firestorm of interest

I shared the above image on Twitter the other day. L-R: Marie Crystal, Dana Sterling, Nova Satori. Commissioned from Neil Vokes in 2005 for my own art collection and to be contributed to Emissaries Vol. 2 as either a cover or filler image for my friend, editor Jonathan Switzer's use. The piece had no given name, so I considered its details for inspiration... The three principles are emerging from a fiery maelstrom or explosion of some type. Notice Marie and Nova's hair? Nova's skirt, the bits of rubble and ash and streaks of atmosphere? The inferno is acting as a vacuum, pulling everything towards its epicenter. The definition of a firestorm. The guns our heroes are toting are unlike anything seen in the TV series. Created by tech-whiz Louie perhaps? I like to imagine this illustration as a scene from the suggested-at guerrilla war staged against the invading Invid in the months following the end of The Masters saga. ('Out of the frying pan, into the fire.') The diva citizens of the Robotech saga kicking ass -- no matter the odds.

Ever since I was a kid, the Second Robotech War and its characters were my favorites. Although arguably the weakest parts of the original television series, they promised so much in worldbuilding and characterization potential. Extrapolating from its source material, I agree with the following observation from Protoculture Addicts #50:

It is ... easy to deduce from the fact that the series recounts the war from the perspective of three young women, that [Southern Cross] was probably created with a teenage female audience in mind. This gives the original show a very special flavor that was somewhat lost in the Robotech adaptation. This is just too bad, because this feminine touch was what made the series interesting to us. (1998, p. 40)

Especially Dana -- "the daughter of Miriya and Max Sterling," a so-called disgrace to her uniform and her heroic parents' memory. Specifically this image -- from the cover of Robotech Art 1 (thanks, Dad) -- captured my imagination back in the day...



Conflicted. About her identity, her purpose, her position. A lively young woman in a devastated world. She's an outcast by nature, neither Human nor Zentraedi. She's striving to live up to the ideal of not just one highly-esteemed parent, but two. And her parents? They left her behind on Earth as a child when they departed on a mission to the stars. Talk about issues -- she puts Marvel's mutants to shame. And yet...

And yet Dana keeps smiling, keeps reaching. She carries with her the poignant memory of something her mother once told her: "Be brave while I'm away. Always remember, you've got the best of Earth and the Zentraedi inside you." (Malcontent Uprisings #4, 1989, p. 3) Appearing in an in-continuity comix story soon after the events of my imagined "Firestorm," she's referred to as "the symbol of allied worlds." (Love & War #1, 2003, p. 3) There's a story there, amiright? Lots of stories.

What a complex, interesting character.

robot marx, the book

Robot Marx - Robotech®, Patriarchy, and Kids' Culture: A Conflict Theory Perspective is now available as a book. I'll be premiering it this weekend at Saint Paul, Minnesota's SpringCon.

Robot Marx -- "The Collected Essays from AmericanNarada.blogspot.com" -- is a 5-inches wide x 7.5-inches tall, square-bound, full-color, 38-page paperback. Sold at-cost, this "Not-for-profit Academic Scholarship intended for Education" publication is available for $5.00 U.S. From the back cover:

When ROBOTECH -- the classic 85-episode "sci-fi soap opera" cartoon that introduced a generation of American kids to Japanese animation -- premiered in 1985, it stood out from its contemporaries. Unlike iconically similar G.I. JOE and TRANSFORMERS, ROBOTECH's characters lived and died, met and fell in love, and expressed real emotions and evolved as individuals. The program spawned toys, comix, role-playing games, novels, and other pop-cultural artifacts. From the Conflict-Marxist assumption that America is a patriarchal society, ROBOTECH is a fascinating case study: it featured women heroes in leadership positions, a cross-dressing male hero, and an essentially anti-war message, among other subversive elements. ROBOT MARX critiques ROBOTECH, its marketing, and its fandom from this perspective, in the process discussing concepts such as gender representation, diva citizenship, and archetypes. An enjoyable academic expression of fandom.

The book was born from a number of influences. First, last month's "remastered" ROBOT MARX project* re-sparked my latent ROBOTECH fandom. From 2001 to 2004, I edited and published the "official" unofficial ROBOTECH fanzine, Emissaries; Robot Marx was an excuse to indulge in that fandom while being able to provide something new for my fellow fans again. Second, I was inspired after reading Stephen Bissette's Teen Angels & New Mutants to do something similar; I wanted to do for ROBOTECH what he did for Rick Veitch's BRAT PACK. In an admittedly limited way, Robot Marx fit the bill. And third, pulling the book together allowed me to flex my publishing muscles (I have an Associate's degree in Printing & Publishing) in preparation for the forthcoming American Narada: India 1 reflections and comix collection. Using nothing but freeware, Robot Marx was a fun DIY exercise.



Midwest Comic Book Association's SpringCon "Comic Book Celebration" is held at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds' Grandstand from 10 AM to 5 PM on both Saturday and Sunday (May 21 & 22); with a canned-food donation, admission is only $10 for the weekend. I'll be tabling alongside friend and uber talented tattoo-artist/cartoonist/designer, Jennifer "Inkbunny Diaries" Young. If you're in the region, I encourage you to attend. MCBA puts on a great show. I'd love to meet AMERICAN NARADA's readers and my fellow ROBOTECH and comix fans, so, please -- if you do attend -- stop by my table and say "Hi!"

Robot Marx will be available for purchase there. The book is also available online via IndyPlanet.

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* ROBOTECH ® and all associated concepts, names, designs, and images are trademark and copyright Harmony Gold USA, Inc. 1985-2011. Application of such for the ROBOT MARX project by Evan Harrison Cass is based on the U.S. Copyright principle of Fair Use for not-for-profit "criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research." No infringement of Harmony Gold USA, Inc.'s or associated companies' and individuals' rights is intended.

robot marx, part 6

Robotech®, Patriarchy, and Kids' Culture:
A Conflict Theory Perspective

In her essay "Producing Girls: Rethinking the Study of Female Youth Culture," Mary Celeste Kearney examines the role female teens and young women have played and continue to play in consuming, shaping and creating media. From solicited contributions in corporate, commercial magazines to anti-corporate, do-it-yourself (DIY) zines, Kearney tracks the history of the compromises and conflicts between "for girls" and "by girls" in the context of "producing girls," i.e. girls as "cultural producers" (286). Similarly throughout its history, "corporate" ROBOTECH has coexisted and occasionally come into conflict with "DIY" ROBOTECH; and, through it all, "producing girls" have been active participants.



An example of solicited contributions in a corporate, commercial publication is that of ROBOTECH: ART 2. ART 2 was the second in a series of three ROBOTECH art books released in the 1980s by boutique publisher Starblaze/The Donning Company. Whereas ART 1 was a "series bible" of sorts (episode guide, character profiles, behind-the-scenes production notes), ART 2 was a high-end collection of professional and amateur artworks. Of the 19 artists featured, six (32%) were women; notably, of the 78 artworks included, 49 (63%) were created by female artists. ART 2 is considered by many ROBOTECH fans as one of the series' finest merchandise items ever released -- an item that would not have existed were it not for the female artists (professional and amateur alike) who contributed to its contents.

The late 1980s into and throughout the 1990s saw, at first, a renaissance in "old school" fanzines (Kearney 299) focused on ROBOTECH, followed by -- as the internet entered the mainstream -- an explosion in ROBOTECH-specific fan websites (fansites). This was an era that found ROBOTECH's corporate owners, Harmony Gold, legally passive in regards to their ROBOTECH brand; fans were able to create -- unchecked -- DIY fan-fictions, fan-artworks and fan-communities. In the case of both fanzine and fansite contributions, many female fans generously contributed their writings and artworks. An interesting note regarding female ROBOTECH fans: They seemed to be primarily responsible for website "shrines" that focused on specific series' characters and couples (two sites that The Author recalls dealt with "The Masters"' character Musica and the "New Generation" couple Scott and Marlene). Kearney explains why this might be: "[Much] of this (sub)cultural activity on the part of today's youth is not entirely independent from the mainstream media and popular culture upon which it must rely not only for publicity and promotion, but also for source material..." (298).



The year 2000 saw Harmony Gold actively reasserting control over its ROBOTECH brand. Through to the present, Harmony Gold's legal department has occasionally targeted fanzines and fansites with a "cease and desist" letter; the result, sadly, is that many of the fan produced relics of the previous decades -- many by "producing girls" -- have been abandoned or altogether lost. Harmony Gold has tried to make amends by establishing a "Fan Art & Fiction" section on their official ROBOTECH website for the program's fans, but (in The Author's opinion) the creative works lack a certain genuineness and integrity inherent in Harmony Gold's defaulted legal submission filter.

Despite these recent challenges, the heritage of ROBOTECH's fandom is positively felt to this very day -- especially in regards to female fans moving beyond being "producing fangirls" to become independent "cultural producers." As Kearney says: "In numbers now too big to ignore, female adolescents are increasingly involved in the production of films and videos, the recording of music, the publication of literature, and the manufacturing of clothing and fashion accessories" (289).

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kearney, Mary Celeste. "Producing Girls: Rethinking the Study of Female Youth Culture." Unknown. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 285-309. Print.

"Lonely Soldier Boy." ColleenDoran.com. Colleen Doran, 2011. Web. 2010. http://colleendoran.com/2010/04/01/04012010/.

Reynolds, Kay, ed. Robotech: Art 2. Norfolk, Virginia: Donning Company/Publishers, 1987. Print.

Robotech.com. Harmony Gold USA, Inc., 2007. Web. 2010. http://robotech.com/.

- - -

ROBOTECH ® and all associated concepts, names, designs, and images are trademark and copyright Harmony Gold USA, Inc. 1985-2011. Application of such for the ROBOT MARX project by Evan Harrison Cass is based on the U.S. Copyright principle of Fair Use for not-for-profit "criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research." No infringement of Harmony Gold USA, Inc.'s or associated companies' and individuals' rights is intended.

robot marx, introduction

ROBOT MARX will be a six part re-presention of a research project that I had the pleasure of working on last year. As I discussed last week, I desperately need to focus on my Spring 2011 college course work. So, as a blogging stopgap, I'll be sharing a "remastered" entry from the ROBOT MARX project on Wednesdays and Sundays throughout April. I've also solicited some peer (fan) reviews with plans to run those during the month's final week.

In its original form, the project was my semester-long Spring 2010 course work for WOM 203: "Women in Popular Culture." Harry Potter scholar and UW-Colleges' Women's Studies chair, Dr. Holly Hassel's class approached the subject from a Conflict Theory-Marxist perspective; topics included patriarchy, media gender construction and representation, and kids' and girls' culture. The project was a fun way for me and my classmates to master the class's learning objectives while refining our critical reading and thinking ability. From the syllabus:

[O]ur semester project will involve applying your understanding of each essay/article [read for class] to a ... pop [kids' and/or girls'] culture artifact of your choice. As we begin to develop our analysis skills, each of you will develop an ongoing semester text ... that you will write over the course of the semester. The final product will be submitted as a polished document ... and will [also] include a self-assessment and peer assessment submitted separately.

Superhero Wonder Woman, tattoo artist Kat Von D, and soap opera The Young & the Restless were among the 30-some artifacts/relics analyzed by my classmates. I chose ROBOTECH...



I discovered ROBOTECH's colorful universe in the mid '80s via its "Saturday morning" NBC repackaging; it was love at first sight (Episode 4: "The Long Wait"). For those that don't know, ROBOTECH follows three generations of characters from 1999-2044 as they're shaped by the events of three interconnected wars. Its cartoon premiered in 1985, standing out from its contemporaries -- unlike iconically similar G.I. Joe and Transformers, ROBOTECH's characters lived and died, met and fell in love, and expressed real emotions and evolved as individuals.



The 85 episodes of this "sci-fi soap opera" spawned toys, comix, role-playing games, novels, and other pop-cultural relics. From the Conflict-Marxist assumption that America is a patriarchal society, ROBOTECH is a fascinating case study: it featured women heroes in leadership positions, a cross-dressing male hero, and an essentially anti-war message, among other subversive elements. Perfect for the project. Thus was born ROBOT MARX. ("Robot Marks," get it?)

I hope you enjoy reading this academic expression of my fandom as much as I enjoyed writing it.

prisoner of gravity

*

TVOntario announced today "the launch of its new digital Public Archive, a free online resource that unlocks four decades of made-at-TVO educational programming that stands the test of time." What caught my attention was the following:

TVO’s Public Archive features beloved TVO programs that have defined TVO over the years. It launches with over 375 programs and segments that would take more than five days to watch. The site includes episodes of ... Prisoners of Gravity... New content will be added to the Public Archive regularly.

PRISONERS OF GRAVITY! Or -- as fans of the show affectionately refer to it as -- POG!

POG originally aired from 1989-1994 and featured interviews with science fiction, fantasy and horror authors and comix professionals. The episodes were structured topically and hosted by Canadian comedian/writer/producer Rick Green, most familiar to American PBS viewers as "Bill" on THE RED GREEN SHOW. It was a wonderfully quirky series; think Brian Lamb's BOOKNOTES meets Space Ghost's COAST TO COAST. ... come again? Well, as POG historian Rachelle "TedDog" Shelkey says at her POG fansite SIGNAL LOSS, "Prisoners of Gravity is a rather difficult series to explain":

What made Prisoners of Gravity different from your average talk show was it also incorporated a quirky fictional wraparound to explain the settings and the hosts. These aren't normal television episodes we're watching, but pirate broadcasts. Our main host, Commander Rick (Rick Green), was frightened by the state of the world and decided to flee Earth by attaching a rocket engine on to the roof of his car. His idea works, surprisingly enough, until he crashes into the side of a secret telecommunications satellite, Reality 1. Starting in season two, the cast expands slightly. Rick is joined on the satellite [by his] not-quite-faithful sidekick Nan-Cy, a sentient computer who either helps or hinders broadcasts depending on her mood. The two pirate broadcasters override the signal of the nature show "Second Nature" in order to air their show "Prisoners of Gravity," much to the annoyance of Second Nature's host Enrico Gruen (also Rick Green). This plot sounds more than a little silly, but works surprisingly well onscreen.

It got this prisoner of gravity's attention. In the early '90s, Wisconsin Public Television aired and re-aired a package of ten POG episodes Friday nights at 10 PM for about six months. A car-less teenager from rural Central Wisconsin, the show enabled me the opportunity to become familiar with the personalities behind the books I loved. Harlan Ellison. Neil Gaiman. Frank Miller. And many more. It introduced me to the works of John Callahan and Dan Piraro, among others, and served as a library visit suggestions' list for years to come. It was a virtual sci-fi/comix convention panel discussion every week. Subjects such as censorship, racism and environmentalism, to name just a few, were highlighted. POG demonstrated that the speculative fiction genres and the comix medium could be serious venues for serious topics.

POG also reminds me of a different era in fandom. In the days before the modern internet made it easy to connect to fellow fans and to aquire "lost" treasures, one had to work at it. During the years following POG's WPT airing, I'd occasionally re-watch the handful of episodes that I had recorded on VHS tape, and I'd wonder... Where can I get the episodes I missed? Are there more episodes than those I saw? What's the story behind this show's story? The answers rested with fellow fan, Canadian "TedDog" Shelkey who operated a POG fanclub and fandub service out of her apartment with the "help" of university equipment. ("Fandub," short for "fan dubbing"; media sharing between fans via audio and video cassette swaps.) I found out that there were over 100 episodes(!), and she found out about the specifics of the PBS run; she had some of the episodes I missed and many more that I had never seen, and I had a few that she still needed. I mailed her my tape of episodes and a blank VHS cassette, and a month later she returned them. But this time the blank tape featured twelve POG episodes -- a tape I still have and watch.**

Old-school fandubs may be dead, but the future is now. TVO currently has 25 episodes of POG officially available for viewing. With about 137 episodes produced, hopefully we'll see more added soon. A wealth of additional clips can be found unofficially (with affection) at Shelkey's YouTube channel.

This is Commander Cass -- signing off.

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* Art by Ty Templeton.

** Special shout-out to my ROBOTECH brother, Christopher "Fer" Goodnough who I met through his fandub service back in the day.