The 23rd is officially deployed near the Cambodian border in “The Border Line” and we’re introduced to several new characters who we’ll see quite a bit of in the next year’s worth of comics. It’s The ‘Nam #28, 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 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
“Like A Candle in the Wind” is the title of issue #27 of The ‘Nam and is a “fill-in” story where Clark hears the story of a wounded soldier he is helping. It’s a harrowing, sad tale brought to us by Doug Murray and guest artist Sam Glanzman. As always, in addition to the summary and review of the issue Ill be 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
We are back in The ‘Nam with a look at “Auld Acquaintance” from The ‘Nam #26, a story that takes a look at the current lives of characters from the original year of the issue: Ed, Sarge, Top, Rob, Thomas, and Frank. Meanwhile, the 23rd moves from its current base of operations to Tay Ninh. Brought to you by Doug Murray, Wayne Vansant, and Geof Isherwood. As always, in addition to the summary and review of the issue I’ll be talking about the story’s 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
The Tet Offensive continues with “Hue: City of Death,” a story about Marines told via the 23rd’s own Andy Clark in The ‘Nam #25, brought to us by Doug Murray, Wayne Vansant, and Geof Isherwood. As always, in addition to the summary and review of the issue I’ll be talking about the story’s 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
In Country Episode 28 direct link
Below is a picture of the church depicted in the issue, located in the city of Hue, courtesy of the art museums at Harvard.
What do Beverly Hills, 90210, the 1994 Baseball Strike, and Zima all have in common? They’re all covered in the latest episode of Pop Culture Affidavit! As part of my series of posts and episodes called 1994: The Most Important Year of the Nineties, I take a look at ten completely random things from 1994. It’s movies, television, music, and current events all in one convenient episode!
You can listen here:
It’s 1968 and the beginning of the Tet Offensive in “The Beginning of the End,” a story by Doug Murray, Wayne Vansant, and Geof Isherwood that sees the 23rd encountering events that have historical significance when it comes to the media’s coverage of the war. That’s in The ‘Nam #24. As always, in addition to the summary and review of the issue I’ll be talking about the story’s 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
In Country Episode 27 direct link
After the cut are some pictures and clips of real events that take place within the issue [WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT].
It’s Christmas time in the ‘Nam and we see the boys of the 23rd treated to some genuine USO entertainment, even if it is a “Blue Christmas” for some of them. It’sThe ‘Nam #23, presented to you by Doug Murray, Wayne Vansant, and Frank Springer. 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
The last page of New Titans #130, which has a cameo by Nightwing.
I stopped reading Titans in 2011. DC announced the New 52 and the new series looked so horrible (as did Red Hood and the Outlaws) that I finally declared that I’d had enough. My life as a Teen Titan, however, really does end with New Titans #130.
I mentioned in the last entry that I saw the Previews solicit for the comic during parents weekend of my freshman year of college and was surprised that the series was coming to an end. I wasn’t upset, though, because comics at the time were taking a back seat to everything else–movies, music, girls, beer–and while I still collected and read them, they became something to read on breaks and during the summer when I was on my own and wasn’t sifting through assigned reading. The Titans during that time took an even further back seat, as I became more interested in other books as well as big events like Kingdom Come.
The Titans themselves would, of course, go on. Arsenal had a special shortly following the end of the title, an international espionage story that did wrap up one loose end from the series–we find out that the Titans had disbanded at some point following the events of “Meltdown”–and even got a lettercolumn about New Titans #130. About a year later, Dan Jurgens would write and pencil Teen Titans, a series that is a bit of an oddity but that I enjoyed and find to be underrated. Then again, I haven’t read it in at least 10-15 years, so I’ll have to see if my opinion changes when I get around to it. The Devin Grayson/Jay Faeber Titans series deserves much of the criticism it gets, and I have mixed feelings about the series that started in 2003, especially Geoff Johns’s run. I intend to reread all of those comics all the way through, although I won’t be writing about them because they all feel like they are part of different times in my fandom and comic collecting life.
I started reading New Titans when I was thirteen and the final issue came out when I was eighteen. By then, the comic store was no longer around the block and I was no longer a lonely, worried junior high school student. Moreover, I had moved beyond the point where I was reading about the Titans because I was looking for characters with whom I could identify. The 1980s books had been like watching a John Hughes movie or hanging out with my older cousins–these were people I might wind up being–and the 1990s comics had characters I wanted to get to know. By the time that title left the world behind, I had stopped needing to have a personal investment in the people I was reading about.
And really, the timing of the end of the series was perfect because the subsequent relaunches did feel like going back to my old town or old high school and seeing that things weren’t ever going to be the same: the Dan Jurgens title was the new class you didn’t know very well, The Titans was Wooderson period, and the 2003 Teen Titans was almost like coming back to teach (your dreams were your ticket out).
Closing out what wound up being an enormous blogging endeavour isn’t easy to do. After all, this spawned a podcast that is still going and some of the posts I wrote have gotten quite a number of hits these last few years. But I found a source of inspiration in the last pages of that very last issue. Though he hasn’t been in the book since issue #0 (and even that was a cameo), “Where Nightmares End” concludes with the person with whom it started–Dick Grayson. Standing on a rooftop, he thinks:
There have been so many moments to think about. Moments good and bad. Moments I’d love to live all over again … and others I’d pay anything to forget. But I don’t think if I could I’d change any of them. I move on, but I don’t leave my childhood behind as if it’s gone. It can never be gone … while it’s so alive inside me.
The future’s always uncertain, but that’s okay. If I’d know what was ahead of me all those years ago, I might have avoided all the bumps … but I’d also have missed all those laughs.
He then says,
Take care, guys. You’re the best!
Marv Wolfman then gives a farewell to the audience and thanks everyone he’s worked with in the fifteen or sixteen years he’s been on the title and I’m glad that on some level, that he ended the series on his terms. I’m also glad that even though it took a while, I had a chance to look back on comics that have been so important to my life as a comic collector.
It’s Thanksgiving and that means … well, humpin’ in in the boonies, unfortunately. But the focus on this issue is not necessary the misery of our boys in the 23rd; rather it’s a look at the VC. The ‘Nam issue #22, “Thanks for Thanksgiving,” is brought to you by Doug Murray, Wayne Vansant, and Geof Isherwood. As always, in addition to the summary and review of the issue I’ll be talking about the story’s 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
1994: The Most Important Year of the Nineties continues with a look at The Crow. Over the course of this episode, I take a look at the comic book by James O’Barr as well as the 1994 film starring Brandon Lee. Does this film hold up after twenty years? Tune in and find out!
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Pop Culture Affidavit 