RonovanWrites Week In Review Apr. 13-18

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Poetry

Haiku Prompt Challenge #40

As amazing as it sounds, the Challenge has been going for 40 straight weeks now. Although I didn’t do a separate poem this week, my example is in the post, as always. I believe my title for it would be Our Greater Joy. I hope you enJOY it.

Prose

Expectations. She is.

 

Articles

I’m in the A to Z Blogging Challenge and my Theme is Comic Book Creators Around the World.

Kuwait The99 and comics. On trial, for real.

L is for Lithuania. From Painters to Peanuts.

 

The Big Dumb Family and The Cowboy Book. What a range. Get it? Range, cowboy.

First Sci-Fi to First NZ in USA to Today.

It’s a super day on Ronovan Writes. Go Ontario!

Can a part of Filipino culture come back to life?

My Blog Anniversary post of Choice.
This was a very quiet post with little to no fanfare or fireworks. Not an overabundance of views. My purpose was not for celebration of my blog but to spotlight another blog brought to my attention. One I believe many would be encouraged by.

A writer with class is who influences me.

This was a part of my #BeWoW blog share for Twitter on Wednesdays. BeWoW standing for Be Wonderful on Wednesdays.

My article for my weekly blogshare hashtag for posts about positivity. Share what you got. Just hashtag it like you see it and throw in my Twitter Handle if you want to make certain I see it. Twitter get’s crazy at times. @RonovanWrites.

Tips

How To: Do Page Jumps-Return to Top of Page. Updated to make it Simpler.

A tip on how to do those “Click here to go there within the document.” I’ve updated it to make it simpler. More of this type will be coming. And using them gets easier the more you do use them. It doesn’t take me long now that I have a routine down, and learned some short cuts.

What to expect this coming week?

The Sunday post is already out and it coincides with the #1000Speak Nurturing campaign this month.  Nurturing is Genuine. There should be a post from a new writer here on Ronovan Writes. A person who wants to branch out a bit. I also have word of articles possibly coming for guest spots. And you can be certain, that with 10 days left of the AtoZ Challenge I will have some more articles for you. Also the Haiku Challenge will be out, as well as #BeWoW. Why not poetry from me lately? I have thought I didn’t want to overload everyone with too much considering I have all those Challenge articles going out.

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Can a part of Filipino culture come back to life?

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Our trip today into Graphic Literature takes us to Komiks. We could venture back to days when pictures and words were put together and people now call them cartoons or comics or as I prefer, Graphic Literature, however I want to jump ahead maybe 30 or so years. My goal today is to see if we can go from the past to the present and connect the artists and writers along the way.

You may have heard of the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon or Six Degrees of Separation. The goal is to connect Kevin Bacon to any other actor in six steps or less. Let’s see what we can do with the creators today.

After the Spanish

It’s after the Spanish-American War and there is some American influences filtering in.1 On January 11, 1929, Liwayway2 magazine published a character named Francisco Harabas, better known as Kenkoy3. Created by writer Romulado Ramos and the man who would become known as the father of Filipino Komiks, Tony Velasquez (Oct. 29, 1910-1997)4.

Kenkoykenkoy-and-familykenkoy-family

 

 

 

 

 

A little about Kenkoy. For one thing, the character is such a part of the culture the word kenkoy is actually an official part of the Filipino language now  meaning joker or jester. That should tell you something of the character himself. However, his life as a bachelor did not last forever, he eventually marries Rosing, a very classy and classic woman of the Philippines. The two remind me of Dagwood and Blondie in their differences of appearances and overall demeanor, created in 1930.5 With seven biological children and one adopted mute, but wily child later they were a happy, if not crowded, family.

Kenkoy is said to be the originator of Taglish6, which is English and Tagalog7 mixed as a language, you may notice it on social media if you know anyone from the Philippines.

A sad note  about Kenkoy. During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in WWII, Velasquez was forced to use Kenkoy as a propaganda tool. He refused but was convinced by the then Philippine President to use it for the promotion of his health program instead of war propaganda. I suppose it served the same purpose.8

Velasquez was the mentor to someone I found very interesting. As I have of others in the southern hemisphere on the other side of the earth.

Let’s go to Mars.

Mars Ravelo (Oct. 9, 1916-Sept. 12, 1988), was an illustrator and creator of great note.9 Ravelo wore many hats through his Komix career and became known as the “Father of Filipino Komix Superheroes”. I guess you can see why I am interested.

I want to mention two characters. One with a bit of conflict about her history. Darna, originally named Varga.10,

“You know I thought of creating Varga as a counterpart of Superman. Male on the part of the Americans, female on our part. Isn’t that okay?”~Mars Ravelo11

Varga  was created just before WWII broke out, around 1939.12  Some say Darna is a rip off of Wonder Woman who first appeared December, 194113 in DC Comics14. Darna’s alter ego is the mortal Narda. For one to become the other they must shout the name of the one they are not. The power to do so in the original origin came when a white stone crashing to earth from the planet Marte was swallowed by Narda to keep it hidden from her friends. With the change between characters being by the shouting of a name, inspired by Captain Marvel (1939), Revelo’s claim would seem to hold up.

darna-change

Then we have Captain Barbell, May 23, 1963. I have to say this one has an interesting origin. Revelo’s openly spoofed Komik of Captain Marvel, who is now known as Shazam, due to legal issues.15 With powers given to a mortal through a golden barbell while shouting the words Captain Barbell.  I know it sounds a little cheesy but the powers are given to various people over the years and is quite interesting. Revelo had not intended for the character to be quite as heroic as it turned out to be, but the popularity forced his hand. And it took me about as long coming to this point of writing this part to get the rhyme of Captain Marvel and Captain Barbell. Don’t hate me because I am slow, hate me because I am beautiful. Okay, so I have a sense of humor.

cbCaptain_Barbell

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mars Revelo was a writer, editor and more, but he needed someone to be his artist.

Darna Comes Alive

Enter Nestor Redondo (May 4, 1928-Sept. 30, 1995). Oddly, or funnily, Redondo studied architecture when he was young.16 Why odd or funny? I’ve found this to be true with many Graphic Literature artists before. Many writers and editors have said it seems to be a plus in their backgrounds and detail work. But that’s perhaps for another article.

Why the love of a career in Komiks, with possibly check to prayer to check life ahead? Blame his father who would would bring him American comics. An addiction began for titles such as Flash Gordon and Captain America as well as Buck Rogers and Superman. Little did that boy or his father know what was in the future.17

Then it happened. Mars Revelo came calling and Redondo drew the first issue of Darna. You’ve seen his work above on Darna. Now here are some other pieces. Notice the work commissioned for the promotional comic version of the MGM movie Quo Vadis. The movie studio wanted Revelo to come to the US to work for them after seeing his talent, but he didn’t think he was ready.

redondo8quovadis9

 

 

 

 

 

But the Philippines could not hang on to Nestor for much longer.

The Filipino Invasion

Through the talent and popularity of fellow Filipino artist Tony DeZuniga, Nestor Redondo and several of his friends came to the notice of DC and Marvel.18 You can call this the Filipino Invasion.

Redondo worked on books for DC such as Phantom Stranger and Swamp Thing. As well as Red Sonja and Savage Sword of Conan for Marvel Comics.19

swampthing19p13conan

 

 

 

 

 

 

What he was most proud of or perhaps most passionate about was his work distributed by Open Doors20, a Netherlands-based organization. Being very religious he worked on beautifully illustrate stories of the Bible to be distributed to countries and areas where the Bible was restricted.

MarxLeninMaoChrist

 

The Exodus

After the mass exodus of so many Filipino creators it’s difficult to make the connections from Filipino to Filipino as I have wanted to. In part this is because so many left in 1972. Why did so many leave at that time? September 21, 1972, Ferdinand Marcos, nearing the end of his term as president, declared martial law.  Things got bad.

“From what I remember, the local komiks companies set up their own Comics Code (but they were a self-governing body), just so that the government won’t get involved and censor all their works. But just like the Comics Code, they did restrict stories that showed too much horror, sex, and violence. Which, could be, partly the reason why our horror komiks artists looked for greener pastures and found it in the US market.”~Budjette Tan of Trese

Much like other countries where the government takes a strangle hold on any type of media that may influence the population, the comic book industry suffers greatly. If that hold lasts for a long time, decades even, a generation of culture does not inherit a long standing tradition. That’s what happened in the Philippines. Then Komiks became mostly photocopied and stapled together by the creators themselves and sold by the creators as well, many depended on the various conventions that are held each year.21

But now the industry requires greater quality to gain an audience. They all expect Marvel and DC quality.22

Resurrection?

Now there is an effort to revitalize and bring the industry back home. In every aspect of visual entertainment you will find Filipinos, Pinoys. That’s paraphrasing Whilce Portacio. If you are a comic book fan anywhere in the world you very likely know this man’s name.

wp-bishop
Whilce Portacio and Bishop, the X-Man he helped create.

Born in the Philippines, but with a Navy dad he bounced or bobbed around until finally settling down at the age of about two and growing up in San Diego, CA. That’s where at the age of ten, his neighbor’s wife made it possible for Whilce to come into possession of her husband’s comic book collection and Whilce became a student of Jack Kirby and Neal Adams through books he never would have had otherwise.23

How did he make it to the big time? Through the help of another? No. He attended his first San Diego comic book convention, showed his samples to Marvel Comics editor Carl Potts24 and he was next inking Alien Legion25. The best I can tell, the original series.

Then came inking Longshot. Then Punisher. In an video interview Whilce talks about how he got his shot to become a penciller, the guy who does the drawing the inker inks over. He said he would ink the Punisher then flip the sheet over. You have to understand the sheets are huge for working on and then shrunk down for printing. He would then draw his on pencil work on the back. While the editor of Punisher would be holding up the page to check out the inking, the assistant editor would see the pencils and say, “Hey, look at this.”

X-Men, Iron Man, and others. you name it he did it. Then he was one of the magnificent seven that started Image Comics and worked on books like Spawn. Not big enough, how about Batman? Oh, and if you don’t know who Image Comics is, think where  The Walking Dead began.

That’s all great and good but the main reason I mention him today is his efforts to bring pride back to the art form in the Philippines. To do that he has partners who will be helping to back a studio system in the Philippines with Portacio acting as art director.26

I can imagine who the backers are. His thoughts are the Philippines could be the next Japan for many aspects of the industry from comics to animation. One advantage is the Filipinos already speak English and tell stories in English.27

Why no art by Whilce Portacio? That’s not the reason I mentioned him, although listening to him he is the man to learn from. I would love to be a student of his. But the reason I mention him here?

He’s bringing a culture back home.

One thing Whilce said way back when in an a show hosted by Stan Lee when asked about when he knew he wanted be an artist he said the first grade. And here is the best part of why. The teacher had given the class paper and crayons. As she went around the room she told each student something like that’s nice, and then would ask what are you drawing? When she got to Whilce, she said, “Oh, did you see the Saturn V rocket launch yesterday?” It clicked. She knew what he had drawn. Yes, a teacher gave him confidence with just a few words.

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References

Return To Tony Velasquez
1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_comics
2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liwayway
3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenkoy
4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Velasquez

Return To Kenkoy
5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blondie_%28comic_strip%29
6 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taglish
7 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagalog_language
8 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Velasquez#During_World_War_II

Return To Mars Ravelo
9 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Ravelo
10 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darna
11 http://erneelawagan.blogspot.com/2012/02/lost-works-of-mars-ravelo.html
12 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varga_%28comics%29
13 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonder_Woman
14 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DC_Comics

Return To Captain Barbell
15 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Barbell

Return To Nestor Redondo
16 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestor_Redondo
17 http://www.alanguilan.com/museum/redondo.html

Return To The Filipino Invasion
18 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_DeZuniga
19 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestor_Redondo#American_work
20 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Doors

Return To The Exodus
21 http://www.comicscube.com/2011/08/filipino-komiks-and-history.html
22 http://www.goethe.de/ins/id/lp/prj/mic/cph/enindex.htm

Return To Whilce Portacio
23 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whilce_Portacio
24 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Potts
25 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_Legion

Return To Penciling and the Future
26 http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2014/03/whilce-portacio-launches-talent-search-for-new-manila-studio/
27 http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/342688/scitech/geeksandgaming/world-famous-pinoy-comic-book-artist-comes-home-to-inspire-new-wave-of-talent

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My Blog Anniversary post of Choice.

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If you were around a few days ago, you may have noticed I did a Guess Who game. I put up a profile photo of one our friends, she had changed it, and I thought it would be fun to see who could guess who it was. It was a bit obvious. In fact it was probably taken on the same day as her previous photo but this would looked all cool and movie like with the wind blowing her hair and all.

The winners, incluguessding her if she were reading, got to select a post to be reblogged here on RonovanWrites.

Melissa of The Aran Artisan, the lady in the photo of the game, decided to choose the post of a friend instead of one of her own. So I give you her choice.

yellow-bicycle-retiringLife With a Yellow Bicycle is a blog by Stephanie .

“My blog is about an ordinary woman with an extraordinary yellow bicycle and how together as a team, they overcame one of life’s dreaded obstacles. It is also about my thoughts and philosophies and stories over the course of that time.”

That’s only the first paragraph of an extraordinary story about an extraordinary woman and her extraordinary yellow bicycle that may have saved an extraordinary life.

yellow-bicycle-beachThis is Yellow Bicycle at the beach, the photo from the article you will be going to read today.

steph-and-bike-dunlaoire-002This is Stephanie and Yellow Bicycle. Yellow looks to be the most amazing bicycle. And looks so strong. The picture itself is great. I love the images. Old and new together. An Ireland lady on an adventure called life.

Now it is time to visit Stephanie and Yellow Bicycle in what turns out not to be a reblog but a request.

Today is the one year anniversary of RonovanWrites.

anniversary-1xI wasn’t going to do anything because it’s just another day of meeting people for me but I changed my mind after reading this. I have chosen this post as the one I wish for all of you to visit as a present to me. Why? The story is a reason for one. Another reason? Blogging, for me, is more than simply writing about me and my creations. Although that is what you see most of. Blogging for me this past year on RonovanWrites has been about meeting Extraordinary People with Extraordinary Stories who believe themselves to be Ordinary People with Ordinary Lives.

After reading the story Melissa had suggested, I could not think of anything I could write on this day that could come close to telling something similar to what I have been going through since that day a year and a half ago when my life was literally taken away.

It is called Je ne regrette rien ( Heading in a different direction). A story of, well it’s one you are going to read about now. I am finished speaking.

 

With Greatest  Respect to All Who Visit Here,

Ronovan

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Expectations. She is.

Ronovan Uncategorized , ,

She didn’t know he was standing there. He had been for sometime. What would she have done if she had been aware? It’s not like she hadn’t invited him before.

He smiled thinking about his nicknames for what he was doing. So wrong but so funny. A private joke no one else would get. Others would be horrified. He didn’t care about others.

Her hair caught the light and shimmered. That word. Shimmered. Used so many times, or the word glossy. But there were no other words to describe her hair. Liquid erotica, perhaps? One glimpse is all it took. Up, down, forward, pulled back, or fanned across a pillow. Or better yet, wet in the shower.

But now wasn’t a shower. Now was one of his favorite times. He watched her. Her mind was focused elsewhere, concentrating on finishing. Knowing if she stopped it would never happen. She had to keep pushing, no matter the pain. Once she finished it would feel so good.

He knew the signs. This was not new to him. There, the eyes drifting. The hands moving. The shoulders rounding. Back arching. Her body going limp and the breath goes out of her.

Now it is his turn. He walks up behind her, puts his hands on her shoulders and begins to massage. Her hand goes to his. Rests her cheek against his skin.

Her work is finished and the computer can be turned off. Finally. It’s late, after midnight. No matter how much he loves watching her work. Watching her be her. Watching her be beautiful, and intelligent, more than anything he loved watching her smile and relax.

She stands. He puts his hand up. The look is given wondering if he’s crazy. He picks her up and carries her from her office and up the stairs. Her head rests on his shoulder. Thoughts drift from one expectation to the next. He gives no sign.

As expected when he walks into the bedroom she has drifted to sleep. Yes, expectations. Some wished for, some needed. Sometimes expectations are love. The expectations of being. That’s the only expectation he ever has. As long as she is, that is enough for him.

He gently places her on her side of the bed, the covers pulled back. Yes, expectations. He had known. Her sandals slip off, he covers her, shorts and t-shirt had been a good working outfit for work at home today.

Climbing into his side of the bed he begins to write. Working on the next book that may or may not sell, but a book she will love because she is. He stops and looks at her, watches her.

The laptop is put away and the lights are turned off. Lying in the dark he looks at her profile in the moonlight. Her nose, and her lips. Watching.

Her hand touches his arm. Lips smile.

It’s a super day on Ronovan Writes. Go Ontario!

Ronovan A to Z Challenge-Comic Creators Around the World , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Oman may have some creators but I didn’t find any in my basic search. I do a decent search for a time then I move on. That being said, do you know how many countries start with the letter O? You got it, one. I decided to go with a province. Yes, I thought about searching in other languages to see if a different spelling came up for a country, but this is a fun project for me, and I do enough translating as it is.

Normally when doing a history I go in chronological order. I thought I would change it up a bit today. We’re going with two creators only. We’re going back in time. From end to the beginning. We’re going north. We’re going maple leaf country.

That’s right.

We’re going Canada.

To be precise—we’re going Ontario.

A lot of times when you start with the newest you end up talking the least about something in history. That has been especially true for Graphic Literature.

Today if you think that, you are wrong. Wrong in a big way. So wrong that wrong is not even enough of a word to say how wrong you and I are.

The Midas Touch

At the age of 39 Jeff Lemire is likely to tell you to be included with our later creator in an article would have been an impossibility. But maybe the reason he is, is because no one ever asked him that if it was possible.1After all, there are a lot of accomplishments out there that when asked of the people that did them, they say, no one ever told me I couldn’t.

I don’t know if Midas Touch applies here but when you start your career self-publishing your first comic, win an award, then go immediately into a company where Alan Moore, legend, is putting out a volume of his The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and when an award with a series with that company, I think Midas Touch fits.2

“I like to tell stories that make people feel something. It takes too long to make comics to just do frivolous or throwaway work. I’m trying to create real emotion on the page.”~Jeff Lemire3

Reading more and more about Lemire you discover one thing about him, creating comics is the important part of his profession. Even with the recent blow up of his world with Sony optioning a comic project from Image Comics, Descender, he hadn’t even put out the first issue of yet, he made sure during the negotiations his role, his time, and his freedom was in creating the book he wanted. He got that deal.4That’s power. That’s talent.

descender
Descender by Jeff Lemire, art by Dustin Nguyen.

Lemire is not your typical superhero storyteller. In truth that’s not his go-to element. Can he do it? He’s written, Batman, the Justice League, and Superboy. Yes, he can do it, but he’s likely to take them out of that super environment.

His early work, such as the Eisner and Harvey Award nominated Essex County Trilogy5 and even the graphic novel, Underwater Welder6 set characters in Canadian settings away from urban areas and mega-powered heroes.

essex
I like the art work here from Essex County Trilogy with what looks like a spoof of the Punisher from Marvel Comics. Brilliantly done.
uw1
Notice the sharp, crisp lines from the above water scenes in Underwater Welder. The main character looking at his pregnant wife.
uw2
Here we see an underwater scene with the looser lines and you have images of the above world showing you the contrast.

 

 

 

 

With Underwater Welder he did some interesting work with the art. Yes, he likes to do all of the work on a book if time permits. Above water he has sharp, distinct lines, while below he has the looser imagery. And there is a purpose.

But I am here to see where he goes for the hero stuff. Call me selfish, I’ve learned about what he does, listened to a number of interviews, one of them above, to see consistency of his character over the years and of his devotion to the story and not to the sells or the fame. Now I want to talk about bookes he has worked on that I can geek out about. And seeing as today is the one year anniversary of this site, I’m going to enjoy and share what I like.

The big moment.

The graphic novel The Nobody in 2009 brings Lemire to DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint. A retelling of the Invisible Man by H.G. Wells. Lemire does all the work on the book except for the lettering.7

nobodyhex

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 
Now onto something more mainstream as far as what an average comic fan might now, Jonah Hex.8 I know, you are wondering who he is. Think of the Josh Brolin movie that came out. Lamire did the art on the Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti scripted book.9  The huge part here is the Jimmy Palmiotti part, former partner of Joe Quesada who became the Editor-in-Chief of Marvel Comics for over a decade and eventually promoted to Chief Creative Officer.10 In other words he, Lemire had a cool moment there.

His first big accomplishment, I think, can be seen as a very long run on Animal Man from Sept. 2011-Mar. 2014.11 Why do I say this? He took a character that had apparently no real direction for over two decades since it’s revival creator, Scottish born writer Grant Morrison12, left and turned it into not only a relevant to this day and age, but so much so Animal Man became part of Justice League United.

But the one piece of work at DC that I believe shows the companies biggest vote of confidence in Lemire is when they picked him to step in when Ann Nocenti<13 left Green Arrow14.

I’ve skipped a lot of material but I want to leave off with this one. Lemire is now writing probably my second favorite comic book character of all time, Hawkeye. Although I will give him credit for being given a big gig on a Marvel Comics book, I have to say I don’t much like the ideas he has for it.15 Sometimes a fan boy wants his favorite characters to at least remain the star of the book. But that’s the fan boy in me. Old school collector guy.

Rant of the Blog Birthday Boy.

But the ideas of Marvel these days doesn’t hold anything sacred. It’s my blog birthday so I’m speaking my piece here. By Marvel killing the CaptAmerica-100-lgsteverogerssam_wilson_captain_america.jpgsacred cows so to speak, they are doing more harm than good. I see a lot of what they are doing as more knee jerk reactions to placate to hopefully making sales and get publicity over maintaining long time fans, readers. It’s going to bomb at some point. There has always been something comforting in being able to pick up an issue of Spider-Man and have some idea of who the character is. They killed Steve Rogers, Captain America, brought him back, then aged him, forcing him out of the Cap roll. He’s still in the game as a commander of sorts and picked his longtime partner the Falcon as the new Captain America. I’m okay with that last part. It makes sense. But Steve Rogers not being Captain America doesn’t. Quesada has some problems with his thinking. He thinks the costume is the character. He thinks Thor is the hammer, so anyone picking it up is Thor. Marvel is awesome, but sometimes it’s just screwed up.

One of Lemire’s first DC writing jobs was to write Superboy, but not a young Clark Kent. Long story there, convoluted and a pain in the butt to work out. It seems DC Comics can’t decide what version of it’s universe it wants to keep. Every few years or maybe a decade or so they decide it’s time to destroy everything fans knew and start over. Yeah, Superman and Wonder Woman are making out now. Lois Lane?

s-ww

Moving On

Whose our other Ontario comic book artist? Who did work on Superboy? Who did draw Superboy?

How about the man who created him and Superman?

It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s a legend.

Joe Shuster

A legend? Yes. A happy ending? Wait and see.

Drawing on paper bags and the back of rolls of discarded wallpaper, Joe Shuster did what it took to break into the world of comics. Canadian? Yes. But it wasn’t until his parents moved to Cleveland, Ohio that IT happened.16 The meeting. The chemistry explosion. He met Jerry Siegel.17 You can’t say one name without the other.

If you are not a comic book person, Siegel and Shuster might not spark something in your brain cavity. If you are then you instantly think of the Big S.

Superman.

orig-scov
Joe Shuster and Original Sketch of Superman Cover.

These two young men created what is considered the first superhero of sorts. Two young Jewish boys doing what geeky comic book wannabe professionals wanted to do.

The boys did something they would regret. They sold the rights to the character when they began to work for the future DC comics. At the end of their contract with DC, Shuster did a little more in comics, then disappeared from the business disgruntled with what should have been a beautiful career.

He ended up as a delivery man living with his mother. Although it is believed he did continue drawing comics under other names at times during the 1950s in less than respectable genres. But it was a buck, a living.

For the man who created not only the Superman characters we know, but also detective Slam Bradley, and Doctor Occult, it is a sad ending. An ending that found him blind an in a home when he passed away.

slamoccult-vampire

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Apparently Siegel and Shuster were the first to have a vampire in a comic book.18 A lot of firsts for a duo that was messed over for so many decades.

I knew of the legal battles between Siegel and Shuster versus DC Comics over Superman, which gave them their byline back and a yearly pension and healthcare in the 1970s, but I didn’t know about Shuster’s leaving the business.

Will Lemire, with better relations and with creator rights more firmly in place end up doing more work in comics than Shuster? Yes. Will he create Superman? No. But I don’t think anyone ever goes out with the idea of creating the next Superman. Thinking about it, why don’t they?

 
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References
Return to Lemire and the Midas Touch.
1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Lemire
2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Shelf_Productions
3 http://titanbooks.com/blog/interview-jeff-lemire/
4 http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2015/03/05/jeff-lemire-amid-hollywoods-call-new-descender-comic-book-is-his-big-picture/

Return to Lemire and Early DC/Vertigo Work.
5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essex_County_Trilogy
6 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Underwater_Welder

Return to Lemire and the Big Moment.
7 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nobody
8 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonah_Hex
9 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Palmiotti
10 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Quesada

Return to Lemire and the First Big Accomplishment.
11 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Man
12 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_Morrison
13 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Nocenti
14 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Arrow
15 http://marvel.com/news/comics/24053/take_aim_with_a_first_look_inside_all-new_hawkeye_1

Return to Joe Shuster.
16 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Shuster
17 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Siegel

Return to Slam Bradley and Dr. Occult.
18 http://nothingbutcomics.net/2014/08/08/friday-flash-fact-the-first-vampire-in-comics/

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Smoke Rings

Ronovan Writing

Greg won the Guess Who and gave me a choice of two posts to reblog here. I liked this chain Haiku he did about he and his pipe. It all worked well together.

Greg's avatarPotholes in the Road of Life

A few days ago Carpe Diem Haiku Kai did an exercise on, what else, haiku: specifically form. The challenge was to stretch ourselves by doing three haiku in slightly different ways: one 3-5-3 stanza, one traditional 5-7-5, and a free form stanza. It took me a little longer than usual to get this done; I had an idea but it took several tries to get something I was pleased with. Consequently I missed the deadline but have a chained haiku that I really like.

Smoke wafts from
A burning ember
In my pipe

An animated
Enchanting dance of smoke rings
Drifting by my eyes

Lulling me into
A tranquil state of mind
Induced by rolling smoke rings

As you can see, I stayed with the guidelines using stanzas of 3-5-3, 5-7-5, and 5-6-7 for the free form ending, while, in my mind at least, chaining them into one poem. Even…

View original post 22 more words

First Sci-Fi to First NZ in USA to Today.

Ronovan A to Z Challenge-Comic Creators Around the World , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sometimes it surprises me where Graphic Literature is found. I mean, it shouldn’t but I can be in how creators that have worked here in the United States as well as other large markets might come from the end of the earth.

We’re headed to that End of the Earth now.

New Zealand.

Space Case.

I had to do a little digging for this bit of information. You’ll see why in a moment. I headed to the Library of Congress. Okay, so it was their website. According to the information they’ve pulled in, a comic strip called Mr. Skygack, From Mars by Fred Schaefer and A.D. Condo for the Chicago Day Book appeared in October of 1907, a humorous strip about an alien who comes to learn about humans.1 The LoC source comes from Chronicling America. If you visit the reference below you can see the paper it appears in and zoom in. Actually a very interesting visit.2 There are those who consider this the first science fiction comic strip, humorous as it may be, simply on the basis of an alien being present, the first alien present in a comic strip3. Buck Rogers, appears as of 1/7/1929, although the character had appeared in August of 1928 in Armageddon 2419.4 According to Ron Goulart of The Encyclopedia of American Comics from 1897 to the Present (1990), Buck Rogers is considered the first serious science fiction strip.5

You’re probably wondering what all of this has to do with New Zealand. I argue that Mr. Skygack, From Mars is absurdly considered science fiction simply based on the presence of an alien in it. And then even if one does give it credit, Buck Rogers is not the first serious and true science fiction strip. That is like saying a Gone with the Wind is a Civil Rights movie because there are African Americans in it.


Really and Truly Spaced Out.

In 1924 in the Australian Sunday Times a comic strip appears. It is about a young boy named Peter, who travels through space and visits other planets like Jupiter in the strip Peter and all the roving folk.

firstscifiThe creator is Noel Cook who is Foxton, New Zealand born.6Legend goes he turns down an offer to write the series for a company in New York. Five years later and Buck Rogers gets all the fame.

Although Cook created other science fiction books I found some of his humorous strips worth sharing.

gotcha
WIFE (to husband): You like that hat and I like this one, so I had better take both just to please you.

flourSentimental Constable: And what is your favorite flower, Mary?
Mary: Self-raising for scones, and plain for pastry.

After retirement Cook went on to become a successful painter with many shows in London, one being opened by the Queen Mother. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to find any of those images, but this image of a pulp magazine piece of his shows how talented he was in that medium. Imagine when he painted without a script or an audience to please.

pulpAfter researching Noel Cook, and basically becoming a huge fan, I almost don’t have the energy to move to the next person, or look for the next, but I must. Let’s see where Noel leads me.

Girl Power.

I wanted to jump ahead a bit, and in a way I am, with Ted Brodie-Mack (1897-?). Although born a year later than Noel Cook (1896-1981), Brodie-Mack brought a different character in 1944, Kazanda the Wild Girl and the Forbidden Kingdom.7

kazandarangers-1rangers-2

 

 

 

 

 

Brodie-Mack drew the character while Archie E. Martin, who went by the name of Peter Amos, was the writer. What makes Kazanda stand out is that for one, she’s a woman, a jungle queen of the Lost Continent. She had powers such as telepathy. There are conflicting opinions about other powers, so I’ll stop with telepathy and typical jungle queen kick butt type stuff. The second thing that makes this comic so interesting, it’s the first New Zealand created comic to be published in the United States, reprinted in Ranger Comics in 1945.8

The 1950s Freak Out.

As happened in the United States and other countries, the End of the Earth decided comics were bad for kids and society and began to ban books. It makes you wonder what literary and creative genius was lost during this time of youth being denied a visual medium to excite their minds.

New Zealand Strips for All.

In 1977 a formally trained artist working as an illustrator started a fanzine called Strips. Colin Wilson intended for Strips to show his work, but what it did in reality was begin to showcase work from all across New Zealand. The comics life of the country was reborn.9

But for Wilson, New Zealand didn’t last much longer. The talented artist, apparently extrememly talented, found his way to the UK and on the flagship UK comic book Judge Dredd10 in 2000 AD11 as well as Rouge Trooper12.

dreddrogue-trooperrogue

 

 

 

 

 

But the UK was not the stopping place for Wilson. France and the legendary book Blueberry13 was in his future. For those who read the France part of this series you will recall Blueberry and its importance in French comics.

blueberrypointblank

 

 

 

 

 

Do you think he stopped there? No. American comic fans might recognize the next work of his, a series called Point Blank14, from Wildstorm15 comics, the studio of Jim Lee16. The series was written by a comic great Ed Brubaker17.

wilson

I like the above art Wilson did for an expose of his work in which he includes many of the characters he had worked with through the years. As of the last information I have Wilson is still working for 2000AD.

The New Talent.

As in the rest of the world, the government became a little more sane, as most governments do when the people basically tell them to stuff it.

There isn’t a  lot of information out there right now about some of the talent coming out of New Zealand, especially about the women. But I want to mention them the women along with the sites you can visit.. Indira Neville18, Sarah Laing19 (awards winning author and teacher), Robyn E. Kenealy20, Li Chen21, and Rae Fenton22.

The researchers brain is toast right now. This was an entertaining adventure for me and a great learning experience. I encourage you to click the Reference #21 just above this paragraph to go to the link for a nice interview with three of the women from New Zealand that have begun an effort to put women in the public eye in a male centric opinion of that public. Good points are made I agree with wholly, and some opinions I disagree with, but a very good interview.

See you next time.
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References
Return to Space Case.
1 http://www.loc.gov/rr/news/topics/skygack.html
2 http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87093407/1907-10-12/ed-1/seq-4/#date1=1836&sort=date&date2=1922&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&index=0&words=Earth+SKYGACK&proxdistance=5&rows=20&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=&andtext=skygack+earth&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1
3 http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/comics
4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_Rogers
5 https://books.google.com/books?id=c91Vrl20Y4sC&pg=PA284&lpg=PA284&dq=buck+rogers+the+first+serious+science+fiction+strip&source=bl&ots=LVtk3e-T21&sig=_KEeBuYGZlll4HPU-0as1MXZwbk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=xu0tVZSMMZLIsQSJsoHABg&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=buck%20rogers%20the%20first%20serious%20science%20fiction%20strip&f=false

 
Return to Really and Truly Spaced Out. Noel Cook.
6 http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/zoomify/41816/noel-cooks-peter-1925

Return to Girl Power and Ted Brodie-Mack
7 http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/comics-and-graphic-novels/page-1
8 http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/cartoon/41818/kazanda-1945

Return to New Zealand Strips for All. Colin Wilson.
9 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Wilson_%28comics%29
10 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judge_Dredd
11 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_AD_%28comics%29
12 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_Trooper
13 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blueberry_%28comics%29
14 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Blank_%28comics%29
15 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WildStorm
16 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Lee
17 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Brubaker
18 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indira_Neville

Return to The New Talent
19 https://sarahelaing.wordpress.com/about/
20 http://www.pikitiapress.com/blog/2014/10/3/three-words-interview-rae-fenton-sarah-laing-indira-neville
21 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robyn_E._Kenealy
22 http://www.designassembly.org.nz/articles/5-minutes-with-li-chen
23 https://www.blogger.com/profile/10046917627054462214
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Guess who.

Ronovan Odds and Ends ,

The first one to comment who this new Profile Photo is of get’s a free reblog of their sites post of choice to my site, as long as it is appropriate. The person in the picture can participate as well. See if she’s reading. If she is the first to guess she and the next person win!

She guessed and I deleted her comments to make it not so easy for the next person!

guess

 

And we have a winner!

Greg

of

https://gregwolford.wordpress.com/

https://loosehim.wordpress.com/

Guessed

With

Melissa

of

http://thearanartisan.com/

A writer with class is who influences me.

Ronovan #BeWoW , , , , ,

A lot of people influence us in many ways. Some are good ways, some bad. These days I hope I’ve gotten past allowing people to be bad influences. At some point you know better. Then if you are honest with yourself, the only influence on you is you because you should be mature enough to know what to allow into your world of decision making and judgment making or not.

Who have I allowed into my world to be a good source to draw upon?

I suppose it all depends on what aspect of my life I am considering. I’ve been doing a lot of research on artists and writers in the world of what I call Graphic Literature. I have found one that has shown to me he is a class act.

His writing is world class. He can write any form from the comic book to the novel and sell millions of copies of either. But that talent is not what I look at for inspiration.

I’ve watched several videos of him speaking in different venues and audience situations. And in every instance he remains a class act. He is always helpful and engaging with the audience. He never acts as though he is anything special, although he must know his talent is or he would not do it.

His sense of humor in various social media is entertaining and he likes to poke fun at himself at times.

His most famous comic creation is a title his boss told him one day to go and create a new version of this comic with this name anyway you like.

Sandman made Neil Gaiman a sensation. He has not stopped since that day. No matter the number of sales, the amount of fame, he stays the same. When meeting a comic book legend who created Spider-Man, a man named Steve Ditko, he came out of the building like a fan boy in awe and giddy. It was the coolest thing I had seen.

Talent? Yes, but others have talent. Gaiman has class.

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La Familia Burron and Hermelinda Linda and much more.

Ronovan A to Z Challenge-Comic Creators Around the World , , , , , , , , , , , ,

In Graphic Literature the political cartoon always seems to be a lead-in to other things in a countries history in Graphic Literature. And that’s where today’s country somewhat began with the art form.

I’ll share a bit of that, plus some heroes as well. The art will of course pop up, well appear on the page. Let’s begin near the beginning. We’re headed to Mexico.

So we’ll start near the beginning.

First up is Gabriel Vargas and La Familia Burron (The Big, the-familyDumb Family). Why am I starting with this one? I think a book running from 1948-2009 should be mentioned. The book was about a lower to middle-class couple in Mexico, their teenage kids, and an adopted child.1 One site mentions a comparison to The Simpsons.2 Such a success from a man who had 11 siblings and was a draftsman for a newspaper around the age of 13.

 


Yolanda Vargas Dulché, an author who along with Alberto memin5Cabreras, created her own legend and legacy with Memín Pinguín in 1943.3 Memín Pinguín was noted for its use of clean language4 with family values and handling of societal issues. Part of the societal issues handled and that were able to be addressed is that Memín and is his mother were Afro-Mexican characters. The characters in the book were based on children Yolanda had seen when she was young and had traveled.5 To be truthful, the manner in which the main character is drawn cvargas2onfuses me. A description has him with curly hair. But all images are of him with no hair, that I can see, and I at first thought the boy in the picture might have been Memín, but no, he’s the boy in the red shirt.

Another of Yolanda’s creations, along with her husband Guillermo de la Parra, Lágrimas, Risas y Amor (Tears, Laughter and Love), 1962 was said to have helped to raise the literacy rate in Mexico. Think melodramas aimed at women.6

The above examples are rarities. The majority of the material that was put out during the 1970s and into the 1980s was little more than illustrated adult men’s magazine content.

Popular Books Today.

vaqueroTwo books mentioned as being the most widely circulated amongst Mexico’s historietas as they are called are El Libro Vaquero (The Cowboy semanalBook) aimed at men, dating back to 1952. and El Libro Semanal (The Weekly Book) aimed at women and set in the 19th century on the American frontier.7I’ll admit I like the idea of westerns as being a popular form of Graphic Literature as opposed to the normal superhero I am accustomed to.

The Dark Ages

It has been repeatedly mentioned in the main source I’ve used about how the industry did not go through the slump the United States did during the 1990s. I’ll take a moment for a personal comment here. If American comics had resorted to selling adult men’s magazine content on cheap paper and everywhere it could, most likely they could have floated through a little better. A great many American comics are more like hard-boiled detective novels or more modern dramas. than the family-friendly fare of old.

A Family Affair.

Now let’s talk about a family with a superhero flare. Yes, I am tired of dealing with the somewhat overtly serious and direct.


I love when generations get involved in creating Graphic Literature. There are several in the United States among Marvel Comics. But we’re in Mexico.

zorOscar González Guerrero is not what would be called a young man these days, born in 1926 he is now 89 years young. Perhaps the medium he works in is part of what keeps him that way.  He started back in the 1950s but is still active today as part of a company with his son. Some books from his early days were Zor y los Invencibles. And then one classic, I just can’t help but laugh to look at. Hermelinda Linda.8

hermelindahermelinda2

 

 

 

 

 

But let’s check out some of his son, Oscar González Loyo‘s work who 250px-Karmatronformed ¡Ka-Boom! Estudio9 with his father. Two of his noted books are Karmatron and the Transformers and Las Aventuras de Parchís. He’s also worked on titles such as the New Speed Racer, The Simpsons, and even storyboarded the Latin American version of Sesame Street. Storyboarding is where someone draws the images of how the sholoyow or movie is to go. That way people can see it visually before performing. He’s also a Will Eisner award winner.10

 

 

Well, that’s it for today. I have more but sometimes enough is enough for one day. You don’t want to know about the guy born in Mexico that ended up drawing Spider-Man and the X-Men anyway. Maybe another time. So what if the two guys above are the ones who made it happen for him.

See you tomorrow.

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References
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Return to Gabriel Vargas
1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Vargas
2 http://www.ualberta.ca/~berban/Mexico/mexhistory.html

Return to Yolanda Vargas Dulche
3 http://www.ualberta.ca/~berban/Mexico/mexhistory.html

4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yolanda_Vargas_Dulch%C3%A9
5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mem%C3%ADn_Pingu%C3%ADn
6 http://www.ualberta.ca/~berban/Mexico/mexhistory2.html

Return to Popular Today
7 http://www.ualberta.ca/~berban/Mexico/current.html

Return to Oscar Gonzales Guerrero
8 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Gonz%C3%A1lez_Guerrero

Return to Oscar Gonzalez Loyo
9 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C2%A1Ka-Boom!_Estudio

10 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Gonz%C3%A1lez_Loyo

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humberto_Ramos

 

 

 

Tomorrow is #BeWoW blogshare. Who has been a positive influence on you?

Ronovan #BeWoW , , , , , ,

Tomorrow is #BeWoW Wednesday, my weekly Twitter blogshare of positive posts. This week, because of my Sunday post, I thought if you haven’t come up with something yet, how about writing something about a person who has been a positive influence on your life and why.

ronovan writes copyright

You don’t have to use that as your idea, but if you need an idea, there you have it.

All you need do is write a post, Tweet it with the hashtag of #BeWoW just as it appears there. It stands for Be Wonderful on Wednesday. The post needs to be about positivity, encouragement, motivation, or just something positive. This isn’t a spammer share where you tweet everything you have.

Also I will post my #BeWoW and if you want my Readers to possibly see yours, paste your link in the comments of mine and they might go visit. That will make certain I see them.

You may seem some other  types of tweets in the #BeWoW hashtag but you’ll be able to tell which are which. It’s pretty simple.

Don’t just RT a tweet, and do RT them otherwise why do this, right? But go and visit the post as well. I’ve made some friends and found some surprises.

See you tomorrow. And make sure you are #BeWaTT! Be Wonderfull all The Time!

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L is for Lithuania. From Painters to Peanuts.

Ronovan A to Z Challenge-Comic Creators Around the World , , , , , , , ,

I find it interesting how world events, and politics can shape the creativity of a society.

I am reminded somewhat of the old Martin & Lewis movie Artists and aandmModels1 every time I do one of these articles when there is a long history of graphic artist interpretations of literature. In the movie these types of books are seen as a detriment to society through their influence on the young. Personally, I learned how to be a great reader through the form.

Graphic interpretation of writing goes back a ways in Lithuania, and there was even satire leading up to WWII. Something we might find surprising with our thoughts colored by the Cold War and Soviet Block since then.


The Early Years.

e8098214e018A man named Jonas Martinaitis was one of those early satire painters and writers.  He also did work for publications where he would use satire in the text of his work and often in rhyme.2 This sounds much like types of things we do here in a Haiku Challenge I host each week.

During the research for this series, I found comics in the form we know them today isn’t how they’ve always appeared. Early on, the text appeared in spaces beneath the images. In a way that makes sense in that you get to see a full piece of art. And understand, these were and can be works of art. Try to draw or paint some of what you see. Many people don’t realize that many comics are painted. But back then, those text balloons get in the way. These days the art is laid out in such a way as to account for the balloons.

Following WWII things were a bit more strict, much like what happened here in the US in the 1950s, with the publications being somewhat dictated to and any artistic images and wit were spun toward propaganda, not like here in the US in the 1950s. Fortunate or not, Martinaitis didn’t have to suffer this creative death. He passed away in 1947.

Creativity Grows Cold.

Imagine if for decades I were to tell you when creating  Haiku here on my site, the only place you could write Haiku and that was the only way you had to make money, that your words and images had to support something or be against something, regardless of what you believed. If you fought against me I would make sure you didn’t work anywhere else, because I had control there as well or possibly I could have you thrown into prison.

For Lithuania it was like that. Artists were subject to their work needing to meet the guidelines of Socialist realism as regulated by the government.3

It wasn’t until 1990 that Lithuania became the first Soviet republic to declare its independence after being occupied in WWII by the Soviets and the Nazis.4 I am trying to imagine the kind of things I would create under that atmosphere.

The Yoke Loosens.

In the 1960s the loosening feel, the I am free to be  me feel, that seemed to be in the air must have stretched to Lithuania in some way. Artistry and creativity in literary aspects changed slightly.

KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERAA painter named Aleksandras Vitulskis created what would be called the greatest of all Lithuanian comics 10037951.jpg.330x330_q85work  in 1968 and 1969.5 The work was compared to that of Alex Raymond6, creator of Flash Gordon7 in 1934. Considering the impact Raymond’s Flash Gordon had on US society in graphic interpretation and cinema I can only imagine what Vitulskis did for Lithuania. Here are samples of his work, not his comics work. I was unable to find any of that at this time. But will update this article when I do.pilenai2

A Touch of Humor and a Touch of Simplicity.

But not all Lithuanian creators were painters and detailed artists. Some went with simplicity and touching the pulse of a society. Enter Fridrikas Jonas Samukas and Miko Ridiko.Samukas focused using his wit and showing human flaws, something everyone could associate with.8 His art was simple and to the point, uncluttered so as to give a quick lithuania-comics-miko-ridikoimpression. For me, if I were looking at the painting above by Vitulskis, I might spend more time looking at each part rather than taking in the message. You need to look at your balance to achieve your goal. If you click on the image to the left you will see there are no words needed to relay the message. That message is universal in every society.

Samukas did that, and did it very well. Mikko Ridiko has been published since 1968 if that tells you how successful his method worked. It still goes on today although under other artists since his death in 2003.

Artists of Today.

First there is Andrius Zaksauskas. I love the images he comes up with. Some are a bit to the point. All very well done, very painter like with one I picked today that gives me a Charlie Brown feel, not so much in the style but in the feel of the words and yes, even in perhaps the style a bit with the size of the heads of the children. But the words spoken by the character in front reminds me a bit of Charlie Brown. I translates I can.

andriusForces you did not seek to be more than a person then you will be less than a human.

That is how Google Translate does it. I get the meaning but am having difficulties expressing it here. Can you put it into words that make better sense for me? Leave a comment below. Seriously.

The next is Herta Matulionytė-Burbienė. I love this one. I so wish these herta1were in English, but if you are a blogger or someone who Tweets or FBs things, you will get this image meaning easily. That’s the talent of this creator.

 

herta2

Cats Anonymous Slave Society

Prisipazjstu, that I am powerless over my cat, and humbly To be completed by all his wishes.

That’s it for today. I enjoyed researching for the article. Loving history and comics and art and writing, this series has been a lot of fun for me. I hope you enjoyed it. Tomorrow is some place beginning with M. I have no idea yet. I best get on that.
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References
Return Artists and Models
1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artists_and_Models

Return to The to Early Years
2 http://www.ljudmila.org/stripcore/burek/lithuan.htm

Return to Creativity Grows Cold
3 http://vddb.laba.lt/fedora/get/LT-eLABa-0001:E.02~2011~D_20110615_101047-35146/DS.005.0.02.ETD
4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuania

Return to Aleksandras Vitulskis
5 http://www.ljudmila.org/stripcore/burek/lithuan.htm
6 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Raymond
7 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_Gordon

Return to Fridrikas Jonas Samukas
8 http://www.respublika.lt/lt/naujienos/pramogos/zvaigzdes_ir_zmones/kaip_fsamukas_atrado_legendini_mika_ridika/
Return to Artists of Today

How To: Do Page Jumps-Return to Top of Page. Updated to make it Simpler.

Ronovan Blogging, Blogging How To , , , , , ,


I’ve been doing something called Page Jumps on my articles lately and I’ve had requests how to do them. So here I am. Page Jumps are when you do things like click on something that says Return to Top and it takes you to the top of the article.

Here are the Codes to use to have your Readers Return to the Top of page by clicking on those words. Make certain to do this in your Text Tab of your Post Editor.
AND where you see quotation marks that look backwards? They should face the words. They appear backwards here due to the color fonts. I know it sounds crazy but apparently the quotation marks are prioritizing the font stuff over the text stuff. Go figure.

Anchor Code-It goes at the very top of your article.
<a id=”Top“></a>
Go To/Return to Top Code-It goes where you want the Reader to be able to click.
<a href=”#Top“>Return to Top</a>

Don’t worry about the colors. That’s just something I have from later in the post where the red is what you leave alone, and the blue is what you can change. The Reader won’t see the colors. Just the words Return to Top in that second code.

That’s the simple way without any explanation of how things work. You can do it and things are fine. If you want to understand more, keep reading. You can bail out of here any time you like.

 

If you’re still with me, I’ve been using a lot of references and instead of having all the links and colors filling up the body of the article/post, I decided to go with a little more professional look.

I am going to break this up into different posts for different Titled jumps, even though they are all basically the same.

Today will be

How To: Include a Return to Top of Page “Page Jump”.

I’ll be honest with you. If you can do this, You can do any of the other Page Jumps I will discuss later in the series. But I’m not going to clutter up things with too many things at once.

You need two pieces of HTML Script/Code to do the Return to Top Page Jump. I gave them at the top but don’t worry they appear several times in the article. You saw how simple they are.

Bur first there are things to remember about HTML:

  • Always use HTML in the Text Tab of your Post Editor. It will not work in the Visual Tab.
  • When going through this article, all Red Bold Text is what is to be left alone. Blue Plain Text within the HTML Code is what you can change to meet what your need.
  • Save often if doing a lot of HTML Code.
  • Always open an HTML Code intensive post in the Text Tab. 

The following is how the Codes appear in a generic form, before you do what you want to them. I will also call the codes by these two Titles throughout this series but without the word Generic.

Generic Anchor code:

<a id=”unique-identifier“>words for reader to see</a>

Generic Go To code:

<a href=”#unique-identifier“>words for reader to see and click</a>

For Return to Top of Page, the Codes will end up like this.

Anchor code:

<a id=”Top“></a>

Go To code:

<a href=”#Top“>Return to Top</a>

Let’s talk Anchor Code a moment. You can now copy and paste the Anchor Code to the top of your post before everything else, even with the colors. Remember  no one will see the colors or anything else. The only way anyone can see the Anchor Code is if you put in something between the ><. And even then they don’t see the actual code itself.

Place the Go To code anywhere you need to in your post. For the Go To code, the only thing people will see is Return to Top. Why? because those words appear between the >< in the Go To code.

You can now do the Return to Top jump in your post.

If you keep reading, I explain about how the two scripts work and what makes parts of them important. If you are simply going to use them as is and you think any further explanation might confuse you then stop now. Just make sure to scroll down to connect with me at various places like Twitter and Facebook.

But if you stay, those two pieces of code will appear again at the end, so you won’t have to scroll back up to get them or worry about copying and pasting right now.

You are still with me. Here is the Generic Anchor (GA) code and the new Top Anchor (TA) code, see how the Anchor code changed?

GA <a id=”unique-identifier“>words for reader to see</a>

TA <a id=”Top“></a>

The unique-identifier was changed to Top. That’s the word I am using to let the Go To code know where to go to. 

The words for reader to see was deleted. I personally don’t want anyone to see something at the top of my article that isn’t part of my article. You can have the word Top in there if you want people to know that’s where the Top is they are going to. The code would look like this

<a id=”Top“>Top</a>

In the Article the Reader would see the word Top in the article.

If I made the code look like this <a id=”Top“>Banana</a> the Reader would see the word Banana in the article.

But to make this work, the important part is that unique-identifier, what is now showing as Top. Now we need the Go To code and something for the Reader to Click so they can Go To the Top.

You have  the Anchor <a id=”Top“></a>
Now here is the Go To <a href=”#Top“>Return to Top</a>

Notice how the word Top appears after the = sign in both of the codes? The words are identical to each other. That is important. The script is case sensitive. Leave that # in the Go To code.

With those two scripts above you can now have some fun. You can put that Anchor at the top of your page, or anywhere in the page for that matter, and then paste that Go To script anywhere you like and as many times as you like.

That’s it for today.

If you want more detail today, and I mean MORE detail, click here. Otherwise I’ll have another article soon with more Page Jump tips. In the meantime,

Let’s connect. and then if you have a How To suggestion click here for the Contact Form.

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You decided you wanted a little more. Okay. Well, it’s a lot more now that I’ve typed it up.

Anchor Code: <a id=”unique-identifier“>words for reader to see</a>

Go To Code: <a href=”#unique-identifier“>words for reader to see and click</a>

You can do all the Page Jumps you want with these two pieces of code. I’ll have posts coming up that breaks them out more but if you want to play a little here’s all you need to do.

See that unique-identifier?

As long as you have that Identical in both codes, you can put them anywhere in your post. You want someone to have the option of skipping down to here, like I did earlier? This is all you do.

Anchor Code: <a id=”here“></a>

Go To Code: <a href=”#here“>here</a>

The id is what is known as a Header. So the id/Header for the page jump to this section equals “here“. So my header is the word here. That lets the Go To Code know what Header word to Reference when looking for where to Go To. See what I did with the red bold letters? href, and what does the Go To Code include? href.

Review for a moment and catch your breath. All of that we just talked about means, the words unique-identifier must be identical in both codes to talk to each other. If they don’t, they won’t work. That’s all we said.

Now to walk through what each part of the Anchor code means. Like I said earlier, I’m not using techie words here. At least not intentionally. If you think is too much, bail now before I confuse you.

<a id=”here“></a>

Each character in the code means something. I may not give you the technical jargon, but I will give you the gist of it all.

  • <a (Tells the blog this HTML script is going to create a link up with another script on the page or another page. That’s what <a means, a link. Just like <p means paragraph.)
  • id=”here“(This is identifying your Header. Your unique place for the Go To Code to unite with. The word you type where it says here is what the Go To Script is going to look for. It’s case sensitive and needs to be exact in both HTML Codes.)
  • >< (Anything between these two will appear to the Reader of the article/post.)
  • /a> (This closes the script. If you don’t have the / in there,  there might be additional words affected. I found that out with another type of script.)

Let’s walk through what each part of the Go To code means. Or at least what it means to us.

<a href=”#here“>here</a>

  • <a (Tells the blog this HTML script is going to create a link up with another script on the page or another page. That’s what <a means, a link. Just like <p means paragraph.)
  • href=“#here“ (This is telling the blog the HTML script is looking for a Header Reference that is equal to a specific word. When you created the Anchor with the Anchor Code you created a Header. Now when a Reader clicks the Go To words your URL will change slightly. For example, when you clicked the word here in order to come down to this part of the page the URL now ends with #here. Notice in the following how it appears when References is used as the Anchor. https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/2015/04/11/japan-manga-comics/#Tezuka6-8)
  • Now this is the cool part. You can put that link, that URL since it has that Header in it, with that #, in your Go To code where it says here, and now Jump To that spot in that page. Because that URL is an Anchor on that other page.) But what would that Go To code look like? <a href=”#https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/2015/04/11/japan-manga-comics/#Tezuka6-8“>here</a>
  • >< (Anything between these two will appear to the Reader of the article/post. This could say here, or Return to Top, or Banana. As long as there is one something in there for the Reader to click, they can Page Jump.)
  • /a> (This closes the script. If you don’t have the / in there, then there might be additional words affected. I found that out with another type of script.)

Now you can see with just these two codes you can do a lot.

Anchor Code: <a id=”unique-identifier“></a>

Go To Code: <a href=”#unique-identifier“>word for readers to see and click</a>

Return to Top


← Back

Thank you for your response. ✨

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RonovanWrites Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt Challenge #40 New&Time

Ronovan Haiku Prompt Challenge , , , , , , , , , , , ,

All links on this page will open in this window. If you see or hear the words click here that means the word here has a link in it you may click or select and go to another page with information. If you do this, then simply click the back arrow in your browser to return to this post page.

Challenge 40

challenge-40

Welcome to Haiku Fu.

Yes, it’s on like Diddy Kong. The battle to the finish. Who will remain standing as we Haiku Fu you? Everybody was Haiku Fu Fighting. Who will be fast as lightning and be the first to post and be reblogged here on RonovanWrites?

Want to know How to write a Haiku Poem in English Form? Click here for the article.

As the love I have for her is new each morning.

Welcome everyone to the Weekly Haiku Prompt Challenge. You may have found your way here through The Daily Post pages, the WordPress Reader, Twitter, Google+, or however you found us, we’re glad you came. I’m not just saying that. After you have been with us for a time you will realize we aren’t just a place to share a three line poem. We are a community of friends here. That doesn’t mean you have to talk to us. Just visit the various Haiku and click Like if you actually like something.

I created this challenge to have a place for people to share and gain a little exposure to other readers they might not have otherwise AND of course to enjoy Haiku. We all have different people who visit our blogs.

Provide your Twitter Handle IF you have one. I usually can get it from sharing your Haiku through your Twitter sharing button. If you have a Twitter and don’t  have it linked to your account don’t worry you can still have the share option work with the handle. Click here to find out how to have your Twitter Handle show up in your share option. You know. I have a how-to article for just about everything. If not? Ask and I’ll write one. Also it is helpful if you have Google+ to follow me there by clicking here so I can include you on the Weekly Review when I post it there. I try to post it there but illness has been taking its toll lately, but hopefully you will see it there soon.

About commenting with your link to your post. I advise it. I think more people click the comment links. Yes, do a ping back, but do a comment link if you think about it. Go ahead and put your twitter handle in there. I think it’s a good idea for readers to follow you that are passing through.

new & Time

Can you guess the inspiration for the prompt words?

My Example

Old life gives ways to

A time of our greater joy,

Is found in new days.

Old life gives ways to a time of our greater joy.

A time of our greater joy is found in new days.

You do not have to include the sentences within your post, but it does help others understand how Haiku works if you do.

So you’ve written the  Haiku and you’ve created the post. Now what?

  1. You can put a the link of this post in your post and it should, I say should, do a ping back to this post and I and others should see it.
  2. I recommend as well for you to copy the link of your post once it has been published in the comments of this post. That’s a guarantee for it to be seen and I will be certain to include it in the Weekly Review.
  3. Visit other people’s Haiku.
  4. The deadline is Sunday by Noon EST. That’s New York City time.
  5. Shortly after Noon EST the Weekly Review with the names of each blogger, their site names, the name of their Haiku and a link to that Haiku will be published, along with my thoughts, and the Twitter Handle of each person.
  6. The Weekly Review is then Tweeted. The ‘Choices’ are tweeted with the first Tweet. I then continue to tweet the post until every person’s twitter handle has been mentioned.
  7. I also Post the Weekly Review on Google+ with the Twitter Handles and if I am your friend on Google+ I include you there as well.

What’s a Ping Back?

A ping back is when you place the URL from the address bar of this post into the post you write your Haiku on. It will look something like this,

https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/2015/04/12/ronovanwrites-weekly-haiku-poetry-prompt-challenge-40-new-past

You also have to make certain the link is actually in there by clicking on the add link button which is next to the right alignment button for WordPress. To me the add link button kind of looks like a diagonal paper clip. It’s the fifth from the right in the WordPress post editor. Click here to find out how.

For a full refresher or How to write Haiku in English click here. But you can use whatever Haiku style you want to. As long as you, do a Haiku.

For Tips and Guidelines refreshers click here.

 DEADLINE: Noon on Sunday New York Time.

 

There are TWO “CHOICE!” recipients each week. One for Humor and one for something more Serious. The Haiku are quite good each week and I am having to turn to the structure guidelines of a Haiku at times to help determine my selection.

Really each Haiku is a choice of mine, and I’m not just saying that, so I feel a bit odd even having something called A RONOVAN’S CHOICE, but hey, it’s a thing, right? And it does make it kind of fun.

ronovan writes humor haiku badgeronovan-writes-serious-haiku-badgeserious haiku badge

 

 

 

 

 

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#Kuwait #The99 and comics. On trial, for real. #AtoZChallenge

Ronovan A to Z Challenge-Comic Creators Around the World , , , , ,

KSome think of comic books as a joke and childish. You are about to learn differently. You are about to learn you are dead wrong. You haven’t read any of these yet? Read this one or you might as well not come back to visit the rest of the challenge posts.

Writing about comic book creators around the world was a dream idea of mine. I knew it wouldn’t be easy. Try the letter K for a country that creates comic books. I an forced to use places recognized as being autonomous states if need be. So far, so good. Hong Kong was was an iffy point but I’ll take it. The point is to make it around the world and hit every letter in some fashion.

Today, with the letter K I ran into a situation where there is a little bit of a problem. I’m going to go ahead and do it anyway. I’ll be mentioning a terrorist organization during this.

We’re headed to Kuwait.

atoz-map-flags-k

This is the first name I got a hit on and I’m going with it. Being there is some sensitivity here, I will tread as lightly as I can. Forgive me if I do step over any line I shouldn’t, but I believe this is something that moved me to need to share.

Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa


Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa1 is a man who saw an opportunity and took it. So where does the doctor come in? Psychology, from of all places Long Island University. And he has an MBA from Columbia. And that’s where the idea comes in. Actually it was in London in a taxi with his mother an sister.

Apparently he had promised is sister that one day he would write and she would illustrate. He had given up writing and thought the idea now was one of those of who has time type of things. By the time the taxi ride was over, a trip to Harrods2, he had the idea that would shake up comics, the Arab world, his life, and gain the attention of a group that likes to be called by an official sounding title, the Islamic State. There will be no reference link for them.

The 99 Cometh.

00And that’s why we are here talking.  The 993 by Teshkeel Comics4, is about a social activist and scholar, Dr. Ramzi and 99 young people from 99 countries with special abilities based on the 99 attributes of the Muslim God. I avoid using his name as not to offend. The bad guy is

Dr. Ramzi
Dr. Ramzi

Rughal based on Osama bin Laden and al-Queda.

The book was first written by Naif, the origin story published 2006. But his goal was this would be Superman level quality or not at all. That’s what he told people as he asked for funding. Think of what is called a Kickstarter these days but on a global and much larger scale.

The Superman Quality joins.

The book is now written and drawn by top level talent such as legendary comic book writer of X-Men fame, Fabian Nicieza5, who along with Rob Liefeld created the character Deadpool of which there has been so much buzz about the forthcoming movie. Also superstar artist John McCrea6 of Ireland joined in. He is well known for is collaborations with Garth Ennis. As well as artist June Brigman7, who helped create Marvel’s Power Pack comic, drew Supegirl, and now also instructs at the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art as well as being a part time professor for the Atlanta branch of the Savannah College of Art and Design, known as SCAD by those who know. And there are more. I only mentions these writers and artists to show you the quality of this book as well as the reach of this book.

The 99 was given approval at every level of the Arabic society that it needed in order to become reality, even through rigorous religious approval. Now Naif is on trial in Kuwait, his home country for blasphemy. He’s received awards for the book from leading organizations in the Arabic world for the positive results of The 99. President Obama of the US even spoke of the book.

The 99 even had a cross over with the Justice League with Superman and others. Why did the terrorist group call for the death of Naif and those who created the book? People are uniting across cultures and religions and getting along instead of fighting.

This is not a Muslim comic book. Let’s put that out there. This book has teams of three who unite to take care of problems against evil. The teams are not always the same but are selected with purpose. The bad guys are also young people that could be members of The 99 but have instead fallen under the influence of the bad guy and all wear the same uniforms and have no personal expression.

Naif is very specific about the book not promoting a religion but the attributes that are universal and showing how Islam members are not all of one kind, much like not all of Christians are of one kind.

As far as I am concerned the fatwa8, legal ruling, is a glory attempt by the lawyer who brought it forth.  This trial is occurring as this article is written. Read about fatwa through the link in the references. It’s more than we here in the west know. We only see the real bad parts. Just like we only see the extremist Islamic things.

For more details, if you wish you may visit Naif’s personal site by clicking the here for the reference link which is the first one below, or click here for a reference link to an article from The Australian from April 10, 2015., number 9 below. Also you can watch the video below of Naif”s Ted Talk, or one of them, about how The 99 came to be. I will include both videos I watched, I recommend the first which is less rehearsed. he paces a lot but I believe you get to see who he is more. The video and Naif’s own site is where I got most of my information from.

To check out J for Japan and Manga’s history, click the article link or the letter below.

Japan Manga from AstroBoy to FullMetal Alchemist Awesome!

J

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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References

Return to 1-2
1 http://www.al-mutawa.com/

2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrods

Return to 3-4
3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_99

4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teshkeel_Comics

Return to 5-7
5  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabian_Nicieza

6 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCrea

7 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_Brigman

Return to 8-10
8 http://www.islamicsupremecouncil.org/understanding-islam/legal-rulings/44-what-is-a-fatwa.html

9 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/is-it-a-bird-is-it-a-plane-no-its-99-muslim-superheroes/story-fnb64oi6-1227298266441
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RonovanWrites Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt Challenge 39 Review

Ronovan Haiku Prompt Challenge , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

39-challenge

Not certain if anyone noticed, as no one mentioned, but that’s Hugh calmly and happily sleeping, obliviously to the fact his sun hat has been taken by Toby and is being destroyed as revenge for having to put up with sand in his paws and fur with no treats as reward for the suffering for being eye candy on the beach.

Now on with the

Week #39 Haiku Challenge Review of the Word Ill & Rest

Be aware all links and images if clicked will open in a new window. Links are in blue and usually underlined. I believe they look cleaner and nicer this way rather than having a URL showing on the page.

A piece of advice. Although Ping Back are seen and may be clicked on bey visitors to the weekly challenge post, I am seeing that comment links seem to be getting more visitors, at least for newer members of the challenge.

New This Week

January’s Dream: “Like this site, I’m a work-in-progress, but by God’s grace, He’s still editing.”~From the About Page. The Haiku: Night Sky. An Easter Haiku, with a very nice painting as the background. The message is perfect with the words. The Haiku stays with the theme of the site, which I like when there is a them to a site. Very nice.

daleenDaleen of My Grandfather was an Undertaker: “My Grandfather was an undertaker, but that was his job – that was not who he was as a person. He instilled in me the deep knowledge that I was loved and that I was special. But more than just being special, I was special to him and that made me brave on the inside.”~From her About Page. Much more heartfelt words than this. I like her writing style if this is an example of it. Really should go and read. The Haiku: Destruction. This was her first Haiku and she nailed it. There was a lot of support from our Challenge community here. A definite Must Read and Like. The only thing missing is a Twitter account for me to follow and share. I know, not everyone has one, but I love connecting with my Haiku people there.

 

First to Enter this Week:

Alyssa of Battered Wife Seeking Better Life: Heart’s Desire. Alyssa, a name I have chosen for her since she is our resident mystery lady, has grown as a Haiku poet. Her Haiku are, as I like to call mine, micro chapters of her autobiography. They tell a story. You can tell where she is and what she is thinking in the moment. Her Haiku match the theme of her blog and her personality. In other words, her Haiku are honest. Go and not only check out this Haiku, which many have liked not only on her blog but as well as the reblog here on my site, but also look at her other poetry in the left sidebar. She puts them on images that you in pin on Pinterest where she also shares her work. @BWseekingBL

Florence of Meanings and Musings: Insatiable. My title for the Haiku, of course. Notice that Florence is now on Meanings and Musings and not Rambling On Blog. She has combined the two. If you were following Rambling On and not Meanings, then make certain you follow now. You will see two very complex sides of her. Meanings often gets into some very deep thinking moments. I quite enjoy them. @FTThum

Edwina of Edwina’s Episodes: The Elusive Moon. I find Edwina has a way with words that perhaps speaks too a personality that permeates her being. There is a consistency in her work and I like it. I enjoy having a bit of fun in comments teasing and the like. Not this week I think, but I have, and she has a great sense of humor. A very good one to follow.

Serins of Serins Sphere: Out of Reach. Serins is posting the Haiku on her Tumblr blog for the time being. I think it’s because of the A to Z Challenge. Those posts take up some space at times. @SerinsSphere

Meredith & Martha of Meredith’s Musings Challenge and Games from Meredith then Competition and Golf from Martha. I like the messages of Meredith’s and I too have played the game she mentions. I haven’t in quite some time though. I do wish that photo would enlarge. Looks to be a very pleasing photo of our angels. Martha is having fun with a war. I have to admit, it’s the one game I would most likely be playing now if I were physically able.  @Meredithlbl

Greg of Potholes in the Road of Life: Just out of Reach. Hmm. I like this one. Although he was concerned about his misreading of the word vie as view, I believe the meaning of vie is in the Haiku itself. The reader can give it meaning as they wish. I like the lack of reveal, which is another part of Haiku, not telling everything. Leaving as much to the interpretation of the reader as possible. Very nice. Really enjoyable. Depending on where you are in your life and thoughts, this could take on numerous meanings. Well done, Greg. Greg, having misread the word vie decided to write another Haiku, Oops, I Did It Again. This one we all can identify with.  @greg_wolford 

Ritu of But I Smile Anyway…:  Inspiring. Very nice with the leaving things open to interpretation. I love those kind of Haiku.

Ruth of Mad Meandering Me: Per Ardua Ad Astra…  Hmm, this one makes me thing that if we all were what she writes about then no one would be. #FeelingThinky

SW ysobel of Spunky Wayfarer.  Swirling to Waltz. Great imagery in this one. Too much of the first could lead to the last or the swirling of the first is the last, or who knows what else the reader might come up with. @SpunkyWayfarer

Sacha Black of Sacha Black: Reach against Doubt. She doubts her abilities but each week she shows up and continues to prove herself wrong. Check her out. Her Haiku! Geesh. Some people.

Felicity of The Dark Night Chronicles: Promises. I like how this one was done. A bit of an interesting rhyming scheme. Although I am against those last two words in the second line. They kill me. Well they could. I like seeing that her Haiku is beginning to pick up support on her site. It was something new there and I believe it took a little time for her readers to get into but she’s won them over. Not really a surprise, right? Felicity is also one of our Authors. You can get her book Erotic Passages at Amazon by clicking here.

Rajani Radhakrishnan of THOTPURGE: Waltzing Rainbows. Very nice with nature and structure. The imagery is great. I hate to say it like this but will, it’s a very pretty Haiku. You’ll understand why I say that when you read it.

clickerwriter of Captured by Aishwarya: Vying for the Unreachable Ooooo, a good message. I like the story telling and imagery. As to the story gold, a twist on the oldest of stories in a way I hadn’t thought of. Nice.

Sandra of Wild Daffodil: Texture. Love the photo that goes with this, not saying I don’t like the Haiku, but photography with nice subjects always draw my attention.

Mira of They, You And Me and To Wear and Rainbow blogs:  Come Closer. Well, if you insist. But that would likely be one expensive commute. Yes, I am already beginning to lose my mind.  @BediMona

Claudette of to search and to find happiness in every day: Lessons. Still contemplating this one. Ah, I got it. Sometimes the old mind must read slowly and break it down. But I finally got it. Yay me. I like having to think hard at times.

Elizabeth of Tea & Paper: Pink moon.  Nature! I’m not saying all Haiku for the challenge needs to be about nature. In fact I like people writing what comes to them, but I do enjoy those who take up the challenge of Haiku in it’s aspects. And yes, I did notice two uses of vie in this one. Did you? @TeandPaper

K. Renae P. of Mostly True Stories of K. Renae P.: Grandmother. Kind of think of cousins and other grandchildren fighting to be the favorite.

Rachael Ritchey of Writing Rachael Ritchey: Hog’s Delight. Okay, so I always create the entry here before I read the Haiku, including the name. As I look at this, I am so wondering about it. Okay. I like how there are two aspects to this, but I feel somewhat offended. I am a Dawg, not  Hog. I know both are in the SEC of NCAA football, but there is a different. I bark and drool, I don’t grunt and root around. Remember to check out her book The Beauty Thief is available on Amazon with great reviews.  

Marjorie of Kyrosmagica: Ballerinas Vie for the Moon. Two Haiku which I combined with one title. I think they go together. Great image and I like the elegance of this at this moment in the challenge review. Sometimes you need something with a different hand, touch, to bring the mind to ease.

Nato of Chasing Life and Finding Dreams – Reaching for Love. Oh, she keeps asking and asking, and I keep telling and telling. But seriously, a Haiku I think many people experience at some point. Even for those near and not so far. And don’t forget that Michelle also has something else other than great writing talent going for her. Visit Michelle Lunato Photography. @MichelleLunato

Colleen of Silver Threading: Survival. A nature Haiku that could also be interpreted as human and even as one for writers. I like thinking of how it might be viewed as being for a writer as they move forward through a work in progress. @ColleenChesebro  Also remember to drop by the LWI site and read Colleen’s Book Reviews. She is excellent. Click here to see everything she’s written.

stu06bloc9 of  Pitter Patter Poetry: Haiku (ish). Still thinking on this one. My mind tries to find a rhyme that is sublime to go with the way these words say things about a day, but thoughts bring things to fray. So I think I’ll deny to say why I can’t lie about why my oh my the words I create come out shy. There is also a second blog if you would like to drop by,  Snailzpace Daily.  

Canaf of Faithful Devotionals: Loss. Sometimes you just don’t say anything. Go and read.

Vashti Quiroz-Vega: The Fall of Lillith. If you want a glimpse, and I do mean a glimpse of Vashti’s next book go check out her Haiku, title of the same name. I have read the new book, as a beta-reader and I will say this; she put a lot into this book, including a lot of research, and getting things just right for her story. And the Haiku nails the character of Lillith perfectly without telling you too much. Get Vashti’s current book, The Basement on Amazon by clicking here.

Melissa of The Aran Artisan:  Reaching for the Heart. There are three here today. All inspired by a visit into the city of Galway. Melissa’s blog is a must for anyone interested in learning about a culture. American, married to an Irishman who moved back to his homeland. She’s making the most of it and inspiring others along the way. She’s writing a book each day and doesn’t even realize it. A Must Follow. @thearanartisan

Marigold of Versus Blurb: Go for it. Marigold is doing it as she goes for it. So go for it and do read her Haiku and her inspiration for it. Go purchase Marigold Deidre Dicer’s book The Black Swan Inheritance from Smashwords, Kobo, Barnes and Noble or the iBooks store or purchase it from Amazon on Kindle by clicking here. @MarigoldDicer 

Melissa M of This, right now: Spring. You know, I always  get these seasonal feelings from Melissa. Wonder if that’s because she keeps doing the nature aspect of Haiku? Yeah, that just occurred to me. Duh, right?

E. Rawls of E. Rawls: Author creating stories and art: Unreachable A fairy tale in three lines. It works. Yep. I think the best would be to her book page on her weebly site, http://erawls.weebly.com/  

Patty of Strawberries Forever: Two this week. I win I so want a  picture of this moment. It would be “Legen…wait for it…and I hope you’re not lactose intolerant because the second half of that word is DARY.” @pattythepa

Khor Hui Min of Project Prose:  Motivate Ah, this reminds me of one time when a speaker came and spoke before me “I’m Matt Foley and I’m a motivational speaker. Don’t end up like me. You’ll end up 35 years old, eating a steady diet of government cheese, thrice divorced, and living in a van down by the river!” Don’t ask me why I am into these quotes all of a sudden. @MinKhor

Sue Vincent from Daily Echo: Construct. An awesome photo. Something few of us will visit but amazing. Sue is one of our resident Authors. Click here  for her Amazon Author Page and all those books she’s written.  @SCVincent

Hugh of Hugh’s Views & News: Good Friends Always. A poem to visit.. @RobertHughes05

 

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Colleen of Silver Threading: Survival. A nature Haiku that could also be interpreted as human and even as one for writers. I like thinking of how it might be viewed as being for a writer as they move forward through a work in progress. @ColleenChesebro  Also remember to drop by the LWI site and read Colleen’s Book Reviews. She is excellent. Click here to see everything she’s written.

 

 

 

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 No real humor ones this week.

And the Closing Haiku:

Friends time is vied for,

They forget about my world,

Yet I reach with heart.

 

 

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RonovanWrites Week In Review Apr. 6-12

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Thought on Sunday

Make an impact in a person’s life for life.

This was a stream of thought piece, but then what of mine aren’t on Sundays? But this was inspired by a former student and took on a life of its own. I was surprised at the response. But then, when am I not surprised at the response to anything I write?

Poetry

Good Friends Always.

This is a Haiku and picture/cartoon I did for my friend Hugh Roberts who went through a loss in his family. I am his back up on his blog when he has to take time off and I took advantage and hijacked it. I would appreciate if you do click the title, you then go to his blog and like it if you do actually like what you see. Just as a simple gesture of support.

Weekly Haiku Prompt Challenge Review 38

Weekly Haiku Prompt Challenge #39 Vie and Reach

Observe the curves without reserves.  I’ve become a little experimental of late with my rhyming.

I ain’t lazy, maybe a little crazy. Continuing my rhyming craziness combined with a new passion of mine.

Lips Intoxicate.

To Your Whim.

 

Articles

I’m in the A to Z Blogging Challenge and my Theme is Comic Book Creators Around the World.

England Comic Book Creators at Home and Their US Invasion.

France Creators from Zig et Puce to Moebius.

Greece from Arkas to Papadatos.

Hong Kong from Oriental Heroes to McDull. Comics abound.

Ireland from Paddy to Ennis this country has it all.

Japan Manga from AstroBoy to Full Metal Alchemist Awesome!

Breaking out of your comfort zone. Be fearless to find your writing voice.
I talk about finding your writer’s voice, your author’s voice.

Success will follow happines. My #BeWoW Post.

My article for my weekly blogshare hashtag for posts about positivity. Share what you got. Just hashtag it like you see it and throw in my Twitter Handle if you want to make certain I see it. Twitter get’s crazy at times. @RonovanWrites.

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Make an impact in a person’s life for life.

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Feeling awful is awful. I wasn’t doing a Sunday Thought today because of that reason. I’ve been feeling awfuler the past few days and progressively awfuler as the days pass. Yes, I know it’s not a word. It’s my writer’s prerogative angst at the moment. Bare with me. Yes, I said bare. You don’t want to know. And yes I am ignoring the people telling me to put my pants on. I have a blanket. I’m good.

What have you done that people will remember you for? Other than blogging without pants. Do you attempt to make an impression? Should you attempt to make a good impression? Does that mean you might do something that would make a bad impression?

You could carry this out with question after question, and sometime in the future I might do that in order to show you how my mad mind works. Today, I stopped with that question, although I can feel at least three more questions floating in that empty space up there, begging to seep out onto the page.

If you look at the Bible, we really aren’t to worry about making impressions, not ones to make ourselves look good. “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,”~2 Philippians 2:3.

You can look at the world today and see the people doing things for themselves. They want to get people to like them. Sometimes they want the wrong people to like them. These people may be celebrities or your best friend.

What is the impression you get from them? I would dare say a negative impression, annoyed, a sense of queasiness at times at even the mention of their name. Some will say, “At least you know me.” “Bad press is better than no press at all.” I think we’ve all heard some variation of that. Let’s look at the rest of that sentence from Philippians. I just love how that guy cut a sentence up to make verses. “not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”~Philippians 2:4 Here, we see it’s not about us, but about others. Don’t mistake this for sticking your nose into another person’s business. I think too many Christians look at it that way.

As we mature, age, we are asked who are the positive influences on our lives. In our younger days they might be musicians, actors, or athletes. As we get older we turn to authors, poets, activists, spiritual leaders, historical figures. We turn to people that hold up over time.

If you ask me who is an influence in my life and I say Jesus, many of you would laugh or roll your eyes. But take a moment to think about this. When looking at the teachings of Jesus, the historical evidence of his existence and death, and lack of negative remarks against him in the historical record, you find a man who holds up like none other. Even if you don’t believe he was God here on earth, he was a man who held up as a man who walked the walk that he talked.

His followers fail every day but he didn’t. Ignore me, ignore Billy Graham, ignore the Pope, ignore all the religious, spiritual, world leaders and think about the teachings of a man who spoke about what so many people like to harp on about as universal truths and beliefs.

Don’t try to make a good impression. Try to be a good person, live right, don’t be selfish, be kind and concerned for the well being of others. That’s how to make an impression. And how to really do it, is by not even knowing you are doing it.

Am I kind and caring? I like to think I am at times. I don’t set out to do it. It’s not my purpose. I wake up and I just do what I do. My intent each day is not to do bad things. Perhaps that’s it. My focus each morning, during my quiet time as I focus my thoughts and my world, is to do good, to focus on good, and to move away from bad. I fail each day in some way, but I keep trying.

I’ll leave you with this passage from Philippians, without the verse numbers, I believe they detract from the understanding at times.

“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.”

Bold emphasis mine.

Every knee will bow to a servant. Next time you are in a restaurant, kneel down in the aisle and bow to the one who serves you your food. Kneel down to the person who cleans the toilets in your workplace.

Jesus fed us the Spirit and cleaned up all our junk for us. All we need do is bow to him and acknowledge the truth. You don’t want to accept him? At least read and follow his teachings. Look at the Sermon on the Mount beginning in Matthew Chapter 5. As well as the rest of his actual words in the First four books of the New Testament. These are great words to live by.

The inspiration for this post came after I received a request from a former student for my address to send a high school graduation invitation to me. She is one of the loveliest young ladies you could ever know. That invitation came at just the right moment. As I had made an impression on her, so too had she on me, and through that, things work out for those “just the right moment” moments. I was about to give up on the A to Z blogging challenge, letting everything going on in my life get in the way and get me down. I was done with it, sick, tired. But I am going to try and push through another week and see what happens. A simple message and things change.

So this post is dedicated to that young lady. MB won’t be reading this but she’s out there somewhere, praising God right now in church.  At least as I write this.

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#Japan #Manga from #AstroBoy to #FullMetalAlchemist Awesome! #AtoZChallenge

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JThere was no way I could do a series about comics and not head to Japan. For some Japan is comic books in a true art form and engrained in culture unlike anywhere else in the world. Where many and most societies look at the art form as a child’s funny book, in Japan the books are graphic art presentations of literary art forms for all ages with the books being anything from childlike humor to corporate room cutthroat business. If it happens in society it can happen in comics, but kicked up to a sensational level, just as you would find in the best novels on the market.

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Many of you have heard of the word Manga, but do you know what it means?

Katsushika Hokusai1

Hokusai was an artist during late 18th and early 19th century Japan with the use of would block carvings to use for printing, coined the term during one of his many name changes. He changed his name as he changed his style. In 1811 he began what would be known as the Hokusai Manga, with manga meaning “playful sketches” to describe his humorous images. The forms were created with simple lines and made for increased production. This new form brought him even more fame and a great many students.

The most famous of his Manga work would be his 36 Views of Mt. Fuji. As you look at the art below, think of how this was first cut into a wood book in order to be used to make prints.

The_Apparition_of_Mt_Fuji_on_the_5th_year_of_Korei.

This was not the first instance of what might be  called comic books for Japan. In the  mid 18th Century you would find what were called Kibyoshi or yellow books. These were satirizing of politicians and society in general. They were eventually banned and the edge taken off of the wit.


Following Hokusai the West came to Japan with Commodore Perry in 1853. With him came Western art forms and influences that found their way into Japan’s own art culture.2

By the 20th Century a new art form was beginning to take shape.

Rakuten Kitazawa

Yasuji (1876-1955, maybe), his real first name, is considered by many as one of, if not the father of modern Manga due to his influence on those who came later.3  His early career was influenced by Australia artist and cartoonist, Frank Arthur Nankivell4, who would leave Japan for the US and fame in his own right working for the first successful American humor magazine, Puck5.

Kitazawa created the satirical magazine Tokyo Puck. You can see the influence Nankivell had in the name. The artwork here, especially in the panel on the right is beautiful. I might at some point devote an article per creator some day.

tokyo-puck-art

Following Kitazawa we have another “father” of Manga. One that may be closer to what the West knows of as Manga.

Osamu Tezuka

Osamu Tezuka (1928-1989) was a cartoonist, animator and more. When you think of Tezuka, think Japan’s Walt Disney6. That literally is what people have called him, and rightfully so. All I really need to say is Astro Boy.

newtreasureisland-cover.s600x600In 1944, at the age of 16, still in high school, Tezuka was drafted into WWII and work in a military factory where he would spend as much time as possible drawing, often on toilet paper. He witnessed first hand the results of the Osaka fire bombing. This would stay with him for the remainder of his life.7

Inspite of the military, he graduated and went on to medical school, but didn’t give up Manga. His first published work was The Diary of Ma-chan (1946). But then it happened. 1947 and we see New Treasure Island8 sell over 600,000 copies. Think about that. Just after WWII, devastated, and along comes something to give the people excitement. Tezuka introduces a cinematicastroboy-cover story telling style of Manga that is what we know of today.

Then it really happened. 1952 and a minor character in his Ambassador Atom series was given his own series due to young fans love of him. Astro Boy9 ran from 1952-1968. It’s doubtful many people realize what the book is about. I mean as far as those in the west. Prejudice. The rights of robots, now a sentient class, and how they are treated.

pk-shojoclubAlthough Astro Boy may be his most famous work, one work I was very interested in was Princess Knight10 (1953-1956) and its various sequels. Why? The book is recognized as perhaps the first fully realized Manga for girls, as in theme and starring, although not the actual first one. But it was the first to really make an impact on society. Truthfully, I would love to get my hands on these stories. Even more than I would the original Astro Boy.

Eventually, Tezuka turned to animation and developed the first weekly animated show in Japan, Astro Boy. All financed by him in a studio builttezuka-blackjack next to his home.

Tezuka lost his animation studio and his rights to Astro Boy. Those with the company didn’t like scraping by and thought others could do better. Years later the company closed. After it did, oddly offers came to Tezuka. And a rebirth began for him. in Blackjack11.

Now you may understand why some call Tezuka the father of, the god of Manga as well as the godfather of anime.

Now to someone working these days and thus a little shorter in biography.

Hiromu Arakawa12

Hiromu Arakawa is a manga artist responsible for what has now become a classic, Fullmetal123Fullmetal Alchemist. As the daughter of a dairy and potato farmer, Arakawa dreamt of life other than cows. But she agreed upon graduation from high school to stay and help with the farm for seven years.

Seven years later, Tokyo. She eventually became the assistant of HiroyukSilver_spoon_mangai Etō of Mahōjin Guru Guru13. Her first paid solo professional work was the award winning Stray Dog in 1999. She’s had several hits, but Fullmetal Alchemist14 is the one most noted for and the last I could find she is working on is a non-fantasy manga called Silver Spoon15. Manga is usually in the vein of fantasy, at least these days I suppose, so there was so hesitant acceptance of Silver Spoon but now it’s another hit. And that is why she’s included today. That stepping out, taking a chance, and changing the expectations of what manga can be.

 

Go back to Ireland by clicking the letter below or the link.

Ireland from Paddy to Ennis, this country has it all.

I

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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References

Return to Hokusai 1
1 http://www.katsushikahokusai.org/biography.html
 
Return to Hokusai 2
2 http://manga.about.com/od/historyofmanga/a/mangahistory1.htm
 
Return to Kitazawa
3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakuten_Kitazawa
4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Arthur_Nankivell
5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puck_%28magazine%29
 
Return to Tezuka 6-8
6 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osamu_Tezuka
7 http://tezukainenglish.com/wp/about-tezuka/about-tezukas-life/tezukas-life-1928-1957/
8 http://tezukainenglish.com/wp/osamu-tezuka-manga/manga-m-s/new-treasure-island-manga/
 
Return to Tezuka 9-11
9 http://tezukainenglish.com/wp/osamu-tezuka-manga/manga-a-h/astro-boy-manga/
10 http://tezukainenglish.com/wp/osamu-tezuka-manga/manga-m-s/princess-knight-shojo-club-manga/
11 http://tezukainenglish.com/wp/osamu-tezuka-manga/manga-a-h/black-jack-manga/
 
Return to Hirimu Arakawa
12  http://fma.wikia.com/wiki/Hiromu_Arakawa
13 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mah%C5%8Djin_Guru_Guru
14 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fullmetal_Alchemist
15 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Spoon_%28manga%29

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Good Friends Always. (A Poem)

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