New Orleans Saints

I guess in some ways it is odd that our subject today is something as "mundane" as pro football. After all, I usually discuss things that are a little more, shall we say, esoteric. But make no mistake, I love the New Orleans Saints just as much as I love things like Japanese superhero TV shows and old comic books.

For me, I suppose I became a real fan of the team during its first truly "magical" period - the 1987 NFL season. That year, the Saints posted their first-ever winning record, and did so in emphatic fashion by going 12-3 (it was a strike year, too). They went on an amazing winning streak, they had the players to do the job, and...well, it felt like a team of destiny. It was only bad luck that they were in the same division as a San Francisco 49ers team with guys like Joe Montana and Jerry Rice. New Orleans went into their first-ever playoff game as a wild card, but it seemed like they had the momentum to do something special.

That season was also my first real lesson in the bitter disappointment that can come with being a Saints fan. They got trounced in that first playoff game by a Vikings team with a far-worse record. Even over 20 years later, that final score of 44-10 is still burned into my brain. That day, I learned you can never take anything for granted when it comes to the New Orleans Saints.

There have been good seasons since that time, and some playoff success, too. But I dunno, it never really felt like something special was happening. Until this year. This seemed like a year where something exciting was going down. As the weeks progressed, the Saints' season became more dramatic and unlikely. Finally, it culminated in an NFC championship game against the Minnesota Vikings, of all teams.

As the weeks rolled on, my confidence in the Saints having a chance in every game grew to the point where I never counted them out until the clock was out of time. But I'll be honest when I say that I was still in disbelief as the game-winning field goal sailed through the uprights. The New Orleans Saints - my team - weren't just a good team. They were going to the Super Bowl.

My Dad swore once he'd never live to see this day. Sadly, he was right by about 12 years. I know a whole lot of people who felt the same. I was one of them. I rooted for the Saints, but expecting them to reach the Super Bowl seemed like a goal that was unapproachable. Even if they had a quality team, something would go wrong. I mean, it always did, right?

Much has been written about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and the lowpoint the city and its NFL franchise had reached. All true, but it often misses the bigger picture. Because while that team is the "New Orleans" Saints, it belongs just as much to Baton Rouge. And Shreveport. And Monroe. And Lafayette. And Lake Charles. And Alexandria. It's Louisiana's team. You could even pull in our neighbors in Mississippi.

I often think the Saints are so beloved because they are a metaphor for our state, and our region. We have a massive inferiority complex in these parts. It often feels like no matter how hard we try, we'll fail and/or be laughingstocks. The Saints' nigh-legendary futility has been but a small part of that, but its also the whole thing in a microcosm. No matter how good they were, the Saints would fail in the end. Just like always. Just like Louisiana.

So it's no surprise that when the Saints pulled out victory against the Vikings, it touched off a massive state-wide celebration. In a world where the Saints can make a Super Bowl, it's not hard to imagine that anything is possible. This is why grown men have cried over this. It's not just about a football team. It's about the idea that maybe dreams can come true.

In less than 24 hours, the Super Bowl will kick off, and the Saints will face a tough and favored Indianapolis Colts team. Maybe they will win. Maybe they won't. But just by getting to this stage, the Saints have given a lot to their fans in this state, and all over the country. And in that respect, they are winners in my eyes regardless of the final score.

Thanks for this amazing season, New Orleans Saints. I hope there are many more to come.

Stories About The Stranglers

Here's an excerpt from the profile of the Stranglers in Wayne Jancik and Tad Lathrop's Cult Rockers (1995) :

"The Stranglers were no strangers to controversy. The press blasted them for misogyny in song titles like 'Bitching' and 'Bring On The Nubiles' and the use of onstage strippers."

I Wanna Be Sedated - Pop Music In The Seventies, a 1993 book by Phil Delio and Scott Woods, explains the Stranglers thusly :

"And then there was the Stranglers, who in unadulterated buffoonery stood mighty tall in the seventies scheme of things. What you need to know about them : 1) they reminded people of the Doors; 2) they recorded two incredible songs, '(Get a) Grip (on Yourself)' (1977) and 'Tank' (1978); 3) they didn't really drive their own tank, that was General McArthur; 4) they were rock pigs supreme; 5) they can't be killed."

The 1999 edition of Rock Stars Encyclopedia, authored by Dafydd Rees and Luke Crampton and branded with the VH-1 logo, relates this touching tale of a February 1982 Stranglers gig :

"During a show at the Swindon Leisure Centre, the group is angered by a shower of spittle fired in their direction throughout their set. They apprehend the ringleader of the gobbing throng, remove his pants, and use his bare buttocks as tom toms during 'Golden Brown'."

Future Girls, Knights, And Vikings, Oh My

Say, remember this? It turns out IDW Publishing is putting out a Jetta hardcover in 2010! It was included with their solicitations for February, so you should probably keep your eyes peeled starting now if that sort of thing sounds like your speed. Here is the cover, as it appears on Craig Yoe's website. I never expected to see another Jetta book, but there it is.

DC Comics also has a couple of interesting hardcovers due soon that we haven't discussed here yet. The first is a compilation of the almost-legendary Atomic Knights strip. Set in the post-WWIII Earth of 1986 (!), this John Broome/Murphy Anderson collaboration features some solid storytelling and beautiful art. Plus, there is no shortage of wackiness. I mean, the Knights ride giant dalmatians like horses! This book is due May 19. Here is the official DC Comics listing for it.

And then, as if that wasn't awesome enough, one month later comes a hardcover of The Viking Prince! This is some wonderful fantasy pencilled and inked by Joe Kubert, with stories by Robert Kanigher and my hero Bob Haney. I'm not a huge sword & sorcery fan, but I have a soft spot for the titular Prince Jon. This series was even explicitly homaged in an episode of the JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED cartoon. It's just that good. Plus, it will be including the Viking Prince's meeting with Sgt. Rock. How can that not be fun? This book is set for June 30. You know I have a DC Comics site link for it, too.

I can't guarantee that you are going to love all of these books, but they are on my short "to buy" list. Take that as a recommendation if you will!

Coming To My TV - FIGHT! DRAGON

As our friends at Xenorama mentioned yesterday, I discovered over the weekend that the Japanese TV series FIGHT! DRAGON will be coming out on DVD in March, courtesy of the folks at Mill Creek Entertainment.

This is pretty exciting news. This series was scheduled to be released by BCI before they were shut down. Apparently, everything was all ready for that set, as I doubt Mill Creek would go to the trouble to finish this themselves. Only now, the price is even lower than it would have been. Insane.

FIGHT! DRAGON stars Yasuaki Kurata, a fairly well-known face in both Japanese and Chinese martial arts productions. There are a bevy of guest stars too, including Yang Sze (Bolo Yeung) and Susumu Kurobe. Plus, the whole thing is written by Masaru Igami and the theme is sung by Masato Shimon. It's like a Japanese superhero show, only without the costumes!

Mill Creek is also re-releasing IRON KING and SUPER ROBOT RED BARON at rock bottom prices. Does this bode well for the cancelled SILVER KAMEN (SILVER MASK) box set? I don't know, but hope springs eternal.

"Why is it called YOG anyway?"

Adapted from the article originally presented in OWARI #1 (October/November 1995).

"Why is it called YOG anyway?"

That question came up periodically back in those halcyon days before Toho's "international" version of the same movie, SPACE AMOEBA, superseded the AIP-released YOG - MONSTER FROM SPACE. It's a good question, too. After all, the monsters were actually named Gezora (cuttlefish), Ganime (crab), and Kameba (turtle). They were mutated by something referred to as "Astro-Quasars" in the dubbing. In fact, the name "Yog" is seemingly the only one never used! What's the deal?

Here's my theory : American International had already pre-booked a movie called "Yog - Monster from Space" to theaters, and that project subsequently fell through. Not wanting to lose a buck, AIP scrounged about for a movie that might vaguely connect with that title and discovered they had the rights to Toho's 1970 film ゲゾラ・ガニメ・カメーバ 決戦! 南海の大怪獣 (Gezora · Ganime · Kameba - Kessen! Nankai no Dai Ketto - "Decisive Battle! Giant Monsters of the South Seas"). A little creativity on AIP's part and VOILA! YOG - MONSTER FROM SPACE is born!

Believe it or not, something like this has been documented with another movie and another company. Independent International promised a movie entitled "Blood of Frankenstein" for 1971. This didn't pan out, so they took Paul Naschy's 1968 Spanish Wolfman flick LA MARCA DEL HOMBRE LOBO ("Mark of the Wolfman") and tagged it with the highly deceptive moniker FRANKENSTEIN'S BLOODY TERROR! Only an added prologue provided even a slight connection to the Frankenstein legend.

Did the movie that Toho marketed as the English-dubbed SPACE AMOEBA outside of Japan meet the same fate as Naschy's epic? I don't know, but that's the best idea I've ever managed to muster as to how AIP's newly redubbed theatrical release of it came to be called YOG - MONSTER FROM SPACE.

(Tip of the cap to David McRobie of Xenorama for suggesting this article for re-presentation in his recent blog entry on YOG - MONSTER FROM SPACE/SPACE AMOEBA.)

My World : Some Annotations

Hope everyone enjoyed their glimpse last week into a few of the characters in my personal fictional world. Guess what? You'll be seeing more of that in the future. So be ready for it.

I suppose some background for this particular project is in order. In 2007, I went on a bit of a tear (by my standards) in producing artwork. Now, I have no illusions that my art is good, but its mine and I have a lot of fun making it. This is lost on some people, I guess. Anyway, I was very prolific that year, and one of my main projects was to create art pieces depicting the characters of my "modern" universe.

I don't really have any concrete plans for this project beyond the art pieces and accompanying backstory thumbnails. However, that doesn't mean you won't be seeing something more involved in the future. There just aren't any plans. Yet.

• Captain Satellite : Captain Satellite first came into being sometime around the 6th grade. He wasn't anything special at first, but eventually he merged with various other characters running around in my own personal universe. By the time I was done, he had emerged as my superhero alter ego. I've been using his name for various projects since 1995.
  
  Interestingly, Captain Satellite was originally conceived as a VILLAIN! He was an adversary for the various superheroes I was playing around with at the time. Later I had a change of heart and "killed off" the villainous Captain Satellite and replaced him with a second Captain who was a superhero. As time went by, Captain Satellite's nefarious origins were forgotten entirely and the superhero version became the only version. That Captain Satellite was the one who evolved into the one we know today.
  
  The earliest incarnations of the character looked somewhat different. The main distinguishing characteristic is that the Captain used to have an old style satellite chest emblem. I'm pretty sure that got dropped because it looked too busy when I drew the character at a smaller size. I originally envisioned his uniform as being yellow, but settled on the current color scheme. This was likely an influence of the old Legion of Super-Heroes member Ferro Lad, who had inspired me a great deal as a kid.
  
  
• Shelly Ericson : Shelly was born in my high school days, though truthfully she has her origins in many female characters I created over the years. Her name and particular backstory struck a chord with me, so she was chosen to be the one to get fleshed out into something like a real character instead of just a surrogate fantasy girlfriend.
  
  The key turning point for Shelly was the Japanese superhero series SHAIDER. As I've discussed in the past, I'm rather enthralled with Shaider's sidekick Annie in the show. She is competent and charismatic, but still needs to constantly have her bacon saved by Shaider. I wanted to take that concept one step further, and have a female sidekick who was actually more competent than the hero. Shelly's personality gradually began to take shape from there, and her distinctive look evolved from Annie's inspiration.
  
  
• Third World : Third World is my underground subversive organization. As you might guess, their name is inspired by the phrase "third world power" that doesn't get thrown around nearly so much since the Soviet Union fell apart. Third World itself owes a huge debt to Marvel Comics' group Hydra. A number of details of Third World are inspired by Hydra, but I sort of took it into my own direction - especially as far as the design of the agents (pictured).
  
  
• Hugo Beaumont : Hugo Beaumont is the Captain's arch-enemy, I guess. I liked the idea of mixing the mad scientist type with the time traveling villain type. Hugo is also a great excuse to mix together hoary old bad guy tropes like the top hat, pencil-thin mustache, etc. He draws from many sources - silent movie bad guys (or Snidely Whiplash, if you prefer!), Lex Luthor, and Kang the Conqueror to name three specific ones.
  

As you may have guessed, one of the biggest challenges in this project is creating something interesting from what was originally just a big personal fantasy. I suppose that is why I've never followed through on my threats of telling an actual story with these characters. They are fun to put through their paces in my head, but I'm not entirely sure that would translate for readers.

As the years have passed, Captain Satellite and Shelly Ericson have moved away from their original purpose of serving as idealized wish fulfillment characters. Why? Because that grew boring to me. They still have their roots in those interpretations, but I enjoy them a lot more now that they've been allowed to stretch out and grow away just being generic avatars for my daydreams. If the day comes when their world is more fully-realized, it will be because they have stories that are demanding to be told.

My Favorite Screenshot Ever

Remember those bootleg Hong Kong (actually often Taiwan-pressed) anime and tokusatsu DVDs that used to be all over the Internet? Maybe they still are, for all I know. Besides their relative cheapness, one of their biggest selling points was that they featured English subtitles.

The catch in that boon to fankind was that the English subtitles were just translations of the Chinese subtitles, sometimes by people with a shaky grasp of both Japanese and English. It's amazing the subs ever came out coherent at all. Sometimes, they didn't even manage that.

The comedy value of these discs can be extremely high. The word "karaoke" became "Karate OK" in one show. But my all-time fave comes from a copy of the 1984 BIOMAN movie. My disc ended up going bad (no great loss), but I had to save this for posterity.



Yes, watch it.