Geek Crack and French superheroes

Well to confess I love comic books, I have always loved comic books – I can still remember reading my dads old collection of Classic Comics in my Grandmother’s house (the comics have long since been tossed – the idea that a comic book might be valuable to someone would have struck my grandmother as absurd) and an 80 page giant Flash comic at the my other Grandmother’s apartment – the comic had the first meeting of the Silver age Flash with the Golden age flash which introduced the entire idea of multiple universes and alternate worlds to the comics (and gad have they ever run for it) – which shows you what a berserk memory I have. My first attempts at any sort of story telling were writing and drawing my own comics – like a lot of other fans – still draw stuff form time to time – bore you with the details some day.

Comic books have had something less than a stellar rep in the United States – it’s been looked at as kid’s stuff and then in the fifties with the publication of “the Seduction of the Innocent” comic books became the violent video games of their day. Reading the history of that book and its effect is to see in microcosm the deeply repressed fears and sexual panic that lurk in the dark heart of the American culture – per the book young children were being encouraged to be violent and commit crimes via comics (especially the EC brand books) and it also stated that Batman and Robin were gay as was Wonder Woman. Really replace the comics with Grand Theft Auto and it’s the same rant with the same panicked fear in its voice

Anyway – more on the need of the establishment to attack parts of popular culture cause of some lurking madness in the minds of those pointing the fingers at some other point.

Suffice to say I’m a comic geek of a sort – and for someone like me the computer game City of Heroes is like crack. City is a Massive Multiplayer online game – where you get to design and play a super hero (or villain in city of villains). So instead of working on my songs, or trying to get laid, reading, drinking to excess, or doing anything useful, I keep finding myself in front of a computer screen trying to level up my main super hero – Le Bug of Blue – a French superhero no less.

The French thing allows me to play him as a cross between Hercule Poirot and Batman (bug has no super powers like say the Flash or Wolverine – his is a supremely skilled martial artist however) so I find myself saying things like “Sacreblue!” or “Merde” when things go wrong or “you run from the French no?” when some villain dashes away from my attacks.

Well it is a role playing game oui?

I was going to totally geek out and post a picture of Le Bug but alas I can’t get the file to work – you will just have to deal with a picture of Batroc the leaper – who I must have been channeling when I was designing Bug. He’s a marvel bad guy – primarily a sparring partner for Captain America and his basic gimmick is that he is French – like very French.

Of course all this means I will never ever ever get laid again but hey if I can get the Bug up to level 20 he will get a cape! (it’s not like I’m rolling in sex now anyway)

It’s really a god awful time suck – I’m planning on spending Saturday playing the damned game once I finish my chores – all in attempt to get a cape. And once I do that I have to level up my other hero’s – and let’s not get started on my villains – and get them stuff as well.

Random Neural Firings

The head of Walter Reed Hospital has been fired – good – man should be. Only trouble is it seems the man replacing him isn’t much better and may be as responsible for the awful conditions at Reed as the other fellow. This is such a horrible story – these kids put it all on the line and they are treated like they are a cost center to be reduced not wounded men and women who received their wounds in this county’s service. I don’t understand why we have money for things like an F-22 but not armor, trucks, and decent care for the wounded G.I.’s. I know why (it’s easier to steal some of the money for an F-22 than body armor) I’m just asking in rhetorical manner. By the way I’m not fond of Don Imus much but his outrage about this is damned refreshing.

The sound you heard was the sound of the head of Taco Bell stuffing himself into a food processor when yet more restaurants in New York were discovered to over run with rats.

The justice department has denied the firing of some eight U.S. district attorneys was politically motivated. If true, it would be the first thing the Bush Justice Department has done that wasn’t politically motivated so color me skeptical.

Still no my space page for the Lesbian Koalas.

Peace Love Cheese