Dwayne McDuffie Passes Away (Februay 20 1962 – February 21 2011)

(C) Dwayne McDuffie via Official Website

Dwayne McDuffie, creator of Static (the character, the comic, and the Static Shock animated program) passed away February 21, 2011, due to complications stemming from emergency heart surgery.  He was also the creator of Milestone Comics, a label which focused on African American, Latino, and other minority characters, in the 1990s, and the Marvel’s Damage Control, which has a cult following.  In addition, he was a staff writer for the animated series Justice League,  the producer and story editor of the spin-off Justice League Unlimited,  creator/producer and writer for Ben 10:  Alien Force, creator/producer of the series’ sequel Ben 10:  Ultimate Alien, and the writer for the movies Justice League:  Crisis on Two Earths and All-Star Superman (which was released a day after his passing).

Frank Frazetta (Feb 09, 1928 – May 10, 2010)

(C) Estate of Frank Frazetta via Newsarama

Minority Religions and the Media – A Short Tirade

Last week, there was much uproar over Muhammad and Islam on South Park, (which I did watch after a long ban, since I wanted to find out about Cartman’s real father since I felt that storyline was not properly resolved when i watched it as a kid), which prompted Jon Stewart to make this rebuttal on the Daily Show.  

Disney, the Academy and Co Paves the Way Against Vodou

Tonight Disney’s  the Princess and the Frog is up for an Academy Award.  It is too bad the Academy probably did not read up on what the real critics had to say about the film.  The following is from an article written by Jason Pitzl-Waters on the Wild Hunt blog:

Paul Karasik presents the Fletcher Hank Experience @ Strands in NYC

Eric Reynolds wrote for the Fantagraphics Books blog: 

MARVEL Comics merges with DISNEY

Happy Birthday King~!!

WE SHALL CONFOUND ALL THE LISTENERS~! (Invisible Web the Podcast Season 4 Episode One)

Season 4 Episode One – We Shall Confound All the Listeners~!

Grant Morrison on Batman and Robin

YuleTide: Santa Klaus and His Companions #5 – REINDEER(and the YULE GOAT)

The Santa Klaus’ most renowned companions are the reindeer who make up his team. This was not always the case as the official animal mascot of the Winter Solstice in most of the Euro-Western world was the Yule Goat. Originally two goat whom were named Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjostr were the mounts of Thunder God, Thor and his hammer Mjonir. It is theorized that these two are the origins of the Yule Goat (note I do not claim Santa is Thor). The function of the goat is to signify the coming feast when a goat (suprise~!) would be sacrificed to diners via roasting. The iconography of the goat lost its prominence since supposedly the tradition of men dressed as a goat for the Yule celebration, knocking on doors to sing carols, spooked small children. Thus the goat is mostly an ornament or a straw effigy to be burned nowadays.

And he whistled, and shouted, and call’d them by name:
“Now! Dasher, now! Dancer, now! Prancer and Vixen,
“On! Comet, on! Cupid, on! Dunder and Blixem;
“To the top of the porch! To the top of the wall!
“Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!”
excerpt from “A Visit from Santa Klaus (aka, Twas the Night Before Christmas),” Anonymous (1823)

The above poem marked the rise in the reindeer as Santa’s steed of choice in popular culture. As stated yesterday, as there are no reindeer to be found in the North Pole, in Europe, many traditions hold that Santa’s reindeer reside in Lapland, Finland.  In Australia, the traditional story is that Santa unreins the reindeer for  a team of kangaroo as reindeer would overheat in sub equatorial running.

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry passes away at age 76

Star Trek the Next Generation was one of my favorite weekly shows during its final three seasons, and one of my favorite weekday shows when the WB was still the WPIX.  One of the premiere charcaters on the show as the mother of Counselor Deanna Troi, Lwaxana.  She was played by Majel Barret, who was married to Gene Roddenberry in 1969, but did not have the Roddenberry surname during much of the credits.  I would later find out she was also the voice of the all the Enterprise and most of the starships on Stra Trek and its spin-offs.  She first started as the Number One officer of Captain Christipher Pike in the pilot episode of the original series.  However, as stated above the recurring character of Lwaxana was one of my favorites because she was in stark contarst to my own parents and upbringing. Except for one or two other actresses, I don’t know if the Lwaxana Troi chracter would have been portrayed right by any others.

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, the First Lady of Star Trek, passed away at the age of 76 to Leukmia December 18, 2008.  She had finished taping the voice-acting work for the upcoming Star Trek prequel.

(C) Newsarama

Newsarama and the Daily Grail both cover the life and times of Majel Barrett-Roddenberry.

Farewell First Lady Majel.  Thank you for the memories.

The Sandman’s 20th Anniversary and Neil Gaiman’s 48th Birthday

When I was a junior high school geek, I was a huge fan of the Japanese artist, Yoshitaka Amano, the character designer for the Final Fantasy series (and Vampire Hunter D). I was elated to know that he was collaborating with a writer for an American comic book: Neil Gaiman. Living in the South Bronx during my youth I only hearing in passing of The Sandman by Neil Gaiman as the issues were not sold in my vicinity.

In the year 2003, the ennui of post Industrial American society hit me. Although I was struck with the epiphany of the 9-5 dot com era corporate society’s perversion in 1999, my depression peaked for a long period in 2003. As an attempt to combat this I decided to take a Philosophy course with a non-vanilla view of the world (I am sorry Rousseau really doesn’t cut it for me): “Introduction to Nietzsche.” Friedrich Nietzsche, the 19th Century German philosopher was a revivalist of the Pagan undercurrent (which some Ariosophists would exploit) with his concept of the “Apollonian” and the “Dionysian” undertakings of art. When implementing “mythology” as philosophy, the name most associated with this metaphysical outlook is Joseph Campbell. An Amazon search will direct one to a book comparing Campbell’s philosophy to the works of Neil Gaiman.

Neil Gaiman was born November 10, 1960 in the British town of Portchester in Portsmouth. His early career consisted of him writing for 2000 AD, the popular British comic book series. Early in his career, he was the protege and confidant of Douglas Adams (of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Doctor Who fame), and then also of Alan Moore. In November 1989, DC Comics released first issue of The Sandman for its Vertigo imprint.

(C) Neil Gaiman

Although The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes was not first trade paperback I read in a decade (or first comic I had read since my 4 year hiatus since 2000) as that distinction goes to The Watchmen (coming to theatres near you but without creator Alan Moore’s blessing), it had a significant influence on my changing world view: 1) comic books are in fact art to be treasured even by hipsters and elitists 2) I cannot hitherto be judged as a psycho for my growing occult perspective, as many people believe that there is more than this materialist world. I consider Season of MIsts and A Game of You some of the finest writing I have ever read. His characterizations of the titular Morpheus (personification of Dreams), Death, Lucifer, and Hobs Gadling has made them some of th most memorable personages in literature. In addition, anyone who has not read American Gods should do so (fastest book I have ever read).

So thus the Invisible Web wishes Neil Gaiman a belated Happy 48th Birthday and extend a belated Happy 20th Anniversary to The Sandman.

The Sandman Library Volume I:Preludes and Nocturnes **** 3/4

The Sandman Library Volume IV: Season of Mists *****

The Sandman Library Volume V: A Game of You *****

American Gods *****

Below is an article by Jennifer Ferris for Finding Dulcinea.

Neil Gaiman transformed a writing career penning rock and roll biographies into a multinational success story. In less than three decades writing comics, graphic novels and various works of speculative fiction, he has earned legions of loyal fans, produced Hollywood blockbusters adapted from his work and been named one of the 10 best authors living today.

Read more.

Neil Gaiman’s Batman story arc, “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader” debuts February 11, 2009.