Sunday, August 26, 2018

A salute to John McCain spaceknight


   Like so many other people all over America yesterday I was shocked when I heard the news about McCain's passing yesterday I just didn't see it coming this soon after his decision to stop his cancer treatment. John McCain was on my short list of republican politicians I actually respected although it's not like my list of dems that I respect is all that long either. And when I woke up this morning it occurred to me that John McCain and the ROM spaceknight character actually had a lot in common. Just look at the obvious similarities.
   Both were soldiers who understood the meaning of sacrifice and lived by a code based on honor. They were very empathetic toward others and felt conflicted at times when they did not feel like they were living up to the ideals they espoused to. And they both fought for something bigger then themselves and almost always put what they fought for first before anything else including self interests. In short, they both embodied everything that donald trump is lacking as a human being and as a president. Case and point, here's a typical trump supporter from the white nationalist rally in DC a couple weeks ago. So fucken stupid!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0nKDW69UBA
   McCain's death is made even more tragic seeing as it happened on the heels of another larger then life iconic American taken from us, Aretha Franklin. Other notable deaths this year so far I think are worth mentioning here would be Barbara Bush, Anthony Bourdain, Margot Kidder and Harlan Ellison. All these people have either done some work that I liked and or were just celebrities I remember growing up with. If you're a life long science fiction fan as I am then I bet at one time or another you've either watched something or read something that Harlan Ellison had some part in writing or producing. Issue 286 of The Incredible Hulk written by Bill Mantlo and penciled by Sal Buscema was loosely based on a time travel episode written by Ellison (Soldier) for the classic Outer Limits TV series. It turned into a bit of a copy right infringement matter but was quickly and easily settled out of court between Marvel and Ellison. I talked about this before on this blog actually back in 2013. Where does all the time go? Pun intended.
http://romspaceknightart.blogspot.com/2013/10/bill-mantlo-vs-jim-shooter.html

Left click to enlarge
Aug. 29 Update: As something of a follow up to the previous posting about racial matters that Marvel Comics has tackled over the years I decided to show case this panel from Secret Wars 8 (1984) from the classic original series. Interesting how it juxtaposed Reed Richard's color blindness with Victor Von Doom's racist attitudes as seen in the previous posting. Even as a kid back in the day not even quite into my teens I recognized what a cool and thoughtful moment this was. Kinda thinking Reed Richards would not have likely been a trump supporter : )

3 comments:

  1. I'm still legit shocked that McCain passed away so soon after the announcement was made public about him stopping treatment. And while there may have been times where I didn't care for McCain's decisions or more recently with him towing the company line with his support for Trump despite what Trump said about POWs, I can respect his overall achievements both political and military.
    Here's hoping his eventual replacement is even 1/10th of the man McCain was.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. i don't seem to recall McCain ever being aligned with most any of trump's policies it's only the differences between them that stick out in my head. i've got my issues with Obama but if Obama had said that about McCain's time as a POW what trump did all of trump's supporters who are largely silent over those repulsive remarks would have been screaming holy Hell. they are such fucken hypocrites i can't fucken stand trump supporters. it's ironic only just this past friday i cut loose the last person who i considered a friend (not online but in real life)that i knew to be a trump supporter. i'm not going to act like he doesn't exist or something like that but i just had to tell him straight up we can't hang out any more his slavish support for donald trump is just too big of an elephant in any size room or even out doors for that matter. i told him to loose my number there's no need for us to talk or text any more if there's anything terribly important he ever has to tell me he can email me and i'll decide if it's anything that warrants any kind of response from me.

      Delete
  2. Wow. Hey you gotta' do what ya' gotta' do man, ha ha.

    ReplyDelete