Connections

I figured some levity was in order after the mishegas regarding my computer, and so too the blog, lately.



The above is from the Joy of Tech strip that runs on the Geek Culture website. (I’ve
long since learned that being a tech-head is no guarantee of a clean, well-organized, easily navigable website that won’t assault you with ads or a host of clashing typefaces ’n’ stuff, but I’m still amazed when tech-head artists’ websites turn up that way.)

While the cartoon is almost a year old, it’s sort-of timely for a couple of random reasons.

One is that last week marked the 70th anniversary of Superman and Batman’s first joint appearance in a story, “$1,000,000 for War Orphans” in All-Star Comics #7 — on the racks Aug. 25th, 1941, although cover-dated Oct./Nov. It was just a cameo proving that they were in fact members of the Justice Society of America; the pair wouldn’t really share an adventure until 1945, and that was on radio, with the first of countless team-ups in the comics not coming until 1952.

Another is that I’ve been compiling more posts on precious words and deeds from the kids in the family, including this lyric sung softly by my nephew as he played:

“Superman and Batman are best friends / 
“And they also poop together.” 

Nephew likes to talk about pooping, as many children and particularly boys his age
do. He doesn’t always use the word in proper context, but he is rather fascinated with the concept on its own terms as well as how it’s obviously a little bit taboo even though we all try to keep a straight face rather than giggle or get upset at the constant barrage of poop talk. Right now the primary concern is still that he engages in the pooping at the proper time and place, which I’m happy to report is generally the case.

The Joy of Tech Facebook gag reminds me of an old Sergio Aragonés Mad cartoon in which Batman has spray-painted “Clark Kent is Superman” on a fence. Since I wasn’t a regular reader of the magazine, I’m pretty sure that I came across the cartoon in a reprint special devoted to superhero parody/satire, and other material from it or similar issues are now flooding my brain — like a Don Martin strip in which Clark Kent decides to get contact lenses and, naturally, everyone back at the Daily Planet offices realizes upon his return that he is in fact Superman. Neither of these may sound laugh-out-loud funny when described, and frankly the latter doesn’t even make any sense if you think about it for more than a fraction of a second; however, the mischief inherent in Aragonés’ work was palpable as usual, and the Martin strip dates to when everyday use of contact lenses was a relatively new thing, perhaps justifying the leap of faith necessary to accept why Clark Kent, who is of course actually deliberately hiding his double identity through the glasses he doesn’t really need and the slouching and the voice and the mild-mannered attitude, would be trading in his spectacles in the first place.

I’m prattling on in large part due to the absolute glee of having stable, zippy Internet, despite saying so at risk of rousing the gremlins through jinxitude yet again. The heavenly powers do indeed taketh away even as they giveth, for no sooner had I finished using this newfound connectivity on a brand-new machine to publish a round of lingering posts than I discovered that Blogger is cramming yet another change down our gullets. I’ll have to get used to that along with the differences between Mac OS Lion and Leopard, which I know sounds like a cue for tiny, invisible violins of false pity. I just ask you to remember that my previous laptop did not work as it was supposed to for three pooping years.

The Joy of Tech for Oct. 8th, 2010 © 2010 Geek Culture. Creators: Nitrozac & Snaggy.