This is not a Job for Superman.

The above cover is the Adventures of Superman #596, published on September 12, 2001. One of the first things I noticed about the cover was that Superman's emblem had a black background, not the traditional yellow. In the sub-title "This is not a job for Superman", we notice the O in not is a miniature sun. Above the sun is the word "Isis". The logo itself is an upside down pyramid.



On the first panel of page two, we get this shot.



Lexcorp's twin towers are partially destroyed, with helicopters swirling about. Anyone who knows about comics knows that they are written and drawn months before the publish date, and this one went on sale a day after 911. The plot of the story is that there has been an alien invasion which has left much of the Earth damaged, and Superman hasn't lifted a finger to help with the rebuilding.



Of course J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter is going to make an appearance. It seems that every time the disaster was foreseen in D.C. Comics, he was there. In this panel he wants to know why Supes isn't helping, and in the background you can see the twin towers. Only in this shot, they are much less damaged. On another monitor to the right you can see the Great Pyramid of Cheops.



Uh-oh! There is a crisis in Antarctica. It seems the ice is melting for no good reason. To the Left of J'onn you can see the towers now appearing undamaged. And of course we must have a shot of the pyramids in this panel as well.



The Weather Wizard is melting the ice in Antarctica, and is putting it on Youtube! While most people would be shocked that a man in bright spandex is standing in the middle of the South Pole, I am more curious as to why a polar bear is 12000 miles away from his home. Everyone knows that polar bears are native to the Arctic, not the Antartic. Everyone except the editors at D.C. Comics it would seem.

Theres not much to tell for the rest of the issue. Superman easily dispatches the weather Wizard, and then saves a construction worker from falling. The construction worker then tells off president Luthor.

So in this comic book that was released on September 12, 2001, we have an alien invasion, 911, global warming, Isis, the pyramids, and weather control. Not to mention my favorite martian. Of course no comic book review would be complete without posting the back cover, as they usually synch well with the rest of the story. I wonder what it will be this time. They could have a bunch of college cheerleaders cheering on bradly tanks and it wouldn't surprise me.



Okay, I lied, It does surprise me. The game is called "Advance Wars". Go beavers! Build that dam!

Thor of Ancient Egypt

The other day, a comic caught my eye as I was browsing a magazine rack. It was Thor #1. I guess they are relaunching the series, which is something comic book companies do every couple of years to drive up sales.



Thor, a god of Norse mythology, is in an Egyptian tomb. It looked interesting enough. And in the very least, I thought we might get the backstory on why Thor has the Egyptian symbol for Ka on his belt. (The Mercury Helmet is for another story).

The story starts out with two archaeologists in modern day Egypt discussing the riddle of the Spinx.
The Spinx is believed to be about 5000 years old, but water erosion on the Spinx makes this impossible.

So, if the erosion was caused by water, the Sphinx must have been carved before Egypt was under water i.e. more than 12,000 years ago. This, in turn, is too radical for scholars to swallow, as they prefer not to change their theory that Khafra (Chephren) built the Sphinx. As a result, those unfamiliar with scientific principles, suggested that the ground water, and not direct flooding, caused such erosion.

Twelve thousand years old! this would make the Spinx the only major surviving artifact from the last age. Ok, now back to the Comic.

Thor and his band of warriors are fighting Nedra, queen of the frost giants. After her defeat and capture, they discover a stargate to Earth, which the clumsy "god" Volstaag falls through. Thor and his friends enter the portal to retrieve him, and arrive in ancient Egypt. Even though they are "gods", they don't understand the language of the natives.



The Norse gods "recognize' the Egyptian gods. This makes me wonder how? Do they have god conventions or something? "Hey look! There's Zeus talking to Osiris by the punchbowl! I'm going to go over and say hi."



Here we see the Spinx was originally a Griffin. It turns out the griffin is the pet of the evil Pharaoh. Thor defeats the Pharaoh and his griffin, and then brings rain to the desert land of Egypt, causing the statue of the Spinx to be damaged by water erosion, and thus the mystery is solved. LOL!



Erosion on stone is a process that takes thousands of years. I guess the thunder god's storm was so powerful, it caused it in one day. Also, Thor talks about the Heliopolitan gods leaving, but where did they go? Probably to the convention. That would explain why there is a minotaur on the back cover.



Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

The Statue of Liberty in Reality and Fiction

In order to understand the present, and possible future, we must look to the past. Excerpts from this article are taken from the New York Times, July 31 1916.

Ellis Island Like War-Swept Town; Damage Estimated at $75,000; Only Six of 607 Persons at Bureau Receive Injuries ;- Immigrants Taken to Battery Till Danger Is Past ;- Hospital Roof Caves In. ELLIS ISLAND LIKE WAR-SWEPT TOWN


Visitors landing at the Immigration Station on Ellis Island yesterday afternoon might easily have imagined they were on the track of the great war and entering a town that had been besieged for several days. The main building on the right and the general hospital on left of the ferry slip had every window shattered, and in many cases the frames also had disappeared.

This was caused by an explosion on Black Tom island, a weapons depot at the time. Black Tom island is close to Ellis Island.

The only living thing that was hit by the thousands of shrapnel bullets which struck the buildings was Toto, a little black kitten, known all over the island as Chief Clerk Sherman's office pet. After the excitment was over Toto was found with a bullet wound in one of his hind legs, and a surgeon dressed the injured member, much to the relief of the animal.

I'll get you my pretty, and your little kitty too!!!

The only living thing on the wreck-strewn shore of no. 3 island was a rabbit owned by one of the nurses in the hospital, which had dashed out of the building after being smothered with molasses from a can upset by the effect of the explosion, and refused to be comforted.

Maybe the rabbit put it's head in the wrong hole.

Although it is generally believed to be the work of German terrorists, the case remains unsolved. This was before America entered the first world war.

Two of the guards who had lit the smudge pots were immediately arrested. However, it soon became clear that the blast had not been an accident. It was traced to a Slovak immigrant named Michael Kristoff (probably a stolen identity), who had served in the U.S. Army, but admitted to carrying suitcases for the Germans before America entered World War I.

The Statue of Liberty was damaged by shrapnel, and the torch remains closed to visitors to this day. I wonder why it has never been re-opened after 92 years?

According to the FBI, the Statue was threatened by terrorists in 1965.

The Statue of Liberty had previously been threatened by terrorism, according to the FBI. On February 18, 1965, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced it had uncovered a plot by three commandos from the Black Liberation Front, who were allegedly connected to Cuba, and a female co-conspirator from Montreal connected with the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ), seeking independence for Quebec from Canada, who were sent to destroy the statue and at least two other national monuments — the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia and the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.

Who could forget the final scene of Planet of the Apes, where Charlton Heston realizes he was on Earth all along after he finds the Statue of Liberty half sunken in sand?

"You maniacs! You blew it up! God Damn you! God Damn you all to Hell!"

Promo ad for D.C.'s Countdown to Final Crisis, 2007.



At the end of this trailer for the film "Cloverfield", The head of the Statue of Liberty is seen rolling down the street.



In Dreamworks Madagascar, Alex the lion builds a replica of the Statue, only to see it destroyed by fire.

There are more. On the Discovery channel's "World Without Humans", they show the statue rusting away and falling apart a couple of hundred years after humans leave the Earth.(clip not available)

So why is the media fascinated with the destruction of the Statue?

Best uses of an Egyptian God/Goddess in a Comic Book

Don't Worry Isis! I'll unlock that gag and you will be able to tell me what's up.



Here, Bastet stands in front of a stargate. Bastet was the goddess of the sun and war, so it makes sense she would appear during a time of a "Stargate Rebellion".



Here Set is about to devour two unlucky archaeologists who have disturbed the tomb of Osiris(green glow in coffin). Set is the god who poked out Horus's other eye, thus giving him a displeasant attitude. He also killed Horus's father Osiris before Horus was even born. (Huh?) It kind of explains why he would have an interest in seeing that Osiris's rest is not disturbed.



The mummified body of Horus, you can tell by the one eye. The original Blue Beetle derived his power from an ancient Egyptian Scarab.



Blue Beetle Vs. The Eye of Horus. The Eye is out to enslave the world. It is green, as the father of Horus had green skin. It's a wonder how the hero of ancient Egypt has become the scourge of the modern world.

Wings

Thanks to Jenn at Hidden Dakini for inspiring me to research Kukulkan. Sorry about some of the pics being off center, but I don't feel like resizing tonight.

Ever notice there are a lot of ancient gods with wings?




Kukulkan, the winged serpent god of the Mayans.



Isis, mother goddess of ancient Egypt.



Eros, Greek god of love.



The Sumerians had Assur.



Karmadeva, the Hindu god of love. Although he is not represented with wings here, he is described often as a young man with wings.

And of course there are the Angels. There are several possible explanations for the winged gods, different cultures did influence each other, but that can't explain all of it.

Maybe it was a reflection of man's desire to take to the sky. I can imagine the ancients longing to soar the heavens like the birds.

Maybe all the winged gods were actually ancient astronauts, and the wings were part of some kind of techno suit. I say this because many of them are (such as Isis) are depicted with and without wings.

Maybe they were actual gods. I don't have any definitive answer. I don't think anyone does. But it is a pretty interesting ancient sync.

Best Uses of the Statue of Liberty in a Comic Book

There is so much in this cover I don't know where to start. The Red Tornado is a robot who can make tornadoes, which puts to mind weather control. The Phantom Stranger is a mysterious mystic whose origin is unknown. In a tale by Alan Moore, he is given the possible origin of being an angel who sided with neither Lucifer or God and was banished to walk the Earth. In the crystal ball we see Wonder Woman/Diana getting smacked in the face with the torch of illumination by the Statue of liberty/Isis. Instead of looking injured, she is in a very sexual pose. This takes place inside a Wizards Glass, which indicates the future of the 1970's. Catfight of the goddesses.



What could be more romantic than kissing at the altar of an Isis illuminated by the setting sun? I guess you could throw in a dove flying in front of the statue.



You can't have a best of the Statue of Liberty without a doomsday scene. I wonder if it was global warming as the water suggests or nuclear war as the atom sign would suggest? And why do the astronaut's heat shield have a hexagon in the center of it?



I think I actually owned this one as a kid. Doctor Faustus was a knockoff of Sigmund Freud, only this Freud could kick some ass. I don't remember what the Hindenburg and the Statue of Liberty had to do with this one, but I'll bet 5 bucks the creator of "Doctor Faustus" was pissed off at or a little intimidated by his shrink.



I had no idea they had pirates in NYC in the 1950's! I guess Norton and Ralphie are going to have to send them to the moon! AS Isis looks on.