Saturday, June 30, 2018

SUPERHEROES ARE DAMN-NEAR EVERYWHERE #161

Primary JERE BURNS (right) acted in the FROM DUSK TO DAWN series and voiced characters in THE INCREDIBLES 2 and the KIM POSSIBLE series.



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Peripheral MARILYN BURNS  acted in THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE alongside--



Primary GUNNAR HANSEN, a.k.a. "Leatherface," for his role in HOLLYWOOD CHAINSAW HOOKERS.

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Primary RAYMOND BURR is almost as well known for his role in the original GODZILLA as for "Perry Mason," though he also has roles in THE MAGIC CARPET, BANDITS OF CORSICA, and
TARZAN AND THE SHE-DEVIL.


THE TELL-TALE HEART (1843)

This is of course one of Poe's best known stories today, focusing on the viewpoint of a "perilous psycho" who becomes obsessed with killing an old man who has never done him any harm. The madman does kill his victim and conceals the body. When police investigate the resultant commotion, the killer seems to be pulling off his crime, until he imagines that the dead man's heart is still beating, thus forcing the madman to confess his crime.

An odd touch: the madman becomes obsessed with his victim's "vulture-like" eye, but never states outright that the old man even has more than one.

THE MYSTERY OF MARIE ROGET (1842)

Not that long ago, I re-read "Marie Roget," the second outing for detective M. Dupin, and I liked it so little that I didn't re-read it for this post.

Suffice to say, Poe tried to hype his fictional detective by having the character solve an analogue of a real-life murder case. This was not his strength and "Marie Roget" is thus one of Poe's weakest stories.

Thursday, June 28, 2018

SUPERHEROES ARE DAMN-NEAR EVERYWHERE #160

Primary CAROL BURNETT acted in an episode of GET SMART.

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Primary SMILEY BURNETTE played a comedy relief in several "Durango Kid" outings and appeared in such serials as THE PHANTOM EMPIRE, DICK TRACY, and UNDERSEA KINGDOM.

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Peripheral GEORGE BURNS acted in OH, GOD with--


Primary PAUL SORVINO of DICK TRACY.


RAR #29: THE BUTCHER



Following Mike Baron's 1980s successes with THE BADGER and NEXUS, the writer teamed with artist Shea Anton Pensa to produce a Lakota Sioux costumed hero, the Butcher.

The character's real name was John Butcher, and there was really no stated reason for anyone to call him "the Butcher," nor did the name fit his calling, that of avenging his parents' deaths at the hands of a corporation. He also didn't have much of a reason to don a superhero costume laced with Indian visual tropes, but he did, and after his debut mini-series he only appeared a couple more times.before he disappeared.

In addition to skills with gun and knife, he occasionally had spiritual visions, but Baron didn't bring any particular mythopoeic insight to them.

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

SUPERHEROES ARE DAMN-NEAR EVERYWHERE #159

Peripheral KATHLEEN BURKE, best known for playing "the Panther Woman" in ISLAND OF LOST SOULS, acted in MURDERS IN THE ZOO with--



Primary LIONEL ATWILL, the villain in the CAPTAIN AMERICA serial.

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Primary PAUL BURKE (left) acted in one LONE RANGER episode and three for ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN.

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Primary ROBERT JOHN BURKE essayed the title role in ROBOCOP 3 and several episodes of PERSON OF INTEREST.




Monday, June 25, 2018

SHORT REVIEW: THE BROKEN EARTH TRILOGY

N.K. Jemisin's trilogy, though much better than most current attempts at speculative fiction, shares similar problems, not least being an inability to create nuanced characters and an over-investment in ideological statements at the expense of creativity.

When I read the first book in the series, THE FIFTH SEASON, I was fascinated by Jemisin's thoroughly original take on post-apocalyptic fiction. To be sure, the author never actually says that her "broken earth" is actually a future-version of our Earth, though the narrative has its share of suggestive clues. It's not purely a "science fiction" world, starting with the idea that the Earth itself is sentient, having absorbed the spirit-force of living beings over the centuries. Somewhere in the very distant past, human scientists sought to tap the occult power of the Earth with assorted devices, including floating sky-obelisks and a race of inhuman humanoids called "tuners," who can move through stone like air.

At some point, the moon is flung out of orbit with its parent planet, and the sentient Earth unleashes vengeance of Old Testament proportions. Human beings are constantly subjected to chaotic "seasons," including massive earthquakes and volcano eruptions, making it inevitable that people only exist in small, unstable enclaves. However, some humans are born with a mutant-like ability to manipulate stone through a magic-like process. The main viewpoint character is an older woman, Nassun, whose primary motive throughout all three books is her Demeter-like quest to find her lost, similarly powered daughter Essun. In addition, both females are drawn into the plans of the surviving "Stone Eaters"-- the former "tuners," who live for centuries and are no longer strictly human. Some Stone Eaters want to placate Earth by bringing the moon back to its proper orbit, while others want the whole world eradicated for good.

Jemisin's apocalyptic world is worked out with an amazing thoroughness. The first book is particularly strong in terms of showing how the ongoing cataclysms affect everything humans perceive-- civic organization, codification of time-passage, and--  perhaps inevitably, because Jemisin is a Black American-- the separation of the magic-users, or "orogenes," into marginalized castes, as against amid the more numerous "normals." Indeed, the quest of Nassun and Essun to rebel against their marginalization seems is a far more pervasive theme than the restoration of some degree of stability to the fractured planet.

Though many critics have scorned fantasy-fiction for its lack of well developed characters, I've often argued that the fantasy-author must prioritize the nature of the world he or she creates, with the result that mimetic character-development is usually a secondary consideration. "Realistic" authors need devote no creative attention to the world they describe; it's just "the world as everyone sees it.." Jemisin certainly makes an attempt to get away from the stock image of the fantasy-author as the worldbuilder who can't create rich characters. However, after the first book it becomes increasingly obvious that Jemisin's character palette is extremely limited, not because of her worldbuilding but her liberal ideology.

I could embrace such an ideology if I felt that Jemisin had created at least a cast of characters as rich as Frank Herbert's early DUNE books. However, over the next two books it becomes evident that most of the supporting-characters are merely functional echoes of either Nassun or Essun. The only exceptions are the villainous figures, most of whom are vague at best, with the exception of Nassun's husband Jija, the abductor of Essun, rabidly opposed to having any orogeny in the family. I wanted the characters to be as rich as their world, but they aren't.

Finally, Jemisin's theory of liberation seems to depend on forcing others to give you respect, rather than befriending them. Toiward the end of the third book, the moon has (rather predictably) been rejoined to the Earth, and Essun expresses the opinion that the system of oppression will never change:

"They're not going to choose anything different."

To which another support-character, Hoa, responds:

"They will if you make them."

I suppose it's fortunate for me that I never warmed to Jemisin's characters, for this expression of "by any means necessary" would have made me dislike them for their author's flawed ideology.

Thursday, June 21, 2018

SUPERHEROES ARE DAMN-NEAR EVERYWHERE #158

Primary BROOKE BUNDY acted in two NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET films and episodes of MAN FROM UNCLE, WONDER WOMAN, and STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION.

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Primary VICTOR BUONO gained a sort of immortality akin to the original "King Tut," while also appearing in episodes of THE WILD WILD WEST, MAN FROM ATLANTIS, GET SMART, both the MAN and the GIRL FROM UNCLE, and in THE SILENCERS and MORE WILD WILD WEST.

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Primary GARY BURGHOFF acted in an episode of WONDER WOMAN.

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Peripheral BILLIE BURKE acted in TOPPER with--


Primary HEDDA HOPPER from TARZAN'S REVENGE.

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Primary DELTA BURKE portrayed a really crappy villain in LOIS AND CLARK, as well as appearing in an episode of AUTOMAN.




Thursday, June 14, 2018

SUPERHEROES ARE DAMN-NEAR EVERYWHERE #157

Primary GENEVIEVE BUJOLD acted in MURDER BY DECREE.

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Primary PETER BULL (not shown) acted in THE SECOND BEST SECRET AGENT IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD.



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Primary JEREMY BULLOCH played "Boba Fett" in three STAR WARS films, as well as playing parts in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME and OCTOPUSSY.

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Primary SANDRA BULLOCK acted in DEMOLITION MAN and BIONIC SHOWDOWN.


Friday, June 8, 2018

SUPERHEROES ARE DAMN-NEAR EVERYWHERE #156

Primary YUL BRYNNER has one credit in THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR.

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Peripheral EDGAR BUCHANAN acted in THE DEVIL'S PARTNER with--



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Primary HORST BUCHHOLZ acted in the telefilm THE AMAZING CAPTAIN NEMO and an episode of LOGAN'S RUN.



Wednesday, June 6, 2018

SUPERHEROES ARE DAMN-NEAR EVERYWHERE #155

Peripheral CORAL BROWNE acted in THEATER OF BLOOD with--


Primary DIANA RIGG of AVENGERS fame.


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Primary ROGER BROWNE acted in two "Superseven" spy movies, HERCULES AND THE PRINCESS OF TROY, ARGOMAN THE FANTASTIC SUPERMAN, VULCAN SON OF JUPITER, THE WAR OF THE ROBOTS, and KARZAN JUNGLE LORD.

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Primary ROSCOE LEE BROWNE acted in LOGAN'S RUN and the TV-film DOCTOR SCORPION, as well as voicing characters in VISIONARIES, RING RAIDERS, THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS, PIRATES OF DARK WATER, PHANTOM 2040, the 1992 BATMAN series, STATIC SHOCK, and the 1995 SPIDER-MAN.

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Peripheral DORA BRYAN (right) acted in MY SON THE VAMPIRE with--


Primary BELA LUGOSI in SOS COAST GUARD.




Monday, June 4, 2018

SUPERHEROES ARE DAMN-NEAR EVERYWHERE #154

Primary REB BROWN became notorious as television's first live-action Captain America, as well as acting in YOR: THE HUNTER OF THE FUTURE, SPACE MUTINY, HOWLING II, and episodes of SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN and HERCULES THE LEGENDARY JOURNEYS.



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Primary RITZA BROWN acted in ATOR THE FIGHTING EAGLE.

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Primary ROBERT BROWN acted in one episode of STAR TREK.

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Primary VANESSA BROWN (the dark-haired woman) had one outing as "Jane" in TARZAN AND THE SLAVE GIRL.

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Peripheral WALLY BROWN, best known for making two comedy-horror films with Bela Lugosi, appeared in the first, ZOMBIES ON BROADWAY, with--


Primary ANNE JEFFREYS, playing a version of "Tess Truehart" in DICK TRACY VS. CUEBALL.