Weekly Geekly Rundown for November 3, 2023

Pustice (sp) League and More

Why Wolves? Wolverhampton and American Soccer History.

I love watching Soccer and I loved playing Soccer as a kid, teen, and young man. It is, rightly, called The Beautiful Game.

Yes, I wrote Soccer. After all, it’s Soccer, not Football (and Vice Versa). We aren’t talking Rugby here, we are talking Association Football and that is something I proudly call Soccer.

All kidding aside about what to call The Beautiful Game, one of the challenges that American fans of the sport have is choosing teams to attach our loyalty to. In Germany and England (and almost everywhere else), every town has a Football Club. Heck, Ryan Reynolds and Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney own Wrexham Association Football Club (there’s that Association word again) and have turned that ownership into a wonderful underdog makes good story, one that highlights the connection of city/town to team. Though the United States has been a participant in the World Cup since the 1930 inaugural event, and even beat England in 1950 in what turned out to be the only win we had that in that tournament, for the majority of the sport’s time in the US it has been largely an amateur affair. Baseball, though it has lower ratings than the NFL, is the sport that comes closest to this kind of connection via the minor league system, but even then it’s very muted here.

Since the city/town connection isn’t really there for most Americans, or at least those living in the Western states, that attachment can be fleeting. Los Angeles was host to a rivalry between the Galaxy and Chivas USA, but Chivas learned that you cannot artificially create a bond between community. There has to be a genuine connection, though it looks like LAFC has found the right formula to make that connection. A formula they discovered before they won the title and one that includes embracing all of LA.

As much as I love Major League Soccer, and there is increasingly more to love, it still hasn’t captured my heart in the way that European fans talk about when they talk about their team. Interestingly enough, there are two teams that have captured my loyalty in such a manner, each through a different vector. That’s right, TWO teams one German and one English. One for each of my ancestries. My Oma came from Schwandorf in Bayern, so I grew up hearing about FC Bayern and Bayern is in my blood. I didn’t have a choice whether I would like them or not.

FC Bayern is the team of my family, but it isn’t the “team of my city.” That honor goes to two teams, the Galaxy AND Wolves. That’s right, Wolverhampton Wanderers are the team of my town and they are the team that has my loyalty. Were Wolves to play Bayern in the Champions League, I’d be rooting for Wolves. Given how unlikely this is to happen, I’m not worried about betraying my Oma. I had selected Wolves as my team because Premier League games were increasingly available in the US and I didn’t want my choice to be a “easy” choices, so I chose the team that embodied what I love about European Leagues. I love the relegation system because teams can rise from the lowest leagues to eventually win the highest honor in their country (though that could take decades). I love how competitive relegation makes things and how it prevents teams from tanking at the end of the season. It makes every game matter. The interesting thing about this is, even though I’ve been a Wolves fan for fifteen years I only learned a few years ago that Wolves was my city team.

I was reading the Book of Faces and a Los Angeles based author I admire discussed how he was a Wolves fan. The author was Raymond Feist, so this has both fantasy fiction and a role playing game connection. Wolves fans aren’t exactly common stateside, so I asked him why. He then regaled me with the story of the L.A. Wolves and how they helped to bring professional soccer to the United States. Where before I had only a distant, and rational, attachment to Wolves, that attachment became deeper in an instant. I was surprised how much pride I had in choosing a team that was connected with my town, a decision I made long before I knew they were attached to it. It was completely arbitrary and it was fantastic.

Now the story of that brief time when Wolves had a team in Los Angeles is being released as a documentary. One that argues that Wolves not only has an attachment to L.A., but that they helped pave the way for professional Soccer in the U.S. period. I cannot wait to see it.

Comics News: RIP Keith Giffen. Your Justice League Built the Foundation for my Marriage.

On October 9th, 2023 comic book writer and artist Keith Giffen died of a stroke. The New York Times has a very good obituary that covers a lot of his career and numerous comic book figures have written about his influence, among the best being from his friend and frequent collaborator J.M. DeMatteis. His career and influence are vast and I recommend reading the many celebrations of him online.

My own memory is a bit different. I’ve never worked with Keith Giffen. I never even met him, but I wish I had. His work, along with J.M. DeMatteis and Kevin Maguire built the foundation of my marriage and shaped how I approached being a father when my kids were younger. No, it wasn’t a book on marriage or parenting. It was a super hero book that was unlike anything made before it, or even since. It was a run of the Justice League for DC Comics that hinted at what comic books could be. It is the best run of any super hero title ever written.

Why? Because it presented super heroes in a human light. Guy Gardner, Bruce Wayne, Beatriz da Costa, Billy Batson, J’onn J’onnz, and more were people first and super heroes second. What is even more remarkable about this is that they were human with out edge or suffering. Typically, when a writer wants to make a character more realistic in the comics, they make them suffer. Maybe they will grapple with important moral issues by becoming an Alcoholic (Iron Man) or having their sidekick become a heroin addict (Green Arrow). Maybe they will have to face the fact that they are powerless to stop spousal abuse (Superman), come face to face with the fact that their actions often create more villains as they attempt to save lives (Batman), or die of cancer (Mar-Vell). These are all humanizing tales, but they require suffering. This kind of drama is powerful and important, but it doesn’t create intimacy with the characters.

What Giffen and DeMatteis did was to give us a glimpse of the day to day personalities of the heroes who fought crime. They flirted, they bickered, they laughed, they took far too many showers (I’m looking at you Arthur Curry), and they ate Oreo cookies. They were people like you and me. They weren’t people because they suffered or died, they were people because they lived. Giffen saved the suffering is humanity thing for his run on Legion of Superheroes (which is also excellent) and this was a shift away from that. To say I love this book is an understatement.

But I have another reason for loving this book, outside of personal reading. As I mentioned it built the foundation for my marriage and family. How? Well, when my wife and I were dating I told her how much I loved these old comics. She liked comics too, but she’d never read these particular issues so she asked to see them. I brought a stack of tattered and well worn back issues to her dorm room, we cuddled up on her twin-sized metal frame bed and I began to read them aloud to her. I would do voices, I did a really bad Sam Neill impersonation for Maxwell Lord (c’mon he’s clearly based on Sam Neill), and my best “I’m Batman” voice for Bruce/Batman. Those moments created a wonderful bond between me and my wife and she started calling the title “Pustice League” instead of “Justice League” to separate them from the more straightforward super hero books of the past. Reading these also established how I would read to my daughters when they eventually arrived. When I read Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology to my daughters, I once again used voices, and I was channeling the memories of reading to the woman who was now my wife and their mom.

These memories are always on my mind and are a part of the joy I have in life. I wish I could have thanked Keith Giffen for the gift he gave me, because that gift extended beyond the enjoyment of reading the books themselves.

So I’ll take this moment to thank everyone else who worked on the book. Thank you J.M. DeMatteis, Kevin Maguire, Terry Austin, Bart Sears (JLE), Adam Hughes, Ty Pendleton, and Josef Rubenstein. You have given me a gift beyond comprehension.

Weekly Luke Y. Thompson and Courtney Howard Overview

Luke’s recent articles:

Luke Y. Thompson reviews Funko and Hasbro “Shelfies” for SuperHeroHype. These are figures personalized to look like you and me. Who wins out as the best Shelfie manufacturer? Read the link and find out.

Luke started an interesting discussion of controversial costume changes in film that ranges from Star Trek to Catwoman over at SlashFilm. What are your favorite/least favorite costume changes?

I’ve been eagerly awaiting season 2 of Invincible, which streams this weekend, and was very glad to read Luke’s positive review of the early episodes over at SuperHeroHype. I agree with him and the profanity. Invincible has always, in print and tv, had a bit of a Spider-Man/JLI (see above) vibe to it and even with all the blood etc., the profanity pulls me out of the world a little. It did for another series I love too (the Critical Role animated show), but it’s a minor quibble in both cases for me.

Last week, Luke posted his review of FNAF (aka ffff—naff, aka Five Nights at Freddy’s) for AV Club. He enjoyed the film almost as much as my daughters did. They’ve been waiting for an FNAF film since they first watched Dan TDM play the game. Luke’s review is definitely worth reading for contextualizing what the film is, and isn’t, and how it might create future horror fans.

Courtney’s recent articles

I wish that Courtney had more published reviews every week (I wish the same for Luke too) because I always enjoy reading her perspective. Thankfully, she shares her thoughts on a lot of pop culture over on her X-Twitter feed. It’s a feed that is exactly what a film/tv critic’s feed should be and something more of the entertainment world should emulate.

That doesn’t mean Courtney doesn’t have any reviews this week, she gives Meg Ryan (star, co-writer, director) a very positive review for her film What Happens Later for Variety. Rom-Coms are, in general, at a nadir right now and I’d love to see them make a comeback. When done well, they are my favorite genre. Meg Ryan’s been in some of the best and has learned from the experience, so I cannot wait to see this. As always, Courtney makes sure to comment on how things like sound design and editing add texture to the film.

Classic Role Playing Game Recommendation

Castle Falkenstein

Yes, I’ve written about this game before, but this game is good enough to promote more than once.

Castle Falkenstein is, like most games designed and produced by Mike Pondsmith, way ahead of its time. Yes, in the post “success of the Cyberpunk video game” world, R. Talsorian and Mike Pondsmith might seem a far cry from the scrappy independent designers they once were, but the truth is that Mike Pondsmith’s story is one of being an overnight success that took almost 40 years. His original Cyberpunk game was a masterful game inspired by both Champions and Traveller that synthesized those games into a lethal experience that had MOOD. Man could Mike Pondsmith evoke mood.

Castle Falkenstein is a Steampunk role playing game, designed before Steampunk took off as a genre, in which the setting and mechanics are deeply intertwined. Given how tactically oriented Cyberpunk was, and is, one might expect some of that to leak into this game, but it doesn’t. Pondsmith is one of the most talented, and for a long time underrated, designers in the role playing game market and this storytelling oriented game is a perfect example of how to mesh milieu and mechanics and the mechanics don’t even appear until page 181 of the rulebook. Pondsmith wants you deeply saturated in the setting before he brings in the mechanics. Those mechanics are card based, because cultured people don’t play with dice as those are for riff-raff and ruffians, and are easy to learn and execute.

Like Pondsmith’s other creations (Teenagers from Outer Space and Mekton among them), Castle Falkenstein evokes mood. There is a wonderful sense of tone throughout the book that brings the setting alive. There’s enough information here that you could run the setting in any game system. Additionally, all of the supplements are excellent, but as a fan of the Wild, Wild, West television show, I highly recommend Six Guns and Sorcery.

Classic Music Recommendation

Before they started Tears for Fears, Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal were a part of a pseudo-mod band called Graduate. Their song “Ever Met a Day” is catchy and the contrast between the upbeat sound and downbeat lyrics were a common practice in a number of alternative bands in the 80s.

What is really striking in this video is how angry Roland Orzabal looks as he is performing. He looks absolutely disgusted to be performing in front of a child audience, and audience who has no idea what to think about Graduate. I’m serious. Watch the kids’ reactions about halfway through the video; they are stunned. Roland’s jerky movements and angry expression make me like the song even more. I heard it for the first time about a week ago and I cannot get the song out of my head.

Classic Film Recommendation

The Magnificent Seven is one of the greatest films ever made, a fact made even more impressive given that it is a remake/reimagining of another of the greatest films ever made. There is so much to like about the film, from it’s score to its cinematography, but what I love most is the way it introduced its characters.

In the Standoff at the Cemetery scene, we get to see both the lethality and the humanity of the killers who will be called upon to defend a small town. Not only is it a great introduction, featuring two of cinema’s all time great stars, but it contextualizes why the characters would agree to help the town in the first place.