Sally Forth Comic Con: Sally Forth Bobbleheads!
Sally Forth Comic Con: Chris Hemsworth Edition
It would be quite hard to find someone who doesn’t think Chris Hemsworth is good-looking. (Of course, simply saying that brings out the always hair-trigger contrarians or insecure guys who can’t admit when another guy is attractive, but we digress.) But you know who really finds him attractive? My mom.
My mom has never watched a Marvel movie, simply because it’s not her type of film. (This will now trigger the “I never cared for superhero movies” proclamations, but not the point.) However, for someone who starts her day with BBC News and TMZ on her iPad, she knows who both geopolitics and almost every celebrity. And she is very well-aware of Chris Hemsworth and has said on more than one occasion “Now THAT is a very attractive man.” (She especially likes him with is long Thor hair.)
So when Thor: Ragnarok came on Netflix and I was visiting, I thought we should watch it. As I said, Marvel movies are not my mom’s cup of Earl Grey, so we didn’t get all the way through it. But while it was on my mom’s running commentary essentially consisted of “He is really good-looking…Okay, now there is a good-looking man….How could they cut his hair?!? Still very attractive though…Hey, is it just me or does Valkyrie look like Stacey?”
Judge Parker: Bleeping is the New Grawlix
Grawlix: The symbols (&%$#!) you see in comic strips whenever a character needs to curse out when even writing “damn” will get you moral-outrage letters from the very same people who will later send you emails rife with racial epithets.
Also, Mike Manley did a HELL of a job with man-bun guy!
Starlee and the Moonbeams: The Lost Episode
Starlee and the Moonbeams
Episode S04E24: “Rock, Scientific Papers, and Scissor Kicks” (Unaired Series Finale)
Episode Synopsis: Uh, pretty much everything said. Plus, a subplot about “Starlee’s Saved Ones,” an orphanage run by the band where kids can learn musical skills and Krav Maga while hurtling on a comet because there isn’t enough room for the children on Starlee’s spaceship The Island Universe.
Reason Episode Never Aired: Syndication network partners demanded the addition of a “happy ending” as well as voice-over narration to make it easier for viewers to follow the plot’s rather Byzantine complexity. Series’ creators demanded that blood could spurt that far depending on how you approach the jugular. Creative standstill led to episode never being aired first-run, in later syndication packages, or in the 2002-released DVD collection Starlee and the Moonbeams—Greatest Hits, Kicks, and Stabs.
Series Synopsis: American animated television series that ran from 1986 to 1989 on first-run syndication. The series focused an all-woman intergalactic punk band, with each episode featuring two original songs by the Moonbeams and one better one by the group’s major nemesis the Darkstars—led by Carina—as well as the occasional dance-off that inevitable resulted in brutal hand-to head combat. Each member of the Moonbeams had a specific science degree, codename, and an instrument that could be quickly employed as a deadly weapon or detonation device, which were used on missions as they travelled the cosmos in their ship “The Island Universe” helping all the people of the galaxy while not battling either the Darkstars for musical recognition and high-grade, highly unstable plutonium or Starlee’s unscrupulous former (and Darkstars’ current) manager Ray Ricmond, (whose hemorrhaging in the finale was one of many reasons that episode never made it to air).
Band Members:
Starlee—Lead Singer/Guitarist. Degree: Astrophysics. Weapon: Rickenbacker Samurai Sword/Musical throwing Stars/Pulse cannon earrings.
Aurora—Lead Guitarist/Backing Vocals. Degree: Geomorphology. Weapon: Heavy-Gauge .020 Electric Guitar Garrote Strings.
Jova—Bass Guitarist/Backing Vocals. Degree: Astrobiology. Weapon: Bass Multi-Effects Sonic Blaster/EMP Processor.
Proxima—Drummer/Backing Vocals. Degree: Exploration Systems Design. Weapon: Nunchuck Drumsticks.
Voices: Karla Philips (speaking/singing voice); Various other voice actors who failed to negotiate getting screen credit.
Production Companies: Filmation/Ruby-Spears/Toei Animation/DiC Entertainment/Sunbow Entertainment/Hanna-Barbera Productions/Film Roman
Number of Seasons/Episodes: Four seasons/96 episodes (95 aired)
Holiday Special: “Starlee and the Moonbeams: I Saw Three Starships (Come Crashing In)”
Merchandise/Tie-Ins:
Starlee Doll—Recalled because doll replicated characters fireball-shooting fingers by attaching matchbook striking surfaces to each hand.
Carina Doll—Recalled because doll’s evil laugh was both unplanned and unstoppable.
The TestaRosetta Stone—Starlee’s car covered in alien hieroglyphics. Recalled because it went 92 mph backwards the moment you opened the box.
Lonely Sun god Ra-Ra—Recalled because when turned on it burned through tabletops, flooring, and the earth’s crust.
The Island Universe—Starlee and the Moonbeams’ spaceship. Recalled after a small child fired one of its missiles only for it to go straight through a nearby Vermeer painting.
Lunatick—Space creature. Recalled because it was filled with almost a gallon of unrefrigerated pasta sauce to simulate sucked blood.
Recognition/Awards: Cited 147 times by Action for Children’s Television for excessive violence and encouraging young viewers to bash each other’s skulls in with whatever musical instrument or simply untethered item was handy.
Sally Forth Comic Con: Just How Many Mechagodzilla Heads Does that Theme Park Sell?
Jim Keefe completely surprised me with a cosplay nod to the Forths’ big summer trip last year to Tanaka Kaiju World! Read about it right here! (Also, I’m quite a fan of how he bookended the first panel with two yellow cosplay helmets peering off in opposite directions. Clearly Ted also approves.)
And speaking of cosplay headgear, Nona’s week of trying on new disguises continues with the motorcycle helmet for Celty Sturluson (Celty the Headless Rider) from the anime Durarara!!
And Big Reminder: Tomorrow you get to see an actual episode of Starlee and the Moonbeams, complete with the Darkstars, an original song, and what may be references to 47 Jem and the Holograms episodes! Don’t forget to tune in, only at Sally Forth and Trystero Con 2018!
Sally Forth Comic Con: There Is No One Best Era
There is no one best period for art, for literature, for music, for any imaginative and expressive pursuit. What happens in a generation speaks to that generation but it is crucial to be heard and read and seen by others for us all to have rich, full lives. Yes, we have our favorites moments. I still listen to a lot of 80s/early 90s alternative music. But it’s crucial to look outside of your own history. Look back on what others have done before you. Look ahead at what may come with great excitement. And keep your eyes wide open to what is happening right now in every creative endeavor.
Because to do otherwise is to stop living. Life is about experience. (It’s never been about finding the meaning of life. It’s about feeling what it means to be truly alive. In the living is the purpose.) Experience results in growth. And the moment you stop growing is the moment you start dying. So don’t become a relic. Never take pride in hardening your soul and limiting your scope. There is no accomplishment in stubbornness. There is no life in willful obliviousness or dismissal or the fear that drives both.
And to that end let’s pause for a musical message about the importance of being youthful of mind and spirit while celebrating the pop culture of any time with a video that combines a relatively recent song (2013) with footage from Jean-Luc Godard’s Bande à part (1964):
And now for today’s cosplay—It’s Nona again as she continuously puts on new headgear! And this time she’s going as Gwenpool.
And speaking of cosplay and refusing to live in any era except in one’s own comfort time zone, here’s a comment left under a recent Sally Forth strip regarding our Comic Con storyline…
So in the obvious case that this needs to be spelled out even more than has been repeatedly, this story takes place at a Comic Con. In 2018. At Comic Cons people dress up as their favorite characters, and those characters are often reflective of the current world in graphic novels, cartoons, movies, etc. Again, this is about opening yourself to new ideas, not complaining you’re not seeing a rogues gallery of only what you already know. And yes, cosplay does feature frequent nods to old favorites, but this comment is about mistaking cosplay for just putting in comic strip cameos. It’s assuming that the Forths live in a comic strip world when in fact comic strip characters should live in our world to make them truly whole. Besides, if you want to see the Forths hang out with classic comic strip characters Ted already did that when he crashed Blondie’s Halloween party, perhaps emboldened by some Shiraz…
Addendum: Oh, and if you ever get the chance to see Rob Paulsen live, do so! We did just a few weeks ago at Joe’s Pub in NYC and yes, we got to hear him sing “Yakko’s World” live (with an updated addendum for new and countries). Because of course you can celebrate what you loved when you were younger—as I am with this—so long as you remember there is so much more than that.
Sally Forth Comic Con: And Starring Nona as Minecraft Steve
Okay, before we say another word can we look at the level of immense detail Jim Keefe put into making Nona’s “Minecraft Steve” cardboard head box?
Having to create the color guide (for outsourced daily strips) for that mask alone is yet another reason why artists are allowed to kill their writer in cold blood.
As for our cosplayers, today we have Storm, Black Panther, Goku from Dragon Ball Z, ElasticGirl, and, of course, Brad Pitt as the Vanisher from Deadpool 2.
Jesus, that Minecraft Steve mask.
Sally Forth Comic Con: Fandom Is about Connection, Not Ownership
When the trailer for Cartoon Network’s upcoming ThunderCats reboot ThunderCats Roar was introduced, some angrily decried “That’s not MY ThunderCats! That’s not the serious, thought-provoking show of my youth that had cats dressed as sharks!”
Okay, they may not have said the part about the sharks. But it does go to show that no, Thundercats is not some sacred text that can never be altered. And no, the show does not belong solely to one. And if an individual wants their classic Thundercats, guess what, it’s already been made and they can watch it again. Being a fan is about connecting deeply with a work, not assuming title and ownership. And no generation has a white-knuckled grip on any self-proclaimed “best” period for TV, movies, music, books, etc. You have your thing, someone has their own thing. But it’s this sort of unearned entitlement and uninformed perspective that ultimately leads to a group of people feeling they have don’t just have the right but the mandate to remake The Last Jedi because they believe all others should only answer to their needs, that any creator should only create with a certain group’s allowance.
I loved The Last Jedi. I think it may be one of the very strongest in the Star Wars franchise. Yes, there are issues with it. And yes, I know people who didn’t care for it and who are not raving, insecure incel members. (And who are understandably quite upset that they get lumped in with such). No one says you have to like everything and everyone is free to say, “Well, that looks like it’s gonna suck.” But the ones who scream the loudest that they have been wronged are driven not by a love for art but a need for everything to flatter and fellate themselves, since no one one else is going to give them either. And they see everything that does not conform to that desperate need as trying to make a statement that they must counter.
When I introduced Duncan in Sally Forth and Jim Keefe drew students wearing hijabs in Hilary’s school, some readers angrily wrote, “So I guess you’re trying to make some sort of statement, huh?” No. We’re showing the actual world, and that world has never belonged to one type, one race, one gender. Those who think otherwise are the most easily frightened and ill-equipped individuals you will ever meet, and they are also some of the most dangerous. Not because they possess any true strength or command or valid agency but because they have a feral nature detached from reason that makes them go into frenzied, full-frothing attack. After all, when you have nothing to offer the world, your family or even yourself, you need everything else to burn so everyone else can also taste the ashes of failure.
That said, the recent Jem and the Holograms movie was an outright fiasco, because it was made on completely different terms. That film was proclaimed fan-service from the get-go, then it was made with the intention of telling the fans what they really should would want from the story. Frankly, the world would be much better off with a Misfits origin story instead.
Sally Forth Comic Con: Starlee Vs. Carina
Every hero has their nemesis. Jem and the Holograms had The Misfits. G.I. Joe had Cobra Command. And as Lisa wisely pointed out…
And so it is with Starlee and the Moonbeams and their evil counterparts, Carina and the Darkstars, the two intergalactic warrior bands engaged in a never-ending clash across the stars and in front of Lonely Sun God Ra-Ra as they each vie for the coveted Kavli Music Video Genius Grant.
Today’s strip is also the first appearance of Duncan’s mom, Marilynn, an aforementioned huge Starlee and the Moonbeams fan who favors Carina’s Darkstars since they, like the Misfits, always had the better songs. Naturally Sally and Marilynn are just staying in character and will soon be fast friends because, well, the Forths really need some friends. Let’s give everyone this one.
By the way, once again someone has written to inform me that Starlee and the Moonbeams was not a real cartoon series in the 1980s. And once again I am shocked—Shocked!—that something I made up didn’t suddenly, retroactively exist. I guess that’s yet another power I don’t possess. I can catch a stack of quarters from off my elbow, though. I…I can do that…sniff…
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