"Write what you know" is pretty typical writing advice. You'll find many authors not surprisingly using elements from their own lives in their work, often going so far as to essentially write thinly veiled, if not explicit, autobiographies. This is how the best stories "feel" true if you know they technically are not -- the emotions behind them are genuine even when the events might be distorted from what really happened.
This has been evident in Ryan Estrada's solo efforts going back
for over a decade
as well as the books Kim Hyun Sook has been writing since she started a few years ago. I've reviewed Banned Book Club and No Rules Tonight here previously, and Good Old-Fashioned Korean Spirit follows in a similar vein. Once again we have a book that's not exactly a sequel, but still takes elements from Kim's life in the 1980s under the authoritarian regime in Korea and uses them as the backdrop for this story.
And what is the story here? It's set around Daeboreum, a holiday celebrating the first full moon of the year. There's food and drink, of course, but also several traditions around warding off malevolent spirits and putting your wishes for the coming year into the ether. Taehee is forced by her parents to help her grandmother with some of the physical labor (mostly tied with harvesting persimmons)
and performing some of the more musical rituals,
but she manages to 'trick' several of her friends and acquaintences to go as well, although pretty much everyone goes with the ulterior motive of getting out to the country and away from the crowds of people in the city who could have them arrested (or worse) for their contrarian views. While they're all out with Taehee's grandmother and her friends, they inadvertently learn that they're all out there for the same reason -- to get away from authoritarian figures -- and that the older generation is not nearly as stuffy and conservative as they had believed, despite their attendence to old traditions.
The older generation shows they hold many of the same beliefs the younger ones do, but it just manifests differently. And the book ends some decades later with younger generation both honoring the older ones by entertaining many of their traditions and bringing in the newest generations by adapting and adding to them.
One of the recurring themes in the book is that the words and actions of an individual, if you don't understand the context behind them, can be misconstrued. A character who might be acting secretly could be up to something sinister... or they might just want to surprise someone with a good deed. Someone's bitterness at one situation might be reflective of a similar one they had to deal with decades earlier. Heck, just the technologies available to a newer generation might offer up alternatives they take for granted that previous generations simply did not have. Everyone's actions and reactions are going to be different based on their lived history, and if you're unfamiliar with that history, those reactions might not make sense.
Now, that's not to say everyone is justified regardless of what they say or do! Kim has to deal with an agitator who sneaks his way into their "book club" specifically to incite violence against the police and artifically justify a legal crackdown. Manhee's parents perform an exorcism on him because he's trans and they actively reject his attempts at being happy. Suji is kicked out of her home because her mother won't accept her as gay.
People have a right to their opinions, but if those opinions actively hurt someone physically or emotionally, they can't be justified.
Despite having some context and character overlap with Banned Book Club and No Rules Tonight, Good Old-Fashioned Korean Spirit is thematically different than both of those.
The backdrop of fighting against Korean authoritarianism is present in all three, but they still touch on different themes.
Which makes sense. They're based on real-world events and Kim's lived experiences; if you're living your life in such a way that you have to be taught the same lessons over and over, you're not learning anything. You're not growing as a person. You should have adventures in your life, and you should learn something different from each of them. Be like Kim and Estrada; they're sharing some excellent life lessons and doing so in a fun and entertaining way.
Good Old-Fashioned Korean Spirit came out last month from Penguin Workshop. It retails for $24.99 US in hardcover and $17.99 US in paperback. You should be able to pick up either from your favorite book retailer now.
Here are this week's links to what I've had published recently...
Starting in my teens, and running up into my mid-30s, I was big fan of the Fantastic Four.
(I still enjoy the characters, but not to the extent that I used to.)
I was originally enthralled by John Byrne's take on the characters, and my interest led me backward through the 250-some issues that had come before. I wanted to see where these characters came from and how they got to be who they were in the books I was reading. That branched out towards some other Marvel characters (typically via the FF -- like all the guest stars that appeared in Marvel Two-in-One) and I would work backwards through those characters' histories as well.
But the thing I eventually discovered was: that goes on indefinitely.
See, once you get back to Fantastic Four #1, you might think you've got nowhere to go since that's the 'start' of the whole Marvel Universe. But that book was almost a direct reaction to the Justice League of America. (The cover to FF #1 even has more than a passing similarity to the Justice League's cover debut on Brave and the Bold #28.) And, of course, the FF also have some similarities to Challengers of the Unknown which isn't surprising given that creator Jack Kirby worked on both.
Oh, and didn't the Flash debut in Showcase just a couple issues before Challengers? He was also in the JLA.
But, hey, wasn't there a Flash before Barry Allen? And what about the Justice Society?
And they were co-created by Gardner Fox, who was influenced by The Gods of Mars and The Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Who also created Tarzan. Which harkens back to Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.
This can go on indefinitely. I even haven't touched on Kirby's personal influences like Milt Caniff, Hal Foster and Alex Raymond. Or his work at Fleischer Studios or the Eisner & Iger Studio. And even then, we're still only talking about the 20th century.
So if you're looking to find where the Fantastic Four really came from, where do you draw the line? How far back is it worth going?
Or does it matter? In my particular case, I found some of the influencers so interesting that they were worth pursuing on their own! I stopped looking at material that might have helped lead to the Fantastic Four a few years back now because I got sidetracked on other aspects of comics history. Ones that have mysteries that are equally or even more compelling.
But... how far back do you go with those?
The pirate known as Blackbeard is perhaps the most famous pirate in the Americas. His career lasted a scant 27 months, but his name is one of the most prominent in pirate legends. This fame helped prompt Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's story for Fantastic Four #5 -- where Reed, Ben and Johnny are sent back in time by Dr. Doom to retrieve Blackbeard's treasure. I doubt Lee and Kirby paid much attention to the details of the real Blackbeard's life and tried to faithfully incorporate the Thing into the already existing legends. But did they inadvertently do just that anyway? With the knowledge we have of the dreaded pirate, could Ben slip into the legendary role of Blackbeard as easily as Lee and Kirby implied?
What we know of Edward Teach, the man who has been named Blackbeard by history, is sketchy at best. Almost everything about him prior to his becoming a privateer in 1713 is a mystery. He took up with Captain Hornigold, who trained Blackbeard in the art of piracy. In 1716, Horningold soon gave Teach his own ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge, and accepted a general amnesty to Teach's disgust. Blackbeard then set out on his comparitively well-documented capaign in the Bahamas.
Blackbeard was known for his physical prowess. On a long boring day, he shouted to his crew, "Come, let's make a hell of our own, and try how long we can bear it." Taking three crewmen below deck, he lit several large pots of sulfur and closed the hatches. The three men nearly choked to death before rushing back to the deck, but Blackbeard remained below dancing and laughing in the smoke for several more minutes. On other occassions, he was known to prepare for battle by mixing gunpowder and rum, lighting the unusual beverage, and drinking the still-flaming concontion. His lungs and stomach were obviously far more powerful than an average pirate's.
When pirate-hunter Robert Maynard boarded Blackbeard's ship, Maynard confronted the pirate directly. They immediately fired at each; Blackbeard missed his mark, while Maynard's shot landed square in Teach's chest. Maynard began to rejoice in his easy victory, before realizing that the shot barely stunned the pirate. Their intense battle continued and when Blackbeard finally fell, Maynard's crew counted five gunshot wounds, at least twenty deep stab wounds, and a sliced throat. Very few men could have endured such a multitude of wounds in one battle.
Ben could easily have possessed these strengths associated with Blackbeard, but what of Blackbeard's personailty? As a hero, Ben would seemingly be reluctant to take up a pirate's greedy and bloodthirsty attitudes. However, Ben was still becoming accustomed to his rocky hide since it was so early in his career as the Thing. The acceptance the other pirates gave him could easily have swayed Ben to take up a new life in history, as Lee and Kirby show in the story itself. And, while Blackbeard was a pirate, he still went to great pains to keep his men healthy and happy. His capture of Charleston, North Carolina for example was simply to obtain medicine for an outbreak of veneral disease that threatened his crew.
There are a few inconsistences that bear mentioning however. No record mentions Blackbeard wearing an eyepatch as Ben does in the story. Blackbeard may have only used it occassionally, or perhaps his beard (which he infused with lit gunners' matches during battle to frighten his opponents) was distracting enough for people not to notice it. Ben could have easliy lied about his prior privateering career; such records were difficult to verify. Blackbeard was supposed to have had fourteen wives, which is not generally in line with Ben's thinking after he later established his monogomous relationship with Alicia Masters, but Ben did make a comment to support this flirtatious thinking within the story: "Ahoy, Matey! Let's see if we can date one of these pretty barmaids! Heh heh!"
Timing would seem to be the most critical issue. Could Ben have spent over two years as Blackbeard? Initial reading of the story would determine that the timing would have been impossible. But several possibilites arise that could entirely resolve those issues.
The story as it stands takes place over the course of forty-eight hours, but there are two instances where we can place portions of Blackbeard's adventures within the context of the story. The first is between pages 16 and 17. Although the story seems to flow nearly seemlessly, running from a discussion of foiling Dr. Doom's plot to Ben's insistence on staying behind, it is conceivable that a majority of Blackbeard's adventures took place during this time. Dr. Doom originally gave the trio only two days to return with the treasure. That time could have easily ended between the pages in question and, had Ben stayed behind with the chest, Reed and Johnny would have pleaded with Dr. Doom to send them back again for the remainder of Blackbeard's career, arguing that the passage of that time for Doom would be neglible. Doom's character could have been amused easily by pulling Ben back to his tormented life in the present and he would have granted the request. Reed and Johnny could have spent the next several months in search of their comrade before finally finding him and winding up on his ship once more.
As mentioned earlier, Blackbeard died at the hands of Robert Maynard, not by the hurricane that destroys his ship in the story. This final battle could have taken place between panels five and six on page 18 while Reed and Johnny were recovering. Ben could have pulled himself onto one of Blackbeard's other ship after the twister destroyed the one shown in Lee and Kirby's story, going on to confront Maynard. During the fight Ben may have realized who he had become and decided to find Reed and Johnny to return to their proper time. Feigning death would have been easy (his thick, rocky hide prevents anyone from hearing his heartbeat) and he could have jumped ship as the battle waned. A shocked Maynard may have picked up Ben's discarded beard and placed it on another pirate's head to claim victory. Although the body types would have varied considerably, Maynard is recorded to have severed the villain's head and placed it on his ship's bowsprit to announce his victory to the nearby Carolinas while the remainder of Blackbeard's crew was hanged.
Another distinct possibility is that the story stands as it was presented. However at some later point in his career, Ben could have used any number of time travel devices to return to the moment when he originally left and resumed his role for the next twenty-seven months. The Thing that was supposedly killed in 2099: World of Tomorrow #1 may have encountered a rift in time or Ben could have voluntarily returned during one of his many bouts of depression. He could of course return to the 1700s at some undetermined point in his future as well.
It's entirely plausible too that Marvel's Blackbeard was not Ben Grimm at all. After making an impression during his first trip in time, another pirate may picked up the mantle that Ben helped create. Perhaps Reed Richards of Alternate Earth (Fantastic Four #118) learned of Ben's brief second identity and choose to continue that role himself. Sharon Ventura had evolved into a Thing-like beast; she may have gone back in time to hide herself from the embarassment of facing Ben again after she aided the Frightful Four. (Fantastic Four Unlimited #5) Of course, there is the possibility of any pirate finding the Temple of the Ancient Sun Demons in Brazil (Fantastic Four #403) and taking a Thing-like form for himself, potentially including Edward Teach himself.
Obviously, there is no definitive proof that the legendary pirate Blackbeard and Ben Grimm are the same person. I have merely shown that they could have been. Until a new writer devises a canonical story based on one the ideas presented here (or an entirely new one), we can only speculate at Marvel's legends of bygone eras.
Released last week,
Saving Superman tells the story of Jonathan, a 57-year-old man with autism who’s become a local hero in the Chicago suburb of Glen Ellyn. Affectionately known as “Superman,” Jonathan is celebrated for his everyday acts of kindness and has been a beloved fixture in the town’s Fourth of July Parade for nearly 30 years. When a new building owner threatened his home, the community rallied behind him — led by his best friend, Julie — whose grassroots fundraiser sparked an outpouring of support to save not just his house, but the spirit of the town itself.*
The ten-minute documentary
has racked up a number of accolades at various film festivals already, and with Brendan Frasier now attached as the executive producer, there are hopes on making a feature-length version. It's a lovely piece in its current form, though, and easily worth your time.
* The description is lifted directly from the official posting of the video on YouTube. I could've written my own summary, but it would've basically just been paraphrasing the 'official' one. So this note is basically just to say: credit where credit is due.
Although I haven't been able to attend the past few years, I've thought CXC was a great comics convention. It seems as though they'll be skipping 2026 because of "scheduling conflicts" (I presume with regard to the venue) and will be returning in 2027. It's disappointing, certainly, but I'm hoping that means I'll be able to take advantage of the further lead time and maybe plan a return trip. Here's their formal announcement...
We had another successful CXC this year and we want to thank all of you for being a part of it. From the world class exhibitors who came from all over the country to share their art, to our scholars and presenters providing free groundbreaking programming, to all of our amazing Special Guests, and the attendees who make us great. We are so proud of the show we were able to put on.
This year we made the decision in response to scheduling conflicts and for the continued health of the show to not host a festival in 2026. We will be returning in the spring of 2027 for our twelfth iteration of CXC. This move will allow us to bolster the festival, and maintain lower costs for our exhibitors and attendees. We will be, in the meantime, continuing to do our part to elevate the comics community, and are working with a variety of organizations to continue to bring high level comics programming to Columbus year round. We have a couple big announcements on the horizon that we’re excited to share with you!
This Wednesday, the 19th, The Thurber house, in association with CXC, will be hosting New Yorker cartoonist, Tom Toro in conversation with Jenny Robb, head curator for the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum. The event will take place at the Thurber Center in downtown Columbus starting at 6:30 PM. Come listen to a great conversation between two comics powerhouses! Meet and get a book signed by an all time great New Yorker Cartoonist! The Thurber house will also be hosting a cartooning workshop with Tom himself! We are so happy to be working with the Thurber Center, one of the great institutions of cartooning and arts advocacy in Columbus Ohio, and we hope to see you all there! Tickets for the event can be purchased through this link or on the Thurber Center’s website at thurberhouse.org
In other news we're working hard with our media partners to finalize preparation of video recordings of almost all panels and programming from this year's show. All videos will be uploaded to our youtube channel @CXCFestival as soon as they are available to promote the accessibility of CXC to everyone, even if you weren’t able to make the trip to Columbus this year.
We have plenty more very exciting surprise announcements on the horizon. Stay tuned in as we look forward to sharing more good news, cartooning events, and world class programming over the course of the next year.
Thank you so much for your continued support, and we hope to see you this Wednesday at the Thurber House!
Bill Griffith's latest book is Photographic Memory: William Henry Jackson and the American West.
Jackson, if you're like me and were unfamiliar with him by name, was a photographer in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He took a lot of pictures of the American West and, in particular, the area that would later become Yellowstone National Park. Indeed, his photos of the area were instrumental in getting Congress to establish it as the first national park in 1872.
You might be curious why the creator of the absurd character Zippy the Pinhead would choose to write a non-fictional biography of a photographer from a century and a half ago. While Griffith explains in more detail in the book's early pages, the simple answer is right on the cover. Namely that Griffith is in fact Jackson's great-grandson. Interestingly, while this might suggest that Griffith had access to family records and documents that previous biographers did not, it does not seem that he had much that was particularly unique within his family beyond a few anecdotes from his mother and a copy of the uneditted manuscript of the biography Elwood Bonney published in 2000.
Griffith covers Jackson's life in its entirety, referencing Jackson's own autobiography for most of the earliest bits. However, since Bonney's interviews with Jackson from late in the photographer's life seem to be more robust, much of Jackson's story is told within the framing of those interviews. Griffith skips over Jackson's life as a Union soldier during the Civil War in two pages, and gets on to how his general interest in art led Jackson to take up photography. Because it was a fairly new field and because it was exceptionally tedious to carry all the necessary materials outside of a studio environment, Jackson took advantage of that and got in on many exploratory expeditions simply because he was willing to put up with the often terrible conditions where others would not.
Eighty percent of success is showing up.
The book explores some of Jackson's other expeditions and, even the ones which were perhaps more advanced in terms of the physical aspects of travel, they never seemed to cease having more than their fair share of challenges. It does not seem Jackson openly groused about these difficulties overmuch, but they did seem to get the better of him on occasion, judging by his letters home. (He was a fairly prolific letter-writer to stay in communication with his wife while he was away on travels.)
Griffith does talk about Jackson's family throughout the book, but as he frequently left them behind on his trips, they are out of the picture a lot. This becomes a point of contention in more than a couple instances when a family member becomes upset at his not being home very much. Although Griffith doesn't focus on this a great deal, between this and Jackson's somewhat condescending attitude towards the Native Americans he photographed, he actually does not strike me as a particularly likeable fellow. Griffith does grant himself an aisde in the book to talk about how Jackson's views on Native Americans in particular would not be acceptable today, and were potentially even damaging at the time. But beyond that, Jackson is frequently dismissive of whatever woman he happens to be with -- both before and after marriage -- and he seems entirely unconcerned with raising his children. Griffith even notes that his mother expressly said, "He had no use for children."
Which leads to the one other thing I shoud touch on. I noted earlire that much of the framing for the book is Bonney's interviews with an older Jackson. However, it also repeatedly switches to Griffith himself. But it weirdly even comes at that from several directions. It's initially told from his perspective as a child and learning his middle names are after his great-grandfather. But he also has some imaginary conversations with Jackson's spirit while he's in his 20s. And there are several asides and comments from Griffith today, interjecting as he's making this book. Not to mention the entire book ending on a sort-of dream sequence with an adult Griffith talking with both Jackson and Yogi Bear about a stove Jackson lost in 1871. Somehow it still seems to flow smoothly despite the changing perspectives and framing.
All in all, it's a fascinating look at an artist I was previously unaware of. It also perfectly dovetails off Guy Delisle's Muybridge -- which I happened to read a couple weeks ago -- focusing on the life of Eadweard Muybridge. While they focused on different areas of photography, they were contemporaries and were likely at least nominally aware of each others' work. These two books together make for an excellent snapshot of what photography was like in the earliest days.
Photographic Memory came out last month from Abrams Comic Arts and should be available through your favorite book retailer. It retails for $35 US in hardcover. If you order it directly from Griffith, you can have him inscribe it for you.
Here are this week's links to what I've had published recently...
