He´s lost that lovin´ feeling… One last hurrah… Black Adam, too
There´s been a fundamental truth about myself that I have been denying for the last year or so, merely skimming the surface, a faint hint given at random, the speck of a realization:
I think I´m through with comic books.
It´s not going to happen say this month or the next, it´s not gonna crawl up in the night and jump at you the day after.
It´s going to be gradual and slow, it will take many months- maybe a few years- but bottom line is, the love has been slipping away and now thick paperbacks reprinting old stories from the 1950s and 1960s, which I once loved, have been piling up in my bedroom, unread.
It´s never happened before.
Have my priorities changed so much?
A parable to a boy-meets-girl relationship, to a love affair, may seem like stretching it a bit too far. I mean, it is, only it´s not. It´s love as well, isn´t it? And the person doing the lovin´ is one & the same. So for the sake of my being myself, please bear with it.
I think the… thing I had going with my ex-girlfriend went exactly the same way. It did not end, it just burned out until we were running on fumes, up to a point we were not anymore.
…So let´s file this one, just for the sake of being self-conscious enough, under “Apathy strikes again”.
From a Paul Simon song, "It’s true the tools of love wear down / Time passes / A mind wanders / It seems mindless, but it does / Sometimes I see you face / As if through reading glasses / And your smile seems softer than it was"
But hey. Do lighten up a bit.
“Growing up” takes a long while when you´re just a big kid, so here it is, one last hurrah, we´re doin´ it like Paul Newman riding into the sun. Or was it Marlon Brando?
I forget.
I was browsing through Wikipedia last week, going over the Black Adam entry at, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Adam, which is surprisingly well-written, and I decided to tweak it up a bit.
What follows is pretty much an updated entry on Black Adam´s super-powers, 1980s Marvel Handbook-style quantifying the extent of his abilities as compared to real-world information.
OBS: Superman is the world´s most powerful super-hero, it´s a given. Now you ask me, are there any other super-people on his class? Yes there are, Bizarro (the reverse-Superman) and the Marvel Family (they whom cry “Shazam” and are blessed with the powers of old sages & deities).
Wonder Woman, by the way, is a tad slower than Superman and doesn´t even come close to his invulnerability. Marvel Comics does not, despite anything they may claim otherwise, have a Superman-level character. Not the Gladiator from the Shiar Empire, not the Silver Surfer, not Jean Grey the Dark Phoenix, and certainly not the Hulk the homeless bum with no pants or Thor the hippie God of Thunder (those wimps!). Superman would mop up the floor with any of those.
But back to Adam.
Black Adam is the “black sheep” of the Marvel Family. He was a good man living in ancient Egypt and was blessed with the powers of six gods to do good unto his people. For years he defended Egypt and his homeland of Kahndaq (a fictional country somewhere between Egypt and the Middle-East, on the northern shore of the Sinai peninsula) against their enemies but once his wife and sons were murdered he chose to walk a darker path which led to ruling his country with an iron hand- and was thus brandished a villain by the wizard Shazam and stripped of his powers.
In recent years Adam has come back to life and re-gained sovereignty over Kahndaq, after deposing (with extreme prejudice!) a Saddam Hussein-lookalike dictator.
When the Justice Society- the Flash, Green Lantern, Captain Marvel & co.- went up against Adam, they were forced to concede that while they´d all been looking over the United States of America there was simply no “super-hero” handling the Mid-East situation.
Anyway, by saying Shazam (it´s an acronym) Adam has access to the powers of 6 Egyptian deities as detailed below; the following data on his super-powers (their magical source notwithstanding) might be considered for Superman as well.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
S
for the stamina of Shu
Using Shu's endurance Black Adam can withstand and survive most types of extreme physical assaults, with his skin and general physical complexion ranking well above 10 on the Mohs scale of hardness. He is, for all accounts, virtually invulnerable to harm or fatigue but may be taken down if caught unaware by a surprise attack of reasonable strength.
H
for the swiftness of Heru
By channeling Heru's speed, Black Adam can fly and move at supersonic speeds in excess of Mach 500 and, in space, supersolar speeds (surpassing the speed of light itself, over 186,282 MPS). It has been theorized but unverified that Adam is able to achieve and even exceed lightspeed on ground level as well, putting him on par with top speedsters such as the Flash.
A
for the strength of Amon
Black Adam has a phenomenal level of super strength, able to easily bend steel, punch through walls and lift massive objects such as the 6 million ton-Great Pyramid of Egypt. Adam's peak strength borders on limitless and is enough that he can hold his own against beings such as Superman or Captain Marvel. It has been theorized but unverified that Black Adam is strong enough to move planets on his own.
Z
for the wisdom of Zehuti
Black Adam has instant access to a vast level of past scholarly knowledge. The wisdom of Zehuti also gives Adam limited clairvoyance, provides him with counsel and advice in times of need and makes him resilient (but not impervious) to mind control. Additionally, Adam's senses are acutely sharpened (though not to the extent of Superman's).
A
for the power of Aton
Aton's power, besides fueling the magic thunderbolt that transforms Adam, also enhances Adam's other physical abilities, provides physical invulnerability and resistance against most magic spells and attacks, and allows for interdimensional travel. Adam can use the lightning bolt as a weapon by dodging it and allowing it to strike an opponent or target. The power of Aton might be affected or short-circuited by specific outside forces (magical or technological), thus incapacitating Black Adam or changing him back to human form.
M
for the courage of Mehen
Like the wisdom, this aspect is primarily psychological, and gives Adam superhuman amounts of inner strength to draw of.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Anyway. You get the idea.
Just to prove to myself Hell yes, I still got it.
…´til the day that I don´t.
I think I´m through with comic books.
It´s not going to happen say this month or the next, it´s not gonna crawl up in the night and jump at you the day after.
It´s going to be gradual and slow, it will take many months- maybe a few years- but bottom line is, the love has been slipping away and now thick paperbacks reprinting old stories from the 1950s and 1960s, which I once loved, have been piling up in my bedroom, unread.
It´s never happened before.
Have my priorities changed so much?
A parable to a boy-meets-girl relationship, to a love affair, may seem like stretching it a bit too far. I mean, it is, only it´s not. It´s love as well, isn´t it? And the person doing the lovin´ is one & the same. So for the sake of my being myself, please bear with it.
I think the… thing I had going with my ex-girlfriend went exactly the same way. It did not end, it just burned out until we were running on fumes, up to a point we were not anymore.
…So let´s file this one, just for the sake of being self-conscious enough, under “Apathy strikes again”.
From a Paul Simon song, "It’s true the tools of love wear down / Time passes / A mind wanders / It seems mindless, but it does / Sometimes I see you face / As if through reading glasses / And your smile seems softer than it was"
But hey. Do lighten up a bit.
“Growing up” takes a long while when you´re just a big kid, so here it is, one last hurrah, we´re doin´ it like Paul Newman riding into the sun. Or was it Marlon Brando?
I forget.
I was browsing through Wikipedia last week, going over the Black Adam entry at, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Adam, which is surprisingly well-written, and I decided to tweak it up a bit.
What follows is pretty much an updated entry on Black Adam´s super-powers, 1980s Marvel Handbook-style quantifying the extent of his abilities as compared to real-world information.
OBS: Superman is the world´s most powerful super-hero, it´s a given. Now you ask me, are there any other super-people on his class? Yes there are, Bizarro (the reverse-Superman) and the Marvel Family (they whom cry “Shazam” and are blessed with the powers of old sages & deities).
Wonder Woman, by the way, is a tad slower than Superman and doesn´t even come close to his invulnerability. Marvel Comics does not, despite anything they may claim otherwise, have a Superman-level character. Not the Gladiator from the Shiar Empire, not the Silver Surfer, not Jean Grey the Dark Phoenix, and certainly not the Hulk the homeless bum with no pants or Thor the hippie God of Thunder (those wimps!). Superman would mop up the floor with any of those.
But back to Adam.
Black Adam is the “black sheep” of the Marvel Family. He was a good man living in ancient Egypt and was blessed with the powers of six gods to do good unto his people. For years he defended Egypt and his homeland of Kahndaq (a fictional country somewhere between Egypt and the Middle-East, on the northern shore of the Sinai peninsula) against their enemies but once his wife and sons were murdered he chose to walk a darker path which led to ruling his country with an iron hand- and was thus brandished a villain by the wizard Shazam and stripped of his powers.
In recent years Adam has come back to life and re-gained sovereignty over Kahndaq, after deposing (with extreme prejudice!) a Saddam Hussein-lookalike dictator.
When the Justice Society- the Flash, Green Lantern, Captain Marvel & co.- went up against Adam, they were forced to concede that while they´d all been looking over the United States of America there was simply no “super-hero” handling the Mid-East situation.
Anyway, by saying Shazam (it´s an acronym) Adam has access to the powers of 6 Egyptian deities as detailed below; the following data on his super-powers (their magical source notwithstanding) might be considered for Superman as well.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
S
for the stamina of Shu
Using Shu's endurance Black Adam can withstand and survive most types of extreme physical assaults, with his skin and general physical complexion ranking well above 10 on the Mohs scale of hardness. He is, for all accounts, virtually invulnerable to harm or fatigue but may be taken down if caught unaware by a surprise attack of reasonable strength.
H
for the swiftness of Heru
By channeling Heru's speed, Black Adam can fly and move at supersonic speeds in excess of Mach 500 and, in space, supersolar speeds (surpassing the speed of light itself, over 186,282 MPS). It has been theorized but unverified that Adam is able to achieve and even exceed lightspeed on ground level as well, putting him on par with top speedsters such as the Flash.
A
for the strength of Amon
Black Adam has a phenomenal level of super strength, able to easily bend steel, punch through walls and lift massive objects such as the 6 million ton-Great Pyramid of Egypt. Adam's peak strength borders on limitless and is enough that he can hold his own against beings such as Superman or Captain Marvel. It has been theorized but unverified that Black Adam is strong enough to move planets on his own.
Z
for the wisdom of Zehuti
Black Adam has instant access to a vast level of past scholarly knowledge. The wisdom of Zehuti also gives Adam limited clairvoyance, provides him with counsel and advice in times of need and makes him resilient (but not impervious) to mind control. Additionally, Adam's senses are acutely sharpened (though not to the extent of Superman's).
A
for the power of Aton
Aton's power, besides fueling the magic thunderbolt that transforms Adam, also enhances Adam's other physical abilities, provides physical invulnerability and resistance against most magic spells and attacks, and allows for interdimensional travel. Adam can use the lightning bolt as a weapon by dodging it and allowing it to strike an opponent or target. The power of Aton might be affected or short-circuited by specific outside forces (magical or technological), thus incapacitating Black Adam or changing him back to human form.
M
for the courage of Mehen
Like the wisdom, this aspect is primarily psychological, and gives Adam superhuman amounts of inner strength to draw of.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Anyway. You get the idea.
Just to prove to myself Hell yes, I still got it.
…´til the day that I don´t.
posted by 186282mps at 7:03 AM
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