Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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Late September?
1981?
Need to get somewhere in a rush?
Then you're in luck because this week of that year saw not one but two big events in the field of public transport.
For those who wished to fly, the Boeing 767 airliner made its first flight. I don't know what the difference was between it and the 747 but it had a bigger number in its name. So, it must have been good.
For those who wished to trundle along on tracks, however, France was the place to be because it was the week in which the TGV high-speed rail service between Paris and Lyon was launched.
In the world of sport, though, things weren't going quite so happily. On this day in that year, football was rocked by the death of legendary ex-Liverpool manager Bill Shankly who'd died, from a heart attack, at the age of 68.
I've a feeling he'll fail in that aim.
Just like he always does.
Elsewhere, it would appear the Dazzler's up against the Enforcers who she was up against last week.
If I remember rightly, the story involves a mysterious super-villain called the Corrupter who's recruited a rubbish super-villain called the Night Flyer to fight the Hulk, so the Hulk'll get angry.
That's because the Corrupter has the power to seize mental control of those who are angry.
And he fancies having the Hulk at his beck and call!
We also get the arrival of the all-new Teen Brigade who Rick Jones manages to put in mind-boggling levels of danger, despite them being schoolchildren.
Apparently, in his strip, Spidey's going to church but I don't have a clue why.
Meanwhile, the Stilt-Man's still intervening in his life.
But there's also the Stunt-Master to contend with. Can anyone possibly get out of this mess alive?
Elsewhere, the doings of the Black Panther are a total mystery to me.
He's probably still fighting the Vibranium Beast. Life's hard when you're a prince of Wakanda.
Come to think of it, why is he Prince of Wakanda? As he's its supreme ruler, shouldn't he be its king?
And why is Namor the Crown Prince of Atlantis? How come he's not its king?
What kind of messed-up ideas about monarchy do these places have?
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29 comments:
As opposed to sensible ideas about monarchy, Steve?
Come on - Prince, King, Emperor, Grand Wazoo... who cares? One title is as ridiculous as another.
I've read that Hulk story, in the US monthlies (which may also come up here soon).
Not only does Rick Jones get a new Teen Brigade together in a move that will surely delight all Steve Does Comics followers, but instead of the Avengers they call in new super-team the Rangers. Who consist of Red Wolf, the Texas Twister and some even less memorable vaguely western themed geeks.
Clearly it all inspired Frank Miller.
The Night Flyer was cool though. Well, he was in his previous appearance late in Jack Kirby's ace Captain America run.
-sean
Dave's Cover of the Week- Marvel Super Adventure. Is it me or are covers worth Stilt Man on them nearly always good?
I really don't like that Hulk cover. I was actually shocked to read that it was by Frank Miller, a guy who was capable of so much better.
Dave, I too shall have to vote the DD cover as the best. Mostly because it's not as bad as the other two.
Sean, but who's going to tell Namor his title's ridiculous? You'll set him off on another one of his rampages.
Sean, I agree with you about the absurdity of monarchy but Steve is perfectly correct to ask why Namor is a Prince rather than a King. There's a big difference between those two titles as poor old Charles Windsor knows only too well.
I had read somewhere that Stan thought Americans would be uncomfortable with the word King b/c of our Revolutionary War and King George. So Princes they were.
Thor was a God, not King.
Was Black Bolt considered a King though?
Then again, there was King Kirby.
Dave S - I have to agree that the Stunt Man covers and stories were always compelling as a kid! In hindsight perhaps it is because of the perspectives created looking way on up at the Stunt Man and DD usually falling or something? Very dramatic!
Sean, I liked the Night Flyer too!
He was no ordinary hit-man. He was, as they described him, "a cultist, a mystic" who relied on secret rituals along with super-technology, like that hang-glider he had. He probably got some training in a hidden, forbidden temple somewhere in Asia, I'll bet.
He made for an interesting villain.
But he tended to get killed, so maybe there was a, I dunno, like a secret order of these assassins. For every one that failed his mission or got snuffed, maybe there were thirty other "Flyers" who quietly completed their deadly tasks.
Yet another reason not to have anything to do with somebody who owns a hang-glider.
M.P.
I’m not a fan of monarchies in the ‘real world’ but have no problem with them in fiction. Kings Kull and Arthur, Princes Namor and Barin, Princesses of Alderaan and Mars are A-okay by me. I also don’t condone ‘shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later’ cops in reality, but think Dirty Harry and Judge Dredd are just fine as fantasy action heroes.
b.t.
Charlie, I thought you Americans loved our monarchy? That's what we're always told - but we're also told there's a "special relationship" between America and Britain even though many of us suspect it's only special in the minds of deluded UK politicians.
Steve - it's Friday and that means SDC is allowed to wander near and far...?
Colin -
In general there is probably a vast majority of americans who think the brit accent is sophisticated. I don't have data but anecdotally:
- A major news network did bring on a canadian with that accent and articles were written how Americans perceive that accent as an indicator of intelligence / sophistication.
- Local soccer clubs were / are hiring coaches from the UK to train the kids. I had some of them playing in my Weds night park-district game. One was an unemployed plumber (joiner?) the other unemployed, in the UK. They could play soccer, and passed some sort of test in the UK to be certified and get a job here, LOL. But they strictly saw this as a youthful diversion. We Americans granted a ton of soccer genius to them based on that accent.
- And you get credit for the warfare thing: Wellington, Battle of Britain, Charge of the Light Brigade, The Somme...
But honestly, I don't think most (not all) americans follow the royalty. Though the prince and his wife who moved to Hollywood get a steady stream of headlines.
The Brits love a bit of a war Charlie - they have even more of them than you Americans!
-sean
I don't love a war, Sean! The days of the UK government getting involved in wars is hopefully over now that Biden has ended America's overseas adventures - but a war with China in the Pacific is still possible and BoJo The Clown has made sure that our one warship (or is it two?) will be involved.
Charlie, I'm interested to hear that we "get credit for the warfare thing" - the Somme and the Charge Of The Light Brigade were total disasters by the way.
That was a generalization Colin - I wasn't really thinking of the more enlightened types that follow the worlds greatest comic blog.
If Stan Lee thought Americans would be uncomfortable with main characters who were kings, wouldn't princes also be a problem?
Dr Doom was often referred to as the monarch of Latveria, but I don't remember him ever being called "king". I always assumed in his case that "monarch" was a kind of figure of speech rather than literal, as Latveria was clearly a glorious workers paradise. Like Albania or South Yorkshire.
-sean
Sean - I don't know the inner workings of Stan's mind, lol. I will say though, as I sit on my couch waiting for the Liverpool Man City game on Sunday, that I think Prince flows more easily than King, off the tongue.
I've seen documentaries on comedy and all the comedians say that words starting with "k" get more laughs. Go figure... Even the Superman Radio Show mocked the KKK, and their secret code of beginning words with K, with a radio show in which he used K words while fighting them.
So, that's my best guess regarding King vs. Prince.
As far as that goes Prince didn't call himself King either? Relevant?
Colin - your mention of the Somme and the Charge of the Light Brigade are obviously correct.
And I put them there on purpose to make the subtle point, if asked, that I doubt 10% of Americans who've heard of the Somme and the Charge realize what absolute disasters they were.
So, they just attribute it to the other Brit wartime victories, Churchill the clair voyant about Hitler, etc.
Truly, come here and work and you'll have a leg up on the average american due to your accent.
As you mentioned earlier, Charlie, why was Jack Kirby called "King" Kirby if American readers were offended by a king? And Elvis was called The King which didn't seem to do him any harm.
There was a pop group called King in the mid-80s but they were one-hit wonders with a song called 'Love And Pride' which reached No.2 in the UK singles chart. And continuing the theme of pop royalty, there was also a singer called Princess who was another one-hit wonder with 'Say I'm You're Number One' around 1986.
I think of Doctor Doom as the "Fuhrer" of Latveria - Hitler merged the offices of President and Chancellor into the title of Reichsfuhrer and in Latveria Dr. Doom is President, Prime-Minister and monarch all in one.
D'oh! That Princess hit was 'Say I'm YOUR Number One' not 'You're'.
As far as Vic Doom going by simply "doctor", Miklos Horthy went by "Admiral" when he ran Hungary, a land-locked country. Sort of ran it, that is. It was a Nazi satellite, after all.
I think he had been an admiral in the Austrian navy at one point.
I guess one of the perks of being a fascist dictator is that you can self-apply any darn title you want to. Like Il Duce, for example.
There was (and is) a lot of theater in fascism.
And they were snappy dressers, you gotta give 'em that much.
M.P.
"Fuhrer" is a bit of an unsuitable term for Dr Doom imo Colin, as he's a Roma, making him very unlikely to be sympathetic to Nazis (when the Red Skull and the Exiles invaded Latveria, Doom gave them a sound thashing). A much better comparison than Hitler would be with Stalin.
I looked up Doom and Latveria on the wiki to find out if he had a title, but that wasn't much help.
Still, it was amusing to read that "Dr Doom refuses to join the European Union or adopt the Euro".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latveria#Economy
Perhaps the UK could do a deal with Doom, and import some Latverian HGV drivers...?
-sean
Sean, It always bothered me how Doom, a Roma as you pointed out, uses "von" in his name.
It's a prefix meaning "of" or "from" usually applied to the so-called nobility, or aristocratic class.
And then the surname generally refers to the land or territory they might be the "lord" of. It's Prussian, right? So for example, Von Clausewitz claimed decent from the barons (i.e. landowners) of a place called Clausewitz. (I hadda look this up.)
Sorta the same way that Wellington or Cardigan was not the actual last name of either one, but rather an ancestral title. (I didn't have to look that up!)
So how does a Roma orphan acquire the aristocratic prefix "von"? Even though "Doom" is not a place but rather a family name (I assume), thus making the "von" meaningless?
Cause Stan Lee thought it sounded cool, that's why.
M.P.
I guess it could have been an affectation M.P., an ambitious young man adopting the posh "von" as a way of publicly distancing himself from his origins to get ahead.
Thats something presumably both Lee and Kirby - Stanley Leiber and Jacob Kurtzberg - would have understood.
Except it doesn't work because his mother had the name von Doom too.
So I expect you're right about Lee thinking it sounded cool. Or maybe just that it sounded east European. As a writer he's not exactly well known for the depth of his research.
-sean
I meant "descent" but I spelled it "decent".
I was a good speller in school, I swear to God.
M.P.
As a kid, the Republic tv series, "King of the Rocket Men", always puzzled me. The protagonist had no crown - or kingdom - so how was he "King" of the Rocket Men? Also, there weren't any other rocket men for the protagonist to rule - he was it! Looking at the Wikipedia article, I've now learned "Jeff King" is Rocket Man's real name!
Phillip
MP, the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin awarded himself the grand title of "General Doctor Idi Amin, King Of Scotland and Conqueror Of The British Empire" - now that's what I call a title!
Sean, Dr. Doom could never let himself be shackled by the meddling Brussels bureaucrats of the EUSSR. He's a firm believer in "Global Latveria" - in fact, he recently signed a trade-deal with Australia so the Latverians can now enjoy the delights of boomerangs and kangarooburgers.
Captain Britain has the Von Doom name problem in reverse - he's extremely posh and lives in a manor-house but his real name is Brian Braddock...really? I doubt that many upper-class toffs call their sons Brian - and Braddock sounds a bit common too :D
Perhaps he should have adopted a whacky name to defuse any class antagonism like some posh twits do Colin, and called himself Boris Braddock.
Idi Amin had nothing on the late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Knight of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order upon whom has been conferred the Royal Victorian Chain, Grand Master of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom, Field Marshall in the Army and Marshall of the Royal Air Force blah blah blah
Normally I don't approve of titles, but yes - Conqueror of the British Empire is a good one.
If I was after a title that'd be the one to have.
-sean
Sean, you forgot the title "Man Belong Mrs. Queen" which was given to Prince Philip by some inhabitants of Vanuatu who worshipped him as a god.
I left out a few Colin. That was just most of his British titles, I didn't even start on the Commonwealth - Australia, Canada, Vanuatu etc - Greece or Germany (well, Schleswig-Holstein).
-sean
Colin, your remark about what Dr. Doom's relationship with the EU might look like has got me wondering what Latveria's exports are.
Killer robots, maybe?
It's depicted as a very small, mountainous alpine or Balkan country, so it wouldn't be able to be a major agricultural exporter. Hard to grow stuff on a mountain. Weed, maybe. I dunno.
So where do they get their capital? Through nefarious means?
I hate to say it, but I'm beginning to become a little suspicious of this Herr Doktor Doom.
Auf wiedersehen!
M.P.
Latveria is a command economy M.P., so they don't really need much capital.
It doesn't cost anything to tremble before Doom!
-sean
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