Our Gods Wore Spandex: Last Supper for Superheroes

Our Gods Wear Spandex hit the shelves fifteen years ago this month and prophesied the coming rise of the superheroes, back before the Spandex Age of Cinema took off with the releases of Iron Man and Dark Knight. 

Vril: The Coming Race, or How Lord Lytton Ensorceled the 21st Century

Weird revelations began bombarding me out of absolutely nowhere concerning Lord Lytton of Knebworth's seminal superhuman novel Vril: The Power of the Coming Race (or whatever you choose to call it). This all arose out of a stray line from Dope Inc. (of all places) and has set me off on one of my patented OCD benders. So fasten those seatbelts, kids.

"Bad Things Happen When the Birds Gather"

I began writing Our Gods Wear Spandex on September 11, 2001. For some reason I can only ascribe to my Holy Guardian Angel, I wasn't in the WTC PATH station around 9 AM that morning. 

Propaganda and the Magical Art of Reality Creation

The point of art for most of human history was magical- culture was about the cult.

The goal of art was to commune with the gods- to create environments in which human beings were surrounded by images of them. We'll leave aside the obvious parallels with the post-World War II cargo cults and the rest of it (for now at least), because I'm more interested in exploring the cultural aspect of this.

The Avengers, or Jack Kirby Conquers the World

Now do you understand?

I've burned a lot of bandwidth on this blog -- too much, in some people's eyes -- obsessing on Jack Kirby, the visionary madman who unwittingly changed the face of popular culture. 

Wizards, Workings and Walk-Ins

I don't get asked much who my favorite superhero is, but the answer's a no-brainer: it's Doctor Strange. 

Talkin' Heroes and Horus on Aeon Byte Gnostic Radio

It's been a while since I talked Spandex, but Miguel Conner invited me onto Aeon Byte Gnostic Radio for a talk on superheroes and the esoteric realms. This one's a stormer and I think you'll enjoy it even if you're not a comic or superhero fan. 

Thor: Fit for the King

 

  A typically-tardy, completely-biased review... 

 Every sci-fi and superhero movie of the past 30 years has at least a little Jack Kirby blood pumping in its veins (and most have a lot), as well as most action movies post-Die Hard. The same goes for most video games as well.

 

Gods and Geeks in the Endless American Twilight

The interfaith website Patheos asked me to write a piece about the new gods of pop culture. I discuss the various memes relating to superheroes, Avatar, Twilight, Dragon*Con and much, much more. 

Hercules. Ancient Astronauts. Human Sacrifice. This is Happening.

 

Here's the pitch, cobbled together from a couple IMDB reviews...

An alien race from the moon lands in ancient Greece, terrorizing the nearby city of Samar, and taking the population’s children as human sacrifices...

Heroes Redux, or 'Life is Killing Us'

 

One thing I've learned over 43 years of chronic pain (and other unpleasantness) is that for most of us, life sucks. You can drown your sorrows in drugs, sex, religion or television but you can't avoid the fact that you're stuck on a planet that wants nothing more than to kill you. 

Slave to the Gods

 

When I was writing Our Gods Wear Spandex I kept an 8x10 photo of Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman on my wall to act as my muse. I think she did a marvelous job of it. 

The Age of Horus: Hancock, Part I

Little did I realize... The same day I posted the first installment of "Space/Gods," the Will Smith superhero-as-god film Hancock was released on DVD. 

Bruce Timm, Funnybook God

Thor for Thursday, along with Sif and Him! 

Just spreading the objectification around!

I've been having a lot of trouble falling asleep every night, so I've been taking the opportunity to meditate. 

It's been a blessing in disguise (and I believe that that's how all blessings come) and it's also helped me sort through a lot of things that I wouldn't necessarily address in my waking, working hours. 

Dark Knight Templar

Of course the big story in pop culture this week is the record-breaking opening of The Dark Knight, the second installment in Christopher Nolan's radical re-imagining of the Batman franchise. Being the obsessive-compulsive that I am, 

Steranko Saturday: Hercules

The old master has not lost his touch. I'll be picking this book up, that's for damn sure. I'm framing that puppy. Ask your local retailer about this title.

Full House for Spandex at the NYCC

Holy Standing Room Only, Batman! It was a packed house at the Our Gods Wear Spandex panel! I was so taken aback by the turnout I was actually tongue-tied for my intro.

 

The Telegraph of London Reviews Spandex!

Robert Hudson of the Telegraph gives Spandex a very nice review. Read it here.

Al-Lex-Luthor Crowley

From a Thelemic website:

Alchemy had three main objects: 1. The transmutation of the base metals into gold, or more generally the conversion of abundant relatively useless material into rare useful substances.

Heru- Heros- Hera- Heracles

My friend David Dodd is currently pursuing his degree in Intellectual Property law, but was previously a Latin teacher at prestigious Newark Academy. Dave is also a serious student of the Classical world and as such is my go-to guy for deep history from that period.