OKK...OK... sheesh! I don't get on the devilbox for a week and people wonder if Dave's done me in...LOLOL... besides, we don't have a basement in this house...
Hi, SK...how ya doin'? LOL... As Dave said.. I have a new toy to help me maybe get back to drawing and I have to rearrange a whole shitload of furniture to accomodate it! Plus, we have houseguests coming in this weekend, so I have to get up to the studio to change the sheets on the guest quarters up there and dust a bit... and I had to shop after our sojourn to Daddy's... so, as Dave said, I really have been too busy to look at the computer. I even went no mail on one of my very active lists, but the other list, the Magneto Mailing List, went bonkers and I haven't even had time to read all the posts that came in on that!!! sigh...making news of the Master wait... go figure...LOL
Yes, indeedy, the first appearance of the Beast in blue was in Amazing Adventures... and I guess you have to thank Gerry Conway for that decision. Back then, editors actually edited and didn't write the storylines for writers to follow. which is how it is being done today... editorial writing the storylines for a whole year and making writers simply write dialogue...with predictible stagnation... In any event, back then, when storytellers actually told stories, writers would get an idea. If they really wanted to pursue that idea, they would go to their editor and run it by him or her. If the idea meant a radical change to an established character, they would sometimes go to the Ed in Chief... who, at the time, was Stan, himself. If you could present a case for the change you wanted to do to or with the characer, It might be allowed. I think the change to Hank McCoy was OKed because they wanted a little diversity in the visuals back then and GS 1 hadn't come out yet with Nightcrawler. The name "Beast" just didnnn't seem applicable to a person whose only beast like attributes were large hands and feet... and the ability to use them to swing from trees and ledges and such. They decided they wanted him to be more "beast-like" so they made him more animalistic in appearance. They probably either told the artist on the book to design something... or maybe Romita SR, who was Art Director at the time, designed the look. Next time I talk to him, I shall ask him about it...he will probably remember. Of course, the further mutation into a cat-like appearance I believe we lay to Morrison and his "secondary mutation" storyline. I hesitate to say crap, because it COULD have been interesting. He left it to others to make it interesting, or not according to THEIR talent... cuz he sure didn't embellish on it, himself ,to any coherent degree.
regarding the she Hulk... yes, indeedy... with the attendant height and bulk change that Jen goes through, her clothes should definately split...or at least bulge at the seams...like the Hulk"s pants, which never seem to split, no matter what the bulk ratio is. You wanna know why the Hulk is so mean and angry and uncontrollable all the time??? It's because his balls are awueezed into size thirty two waist britches... THAT'S WHY!!!
Those pants never split a seam... and were squeezing him in threads of iron long before anyone even thought of "unstable molecules" in clothing.
So the Hulk has the same problem as the she Hulk, to my mind. Especially in the earlier issues when Banner was drawn as a ninety four pound weakling scientist type... and the Hulk really bulked up to about three times Banner's size. Modesty, and the Code, I am sure, kept the pants from shredding right off him... but it hadda hurt in places they couldn't even mention back in those days!!! At least I always thought so.
At least she Hulk has the advantage of changable "unstable molecules" to adjust her clothing to cover nekkid NO-NOs... although with today's standards of dress code, I don't know why they even bother... most females have a degree of nudity that boggles the mind. cheap thrills for pud pullers, I guess.
My take is that comics could be a medium that adults could enjoy, too, if the story quality weren't sacrificed for the juvenile sex thrill factor.... and let's not forget biggerr and bigger explosions...covering whole double page spreads and going on for three or four pages! Gee...I wonder what THAT signifies to the juvenile mind...
OOOOOOooooo... OOOOOooooo... I KNOW... but I can't say it here...
heh heh...
In any event ...I am back and have hopefully answered all the questions to date... if I have skipped any... blind eyes and waning mental abilities... just repeat the query...I will try to get to it eventually...LOL Yes, you may not agre with me, but at least you know where I stand on things...and I will defend to the death your right to express your opinion, too... As I have always said, a difference of opinion not only makes horse races, but it makes for interesting exchange of ideas and discussions, too... if people can divorce their opinions on a subject from their sense of self worth.
It seems to me that more trouble is caused by people not being able to allow others their own opinion and pathway in life. and that is so wrong. to me, there is no ONE WAY... there are a multitude of possibilities... and the only thing I get judgemental about... as most teachers do...is the execution of the idea. Is it logical, entertaining or breaking new ground in a logical manner? with storytelling and established characters, I can be very demending. If you are setablishing new characters that you, as a writer or artist want to act and look a certain way, then GO, BABY, GO!!!
If you are using established characters, you must adhere to the core characterization set down by canon. You can build on this, and establish formerly unknown things... like Claremont did with Mags, or Chuck Austen did with the Juggernaut... but you need to know and consider the character's former established history. when writers don't do this, I have issues with not only them, but the editors who let them do it...to the detriment or destruction of the character.
I also have a problem... on a corporate level, if nothing else... with writers who "kill" characters for shock value only. Gratuitous death is not what the comics should be about, any more than gratuitous sex. These are supposed to be adventure stories... not TRUE SEX AND VIOLENCE magazines.
And while writers will and do inject their own biases and "takes" and agendas into their writing, comics should not be used as a propaganda machine. And comics should be fun, too. This fact has been lost, I believe. The last "fun" stuff I remember reading was Booster Gold and Blue Beetle on Kooey Kooey Kooey...and that was hilarious...especially the other superheroes reactions to this adult version of getting the spare change out of mama's purse and going down to the corner store to blow it on comics and an ice cream sundae! LOL
OK... enough for now... gotta go and get this place whipped into shape so our guests won't think we live in a pigsty...and I am still tearing up my room and moving furniture... so my participation for a while may be spotty... but Dave hasn't slit my throat and buried me under the duck pond or anything...LOL
but thanks for noticing I wasn't around, kiddo...LOL...it would warm the ol' cockles... if I had any cockles...
LOL
paty
[Edited on 9-10-2006 by Dark Bamf]