Department of Book Reports 59: They're just comic-books...

The Ten-¢ent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America, by David Hajdu (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $26.00)

David Hadju traces the artists lives in the late forties and early fifties and shows how real lives were destroyed by the shut down of the industry, after a few years of religious outrage and Senate hearings conducted in 1953-54. April, 1954 saw the beginning of these trials, and Joseph McCarthy began his investigation into alleged Communist infiltration into the Army. Modeled after the Estes Kefauver's organized crime prosecution, Robert C. Hendrickson's committee on juvenile delinquency used the same scare tactics to fan flames of parental panic and promote local "comic-book burnings". People who remember taking their comic-books into town, only to find they were to be burned, recall being told this was a patriotic act, but were left with the deep sense that this was very wrong.

In telling the story of comics rise to popularity, Hadju brings in huge swathes of New York Publishing history. Old school names abound here, Ziff-Davis, Timely-Atlas-Marvel, National-DC, Fawcett, Dell, Toby Press, Ace. Interwoven throughout is the history of Mad Magazine initially published in comic book format; after the hearings William Gaines (also at EC, he was the publisher of Tales from the Crypt) changed to a magazine format, side-stepping the new rules governing comic-books. From this position, Gaines was able to send "a big fuck you at the powers that almost did him in" -Lyle Stuart.

Ten-¢ent Plague starts out with a profile of Janice Valleau Winkelman, now retired. In her youth she was a highly respected illustrator at Quality Comics. She never let her children know this aspect of her life. Shamed by the public's perception of her job, she didn't paint for years. Later in the book we learn that after her children were grown, she took a local community college art class. At the first session she drew a female figure and the teacher brought it up to the front of the room. To show the class what not to do. It was terrible, he declared, looked like a comic book.

14 pages of names of artists are in the back, double columns. These are the people who never worked in the art industry again.

SeattleDan very much enjoyed Hadju's previous book, Positively 4th Street which was about the Greenwich Village scene in the early '60's, focusing on Dylan, Baez, Mimi Baez-Farina and Richard Farina. He's also the author of a biography of Billy Strahorn and Duke Ellington, Lush Life.


Understanding Comics (HarperCollins, $22.95) is Scott McCloud's second volume and I highly recommend this book (and the other two!) for anyone interested in visual arts, not just comic books. It's a delightful read and McCloud's illustrations are addictive.



democommie™™™™™©®ç å was too busy picking out his new diacritics to be able to participate in the preparation of this book report.

These books are available at Jackson Street Books and fine Independent Bookstores everywhere!

Free your bird for border security

"Buffalo" Rick Galeener
Riders United for a Sovereign America

Dear Buffalo Rick,

I'm very excited about the Easter weekend ride out to Western Trails Ranch, and I can't wait to hear the Leonard Skynyrd cover band you've booked. Radical Islamunistofascists may have a paradise where they sit around all day smoking hashish and vittering houris, but by God, they don't get what we're going to have out at the Ranch that day. There ain't nothing better than hating on Mexicans with a bunch of drunk, Harley-riding Redneck-Americans screaming rebel yells interspersed with shouts of "play Freebird, man." That is there ain't nothing better except whipping out your little Johnny-Reb to scare a young Mexican mother and her two-year-old child like you did at a mall last week.

Hey, maybe you could make that part of the event. You know, after the show, we could head off to the nearest mall and expose ourselves to all the Mexican families we see, and thereby, intimidate them with a poignant display of the rich depth and superiority of our culture.

Of course, as I'm sure you learned, it might be difficult for our targets to actually see what we're whipping out. I mean, we're all riding big, loud, chopped-out Harley's for a reason--let's just say, our little Johnny Rebs may be smaller than most, but, by God, they're wiry! So maybe we need to bring a few kielbasas with us.

Heterosexually yours,

Gen. JC Christian, patriot

Jesus: The "H" stands for "Halvor"

I don't know what angers me more: Jerimiah Wright's statement that Our Lord Jesus, was black, or all the libislamunistofascists saying he's brown. Haven't they seen the pictures? He's as blond-haired and blue-eyed as Popenfuhrer Benedict XIV.

But I guess I can understand some of the confusion. He was a Nazarene after all, so it's not surprising that so many people think he was Jewish and Semitically hued.

Still, it's frustrating that people ignore the most important clue about our Savior's ethnicity, his genealogy. The reason it's so often overlooked is due to the influence of liberal academicians and theologians who have for so long have suppressed the true history of Israel. Indeed, they've done so so effectively, about the only place you can find it is on Stormfront.com (you may be aware of Stormfront due to it's favorable coverage on Fox).

Although Jesus' mother, Mary, could trace one ancestral line to King David, the rest of her family tree was firmly planted in Bar Oslo, Bethlehem's Norwegian Quarter. It was a vibrantly Scandinavian neighborhood, a place where all the ethnicities of Bethlehem (except the God damned Swedes) gathered to dine in the Norwegian restaurants and dance the Eikerril until the wee house of the morning. Much of the legacy of that neighborhood lives on today. The fur-lined Viking helmet, for instance, became the shtreimel. And lutefisk? Now, we call it gefilte fish.

Mormons would take it another step and point to God as the physical father because they believe Elohim (who looks a lot like Edgar Winter would have looked had he joined ZZ Top) came to earth in the form of a swan and impregnated Mary (presumedly after showing her his collection of Barry white LPs). But Jesus H Christopherson, that's just nuts!

Meet Team McCain

Sen. John McCain
"Maverick"

Dear Sen. McCain,

Congratulations for landing Pastor John Hagee's endorsement. It must be very satisfying. I know you sought it very hard.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how you'll take advantage of his particular skill set. Take prophecy for instance. While President Bush's faith-based approach to foreign policy and intelligence produced profound changes in our international prestige and internal security, so much more could have been done if he had instituted a more prophecy-centered decision-making process. Indeed, we could have finally dealt a death blow to the Whore of Babylon by liberating the Vatican from the clutches of the papal Antichrist.

On the domestic front, I think Pastor Hagee would be an excellent pick to head up the National Weather Service. After all, he was the only climate expert who actually identified what caused Hurricane Katrina: it was God's vengeance; He sent it in order to prevent a "homosexual parade...that was going to reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other gay pride parades," from occurring (see video above)."

Think about it. With a combination of prayer, prophecy, and field reports from Peter LaBarbara, Pastor Hagee could prevent weather-related disasters simply by identifying and, with the help of the State Security Apparatus, preventing events that could prompt God's displeasure.

Heterosexually yours,

Gen, JC Christian, patriot

And speaking of prophets...

John Gorenfeld caught Truefather giving Orrin Hatch and GHW Bush a lecture on "free sex."

The Liberators

My inner Frenchman made a movie. I don't understand it, but then I haven't understood a movie since 1965. That movie was about a lonesome cougar.

The Fundraiser Continues

My quarterly fundraiser is on. If you have a few extra dollars to give, I'd appreciate it.

Update: thanks to all of you who've contributed so far. Thank you emails are on the way.

Sorry about the button's failure earlier. I've corrected the problem.

The joy of having a frog in your throat

John McAteer
Sales and Marketing Director
The Great Passion Play
Eureka Springs, AR

cc: Rep. Sally Kern

Dear Mr. McAteer,

By now, I'm sure you're aware that Oklahoma Rep. Sally Kern is raising questions about whether it is appropriate for Eureka Springs to host the region's most prestigious passion play now that a secret homosexual cabal has seized the city council. I think she has a point. There's no telling what kinds of tolerance-based, love-your-neighbor, kumbaya propaganda they may try to pressure you into working into the story of our Savior's brutal torture, execution, and reanimation.

I understand it may be difficult for you to publicly oppose them, but I think there are a number of subtle things you can do to undermine their propaganda and to reclaim the support of godly officials like Rep. Kern.

First, you need to add another villain, one that the audience will easily recognize as a character based on the cabal Specifically, I'm thinking of Pontius Pilate's close personal friend, Biggus Dickus, a figure who's received only minor attention in other passion-related projects, but would be the perfect choice for your villain.

Second, you need to do some of the positive role modeling for children for which Rep Kern is always clamoring. That's a little tougher. You can't give Jesus a love interest--he was a 32 year old bachelor who preferred to hang out with sailors and fishermen for heaven's sake. You'll have to go with someone else. Given Rep. Kern's vocal support for heterosexual humanphibian relationships, I'm thinking a romantic subplot featuring Mary Magdalene and a very muscular, butch leopard frog might be just the thing to win her over.

Please feel free to email me if I can be of any more assistance.

Heterosexually yours,

Gen. JC Christian, patriot

Who Really Won Ohio?

FIRST - A disclaimer. This post is not about which candidate is better. Or who I (or anyone else should vote for) This is a post about the mechanics of this primary season only.

Most of the "information" in here is my own speculation, guesswork and inferences. It is not fact, it has no sources other than my feeble mind, and it's just some stuff I was thinking about and wondered if anyone else noticed.

NOW......I just saw a report that "over 10,000 Republicans became "dems for a day" in just one district in Ohio. What does that mean? Ohio allows people to switch parties at the polling station. In this particular district, over 10,000 such party switches happend on March 4.

So the next question obviously, is why? Well, the well-known Congressman running for re-election is a likely target of some of this. But these people also came to vote in a hotly contested Presidential primary. Most of the people who switched were from the "wealthier" sections of the district. Given the dynamics around that particular Congressional race - the chances are the switch was made for other reasons than defeating him (he won, by the way).

So...if we now start to look at the presidential primary some interesting other questions begin to pop into view. We've all heard the prominent right-wing mouths urging Republicans in states with open primaries to vote for HRC since they "apparently" can't stomach their own loser. I happen to think those reasons are hogwash but not irrelevant to my argument here. McSame doesn't do as well against one of the dems as the other one. So if you really want him to win - you would obviously try to "rig" the election so the "weaker" candidate was the nominee - giving McSame an easier time of it in the general. Now we're getting down to the nitty gritty.

Multiply 10,000 voters times 18 congressional districts and you get an not-unimpressive 180,000 votes in the dem primary by repubs. Hmmm. Would it have changed the outcome? Obviously there are a lot more factors to consider than just this simple number. Some districts are more heavily repub than others and may have more of these "dems for a day". Some have less - with less switching.

But here's the (VERY THEORETICAL) math. Take HRC's number, subtract BHO's number and you get something - the margin of difference. Then subtract our 180,000 votes from that and you get something else - a much smaller margin of difference. John Edwards was still on the ballot in Ohio, and even though he has officially withdrawn - he still got almost 40,000 votes. Another interesting factor - particularly since he has not endorsed one of the two "frontrunners". Just for arguments sake, JE's people have been moving to the BHO camp in numbers ranging from 65-78% according to a whole bunch of different reports I've seen - and I have no idea how they know that - or even if they do. But suppose they're right and we take 72% of JE's voters and add them to BHO's column and now where are we?

In a primary where 2.23 million votes were cast - using my THEORETICAL and very imperfect math, the difference between the candidates is now less than 15 thousand. Yeah, 15 thousand.

So, who really won?

I'm not saying because I have no way of knowing and neither does anyone else. What I am really throwing out there is that sometime before the next major election cycle, the Democratic party really needs to re-think the idea of how they run their primaries and caucuses. I like proportional representation - don't get me wrong. I think it is a more accurate assessment of how people are really feeling and I think the national parties need this information to assist them in developing strategies for the ensuing elections.

Independents have been working hard to get so-called "open primaries". On the surface, I support that as well. But in this instance, here is what can happen when an election is so hotly contested - and the opposition party has its own agenda and a lot of dedicated foot-soldiers who will work to make it happen, no matter how disreputable and devious the reasons for it.

In closing - I hope in the comments that we don't get into arguments about the candidates - leave that for the General's post earlier this week. I'm much more interested in the process and if anyone else thinks we really need to fix it. (Don't get me started on the Texas Two-Step!)

Now, with real body cavity search action

At Amazon:

Teaching Respect for the State Security Apparatus, March 9, 2008

By	Gen. JC Christian, patriot (Tremonton, UT United States) - See all my reviews

Durability: Fun: Educational:

I like the basic idea. I applaud Playmobile for attempting to provide us with the tools we need to teach our children to unquestioningly obey the commands of the State Security Apparatus, but unfortunately, this product falls short of doing that. There's no brown figure for little Josh to profile, taser, and detain? Where are all the frightened plastic Heartlanders pointing at the brown figure as they whisper "terrorist?" Where are the hippy couple figures being denied boarding passes? And shouldn't someone be forcing a mother figure to drink her own breast milk? But most of all, wouldn't this toy be a lot more fun if you added "Real Body Cavity Search Action(TM)."

A helmet tip to Thingwarbler.

And for a little more "Real Body Cavity Search Action(TM):"

37 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

Penetrating Analysis, October 25, 2007

By	commie atheist (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

I'm glad to see that Mr. Gannon has stiffened his resolve and not allowed the flagellations of the liberal MSM to blunt his hugely satisfying and deeply probing critique of their biased and ham-handed reporting. With a rock-hard intensity, Gannon grabs hold of the hypocrisy and deviousness of the "chattering classes" with both hands and drives home his thesis, refusing to quit until he has unleashed a torrent of white-hot truth on the flanks of those who would betray America. He refuses to "suck up" to the mendacious media mavens who can only weakly wave their limp-noodle excuses in his direction as he pricks their veneer of self-importence. His main thrust, that he returns to again and again and again, almost relentlessly, is that the MSM has laid itself wide open to repeated attacks by a massive rear guard action from a vocal and persistent minority of "New Journalists," who have exposed "Old Media" as the cuckolded, flaccid mouthpiece of Islamofascists and their degenerate allies on the left it is today. Bravo, Mr. Gannon, and keep it up!