supergirl wierded me out!
A bit of explanation first…
Doomsday was the mysterious monster being who began to terrorize the countryside around Metropolis, Superman’s adult hometown. The Justice League of America was dispatched to take care of him and they ALL, collectively, got their asses handed to them by this unknown beast. Of course, Superman was unavailable at the time, but eventually got the message and showed up to make Doomsday’s – well— er— day. Kal-el found out he was WAY in over his head, and sacrificed himself to stop Doomsday, dying in the arms of his wife, Lois Lane. But that’s not THIS story…
In a critical moment of the battle between Superman and Doomsday, Supergirl intervened. I figured “Hmmm… There might just be enough power between TWO Kryptonians to take care of this menace.” Within about two nanoseconds of her joining her cousin’s defense of Metropolis and humanity itself, she gets KO’ed by the big grey guy. And turns into a grey putty like substance, smoking like she had escaped from a fire!!! And she’s picked up by none other than Lex Luthor, but he’s got long red hair and beard!!! I had to figure this one out, so I turned to the Internet, which at the time was a bit in its infancy, and didn’t have the mountains of comic related information readily available, so I had to do my research the old fashioned way – by collecting and reading the different issues that had information in them about Supergirl.
A short bit of research on today’s Internet yields the following Supergirl “lineage”:
Kara Zor-El – The original version, who was Superman’s cousin from Krypton. Some story lines indicate she lived in the bottled city of Kandor, some have her being sent to Earth in a rocket, much like Kal-El. In the original story line, a small part of Krypton survived its explosion, was eventually in jeopardy, so Kara was sent to Earth by her parents to be raised by her cousin. She holds a secret identity, Linda Danvers. This Supergirl died in the Crisis on Infinite Earths series in 1985. However, she has been recently reintroduced into the DC comics storyline, (2004.)
Matrix – The Supergirl encountered in the Doomsday story. Turns out this incarnation of Supergirl was a being called Matrix. She was a created lifeform with shape shifting abilities who took on the persona of Supergirl to help her hero, Superman. She had telekinetic abilities, which allowed her to mimic a number of Superman’s powers. Her story takes a number of twists, eventually leading to her “merging” with a human named Linda Danvers, losing some of her powers, gaining them back, and eventually being wiped out of the universe by the 2005 Infinite Crisis storyline.
Cir-El – A short-lived Supergirl who was initially thought to be the daughter of Kal-El and Lois Lane, returned from the future, but was found out to be a genetically modified human.
Issue 40:
Various and Sundry
By
Amdnarg Toh
Ok… since I’ve now embraced this bluegrass “funk” in which I find myself, I thought I’d elaborate on some of the more interesting musical experiences of my youth. If you didn’t grow up in the south with parents that had a penchant for southern gospel music, then you may not even have heard of these, much less seen them played live. I’ve seen ‘em all.
My parents attended a small Freewill Baptist church in Arkansas when I was in the first and second grade. Usually, one Sunday out of the month was “Singspiration Sunday”. This was basically an excuse to have a chaotic musical free for all, with the intent of somehow lifting us all from our spiritual complacency into heavenly bliss. Often it was a chore to endure to the end – now that I think about it, I did become more patient. Maybe that’s the enlightenment I was supposed to get. Anyway, I about flipped out when I saw a guy bust out a hammer and hand saw. By placing one end of the saw in his lap, and holding the other end in his hand, he was able to hammer out a tune, accompanied by the church pianist.
My next introduction to homegrown music was at Silver Dollar City in good ole’ Branson Missouri. Often, the park would invite local musicians to play at various venues to entertain the visitors. I was sitting listening to two guys, one with a guitar and one with a banjo, strumming and picking along just fine. Then a guy walks up in overalls. He must have been around 70 or so. He donned some of the old strap-on roller skates with metal wheels. I thought – “What’s he up to?” He proceeded to do a kind of sliding/rolling tap dance as a percussion back-beat to the bluegrass the two other guys were playing. It wasn’t bad percussion, mind you, just atypical. In fact, I was more interested in whether he was going to fall and break a hip than I was about the quality of the beat he was a’ layin’ down.
The most recent example was of someone “Playing the Bones”. No – that’s not some sort of tawdry euphemism. Playing the bones is another percussive technique that involves the use of rib bones or wood carved in the shape of rib bones. The bones are held between the fingers, and a technique used to flop the arms and wrists in the air and against the chest to create a clickety-clack kind of percussion, in time with the music. Two of the most popular techniques are called the “full upper body dry heave” and the “epilepsy in A minor.”
Another back-woods folk instrument worth mentioning is the jug. Most kids have at one time or another made a soda bottle whistle by blowing across the opening. Some have even noticed the differing pitch as the bottle is emptied, and have set up multiple bottles with differing levels of fluid in them to produce multiple notes. But the standard is to use empty ceramic moonshine, or corn mash jugs, sans alcohol. Some say that the enlightenment to play the jug comes during the emptying process. Anyway, large jugs such as the kind that are typically portrayed in bluegrass settings, are used as a droning bass percussion. However, I once saw a group of about ten people, each with 3-4 soda bottles, play a fairly complicated multi-part musical number, handbell style. It was in Mexico, on a work and witness trip, so I’m not sure it counts in my litany of southern culture home brew instruments, but hey – this is my story.
Issue 39:
Spotlight on Technology
By
Amdnarg Toh
Ok. Am I the only thirty-something on the planet who doesn’t understand the current fad of text messaging? Let’s see… If you have a cell phone, a device capable of carrying your voice over long distances, why would you send me some crappy abbreviated, misspelled, terse message that I might not understand, when you could just as easily call me? Remember: it takes less effort to place an actual voice call than it does to send me a text message.
My litany of texting evils:
- Requires the use of your hands. With the amount of cell phone zombie drivers on the road, I wonder how long it will be before we see text related accidents? Unless humans grow a third arm, and are suddenly able to use some of that 90% unused brain capacity, I’m VERY worried about drivers trying to text while driving.
- Simple courtesy. In real conversations, meetings, and any other sort of interactive conversation, it’s generally considered to be rude to interrupt. However, it seems that texting during meetings, conversations, etc. has somehow become acceptable. I can see how this might be ok for teenagers, but for adult professionals? Choose who you’re going to communicate with please, and let me know when you can talk to me without distraction. Texting during meetings is as inappropriate as passing notes while the professor is lecturing.
- Decline in writing skills. When texting, (laden with its emoticons and abbreviations), becomes a primary mode of communication, normal writing skills go on the decline. Perhaps this isn’t such a bad thing, and the vernacular will change to suit a more terse writing style. But I doubt it. We’ll just have to retrain folks to actually spell and write out whole words when they move into the non-texting world.
However, one important aspect of texting is very beneficial. It’s an asynchronous mode of communications. Just like email, texting makes “unconnected” communications possible. In fact, texting is really just a poor man’s Blackberry, the current trendy email thingy for technophiles. Whether or not the Blackberry has made folks more productive remains to be seen, but it most certainly makes it easier to connect with folks. It does make some sense, then, that if I have a low priority message to send, that I send it, and just wait for a response to come later. This is the reason, I believe, why it’s so prominent a habit for folks to text during other modes of communication. It doesn’t require full allocation of the time slot for me to do a “back and forth” quick message.
I’m sure a lot of my griping is just from my being an old fogey. I hardly thought I’d be such a crotchety old guy at the ripe age of 36, but I guess it’s my lot in life. I’ll probably just have to give in and buy the powder blue jump suit, dark socks, and Velcro tennis shoes. If you see me wandering down the road, mumbling to someone who isn’t really there, I’m probably just talking to make sure I still remember how.
And please – if you want to talk to me, just call me. I promise not to drone on and on or make small talk just because…
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some googling to do. I heard there was a way to flip the bird via an emoticon… Sheer genius!!!
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