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 : )

Bill Mantlo vs jim shooter

I did this last year for the Repaneled blog while it was still being updated. For some reason today I wanted to mess around with it a bit. I made some minor tweaks here and there but mostly I made some changes to the back ground color which I was never quite satisfied with when I first drew this. I also added the image of Kate and a tree which I didn't have the first time around. This scene is from Incredible Hulk #296 (Buscema/Mantlo). At the top of the right hand column you can find a link to the original.

Moving on to another issue of The Incredible HULK that Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema worked on. I've blogged a little bit before about issue 286 back in September last year and how it was loosely based on an old Out Limits episode written by Harlan Ellison called "Soldier". But what I didn't know at the time was that this issue turned into something of a controversy. Please read this short article it shouldn't take you longer then 2 or 3 minutes to get through http://www.sequentialellison.com/bibliography/?p=49

The Outer Limits episode can be found on Youtube easily enough just as a full synopsis on issue #286 can be found on the Marvel wikia site. According to jim shooter the fall out from this issue was the result of an act of plagiarism on the part of Mantlo. But I've read the issue and seen the episode and for me the issue always came off as more of a tribute to Ellison's work as opposed to a blatant rip off.  But I'm more inclined to believe that given the tenuous work relationship Mantlo had with shooter along with shooter's over all reputation for being something of an asshole. Why Ellison was not given a foot note in this issue or other wise contacted before it was written I can't say for sure. But still I like how Mantlo took the very basic aspect of this Outer Limits episode and weaved into the fabric of the Marvel universe which included Marvel characters like Kang that had nothing to do with the episode. In a perfect world we would get to hear Mantlo's side of the story but of course that's not possible. Opinions anybody?

I don't care if you don't like rap or hip hop. If you don't find yourself moving to this awesome Marvel Comics rap song then you might be dead with out knowing it yet. The whole thing is great from start to finish but the line  " . . . readership is ready for Rom to return . . " at exactly 1:30 totally rocks! I dunno who these guys are that made this video but clearly this is just more proof of an enduring fan base for the greatest of the spaceknights   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egQ3k3Kltns