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How wrong can a policy go? Indonesia's plan to fund health costs via tobacco taxes
by Elisabeth Kramer, Abdillah Ahsan
(Alexandra Stanescue/HP+/Flickr)
Written by	Elisabeth Kramer, Abdillah Ahsan
Indonesia's national health scheme, Jaminan Kesehatan Nasional (JKN), was launched in 2014 to much fanfare. The scheme was a cornerstone strategy for reducing inequality in access to healthcare services within Indonesia. Administered by the Social Health Security Administrative Body (Badan Penyelenggara Jaminan Sosial Kesehatan, BPJS), the JKN is the world's largest single-payer healthcare system and, by 2019, covered 221 million Indonesian citizens (approximately 84% of the population).
As with any large-scale, government-funded program, the question of how to pay for this ambitious scheme quickly came into focus. From the start, the JKN reported large annual budget deficits, with expenditure far outweighing earmarked funding for the scheme. Citizen contributions to the health scheme, which had been projected to cover the funding gap, were insufficient to meet the growing financial outlay. By the end of 2018, the cumulative budget deficit for the JKN was 28.73 trillion rupiah.
After four consecutive years of overspending against its budget, the economic viability of the JKN became a serious political question. With the sustainability of the program in question, the government began to explore new options to bolster the JKN's budget. The most obvious responses—increasing citizen contribution schemes or restricting services—were unpalatable to the government, who feared public backlash. Instead, alternative sources of funding were explored.
In 2018, President Joko Widodo criticised the Ministry of Health, contending that it was failing in its responsibility to solve the JKN's funding issues, in order to distance himself from the problem and avoid political backlash in the 2019 elections. Given the mounting political attention and the pressure to alleviate the JKN's budget woes, the Ministry of Health turned to tobacco taxes.
So, what can happen when policy-making is driven by political interests rather than a realistic analysis of the consequences of new policies? We explored the history of the JKN and its relationship to local tobacco taxes in our recent article, published in Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies, to find out.
Local tobacco taxes are part of a suite of tobacco taxes and excises applied to cigarettes in Indonesia. The relevant regulation, introduced in 2014, applies an additional 10% excise to cigarette sales, to be collected by, and available to, local governments to spend on community initiatives. In 2017, a new presidential decree was issued to divert 37.5% of local tobacco taxes to the JKN.
With a large smoking population—over 30% of all Indonesians are regular smokers—the central government hoped to raise around 5.5 trillion rupiah a year for the JKN by diverting these funds from local governments. While this was not enough to overcome the health scheme's funding issues, it could, at the very least, help soften the budgetary blow.
With this new regulation in place, fund collection was scheduled to begin in 2018. But, as with many regulations, the mechanics of implementation were far from clear.
One of the main critiques of this policy lies in its complexity. Instead of a straightforward transfer of 37.5% of taxes straight to the national government, the Ministry of Finance regulation attached to the scheme adjusted the calculation to also account for local government contributions to the regional health fund (Jaminan Kesehatan Daerah, Jamkesda), a fund that is separate from, but intended to supplement, the JKN.
Because local governments negotiate their contributions to Jamkesda on an individual basis, the BPJS must calculate the JKN payment of each local government individually, depending on their existing agreements with their provincial counterparts. Calculating the payments for each individual local district in Indonesia, let alone collecting the necessary paperwork, was a bureaucratic nightmare. It is, therefore, not surprising that the 2018 calculations were riddled with internal errors.
In 2018, BPJS collected a total of Rp1.58 trillion from local governments. However, after recalculation it became apparent that BPJS was entitled to receive only Rp681 billion. This, in turn, led to another administrative challenge, because the mechanisms to return the excess funds were not outlined in the Ministry of Finance regulations at all. The BPJS was forced to return money to local districts, involving even more paperwork and resources.
The regulation ate up resources. Enactment required signed documentation from provincial governors and district heads. However, many local government officials were not even aware that this was needed, forcing BPJS officials to travel around the country to organise meetings and collect the necessary signatures. Since Indonesia has thousands of islands, and many remote areas across them that are expensive to reach, this meant that the BPJS was required to spend funds it did not have on overtime and travel for staff so that the policy could be enacted.
Finally, the change in policy has done very little to address the problem it was supposed to help resolve: the gap between budget and expenditure on the JKN. Owing to miscalculations, it contributed only Rp681 billion in 2018—over Rp4.66 trillion less than anticipated. In 2019, officials stated that the BPJS received only Rp831 billion from local cigarette tax revenue. With a cumulative deficit of Rp28.73 trillion in 2018, the funds from local cigarette tax revenue represented approximately 2.89% of the money that the government needed to cover the JKN deficit in that year.
Using local tobacco taxes to address the JKN's budgetary problems may have seemed like a convenient stopgap solution but, in reality, it was flawed. It was complicated and resource-intensive to enforce, and it generated far fewer funds than anticipated. Policy-makers can learn from this example, as it highlights what can happen when policy-making is driven by political interests, and fails to consider the intricacies of implementation.
Read The politics of funding universal healthcare: Diverting local tobacco taxes to subsidise the national health scheme in Indonesia in Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies journal. All articles in the journal are free to read and download.
This research was undertaken with the support of Universitas Indonesia, Pusaka Foundation Medan, Indonesia and Endeavour Leadership Program, Department of Education, Australian Government.
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Health Indonesia Policy Taxation
Elisabeth Kramer
Elisabeth Kramer is Deputy Director at the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre and Honorary Associate at the School of Languages and Culture at the University of Sydney.
Abdillah Ahsan
Abdillah Ahsan is a lecturer at the Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Indonesia.
Ian Anderson says:
A very interesting article. The key lesson seems to be that it was the administration of the policy – rather than the policy itself – that was flawed. However, a recent World Bank study of tobacco and alcohol taxation reform in the Philippines suggests there are relatively simple and effective ways of taxing tobacco and other harmful products that raises revenue and expands health insurance for the poorest. That study finds, for example, that collections of excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol increased by 86% to $US 2.44 billion in just one year after simplified excise duties were introduced. The increased tax revenue nearly doubled the Department of Health's budget and allowed the extension of fully subsidised health insurance to the poorest 40% of the population. That research is available here.


If you need a lot of shatterproof Christmas Decorations, then you've come to the right place! Christmas Kingdom has a wide variety in different colours, sizes, and shapes. These ones are silver and measure 25mm across. You get 25 baubles in each pack; they are a mix of matte and shiny finishes, so you get some visual interest when you hang them. Have you ever thought about what you can do with baubles, besides hanging them on your tree? You can hang them from a wreath or garland, string them on a piece of wire and hang them across door frames or window frames, pour them into a clear glass vase to use as a centrepiece, or attach one to the top of each wrapped gift as an accessory. The possibilities are endless, especially when you buy them from Christmas Kingdom. These silver baubles would look great when paired with any of your existing Christmas tree baubles.


Sit at the prestigious Blackjack table on Hi Lo Blackjack, a game created by Realistic Games. With the superb graphics found on this game, it will be like you are playing at a real casino table at a land based destination!
The chips values available on Hi Lo Blackjack are 1, 5, 25, 100 or 500. After having picked the desired chip, select any or all 5 bet spots on the table. You will then be presented with more game options such as 'Deal', 'Double Bet', 'Undo' and 'Clear All'. After a game is played, you may opt for the same bet by the use of 'Repeat & Deal' button or 'Repeat Bet' which will only place the bet without the cards being dealt.
Some simple rules that you will find on Hi Lo Blackjack is that the dealer must stand on all 17s. The option to split a hand is offered once per hand with no re-splits. In the event that you have Split hands, this will not qualify to boost the Blackjack payout. Cards of the same value results in a Push whereby the bets are returned. A player wins 1-1 on Hi Lo Blackjack while Blackjack pays 3-2. When Aces have been Split, you receive one more card without the Double Down option. This option is only at hand on any two cards and is permitted after non Ace Splits. Insurance is available on this game, paying 2-1 when taken.
The Hi Lo side on this game is optional, the normal Blackjack game will still play without this side bet. This bet applies to your initial cards per box. Your bet is on whether the second card dealt will be Higher or Lower than the first.
Play Hi Lo Blackjack and other exciting table and card games at Lucky Pants Bingo where you will be welcomed with top deposit bonuses!


Hailed by the press as "a musician of commitment and energy....with brilliance of technique and masterful interpretations" , Maureen McDermott sustains an active career as soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and teacher. A native of New York, she has performed in France, Taiwan, Brazil, Italy, Mexico,Curacao, Germany, St. Bartholemy and throughout the U.S. and Canada. Concerts in the U.S. have included chamber music performances at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall's "Great Performers Series", Barge Music, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, a debut at the 92nd St Y, the Kennedy Center and the Van Cliburn Foundation in Texas. An active chamber music performer, Ms. McDermott is a member of the McDermott Trio (with sisters Anne-Marie and Kerry) and a founding member of the cello quartet "CELLO". Ms. McDermott is a founding member of the Lighthouse Chamber Players, a group that performs throughout Cape Cod every summer. The highlight of several summers was an annual collaboration with Bernard Greenhouse. As a chamber music performer Ms. McDermott has collaborated with artists Bernard Greenhouse, Paul Neubauer, Ida Kavafian, Ani Kavafian, Steven Tenebaum, Wu Han, Christan Bor, Nai Yan Hu, Fred Sherry, Bella Hristova, Laurence Glazener, Susannah Philips, Robert White as well as many other artists. Ms.McDermott has participated in numerous music festivals including the Newport Music Festival, Bravo! Colorado, Mainly Mozart, Ocean Reef Chamber Music Festival, Park City International Music Festival, Art in Avila (Curacao), Les Recontres Internationales d'Ensembles Violoncelles, Caramoor and Chautauqua. As an orchestral musician,Ms.McDermott performs often with the N.Y. Philharmonic, and has performed with the American Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, St. Luke's Orchestra, St. Cecilia Orchestra as well as other orchestra in NYC. Media appearances include featured performances in the movie "FAME", CBS Sunday Morning, the Fox Television Network, an AT&T commercial (broadcast internationally) and in featured articles in TIME and W magazines. She has recorded on the SONY Classical, Angel, d'Note classics, BMG and Pro Arte labels. Ms.McDermott is also an active recording artist in film scores including movies such as "True Grit", "Noah", "The Good Shephard" ,"Hail Caesar" , "Doubt" and many more. She has recorded for Broadway show soundtracks including Sondheim's "Passion" and "King David".Ms.McDermott has performed with Sting at the Apollo Theater and on the TODAY show, in the Red Blood Orchestra with Peter Gabriel on David Letterman and with Michael Buble on Saturday Night Live. As a cello teacher, Ms.McDermott has taught at numerous summer festivals including Berkshire Summer Music, Academia Perosi ( In Italy-2013 ),Music at Port Milford ( Canada ), School for Strings Chamber Music Festival, Elizabeth Morrow Summer String Festival. Her students have performed in outreach concerts for Concerts in Motion and across NYC as well as in Cape Cod. Ms.McDermott's students have continued their studies at Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, Eastman, Oberlin and San Francisco Conservatory. Ms. McDermott received her B.Mus at Manhattan School of Music and M.Mus from SUNY at Stonybrook as a student of Bernard Greenhouse, David Wells and Martha Williams. She completed Suzuki certification at the School for Strings in N.Y. Ms. McDermott is on the cello faculty at Mannes Prep, the School for Strings in New York, and an Artist Teacher at the Third Street Music School Settlement. She has given master classes in São Paulo, Brazil, Italy and across the U.S.


The apparent lack of coverage of the Iranian football team outside of Iran inspired us to do something about it. The summer leading up to World Cup 2014, we decided to create a project to bring the footballing community together as a whole. The podcast since then has been able to provide a unique platform for fans of Iranian & Asian football to gain a better perspective on Iranian football. In addition, Gol Bezan has been able to help agents, players, coaches, journalists, and other members with any help or issues they need. Lastly, Gol Bezan has been able to deliver exclusive interviews, in-depth analysis, up to date football news, and our work has been published in various respectable media platforms across the globe. Every country has a story to tell in football and this is ours to the world!
گل بزن سرى برنامه اى است كه فوتبال ايران را به زبان انگليسى پوشش مى دهد. از تيم ملّى تا ليگ برتر ايران، ما درباره ى تمام مسائل و موضوعاتِ فوتبال ايران صحبت ميكنيم، به علاوه مصاحبه هاى گوناگون با اشخاص متفاوت از جمله بازيكنان كنونى و سابق تيم ملّى ايران.
Former Iran National Team and Esteghlal FC player. FIFA Instructor in education and KNVB Licensed UEFA A Trainer. Head Coach of sc NEC - Nijmegen.
Born in Mashhad lives, and works in Hamburg/Germany as a Web-Designer. LOVES Team Melli!
Born and raised in Los Angeles (Tehrangeles). A passionate fan of Team Melli. Fluent in English and Persian (Farsi). Currently in university studying Computer Science, but also taking on graphic design and translation jobs on the side.
Nader Granmayeh is a senior at Horace Mann High School where he is the co-Student Body President. Nader joined the Gol Bezan team in 2018 as a member of the social media team. He is an avid fan of Iranian football and is looking forward to Team Melli's development.
Nader has always been interested in politics, joining the school's debate team in 7th grade and volunteering on five local campaigns. Most recently, he was an intern on Zephyr Teachout's attorney general campaign and worked on the Foreign Policy Association's blog division. Nader is specifically interested in the Supreme Court and hopes to further his education by going to law school.
Soccer is a lifelong passion for my family and I, and keeping up with Iranian soccer has always been a means for me to be most in touch with my Persian heritage.
I'm a senior broadcast journalism student at University of Arkansas, home of the Razorbacks. I also anchor the university news. I'm a news intern for the NBC TV station in Houston and I intern with the local ESPN Radio station.
I grew up with my Baba as the high school soccer coach and club coach. I played academy club soccer as a teen for Space City SC, located close to NASA in Houston.
Grew up playing center mid and left back.
I'm proud to be a member of a podcast with integrity to provide info and analysis for soccer fans everywhere about Iran.


Finally the time has come. We have kept our class prices the same since 2010 but due to increased costs and to bring us more into line with other similar classes we have made the decision to put up prices. Not much, just a little.
From the beginning of November 2018 classes will be £6 per person (£4 for students) for the full evening and the party nights at the Canberra Club will be £7.
There's good news for regular attendees though with 2 ways to save money and beat the increase.
For a limited time our six-class saver passes will remain at £27. This price will rise to £30 in the new year.
You can buy Canberra tickets at the old price of £6 direct from us at any class night.
Note: Loyalty cards will remain valid for pay-as-you go users giving you an equivalent 10% saving.
What won't change is our commitment to providing the best nights of learning and enjoyment in a relaxed, inclusive and friendly atmosphere. We hope you will continue to help us make Sweet Salsa classes the best they can be. Fun and sometimes challenging.


Nice cafe, but a bit smokey at times from the hookah pipes. Their falafel is unual, but tasty. It's crisper on the outside than usual and is cone shaped. Soft and flavourful inside though. Nice hummus too. The staff were friendly and spoke good English.


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DES MOINES, Iowa, Oct. 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Kemin Crop Technologies, a business venture of Kemin Industries, a global ingredient manufacturer that strives to sustainably transform the quality of life every day for 80 percent of the world with its products and services, has announced that its FIFRA 25(b)-exempt botanical-oil-based contact miticides, TetraCURB™ Concentrate and TetraCURB™ Organic, are now labeled as insecticides for use in controlling a wide range of small, soft-bodied insects – such as aphids and whiteflies – on all crops.
Two-spotted spider mites, aphids and whiteflies are some of the most damaging insects for agricultural and horticultural crops. They are fast-breeding pests that infest indoor and outdoor fruits, vegetables and ornamental plants and damage the leaves, stems and fruits by sucking out plant juice. Such damage affects the quality, growth and yield of the plants, which leads to unmarketable produce and a negative impact on grower profit and farming performance. Kemin Crop Technologies is focused on addressing growers' problems by providing products and solutions that go beyond mites to control other widespread pests, as well.
"We observed in lab studies that treating whitefly and aphid populations with TetraCURB achieved immediate knockdown with 94 to 100 percent control after only one spray application in 24 hours," said Emily Fuerst, R&D Director, Kemin Crop Technologies. "We are extremely pleased to see how well TetraCURB performed on these small, soft-bodied pests and are excited to finally offer growers solutions beyond mite control."
Kemin's line of sustainable pest management solutions, TetraCURB Concentrate and TetraCURB Organic, demonstrates high performance in managing mite and insect populations in greenhouse- and field-grown specialty crops. The insecticides' natural and safe ingredients allow for application without disruption of labor and harvesting activities. These features of TetraCURB have appealed to commercial growers and farmers nationwide who experienced success when rotating Kemin's miticide-insecticides with different modes of action in their integrated pest management programs, which also helped reduce the potential for resistance development.
With the global population expected to reach close to 10 billion people by 2050, Kemin is dedicated to ensuring future generations have access to a healthy, sustainable food supply. Kemin Crop Technologies' environmentally friendly products give the agricultural industry pest control and plant-health technologies rooted in science and driven by demand.
To view a copy of the labels and state registrations for TetraCURB Concentrate and TetraCURB Organic, contact your local sales representative, or click here.
Kemin Industries (www.kemin.com) is a global ingredient manufacturer that strives to sustainably transform the quality of life every day for 80 percent of the world with its products and services. The company supplies over 500 specialty ingredients for human and animal health and nutrition, pet food, aquaculture, nutraceutical, food technologies, crop technologies and textile industries.
For over half a century, Kemin has been dedicated to using applied science to address industry challenges and offer product solutions to customers in more than 120 countries. Kemin provides ingredients to feed a growing population with its commitment to the quality, safety and efficacy of food, feed and health-related products.
Established in 1961, Kemin is a privately held, family-owned-and-operated company with more than 2,800 global employees and operations in 90 countries, including manufacturing facilities in Belgium, Brazil, China, India, Italy, Russia, San Marino, Singapore, South Africa and the United States.
Tatiana Giacinti, Product Manager, tatiana.giacinti@kemin.com, 515-559-4607
© Kemin Industries, Inc. and its group of companies 2019. All rights reserved. ® TM Trademarks of Kemin Industries, Inc., U.S.A.
Certain statements, product labeling and claims may differ by geography or as required by government requirements.
SOURCE Kemin Industries

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Lothar Osterburgh Next Speaker for Visual Art Series
PLATTSBURGH, NY __ Photographer/printmaker Lothar Osterburg will give a presentation on Wednesday, Oct. 6 at 7:30 p.m. in the Cardinal Lounge in the Angel College Center at the State University of New York College at Plattsburgh. This event, which is part of this year's Visual Artists Series, is free and open to the public.
Working with small constructed models and the technique of photogravure, Osterburg brings to realization his own imaginings of a romantic, ideal universe. Some of the most common images of his work include sailboats, spacecrafts, rushing water and barren arctic landscapes that depict freedom in travels to unknown lands juxtaposed with the reality that the scenes are staged and created in the artist's studio.
Professor Diane Fine, chair of the art department, along with a committee of art students, helped plan Osterburg's visit to the campus.
"We were attracted to the playful character of Lothar's work and the fact that his work spans a variety of art media including photography, sculpture and printmaking," said Fine.
Osterburg's work has been widely exhibited in Europe, Japan and the United States. He has collaborated with artists such as Lee Friedlander, Sol LeWitt and Wayne Thiebaud. He has received numerous awards including fellowships from the MacDowell Colony in 1996, 1997 and 2002, the Virginia Center of Creative Arts in 1999 and the New York Foundation of Arts in 2003.
Osterburg was born in Braunschweig, Germany. He currently lives in New York City. He serves on the faculty of Colombia University, Bard College and The Cooper Union.
The Visual Arts Series is sponsored by the Student Association and the Campus Arts Council.
-- 30 --
Winter Commencement Set for Dec. 18
New Program Aims to Target Area's 8th Graders for Future at SUNY Plattsburgh
'Late Night' Comedy Show Tackles Serious Topics
College Welcomes Poet Shockley to Campus for Black Poetry Day
Ethics Institute Looks at Aftermath of Trauma in Classroom, Workplace


James Housler co-founded Palatine Hill in February 2017 after many years in the corporate wealth advisory arena. Palatine Hill evolved to become a Member of Advisory Services Network, LLC, an SEC registered investment advisor. As Co-Founder, James acts as a trusted advisor for high net-worth families, assisting them in all matters pertaining to their personal and professional financial goals. James has spent more than 15 years working with affluent families across the world, and prior to starting Palatine Hill Wealth Management, was a Partner/Senior Advisor at Telemus & Vice President for J.P. Morgan Private Bank in Ann Arbor, MI.
An avid golfer and skier, James is an active supporter of the Evans Scholars Foundation and First Tee of Michigan, an organization that aims to impact the lives of young people by providing educational programs that build character, instill life-enhancing values, and promote healthy choices through the game of golf. Additionally, he served as a board member for the Lansing Community College Foundation and volunteers his time and resources in support of the American Cancer Society, CS Mott Children's Hospital, and The ChadTough Foundation. Outside of professional and philanthropic pursuits, James enjoys spending time with his wife, Elizabeth, and their two daughters, Olivia and Alexandria.


Sometimes there is more to hear in the sound of an orchestra tuning than in the music it will eventually perform, often too carefully, presenting its treasures like a bored merchant. From his seat in the center of the orchestra, in the heat of performances, James has heard many things which he could not begin to describe. But during this maddening confusion of fragments that comes before the silence and the tuning A, he imagines he hears secrets -- a skull, a thigh bone, a lovers' quarrel, forbidden cries and moans. And when the music joins the orchestra together, they are locked, James feels, in their secret selves; and all he would know afterward to tell, would be of glasses of wine long after the concert's final chord.
This, then, is the story of something connected to the living world, only floating on the surface of the music, or perhaps hovering like a Mayfly, having risen from a great depth, through all that dark swarming and secret fife, but now not touching at all.
There was a time when James was the flute player in a small opera orchestra. Most of the performances were held in an ancient city in Italy in the province of Puccini's birth. The opera house was small, and the slightest breath into an instrument, or the most subtle sigh from the stage, would rise to the highest seat and beyond, where even the spiders would stop their careful weaving to listen. James would often come hours before the rehearsals began and practice his flute, sometimes improvising. When he stopped playing, the sound would continue, as if it were the hall itself playing the flute, and the sound was wonderful, made beautiful by the planes and curves of old wood and the ghosts who listened with him.
Now there was a very young girl in the violin section, (she could not have been much more than fourteen) who was a listener like James. He learned her name was Lauretta, but he never spoke to her. Whenever he had a solo to play, she would turn around in her chair and watch. It was as if she had never heard a flute before. She would ignore the conductor's scowls and continue playing as she watched. She had committed her music to memory. She was one of a group of students, of children, really, who toured with their teacher, the concertmaster. He would play the violin solo of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, and his students were his orchestra, playing their parts from memory, of course. James thought she was rather beautiful. She had long dark hair and lovely bones, but her beauty was in her shyness. Yet it was only her body which was shy; her eyes stared at him from that child's body with such intensity, he was deeply aroused. As he saw her day after day, or rather, night after night, he began to fall in love with her. And when she turned to watch him play, the boredom drained out of his soul and his playing sang. He began to play his solos for her and for her alone, and she always turned to watch him with her large eyes, never smiling.
Eventually there came a time when he felt he could endure it no longer. He took advantage of a rare morning rehearsal and decided to follow her afterward and discover where she lived. She walked with a friend, and James loitered behind them, pretending to be on a walk himself. enjoying the ancient buildings he passed. After a while, Lauretta and her friend parted, and by the way she often stopped, seeming to examine the contents of storefront windows, James became convinced that she was aware of his presence, using the 3 mirrors not so much to spy him out, as to see herself as he might see her. Encouraged, James continued to follow her, keeping in sight the bright red ribbon she always wore in her hair. He was determined to discover some secret of hers. She led him upward, through narrowing cobbled streets. He had seen cities like this from the train all along the way from Milan to Parma. A mountain thrust up and blossoming into this tiny welter of buildings and churches, almost carved from the stone. From the train it had all seemed unreal, distant. At the station there had been a rustic aviary, the birds flitting from perch to perch, their eyes and beaks sharp. The sounds they uttered were tiny, magical shards that disappeared like the white steam that twined above the sweating locomotive. And then he had wound his way up into the city, twining like the smoke, becoming smaller. Here, the buildings shouldered above him, exuding a mildewed breath mixed with faint cigar smoke. The sound of the main road with its miniature trucks and even tinier three-wheeled Fiats had faded to nothing. Now James was in a part of the city which seemed uninhabited and he found himself facing the highest building in the city, an ancient church. It was clear that it had been bombed in the war and left as a memorial to those days, a time barely touching James' life. He looked in at the rubble, forgetting his purpose for a moment. The sudden ringing of bells startled him and he looked in wonder at the ruin. Then he realized the bells were coming from another church nearby, probably built as a replacement for this one. All over the old city, the bells could be heard, descending scales superimposed over descending scales, becoming gradually more complex, more tumultuous, fleeing the great soft cloud of silence which always pursued them. James had heard the sound countless times before, but never so loud as this. It felt as if he were in the campanile with them. Just then he saw her disappear down another roadway which led down the other side of the mountain.
He was distracted and his ears were ringing, but he managed to keep her in sight, moving down a street much quieter than the one they had climbed. They passed by walls too warm even for the lizards, and finally, as James began to hear birds singing, they were walking along a straight avenue, and it became necessary for James to maintain a greater distance between him and the girl. Lauretta stopped to smell flowers, to pick up objects, examine them. James could not see exactly if she tossed them away, but it seemed so. When he reached the spot he could see nothing but small stones, gray with veins of silver. He picked one up and put it in his pocket. James knew nothing of flowers, but somehow he knew without bending down to them that they would have no smell.
Lauretta's awkward pace, pausing, then skipping ahead made his pursuit of her seem less difficult than embarrassing. Now most of the houses were walled and large trees and flowering bushes lined the walkway. James decided finally that he would walk briskly along, and passing her, pretend to just recognize her, and attempt to introduce himself. As he quickened his pace, she turned into one of the larger villas, and by the time he reached it, she was gone. James walked on for a while, discouraged, then turned and made for his home, a garret room overlooking a noisy nightclub.
And as he stared out the window, resting his head on the glass, it began to seem that Lauretta had been walking with him, that she had shown him something, revealed a secret known only to the two of them. James began to feel that he had walked hand in hand with her down that narrow avenue of birds and fragrant bushes.
But he still could not bring himself to speak to her. What if he had imagined everything? He felt worse, more uncertain than a schoolboy. His duties became a welcome distraction. Some wealthy patron had decided to sponsor a chamber music concert, and for several days his free time was filled with the extra rehearsals necessary to prepare the music.
The concert was held out of doors in the main piazza and was a great success. The musicians performed on an elevated platform from which they could look out over what seemed all the people of the town, listening with such intensity, that when an incautious person applauded between the movements of a composition, there was a sea of hissing and shushing. From his place on the platform James could see tiled roofs and shuttered windows of buildings climbing the mountainside interspersed with oddly slender evergreen trees. He could imagine the twisting dusty streets, cooling, already deeply shaded. Then he came to himself. The audience was applauding. A small child on the front row shouted, "Bravi! Bravi, tutti! " in such a queer, high-pitched voice that he felt the whole world must love this music. Afterward there was barely enough time to rush to the theater for the opera performance, and after that -- celebration. James joined his colleagues and drank much red wine.
Later, feeling the time had come, he wandered away from the tavern, his mind pretending to be occupied with fragments of the music he had played. He made his way upward toward the old church. There had been rain earlier that evening and the cobbles were wet and shining. A mist had risen from the river below and was gradually discovering the low places of the city. The moon was nearly full, almost too bright to gaze at.
James had been thinking of this since that moment in the opera, the moment when Lauretta turned back to watch him.
Then he saw her. She was turning the same comer where he had seen her before. This time he ran. He saw her as he ran along the cobbled street, darting around another corner. Then somehow she was headed up the hill again and the bombed- out church crouched before the two of them, smelling of damp hurt stone and darkness. James entered an open archway after her, and suddenly feeling dizzy, sat on a piece of rubble. Again the bells began to ring. It was as if he had sprung a trap. He turned and the sound was so close, so intense, it pounded against his chest. It was if the bells were tumbling down the mountainside and he with them.
He woke. The bells were gone. He was inside the church leaning on an enormous tilted stone. The only sound was water dripping faintly. His head ached when he tried to move. He stood unsteadily and relieved himself against a pile of stones. Then, supporting himself by grasping the stone walls, He made his way out and stumbled down the hill. As soon as he reached the main street his feet went out from under him and he found himself on his back. There was no pain. He might have lain there for a moment, dazed, when he felt a fight touch on his forehead. He tried to pull himself upward, perhaps hearing retreating footsteps, but his consciousness failed again for a moment. When he pulled himself upright again, there was nothing, nobody. Just the moon, cobbled in the wet reflecting stones down to the vanishing point of the river mist. He limped home, gradually noticing the grinding in his knee. That night he was visited by peculiar dreams, attracted like moths to the bright pain in his knee. When he woke, he could almost remember them. But they fled from him leaving only a single word, and that word fading, "tonight."
It was then he noticed that his knee was swollen twice its normal size and would not bear his weight. Later that morning he was taken to hospital in Milan.
It had been that night, the night of his last opera performance. In the moment of chaos when all the instruments were playing before the tuning note, he thought he heard the bells from the church, but he knew that they had always previously been silent during performances. He was terribly distracted, so he forced himself to concentrate on the music, and soon he was lost and healed in it. Then came the moment when the shimmering of the strings prepared delicately for a single calling flute, a long intricate solo like a night bird under the moon, a bright red ribbon of sound -- James looked toward Lauretta, and all that had come before, all that was yet to come, seemed to have been contained in that moment. Either he was imagining it, or it was imagining him. When he saw her, it seemed her lips formed a word.
There is another story which may begin now -- one in which James leaves the hospital in Milan and flies home without returning. One in which the woman he expected to find waiting for him upon his return is not waiting. And in which he leaves one city for another. And pages or even chapters pass, filled with ordinary events, until the gray which he had first welcomed begins to trouble him from his mirror, and his own children have long left him in quiet if not in peace -- and the story he might wish to tell is not far from that.
He did return to a city in America, and it seemed to him that time, having become at once more real and more ordinary, passed almost without his notice. The things he did or chose not to do seem not to have mattered. The pages of his story turned without him touching them.
Six years had passed when he received the telephone call. He had fit himself without any sense of effort into the musical life of the city. And in the same way he had discovered a life for himself. All he had not chosen was the passing of time, and this voice, coming from the telephone receiver. He had not chosen this. She was a self-possessed young woman, touring with a chamber orchestra. She asked him if he remembered her. Did he remember the way she used to watch him? She had a delightful accent, and she laughed musically as she explained herself to him. She asked if they could meet. He might have pretended he did not remember her. He might have offered some excuse. But he did not. For a moment, it seemed he was lying on an exquisite pillow of wet cobblestones, gazing at the moon, wondering if that bright dumb eye could see inside his soul. And in the next moment, a waiter brought them wine, and the two, saying nothing, touched the glasses, and, saying nothing, drank the wine, and, saying nothing, looked into each other's eyes. For what needed to be said?
In a story like this, the most distant moment is its center, where it is dead or even hollow, like the wood at the center of a tree, no longer growing. Only at the edges of time past, and time to come, can our fives exist, infinitely frail, only partially imagined, always trying to bridge across the hole at the center, stubbornly searching for a reference point, stubbornly insisting that they do, in fact, exist.
In this story, then, James and Lauretta made love, and in this story became gradually more real to each other. An ordinary story perhaps, each day following the next. A pretty story. They watched the edges of the days together. And, of course, in time, they returned to Italy, to the Province of Lucca, and the little theater.
It is not so much different. One large tree where the road forks near the bottom of the mountain is gone. It was near the place where a humpbacked man sat, always smoking, so near the road that the passing cars would cause the smoke to swirl and eddy above his bobbing head. Somehow James had expected him to be there. There are some new buildings, but the old city is much the same. The old church is still in ruin. James even found the meadow where he once took plums to the whiskered nibbling lips of a swaybacked horse.
Stories are only those choices made helplessly as the moon rises and sets. Again and again. Stories are mere strings of events, threaded beads, scales of bells falling, and falling again, never learning the way. In stories our lives fail, our powers diminish, we sicken and die. But in a moment, a moment so fine it can scarcely be said to exist, in an exultant moment, a life can live itself forever. Is he not here in this theater alone? Waiting again?
Lauretta turns slowly, as if she does not know what the music will bring, as if she has not entered this moment before, and moments like it, when everything is waiting. She begins to turn toward him, and he begins to lift the flute to his lips, as if this has never been done before. She begins to turn slowly and he can hear what came before this moment, as if he had rewound the thread which has spun out, which has almost come to its end, and he can hear the sound of tuning, and in that opulent forest he can hear for the first time, the sound of her playing, as if a beam of light shone down from the high foliage and illuminated a flower. He can see her life, and his own as well, now as if from a great distance. He can see that this, before they have ever touched, is the ceremony of their parting. He can feel her fingers, light, but firm on the strings and the tingling of the sound moving in the violin. He can see the tender mark the violin has made in her neck. He can smell the sweat of her dress as her bow arm moves like a tree limb in rain. And she turns slowly. He win see her eyes when he begins to play. He draws in his breath.
Charles Wyatt has contributed stories and poems to various journals for the past several years. He was principal flutist of the Nashville symphony for twenty-five years. He is now an amateur flutist.
Copyright ©2000. Charles Wyatt. All rights reserved.


More from our coverage from the private screening in Atlanta of Concussion at the Regal Theaters at Atlantic Station. Part 1 of our chat with Farid Dallal of the ReAwakenings Wellness Center in Miramar, FL.
Mr. Dallal has been working with Keith McCants. McCants was star DE/LB for Alabama, and a 1st round draft pick for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In his brief career McCants was given huge amounts of painkillers that far exceeded normal use. This led to addiction and much trouble for him after his career ended. His story, along with increasing revelations from more and more players spells big trouble for the NFL.


text:
package gov.samhsa.consent2share.c32.dto;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlAccessType;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlAccessorType;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlElement;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlType;

// TODO: Auto-generated Javadoc
/**
 *
Java class for anonymous complex type.
 *
 *
The following schema fragment specifies the expected content contained within this class.
 *
 *

 * <complexType>
 *   <complexContent>
 *     <restriction base="{http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema}anyType">
 *       <sequence>
 *         <element name="resultID" type="{urn:hl7-org:v3}ii"/>
 *         <element name="healthInsuranceType" type="{urn:hl7-org:v3}cd" minOccurs="0"/>
 *         <element name="payer" type="{urn:hl7-org:v3}organizationInformation"/>
 *         <element name="memberInformation">
 *           <complexType>
 *             <complexContent>
 *               <restriction base="{http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema}anyType">
 *                 <sequence>
 *                   <element name="healthPlanCoverageDates" type="{urn:hl7-org:v3}ivlTs" minOccurs="0"/>
 *                   <element name="memberID" type="{urn:hl7-org:v3}ii" minOccurs="0"/>
 *                   <element name="patientRelationshipToSubscriber" type="{urn:hl7-org:v3}cd" minOccurs="0"/>
 *                   <element name="patientAddress" type="{urn:hl7-org:v3}addr" maxOccurs="unbounded" minOccurs="0"/>
 *                   <element name="patientPhone" type="{urn:hl7-org:v3}tele" maxOccurs="unbounded" minOccurs="0"/>
 *                   <element name="patientName" type="{urn:hl7-org:v3}pnm"/>
 *                   <element name="patientDateOfBirth" type="{urn:hl7-org:v3}ts"/>
 *                 </sequence>
 *               </restriction>
 *             </complexContent>
 *           </complexType>
 *         </element>
 *         <element name="financialResponsibilityPartyType" type="{urn:hl7-org:v3}cd" minOccurs="0"/>
 *         <element name="subscriberInformation" minOccurs="0">
 *           <complexType>
 *             <complexContent>
 *               <restriction base="{http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema}anyType">
 *                 <sequence>
 *                   <element name="subscriberID" type="{urn:hl7-org:v3}ii"/>
 *                   <element name="subscriberAddress" type="{urn:hl7-org:v3}addr"/>
 *                   <element name="subscriberPhone" type="{urn:hl7-org:v3}tele" maxOccurs="unbounded" minOccurs="0"/>
 *                   <element name="subscriberName" type="{urn:hl7-org:v3}pnm"/>
 *                   <element name="subscriberDateOfBirth" type="{urn:hl7-org:v3}ts"/>
 *                 </sequence>
 *               </restriction>
 *             </complexContent>
 *           </complexType>
 *         </element>
 *         <element name="guarantorInformation" maxOccurs="unbounded" minOccurs="0">
 *           <complexType>
 *             <complexContent>
 *               <restriction base="{http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema}anyType">
 *                 <sequence>
 *                   <element name="responsibilityEffectiveDate" type="{urn:hl7-org:v3}ivlTs" minOccurs="0"/>
 *                   <element name="partyAddress" type="{urn:hl7-org:v3}addr" maxOccurs="unbounded" minOccurs="0"/>
 *                   <element name="partyPhone" type="{urn:hl7-org:v3}tele" maxOccurs="unbounded" minOccurs="0"/>
 *                   <element name="partyName" type="{urn:hl7-org:v3}pnm" minOccurs="0"/>
 *                 </sequence>
 *               </restriction>
 *             </complexContent>
 *           </complexType>
 *         </element>
 *         <element name="healthPlanName" type="{http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema}anyType" minOccurs="0"/>
 *         <element ref="{urn:hl7-org:v3}comment" maxOccurs="unbounded" minOccurs="0"/>
 *       </sequence>
 *     </restriction>
 *   </complexContent>
 * </complexType>
 *

 *
 *
 */
@XmlAccessorType(XmlAccessType.FIELD)
@XmlType(name = "", propOrder = {
    "resultID",
    "healthInsuranceType",
    "payer",
    "memberInformation",
    "financialResponsibilityPartyType",
    "subscriberInformation",
    "guarantorInformation",
    "healthPlanName",
    "comment"
})
public class InsuranceProvider {

    /** The result id. */
    @XmlElement(required = true)
    protected Ii resultID;

    /** The health insurance type. */
    protected Cd healthInsuranceType;

    /** The payer. */
    @XmlElement(required = true)
    protected OrganizationInformation payer;

    /** The member information. */
    @XmlElement(required = true)
    protected MemberInformation memberInformation;

    /** The financial responsibility party type. */
    protected Cd financialResponsibilityPartyType;

    /** The subscriber information. */
    protected SubscriberInformation subscriberInformation;

    /** The guarantor information. */
    protected List<GuarantorInformation> guarantorInformation;

    /** The health plan name. */
    protected String healthPlanName;

    /** The comment. */
    protected List<Comment> comment;

    /**
     * Gets the value of the resultID property.
     *
     * @return the result id
     * possible object is
     * {@link Ii }
     */
    public Ii getResultID() {
        return resultID;
    }

    /**
     * Sets the value of the resultID property.
     *
     * @param value
     *     allowed object is
     *     {@link Ii }
     *
     */
    public void setResultID(Ii value) {
        this.resultID = value;
    }

    /**
     * Gets the value of the healthInsuranceType property.
     *
     * @return the health insurance type
     * possible object is
     * {@link Cd }
     */
    public Cd getHealthInsuranceType() {
        return healthInsuranceType;
    }

    /**
     * Sets the value of the healthInsuranceType property.
     *
     * @param value
     *     allowed object is
     *     {@link Cd }
     *
     */
    public void setHealthInsuranceType(Cd value) {
        this.healthInsuranceType = value;
    }

    /**
     * Gets the value of the payer property.
     *
     * @return the payer
     * possible object is
     * {@link OrganizationInformation }
     */
    public OrganizationInformation getPayer() {
        return payer;
    }

    /**
     * Sets the value of the payer property.
     *
     * @param value
     *     allowed object is
     *     {@link OrganizationInformation }
     *
     */
    public void setPayer(OrganizationInformation value) {
        this.payer = value;
    }

    /**
     * Gets the value of the memberInformation property.
     *
     * @return the member information
     * possible object is
     * {@link MemberInformation }
     */
    public MemberInformation getMemberInformation() {
        return memberInformation;
    }

    /**
     * Sets the value of the memberInformation property.
     *
     * @param value
     *     allowed object is
     *     {@link MemberInformation }
     *
     */
    public void setMemberInformation(MemberInformation value) {
        this.memberInformation = value;
    }

    /**
     * Gets the value of the financialResponsibilityPartyType property.
     *
     * @return the financial responsibility party type
     * possible object is
     * {@link Cd }
     */
    public Cd getFinancialResponsibilityPartyType() {
        return financialResponsibilityPartyType;
    }

    /**
     * Sets the value of the financialResponsibilityPartyType property.
     *
     * @param value
     *     allowed object is
     *     {@link Cd }
     *
     */
    public void setFinancialResponsibilityPartyType(Cd value) {
        this.financialResponsibilityPartyType = value;
    }

    /**
     * Gets the value of the subscriberInformation property.
     *
     * @return the subscriber information
     * possible object is
     * {@link SubscriberInformation }
     */
    public SubscriberInformation getSubscriberInformation() {
        return subscriberInformation;
    }

    /**
     * Sets the value of the subscriberInformation property.
     *
     * @param value
     *     allowed object is
     *     {@link SubscriberInformation }
     *
     */
    public void setSubscriberInformation(SubscriberInformation value) {
        this.subscriberInformation = value;
    }

    /**
     * Gets the value of the guarantorInformation property.
     *
     *

     * This accessor method returns a reference to the live list,
     * not a snapshot. Therefore any modification you make to the
     * returned list will be present inside the JAXB object.
     * This is why there is not a set method for the guarantorInformation property.
     *
     *

     * For example, to add a new item, do as follows:
     *

     * getGuarantorInformation().add(newItem);
     *

     *
     *
     *

     * Objects of the following type(s) are allowed in the list
     *
     * @return the guarantor information
     * {@link GuarantorInformation }
     */
    public List<GuarantorInformation> getGuarantorInformation() {
        if (guarantorInformation == null) {
            guarantorInformation = new ArrayList<GuarantorInformation>();
        }
        return this.guarantorInformation;
    }

    /**
     * Gets the value of the healthPlanName property.
     *
     * @return the health plan name
     * possible object is
     * {@link String }
     */
    public String getHealthPlanName() {
        return healthPlanName;
    }

    /**
     * Sets the value of the healthPlanName property.
     *
     * @param value
     *     allowed object is
     *     {@link String }
     *
     */
    public void setHealthPlanName(String value) {
        this.healthPlanName = value;
    }

    /**
     * Gets the value of the comment property.
     *
     *

     * This accessor method returns a reference to the live list,
     * not a snapshot. Therefore any modification you make to the
     * returned list will be present inside the JAXB object.
     * This is why there is not a set method for the comment property.
     *
     *

     * For example, to add a new item, do as follows:
     *

     * getComment().add(newItem);
     *

     *
     *
     *

     * Objects of the following type(s) are allowed in the list
     *
     * @return the comment
     * {@link Comment }
     */
    public List<Comment> getComment() {
        if (comment == null) {
            comment = new ArrayList<Comment>();
        }
        return this.comment;
    }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
module Hatio
  module Userstamp

    def self.included(base) #:nodoc:
      super
      base.extend(ClassMethods)
      base.class_eval do
        include InstanceMethods
        class_attribute :creator_attribute
        class_attribute :updater_attribute
      end
    end

    module ClassMethods
      def stampable(options = {:creator_id => :creator_id, :updater_id => :updater_id})
        self.creator_attribute  = options[:creator_id]
        self.updater_attribute  = options[:updater_id]

        class_eval do
          belongs_to :creator, :class_name => "User", :foreign_key => self.creator_attribute
          belongs_to :updater, :class_name => "User", :foreign_key => self.updater_attribute
          before_save     :set_updater_attribute
          before_create   :set_creator_attribute
        end
      end
    end

    module InstanceMethods #:nodoc:
      public
        def creator_name
          self.creator ? self.creator.name : nil
        end

        def updater_name
          self.updater ? self.updater.name : nil
        end

      private
        def set_creator_attribute
          self.creator_id = User.current_user.id if User.current_user && !self.creator_id
        end

        def set_updater_attribute
          self.updater_id = User.current_user.id if User.current_user && !self.updater_id
        end
    end
  end
end


text:
Agriocnemis inversa – gatunek ważki z rodziny łątkowatych (Coenagrionidae).

Przypisy

Bibliografia

Agriocnemis
Gatunki i podgatunki zwierząt nazwane w 1899 roku

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
County Gray Bar Menu
Mask Kits Available at the Greene County Extension
Submitted by khyett on Thu, 04/23/2020 - 15:07
The Greene County Extension & Outreach is offering Mask Kits for community members to either keep for personal use or to donate. Greene County Extension's Office Assistant, Cindy Adamson donated fabric and is preparing kits for anyone who would like them. We have two different patterns available and a list of where that specific pattern can be donated locally. "This is a way for Greene County Extension to show our support to our community during this difficult time," said Kayla Willms, Greene County's 4-H & Youth Coordinator.
If you would like to make your own mask stop by the Extension office between 9:00am – 11:00am Monday through Friday and pick up a kit. Each kit has directions and supplies to make one mask. A sewing machine will be required to assemble.
Don't forget to record your donations! Iowa 4‑H program empowers young people to be well-informed citizens who are actively engaged in their communities and the world! Iowa 4-H is calling all 4-H members, leaders, alumni, judges, and friends to create face masks for their community, including friends, neighbors, hospitals, and care centers. Our original goal was to create 10,000 masks and as of April 23rd there are over 13,000 masks donated. Due to the successful first week of counting, Iowa 4-H has increased our goal to 25,000 masks state-wide. To learn how to record your donations, please go to https://www.extension.iastate.edu/4h/iowa-4-h-creates-face-masks.
Counties Main Menu
About ISU Extension and Outreach: Greene County
County Extension Council
Greene County 4-H & Youth
Iowa 4-H Program
Yard & Garden/Horticulture
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Food, Nutrition and Health
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Upcoming Statewide Events
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, (800) 262-3804, 2150 Beardshear Hall, Ames, IA 50011-2046
Copyright © 2021 Iowa State University | Contact Us | Policies | For Staff | State & National Extension Partners | Website Log In
4-H Staff Login


Ollscoil phríobháideach i Nua-Eabhrac, sna Stáit Aontaithe is ea Ollscoil Columbia nó Columbia University in the City of New York. Tá an phríomhchampas suite i dtuaisceart Manhattan, in Morningside Heights.
Bunaíodh Ollscoil Columbia sa bhliain 1754. Is í an cúigiú ollscoil is sine sna Stáit Aontaithe í agus is ceann de na "Coláistí Coilíneacha" í, is é sin go bhfuil Columbia ar na naoi scoil tríú leibhéil a bunaíodh sa tír úd sular bhain na Stáit Aontaithe a neamhspleáchas ó Shasana amach. Inniu bíonn timpeall 29,250 duine ag déanamh staidéir go lánaimseartha ag Columbia, idir fhochéimithe, chéimithe agus iarchéimithe. Tá 101 duaiseoirí Nobel ar an saol a bhfuil baint éigin acu le Columbia, bíodh ollaimh, iar-ollaimh nó iarmhic léinn de chuid Columbia iad. Bronnann coiste ag Ollscoil Columbia na duaiseanna Pulitzer.
Tugadh an leathanach seo cothrom le dáta an 11 Meitheamh 2015 ag 04:47.


text:
IMAGE COMICS WEEK – SPAWN
SPAWN #1 – May 1992
Credits: Todd McFarlane (story, art), Tom Orzechowski (letters), Steve Oliff (colors)
Spawn appears in New York City with no memory of his previous life. All he knows is that he died five years ago and made a bad deal with a devil. Spawn comes across an attempted rape and saves the victim. Suddenly, he flashes back to his funeral, and realizes the woman mourning at his casket is his wife. He takes off his mask and gloves to discover that his entire body is badly burned. Meanwhile, detectives Sam and Twitch investigate the murders of various underworld figures.
This is the debut appearance of Spawn, a character that dominated the comic book marketplace for almost a decade. I started buying this title around the time Greg Capullo started his run, and stayed with it for most of my teen years. At some point, I realized that the stories never went anywhere, but I didn't actually drop the book until Capullo left. A lot of people don't want to admit that they bought this book during the '90s (and sales have even dropped to less than 25,000 apparently), but you can't deny that this was a very popular title during that era. With Spawn, McFarlane created a title that appealed to little kids, teenage metalheads, horror fans, traditional superhero fans, and wannabe occultist types. That's a pretty wide net. I think if the character had a more clearly defined personality and motivation, it would've maintained more of its popularity.
The first issue of this series is just Spawn wandering around, stopping a rape (then wondering why, because he's "not a hero"), and having random flashbacks. McFarlane experiments with some creative page layouts and uses the Dark Knight Returns trick of having TV news reports give exposition. As a first issue, it's actually not that bad. I think more about the character should have been revealed, but McFarlane does a decent job of building up the mystery. I've seen people question in recent years why McFarlane was so popular during this era, but seeing someone combine cartooniness with "realism" was still pretty new at the time. McFarlane's technical drawing is inconsistent, but it's always energetic and most of his pages are interesting to look at. Plus, McFarlane stuck with a monthly title for years, building up a huge fanbase (something his inspiration Art Adams never did). Now, there are guys like Pete Woods and Ed McGuiness who have figured out how to combine cartoony elements with more solid drawings, making McFarlane's stuff less impressive.
SPAWN #2 – June 1992
Questions – Part Two
Credits: Todd McFarlane (story, art), Tom Orzechowski (letters), Steve Oliff and Reuben Rude (colors)
Spawn attempts to use his powers to fix his skin. He turns into a blond white man, shocking him since he should be black. Meanwhile, a monster named the Violator is ripping the hearts out of New York gangsters. Spawn has another flashback to arguments with his boss Jason Wynn. Spawn collapses and wakes up in the alley next to a clown, who turns out to be the Violator.
Not Approved By The Comics Code Authority
Violator's gimmick is that he rips the hearts out of people. McFarlane seems to enjoy making these scenes as bloody as possible. He also seems to be under the impression that the human heart looks like a potato.
Okay, it's another issue of Spawn moping around the alleys and not doing anything. McFarlane pads this out with more pages of the Violator's killing spree, and numerous splash pages of Spawn striking poses. I don't know why exactly McFarlane was more interesting in drawing this stuff, rather than Spawn actually, you know, doing something. I should point out that I've read over seventy issues of this series and never saw an explanation for Spawn turning into a white guy. I used to assume that the real Al Simmons was white and that this was some sort of in-joke, but that's not the case.
SPAWN #3 – August 1992
Questions – Part Three
Spawn recalls the name of his wife, and heads to a CIA office to get her address. Reading her file, Spawn discovers that his wife has married his best friend during the five years he was gone. He disguises himself and visits their home, discovering that they also have a daughter. Later, Spawn broods in an alley, and is confronted by the Violator. He rips Spawn's heart out, but he quickly recovers.
The plot advances a little bit, but it's only covering territory that should've already been covered by now. Why wait three issues to reveal that his wife married his best friend? It's not as if there was a lot going on in the previous issues. Spawn's relationship with his wife is one element of the character that I do like. A character who sold his soul to the devil only to find out that she's married someone else isn't a bad idea. Unfortunately, this just became an excuse for Spawn to mope around back alleys and feel sorry for himself for years.
SPAWN #4 – September 1992
Questions – Part Four
Spawn repairs his heart and fights Violator. After dismembering one another, a large devil appears and explains to Spawn that he was chosen to be a warrior for Hell due to his past life as a hired government assassin. He's been given a finite amount of power, and once it runs out, he returns to Hell. The devil heals Spawn and Violator, but forces Violator into his human form as punishment. Spawn wanders off, contemplating his new life.
There's plenty of dismemberment fun in this issue.
This is the climax to the series' first story arc, and it does establish Spawn's origin and status quo. Aside from that, it's a small payoff for four issues of story. Why exactly Violator felt the need to kill large numbers of mobsters is never revealed. What the devil hopes to gain by placing Spawn on Earth in the first place isn't clear either. The confrontation between Spawn and Violator isn't even fun. Spawn strikes some poses and then gets thrown into a wall. The actual fight takes place off-panel, with giant sound effects and floating limbs taking the place of an actual fight scene. McFarlane begins to write a lot of heavy captions, which was always a distinctive feature of the book when I followed it. They're fairly boring and don't say a lot, but Orzechowski's lettering is attractive. He also gives all of the superpowered characters their own distinctive font and word balloons, which looks cool. The colors are also great and look contemporary with something that would be published today. Spawn remained a great looking comic for the rest of the '90s, with improved paper quality, excellent Greg Capullo art, and a new standard for digital colors and separations. Unfortunately, the stories always trailed behind the pretty, pretty pictures.
BONUS –A 1992 Todd McFarlane interview by Gary Groth about the creation of Image. Definitely NSFW.
Posted by G. Kendall at 8:41 PM 4 comments:
Labels: image comics, spawn, todd mcfarlane
IMAGE COMICS WEEK – WILDC.A.T.S
WILDC.A.T.S #1 – August 1992
Credits: Jim Lee (writer, penciler), Brandon Choi (writer), Scott Williams (inker), Michael Heisler (letterer), Joe Rosas (colorist)
Void rescues a homeless dwarf named Jacob Marlowe from a group of thugs. She tells him that he has a great destiny to fulfill, and within two years he is a multi-billionaire. He has assembled a team of super-powered characters called WildC.A.T.S (Spartan, Maul, and Warblade) in order to alter Void's visions of the future. Helspont, the leader of a villainous group known as the Cabal, has learned of the location of "the third gifted one", while the mysterious Gnome gives Marlowe the same information in exchange for a future favor. The gifted one is an exotic dancer named "Voodoo", and she is also being tracked by the mysterious Grifter and Zealot. A member of the Coda (a group of female assassins) and two aliens disguised as humans infiltrate the club where Voodoo dances, and are confronted by Grifter. The WildC.A.T.S soon arrive and rescue Voodoo. Marlowe asks Grifter and Zealot to join him, as the Coda awakens and detonates a bomb inside the club.
The word "ass" is censored, but "bitch" is not. There's a reference to wet dreams, and the bulk of the action in this story takes place in a strip club.
There are two trading cards bound in the middle, one of Spartan and one of Voodoo. You learn more about the characters from the cards than from anything in the actual story.
I decided to start with WildC.A.T.S because it has the most obvious connection to the X-Men franchise. Jim Lee began his run on Uncanny X-Men in 1989 (as a fill-in artist who became so popular he was given the book permanently) before moving over to its spinoff X-Men in 1991. By the end of that year, he was plotting both titles while still penciling X-Men. By the summer of 1992, Lee was gone from Marvel and WildC.A.T.S was on the stands. WildC.A.T.S is an amalgam of the X-Men (characters born with super powers), Transformers (two alien groups taking their fight to Earth), and a little G. I. Joe (cool vehicles, lots of military-style acronyms). Combine that with Jim Lee's art, and this title seemed to have more commercial potential than the rest of Image's line-up. WildC.A.T.S did go on to have its own CBS cartoon show and action figure line, but neither lasted for very long. Spawn turned out to be the most commercially successful property from the early Image line, but even that success faded by the end of the '90s.
The early Image titles were heavily criticized for lacking any plot, but that isn't really the case with WildC.A.T.S. If anything, there's too much going on. Once again, Lee falls into the trap of introducing too many characters too quickly without properly establishing who they are or what they want. I've looked through this issue three times and can't find the word "WildC.A.T.S" anywhere inside the story. If you can't get around to naming your team in the first issue, something's probably wrong. The story's just too busy racing along and introducing one group of characters after the next. In a way, it's nice to see a creator so excited about his ideas and not dragging things out, but Lee just introduces too much, too quickly. The script (written by Choi, I assume) seems to be heavily inspired by Chris Claremont. I won't say it's needlessly verbose, but it reads more like something from the early '80s than what you would expect from an early Image comic. When the narrative captions shift to Grifter's inner monologue, the script suddenly turns into a bad Frank Miller homage.
The early promise of Image was that you were going to see your favorite Marvel creators doing whatever they wanted without restrictions. Lee pushes the envelope a little bit, but it seems pretty restrained. It's about as violent as his Marvel work, with a little more sexuality; one of the main characters is a stripper, which did seem daring at the time, and Lee gives Zealot outrageous proportions in her debut appearance. The paper quality doesn't have the shiny and slick look that Image is known for, but it is nicer than what Marvel was doing at the time. The coloring is much more sophisticated than anything Marvel was doing in 1992, thanks to digital separations. There's also twenty-eight pages of story, six more than the industry standard of the time, at Image's standard price of $1.95. I should also point out that Lee's art has improved since his later X-Men issues. Lee had a lot of enthusiasm about this book, and it shows. Unfortunately, the story is just too chaotic.
WILDC.A.T.S #2 – October 1992
Credits: Jim Lee (writer, penciler), Brandon Choi (writer), Scott Williams (inker), Michael Heisler (letterer), Joe Chiodo (colorist)
Secret government agency I/O detects the presence of the WildC.A.T.S as Void teleports them away from the explosion. I/O sends its operatives to fight the team, but Marlowe recognizes their leader, Lynch, and they decide to team up to stop the Daemonite reunification. Zealot explains to Voodoo that they are descendants of an alien race known as the Kherubim, and that the Daemonites and Kherubim have been fighting on Earth for centuries. The Daemonites are now searching for an orb that will enable them to reunite with their race and destroy the Kherubim. Voodoo uses her power to see Daemonites in disguise to perceive that Vice President Dan Quayle is secretly a Daemonite. The team travels to a NASA base, where Quayle is planning to release the orb. The team is discovered and faces Quayle's bodyguards, the government sponsored super-team, Youngblood.
There's a card-stock, holographic cover that doesn't look good in any light I place it under. There's also a coupon for the special Image Comics #0 comic, which was delayed for months (was it ever released?). The coupon is huge and interrupts a two-page spread in the middle of the book.
Imitation and Flattery
The villain Pike looks a lot like Deadpool (who looks a lot like Spider-Man). Warblade turns his fingers into claws, not unlike a certain X-Man.
Production Note
Lee comments that the book is four to five weeks late, blaming the delay on the birth of his daughter. He's disappointed that he wasn't able to keep up with the monthly schedule he kept for six years.
Even more characters, none with any real personality, show up. I'm starting to wonder if Lee was in some sort of competition with Rob Liefeld to see who could trademark the most names. The WildC.A.T.S are given an origin that takes up less than one page before the story jumps to another scene. This is a pretty looking comic, featuring nice art and vibrant colors, but it's not interesting to read at all. The book is filled with dialogue like "a zebra alert psi-storm is coning in on us" and "the rogue psi-op's power signature in the Q-P field left an echo trail". It's like an X-Men comic, only without any engaging characters or relevant metaphors.
Credits: While Portacio (plot/pencils), Brandon Choi (plot/script), Scott Williams (inker), Michael Heisler (letterer), Joe Rosas (colorist)
A man with gold armor (or skin?) named Dane kills a group of armed men. When he's finished, a group of more people in gold armor burst through the wall.
This is a preview of Wetworks, a title that was originally going to be an original Image series, but came out years later after Whilce Portacio's hiatus. This back-up truly has no plot, but in fairness, it's only four pages long.
WILDC.A.T.S #3 – January 1993
Reunification!
Maul, Spartan, and Voodoo face Youngblood, while the rest of the WildC.A.T.S search for the control center. They soon discover Helspont and Daemonite scientist M'Koi are preparing to breach the orb. During the fight, Warblade kills M'Koi, but Helspont, Pike, and the Coda are able to defeat the team. Meanwhile, Voodoo uses her powers to exorcise Dan Quayle of the Daemonite possessing his body, convincing Youngblood to stop the fight. Three floors below, the Gnome and his men are making plans to capture the orb themselves. Finally, Helspont breaches the orb, creating a portal in space for Daemonite ships to pass through.
This is the "big beat down" issue, but even the action is bogged down by too many characters and too much pseudo-scientific nonsense. There are over twenty characters in this issue, which is pretty ridiculous. The Image founders seemed to enjoy crossing over with each other's titles, I guess in an attempt to follow the Marvel tradition of establishing a shared universe. Lee does a good job adapting Liefeld's characters to his own style, but he seems to lose interest in drawing them just a few pages into the issue. The idea of Dan Quayle secretly being possessed by an alien is slightly amusing, but it's only a small part of this story. If this issue was only slick-looking characters beating on each other, this would at least be a fun action comic. Instead, almost every page is weighed down with heavy captions and dialogue like "He has also deactivated the fusion reactors so that we may enter the orb containment chamber". Zzzzzz….
WILDC.A.T.S #4 – March 1993
Youngblood and the remaining members of WildC.A.T.S team up to stop Helspont. Spartan uses his android body to deactivate the reactor relay switch, which fries his body but shuts down Helspont's stargate. Helspont decides to use the orb itself to kill the WildC.A.T.S, but he discovers that Gnome and his Triad have stolen it. The Triad attacks the team, and Gnome blasts Void with the orb. Marlowe shoots Gnome's arm off, dropping the orb down a reactor. Before the orb explodes, Marlowe and Void combine their powers and teleport the team away. As the team escapes, Voodoo learns that Spartan is being revived into another cyber-synthetic body.
This issue is polybagged with a trading card by Jim Lee.
There's also a preview of Larry Stroman's Tribe in the back of this issue. I'd review it, but I honestly can't make any sense out of it.
Well, it's more of the same. The WildC.A.T.S and Youngblood stop Helspont pretty easily, and then face a totally separate group of villains before more things blow up and they teleport away. Gnome and the Triad are a group of extremely underdeveloped characters with no motivation, so really, who cares that they've turned on the WildC.A.T.S? Helspont and the Daemonites have at least been established as credible villains, so there's at little investment in seeing a fight with those characters. Tossing in four more guys to fight at the very end just feels lazy. Just to confirm that this is the early '90s, Gnome attempts to hold Marlowe to the promise he made earlier, only to have Marlowe reply, "Whoever said I was a hero?" Of course, Marlowe stopping Gnome actually isn't anti-heroic, but he still seems proud not to be a hero. I don't know how exactly the "heroes who don't act like heroes" trend came about, but it's kind of disturbing in hindsight. None of the WildC.A.T.S characters come across as particularly heroic in these issues; even though they are fighting to stop aliens from taking over the Earth, they seem to be doing it mainly to continue their war against the Daemonites. This could potentially be interesting, but instead it just makes the characters more unlikable.
So, that's WildC.A.T.S. It looks nice, but it's a cluttered book that's kind of a chore to read.
Labels: image comics, jim lee, wildc.a.t.s
IMAGE COMICS WEEK BEGINS!
I'm taking a break from the X-books this week to look at their major rival in the early 1990s – Image Comics. The X-books were especially hit hard by the foundation of Image, losing the popular artists behind Uncanny X-Men, X-Force, X-Men, and Wolverine. With one exception, all of these titles were also being plotted by the artists. Marvel suddenly had to find new writers, pencilers, and inkers for its top titles, and as I've noted in my recent reviews, the results weren't pretty.
Before becoming its own full-fledged company, Image began as an imprint of Malibu Comics. Youngblood, the comic that would become Image's first release, was announced as a three-issue mini-series in October 1991. Before Youngblood was announced, Marvel's lawyers apparently squashed Liefeld's previous attempt to publish a title called The Executioners through Malibu. The Image name actually didn't exist yet, and there's no indication in the early announcement that anyone else would be joining him. In fact, looking at the Usenet discussions from this era, most people didn't believe that he was even leaving X-Force in order to do this title.
The earliest reference to the name "Image Comics" I can find online is a February 1992 discussion about the latest Comics Buyer's Guide. The original creators announced to form Image are Todd McFarlane, Rob Liefeld, Erik Larsen, and Jim Valentino. Image is billed as an interconnected superhero universe published by Malibu. The titles originally announced include Youngblood by Liefeld, Spawn by McFarlane, The Dragon by Larsen, The Pact by Valentino and Brigade by Liefeld. Youngblood was released in April 1992 (two months late), making it the first Image Comic ever. The preorders of Youngblood automatically made it the best-selling independent comic of all time (eventually selling a million copies), which I'm sure helped to convince the other Image founders to join. In May 1992, Amazing Heroes announced that more creators, including Portacio, Lee, and Silvestri, were joining Image. Image was an immediate hit for all of the creators involved -- by August 1992, Image had seven of the top ten highest selling comics for that month.
Mail-order company Entertainment This Month began running ads for Youngblood #1 in Marvel comics cover-dated April 1992. In the months to come, ETM's monthly Marvel ads would be filled with Image characters, declaring how "hot", "collectible", and "violent" these series would be. I don't know how Marvel felt about indirectly running ads for their competition. As someone with no access to fanzines or comic shops, I first learned about these new titles by buying Marvel books, and I'm sure I'm not alone. I actually didn't buy any Image titles during the first year of their existence. I was a diehard Marvel Zombie, and I actually considered these guys traitors. I was determined to stay loyal to Marvel, and was probably buying more Marvel comics than ever before by the end of 1992. Tom DeFalco and Bob Harras really should've flown to my house and bought me a Happy Meal or something. About a year after Image launched, I had a chance to buy a stack of early Image issues from some local teenager. I looked through the collection and decided to buy early Spawn and Savage Dragon issues, but I had a chance to read the entire set. I thought WildC.A.T.S. and CyberForce looked interesting, but even at age twelve Youngblood, Supreme, and Brigade didn't appeal to me. Months later, I picked up Spawn/Batman on a whim, and was sucked in by Todd McFarlane's art. I began to buy Spawn monthly, along with the occasional Savage Dragon issue and Wildstorm title. For some reason, I didn't feel like I was betraying Marvel at that point.
Bonus! A 1992 CNN report about the formation of Image. Did you know that some people read comics into their twenties?
Labels: image comics
EXCALIBUR #46-#50
#46-#47 (Davis/Farmer/Heisler/Oliver) – These issues are the full introductions of Kylun and Cerise, two characters that were essentially forgotten once Davis left the title. Both of these characters have a lot of potential, but I guess they didn't fit into the darker world of the '90s X-titles. Cerise later endures a horribly retconned origin that doesn't make any sense, which I guess shouldn't be shocking. These are great looking issues; Oliver's coloring should especially stands out. Davis' art plays around with page layouts and pulling the "camera" in and out, an effect he pulls off very well. Davis continues to build on old continuity from Marvel UK, early Excalibur issues, and a one-shot special that was apparently filled with contradictions. This is Avengers Forever-type material, telling you that the mistakes you saw earlier weren't mistakes and that everything has been happening for a reason. This run was written when continuity was a much higher priority at Marvel, so I don't know if it's something that would be published today. Davis is able to incorporate the old continuity with new characters and plotlines in a seamless way, so you really do feel as if there's logical connection between these events.
#48-#49 (Davis/Farmer/Heisler/Oliver) –These issues mark the first appearance of the Anti-Phoenix, a concept that you might think would've had a large role in X-continuity, but seems to have been relegated only to this Excalibur storyline. The Phoenix Force is now being tied into the continuity of the original Captain Britain series, which should (theoretically) root characters like Roma and Merlyn even more firmly into the X-universe. It never really worked out that way, and I don't think any of these events were referenced after Davis left the title. This storyline is a huge payoff for longtime fans, but it is rooted in continuity from a wide variety of sources, which might bother some readers. Davis is building up to an ominous finish, but doesn't totally abandon the light-hearted humor of the original issues, something most writers couldn't pull off.
#50 (Davis/Farmer/Heisler/Rosas) – Davis' first storyline concludes with this issue, along with some long-running subplots that go back to the early issues of this series. Davis obviously put a lot of thought into how to connect the various plot threads he introduced at the start of this run, making this issue feel like a real payoff. A lot of the early subplots from the Claremont issues are also resolved here. Davis ties them into his story so well, I was surprised when I found out that he didn't consult Claremont at all when writing this arc (editor Terry Kavanagh told Davis not to worry about what Claremont might have done, just to make the book his own).
Labels: alan davis, excalibur
Before heading into the X-Cutioner's Song crossover, I'm going to be looking at the two X-titles I wasn't buying during this time. Both Wolverine and Excalibur were higher-priced baxter paper titles that rarely interacted with the other X-books during this era. If I had more money, I would have bought these titles, too, but my meager kid allowance just couldn't support them. Well, I know I would have bought Wolverine at least. I only barely considered Excalibur an X-title. Yeah, it had some of the X-Men, but their team leader wasn't even a mutant! And the title started with the wrong letter! The fact that the book often seemed to be in a state of perpetual fill-ins at this time also turned me off. When Alan Davis came back with issue #42, I didn't even notice. I had stopped even flipping through the title (the newsstand dealers in my town might have even dropped Excalibur during this time; I don't remember seeing these issues on the stands at all). I ended up picking up these issues years later in my late teens, after I discovered that Alan Davis is truly a genius. Even if Excalibur had a different editor and very rarely had anything to do with the other mutant books, it's still an Uncanny X-Men spin-off and it should be examined if you're looking at the overall quality of the X-line in the '90s. So, here are my quick thoughts on Excalibur #42-#45.
#42 (Davis/Farmer/Heisler/Oliver) – Alan Davis' return to the title and his first issue as writer. It's a fun, yet continuity-heavy, issue that sets up some future stories and resolves some dangling plot lines. As always, Davis' art is beautiful. I think it might have been too subtle for my younger self to truly appreciate, though.
#43 (Davis/Farmer/Heisler/Oliver) – Davis continues to maintain the comedy element, but not at the expense of genuine characterization, or the advancement of more serious storylines. This doesn't read anything like the other X-titles of this time. It feels more like Claremont's older material. It is interesting to see how the X-titles took the Claremont influence in different ways. Davis focuses on characterization while building up to a larger story, as the other titles focus more on introducing mysteries and balancing various subplots.
#44 (Davis/Farmer/Heisler/Oliver) – This issue shifts focus to the Marvel UK characters, Meggan and Captain Britain. Davis is beginning to incorporate the Marvel UK continuity more firmly into the X-universe, which is something that probably should have been done much sooner in this title. With all of the references to the original Captain Britain series, Excalibur is beginning to feel more like a legitimate follow-up to that series.
#45 (Davis/Farmer/Heisler/Oliver) – The various plotlines continue, with some hints there might be a connection to the various threads. Davis does a wonderful job not only on Captain Britain's fight scene and Technet's slapstick comedy, but also on the conversation scene between Rachel and Meggan. The body language and facial expressions on those two pages are great.
X-MEN #13 – October 1992
Hazardous Territory
Credits: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Art Thibert (art), Dan Panosian (art assist), Joe Rosas and Marie Javins (colorists), Lois Buhalis with Tom Orzechowski (letters)
The X-Men travel to the abandoned Almagordo facility to find Professor Xavier. Ryking is frustrated that Xavier didn't believe the file he sent him about Almagordo's secret activities. The X-Men arrive and Ryking immediately fights them. Cyclops knocks out the mechanism on Ryking's arms, inadvertently causing his powers to unleash an explosion. Everyone survives, but Xavier feels Ryking doesn't have any answers about his father, so they leave Almagordo. Meanwhile, Stryfe continues to collect artifacts that resemble Apocalypse.
Continuity Notes
Stryfe refers to Apocalypse as the "Sinner of Time", and that he will "steal his past the way he has stolen my future".
Ryking tries to convince Xavier that his father's death "went beyond Kurt Marko". Marko was another co-worker of Xavier's father, and later Xavier's stepfather. As established by Stan Lee in the original issues, Marko killed Brain Xavier in a scheme to marry his wife and take her inheritance. Marko is also the father of the Juggernaut.
An old piece of paper in Almagordo reads "Shiva Scenario – Committee Evaluation Report" written by Kurt Marko, Alexander Ryking, and Brian Xavier. Shiva is the robotic program designed by the Weapon X project to eliminate members of the program who go rogue.
"Huh?" Moment
Rogue and Wolverine discover a hidden sub-level, then travel up the stairs to investigate it.
I Love the '90s
Jubilee complains that she's being interrupted from "woofin' it up" with Arsenio.
More filler until the crossover begins. If the mysteries introduced in this issue ever went anywhere, I could be more charitable, but since this all turned out to be vague clues that never added up to much, this storyline is just pointless. If you have two issues to kill before a crossover, why waste it on introducing yet another mysterious character making more vague allegations about somebody's past? This stuff is pretty tedious at this point. I think these mystery storylines kept going in the X-books because a younger, less cynical audience had actual faith that this stuff was going somewhere. I know I did. Some people have speculated that there was an actual policy that these mysteries shouldn't be resolved; that the kids would just quit reading if they got all of the answers. I don't know if that's true, but I can say that each new mystery pushed an old one out of my head. By the time I read this story, I wasn't thinking about Fitzroy's mysterious connection to the White Queen, for example. And by the time Gambit hinted at a connection with Mr. Sinister, I wasn't thinking about Almagordo anymore.
Even if you want to enjoy this as a dumb action comic, you can't. The X-Men barely face Ryking (or "Hazard" as the covers call him). Most of the issue consists of Ryking yelling to Xavier about his pain, and the X-Men running around an abandoned building. The fight consists of Beast kicking Ryking, Cyclops blasting his arm, and then his "energies" exploding. Rogue and Wolverine are captured by Ryking off-panel, and after being shown trapped in his energy field, are suddenly free again when the scene shifts back to them. Everything about this issue is just that sloppy. Hazard says that he needs this high-tech "firing mechanism" to channel his "energies" – where did he get this thing? He's been in the hospital since he was a little boy, how does he break free and suddenly have this futuristic armor? I imagine that being hospitalized for most of his life also would've prevented him from finding secret files about his father and mailing them to Xavier. Why does Xavier say that Almagordo has no answers after discovering so many secret levels to the base? Why not at least explore them? What would it hurt to search the debris? The X-Men just leave as classified documents fly all around them. One of them shows that Xavier's father was actually involved in something suspicious, which makes the X-Men look like idiots for not even checking around them.
Posted by G. Kendall at 9:41 PM 1 comment:
Labels: nicieza, thibert, x-men
X-MEN #12 – September 1992
Broken Mirrors
Credits: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Art Thibert (artist), Dan Panosian and Trevor Scott (art assist), Tom Orzechowski (letters), Joe Rosas and Marie Javins (colors)
Carter Ryking sees a news report about his father's death, triggering a super-powered seizure. Ryking is a childhood friend of Professor Xavier's; their fathers worked together at the Almagordo Nuclear Research Facility. Wolverine has discovered a file in Xavier's office that claims that Almagordo was actually a front for studies in genetic mutation. Wolverine suspects that Xavier's father might be involved with his past because he endured similar experimentations. Ryking breaks out of the hospital and crashes his father's funeral, claiming that he is going to expose his father's lies. Xavier is there, and he asks Ryking why he's doing this. Ryking takes Xavier to Almagordo so they can learn the truth about their fathers.
One of the nurses on page one is named "Nurse Stimpy".
A different letterer does the second panel of page twenty-seven. The thought balloons display Xavier's concern for the three people Ryking has killed, and show that he's trying to contain the situation. I don't know what these thought balloons took the place of, but I'm guessing that this panel was redone to emphasize Xavier's concern about the people around him.
This issue marks the start of Fabian Nicieza's run. He contributes to all of the major storylines during this era before leaving at the end of 1995. This storyline isn't exactly a great start since it falls under the category of "mystery character appears, makes cryptic comments that are never resolved, and then disappears." Ryking is yet another mentally unstable antagonist, an idea that must've been in style at the time. After reading so many stories about crazy Mystique, crazy Mikhail, crazy Morlocks, and crazy Callisto in Uncanny X-Men in such a short amount of time, I'm a little sick of it. Ryking, at least, isn't an established character who suddenly goes insane. His treatment as a child lead to his insanity and it's an important part of this storyline. That's fine, but he's still another ranting lunatic I'm supposed to take seriously as a character, which is very old at this point.
Art Thibert fills in as artist, pulling off a Jim Lee impression for the entire issue. It actually looks better than a lot of the actual Jim Lee issues from this era. As a kid, I was really excited at the prospect of Thibert permanently replacing Lee, but it didn't happen. Thibert stuck around the X-office for a little while before leaving to do a short-lived Image series. He was the original artist of the Cable solo series, but left after just a few issues (I vaguely remember Nicieza criticizing his inability to meet a deadline in an issue of Wizard). He still works as an inker, but I don't think I've seen him pencil anything in about ten years. His work here isn't very original, but most of it isn't bad.
X-FACTOR #83 – October 1992
Painting The Town
Credits: Peter David (writer), Mark Pacella (pencils), Al Milgrom (inks), Glynis Oliver (colors), Richard Starkings (letters)
Genoshan refugees Jenny Ransome and Philip Moreau arrive to support the X-Patriots' asylum request. Lukas, one of the X-Patriots, recognizes Moreau's last name and connects him to his father, the man who developed the mutate process. Lukas uses his shape shifting ability to transform into Cameron Hodge and attacks Moreau. X-Factor is able to stop him before any damage is done. While the government is still deciding what to do with the X-Patriots, Havok convinces Val Cooper to let the team give them a tour of New York. Wolfsbane accompanies Taylor but loses track of him. Taylor, a young Genoshan with the ability to sculpt fire, is soon brutally beaten by a frightened mob in Central Park.
Wolfsbane says that if she returns to fully human form, she'll change back into a Genoshan mutate. She also claims to be colorblind in her wolf form.
Guido and X-Patriot Pirouette dance to the "Mutant Rap". Lyrics include "Go mutant! Go Mutant! Go!"
This is the weakest issue of the "All-New. All Different" X-Factor so far. The last issue ended with Havok dramatically declaring that the team was going to Genosha with the X-Patriots. This issue, they're still in New York while government bureaucrats try to decide what to do with the X-Patriots. At the end of the issue, they're still not any closer to getting to Genosha. It seems as if the story is suddenly stalled because someone realized that X-Factor couldn't go to Genosha and back in time for the X-Cutioner's Song crossover. As far as time killing goes, most of this issue isn't bad, but the storyline's momentum is affected.
Mark Pacella fills in before Jae Lee's brief run begins. He's lost some of the Liefeld influence, but his work still has that patented early '90s ugliness. There's a lot of scowling, pupils often disappear, costumes are inconsistent, and everyone has incredibly skinny feet. If I understood what Larry Stroman was saying in his recent CBR interview, it was Marvel's decision not to renew his contract during this time. The fact that, apparently, someone somewhere thought that this was an improvement is mind-boggling.
Labels: pacella, peter david, x-factor
CABLE #2 – November 1992
UNCANNY X-MEN #293 – October 1992
X-FORCE Action Figures
UNCANNY X-MEN # 292 – September 1992
CABLE #1 – October 1992
UNCANNY X-MEN #291 – August 1992
X-MEN #11 – August 1992
X-FORCE #15 – October 1992
X-MEN #10 – July 1992
UNCANNY X-MEN #290 – July 1992
X-FORCE #14 – September 1992
UNCANNY X-MEN #289 – June 1992
X-FACTOR ANNUAL #7 – 1992
UNCANNY X-MEN ANNUAL #16 – 1992
X-MEN ANNUAL #1 - 1992
X-FORCE #13 – August 1992
X-FORCE #12 – July 1992
UNCANNY X-MEN #288 – May 1992
X-FACTOR # 82 – September 1992
X-FORCE #11 – June 1992
X-FORCE #10- May 1992
GHOST RIDER #27 – July 1992
X-FACTOR #81 – August 1992
X-MEN #9 – June 1992
GHOST RIDER #26 – June 1992
X-MEN #8 – May 1992
X-FACTOR #80 – July 1992
X-FORCE #9 – April 1992


According to the South African government's own statistics Whites in South Africa although they make up less than 10% of the country's population owns over 87% of the country's land. The wealth gap between the two races has widened 18 times in favour of Whites since the end of apartheid, Whites in S.A. are now the richest they have ever been. While Black unemployment stands at a staggering 31% for Whites it is closer to 4%. All the country's major industries and the upper echelons of the organs of state are still in the hands of the White minority.
Manufacturing; mining; retail; financial; construction;tourism the media you name it they are all in the hands of the White minority. This also include the top brass of the military; navy; airforce and crucially the judiciary. For some well connected political actors in S.A. these are good times, but for the vast majority of South Africans the end of apartheid brought little positive change to their dire economic situation.
"However this achievement can not redound to the credit of African peoples if independence attained is one in name only. In such a situation, the emergence from colonialism is but illusory, and the use of the word "independence" would constitute not only a distortion, but also a disservice to the cause of African freedom by erecting a screen behind which those same foreign influences which hitherto were revealed to the world as colonialist interest could, in disguise, continue to operate.
In other words, those who seek independence must be prepared to struggle for it rather than accept it; and having won it, to stand on their feet without dependence and without favours.
They must be prepared to assert their ability to maintain independence without exchanging it for financial support or for subsidies. Independence can not be a simple word devoid of meaning, it must remain a principle admitting of no compromise or suspicion, a principle demanding respect for self and at the same time equal respect for the rights of others".


text:
Q: A baby working on a toilet You have a baby on a toilet and he is giving his strength to do his work.
What words are appropriated to tell him and to describe him?
Asking:

*

*Push hard

*Flex

*Give a strength

Describing:

*

*you are forcing yourself to poop.

*You are using a strength to ...

Which ones are correct and what other options are available?

A: General words of encouragement should be enough

Push!
  Push hard!
  C'mon, you can do it!
  The train is coming out of the tunnel

If they are very young, usually tone of voice and facial expressions are more important than actual words.
To describe what baby is doing

He's pushing so hard to poop, his face is turning red.

These two could imply the red-face you are looking for

He's poop is not cooperating.
  He's struggling very hard to poop.

NOTE: If this is happening a lot (since you are looking for an exact expression), you may want to make sure baby has enough liquids or some sort of fruit juice to help.

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