Author: Tom Panarese

In Country: Marvel Comics’ “The ‘Nam” — Episode 24

IC 24 Cover This time around, we have “Do Not Forsake Me” from The ‘Nam #21, a story that develops the potential romance between Clark and his nurse friend, Jane. Unfortunately, things don’t always go the way we hope they will. Brought to you by Doug Murray, Wayne Vansant, and Geof Isherwood. As always, in addition to the summary and review of the issue Ill be talking about the storys historical context as well as taking a look at the letters, ‘Nam Notes, and ads.

You can download the episode via iTunes or listen directly at the Two True Freaks website

Two True Freaks Presents: In Country iTunes feed

In Country Episode 24 direct link

In Country: Marvel Comics’ “The ‘Nam” — Episode 23

IC 23 Cover This time around, it’s “Dominoes,” The ‘Nam #20, where we see the boys of the 23rd team up with Thai soldiers and get some resolution in the fragging of Alarnick storyine. Brought to you by Doug Murray, Wayne Vansant, and Geof Isherwood. As always, in addition to the summary and review of the issue Ill be talking about the storys historical context as well as taking a look at the letters, ‘Nam Notes, and ads.

You can download the episode via iTunes or listen directly at the Two True Freaks website

Two True Freaks Presents: In Country iTunes feed

In Country Episode 23 direct link

Binge and Purge

I am pretty sure that if you asked him, the greatest moment of my friend Brendan’s adolescence was his first Metallica concert. He and his friend were both members of the official fan club and were able to get front row center seats for the band’s concert at Jones Beach in May 1994. I admit that’s pretty impressive. The closest I ever got to any performance like that was second-row seats to Les Miserables that same spring; otherwise, my concert-going life has been relegated to what’s available or what I can afford–usually bleeders.

Anyway, this wound up being the culmination of a few years of Metallica fandom but also in a huge year for the band. In 1991, they had released Metallica (otherwise known as “The Black Album”) and toured nearly non-stop up until they recorded and released Load in 1996, an album that is so divisive, it’s probably worth its own entry. In the middle of all of this touring, the band released something that most bands do when they put out a successful record–a live album.

But it wasn’t just a live album; when you are the biggest band in the world, you release the biggest live boxed set the world has ever seen. Released at the tail end of 1993 and called Live Shit: Binge and Purge, Metallica’s album came in a small trunk and included three CDs, three VHS tapes, a T-shirt, a booklet, stickers, and a fake backstage pass (there was another version released with cassettes instead of CDs and subsequent rereleases have replaced the VHS tapes with DVDs). It retailed for $89.95, which was a lot of money then and actually still is a lot of money for a boxed set. You’d have to be a crazy hardcore fan to want to spend that much money.

Which, to be honest, is the nature of boxed sets. In fact, Barenaked Ladies even wrote a song called “Box Set” (on Gordon) wherein they satirize the product’s bloated nature:

Disc One
It’s where we’ve begun, it’s all of greatest hits,
and if you are a fan then you know that you’ve already got ’em.

Disc Two
It was all brand new, an album’s worth of songs,
but we had to leave the whole disc blank ’cause
some other label bought ’em.

Disc Three
This is really me in a grade school play;
I had about a hundred thousand lines but of course I forgot ’em. …

Disc Four
Never released before, and you can tell why.
it’s just some demos I recorded in my basement.

Disc Five
I was barely alive, I was coughing up a lung,
so they had to use a special computer as my replacement.

Disc Six
A dance remix, so I can catch the latest trend
and it’ll make you scratch your head and wonder
where my taste went.

And they can definitely be hit or miss. The two Springsteen boxed sets that I have–Tracks and Live 1975-1985–are well worth their price tags. But for the most part, the average boxed set is an overdone affair with a good $20 less than its price tag. Live Shit: Binge & Purge didn’t suffer its price, eventually selling 15 million copies.

For my friends who were into the band (and to a lesser extent, myself) one of us obtaining this monster was a cause for celebration. I’d heard live albums beofre, but a band we so favorited had never done anything like this, so putting an entire Metallica concert into the CD player and blasting it like we had tickets was awesome. Plus, the band was playing music we hadn’t heard before or that we had heard of but had found hard to obtain. I personally taped “Last Caress,” “Am I Evil,” and “Stone Cold Crazy,” and would go onto crib whatever I could from Brendan’s various bootlegs, imports, and singles (well, until Garage, Inc. came out in 1998 and replaced my need for the worn-out tapes in my car’s glove compartment). And between that and “Breadfan,” I was good to go. Brendan wasn’t and proceeded to collect any import or bootleg he could get his hands on.

If anything, like the nights they capture for posterity, live albums are time capsules and Live Shit: Binge and Purge is no exception. It’s Metallica’s last gasp before they reinvented themselves as a Nineties band. If I listened to it now, I’d probably be able to picture sitting in my friend’s room reading magazines and talking about hockey while James Hetfield grunted and roared away.

Pop Culture Affidavit, Episode 27: 1994 — The Year in Comics, Part Two

It’s It’s the big conclusion of my conversation with Michael Bailey about 1994 in comics. Whereas we spent last episode talking about the comics industry, we spend most of this episode talking about what we thought were the most important comics of the year.the big conclusion of my conversation with Michael Bailey about 1994 in comics. Whereas we spent last episode talking about the comics industry, we spend most of this episode talking about what we thought were the most important comics of the year.

You can listen here:

iTunes: Pop Culture Affidavit

Direct Download

Pop Culture Affidavit podcast page

And for your viewing pleasure, here is the Zero Hour/Zero Month promo video that Mike mentions in the episode:

In Country: Marvel Comics “The ‘Nam” — Episode 22

IC 22 Cover We’re back in The ‘Nam with a look at issue #19, “Milk Run.” This time, the guys of the 23rd help out a Marine who’s been shot down. Brought to you by Doug Murray, Wayne Vansant, and Geof Isherwood. As always, in addition to the summary and review of the issue Ill be talking about the storys historical context as well as taking a look at the letters, ‘Nam Notes, and ads.

You can download the episode via iTunes or listen directly at the Two True Freaks website

Two True Freaks Presents: In Country iTunes feed

In Country Episode 22 direct link

A Banquet, a Song, a Date, a Mug

A few months ago, I was doing the dishes after breakfast, and after putting my coffee mug in the drying rack, I heard it crash to the floor. I sighed and grabbed the broom and dustpan, and while sweeping it up, got annoyed. I was annoyed at myself for not being careful, but also annoyed that a mug I had owned for twenty years was now gone.

The black coffee mug with a gold rim and “Sayville High School ’95” was the favor from my junior banquet, which took place on April 18, 1994. I honestly don’t know why it was called a banquet and not a prom–I suspect it had something to do with the seniors not wanting the juniors to call our dance a “prom” because my high school was all about that petty sort of crap–but it was the first formal school dance I ever attended. In fact, if you want to get technical, it was my first date.

It is shocking to absolutely no one that I was an incredibly late bloomer. Oh sure, I knew as early as elementary school that I liked girls, but at sixteen, I had not evolved socially beyond the awkwardness I had around girls when I was twelve. I could control my behavior and wasn’t as obnoxious or immature in the presence of a pretty girl, but I still had ridiculous crushes on girls who were way out of my league, and even as late as college it took signals brighter than the average Times Square billboard for me to pick up on the fact that someone found me even marginally attractive. In fact, at that point, my pursuit of the opposite sex amounted to asking out my crush in the ninth grade (and getting rejected) and getting friendzoned by someone prior to Christmas break, so the idea that I’d actually get a date for a dance was pretty ridiculous.

The junior banquet, though, was the social event of the year–at least for me, anyway–and because of that I felt that finding a date was necessary. Okay, there was no stated obligation to find a date, but I definitely felt some sort of pressure to make sure I had a companion for the evening. Maybe it was because my friends were getting dates or maybe because the dance was formal. Personally, I blame our class’s choice of a theme song: “Oh What a Night.” (more…)

Interstate Love Song

There have only been a few times where I looked at the title of a song and said, “This is going to be a good one.” Usually, song titles are pretty innocuous and if you were to give me a list of titles from a band’s latest album, I’d shrug. The song’s called “Stay?” Well, that could mean anything. But like I said, every once in a while, I see “Raining in Baltimore” or “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town” and pay a little more attention to what it might be about.

Such was the case with “Interstate Love Song.”

When Purple was released in early June 1994, I had been waiting in anticipation for a couple of weeks. “Big Empty” had been playing on the radio and in commercials for The Crow, and “Vasoline” had made its debut a week before. Couple that with the fact that Core was still in regular rotation in my CD player and I didn’t need anything else to be sold. I’m not sure if I bought the album the week it came out or if I picked it up a few weeks later. All I know is that one afternoon, I came home from the mall (probably Sam Goody) with copies of Purple and 10,000 Maniacs’ MTV Unplugged.

One of my friends, who was the self-appointed authority when it came to all things music, wasn’t too hot on the album because it wasn’t as heavy as Core; however, I actually preferred Purple, and my co-purchase of the 10,000 Maniacs album should have been a sign that I had different tastes (the number of times that girls I knew borrowed said 10,000 Maniacs CD should have also been a sign that I was on the right track). Purple wasn’t exactly a revelation in the way Dookie would become later that year, but in hindsight, it was a sign that the alternative music scene was lightening up a little. “Big Empty” was the “this is the same as Core” track; “Vasoline” was a little different but still had guitars and speed the way I thought guitars and speed should be in a song. But “Interstate Love Song?” I looked at the title and wanted to listen to it because it sounded like a great title, even if a love song–which was more suited to people like Jon Secada–did not fit the criteria for a “good” song among my friends and I. I mean, we listened to metal, not love songs.

Okay, my friends listened to metal and I was only listening to it so I could fit in.

Even so, that title drew me in. I wanted to know more. So after binging on “Big Empty” and “Vasoline,” I skipped ahead to track #4 and almost immediately, Purple’s status above Core as the better of the two albums, was established. The tune hooked me in, which is perfect because I couldn’t understand what the hell Scott Weiland was actually singing about anyway.

By the way, it’s heroin. He’s singing about heroin.

Okay, that’s not entirely true, although his heroin addiction–which was common among musicians of the early 1990s alternative scene–is something he’s cited in interviews as an inspiration. The song’s also about honesty, and touches upon how relationships are inherently complicated. Having not been in a relationship yet when I was sixteen, I didn’t know anything about this. But I understood, on some level, the song’s sense of longing and of hoping for something (albeit pessimistically).

“Interestate Love Song” would eventually receive the highest of honors when it came to my musical tastes–I put it on a mix tape for a girl. Granted, I had completely misinterpreted the song and had it mean something about long-distance relationships (I guess I took the title a bit too literally), but in that misinterpretation, the song wound up fulfilling the purpose of a mix tape anyway–it was repurposed by a listener. And that’s usually why it’s one of those songs that reminds me of being a teenager, with the contradiction between its tune and its meaning recalling the conflict between youth and burgeoning adulthood and the struggle between longing and ultimate fulfillment.

In Country: Marvel Comics’ “The ‘Nam” — Episode 21

This time around, I take another break from regular coverage of The ‘Nam for an extra-sized episode where I talk to Wayne Vansant, who was the penciller on The ‘Nam for more than 50 issues and has a long career writing and penciling comics and graphic novels of his own. We discuss his career, his work on The ‘Nam, and his most recent work, Katusha, Girl Soldier of the Patriotic War, a story about the war between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany during World War II.

You can download the episode via iTunes or listen directly at the Two True Freaks website

In Country iTunes feed

In Country Episode 21 direct link

Here’s the official Tumblr page for Katusha: Katusha, Girl Soldier of the Great Patriotic War

The page also has links to digital and print editions, which I recommend picking up. Books one and two are available now, and book three will be coming soon. Thanks again to Mr. Vansant for the interview!

Pop Culture Affidavit Episode 26: 1994 — The Year in Comics, Part One

As my look at 1994: The Most Important Year of the Nineties continues, it’s time to take a look at the comic books. Joining me for this endeavor is Michael Bailey of Views from the Longbox (among other podcasts). In this two-parter, we’re going to talk about the comics industry of the 1990s, what the big releases were in 1994 as well as what our favorite books were that year.

You can listen here:

iTunes: Pop Culture Affidavit

Direct Download

Pop Culture Affidavit podcast page

D.O.A. (My Life as a Teen Titan, Part Thirty-Nine)

On some level, I probably should be surprised that Deathstroke lasted as long as it did.

When I arrived home from college in the middle of May 1996, I picked up the books on hold at the comic store and in that stack sat Deathstroke #60, which was a white cover that had the main character’s mask and skull balanced on the hilt of a sword and the letters “D.O.A.” It was the final issue of what I guess could be considered an experiment of sorts–giving a character who was essentially a villain his own title, something that wasn’t all that common back in 1991 when the first issue premiered (The Joker had his own series in the 1970s but beyond that, villain-led ongoings weren’t very common).

Of course, the fact that Slade Wilson was a mercenary and not inherently evil–in fact, his origin was more like a twisted version of Captain America’s–made him an easy “anti-hero” or adventure character. As I’ve explored throughout this series of posts, much of his series was exactly like that. Marv Wolfman took the character and the few supporting characters that had already been established–Adeline Kane and Wintergreen–developed them further and even added to them. Then, they were almost all completely wiped out because of editorial mandates in the post-Zero Hour Hunted/Crimelord saga.

I’ll get into the editorial changes that allowed Wolfman to leave the Titans and Deathstroke behind with a slightly better taste in his mouth in the next entry, so what I’ll say here is that somewhere around issue #53, the book’s editor changed again, Tom Joyner (co-creator of Damage) came on to do a two-parter where Slade had to stop a terrorist cell from assassinating the president, vice-president, and every other high-ranking Washington official with chemical weapons (specifically, a plague) only to be blown up in an explosion that destroyed the dome of the Capitol Building. It’s a serviceable story that sets up two things that would take the book through the last six issues of the series: Slade will get a new costume and Slade will be de-aged and lose his memory. (more…)