Can’t Pretend That Growing Older Never Hurts
There was no show last week, because my brain was pretty much fried after a week of stress over my mom having some serious anxiety attacks. She ended up in the hospital and still hasn’t quite recovered. It’s been a challenge for Dad, me, my wife, and, of course, Mom.
So Hard To Pin Down
Speaking of my parents, Dad told me that the nylon window screen to their kitchen window had seen better days and needed to be replaced. We talked about him doing it himself or there must still be some hardware stores that can do it. Maybe even Home Depot can do it.
Dad thought that the nearby Batteries Plus store might be able to fix it.
“Batteries Plus?” I asked.
This is where a person’s experience and knowledge colors their perception. Dad saw a sign outside the store that read: “Screen broken? We fix it” He knows nothing of smart phones or tablets and he had his damaged window screen on his mind, so that is the direction his thinking went.
“Um, Dad? I don’t think they mean window screens.”
Comic Books!
I wanted to keep this show form getting too heavy with the COVID and Fearless Leader talk, so I indulged myself in talking about comic books. There was my start as a young buyer of comic books leading to me becoming a serious collector. I talked about some of the history of comic books – they started, when the super-hero genre began, and of some of the pioneers in those early days of this American form of pop literature.
I talked about Captain America and of his historic first issue with a very gutsy punch depicted on the cover. I hemmed a little on when the comic book was released. The cover date says March, 1941, but I was correct (at least according to Wikipedia) the issue hit the newsstands in December, 1940. I blogged about it! Click here.
After WWII super-hero comic books began to drop off in popularity. They were replaced be war, western, sci-fi, horror, and romance comics. Timely Publications, publisher of Captain America, Human Torch, and Sub-Mariner dropped those heroes along with changing its company name to Atlas Comics.
In 1954, the US Senate became concerned that comic books were turning America’s teens into juvenile delinquents. Hearings were held and publishers were grilled. The comics industry created the Comics Code Authority as a way to self-police their product and save the kids of America from a life of depravity and crime.
Through much of this history was a fellow who would become synonymous with comic books, Stan Lee. He started working for Timely at age 16 doing minor tasks and worked his way up to writer of feature stories. Stan hoped he would have become the next great American novelist, but there he was writing comic books. By 1960, he was getting ready to quit.
But, he held on and created…
Oh. You know what he created. If you don’t, listen to the show.
Biographics Gets A Few Things Wrong
There is a YouTube channel called Biographics. The channel features short video biographies of famous and infamous people throughout history. The videos are hosted by Simon Whistler, who does a fine job talking us through the various histories.
The videos are well produced and very informative, but are they getting their facts right?
I watched their biography of Stan Lee and Marvel Comics and they got a few things wrong. And if I noticed those things in a subject I know something about, I wonder how much they get wrong in subjects I know little or nothing about.
Robert Kirkman, creator of The Walking Dead comics, presented a series about the history of comic books. The first episode of which focused on how Marvel Comics came to be and how it took over the comic book world. As far as I can tell, it is far more accurate.
A Dimland Radio Pedantic Moment: M*A*S*H And “It Spun In”
I blogged about this on Warehouse Find this week. I had the audacity to be pedantic about one of television’s greatest (and saddest and most shocking) moments: The season finale of the third season of M*A*S*H and the final scene in which “Radar” informs the surgical staff of the death of a much beloved character.
The pedantry centers on three words: It spun in.
Be patient. Wash your hands. Stay home. WEAR A MASK! Stay safe.
Dimland Radio opening theme song: Ram by The Yoleus
First ad break bumpers: Lead A Normal Life by Peter Gabriel and Epic by Faith No More
Second ad break bumpers: Turning Japanese by The Vapors and Sweetest Taboo by Sade
Closing song: Angler’s Treble Hook by $5 Fiddle
That’s it! See you next Saturday night for Dimland Radio 11 Central, midnight Eastern on www.ztalkradio.com you can also download my show from the z talk show archives page. You can email your questions and comments to drdim@dimland.com
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