Forum 2.0

Deck Log Entry # 255 The Romance of Susan Storm

Or . . . Can a Small-town Girl Find Happiness with a Brilliant Research Scientist in the Cosmopolitan City of New York?

Ain’t love grand?  It gets you high; it gets you low.  But once you get that glow . . .

Love was no stranger to comic books.  Starti

Read more…

Deck Log Entry # 254 Merry Christmas 2024!

Every year around this time, a discussion usually arises as to what makes a film a Christmas movie.  Folks have varying criteria for qualification on this point, and contention usually arises.  I’m not about to open that can of worms.  I am, however,

Read more…

Deck Log Entry # 253 Happy Thanksgiving 2024!

The path to that first Thanksgiving held in the New England territory of what would someday be the United States of America had been fraught with hardships.

 

The two-month voyage on Mayflower, bringing the Pilgrims to the New World, had been miserable

Read more…

From the Archives: Deck Log Entry # 119 From a Fiery Horse to a Rolling Arsenal

With my pal, Jeff of Earth-J, currently posting about his viewing of the Lone Ranger television series and feature films, I thought it might be a good time to rerun one of my favourite Deck Log entries . . .

 

The most iconic figure of America’s Old We

Read more…

Deck Log Entry # 252 Supplemental: Marvel TV Reference Key

In my entry last month, I posted a line-up for a night of prime-time television in the Silver-Age Marvel universe.  I had fun with it, as I managed to include multiple references to actual elements, people and things, which appeared in Marvel comics

Read more…

Deck Log Entry # 252 What's on TV in the Marvel Universe?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How many Marvel Comics references can you find in the line-up?

Read more…

Deck Log Entry # 251 The Silver Age Challenge---Marvel Edition IIII . . . Answers

Wow, you guys answered fast!

 

Now, some of you might be wondering why I waited another twenty-nine days to post my Answers column.  After all, I’m not on a regimented schedule here at Commander Benson’s Deck Log.  I can post four entries in one month,

Read more…

Deck Log Entry # 250 The Silver-Age Challenge---Marvel Edition IIII

 

 

I’m just a summertime guy.

 

Well, no, I’m not really.  I hate the heat.  I much prefer the crisp temperatures of the autumn.  But I am a summertime guy when it comes to my annual Silver-Age challenge.  I also started with that line because I was goi

Read more…

Deck Log Entry # 249 The Many Loves of Leonard Snart

Captain Cold wasn’t the first name villain to confront the Flash---that was the Turtle Man, from Showcase # 4 (Sep.-Oct., 1956)---but he was the first Flash-foe to have legs.  It took fifteen years for the Turtle Man to stick his head out of his shel

Read more…

From the Archives: Deck Log Entry # 48 "Semi-Imaginary" Stories (Part 3)

As the Silver Age moved into the early 1960’s, Mort Weisinger’s concept of Imaginary Stories became established.  Fans grasped and accepted the idea of a Superman tale that was completely out of continuity.  All that was necessary was to put a blurb

Read more…

From the Archives: Deck Log Entry # 47 "Semi-Imaginary" Stories (Part 2)

As I mentioned last time out, the unbroken popularity of DC’s “Big Three”---Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman---had put the company solidly at the top of the comics-publishing industry.  Not wanting to tamper with success, the powers that be insiste

Read more…

From the Archives: Deck Log Entry # 46 "Semi-Imaginary" Stories (Part 1)

Question:  when is an Imaginary Story not an Imaginary Story?

 

While you think on that for a moment, I’ll set the Wayback Machine for a little trip.  The time:  1959.  The place:  the National Periodical Publications building at 2^d and Dickey Streets,

Read more…

Deck Log Entry # 248 Overture

Some of you may have noticed that I’ve resumed making entries in my Deck Log column and are wondering what that speaks to developments in my personal life.  As you’ll recall, I’d suspended my regular Deck Log entries (other than my annual Silver-Age

Read more…

Deck Log Entry # 247 Marvel's First Silver-Age Super-Hero

The Golden Age of Comics ended around 1950 or so.  If somebody wants to nitpick, he’d say it should be called the Golden Age of Super-Heroes.  That’s because it was the creation of Superman, followed by hundreds more of his ilk, that caused a boom in

Read more…

Deck Log Entry # 246 Rivalry in Space

The excellent reviews of the Silver-Age Adam Strange stories by our pal, Jeff of Earth-J, over on the resurrected Figserello thread, was a different experience for me from most review threads of this type.  In every other instance, at least when it c

Read more…

Deck Log Entry # 245 Merry Christmas 2023!

 

The sights and sounds of the Christmas season!  So familiar, so heart-warming.  There was a time when their appearance put a tingle in the air---and a warmer feeling towards our fellow man.  These holiday customs have been around for all of our live

Read more…

Deck Log Entry # 244 Happy Thanksgiving 2023!

 

In the sixteen years I’ve been doing my Deck Log, I’ve covered quite a bit of Thanksgiving territory.  I explained how Thanksgiving became a national holiday, thanks to the efforts of the same lady who wrote the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb

Read more…

Deck Log Entry # 243 The Silver-Age Challenge---Speedsters . . . Answers!

 

And at the wire . . .

 

The results of my Silver-Age challenges pose a conflict of interest for me.  I’m always impressed by you, my fellow Legionnaires, when you ferret out the correct responses to the most difficult, Google-resistant questions I can

Read more…

Deck Log Entry # 242 The Silver-Age Challenge---Speedsters!

 

Summer’s here, and once again, it’s time for that annual event.  No, not the yearly Justice League/Justice Society team-up.  I wish it were.  No regular comic-reading experience of the Silver Age was more eagerly awaited by me than those dual Earth

Read more…

Deck Log Entry # 240 Requiem for a Son

Eleven years ago, I wrote how my wife was a woman of steel in dealing with the death of her father.  As painful as it is, that’s the way of the world.  A child burying a parent is the natural order of things. 

 

The reverse, however, is not.  One doesn

Read more…