Monthly Archives: May 2022

The Boys Presents: Diabolical continues the tradition of Harley Quinn (animated TV series) and Invincible of depicting ultra-violence in a TV animated series.  In The Boys Presents: Diabolical there are lots depictions of ultraviolence and of course you can really go all out with the ultraviolence in an animated TV show rather than a live acting version. There is little difference in cost in drawing a peaceful scene or a violent scene. A violent scene in a live action series requires the use of props and CGI and a violent scene is more expensive than a scene without violent special effects.  The Boys Presents: Diabolical, do not press the link if you are squeamish, is the second The Boys media project. The series known simply as “The Boys”, terrible name, has Homelander, a great actor, using his Superman type power of heat/laser vision on people which is pretty horrific. Homelander is what if Superman was secretly a bad guy and a narcissist psychopath like the Joker BUT with a need to be loved i.e., an insecure joker.  The Homelander in The Boys Presents: Diabolical does the same melting flesh technique in the live actor version but in the animated version the melting flesh scenes are shown more often, for a longer period and in more detail, and close ups.  Do not press the link that follows if you have psychopathological and/or tendencies toward narcissism, The Boys Presents: Diabolical is not for children and I would give it an XXX rating or X rating in legal terms since XXX is not a thing legally. This is perhaps the most violent American animated TV series I have ever seen and I watch a lot of animated stuff both American and Japanese!  However, watching the series was great and if you are over 18 and not too impressionable then by all means watch the series!

The BBC reports that there are rat-eating snakes in Wales after 10,000 years out of UK.

Are the snakes an omen?

Quotes below are from two different sections of the article titled Serpent (symbolism) in Wikipedia.

Section One

“The serpent, or snake, is one of the oldest and most widespread mythological symbols. The word is derived from Latin serpens, a crawling animal or snake. Snakes have been associated with some of the oldest rituals known to mankind[1][2] and represent dual expression[3] of good and evil.[4]

In some cultures, snakes were fertility symbols. For example, the Hopi people of North America performed an annual snake dance to celebrate the union of Snake Youth (a Sky spirit) and Snake Girl (an Underworld spirit) and to renew the fertility of Nature. During the dance, live snakes were handled, and at the end of the dance the snakes were released into the fields to guarantee good crops. “The snake dance is a prayer to the spirits of the clouds, the thunder and the lightning, that the rain may fall on the growing crops.”[5] To the Hopi, snakes symbolized the umbilical cord, joining all humans to Mother Earth.[6] The Great Goddess often had snakes as her familiars—sometimes twining around her sacred staff, as in ancient Crete—and they were worshiped as guardians of her mysteries of birth and regeneration.[7]”

Section Two

“In the Hebrew Bible the serpent in the Garden of Eden lured Eve with the promise of being like God, tempting her that despite God’s warning, death would not be the result, that God was withholding knowledge from her. Although the serpent is identified as Satan in the Book of Revelation,[32] in Genesis the serpent is portrayed merely as a deceptive creature or trickster, promoting as good what God had directly forbidden, and particularly cunning in its deception (Gen. 3:4–5 and 3:22).[33]

The staff of Moses transformed into a snake and then back into a staff (Exodus 4:2–4). The Book of Numbers 21:6–9 provides an origin for an archaic copper serpent, Nehushtan, by associating it with Moses. This copper snake according to the Biblical text is put on a pole and used for healing. Book of Numbers 21:9 “And Moses made a snake of copper, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a snake had bitten any man, when he beheld the snake of brass, he lived.”

When the reformer King Hezekiah came to the throne of Judah in the late 8th century BCE, “He removed the high places, broke the sacred pillars, smashed the idols, and broke into pieces the copper snake that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan. (2 Kings 18:4)”

This is a review of the graphic novel titled:  Makhno- Ukrainian Freedom Fighter (2022)  The following text is From the Simon and Shuster website and can be found at:  https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Makhno-Ukrainian-Freedom-Fighter/Philippe-Thirault/9781643379692

From the website: “The spellbinding true story of the infamous Ukrainian anarchist and revolutionary.  In early 20th century Ukraine, anarchist Nestor Makhno, the son of peasants, was among the most heroic and colorful figures of the Russian Revolution, encouraging his people to find and embrace social and economic self-determination. This is his story, of a military strategist who tirelessly defied both the Bolsheviks and the Germans to protect his homeland.  In support of the people of Ukraine, a portion of the proceeds from this book will be donated directly to Ukrainian relief efforts.”

What I found interesting was how Russia tried to hijack the Ukrainian people’s revolution and turn it into a project to increase Russian power.   Makhno not only had to fight Russians but Germans, and White Cossacks (Cossacks on the side of the Tsar).  I had no idea that the struggle for Ukrainian independence was so old and involved so many opponents.

Iron Man #19 is a must-read comic book!  Spoiler alert!  Iron Man in his Tony Stark persona is dying of addiction.  Korvac, a cosmically empowered, bad guy decides its time to end the life of Iron Man once and for all but before that becomes human and as a human cannot kill the helpless and dying Tony Stark and actually takes him to the hospital and saves the life of Tony Stark.  Korvac then commits suicide. Tony Stark enters into rehab.  Tony Stark points out power and even cosmic power cannot act as a shield or in Iron Man’s case armor that can protect us from our own inner demons.  Would this approach work with megalomaniacs in the real world?  I doubt appeals to humanity will deter Putin in the Ukraine!

Tangier in the Rain is a metafictional graphic novel published by Europe Comics that combines the real-life visits to Tangiers by Matisse and Delacroix with a pseudo-Arabian night’s tales by the model who Matisse is fascinated by. Spoiler alert!  The model tells the story of a fennec fox that turns into a man and marries a princess. However, the child of these two species has some problems related to her bicultural heritage. The story of the model is a coded fairy tale. The model is telling the story of her own affair with a European (the fennec fox) and the model (the princess) and the brother of the princess which is the symbol of the actual brother. The art does change between the Matisse story and the model’s story which adds to the readers comprehension that there are two narratives. This graphic novel is not for the faint hearted. Good comic book reading skills are needed.

The offspring of both the fennec fox and the princess and the European and the model/narrator have problems that are similar. The king and father of the princess is a description of the real father of the model and so on and so on. However, Matisse does not understand the code and thinks the model is just telling him some version of an Arabian fairy tale like the Arabian Nights without realizing the story is using symbolism to tell the models risky and very real story! So, four narratives with different points of view (POV). The Matisse story can be found in histories of artists of that time. I knew about Delacroix but only vaguely had heard of the Matisse journey inspired by the example of Delacroix. Matisse models his life with Delacroix in mind. Do women use coded fairy tales to communicate? Well maybe not fairy tales but women do communicate via stories that are not so much as written but known by sisters and friends with similar narratives told by more than one member of the “family”.

Tentacle Kitty is a favorite comic book among self identified “shroomheads” according to the Comic Book Think Tank of Society and Media!

From the same think tank, The slang expression green candy mice is a reference to a story within a story that cannot be understood unless four mushrooms are ingested.