Comic Book Retro 50:July 1976

Welcome to another edition of Comic Book Retro 50 where I look back at comics I bought 50 years ago.,

This month takes us back to July 1976.  

In last month's look back to June 1976, Shazam#25 ended with a blurb to check out Justice League of America #135.

And here we are for the annual Justice League/Justice Society team up.

As if bringing together the heroes of 2 different Earths was not enough to keep track of. these annual get togethers would bring in a 3rd Earth.

Justice League of America #29-#30 gave us a "Crisis On Earth 3" which was an inverse of Earth 1 and Earth 2 with versions of Superman, the Flash, Wonder Woman and more who were villians instead of heroes.

Justice League of America #107-#108 gave us a "Crisis On Earth X"  featuring characters formerly published in the Golden Age by Quality Comics on an Earth where the Nazis won World War II.  After getting help from the JLA and JSA defeating the Nazis, the Quality heroes would get their own title, Freedom Fighters.  

Justice League of America #123-#124 brought Earth Prime into the mix with writers Cary Bates and Elliot S! Maggin guest starring with the JLA and JSA.  Earth Prime is where you and I live.   

Which brings us to Justice League of America #135 which kicks off "Crisis In Eternity" bringing together the combined might of hereos for Earth 1, Earth 2 and Earth S.

Earth S?  Yes, "S" as in Shazam.

This is the world where Captain Marvel and other heroes formerly published by Fawcett Comics reside.  

Anyone excited to see the classic heroes of DC finally interact with Captain Marvel and the rest of the Marvel family, well, not so fast.

Long time Captain Marvel foe King Kull has captured the Rock of Eternity and the gods and goddeses who live there. Billy, Mary and Freddy can yell their magic words all day long but there ain't no lightning bolts coming. 

The only god to escape Kull's grasp is Mercury who has Flash-like super speed powers.  The wizard Shazam sends Mercury out into the multiverse to gather heroes from 3 different Earths.

With the Marvel family out of commission, who can Mercury summon to aid him from Earth 2? 

Well there's Ibis the Invincible.

And 5 other adventurers.

And lo it comes to pass the god Mercury assembled the great heroes of Earth S to face the challenge of....

I hear giggling.

Yes, one of them is called Pinky, the Whiz Kid! 

Hey, this comic book is a treasured part of my child hood and I would kindly ask you to stop laughing at it. 

The book has a very dense plot from E. Nelson Bridwell.  Bridwell was an ultimate fanboy made good with an encyclopedic knowledge of anything and everything about comic books. And a LOT of that knowledge gets shoved into this issue's 17 pages. Martin Pasko was brought in as scripter to I presume help it all make sense.  

According to an interview Pasko gave, he did not like this assignment at all.  

And there are 2 more issues to go. 

Stalwart regular JLA artists Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin are tasked to handle this sprawling cast of heroes from 3 Earths and for more good measure, multiple villains recruited from multiple Earths to do King Kull's nefarious bidding. 

As if I have NOT written enough about this (and I have barely scratched the surface of this book), if you want even MORE detailed information about JLA#135 check out Alan Stewart's post over on Attack of the 50 Year Old Comic Book.

Or Tom Breevort's look back at JLA#135.  

Another follow up to Shazam#25 was Isis#1.  Beginning as a companion TV series to the Saturday morning Shazam TV show, Andrea Thomas, aka Isis, was making her first foray into comic books. 

Sporting a cover by Kurt Schaffenberger, the debut of Isis in her own comic book begins with "Scarab -- The Man Who Would Destroy" by Denny O'Neil, Ric Estrada and Wally Wood.   

Isis#1 gives us a look-see at how Andrea Thomas first discovered the amulet that would turn her into the mighty Isis.

And the transformation we saw occur every Saturday morning gets brought to comic book life.  

And Isis flies into action in ways that defy the limits of a Saturday morning TV special effects budget.  

The team of O'Neil, Estrada & Wood was a one-off.  Subsequent issues were written by Steve Skeates & Jack C. Harris with pencils by Mike Vosburg.  

Next up from writer Denny O'Neil is the 2nd issue of the revived Green Lantern/Green Arrow with Green Lantern#91.  

"Revenge of the Renegade" is written by O'Neil with art by Mike Grell. The cover was by Ernie Chan & Frank Giacoia which is weird as books drawn by Grell would usually sport a cover by Grell.  

One more thing about that cover and you'll notice it on a few others: that fershlugginer banner is gone. That obstrusive bit of cover clutter is being phased out and will be completely gone by August 1976.   

The story in Green Lantern#91 involves some kind of cockamanie plot by Sinestro to lure Green Arrow into a trap involving an archery contest (shades of Robin Hood), using the archer as bait for another trap for Green Lantern. 

It's all a lot of silly nonsense and hardly O'Neil's best work.

Up next is Batman#280 and "The Only Crime In Town" by by David V. Reed, Ernie Chan & Frank Giacoia.

I've given Ernie a lot of grief for his cover art at DC but I gotta admit I like the dynamic staging for this particular piece.  

Reed's story is a done in one crime caper with a bunch of standard issue crooks staging smaller crimes as a distraction from a really big million dollar haul.

It's more Batman in Detective Comics #464 as Gerry Conway, Ernie Chan and Frank McLaughlin deliver "The Doomsday Express", the conclusion of the Black Spider 2 parter.

And the ongoing schemes of the Calculator continue as he strikes again, this time against Black Canary in "A Hot Time In Star City Tonight" by Bob Rozakis, Mike Grell & Terry Austin.  

More Mike Grell in Superboy#220. The small print indicia calls the book Superboy but it's the Legion of Super Heroes book now. 

We're up first with "The Super Soldiers of the Slave-Maker" by Jim Shooter, Mike Grell & Bob Wiacek.  Yep, the Legion of Super Heroes shoved into 12 pages.  

The Legion has to save a world from being 'sploded by some alien lizard no-goodniks.  

The back 5 pages are scripted by Cary Bates and puts the spotlight on Dream Girl.  Yep, only 5 pages for the Legion to find a problem, investigate the problem and solve the problem.

Dream Girl has a prophetic vision of a political assassination but is short on any actual useful details or this story would be shorter than 5 pages.  

Superman #304 features the "The Parasite's Prism of Peril" by Gerry Conway, Curt Swan & Bob Oksner. 

In addition to the the Parasite, the Atomic Skull turns up as well.

The scene on the cover by Bob Oksner with Superman being clobbered by super powered kid actually does happen on the inside of the comic.  

That was it for Superman in July 1976 as I did not buy Action Comics #464.  

Speaking of comics I did not buy....

I was not a purveyor of DC's war comics but the cover of this one piqued my interest  

I don't remember my grandfather mentioning there were dinosaurs in World War II.  

So that is that for comics from my youth 50 long years ago in July 1976! 

What comic books did I buy in August 1976?

That will be answered in next month's Comic Book Retro 50! 

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Thanks to The Tom Breevort Experience, the Grand Comic Book Database. Attack of the 50 Year Old Comic Books and Mike's Amazing World of Comics.   

Meet Jimothy

Writing mid-week blog posts is the worst.

Sorry, guys! 

So I'm going to kick back and let a raccoon do today's blog work.

Say hello to Jimothy. a wild raccoon living in Seattle, Washington, United States. 

His distinctive short, round form is likely due to  short spine syndrome, an affliction that commonly occurs in dogs but can also be found in other mammals.

Such as raccoons.

Seattle resident Kiana Hall posted a video of this most unique raccoon on Instagram. Kiana named him Jimothy? Why?

"He just looked like a Jimothy to me."

Jimothy has become quite the social media sensation.  

• Jimothy holds an honorary degree from the University of Washington.
• He has received special recognition by the Seattle City Council.

Jimothy for public office? Why not?

• Blizzard Entertainment posted a tribute to Jimothy in the style of World of Warcraft
• D&D Beyond released a stat block of Jimothy for use in D&D
• A bobblehead manufacturer made available a Jimothy statuette, with proceeds donated to an animal rescue charity.
• If you search for Jimothy on Google, an animated version of the raccoon scampers across the screen.  
• Jimothy is included on Roku screensavers

Not bad for a quirky cute little raccoon from Seattle.  

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We're back tomorrow with the Comic Book Retro 50. What comics did a wee young Dave-El buy in July 1976?

After that it's Your Friday Video Link, Saturday is Movie Time and we'll go Star Trekking on Sunday.

But before all that...?

What the hell! It's MORE JIMOTHY! 

Y'all be good to one another and if you see Jimothy, be sure to say "hi!" 

Tuesday TV Touchbase: Spider Noir

While Amazon Prime dumped the entire season at once, Andrea and I took our time with Spider-Noir, serving up one episode a week.  Just like it says in the Bible.

"Yea and the Lord sayeth unto thee, thoust should take unto thee a television series one episode at a time, less ye succumb to the pits of sin, depair and a numb posterior."

It's somewhere in... Deuteromony, I think?

Anyway...

We finished up Spider-Noir a week or so back.  

Set in Depression era 1930's New York City, life is hard for a stressed out populace caught between the machinations of Mayor Morris and crimes boss Finn Byrne, aka the Silvermane.

It's the story of Spider Man but with a twist in time and concept.

Let's talk about the look of Spider Noir for a moment.  The series was available in black & white as well as in color.  Below are two image of Ben's ascrebic, long suffering secretary Janet (my favorite supporting cast member) to compare the two formats. 

Andrea and I chose the B&W version which effectively conjures the film noir vibe of a classic Humphrey Bogart detective film. The B&W doesn't do as well with some of the latter effects heavy scenes with electrically powered Megawatt. 

But the B&W really works well when Ben Reilly is brooding in his darkened office or Cat Hardy is oozing sex appeal while seducing Ben. 

Ben should watch out.  As is the case with film noir, the dame is not to be trusted and will do him wrong.

Such as betraying Ben's identity as the Spider to Dr. Alethea Faber, a mad scientist type looking for a cure for metahumans. Cat only has eyes for Flint Marko and his Sandman powers are killing him. Perhaps Ben, whose Spider powers haven't killed him yet, holds to the key.

Episode 6 is a rough one to get through as Dr. Faber does all sorts of unspeakable things to a captured Ben Reilly to extract what makes the Spider tick and can it be used to save her son (whose mutation is prematurely aging him) and other metahumans as well.   

Ben manages to escape but not in the best of shape. His powers are on the fritz just as the war between the mayor and Silvermane is heating up.

For all the intensity of the drama inherent in Spider Noir, the show has a remarkable sense of humor.  A lot of this comes from Ben's snarky, irascible nature brought to ingenious light by Nicholas Cage. Cage mostly plays Ben Reilly like a repressed coiled spring  but then he cracks that veneer to go nuts. 

Lamorne Morris and Karen Rodriguez keep up the pace with the sharpy witten banter as Robbie Robertson and Janet Ruiz.   

Brendan Gleeson dominates the proceedings as Silvermane, a brutally cold calculating criminal mastermind who hasn't lived this long and gotten where he is in this life by playing nice.  

Spider Noir ends on a fairly positive note and if Nicholas Cage can be talked into it, I would very much like to see another season to explore this unique take on the Spider Man mythos.  

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Jeopardy ended it's 42nd season last week. Not much to say other than does that seem too long? It's the end of July and the show returns in September.  

 That is that for this week's Tuesday TV Touchbase.

Next time:   Stuart Fails To Save the Universe

Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.   

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From Spider Noir to film noir, this Saturday's Movie Time post will be about an American film noir from 1947.   

The Religion of the Rabble

I think one of the tragic casualties in this current time of political and social distress that we exist in is the Christian faith.  

A lot of alleged leaders of alleged Christian faith have done so much to align themselves with political ideology in the pursuit of power.  

Jesus Christ, the dude who espoused "Blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are the weak", you know, THAT guy, would not regonize the religion named after him. 

I recall the story of a preacher who did a sermon based on the Biblical text known as the Beatitudes and after the service was greeted by a parishioner who asked the minister why he was preaching such woke nonsense. 

While Jesus Christ most pointedly did not assign any conditions on who deserved God's grace, the modern American conservative Christian would very much add some terms and conditions before you click like and subscribe.

A lot of this warping of the Christian faith towards decidedly unChristian goals has been particularly prominent during the last 10 years and the ascendancy of the MAGA and it's blobby orange hued savior who shall remained nameless for this post.*

*Since this person invaded my Saturday movie post, I have resolved for today's post, he shall NOT be named.  

In case it's not clear who I am talking about, I will give you a little hint:  He's a lying, petulant, bullying, unintelligent, sociopathic, dishonorable, treasonous, gutless, moronic, heartless, soulless, slimy, loathsome, vile, incompetent, psychotic, crooked, disgusting, reprehensible, revolting, horrible, malicious, obnoxious, hateful, narcissistic, small-minded, despicable god damn, motherfucking piece of shit.  

I trust you can work it out from there.

I was reading an article written by Molly Wadzeck for Huff Post about MAGA Christianity and those who have escaped the unforgiving grasp of that movement.

Anna Rollins wrote that growing up Southern Baptist,  Christianity was presented as nearly inseparable from Republican identity, with patriotic symbols and language woven throughout church life. “Faith and freedom were often talked about in the same breath. We often sang patriotic songs in church services, in addition to hymns. Nationalism was tightly woven in with Christianity.”

I too grew up in a Southern Baptist church and I likewise recall the conflation of Christian faith with American identity.  In my narrow world, a good Christian was a good American. And a good American was a good Christian.

Although even that scope of "Christian" may be a bit broad. Southern Baptists understood what it meant to be a good Christian. As for Presbyterians and Methodists, who knows what the hell they're up to? 

Conservative Christians for all their outsized influence with gospel radio stations and Christian TV channels are still a small slice of the religious pie. True power lies outside the venues of religion and in the halls of political power.   

Which brings us to the toxic confluence of conservative Christians and the Republican Party.

Welcome to MAGA "Christianity", the religion of the rabble.

The article written by Molly Wadzeck references videos posted by a nurse named Jen Hamilton who generated a lot of buzz by posting online her reading from the Bible while repudiating MAGA talking points.

One of the comments she received was "Be careful now. I am happily MAGA and I love Jesus. We are exhausted from liberal nonsense.”

Reading Matthew 25 is liberal nonsense?  

I will assert that being "happily MAGA" and "I love Jesus" is a contradiction. 

This goes back to the preacher whose sermon on the Beatitudes was dismissed by a church goer as woke nonsense. 

Attached is a video by Brandon, an avowed atheist (account under Mindshift) who talks about what Jen has done and the backlash she is encountering from the MAGA "Christian" community.

Not sure I'm on board with everything Brandon says but I do respect his thoughtful perspective. 

But isn't it weird that it takes an atheist to come to the defense of a Christian woman who spoke to the idea that Jesus thought it was a good idea to help people?

A Christian woman being attacked by alleged Christians for the act of speaking about how Jesus thought it was a good idea to help people?

Jen said that “Some even reported me to the Board of Nursing to have my license taken away.  As a nurse, I don’t know how you don’t fight for the rights of the vulnerable communities you care for.”

So Jen simply reading from the Bible earned her threats to her job and yes, even to her life.

A MAGA supporter posted a video that she wouldn't feel safe in Jen's care if Jen was her nurse.  

Jen had to post a response that her responsibilites as a nurse requires her to help everyone equally.  

So a MAGA "Christian" assumes she is not safe in the care of a Christian nurse who is not MAGA?  A Christian nurse who is not MAGA is the enemy? 

Gee, I wonder where a MAGA supporter got that idea from?

SIDE NOTE on he who shall not be named in this post but rememeber he is a lying, petulant, bullying, unintelligent, yada yada yada,you know the drill: recent reports show cuts to programs to specific states were made because those states did not vote for the lying, petulant, bullying, unintelligent, yada yada yada in 2024. This blobby orange hued savior has a history of declaring those who are not MAGA as the enemy and not to be trusted.  

So the obedient flock of MAGA "Christians" follow in kind.  So by their "logic", nurse Jen Hamilton maybe a Christian but she is NOT a MAGA Christian so she is not to be trusted and is a danger. 

So what's the deal with this dissonance between the ideals of Christian faith and the actual practices of MAGA "Christians"? 

Caroline Bologna writes here about the concept of something called "Vertical Morality".

“Vertical morality teaches that authority, power and a moral code of right and wrong, or acceptable and unacceptable, come from ‘above’ ― an external superior who designates rules, systems and tenets that must be obeyed by those beneath."

Which is a nice intellectual dissertation of a concept that I will put more bluntly:  MAGA "Christians" are fucking hypocrites who wouldn't know Jesus Christ if he walked into their kitchens and turned a class of a water into a nice pinot noir. 

To be blunt, MAGA "Christians" have traded the ideals of Christ for worldly glory, for promises of easy wealth and power over those who are not them.  

Jesus admonished us to be servants to those in need, even those who are not us. But the MAGA path to wealth and power is to regard those who are not them as an enemy to be feared, to be defeated, to be eradicated. 

Maybe the cynical view is that MAGA Christianity is just what Christianity has been all along? And that people like nurse Jen Hamilton are outliers, the exception to the rule?

I have to admit to my own cynicism about Christianity but even I don't want that cynicism to be true. I want people like Jen Hamilton to be the true face of the Christian faith. 

Sadly the most prominent face of that faith belongs to those who see Jen Hamilton as an enemy.

And see Jesus Christ as an epitome of liberal nonsense.

Which is what you get from a religion of the rabble.

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While working on this post, I reviewed some previous blog entries I've made on the subject of religion and I thought I would share this graphic from my blog post on March 11, 2016.  

StarTrekking: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Season 4 - “Valles Marineris”

Welcome to this week's edition of Star Trekking, my blog space dedicated to my Star Trek fandom.

After several weeks of indulging in nostalgia with look backs at Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation, this time out we get some ALL NEW Trek.

The return of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.   

There is more than a little bit of burden on SNW as it begins it's 4th season. After two strong seasons, the 3rd season was not as solid and left a lot to be desired.

“Valles Marineris”, the season 4 premiere, gives some strong indication that the good ship Enterprise is back on track. 

• Captain Pike rides a horse! 
• Pelia drops another Doctor Who reference!!  
• There's cool space shit!! (An interstellar squall!!) 
• There's wibbly wobbly time travel!!! 
• Number One, Ortegas, and La’an fight a goddam dinosaur!!!
• La’an punches a raptor!!!!
• We get a new building block in the Star Trek mythos!!! 
• The Enterprise crew faces a terrible moral and ethical dliemna!!
• A whole planet blows up real good!!! 
• I must repeat: Pike rides a horse and La’an punches a raptor!

People, are you not frickin' entertained?!?!  

Kick Ass Action Girls of Star Trek 

The mission statement for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds was to get back to the "planet of the week" structure of the original series. SNW sort of strayed from that plan in season 3 but  “Valles Marineris” marks a return to form for season 4.

Even if one of the strange new worlds turns out to be Earth, 65 millions years in the past.   

And the other strange new world is Mars.  

And instead of an asteroid belt, there is a third M-class planet between Mars and Jupiter, Dol’Drm. 

And Dol’Drm and Mars are at war.    

The Martians steal anti-matter from the Enterprise to use against the Dol’Drm homeworld.  

Well, that some serious temporal prime directive fuckery right there.  The Enterprise needs to stop Mars from using future tech to destroy the Dol’Drm.

Until Pike realizes something very crucial and orders the Enterprise to stand down.

The asteroid belt came from somewhere.

And thus we get the moral and ethical quandry facing Pike and the crew.

Yeah, this episode is filled with cool sci-fi stuff and great action sequences. (I cannot stress this enough: La’an stops a raptor by punching it!)  

But it's the gordian time travel knot at the center of the narrative and the resulting hard choices thrust upon Pike and his crew is what makes for the best Star Trek drama.  

This kind of though provoking philosophical problem is where Star Trek shines.

Next week, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds returns with episode 2 of season 4,  "The Griffin Incident".

I have NO idea what we're in for.

We'll find out together in next week's Star Trekking.

It's NOT Movie Time: A Face In the Crowd (Revisited)

Today's movie post is about a film I've written about before.

I did a post about A Face In the Crowd over 6 years ago on February 23, 2020.   

I'm revisiting this movie today in response to a video recently posted on Tik Tok by Nathan (The Favoring Wind), aka Nathan Cook, writer and film fan.   

Nathan spoke to the film's suprising relevancy, the movie's commentary on the rise of celebrity and it's influence on society and politics. 

And the perils of that kind of power being in the hands of an unstable ego maniac.  

In the comments, people began drawing the obvious parallels between the rise of Lonesome Roads and the rise of Donald Trump.  

I joined the comments with this:

"I've waited for Trump's Lonesome Rhodes moment where he says something so blatantly stupid and/or corrupt that will break the spell he has on his followers. But no matter how stupid and/or corrupt he sounds, nothing seems to work."

Now I should elaborate on what I mean by a "Lonesome Rhodes moment" but SPOILER, I will need to talk about the ending.

Andy Grifith is Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes, an itinerate musician and storyteller who is brought up from obscurity to becoming a national TV star.   

Marcia Jeffries, played by Patricia Neal, is responsible for discovering Rhodes and putting him on his path as a nationwide celebrity. And she regrets it.

Rhodes is a raging, eratic narcissist who can barely handle the heady rush of TV stardom and he now wants to parlay his entertainment celebrity into political power.

Patricia Neal and Andy Griffith
from A Face In the Crowd

Nothing seems to be able to stop him until one night, after the end of his live TV show as the credits roll, Rhodes boasts of his ability to tell his public whatever he wants and the stupid people out in the world will believe it.

Marcia has left the microphones in the studio turned on and all of America heard what Lonesome Rhodes thinks of them. 

Within a half hour, Rhodes' fan base has evaporated and the political cronies who wanted to use him to bolster their campaigns have vanished.

While expressing guilt over her role in elevating Rhodes to power, Marcia is assured by writer Mel Miller (Walter Matthau) that while deceptive fakes like Rhodes may fool people for a while, but "we get wise to him―that's our strength".

This noble assurance expressed in the movie ("we get wise to him―that's our strength"), I wonder if this can be realized in the dystopian real life we find ourselves.  

I have waited for Donald Trump to have his Lonesome Rhodes moment, the one where the scales fall away and the spell of the cult is broken.

Sometimes it seems like we have that moment. 

When hearing that inflation is up and the costs for food, gas and every damn thing is UP, Trump said on camera with an open mike, "I love the inflation."    

In response to my comment, I got this reply from Miller McKee.

"I kept waiting for that, too, in his first term. I guess the Hollywood ending for this film is the idea that enough people are decent enough to leave the cult. At least with Lonesome, he is perceived as folksy and nice until his hot mic moment. With Donny, the fact that he’s a cruel jerk is what they love. Not surprising, after years of smooth politicians using words smoothly, offering thoughts and prayers and giving broken promises."

I do see Miller's point. 

A Face In the Crowd does assume a positive Hollywood ending to the spell of Lonesome Rhodes being broken.  As Mel tells Marcia, "we get wise to him―that's our strength".

One of the recurring assessments of the Trump cult is a strong unwillingness to admit they've been played for a sucker and will double down on following a man who has comtempt for them rather than admit they were wrong. 

Getting wise to him is a choice. A choice that the MAGA faithful choose not to make out of misplaced loyalty and an inflated sense of pride. 

In A Face In the Crowd, Rhodes is set to have a meeting with military and political leaders after his broadcast, to plan his future role in the government as a sort of morale officer or propoganda minister.  After Marcia outs him with the hot mike, Rhodes arrives at the meeting about 30 minutes later only to find no one is there.  

One half hour was all it took for these military and political leaders to decide Rhodes is damaged goods. 

Over here in our so-called real life, Trump will say something stupid or offensive or even illegal and the Repubican Party leaders are in front of cameras twisting themselves into proverbial pretzels to defend him.  Unlike the politicos in the movie who vanish when Rhodes is exposed for who he really is, in our darkest timeline, they stick around no matter what Trump says.     

Another difference is that until his hot mike moment, Rhodes is seen as a friendly person who for all his fame and power was still regarded by his public as one of the regular people.  His exposure as having nothing but contempt for his audience is a 180 degree repudiation of his persona.

Trump outing himself as a "cruel jerk" with a similar contempt for his followers is just not that big of a revelation. His being mean, nasty and contemptuous is part of the whole damn appeal. 

So while A Face In the Crowd holds a mirror to our current predicament, a charlatan promoted to prolitical leadership through media manipulation and a cult of celebrity, it is not an exact reflection.  Lonesome Rhodes gets his when he is exposed for the fraud and liar he is because in a Hollywood ending, the people have the strength to accept they have been lied to and effectively marginalize the charlatan.

Writing about the film for the New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther seems to have trouble understanding how Rhodes gets as far as he does:   "Everyone condescends to him... instead of taking positive positions that would better represent reality. ... All play their roles capably, but they're forced to behave as awed observers, not as flexible factors in the scheme of things..... We finally get bored with Lonesome Rhodes.... This type would either have become a harmless habit or the public would have been finished with him."

From the perspective of 1957, Crowther's incredulity about Rhodes' rise and the role others played in that ascent might make sense.

I imagine Bosley Crowther would be completely flummoxed to what is going on now.  Sitting here in 2026 with ten years gone, it seems our own Lonesome Rhodes is far from a harmless habit and the public is not finished with him.

Overall, Trump's approval ratings continue to drop precipitously and more people than not are finished with him. Point of evidence are the deafening boos the man receives whenever he deigns to expose himself outside his cultivated bubble of obsequious devotion.  

But there is still a solid core of the devoted faithful and a cadre of political hacks who see their 21st century Lonesome Rhodes as a useful idiot in their quest for power.  

In the movie, Rhodes is left abandoned and alone, with only an applause machine to cheer him on as he rants and preens in his empty penthouse.  Meanwhile, Trump gets to keep his his cultivated bubble of obsequious devotion.  

A Face In the Crowd presents us with a nightmare and a Hollywood created exit from that torment.

Which is why we have movies, to give us what we can't seem to have. 

A Lonesome Rhodes moment to free us from a charlatan's grasp on his fan base and on those that would use him to their own selfish ends.  

Doctor Who Is NEW: A Royal Mission

I thought I would have to wait for YEARS to use "Doctor Who Is NEW" for a blog post.

So imagine my surprise when I came across some new Doctor Who!

Sir Chris Hoy and comedian Greg McHugh take the TARDIS on a mission to get the King and Queen to the Commonwealth Games of 2026 in Glasgow.

I was a bit disappointed at the end we didn't get King Charles giving to the old "don't forget to click below and subscribe to the official Doctor Who You Tube channel". Or perhap, better yet, Chris Hoy. (Click the link above for his story.)  

We get an appearance by a bonafide Doctor, Sylvester McCoy.

We should've gotten McCoy to do the "click below and subscribe" spiel.  

Like Hoy and McHugh, McCoy is a native Scotsman.

Doctor Who may be in limbo right now with no new episodes in production but this shows the program still resonates with the United Kingdom public.