Despite a fairly hectic schedule recently, I did manage to weasel out some time to read American Widow by Alissa Torres and illustrated by Sungyoon Choi.

This is a difficult book to review, I think. Not that I have any particular connection to the creators, or anyone mentioned in the story, but because it's about 9/11. I think it'd be exceedingly difficult to tell a personal story about someone who died during the attacks on that day and NOT turn out a very powerful story. That day is still wrapped with a great deal of emotional baggage that everyone who watched that day unfold has not fully distanced themselves from. (Although it might be worth noting that, for kids in middle school, that day is already ancient history; they were at most only 3 or 4 when it happened.) So reading the story of how one woman lived through that experience -- her husband having started work in the World Trade Center only the day before -- it was very difficult to not be gripped by the story.

"Of course it's a powerful book! How could it not be?"

What's easy to lose sight of, though, is that it's very well crafted. The book opens shortly after the first plane hit the World Trade Center. It's a somewhat obvious opening -- almost a mandatory one -- but from then on, the story hops from past to present repeatedly, as we piece together the life that Alissa and Eddie had, and the life Alissa has to continue on with. And that's where, I think, the excellence in craft is most evident. Although the overall story is told more-or-less chronologically, it does a lot of jumping back and forth. And while this could easily get pretty confusing, it never really is. Yes, there are dates captioned when necessary to provide a specific "historical" context, but they're back of the subject matter and flow smoothly. Torres has smartly chosen to tell the story as it makes the most sense, not necessarily in the order that everything happened.

Life is what you make, the saying goes. And the story here is a heartening one; it's the story of Life, and how we cope. It's the story of adversity in all its forms, and how we can choose to deal with it. It's how someone can experience the worst that can be thrown at them and still stand tall and walk onward, despite whatever scars they might accrue.

This story could've been a "gimme." It could have been simply one person's cathartic re-telling of what happened to them because of 9/11, and it would've sold reasonably well. But American Widow is much more than that; it's a well-crafted tale of tragedy and the human spirit, and is only made all the more visceral by the emotional weight of 9/11 that we still carry.

OK, this is TOTALLY not comics related...

"Sean, the recession has hurt my budget and I haven't been able to purchase comics and DVDs like I used to. What can I do to keep myself entertained?"

"Well, friend, you can do what I do and create your own video of a story you don't think will ever be professionally made!"

"Huh?"

"I'm pretty sure the BBC isn't going to produce an actual Time War story that supposedly preceded the recent Dr. Who revival, so I made my own, based on what I'd like to see!"

(Yes, this post is exclusively to show off my first real attempt at video editing.)

Say, who's that standing guard behind the Sergeant and Prof. Skeary Winslow? Why, if not for the extradimensional sensory organs and purple eyes, I'd have to say it was... well... me!

To find out what I'm doing, you'll need to read the latest installment of G.L. Nelson's The Sergeant and Professor Skeary Winslow.

What can we learn about ourselves by examining our past? More to the point here, what can I learn about myself by examining some favorite superheroes of my youth?

Well, let's take care of some obvious things first. All of the characters I cited were actively being published in the 1970s and early 1980s. No surprise there, since that's when my childhood took place. All of the characters were also published by DC. That's not much of a surprise either, since that's primarily what I was exposed to back then. Most of what I knew back then came from a small collection given to me by an acquaintance of my folks, who happened to be fan of the DC characters in general. I don't think I even saw an issue of X-Men until I was 12 or 13.

In terms of visual themes running through the group, let me provide some summary info...

• 7 of the 7 characters wear gloves
• 6 of the 7 characters do not have capes
• 5 of the 7 characters do not have a centered chest emblem
• 5 of the 7 characters utilize the color yellow
• 5 of the 7 characters wear masks

I might also note that the costumes in question were designed by George Pérez (Cyborg), Paul Norris (Sandman, Aquaman), Dave Cockrum (Wildfire), Jerry Robinson (Robin), Carmine Infantino (Flash), and Gil Kane (Green Lantern).

Sadly, there don't seem to be any really cohesive themes here that I can see. Most of the categories I noted are fairly broad and could also include the likes of everyone from the Vision to Apache Chief. (Both of whom I was aware of, but had no real interest in.) The costumes original designs range over the course of decades, and have vastly different styles.

The closest thing I can suggest as a common thread is that these costumes are not especially "typical" for what you might think of as a superhero uniform. "Typical" being, I suppose, based somewhat on the Superman/Batman model. There's still the skin-tight spandex feel to them (even Cyborg) but they're executed in somewhat surprising ways.

"Where's Green Lantern's belt?"

"Are Flash's gloves supposed to be the same color as his sleeves?"

"Why is Robin's chest emblem off-center?"

Of course, the key is being able to make changes to the standard without going too far. As cool a character as Speedball is, and as much as I like Steve Ditko, that costume design was not attractive.

Of course, superior drawing skills help immensely too. The Blackjack costume I came up with in high school wasn't any good largely because I didn't have that much artistic talent to pull it off well. In the hands of someone like, say, Alex Ross, I'm sure it'd look great.

I suppose that, speaking visually, it's something that everyone is looking for. Your eyes look for the familiar and expected, but having something slightly off that expectation is a pleasant surprise. If it were totally expected and predictable, it'd be boring.

At least, that's my theory.

This is the last character I'm going to call out for this series. My next installment will focus on explaining whatever common thread(s) all these characters have. That said, let me present my final highlighted character...
'Nuff said!

Today's hero of choice is The Sandman! I'm talking about the Simon/Kirby version from the 1940s. Yellow tights with purple accouterments. It was the first comic book character called Sandman that I encountered and, despite years of seeing other characters using the name, I still always think back to this one when I hear the name.

The Sandman's costume here is probably the simplest of all the Sandman costumes in terms of design. Yellow tights. Purple gloves, boots, cowl and shorts. Brown belt with a sidearm attached. No chest logo, no cape, extra headgear. It's about as bear-bones as you can get visually.

So what attracted me to the character?

Well, he did have a few things working for him. First, the cowl bit came down well over his shoulders. That was kind of cool and original, especially in lieu of a chest emblem. Second, he was a hero that made no effort to hide the fact that he carried a gun. Although, I would later encounter all sorts of gun-toting heroes, he was the first (and for a long time, only) one I saw who did so. Third, it's a pretty decent color combination (one which I would later learn to be my high school colors). Indeed, Sandman's costume was much better than his sidekick's precisely because the red/yellow combination was decidedly inferior.

Add in the fact that it was expertly drawn by Mr. Jack Kirby, and I was sold with a single, poorly reprinted story in the back of one of DC's giant-size issues from the 1970s. I've since picked up many of his adventures in microfiche format (which was before DC's nice Archive editions).

Sorry for the lack of updates, everyone. Been out of town for a funeral. Regular blogging to return shortly.