...and he's gone in a "Flash"...

I read today where Harry Lampert died (which, to those who don't know the name, he was one of the artists of the original Golden-Age Flash character).

Although this is sad news, it wasn't really unexpected. So very many of the creators of the old 40's super-heroes have passed away. They've left us with a great comic book legacy over the years, of which I'm always grateful.

This got me to thinking about the events that may have never unfolded had Gardner Fox ,who actually wrote the first Flash story,had not done so. One of my best childhood memories of collecting was buying The Flash #123 in the very early 1960's. This was the first time DC Comics ever revived a super-hero from the 1940's, and they had the original Jay Garrick Flash teaming up with the more modern Barry Allen version. This led to numberous cross-overs and team-ups between them, one of which was in Flash 137 (1963) where the Golden-Age "Justice Society" was revived. Other revivals of these charactrs quickly followed, like Dr. Fate, Hourman, Green Lantern and Solomon Grundy in The Brave & The Bold, as well as "The Spectre" in Showcase, plus the original "Atom", "Wildcat", and others all of which I loved. It was pretty much my introduction to these characters having not lived in the 1940's and experienced their various titles first-hand. My favorite issues of "The Justice League" in the 60's were always the ones where they teamed up with "The Justice Society" members.

Yes, I'll always be grateful for those memories.

Yet, these revivials led also to the DC "Crisis" series, first starting in Green Lantern #40 in the mid-60's, and eventually the entire re-vamp of "The DC Universe" ('not so sure how grateful about all of that). I pretty much ignore the whole "Crisis" thing anyway. The DC characters will always be the ones that made an impression on my pre-teen to teenage years.

Now as the the years go by, I've stopped wondering "who" will be next to leave us. The legends they created (or helped to create) will always be with those who cherish their work.

"Time to GET OVER It"

For the past week on every chat board I've looked at, all there's been is talk about the past presidential election. Wouldn't it be nice if those in charge who sponsor these boards put it in their rules and regulations regarding postings, that no such talk could be on them? For all of us who grew weary of all of that misinformation, uninformed speculation and some just down-right lies regarding one candidate or another, wouldn't it be nice it they'd just create SEPERATE political boards for those posting upon them making political statements if those boarders did not want to stick to the subject of that particular board?

And, while we're at it, wouldn't it be nice if Blogger enforced the same rules?

Myself, I feel that political "spam" is just as bad as any other, and I've been amazed, a bit shocked, somewhat disturbed, and lost quite a bit of respect for many boarders and bloggers in the past 7 days.

"Election Day '04"

Welcome to The Apocalypse! Oh, wait. It's Election day. Well, pretty much the same thing.

Lots of mud-slinging in this election, not just between candidates, but people voting for them as well. Of course, it really doesn't matter. 4 years down the road, no matter who becomes president, people will be complaining about whomever gets in the office. They'll make a lot of promices that they won't fulfil. And Lord help you if you really think anyone in Washington cares about you individually. You may as well vote for "Lassie"; at least if the country gets in trouble, you can always send Lassie for help.

And of course, perhaps the president isn't really running this country anyway, but actually a not-so-secret cult which thinly disguises itself as a "beneficial" organization, and has a lodge in almost any city in the country. You don't think so? Well. I wouldn't say that's really true, but just look as how many presidents we've had that were/are members. (Their goal IS, and always has been, to control the world.)

And also if your state doesn't have a lot of electorial votes, well, it's going to probably go one way or the other as it always has in the past.

The people of this country are a fickle lot. Back when 9/11 occured, we were all gung-ho for revenge. We didn't care "who" we got the revenge on in particular. All of a sudden everyone got a shot of patriotism. People who never had an American Flag in their lives were displaying them in front of their houses, and on their cars and wearing pins. I know this for a fact. I work at a retail store and the manufacturers of flags (which are 90% foreign, by the way) couldn't keep up with the demand. I had one woman say that she was really disapointed that she coundn't find a flag "anywhere". When I asked her "why she didn't already have one", she replied, "I didn't know I needed one until now". (That's pretty pathetic.)

And here we are a few years later bitching about the whole mess.

So, go ahead and vote today,folks. It's part of the freedom we enjoy having living in this country.

Or, don't vote. Because that's a freedom you can also enjoy.