Thirty years ago, I begn collecting comics for the first time. Now, Im taking you back to those days with “Origin Story,” a comics podcasting miniseries where I will look at all of the comics I bought in 1986-1987 in “real time.”
With this episode, I return to the series I started with, G.I. Joe and the Transformers. I take a look at issue #2 and see how the Decepticons make an alliance with Cobra and possibly plan to double cross them. Are we working toward a big conclusion or are things just dragging along? Listen to find out! Plus, I reminisce about October/November 1986.
Thirty years ago, the New York Mets beat the Boston Red Sox in the 1986 World Series. For those of us who are die-hard Mets fans, it was an experience that we’ll never forget, and one that we have savored since then, as we patiently (and sometimes even painfully) wait for the Amazins to hoist the World Series trophy once more. Join me and my guest Paul Spataro as we look back on the 1986 season, NLCS, and World Series and share our memories of what it was like to be a kid (in my case) and be at some of the greatest games in Mets history (like Paul).
PLUS … stay through to the end of the show for an exciting announcement about a BRAND NEW PODCAST!!!
Thirty years ago, I begn collecting comics for the first time. Now, I’m taking you back to those days with “Origin Story,” a comics podcasting miniseries where I will look at all of the comics I bought in 1986-1987 in “real time.”
This time, I step away from Marvel and head over to DC for The Adventures of Superman #424, which marks the beginning of that title in the post-Crisis era. Does it still hold up after 30 years? Will I be able to say anything that Michael Bailey and Jeffrey Taylor haven’t already said? Will I fill out the postcard in the middle of the comic and attempt to win a copy of the Man of Steel special edition hardcover 30 years after the contest expired? Well, you’ll just have to listen!
Please don’t forget to leave feedback at the Pop Culture Affidavit Facebook page and check out Pop Culture Affidavit for the show notes.
Thirty years ago, I began collecting comics for the first time. Now, I’m taking you back to those days with “Origin Story,” a comics podcasting miniseries where I will look at all of the comics I bought in 1986-1987 in “real time.”
For episode two, it’s time to dive into one of my favorite series of that era, which is G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #55, “Unmaskings.” I give a summary and review of the issue as well as take a look back at some mid-1980s television in my second segment.
Thirty years ago, I began collecting comics for the first time. Now, I’m taking you back to those days with “Origin Story,” a comics podcasting miniseries where I will look at all of the comics I bought in 1986-1987 in “real time.”
In this first episode, I take a look at the book that started all of this, which is a crossover that every kid would have loved to see play out because they had already been playing the crossover in their basements and bedrooms with their toys. I’m talking about Marvel Comics’ miniseries G.I. Joe and The Transformers. This time around, I will summarize and review issue #1 of the series.
More con talk! I wrap up my coverage of the 2016 Baltimore Comic-Con by sitting down with Professor Alan to talk about our experience at this year’s convention. We discuss con prep, creators we met, what we bought, and what we thought. Then, join me, Stella, and The Irredeemable Shag for a conversation over Mexican food during Shag’s recent visit to Charlottesville. Plus … listener feedback!
I am sure that if you were to scroll through your Facebook feed on the day I am posting this essay, which is the fifteenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, you’ll see a lot of images of eagles and flags and people posting their own memories of the day (despite their relevance to the events themselves). I don’t tend to participate in these displays of patriotism, keeping whatever thoughts I have to myself or to the occasional blog post like this. I also have particular pieces that I read every year, some that I incorporated into lesson plans back in my journalism teaching days. But I do post one thing to Facebook on an annual basis, which is this:
If you aren’t familiar with this song or this performance, this is the performance that Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band gave of their song “The Rising” to open the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards. The song, which was released on June 24 of that year, was the title track to the album of the same name and won two Grammy Awards (Best Male Rock Performance and Best Rock Song), and even though it didn’t do very well on the Billboard Hot 100, is well known because of its lyrics, which are from the point of view of a firefighter in the World Trade Center on September 11:
Can’t see nothin’ in front of me
Can’t see nothin’ coming up behind
Make my way through this darkness
I can’t feel nothing but this chain that binds me
Lost track of how far I’ve gone
How far I’ve gone, how high I’ve climbed
On my back’s a sixty pound stone
On my shoulder a half mile of line
Come on up for the rising
Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight
Left the house this morning
Bells ringing filled the air
I was wearin’ the cross of my calling
On wheels of fire I come rollin’ down here
Come on up for the rising
Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight
I see you Mary in the garden
In the garden of a thousand sighs
There’s holy pictures of our children
Dancin’ in a sky filled with light
May I feel your arms around me
May I feel your blood mix with mine
A dream of life comes to me
Like a catfish dancin’ on the end of my line
Sky of blackness and sorrow (a dream of life)
Sky of love, sky of tears (a dream of life)
Sky of glory and sadness (a dream of life)
Sky of mercy, sky of fear (a dream of life)
Sky of memory and shadow (a dream of life)
Your burnin’ wind fills my arms tonight
Sky of longing and emptiness (a dream of life)
Sky of fullness, sky of blessed life
Come on up for the rising
Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight
I first heard this song when it was released in the summer of 2002 and eventually bought the album when it came out, which would have surprised nobody at the time because I’m a fan of The Boss and this was the first album he had recorded with the E Street Band since Tunnel of Love in 1987. I knew going in that the album was about the September 11 attacks, and so I knew it was going to probably be somewhat different, but that also intrigued me because I had not been very receptive to the songs that were being played in response to the attack, most notably Alan Jackson’s “Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning?,” which I found cloying. Springsteen had already performed “My City of Ruins,” a song he wrote about Asbury Park, New Jersey, at a telethon on September 21, but many of the songs on the album were written in late 2001 and early 2002, and the entire thing is packaged as both a statement of and contemplation of the events.
Maybe it was the fact that it was The Boss that made me consider “The Rising” more than anything else I’d seen or heard about September 11. The song is not subtle–Springsteen rarely is–but it doesn’t feel as blunt or saccharine as a “tribute song” would. Instead, Springsteen uses a character to tell us about the events of that day, and he does this through several other songs on the album. As I mentioned, this one is about a firefighter, but there are others that are from the point of view of other victims, their families, and the average citizen, a presentation that effectively tries to give them a voice while trying to interpret what happened for its audience.
“The Rising” is one of the album’s best pieces, both musically and lyrically. Springsteen mixes the persona of a firefighter with religious imagery (“I was wearing the cross of my calling,” being a reference to the Cross of St. Florian) and while it does stumble a bit with his “catfish dancing” simile, the song transcends any of its minor lyrical faults through its music, especially the bridge, which is where Springsteen has the fireman seeing visions in “the garden of a thousand sighs” and then describes the sky while a bass line kicks in and the music begins lifting and lifting and lifting until it explodes into the song’s final chorus, personifying “The Rising” in the title.
This is one of my favorite parts to a song ever and this is one of my favorite songs ever because there is something about how Springsteen finds and expresses hope in the face of such a monumental disaster that is more genuine than manipulative saccharine pop or as tawdry as disaster porn. He is finding humanity in all of this, which is something that often gets lost in memorial after memorial. Yes, we remember that people died on September 11, but as the years go by, September 11 becomes more and more of an abstract idea and the individuals and the true human toll gets lost. And it’s sad when this gets lost because that makes it harder and harder to teach to younger generations, because to the students I am teaching right now, September 11, 2001 is about as abstract a concept as the Kennedy assassination or Watergate were to me. It’s something they’ve heard about, and something–depending on their family’s political leaning–they may have heard about incorrectly.
When I taught September 11 in journalism and later in English class, I focused on the reporting of the day in newspapers, the mis-reporting of the day in history textbooks, and then primary sources and interpretations. I stopped teaching the unit after a couple of years of students not doing the reading and having nothing to say about it, figuring that they obviously weren’t finding it engaging. But “The Rising” was always something I finished the unit with because it was about interpretation and finding meaning.
And you do have to wonder to yourself if September 11, 2001 is the type of thing that is open to interpretation. Now, of course it is because anything is certainly open to interpretation. But for years there has been a prescribed meaning or interpretation that our culture has been using. What I have always loved about “The Rising” is that it doesn’t subscribe to that unless you want it to. Springsteen wants us to take what we’re feeling and go along with this person, then release whatever that is, hopefully healing along the way.
In the first of two episodes covering this year’s convention, I am joined by my son, Brett, as we take a look at the Kids Love Comics portion of the Baltimore Comic-Con and he experiences his very first convention. Along the way, we have footage from the “Create Your Own Superhero Logo” session as well as the “Scribble Scramble” competition. Plus, creator interviews with Franco (Aw Yeah, Superman Family Adventures, Tiny Titans) and Alexis Fajardo (Kid Beowulf). AND … Brett winds up on TV! Come check it out; it’s loads of all-ages fun!!!
If you’re interested in the people who were on the podcast, either as panelists/session hosts or who were interviewed, here are some links to their sites:
Carolyn Belefski, who hosted the “Draw Your Own Superhero Logo” session.
Plus, below the jump are some pictures of cosplay and the convention from this past Saturday. Thanks again to the Baltimore Comic-Con for putting on such a great show!
Thirty years ago, Rob Reiner directed the seminal coming-of-age film Stand By Me. To celebrate its anniversary, Michael Bailey and I take a look at the film as well as the Stephen King novella “The Body,” upon which it’s based; as well as the music on its soundtrack. We also discuss why it’s an essential movie for anyone who grew up in the 1980s.
Chuck Dixon and Kevin Kobasic bring us “Creep,” the story of an American sniper that is more legend than man, in The ‘Nam #66. As always, I’ll have a synopsis and review of the comic and this time around, my historical context section will be focusing on the second half of 1970 and January 1971.
Thirty years ago, I begn collecting comics for the first time. Now, Im taking you back to those days with “Origin Story,” a comics podcasting miniseries where I will look at all of the comics I bought in 1986-1987 in “real time.”
Thirty years ago, the New York Mets beat the Boston Red Sox in the 1986 World Series. For those of us who are die-hard Mets fans, it was an experience that we’ll never forget, and one that we have savored since then, as we patiently (and sometimes even painfully) wait for the Amazins to hoist the World Series trophy once more. Join me and my guest Paul Spataro as we look back on the 1986 season, NLCS, and World Series and share our memories of what it was like to be a kid (in my case) and be at some of the greatest games in Mets history (like Paul).
Thirty years ago, I begn collecting comics for the first time. Now, I’m taking you back to those days with “Origin Story,” a comics podcasting miniseries where I will look at all of the comics I bought in 1986-1987 in “real time.”
More con talk! I wrap up my coverage of the 2016 Baltimore Comic-Con by sitting down with Professor Alan to talk about our experience at this year’s convention. We discuss con prep, creators we met, what we bought, and what we thought. Then, join me, Stella, and The Irredeemable Shag for a conversation over Mexican food during Shag’s recent visit to Charlottesville. Plus … listener feedback!
Maybe it was the fact that it was The Boss that made me consider “The Rising” more than anything else I’d seen or heard about September 11. The song is not subtle–Springsteen rarely is–but it doesn’t feel as blunt or saccharine as a “tribute song” would. Instead, Springsteen uses a character to tell us about the events of that day, and he does this through several other songs on the album. As I mentioned, this one is about a firefighter, but there are others that are from the point of view of other victims, their families, and the average citizen, a presentation that effectively tries to give them a voice while trying to interpret what happened for its audience.
It’s that time of year again–time for 
Thirty years ago, Rob Reiner directed the seminal coming-of-age film Stand By Me. To celebrate its anniversary, Michael Bailey and I take a look at the film as well as the Stephen King novella “The Body,” upon which it’s based; as well as the music on its soundtrack. We also discuss why it’s an essential movie for anyone who grew up in the 1980s.
Chuck Dixon and Kevin Kobasic bring us “Creep,” the story of an American sniper that is more legend than man, in The ‘Nam #66. As always, I’ll have a synopsis and review of the comic and this time around, my historical context section will be focusing on the second half of 1970 and January 1971.
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