HOWARD THE DUCK: AN APPRECIATION

This may blow my credibility as a comic book fan (assuming I ever had any, which is a grand assumption indeed), but I’ve only just discovered that Steve Gerber has been dead for over two years. In my defense, Gerber’s death occurred in February 2008 while I was knee-deep in telephones journalism in Barcelona. So between that and Gerber not being the biggest brand name in comics, it’s no surprise I missed it.

Anyway, being a fan of Howard The Duck, I thought I should say something, even if belatedly.

Howard The Duck may be one of the more underrated comic books ever, its cult following notwithstanding. And while it’s easy to blame that on George Lucas, it would also be wrong. The movie version sucked for the same reason that Marvel eventually dropped Gerber from the comic and later the series entirely – HtD was more high-concept than it looked, and not a lot of people really got it.

And admittedly, the idea of an anthropomorphic cartoon duck from another dimension imported into the “real” world as a vehicle for existential social satire would be a tough sell in any era, let alone the mid-1970s. So in that sense, it’s amazing that HtD ever made past his debut guest appearance in Man-Thing.

Ironically, it was the movie that got me into the comic book. The original run was before my days of financial independence (and I was more interested in Spiderman anyway), and despite the film’s general suckiness, I found myself seeking out back issues out of curiosity. Which is as well, since by that time I was old enough to get the satirical aspects of it.

Looking back, HtD seems ahead of its time, at least as far as mainstream comics go. Certainly he was the first Marvel character to run for President.



He even ran against the actual candidates at the time (Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter) rather than fictional ones. The odds of getting away with that in a mainstream comic book today are slim (with or without the cigar). 

As a comics fan and an amateur political commentator, I have to respect that.

One reason I’m mentioning all this, incidentally, is that I just finished reading the comeback mini-series for Howard The Duck that Gerber did in 2002 with Phil Winslade and Glenn Fabry for the new (at the time) Marvel Max imprint, which also means Gerber got to utilize tons of swearing, nudity and ultra-violence that he could never have gotten away with in the 70s.

I can’t say the adult stuff really adds anything to the book (though if you’ve ever wanted to see Beverly Switzler naked, yr prayers will be answered), and while satire has always been the bread-and-butter of classic HtD, Gerber tried a little too hard sometimes. Still, he had a lot of fun mocking everything from boy bands and Oprah to Witchblade and pretty much the entire DC Vertigo line-up circa 2001.

So it was nice that he got to revisit Howard and Beverly properly once more before he passed on.

Trapped in a world he never made,

This is dF

dEFROG ON 45 #1: A FUNNY LOOKING DOG WITH A BIG BLACK NOSE

Probably the last thing this blog needs is another music video series. But see, I’ve been thinking about my old collection of 45rpm singles (this was how yr grandparents bought songs before Al Gore invented iTunes, children), some of which I bought, and some of which I took over from my dad (who was in the country music business and brought a lot of records home).

And I wondered if I could piece together a series documenting some of the songs I grew up with. Because I have a blog to run here, and I know you have nothing better to do than sit in front of a computer all day watching embedded videos.

I’ve been putting it off for awhile, but then last night I chanced upon this tasty nugget of cornball 60s bubblegum:

Which just happens to in my 45 collection.

And so here we are. Lucky you.

PRODUCTION NOTE: Recommended for the synchronized goose-stepping.

CAVEAT EMPTOR: Possibly not historically accurate.

Foiled again,

This is dF

IF YOU DON’T PAY IN THIS LIFETIME, YOU’LL HAVE TO DO IT IN THE NEXT

Currently dominating the news in Hong Kong:



BACKGROUND: It’s pretty common for mainland Chinese to come to Hong Kong on a package tour, and most package tours usually involve visits to certain shops to give you as chance to buy gifts and souvenirs – and usually the tour guide gets a commission from the shop for everything you buy.

The problem is that some tour guides are so underpaid that they make most of their money from commissions – and in the case of mainland Chinese tourists, there have been cases in the past of tour guides forcing them to buy something or else kick them off the tour. It’s already allegedly resulted in one death.

The video in question is the first direct evidence of a tourist guide scolding tourists for not buying enough. The video is here, but if you don’t understand Mandarin, an unverified English transcript is here.

Sample spiel:

How can there be free lunches in this world? Think about it, your tour costs only 1,000 yuan (S$200), which isn't even enough for your air ticket from Guangzhou.

We don't do this for charity. Let me be responsible for charity. I donated 10,500 yuan for Sichuan earthquake victims.

But this is not a charity, and there’s no need to be ‘charitable’. You are on a holiday, you should spend.

It's okay for you to stay poor at home, but when you travel outside, don't be like this.

We are going to be at the watch shop for an hour and a half. I don’t care about your reasons – don’t tell me you have no need (to buy anything).

Don't tell me you don't need (to shop). Later, are you going to say you don't need to eat, and don't need to stay at a hotel?

I will lock up the hotel rooms tonight. You didn't spend enough.

The Hong Kong Travel Council is not amused, of course, as it's a violation of their rules. And while I don’t think the occurrences are that widespread, that may be partly because mainland Chinese tourists do tend to blow wads of money on stuff (so much so that they’re reputedly the fourth-biggest spenders on international toursim in the world).

Still, there’s no excuse for it. I’ve been on package tours that involve shopping stops (not in HK, mind) and the last thing I need is for my tour guide to lecture me on my spending habits.

That said, for those of you planning to come out here for a vacation, I wouldn’t let that deter you. Just avoid the package tours, or try to not be mainland Chinese, and you should be okay.

Hey big spender,

This is dF

IS OUR CHILDREN LEARNING ASSASSINATION?

Meanwhile, in Alabama two months ago:



To be fair, one of his students says it’s not as bad as it sounds:

"We were going over a test and getting reviewed for our finals and were going over tangency," sophomore Malia Drummond said. "A student walked in and said, 'Well, if you shoot the president...' and the teacher picked up on it and said, 'OK, if you shoot off his ear, that is a point of tangency.'"

[...]

"Yeah, the comment was probably inappropriate, but who in America hasn't made a joke about Obama?"

And indeed, who hasn’t made a joke about killing Obama? Fox News and presidential candidates do it all the time. So do kids on Facebook. And fundamentalist preachers (except they’re not joking, but whatever). So, you know, why so serious?

Don’t get me wrong. I fully understand why the Secret Service takes even jokes or off-the-cuff assassination remarks seriously. But this does get me to thinking about how so many people make jokes about killing other people all the time – the President, the mayor, yr annoying co-worker, yr loud neighbors, the person who cut you off in traffic, K-Fed, etc.

Most of us don’t act on it, or even give it any serious thought. And in a sense, ever since JFK, presidential assassination as a concept has become more of a pop-culture abstraction. I suspect it’s a plot device to most people, except when it actually happens. Then it’s not funny.

But most people, I think, do distinguish between the abstract concept and actual assassination attempts. And I think we can all agree that in real life, assassination is not a good thing.

Well, maybe not all of us.

Leading by example,

This is dF