The Magic Master of Krypton! And Other Tails

Like most mornings lately, the good eye catching title I needed for today's post came to me as I came out of the shower. Woke up twenty-three minutes early (so that's 5:37 AM my time), got in the shower and ran through the story of Car-ox, a Kryptonian magician who for years had practiced stage tricks for the public and one day his assistant discovered, quite by accident, that Car-ox could really do magic! “Never suspecting his illusions were the real thing!” On occasion his apprentice would trick him into using his magic to save others or prevent disasters, because he believed that if Car-ox knew his “powers” were real that a temper tantrum would wipe out anyone and anything in rage. (Temperamental dude; he reminds me of this writer I know.) Anyway, I remember reading this and many other stories set on Superman's home planet before it blew up in a comic digest called The Fabulous World of Krypton. I miss it. Pre-Crisis, DC seemed so much simpler …

What evil bonehead dork is behind the snow falling outside today?

And here's some trivia for you, learned this a few weeks ago. Kryptonite, the fatal-to-Superman substance that pieces of the blown-up planet became and still get used for by the occasional villain, was not created by DC writers but rather by the writers for the Superman radio show in the 1940s, to give the voice actor for Superman a break and other characters a chance to shine. Meanwhile, one book I've read so far this week is not quite so magical but often unexplainable, History Decoded: The 10 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time (ISBN 9780761177456) by Brad Meltzer with Keith Farrell. From the possibility that John Wilkes Booth who shot Abraham Lincoln may not have died in 1865 but it was covered up to a portrait of Leonardo da Vinci that may also complete one of his prophecies (yes, he made those too – the Mona Lisa itself is one, long story) to where is the gold – IF it's in – Fort Knox to the Kennedy assassination … with facsimiles of documents and awesomely readable, this was worth it!

Again, what evil bonehead dork is behind the snow falling outside today?

And I do not mean that as disparaging against God by any means, believe me. When I was at Dr. Fennern's for my three-month checkup I caught a news item showing the east coast from New York to Georgia and through Michigan and the Dakotas along with a freezing storm front from Oklahoma to Colorado … crazy world, and one NOT in danger of frying to a crisp from “global warming”! Soon the only warmth we may be finding (although I read this morning that The Farmers Almanac which last year predicted a heavy winter is now predicting a long, hot summer by its secret method) is either in reading books or burning them. Oh, I hope not. Reading about a sunny day from Romeo and Juliet: The Graphic Novel by William Shakespeare adapted from an original script by John McDonald (ISBN 781424042913) and Kay Moore's … If You Lived at the Time of the Civil War (ISBN 0590454226) and only knowing the description and not the experience would ruin us.

Come on, come on, if we don't go faster we'll never get through!

Like DC's Batman, most of the action, at least with the hero in his or her costumed identity, occurs at night. But with Marvel Comics' Daredevil that's not so much of a problem because he doesn't need the light to see by anyway – in fact, Daredevil CAN'T see but all his other senses are heightened to a superhuman degree. When I picked up the Elektra Megazine this weekend with its main focus on Daredevil's college girlfriend whose tragedy turned her to the dark side to learn the ninja arts and eventually become an assassin for hire (and if you know this story, she eventually got killed and rose again … still don't get that), I have to admit I was impressed. I miss great storytelling in comics too. You still find some – I mean, sometimes the writers and creators hit a vein! But between the need to maintain a working profit margin and the tendency to remake the good stuff and not remake the bad stuff to make it good or even better, originality often fails us.

But not tonight.

Last night after returning home from work spaghetti and garlic bread (technically Texas toast) and mozzarella bread sticks were ready, and we all settled in to watch (for us, due to Hulu for free lagging a week behind) the latest episode of Once Upon A Time, the one where the land of Oz makes an extended appearance for the flashback of Zelena who becomes in flashback and IS in the main story the Wicked Witch of the West. From Oz to the Enchanted Forest where the majority of Once's characters come from and again then to our world or “land without magic”, we see how Zelena is found abandoned in Oz by a … kindly couple who raises her. She wants to know why she was abandoned and the Wizard of Oz gives her the Silver Shoes to get to the Enchanted Forest and meets up with the reason. And gets jealous, which tends to turn people green (Shakespeare's monster) and now she's got the chance to wreak revenge and give everyone, so she says to a captive Rumpelstiltskin, “a second chance” …

Thank God I'm given way more than that! David