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cole parker
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Toe is in the water |
Location: California
Registered: July 2018
Messages: 39
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This wonderful story takes me back some. I'm a golden-ager. I grew up with that era's superheroes, and talking about this gives me the opportunity to get something off my chest. Superman was okay. But Captain Marvel was the nuts. Great comics. I remember them being ten-cents an issue back in the late 40s, early 50s. And Captain Marvel was much better than Superman. Superman was always Superman, even when wearing a suit and glasses. Captain Marvel was usually Billy Batson, boy reporter, and he was very human. Therefore, he was very real and vulnerable, whereas Superman had to be afflicted with all this make-believe crap, like Kryptonite, to be assailed. What nonsense! Dr. Sevannah(sp?) could work his evil ways at Billy, and Billy had to be clever and brave and lucky to escape and be able to call on his gods, whose names all began with a letter in the word Shazam, to lightning-bolt him into his Captain Marvel form.
I can still remember the marvelous (excuse me, I coudn't resist) issue where the god tossing the lightning bolt at Billy had a sore arm and couldn't throw the bolt accurately, making Billy's impending peril even more likely. Great stuff.
Captain Marvel rocked. Superman? Ugh.
Thanks, Geron.
[Updated on: Fri, 17 December 2021 18:53] |
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Geron Kees
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Likes it here |
Location: USA
Registered: February 2016
Messages: 152
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I also enjoyed your flash piece, Cole. It was over too quickly, but that's the nature of the animal. Also Pedro's tale, which was a nice surprise.
My dad was 12 years old in 1958. He collected comics, and 20 year-old comics from the golden age were easy to come by. So he wound up with nearly as many old ones as 'new' ones.
In the 1960's, he went off to Vietnam. His collection of science fiction books and his comics went into storage in his parent's nice, dry basement. In the years that followed, my dad served his tour, came back a little disillusioned, and set out to see the world. He landed in Nederlands, met my mom, and the rest is history. He didn't see America again until 1976, when he came back here with his Dutch wife and three children. I was 9 at the time.
It took a year or so, but my dad decided to reclaim his book collection, and the comics came along with it. They were given to me, as I had already started a collection of my own. But...wait a minute! These weren't like the comics I was reading then! The plots were simpler, the drawings more spare, the villains more cut and dried. But they were a hell of a lot of fun! I had in my own collection many comics from the sixties, easily available at yard sales and thrift shops. My dad's collection was a direct link to the decade before that, and all the way back to the late 1930s. So I also grew up with Captain Marvel, Captain America, Green Arrow, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Dr. Mid-Nite, Rip Hunter, and the like. The Superman of that era was much more likable than the one that came later. Batman and Robin were straightforward, and far less 'dark'.
I also knew Iron Man, The Hulk, Spidey, The Fantastic Four, Thor, and the whole Marvel gang. I liked them, too, but had a soft spot for the DC crowd. I eventually outgrew collecting comics, and even reading them. But I still have them to this day, and the memories of the fun they were, and the imganination they helped to inspire.
This challenge story was fun for me. Superheroes are what you put into them. And when you're young, that can be everything!
Thanks for the kind comments!
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Pedro
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Toe is in the water |
Registered: March 2014
Messages: 94
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Just to turn this into a mutual back-slap fest:
I, too, enjoyed Cole's flash that could almost be said to be about flashing.
Geron's piece was something else. A clever extension of the superhero cosplay with the kind of careful exposition of character and place we have come to expect from him. Great stuff.
We kids in the UK did get to see the occasional US superhero comic, mainly Superman and Batman, borrowed off the kid who had more than average pocket money. But our main fare was the Beano and Dandy - think Dennis the Menace & the Bash Street Kids- definitely not superhero material. For a time in the fifties/ early sixties we did have The Eagle, with Dan Dare - space pilot of the future - battling the Mekon, and 'Roy of the Rovers' - stories of daring-do on and off the soccer pitch. All very British heroes - stiff upper lip, toodle pip and all that.
We did get the Batman TV series and thought it was great if slightly corny (I would be about 10 or 11 at the time). Now I know better - It was very corny!
Pedro
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Here's to mutual back-slapping!
All three of you wrote great stories, and beyond the stories themselves (and the enjoyment of reading them), was the educational component--keeping alive the back story of these super heroes and their creators for the younger generations!
Those characters and their actions all carried with them a certain morality, much of which has gone missing in society today!
Bensiamin
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cole parker
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Toe is in the water |
Location: California
Registered: July 2018
Messages: 39
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I'd be remiss not to mention Pedro's entry. I love all the Tony stoires, but this latest one showed an enhanced closeness and affection between the father and his unnamed son which I found both touching and heart-warming to see. I guess that warmth has always been there, but was elevated and more apparent in this tale.
How Pedro's able to turn all these short stories into entries for widely varying challenges using the same cast of characters is a wonder.
C
[Updated on: Sun, 19 December 2021 17:29] |
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Bisexual_Guy
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Likes it here |
Location: USA Midwest
Registered: September 2015
Messages: 156
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All three of the challenge stories are excellent. Each had its great points of enjoyment and sometimes humor.
"The Caped Crusader Caper" showcased the humor, sensitivity, caring, and problem solving that often wonderfully pervades the stories of Geron Kees.
"Say Cheese" -- Pedro's Challenge That is Tony story -- shows how the narrator's father has much caring and wisdom, as the narator's grandfather did in a previous tale. All boys with boyfriends should be so blessed with a caring father and grandfather.
"Costume Design" once more shows a teriffic tale by Cole parker featuring conciseness, humor, perspicacity, pensiveness, and a pointed punch line at the end. Or would that be a stiff stalk? He does humor better than I do.
Looking forward to the Christmas tales collection in a few days.
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I'm coming to this party late, what with holiday happenings and traveling for business purposes, but I've got to say, this challenge was one of the best from a reader's perspective... well, this reader's perspective at least. Thanks, Guys 😊
“There's no grays, only white that's got grubby. I'm surprised you don't know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That's what sin is.” - Terry Pratchett
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