Firestorm

He maybe the most popular hero to come out of the DC Implosion. Firestorm the Nuclear Man. He is on the cover above with Superman. Sorry I didn't have a copy of the cover of any of Firestorm's books. I couldn't find any in my collection and I did still have this one. Anyway in researching Firestorm I came across Wikipedia and they have a very detailed page on Firestorm so I suggest you go to this page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firestorm_%28comics%29 However my personal recollection of Firestorm is to me he seemed like DC's reaction to Nova from Marvel comics. He probably wasn't but they were sometimes trying to copy each other. As examples, DC had the Atom then Marvel had Ant-Man. Marvel had Mr. Fantastic so DC started using Plastic Man and for a short while Jimmy Olsen was Elastic Lad. DC had Batman Marvel tried to turn Moon Knight and Daredevil into there Batman. Recently Marvel found drawings of a character that Stan Lee and John Buscema created called Sentry. He was to be their version of Superman. Marvel had success with a teenage superhero now DC needs one. Up poped Firestorm. Firestorm only lasted about 6 issues when he first came out. He has had 2 other series since then. So far the 2nd series was the most popular as it lasted 100 issues. They kept him around by having him join the JLA. As a matter of fact the issue above is important in Firestorm's career. At the end of the story Superman asked him to join the JLA. About a month later he had his first adventure with them. Marvel should have had Nova join the Avengers instead of the New Warriors. He may still be around in his original form today. Nova's personality has changed abit over the years. But I guess that happens as you grow up.

Another Steve Ditko creation

If you go to booksteve's library http://booksteveslibrary.blogspot.com you can read about another character that Ditko had a hand in creating. Blue Beetle. Well actually it was Blue Beetle II that for some reason DC decided to kill off. Again I think that was a mistake. But sometimes good things come out of bad decisions. 

Steve Ditko's Shade the Changing Man

Continuing the articles on the DC Explosion/Implosion. This is the one that I may find the hardest to write as my memory of it is more foggy on it then the others. I had to research this one a bit on the net. I had not even heard of this series till my cousin Steve told me about it. I didn't know where to get it but he did. One day he was comming out to see me and I asked him to get me a copy of it. He did and I loved the artwork. Ditko didn't hold back on the cover art. Just look at it. It is great. The photo of that issue above is from an ad on e-bay if you want to bid on it click on this http://cgi.ebay.com/Shade-the-Changing-Man-1-NM-9-4-Ditko-1977-No-Resv_W0QQitemZ6578758169QQcategoryZ12592QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Rac Shade was a policeman in a place called Meta in another dimension. The M Vest was a weapon that was considered too dangerous for anyone to use. Someone stole and came to our dimension. Here is where memory is foggy. I know that Shade followed the crook to our dimension and got the M-vest back but I forgot why he had to start using it. The powers of the M-vest were that it magnified your emotions. If you were getting mad enough to hit someone then the vest showed you growing into a huge angry man. The villan would be startled and even if you were weaker then him you wouild hit him and hopefully that would be the end of the fight.
Anyway I had a hard time getting into the story line. The only reason to read the series was to see Ditko's artwork. The series only lasted 8 issues. But that wasn't the end of Rac Shade. In his series he never teamed up with Superman or fought the Joker. He was not part of the regular DC continuity. Unlike Black Lightning who did team with Superman. However, they incorporated him into it after his cancelation. They started using him in other series like the Suicide Squad. Later he got his own series again done by Peter Milligan. I don't know anything about this series as I had even less interest in it then the first. Maybe if Ditko did it I would have read it. This series was more successful running about 70 to 80 issues and the first few were collected into a trade paperback. I am sure that Shade will show up again now that he has had a success under his belt. Hopefully it will be something I want to read. 

New Nesmith CD "Rays" news

Here is some news from Videoranch on Mike's new CD.

Michael Nesmith’s new album “Rays” will be out commercially on CD in April of 2006. It will be available at the music sites sometime after the first of the year.

A special Limited Edition run of 100 CDs will be available beginning November 28th, 2005 only at Videoranch. They will each be signed and numbered by Nez.

Each Limited Edition Rays CD package will include:
A CD that is signed and numbered by Nez
Unique Jewel Case and CD Artwork by Michael Nesmith
Display case to display your signed CD on a desk or table.
An 8 1/2 " by 11 " print of the Drew Friedman album cover art that will be on the commercial copy of the CD that's coming out in April
Certificate of Authenticity
The price for the Limited Edition will be $100.00
We will have photos of the entire package plus samples of the songs up at Videoranch.com very soon. For more information and to reserve a copy, please contact us at vrforeman@videoranch.com or call 1-866-727-2639.
Thanks,
The Videoranch Foreman

Well it sounds great but $100 is too much for me. I will wait till April but if I had $100 I might buy this limited edition. 

God loves you here is how to ask Him into your heart

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever, believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. John 3:16 and 17 king james version

If you know in your heart that you need Jesus Christ in your life. Then pray this simple prayer.
Dear God,
I know that I am a sinner and need forgiveness. I believe that Jesus Christ shed His precious blood and died for my sin. I am willing to turn from sin. I invite Christ into my heart and life as my personal Saviour.

If you have done this then you now need to find a Bible believing and preaching church. The links section at the right or below depending on your browser has links to some local churches in my area. You can e-mail them if they are not in your area. They may be able to help you find one in your area.

Freedom Fighters

Here is a bit of an overview of the Freedom Fighters. Seperately they were heroes for Quality comics in the Golden age of comics. DC comics bought the rights to all the Quality characters. Quality's most famous heros were Plastic Man and the Spirit. If they made Plas one of the Freedom Fighters the book may have lasted longer. Anyway, to the best of my knowledge, they weren't a team until the 70's when they were brought together in the Justice League of America. You see the JLA and the JSA and other heroes didn't live on the same earth at that time. To team up the planets had to be in the right alignment and they wouild use deminsion transporters to visit each other. It is sort of hard to explain but alot of fun to read. Anyway on one visit they all accidentally ended up on another earth. It was called earth X but it was where Germany won WWII. The Freedom FIghters were Nazi fighters. They teamed up with them and in 3 issues they won the war without dropping the bomb. A few years later they spun them off into their own book. There were no Nazi's to fight in their own world and I guess crime on there world was under control so they came to the JLA world to fight crime. During the course of the series they became wanted for a crime they didn't commit. They went on the run trying to stop criminals and prove their innocence. Over the years two of the characters got their own series. Black Condor, who is the one flying over them on the cover above, and the man in yellow, the Ray. I never cared too much for Black Condor so I was not surprised that his series was cancelled. The Ray was actually a 2nd generation hero as it was really the son of the Ray. He even became a member of the Justice League. The first Ray did get his own back up series in some other comic books. Not long ago Uncle Sam was given his own mini-series. I was surprised to find that the Ray and Black Condor were the 2 fan favorites at the time. For my money the best was the Human Bomb. He is the gentleman standing in front of the group in the white outfit. WIth him being up front I think DC thought he would be the favorite. When he ..."ahem"...bombed, I think that they were so surprised and upset that they said they would never use him again. I think that is a mistake. His power is that an explosive formula ran throughout his body and concentrated in his hands. Anything he laid his hands on exploded. However, only most of it was in his hands. It was through his whole body and he wore the protective suit so he wouldn't blow up anybody in case he accidentally touched them. Think of what like life would be like if you couldn't touch anything. You would have to sleep in you protective suit or at least in a chamber where you couldn't sense anything. The man would barely be able to hold on to his sanity. He may even come to welcome the moments when he could take his gloves off for those breif moments to blow up a locked door that the police can't get into. Anyway these are things I have had on my mind. 

Black Lightning

Ok here is one of my favorites from the 70's. Black Lightning! He was part of what DC Comics called the DC Explosion. For those of you who don't read comics or not old enough to know, the DC Explosion was a time when DC released Black Lightning, The Freedom Fighters, Firestorm and I believe the Steve Ditko created Shade the Changing Man. However, the DC Explosion quickly became the DC Implosion as all those comics were quickly canceled due to low sales or slow sales.
Alot of those characters are still around. Just not in thier own books. Black Lightning has had his own series twice. Both got cancelled but for my money the first was the best. The writer of his creator Tony Isabella and the art of Trevor Von Eden (whatever happened to him?) was a great mix. Mr. Isabella has said that an issue of Wonder Woman was important in his creation. He knew that he wanted his secret identity to be school teacher Jefferson Pierce. He knew he wanted him to be fighting crime to help his students in the inner city. So far it sounds like Welcome Back Kotter meets Batman doesn't it? He just didn't know what his abilities should be. Then he saw an issue of Wonder Woman trying to stop a bolt of black lightning from hitting the city. Wham! He called the character Black Lightning and his powers would be electrical. His powers came from a power belt that he wore. What really got me about the costume was that the afro that you see was part of the mask. So basically he was wearing a helmet. To me that was cool. Hey I was only 13 when it came out. He was only around for a handful of issues. Was deamed worthy to keep around by doing a spin off from the Justice League of America with Batman starting a new group called the Outsiders. Got is own series again and it only lasted another handful of issues. Don't give up on him yet DC. He is too good to lose. A little known DC character called Static did well with his cartoon series on TV. Maybe they should do the same with BL. Also do an archive edition. I don't buy too many of those but I would be willing to buy that one. Anyway this is what I had on my mind.