The only real politics I knew was that if a guy liked Hitler, I'd beat the stuffing out of him and that would be it.

Jack Kirby

Comic book artist Jack Kirby (Jacob Kurtzberg), co-creator (with Joe Simon) of Captain America in the 1940s and (with Stan Lee) of the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and the Hulk in the 1960s, died on this date in 1994.

A self-taught artist from the Lower East Side (his parents were immigrants from Austria), Kirby worked for a while in the Fleischer studios on Popeye cartoons, as a salaried artist at Fox Feature Syndicates, and then at Timely Comics (the predecessor to Marvel Comics), where in 1940 he launched Captain America.

The patriotic hero was so popular in an America at the brink of war that the second issue sold close to a million copies. Kirby and Simon also created a romance series, Young Romance and Young Love, which combined to sell more than two million copies of each issue and launched several other spin-offs and imitators.

Kirby’s most enduring impact, however, was with Marvel during the “Silver Age of Comics,” 1958-70, where he also lent his creative and supervisory hand to Thor, Iron Man, the Silver Surfer, Galactus, Magneto, and numerous other muscular, fantastic, psychologically complex characters.

He was one of three inaugural inductees into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1987.

I felt the comics grew because they became the common man's literature, the common man's art, the common man's publishing.

The State and Revolution :flag-su:

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The Conquest of Bread :ancom:

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  • MidnightInTheDesert [they/them]
    ·
    4 years ago

    New bit idea: I crack open a fresh vial of testosterone and start taking sips from it. Whenever someone questions me about this I simply refer to it as my "gamer fuel"

    • Puffin [any, they/them]
      ·
      4 years ago

      This is a great time to take a semester off, online learning is pretty shit. I think being stuck at home really does this to you. I find it hard to get up and do things when I have nowhere to be. I don't have an answer for how to be functional as I have been struggling myself.

      One thing I do recommend is trying to schedule times to call your friends. If you know that you're going to call at 12PM, then you have to be awake by 10 AM so you can eat and shower first (if you shower in the morning.) I find this kind of thing (and the social interaction) seems to make the day feel like it actually exists and I'm not just waiting in between waking up and going to sleep. I can at least be productive for a few hours then before dinner.

    • vsaush [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Firstly, if little things are starting to feel overwhelming and you're losing energy just maintaining yourself and you're having trouble reaching out to people you know you could be depressed or something else that's funky could be up. Sudden poor personal hygiene (when you said you're having trouble showering every day) could be a sign of the onset of depression. I don't find it surprising that the current times we live in feel overwhelming and that everything could be impinging on your ability to take care of yourself, though, comrade so take that with a grain of salt.

      Saying that, I don't know how applicable this is to you, but for me things just got easier as I did them. I wish there was some easy technique I could tell you, but I got better as I kept forcing myself to do stuff. Calling a friend I hadn't kept up with for a long time gave me a lot of anxiety, but it got much easier calling him the second time a few weeks later; now a few years later I don't have any problems calling or texting with people I haven't in a while. Cooking everyday sucked, but I kept at it and made double batches so I didn't have to cook the next. Holding down a job wasn't easy at first, but I kept at it and came back even when things were shitty and I didn't feel like I wanted to go back and eventually it got easier. I did everything as lazily as possible, I had a shitty dishwasher but didn't like it when I had to scrub the dishes after they came out a cycle - so I just ran through loads twice. But I never really had to deal with not having enough energy after just taking care of myself, so I don't know how much help that'll all be.

      Things also became much easier with an SO, but that's not really legit advice, lol. But maybe reach out to your own personal support network and ask for help from people you trust: close friends, non-judgmental family. Ask for help cooking, cleaning, whatever. Not everyday, unless you need daily help, but someone coming around with a hot meal every few days and someone that can help you clean up your room or something once every couple weeks will make you feel better. It might seem embarrassing but it's better than just continuing on a decline. And if you get to feel like you have a better handle on things, don't forget to pay it back when they need help. The first ask will be hard and anxiety filled but it will be worth it.

  • QuillQuote [they/them]
    ·
    4 years ago

    my boyfriend asked if I wanted a drink, and I said sure but make it light on alcohol. He nuked me, he destroyed me omg I'm quite drunk

  • kronkfresh [none/use name]
    ·
    4 years ago

    anyone else getting FEMA ads on youtube telling you how to make a go-bag in case shit goes down? fucking normal country lol

  • CommieMisha [she/her,they/them]
    ·
    4 years ago

    going to inject myself with every coronavirus vaccine so I can gain the power to destroy all coronavirus within a 50 mile radius

  • asaharyev [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    my favorite thing about punk is that you pretty regularly see 5 track EPs that clock in at under 7 minutes in length

  • fuckwit [none/use name]
    ·
    4 years ago

    broke: %Thc is everything

    woke: it’s about so much more than that, terpenes, %thc , extraction method, strain

    third eye: %THC is everything

  • LoudGuitarPerson [any]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Holy shit my manager is such a sicko who needs to find any possible flaw in my work because I’m good at my job he actually commented about me clocking in “right on the dot” like I’m some asshole for not being here and clocking in at 9:58 instead. Sorry I’m here for my scheduled hours. Fuck you. :agony-mescaline:

  • vertexarray [any]
    ·
    4 years ago

    I have an alright rendition of My Favourite Things on guitar. God willing I'll become the transfeminine nonbinary Julie Andrews.

  • acealeam [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Wrote another paper about Native Americans today. Learned about The White Eagle neighborhood in Ponca City, OK. The White Eagle was an impoverished Native American community, and notably, it was extremely close to a carbon black plant, with some houses less than 100 yds away. Carbon black is a fine black powder that strengthens rubber, it is most commonly used in tires. Every few hours, the plant will release carbon black particles into the air. Carbon black is extremely sticky, difficult to wipe off, and notably causes respiratory issues, predominantly lung cancer. A few respondents noted it was so difficult to clean, that many of them threw out their carpet and elected to live on the subflooring.

    " If I lived anywhere else, my house would probably be spotless. Here, everything is black. Everything my kids touch … they touch the walls, they touch everything and it gets black.’’ Children’s hands and feet are constantly stained with the black soot and some parents have resorted to using mechanics’ soap to clean the black soot. Several local businesses have prohibited workers from the Continental Carbon Company from entering their establishments. For example, convenience stores in the area post signs stating, ‘‘No Carbon Black Allowed.’

    Whenever the wind blows their way, residents would bring in their kids. Some residents didn't allow their kids outside at all, as it is too dangerous. Despite this, they note that under a certain age, nearly 100% of kids have respiratory issues. Doctors refused to blame the carbon black, and instead attributed it to parents smoking, even among parents known in the community not to smoke. Friends and family members refused to come to the neighborhood because they feared the black soot. Property values tanked, and many found themselves unable to move due to their economic status. It also heightened racial tensions in the community, as white members of the community have on occasion had their cars cleaned by Continental Carbon Company's reps, as well as compensated for decreased property values.

    The company denied that the carbon black dust exists, is related to the plant, and is related to respiratory issues at all. The plant was one of the 383 plants in the EPA's watchlist, there for failing to address violations in a timely manner. The company stated

    "As soon as carbon black leaves the stack ... it starts to stick together," Elder said. "It starts to stick to mold particles. It sticks to dust particles. It sticks to dog hair. ... It cannot be considered, by this test, as carbon black."

    After 13 years and 700+ unanswered complaints, the company settled a lawsuit for 13 million dollars and bought out the houses in the community. The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality fined them only $25,000 during this period.