Artwork: Ed McGuinness for Wizard Magazine

Every so often, dig down into the back of the closet and haul out my old boxes of comic books. Unlike Ron, I have largely paid no attention to the comic book world since the late 1970s, when both writing and art went straight to hell, and with very few exceptions (the likes of Frank Miller) pretty much never came back. Call me a sentimental old timer who likes heroes who are heroes. I have made few return trips back into this ugliness, except to occasionally check on some of my old friends, particularly Thor. Each time I've been disgusted.

I flip the bird at Marvel for its poor management of the Thor character. In fact, few comic book characters have been more ridiculously mauled and distorted. I consider the "real" Thor, the "classic" Thor, missing since Walt Simonson's short run many years ago (which was preceded and followed by long spells of bad writing and shitty art). Currently, Dan Jurgens has made Thor into a fascist villain terrorizing the earth. It reeks of a bad professional wrestling type of "heel turn". (I give Jurgens some credit for trying to sneak in an anti-imperialist political statement, but please, not at the expense of a classic character.)

In response to a recent Marvel/DC crossover event, Superman and Thor have collided, igniting age-old arguments about which god/superbeing is truly the strongest in the comic universe. Naturally, the comics themselves never settle this question, and can't/won't.

There are simply too many Internet nerds who get lost in debating Asgardian god power (Thor's hammer, Mjolnir) versus Super power. Donning this nerd hat momentarily, in terms of power, speed, and other factors, one could argue that with both at full power, it would be close, based on the careers of each character. But Thor is a god, Mjolnir is magic, and Superman is vulnerable to magic. A god is, and commands, magic. Therefore, Thor has the clear advantage.  

The deciding factor is simple. Basically, Superman, without his powers, is devoid of fighting skill. Proof? In 1977, Superman minus his powers got his ass kicked badly by...Muhammad Ali. Ali beat him like a baby. I have this Neal Adams classic right on my book shelf. On the other hand, Thor is a Norse warrior, martially trained since birth. Thor without his hammer would whip a no-power Superman handily. Another clear advantage for Thor.

Full-power Superman would beat no-hammer Thor (but Thor would put up a valiant fight). Full-power Thor would beat the hell out of no-power Clark Kent. Advantage:Thor.

Winner: Thor.

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Passenger 58 will return later this week with his take on Hollywood today. Barring a huge news story, I'll be back next weekend. - Ron

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Posted 10:58pm, Sunday, April 11, 2004

Clueless

Way back in February, documentarian Errol Morris, said while accepting his Oscar that he feared the administration was leading us down a "rabbit hole" similar to Vietnam. More and more people are making that comparison.

Perhaps Morris's foresight comes from the fact that he is a documentarian and documentarians deal in the truth. Unlike the administration who has been engaging in a war built on fiction, or at least fictitious expectations.

Robert Novak's column from Thursday's Chicago Sun-Times reports on the administration's, specifically Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, folly at believing that the war would be a cakewalk.

Pentagon briefing papers from May 2003 predicted troop strength would be down to 30,000 by the end of that summer. Instead there are over 135,000 troops still there. And by the account of the generals, more are needed. Much more. Before the war, the army's chief of staff predicted we'd need "several hundred thousand."

Wolfowitz's response? "Way off the mark." Bush victoriously proclaimed, "mission accomplished" almost a year ago. Rumsfeld predicted that the Iraqis would be welcoming us with open arms. Instead we have just concluded one of the bloodiest weeks of the war so far.

It appears Bush and Rumsfeld may have been the ones who were "way off the mark."

Earlier today, Bush said, "What we're doing in Iraq is right." This week when 51 American troops lost their lives and countless civilians were killed, burned, wounded or kidnapped, I have to wonder what Bush’s idea is of doing it wrong

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So Condi Rice is claiming there was no way of knowing that terrorists were planning to attack us prior to 9/11.

Well, there is that matter of the daily threat assessment dated August 6, 2001, titled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." Particularly interesting is this passage:

FBI information since that time [presumably since 1998] indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.

Hmmmm. A mention of hijacking and federal buildings, both in the same sentence. It doesn't take a partisan hack to put two and two together, especially since the C.I.A. was already concerned about planes being used as missiles during Bush's visit in Genoa earlier that summer.

You have to question the Bush administration for sticking to their story, even in the face of previously reported memos, like this one from July 2001, two months before the attacks. This article is from the Washington Post, May 19, 2002:

Intelligence sources said last night that at least two names listed in a July 2001 FBI memo about an Arizona flight school have been identified by the CIA as having links to al Qaeda. The FBI memo was never acted upon or distributed to outside agencies prior to Sept. 11 and was not provided to the CIA until last week, sources said.

The memo, sent to FBI headquarters by a Phoenix FBI agent, warned that bin Laden could have been using U.S. flight schools to train terrorists and suggested a nationwide canvass for Middle Eastern aviation students. The CIA's discovery of an al Qaeda link was first reported by ABC News.

Here's another pretty damning link from CBS.com. Note the DATE of the story... a full six weeks BEFORE 9/11.

Ashcroft Flying High
WASHINGTON, July 26, 2001

Fishing rod in hand, Attorney General John Ashcroft left on a weekend trip to Missouri Thursday afternoon aboard a chartered government jet, reports CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart.

In response to inquiries from CBS News over why Ashcroft was traveling exclusively by leased jet aircraft instead of commercial airlines, the Justice Department cited what it called a "threat assessment" by the FBI, and said Ashcroft has been advised to travel only by private jet for the remainder of his term.

"There was a threat assessment and there are guidelines. He is acting under the guidelines," an FBI spokesman said. Neither the FBI nor the Justice Department, however, would identify what the threat was, when it was detected or who made it.

A senior official at the CIA said he was unaware of specific threats against any Cabinet member, and Ashcroft himself, in a speech in California, seemed unsure of the nature of the threat.

"I don't do threat assessments myself and I rely on those whose responsibility it is in the law enforcement community, particularly the FBI. And I try to stay within the guidelines that they've suggested I should stay within for those purposes," Ashcroft said.

Asked if he knew anything about the threat or who might have made it, the attorney general replied, "Frankly, I don't. That's the answer."

Earlier this week, the Justice Department leased a NASA-owned G-3 Gulfstream for a 6-day trip to Western states. Such aircraft cost the government more than $1,600 an hour to fly. When asked whether Ashcroft was paying for any portion of the trips devoted to personal business, a Justice Department spokeswoman declined to respond.

All other Bush Cabinet appointees, with the exception of Interior and Energy with remote sites to oversee, fly commercial airliners. Janet Reno, Ashcroft's predecessor as attorney general, also routinely flew commercial. The secretaries of State and Defense traditionally travel with extra security on military planes.

The Justice Department insists that it wasn't Ashcroft who wanted to fly leased aircraft. That idea, they said, came strictly from Ashcroft's FBI security detail. The FBI had no further comment.

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