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The Law Is A Ass

Bob Ingersoll: The Law Is A Ass #358: CYCLOPS CREATES THE UP-TIGHT CITIZEN’S BRIGADE

A Mr. Richard Feder of Fort Lee, New Jersey writes in and says… Something completely off-topic. This is “The Law Is a Ass,” not Roseanne Roseannadanna. However, a Mr. Ronald Byrd writes in and says, “Hi. Wondering, did you pay much attention to the X-Men/Utopia storyline? Because it seemed to me that, by declaring Utopia to be a sovereign nation (whether or not Cyclops’s actions conformed to real-world laws on how to declare a sovereign nation isn’t presently the point), Cyclops unilaterally declared everyone on Utopia to be citizens of that nation and thus unilaterally stripped them of their (for the most part) American citizenship. Without asking. Which struck me as, I don’t know, inappropriate? Did I misunderstand that part? Thanks for your time.”

cyke3-6057187Is that what happened in Utopia? I’m afraid my memory is like fine wine. It did get better with age. Then it was exposed to oxygen and turned into vinegar. So, if that’s what happened in Utopia, I kinda forgot about it. (Forgetting was kind of a defense mechanism.) But if that’s what happened, then here’s why Cyclops didn’t do the bad thing you thought he did. (Which would be the first time in a long time that Cyclops, as currently written, didn’t do a bad thing.)

American citizenship is guaranteed in the United States Constitution. The first sentence of the Section One of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution says, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” It’s called the “Citizenship Clause,” which is a bit grandiose considering it’s only a sentence, not a whole clause. The Citizenship Clause was written to undo the infamous United States Supreme Court ruling in the Dred Scott, about which the less said the better, because Dred Scott held African Americans were not, and could not become, United States Citizens.

The Citizenship cemented the right of all United States citizens to be citizens. Which wasn’t always the slam dunk you’d think it would be.

American citizens have a constitutional right to be American citizens. Seems rather basic. But in 1940, Congress adopted a bleach to basic attitude. Remember, this was in the days and years leading up to World War II, when our relations with several foreign countries – such as Germany, Japan, and Russia – were as strained as Spanx on Honey Boo Boo’s Mama June. Back then, the United States motto was “For every action there is an equal and opposite overreaction.” Japanese interment camps, anyone? One of the biggest overreactions was the Nationality Act of 1940.

Among the many provisions of the Nationality Act of 1940 was Section 401, which created many ways in which citizens could lose their citizenship. Naturalized citizens, for example, could lose their citizenship, if they lived abroad. (Ruled unconstitutional in the case Schneider v. Rusk under the Equal Protection Clause.)

All citizens could lose their citizenship if convicted of military desertion during a time of war. (Ruled unconstitutional in the case Trop v. Dulles as a violation of the Eighth Amendment’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment.)

Other provisions of the Nationality Act said citizens could lose their citizenship if they performed military or government service for another country when coupled with citizenship of that country. Or if they lived in a foreign country to evade military service. Or if they served in the armed forces of a foreign state, voted in a foreign election, or acquired the nationality of a foreign state. And that would be the type of expatriation concerning us today; loss of citizenship when one becomes a citizen of a foreign country, like the mutant country of Utopia.utopia_x-men_base_from_new_avengers_vol_2_28-6079352

Most mutants didn’t ask to become citizens of Utopia. They became Utopians when Cyclops claimed them. Did they lose their citizenship because of what Cyclops did? The short answer is “no.” The long answer is, “No and here’s why.” Because the core function of this column – to inform you of how the law works – requires exploring the “here’s why” part, we’ll go with the long answer.

American citizens cannot lose their citizenship unless they commit a voluntary act which is inconsistent with citizenship. In Nishikawa v. Dulles, a natural-born citizen of Japanese descent moved back to Japan with his family. While living in Japan, he was involuntarily conscripted into the Japanese army. The Supreme Court ruled that he could not be deprived of his citizenship under the Nationality Act, unless his act was voluntary. Because Nishikawa was involuntarily conscripted, his service in the Japanese army could not be used to expatriate him.

The Nishikawa case has a direct bearing on the Utopia matter. If Cyclops unilaterally declared all mutants to be citizens of Utopia, then they didn’t become citizens of a foreign country voluntarily. They became citizens by the high-handed actions of Utopia’s government. Under Nishikawa, all mutants who became involuntary citizens of Utopia by Cyclopean fiat could not have their citizenship taken away. They also can’t have their Fiats or Toyotas taken away. But that’s another matter.

X-Force-1-coverBut what about those mutants who did something in service of Utopia? Like Wolverine, who headed up X-Force, the Utopian mutant covert-ops squad. (And why would a place called Utopia need a covert-ops squad in the first place?) Would those mutants lose their citizenship for voluntary actions which were inconsistent with American citizenship? Again, the answer is no.

In Afroyim v. Rusk, a naturalized citizen who voted in an Israeli election was being expatriated. The Supreme Court held the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment dictates that U.S. citizens cannot be striped of their citizenship involuntarily. A citizen may only lose citizenship if he or she voluntarily renounces it. The government may not take citizenship away. Thus, even if citizens commit a voluntary act which is inconsistent with American citizenship, they may not lose their citizenship involuntarily.

So it looks like none of the mutants on Utopia would lose their citizenship simply because they became citizens of Utopia. It’s a win for all mutant kind.

However, the fallout of the Afroyim case is that the U.S. government, which strongly opposed the concept of dual citizenship, has not grown to accept it. That means that the Utopians were citizens of both the United States and Utopia. And had to pay taxes to both of them. So maybe we should reexamine that whole win for all mutant kind notion.

The Point Radio: HALT AND CATCH FIRE Ablaze Again

AMC’s 80s computer drama, HALT AND CATCH FIRE, is back for a new season and Mackenzie Davis is here to talk about how her character has a big challenge ahead. Plus he is called one of the most original comics of our time. Michael Blackson is the African King Of Comedy, but how did he get it all started?

 We’re back at the start of the week with a look at UNREAL, the new drama that blows the lid off what really goes on with reality TV.

Martha Thomases: Look Out, Here Comes Tomorrow

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Tomorrowland didn’t do as well as expected this weekend in theaters.  Some people celebrated this fact, apparently believing that the movie was the brainchild of George Clooney and that it was a propaganda film about climate change.

They must have seen a different movie than I did.

I’ll admit that, like the Big Hollywood website, I went to the theater with my own set of assumptions and biases.  Tomorrowland is my favorite area in the Disney parks, the first place I wanted to go the first time I went (in 1979).  I love the work of director Brad Bird, and have since The Family Dog. perro-de-familia1-7087282

And, yeah, I have the hots for George Clooney and I think climate change is an issue deserving action.  Only the first of those affects my ticket-buying decisions.

So, the Disney nerd in me loved the movie.  But, more important to this column, so did the comics fan.

Because I love the future.  I remember when everybody did.

You see, one of the themes of Tomorrowland is that we, as a society, have become too enthralled with pessimistic stories and fleeting fads.  Instead of wallowing in disaster movies (like this) or dystopian dramas (like this), we should work together to make the future better.

Look, it’s really normal for adolescents to be drawn to the “grim’n’gritty” dystopias.  And, by “normal,” I mean that I did it.  For me, devastated that I was not only the center of the universe but my parents weren’t all-powerful and my body was doing strange things that involved icky fluids, it seemed that pessimism was the more sophisticated viewpoint.  I wasn’t a little kid anymore, with bright colors and flowers and candy.  No, I wore black and I was sullen.  If the cool kids (the jocks and the cheerleaders) wouldn’t have me as one of their own, I was going to act as if I rejected them first.

And then I grew up.

Look, I still like a lot of things that can seem pessimistic.  Blade Runner remains one of my favorite movies, based on the work of Philip K. Dick, a rather depressing writer whom like a lot.  I like punk rock and Lou Reed and Leonard Cohen.  I like Transmetropolitan and The Dark Knight Returns.

The older I get, however, the more I want hope.  And that hope lies in the future.alanna-and-adam-strange-4581433

Comics helped me with this.  Adam Strange not only engaged with an alien world, but fell in love and married an alien.  The Legion of Super-Heroes posited a time when the whole universe would band together to make life better.

A lot of today’s best comics come from a hopeful place.  I’d include Saga  and Sex Criminals and even Bitch Planet as works that rouse the spirit.

Another science fiction writer I enjoy, William Gibson, is sometimes credited as one of the founders of the cyberpunk movement, which often painted a bleak future.  His most recent book, The Peripheral, has it’s share of dystopian prophecy, but ends up (SPOILER, maybe?) making the case that we can change the future.  We can make the world better.

A better world is worth the effort.  Especially if it includes George Clooney.aa19ac627923e9f171a6e379af4c6c36-300x225-9277844

Hatter M goes YA on “The View” Friday, with heavy cosplay action

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Frank Beddor’s The Looking Glass War series, a dark fantasy look at Alice In Wonderland, has had a strong spinoff life in comics with Hatter M, the story of Hatter Madigan who is the bodyguard to the Queen of Wonderland and head of the elite security force known as the The Millinery.

Beddor has debuted a new Young Adult prose series at BookExpo America, Hatter Madigan, which shows his early days at the Millinery. And to mark the occasion, fan of the series Whoopi Goldberg will be highlighting the series and characters on The View on Friday. Beddor literally brought his characters to life on The View by inviting a team of cosplayers dressed up as his characters to appear on the show. “The audience exploded when they saw them come out. Fantasy rules reality. The reaction was amazing.”

The new book, Hatter Madigan: Ghost In the H.A.T.B.O.X, is a prequel to the existing Looking Glass Wars time line and will hit stores in March of 2016.

But we know what some of our readers really care about is the cosplay. Well, fear not– we got our hands on some photos for of the behind-the-scenes of the costumes…

REVIEW: How to be a Superhero

How to be a Superhero
By Mark Edlitz
Bear Manor Media, 586 pages, $42.95/$29.95

how-to-be-a-superhero-500x500-e1431878223886-4946870Longtime readers of pop culture magazines have no doubt read interviews with actors who have donned capes, cowls, spandex, and prosthetics to portray heroes and villains drawn from comic books. I certainly was involved in my fair share of such interviews working at Starlog Press and its successors have continued, especially contemporary online outlets which are enjoying a bonanza of options.

Most of those interviews tend to be about the most immediate project with little insight or context about an actor’s association with a media property or being the latest in a long line to play the same role. And certainly, these interviews are sandwiched between news, features, and other topics. So, it’s a bit of a surprise that such a collection has not been attempted before.

batman_3-e1416014137863-5638548Mark Edlitz, a hardworking writer with credits including The Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times’ Hero Complex, Moviefone, Sirius/XM Radio’s Slice of SciFi and Empire magazine online, has collected nearly four dozen interviews he’s conducted through the years and is releasing on June 1, How to be a Superhero. It’s not a guidebook or a real “how to” but provides an interesting glimpse into the performers who brought four-color idols to life.

Organized into eight categories, Edlitz introduces you to Caped Crusaders, Heroic Women, Antiheroes, Sidekicks, Supervillains, and so on. There’s even an Appendix that includes the performers he could not interview himself, culling choice quotes from a variety of sources so this is as complete a source as one might hope to find.

michael-rosenbaum-quiere-ser-lex-luthor-en-el-hombre-de-acero-2-original-e1431878431736-8734286Edlitz’s overlong introduction sets the stage and clarifies to us who he considers to be a superhero, which feels like a justification to wax nostalgic about James Bond and including interviews with George Lazenby and Roger Moore. Additionally, he includes an out-of-left field, not terribly useful interview with Leonard Nimoy about Spock.

corman-ff-2701002Overlooking those, the remainder of the book is treasure trove of interesting conversations with actors from Noel Neill and Jack Larson during the nascent television days through Clark Gregg, the coolest hero in a black suit on prime time today. In between, we get everyone you would expect and then some. Edlitz gets credit for speaking to the first Fantastic Four – Alex Hyde-White, Carl Ciafello, Rebecca Staab and Joseph Culp, who played Doctor Doom – in the never-released Roger Corman produced adaptation. Similarly, we also hear from Chip ZIen, who voiced Howard the Duck from that eponymous disastrous production.

batgirl_02-e1416013621423-6836472Given how slightly defined the heroes were in film and on television in the 1940s-1960s, the actors themselves attempt to fill in the gaps and explain their work process. Then there’s Yvonne Craig who pretty much admitted she didn’t put much thought in to Batgirl given how little she was given to work with.

On the flipside, some of the book’s best comments come from Michael Rosenbaum, exploring the events that shaped Lex Luthor on Smallville. Kevin Conroy and Tim Daly, who voiced the World’s Finest heroes, also have some strong comments about what it means to be a hero.

Behind the camera, Tom Mankiewicz, who wrote for Bond and the Man of Steel, provides an informative glimpse into how 1970s fare was conceived while Ken Johnson talks adapting the Hulk to the small screen, mostly avoiding the horrible telefilms that tried to create a Marvel televised universe.

What would have helped the book was providing some context for exactly when each interview was conducted so we have a better idea how the performers were influenced by contemporaneous comics publishing and film competition. He also asks each subject for a question to ask the next one but they run in a chaotic order so it feels jarring rather than delightful.

As interesting as the words are, the pictures leave something to be desired, mostly public domain press pictures and far too few of them. Still, these are minor quibbles in what is an enjoyable reading experience.

With 20-something superhero pictures to come in the next few years, this book is a fine encapsulation of the pioneers who paved the way for today’s fare. Dealing with stereotyping, poor special effects, meager budgets, and ridiculously tight production made it hard to stand up for truth, justice, and the American Way so they are to be saluted and thanked for their contributions.

Box Office Democracy: Tomorrowland

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It’s profoundly irritating just how lifeless Tomorrowland is. I’m not even talking about how in the grand climax there was clearly no budget for extras so it just seems like three people fighting in a bunch of cavernous empty sets. I mean that one of the biggest movie stars of a generation joined forces with a director that could seemingly do no wrong and they made a movie that always seems like the next scene is the one where things are finally going to kick in to high gear, but instead it just sits in neutral and slowly sinks in to the mud. Tomorrowland is a promise of a future never fulfilled and I wish I could believe that was a really deep metaphor and not a punchless script.

There’s one really fantastic sequence in Tomorrowland set in the 1964 World’s Fair with a young boy presenting his entry in to an invention contest and proposing a thesis on the virtue of imagination and technology’s role in inspiring people to dream, we then get some coverage of the fair followed by our first peek in to the titular Tomorrowland. It’s a killer sequence, it’s funny, it’s compelling, it feels consistent with the ideas behind the theme park the inspired this film. Unfortunately, this is the first ten minutes of the film and it never gets back to that level again. Maybe we shouldn’t even be making movies inspired by theme park sections.

The remaining two hours of movie are just so spirit-destroyingly bland. Plucky young NASA fanatic Casey Newton is a character desperately in need of a character trait deeper than “really likes science” or maybe just a visual aesthetic more complex than “wears a hat.” Then there’s Athena, the young precocious British girl who exists solely to dole out secrets at the appropriate times and not get in the way at others. I’m getting quite sick of the precocious British children cliché and maybe the trope should be discarded completely if you feel the need to have the emotional climax of your film to be a prepubescent girl explaining what love means to a man in his 50s. It gets a little creepy. George Clooney is fine, I suppose, he only ever really performs grumpy and somewhat less grumpy but he has enough raw movie star magnetism to steal every scene he’s in. It feels like a waste of his talents but it also feels a bit like he got tricked in to being in this movie, like he met Brad Bird at a party and gushed about how much he loved Iron Giant and signed a blank contract. There’s no chance that’s the real story but I can’t believe Clooney either liked this script or needed this money.

Tomorrowland is disappointing most of all because it is the first misstep from Brad Bird. He’s had a 16-year run of directing exclusively excellent movies (ok Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol is only pretty good) and I wanted to believe he could do that forever. That’s the way I identify most with this movie: the same way George Clooney feels let down by the future utopia that never came, I feel like I’ve been let down by my idealized version of Bird. There are no cities with elevated multi-level pools and ample municipal jet packs, just as there are no Spielbergs who never made Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. We can’t live in a perfect world but we can try to live in an interesting one, and that is not one that includes Tomorrowland.

Tweeks: Cosplay Dreams

11148818_799706823458348_1607683491225468985_oOne of our favorite parts of attending cons is watching the cosplayers.  We know that not everyone is a fan, and that’s too bad, because it’s such a creative way to show fandom.  Though maybe after watching the documentary, Cosplay Dreams 3D, those who haven’t embraced cosplayers will.  The film focuses on cosplay celebrities as well as those who just do it as a fun hobby.  It’s the stories about the people under the costumes that really make the movie.  Though the 3D effects and really cool costumes don’t hurt either.

At WonderCon, we not only got to see a screening of the movie, but we also had a chance to interview the filmmakers Christine and Gulliver Parascandolo (who are San Diegans like us — so we get why they would be inspired by Comic Con to make this movie). It’s very much Tweeks-Approved and once you watch our review, we know you’ll want to watch.

If you want to see Cosplay Dreams, you can find out where it’s playing on their Facebook Page.  Upcoming showings are at the LVL UP Expo in Las Vegas on May 31st or on the opening night of the New Media Film Festival in LA.

Denver ComicCon Had a Women In Comics Panel With No Women

no-girls-300x274-1327013“This weekend’s Denver ComicCon came under fire when attendees discovered that a Women in Comics panel had only male panelists. While a representative of DCC has defended the panel as “not about current women creators or anything to do with industry bias,” it seems odd that a convention with Trina Robbins, the eminent historian of women as creators and characters, as a guest would not invite her to join in on a discussion of the history of women in comics. While the misstep here is primarily on the panel organizers, it also raises a question of what obligation conventions have to moderate and comment on panels that are accepted.”

Read the whole article at ComicAlliance

Dennis O’Neil: Camelot 3000 and College Curricula

camelot-3000-550x301-1625933I must have been aware of Camelot 3000 back when it was appearing in 12 parts, from 1982 to 1985, me being a honkin’ big comics pro and all, and there were a lot of comics strewing my life. And, by then, I’d known the series writer, Mike W. Barr, for years. But I don’t know how many of the installments I read, if any. As mentioned above, there were a lot of comics around me and though I was a pretty dedicated reader of things in general, I might have skipped over any comic book in which I had no professional interest. If I did miss Camelot 3000, my bad.

A few hours ago, Mari and I were watching a video course offered by The Teaching Company – let us simultaneously bow our heads and cheer – taught by a charismatic professor named Dorsey Armstrong. It dealt with a subject we don’t know much about, so sure, we were happy to learn something. We’re glad we did. If you think I’m recommending the course, you’re right, and so you should know its title. Happy to oblige: . Dr. Armstrong had reached the section of her presentation that deals with the twentieth century Arthur and spoke of Marian Zimmer Bradley’s Arthurian novels – you might know The Mists of Avalon – and then she began to talk about Mike Barr’s comics. I perked up.

Before we get to the paeans, an observation:

The inclusion of a comic book series in a course devoted to “capital L” Literature is yet further evidence that comics, as both a narrative form and a commercial enterprise, have reached full parity with all other media. (That doesn’t mean that comics, or any other print medium, assembles the mountains of money that the movies adapted from them do. But without comics, those adaptations wouldn’t happen. Duh.)

Comics are an accepted part of college curricula. Live with it, scoffers.

So what is Dr. Armstrong’s opinion of Mike Barr’s comic books? In a word: praiseworthy. She briefly discusses the plot and Mike’s take on the characters and makes the whole shebang sound both interesting – a good read – and a worthy addition to a renowned series of tales, some of which have survived for centuries.

I assume that DC Comics’ excellent library survived the company’s recent monster trek west and that it includes Camelot 3000. And I assume that somebody is in charge of reprints, though I have no idea who that might be. But whoever has that job might want to have a look at Mike Barr’s old maxi-series and consider offering it to a generation of fans who may be totally ignorant of it.

REVIEW: Glee The Complete Season Six

glee-season-6-dvd-e1432672796798-1702214Glee lost me when it veered further and further away from its core concepts and refused to take its eyes off their initial stars and their forays into a magical version of New York City. I avoided the final season and from the recaps, it appears to have gone into gonzo land with little effort to ground the show in any sense of reality. As a result, I knew I wasn’t the one to fairly review the final season so I turned to a true Gleek, one of my Creative Writing students, and here’s what she had to say.

By Rachel Watson

Glee has many meanings and definitions that the thought of losing the series or saying goodbye is almost impossible. But all good things must come to an end and knowing Glee, it will end in a big musical number that we will remember.

The sixth, truncated and final season of the series is out now in a box set courtesy of 20th Century Home Entertainment. It opens with Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) learning that she is being fired from her TV show, causing her to return home to Lima, Ohio. Kurt (Chris Colfer) also returns newly single and together the two friends prepare to start a new glee club at McKinley High.

Despite there only being thirteen episodes, Brad Falchuck and the writing staff managed to fit in a wedding between not one couple but two as the expected lovebirds Kurt and Blaine (Darren Criss) finally tie the knot and in somewhat of a surprise, so do Santana (Naya Rivera) and Brittany (Heather Morris). Fans from the Brittana and Klaine fandoms were happy and tearful that their favorite homosexual couples were walking down the aisle to their loves in the view of their friends and family.

That it was two gay couples getting married speaks to the series’ overall strength and value. Of all prime time television, it was the one to consistently and bravely explore what it means to be a homosexual teen, coming out to friends and/or family, and enduring the same travails as their heterosexual friends experience.

Like every other season, the characters learn a lesson that better prepares them to become their adult selves. Rachel learns to conquer her fear, Kurt learns that love is worth fighting for, Santana learns to follow her own choices and even their adult guru, Mr. Schue (Matthew Morrison) learns that you can do things by the bend of a bow and the power of an arrow.

The music, as always, is enjoyable, the stroylines, over the top as they were this season, easy to follow and the best effort was “Dreams Come True”. Here, Rachel earns a Tony and says, “Being a part of something special does not make you special. It’s special because you are a part of it.” Hearing those words just brings tears to my eyes, but what brings warmth to my heart is when nearly the entire series cast appear on stage to christen the school stage as the Finn Hudson Auditorium in 2025 and then sing One Republic’s “I Lived”.

Glee may be over as a television series, but not as a fandom and family. We learn that we are different but all the same thing. Heart. We are the new New Directions each with a special song to sing. With every broken bone, we lived and Glee changed our lives through characters who were going through the same things we were.

Goodbye, Glee. You will be missed but your lessons will be shared for generations.

The four disc standard DVD-only set comes complete with the usual assortment of extras, the Juke box, and some farewell notes. Best are the final features on disc four: Glee: The Final Curtin and Looking Back Video Yearbook.

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