Holiday Break 1989, Part 1: Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire

Twenty years ago I was on holiday break from Bowling Green State University. There are two things that stand out about those few weeks I was home, the first being the debut of The Simpsons in their Christmas special, “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire,” in December 1989...

The Fox network was only a few years old in ’89. The Tracey Ullman Show and Married... with Children were the originals, along with 21 Jump Street, that I remember watching, mostly in college, on John’s little TV we had in the dorm room we shared.

That fall semester at BG, I took a music appreciation class of some kind (it’s a little fuzzy at this point) in the Moore Musical Arts Center. The first day of class, this cute girl and I chatted briefly and began a classroom friendship, but neither pursued anything beyond that until the end of the semester rolled around. Through small talk in class, we realized we were both from Northeast Ohio. She went to Central Catholic and grew up right in the geographic center of my high school social world. We decided to get together while home for the holidays.

I was at the peak of my punk phase at the time... my hair dyed jet black or blue-black or maroon or purple depending on the week, eyeliner, black nail polish and lipstick, my ears pierced a half-dozen times. She had a simple, girl-next-door beauty. And a boyfriend. Despite my appearance and her ties, her parents and I got along well-enough, and Maria and I spent a large part of those weeks home together. There were many late nights getting to know each other while we drank bottomless cups of coffee and I chain-smoked Marlboro Lights in a booth at the Denny’s on Everhard Road, and hanging out at her parents’ house.

The Jesus and Mary Chain album Automatic – released just a few months earlier – is forever linked to her and the time we spent together (it seems we listened to it constantly), and so is that first episode of The Simpsons, because I watched it with her at her parents’ house. Again, details are a bit fuzzy, but I remember her parents were out that night and that she was supposed to go out with her boyfriend, but we hung out together and, at my insistence, watched The Simpsons Christmas Special.

It could have been during the first showing of it on Sunday, December 17, but for a few reasons I tend to think it was the encore performance the following Saturday night that I watched with Maria: First, I don’t know why her parents would have been out on a Sunday night. Second, I’m pretty sure I viewed the very first broadcast of “Roasting” with my buddies because I remember watching the Married... with Children Christmas Special with Sam Kinison as Al Bundy’s guardian angel, which aired immediately after The Simpsons debut, with one or more of them. Third, it makes sense that I would have seen the original airing and then insisted on watching it again with Maria to share it with her.

There’s probably a good chance that later that night Maria went out with her boyfriend and I met up with my buddies, but that first taste of a larger Simpsons world, something sustainable beyond a one-minute bumper, is forever tied to a bitter cold Northeast Ohio night in North Canton. Somewhere around the eighth or ninth season I stopped watching The Simpsons regularly, and within a year or so of that stopped watching it altogether, but the nostalgia of that first special and the rose-colored memories associated with that period in my life were more than enough to get me to buy that Season One set when it was released on DVD. And every now and again I pop those discs in the player and ride the wayback machine to 1989.

Book List 2009

Time once again for the annual “What I Read This Year” list, in the order I read them and broken down by type. The number of books in all categories went up from last year. Nearly two books per month (non-fiction and fiction) and well over one collected edition per week. Some clunkers on every list, but overall, a lot of good stuff packed in this year!

Non-Fiction

1. Belushi: A Biography - Judith Belushi Pisano and Tanner Colby (Excellent read. Reminded me of Live From New York.)
2. Marvel Chronicle: A Year by Year History - Tom DeFalco, Peter Sanderson, and Tom Brevoort (Maybe the best Xmas gift I got last year!)
3. War as They Knew It: Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler and America in a Time of Unrest - Michael Rosenberg
4. God, Country, Notre Dame - Theodore M. Hesburgh with Jerry Reedy (Recommended by our parish priest. Good read.)
5. Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk - Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain
6. The Soloist: A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music - Steve Lopez (A very quick read. Although hard to believe, I think the movie was even more slight.)
7. I Swear I Was There - David Nolan
8. Time Bandit: Two Brothers, The Bering Sea, and One of the World’s Deadliest Jobs (audio) - Andy and Johnathan Hilstrand, with Malcolm MacPherson
9. Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain - Marty Appel
10. Wishful Drinking - Carrie Fisher
11. An Hour Before Daylight: Memoirs of a Rural Boyhood - Jimmy Carter
12. We’ll Be Here for the Rest of Our Lives: A Swingin’ Showbiz Saga - Paul Shaffer with David Ritz (There isn't a hipper mother fucker on the planet!)
13. Vinnie Here: Fanciful Conversations Between a Pastor and His Dog - Rev. Joseph Kraker & Vinnie
14. The Buzzard: Inside the Glory Days of WMMS and Cleveland Rock Radio, A Memoir - John Gorman with Tom Feran (Radio Daze “lite”)
15. My Anecdotal Life: A Memoir (audio) - Carl Reiner
16. 11 Days in December: Christmas at the Bulge, 1944 (audio) - Stanley Weintraub
17. How to Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion (audio) - Daniel H. Wilson
18. Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984 - Simon Reynolds
    

Fiction

1. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
2. The Stranger - Albert Camus, translated by Matthew Ward
3. I Love You, Beth Cooper - Larry Doyle (Recommended all over the place as a great book. Completely underwhelmed by this thing. Don’t see it as anywhere near being a “John Hughes ’80s film in book form” as it was touted to me.)
4. The Witches - Roald Dahl
5. Boy: Tales of Childhood - Roald Dahl

Trade Paperbacks and Collected Editions

1. The New Mutants Classic, Volume 1 - Chris Claremont and Bob McLeod
2. The New Mutants Classic, Volume 2 - Chris Claremont and Sal Buscema
3. Spider-Man/Red Sonja - Mike Avon Oeming , Mel Rubi
4. The Astounding Wolf-Man, Volume 1 - Robert Kirkman, Jason Howard
5. Batman: Haunted Knight - Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale (Love Loeb and Sale’s Batman work!)
6. The Transformers: All Hail Megatron - Shane McCarthy, Guido Guidi
7. Powers: The Definitive Hardcover Collection, Volume 2 - Brian Michael Bendis, Mike Avon Oeming
8. RASL - Jeff Smith
9. Air: Letters from Lost Countries - G. Willow Wilson, M.K. Perker
10. The King - Rich Koslowski
11. Ms. Marvel, Volume 1: The Best of the Best - Brian Reed
12. Ms. Marvel, Volume 2: Civil War - Brian Reed
13. Ms. Marvel, Volume 3: Operation Lightning Storm - Brian Reed
14. Mini Marvels: Rock, Paper, Scissors - Chris Giarrusso
15. Mini Marvels: Secret Invasion - Chris Giarrusso
16. The Demon Omnibus - Jack Kirby
17. Maxwell Strangewell - The Fillbach Brothers
18. The Walking Dead, Book One - Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn
19. The Walking Dead, Book Two - Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn
20. Y: The Last Man - The Deluxe Edition, Book One - Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra
21. Wanted - Mark Millar, JG Jones, Paul Mounts (Saw the movie first. Entertained by both.)
22. The New Mutants Classic, Volume 3 - Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz
23. Fantastic Four - Visionaries: John Byrne, Volume 4 - John Byrne (Possibly the best collection of single issues ever.)
24. Classic Transformers, Volume 2 - Various
25. Fantastic Four - Visionaries: John Byrne, Volume 5 - John Byrne
26. Civil War: Heroes for Hire - Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti
27. Y: The Last Man - The Deluxe Edition, Book Two - Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra
28. Daredevil Omnibus, Volume 1 - Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev (Giving the FF Visionaries Volume 4 a run for its money in the “best collection of single issues ever” category.)
29. Ultimate Spider-Man: Ultimate Collection, Volume 1 - Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Bagley
30. Civil War: X-Men - David Hine, Yanick Paquette
31. The Complete Frank Miller Spider-Man - Frank Miller
32. Indiana Jones Omnibus: The Further Adventures, Volume 1 - Various
33. Young Avengers, Volume 2: Family Matters - Allan Heinberg, Jim Cheung, Andrea Divito
34. Civil War: Punisher War Journal - Matt Fraction, Ariel Olivetti, Mike Deodatto
35. Civil War: Iron Man - Various
36. Storm - Eric Jerome Dickey, David Yardin, Lan Medina
37. Black Panther - Reginald Hudlin, John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson, Dean White
38. Spider-Woman: Origin - Brian Michael Bendis, Brian Reed, Luna Brothers
39. MySpace Dark Horse Presents - Various
40. Super Human Resources - Ken Marcus, Justin Bleep
41. Wolverine: Logan - Brian K. Vaughan, Eduardo Risso
42. Daredevil: Battlin’ Jack Murdock - Zeb Wells, Carmine Di Giandomenico
43. The Nobody - Jeff Lemire (Absolutely lived up to its billing. Fantastic story.)
44. Civil War: Amazing Spider-Man - J. Michael Straczynski, Ron Garney
45. House of M: Avengers - Christos Gage, Mike Perkins
46. Spider-Man vs. the Black Cat - Various
47. Annihilation Classic - Various
48. Annihilation: Conquest, Book One - Various
49. Nova, Volume 1: Annihilation Conquest - Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
50. Nova, Volume 2: Knowhere - Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
51. Annihilation: Conquest, Book Two - Various
52. Queen & Country: Definitive Collection, Volume 1 - Greg Rucka
53. The Walking Dead, Book Three - Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn
54. Punk Rock and Trailer Parks - Derf (Fantastic story from a local guy.)
55. Whiteout - Greg Rucka, Steve Lieber (Not nearly as strong as his Queen & Country work, but entertaining.)
56. Fantastic Four/Spider-Man Classic - Various
57. Dead @ 17: Ultimate Edition - Josh Howard
58. Daredevil: Yellow - Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale (Didn’t really care for this story at all. I have Spider-Man: Blue and Hulk: Gray on my shelf, but don’t really want to read them after this.)
59. Absolute Dark Knight - Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, Lynn Varley (Stunning.)
60. Captain Britain Omnibus - Various
61. The Walking Dead, Book Four - Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn (This series is amazing. I don't find it as personally depressing as others do; I think it's just appropriately affecting storytelling.)
62. Chew, Volume 1: Taster’s Choice - John Layman, Rob Guillory
63. The Mighty Avengers: Assemble - Brian Michael Bendis, Frank Cho, Mark Bagley
64. Queen & Country: Definitive Collection, Volume 2 - Greg Rucka (Reading Queen & Country makes me want to pull out my MI-5/Spooks DVDs and rewatch that series. Thrilled I got Volumes 3 and 4 for Christmas this year!)
65. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - Alan Moore, Kevin O’Neill (Enjoyed this so much more than Watchmen! Great story.)
66. The Complete Essex County Hardcover - Jeff Lemire (I read all 512 pages of this amazing book over the course of 24 hours. More personal than The Nobody, it's haunting and gorgeous.)

Friends Like These...

I alluded to this on Twitter the other day, but it’s always amazing to discover how talented your friends are. Last year I got knocked back by a package from Dave.

(Coloring courtesy of my kiddo.)

This year, it was Alan. I know he’s creative, what with his producing audio theater and the like, but I had no idea he could draw as well!


But this is not to take away from my friends who I am already aware have humbling talent, like Pat...


I’m just a guy who fancies himself a writer and is a comic book fan. These friends of mine are talented artists.

Marvel Unbound - The Mighty Avengers: Assemble

I pick up trade paperbacks of comics I read back in the day all the time. I have no qualms about spending my time and/or money on books that collect story arcs that I remember fondly from the early to mid-’80s. But when it comes to more current runs of comic books, I tend to buy collected editions of material I haven’t read previously in single issue format. The oversized hardcover of Brian Michael Bendis’ The Mighty Avengers: Assemble is an exception.

I love it when Marvel reprints material in the oversized format; the art just explodes off the page! And Assemble collects the first few story arcs from the first 11 issues of Mighty Avengers that bridge Civil War and Secret Invasion. But to say it only serves to fill a gap between two events does the book a disservice. The stories further reveal the complexities of the Marvel Universe and move the overall narrative forward.

I haven’t read these stories in a couple of years, not since I read them in single issues as they were released. At the time, I was just getting back into comics after twenty years away, and I remember picking up that first issue of Mighty Avengers and being completely disoriented as to what was going on in the Marvel Universe. I didn’t realize at the time that the Mighty book was the pro-registration team and that the New Avengers book was the anti-registration team.

Frank Cho and Mark Bagley’s artwork perfectly suits that notion of a slick, sanctioned team. (And Leinil Yu’s more gritty visuals fit the New Avengers renegades equally well in that title at the time.) Although I’m not particularly fond of Cho’s renderings of Janet Van Dyne/Wasp or Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow throughout issues #1 through 6, the images collected here are still gorgeous enough eye candy that I had Cho sign my copy of the book at Wizard World Chicago earlier this year.

Bagley’s work on the subsequent five issues weaves the pre-Secret Invasion buildup with the “Venom Bomb/Doom’s Castle” storylines. I talk at length in the chapter “Panel to Panel” of Deus ex Comica about Might Avengers #9. I love the magic Marko Djurdjevic and Bagley weave in that issue, and I had forgotten just how retro-awesome the follow-up issue is!

Bendis seems to be having a lot of fun with the dialog in this book. I remember laughing out loud reading some of the exchanges in issue #11 the first time around and again here. I also like the way Bendis portrays the frustration and conflict in Ms. Marvel after being appointed team leader by Tony Stark’s Iron Man/Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. then having her authority undermined by him around every turn.

I figured I would get more out of reading these collected issues this time around just by virtue of my fully and immediately grasping the context in which these stories originally took place. But on the flip-side, I wasn’t sure how this would read for me given the Secret Invasion knowledge I was bringing to the table. The six-part “Initiative” storyline works well, providing an “into the deep end” mission for this new team by way of the classic Avengers foe, Ultron. Bendis does a good job balancing his talking-head moments needed to setup the selection of the team with the action of an all-out battle by using out-of-sequence flashbacks. And the Secret Invasion setup in the second half of the book never gets in the way of just telling a fun adventure story.

I’ll be to preordering the second volume, designed to take the reader through the end of Bendis’ run on the title (and the point where I jumped off the book), scheduled for release later this winter. During Secret Invasion the Avengers titles were used for event backstory, so I’m curious how cohesive a collection this next book, covering issues #12-20, might be.

Although the dimensions of a Marvel Omnibus, these deluxe hardcovers don’t overdo the extras. Apart from some Cho character sketches and page art, and some Bagley cover art, the focus is firmly where it should be: on the stories themselves. The Mighty Avengers: Assemble is a great collection for the shelf and a fun read in the tradition of my old-school Avengers books.

And the World Will Be a Better Place...

See How the Black Moon Fades

How awesome is it to see Sinéad O’Connor perform “Mandinka” at the 1989 Grammy’s? She looks so awkward and out of place. The shocking incongruity of her shaved head and strikingly beautiful features. The ragged jeans and black boots paired with such a “no mistaking she’s a woman” top. And I love that she is clearly lip-syncing. Such a great moment in time captured here, before the SNL scandal, before her ordination, and all the other personal troubles and controversies. Just a woman and her music alone on the stage.

Tribute

To paraphrase Tenacious D, "This is not The Greatest Ad in the World, no. This is just a tribute."